The Daily PakistanPolitics Dec01-15, 2012

• Dec13-2012--nine killed in karachi as two die in landhi bomb blast..prayer leader and wife shot dead near mansehra..two killed in sect tensions at GB university...
• Dec13-2012--SC judge says that the only point made in the reference sent by the government is the seniority of IHC judge Riaz Ahmed Khan who should be the new IHC chief justice if he is senior to judge anwer kasi who was reccomended...and should have been sitting in the JC too..
• Dec13-2012--3620 students who got 80% or more marks unable to get admission in Punjab medical colleges...says teh dAWN
• Dec13-2012--PPP to fight the general perception that its governments and leaders are generally corupt...This after teh NAB chief had said that almost teh entire budget is wasted...This is borne out by the fact that the PPP regime has slowed down the implementation of all projects by years and been unable to do anything to solve teh electricity and gas issues...The PPP says that perception and reality are different...are we to belive that salman farooki did not rip off teh Steel Mills or raja ashraf did not rip off the rental power scheme so that he became known as raja rental...or that asif zardari did not rip off the country thru extortions in french military purchases and sgs-cotechna..The PPP says that they now have no funds because they have made bigger allocations to teh provinces...given the perception that provincial allocations equal federal decficit and the needless increase in foreign loans...so was that foolish...when u dont have enough funds why do u raise salaries and allow workers to get share of teh profits...does teh BISP pay salaries of 80000 plus and thus costing it more than Rs2000 to deliver Rs1000...all this paints a pictire of foolishness, inefficiency and obviously ripping of teh country and unfortunately allegations of corruption...the allegations of corruption against teh Gilanis were more serious than not implementing the SC verdicts as the NRO has not been implemented anyway...The government should take all the allegations about the PPP and form a commission to investigate everything including teh hijacking of an airplane..!!..??
• Dec12-2012--NAB to refer Gilanis refusal to appear to answer questions to the SC
• Dec12-2012--hearing 75 cases of enforced disappearances the PHC CJ said that if there was no cooperation than they would look into the need of the armed forces stationing in Pata, Fata and other areas of KP...
• Dec12-2012--Rehman Malik seems to just sit around doing nothing until things start getting out of hand...he suggested that he was busy looking into motorcycles and mobile phones while ministry of finance kept refusing to supply funds for new passports...!!
• Dec12-2012--Kerry Lugar aid termed useless in PAC committee...the US apparently lops of huge portions and in one year only $200 million was made available...many feel that USAID more interested in advertisements and self projection than any real development funding...its usually small projects seem ordinary and ill advised at times...
• Dec12-2012--six shot dead in karachi
• Dec11-2012--despite the pakistani sides batting failure in sri lanka the consistent haris sohail not added to 2020 squad...while umar amin,mohammed irfan,asad ali, zulfikar baber at 34 years of age and ahmed shezad make it...mostly inconsistent players barring SNGPL's asad ali...shezad comes in for imran nazir...afridi and shoaib malik not dropped despite not performing..iqbal qasim unable to get all the oldtimers out of teh team...
• Dec11-2012--Dollar continues to surge as rupee falls to 97 to a dollar...during teh PPP regime the dollar has gained 47 rupees...
• Dec11-2012--punjab to provide solar UPS's to 200000 students who get more than 55% marks...
• Dec11-2012--six killed in a gun-suicide attack on a bannu police station...another nine shot dead in karachi as a bomb blast on quetta's sariab road kills one
• Dec11-2012--The ANP and MQM which have no pakistan in their name and are said to be indian funded attempt again to break punjab...the punjab assembly has already cancelled its approval...many suggest that punjab too should announce that it will make teh kalabagh dam on its own...many feel that the PPP will still lose in the new provinces if they come about...the dawn suggests that since the PPP cannot break punjab constitutionally it will attempt to change teh basic structure of teh constitution which will give future governments the freedom to break the problematic KP, sindh and balochistan...others suggest that the smaller provinces could suffer as the new provinces will give punjab sixty senate seats rather than 20...?
• Dec11-2012--In what underlines the PPP's corruption identity Gilani refuses to appear before NAB and FIA even to answer questions...he has no immunity as a disqualified ex premier...Asif Zardari on teh other hand underlined his growing corruption reputation and doing nothing even with a 4 and a half trillion rupee budget...rumours suggested that he went to France to answer questions about agosta submarines, kickbacks and french bus blasts...
• Dec10-2012--In nwfp the JUI-f, ANP and PPP priming themselves for a threeway fight with PPP's Anwer Saifullah already declaring himself as teh next chief minister...PMLn trying to woo the Kp's by suggesting a motorway to swat underlining their willingness to spend on development and also suggesting a bullet train from peshawar to karachi...elections are fun..
