The Daily PakistanPolitics May 16-31, 2012

• May31-2012--eight nomads gunned down in faisalabad...
• May31-2012--punjab assembly does not mind foreign citizens while rehman malik in deep trouble over british citizenship and lying to the SC
• May31-2012--lahore apparently overrun by arsonists ...indian or IJT types...as the old Ferozeson bookshop on the mall goes up in flames...many say ferozesons related to chaudhry nisar ali khan...conspiracy theories anyone...
• May31-2012--In what many are calling the "buzdil bacha" takeover pakistan apparently turned turtle inits negotiations in washington...apparently our faujis die all the time so why make such a fuss...over a mere apology! whether they are killed by US soldiers or their agents the taleban...however it was not "democracy is enough" on another matter ...and there will be no apology for musharaf the US agent who created security problems for benazir...!!!parliament has also been hit for a six and pakistan will not insist on charges for truck crossovers but insist on rebuilding their highways at US cost...?teh american aunty(sherry rehman) and the buzdil bacha team...
• May31-2012--one dies in sectarian attack in quetta as kidnapped neurosurgeon dies in rescue bid in hyderabad alongwith an ASI..eight shot dead in karachi
• May31-2012--national assembly speaker says her ruling cannot be questioned...that probably does not apply to the SC...since it is a constituional matter it can be challenged in teh SC
• May30-2012--dollar trades as high as Rs93.05
• May30-2012--PPP policy seems tobe... everyone will be allowed to divide the punjab but no one will be allowed to divide sindh...extreme munafqat...
• May30-2012--airforce planes bomb a mosque in tirah killing six...!twelve bombed to death in orakzai...!
• May30-2012--The infamous pakistan airforce which has made a name for itself avoiding drones and american helicopters now has a first...gutting an airforce plane on teh ground... an F-7 at teh samungli airbase...!
• May30-2012--In pakistan 19271 are teh richest landowners and own 150 acres or more...they own over 9 million acres of teh 55 million acres of agricultural land...land seems tobe quite distributed with over 8 million landowners...
• May30-2012--another PPP electricity price hike Rs1.97 per unit for April even when hydel generation must have been increasing and that with 8-12 hours of power shutdowns...
• May30-2012--In one of Dawns more hilarious jokes Cameron Munter apparently left his job after realizing that he was here just looking for people to kill...!!cameron Munter apparently used some of teh useless USAID for trying to make people trek in swat and repairing shrines for the multani pirs...!
• May30-2012--rumours here suggest that when asif zardari met Obama he said i just want four more drone strikes...Sherry rehman will give u teh coordinates...!
• May30-2012--for the fourth time in a year the military regime or kianis' government has given control of teh FC to teh chief minister who is reportedly never in balochistan...although secessionists will still be handled by teh militaries secret service
• May29-2012--five KP employees gunned down at roadside hotel in rawalpindi's pirwadai area by irritated guest
• May29-2012--nine killed in karachi and seven bodies were found in khuzdar, quetta and dera bugti where much of the balochi violence occurs...
• May29-2012--running straight into the perception that teh mqm and PPP have failed to handle karachi and almost four years of almost continuous mayhem has not drilled it into their heads that karachi should be turned into a province which could be better able to handle teh situation...The PPP has refused to accept that teh mqm could become teh defacto king in karachi and has refused to hold local body elections which solve some basic issues but teh mqm power increases...the previous mayor had started to behave as if he was the head of an autonomous region ...many say that peopel like amin fahim, qaim ali shah and the mqm leadership are behind teh motorcycle killers alongwith some police, internal security, sectarian and ethnic involvement...others suggest that teh mqm requested teh sindhi committee of ministers to allow karachi tobe a seperate province as it was initially a federal domain as capital...however the sindhi ministers refused to see reason...while some say that teh mqm and the PPP are in talks to decide teh future of karachi as demands for teh mohajir province become entrenched...the mqm leadership too seems at odds with its rank and file...that the police cant handle teh situation has caused teh rejection of rehman malik who was for the first time not asked to talk to the mqm but a four member team of senior ministers was given teh task...on teh face of it teh mqm and PPP are against further provinces in sindh while they both want to divide teh punjab...this munafqat and the inability to solve teh karachi security situation where motorcycle killers strike with almost total freedom...others suggest that if Gilani falls one of teh committee could be made primeminister and Amin Fahim is known to have supported a karachi province...
