In power, it’s performance that matters, not seniority
Ashraf Mumtaz
When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif went to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Indian prime minister Nirendra Modi, his daughter Maryam Nawaz said her father was more experienced than the new Indian leader and was also senior in age. She was absolutely right. Mr Sharif has been holding the office of the head of government for a third time while for Modi it was the first chance.
But what the budding PML-N leader, who is the chairperson of the Rs 100 billion loan programme launched by her father for the youth, did not realise was the fact that in politics seniority was not as important as performance of any office-holder. He who outperforms others is a better leader compared to his rivals even if he has no past experience and is younger in age.
Just a brief mention of the decisions taken by Mr Modi after taking over would give the PML-N leader – and others – an idea of what the new Indian leader plans to do for his country.
According to the Indian media, in the first cabinet meeting after taking charge of office on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi set up a special investigation team (SIT) to unearth the black money stashed abroad. Justice (retired) MB Shah will head the SIT team, while Justice (retired) Arijit Parsyat will be his deputy.
“SIT shall have jurisdiction in the cases where investigations have already commenced or are pending or awaiting to be initiated or have been completed. SIT will prepare a comprehensive action plan including creation of necessary institutional structure that could enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money”.
India’s Supreme Court had ordered the establishment of such a committee back in 2011, but the Manmohan Singh government had failed to comply with.
The team set up by Mr Modi comprises such former judges and relevant officials that it would not be possible for anyone to save his ill-gotten wealth abroad.
The new Indian prime minister is also said to have issued a directive to his ministers: not to give their relatives jobs in ministries, especially for their personal assistance.
A recommendation for the purpose had been made by the upper house in the past, but the Indian government remained unmoved.
It’s the Modi government which is determined to enforce the recommendation.
According to the Indian media, ministers have been directed not to award contracts of projects in their jurisdiction to their relatives.
Fairness demands that Modi’s decisions should be commended.
It is said that Indians have stashed trillions of dollars in foreign banks, and in case the new government succeeds in bringing them back, it will not have to impose taxes on people for several years.
There is no reason to say that Modi’s initiative will not yield results. A leader who himself doesn’t have ill-gotten wealth is not expected to let others involve themselves in corrupt practices. And he will go to any extent to claw back the ill-gotten money lying in foreign banks.
Now, let’s have a glance at the policies that the third-time Prime Minister Sharif has been pursuing.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a close relative of the prime minister, said recently that Pakistanis had $200 billion of ill-gotten money in Swiss banks and the government would take steps to bring the same back. Talks with the Swiss authorities would be initiated in August and would take several years to complete and yield results.
Opposition leaders have been urging the prime minister and Mr Dar to bring their own money back to Pakistan first, but both the ‘saviours’ don’t say if they would ever do so.
PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said recently that although Mr Sharif was urging British investors to invest in Pakistan he himself was the third biggest Asian investor in Britain.
Since the rulers are not willing to take the risk of bringing their money to Pakistan,
nobody else is expected to follow suit. And Mr Dar’s efforts to bring back the looted $200 billion would remain confined to files.
Superfluous to recall that the PML-N government had repeatedly assured the nation that it would bring back $60 million Mr Zardari allegedly has in Swiss banks. But so far, there is no progress on this front. Mr Zardari’s counsel said in a previous interview that the former president’s did not have a single dollar in any Swiss bank.
As for Modi’s directive that ministers should not employ their relatives in their ministries,
Maryam Nawaz should spare some time to compare the policy of the Hindu leader with the one of her father. The Indian prime minister wants his colleagues not to employ their relatives in ministries, while in Pakistan all important positions have been occupied by the same family. And the ministers have then crammed their relatives everywhere.
Modi’s directive that contracts should not be awarded to relatives is also not applicable in Pakistan.
The Indian media said that Prime Minister Modi had kept his relatives away from his swearing-in ceremony.
