The Daily PakistanPolitics 02-10 Jan, 2013

• Jan10-2013--There is a strange inconsistency in teh zardari wailings on BISP...while nobody at home is praising teh scheme apparently foreigners are...although i have seen no statements from any UN bodies on teh issue... zardari says 7 million families benefit...although that would make it like 21000 families per NA constituency...that does not seem tobe logically true...many feel that only about half a million people are getting teh small handout like charity...some say people who are rejected for the basic dole are given much larger loans which seems inconsistent with teh basic concept of social security...apparently many are fooling BISP wih fake bussinesses...
• Jan10-2013--school owner and hakeem shot dead in karachi...apparent sectarianism
• Jan10-2013--three shot dead in quetta in continuing political violence
• Jan10-2013--PPP Kurram area president gunned down in peshawar...he had earlier survived two bomb blasts one in which 63 were killed..
• Jan10-2013--PPP's absconding ex OGRA chief arrested in Dubai
• Jan10-2013--pakistan army retaliates for haji Pir incursion by indians in which one pakistani soldier was killed by teh indians...two indians killed in poonch incursion...many say teh indians have for a long time been refusing to settle major disputes and are using minor incidents to block talks and resolutions and fool teh chinese and americans...pakistan say india making up stories to bolster its regional bully image..
• Jan09-2013--nato and transit transport to afghanistan stopped by drivers due to security problems
• Jan09-2013--Asif Zardari has been removed for contempt of his office as he has been away from teh presidency for 35 consecutive days..?...many say say he is surreptitiously participating in sindh politics which is inappropriate for teh dignity of his office...
• Jan09-2013--three punjabis killed in attacks on LPG tankers coming from iran on teh RCD highway
• Jan09-2013--raja ashraf increases intensity of drone strikes as another al qaeda leader is killed...12 killed in two drone strikes on mirali
• Jan09-2013--The Tahir ul qadri rally continues to make news as 5000 degs of food and thousands of rice packets were ordered...teh cold nowadays is severe at night...the mean and miserly mqm is using the occasion to collect funds from rawalpindi...wonder what they do with all the goatskin money...!!rehman malik put up teh shutters and started to install containers to block access to parliament...25 containers have been confiscated from transporters...the jalsa or tehrir square will therefore have to stretch out along the blue area unless they want to physically push aside teh containers...?
• Jan08-2013--in mohmand two security men killed in a road side blast while militant hideouts bombed in khyber agency
• Jan08-2013--SHO, three militants killed in lakki marwat...
• Jan08-2013--four gunned down in karachi.. two shiites, a pukhtun prayer leader and a pukhtun truck driver
• Jan08-2013--four killed in quetta blast and firing incidents
• Jan08-2013--a citizen tells teh SC that qaim ali shah is just a front for awais ali tappi and faryal talpur and in effect the zardaris run sindh...that should mean that if teh SC wants to enquire why things are so bad in zardaribad's provincial capital it should call all three to answer why its decision on the killings in karachi is not being implemented...
• Jan08-2013--The mqm leader altaf hussein turned out tobe a limp squid after all as he apologized to teh SC as did two other mqm leaders one of whom had called teh judges thieves...The judges than pardoned the mqm walas..the mqm usually has been giving teh PPP negative advice have thrown mud on themselves and have literally grabbed teh chief justices feet in forgiveness...
• Jan08-2013--The tahirul qadri tahrir square threats are just meaningless barbs many say as he will talk to teh government and disperse...since the cold will not allow them to stay in parliament square even for a night...The government seems tobe using all the misinformation possible as teh TTP has said they have not threatened the tahir ul qadri long march and have no views on his actions...although it is a terrorist dream to attack large gatherings and similar methods are adopted by dictatorships..however teh TTP is known to have some principles on who it attacks...they have tobe politically or religiously on their wrong side......since tahir ul qadri has no popular mandate and is at best a television mullah the PPP accepting his orders is anti democratic...however rehman malik tried to softsoap qadri but he refused to goto the F-9 park and said he will head for parliament sqaure...The PMLn is more worried about the innocuous nature of teh qadri threats and are mulling arresting him ...they would have to do it early and not after the gathering starts...at best tahir ul qadri might have been setup to divide the PMln vote since he could embarass Nawaz Sharif teh original long marcher by actually holding a tahrir square gathering even if he does it for a few days...the government has already made him look innocuous by suggesting that they are willing to listen and even adopt/adapt his proposals if any...!!