• May29-2012--In what maybe a country first two petitions were moved in teh SC against teh speakers decision not to disqualify Gilani as an mna saying that the SC did not direct that... although the mentions of consequences and article 63 g are self evident...both petitions are different...they say that article 184 3 gives the SC original jurisdiction and teh SC decision stands supreme in the face of other departmental decisions...Khawaja Asif says that fehmida mirza did not have jurisdiction to give such a ruling while teh imran khan petition asks the SC to refer the matter directly to the CEC...the question basically is whether fehmida mirza had jurisdiction and whether she ridiculed teh judiciary in not sending teh disqualification to the CEC...many say the fehmida decision was drafted by a group of PMlq lawyers which completely ignored article 63 g...while others say that Gilani is also disqualified as his spouse has had a loan written off...? The SC can reject teh petitions as an internal matter of teh national assembly or call for arguments and discuss teh disqualification process and whether the speaker could subvert teh process...many suggest that fehmida mirza has acted as a judiciary which is not the speakers function and her interpretation of teh SC judgement is questionable...anyway teh contempt has been accepted by the defendant and thus the SC can rule that he is disqualified as an mna under article 63-g...the SC could setup a 17 judge panel as it is a major new issue and deals with a change in teh status quo which would favor the defendant while if it treats it as an appeal with reference to teh contempt judgement than a nine judge panel may take up teh issue...
• May28-2012--drone kills five near north waziristan
• May28-2012--six militants killed in orakzai... soldier dies near risalpur rashakai interchange as grenade is thrown at military vehicle...
• May28-2012--three bodies found in the siachen snowslide after seven weeks
• May28-2012--ephedrine scam investigation continues with primeministers staff being questioned...
• May28-2012--three killed in quetta blast
• May28-2012--PMLn member of parliament khawaja asif will today file an appeal in the Sc against the national assemblies ruling on teh Gilani disqualification...many regard teh speaker as having shown extreme favoritism in not referring the disqualification to the CEC who can theoretically study the issue himself...
• May27-2012--drone attack kills five near miramshah
• May27-2012--SBP says the country has 36000 bank accounts who have more than 10 million in their accounts...these account holders account for 37% of bank deposits...these millionaires have over 2 trillion in bank accounts
• May27-2012--opposition politicians ask government to stop military operation in balochistan
• May27-2012--two die in quetta rocket attacks as pakistan loving principal , nephew shot dead by BLA in Kharan
• May27-2012--Gilani who has been rocked by accusations of corrupt children as well as involvement in drug smuggling apart from having the loans of his wife written off has backed out from an appeal against is conviction for contempt...many say he was frightened of teh SC looking in detail at his disqualification, possible increase in sentence to six months in jail as well as ordering his suspension as primeminister until the appeal against the speakers ruling is decided...The SC now only has the appeal against the speakers faulty decision to deal with in teh matter although the NRO implementation does not disappear altogether
• May26-2012--In what is being seen by many as an attack on punjab by sindhis a bus was attacked near nawabshah killing five punjabis and two pukhtuns...sindhs extreme natured nationalists claimed teh attack...many regard teh sindhi nationalists as teh PPP's armed wing..teh sindh PPP has made it a routine matter to attack punjabis in teh national and provincial assembly and teh nationalists take it to a further extreme...many regard it as an evolutionary process as sindhis attempt to suppress teh mohajirs politically and economically and fight pakistan for secession......others regard that punjabis should migrate back to their homeland just as they have had to leave balochistan after similar mean ethnically motivated murders...others regard the teh sindhis as having no mature response but to kill innocent people after suggestions of creating a mohajir province started to gather support...
