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Archive for March, 2016

Nawaz Sharif : A Family of Pathological Liars & Documents That Prove it

 All Dictators Lie, Nawaz Sharif lies More than other Dictators

Claims he has no properties except the house he lives in Raiwind Palace.

Nawaz Sharif : A Family of Pathological Liars

 
 
 Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is among a few lawmakers who are billionaires, according to statements of assets and liabilities of parliamentarians released by the Election Commission of the country.

The net value of assets of the President of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party is over US Dollars 8-22 Billion 

 
 

Tweets About Documentary Proofs of Lies

  1.  Asad Kharal Retweeted

    Blatant Lies Exposed When Hassan Nawaz Sharif bought #FlagshipInvestment Ltd in 2001, his res was 17 Park Lane flats

     

     
  2.  Asad Kharal Retweeted

    #Sharifs Blatant Lies Exposed Nawaz Sharif bought anthr flat on 3rd flr 17, Avenfield Hse, Park Lane on 1 June 93

     

     
  3.  Asad Kharal Retweeted

    #Sharifs Blatant Lies Exposed Nawaz Sharif bought flat on 3rd floor 16, Avenfield House, Park Lane on 31 July 95

     

     

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Brussels Terror Attacks: Israel Again Targets Europe By Sajjad Shaukat

 

Brussels Terror Attacks: Israel Again Targets Europe

 

By Sajjad Shaukat

 

 

 

 

At least 37 people have been killed and several seriously injured in the coordinated terror attacks at Brussels international airport and a city metro station, which took place today. The state-owned Belga news agency reports that shots were fired and shouts in Arabic were heard before the two explosions. The attacks come four days after Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in the Paris attacks, was seized in Belgium.

 

French President Francois Hollande said, “The terrorists have struck Belgium, but it is Europe that was targeted.”

 

Belgium’s Interior Minister Jan Jambon had said on Monday that the country was on the highest level of alert for possible revenge attacks after the capture of Salah Abdeslam. He told Belgian radio: “We know that stopping one cell can… push others into action. We are aware of it in this case.’

 

 

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As yet there has been no claim of responsibility, but according to jihadi watcher Michael Horowitz, a security analyst at the Levantine Group, social media accounts linked to Islamic State militants (ISIS or ISIL) have praised the attacks. The daily, Express also pointed out ISIS behind Brussels blasts.

 

However, we cannot blame Israel for the Brussels terror attacks without some solid reasons. In this regard, first of all, it is notable that regarding a case in the court, a judge always wants solid evidence to give his verdict. While a lawyer or advocate always defends the case of his client at every cost. Sometimes, reality of the event exists, but there is no solid evidence which could be produced in the court. It gives benefit of doubt to the accused who is set free by the concerned court. Even, in some cases, a judge is so impressed by the arguments of a lawyer that he ignores the circumstantial evidence. Quite contrarily, in international politics, we need in-depth analysis to know the real entity, as in relation to the Brussels blasts.

 

As regards terrorism, Machiavelli advises the rulers to have a lion-like image outwardly, and act upon the traits of goat inwardly. He also suggests them foreign adventures and the use of terror to obtain their goals. In his sense, a good ruler should be a good opportunist and hypocrite. While echoing Machiavelli, Morgenthau points out that sometimes, rulers act upon immoral activities like deceit, fraud, falsehood and even murder to fulfill their selfish aims.

 

Indicating double game, Morgenthau, and Palmer and Perkins opine, “Just as power became the instrument of ambitious nationalism and state’s leaders, it has now become the tool of ideologies. The true nature of the policy is concealed by ideological justifications and rationalization.”

