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Archive for category RIGGED ELECTION 2013

Maryam Nawaz’s campaign against COAS:

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DYNASTIC POLITICS IN PAKISTAN

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Dynasty, it is the sequence of rulers considered from the same family. If we look upon the tradition of sub-continent then there is a long list in which rulers had arrived from the samefamily. Quoting the example of MUGHAL EMPIRE where Ruler ship chip changes among familymembers for a long time. While we can say that it is a common thing or basic thing which is followed in a Monarchy. Taking the same thing from ancient civilization, it is still followed in South Asia..You can say that is has become customary of Politics. If we took examples specifically from India and Pakistan, then we have seen that we have many examples of the dynastyAppearance. From Indira Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi rulers were changed, but from the same family. We can follow the same example in Pakistan, from Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to Benazir Bhutto and now Bilawal Bhutto the rulers are popping up from the same family.

Pakistan claims to be a democratic state, but the culture of family politics that is followed here is totally uncompliant to the basics of democracy. The transformation of ruler from Zulfiqar Bhutto to Benazir Bhutto to Bilawal Bhutto, it is seen that only faces are changed, they have same old slogans of “Roti Kapra or Makaaan” but the condition of the Nation and State is still not changed, they are exactly same as decades ago. Coming up to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, I can only say that it was the only tactic played by PPP or Asif Ali Zardari after the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto to stooge nation. We can’t deny the fact that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto were two great leaders, but it is not necessary that their children can also be good leaders or politicians.

Using the trend of Family politics, Bilawal was made Chairman of PPP. Can you ever imagine how just 18 year old boy canbecome Chairperson of such big political organization. Again, this was done to gain just POLITCIAL benefit. There are many leaders in the party who know politics more than 18 year old boy. This was only done to get the sympathies by using the name “Bhutto”.

PPP is working smarter, using such approach so they will have Sindh card always with them to enter a parliament otherwise their slogans are too old and can’t benefit them more.

In the recent years we had observed that the trend of Pakistani politics is changing a little bit. New slogans of change will be really challenging for the PPP. In addition to that Sindhi Nationalist are also a threat for them. But the real power of the PPP is ignorant society, which will always help them to get into power. So it is obvious that illiterate public of Sindh who are emotionally seduced will always stand behind PPP. Their sentiments with the name of Bhutto will always be used.

So, Bilawal Bhutto have a future in politics, not because he will be a great leader or politician, just because “Bhutto” which is tied to his name. Which is very enough to affect the followers of Bhuttoism.

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Pakistan: Leaders or Criminals By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

Pakistan: Leaders or Criminals

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By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

[At least 55 people were killed and more than 150 injured in a lethal suicide attack on the Pakistan side of Wagah border.]

Leaders with No accountability and No Shame
 

Pakistan is in ruins. The nation and its institutions, law and justice, commerce, thinking hubs, political governance all appear dysfunctional and self-contradictory. Eroding freedom of thought and action speaks of the missing accountability of the political elite. The nation is fast becoming a victim of the US planned blue-print being used in Iraq. Vengeful sectarian killings and dismantling of economic, political and moral infrastructures is used to incapacitate the nation by its own sadistic rulers. All fighting against each other to end the very existence by collective madness. The paid Pakistani political and security agents are instrumental in carrying out heinous crimes. Increasingly, and without any logical redress, common citizens are the targets of the political cruelty. No wonder, once conditions favorable to cruelty are established, it spreads like frightening wildfire. The governance demonstrates a dead-ended political conscience at the expense of the interests of the people. After a decade-old American entrapment in the bogus war on terrorism, the country has lost the energy and capacity to deal with any major problem of security or national unity. The foreign agenda is focused on breaking the moral and spiritual lifelines of the Pakistani nation by its own agents of influence. There are no brave and proactive politicians to stop the continuing political stagnation. The nation faces colossal disaster day in and day out but nobody is held accountable for the crimes. The Generals are convenient spectators and Nawaz Sharif is happy, the herd is politically manageable to complete his inherently fraudulent term of office as prime minister.

