The Daily PakistanPolitics Mar16-30, 2013

• Mar26-2013--a 10 party alliance led by teh PMLf tries to outwit teh PPPP base in sindh while PPPP in punjab tries to get an alliance with teh PMlq to work..
  
• Mar26-2013--wapda fires the PPP's most expensive technocrat Naveed Ismail as head of teh Genco holding company...raja Pervez Ashraf illegally approved a salary of Rs1.8 million in his end days for teh blue eyed who had earlier been fired from KESC
  
• Mar26-2013--Nawaz Sharif takes off from mansehra and many feel that with teh PPP almost a total failure it is upto teh PMLn and the PTI to rule the roost
  
• Mar26-2013--a diminutive looking hazar khan khoso becomes caretaker primeminister...the ECP gives teh arrow symbol to the PPP-P but is yet to decide on teh name PPP which they say is now meaningless as it is at best a family organisation with no popular base
  
• Mar26-2013--Akhter mengal fails to realize that violence has to stop from all sides for any effective solution or even an effective democracy......balochistan is not divided between india and pakistan and self determination is not an option...Obviously teh state should wield a softer hand but the militants too should drop their weapons...however teh do nothing raisani regime was not able to achieve anything...if elections are to have any meaning than everyone should participate...nobody can bring about democracy individually and it is hardly an effective system in other provinces...however solutions can only be found by people in government who come in thru elections or even other means..violence by the state, liberation groups and taleban/sectarian organisations are obviously all counterproductive...democracy basically means that if one group fails teh people should bring in another party or group...
  
• Mar25-2013--The lahore metro bus service which had a low Rs20 ticket from end to end a route of 27 km is now tobe enhanced to Rs 40 end to end
  
• Mar25-2013--PTI and JI are joining up for seat adjustment possibilities
  
• Mar25-2013--The baghora former army chief musharaf returns to a small welcome as does akhter mengal while teh BLF's Dr.Allah Nazar ridicules teh elections depite there being no other process for change apart from martial law...baloch liberation groups are quite weak as are teh baloch and pukhtun nationalists and they can only hold any influence thru terrorism or getting elected..the BLF, BLA, BRA and BLM are some of the liberation terrorist oriented underground groups
  
• Mar25-2013--The CEC prevails over his punjabi colleague supporting Justice(r) Nasir Aslam Zahid and the former judges of smaller provinces like their political counterparts select Justice Hazar Khan Khoso(r) as caretaker primeminister...Khoso served as an acting judge of teh BHC for ten years...!...Khoso has served for some months in the election commission from 1985-86...he was teh BHC chief justice fromm 1989 to 1991 and has also served as acting governor...he was a judge and chief justice of teh federal Shariat court as well retiring in 1994...his smiling picture shows that he perhaps might be the only baloch who can smile...agewise he is 84...
  
• Mar24-2013--The ECP also divided between khoso and zahid says the dawn as PPP bad tactics emerge as they write letter to influence teh ECP...while it is teh election commissioner who has to select one name it seems the commission is deciding teh issue with a two two tie with the sindh member missing...while khoso is seen as having been promoted by teh PPP...zahid is seen by teh PPP(zardari)as having given judgements against them even though at the time they were seen as brave decisions against the political feudal families that were seen tobe feuding against each other..Khoso was seen as a dark horse as the innocuous ishrat hussein was said tobe in teh lead but opposed by teh PMLn who were said earlier tobe supporting abdul hafeez sheikh who lost out because of his go nowhere economics...many feel both ishrat and hafeez would prefer tobe considered for economics minister...however many feel that a politically influenced finance minister is better than a military influenced one...
  
• Mar24-2013--Imran Khan launches his second phase political rally in lahore even though most of it was wiped out by rain...Imran Khan tries to create a party emotionalism and suggests that he will not build castles in bahria towns or in foreign lands...
  