Here in Pakistan all family members, relatives, relatives of relatives, friends and friends of friends were present at the swearing-in of Prime Minister Sharif. Still, it’s true that our prime minister is senior to the Indian leader.
It is a fact that Pakistan’s military establishment and its various Punjabi-Muhajir affiliates (e.g., Malik Riaz of Bahria Town, Yunus Habib of Mehran Bank) have kept a large number of TV anchors and journalists (both in Islamist dominated Urdu media and lifestyle liberals dominated English media) on their payroll in order to influence the media discourse and public opinion.
The most prominent name in the list of journalists (published by Aaj TV) allegedly on the payroll of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz was that of Pakistan’s top “liberal” columnist and anchor Najam Sethi. An account of favors given to numerous journalists in shape of money, car and property etc is recorded in the trademarked letterheads of Bahria Town published by Aaj TV and other websites.
Seen from that angle, there is not much difference between right-wing daily Ummat (or Jamat-e-Islami) or liberal-wing The Friday Times (or Jinnah Institute).
Najam Sethi, the cartaker Chief Minister of Punjab, is a close friend of Malik Riaz, Pakistan’s leading and biggest land grabber. In fact, Sethi and some of his colleagues (Hamid Mir, Marvi Sirmed etc) are allegedly on Malik Riaz’s payroll. This may explain from where did Mr. Sethi got millions of dollars to buy most expensive apartments in the United States.
Malik Riaz started Jinnah newspaper in 2002 and wanted to become columnist but he failed to do so that was one of the reason for paying top columnist to write for him.
Malik Riaz has close links with Saudi-Wahhabis and ASWJ-LeJ. He is the same person who offered sanctuary to Deobandi militants of Lal Masjid / Jamia Hafsa and rebuilt a new Jihadi Deobandi madrasssa for Umme Hassan and Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid. He also has liberal Marvi Sirmed on his payroll.
In other words, Malik Riaz’s influence spans from Islamofascist Umme Hassan to lifestyle liberal Marvi Sirmed.
In 2011, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudary had ordered inquiry into alleged land-grabbing by Pakistan Army’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Malik Riaz’s Bahria Town. A judicial report concluded that DHA and Bahria Town were involved in massive land grabbing and encroachment under the nose of the country’s regulators and police. The inquiry report revealed that three leading property developers, including Bahria Town and DHA, illegally seized around 30,000 kanals (3750 acres) of land using private militias. The criminal activities of the groups were perpetrated in connivance with police, revenue department and lower judiciary, the report added.
Sources claimed that Malik Riaz of Bahria Town has been rendering bribes of billions of rupees to renowned politicians, military officials, and even journalists in a bid to perpetuate his activities with complete impunity.
It is noteworthy that a senior anchorperson (Talat Hussain), while talking to saach.tv, claimed that Malik Riaz had given a “precious car” as bribe to Najam Sethi. Another anchorperson claimed that Riaz had also gifted a sumptuous villa in Dubai to Mr. Sethi.
On June 6, 2012, Talat Hussain revealed Malik Riaz had informed him that certain anchors who referred to their sources as ‘churiya’ (birdie) and other such birds, in their respective shows, were in fact referring to him (Riaz). However, Talat Hussain did not take any names, perhaps, because it is well known in news circles that Najam Sethi often refers to his sources as ‘chiriya’.
On the very same day Najam Sethi had an outburst during his show when his co-host Muneeb Farooq repeated the allegations hurled by Hussain. Sethi said he would be sending a legal notice to Talat Hussain. But Sethi wouldn’t stop there: he had a few accusations of his own to hurl towards Talat Hussain. Sethi accused Talat, without mentioning his name, of reporting for Stratfor, a global intelligence company which Sethi said was a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), sourcing WikiLeaks. [Talat clarified his position on this allegation in a subsequent talkshow.]
Be that as it may, close aides of the popular newsman claim that up till now legal actions has not been taken by Sethi. When Sethi was contacted, he refused to divulge into his actions against Talat.
