Strongly condemn state terrorism of Nawaz government against peaceful protesters in Islamabad.

Strongly condemn actions of Nawaz government against peaceful protesters.

However, whatever is happening in Islamabad is not unexpected. People accepted the right of government and security institutions to torture or kill civillians or even bomb the civil areas during Ayub, Yahya, Bhutto, Musharraf, Zia and many other times.

If Nawaz government is using the same wrong principles and excuses like law and order or some national security or some writ of state type excuses to justify their actions then it is also not new.

We have tolerated even worse against people of Bangladesh, FATA, Baluchistan etc and if it is happening with Urban or so called settled area people then it shouldn’t be shocking. Its highly condemnable but not unexpected.

Most of us believe in the concept of humanity but for most people the main issue seems to be their definition of the entity called “human”.

The definition seems to be greatly dependent on race, religion ,sect, nationality, political ideology and other sources of discrimination.

If wrong actions are accepted as principles just because they are not against “our kind” then we shouldn’t feel shocked if same is repeated against us or people we actually consider as humans.

 

Gaza,FATA,Nazi Germany, Israel and Pakistan: Some random thoughts for my troop worshiping Pakistani friends

I have been writing for some time against crimes committed by the Pakistani/USA and other forces in this fake war on terror and Israeli occupation and bombings of Palestinian territory. I have also been observing the reactions of people against and in favor of both operations, wars, genocide or mass murders (Whatever you want to label them).

What I see is that most of us believe in the concept of humanity but for most people the main issue seems to be their definition of the entity called “human”.
The definition seems to be greatly dependent on race, religion ,sect, nationality, political ideology and other sources of discrimination. This discrimination blinds many people to the extent that they start considering the lives of a 2 years old on one side of the conflict as less important one than on the other side of the conflict.

If we look at Israeli attacks over Gaza and Pakistan army attacks over FATA then we will see that there is not much difference between Benjamin Netanyahu and Nawaz/Raheel Sharif operations. Same logic of targeting particular groups but in reality damaging lives and properties of common people. Also there is not much difference between pro-war Israelies who were shown on the media enjoying bombings over Gaza and pro-war troop worshipers and fake liberals (In reality sectarian and social class fascists) of Pakistan who support and enjoy aerial bombings and heavy ground bombings over populated areas of FATA. Not to forget another thing. Israel and Egypt’s dictator Al-Sissi both have closed their borders for Gaza refugees and here in Pakistan both Sind and Punjab are doing the same with IDPs.

Ask a Pakistan army supporter about Israeli actions and he will use the all the harsh words he or she has against the Israelis and will condemn the attacks strongly. Ask him if these attacks are similar then you will receive harsh words for your self and things like, “There is no general public living in Waziristan & FATA area where Pak Army is doing bombing.” Similarly ask an Israeli army supporter about war in Gaza and similarity between their actions and the actions of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and he will say ” There is no general public living in GAZA area where Israeli Army is doing bombing”

Reality is people don’t care as long as its their men doing their job and it’s not our head facing the bullet or bombings.

No one is asking from Pakistan army that which high-profile targets were targeted? what are the identities of all those hundreds of so-called Uzbaks? what is the proof that all these so-called Uzbaks were terrorists or they were the refugees we accepted for many years or they were from the younger generation of the old soldiers Pak/US trained to fight the Soviets or were they common tribal people?

Similarly not many in Israel will ask their army about the hatred these bombings will create in the region against Israelis or how long can they bully the whole region and how the actions are different from what Hitler did?

The thing is that long as boots on the ground are our’s , bombs from sky are our’s and it’s not us or the people we care are being targeted, all is OK!

We need to oppose the idea of using aerial bombings over civilian population areas (whether so-called enemy areas or so-called our areas) on principle not on prejudices.

Fear of the other kind is a useful tool in the hands of people like Hitler, Netanyahu, Pakistan’s very own dictator Yahya, Musharraf, Bashar al Assad, Stalin, Mussolini, Bush, Obama and others like them.

It’s up to the common people to reject this “creating fear and controlling masses” policy. We need to do it not just for the other side and their rights as humans but also for our rights and freedom too.

Wrong actions and policies, if accepted as norms or principles will eventually hit us too and we will have no moral justification to oppose such actions if we would have supported them in the beginning against other people.

Karachi Airport and Taftan Border attacks on Shia Zaireen

First of all, I strongly condemn attacks on Shia Zaireens at Taftan border and attack on Karachi Airport by some militants. Now we should try to find the root causes of the mess we are in.