 

If the double game of President Bush (The Senior) and George W. Bush franchised Al-Qaeda on global level, President Obama’s dual policy franchised both Al-Qaeda and ISIS as part of the anti-Muslim campaign and left no stone unturned in advancing the agenda of the Zionists, Israeli lobbies and the neoconservatives in the pretext of global war on terror. Secretly, Obama authorized CIA to create ISIS. His perennial covert support to the Israeli atrocities on the Palestinians, silence over the supply (Smuggling) of oil by ISIS to some European countries whose governments have also not taken action against those companies which are exporting oil from the ISIS-controlled regions of Iraq, CIA-assisted Al-Qaeda (Al-Nusra Front) and ISIS militants in Syria, continued sectarian violence and prolonged engagement of its troops (NATO) in Afghanistan might be cited as instance. By continuing the secret strategy of his predecessor—occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama-led Administration went on with various techniques of ruthless terror and extrajudicial killings of the innocent persons—assisting undemocratic forces, toppling the elected government in Egypt, and like Iraq, creation of more failed states such as Libya, Syria, Yemen etc., opening the doors for Al-Qaeda and ISIS militants to establish Israel’s supremacy in the Middle East in particular and the world in general.

 

In this respect, the US President Barrack Obama, the neoconservatives and the Zionist-lobbies who have been backing the different war for a greater Israel, at cost of the Muslim World and the loyalist Americans were badly frustrated by unexpected developments after the September 30, 2015 such as Russian successful airstrikes on the ISIS targets in the northern Syria and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, its coalition with Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon-based Hezbollah in support of Syrian President Assad, US Defense Department’s announcement to abandon the goal of training the Syrian rebels, retreat of the CIA-supported rebels and mercenaries after their failure to topple the Assad government, proving links of Al-Qaeda and ISIS with America and Israeli, Putin’s clear-cut statement, indicating the Zionist regime in the US and Israel for their “phony war on ISIS”, and remarking, “NWO (New World Order) agents and Satan worshipers simply have no clothes,” including the first Vienna meeting where the US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to keep the Syrian president in power, not to allow ISIS militants group to reign in Syria, absence of Israel in the meeting and America’s decision of sending 50 special forces to Syria to help in taking down ISIS terrorists had clearly exposed the covert aims of the US global war on terror.

 

Meanwhile, some other developments such as decision of the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to withdraw Canadian fighter jets from the US-led mission against ISIS, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement to abandon plans to carry out airstrikes against ISIS positions in Syria, after his failure to receive support from Labour MPs, reluctance of NATO countries to support America’s fake global war on terror and acceptance of Syrian refuges by the European countries, especially Germany, the EU rule to boycott goods produced in Israeli settlements on the West Bank, including US internal problems like curtailment of liberties, failure of the of Obamacare, leakage of Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), (An agreement to suppress sovereign democratic rights in favour of multinational corporations), criticism of Hilary Clinton about contributions of election-campaign from Wall Street backers etc. had disappointed the Obama Administration. While in wake of the election-campaign, Republicans and American public was also criticizing the government of Democrats and CIA for America’s (NATO) longest war in Afghanistan, facing defeatism, useless proxy wars under the cover of global war on terror and US heavy cost of war which caused serious financial crisis, adding to the dilemmas of Americans.

 

These developments had also frustrated Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who also evolved a new theory of the Holocaust to get the sympathies of the US-led western entities, particularly, Europe by revealing, “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews, he wanted to expel the Jews…a World War II-era Palestinian leader, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Nazi sympathizer, Haj Amin al-Husseini convinced Hitler to adopt their final solution to exterminate Jews.”

 

It is of particular attention that on January 7, 2015, two Islamic militants attacked the office of French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and killed 13 people on January 9, 2015. Two brothers namely Said and Cherif Kouachi suspected for the incident were killed in a shootout with Police—in a hostage-taking situation at a signage company in Dammartinen-Goele where some people were also targeted. Thus, the gunmen killed total 17 persons. In this context, on January 11, 2015, a rally was organized in Paris—with an estimated 1.6 million people in which 40 world leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu participated to express solidarity with the magazine. Afterwards, Mossad connections with Charlie Hebdo incident had been exposed by many senior analysts and social media bloggers, as the Zionist groups and Mossad used the episode to punish France on recognizing Palestinian state and to desist other EU countries to avoid such approach on Palestinians.

