LONDON, UK—Pakistan is unfortunately one of those countries where traitors masquerade as politicians and treachery is deemed to be ‘legitimate politics’. There is no prize for guessing how did the desire the revoke the 17th Amendment got transformed into a full-fledged exercise for subverting the constitution. The answer is that it was a part of the scheme that involved the NRO and the formation of a coalition government in which all the parties are opposed to the Two Nation Theory of Pakistan. Mian Nawaz Sharif saw the game plan a bit late but he did see it and withdrew from the coalition. If he had not withdrawn, the judges dismissed by Musharraf would not have been restored and NRO would have become law. But the puppet masters have not given up; they are still eager to implement their original plan albeit with slight alterations due to new circumstances.
The plan is devious and not easy to understand. Some of those in the committee reviewing the Constitution have some idea of the true nature of the exercise they are engaged in but most of them do not know what is going on; they do not have a clue what is good for the country and are unable to see through the machinations of parties with anti-Pakistan agenda. The reports of ‘consensus’ and ‘absence of leaks’ makes one suspicious of the entire project. I fear that a ready to sign ‘draft amendment’ is a sinister plot. The public and the press must have a debate on what the committee recommends. The Constitution is too important a matter to be left entirely to politicians.
It seems to me that all the ingredients are being in place to undo Pakistan from the back door without even a fight. It seems the parties in the ruling coalition are in a hurry to fulfill the agenda of international plotters. The puppet masters had been relying on the gullibility of Nawaz Sharif who has been saying he would support no action that would destabilize the country.
In India, after traveling every two miles, one encounters a new god with new name, new face and new miracles, but there are some ancient legends which maintain their authenticity and charisma throughout the region. One such example is the Ganga River. Legend says that anyone who bathes in the river’s pure water achieves a thorough cleansing of body and soul.In Pakistan, we used to have soaps for this purpose until late 90s. Now, we have National Reconciliation Ordinance.
The notorious NRO turned out to be a true detergent for the “purest’ of the Land of Pure, which cleaned the filth of corruption and dishonesty from their persons and returned them their white collars. For long, the names of such people were kept hidden. But Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani soon realised that he was, is, and can never be another version of the Shaukat Aziz brand and this realisation was perhaps further strengthened by the awakening conscience of the patriots of this nation. Hence, the conflicts between the PM and President Houses arose from the depth of the ocean of Pakistani politics and surfaced in the form of this much dreaded list of the benefactors of NRO. Since the unveiling of this masterpiece, the hue and cry of “Article number this does not allow anyone to do a lawsuit on President” and “The removed cases were always unproven” can be heard from the President’s Ministry of Defense.
The reputed international current-affairs magazine for the Asia Pacific region ‘The Diplomat’ speaks with Ahmed Quraishi about the country’s current military offensive in Waziristan, relations with the US and what America should do to improve its image in Pakistan.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Pakistan this month meeting key political leaders. What did you make of her comment that she finds it difficult to believe that nobody in the Pakistani government knows the whereabouts of top al-Qaeda members?
Ahmed Quraishi: It was very surprising to even the most hardened skeptics here in Pakistan to hear a US secretary of state saying this, because despite all we heard during the eight years of President [George W.] Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, no American official accused Pakistan or ‘rogue elements’ in the country of supporting or protecting al-Qaeda. If ever there were any grievances with Pakistan on this count, they were mostly focused on that Pakistan had done a very good job of cooperating with the Americans on al-Qaeda, but that progress was still lacking on the Afghan Taliban and its leadership. So in the entire eight years since September 11, no US official actually criticized Pakistan by saying Pakistan was somehow trying to protect al-Qaeda…..
Is Pakistan’s Media Manufacturing Dissent, or Just Mirroring It?
It is a theme that is both recurring and ever worsening in the Pakistani media, distrust of the American agenda and skepticism of the pro-US government’s viability.
Pakistan’s ruling party is quick to put the blame for this virtually ubiquitous sentiment on the media’s shoulders, but it seems hard to accuse the Pakistani media of having formed such a massive national consensus against the US, particularly when the nation’s media has proven time and again not to be particularly powerful or influential. Reports of Blackwater infiltration into Pakistani cities is rampant, but this is hardly something the media has created out of wholecloth.
Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders are tangling in a series of political confrontations that could lead to a constitutional crisis or worse after the New Year, officials in both Islamabad and Washington tell NBC News.
With the tenor and volume of debate rising over America’s commitment to Afghanistan, that struggle is complicating U.S. strategy to stabilize the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
It’s not only that dozens are dying every week in suicide bombings or that there are concerns that the Pakistani military will not be able to hold the territory it has won in hard-fought battles in South Waziristan. The more profound issue, say Pakistani and U.S. officials, is the fate of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is engaged in a seemingly never-ending battles with the country’s powerful military and intelligence establishments.