Instead of trying to come out of the mess, many people in Pakistan start chanting for more war and more mess when incidents like Taftan Attack or Karachi Airport attack happen. Its like asking for more fire when your house is burning.

Last time when Pakistan Army and Air force jet bombed its own civilian populations, I pointed out that those who are supporting these jet bombings shouldn’t forget about their support for more mess when some suicide attack or some other terrorist activity will follow up these bombings. Whether its a reaction of those jet bombings or some third party is merely using the situation to increase the temperature, its the bombings which provided the impetus.

Also these attacks again remind us that Pakistani security institutions are not designed to defend people.

They are designed to defend dictators like Musharraf, attack media houses, attack judiciary, bomb villages and strengthen their control over political, land and other economic resources of the country.

Serious restructuring is required to make these institutions into defenders of the country from occupied mercenary armed forces.

Recent security and intelligence failure at Karachi Airport shouldn’t be a surprise as these good for nothing institutions are busy in protecting Pervez Musharraf, hiding their asses in missing persons case, bombing villages for dollars, running over Geo and controlling more power for some interest groups.

People should also question the Uzbak and Indian weapons rhetoric. We need to know what were the security institutions doing when they were entering the area? Saying that Uzbaks were involved doesn’t undermine the failure.

Current setup like 2008 setup is just a face of democracy, main players are same. Musharraf is still largely above the law and enjoying full security and support of his juniors in the army. Zardari and Nawaz cannot change anything as they got power by making deals with the army.

Things don’t get rotten overnight. First Ayub Khan pushed Pakistan into cold war, then Yahya played his part by introducing genocide of common populations and people digested it as the victims were Bengalis not “A” class human beings of this country, then Zia exploited Mullahism to take control of more power and pushed Pakistan more into cold war and then Musharraf and his legacy Kiyani, Raheel Sharif, Pasha and Zaheer ul Islam types pushed Pakistan into more imported conflicts like this war on terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also these martial laws resulted in setting wrong priorities for security institutions.

Agencies and federal government are saying that they created a security alert four months ago regard the possibility of such attacks. This is totally absurd. If you were planning to do new wave of jet bombings and derailing the dialogues then of-course you must be aware of the possible back lash on strategic locations.

10 terrorists made their way into a main airport and security agencies were busy in conquering Geo News or doing aerial bombings over villages. At night time police and rangers stop common citizens on daily basis just to take money out of their pockets but often we see terrorist groups end up entering high security installation without any serious resistance. This shows serious lack in training and failure of setting proper priorities.Now they will use the rhetoric of “Uzbaks” with “Indian weapons” to hide their incompetency.

We need to realize that current security setup is not designed and is not capable of defending the people, it only serves few interest groups.

Dictatorships have contributed to the failure and Musharraf tenure added new dimensions of failure by bringing more foreign conflicts at home which this current rotten setup is not capable of handling so in frustration the pawns or so called soldiers end up running over journalists, common citizens or bombing villages.

We need a serious revision of Pakistan’s security setup and we need a culture of transparency and accountability in the affairs of military establishment. We need to get rid of this legacy of failures and culture of troop worship to bring some positive change in Pakistan.

Army,Pakistan,Politicians and lessons we never learned

For last 6-7 decades army is exploiting ethnic, sectarian and social class prejudices to rule either directly through martial laws or indirectly during puppet or so called civilian governments. Nationalism is another card along with Shaheed card which they use very often to recover their image when their big blunders bring them under some criticism.

Even in this fake war on terror, they used sectarian, ethnic and social class prejudices to forward war agenda in Pakistan and if we are seeing the results in the form of Shia-Sunni or Sufi-Salafi wars or similar other conflicts then we shouldn’t feel shocked. Its the similar outcome they wanted but perhaps a bit more under control where they have command over resulting situations so that they can use these situations for their advantage. They were fools if they were expecting any good out of these evil, corrupt and stupid policies. This mess can only be cleaned if we start valuing our freedom and develop some sense of justice instead of worshiping false gods like troops, mullahs, feudal rulers, sufis, mafia lords or others.

War defeats and loss of half country should tell us that this current colonial legacy based army structure is bogus and not designed for defense but 4 martial laws show it is designed for proxy rule of foreign powers. It was army which gave bases to Americans and invited drones and gave NRO with the help of Americans/British so that this war can go on. its army which made Pakistan a front line american ally in this war against afghans or Pakistanis.

