The Daily PakistanPolitics Mar 16--31, 2012

• Mar31-2012--punjab school budget up to Rs152 billion of which 4 billion being spent on computers for the top students...almost 16000 per student being spent on danish schools while government sector schools get Rs1600 per student
• Mar31-2012--six youngsters riding motorbikes shot dead by other motorcycle riders in karachis site area
• Mar31-2012--The SC in a landmark judgement against dubious government decision making scraps teh rental power projects and asks NAB to initiate corruption enquiries against three ministers of water and power, a secretary of teh deptt and heads of involved power sector companies...they are accused of bad decision making, corruption and doubling downpayments to dubious RPP contractors who attempted to run rings round teh deptts and brought in old equipment and could not install them within the required time limits...SC said teh contracts lacked transparency and very high rates were agreed upon which made one ship based system unusable...most of the ministers of water and power were thought tobe corrupt...
• Mar31-2012--US drone attack kills four in miranshah
• Mar31-2012--military and politicians seem poles apart on american relations...with opposition politicians casting aspersions on teh military for meeting american generals before a decision..The US says it needs the nato pipeline but is not willing to even be friends with us...The US has a clear animosity towards pakistan and the government must make certain that pakistan is not attacked again verbally or physically...The military says that they have been following government orders in not retaliating against US attacks and drones...the americans must also make do with or accept just our apologies if that is all pakistan is going to get for destroying pakistani sovreignity and ridiculing our military and governance...retaliations against pakistan are unacceptable whether they are military or political...parliament and government must decide that if teh US attacks us again teh military must automatically retaliate and teh same goes for drones...The same message must be given to teh afghans...The rest is a matter of polemics...the nato pipeline should not be necessary if teh US is going to withdraw in 2014...pakistan should only allow foodstuff...obviously doing that via trains is not going to solve problems as teh goods from trains will have to shift to trucks before crossing over teh border...other aspects such as the useless US aid and payments must be direct and there must be no ifs and buts from teh US side on that...The US does not create as many problems for other countries that it does for pakistan although it has a definite anti muslim policy as demonstrated in teh middle east, africa and afghanistan...however one can already see some US thoughts on teh ground and they could easily start realistic cross border attacks from afghanistan as its presence in afghanistan is not alqaeda oriented any more...there are enough anti pakistan sentiments in pakistans border areas and karachi and the US would easily be able to find willing recruits to fight the pakistani forces in a land offensive or a pakistani spring operation...the taleban too are at best US trained and would easily join any anti pakistan movement..therefore negotiators must not look for just a miserly flow of dollars but make it clear that US animosity is unacceptable whatever form it takes...
• Mar30-2012--Sc refuses to allow ANF to withdraw a case in teh musa Gilani ephedrine scam and asks it to submit its investigation reports ...Musa Gilani in connivance with the MOH and two multan based pharma companies is atetmpting to create an ecstacy empire...!
• Mar30-2012--eight die in quetta in sectarian attacks while two UN officials killed in mastung
• Mar30-2012--In what is being seen as this governments refusal to make correct decisions itself the military, government, beaurocracy national assembly members met to discuss teh parliamentary reccomendations on Us relations...The PPP many say is only in power to get rid of teh cases against it and has no mandate/intellect or interest in running teh country properly
• Mar29-2012--ASWJ head maulana Ludhianwi who is the head of the organisation that was earlier called teh SSP arrested and released by islamabad police
• Mar29-2012--Ossama's wodows say Ossama moved to pakistan in 2002 and they lived in peshawar,swat, haripur and abbottabad
• Mar29-2012--The cowardly pakistanis who have hidden behind US attacks and drone attacks now say they are willing to bomb their own citizens in Fata...while Brigadier facing court nartial says he was charged after he said army should accept responsibility for abbottabad failure and replace teh failed army leadership
• Mar28-2012--LESCO office in lahore set on fire as shabaz sharif whose interests are clearly those of an industrialist rather than teh people says asif Zardari pushing punjab towards teh stone age...Shabaz sharif has been wasting public money on publicity politics rather than doing anything to solve teh energy crisis ...many feel that electricity generation and distribution should be provincialized since teh federation is unable to handle it appropriately...shahbaz sharif however is less volatile than nawaz sharif and is unable to bring teh people onto teh street...in a real anti government movement...