Daily blood baths of civilians go unabated, adding to the statistical record for lack of adequate security. The latest cold blooded murder of 55 innocent people at Wagha border and 150 or so injured adds nothing new to grieving citizens belief that Pakistan is governed by most inept, incompetent and corrupt people ever witnessed by an informed nation. No politicians assume responsibility for the protection and safeguard of life and property of ordinary Pakistanis. There is an obvious disconnect between the people and the political rulers constantly hated and feared by the masses. The conflicting time zones are widening in which ordinary people suffer versus the ruling elite breathe as daily civilian casualties continue to rise because of the Taliban attacks and targeted massacres of ordinary citizens. Whose failure is it, and who should be held accountable? Is the Pakistani security apparatus so incompetent and ill equipped that it cannot ensure public safety? Given the lack of accountability and lack of shame, there is nothing to prevent these political criminals from repeating their crimes. So the killings of the innocent civilians go unabated. Strange as it is, opposition activists raising voices against the Sharif regime are conveniently arrested and jailed, but not the Sharif brethren who kill the citizens at random and implement planned massacres. Those facilitating crimes against the people occupy positions of political leadership and even law and justice cannot question them. They are abetted by the political class, committed the greatest heist in history.
Assuming political power in Pakistan means supporting the king’s men of oligarchy. Nobody could dare to challenge their supremacy in the annals of public affairs. For almost three months thousands of people across wide spectrum of Pakistani society, were raising voices of REASON in Islamabad to imagine political change and to have the Sharif brothers held accountable for politically geared killings and death squads against peaceful demonstrators. The inaction contributes to the downfall of the country to obscurity and insanity often irreversible in time and space. This week, at Wagah international border, 55 civilians were cold bloodedly massacred by a group of Taliban. Reportedly 100 or more were critically injured. Sharif and military security officials have proven to be a failure to console the people in situation of emergencies and moments of pain and anguish.
A ‘Failed State’ or Quagmire of Political Insanity
Pakistan lives in self-inflicted turmoil of political and military intrigues – all deceiving all – all trying to gain their foothold in power either by attracting foreign interventions or creating catastrophic political hazards to dismantle the fabric of the originally Muslim nation. The stage actors want power and use it as a divine right of absolutism against the interests of the coerced masses. This set the stage for the gradual decadence of the meaning and purpose of the Pakistan Freedom Movement. The worst emerged when ZA Bhutto and General Yahya Khan refused to transfer power to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the majority East Pakistani leader after the 1971 national elections. They managed to kill several thousands of Pakistanis on both sides to retain power and ended up in humiliating surrender to India. Both betrayed the nation and both escaped the accountability. ZA Bhutto emerged as an absolute illegitimate leader of defeated Pakistan assuming the role of Martial Law administrator, President and later Prime Minister. Another military coup by General Zia ul-Haq got the US-other Western nation involved in military intervention to oust the Communist USSR from occupying neighboring Afghanistan and evolution of jihadist – Taliban struggle. In August 1988, Ms. Bhutto and her mother were reportedly responsible for the plane crash of General Zia ul Haq and Killings of 12 Generals and hundreds of others civilians including foreign diplomats. Subsequently, Ms. Bhutto and her mother were not charged with killings of so many precious lives but embraced as the first female PM. She was dismissed twice as corruption that knew no bound. Ms. Bhutto and Asif Zardari stole millions of dollars from Pakistan and were indicted by Swiss court on money laundering schemes. The $60. Million were never recovered