Geo definitely played a doubtful role in 2013 elections but using that issue to promote troop worship is something really disappointing from PTI. Geo is a private TV with business interests so one can expect these things from them and the solution is to change the channel. Focus should have been on the rigging which couldn’t have happened without the support of military and civil security establishments, who were supposed to secure the electoral booths and we saw how it went.

If PTI and Imran Khan are thinking that they will get something good out for the country or for the party by supporting the troops on wrong things then they should learn from their friends in KPK government i.e. Jamaat-e-Islami which supported the troops on many occasions especially in 1971 and we can see how establishment treats them. JI gave lots of sacrifices for establishment blunders in 71 and ended up facing most of the fall out. Even the recent 10 party alliance or new IJI didn’t give them anything.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto launched his career as Gen (Retarded) Ayub’s puppet, became CMLA with the help of army, supported military’s policies towards bengalis and we saw what these troops did to him.

Nawaz Sharif, another product of establishment, was forced into exile. Even in 2013 elections he came to power through more deals and we will see how hard it will be for him to keep up the promises especially on issues like peace with India or on Musharraf case or on missing persons case (We already saw what happened with them in Islamabad).

Benazir Bhutto made NRO deal and we can see how it ended.

I mean, what the heck is wrong with politicians and even their supporters? Why can’t they see the real root causes of the problem which are related to the British legacy proxy ruling structure in the form of occupied mercenary armed forces? How will they be able to solve fundamental issues if they try to please the real devil?

The troop pleasing attitude is expected from feudal-corporatist politicians like Nawaz or Zardari, mafias like MQM etc but a party which promotes justice and human rights and ends up surrendering in front of troop worship mindset is really disappointing.

Pakistan Elections 2013:Vote for Change, Vote for PTI and Vote for Bat!

Some random comments on these elections

Need Change: Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are two big symbols of this political system. People need tos ee who is sticking with them as allies and who is taking a stand against them. People need to come out for a change and vote for Naya Pakistan and Vote4PTI. Reject these NRO and IJI-2(10 Party alliance) gangs.

People standing up above their prejudices: I am glad that some of my strongly religious friends who belonged to Shia sect are now not following Sajid Naqvi and others who are supporting PPP and MQM but they are now supporting PTI. Similarly some of my Deobandi friends have stopped blindly following their brand of sectarianism and instead of following Fazl ur Rehman type, they will now give votes to PTI. Similar is the case with some Barelvi friends. This is change as its not just feudalism and extortion mafias which are exploiting people. These fake fatwa factories are also exploiting the sectarian diversity and using it to strengthen their political and financial positions. In sha Allah PTI will get the chance and deliver good for the people and the country.

For Karachi: If someone can solve two major issues of Karach then its IK only. Two major problems of Karachi are:

a) Bring peace
b) Local bodies elections and decentralization of power

Military operations by PPP and PMLN governments were the reasons behind the start of ethnic violence as it provided more sympathies to MQM. ANP,PPP and MQM are major responsible of recent mess in Karachi. PMLN was ally of PPP in center when PPP took power in 2008 and they remained allies for a long time in Punjab. Bot PPP and PMLN avoided local bodies elections in last 5 years so one can get the idea what Karachiites should do?

MQM and JI are not major parties and they only work as proxies of PPP and PMLN respectively. PTI will be in a position to take independent position on the issues.

For IK haters: The thing is simple, whatever IK does and whatever social class background he has, he stands up above his social class prejudices of Mr/Mullah, Shia/Sunni,Muslim/Non-muslim or ethnic ones and supports justice and prosperity for all. This thing is lacking in so called religious and so called liberals of Pakistan a lot.

Comment on IK’s speech in grand finale of PTI 2013 election campaign:  I am glad that Imran Khan thanked people from all school of thoughts for praying for his health. Apart from many other reasons, I support Imran Khan mainly because he stands up above from his sectarian and social class prejudices and works for justice for all whether shia or sunni, whether muslim or non-muslim, mr or mullah, poor or rich and treats them like human beings. This is something which is lacking in fake liberal and fake religious parties.
My vote is for Justice and My vote is for BAT!

Javed Hashmi in Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik–> 1st May 2012

Good program and a bold discussion on Army operations, Balochistan, Liyari,Peers and Makhdooms in British Raj, and other topics by Javed Hashmi and Nadeem Malik. JH has shown that he can think above himself.

