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Archive for April, 2014

​Nawaz Sharif’s problem is himself – NOT the Army.

 

Islamabad diary

 

Power Drunk Control Freak Nawaz Sharif is a Kughoo.He never learns from his past mistakes and continues to repeat them.He is not too bright in the hard drive in his head. Or he does not know how to use it, because,he lacks critical thinking skills and Emotional Intelligence which goes with it

Nawaz Sharif at loggerheads with the army again, the old pattern of 1999 repeating itself. Cruel destiny…is Pakistan doomed to walk the paths it has trodden before? What is at work here… the army’s overweening ambition or PM Sharif incurable?

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Nawaz Sharif’s problem is not the army. His problem is himself, and his inability to be at ease with any but loyal yes-men. More than most mortals he is also given to that oldest of human vices: flattery. Since his rise to political prominence in the 1980s – when Governor Lt Gen Jilani chose him as Punjab finance minister – he has surrounded himself with the trained butler-type of civil servant. As prime minister for the third time this tendency remains unchanged.

The trouble with the army is that no chief, no matter how obliging and self-effacing, can be his master’s voice. He cannot, in open durbar, sing praises of Mian Sahib’s sterling leadership qualities. Politicians are good at this; bureaucrats, especially the breed we see nowadays, are past masters at this game; but it is unreasonable expecting the same from a chief of the army, commanding its divisions and holding the key to the country’s nuclear arsenal.

It’s not that he is a Caesar or someone in that mould. It’s the nature of the position. The present Punjab Inspector General of Police, Khan Baig, can be considered obliging beyond the call of duty. Make him army chief and see the transformation. Even he will start behaving differently…and Mian Sahib will smell a conspiracy.

Army chiefs are no angels. Let us not fall into this trap. There are other things they can do: start unwanted wars and then lose them. An entire army can surrender, as in East Pakistan. Generals can have as keen an eye for wealth and property as any laird of Nawabshah or baron of Raiwind. But bowing and scraping and singing songs of unadulterated flattery army officers usually will not do…unless of course it is a Ziaul Haq performing a role, but then other phantoms will be dancing in his mind.

Mian Sahib has a problem understanding this. Remembering the demons of the past, he thought long and hard about who to appoint army chief and then settled on Gen Raheel Sharif, and everyone said what a brilliant choice, what a thorough gentleman and from what a martial background. And within just a few months Mian Sahib’s telltale smile, which tells all being a bellwether of his feelings, has vanished from his face as he finds himself virtually at war with his own appointee.

No issue of war and peace is involved here, no policy disagreement, just plain human psychology and the inadequacies of a man not comfortable with the mental give-and-take of a genuine discussion.

Forget Gen Raheel Sharif for a moment. Nawaz Sharif has had problems with every army chief he has had to deal with. True, Gen Aslam Beg was flying so high at the time that anyone would have had problems with him. So let’s forget him too. But then Nawaz Sharif couldn’t get along with Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua, nor Gen Kakar, nor – and this beats everything – Gen Karamat. And when Karamat, a civilised man to his fingertips, gave in his papers, no one thrust Gen Musharraf upon Nawaz Sharif. As army chief he chose him himself, and what became of that we know too well.

We may well say Musharraf was an adventurer and a buccaneer and there was bound to be trouble with him. What about Raheel Sharif? Has he too begun looking like a buccaneer, the wolf emerging from the sheepskin?

Army officers generally say nice things about Gen Raheel. But he could have been a saint, a warrior of the steppes, conqueror of Samarkand and Bokhara, and Nawaz Sharif still would have run into problems with him…simply because Gen Raheel would not have clicked his heels enough nor dipped his tongue into jam and sugar when speaking to the prime minister. Nothing more complicated than this.

With a chief who is your appointee and who by all accounts is a reasonable man, what was there that could not be discussed…India, the Taliban, the Musharraf trial? But this would have required some mental interaction, some intellectual engagement with the military brass. Trouble is that even to hint at such an exercise in relation to the lords of the present dispensation may be to ask for too much.

Persons close to Nawaz Sharif, with his interests at heart, told him not to get embroiled in the Musharraf trial. I have it from well-placed sources that the PM would listen but say nothing. The urge to settle scores with his old nemesis was simply too compelling to resist. Even when a way out of the imbroglio had been found – by allowing Musharraf to go abroad – the revenge urge proved more powerful than any words of wisdom and the PM, according to more than one account, went back on his word. And the army saw red and postures stiffened.

Wiser counsels seemed to prevail once more when the PM went to the passing out parade at PMA Kakul and, in what must have been a first in the history of the Academy, went out of his way to hold up the virtues of the army chief for young army officers to emulate.

When all this bonhomie was on display in Kakul, the same evening the attack on Hamid Mir took place. This was a golden opportunity to further mend matters between the government and GHQ. When the ISI was accused of being behind this attack and a media civil war was flaring up over this allegation, all that was required was a four-five line statement saying that the issue should not be pre-judged and no institution should be attacked without the burden of proof.

But the government just could not bring itself to say this, feeding the perception that it was taking sides not only in the media civil war but standing against the army and ISI. The PM visited Hamid Mir in Karachi but said not a word about the accusations against the ISI. The army’s riposte came in the form of the army chief’s visit to ISI HQs in Islamabad a day later, confirming, if any confirmation was needed, that the breach between the two sides was now wide open.

In 1999 it took the Kargil conflict and much more to push Pakistan to the brink of the October coup. This time round, even before Nawaz Sharif has completed his first year in office, it has taken much less to bring the country to a similar pass. Musharraf, down and out, forlorn and lost, can be forgiven for chuckling to himself.

Some consequences we can already note: (1) without the army’s backing the Taliban talks are as good as dead; (2) India must be looking very carefully at the prospects of doing business with a beleaguered government; and (3) channels of communication between the civil and military spheres have gone dead. Call this the brilliance of Pakistani statesmanship.

And the outlines of a new line-up are visible on the national horizon. When in times past the army stood against democracy, rightwing forces and Islamist parties stood with the army. When the army is supportive of democracy and searching for a national consensus against the threat from the Taliban, all its erstwhile allies have deserted it, to join forces with the new rightwing, and pro-Taliban coalition, on the other side.

The old ideological alignments have thus been made to stand on their head. Call this the new paradigm, a first for Pakistan and something entirely new for the army.


Email: winlust@yahoo.com 

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Confession

 Confession

 

Is not the term ‘Congressman’ interchangeable with ‘MNA / MPA’ ?





 



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DR.TAHIR-UL-QADRI & IMRAN KHAN WHY ARE YOU SILENT ON DRUG AB– — USE & 300 PROSTITUTION DENS UNDER “ISLAM”…ABAD MNAs PATRONAGE?