 

Similarly, on July 22, 2011, the twin terror-attacks in Oslo, Norway, killed 80 persons. The Norwegian man Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, who admitted these attacks was obsessed with what he saw as the Muslim immigration—left behind a detailed online manifesto, calling for a Christian war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination. In this regard, Kevin Barrett disclosed on October 14, 2015 through Veterans Today, “The official story claims that Anders Breivik acted alone…but survivors of the massacre on Utoya Island, which annihilated the anti-Zionist leadership of the youth wing of the Norwegian Labor Party, reported there were multiple gunmen…as in dozens of other false flag terror operations. The purpose was to punish Norway and its Labor Party for two policy breaches: Refusing to join NATO’s war on Libya, and moving toward a full boycott of Israel.”

 

Nevertheless, in order to revive the global war on terror, the neo-conservatives, Zionists and Israel needed the assistance of the whole Europe. For the purpose, conspiracy of the November 13 terror attacks in Paris was definitely prepared and the leading role was played by Mossad. In this respect, arrest of Israeli Col. Shahak in Iraq, his admission, proving links of Al-Qaeda and ISIS with America and Israel (Mossad) and medical treatment of the ISIS warriors in the Israeli hospitals might be cited as example. ISIS which was already being assisted by the CIA and Mossad was directed to send its militants in Paris.

 

Israel achieved its several sinister designs in the post-Paris attacks phenomena and the shooting at San Bernardino, California. Like the drastic aftermath of 9/11 tragedy, rulers and politicians of the US-led Western countries, especially of Europe, including their media have been misguiding their general public by creating chauvinism against the Muslims. They are propagating the so-called threat of Islamophobia. In one way or the other, the Muslims are being persecuted in the US and other Western countries, particularly in Europe.

 

As regards the anti-Muslim policy, on January 18, 2015, while singling out only Muslim women British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Muslim women who fail to learn English to a high enough standard could face deportation from Britain. He also suggested that poor English skills can leave people “more susceptible to the messages of groups like Islamic State (IS).”

Earlier, Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee for US presidential candidate had called for a ban on Muslims, entering the United States.

 

On January 25, 2016, The EU’s law enforcement agency Europol disclosed that ISIS has set up special forces style training camps in Europe, as they plot mass casualty civilian strikes on the continent. And under the threat of ISIS, especially European governments and EU have been expelling the immigrants, particularly the Muslims from their countries, while discouraging more Syrian refugees. On the other side, they are also trying to resolve the Syrian crisis. However, it shows contradictory policy.

 

After the Paris terror attacks, Israel-led America also got the assistance of its western allies (NATO) against Russia. And as part of their ambivalent approach, American jet fighters and those of its Western coalition are targeting the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria including Libya.

 

It was due to the dual policy of the US-led Europe that ISIS which is most dangerous terrorist group than Al-Qaeda rapidly spread its tentacles all over the world. On January 14, 2015, multiple blasts and gunfire killed seven people and jolted the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The ISIS claimed responsibility. On October 4, 2015, ISIS-affiliated militant outfit Boko Haram claims responsibility for Nigeria’s deadly suicide bombings which killed 18 people on October 4. This outfit is also behind recent suicide attacks in Syria, Turkey, Iraq etc.

 

After the Paris attacks and acceleration of threat by ISIS, some of the European leaders have been empathizing upon the solution of the Palestinians issue.

 

In this connection, the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom’s statement, hours after the Paris tragedy caused a stir in Jerusalem, as she said that “to counteract the radicalization, we must go back to the situation in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that there is no future: we must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.”

 

Even, a debate started between the Zionists and non-Zionist Jews for the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Even, a majority of the western intellectuals have also been emphasizing upon the settlement of this dispute.