Talat Hussain was not available to comment on the story, although Raza Muhmood Agha, who is the producer for Hussain’s talk show told The Express Tribune that it was unlikely that Sethi would send them a legal notice since Hussain had already clarified all accusations levelled by Sethi, the very next day on his talk show.
Note: Watch last 20 mins of Talat Hussain’s show for his allegation against Sethi while last 15 minutes of Sethis’s show to see how he threatens Talat Hussain with legal consequences and also alleges that Talat is a CIA agent.
Najam Sethi talks about alleged benefits from Malik Riaz
In his program ,Talat Hussain explained his position about agreement with US based organization and looks fine and appropriate. Talat Hussain also declared his assets and bank accounts and dared Najam Sethi to follow the example.
Example of Malik Riaz’s links with and influence on Pakistan military establishment
Lt Gen Shahid Aziz quoted Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool, a former NAB Chairman, as saying while trying to convince him that:
“If you stop corruption, there will be no development. If ministers and politicians are not given personal benefits in contracts, why would they pursue development schemes? They have to be given personal incentives…contracts to their sons and kinship.”
Once Gen Musharraf had personally called him and asked him:
‘…. drop the name of one Malik Riaz Hussain from the exit control list. (Riaz Hussain was one of prime accused in a multi-million-forest land scam) As President of Pakistan, I give my personal guarantee that he (Malik Riaz) would not run away. Isn’t a personal guarantee of the President of Pakistan sufficient to satisfy you’? Malik’s name was removed from the ECL subsequently. NAB; A page from our history Inam R Sehri http://www.seamonitors.org/id148.html
He said when he put the name of Malik Riaz Hussain (of Bahria Town) in the exit control list while investigating a forest land case, he had to face bitter arguments with President Musharraf to take out Malik`s name from the ECL. “As President of Pakistan, I give my personal guarantee that he (Malik Riaz) would not run away. Isn`t a personal guarantee of the President of Pakistan sufficient to satisfy you”, he quoted Mr Musharraf as saying. Malik`s name was pulled out of the ECL subsequently, he said. REFERENCE: Musharraf stopped probes, says ex-chief of NAB By Khaleeq Kiani 6th December 2009 http://archives.dawn.com/archives/37897
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Sharifs could not say no to Malik Riaz in Najam Sethi case
By Iram Salim
Islamabad, March 27 (www.pakdestiny.com) The sparrow of Najam Sethi, property tycoon Malik Riaz, has finally won the Sharif Brothers to hand over the ‘priced’ caretaker chief ministerhip to his man.
Sharifs also seemed to be afraid of the ire of Jang Group for not agreeing on the name of their anchor – Sethi. By agreeing on Sethi’s name, Sharifs think they have got closer to Malik Riaz as well as to the Jang group but only time will tell.
Sethi has shown how desperate he was to get some “official protocol” by entering the government setup. However, the actual kingmaker behind the scene is none else than the property tycoon Malik Riaz.
* Real estate tycoon says he never distributed money, house, plots and air tickets among journalists * All such allegations aim at defaming journalists
Staff Report
LAHORE: Zahid Hussain Bukhari, counsel for property tycoon Malik Riaz, read out message of his client that he (Riaz) never distributed money, houses, plots or air tickets among journalists.
Addressing a press conference, Bukhari read the message, “News reports alleging me for distribution of money, houses, plots and air tickets to various journalists are absolutely false and baseless. I deny and reject them completely.”
The message read further the allegations were anonymous which proved that their aim was to defame journalists. This is the handy work of the dirty tricks section of a political party.
“It is reported that I told TV anchor Talat Hussain that I was one of the ‘chirya’ or source of anchor Najam Sethi’s information. This is a white lie. I have never met or spoken with Talat Hussain. I demand him swear on oath that he talked to me and passed on this false information too. I reserve my right to sue him for this false allegation. I make it clear that I have never given money, plots, air tickets to Najam Sethi or anyone else as alleged,” the message also read.