• Mar24-2013--suicide bomber rams water tanker into a checpost in north waziristan killing six security men..death toll rises to seventeen later on
  
• Mar24-2013--altaf hussein raves and rants against teh ECP on a minor delimitation of constituencies in karachi equating himself with teh awami league which at least was a majority party in east pakistan...whatever happened in east pakistan pakistanis oppose secessionists of all sorts and ethnic war lordism
  
• Mar24-2013--Ghaus baksh barozai teh balochistan caretaker promises to try and resolve issues with nationalists and liberation groups and hold effective elections
  
• Mar24-2013--Fakhr imam joins PMLn while abida hussains position is not clarified
  
• Mar24-2013--taleban announce that they have prepared a death squad to deal with pervez musharaf including hitmen, snipers and a combat squad..
  
• Mar24-2013--eight shot dead in karachi
  
• Mar24-2013--Pir Pagara to support joint candidates even though he regards free and fair elections impossible in teh presence of teh mqm and the PPP...he said they have apprehensions about zahid qurban alvi as he headed teh zakat commission during which period billions had been misused
  
• Mar23-2013--gas pipeline blown up near dera bugti
  
• Mar23-2013--a police SHO beaten to death by students in a nawabshah university...two mqm men shot dead in karachi while an appaling video surfaces showing teh beheading and skinning of arshad pappu a lyari gangster...his wife blames uzair baloch of teh PPP
  
• Mar23-2013--The PPP was hardly out of office in sindh and what can be termed as qurban alvi's first act in government teh SHC gave pervez musharaf 10 days pre arrest bail after which he will have to appear in the cases which if not investigated properly will eventually die in court...pervez musharaf plans to return on teh 24th
  
• Mar23-2013--four solar energy firm employees shot dead near kalat
  
• Mar23-2013--Asif Zardari forced out of PPP co chairman office as latif khosa and barrister masood kauser takeover teh party. There are now at least four PPP's with teh ruling PPP-P...ghinwa bhutto led, nahid khan led and one led by the bilawal zardari...
  
• Mar23-2013--Dera Allahyar bombing kills eleven
  
• Mar23-2013--The parliamentary committee unable to reach a consensus on caretaker and task shifted to ECP who can select one of four...
  
• Mar22-2013--police had to grab vehicles from punjab government officials in lahore on teh roads to provide them to district and provincial election officials
  
• Mar22-2013--drone attack kills two near dattakhel...minor blasts at hyderabad and karachi railway tracks
  
• Mar22-2013--car bomb kills 17 in jalozai camp for IDP's
  
• Mar22-2013--Baloch politicians agree on Ghous bakhsh barozai as caretaker while in sindh zahid qurban alvi being branded as a PPP stooge who got appointed to commissions and did not give accurate decisions....others suggest that he is teh right hand man of qaim ali shah and will follow orders...appointment challenged in SHC as being inappopriate...PPP says he is a boy scout
  
• Mar21-2013--caretaker KP appointment said tobe illegal as retired judges are constitutionally obligated not to take any positions within two years of retirement...challenged in PHC...judge just retired a month ago
  
• Mar21-2013--PPP and PMlq move towards breaking point as PPP tries to woo back former PPP leaders...The PPP nominee for punjab caretaker is now Zahid Hussein a former CJ after dropout of asma jehangir with their amer mahmood also becoming controversial
  
• Mar21-2013--six killed in karachis political and sectarian violence as mqm and PMLf engage in gunbattle during a funeral
  
• Mar21-2013--The PPP reduced the electioneering period to a mere three weeks as they brought the polling date back to May 11 with both provincial and national elections tobe held on teh same date...
  
• Mar21-2013--Chaudhry Nisar teh opposition leader took the lead from teh PMLn side and refused teh PPP nominees and also snubbed ishaq dars late hours offer to khurshid shah of Raza Rabbani and the PPP's attempts at suggesting IA rehman and baber ali...the PPP continued to plug sindhis and their own supporters...however some suggest that as a late measure ishaq dar, khawaja asif, zahid hamid and ghulam qadir baloch were dropped from the parliamentary caretaker committee for mehtab abbasi, saad rafik, yaqoob nasar and pervez rashid...
  