مخدوم کا خطاب انگریزوں نے بنایا اور اس کے ساتھ زمینیں دیں۔ انگریزوں نے مسجد شہید گنج کی شہادت کے خلاف فتوی دینے پر پیروں کو زمینیں دیں۔ہمارے ملک میں بہت کم سیاستدان ہیں جن کی معیشت پچھلے پچیس سال میں بہت مستحکم نہیں ہوئی۔ قوم بھوکوں مر رہی ہے اور سیاستدانوں کی دولت اور گاڑیاں بڑھ رہی ہیں۔ یوسف رضا گیلانی کو اپنے والد سے ملنے والی جائیداد مجھ سے کم تھی۔ میں یوسف رضا گیلانی کے گھر افسوس کے لئیے گیا ان کے گھر میں اے سی تک نہیں تھا۔ مخدوم اپنے مرید سے پیسے مانگ کر کھاتا ہے وہ کیسے بادشاہ ہو سکتا ہے۔ یوسف رضا گیلانی کو سزا ہوئی ہے اسے اخلاقی طور پر استعفی دینا چاہئیے۔ عوام اٹھ گئے تو پھر کسی کی پرواہ نہیں کریں گے کہیں گے کہ سب سے جان چھڑاؤ۔ مسلم لیگ ن کی طرف سے سپریم کورٹ پر حملے کے فیصلہ میں زمہ دار لوگ بھی شامل تھے۔ زرداری نے نواز شریف سے ملاقات میں کہا کہ اس کا بس چلے تو تما ججوں کو ٹانگ دے۔ جماعت اسلامی،عمران خان اور اچکزئی نے نوازشریف کے کہنے پر الیکشن کا بائیکاٹ کیا تھا۔ نواز شریف نے بعد میں خود الیکشن لڑنے کا فیصلہ کر لیا۔ عمران خان اسی نوازشریف کی وعدہ خلافی کی وجہ سے اس پر اعتبار نہیں کرتا۔ ملتان میں مسلم لیگ ن کی سیٹ پر پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدوار کا جیتنا لوگوں کا ن لیگ کے خلاف نفرت کا اظہار ہے۔ پیپلز پارٹی کے لئیے پنجاب اور خیبر پختونخواہ میں الیکشن کے لئیے امیدوار ڈھونڈھنا مشکل ہو گا۔ مسلم لیگ ن کی سیاست نے پیپلز پارٹی تقویت دی ہے۔ میں بھٹو بینظیر کی سیاست تو سمجھ سکتا ہوں لیکن زرداری کی سیاست سمجھنے کے لئیے پی ایچ ڈی کی ضرورت ہے۔ مسلم لیگ ن قومی اور صوبائی اسمبلیوں سے استعفے دے تو ایک طوفان اٹھ کھڑا ہو گا۔ میں نے کہا تھا کہ میں زرداری کے مقابلے میں صدر کا الیکشن لڑتا ہوں۔ میں نے نواز شریف کو کہہ دیا تھا کہ تاریخ آپ کو کبھی معاف نیں کرے گی جس طرح آپ زردری کو بالواسطہ صدر منتخب کروا رہے ہیں۔ آج بھی مسلم لیگ ن اپنی سیاست سے پیپلز پارٹی کی مدد کر رہی ہے۔ ہم عدلیہ سے یکجہتی کا اظہار کریں گے کہ قوم آپ کے ساتھ کھڑی ہے۔ عدالت کا فیصلہ آنے کے بعد حکومت نے نہ مانا تو پھر پارے پاکستان کو پیرالائز کر دیں گے۔ ہم کوئٹہ گئے لوگوں نے ہمارا بہت محبت کے ساتھ استقبال کیا۔ ہم بلوچستان جاتے ہی نہیں ہیں کہ وہاں کسی کی بات سنیں۔ مسلم لیگ ن استعفے دے کر اسمبلیوں سے باہر آئے تو پھر ہم ان کو ساتھ لے کر چلیں گے۔جاوید ہاشمی

JI/PTI: Will the fundamentals be compromised over tactical politics?

Recent wave of Arab spring and success of Justice and Development Party in Turkey have given many lessons to Islamic movements and political parties around the world.

These revolutions and political successes came as a result of patient and hard laboured struggles without compromising on fundamental issues.

Here in Pakistan, after wasting a decade in an un-wanted foreign war, there was a chance of smaller but ideologically focused parties to join hands against the so called war on terror.