• Jan07-2013--On the canadian front tahir ul qadri seems tobe a blackmailer as he has now threatened to invade lahore as well...he says that they will have a substantial input of participants from KP...in another interpretation of rehman maliks remarks many suggest that he is saying that the "sick people are coming to islamabad" remark means that the sick people(altaf hussein and tahir ul qadri )are coming to islamabad where teh PPP(taleban) will attack them...meanwhile altaf hussein despite joining tahir ul qadri to attempt to topple the PPP regime suggests that he is still in league with asif zardari...the regime would be seriously destabilized if tahir ul qadri could put in place a few lakh people for even a few days...he suggests that he can bring two million people which would literally topple the pillars of the presidency and parliament...even thought night time weather is expected tobe cold...
• Jan07-2013--no real progress possible in relations says indian foreign minister if india does not move on kashmir and pakistan does not accept indian orders on bombay attacks...india has a duality in attitudes on terrorism and anti india attitudes as it holds anti pakistan organizations which are also terrorist in intent in high regard...many feel india too should ban anti pakistan organizations...
• Jan07-2013--a wapda chinese consultant gives the same opinion that is held by pakistani hydel engineers ...that cost of desilting tarbela can be high and the process difficult and damaging......however if carried out it should be done after emptying teh dam and carting away the rocks and silt rather than during operations...thus it can only be done after teh completion of bhasha so that an alternate water storage is available..however many feel that teh silt should be kept moving so that it cannot build up further...earlier suggestions include one or two tunnels on the left bank in the middle of the silt mountain could be used to desilt as well...
• Jan07-2013--There is a lingering feeling that teh mohajir regime in sindh is playing up one murder case amongst thousands in karachi to highlight differences between teh sindhi wadera class and pukhtuns in police
• Jan07-2013--In support of taleban demands pakistan army fires mortars at different positions in AJK as indians apparently invaded one position
• Jan07-2013--Drone attacks kills TTP suicide chief and 12 others in Bobar south waziristan after which pakistani forces pounded teh area showing clear coordination with drone attacks and the pakistani governments duplicity with teh public...new suicide chiefs cause suicide blast activities to pickup...airforce bombing in orakzai kills another 10
• Jan06-2013--The popularity of teh Lahore-Pindi motorway is such that the primeminister inaugurated teh construction of the 22nd interchange at Nila...it started with four interchanges...
• Jan06-2013--According to the Dawn teh primary fuel sources in pakistan are gas at 47.6%, oil at 32%...hydel at 11.8%...nuclear at 1.3% and coal 6.7%...over teh last six years quantity wise teh usage of oil has grown while changes in other sectors are minor...there have also been only minor changes in availability of gas over teh last six years while gas shortages in winter now outstrip teh gas tobe imported from iran by 2014...government just cannot supply everyone with gas and will have to stop major sectors such as CNG and industries to just make things feasible in winters to come...many feel that gas dependant fertilizers should only be made in summer and CNG should be stopped in teh three winter months...
• Jan06-2013--LI office or birthplace a mosque in Bara destroyed in bomb blast
• Jan06-2013--three shot dead in karachi among them two ST activists..baldia ST chief killed a day earlier..ST says a dozen workers killed in teh past month...many believe the mqm cannot tolerate any organization gathering strength in tehir strongholds apart from teh sectarianist angle ...six shops destroyed in SITE bomb blast as a hand grenade thrown at a policeman's home
• Jan06-2013--PPP's Abdul Qadir Gilani moves SC on investigations by FIA into his suspect BA degree...apparently he failed in two simple subjects such as islamiat and pakistan studies...