• May26-2012--another balochistan BRSP official killed in north waziristan
• May26-2012--The SC in another controversial decision suspended the national assembly membership of FarahNaz Isphahani for being a foreign citizen...
• May26-2012--many feel the national assembly speaker has given a partisan decision in the Gilani disqualification... the speaker seems to have a low level of intellect and does not understand teh differences between cause and effect...however Gilani has yanked teh Aitezaz appeal who was preparing an insulting presentation and many regard that teh possible outcome of teh appeal could be an increase in the sentence to six months in jail...however there is another decision that teh SC will have to make whether teh speakers decision has protection or can be challenged in court...normal national assembly proceedings cannot be challenged in court...however since the decision has legal constitutional aspects many regard it as easily challengeable as teh speaker has not been able to explain the difference between contempt of teh SC and ridicule of teh SC...some lawyers regard teh appeal as neccesary however many regard SC decisons as unrevocable... most controversial cases should be tried by High Courts so that a normal appeal process is possible...
• May25-2012--The dollar jumps to over Rs92...and the deficit to over 60%
• May25-2012--six shot dead in karachi
• May25-2012--as usual the punjab government started another bus company in Lahore while earlier such efforts such as Varan(100 buses) Askari Metro(150 buses) have their buses lying around who now want 4 lakhs per bus each to revive their fortunes...There have been many efforts since teh GTS and RTS days including one which setup a Volvo unit but none have been as successful as teh old GTS...The punjab government has refurbished 100 old private sector buses at a cost of Rs40 million and is importing CNG buses from china and old buses from turkey...
• May25-2012--another drone attack kills eight in mirali, NW...many suggest that Sherry Rehman has been approving drone attacks in meetings with teh anti pakistan Leon Panetta...!pakistani armed forces as usual sitting around doing nothing...!
• May25-2012--Amin Fahim who has been sitting around gloating as Gilani gets the rough end of teh stick has been ordered tobe investigated by teh SC in teh NICL scam especially asto the appointment of teh incompetent head of teh NICL...
• May25-2012--In what maybe the subjugation of Gilani by the unassuming fehmida mirza teh speaker issued a ruling obviously written by somebody from outside(primeministers office) absolving Gilani from disqualification...fehmida obviously does not realize the gravity of her judgement given that all she has to say usually is "this assembly is hereby prorogued or convened..."obviously being another villager from badin she thinks highly of the gawahchi gaan(Gilani...)many say that she does not know the meaning of contempt and that disqualification is a consequence/result/repercussion not a cause of teh contempt...contempt has probably a harsher meaning than ridiculing teh judiciary...others suggest that teh appeal will now be withdrawn as teh 9 judge panel even if the new SC pro PPP judge is added could increase the sentence to six months in jail...Others suggest that the challenge to teh speakers ruling could take place after teh appeal if required and if teh sentence is enhanced to six months in jail Gilani could again end up disqualified...others suggest that the former PPP leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan could be getting soft in his old days as the PMLn visibly seemed to back off...The sindhis who have been pushing for seraikistan may in the end have to giveup karachi to the mohajirs and lose the over all game...The anti punjabi kaiser bengali for example forgets in teh Dawn that seraikistan is relatively a peaceful place compared to karachi barring some sectarianism and there is literally no movement for seraiki sooba barring a few bored DG khanis...Sindh has to realize that that its culture is not that of punjab or that of Chaudhry Nisar and Qaim Ali Shah too has been attacking sindhi culture by just wearing a suit...
• May24-2012--five more killed in karachi's ongoing violence
• May24-2012--with his retirement too nearing and no solution to problems of agencies and kidnappings teh disoriented CJ said that the solution could be teh imposition of an emergency as happened in teh past which theoretically teh court cannot impose...The court was literally embarassed as balochi officials did not appear in court when asked and were generally unhelpful...The CJ said that teh balochistan CM had spent only seven days days in balochistan during teh past six months..he singled out Gilani has teh person responsible for most of teh problem apart from the provincial government...many feel that teh CJ has assumed teh office of teh countries chief executive teh way he tries ineffectively to solve problems...many also noted his effort to imitate teh quaid e azams up down salute to peopel standing around when he arrives at an office...