300 PROSTITUTION DENS IN ISLAMABAD: MNAS HOSTEL-A PROSTITUTES PARADISE, PEDOPHILIA,WHISKEY & BEER — — USED FREELY,SADO-MASOCHISM

PAKISTAN IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOM INVOLVED IN CENTRAL ASIAN PROSTITUTES SMUGGLING

HUGE BRIBES BEING PAID BY ISLAMABAD PIMPS & MADAMS

CENTRAL ASIAN WOMEN SUPPLIED TO ZARDARI PRESIDENCY AND PPP MNAs

References

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/foreign-prostitutes-go-to-work-as-pakistan-closes-for-ramadan-1046222.html

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/04/02/national/central-asian-girls-being-trafficked-to-pakistan-for-prostitution/

http://www.thenewstribe.com/2014/02/04/central-asian-women-imported-to-pakistan-for-prostitution-as-official-eyes-closed/

http://weeklypresspakistan.com/2012/04/2102

 

Central Asian girls being trafficked to Pakistan for prostitution

 

 

The Central Asian Prostitution Rates

 

WHERE IS FBR?DO ISLAMABAD MADAMS PAY TAXES?WHAT DEFENCE SECRETS THESE WOMEN FERRET OUT FROM ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL?

MAJOR NEWS CHANNELS LIKE ARY,AAJ,DUNYA HAVE A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

The cost of fantasy

CIS girls now dominate the high-end ISLAMABAD sex market offering sexual pleasure as leisure

SERVICES 

TIME IN HOURS 

RATE IN RUPEES/per head 

One trip (sexual intercourse) 

Two 

8,000 

Two trips 

Two 

10,000 

Two trips 

Four 

15,000 

Unlimited trips 

Eight or overnight 

25,000 

Orgy (at least one girl per person) 

Eight or overnight 

25,000 

Escort service (travel outstation with the client, all expenses are met) 

Per day 

25,000 

Play hostess at a stag party 

Four hours 

15,000 

Posing as nude model for photography and sketching 

One hour 

5,000 

Payment is in advance/all credit cards accepted, cash is preferred. The websites guarantee confidentiality. 

Human trafficking from Central Asian Countries to Pakistan is going on and highly educated girls from Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are forced to prostitutions, the trafficking victims have said.
At least six girls, trafficked from Central Asian region, say they are doctors by profession and were offered jobs in their field in Pakistan. “But we were deceived on fake jobs offer with high incentives. We were deprived of traveling documents and passports once we arrived in Pakistan so that we could not contact law enforcement agencies,” they told Online. The girls from Uzbekistan said on condition of anonymity that they were persuaded to apply to a job in the health sector of Pakistan that apparently offered high incentives, 10 times greater than a doctor earns in their home country. “But after arriving here the person who was presenting himself as a recruiting agent snatched our documents,” they said. Uzbekistan’s embassy confirmed that they had complains of human trafficking from the country and then using them as prostitute. “Yes it is an open secret, human trafficking causes several other crimes, but we remain unaware of their identities and whereabouts,” said Lutfullah, First Secretary at Uzbekistan’s embassy said.
The Central Asian girls declined to give details of the person, who brought them to Pakistan fraudulently and then handed over to two females forcing them for prostitution.
A girl in a guest house in the capital’s F-8/3 sector told Online, “Now, I cannot go to a police station as I have no document and they (the characters involved in the crime) have threatened us of losing life if I or five others girls, two of them from Azerbaijan, cross the limits of uncovering the network”.
Three of the girls from Uzbekistan and one from Azerbaijan said that they have contacted their respective embassies to have new passports and documents but they are also delaying provision of support.
When asked for his version over the issue of helping in re-issuance of passports and documents, Lutfullah said, “Yes, usually females come to the embassy in routine claiming that their passports and travelling documents were lost. Basically the passports are being issued by Uzbekistan’s Interior Ministry and not the embassy. We deal here only in travelling documents, but we need certain proofs for issuing such documents.”
Online tried to contact the press attaché of the Azerbaijani embassy but he was not available to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the FIA who was not authorised to speak to the media said that human trafficking to Pakistan is continuing from CARs and China but some time it become hard to take a step or fully stop it due to legal complexities.
“For example the immigration department is careful about issuing visas to girls from China but still human trafficking is continuing. The reason is that some Chinese workers in Pakistan show prostitutes as their wives and smuggled them here,” he further said. According to an official of FIA’s Anti Human Trafficking Cell more than 400 human traffickers involved in the heinous crime using air, land and sea routes for their activities. According to certain media reports every day 75-100 illegal immigrants are reached the country airports. There are reports that Pakistan is a destination for men, women and children from Central Asian Countries, Bangladesh and Iran who are subjected to forced labor and prostitution. According to FIA officials investigation from members of this kind of groups revealed that the three main frequent routes used by traffickers in Pakistan include Makran coast, Thar and porous border with Afghanistan, the sea routes of Karachi, Ormara, Pasni Gawadar and Jiwani are easy routes of the trafficking. Reports suggest that trafficked women are sold into brothels for $1,000 to $2,000 depending on age, beauty, race and their virginity.

Central Asian women “imported” to Pakistan for prostitution as official eyes closed

HT

ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has busted a four-member gang involved in trafficking of foreign women for sex trade and has arrested a member, sources said.

The Racket was headed by a former assistant director immigration and son of a former legislator from Faisalabad.

According to details, two women from Central Asian countries had arrived at Islamabad Airport from Turkish Airline on 30th January. They were cleared from the airport’s International lounge without due immigration procedure with alleged support of FIA officials.

Out of two, one of the lady passed through lounge reserved for special personalities and the other one got out of airport from common lounge.

It was astonishing that other agencies personnel were providing protocol to these ladies, seemingly as per designs of gang.

When contacted, FIA Islamabad Zone director Captain (Retd) Zafar Iqbal Awan confirmed the report and said they sent anti-smuggling personnel to the airport after the information.

Initial investigation stated that gang comprises of an ex assistant director immigration, Bahram Baloch, and Mustafa, who tells himself as a secret agency personnel.

Whereas trafficking women were used as prostitutes in Islamabad. The gang had allegedly paid Rs. 1 lac to immigration personnel to skip immigration procedure.

Bahram Balooch resides in I-8 Area of the capital.

On a query, Director FIA informed that names of women and others had been kept secret to arrest other members of these gang.

On the directions of the FIA director, anti-smuggling cell has registered case against the gang member.