The Zardari-Nawaz musical chairs stands exposed before the Pakistani people. Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat appears on Ahmed Quraishi’s TSS [Sunday, Nov. 15, 08:00 pm-Aag TV] to issue this warning: this is the last chance for the politicians and the expanded ruling elite. Anjum Niaz puts that warning in perspective in this column in her unique style.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Today President Zardari and the Sharif brothers stand exposed. The moment of reckoning is upon them. Proof of their allegedly stealing billions, from what rightfully belonged to the people of Pakistan, is before us in black and white. Washington and London, with the blessings of our establishment, have finally decided to let the skeletons in the politicians’ cupboards come out. The politicians tried to outsmart the military by flirting with the Kerry-Lugar Bill cleverly scripted by our ambassador in Washington. The army threw in a monkey wrench and thwarted it. Husain Haqqani has since gone into hiding while his boss in Islamabad is hunkered down in the Presidency.
The GHQ attack effectively derailed the parliamentary debate over Kerry-Lugar bill and gave a breathing space to the isolated pro-US government in Islamabad. It allowed Shah Mahmood Qureshi to do his Munich-style appeasement and sell out the Pakistani nation to Washington. Without the GHQ attack, the government could never have scuttled the expected Parliament resolution against the US aid conditions. The subsequent attacks on Pakistani military personnel were not the usual Taliban-style terrorism.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—There are certain questions that are beginning to come to one’s mind the more one sees targeted attacks against the military in Islamabad.
While soldiers and officials have been targeted by the “Taliban” – which has now become such an all-encompassing category that it defies explanation and allows so many elements to exploit the label for their own ends – primarily in the areas of the ongoing military operations, there is a new pattern that needs to be identified and discerned. Read the rest of this entry ?
Obama brought the ‘AfPak’, doctrine with him to the White House, ostensibly with the intention of securing Afghanistan, neutralizing Al-Qaeda, bringing peace to Afghanistan. Such urbane jargons did much to soothe the ears of the news viewers in the US but in reality all such slogans were as hollow as the dark hole that the US finds itself in at the moment in Afghanistan.
The Surge in Afghanistan, has all but failed. Over 75% of Afghanistan is in the hands of Taliban. Last Saturday, eight US troops were killed in Nuristan province when, hundreds of Taliban attacked US and Afghan troops by attacking their outpost from multiple locations. [1] Today, CNN Europe reports many more civilian dead and wounded in this groteque war.
ISLAMABAD: The government is gently moving in a direction where it may reject the Kerry-Lugar Bill in its present shape. The rejection will be accompanied by a request to the US Congress and the Obama administration for an understanding of Pakistan’s sovereignty and its right to decide issues of national security and foreign policy, according to several senior Pakistani officials and an important federal cabinet minister. The sources spoke to this correspondent on condition of anonymity. “I’ll be very very surprised if Pakistan accepts the Kerry-Lugar Bill with its present formulations because the nation wouldn’t allow a trade-off between sovereignty and US aid,” said an important federal cabinet member, reflecting the prevailing sense in government circles on the issue. Less than a week after the passage of the Kerry-Lugar Bill by the American Congress, the civil and military leadership in Pakistan is sharing strong concerns with opposition politicians, the media, intellectuals and clerics over certain provisions in the bill where the US government has sought to oversee the key components of Pakistan’s foreign policy and national security. A public outrage was witnessed in the country as the content of the Kerry-Lugar Bill became public last week.
Secretary General of Pakistan Muslim League-Q Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Sunday that questions about President Asif Ali Zardari’s credibility were the main reasons behind the crisis the government was facing today. Talking to journalists here on Sunday, he said: “…The president’s own credibility is a big question. It’s in fact a major factor in the crisis the government is facing today. The government’s own performance is another factor.” The government did not fulfil its promises about ending loadshedding and abolishing the 17th amendment and the president was paying fruitless visits to foreign countries, he said. He referred to some statements made by government circles which, according to him, were directed against the judiciary. “I fear the government’s irresponsibility and adolescence may take the country towards confrontation. The statements directed at judiciary are irresponsible,” he said.
BrassTacks presents another bitter-facts series exposing threats to Pakistan and deliberate ignorance of current government. Zaid Hamid exposes the covert war which CIA is waging against Pakistan, as he explains the current domestic scenario of Pakistan and the threats to our nationals security that we face due to CIA covert ops and US policies.
In latest episode of the series, cutting edge analysis of the current scenario and Kerry Lugar Bill are presented by Zaid Hamid.