by the national treasury. A crime-riddled political culture flourished in which these monsters floated freely. Nawaz Sharif was also dismissed twice on corruption charges. In 1999, he conspired to hijack a PIA incoming flight from SriLanka to Karachi in which the then COAS General Pervez Musharaf and 250 or more civilian passengers were traveling. Sharif had the plan to send the plane to India or to get it crashed. A military coup ousted Sharif and was tried on terrorism charges in a court law and exiled. General Musharaf and his colleagues traded-in Pakistan’s national interest including the nuclear program, and hundreds of innocent Pakistanis sold to populate infamous Guantanmo Bay terror prison in return for cash payments by George W. Bush. Musharaf lived in a $1.4 million newly bought mansion in London under British police 24/7 protection before returning to Pakistan. “Do Pakistanis have any sense of honor?” asked one British journalist of the Daily Telegraph. Would any honorable nation or country allow such criminals to reemerge as political leaders?
Pakistan Needs Educated and Intelligent Leaders to Cure the Political Curse
To imagine a progressive country, educated Pakistanis living abroad could be resourceful to transfer their knowledge and experiences for the good of the country and to strive for a Navigational Change. But how? Hold your breath! An American neurologist of Pakistani origin goes back passionately to serve the people. His clinic in Satellite town- Rawalpindi offers highly specialized systematic health care services to fellow Pakistanis. Even treats those who cannot pay the fee or medication bill. Thousands line up and day and night go to this clinic. The doctor starts getting warning messages from local ‘ghundas’ (rascals) asking for protection money. The doctor continues to work and informs the police. They too want their share of the protection money and do nothing. He complains to higher civic authorities upon getting death threats but nobody listens and does anything to ensure the safety of the doctor and clinic. One day hundred of patients get big surprise when they see the rampaged clinic and the doctor is nowhere to be seen. Lufhtansa Germany Airline flies to Lahore but does not change its crew over there. The fear of kidnappers demanding money haunts them all the time. What a Shame…. What a Shame … What a DISGRACE to a conscientious Pakistani that leaders of Pakistan’s Government cannot extend sense of security to a reputable international airline. No sensible person or global citizen will ever invest or travel to a country at the crossroads of daily bloodbaths, corruption and political gangsterism. Is this prevalent fact hard to grasp to any responsible person in Pakistan? Tourism is a lifeline to any developing nation like Pakistan. During the summer of 2013 under PM Sharif, 10 international tourists were cold blooded murdered by Taliban group near the K2 mountainous region. Is Pakistan that naïve and hopeless in security that it cannot protect the international tourists? Farzana Parveen would have liked to know why she was stoned to death right where law and justice were supposedly administered to have protected her at the Lahore High Court compound. Police were watching the horrifying killing. “Farzana Parveen Stoning Shames Pakistan.” (Asia Times: 6/2/2014). The terrifying scene portrayed in the global news media showed hundreds of spectators witnessing the most horrifying crime to human nature, not in darkness but in broad daylight, and right where freedom, human dignity, and honor of the citizens should have been protected – the Lahore High Court compound with police in attendance. It is incredibly shameful to be a Pakistani and to watch this inhuman atrocity out of the nowhere. Why the police did not offer protection to Farzana? Farzana’s soul must be wondering, why did society not protect her against this draconian act of violence? Where are the concerned citizens who claim to be believers – the Muslims who day and night talk about Islam as being the faith and value of their society? The Sharif brother’s investigation revealed nothing to hold the criminal responsible. In June, Karachi International Airport (“Pakistan in Quest of Political Change.” Uncommon Thought Journal, USA: 6/18/2014), was on flame under Talibans attacks. It was a