Dirty politics

Pakistan is currently beset by terrorism and political hooliganism. Target killers have again become active in Karachi and are trying their level best to convince people that the Rangers and the army are no match for them. However, the Sindh police have arrested some important criminals and they are trying to get at the main culprits through them.
The new chief minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, has done a good job in the short time that he has been in office. He is probably the only educated technocrat holding a political portfolio. He holds a BSc Eng from NED University, Karachi and a double Masters from Stanford University.
Contrary to the majority of our teachers and students who go abroad and come back ‘unspoilt’ (ie having seen or learnt nothing), he kept his eyes and mind open and, besides the required courses, also learnt a lot about why they are advanced while we remain backward. Now he seems to be applying that knowledge and changing conditions for the better in Sindh. He has started with cleanliness and punctuality. I would suggest he also pays attention to the rampant corruption, the rotten education system, ghost schools, etc.
MQM Pakistan has once again embarked on a mischievous policy. A few days ago Izharul Hassan was in Dubai as an emissary of Farooq Sattar to meet with Gen Musharraf. The MQM had massacred many innocent citizens at the behest of Musharraf in an attempt to foil the visit of former CJ Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry. On that occasion, innocent lawyers were burnt alive. Musharraf has the blood of many innocent people on his hands. Now it looks like Farooq Sattar wants him to support, or even head, the MQM in order to gain ground in Sindh.
The MQM would like to win the sympathy/support of the establishment. During my time of more than 40 years in Pakistan and the many close contacts I had with army officers, I have yet to find any officer other than Musharraf who generated more hate amongst them. Many of them think he sold our sovereignty to the US. There is a saying that bad habits don’t die easily.
The Panama case has become interesting and serious. The problem in dispensing justice in Pakistan lies in the law of evidence. You may have TV or mobile footage of a crime being committed, but until a witness comes forward to testify, the case is doomed. In this case, I personally don’t expect much of a problem.
The money the PM’s sons have in London was cleared by the British government. If they did not raise any objections, our courts cannot do anything. Then the onus of providing proof of any wrongdoing lies with the accuser. No foreign bank or company will give out any information about their clients.
We have seen the results of so many well-known cases in Pakistan, eg Hussain Haqqani, Osama, Zardari’s 60 million dollars, OGDC, Ayan Ali and, above all, Musharraf’s treason case. Akram Shaikh was hopeful that Musharraf would be sentenced       within two weeks. The man who went abroad too ‘sick’ to be treated in Pakistan is now playing politics in Dubai – no indisposition, no sickness, no back or heart problems visible.
Of all the noise and disruptions regarding the Panama case, Imran Khan will turn out to be the biggest loser. He has been wasting precious time in useless sit-ins, protests and press conferences.
Instead of dealing with the matter in parliament, he has taken to the streets. He won’t get any results this way. Unfortunately, he has a one track mind and talks and thinks of nothing and no one other than Nawaz Sharif and his family. He chooses to totally overlook the mega corruptions committed by PPP leaders. Like the other cases mentioned above, I am afraid this one, too, will disappear into thin air.
As far as the $60 million Swiss case against Zardari was concerned, who         or what was stopping the former chief justice from giving       a letter to the registrar and sending him to Switzerland to deliver it? Nobody could have challenged or changed that. However,         the CJ was led into a blind alley and left there. The only result was that the $60 million went into Zardari’s pocket. There is also no talk of the infamous Surrey Palace and the millions worth of property in England, France, the UAE, the US, etc. And what about the regular target killings in Peshawar?
Why is Imran Khan not taking any action there? Meanwhile, CM Khattak seems to have nothing better to do than join in dharnas, etc. The political climate in the country is far from clean and Imran Khan is not going to get any benefit from it. He has totally spoilt his image by his tongue and his actions.
Tailpiece: Donald Trump is the new US president. People were betting 90:10 in favour of Hillary Clinton but I was sure that Trump would win. We have seen how Ronald Reagan, a failed actor, and Bush, a rather ignorant person, ruled twice each. One thing is for sure: Trump cannot do anything stupid or dangerous. The administration, the House and the Senate are too strong to let him do anything major against their national interests.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The life of a working woman – Javed Chaudhry

The life of a working woman – Javed Chaudhry    She had been calling for the last two days. She said that she had come from Karachi just to see me and that the meeting was very necessary. I finally agreed. She was beautiful — like a perfect white marble Greek sculpture. And she was the most intelligent lady I have ever met. She had manners and she had read thousands of books. I was impressed. But as she disclosed her profession, I felt ashamed. However, she seemed not to care. She only wanted me to write my column on her life. A column to help other young girls of this country and their parents. She belonged to a lower-middle class family of Karachi. Her family had descended from the Pathans, Kashmiris and Awans and she was an attractive and pretty girl. She was educated in good institutions and obtained an MBA from a reputed business college of Karachi, after which she began an internship in a bank. A young man met her while she was working there. She said h...
Read more

THE DEMON WE CREATED

T took yet another militant attack across the border and increasing pressure from outside powers for us to finally act against Masood Azhar and his militant network — although one is not sure how serious we are in cleaning out the stables this time. Although proscribed some 14 years ago, his organisation continued to operate freely despite the evidence of its being involved in militant activities at home and outside. How come a banned militant outfit was allowed to operate its offices across Punjab, that the security agencies now claimed to have closed down? Has the province been in a state of denial, or is there something more sinister? The Punjab government had firmly dismissed the reports of expanding activities of groups earlier associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad. Masood Azhar lived in a well-protected compound in his hometown Bahawalpur. Many believe that the Pathankot raid and the alleged involvement of JeM in the incident may constitute a tipping point in the battle against m...
Read more