• Mar28-2012--militant mqm workers killed 10 probably pukhtun workers and burned 40 vehicles and torched a roadside restaurant with firing echoing thru out karachi as bussinesses, transport and schools shut down...This after two mqm workers had been shot dead in teh early morning...mqm gunmen on motorcycles than unleashed a wave of terror killing ethnic opponents and setting their vehicles on fire...asif zardari many say escaped to london instead of returning home from central asia...this after tensions in karachi as a supposedly mqm backed terror group emerged...The PPP many say has been unable to solve most of teh countries problems and might have wanted to distract attention from the problems that they have created...
• Mar28-2012--Gilani comes up against a reluctant Obama who wants to continue teh needless bombings in Fata..only on offer was a dubious respect for sovreignity which is peppered with CIA, drone and US military attacks...The US has a clear lack of interest in pakistans views and teh problems that they create for us thru misguided approaches to development and security...eg. two anti pakistani US congressmen repeated their threats against balochistan and our power problems were met with attempts to repair a faulty tarbela power station generator which is usually idle most of teh year...
• Mar27-2012--Power riots in punjab cities as PPP and musharaf era's both seen as failures in solving teh issue...with load shedding at its peak the power bills were almost doubled with additions of spurious surcharges which many maintain are being added to increase revenue collections...As the issue spiked teh national assembly proceedings teh PPP regime admitted its failure in handling teh power crisis and agreed that only normal bills would be collected...
• Mar26-2012--six militants killed in kurram operations as JUI-f's maulana fazlur rehman threatens to block Nato supply routes
• Mar26-2012--The mohajir liberation army has sent threatening letters to two sindhi mpa's to leave karachi...one PPP mpa minister who supposedly is a hari owns over 300 acres...of land...?..many feel sindh should show its loyalty to pakistan rather than worry about karachi's provincialisation...
• Mar26-2012--Dawn says that Pepco promotes 41 officers to general manager status generally based on seniority...some of teh officers have been working in the organisation since 1977...
• Mar26-2012--35 militants killed in south waziristan on saturday...after militants dumped the severed heads of two kidnapped soldiers in wana bazaar
• Mar26-2012--Balochistan an integral part of pakistan says balochistan governor which is in contrast to teh sindh governor and PPP who say that karachi is an integral part of sindh...
• Mar25-2012--In another admission of failure PPP regime appoints former airforce chief Rao Qamar Sulaiman as PIA chief...Rao sulaiman connived with teh PPP regime in not attacking drones and letting the US helicopters raid abbottabad...
• Mar25-2012--in gunfights with militants in south waziristan and orakzai... 24 militants killed and eight security personnel..In bara eight militants die in an IED esplosion
• Mar25-2012--with teh PPP only looking for a US apology for teh premeditated killing of pakistani soldiers and no change visible in teh anti pakistan US attitude teh parliamentary debate is headed for failure as teh PPP is expected to push thru its own agenda with teh JUI-f willing to attack Nato trailers and the taleban to attack parliamentarians...!
• Mar25-2012--The countries VIP's mostly army and government offices use up 2000MW as only 5000MW is left for the ordinary people causing load shedding of unimaginable proportions...The PPP regime is at best horrible in its handling of teh countries gas and elctricity problems..PMLn thinking of coming out on to the streets...
• Mar24-2012--railway track blownup near larkana as parts of Thar strike against removal of their mpa from teh assembly
• Mar24-2012--second day of violence in lyari as people riot against police methods of qaim ali shah who is attacking teh PPP base in karachi to ammuse the MQM...?
• Mar24-2012--radio bomb kills two at a parachinar paramilitary base in south waziristan while seven LI men killed in suicide attack on a tirah valley mosque
• Mar24-2012--Nawaz Sharif blames PPP allies for the governments wrong policies while Imran khan said that nawaz sharif is still on teh samjotha express
• Mar24-2012--The ANP's cowardly pukhtun haji ghulam ahmed bilour frightened of US wrath...wants to meekly open Nato supply routes despite US arrogance and nastiness...national assembly members have already forgotten teh US raids inside pakistan and teh killing of military soldiers...The US only respects its own lives and not those of pakistanis...dont be friends with enemies and murderers...
• Mar24-2012--Three FC men killed in taleban attack near mir ali
• Mar23-2012--former chief minister Dr. Arbab Rahim who lives in dubai kicked out of teh sindh assembly by the PPP for not attending the sessions for 40 days
• Mar23-2012--maybe Aitezaz Ahsan should read the report on HR violations during the last year to understand teh case...In 2011 there were 80000 in jail under trial..ninety of whom died and 313 were sentenced to death...16 journalists killed across teh country and four top politicians...943 women were killed...83 of them minors...701 women committed suicide and another 428 attempted suicide..4500 reported cases of domestic violence..infant mortality rate was 63.3 and under five mortality 89..the economic scenario was depicted by an increase in chronic malnutrition due to high food prices...schools in Fata mostly remained closed and 33% children had no access to education...in sindh/ balochistan rural areas only 16%/8% women completed primary education...
