Khursheed Shah on NA-246 Election

Khursheed Shah of Pakistan Peoples Party announced that PPP has not decided yet to support MQM candidate for NA-246 election or not.

Earlier, after the statement of Saulat Mirza who accused MQM leadership including Altaf Hussain in murders, kidnapping for ransom, target and sectarian killings etc. Asif Ali Zardari co-chairman of the PPP said we should support MQM in their this difficult time.

Should we assume PPP supports the activities of MQM particularly after the raid of MQM headquarters at nine zero and what was found there by Sind Rangers? PPP has not said anything so far on the catch.

India Blamed Pakistan Protecting Militants’ Satellite Phones


India-Blamed-Pakistan-Protecting-Militants’-Satellite-Phones

Today Indian Express has published a statement of Indian government that they have found evidence that Pakistan has set up an electronic infrastructer to protect Thuraya satellite phones used by Pakistani militants targeting India. According to Indian sources transmitters have been found along the Line of Control and Pakistan-Indian border which obscure the signals originating from the phones. Indian believe it could not exist without the implicit support of Pakistani government.

This allegation has come just a week before the the meeting of Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan to discuss steps Islamabad has taken to curb the terrorism directed against India.

Is Pakistan involved in this activity as India has blamed? May be? The problem is Pakistan has no credibility in front of world community. In November last year on the occasion of Mumbai terrorist attacks Indian blamed Pakistan and said they have evidence of mobile phone communication. President Zardari and Rahman Malik of Interior Ministry of Pakistan immediately denied the charges which turned out to be true later. So Pakistan should be careful.

If the Pakistani government is involved in this particular case the reason could be to shield it unsuccessful efforts to control militant activities. Why they cannot locate the people who are involved in these type of activities. May be Pakistan should seek help from India.

Unless there is a political will in Pakistan to curb the extremism, nothing is going to change. Recent events indicate government is afraid of religious parties and mullahs. PPP government is also afraid of Nawaz Sharif because he supports these mullahs and he has shown power to move the people with the help of TV media against PPP government.

Most Expensive Electricity in The World


Most-expensive-electricity-in-the-world

Today news have appeared in the local newspapers that with the recent purposed increase of Rs. 2.50 per unit will make electricity most expensive the world.

This is another deed of people’s government. Has anybody raised any voice against this increase? I have seen protest statements only from Karachi merchants and Jam Madad Ali, leader of the opposition in Sindh assembly. People of Karachi expect MQM to take strong stand on this issue.

If you go to low income areas of Karachi you would see a web of wires in the streets above your head. All these wires are running illegally from the distribution poles to people’s homes. In local language it is called kunda system. The question is, why the government cannot stop the stealing of electricity from the grid system? The burden of this free for all stealing goes to other people who do not steal.

Dunya TV has run a poll on their website about the budget 2009-10. As of today 86 per cent indicated that this is anti people budget.

Do you have any opinion on the budget or anything related to people’s welfare Pakistan Forum is open for anybody and everybody. You can say what ever is on your mind. You are welcome to write your comments.

MQM’s Stance on Impeachment of Pervez Musharraf

MQM has decided to side with President Pervez Musharraf (at least for now).

To tell you the truth that surprised me.

I was thinking Mr. Zardari will offer some deal like withdrawl of all cases against MQM workers including Altaf Hussain as a bait to MQM to get their support. Either PPP did not offer anything or MQM stood on its own to do what they thought is right.

What ever is the reason, I think MQM’s decision is right and good for them in the long run. MQM had (and still has to some extent) a little tarnish image. But MQM has their vote bank. They should depend on that and not on temporary benefits.

In the short term MQM may have to lose their governorship and a couple of ministerial jobs in the Sindh province but long run they will get the benefit that they are not siding with waderaaz, religious fundamentalists and right-wing neo-capitalists turned corrupt politicians.

But the most important thing is if MQM thinks that Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari want to impeach the president for their personal gains as part of their personal agenda then they should tell this to their vote bank. That is the right reason to stand for.

MQM has always said that they are common people representing common people. So they should always keep that in mind what their supporters would like them to do.

MQM is one of those political parties who has roots in the people.

Aitzaz Ahsan – Public Intellectual?


Aitzaz-Ahsan-Public-Intellectual

In the recent issue (July/August 2008) of Foreign Policy magazine they have published a so called Top 20 Public Intellectuals survey where Mr.Aitzaz Ahsan has been ranked on number 5.

Pakistan media particularly GEO TV and Aitzaz Ahsan himself seem to be proud of this ranking.

First let us see the definition of the word "intellectual". The word intellectual is an adjective. The noun is intellect. According to American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language, the meaning of the word ‘intellect’ is as follows:

The ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding.

The ability to think abstractly or profoundly.

So the person who can do that is called intellectual. Fair enough.

Now let us see what profile Foreign Policy magazine has mentioned of Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan. Here is the verbatim quote;

"President of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, Ahsan has been a vocal opponent of President Pervez Musharraf’s rule. When Musharraf dismissed the head of the Supreme Court in March 2007, it was Ahsan who led the legal challenge to reinstate the chief justice and rallied thousands of lawyers who took to the streets in protest. He was arrested several times during the period of emergency rule last year.
Today, he is a senior member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, formerly led by Benazir Bhutto, and one of the country’s most recognizable politicians
".

Courtesy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4349

Do the activities which Foreign Policy have mentioned on which he has been ranked in the ‘Top  20 Public Intellectuals’  makes someone intellectual?

If this is the criteria then we have lots of intellectuals in our country.
What do you think? What is your opinion? Write your opinion in the comments.

Please spread the word and let your friends know about Pakistan Forum. They can also join the discussions.

Recent Elections


recent-Elections

In recent elections which were held on February 18, 2008, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has emerged as the largest party with highest number of seats in the National Assembly. Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif (Nawaz League) is the second largest party in the Assembly. In the beginning Nawaz Sharif openly said that his party will boycott the election. The reason he gave was that elections will be rigged. Peoples Party had also some revservations but decided to participate in the elecions. When Nawaz Sharif saw the situation going into favor of PPP he immediately took a u-turn and said will participate in the elections but they know the elections will be rigged in favor of Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ). So much so that Nawaz Sharif himslef, Shahbaz Sharif his brother, Iqbal Hasan and Chaudry Nisar openly and repeatedly said naming the persons, places and times about the plans going on for rigging the elections. And they continued all the way upto February 18, 2008. Even in the early hours when election results were compiled.

My interpretation is that:

Nawaz Sharif and his party were not expecting that they will win to such a landslide.

So they were making a lot of noise about rigging.

Preparing ground for agitation at a later stage.

Other parties namely, Jamat e Islami and Imran Khan etc were also playing the same tune.

Now the question is:

There is no doubt that PMLQ has done a lot of development work. Absolutely clear.
Todays’ problems of shortage of electricity for example, stem from the Nawaz Sharif and Benazir era
Nawaz Sharif was outside the country for 7 years. Pakistani nation knows he is a convicted person (that is why his nomination papers were rejected). He also lied openly when he said there is agreement of his pardon deal. Everybody knows about that.
Benazir was out of the country for 8 years. Zardari was allowed to leave the country out of a deal Benazir and Nawaz Sharif when they were out of Pakistan they behavior was anti-Pakistan.

Then:

Why the Pakistani nation elected them. That is the discussion point for today.

You can write your comments in the comments section or you can record your comments in Urdu or English.

Primary purpose of the discussion is to bring out what people think about their leaders and how they interpret the political situation. That will also show the maturity level of the nation.

Share with other people what you think.