The other fundamental issues which got spot light during that time were issues like independent judiciary,corruption, missing persons and breaking the status-quo in Pakistani politics.

Two political forces, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led by Imran Khan and Jamat e Islami led by Munawwar Hassan, can be expected to bring people together on fundamental issues related to the survival of our country. On one hand eyebrows are being raised over the inclusion of former PML-Q members in PTI and their alleged soft corner for MQM which Imran Khan has rejected.

PTI’s poltical leadership has been denying the impression that they are forming any alliance with forces of status-quo, MQM with its politics of violence or any corrupt leadership. Their point of view on the inclusion of new leadership as expressed by Imran Khan recently is that these people are joining PTI after agreeing with PTI’s agenda and knowing that their assets and credibility will be scruitinized before giving them any party tickets.

Time will tell if PTI sticks to what it claims. Now in another turn of events Jamat e Islami is getting closer with PML-N, a force well-known for being an important part of status-quo along with two other pillars including PPP and establishment.

This development is interesting as according to the news reports, Farid Paracha of Jamat e Islami said,“All the PML-Q has been renamed as PTI. If we have to work with these corrupt people, there is no need to get closer to the PTI.”

This line of argument is interesting from Jamat e Islami’s senior leader. JI is criticizing PTI for including those who are joining the party after accepting PTI’s agenda on USA war on terror, corruption,judiciary etc. Also these people are joining PTI after knowing the fact that their assets and credibility will be scruitinized before giving them party tickets.

On the other hand JI prefers to be partners with a party which is itself an important part of status-quo and has a good history of corrupt power politics (JI’s past statements are also there on this). It was evident from the JI’s recent social media campaign that the people in JI who support PML-N and JUI-F are not happy with PTI’s growing popularity and a possible conflict of interest in the form of some common vote bank or supporter base especially anti-war on terror votebank.

If we talk about fundamentals, PML-N supported operations in Sawat and tribal areas, and played its double role in judiciary movement. Also the possibility of them having a clear stance on corruption is very limited, if we look at their past tenures in federal government.

But still they are eligible for being a partner in the eyes of JI’s senior leader despite former accusations by JI on PML-N for playing the role of a friendly opposition.

So far there are no clear statements on the recent developments between PTI and JI relationship by their top most leaderships. According to news reports, they are expected to meet soon to discuss recent developments in Pakistani politics and way forward with each other.

I hope they will keep fundamental issues like war on terror, corrution, indepndent judiciary, missing persons and independent foreign policy in mind before taking any major decision. This is a make or break time for Pakistani politics as new developments are taking place in neighbouring Afghanistan and a new wave of change in Pakistan is knocking our doors.

Will PTI and JI compromise their fundamental stances over some tactical politics? Their answer may determine the future course of our country and its politics.

Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik–>Wikileaks, Role of Pakistani political and Military leaders

An interesting talk on WikiLeaks and our leadership.

Video Links : http://www.awaztoday.com/playvideo.asp?pageId=11984

http://pakistanherald.com/Program/Islamabad-Tonight-December-06-2010-Nadeem-Malik-5675

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Program Highlights :

Source : http://nadeemmalik.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/islamabad-tonight-wikileaks-our-leaders-2/

ISLAMABAD TONIGHT

Guest: JUSTICE TARIQ MAHMOOD, SHAHEEN SEHBAI, MARIA SULTAN, KHAWAJA MUHAMMAD ASIF & DR A Q KHAN

TOPIC: Wikileaks, Role of Pakistani political and Military leaders

Shaheen Sehbai said that Pakistan top leadership is badly exposed. He said it is time for our leaders to clarify their positions. He said it is very important that our leaders clear this impression that they cannot take decisions without American advice and dictation. He said that like America, an official representative should be present in any such meeting with the Diplomats, and minutes of these meetings should be maintained.

Maria Sultan name is also mentioned in Wikileaks documents. She is one of those people who met with Americans. She said that she did not meet Ann Peterson instead she met with American Embassy officers after a conference on Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT).

She questioned the authenticity of Wikileaks documents. She said we have blindly believed everything that Wikileaks documents revealed. Talking about American demand to Pakistan to return enriched uranium Maria said that American demand was not for Pakistan only but it was for every country.

She said that the conversations of our leaders should be recorded and submitted to some government institution or respective Ministries. Similarly, the need of officially maintaining record of all engagement, agreements, information sharing or military-to-military understanding should be officially maintained.