• May24-2012--Dr. Afridi a peshawar based doctor who supposedly attempted to get blood samples from the Osama ben Laden home sentenced to 33 years in prison...by a Khyber agency court...This could be in retaliation after teh US blocked almost half of pakistan's aid and literally stopped counter insurgency aid...there was also another drone attack in which five were killed...US pakistan relations as expected have become a one way street...either follow orders or have aid stopped...pakistan has been willing to open teh nato supply routes but teh US is not willing to pay even expenses...many suggest that teh US could be using the rest of pakistans aid for behind teh scenes payments to asif zardari...others suggested that pakistan donated it to Obama's election funds...many suggest that Obama could lose the muslim vote...
• May23-2012--Machh jail warden gunned down
• May23-2012--retired air marshal Rao who can be regarded as one of the abottabad crooks for allowing teh US forces to mount a raid on abbottabad knocks out defence minister and becomes PIA chairman as well...defence minister had apparently critisized the MD as incompetent as he refused to attend two board meetings...
• May23-2012--A JSMM leader possibly allied with teh mqm was found dead near hyderabad...
• May23-2012--The hotbed of political violence that is karachi again erupted as politically opposed groups attacked each other...An Awami tehreek rally opposing teh mohajir sooba was attacked by gunmen killing eleven as rioters than set fire to sindh number plate vehicles...The supporters of teh mohajir sooba have grown as teh PPP adopts policies of munafqat and playing one province against the other...opposing new provinces in sindh and nwfp but supporting them in punjab...with the Punjab set to get upto sixty seats in a possible new provinces scenario senate which upsets sindhis who are thinking of supporting an inflated mohajir sooba comprising thatta and hyderabad...which would have sindhi majority areas as well...many feel that the only possible solution to karachi is that the mqm amalgamates with one of teh major parties or a new mohajir sooba is created...to ease the political repercussions the mohajir sooba could be called coastal sindh...?
• May22-2012--Apparently while recognizing pakistans importance Nato and the USA are not willing to give even verbal assurances on not attacking pakistan in teh process...many suggest that teh USA should preserve at least the outer aspects of pakistans half baked status of an ally which obviously does not apply to teh understanding of pakistans status by teh defence depptt, CIA, nato and US military forces...
• May22-2012--Three top navy officials court martialled for their failure to handle the mehran airbase security
• May22-2012--Te Islamabad High Court get sinto the act too...Justice Siddiqui who came across as very light on a ruling on the premiers disqualification knocks out illegal islamabad task force which had been ruling the CDA illegally , usurping CDA resources and vehicles for personal use...The task force had been setup by an order of teh principal secretary of teh primeminister and can be said tobe one of teh most brazen acts of corruption and misuse of power imaginable...Justice Siddiqui on teh disqualification matter should have suggested that although an MNA can be disqualified for ridiculing teh superior judiciary that issue was in teh domain of teh primeminister and national assembly speaker...Gilani has not had the courage to resign and many suggest that since teh whole Gilani family is involved in getting undue power,corruption and salaries they regard democracy as their handmaiden and would like to dictatorially usurp power and money rather than follow a process of honesty and personal sacrifice like previous PPP rulers...the PPP's sense of democracy is ridden with superfluous cliche's...like "who should i give my resignation to" was one of the most demented one's...Gilani seems tobe an uneducated seraiki garain(rural villager) whose buffalo as been lost...
