Monthly Archive:: April 2010

No more advice, please: Journalists and analysts are very fond of constantly giving advice to the PPP leadership. According to them, PPP leadership needs to embrace their advice in order to become the true voice of Pakistani liberals presumably so that members of
Geo TV 50 Minutes special on protests in Hazara Division over NWFP renaming: Source Siasat.pk
Historic Indeed – by Battar Sattar: Source The News The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad. Our nation has grown accustomed to receiving even delightful news with suspicion, if not disbelief. But the 18th Constitutional Amendment that proposes significant changes to our Constitution and
ہاشمی، سعد رفیق کا ووٹ سب نے محسوس کیا: Source BBC مسلم لیگ نواز کے رہنما مخدوم جاوید ہاشمی اور خواجہ سعد رفیق کے اٹھارویں ترمیم کی ایک شق کے خلاف ووٹ کے بعد سیاسی حلقوں یہ بحث جاری ہے کہ اب پارٹی میں ان کا مقام کیا
Pakistan: from martial law to judicial law – by Khalid Wasti: عوام کا حق حکمرانی نا منظور ================== کون نہیں جانتا کہ پچھلے ساٹھ سال سے پاکستان کا اقتدار اور اس پر حکمرانی کا حق چند مخصوص ہاتھوں تک محدود ہے – جب بھی ان آہنی ہاتھوں کی ہتھکڑی کو
Nawaz Sharif’s letter to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia – by Hakim Hazik: تحریر: حکیم حاذق خط بنام برادر عبداللہ خادمِ حرمین شریفین، جلالۃ الملک،عزت مآب، برادرِ محترم جناب ملک عبداللہ صاحب اپنے عاصی و گنہ گار بھائی کی طرف سے سلامِ عقیدت قبول کیجیے۔ میں اور آپ کی بھابی یہاں خیریت
Pakistan: a nation under attack – by Robert Fisk: Thanks: The Independent American drones overhead, Taliban troops on the offensive, and the horrifying rise of child kidnapping – Pakistan is in pieces, writes Robert Fisk, in a devastating portrait of a country thwarted by violence and corruption Pakistan
Saleem Safi on Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa renaming issue in Hazara district: Source Jang:
A plea for Bara IDPs — by Farhat Taj: The IDPs request the government to open vocational centres in the camp for training in employable skills like carpentry, masonry, welding, electrical wiring, plumbing, etc. The IDPs also request for vocational centres for income generation and skill development purposes
Presence of Mehmood Khan Achakzai in the Presidential Address: It was really heartening to see Mehmood Khan Achkzai sitting in VIP gallery of the parliament listening to the Presidential address. Although his party  boycotted 2008 general election but his  senators were a part of the Constitutional reforms committee.
Power Crisis – IPPs do not present a solution – by Nadeem Khan: There is a huge question mark on the power generation as compared to the rated installed capacity which is very much high as against the demand of the country. The reason of short fall is only non payment to
Exclusive Interview with Daniel Zapelli, the Attorney General of Geneva. Don’t Miss: The has been much speculation over the reopening of the Swiss Cases which could never be substantiated with concrete proves in the last ten years. Primarily targeted at President Asif Ali Zardari, the Swiss Cases are begin used as
SCBA, LHCBA lawyers ignoring the law: According to this news report, SCBA and LHCBA lawyers have declared in a joint press conference that they will challenge the 18th amendment on the grounds that it has destroyed the entire structure of the 1973 constitution. However this
Representatives of all parties criticize judiciary in 18th amendment parliamentary debate: Source BBC ’عدلیہ کو پارلیمانی فیصلوں کا مذاق اڑانے نہیں دیں گے‘ اٹھارویں آئینی ترمیم کے بل پر بدھ کو قومی اسمبلی میں بحث جاری رہی اور مختلف جماعتوں کے بیشتر اراکین نے ماضی میں عدلیہ کی جانب سے
Saad, Hashmi narrowly escape “N” show-cause notices – Shafiq Awan: Source: Daily Times LAHORE: Although politicians earned a good name through the 18th Amendment, the “democrats” among them closed the door for democracy within their parties as parliament passed the clause on intra-party polls unanimously, according to sources. PML-N
Al-Zulfikar: The unsaid history – by Nadeem Paracha: Pakistan is infamous for having a history cramped with assorted Islamist and sectarian organisations that have been unleashing havoc on its people and the state for over a decade. But long before violent terror groups like Sipah-e-Shaba, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and
Asif Zardari: The sudden hero – By Nadeem Paracha: The historic passage of the 18th Amendment Bill in the current National Assembly is rightly being paired with the country’s first ‘Constitutional revolution’ i.e. the making and passage of the 1973 Constitution during the government of the country’s first
The Peace Pipeline – by Peter Chamberlin: First published at There Are No Sunglasses Obama is a flexible puppet in the empire-builders hands, readily facilitating the decades-old scheme to seize control of the former Soviet satellite nations and all of their vast energy resources.  But, unlike
Kings of Pakistan Steel Mills – by Usama Bhutto: Near past government reconstituted its board of directors for Pakistan Steel Mills and appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Pakistan Steel Mills (in merging both offices Managing Director and Chairman) and delegated absolute power to one man (CEO). It
The 18th amendment and the concurrent list! – by Cyril Almeida: It seems that the fear of a big, powerful, overreaching federal government has driven political parties from the smaller provinces to do the only thing that seems obvious: cut its powers. ISLAMABAD: Bye-bye concurrent list, we never even got
RSVP: Sania weds Shoaib – by Bahadar Ali Khan: The entire Pakistani public pervaded into a jubilation and, apparently, in a triumphant phase after Shoaib betrothed with Sania Mirza. Personally, I would like to offer my blessings for the couple. However, ( here goes the cynicism, again )