• Mar23-2012--CJ appoints Justice Shakirullah Jan an active SC judge as teh acting CEC
• Mar23-2012--Aitezaz Ahsan seems tobe trying to fool the judges...saying article 10A makes a fair trial a fundamental right while the judges said that since they were not the plaintiffs personally his suggestion that Gilani would not get a fair trail is insulting in a way or contemptuous...The issue has been established and only some circumstances are unclear...the explanations asto why do not seem tobe relevant and aitezaz saying that he would obstruct teh court by going on and on would suggest that he has no case to present....The judges also suggested that all constitutional articles are basically standalone...and the issue is contempt not a fair trial as teh judges have given adequate advice as well as time to teh defendant...Aitezaz seems unaware of how to deal with a case of contempt...It is not teh court that is the plaintiff as otherwise all contempt cases would have tobe heard in switzerland too... the NRO decision was not made by this bench anyway...Aitezaz seemingly has already presented all his arguments...there is the option that teh SC hear the case instead of teh swiss and the swiss just provide the data ...the accounts...sums of money and who paid who...!!
• Mar22-2012--The punjab university to spend Rs.30 million on a shahbaz sharif jalsa to distribute 30 laptops of teh 14450(approx cost 578 million) being given to punjab university students...6000 students could be given a Rs.5000 scholarship for 30 million...many suggest that the vice chancellor maybe corrupt given teh extremely high charges eg. Rs15 million just for tentage...?Shabaz sharif probably thinks if the university can bring 20000 students to his jalsa he would be considered popular amongst the youth...?
• Mar22-2012--two policemen killed in quetta by the BLA
• Mar22-2012--The contempt case takes an interesting turn as aitezaz ahsan has no longer any confidence in the bench as all his arguments are being blown away by Gilani...teh secretary law that Gilani said he had to follow initially was fired...an awan nominee he was replaced by a zardari nominee Irfan Qadir who had also earlier refused to obey teh courts orders to leave office as NAB prosecutor...after teh court said that he did not have to follow the law secretary's advice...Gilani took teh position that zardari had criminal immunity..than he said that he could not write teh letter as it was treason...than that it would be better to go to jail than be hanged...than that he was not afraid...than he offered to resign...than he said that it is not easy to resign...than he said that teh court should refer the matter to parliament...teh court asked aitezaz ahsan if he accepted that Gilani was a delinquent or whether he wanted to plead guilty...the latest position taken by Gilani is that asif zardari should approach teh court and ask for immunity against swiss prosecution...since the law is quite clear there is no reason to send teh issue to parliament...the best way out is for Gilani to plead guilty due to circumstances and throw himself at teh mercy of teh court...they should also suggest to teh court that the swiss letter could be written after Asif zardari leaves office...it would really be interesting how teh court can avoid passing a six month sentence for contempt...as it would require the PPP to appoint another punjabi primeminister...teh frontrunner could possibly be teh defence minister followed by aitezaz ahsan although many suggest that raza rabbani could be a wiser choice...Gilani seems to have an inability to deal with problems as well as country issues especially those that are related to teh people...
• Mar21-2012--electricity protests in several second tier punjab cities
• Mar21-2012--illegal detention of Ossama widows also challenged in teh IHC...!
• Mar21-2012--two policeman killed in a rickshaw blast in peshawar
• Mar21-2012--Gilani, Aitezaz Ahsan and Sethi try to hang Baber Awan instead of Gilani in teh contempt case..Awan and teh law secreatary refuse to testify which suggests that there were no summaries from teh law ministry...
• Mar21-2012--Another Raza Rabbani fait accompli...presents a PPP version of the musharaf accord to support the USA whatever teh cost...PMLn says they did not agree and ask for the agreements with teh USA and Britain tobe published...
• Mar21-2012--The inefficient PPP regime is just interested in the famous zulfikar ali bhutto comment before he got toppled ..."ye kursi bahut mazboot he..."as they just sit and watch as teh country goes down the drain...another inexplicable electricity price hike of over 16 to 48 % for the months of October to January...Nepra just accepts whatever the Discos dish out who have a standard form in which they fill out unexplainable information...for example in one month there is 36% cheap hydel generation...still a price hike...government now charging teh people for setting up teh private sector which explains the Rs9 per unit wind power...windfall riches for IPPP's and problems for teh people seems tobe the only PPP policy...