• May21-2012--The dawn seems unaware of who is behind teh mohajir sooba movement...nobody else but teh mqm whose whole existence has become meaningless with altaf hussains subjugation by the PPP...with karachi having gotten teh lions share of development funds and being pakistans only relatively developed city the mohajir whining has become meaningless and subordinate to teh sindhi PPP...with the mqm having no way out of teh PPP bear hug the issue of mohajir sooba becomes important when teh irrelevant seraiki sooba can get going...if punjab and PPP can make teh non moving serikistan than why not the twenty year old struggling terrorism oriented mohajiristan...why does the PPP not support mohajir sooba when it supports teh seraiki sooba?...does seem odd...teh mqm does not have a future on just ethnic representation...eventually it has to bring out its real dreams from cold storage...?mqm cannot maintain its following by its old tactic of trouble making every few months...either it should have a real opposition in karachi or what else ...the mohajir sooba or karachistan...!down with sindhi suppression and tyranny...down with sindhi opposition...!!...u know the tone of "hamari soch...hamari kamyabi"...sounds almost like asif zardari saying it...
• May21-2012--the twitter access was blocked in pakistan for eight hours
• May21-2012--The pakistani military has always been known tobe pro american even in teh most difficult of times...however since admiral Mullen publically attacked general kiani as untrustworthy things have changed...with the politicians talking and the generals refusing to budge...the chain of events stretching back to the the raymond davis murders, abbottabad invasion, salala border attacks and u can throw in teh drone attacks which teh previous ISI chief/gilani/zardari favored and at times opposed...the riotous nato supply line which mulla fazlur rehman is threatening to attack if started is now stuck on the the applicable charges ...with teh USA refusing to pay $1800 per truck...pakistan would also like a salala apology...otherwise pakistan could get off scot free and giveup on american relations...and might be live a happier life...in a region where teh USA is now friends with india and afghanistan and opposed to pakistan and iran...many feel that US relations with their stop start military payments and drip drop Lugar aid in mostly non essential areas seems doomed to end and probably that would serve pakistan much better than the fractious nature of US attitudes and obviously their refusal to consider pakistans concerns...
• May20-2012--many now regard that pakistan has little todo with stability in afghanistan and pakistan wants to earn as much as it can from teh Nato supply line...pakistan wants upto 5000 dollars per container since it expects to lose much of US aid soon..there are over 8000 containers lying at karachi ports waiting to move to afghanistan
• May20-2012--The PMLq after recent experiences in south punjab of defeating teh PMLn expects the PPP to let it put joint candidates on 56 national assembly seats and and 70 provincial assembly seats where it was second teh last time around...that could make it teh majority party if the PPP plays ball...with teh PPP fortunes falling fast it could many say have to agree to a PMlq majority at the center and in punjab...Pervaiz Elahi on teh other hand is in London talking to altaf hussain and musharaf and saying that they are getting sick of teh PPP and wanting to go it alone in teh next elections if musharaf and altaf hussain are willing to tag along...
• May20-2012--three shot dead in karachi while two bodies found in balochistan
• May19-2012--four trucks allowed to crossover into afghanistan as the US congress threatens aid cutoff if nato supply line not opened...
• May19-2012--while teh south punjabis pretend that they are sufis...central punjab's shahbaz sharif says that south punjab is a militant breeding ground...some recent incidents of violence in punjab are attributed to the PPP and seraiki groupings...south punjab generally has been teh home for sectarianism...earlier rehman malik had made the same statement about south punjab which had been rejected by shahbaz sharif
• May19-2012--IJT militants burn two Daewoo buses in lahore...earlier police clashed with students protesting on teh mall an IJT leaders murder...many have attributed the murder to Asif Zardaris students association or PPP associated politicians...
• May19-2012--twelve shot dead in karachi
• May19-2012--The SC fired the islamabad Federal Directorate of Education chief for having a mere bachelors degree that also in the third divsion
• May18-2012--two each killed in karachi and quetta which are becoming notorious motorcycle killer cities...IED blast kills one in peshawar and fire breaks out at kohat grid
• May18-2012--The defence minister said that teh PIA managing director a former PAF chief was incompetent and foreign management expertise was necessary...The PIA chief than went off on a juncket foreign training course where western experts will train him on how to operate an airline...
• May18-2012--pakistans top politicians may have approved a possible (planned and ready) US attack on iranian nuclear facilities... and that is what they maybe discussing at teh Nato summit and what Gilani discussed in england...earlier musharaf too had asked teh US to bomb irans nuclear reactor...many others say that like musharaf... Asif Zardari maybe ready to offer the capture of ayman al zwahiri the al qaeda chief if teh CIA can locate his whereabouts..?
