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Departure of A "HERO"

Fatima Bhutto (http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com)

Pakistan has become a very unusual place. In Lahore, the heart of Pakistani cricket, the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in broad daylight by masked gunmen carrying guns and rocket launchers, because you never know when a rocket launcher will come in handy during an urban attack. The government had been warned of a potential terror threat but, true to form, ignored it. After killing eight people, mostly policemen, and wounding several others including the foreign cricketers, the gunmen ambled leisurely away. They were caught on CCTV camera calmly mounting their motorcycles and surveying the scene before deciding they had other places to be. 

Immediately the cacophony of ludicrous claims hit the media. “The attack is to ruin our [the ruling party’s] image,” bellowed Raja Riaz, a Pakistan People’s Party hack. Er, no. “The motive was to damage the state of Pakistan and end cricket here,” said Imran Khan, head of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Er, no. The Pakistan cricket team are perfectly capable of ruining the state of cricket in the country on their own; masked gunmen are not required, thank you very much. Incidentally, on Monday night local police attacked the offices of Khan’s party brandishing Kalashnikovs and pistols. It’s probably not a coincidence that Khan has been openly critical of the Zardari government.

It’s fear. That’s what it is. It’s the state of a nation at war with itself. When vigilantes armed with sophisticated weaponry can attack a team of cricket guests (and there are no guests more esteemed in south Asia) in the middle of the afternoon, what they’re telling you is that no one is above the reach of the terror that has taken over Pakistan. It’s startling how adept this government has been at losing control of law and order, leasing out Pakistan’s stability for an increased role in the war on terror in preparation for the troop surge in Afghanistan, and generally running the country to rot.

“Droned” is a verb we use now in Pakistan. It turns out, interestingly enough, that those US predator drones that have been killing Pakistani citizens almost weekly have been taking off from and landing within our own country. Secret airbases in Balochistan – what did we ever do before Google Earth?

The PPP-led government, hailed as being “democratic”, capitulated to the Pakistan Taliban’s demands for sharia law in the Swat Valley in February. There was no vote, no referendum, nothing. The government, tired of fighting those pesky militants who’ve been burning down Sufi shrines and local girls’ schools, just declared that a part of the country would be ruled no longer by federal law, but by a myopically interpreted and Taliban-approved “Islamic” code. And verily it shall be.

We’ve just had senate “elections”. Of course, there are no actual elections involved: the ruling party puts forward winners and they end up in parliament. On Monday, in a shock move, President Asif Ali Zardari’s former attorney, who defended the erstwhile criminal on corruption and murder charges, was made chairman of the senate. What a gas!

Meanwhile, with Delhi still beating war drums over the November Mumbai attacks, our former dictator/president Pervez Musharraf travelled to India recently, and there he warned our neighbours of an all-out war should they strike Pakistan. He also let us know that he is ready to return to the call of political duty. Outsiders might be confused at this change in the situation – what’s he doing there? Didn’t he resign in August? Here’s the beauty of it all: Musharraf’s re-emergence has many middle-class Pakistanis excited and hopeful. Is he back?! A series of op-eds in a local English newspaper (not highly censored because no one reads them) was titled “Why I miss Musharraf”. When a dictator tickles your fancy, you know something has gone very, very wrong.

So, the mood in Pakistan is one of confusion. How did we come to this? How do we get out?

On the eve of spring, it is the same problems that blight the country’s poor – there is no electricity, there is no potable water, and food inflation continues to rise. The newspapers warned us this week that “load shedding” in the summer will be some 15 hours long, which is not that bad considering the fact that we’re sitting in darkness for 12 hours a day now. Pakistan has long missed its millennium target goals of eradicating polio, largely because we can’t keep the electricity going long enough for the vaccines to be properly refrigerated, so they keep going bad. And we’re a nuclear country, a grossly corrupt one at that.

The press censorship continues unabated with future threats of an absolute blackout on any criticisms of the government safely enclosed within the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act that the parliament is currently sitting on. The bill, which imposes jail sentences from three months (for having an email account not registered in your real name) to the death penalty, and criminalises the acts of “spoofing”, “spamming” and “character assassinating”, will apply to the width and breadth of the country and to any person, regardless of nationality or citizenship. It will crack down on all objectionable – the definition of what is objectionable is typically vague – messages sent via, but not limited to, “electrical, digital, analogue, magnetic, optical, biochemical, electrochemical, electromechanical, electromagnetic, radio electric, and wireless technology”. So any subversive content found on cell phones, computers, or toasters will soon be illegal. Your head should be spinning by now.

Pakistan is in a dire situation. Religious extremism, violence and a faltering economy have made the state of affairs here decidedly grim. Joe Biden and John Kerry see American dollars as the only way of helping Pakistan stave off extremism; but Yankee aid donations and senatorial money will not help us now. It is estimated that President Zardari and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, stole between $2bn and $3bn from the country’s treasury during their two previous stints in power. Now Zardari has claimed his personal wealth to be somewhere in the ballpark of $1.8bn. Nawaz Sharif, leading coalition partner and head of the Pakistan Muslim League, declared his fortune to be not as grand, at only $1.4bn. You do the maths.