• Mar21-2012--The parliamentary committee on national security came out as extremely soft on national security and expressed views similar to those of teh Gilani regime...They seem very soft on drone attacks, border and cross border attacks...also seem to give in to the concept of US security contractors, CIA agents and nato supply line...they just want taxes imposed on nato goods...parliamentary approval for usage of airspace and showed disapproval of personal verbal agreements and use of pakistani bases...otherwise they seem to leave the space open for teh subjugative negative musharaf era type agreements...Gilani who just opposed US drone attacks verbally is probably behind teh entire draft...many suggest that pakistan should clearly state that they will retaliate for drone attacks and cross border violations and the nato supply line should be used sparingly and things like RDX should not be allowed thru...if Nato needs any supplies than they should purchase them from pakistan...truckloads of suspicious cargoes should not be allowed thru without proper checking...The US has demonstrated a deep antagonism, negativity and animosity towards pakistan on each and every issue and at every level from Obama down to teh congress and theoretically no meaningful relationship with teh USA can last with the prevalence of such attitudes...If the US wants tobe an ally than they should not attack pakistan physically or verbally...The attitude of teh US military and congress should also change and they should show respect and friendliness rather than turn pakistan into a meaningless punching bag for their israeli and overseas military conquest mentalities and mean natures...Many suggest that teh committee did not deliberate on the real issues and have left almost everything for teh government to decide...The nature of teh relationship is money based and teh US after agreeing to pay its way starts behaving like a poor miserly country...many suggest that relationship should have an overall financial tone tobe beneficial in some aspects at least...like give us $4 billion a year at teh beginning of every year so that we can smoothe the way rather than the ifs and buts type of relationship especially in teh financial domain and the military and intelligence domains...it hardly matters to pakistan what sort of relationship they develop with teh taleban eventually...while many think that there should be only one point of contact with teh US so that each aspect of the relationship remains above board and has a similar context...given the US nature pakistan should just work on a relationship for the next two years as after that the US will thumb their noses at us again...
• Mar20-2012--The Kiyani-Pasha era of almost defacto ISI control over teh military and foreign policy comes to an end as Lt. Gen Zahirul Islam takes over teh ISI...It also comes at a time when US military involvement in teh area is creating more problems than solutions and pakistan needs to stand on its own feet and be willing to shoot down drones and american cross border invasions whatever their reasons...The retiring airforce chief said that Gilani is a coward and did not give the orders for drones tobe shot down...and that orders in teh light of teh countries situation should be clearly given so that the armed forces can act in defence of teh country...The airforce and army were seen as literally dumb bystanders as the US attacked thru drones and cross border helicopter attacks...leaving teh PPP regime and army looking like subjugated slaves to american policies ie before General Kayani had a falling out with the US armed forces chief and teh US attack wiping out two army posts on teh afhgan border forced the slavish PPP to rethink and stop the destabilizing drone attacks and the US-Nato supply line...with the PPP almost US controlled teh decision was left to parliament which has had little or no input to anti people government policies...many suggest that with teh tide turning against the US... Gilani and Zardari had no choice but to say we cant do anything and its up to the parliament...
• Mar20-2012--The miranshah area saw bloody clashes between militants and teh army..five killed...five die in Tirah balst
• Mar20-2012--SC urges intelligence organisations to learn to live inside the law and that it will not tolerate illegal detentions
• Mar20-2012--Balochistan dialogue should include teh army says balochistan assembly speaker as army supposedly is running its own sixties era thinking in balochistn...others suggest that ordinary baloch should sit with the sardars, army and federal government to resolve all issues..many however feel that teh PPP only paying lip service to problems in balochistan...or u might say that asif zardari is the thanedar of karachi and the rest of teh country runs itself...
• Mar20-2012--The Gilani agenda seems tobe no letter to the swiss and no electricity as load shedding reached a peak of over 65%... rawalpindi witnessed load shedding of a six hour duration...as Nepra chief quits after literally doubling electricity prices but with no resolution to power outages...many suggest that the SC is treating Gilani lightly by just considering it contempt as following teh orders of teh SC is also a constitutional obligation and Gilani according to his own views should be tried for treason
• Mar20-2012--In a joint sitting of parliament which is now heavily controlled by teh PPP and its allies teh issue of ties with teh US military tobe discussed...many believe that teh PPP and teh army will cave in to US desires and pakistan will again go back to a period of instability of drone attacks and counter attacks on US convoys...despite renewed militant activity in Fata there has been some respite from afghanistan related troubles after a year of US invasions and incessant drone attacks...The pakistani taleban though limited in their strike range have continued to bomb and kill showing teh limited efficacy of teh pakistan army and drone attacks
• Mar19-2012--soldiers attack mirali area in north waziristan after two convoys are attacked...soldier, five militants killed
• Mar19-2012--Ijaz Mansoor says that haqqani actually wanted tobe made president and that he would than fulfill all the US dreams..