Dr A Q Khan commenting on one of the revelation of Wikileaks, that president Zardari promised to American ambassador to keep him confined to his house, said that he could tell by government tactics that they do not want him to walk free.

Dr Qadeer said that Pakistan should never sign FMCT unilaterally. He said Pakistan could do its utmost but America will never sign a civil nuclear deal with Pakistan.

Justice Tariq Mahmood said that American ambassador Ann Peterson offered to appoint Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, as the judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a meeting with him. He said that the offer was to entice Justice Iftikhar to end lawyer’s movement.

He said Americans always take care of their interest but we are not committed with the cause of Pakistan. He said that there is always one government official accompanying with the Americans when they meet some body to record their conversation. He said Pakistan also needs to practice same thing to keep a check on people holding top-most official positions in Pakistan.

He said we need to get rid of this thinking that without American support we cannot form government.

Khawaja Asif said that the only way we can free ourselves from American influence is economic progress in the country. He said without economic development, eradication of corruption and tight control on profligacy, Pakistan will continue to remain under the US influence.

Our leaders appear compromised can they be trusted –>Ansar Abbasi ,The News

After the WikiLeaks deluge

By Ansar Abbasi

Source : http://thenews.com.pk/02-12-2010/ethenews/t-2415.htm

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan stands insecure as our leadership, both political and military, ruling the country have been exposed by no one else but Washington, to whom our leadership is shown by WikiLeaks to have sold their souls at the cost of national integrity, honour and prestige.
Is our fate in safe hands? This is the fundamental questionthat boggles almost every mind in Pakistan as the WikiLeaks bombshell, believed to be deliberately leaked by Washington to attain its designs including chaos in Pakistan, leaves hardly anyone among the leaders here to be trusted.
Each and every word of WikiLeaks would be taken as true if Pakistani authorities and leaders, blamed and shamed by these leaks, do not come out with a clear answer. They need to reply, more importantly through their actions, that Pakistan is no more American domain.
Otherwise, WikiLeaks precisely proves what was earlier said i.e. Pakistan has been practically reduced from a sovereign state to an American colony as the president, prime minister, top political leaders and even Army chief all have been shown pleasing or taking into confidence the US ambassador — the de facto viceroy of Pakistan — to continue ruling the roost with the blessings of Washington.
DG ISI Lt Gen Pasha too crossed the limits of discipline as he is shown by the WikiLeaks to have told US officials that President Asif Ali Zardari was corrupt. The question here arises why did he report such purely internal matter to the Americans.
The only exception has been Imran Khan, the man who on the face of Americans has been criticising US policies, drone attacks, the so-called war on terror besides asking for negotiated settlement with Taliban to end extremism and refusing to dance to the tunes of the “real masters” of this unfortunate country.
Shame is too little a word to reflect on the portrayed conduct of those ruling Pakistan after one goes through the WikiLeaks, which is expected to heap more dirt on Pakistan as well as the Muslim nations.
What would be more shameful than reading President Asif Ali Zardari as conceding to the Americans, “We are here because of you,” and then assuring Washington, “We won’t act without consulting with you.” To the pleasure of his masters, Zardari committed Pakistan to the war on terror, insisting that it was Pakistan’s own war.
Asfandyar Wali too shares the shame by inviting Washington to influence both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari through Jeddah and Dubai to mend fences. Why did he invite three foreign countries in matters purely pertaining to internal politics?
Look at the callousness of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who on the issue of drone attacks told Washington, “I don’t care if they (US) do it (carry out drone attacks) as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it.” The premier had snubbed the interior minister Rehman Malik, who had suggested to the Americans that the Predator attacks should be stopped after the Bajaur operation.
Look at the double speak of the PML-N, whose top leadership both Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were shown repeatedly assuring the Americans that the PML-N was pro-America. To leave no doubt about his loyalty to the Americans, Nawaz recounted his decision to override his Chief of Army Staff and deploy Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia in support of the US coalition in the first Gulf War. Here Chaudhry Nisar Khan reminded that it was the PPP and its leaders who were organising street demonstrations against Pakistan joining with the US coalition.
Exposing the hypocrisy of the already stinking Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the WikiLeaks revealed that the leader of the country’s most fiercely pro-Taliban religious party, hosted a jovial dinner for Ms Patterson at which the Maulana sought her backing to become the prime minister and expressed a desire to visit America. His lieutenant Abdul Ghafoor Haideri acknowledged that “All important parties in Pakistan had to get the approval of the US (to get power).” Just compare the actions of these Maulanas to what they preach in their speeches. Simply disgraceful!
Interior minister Rehman Malik is referred to as a frequent and co-operative interlocutor, who professes his support for cooperation with the United States.
No less shocking is the way the Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has been opening his heart and mind before the Americans, including the US ambassador. Otherwise giving the impression of being a man of few words, the Army chief spoke before the Americans against President Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, and also talked of getting resignation from the president and tailoring democracy to his sweet choice.
He also hinted at supporting Asfandyar Wali Khan, the leader of the Awami National Party, as the new president. Kayani even made it clear to Ms Patterson, the former US ambassador, that regardless of how much he disliked Zardari, he distrusted Nawaz even more.
Such hobnobbing of the military chief with any foreign diplomat or official, what to talk of Americans, is undoubtedly a violation of discipline and breach of his oath. Unluckily, we have a tainted president, tainted prime minister and tainted political leaders otherwise this is a fit case of seeking explanation from the Army chief.
With such leadership, both political and military, Pakistan’s future is really bleak. Whom should we trust? Who is free from the US influence? Can we become a sovereign nation? Can we take our own decisions? Why do we have more faith in Washington than in God? How could we save Pakistan from being destabilised after reading what our president, prime minister, political leaders and Army chief have said to a minnow American — Anne Patterson? With such leadership, how can we tackle the problem of terrorism? Who would save us from disgrace and shame?
One hardly has any answer to the above questions. Our irony is that our leaders are leading us to shame like never before. What option do they have to undo what they have brought for this country and its people? Resignations and stepping down from their respective public and political offices is one option. Another option is to say a firm no to the American drone attacks, cut the Nato supply line, revisit our policy on US’s so-called war on terror, halt all military operations inside Pakistan, open up dialogue with the local Taliban leaders to bring to an end terrorism and desist from dancing to the tunes of Americans.
Otherwise these leaks, containing truths and half-truths all suiting Washington but embarrassing others, are bound to create more mistrust and chaos in the country, which is the actual design of those having leaked it from Washington.