Inside Story PPP & PML (Q)

Zardari AND Pervez Elahi Sahab have given final touches to a power-sharing deal over a late night secret dinner at the presidency yesterday.
Significantly, PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain decided to stay away from the meeting and preferred to send cousin Elahi along with brother Wajahat and nephew Moonis to ink an unannounced deal with the president, who is reportedly desperate to get a two-thirds majority in the Senate at all costs in the forthcoming elections in March.
A Property tycoon of Islamabad, who is said to be a mutual friend of both Zardari and Elahi Sahab, was also behind the scene to ensure that his two friends come close together to get rid of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Punjab. The Tycoon will not be named yet my fellow members.

The sources said that under the proposed deal, Moonis will be the senior minister in the new government in Punjab while Hussain will be the consensus candidate for the Senate along his close aide Kamil Agha.

Both parties have decided to support each other’s candidates in the 5-seat fight in the Senate to thwart attempts by mutual rival Nawaz Sharif to increase his tally in the upper house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament.

The power sharing deal between PPP and PML-Q is expected to shock a lot of people, but not me. 🙂

27th December “A Public Holiday”

Fireworks of OBLITERATION

Shocking Shocking Shocking!!!!

 

 

Pakistan has become a nation which is struggling economically, politically,  where poor is becoming poorer, where stock exchange have nearly collapsed and the governemtn instead of working towards reforms of all the important sector has annouced a public
holiday on the 27th of December.

From now on 27th of December will be celebrated as “Pakistan’s Corruption day”.

All over the world due to economic down turn governments, corporate firms etc are trying to have more days at work instead of having days  of and our struggling nations deomcratically elected government of feudals with an un elected president has made yet another blunder and taken another stupid decision of declaring 27th December a public holiday. What will the holiday be used for? Stonning buses, burning tyres, a few dead bodies on the road and another terror headline all over the newspapers.

Is this goverment here for public and country reforms or is it just doing BHUTTO reforms?

Pakistan needs it-

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within” Elizabeth Kubler Ross

 

Benazir Bhutto shaheed?

Benazir & Zardari

Shaheed is a title given to someone who is a martyr, a true patriot, who lives for his/her homeland and dies for his/her home land. Shaheed is a very respectable word which carries great dignity and yet used to blow the bubble of greatness for a corrupt politician like Benazir Bhutto.

It makes me laugh as well makes me angry when I look at the media campaing being conducted by channels like “Ary Oneworld” to portray a positive imgae of Benazir Bhutto. A few years ago this channels (like others) was reporting that Bhutto was one of the most corrupt prime minister of Pakistan. This channel also relayed the figures of monetary scams , how different funds were looted, how china electricity power hub project was shambelled etc etc etc. Then there was a timeline of events which saw the following:-

1. Irresponsible behaviour of media.
2. Dramatising events involving strikes on national securtiy.
3. Decleration of emergency in November by Former President Pervaiz Musharaf.
4. Return of Benazir Bhutto.
5. Assasination of Benazir Bhutto.    

The top three events in time line of media left a sour taste for media againt Former President Pervaiz Musharaf and this is where the sides started to change and suddenly Former President Pervaiz Musharaf became the bad guy and politicians like Benazir Bhutto & Nawaz Sharif were hailed as national hero’s. The media which was reformed, given freedom and given respect by Pervaiz Musharaf finally started to show its true colours againts Pervaiz Musharaf. 

Its sad to see that these days that the channle “Aryone World” is airing unlimited clips of Benazir Bhutto with the caption “Tasveerein jo amar hogein” .  It now seems such an easy task to chair corruption in one of the highest elected office,  get several innocent people kill (including your own brother), then die at the hands of your old allies and you get an airport named after you, get your picture on a 10 R.s coin and have larger potraits as compared to Jinnah’s in televised interviews to international media. Yes, all this is was awarded to corrupt Benazir after her assasination and God knows what else is coming. May be they are thinking to name Pakistan as “Benaziristan”. 

'Surrey Palace'

Its amazing to see the type of denial Pakistani soceity is being lured into. Benazir was surely great but she wasnt great in leadership, She was great in corruption, killings, lies and deceptive behaviour. She was a great planner in murder of her own brother (Murtaza Bhutto), she showed larger greatness when she shook hands with people who were involved in hanging her very own father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.  For all these reason Pakistani people have accepted Benazir Bhutto as the daughter of east and titled her “Shaheed”. All I say is if such greatness, which all the time talked about, was really there then alongwith returning from a self imposed exile last year she would have brought all that money back into the country, which she and her beloved husband looted in her short but damaging tenure. But no, instead of this  the Bhutto family now enjoys the fruits of corruption and they will keep on enjoying it till the end of Pakistan.
The thing which really scares me is in the past Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto costed the division of Pakistan (We are still paying the price of it) and in the present Persident Asif Zardari might cost Pakistan something more grave. (And we will pay the price of if for the rest of our lives).  

East & West Pakistan.

These days the coverage being given to Benazir’s death anniversary is something really new to me and I am sure its new to the whole nation of Pakistan as well. I have never ever seen a slide show trying to improve the image of the worst prime minister in the history of  Pakistan. If the media really wants to bring greatness to life then why doesnt the media concentrate on leaders like Mr Jinnah, Miss Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan and others who truly achieved greatness by dedicating their lives for the sake of Pakistan….. 

The question arises is.
  “Who will make a difference? There wont be any more Moses or Mohammad…..”