The Daily PakistanPolitics Jun16-30, 2014

• Jun30-2014--In what many see as contrasting US views...The US army is encouraging iran to occupy shiite shrines in iraq while the ISIS has appointed a caliph of islam and and now calls itself the islamic state...The caliph is abu bakr al baghdadi...that means that while they already professed seperation from al-qaeda now they seem tobe taking over from them as well...the iraqi kurds also now profess a defacto state..The saudi king also bashed in the sunni state as rabble rousers and ordered troops to cover the long iraqi border
  
• Jun30-2014--unnerved by teh PAT APC Nawaz Sharif is attempting to have his own APC or try to have meetings with PPP and PTI leaders as an alternate..nobody is paying any heed to his call for attention to IDP's which the opposition say is his problem...others say that the quickfire useless privatisation of healthy PPL and UBL shares is totally blind with no awareness of who is buying the shares...many suggest that he might be selling to indians and israelis for all we know...the people are obviously not going to benefit in any way from the sale of their shares...
  
• Jun30-2014--The Qadri APC came out with multiple statements going in different directions...It reached conclusions as well as urging new investigations...It did not explain what a crowd carrying stones and iron rods was doing there...people can only be removed after investigations of what happened...many point to similar numbers of people being killed in karachi and fata on an almost daily daily basis...what they want now is their FIR tobe registered ...removal of the punjab CM and multiple police officers and the appointment of a three member SC commission...asking for removals and investigations by police and an SC commission are totally opposing suggestions...Police say that PAT demonstrators had come prepared to the rawalpindi airport and were carrying computer bags given to students by the punjab government filled with stones and also they had brought batons and long needles to puncture APC tires...!police say they lost two guns and two wireless sets...!
  
• Jun29-2014--The military again asked everyone to leave NW...as 35 were killed in bombings over the last two days and six terrorist hideouts destroyed
  
• Jun28-2014--while Nawaz Sharif wooed the IDP's of north waziristan with large sums of cash Imran Khan can at best be described as turning criminal by threatening to personally hang policemen who stopped or assaulted his partyworkers...He also made all sorts of allegations against almost everyone from returning officers to speech writers to caretakers and former SC judges...and threatened a march on the capital on August 14...
  
• Jun27-2014--Pakistan and afghanistan to go after all types of terrorists...maybe that includes PAT, chaudhries and mqm too...!Rangers and Army can now open fire after a warning in islamabad under a specific threat and if the use of force is appropriate...!The army should realize that pukhtuns live all over the place and they have a tendency to terrorize almost everyone...
  
• Jun27-2014--The army spokesman seems tobe upside down in calling the NW operation a war of survival...even if the army does not succeed one does not see any change in pakistan barring a downgrading of expectations from the army
  
• Jun26-2014--a person who got off charges of judicial corruption because of his chief justice father has been appointed to be the vice chairman of teh Balochistan Investment Board...Arsalan Iftikhar is supposedly a doctor with FIA training who enjoyed holidays in europe at the expense of his fathers cronies...he has no investment or industrial experience...
  
• Jun26-2014--Musharaf's counsel seems to have already admitted that musharaf has committed treason several times and that the case is not a matter of political conviction or victimisation or consultation with subordinates...he however continued to question why he was not charged for the 1999 coup as well and also whether zia ul haq and the earlier two coups were not considered for article six...he also pointed out that nawaz sharif aided ziaul haq in the 1977 coup...nawaz sharif is also said to have participated in an earlier failed coup against zulfikar ali bhutto...Farogh Nasim obviously is pretty childish and seems to have little knowledge of governance, history or realities...he does not realize that the earlier governments had barely enough power to survive and could hardly bring a military chief to trial for treason...as for the connivers it is upto musharaf to submit that he connived with this and that and they should also be brought to trial...upto now musharaf has only submitted that he met numerous people but has provided no real evidence of having shared power with anyone on the issue...
  
• Jun26-2014--Nawaz Sharif likened his opponents to enemies of pakistan for trying to topple him thru a movement...a street movement does not necessarily require overwhelming support and a month of strife could see the end of the sharifs...however the present alliance between hasbeens gujerati chaudhries and the maverick tahir ul qadri donot seem to have the courage or the quality...there bravery is suspect as they are used to travelling in bullet proof cars with police escorts...reports suggest that this is another london conspiracy...
  