 

Most significantly, some recent developments like demoralization of the ISIS terrorists and the rebels who are on flee, after the Russia-led coalition reoccupied several territories in Iraq and Syria, UNO-backed ceasefire in Syria, brokered by the major powers including Russia and the United States, Russian President Putin’s surprise announcement to withdraw most of the forces from Syria, after strengthening the Assad regime—and hailing of Putin’s decision by Obama, UNO and European leaders irritated Tel Aviv. Putin’s favour to the UNO peace plan for Syria has also thwarted the B-Plan of Kerry who had said that if ceasefire or peace plan failed, Syria will be divided.

 

Besides, in wake of the presidential election-campaign, ordinary Americans are focusing on internal problems which are the result of prolonged war on terror. Patriot Americans are openly criticizing the Zionist-protected policies of the US. Taking cognizance, Obama has asked Turkey to withdraw its forces from Iraq’s territories. In the recent past, John Kerry gave ultimatum to the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree for the two-state solution of the Palestinian dispute.

 

In these circumstances, with the help of ISIS and Mossad, Israel again targetted Europe by arranging the Brussels blasts in order to avoid the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and to implicate Syria-based ISIS—to thwart the ceasefire in Syria, to cause a major war between Russia and the US-led NATO, while turning the world to clash of civilizations, especially between the Muslim and the Christian worlds.  

 

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

 

Email: sajjad_logic_pak@hotmail.com

 

Courtesy Veterans Today

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Global Terrorism Destroying Humanity: How to Change the Future? by Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

 

Uncommon Thought Journal

Analysis of the critical issues of our times

February 11, 2016

Global Terrorism Destroying Humanity: How to Change the Future?

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

 

 

 

“Nobody can predict which way the ‘Arab Awakening’ will turn this year… Over the decades of unchallenging aggressive adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and now in Syria, West and North Africa and soon in Saudi Arab, America has earned the distinction of being a leader in intrinsic and endless corrupted wars to dismantle, humiliate, kill and destroy the Arab people and maintain the surge for more bloodsheds anytime – anywhere…. Iraq? Its own latent civil war will go on grinding up the bones of civil society while we largely ignore its agony; there are days now when more Iraqis are killed than Syrians, though you wouldn’t know it from the nightly news. And the Gulf? Arabia, where the first Arab awakening began? Where, indeed, the first Arab revolution – the advent of Islam – burst forth upon the world. There are those who say that the Gulf kingdoms will remain secure for years to come. Don’t count on it. Watch Saudi Arabia. Remember what that British diplomat wrote 130 years ago. “Even in Mecca…” (Robert FiskCould Saudi Arabia be Next?”The Independent).

 

For centuries, the Europeans (British, French, Italian and Dutch) built empires by colonizing the Islamic world. They used millions of subjugated people to fight the First and 2nd World Wars. They viewed the subjects as unworthy creatures at the ballot box and imposed White man’s reputedly superior thinking, culture, language and laws on the colonized Muslim people. Handing out of favors, the Europeans transformed loyal tribal agents into kings, royals, presidents and dictatorship role. This is how Britain stole Palestine from its people. Now the people are awakened to pursue democratic change and the absolute rulers are a liability.

mournfulThe US led West Europeans want to replace the historical dummies to articulate a different future of their own. All the superpowers are collaborating military operations to destroy the entire Arab region under the pretext of the “war on terrorism.” This planned scheme will sideline the core issue of the Arab Middle East – freedom of Palestine and normalization of relations with the State of Israel. After the US planned destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, Syria is virtually a collapsed country. It’s economic, civic and political infrastructures are in ruins. Millions of Iraqi and Syrian civilians are victims of insanity because of the authoritarian regime of Bashar-al-Assad, Al-Abidi or the coalition of the US-Russia and Europeans. Most West Europeans, except Germany, used the Arabs as soldiers during the two World Wars are now treating the refugees as an animal herd to be barricaded under razor wires. Is there a responsible global governance to safeguard mankind?