Towards a government of pious Muslims in Pakistan – by Khalid Wasti: تمام مسائل کا حل —– صالح قیادت کا قیام ========================= پاکستان آزاد ہو جانے کے بعد بھی غلام ہے امریکہ کا ، ورلڈ بینک ،آئی۔ایم ایف اور عالمی استعمار کا ہماری پالیسیاں واشنگٹن میں بنتی ہیں ، پینٹاگون سے
Fallacies of nationalism and the 18th amendment — by Dr Manzur Ejaz: For a large section of the establishment, religious identity was the only one compatible with Pakistan, thus seeking national identities was automatically unpatriotic The passage of the 18th Amendment, specifically, the naming of the NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a
Giving credit to PPP government, being critical — by Munir Attaullah: The brutal fact, conveniently ignored by many, is that the price of the blowback from jihad and the search for glory — directly, as in the cost of current military operations, and indirectly as in an unfavourable investment climate
Kudos all around – by Kamran Shafi: First to Raza Rabbani who has been the target of many barbs from me in the days that the People’s Party was making, and breaking in quick succession, promises to restore the judiciary. They were aimed at him, first
Save the parliament to save the country – by Khalid Wasti: پارلیمینٹ کو بچاؤ ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ !! ملک کو بچاؤ قائد  اعظم کے پاکستان کو ایک ملاں (ملا) کا پاکستان بنانے میں جن غلیظ ذہنوں نے اپنا کردار ادا کیا اور قرارداد مقاصد کی منظوری سے لیکر اسلامی جمہوریہ بنانے تک
Ministry of Religious Affairs of Pakistan: A hard look at the supernatural – by Nadeem Khan: Today, I was amazed to see that the whole website of our Ministry of Religious affairs of Pakistan is as clean, as may be my heart, void of any religious belief (in the insightful eyes of a moulvis). I
Kashmir War and Jinnah’s folly — by Yasser Latif Hamdani: The fact of the matter is that the Kashmir War was entirely winnable had Jinnah acted at the right time, i.e. October 10, 1947. It was still winnable had General Gracey allowed mobilisation when ordered by Jinnah There is
Peace, prosperity and progress for tribal people — by Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed: What is utterly disgraceful is the fact that women have been effectively and comprehensively denied their right to education by both commission and omission. Nowhere is this fact more glaringly manifest than in FATA My recent discussion of tribal
A comment on Dr Shahid Masood’s meray mutabiq – by Khalid Wasti: ڈاکٹر شاہد مسعود کا ٹاک شو “ میرے مطابق “ مورخہ چار اپریل سننے کے بعد خاکسار نے اس پروگرام پر جو کمینٹس دئیے وہ ارسال خدمت ہیں =============== ڈاکٹر شاہد مسعود- تعصب میں اتنی دور تک نہ جائیں کہ
Punjabi judges must stop the witch hunt in the name of justice or risk backlash from other provinces – by Farrukh Siddiqui: Source: State of Pakistan blog The News reports the following on March 29, 2010 ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) warned the Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that he may be put behind bars if the judicial ordersdelivered on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), were
Who is Shakeel Anjum, the author of ‘Who assassinated Benazir Bhutto’?: Related post: Shamsul Anwar’s fraudulent story has a few lessons for us Ansar Abbasi, as critical readers of Pakistani media and politics know, is a loyalist of (a certain sub-section of) a spy agency. Ansar Abbasi is notorious for
Taliban massacre at least 43 Pakhtuns in Dir: Enemies of Pakistan and Islam, known as Taliban, have once again struck the innocent people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This time their target was a thanksgiving rally of Awami National Party (ANP) in Timargara, lower Dir. At least 43 people
Kill at least 10 Ahmadis a year: General Zia-ul-Haq’s legacy: While right wing jihadis and Taliban apologists in Pakistani media and politics are known for makings noises about real or perceived grievances of Muslims all over the world, they never seem to complain on Muslim on Muslim or Muslim
Imran’s stand on the Taliban – by Dr Arif Alvi: “We believe in a Pakistan envisioned by Jinnah in his speech of Aug 11, 1947, and an Islam as understood by Iqbal in his well enunciated Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Pakistan should be a non-theocratic country, though
Remembering Z.A. Bhutto – by Nafees Siddiqi: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was among those leaders of the world who shape the destinies of their peoples. Bhutto asserted Pakistan’s national independence when the country was a member of Western military pacts. It is his initiative in the
Ansar Abbasi’s “Truth” Problem: Cross-posted from Pakistan Media Watch Just this week I posted about Jang Group’s problem with facts. Now, as if to prove my point, Ansar Abbasi writes an article filled with so many problems and errors that it’s hard to keep
Rumpus at the Punjab University – by Qudrat Ullah: The recent spate of manhandling of a University Professor namely Dr. Iftikhar Baloch, by Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) activists, in the largest and the oldest seat of higher learning in Pakistan is the most tragic incident in the history
Plenipotent! Rule of law or rule of judges – by Saad Mansoor: The lawyers’ movement beginning on 9th March 2007 and ending after the restoration of judges on 16th March 2009 was a major milestone in the struggle for rule of law by people of Pakistan. However, little that goes on
Aftermath of the PPP-Judiciary confrontation: It’s not hard to imagine – by Nadeem Khan: Current judicial crisis is and will remain as an impasse and the outcome will be unpleasant for the Pakistan People’s Party as well as for the whole country. What options PPP have in the current situation, and what could