 

THREAT TO PAKISTAN ARMED FORCES & NUCLEAR DEFENCE SECRETS

PAKISTAN’S LEGISLATORS ARE INTO DRUGS AND PROSTITUTION AS DISCLOSED BY JAMSHED DASTI, ONE OF THE FEW HONEST POLITICIANS IN PAKISTAN’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
PROSTITUTES ARE FOUND EARLY MORNING LEAVING ROOMS ALLOCATED TO MNAs.
SOME MNAs ARE PEDOPHILES AND AB– — USE YOUNG BOYS & GIRLS in MNA HOSTELS
RIGHT UNDER THE NOSE OF ISLAMABAD POLICE.
THEY ARE PMLN UNTOUCHABLES. POLICE’S HANDS ARE TIED. IF ARRESTED, THEY ARE RELEASED IN HOURS, AFTER CALLS ARE RECEIVED FROM PRIME MINISTERS SECRETARY
THE SAME POLITICIANS ARE ALSO ON COCAINE, HEROIN, ECSTASY & LSD
PAKISTAN IS BEING LOOTED & ENJOYED FOR PERSONAL CARNAL PLEASURE BY NAWAZ SHARIF’S PMLN POLITICIANS
F,G,& H BLOCKS IN ISLAMABAD ARE INFESTED WITH HO– — USES OF PROSTITUTION. WOMEN FROM CENTRAL ASIA, UZBEKISTAN, TAJIKISTAN,TURKMENISTAN, KAZAKHISTAN,
THAILAND, PHILIPINES, MYANMAR ARE FOUND UNDER PAKISTANI PIMPS & MADAMS. 
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EARMARKED FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN EACH MNAs JURISDICTION ARE SPENT ON ALCOHOL & WOMEN
THIS IS QUAID-I-AZAM PAKISTAN UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF KIM BARKER FAME SEXUAL HARASSER NAWAZ SHARIF, WHOSE WIFE HAS GROWN TOO FAT TO SERVICE HIS SEXUAL ADDICTION.
FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS ARE USING THESE PROSTITUTES TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE ON PAKISTAN’S  STRATEGIC & NUCLEAR SITES

300 PROSTITUTION PLACES FOUND IN ISLAMABAD

December 23, 2013 in News insightPakistan

Prostitution
Islamabad: It is a very shameful news for all the Pakistani Nation who calls themselves as the believer of Islam and proud to have the name tag of Islamic Republic of Pakistan should lay down their heads because 300 Prostitution places are found in the Federal Capital Islamabad. All the high commands designated persons hold their offices in the capital but how come it is possible that they are unknown of this fact.

According to the report published in the newspaper some Police officers have react to this news immediately and raided on the mentioned places in the various areas of Islamabad. The police have also arrest many persons and took them in their custody.

The Islamabad police is continuously working on this and it is also conducting out the raids at constant interval on the mentioned places. While this is very shameful that all these types or centers are operating in Islamabad.

The allegedly mention places where these centers found are G-11, G-10, Shahzad Town, Ghauri Town, Alipur, Burma Town, Pakistan town and others.

– See more at: http://www.desitvonline.org/300-prostitution-places-found-in-islamabad/#sthash.OKNM01tT.dpuf

 

At 15, Shiny was the brightest student and scored straight A’s in her O-Level Examinations. Her parents were busy doctors minting a fortune and wanted her to score straight A’s in A-Levels to join a medical college in the UK. Pressures on her to perform were very high and parental care nonexistent. Browsing on the internet, she found names of anti-sleeping pills to stay awake. She used them, but fell into a depression. Within a year through friends on Facebook, she progressed to charas, heroin injections and amphetamines. Her parents, too busy with their routine, attributed dark circles around her eyes and loss of hair to over work, but never bothered to check her arms for punctures. She fell back in class and died of drug overdose before she was 17.
Adnan’s mother is a widow with two sons and a daughter. She has worked hard to educate her two elder children who are now employed aboard with hefty salaries. Five years ago, they moved to Baharia Town. With no supervision, Adnan got hooked to sheesha, hash and ecstasy. He started becoming violent and would often injure himself or cut his wrists. He was expelled from the college. He reacted by bringing gangsters outside the schools and colleges where his friends studied and involved in fights with firearms. He has abandoned education and operates a gang of drug addicts, who are involved in fights outside schools and colleges. The mother, who once defended him stoutly, is now helpless. For Adnan, it is a matter of time.
Meena is a foreign educated business developer. Working in a BPO, she got hooked on to drugs through young executives working at night at call centres. Out of job due to drug abuse, she now heads a gang of young addicts and peddles for the elites of Islamabad and Bharia in heroin and crack. Two of her friends have died of overdose.
These are alarming events and tip of the iceberg. It is a devil that haunts the urban elite education centres and call centres where youngsters are vulnerable and the nouveaux riches, who have no time for their children.

A decade back, hash and heroin was deemed to be a poor man’s refuge due to the prohibitive cost of imported liquor. However, the trends are now changing. Hash, heroin, amphetamines, hallucinogens, ecstasy and Ketamine compounds have proliferated into the urban elites of Pakistan. The route of entry is invariably private education institutions and BPOs operating night shift of youngsters, who attend school or college at day. Invariably, it always begins with efforts to keep awake and ends in tragedy. Outside the premises of these institutions, peddlers and criminals operate with impunity to befriend new customers. Rave parties, dancing events and attractive satanic captions splash pages on the social media. Sheesha centres in urban malls and posh localities located in farm houses are the high points of the nouveaux riches addicts where ecstasy, syringes and crack are a token of status. Once hooked there is no return.
Pakistan’s drug statistics are shocking. According to one report, over eight million Pakistanis are using drugs. The numbers are likely to touch 15 million in the next few years. Over 57 percent amongst these use heroin. According to another report amongst the women, 47 percent are college or university educated professionals. Nearly half of all urban addicts are school/college going students studying in private institutions and live in posh upcoming housings. According to DG Narcotics, private educational institutions are more vulnerable than the government educational institutions to attract the students towards drug addiction, mainly because the elites can spend more. He also expressed the opinion that addiction rate was proportional to tuition rates, where both parents were working and where parents don’t have enough time for their children. The drug of choice for the rich urban elites is not heroin but crack, a derivative of cocaine traded in dollars and euros.
Private education institutions from schools to universities have failed to check this rising menace within and outside their bounds. Most hostels of boys and girls also have dens from where this trade is run. In hostels, students experiment with chemicals to manufacture stimulants and hallucinogens in which Ephedrine and Ketamine are the basic drugs of choice. Recently, a hostel in Islamabad was found to be both a drug and prostitution den. In street corners, Garda, a lethal mix of tobacco, charas and stimulants in readymade cigarette rolls is available to anyone across the counters; usually the high school students.
In Pakistan’s urban centres, no one seems willing to take on the challenge. The district and municipal administrations despite tremendous civic powers at their disposal prefer looking the other way. Action by police is usually to extort more money from the peddlers and addicts. Private educational institutions in their desire to earn money prefer to keep their eyes closed, even to galas and dinners held in their own premises. Academicians lack the administrative fist and the leader’s prowess to deter, cajole or convince students. Nobody cares to inspect the hostel premises or why students have dropped semesters. Tutorial and social care groups are nonexistent. Visiting faculties consider having their hands washed of all responsibility and accountability. Cases instead of being reported to police and ANF are hushed up by disciplinary committees. There is a total absence of any dissuasive or punitive policy.
The time for holding ceremonial seminars on drug abuse as a compulsive expenditure should now be over. It is time to act. Detecting and preventing drug abuse is a social, civic and collective responsibility and not confined to police and ANF. Urban administrators, cantonment boards, institutional administrations and civil society groups need to wake up to this challenge and evolve aggressive action plans to combat this menace before we lose more youngsters to this social evil.