The UNO is fast becoming a ‘wait and see’ institution – just to make declarations. This is the same chronic sickness that caused the downfall of the League of Nations and brought about the catastrophic curse of the 2nd WW. Complacency joined by wickedness, authoritarian Arab leaders are engaged in wars that make no sense and lack rational intent and purpose. Yemen, Libya, Egypt are targeted to be politically destabilized and torn apart by sectarian conflicts. Iran and Saudi Arabia’s reactionary policies are flaring up more disastrous sectarian killings. Many Iranian-backed extreme groups, including Hezbollah, are fighting in Iraq and Syria to maintain the cruelty of sectarian warfare. Their support to Al-Assad dynasty and fighting against fellow Muslims are a shame to the unity and teachings of Islam. It is unlikely that these countries could ever recover what is destroyed and was built since the ancient time. Unpredictable but paranoid and vengeful political monsters have incapacitated the human faculties of rational thinking across the Arab-Muslim world leaving their nations morally and intellectually crippled in global affairs.

The Western coalition and Russia are collaborating on a plan aimed at large scale deaths and annihilation of the entire Arab world. After the WW2 it was Palestine, now the entire Arab Peninsula will be occupied by the superpowers. Russian-American bombing are destroying the masses and habitats. If few millions – just the numbers are abstracted from the population data, it is statistic and nothing about human casualties. Arabs are vanishing somewhere, not the Americans or Russians. The police apparatus planned and managed by the Western nations have dehumanized the Arab population with fear and hatred of the authoritarianism. The Arab citizens are just a helpless statistic. They could be easily broken and slaughtered. The civilians are escaping the insanity of foreign bombing and tyranny of authoritarianism.

The wars against the oil enriched Middle East are a distraction from the home-based political and economic issues, be it the US or Russia. U.S. Spy Chiefs Think The World Is Pretty Much Going To Hell”reads the headlines of Foreign Policy (February 9,2016)…..from the Islamic State gaining strength in Libya, to Kim Jong Un shopping some of the world’s most dangerous weapons, here are the top takeaways from a grim day with the nation’s top spooks. The magazine wonders,Why are Russian Engineers Working at an Islamic State-Controlled Gas Plant in Syria?The world knows Russia and the US are collaborating in the Middle East warfare for their own interests. Secretary Kerry alleges that Russia is not helping in peace talks. One wonders, who has the focused mind and rational agenda for peacemaking in the Arab world? The need is urgent for the informed global community to intervene and to stop the daily carnage happening across the Middle East. Pepe Escobar (“Empire of Chaos Preparing For More Fireworks in 2016” Global Research: 12/24/2016), an independent geopolitical analysts and author of Empire in Chaos (2014), explains that:

“The Empire of Chaos, today, is not about complacency. It’s about hubris – and fear. Ever since the start of the Cold War the crucial question has been who would control the great trading networks of Eurasia – or the “heartland”….. Whatever happens in the so-called Syrian peace process the proxy war between Washington and Moscow will continue.”

 

“Terrorism” is a Political Myth of Action vs. Reaction

What is more alarming in the 21st century than when the corporate world’s hired big affluent minds and news-making intellect offer fabricated facts of history to keep the masses under constant fear and red-alerts that have American and other Western societies fearing outrageous trends of “extremism” and “terrorism” coming from the Islamic societies? In a rational perspective, “terrorism” does not grow out of any particular land or culture but it is a global historical phenomenon of action vs. reaction game. It was best explained by British author and producer Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear) in a BBC documentary challenging the American version of the “War on Terrorism”, that spells out the myth with clarity:

“international terrorism is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media.”

Let us be absolutely clear that the US-led forces, including the Europeans, were not sent to Afghanistan or Iraq to defend democracy, freedom, human rights and liberty, but to occupy those nations and exploit their natural resources (and in some instances to test new and invisible weapons on easily available civilian targets). The world over, humanity is the net casualty of this horrible crime. Who gained most out of the planned miseries, bloodbaths and cruelty to fellow human beings? The Western oil companies, Washington-based military-industrial complex and the weapon manufacturers in the US and Western Europe.