Old Games and New Challenges for Freedom and Justice Loving People

Pakistan’s political dynamics has seen its different colors over the last six decades. The country saw some of the most oppressive military regimes and also some of the most corrupt periods of elected plutocracy. Our history saw struggles between left and right and also became an active player in the cold war period.

Though our politics has been influenced strongly by the foreign masters of our ruling elites. But in that our establishment has always played a vital role either as a proxy rule for foreign powers or as a king maker in local politics, many times the role has been a mixture of both. The honest reality of our history is that this role of our establishment has seriously dented our political culture, damaged rule of law and also harmed our rights as free citizens of this country.
A country which was founded on the principles of justice and equality didn’t live up to the expectations due to the dismal performance of our establishment and their cultivated corrupt political culture based on feudal-corporatist mindsets. Right from the days of Ghulam Muhammad, Pakistani establishment strengthened its hold on the affairs of the state and its politics. Pakistan was thrown into an unwanted cold war and thus it gave up its freedom which it got few years ago into the hands of imperialist forces lead by USA, which at that time took place of United Kingdom as world super power along with its rival USSR.
Initially establishment rule was evenly balanced between civil and military establishments but later on especially after Ayub Khan martial law, military acted as the main force of establishment. Now by establishment we can easily refer to GHQ as main source of  political power. Even Fatimah Jinnah, one of the strong political figure of our country and sister of founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not able to defeat this system. But her role in politics did make our establishment to get involved more in party politics or politics of masses. Now if I see things as an ordinary student of politics, foundation of PPP was meant to fill the political vacuum in the country so that those forces including Awami League, Jamat e Islami and others, who opposed Ayub martial law openly could not strengthen their grounds as alternate political reality other than establishment.

This approach worked in West Pakistan due to strong feudal system but failed in East Pakistan so establishment with the backing of feudal political class decided to use force on our own people. And we all know the consequences of 1971 riots and later Indo-Pak war. There was a chance for the nation to learn lessons from the mistakes and change the future course of actions.

But it didn’t happen except for few adjustments, including a real major one of developing 1973 constitution, our political outlook remained same. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was a product of establishment, who tried to become larger than he should be in the eyes of establishment and also started a nuclear program against the wishes of our imperialist masters, became a liability to the system and so he was removed from the scene through Zia martial law and later hanged till death in a murder case of controversial nature.