• Dec10-2012--drone attack kills four in north waziristan
• Dec10-2012--The interior ministry has increased delays in new passports astronomically...the previous regime issued millions of new passports but issued them quickly...delays are now five weeks for urgent and upto five months for ordinary...if there is a real problem than they can easily allow expired passports to function for another year...many are suggesting that rehman malik is taking corruption to new heights...
• Dec10-2012--The Bus corridor being built in lahore on a main road in lahore is causing a lot of umbrage as it has blocked all crossings on Ferozepur road...many feel it would have been better to build a 20 km overhead expressway as has been done in bangkok...from a rough and tumble city bangkok now has modern taxis, airconditioned buses,non airconditioned buses, overhead expressways surrounding teh city and a train system...and most of bangkok has a top level of cleanliness...dawn refers to the MBS as a 'jangla bus system'...The PMLn says it could easily turn it into a mass transit railway system if teh buses fail to take the pressure of teh roads...many feel that bigger cities should stop industrialization and new housing so that people can move away...others suggest that the PMln has started several road projects in lahore all at once causing a traffic mess...
• Dec10-2012--Dawn which is at best a zardari/mqm fan laments the PMLn making somewhat of a comeback...The PMln had been restricted early on by allowing the sitting party to win its seats back...most by elections barring a couple have gone to teh incumbents...however the defeat in gujerat will probably rankle the PPP and PMlq while the PMln probably felt teh loss in gujranwala and seats where the PMlq-PPP combine worked...even in this election the PMln won only one new seat...Punjab is different and almost like nwfp can go whichever way it pleases...many say that most people have decided that the PPP is anti punjab given price hikes, gas, electricity and CNG problems continuation...with the PPP bent upon seraikistan the PMln campaign will take shape after it comes into being or not...many people point out that there has not been a single demo for seraikistan and the PMln too wants teh terrorism and sectarianism of south punjab tobe isolated and controlled...The PPP fails to realize that almost all top leaders in the PTI are from south punjab and unless they want to back down can give them a tough fight on seraiki seats with PMLn support...The PMLn too regards itself as a major presence in south punjab as does the PMLq...The PPP probably needs the PTI to just maintain its presence in punjab while many say the PPP dissident voter is going to vote either PMLn or PTI which is already becoming apparent since even teh PPP voter realizes the anti punjab intentions of teh zardari clan...
• Dec8-2012--nine more gunned down in karachi
• Dec8-2012--LHC chief justice says defying court judgements amounts to shaking teh foundation of teh constitution as the PPP continues to mock the courts
• Dec8-2012--The aging Nawaz Sharif 67 looking to maryam sharif and hamza sharif as future leaders of his party...hamza sharif already involved in organising meetings and elections is being ridiculed for not publicising a second marriage controversy while maryam sharif looks a bit weak in managing teh parties propaganda/information wing
• Dec8-2012--Pakistan has apprently changed its afghan policy and now has gone to the opposite extreme of facilitating the taleban as well as teh afghan government
• Dec8-2012--In what clearly amounts to outright favoritism the SC quickly and without clarification threw out teh case against arsalan iftikhar for corruption and extortion...teh Suddle report clearly outlines teh corrupt nature of bahria town and arsalan iftikhar...where did arsalan get Rs.900 million for telecom contracts...and how does bahria town spend 1 billion on feeding just 15000 people when their income is just Rs760 million...if what riaz and arsalan say is true than his son in law and bussiness partner are probably extorting money from him in teh name of arsalan iftikhar...giving teh son of a chief justice free million rupee holidays clearly amounts to corruption anyway...!
• Dec8-2012--In what amounts to contempt of court the sindh assembly showing its irresponsible nature passes a resolution against the kalabagh dam...Only the sindh chief minister has a say and since they have already approved it in teh CCI and even a court has approved it than teh sindh assembly has no locus standii...anyway only KP and punjab are stakeholders...most people suggest that all dam related water shortages should be used to reduce sindhs share since it is teh cause of the countries electricity loadshedding and irrigation water availability reduction...
• Dec7-2012--dawn advises teh PPP to look to minority votes which are quite substantial in most constituencies...they could also look at the shiite vote who are nearer their religious thinking...the results show that PPP seems tobe sliding to defeat in the punjab and that their own supporters too are voting for the PMLn
• Dec7-2012--drone atack kills four in mirali
• Dec6-2012--Fauji Foundation sells 330 milion fauji cement new stock to itself at half the price...
• Dec6-2012--three gunned down in karachi while one supposed taleban apprehended says he gets 15000 per month as a militant although seemingly operating independently...