The writer is a retired officer of Pakistan Army and a political economist.
    Email: samson.sharaf@gmail.com

IMAG0258 (2)
 

Islamabad: The country’s capital Islamabad, has become a hub of drug addicts.

Saach.TV, after receiving complaints from the people, visited several areas and found shocking incidents that involve also the premises of a fast-food chain. The areas also include parking lots.

Youth of Islamabad often come around here to enjoy their evenings and conduct social gatherings.

However, this recreation now involves drug use, besides sale and purchase.

A visit by the scribe revealed the amount of drug consumption in the parking lot as well as the adjacent park near the restaurant.

Unfortunately, there are no checks and balances, though there are check posts of police round these corners.

There is no police present inside the premises as the restaurant has its own security outside to inspect the vehicles for any security-threatening object.

Such activities are also taking part in different areas of Islamabad including prominent universities.

A student of Quaid-e-Azam University disclosed to the scribe that weed is very much open in university premises and there is no check from the police.

An ex-addict told the scribe that the weed is easily available in Islamabad. He said, “Mostly people take drugs to relax themselves. The culture has been imported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and most of the weed comes from that place.”

Talking about the suppliers of weed, he said, “The suppliers of weed are easily available at different places and they work on a small scale. Main handlers of the suppliers operate from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

Giving his expert opinion on the matter, Dr. Wahab Yusufzai, a Consultant Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at Shifa College of Medicine told Saach.TV that it is very unfortunate that this epidemic has spread in our society.

He praised the role of media in identifying the issue and urged the government to run an awareness campaign.

He strictly criticized the increasing culture of Sheesha among the youth and termed it as a catalyst to take youth at the verge of drugs.

Talking about the technicalities and solutions to eradicate this menace from the society, he emphasized, “Police has to take measure in controlling the supply and trafficking being done. Stopping the supply will surely decrease the addiction.”

He also asked the parents and universities to play their part in monitoring the youth. He said, “There should be a strong liaison among the parents and teachers and they should keep a watchful eye over the children. Parents must scrutinize the behaviour of children and also put a full stop on the increasing habit of youth to stay awake at night and sleep all day.”

Saach.TV tried to contact the Inspector General of Police, Islamabad but he was unavailable. His Public Relations Officer (PRO) said, “Islamabad Police has been cracking down on these elements daily and it is evident from their daily press releases.”

– See more at: http://www.saach.tv/2012/05/18/islamabad-an-easy-drug-place/#sthash.2VrHmAUd.dpuf

Who is this Pakistani Spy?

Posted on January 18, 2010 by alaiwah

About two years ago, a British military attaché in Islamabad was dismissed after he “lost the confidence of the British High Commission” following what London called his “inappropriate relationship” with a Pakistani female ‘spy’.

Brigadier Andrew Durcan, 56, was recalled in January 2007.

All hell broke loose after Aroosa Alam of an Islamabad daily, Pakistan Observer, ventured with what she claimed was an expose on how the drama involving the British military attache and the female spy played out.

Alam pointed to a certain research fellow, who happens to work for the ISS as the spy in question. This infuriated Dr Shireen Mazari, the ISS boss, who then went to town with a rejoinder that attempted to cut Alam down to size, but which in turn, drew the fury of the offended daily. Credibility was at stake, after all.

It is no secret that in diplomatic missions, some officials serve time for work other than their stated job-description. It is quite probable that Brigadier Durcan had a few skeletons in his cupboard, which is, in part explained by his rather secretive dismissal following a “loss of confidence” at the High Commission. Islamabad’s statement that it was never informed of the decision is, again, a pointer.

British Ministry of Defence, which seconds senior officers to the Foreign Office as military attaches in embassies around the world, confirmed the dismissal but declined to discuss the disgraced official’s future postings or whereabouts.

“The High Commissioner in Islamabad considered his platonic friendship with a Pakistani national inappropriate and, as a result, lost confidence in him. He has been investigated and cleared over potential breaches of security,” is what a statement from the ministry said following the revelation.

The married Durcan is a former commander of the Gordon Highlanders, 52nd Lowland Brigade and deputy inspector-general of the Territorial Army. He was nicknamed “the tartan barrel” by officers under his command in Scotland because of his girth.

But to most Pakistanis, it is the alleged involvement of their compatriot, a female at that, which is the most intriguing element of the soap opera.

Aroosa Alam, the daredevil reporter, decided to put them out of their misery with this expose:

“Careful and thorough investigation and a number of background interviews with military diplomats close to Brigadier Durcan revealed that a research fellow from Institute of Strategic Studies is the lady behind the whole affair.

“Holding dual nationality, one Pakistani and other British, Ms M K, has been associated with the Institute for many years. She deals with a number of defence-related issues and has written many research papers particularly on conflict resolution, non-proliferation, and EU.

“She frequently travelled between England and Pakistan. In Pakistan, she sought many interviews with various high-level defence officials even in Pakistani military hierarchy. She came under suspicion by M16 undercovers in Islamabad mission when she sought interviews with defence officials of the High Commission to be used in her research papers.

“According to sources, she would ask some very pointed and pertinent questions. But when she went back she never used these interviews and wrote nothing on these issues. Intelligence authorities in the High Commission were then alarmed and started suspecting that these questions were asked by her for not her own research papers but for the consumption of some one else. This was some time last fall. The girl and the Brigadier were monitored. Phones were bugged. Even the room and the house of the British Military Attache were bugged.

“Some sources claimed that some filming was also done to prepare incriminating evidence. Both were also spotted intimately together at some social functions. Sources claimed that the Brigadier also travelled to England many times to spend time with her and his engagements in England were also watched and closely monitored.

“A team arrived from London in early January this year after Christmas holidays and the Brigadier was confronted for the first time about the status of his relations with the young lady. He was asked to report back to London where, according to sources, he appeared before a three-member military tribunal along with the internal inquiry report, and evidence based on phonic conversations and perhaps with some pictures”.

Aroosa Alam drew a swift riposte from Mazari, who called a press conference the very next day, refuting the allegations point-by-point. She said although the research fellow mentioned in Alam’s report did work for ISS, all references to her subordinate’s name – right from the work specifics to foreign travel and dangerous liaisons with the disgraced British official – were factually wrong.

Mazari was clinical in her assertion and rounded off the rearguard by demanding an apology from both the reporter and her paper, failing which she threatened to seek legal redress.

However, her charge that the paper was undermining national interests and becoming a tool for vested interests, drew a scathing rejoinder from the paper, which made no secret of its displeasure by stating that it did not need a sermon from someone under the microscope.

In fact, it went on to suggest that it had done a favour to Mazari by publishing what it did since that “put an end to wild guesses being made in the city about some of the known media-related female academics, including Dr Mazari herself, for being the lady in question”.

The prime time battle was apparently, won by Mazari, when the paper finally, issued a front-paged “clarification” by its editor, regretting the “inadvertent” nomination of the ‘spy’ (MK) in the story, which it denied was true.