• Jun26-2014--pakistans aviation system ran into further trouble as a plane landing at peshawar airport on tuesday night was fired upon killing a women returning from Umra...security personnel picked up 250 people from teh areas surrounding teh airport badabher and sulaimankhel...while television reports suggest the pilot seeing a vehicle firing at teh plane security sources say a kalashnikov with a longer barrel was mounted on a roof...!
  
• Jun25-2014--As the sharifs attempted to distance themselves from the muddying tahir ul qadri the governor again entered the fray by visiting the mullah to offer fateha...!and to top that the lahore police offered to cooperate with his troubling activities...participants were baying for a sharif hanging in television media discussions...while many compared teh sharif predicament with that of musharafs possible article six hanging and whether the tahir ul qadri tragedy was worse than the bombings on Benazirs arrival...one argued that if ZAB could be hanged for the killing of kasuri's father than a sharif could too for killing twelve in model town...!
  
• Jun25-2014--IDP's from NW expected to reach half a million
  
• Jun25-2014--47 suspected militants killed in aeruial bombing in NW and khyber
  
• Jun25-2014--three policemen killed in manghopir, karachi...two militants later killed by police
  
• Jun24-2014--After teh north waziristan operation was foisted on teh qaum as a last gasp action to save the country..today teh sharif administration was also foisting teh IDP problem on teh qaum...!
  
• Jun24-2014--The military continued to bomb militant hideouts in Mirali killing 25 as five apparently killed in ethnic shootouts in karachi
  
• Jun24-2014--The delighted PAT crowds beatup on teh police in rawalpindi who had been ordered not to use firearms...hundreds of police were injured and other political parties were wondering whether they too could get away with such stuff...many wondered at who was behind the successful attempt to spook teh sharif's...many pointed to the PPP...however tahir ul qadri was still breathing fire and threatened revenge against the fascist hitlerite sharifs...although there are no leftists left in this country...shahbaz sharif appeared in public wearing what could be a bullet proof kevlar hat...others suggest that it could just be a pathetic attempt by the sharifs to fund their former family mullah...
  
• Jun24-2014--as PAT workers beat up police at the rawalpindi airport and administration control seemed to weaken the aircraft carrying tahir ul qadri was successfully diverted to lahore where a tense standoff ensued as he refused to get off the plane...the otherwise dumb governor than moved in, listened to the fire and brimstone mullah and tamely led him home at teh cost of a bullet proof car...some suggested that shabaz sharif was now a weakened chief minister and should be replaced...punjab can obviously not be handled without a strong police and chief minister...politicians suggestions that strongarm police methods are unnecessary seemed to show their general stupidiy...In a country where every politician moves around with an armed police guard, not even polio drops can be administered without police protection and residential areas are dotted with armed guard houses the police cannot act like pliant english bobbies...!these days even low level military and ISI officers travel around with armed guards...Nawaz Sharif will remember when he tried to divert teh musharaf plane to nawabshah and ended up in a SSG(commandos) jail after a coup...there were again mentions of plane hijacks from both sides with teh government insisting that they were trying to get tahir ul qadri home without further trouble...earlier in the pervaiz elahi era lahore had been shutdown to disallow nawaz sharif's return...problems occurred when benazir returned in 2007 with bomb blasts in karachi and a subsequent rawalpindi assassination...although many question the tahir ul qadri popularity and government reactions which are probably a reaction to what happened in model town a few days ago...!
  
• Jun23-2014--The IDP problem escalated in north waziristan with over 400000 evacuating
  
• Jun23-2014--to avoid any attempt by tahir ul qadri to repeat a dharna or takeover of islamabad the government sealed islamabad and set up restrictions by transport entry to the rawalpindi airport...reports of PAT arrests
  
• Jun23-2014--three militants shot dead in sohrab goth bringing the total to twelve in teh last few days...two shot dead in bara by security forces
  
• Jun22-2014--possible entry of PAT rally into islamabad not allowed
  
• Jun22-2014--ground assault to NW delayed due to extensionin curfew and delay in IDP evacuations
  
• Jun25-2014--1500 pakistani asylumseekers in srilanka with some registered with UNHCR being arrested...some said tobe people who have disappeared from pakistan
  
• Jun22-2014--six sniffer dogs worth Rs2.4 million acquired for Nawaz Sharifs state residence in islamabad
  
• Jun21-2014--The judiciary backs out as the SC suspends IHC order to remove one of teh terrorist anchors Mubasher Luqman from teh TV airwaves...
  