In this latest episode by Brasstacks, Zaid Hamid sheds some light on Khilafat-e-Rashida that how it was the greatest form of governance ever by human kind
It is a matter of enormous regret that unethical practices are endemic in Pakistani society – so endemic in fact, that they are generally accepted as the standard way of doing things. However, our people are not to blame – mostly they are innocent participants in a system that is inherently broken. We all endure an atmosphere where bribery has become part and parcel of daily life. From corporatist graft at the highest levels of State to the palm greasing of petty officials, the issue is now so mundane that people are now desensitised to it and will seldom raise an eyebrow. The level of demoralisation is now so severe that some do not even acknowledge it as an evil. In a system where sleaze is par for the course, can there be any deliverance?
In light of the recent crisis in Swat, Buner and Dir it has been highlighted that the problem of militancy in Pakistan has political roots. These groups are demanding an end to the bombing of Pakistani territory by American and Pakistani armed forces and an end of Pakistani support for the American occupation in Afghanistan. If this does not occur then some groups want an end to interference from a Pakistani State which is seen as inept. The current Pakistani system has failed to successfully address these problems amongst others and as a result violence has ensued. There is an urgent need to identify, isolate and correct the flaws which have resulted in this cannibalistic system that is killing its own people if Pakistan is to have any chance of peace and stability.
It has become a cliché to say that Pakistan’s rulers are failures. For years Pakistanis have been seeking a saviour, a person to lead the country from whatever crisis it seems to find itself in at that particular time. Unfortunately for Pakistan the number of crises seems to be many yet the number of leaders able to solve the country’s problems has been precisely zero. The people have put their faith in one personality cult after another. Pakistanis have been big on families and have thrown their support behind these clans, turning the nation into an almost overblown mafia playground where the corrupt rulers plunder the nation’s wealth whilst the common man is reduced to even selling his children or committing suicide due to the desperate levels of poverty. Whilst the nation burns under the threat of militancy and the threat of an American attack, our rulers busy themselves by squabbling over power sharing ratios in Punjab and other petty disputes which paralyse the country.
In this article, I will try to propose possible viable solutions for us Pakistanis to get ourselves out of this horrendous quagmire filled to the brim with conspiracies, plots and agendas. What we must focus on first is how to bring about a soft revolution. It Is said that revolutions are not made, they happen. All that is required from our part is a solid determination and willfull perseverance to keep going through thick and thin, no matter how many hurdles are placed along the path. Sacrifices will and must be given, we cannot expect to turn the system topsy turvy without offering any.
Starting at the grassroots level, we realize that to go forth with our motives, we should be under the aegis of a sound practical ideology, which will engulf us in its golden principles and ideals. For Communists, Karl Marx had proposed “communique ideals” for socialists, which seemed at first to be quite successful in the former USSR but later murdered itself vilely. Here in Pakistan, so-called historians and thinkers forget that the very idea of Pakistan started with a vision Allama Iqbal had in a dream. That of a state where the Muslims of the Subcontinent could live in liberty according to the sacred principles of Islam. If all this was meant to be personal, the Muslims were still at a precariously better situation in India. But they were not allowed to implement their socio-politico-economic laws on a manifest scale, as they had the right to.
Husain Haqqani Adressing Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs
Recently it has been disclosed to Pakistani public that Xe (Blackwater) has been operating in Pakistan. The latest blow in this regard came from none other than our own Ambassador to US, Mr. Husain Haqqani.
Haqqani has written letters to Pakistan Interior Ministry, Pakistan Foreign Office and to Pakistan’s ISI ordering them to allow Americans into Pakistan indiscriminately without carrying out any background checks – trying to serve his US masters by ‘warning’ the ISI and Interior Ministry that not doing so will ‘hurt Pakistan’s image’ and may lead to cancellation of US aid. This is just one of the many examples where he has acted against Pakistani interests.
It has been reported recently that Haqqani issued 360 discretionary visas to US individuals including Craig Davis of Blackwater who was recently deported from Pakistan. Haqqani also reissued visas without approval of the foreign office and the intelligence agencies.
Two Pakistani political parties, Mr. Zardari’s PPP and Mr. Sharif’s PMLN, both ironically created during the reigns of two different military rulers, are taking the nation for a ride in the name of democracy. Thanks to their nonperformance in the past nineteen months, Pakistan is staring at a huge national failure, from foreign policy to Gwadar. Terrorism and target killings in Balochistan are being ignored by all politicians in the name of sympathizing with a politician-turned-terrorist who secretly received weapons from abroad and who permitted his grandson to join enemies of the homeland.
In 2007 Condi Rice, Richard Boucher and British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant (left) created a law called NRO to whitewash the illegal wealth of Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and many other Pakistanis to help them come to power. Two years later, in 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has indirectly declared the NRO as valid. The excuse for this move is to avoid ‘rocking the system’. Musharraf is gone but his NRO will survive. In a theatrical move, he was condemned but his illegal creation – and that of Condi, Boucher and Grant – was preserved. This could prove to be the biggest deception carried out in Pakistan in the name of democracy.