• May18-2012--SC questions whether the ISI could really control elections with money...there are suggestions that teh ISI is normally authorized to fund politicians and many current leaders are ISI undercover agents who have risen to teh top as others have fallen after ISI attacks...?...the military can target or arrange the corp votes in specific areas...teh IJI was one of teh largest right wing coalitions in 1990...The PPP nowadays without any ideology has usually no chance if opposition politicians gangup...SC asks for HBL info on where money came from...and official notification of teh ISI's political cells creation...theoretically teh SC would have to indict the president, army chief , ISI chief, HBL and mehran bank presidents of teh time...
• May18-2012--two mashak aircraft of teh PAF jets collide in midair killing four...sixth PAF aircrash in the last few months and teh second in a week...possibility of crazy pilots syndrome or improper training methods...
• May17-2012--12000 maternal deaths in pakistan in 2010...!
• May17-2012--PHC CJ also gathers courage and gives agencies 15 days to release those held without trial
• May17-2012--nine shot dead in karachi
• May17-2012--PPP hikes electricity tariff again by 16%...50-100 units at Rs5.25...100-300 @ Rs.7.93...301-700 @12.77...and above 700 @ Rs.15.41...electricity tariffs are almost tax hikes and it will net teh government Rs.88 billion plus around 20 % in taxes...tubewells still at Rs6.92 while the industrial consumers and some commercial consumers also subsidized @ Rs.10...one fails to understand what teh government is doing with tax revenues with such high electricity charges...there is also no apparent subsidy being given apart from lower charges to some categories and tubewells but those are being charged to other electricity consumers...if there was a subsidy of Rs 300 billion it could reduce tariffs by upto 50%...government obviously wasting tax revenues on non essential uses...
• May17-2012--After four years of uselessness and negative conduct the PPP regime decides to shift all resources to the power sector...The federal government has only a few major responsibilities... gas, electricity, petroleum, information,foreign affairs, defence and finance...however they have been upto now handling electricity on the basis of conjecture...we can generate so much from hydel, coal, water, air etc. etc...but have not even yet started bhasha which will take probably a decade to complete although its reservoir could be filled in five years...PPP estimates that the problem could be diluted by 2016....
• May16-2012--five rockets fired at peshawars posh locality hayatabad...seven more gunned down in karachi...nine militants killed in orakzai...
• May16-2012--The wastage of pakistan's resources was depicted by the revelation that teh primeministers office has 19 bullet proof vehicles of while 11 are given to various army officers and other politicians...32 bullet proof cars were apparently imported by teh Shaukat Aziz regime for Rs600 million...most of them are in teh use of Gilani and Zardari families...!!
• May16-2012--In what can be said tobe a collective failure of teh convict and his forty thieves teh DCC hurriedly approved asif zardari's visit to a chicago nato summit which many suggest could be teh formal acceptance of further salala like misadventures and in general a collective humiliation of teh pakistani phsyche...with teh army chief refusing to have anything todo with nato after teh american generals insulted him ie. accused him of not telling them ossama's location......and after teh PPP allowed teh abbottabad invasion witout even a murmur...many suggest that after Hilary Clinton was even more insulting and nasty on teh whereabouts of teh current alqaeda chief teh pakistanis should have refused the invitation which would have showed that pakistan could stand its ground rather than being a dupe for US/indian propaganda...pakistan should many say be clear that the war should be ended with teh elimination of Ossama and continuing a meaningless war against tribals and pakistan is ridiculous and should be ended by teh USA even if it had any good intentions in the region...many suggest that the meaningless USAaid as depicted by its propaganda advertisements also showed teh misdirected relationship with the USa...pakistan should many say move towards handling its own problems and tell teh USA to go back to its own country rather than humiliate continually our country and its weak armed forces...pakistan many say has backed down into its usual position of a duped docile supposed ally of the USA and supposedly is willing to continue with teh animosity driven US attitudes...