It has now emerged that the alleged ‘spy’ is, indeed, not the one named in Alam’s controversial story but someone else. However, some contents of her story, apparently, do hold ground.

For instance, the incriminating evidence one got to see clearly belies London’s claim that its official did not have the kind of relations with the ‘spy’ that a certain Bill Clinton allegedly had with the most known intern in history.

 

Trafficked|By Demand

Palwasha*, 18-year old Afghani girl, has been a commercial sex-worker since she was 14. A year later, she was forced to marry her rapist, who was also addicted to drugs. Then she was taken to Iran and forced into commercial sex work to make money for her husband. “He used to beat me up very badly every day besides forcing me to make money for him,” she was quoted as saying in the AIHRC report. “After a year or so he sold me to an Iranian drug seller for a huge amount of money before my family found out about it in Afghanistan and my mother came to Iran to rescue me.”

The cause of the prevailing international trafficking on all continents, stems from the demand. Like others trades, be it arm-dealing, drug trafficking, the human trafficking is also an illicit market and is controlled by the basic economic theories of supply and demand. As is common knowledge in the field of economics, once the demand lowers so does the supply.

Unfortunately, no one wants to go anywhere near the sensitive, controversial topic of “demand.” There are very few international organizations, government programs or NGOs that even touch on the topic of demand in human trafficking and the organizations that do focus on demand tend to center their efforts on abolishing sex trafficking. Amongst the handful of organizations that are unanimously in agreement to eradicate the demand and are concentrating their efforts for countering the demand side of human-sex-trafficking are the STOP DEMAND, THE Sage Project and Global Centurion. 

It’s essential to truly change the mindset of the slave buyer to eradicate modern-day slavery and end the demand for slaves. And to end demand, involved people  (men and women both) need to be held accountable for their participation in buying women and children for sex.

Understanding patterns of organized criminal networks are also important to consider. The situational context is vital to also develop awareness of the recruitment practices. Many girls like Palwasha” and others fall into the hands of human-traffickers due to their vulnerable conditions such as poverty, illiteracy and impoverished house-holds.

Their recruitment usually takes place by “agents” or middle-persons (more than 65% are women) that lure their victims through girls through force (drugging/kidnapping); or coercion via promises of fake opportunities or boyfriends who trick young girls in to running away with them.

In starkly poor villages of Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, the women agents visit houses and speak face-to-face with parents, elderly establishing a trust within a  community. This helps in getting significant large number of children, sometimes an extortion fee is also taken from the victim’s family to make think that their children will get better rewards after reaching their destinations or this amount will cover their basic needs.

Being a woman, it disgusts me to observe that more than often “women” are working as trust agents that engage to establish themselves quickly within communities.

At Islamabad, in the previous years, the dark side of diplomacy has also come to the surface. When media broke out the story that consular staff at the Switzerland Embassy was involved in a human trafficking racket. Switzerland immediately replaced all its embassy and consular staff in Pakistan. It also shut down its visa-section at Islamabad, that followed a Pakistani investigation into the illegal Swiss visas that has led to a number of arrests.

Switzerland also launched visa fraud investigations in countries  Oman, Peru, Russia, Nigeria, Serbia and Eritrea.  These issues came to the surface after local media started highlighting the plight of Pakistani visa applicants complaining about the various forms of harassment by Swiss embassy officials.

A few weeks ago, Pakistan Embassy in Libya sent the Foreign Ministry  an official letter that alleged that Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Immigration department in Islamabad, is involved in human trafficking. The embassy provided sustainable evidence to back its claims that travel documents were being used for opening bogus vacancies in fake companies, and added that the officials at FIA Immigration department in Islamabad are charging between Rs25,000-50,000 (150-350 EURO) per person to smuggle them abroad.

The letter added that hundreds of Pakistanis contact the embassy every day saying that they have no money to eat and appeal to be sent back to Pakistan. This is why, the letter urged, a ban should be imposed immediately on all people traveling to Libya and action should be taken against FIA officials involved in the fraud. Further more, the report claims that thousands of  Pakistanis sent illegally to various places across the world are dwelling in jails, fallen into hands of trafficking networks and being meted out inhumanly treatment. It adds that countless have already died in the dire conditions.

On one-hand the human-flesh trade continues, but inside Pakistan, the prominent internationally recognized campaigner of human rights, Ansar Burney continues to serve are a whistle-blower.

Burney is a man with a mission. The mission that is not so impossible includes crimes against humanity, degradation, child abuse, sex-slavery, human trafficking and other more subtle forms of human and civil rights violations without any discrimination or affiliation.

He has been working on issues of sexual slavery in Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa for two decades now. During this time, with assistance from the various governments and authorities, through his organization the Ansar Burney Trust, he has secured the release of thousands of persons from false imprisonment and slavery across the world; these have included young girls sold in the sex trade and young children used for modern-day slavery.

In 2005, the Ansar Burney Trust was involved in the release and repatriation of 13,967 victims(under-age) from the Middle East alone. A shocking case came to light, when Burney rescued a group of under-age trafficked girls sold into prostitution in Middle Eastern countries.

During the investigations, it was revealed that the greater demand of “under-age virgin” girls continues to rise in the Middle East.  The traffickers used the horrible method of blood capsules on the girls’ bodies in order to “prove”  their virginity.

In an interview with local media, Burney denounced this inhumane practice  and warned that “use of such blood packed in capsules used by human traffickers to show that girls are virgin, may contain viruses that can spread AIDS or other contagious diseases.”

The issue of children both boys and girls being trafficked into sexual slavery highlights other dimensions within the demand chain. As young boys too fall prey to such traffickers for sexual exploitation. A a non-governmental organization Modar (working in Tajikistan) says said there was a growing trend in the abduction and sale of Tajik boys for sexual exploitation abroad.  It reports that s groups in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries were prepared to pay as much as $70 000 for a Tajik boy between the ages of 10 and 12.

Unfortunately, human trafficking is one of the longest established, yet most neglected problems in all continents. Palwasha’s* story is a tip on the iceberg of the many cases of human trafficking which happen, literally under our noses, every day.

She may be lucky to be rescued but the scars inflicted upon her soul may not perish. Others many not be teeny-weeny bit lucky as her to get rescued at all.