devastating blow to the international image and security of Pakistan. Nobody resigned or was held responsible for failing to protect the airport. Could Sharif and the few complacent Generals assure the global community that Pakistan is a safe place to travel, study, visit and do business? If not, why not? The bogus assemblies, time killing discussions, Sharif and the few Generals are the people embedded with wrong thinking and doing the wrong things. They are part of the problem, not solution and have NO SENSE of the freedom, honor and dignity of the nation. There was no “peace process” between Pakistan and Taliban and there is no peace. Only the absence of peace, and the gnawing want for it, the desperation of the vanquished clearly visible on the mindset of public horizon.
There is a frightening trend of crime explosion across the nation. Daily killings of the civilians go unabated and unchecked by the security agencies. The blame game is centered on Talibans – the creation of the Bhutto family and the Generals. For almost two decades, Pakistan’s capacity for change has been badly fractured and its moral, intellectual and political consciousness derailed and undermined by the few. Bruce Riedel, one of President Obama’s advisors on Pakistan and the War on Terrorism (“Battle for the Soul of Pakistan” 1/4/2013, Brookings Institute and Centre for Middle East Policy), recently described the Pakistani rulers-both civilian and military: “Pakistanis cannot be trusted as they play dubious role, cheat and become double agents in War on Terror” and warns that: “The changes in Pakistan are unlikely to come peacefully and will have major implications for India and America. The stakes are huge in the most dangerous country in the world.”
Pakistan’s worst enemies are those who are unable to listen to voices of reason and peaceful activism for political change. The ruling elite and the people live in a conflicting time zone being unable to understand the meaning and essence of the Pakistan’s Freedom Movement. Pakistan faces multiple chronic problems which could undermine its future. To all concerned and thinking Pakistanis, the country needs a Navigational Change or we could end up losing our national freedom. What is the cure to the current problems? There is no magic pill to deal with all critical situations except a comprehensive new systematic approach for ‘Anew Pakistan.’ Few decades earlier, in “Pakistan: Enigma of Change” (Media Monitor Network, USA) and “Revisiting Pakistan Enigma of Change”, this author offered proactive vision for planned political change to evolve new institutions and new-age educated leadership for a sustainable future. For too long, the masses have experienced tormenting pains and political cruelty. Nawaz Sharif and his brother must be tried in a court of law for the killings of 14 civilians and injuring 80 peaceful activists at Minhaj al Quran Academy Lahore and stolen wealth. Despite evidence, the FIR against Sharif was not registered by police. Nawaz Sharif has no political integrity and must step down or take leave of absence. There is substantial evidence for the 2013 election rigging by the election commission members. Sharif would need a powerful jolt as criminals do not exit voluntarily from powerhouses. It will provide a logical breathing space for a planned and workable remedy to a highly critical political crisis and to enhance a sustainable Change goal. A new Government of National Unity should be formed under a non-partisan and non political leader of moral and intellectual integrity for a period of two years; a New Constitution should be framed with new public institutions under leadership of new generation of educated people; and then a new election could give meaning and clarity to the purpose of democracy and to transform the ideals of a progressive legitimate functional democracy. The Need is desperate for the Pakistani nation to think critically and see the Mirror and stand firm in raising voices of reason for accountability and political change. The people must ponder at past misconceptions and errors of judgments and to bring 21st century’s educated, proactive and intelligent young people into political leadership role and to safeguard the national interest, freedom of the nation and its future.
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.