Across the globe “terrorism,” whether it originates in the Western political culture or reactionary “terrorism,” is fast growing in the Muslim societies. The problem is critical and consuming too much time and energy and lives which should be used for the good of mankind living in peace not in adversity and continuing warfare. Do the Americans, or other allied with warrior cliques, not know or have the ability to opt out of the degenerating warfare and its consequential ripple effects for the future of mankind?

 

We Need New Vision and Proactive Thinking for Change and Adaptability to the Future

Aggressiveness, police raids and irrational harsh legal judgments do not articulate cooperation and respect for human dignity or social harmony and peace in human society but divide people in hatred, fear and more conflicts. You cannot change a society with law and order dictum. When a problem is misunderstood, its diagnostic approach will be wrong. An out of the official box approach to understand the problem is urgently needed. The major news media corporations in North America and Western Europe are aligned to the establishments and tainted with biased coverage as they get paid via ads and secret dealings. None of this is helpful to foster change and societal advancement for a peaceful future. Mankind looks for change in strategic thinking and actions. “In the name of “System Change, Not Climate Change”, points out Paul Street (“For Intelligent Civilizations on Earth”) “we can rescue and preserve humanity and livable ecology through mass resistance and a revolutionary transformation that takes us beyond the world’s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money, profit, empire, and eco-cide.”

Most egoistic leaders once triumphed into political powerhouses; they ignore primary human values of peace, co-existence, freedom and liberty? If Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were alive, their moral and intellectual souls must have been painfully disturbed – how George W. Bush, Blair and Obama tortured the innocent people at Guantanomo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The future generations must not be entrapped by the vengeful reactionary politics of the post 9/11 decade. Human decency and futuristic priorities would deserve rethinking and change in global policies and behaviors. Time and emerging opportunities warrant new societal thinking and approaches, and new visions for change and the future-making. But change and creativity and new visions will not emerge out of the obsolete, redundant and failed individualistic absolutism of the few insane leaders. Intelligent and effective leaders offer hope and optimism in situations of adversity and share proactive vision, and demonstrate flexibility for navigational change when facts of life warrant a change; and eagerness to learn the art of good communication and to do the best for mankind.

The informed global community wishes to see meaningful dialogue, reconciliation and opportunities for peaceful settlement of the merging conflicts in the Arab world. Have two World Wars not resolved any problems facing humanity? What is the cure to raging indifference and cruelty to the interests of the whole of mankind?  The 21st century new-age complex political, economic, social and strategic challenges and the encompassing opportunities warrant new thinking, new leaders and new visions for change, conflict management and participatory peaceful future-making. Is the 21st century political genius more redundant, backward and unable to speak against the political drudgery and wickedness of the few sadistic warlords to destroy humanity? Perhaps, Robert Burns – the poet (“Man’s inhumanity to Man”, from his poem Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge, 1784), knew better and had an unparalleled and passionate moral and intellectual understanding of the human nature and interests of the global mankind to clarify:

 

‘Many and sharp the num’rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And Man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, –
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

 

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012.

Featured Graphic: By Hamid Najami (CC BY-ND 2.0)

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Incompetence Worse Than Graft in Pakistan by Riaz Haq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010

Incompetence Worse Than Graft in Pakistan

By 

Riaz Haq

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtuesis a quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, also known as Honest Abe.

I do not entirely agree with Honest Abe, but what does it mean in Pakistan’s context, given the extraordinary and often hypocritical incessant demands for honesty by the nation’s TV talking heads? Is competence not as big or bigger virtue than honesty? Is it not Utopia to expect angels to rise to leadership positions in a nation that generally scores badly at all levels on corruption indexes? Is it not better to elect and expect greater competence from the leaders in Pakistan? The kind of competence that delivers good governance for the greater good of society?