• Mar21-2013--In balochistan teh opposition and governing circles are a mishmash of parties with the PPP on both sides and the JUI-f back in teh raisani camp...the government nominees are amanullah yasinzai(former CJ) and jam kamal and the opposition nominees are ghous baksh barozai and saleh bhootani(former caretaker) while teh NP proposed ahmed khan lashari(retired judge) and ahmed ali kurd
  
• Mar20-2013--PPP transfers CDA chairman by mistake court is told
  
• Mar20-2013--Malala back to school in birmingham
  
• Mar20-2013--Election commission to decide on three claimants for the arrow symbol...
  
• Mar20-2013--service chiefs worry about precious trade to india which is opposed by specific industrial, commercial and agricultural interests..if free trade had been allowed pakistani industry and agriculture would be in a mess...
  
• Mar20-2013--BHC reinstates Tariq magsi as provincial assembly opposition leader
  
• Mar20-2013--In karachi killings continue...a doctor and his guard shot dead...KESC official killed by a bomb attached to his car...three men fired at sitting outside an atta chakki where a soldier and mqm man are killed...motor bike killers also kill one in landhi..FC man shot dead in charsadda
  
• Mar20-2013--In 1982 power was one rupee per unit and no load shedding...Than came the six cent IPP's to fifteen cent per unit electricity...fuel supply problems, circular debt and rental power scams...The PPP regime inits dying days almost overturns teh power system restructuring which has been a disaster from teh start and infact even with excessive price hikes teh ministry of water and power was unable to handle teh system...The Wapda chief a sindhi raghib shah has now been made teh defacto head of teh power system and will be able to appoint a director in all sixteen power companies...he will also be teh co chairman of the NTDC/CPPA whose directors have been reduced to eight with four new ones...teh only prominent one being sharafat ali sial who was until recently teh head of LESCO...The restructuring which started in teh early nineties with teh IPP's and decoupling of wapda's power sector into sixteen relatively independent companies has been a total disaster...aimed at privatization teh government was only able to sell teh kot addu power plant ...starting with teh controversial IPP's they have gone from bad to worse...at this stage there is now almost 50% load shedding thru out teh year as the government can neither control hydel or gas supplies...The governments present position is that teh power system at present based on gas and furnace oil be shifted to a partially coal based system...a difficult task many say...some say teh iranian gas will solve teh problem three years down teh lane...while others say governments small efforts in hydel,wind,solar and import fields will have effect in time...the government has been unable to start a really big hydel project with bhasha inching forward...neelum jhelum was inordinately delayed and now they say it is bunji that will be teh next big one...raghib shah has stated that the system will not be stabilized before 2020...even now apparently many power stations are idle because teh government cannot provide gas or other fuels to them...many say teh system should be further liberalized by allowing power stations to arrange their own fuels...since even iranian gas wont be enough with shortfalls already estimated at three times the possible supply...many also suggest that since gas is surplus in summers it should be diverted to power stations and fertilizer plants should be shut down in winter or shifted to other fuels...government should also realize that unnecessary expansions in teh industrial, housing and commercial sectors will cause further supply shortage problems in teh future...
  
• Mar20-2013--while sindh comes up with teh strange looking caretaker retired justice zahid qurban alvi who has not been heard of before in teh political or judicial context teh center gets down to an eight member committee to decide teh caretaker...teh committee consists of four PMln members mehtab abbasi, pervez rashid, saad rafik and yakoob khan nasar while the ppp side contains shujaat, khurshid shah, farook naek,and ghulam bilour...while they are senior politicians unless a new name comes up they will probably be unable to decide on a caretaker and teh selection will go to the ECP...since both sides have to submit two names the PPP side will have to drop one...the committee has three days after which teh ECP will have two days...many feel that teh ECP will have to decide between the relatively uncontroversial nasir aslam zahid and ishrat hussein who are probably both mohajirs with shaikh hafiz pasha being teh dark horse...asma jehangir who it turns out supported teh east pakistan secession has dropped out of being considered for teh caretaker positiosn after being severely critisized
  