“In another instance, the allegations are printed on Bahria Town letterhead, which could have been stolen from any of Bahria Town offices across the country. This is a fake document and was not prepared by the administration of Bahria Town,” it also read. “If it had been an internal Bahria Town document, at least it should have shown that these favours were given to various alleged recipients and not as received shown on document.”
To a question, Bukhari said that he was reading out this letter as a messenger.
About press conference of his client while holding the holy Quran in hand, Bukhari said it was Riaz’s personal act and “I did not like it”. He said that he respected the judiciary and would go to any extent to defend and protect its sanctity.
Islamabad, May 19 (Pak Destiny)Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed has hinted that he will go to any extent in supporting and saving the Jang/Geo group come what may.
Perviaz Rashid has warned the Cable Operators of blocking any TV channel (Geo) or disturbing its number. He did not condemn the Karachi Press Club incident in which Geo group reporters stopped the Cable Operators from holding a press conference. On the issue of ISI chief bashing, Pervaiz Rasheed has not yet given comments being a law minister too sought from the PEMRA. Earlier,he had made it clear “we are with the people of dalil (Geo group) not with the people of galail (ISI, army)”. Let’s see if Mr Rasheed manages to save Geo from shutting down after the latest blasphemy episode involving its host Shiasta Lodhi. But one thing is clear Pervaiz Rasheed is making all out efforts to save the media group whom Imran Khan has labelled “PML-N media cell”. – Pak Destiny
THIS SITE IS THE FOR CHILDREN OF CORRUPT PAKISTANI POLITICIANS,BUSINESSMEN,COMMUNITY LEADERS. IT MOCKS AT THE 200 MILLION WHO CAN BARELY SURVIVE IN THAR,BALOCHISTAN, SOUTHERN PUNJAB, FATA, PARTS OF KARACHI,HYDERABAD,KHUZDAR,NOSHKI, LAHORE,MULTAN,RAWALPINDI,YES EVEN ISLAMABAD,THE PLAYGROUND OF THE RICH POLITICIANS;
A child sits along a road median as he eats his breakfast of a single piece of “roti” (South Asian bread) while waiting for work in Karachi early morning May 6, 2012.
SEP 16: There are as many as 415 ultra-high net worthPakistanis — – super-rich people with a wealth of at least $30m each.
The recently released Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report 2013 says the number of these ultra-wealthy Pakistanis increased by 34 percent in just year, from 310 in 2012 to 415 in 2013.
Interestingly last year loadshedding, dire strait of the economy, violence, sectarian killings,cases of corruption, and terrorism at large played havoc with the national sentiment and psyche. It found its natural abode in thechange of guard at the polls.
For the motley super-rich individuals the party went on it seems.
The report says the collective wealth of these supernova Pakistanis is currently $50bn, which is up 25 percent from 2012 when their total wealth stood at $40bn.
The World Bank estimates Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) at $231 billion, which means that the wealth of 415 wealthiest Pakistanis is worth more than one-fifth, or almost 22 percent, of the country’s GDP.
A global prospecting, intelligence and wealth due diligence firm, Wealth-X worked with private banks, educational institutions and luxury brands to compile this report with sponsorship from UBS, an international financial services firm.
Out of the 20 countries listed in the Asian category, Pakistan’s rank is 12th in terms of super-rich individuals’ population. Interestingly, Pakistan posted the biggest percentage increase in terms of both the super-richindividuals population as well as total wealth such individuals possess.
The report also highlights that the average wealth of a Pakistani super-rich in 2013 was $121 million. In contrast, the global average wealth of a super-rich in 2013 was $139 million, which is 16 percent higher than the average Pakistani super-rich.
While the United States and Europe grew faster than Asia in the last 12 months, the report forecasts that Asia will have more ultra-wealthy individuals and wealth than both regions in the next five years.