Since the beginning of Pakistan’s existence as an independent nation in 1947, there has been constant repetition of slogans about piety and honesty by invoking the name of Islam, and its early legendary leaders, particularly great Caliphs like Omar. What is often overlooked is that Caliph Omar was not just impeccably honest; the key reason for his tremendous success as a great leader and highly respected ruler was his extraordinary competence in governance. Can we find a leader like Caliph Omar today? I think it’s highly unlikely. However, I do think it is possible to find people who are reasonably competent amongst Pakistanis to help lead the nation to a better future.

Looking around at the recent history of successful leaders in the Islamic world, likeMalaysia’s Mahathir Mohammad and Indonesia’s Suharto, there have been serious allegations of corruption and abuse of power against them. And yet, it is their sufficient competence in delivering good governance to their people that has brought great economic success and remarkable human development to their nations, and ultimately a greater measure of competent democratic governance to their highly literate electorates.

Beyond the Islamic world, there are various levels of corruption found in both developed and developing nations. But many of them have made significant strides in recent years, mainly because the leaders whom they have elected have been far more competent those in Pakistan. Even in Pakistan, whenever the military rulers have brought in technocrats and professionals to help develop and execute good policies, there have been periods of rapid growth. It is their competence, not their unassailable honesty, that has helped them deliver significant economic growth.

Pakistan’s average economic growth rate was 6.8% in the 60s (Gen. Ayub Khan), 4.5% in the 70s(Zulfikar Bhutto), 6.5% in the 80s (Gen. Zia ul-Haq), and 4.8% in the 90s (Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif). Growth picked up momentum in the 21st Century under General Musharraf, and from 2000-2007, Pakistan’s economy grew at an average 7.5%, making it the third fastest growing economy in Asia after China and India. There were 2-3 million new jobs created each year from 2000-2007, which significantly enlarged the middle class, and helped millions escape poverty.

 

Here is my incomplete wish list for the kind of competencies desirable in governing Pakistan at this critical juncture in its life:

1. Motivational Competency: The leadership needs to sell a vision of a secure, peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan, and motivate the people to work toward achieving it. It’s not going to be easy, but strong motivational skills can help inspire the nation, in spite of the deep skepticism and toxic cynicism that pervades the nation’s discourse today.

2. Security Competency: What the leadership needs is a comprehensive strategy using a mix of intelligence capability, political dialog, military force and close monitoring to isolate and defeat those who continue to perpetrate murder and mayhem on the streets of Pakistan. Such a policy must be developed, debated, sold to the people, and constantly refined to produce results.

3. Human Development Competency: No nation can achieve greatness unless its human resource potential is developed and utilized to the fullest. It is a challenge that will require a team of committed and competent professionals with the full backing and the resources of the state to build a public-private partnership for mass literacy campaigns and to provide access to food and health care. Beyond that, there will be a serious focus required to build great institutions of higher learning to develop knowledge based economy for the twenty-first century.

4. Economic Competency: There is a need to build a non-partisan economic leadership team with the best available talent and experience in Pakistan. Such a team should be chartered to come up with policies and programs to spur nation’s economic growth to create opportunities for the tens of millions of young people, and to generate the national resources for funding ambitious programs in human and economic development of the nation.

Can our current leadership do it? Their past record is not reassuring. However, if they make a serious effort toward it, and start to show some results, I am confident they will find real support for their efforts in Pakistan. Results from good governance by the politicians will be the best guarantee for the survival of democracy in Pakistan.

First Published :SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010

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WISH OUR DEMOCRATS MAY ALSO LEARN SOMETHING

 WISH OUR  “DEMOCRATS” MAY ALSO LEARN SOMETHING

Simplicity. If only other high-ups could learn such basics!
 

Greatness of Singapore – Instead of a huge wastage in State Dinner, Singapore PM hosts PM Modi in Komala Villas, a popular eatery in Singapore – a couple of vadas and chutney. This shows how to build a great economy by avoiding unnecessary extravaganza and pomp

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Isa Daudpota

Compare With Nawaz Sharif’s Life Style
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