WASHINGTON: Costing Pakistan almost 1.5 million dollars a page, the UN report on Benazir’s murder has not moved the case even an inch in any direction but it has well served the purpose of PPP rulers, and killers of BB alike, for the moment.
The UN probe gave Zardari two years, some months and a half to keep the sensitive issue in a limbo so that he might focus on consolidating power. It also indirectly gave him a clean chit and some face saving excuse to act against his top cronies, Rehman Malik, Babar Awan, Brig Cheema, Saud Aziz and company being on top of that list. The UN has also served another purpose. It has given official currency to all the wild and not-so-wild rumours, which were afloat in the country. Yet all the conspiracy theories and all the unexplained mysteries, which, even after the report, still remain in the market. But these have now been endorsed by the world body.
Zaid Hamid responds to some of the allegations against him in a dignified manner. He also gives his expert analysis and views on the current geo-strategic situation in the region with a historic perspective.
It is an irrefutable fact that Pakistan and Islam can never be isolated from each other. One was created for the protection and promotion of the other. The British tactic was always to instil territorial nationalism in the Muslim world and thus drive them apart. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the great twentieth century Muslim poet-philosopher, confronted this attempt with his enlightened Islamic philosophy which emphasised how important it was for Muslims to unite and revert to the teachings of Islam which came with “legal concepts”, “civic significance”, and “religious ideals” that could not be separated from a social order. According to his Two-Nation Theory, Pakistan was the only way by which these ideals could be realised. Thus, it was essentially on the basis of Islamic philosophy and as a hallmark of Islam that Pakistan came into being.
Frustrated over continued failures, PPP-led Government is now resorting to worst ever desperate measures by threatening its citizen from speaking truth about failures and corruption in government of Pakistan not to mention anything about Mr. 10%.
“Pakistan will start tracking and prosecuting people who send threats or propaganda via email or SMS against political leaders”, said Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
“People think it is easy to get away with such things but in reality, routing can be very easily tracked. We have also set up a special center where people can report such offensive emails and SMSs and we will catch the culprit within 48 hours we can catch them,” added the federal minister.
Okay, we are scared but is our government going to arrest CEO of Google for providing a search engine that gives following suggested search queries (generated automatically):
ISLAMABAD: The portraits of Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah have been removed from the Prime Minister House and Presidential House.
Two days ago, President Asif Ali Zardari hosted a reception in the honour of national cricket team on winning the ICC Twenty20 World Cup title. On this occasion, the team players and officials had a group photo with President Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
There are pictures of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Zardari Bhutto and President Zardari without any picture of founder of Pakistan are seen hung in the backdrop of photo.
Besides ruining my country, I believe my aunt’s husband, Pakistani President Zardari, orchestrated my father’s murder. Is Obama really going to offer him billions more when they meet today?
Something rotten has arrived in Washington.
Today, President Barack Obama will shake hands and stage Oval Office photo ops for the first time with the man who many believe stole billions from the Pakistani treasury, empowered Pakistan’s newly formed Taliban by imposing Shariah law without a vote or referendum, and whom I have publicly accused of orchestrating the murder of my father, Murtaza Bhutto, an elected member of parliament until he was killed in 1996.
In a highly undiplomatic move, U.S. officials coordinated with Ambassador Haqqani to have the India-Afghan transit trade concession forced on Pakistan. The issue raises once again the perennial question: Does Ambassador Haqqani represent Pakistani interests or is he working for Washington? In March, Mr. Haqqani broke diplomatic norms and national security considerations by arranging a secret, one-to-one meeting between President Zardari and Mr. Holbrooke in Dubai to talk things behind the back of the entire Pakistani government, Foreign Office, and the Pakistani military.
India Should Ask Him To Hand Over Kashmir, Hunza & Gilgit Too
Just as the tide was turning against the so-called Pakistani Taliban because of loss of public support, comes the news that Asif Zardari has signed a transit trade agreement that gives India the right to overland trade with Afghanistan and beyond – something that even Bangladesh has refused to give to India in the case of trade with Burma. That is the extent to which Zardari’s ‘My Democracy’ can go to accommodate the enemy.
As I predicted in my article “ The Future of Pakistan” only two days ago, it is America’s plan to induct Indian troops into Afghanistan and have a shorter supply line from India to Afghanistan via Lahore and Peshawar. Clearly that would be resisted and not just by the Afghan Taliban. This transit agreement is the red rag to the bull that would expand the scope of the Civil War in Pakistan and create ‘opportunities’ for the USA. If the Pakistani political parties do not unite to oppose this agreement, the people will. That is a prospect that should be avoided. Would the armed forces rise to the occasion and save Pakistan from Asif Zardari?
It is an irrefutable fact that Pakistan and Islam can never be isolated from each other. One was created for the protection and promotion of the other. The British tactic was always to instil territorial nationalism in the Muslim world and thus drive them apart. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the great twentieth century Muslim poet-philosopher, confronted this attempt with his enlightened Islamic philosophy which emphasised how important it was for Muslims to unite and revert to the teachings of Islam which came with “legal concepts”, “civic significance”, and “religious ideals” that could not be separated from a social order. According to his Two-Nation Theory, Pakistan was the only way by which these ideals could be realised. Thus, it was essentially on the basis of Islamic philosophy and as a hallmark of Islam that Pakistan came into being.
Besides ruining my country, I believe my aunt’s husband, Pakistani President Zardari, orchestrated my father’s murder. Is Obama really going to offer him billions more when they meet today?