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Economic Disaster then Terrorism -Expose Corrupt Minister Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi & his lieutenants

 

 

 

 

Economic Disaster then Terrorism -Expose Corrupt Minister Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi & his lieutenants

 

 

 

Please Expose Corrupt Minister Petroleum GOP & his lieutenants

The LNG Mega Scam has tested our wisdom and vigilance, and fortunately we, the people of Pakistan, have not failed!!  The dragon of this scam has harmed or swallowed many corporate bodies and professionals, but it is now succumbing under the pressure of media and corporate activism!

 After our initial effort to expose this scam, we have extended our hands to recently activated law enforcement agencies and hope they will play their role too!

 The following is an attempt to provide a concise summary of the LNG Mega Scam although it is very difficult to decipher a high-tech, white-collar crime sponsored by the Shahid Khaqan Abbasi                               


 

It all started by the petroleum ministry through Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) who’s MD Mubeen Saulat is now under active investigation by NAB for illegal award of LNG terminal contract to Engro, which is owned by Seith Dawood who is an underhand partner of the so-called rulers of Pakistan.

 

The background of the scam unfolded when officials of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) reported to the investigators that they were bypassed as the procuring agency by the ministry when the ministry empowered ISGS to award the LNG terminal contract. SSGC officials further stated that they were forced by the petroleum minister to sign an agreement for payment of the capacity payment of US Dollars 272,000 per day (about 3 crore Rupees per day) to the private terminal company of Engro, which amounts to US Dollars 100 million per year from the taxpayers’ money, irrespective of whether the terminal operates or does not operate to regasify LNG.

 

SSGC stated that they signed that illicit contract on the promise of the petroleum minister that subsequently PSO would provide them the comfort through an undertaking of bearing the cost of the capacity payments to Engro terminal company. However, PSO management declined to provide the said undertaking to safeguard the interest of their company by quoting legal and technical reasons, to which the minister took an exception and the management had to face his ire. The MD of SSGC who signed the illicit contract is under arrest and will hopefully reveal the related facts to the investigators.

 

Consequently, PSO was incapacitated by cutting its lifeline payments by the government so that the imminent petrol crises, foreseen and pre-warned by PSO management, could not be prevented. This paved the way for getting rid of the PSO management to carry out the illicit LNG project. Accordingly, the entire top management of PSO was sidelined/ suspended and the Board of PSO was dissolved on the pretense of enquiry into the petrol crisis.

 

Subsequently, Shahid Islam (a pawn) was placed as MD-PSO and was very unusually given the powers of the PSO Board by the government for a short time (on hit and run basis) to illegally import the LNG ships worth multi-million dollars in defiance of all rules and regulations of Pakistan and in absence of the company’s Board and top management.

 

Shahid Islam is the same person who was CFO of PIA when the present petroleum minister was Chairman of PIA. Shahid Islam is a co-founder of Air Blue and remained jail mate of Shahid Abbasi (petroleum minister) when they were arrested on the same charges of irregularities and fraud in PIA. Later on he fled Pakistan to escape from various fraud investigations and returned in 2013 after Shahid Abbasi had taken charge of the petroleum ministry.

 

PSO as a public sector company is strictly required under PPRA rules to undertake an open and transparent bidding (giving a fair and equal chance to all prospective bidders) for import of any product and they had strictly been following that principle for all imports of petroleum products. However Shahid Islam imported several LNG ships worth millions of dollars on very expensive rates without bidding from Qatar Gas (specifically a private company called Q3). The procuring agency (in this case PSO) is required under the law to place procuring documents for such high value import transactions on the websites of the Company (PSO) and NAB. PSO has also defaulted on this legal obligation.

In reward, Shahid Islam was granted a hefty salary package as MD of GHPL by the minister, which was not approved by the Board of GHPL. Shahid Islam also took the proposal of the ministry to the Board of GHPL for construction of second LNG terminal through GHPL, but the Board rejected it and two Directors of the Board resigned when they were pressurized by the government through Shahid Islam to approve that illicit project.

 

Similarly in order to avoid regulatory checks and oversight over illegal import of LNG, the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) was incapacitated by not appointing its members and by sending its Chairman on forced leave by the government. However, Chairman OGRA got himself restored through the court but he was kept incapacitated by the government by not appointing the members of OGRA required to complete the quorum for the regulatory decision-making.

 

 

 

 

Seeing what happened to others, the Board and MD of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL) refused to sign a similar agreement and their MD was consequently fired by the government. All members of the top management of SNGPL refused the offers made to them by the government one after the other to become MD of the Company (in line with the government’s stick and carrot policy to implement the illicit projects). Although the MD of SNGPL got himself restored through the court, he had to ultimately resign under tremendous pressure of the government.