• Jan06-2013--JI provincial charity director and driver shot dead near charsadda
• Jan06-2013--Air marshal anwer shamim known as teh king of F-16 corruption in teh PAF dies while former activist JI chief qazi hussein ahmed also passes away
• Jan06-2013--apparently the PPP not too keen to talk to either the canadian mullah or the taleban...with raja ashraf suggesting to the military that it was just phsycological warfare and talks meant nothing to teh taleban as they preferred ordering people and governments to do their bidding...these days an ordinary phone call makes teh interior ministry think that the taleban will attack teh tahir ul qadri long march while others suggest what he means is that teh PPP preparing to attack teh long march...similarly on television when people hear the strange words "mqm ke quaid" they think it probably means "mqm ke qatil..."mqm has recently suggested that altaf hussein did not run away but actually they are keeping him in london to keep him out of trouble...
• Jan05-2013--10 killed in a wave of shootings across karachi
• Jan05-2013--In what maybe a sheer waste of money raja ashraf orders six new bullet proof SUV's so that he and his entourage can participate in election activities...
• Jan05-2013--Raja Ashraf and Nawaz Sharif are clearly worried figures as they attempt to stop teh tahir ul qadri attempt at occupying a square in islamabad over a few days...many feel that it is a difficult venture since tahir ul qadri has no known agenda and it could be seen as an attempt to topple teh government...many feel that pakistans current problems could be solved by proportional representation as organisations having say 10% support across pakistan may not even get representation in teh current system...with current trends teh PPP would be able to pick up only 10-20% seats in a proportional representation system and even teh jamaat islami or mqm could challenge them...however in proportional representation everyone would have a stake in parliament...
• Jan05-2013--The Election Commission bans PPP's political party adverts which usually even had non government figures on them at government expense...
• Jan05-2013--twenty killed in airstrikes on Tirah
• Jan05-2013--Raja Ashraf might not have too long left to rule but he tries to define even national security in PPP terms...he urges military to stay out of politics and redefine covert operations...while pakistan has been destabilized by teh PPP's style of governance in which they have refused to solve destabilizing factors such as terrorism, electricity and gas shortages, needless price hikes and have been literally hiding behind closed doors...they refuse to handle even the few jobs left for the central government...there main concern has been only to balance political, financial and provincial power
• Jan04-2013--PPP had issued two passports to its absconding former Ogra chief Tauqir Sadiq who is now living it up in Dacca...!
• Jan04-2013--MQM refuses to leave government despite being in total opposition to it...this after an interior ministry visit to straighten out altaf hussein...!!given teh MQM's known preference to stay in government they will probably ditch teh PPP if it loses the next election...some suggest that given teh fact that tahir ul qadri started out as the khateeb at the ittefaq mosque Nawaz Sharif could have put him up to create a coalition of say the mqm and the PTI with whom he could join up after teh elections...?
• Jan04-2013--like all PPP and PMLn leaders it is only the brothers,daughters, sons and even sons in laws who are important rather than anybody else under pervez ashraf...suddenly according to the PPP the upstart azim ul haq is appointed alternate executive director in the WB...silly beaurocrats responsible not raja ashraf they say...!
• Jan04-2013--is democracy worth it when teh government can only concentrate on legislation and not solve peoples problems especially in gas and electricity...!despite SNGPL denials gas not available to domestic consumers...it comes on at midnight and disappears in teh mornings...sundays it is on and off during teh day negating supposed domestic usage priority by SNGPL...if Nepra and SNGPL are to solve problems than why not give teh government to them rather than teh useless PPP...?
• Jan04-2013--US drones kill another 12 in two drone attacks in south and north waziristan...supposedly pro government maulvi nazir amongst them...an ahmedzai he had asked mehsuds who head teh TTP to leave his area...