Reference

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انڈیا ..جنگ جیو گروپ اور پاکستانی حکمران ………

AMAN KI ASHA GROUP WITH GEO & NAWAZ SHARIF


انڈیا ..جنگ جیو گروپ اور پاکستانی حکمران
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کہاں ہے ہمارا قومی مفاد ..کہاں گئی قومی سلامتی …کہاں گئی ہمارے قومی ادارے کی عزت اور وقار …کافی عرصے سے عالمی طاقتیں ہماری فوج کی طاقت اور جذبے اور ہنر مندی سے خوف کھاتی آ رہی ہیں ..اور وہ ہماری فوج کو کمزور کرنے کے لئے ہر روز ایک نیا شوشہ چھوڑ دیتے ہیں .بہانے ڈھونڈتے اور ڈرامے رچاتے رہتے ہیں ..کیونکہ دنیا کو علم ہے کہ پاکستانی سیاستدان کرپٹ ہے اور پاکستان کی فوج ایک مضبوط ادارہ ہے ..لہٰذہ اگر پاکستان کو توڑنا ہے .اس کے ٹکرے ٹکرے کرنے ہیں ..یا اس کو کمزور کرنا ہے .یا اس کو صومالیہ بنانا ہے ..تو فوج کا مورال ختم کرنا ہو گا ..اس کے لئے عالمی سازش نے انڈیا کو یہ ذمہ داری دے دی جو پاکستان کا ازلی دشمن ہے …پوری دنیا جانتی ہے کہ انڈیا سارے پاکستان کے اندر دہشت گردی کر رہا ہے ..مگر کوئی بھی انڈیا کے خلاف ایکشن نہیں لے رہا .کیونکہ انڈیا نے پاکستان کے میڈیا چینل جیو اور جنگ گروپ کو اور حکمران اور کرپٹ سیاستدانوں اور کچھ کاروباری گروپ کو خریدا ہوا ہے .جو انڈیا کے لئے راہ ہموار کرتے ہیں اور ملک دشمنی کا کردار ادا کر رہے ہیں ..جس طرح حامد میر کا ڈرامہ کھیلا گیا ..اب یہ غدار پوری قوم کے سامنے کھل کر آ چکے ہیں ..آپ غور کریں .کہ اس ڈرامہ کے بعد جو انڈیا .جیو .اور حکمران کی طرف سے رد عمل آیا ..وہ ایک جیسا تھا ..تینوں میں کسی نے بھی پاکستانی فوج کا دفاح نہیں کیا ..حکومت کا کیا کام ہے .کہ وہ چینل پر فوج کے خلاف پراپیگنڈے کو بند کرواتی یا ہوا دیتی …حکمران نے غداری کر کے اچھالا اور فوج کی بدنامی کا کوئی راستہ بند نہیں کیا .بلکہ الٹا غلط کرداروں کو ہیرو بنا کر پیش کیا اسی طرح جس طرح انڈیا چاہتا تھا …اب غدار سامنے ہیں فوج کو ایکشن لینا چاہئے .ورنہ اگر فوج خاموش رہتی ہے تو پاکستان کی سالمیت خطرے میں پڑ جاۓ گی ..پہلے ہی ہمارا حکمران کچھ ضرورت سے زیادہ انڈیا کے ساتھ پینگیں اڑا رہا ہے …اب بھی اگر فوج خاموش رہتی ہے ..تو پھر پاکستان کے دن گنے جا چکے ہیں . ہر.عالمی سازش کامیاب ہو رہی ہے ..شریف برادران نے ماضی سے کوئی سبق نہیں سیکھا..اب احتساب ہو جانا چاہئے . دودھ کا دودھ اور پانی کا پانی ….یہی سب سے بڑی غلطی فوج سے ہوئی ..کہ کسی مارشل لا نے چوروں .لٹیروں کا احتساب نہیں کیا ..فوج کو بدنام کرنے میں سب فوجی ڈکٹیٹروں کا ہاتھ ہے ..آج جو کچھ فوج کے ساتھ ہو رہا یہ یہ کرپٹ سیاستدانوں کی اولاد خود فوجیوں کی پیداوار ہے ..لگتا ہے انڈیا .جیو اور حکمران ایک ہی اجنڈے پر کام کر رہے ہیں ..جیو کو بند کرنے میں کیا حکمران کی مصلحت یا مجبوری ہے ..کیونکہ جیو کے مالکان سے شریف برادران کے ذاتی مراسم ہیں ..جیو کی ساری کرپشن اگر حکمران کو نظر نہیں آتی ..تو اس کا مطلب ہے کہ دال میں کچھ کالا ہے .یا حکمران بےغیرت اور غدار ہے ..کیا حکومت انڈیا کے پراپیگنڈے کا جواب نہیں دے سکتی تھی ..اگر حکومت کو پھر ذلیل و رسوا ہونے کا شوق ہے تو میں فوج سے درخوست کرتا ہوں کہ وہ اس کو اس کا مقام دکھا ہی دے ..یہ ووہی حامد میر ہے جس کو خواجہ صاحب قتل کے مقدمہ میں فوج نے مدد کی تھی . ورنہ یہ جیل میں ہوتا ..پھر یہی حامد میر تھا ..جس کو جیو کے مالک نے دبئی بلا کر ملالا کے اوپر زیادہ سے زیادہ پروگرام کرنے کا کہا تھا ..یہ ووہی ہے جس کے والد کو انڈیا نے نوازہ تھا …اب یہ ہیرو بنا کر انڈیا پیش کر رہا ہے ..یہی اس قوم کی بد قسمتی ہے ..کہ ہماری بیوروکریسی کی شہشھنئٹ نے ہم کو برباد کیا اور ہر غدار کو ہم نے پاکستانی جھنڈے میں لپیٹ کر دفنایا …اب اگر اس ڈرامے میں جنرل ظہیر صاحب کو مخاطب کیا جا رہا ہے ..تو میں تمام ڈاکے اور قتل و غارت گری پر شہباز شریف اور نواز شریف پر رپورٹ درج کروانے کی درخواست کروں گا ..پھر دیکھیں گے کہ بھٹو کی طرح کتنے پھانسی لگتے ہیں ..جبکہ بھٹو کو پھانسی لگوانے والے بھی سیاستدان تھے ..جو جج مولوی مشتاق کو ساتھ لے کر گھوما کرتے تھے ..بدنام فوج کو کیا گیا …اگر آج فوج حرکت میں نہ آئی تو سمجھ لو کہ ہمارے تمام ادارے تباہ ہو چکے ہیں ..انڈیا جب چاہے .جہاں چاہے پاکستان کے اندر ہر کھیل کھیلے ..کیونکہ یہاں حکمران اور کئی جیو جیسے چنیل اور غدار دندناتے پھر رہے ہیں ….اس ملک کا اب خدا ہی حافظ ہے …جاوید اقبال چیمہ ..میلان ..٠٠٣٩٣٢٠٣٣٧٣٣٣٩

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The prophetic wisdom of Gunnar Myrdal:True Predictions on Pakistan in the Asian Drama-Almost 50 years ago

GUNNAR MYRDAL’S ASIAN DRAMA-PAKISTAN FOLLOWS PREDICTED PATTERN!

In next 50 years this pattern will not change unless Feudalistic/Industrialistic Forces and Power Centers Are Not Destroyed  

 

 

 

 

 


 

The prophetic wisdom of Gunnar Myrdal:Pakistan in the Asian Drama

Gunnar Myrdal: Pakistan following the pattern described by him almost 50 years ago

There are several aspects in Myrdal’s analysis of Pakistan in light of which he explains why Pakistan has not been that successful in its development aspirations. The lack of national purpose.