Removal of Bhutto, instead of giving some relief to martial law forces became counter productive especially in the province of Sind so a new political reality of MQM was given space and support by military establishment. In Zia’s time not only constitution was treated badly but his use of religion to give cover to his oppressive and hypocrite regime proved to be another major blunder in the history of our country.

Later after the death of General(R) Zia ul Haq, PPP with sympathy votes and deals with local and international establishment came into power. Instead of learning from past mistakes and doing accountability of constitutional violations and corruptions by Zia regime, PPP started a new era of corruption and nepotism in Pakistani politics. They were also joined by their rivals, PML(N) which was a product of Zia remains, in this political culture. This culture saw its ups and downs and political maneuvering by establishment through the formation of IJI and sacking of governments.

In this time Nawaz Sharif of PML(N), also emerged as a big political force through a huge mandate in 1997 elections by bagging 137 seats. Nawaz tried to undermine the unwanted reality of our political history i.e. military establishment and did not follow the line of imperialist master while conducting nuclear tests in 1998,was sacked in a military coup by General (R) Musharraf. In Nawaz’s sacking his controversial 15th amendment and attacks on judiciary also played a key role as these actions weakened the rule of law and supremacy of constitution in the country and thus giving more room for unconstitutional measures by opportunist forces of martial law.

Musharraf rule proved to be one of the most disastrous periods of Pakistani history. In this tenure Pakistan get involved into a foreign war and this war was later dragged into our cities through some of the most evil policies. This war and Musharraf’s rule converted the diversity of our society into a clash between sects, ethnicity and social classes.

Actions like attack on Supreme Judiciary, abrogation of constitution, illegal abductions, extra judicial killings, military operations including heavy bombings on civilian areas, 12 May 2007 and 9 March 2007 and others really broke the back of Pakistani economy and society. The society after Musharraf is more fragmented and country is facing some of the worst consequences of his actions.
Then another foreign sponsored deal, between forces of martial law and feudal-corporatist political elite, resulted in current NRO government. In return of Musharraf’s safety and continuation of his imperialist slave policies, current ruling alliance was not only given power but all criminal cases were removed in the name of reconciliation. In the mean time, removal of Benazir Bhutto from the scene also helped her cronies and beneficiaries of NRO deal to capture more sympathy votes. Despite a report by UN, Benazir murder case is still not seeing much progress except for cover ups.
 
Our history saw politics of so called Left and so called Right, so called Red and so called Green and also the so called struggle between forces of dictatorships and so called forces of democracy. The reality is most of these setups were fake and were meant to serve the goals of ruling elite and their foreign masters.
 
Old games are now again being played by our ruling elite with assistance from foreign masters. Former dictator Musharraf is planning to come back into politics. Pir Pagara has also started his alliance of failed politicians in the name of uniting Muslim League.
PPP and allied parties are still playing their dirty games to strengthen their rule through fear and control politics as a result a commercial hub like Karachi is seeing one of the worst periods of target killings.Institutional corruption, high inflation and a huge government-created energy crisis to pave way for their corruption in Rental Power Projects are putting us into further economic disaster.

Natural resources and assets are on sale for nothing and again our nation is being fooled just for the monetary gains of few.So called opposition comprising of PML-Q and PML-N are busy in playing their hypocritical role. People are still not able to come out of their prejudices and short term greed and so giving strength to this system through “Zindabad” mentality.

Even floods have not changed the situation much. Supreme Court, which has provided some hope after restoration is being sidelined by government and institutions. Lawyers and media which emerged as a new force in national politics are now being divided through money and threats. Government involvement in SCBA elections and threats to media are examples of this approach. Situation in Afghanistan will come with its own dynamics and impacts on Pakistani politics.
Luckily few good things happened in recent times including the revival of civil society, emergence of free and resilient media, and an independent Supreme Court. These are real challenging times for those who love freedom and justice. These include all those who are struggling for rule of law, justice, accountability, freedom and respect for nation, and above all a better Pakistan.  Lot is needed to be done and it seems to be an almost impossible task but lets hope for the best as we are responsible for our actions and decisions not the given conditions and out of control realities.

Links :

http://infocrats.org/mag/2010/11/insight/analysisandopinion/old-games-and-new-challenges-for-freedom-and-justice-loving-people/

http://blogs.aaj.tv/2010/11/old-games-and-new-challenges/