(LEFT) British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant, one of the godfathers of the secret BB-Musharraf deal that gave birth to NRO and to the incumbent Pakistani government, visited Pakistan recently.Mr. Grant’s mission was expanded in the last few months to include a new deal, this time bringing Mr. Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N on board.Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry basically protected this whole setup by sparing the NRO.
LAHORE: Lawyers on Thursday continued their vandalism against the media, attacking a Geo TV cameraman and other journalists again on the premises of the Lahore High Court.
A few minutes after a two-member bench adjourned the hearing of a suo moto notice on manhandling of a policeman and journalists by lawyers in the sessions court last week, lawyers thrashed the journalists who were covering the case. The lawyers, who were around 500, had gathered inside and outside the courtroom since morning, which reflected their designs. Though there was a sufficient strength of police personnel stationed there to counter any untoward incident, they were removed prior to the adjournment of proceedings on the complaint of lawyers.
Pakistan does not have a Christian minority problem. Pakistani Christians actively contributed in the Pakistan Independence Movement. After 1947, Pakistani Christians fought and died for the homeland in battles and served the nation in all fields, And are well represented in the nation’s armed forces. Majority Pakistani Muslims embrace their Pakistani compatriots from the Christian faith.
The recent incidents in Gojra are a grim reminder of an opportunist political system in which strange bedfellows can be espoused for political expediency and where rule of law can be applied selectively. Worse, it exposes false claims of the provincial and federal governments over constant surveillance of banned militant outfits in Punjab.
The Politicians – Zardari, Gilani, Rehman, Nawaz – Refuse To Condemn The Terrorism Of Akbar Bugti’s Grandson & His US/Indian Backed Terrorists In Afghanistan
Terrorists claiming to represent Pakistani Balochis are planning to declare ‘independence’ on 11 August 2009, according to BRASSTACKS. It will not change much on the ground but these terrorists and their supporters in Kabul, New Delhi and within CIA will score a major point against Islamabad. The pro-US government in Islamabad and even the Pakistani opposition are courting Washington and are silent against this emerging threat to the Pakistani state. No Pakistani politician is ready to call Akbar Bugti or Kabul-based Brahamdagh or London-based Harbyar Mari by their real designation as terrorists. Both President Zardari and Mr. Nawaz Sharif are silent accomplices in what they believe is a good opportunity to weaken the grip of the Pakistani military. Plans are also underway to create a ‘Pakistani Kurdistan’. Interior Minister Rehman Malik is yet to accuse Britain of giving safe haven to terrorists.
Hush-hush deals in the air!!!
KARACHI: While unhindered officially-sponsored corruption has dealt a blow to great national institutions such as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel, some other national institutions and common interest of the people of Pakistan are threatened by secret deals that are currently being negotiated beyond the realm of transparency, fair play and equal opportunity, according to an investigation done by this correspondent.
With negotiations at advanced stages, there are deals in the pipeline which, if executed, would push more national institutions to bankruptcy and would further accelerate continuing hemorrhage in the national exchequer, according to official and business sources.
Once again some individuals, with powerful political backers, who were favored with lucrative positions in government institutions last year, are in the race for gold. One venue where such deals are being framed is the Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) where discussions for incredible real estate purchases and acquisitions are at an advanced stage by its Chairman Asadullah Shaikh, who returned to Pakistan last year ending his 10-year long self-exile in England. While in London the Ehtesab Bureau of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and NAB of Gen Pervez Musharraf pursued corruption cases against Mr Shaikh and he was declared a proclaimed offender.
Mr Shaikh was appointed Chairman EOBI in July last year. EOBI is a government organisation that collects mandatory contributions from all theprivate institutions to provide old age pensions, grants and other benefits to workers retired from the private sector. The EOBI is the custodian of a management fund of about Rs160 billion that actually belongs to the poor old age workers.
Sources with direct knowledge of discussions at the EOBI headquarters in Karachi said that the top management was currently focusing at playing the fund for two key projects in Islamabad.
The Zardari-Nawaz musical chairs stands exposed before the Pakistani people. Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat appears on Ahmed Quraishi’s TSS [Sunday, Nov. 15, 08:00 pm-Aag TV] to issue this warning: this is the last chance for the politicians and the expanded ruling elite. Anjum Niaz puts that warning in perspective in this column in her unique style. 
In 2007 Condi Rice, Richard Boucher and British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant (left) created a law called NRO to whitewash the illegal wealth of Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and many other Pakistanis to help them come to power. Two years later, in 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has indirectly declared the NRO as valid. The excuse for this move is to avoid ‘rocking the system’. Musharraf is gone but his NRO will survive. In a theatrical move, he was condemned but his illegal creation – and that of Condi, Boucher and Grant – was preserved. This could prove to be the biggest deception carried out in Pakistan in the name of democracy.