• Mar19-2012--14 bodies found in Bara area after security operations
• Mar19-2012--Gilani seems tobe confused on teh swiss letter issue and seems tobe convinced that asif zardari is guilty of corruption thus frightened to reopen teh swiss cases...the issue of immunity would only arise if teh swiss sentenced asif ali zardari to serve a jail sentence...In this case relating to money laundering and corruption teh swiss can only ask that money that asif zardari took be turned over to teh state...or they could just confiscate teh money or accounts...
• Mar18-2012--Zardaris annual address to parliament is booed by teh opposition...
• Mar18-2012--Sindh chief minister makes over Rs55 million in just one year...is he running a bhatta group in karachi..?
• Mar18-2012--three girls die in a Bara blast...two FC men shot dead in Dera Bugti ...23 militants killed in Orakzai as military planes bomb targets
• Mar17-2012--The PPP regime has been deliberately delaying the iran gas pipeline to increase teh peoples problems...first they said a chinese company had refused funding...than they said they were waiting for iran to pay them...than Hina said financing the pipeline is not a problem...than to top it all asim hussein said that they have enough funds lying around from just surcharge collection to build the pipeline...?
• Mar17-2012--Gilani continued with his meaningless politics..now suggesting that his hands and face have been blackened by his dirty anti people politics...suggesting inter alia that he is being threatened but is not afraid with a huge security apparatus protecting him in islamabad...
• Mar17-2012--Ijaz Mansoor revealed that Haqqani was Asif Zardaris national security advisor hidden undercover in teh USA...zahid bokhari continued his stunts but teh commission was not impressed...
• Mar17-2012--Farhatullah Baber says MQM little more than a Zardari fan club...as mohajirs have no real problems and karachi is more developed than any other part of teh country..when they voice protests against bhatta it just means that teh interior ministry has forgotten to send altaf hussein a lafafa...no wonder when altaf hussein turned turtle teh next day and said karachi traders would have to deal with extortionists on their own...
• Mar17-2012--ISI lawyer says that venomous allegations were being levelled against teh ISI these days..SC chief justice says they are not just allegations as he asks for teh production of Omar Mahmood Wali picked up from rawal road on friday...he was serving food to the protestors in islamabad...
• Mar17-2012--balochistan government to withdraw 28 cases against Brahmdagh Bugti the violence prone BRP leader...SC has not yet found fault with this NRO-2...
• Mar16-2012--Ijaz Mansoor the controversial US bussinessman has contacts with 21 intelligence agencies...arranged meetings of kashmiri leaders with indian intelligence chiefs, said his father was a nuclear physicist who went into exile in 1966, tried to settle teh sudan conflict and accused AQ Khan of stealing and selling pakistans nuclear blueprint...Haqqani's lawyer blewup several times as the judge accused him of character assassination said that he seemed tobe an agent of secret agencies given his connections which can be said tobe better than teh ISI and teh pakistani government...while teh commission described his submission of conversations between american helicopter pilots that raided abbottabad and teh pakistani air traffic controllers as concocted...
• Mar16-2012--12 bodies found in conflict hit area of Bara
  
• Mar16-2012--PMLn looking for a footing in sindh politics and looking for new leaders in karachi and sindh interior...Marvi memon and liaqat jatoi maybe a step in that direction with dawn stating that even shah mahmood qureshi might be joining teh PMLn soon...PMln looking at sunni tehreek and JI as possible vote providers...one would suggest that they start a new mohajir PMLn party in karachi and a sindhi PMLn as well...
  
• Mar16-2012--in a suicide attack in peshawar a police SP is killed
  
• Mar16-2012--a swiss couple kidnapped in balochistan last july escape in north waziristan and a son in law of former armed forces chief General Tariq Majeed kidnapped from lahore in July 2010 is released..!!
  
• Mar16-2012--Gilani claims that he is treated like a naib qasid and complains against SC judges that they are forcing him to commit treason by writing a letter to teh swiss...since the cases precede zardari's presidency they donot come in teh realm of immunity...Gilani seems to have teh mistaken notion that he is a popular leader but has literally no support outside multan or seraiki areas...