• Jan03-2013--malala's father who was earlier said to have got a UN job now appointed to the pakistan embassy in britain
• Jan03-2013--seven soldiers kidnapped from jand...two policemen killed in karachi amongst five...
• Jan03-2013--government says that 45 wind power schemes of over 3000mw capacity under process...upto now teh PPP has been unable to bring online any substantial new power...if wind is available than a wind turbine factory should be the first option...
• Jan03-2013--rehman malik fails to persuade altaf hussein to end bhatta, killings and the long march participation...some in teh PPP would be happy to see the end of teh illogical coalitions that the PPP has made and the PPP in punjab could than make a whole hearted unfettered effort which is stumped by the coalition...Zardari offered many say to cover altaf's normal expenses in exchange for an end to karachi troublemaking...many feel that raja could offer to meet the canadian mullah to discuss his demands...or coordinate a long march so that there is no trouble...
• Jan03-2013--Wapda says funds can be arranged for Bhasha ...however with hydel generation at around 900MW due to canal closures many feel that the problem of electricity shortfalls in winter cannot be addressed by even Bhasha or other nwfp hydel projects...however bhasha should be able to helpout in summer if demand does not increase dramatically by the time it is built.....canal closures should be carried out over the whole year or in a staggered manner...
• Jan03-2013--Suddle says funds were drawn from intelligence sources in 2008-09...but not for toppling the shahbaz sharif government...reasoning seems unclear at the moment...many suggest that a consensus chief minister could not be found...!
• Jan03-2013--The army says that government should decide and negotiate with taleban...they warn against concessions that are not possible...pakistan cannot afford parallel governments, terrorist organisations...earlier army agreements with taleban usually failed...while teh taleban have little effect barring the noise and consequences governments are weakened/hobbled in many areas..obviously pakistan cannot giveup teh right to relations with other states and accept defacto mullah rule...another solution could be a mullah primeminister...caretaker or otherwise...theoretically teh taleban have to giveup and than work towards a solution...but the government does not want tobe seen as a failure in negotions too at this stage...possibility of a generalized ceasfire so that violence can be stopped as a start...talks with violence from both sides usually does not achieve the objectives of both sides..
• Jan02-2013--six women amongst seven local NGO workers shot dead in Swabi
• Jan02-2013--In what could be a calculated move to cow down the PPP as well as interest the armed forces into action the qadri group generally at the moment comprising the mqm suggest that they will turn islamabad into a tahrir square...PMLn suggests that PTI and PMlq also in the qadri loop...while that would generally be exciting if it had any revolutionary intent the bad reputations of teh mqm involved in continuous violence in karachi and Qadri aka teh american priest since he wears a cap that no other mullah wears in pakistan do not leave anything exciting for the people to imagine...they could frighten teh army and the PPP but in general have an extremely low level of public support..Since a caretaker can only be appointed by agreement of two people the mqm and even the pmlq have little relevance to teh issue...others suggest that the PPP could be attempting to play hardball with the PMln on its own choice of caretaker although many believe that the PPP still does not have its thinking cap turned on..Even if they can say put several lakh people on a ground or park in islamabad for even a few days the PPP can withstand the pressure and it is usually only the armed forces that can become alarmed which is probably teh hope of teh deviationist alliance...there are hardly any electoral reforms that are needed and no one would probably want a sindhi caretaker or even one from teh mqm...PMLq says it is allying with the sunni ittehad as well as the PPP and qadri...?that makes the PMLq the most dual natured group in pakistan behind teh mqm...The PPP meanwhile has suggested a few names of caretakers to altaf hussein for approval despite his opposition...
• Jan02-2013--In apparent retaliation for mqm violence a day earlier a motorcycle blast kills four near the venue of mqm's qadri neeting
• Jan02-2013--policeman shot dead in karachi...seminary girl students killed by mortar shell in bara...FWO man dies in roadside blast near miranshah...warden of machh jail shot dead while government officer and his driver shot dead in kharan