One of the most striking observations of Myrdal in regard to Pakistan is at the outset of his discussion on the chapter on Pakistan identifying “the lack of national purpose.” He comments: “Few modern states started their independent existence on such a tenuous basis and under such severe initial difficulties as Pakistan.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 305] Such a view of statement might elicit quick reaction that there was a purpose: to embody an Islamic vision.

Myrdal recognizes the existence of such a purpose, but goes at great length explaining why it was so vacuous. “Behind the unfavorable circumstances of its origin was a fundamental predicament – the lack of a clear conception of the kind of state that should be created and the aims it should pursue. The struggle for Pakistan was exclusively concerned with freeing Moslems from Hindu domination.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 306]. The statement with such substitution would read like this: “Behind the unfavorable circumstances of its origin was a fundamental predicament – the lack of a clear conception of the kind of state that should be created and the aims it should pursue.

Although in case of Pakistan Islam was used to justify the two nation theory in favor of a separate nation for the Muslims. Even cursorily, it is worth noting that Myrdal had very high regard for Islam. He writes very highly about Islam and its compatibility with the modernization ideals, and at the same time he recognized the cultural distortions of Islam as a received legacy at the popular level.This is important in the context of Pakistan because it is a Muslim majority country. Whether one views the role of religion in development and transformation of a society positively or negatively, it is undeniable that religion at the popular level has a deep and strong hold on the mass.

b. Lack of pre-independence planning

“The campaign for Pakistan … left confusion about the aims and policies to be pursued by the new state. … [T]he Muslim League in pre-independence times was so locked in the fight for partition that it never developed a social and economic program as did the Indian Congress. What the new state should do for its citizens – other than free them from Hindu domination – was left vague and uncertain. The political inclinations of most of the leaders of the League were probably similar to those of British conservatives a few generations ago; they wanted the new state to be secular and in some sense modern, not only in its formal political institutions; it should even be progressive, provided their privileged position was not jeopardized.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 308]

While there were the 6, 7, and 11 resolutions as part of the pre-independence political campaign in East Pakistan, none of those sets of resolution amounted to a vision that had any bearing on it as independent nation, partly because those resolutions where designed for seeking autonomy, not independence. Although some still argue, with some validity, that the campaign for autonomy was merely a disguise for pushing the country to the brink of separation, facilitating the environment and mood for complete independence.

Similar to the experience of Pakistan, where the privileged class of the pre-independence period vigorously sought, fought for and succeeded in preserving and enhancing their privileges, primarily the big landlords and feudals in Pakistan [Myrdal, 1968, p. 234-235], the essential similarity lies in the motivation and campaign of the “privileged” class, whatever its composition or nature is, to preserve its reign.

c. The initial difficulty

Recognizing the importance of the initial difficulty faced by Pakistan, Myrdal commented: “Born in communal strife and political and economic chaos and bordered by hostile neighbors, the country’s mere survival as a political unit was remarkable.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 305]. Among the aspects of initial difficulty, he included (a) the separation of the two wings of the country thousand miles apart with a hostile country in between; relatively less natural resources compared to India; inherited hardly any main offices of major firms, banks, or industry; and inherited fewer administrators, clerks, professional and business people, and skilled workers than India. [Myrdal, 1968, p. 305]

Pakistan inherited a disproportionately smaller share of the resources at independence compared to its counterpart in India Yet, quite similarly, Myrdal’s statement about the survival of Pakistan was “remarkable”, given the greater initial difficulty.

 

d. Lack of democratic leadership

In light of the modernization goals, as stated and embraced publicly by Pakistani leaders, democracy was to be the political norm. “As in the other liberated countries of South Asia, it was commonly agreed that Pakistan should be a democratic state in which fundamental rights and social justice were guaranteed to all and power resided with the governed.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 312] Myrdal especially emphasized the point that as a part of pre-Independence vision, Indian leadership had a commitment to build a democratic tradition, unlike the Pakistani leadership. Even throughout the independence movement, Indian leadership fostered a more populist form of culture, rather than authoritarian leadership. Myrdal also makes a point as to how the charisma of Jinnah was such that neither he liked to be challenged, nor did anyone dare to. Those around him elevated him to “Quaid-e-Azam” (great leader) compared to a more down-to-earth title for Gandhi, the Mahatma (great souled), or to the ordinary people, Bapuji.

“[W]ithin the Indian National Congress the fundamental principle of government by discussion, with its correlatives of cooperation and discipline, had been established. Pakistan had far fewer leaders of similar caliber and less of a tradition of discussion among them. Jinnah not only became the permanent President of the Muslim League; he converted his position into a virtual dictatorship. … In India the Congress kept together after independence and preserved its popular following and, particularly in the beginning, a remarkable degree of centralized direction. It thus remained an effective political machine. … This had given the stability to government in India that Pakistan has not enjoyed.” [Myrdal, 1968, pp. 246-247]

 

e. National consolidation and emotional integration

For any kind of development a reasonable level of political and social stability and cohesion is a must. Myrdal’s perspective on this is contained in two different expressions: national consolidation and emotional integration. In regard to those who articulate the modernization ideals in the Asian Drama, in his view, “harbor within themselves sharply conflicting valuations. … In Western countries such differences also exist, but through a long process of national consolidation, or of what in India is called ‘emotional integration,’ these differences have tended to diminish. The modern democratic welfare states developed in the West during the past half century have a high degree of ‘created harmony’ of interests and ideals.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 53]

In evaluating the experience of Pakistan in terms of national consolidation, writing more than twenty years after the independence and two years before partition, Myrdal wrote: “Any government in Pakistan that tries to engender national consolidation and development must cope with certain basic difficulties. It is a very poor country without a history of political identity or national allegiance. Its population is divided by widespread social and economic inequalities and its solidarity further strained by a geographical division into two roughly equal units whose principal tie is a common religion and a shared animosity to the large neighbor that separates them. Clearly, religion and resentment against a neighboring state are precarious foundations on which to build a modern state.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 338]

Myrdal, quite empathetically, discusses the issue of indigenous languages and even the specific case of the Language Movement in East Pakistan. “No real ‘emotional integration’ of the new nations and therefore no secure national consolidation is possible as long as the members of the tiny upper class in charge of administration, law enforcement, and modernized business and industry communicate in a European language and the masses speak only their native tongue. … On rational grounds, therefore, increased use of the indigenous language must be part of the planning in all South Asian countries, both in the conduct of ordinary affairs and in businesses, governmental bodies, and, of course, schools and universities.” [Myrdal, 1968, pp. 81-82]

Pakistan went far beyond just a failure to recognize such needs. During the earliest days of Pakistan, there was a deliberate effort to impose a language on the majority of the country as a national language. The seed of emotional rift that was sowed by the leaders of Muslim League only inevitably grew with no genuine effort toward ‘emotional integration.’ Rather, economic as well all other policies in Pakistan were basically discriminatory particularly toward East Pakistan, where the majority of the country resided.