• Jun21-2014--The army could be improving its monitoring in north waziristan as they killed eight uzbeks planting an IED on the mirali-miranshah road...15 suspected militants killed as the military bombed a hilltop of zartatangi...NW TTP leader hafiz gul bahadur announces a defensive war...IDP's leaving NW stranded on Bannu road and facing problems
  
• Jun21-2014--An mqm women mna died in lahore after being shot by assailants...possibly a personal conflict led to the incident as the killers snatched a necklace...police have no clues
  
• Jun21-2014--Shabaz Sharif must really be slipping as he told teh PMLn leaders that he only learnt about the barriers removal from the PAT office's from TV reports...he however said the PAT goons fired first and teh police had tried to avoid direct fire by aerial firing...he however said that the police should not have been carrying automatic weapons and that his orders to disengage were not followed...supposedly a hands on chief minister his head really must be up in the air if things happen in model town without his knowledge...The behaviour of the PAT goons obviously has colored the mud too and people must understand that law and order means that police have priority and things must not be allowed to get out of hand...many feel that PAT was planning a showdown and that they like the behaviour of the militancy prone mqm and had initially planned to become the king makers in punjab...!the Punjab police chief was studying a PAT attempt to file an FIR against shabaz sharif for murder...shahbaz sharif in his reaction to the PAT problems removed problematic home minister rana sanaullah and his secretary Tauqir Shah..rana sanaullah has been a thorn in teh opposition side and has been a problem handler for teh decaying shahbaz sharif
  
• Jun21-2014--judge gunned down in quetta
• Jun21-2014-- five militiants killed by LEA's in karachi
  
• Jun20-2014--In a continuation of the PAT rabble rousing syndrome suspected PAT/PTI goons beat up a handcuffed and chained Gullu Butt who police were bringing to court..he was left unconscious and had tobe shifted to hospital...
  
• Jun19-2014--two policemen shot dead in karachi
  
• Jun19-2014--Gullu Butt who rose to fame in teh PAT-police conflict yesterday seems to be a police maskot as he smashed the cars of PAT sympathisers obviously to teh glee of troublemakers...most suggest that he could probably be an area milkman and bravely led police into battle against PAT troublemakers...The PMLn refused to acknowledge any links to him...PAT who seem tobe developing an anti establishment troublemaking bent of mind were prepared to attack police and had rabble rousers and gunmen at teh ready...police had tobe forced to attack stone throwers and other trouble makers...resulting in the conflict that led to so many deaths...PAT continues to mourn its dead while reports suggest mischief from both sides...Shabaz Sharif has been unable to handle teh incident appropriately and many feel that another senior PMLn leader should takeover punjab
  
• Jun19-2014--IDP's streamed out of north waziristan as teh curfew was relaxed...The sindh government showed its nastiness by refusing to allow in any IDP's and said it would check ID cards of incoming road passengers and ask them who they had come to visit...many suggest that this attitude was the suggestion of the ethnic menace mqm which said that 25% of karachi was controlled by rival taleban mafiosi...meaning many suggest that the karachi population is now 25% pukhtun...who thus rival the mqm for the future of karachi...pukhtuns gradually start to buy up bussiness interests and soon/eventually are challenging for commercial leadership...compounding teh mix US drones fired six missiles at a house near miranshah killing four... US drones seem to have an anti islamic bent of mind and the foreign office still insists that they are working on their own...other reports suggest that the military starts artillery shelling early in the morning followed by helicopter gunship attacks during the day and jet strikes at night...generally the military strikes seem pretty random...ground troops to move in after evacuation many say...concern expressed at afghan attitudes on the borders by teh KP governor
  
• Jun18-2014--In the north waziristan operation military claims using its own assets for aerial surveillance as six hideouts including a training center and an explosives factory were blown up near hasokhel killing twentyfive...three militants killed in miranshah as they tried to escape...people want tobe evacuated but a curfew is in effect and reports suggest that militants have already evacuated mirali, miranshah and surrounding villages...
  
• Jun18-2014--Ather Minallah a former beaurocrat and musharaf era minister with a controversial past and who seems to change sides frequently made IHC judge...!
  