“At the current growth rates, Asia’s ultra-wealthy population and wealth will eclipse that of Europe in 2021 and 2017, respectively,” the report said as cited by Internews.
For Nawaz Sharif, solutions are blowing in the wind
By
Dr.Moeed Pirzada
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears to be caught in a political nutcracker, mostly of his own making. On May 11, it was Imran Khan who stood, amidst thunderous applause, at Islamabad’s D-chowk demanding: electoral reforms, thumbprint verifications in four constituencies, as well as investigations into election rigging.
And then there was an ingenious Dr Tahirul Qadri, who offered an impressive fusion of Islam, constitutionalism and technology. The fiery cleric held large crowds spellbound with his rejection of the current parliamentary system. For his part, PM Nawaz needs to find a political solution — and he needs to find it fast.
The heads of both the PTI and PAT are capitalising on the political space created by his unending brinksmanship with the military that skyrocketed following allegations that PM Nawaz Sharif had aligned himself with a private media group against GHQ – a situation that has also left PML-N friendless in an increasingly hostile media market.
There is also little doubt that both PTI and PAT agendas have gained a sharp edge from the recent turn of events. But these agendas present an interesting challenge, not only to PM Nawaz but also to the whole political set-up, of which PTI is also part. Clearly, PML-N decision makers fear that acceptance of thumbprint verifications risks undermining the legitimacy of the party’s impressive victory in the 2013 elections.
Though mainstream media tends to focus on Imran Khan and his demands (viewing Qadri’s agenda as unrealistic and unachievable), more and more young men and women have started to find Dr Qadri more logical, clearheaded and nuanced than Imran.
Is there a political significance? Yes, it means if Imran is seen becoming soft on Nawaz, or fails to achieve any concessions then the dissatisfied ranks of the opposition will find Dr Qadri the more attractive candidate of the two. Given that his relations with the military establishment are not all that good, it is imperative for Nawaz to strike a compromise somewhere. What remains to be seen is: will he accept Imran’s political demands to reform the electoral system or will he quietly settle his differences with the restive military establishment?
In an appearance on Express TV after the May 11 jalsas, Punjab’s Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, renewed Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique’s earlier offer in the National Assembly that PML-N will be willing to accept thumb print verifications if PTI also agrees to allow the same exercise in four constituencies of PML-N’s choice (NA-55, 56 in Rawalpindi from where Sheikh Rashid and Imran Khan won and NA-149 and NA-150 in Multan from where Javaid Hashmi and Shah Mehmood Qureshi won).
Rana argued that ever since this counter-offer PTI has been quiet. However, towards the end of the same broadcast, senior PTI leader Asad Umar said that his party had accepted in lower house PML-N’s demand for counter verifications in four PTI constituencies. Asad said that in response to this Khawaja Saad Rafique then proposed, rather strangely, to make a parliamentary committee to examine the issues which looks to PTI like “backing off” from the initial proposal since both parties need to go straight to the Election Commission for fact-finding instead of wasting time with a fact-finding parliamentary committee that won’t have the capacity to determine facts.
Now it seems PML-N had calculated that their counter-proposal of doing thumbprint verifications in four PTI won constituencies will unnerve the PTI but apparently PTI has called their bluff and now PML-N is trying to wriggle out of the deal.
But political arguments are like peeling onions, so it remains to be seen how the PML-N will now respond to this latest clarification by PTI. But now ongoing negotiations assume a new meaning given Imran Khan’s carefully worded but firm demand from the current Chief Justice that the Supreme Court needs to order thumbprint verifications in the four constituencies. This time around the court will find it difficult to ignore the case.
Irrespective of what the court may or may not do, the emerging scenario demands that PM Nawaz Sharif show flexibility and compromise with the parliamentary opposition or the military establishment. He may also need to reflect on the PML-N’s media management; perhaps initiating a move to diversify his media support instead of relying exclusively on one media group.