 

The regulator (OGRA) has expressed its inability to determine the price of LNG because it has been illegally procured and sold by PSO. Therefore, OGRA has directed PSO to furnish a certificate duly verified by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources that it complied with all laws and regulations in importing and selling the LNG, and also furnish the invoices of the LNG ships illegally imported by PSO duly approved/ vetted by the petroleum ministry as PSO has stated that it imported LNG on unlawful instructions of the ministry although it did not have the mandate for LNG import without bidding. OGRA has also asked for the government-verified invoices of illegal sale of LNG by PSO (without LNG sales license and without sale price fixed by the regulator) and by gas companies (without getting the sale price approved by OGRA).

 

PSO and the gas companies have stated that they made the illegal sales on the instructions of the petroleum ministry based on a so-called “provisional price” advised to them by the petroleum ministry although the ministry had no regulatory powers to fix the price of LNG which was the OGRA’s role.

 

The ministry is refusing to approve the invoices of illegal import and illegal sale of LNG, as required by OGRA, in view of the ongoing NAB investigations into the LNG Mega scam.

 

Consequently, LNG cannot be billed and its cost cannot be recovered; and the customers to whom the LNG has been provided on the government’s orders are enjoying unlimited credit (including the fertilizer business owned by Seith Hussain Dawood who also owns Engro LNG terminal receiving US Dollars 272,000 per day without operating).

 

As a most shameful act, the government has appointed the manager of the small notorious one-year old Engro terminal (Sheikh Imran) as MD of PSO. PSO has an extensive network of terminals across the country in addition to 3600 retail outlets and leadership in oil marketing business, earning more than a trillion Rupees sales revenue!! The salary package granted to Sheikh Imran by the government is unprecedented in the public sector of Pakistan. Media has disclosed his Rupees 6 million (Rs. 60 Lakh) per month package, but the petroleum minister is quoting his salary on TV as 24 Lakh per month which is just one element of his salary. This is in accordance with the minister’s track record of information manipulation. He has been stating on TV that the tolling fee being paid to the Engro terminal is 66 cents per mmbtu. When the record of payment was shown to him, he confessed that Engro is being paid a tolling fee @ 147 cents per mmbtu and promised to bring it down to 66 cents in future. In comparison, a bid received by the government for the tolling fee for the second LNG terminal is 49 cents per mmbtu!

Initially the petroleum minister out rightly denied that the LNG cargo had arrived in Pakistan and stated that it would arrive after signing of the treaty between the governments of Pakistan and Qatar.  When the media showed evidence in this regard, the minister stated that the cargo was imported by the private sector. When PSO’s import documents were shown on TV, he confessed that it was imported by PSO but paid by the private sector (now an outstanding payment of more than rupees 20 billion against the imported LNG is in the news!).  When the LC opened by PSO was shown, the minister stated that the cargo was imported by PSO based on proper treaty between Pakistan and Qatar. When the illegal spot purchase deal was disclosed, the minister had to confess that a proper long-term agreement between the governments is not in place, for which he keeps on giving dates! It is unclear how a government-to-government treaty can be signed for import of LNG from a private company in Qatar! The cargoes in question have been imported from Q3, which has private shareholdings of Conoco Philips (USA), Mitsui (Japan) and Qatar Petroleum. Now the minister must be counting on the customary long delays in investigations, particularly against the rulers and their cronies!

 This can only happen in Pakistan in the 21st Century!!!

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Why Petroleum Crisis Created & Why Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Went To Khaleej After That Babar Awan Reveal

 

Gullu Butt aur Nawaz Sharif Ki Jamhoriyat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farhan Investigative Report: Nawaz Sharif, The Prime Minister From Hell

Farhan Investigative Report

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The following is an excellent expos​e of

 some of the corruption conducted by Nawaz Sharif

​. This report has been compiled​ by the host of DM Digital, Farhan Aslam, who also used to work for ARY Digital a few years ago.
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The report has been divided into six segments. I will offer a short summary of the discussion, followed by the clips themselves.