• Dec6-2012--Khosa says that rabbani has disfigured teh constitution leaving governments with little power to do anything...he probably would like to topple teh shabaz sharif regime many say...!the PPP regime has deliberately made the governors office a useless position because of the mqm...they have been unable to even appoint their own governor in sindh and balochistan
• Dec6-2012--If politicians can go door to door or the EPI staff so can teh EC and army to verify voters lists in karachi which have upto 4 million anomalies many say...since it benefits the mqm and the PPP they oppose delimitation and voter verification...many suggest that populated areas are flooded with people and it is obvious that delimitations are necessary just to get people nominally represented though this government has shown that it cares the least about people and more about politicians interests and has refused to leave teh government despite an obvious total failure...many say countrywide delimitations could further increase urban seats
• Dec6-2012--memories in flood ravaged areas are short and involve teh last flood ..many in the rajanpur area as well as sindh say that canals and drainages built to irrigate obstruct hill torrents or get flooded causing flash floods...people suggest widening and improving teh pathways of hill torrents in teh koh i sulaiman to the indus..also that they too have teh right to serab or irrigate their lands and not only suffer floods while balochistan and sindh build more canals
• Dec6-2012--The PPP involvement with terrorism is evident in balochistan where even teh dreaded Sariab road is not monitored or properly patrolled...while teh missing persons have a myriad reasons to disappear the provincial governments have not made any effort to find them just because one of them is teh involvement of security forces...
• Dec6-2012--Dawn calls for a broader probe into teh lal masjid seige including the tactics of the women residents of jamia hafsa...many were perturbed as they stood in burqa's stamping their sticks and shouting allah o akber...apart from other involvements such as occupying government buildings, setting them on fire and beating up unsavoury elements of soceity...relations of politicians like chaudhry shujaat with the lal masjid mullahs and teh stored weapons as well as teh tactics...soldiers attacking teh mosque killed unarmed women and some militants as well as mullah ghazi...the coverup including pushing teh bodies and remnants into graves by christian driven buldozers... though many feel that the tactics could easily have been used to flush out everyone or at least to weaken them without food...the military also did not throw a proper ring around teh mosque leaving enough space for militants to come and go...in the attacks by women on anti social elements even chaudhry shujaat was caught with a women off illrepute...teh courts have at times said that the attacks were unprovoked and teh court must clear its reputation of offhand support for terrorism...the army too must answer for the subsequent terror attacks showing that they did not do their homework and lacked an obvious understanding of teh nature of terrorists
• Dec6-2012--as the mehsuds were seen leaving teh ahmedzai wazir areas a suicide bomber attacked a walled military camp in south waziristan and got blownup while three solders died due to friendly fire
• Dec6-2012--Suddle report does a gol mol of teh allegations against arsalan iftikhar although they say that teh allegations of apparent corruption seem tobe unproven although salman ahmed spent Rs 5 million on the holidays of teh chief justices family while arsalan says that he returned 4.5 million later...many have frowned at the extortion style of arsalan iftikhar teh CJ's son which apparently includes taking payments for others...many suggest he might just be a corrupt undercover cop given his FIA training...bahria town still insists that they made huge cash payments to arsalan iftikhar but suddle says that has not been proven...high flying expensive holidays for teh CJ's families have made people think that the judiciary too has turned into a bussiness..however with the statement from khurshid shah that the asghar khan case has been buried and no investigations are planned by teh PPP the hoodwinking seems clearer...
• Dec5-2012--Nighat orakzai,Shazia aurangzeb and iftikhar jhagra join PPP in nwfp
• Dec5-2012--two die in sectarian incidents in lahore and quetta...six shot dead in karachi...JUI-f leader killed in nowshera
• Dec5-2012--The SC appoints a one judge probe into teh Lal masjid security attack in which complainants say 105 are missing...
• Dec5-2012--General Kiani tells nato and european leaders that we suffered a lot of beatings in teh fight against terrorism...as is generally understood qurbani is a process willingly done for allah and not for subjugation or as a complaint to teh west...
• Dec5-2012--In Bannu ten injured in a suicide attack near a police station
• Dec5-2012--In what can be a possible test run for the national elections the ppp lost all the contests winning just one in sindh...while the PMLn swept the eight seats in punjab with teh PMLq snatching just one from teh PMLn...in narowal...PMLn had vacated five, the PMLq one, PPP one and unification block one...In jhelum where the PMLn held an open contest between its two blocks...khadim hussein defeated raja afzal
• Dec4-2012--In lahore 120 graves of ahmedis desecrated in ahmedi graveyard in model town while a swedish christian ngo women shot and injured also in model town
• Dec4-2012--The PPP which has not held LG elections extends LG process to Pata areas in nwfp to handle mostly land problems,local development, hospital and dispensary services, some education process and marriage certification etc.as well as regional administration
• Dec4-2012--PIA says that mushrooming arab airlines have made it lose 7 million passengers on its key european and US routes...The only solution would be to give teh arab airlines reciprocal access but many say PIA should stop foreign airlines from carrying indirect passengers as most have to fly thru their country hubs...arab airlines have newer planes, better services and connections to every place in teh globe
• Dec4-2012--The PPP which many say is responsible for literally destroying internal sindh could face tougher challenges on delimitations in internal sindh from the PML-F...The PPP did not hold a census and only held a housing census which theoretically could be used for new delimitations...The EC should many say go ahead with a countrywide delimitation process also making an effort to smooth over ethnic monopolies in problem areas...