What is the Bangladesh experience? Well, almost business as usual. If Pakistan had a tenuous national purpose, the case of Bangladesh was no better. The hatred for Pakistanis, however, much justified in light of the two decades’ experience as one nation, has not proven to be a sufficient foundation for a better future in light of the post-independence experience of Bangladesh.

The country is falling apart from inside due to a serious lack of emotional integration both at the domestic as well as the regional level. The trauma of India-Pakistan separation after the British left has not healed and no genuine effort has been made from either side in that direction since 1947. The post-independence experience of Pakistan has not been toward an emotional integration. The most tragic fact about that is the way Bangladesh had to seek its independence in 1971. Even after 1971, Pakistan’s emotional integration is not in the positive direction: those who migrated to Pakistan from India and those who are “originally” from Pakistan are still killing each other. The post-independence direction of Bangladesh is not much different.

One of the most important rifts serving as a stumbling block toward emotional integration and national consolidation is indicated by the fact that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Independence movement and the subsequent PM of Bangladesh, was brutally assassinated along with most of his family members. The ruling party, the same party of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is now at loggerhead with combined opposition, which has brought the country to a dead-end. Some observers even mention about a potential civil war.

 

f. Lack of constructive opposition

Myrdal attributes relative success of India, as compared to Pakistan, in regard to institutionalization of democracy to the leadership of India in developing a better political culture traceable even during the pre-independence period.

Pakistan’s case was different as we have already explained above. Due to the authoritarian culture of the leadership during pre-independence as well as post-independence period, the country is yet to see any genuine transition toward a stable and functional democracy. The last few “elected” regimes under Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and their internecine politics resulted into reassertion and reemergence of the military rule.

The political culture and experience of Bangladesh are similar. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and General Zia were assassinated, General Ershad was overthrown and then thrown into jail, Khaleda Zia’s elected government was brought down by the united movement of the opposition, and now the government of Sheikh Hasina is facing the tit from the combined opposition for the earlier tat. The people some time get tired of such farcical democracy as it seems that the common people of Pakistan are not that much bothered about the return of the military rule.

Reflecting on the nature and the conduct of opposition parties, whoever they may be at different times – call it the opposition culture – Myrdal wrote: “Even the most devoted friend of political democracy cannot see much hope for national consolidation and development in the fight being waged in the name of democracy by the present opposition parties.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 341]

As Myrdal pointed out that the call for freedom from domination of the British and the Hindu could incite one group against the other, but “its positive value in creating national identity and purpose was to prove rather illusory” in Pakistan in post-1947 period. The case of Bangladesh, seeking freedom from the domination of the Pakistanis also, so far, has proved illusory “in creating national identity and purpose” conducive for a true development and transformation.

Interestingly, Myrdal was not very convinced that democracy has a bright future in Pakistan, given its past authoritarian history and culture. More importantly, he did not feel that, generally speaking, western-type democracy was a precondition toward development. Based on his analysis, he saw, in a somewhat paradoxical fashion, “the elites rather than the masses are the instruments of social change in the context of a paternalistic and authoritarian political structure” [Chossudovsky, p. 106]. Probably giving some credence to the notion of “enlightened despotism”, he wrote: “It may be doubted whether this ideal of political democracy – with political power based on free elections and with freedom of assembly, press, and other civil liberties – should be given weight in formulating the modernization ideals. … Experience has shown that, unlike other value premises, this ideal is not essential to a system comprising all the other modernization ideals. National independence, national consolidation, changes in institutions and attitudes, equalization, rise of productivity, rise and redirection of consumption, and more generally, planning for development can be attained by an authoritarian regime bent on their realization. On the other hand, the substitution of an authoritarian regime for a more democratic one gives no assurance that policies will be directed toward the realization of those ideals, or that, if so directed, they will be more effective.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 65]

Those enamored with modernization ideals might not quite agree with Myrdal’s viewpoint as articulated above, but that is not probably because Myrdal is incorrect, but because at least the semblance of democracy is indispensable in modern times. Thus, even the military juntas who come to power through backdoors, the first thing they have to proclaim is their deep faith in democracy.

Somewhat sympathetically, Myrdal refers to Ayub Khan’s comment about the failed politicians: “They were given a system of government totally unsuited to the temper and climate of the country.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 324] Myrdal’s own remark in regard to the Ayub Khan’s regime was even more revealing: “Thus what hope there is for progress in Pakistan must be attached to the present quasi-dictatorial regime: to its ability, despite its very narrow class basis, to advance national goals of planning, equality, and consolidation and to purse the state of corruption.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 341] The ghost of Ayub Khan returned as General Musharraf in Pakistan, reinforcing Myrdal’s point.

Is the experience of Pakistan, especially the dysfunctional democracy, another confirmation of Myrdal’s prognosis that the politicians of Pakistan too are incompatible to a culture of functional democracy? Pakistan seems to have vindicated him, even posthumously. Would the case of Bangladesh be any different?

 

Conclusion 

As enunciated in this paper, in light of Myrdal’s Asian Drama, there are certain real non-economic determinants or impediments to economic development that may cause a country to perpetuate in a vicious circle. Myrdal’s contribution in the field of economic development had most profound effect as development paradigms have shifted through several phases including basic needs approach and sustainable development. Unfortunately, many of the countries Myrdal chose as actors in his drama probably have not read the drama or have not read as assiduously as Myrdal himself strove to write. Myrdal passed away in 1987 and thus lived nearly two decades after Asian Drama was published. He was greatly disappointed by the general path followed by most of the countries included in Asian Drama. [Ethier, p. 84] For a true transformation of any economy, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, addressing the non-economic problems is critical. Although Bangladesh was not dealt with as a separate unit for his analysis, remarkably, as articulated in this paper, the experience of Bangladesh fits quite snugly into Myrdal’s analysis as simply a continuation of Pakistan’s experience.

Is there any hope? Well, Myrdal was only cautiously optimistic about Pakistan. Whatever conclusions Myrdal drew and opinions expressed were merely results of his most comprehensive analysis of development issues to date. Myrdal’s conception of Asian Drama was not like a staged drama with a predetermined end. Thus, there is hope.

Myrdal wrote: “In the classic conception of drama – as in the theoretical phase of a scientific study – the will of the actors was confined in the shackles of determinism. The outcome at the final curtain was predetermined by the opening up of the drama in the first act, accounting for all the conditions and causes of later developments. The protagonist carried his ultimate fate in his soul, while he was groping for his destiny. In life, while the drama is still unfolding – as in the practical phase of a study, when policy inferences are drawn from value premises as well as from premises based on empirical evidence – the will is instead assumed to be free, within limits, to choose between alternative courses of action. History, then, is not taken to be predetermined, but within the power of man to shape. And the drama thus conceived is not necessarily tragedy.” [Myrdal, 1968, p. 35]

  • Gunnar Myrdal
    Economist
  • Karl Gunnar Myrdal was a Swedish Nobel Laureate economist, sociologist, and politician. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Friedrich Hayek for “their pioneering work …

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