• Mar20-2013--Army also backs out of negotiations to end war on terror as teh weak PPP regime which remained holed up in islamabad is phased out and teh taleban also suspend talk offers...while military has not intervened in the ongoing taleban campaign to take over teh tirah khyber regions both sides have not stopped military activities...many feel that militaries reference to comprehensive strategies means attacking on all fronts ...sectarian, individual, seperatist and teh ongoing wars in karachi, fata and balochistan...many feel that the military might also be involved in killing individuals whom they believe tobe involved in criminal or terrorist activities...while this war can be said tobe ongoing since 2004...in karachi almost since teh early nineties...there has been no reduction in teh terrorists capacity of eliminating individuals and other forms of terror attacks... teh military has only been able to organize in specific areas while terrorist groups taleban and others have been able to attack in whichever area they please
  
• Mar19-2013--PPP's additional attorney general continues to foolishly insist in teh LHC that asif ali zardari is not involved in any political activity despite his known penchant for only meeting PPP, PMlq, ANp and mqm people and nobody from other parties...
  
• Mar19-2013--Taleban overrun all AI positions in Tirah area thus almost wiping out all opposition..military bombings kill ten smilitants in orakzai arae
  
• Mar19-2013--In punjab teh PPP has named asma jehangir, mian amer mahmood and hafeez akhter randhawa as possible caretaker chief ministers while teh PMln has come up with amer raza and khawaja zaheer
  
• Mar19-2013--reports from sindh suggest that the mqm which is literally a PPP B team has agreed to one of teh PPP names which apparently are deedar ali shah, hamid ali mirza and zahid qurban alvi...who all seem shiite while teh mqm has a sunni shiite mix of nasir aslam zahid, ghous mohammed, muneeb ahmed khan, mahmood alam rizvi and habib ur rehman...
  
• Mar19-2013--the PPP and PMln have failed to resolve the issue of teh caretaker premier and it may go to a committee...new names are being considered suggests dawn such as shams qasim lakha, raza rabbani,mahmood khan achakzai....the PPP has already named a committee of four and teh PMln could announce its four members by tuesday...many suggest that the ECP might eventually pick one out of nasir aslam zahid or ishrat hussain
  
• Mar19-2013--balochistan assembly dissolved a day early to avoid challenges to the positions of teh chief minister and opposition leader
  
• Mar19-2013-- govt college principal shot dead in karachi, a lawyer in peshawar and four die in a suicide attack on a peshawar courtroom...a lance naik and a lyari related ASI also shot dead as apparently teh zardaris want to contest the earlier safe lyari safe seats while MQm eyes a complete sweep in karachi
  
• Mar18-2013--Three mqm men shot dead in hyderabad...two policemen gunned down in karachi as bodies of three including notorious lyari gangster arshad pappu and two others found dead...Opposed to PPP's Uzair baloch
  
• Mar18-2013--In balochistan raisani loses his majority as maulana wasay(JUIf) appointed new opposition leader... 34 ministers resign as Tariq magsi says he has support of 35 members and suggests governor ask raisani to prove his majority...
  
• Mar18-2013--As the PPP loses further control of its constituencies in karachi Nabil Gabol joins teh mqm
  
• Mar17-2013--Another PPP government whimpered to an end..many say the PPP's bad governance attitude persisted throut its rule despite literally no interfernce from anyone...The PPP has always claimed that it got teh bad end of teh stick from teh military however it proved a bad ruler even with total military connivance...
  
• Mar17-2013--23 troops die as a coaster plunges into a river in kohistan
  
• Mar16-2013--seven lead arsonists identified in lahore christian house burnings
  
• Mar16-2013--vitriolic Jamshed Dasti quits PPP to stand as an independent in muzzafargarh
  
• Mar16-2013--The mqm showing its meaningless ethnicity only nominates five urdu speaking judges/a lawyer for sindh caretaker...while in balochistan aslam raisani stands reinstated as chief minister and JUI-f will become the opposition leader...provincial assemblies tobe dissolved on teh 19th while only in KP has the process worked out a joint caretaker...!
  
• Mar16-2013--The PMLn rejects PPP nominations for the caretaker position as martial law inspired and PPP refuses to accept PMln nominations...Asif Zardari up in arms against nasir aslam zahid who he says sent him to jail on suspicions of being involved in the murtaza bhutto murder as he had been involved in making clifton and karachi police appointments...Asif zardari also was accused of murdering a judge and in one other murder case however the judiciary eventually let him off the hook...