• Dec4-2012--rioting in karachi on teh killing of a seminary teacher by motorcycle gunmen mostly thought tobe mqm men...six others also shot dead..the PPP regime in karachi with teh mqm is lined up against the religious groups of various types some of whom are fighting a sunni-shiite fight..
• Dec1-2012--after diesel balochistan starts importing iranian cement which sells at Rs430 while pakistani cement sells at Rs460
• Dec1-2012--five more shot dead in sectarian attacks in karachi..two die in roadside explosion in mohmand, JUI-f leader shot dead in Gilgit
• Dec1-2012--Government tries to placate teh LHC and LCCI by saying that is has been trying to form a consensus on teh kalabagh dam...The LHC says that CCI approved teh dam in 1998 and so did teh musharaf regime...
• Dec1-2012--pakistan in teh hopes that teh next afghan president might be a more cooperative person seem tobe suggesting that they are making efforts to get the afghan regime and teh taleban to get along by releasing even more taleban or providing access to them..The US and karzai have been torpedoing any possible internal peace process in afghanistan alonwith the pakistan army and any hopes of a peaceful region during teh last decade
• Dec1-2012--many here are critisizing the kaira comment like the one that came from nwfp that the SC should not interfere in politics as it would effect teh federation...many suggest that teh PPP and ANP should accept the federation once and for all alongwith teh mqm and also stop interfering itself in settled matters in that case!...sindh alone is not teh federation or even nwfp...the hoopla came after teh SC suggested a possible solution to teh PPP failure to reign in ethnic/sectarian militants and increase representation in karachi by dividing electoral seats along multi ethnic lines...many of the more recent migrants to karachi numbering many say upto 4 million have been effectively disenfranchised by the indian mohajirs and EC...The mqm's altaf hussein also blew up at that suggestion as it effectively meant attempts at reducing mqm seats or the near monopoly of teh mqm in karachi...The mqm also blew up at the suggestions from the SC as well as others that the military move into karachi to eliminate militarism amongst politics by confiscating weapons and ensuring a broad based representation ethnically and sectwise by new delimitations...many regard the ethnic natured mqm and PPP as insincere in creating a proper atmosphere in karachi...the ethnic lines have been drawn in karachi since teh 1965 ayub khan election when his son brandished weapons on teh karachi streets and effectively setting in motion teh migration of millions of pukhtuns to karachi...bloody riots in the mid sixties and seventies took place...the earliest problems were created by teh ayub khan attempt to eliminate katchi abadis in karachi and later teh Bhutto attempts at introducing mohajirs to sindhi in local schools...later the military created ethnic politics by bringing up mohajir politics in karachi against an almost sindhi PPP monopoly...The ISI wanted teh mqm to play kingmaker which status has effectively reached a dead end with teh PPP failing in teh punjab..The mqm too has been ineffective because of its attempts at being part of each government and only thinking of its own interests and bedeviling most coalitions by riots and mischief...altaf hussein after almost a bloody war in karachi escaped to england after karachi's gangs started gunning for him... and has controlled things from exile since the nineties...his people kill one type of people one day and another type teh next...The PPP is seen as being effectively controlled by teh mqm to stay in power against the sindhis and punjab and now pukhtuns and the sunni lobby...altaf hussein and the PPP literally armed their supporters while teh sindhis and baloch too have weapons while teh pukhtuns have been carrying weapons since earlier times...many say even rehris(foodstalls) keep double barreled shotguns for protection...In the 2007 violence PPP politicians were seen distributing guns stored in their cars as apparent pukhtuns fired on them from overhead bridges... asif zardari too used to travel around in karachi with a kalashnikov in his car...since teh PPP has been ineffective or been deliberately looking teh other way as violence plagues karachi teh SC has been trying to use politics, persuasion and police to sort things out but not to much effect as yet...!!!
• Dec1-2012--reports yesterday of heavy pieces of metal falling near a Dadu village had people worried as a missile test had been conducted by the military...Apparently teh missile seemed to have disintegrated over Dadu suggesting that the military is not too honest about its missile tests...earlier too many had doubted teh missiles ever actually fell on a target..many wondered if india had shot it down..however teh shoddy workmanship suggested that some part of teh missile broke into pieces and fell...The ISPR as usual inits half truths suggested that the missile followed teh correct path and that the motor body had seperated as planned seemingly not something that a missile should do normally...