• Jun18-2014--As the government gained the upper hand over the opposition by initiating the Fata operation the punjab anti encroachment dept botched clearing up barricades in front of teh PAT office in model town lahore...model town has a lot of encroachments and people are generally opposed to them..however the PAT apparently fired upon police and resulted in retaliatory fire and an 11 hour conflict killing eight with around 12 on teh critical list...teh PMLn had been getting edgy over the PAT and PTI rallies...many people in the punjab are uneasy with organisations like teh Mqm, Mwm and PAT that would block main intersections for protests and demo's and create people problems...in rawalpindi the PAT organised a protest by blocking the Faizabad intersection while teh anti pakistan mqm called for a countrywide protest......relatedly teh PPP and earlier military governments had failed to start an operation in north waziristan although the TTP is now regarded as much weaker and on teh verge of collapse...the opposition needed something to upset the nawaz sharif wagon which had initiated a terrible budget to teh detriment of its urban supporters but gotten away with it as they attacked north waziristan...PTI asked for teh resignation of teh chief minister while others accused teh sharifs of turning into Narendra Modi...!earlier teh chief minister had said he would change his name if load shedding was not controlled...he again offered to resign if the enquiry found him responsible for teh violence...
  
• Jun17-2014--There was no major activity in teh main north waziristan areas but the military claims that it bombed areas in shawal killing 34...people were tempted to flee the area but a curfew hindered the process...no ground offensive reported as the army says it does not have enough troops although some new checposts were established on hilltops...six soldiers killed in a blast near a border area and two soldiers killed in Mirali as militants attacked a military post
  
• Jun17-2014--given teh speeches of nawaz sharif about safe havens(usually referred to as the haqqani network of older times)and the rooting out of terrorists by teh army chief the orders might still have come from the USA...many feel the earlier effort to suggest that drone attacks were being used collapsed in the face of huge casaulties and suddenly an operation was announced...the military had earlier refused to clear out teh supposed sanctuaries in north waziristan..however a change of military leadership and the failure of the US policy on drones/ getting cozy with the afghan taleban/upending of US policies in teh mideast probably changed the orders from washington where rashad mahmood was stationed these days...!some other snide remarks include "probably took these orders from Narendra Modi..."..the religious groups aligned with teh government JI, JUIf and PKmap backed out of supporting teh government to preserve their own support ostensibly suggesting that they had not been consulted...there was also no meeting of teh National Security Committee and informing the parliament seemed to be an afterthought...many feel that suggestions that the militants were involved in actions in china and afghanistan(remotely possible)may have tilted the balance...The safe havens supposedly hold militants from teh TTP and IMEU who according to reports are attempting to disappear into teh mountains and according to recent historical views they usually regroup after a military operation ends...repeated drone attacks and military strikes have not dented the ability of the militants...hopefully the teh military can end teh zeal and ability by going after the men that control terrorist actions...while it is generally thought that most top militant operation experts have been eliminated the ability to retrain and regroup has upto now not diminished...
  
• Jun16-2014--the military announced that it had launched its much touted military operation in north waziristan...overnight bombings killed upto 150 militants...north waziristan was sealed and arrangements were tobe made for locals to evacuate...With Ramazan fast approaching the operation would supposedly last a few weeks...this action has been awaited for the last ten years after all existing agreements were ended...given the militaries previous history in the region they would try to clean out main concentrations and than reach some sort of agreement for coexistence...in the past the cleansing has not been successful and militant groups have usually slowly reemerged stronger...the terror reach of various groups like teh IMEU(uzbeks), LJ and mohmand TTP has been substantially demonstrated and teh military would probably like to eliminate militant groups in teh north waziristan area...the PPP expressed ouright joy at teh operation while teh PTI was sceptical about its success with teh JI opposing...Dawn suggests that most of teh militants have already moved to surrounding areas in north and south waziristan such as shawal, alwara manday, ghulam khan, ghariom from teh main NW centers of mirali and miranshah...teh military will have to clear out the remaining militants and probably monitor other areas for new concentrations to attack...a backlash seems to be expected in sindh and a new police chief has been appointed in punjab with counter terrorism experience...!usually the militants have shown the capability to regroup and targeting new places almost everytime...they have been able to retaliate to some extent in their favorite arena's so security systems should be on guard...! Apparently Nawaz Sharif was reluctant to allow the operation but resistance died after the karachi airport attack...teh army assured him that they had the necessary intelligence and could deal with the eventual retaliatory moves if any...The government had already asked the jirga's and trial elders to clear teh area of foreign militants...however the karachi attack caused the hastening of the operation...if the foreign militants have evacuated than there will not be much for the military to clear...many suggest that the fall of the victor with a lacklustre visit to india...a failing budget and an image that other politicians think they can now defeat may have caused the government to quickly go for an operation to improve its wishy washy image...the image has been further dented as the indians say they donot want to really talk and still want excuses to avoid sitting down for a real pow wow...