 

Brief summary

 Nawaz Sharif’s only agenda was to make money. In order to achieve this goal, he formed/changed laws and policies for his personal benefit and expanded his business empire by misusing his authority as Prime Minister. Interestingly enough and ironically, the PPP played a major role in exposing the corruption of Nawaz Sharif and his family. The Jamaat-e-Islami had also leveled a number of corruption allegations upon Nawaz Sharif. As we know, later Sharif and his cronies also played a role in exposing the corruption of Benazir Bhutto and her PPP. In other words, both Sharif and Bhutto have been busy over the years actively accusing each other of committing corruption.

 Nawaz Sharif is widely acknowledged to be a highly incompetent person, with a low mediocre IQ. level. The brain behind him was that of his late “Abba Jee” (‘daddy’) – the mastermind and the main decision maker behind the scene.

 In order to consolidate and attain more power, Nawaz Sharif attacked every individual and institutions he felt could get in the way challenge his authority. In order to get rid of the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who was despised by Sharif, the later created divisions among the judges to make life difficult for the Chief Justice. A group of judges refused to acknowledge Shah as the Chief Justice and things got so bad that a number of junior judges put hurdles in the way of the Chief Justice in order to make it difficult for him to carry out his duties. Eventually, Sharif ordered his thugs to attack the Supreme Court in order to prevent the Chief Justice from giving a ruling against him.

 The police did nothing to stop Sharif’s thugs as they attacked and entered the Supreme Court. The judges inside the building barely managed to escape. The thugs, led by Sajjad Naseem and Mushtaq Tahir, Nawaz Sharif’s political secretaries, entered the court chanting anti-Sajjad slogans and destroyed the furniture.

Next, consider Nawaz Sharif’s relationship with the press and media. Two examples will suffice. On 8th May 1999, Najam Sethi, a prominent journalist of Pakistan, was arrested by the police on the orders of Sharif. Sethi has committed the crime of annoying Nawaz Sharif by writing a critical essay against him. The police broke into Sethi’s house at around 2 am and beat him up in his bedroom in front of his wife, after which he was transported off to a secret location. The police trashed Sethi’s house, broke the furniture and beat him up quite bad. Sethi was only released after a lot of international pressure had built up against Sharif. Sharif also demanded the Jang Group to get rid of all the journalists who were critical of him. To achieve this goal, Sharif and his cronies used a variety of legal and illegal means to pressure the Jang Group into compliance.

 There is probably no institution in Pakistan which Nawaz Sharif did not aggressively confront in order make them comply to his wishes. Besides picking on a fight with the President, the Judiciary and the already restricted/limited media, Sharif also decided to have a confrontation with the army, the only viable institution left in Pakistan. Chief of Army Staff, General Jehangir Karamat, and Nawaz Sharif had a conflict over an issue pertaining to the national security council and both entered into a heated discussion, after which Gen. Karamat had to offer his resignation. Jehangir Karamat thus became the first Chief of Army Staff in the history of Pakistan to have left the army in this prematurely in this manner.

One by one all challenges and potential obstacles were removed from the way by Nawaz Sharif. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Farooq Leghari, Sajjad Ali Shah, and Jehangir Karamat, as well as others, were all removed from the scene by Sharif.

After the removal of Jehangir Karamat, Sharif appointed Pervaiz Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff. Some analysts at the time said that Sharif made this decision thinking that Pervaiz Musharraf was an Urdu speaker and did not belong to a Punjabi army family, thus very unlikely to be a threat to Sharif!

Things became sour between Sharif and Musharraf during the Kargil episode. Later, once a relative of Sharif was removed from the army by Musharraf, that was the final nail in the coffin. Sharif then decided to take his revenge and replace Gen. Musharraf with a fellow of his liking who would be controllable (the head of the ISI. at the time).

 Farhan Aslam also comments upon the ill-advised economic decisions of Sharif which made Pakistan’s situation from bad to worse. Moreover, he comments upon the Sharif family’s personal business empire and how it grew exponentially through questionable means.

 

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