The Daily PakistanPolitics Jan16-31, 2015

• Jan30-2015--NTDC and NPCC bosses suspended for a spate of countrywide power outages...while NTDC runs all the major grids and high power transmission lines...the NPCC matches supply to distribution networks...NTDC just runs the grids and power transmission and handles operation and maintenance and construction...while NPCC controls the system ordering shutdowns/startups of power generation units according to demand and handling loadshedding when there are problems in availaibility...countrywide shutdowns have occurred when problems occurred at rawat, guddu and uchh...the system would have tobe redesigned to react automatically to major power breakdowns and minimize outages
  
• Jan31-2015--while the sharif brothers also get funds from foreign sources... shiite politicians oppose the funding of generally sunni seminaries...while the iranians too fund shiite ayatollahs and shiite political groups the opposition is usually to saudi funding although no known nexus has ever been found between terrorism and foreign funding...advocacy groups in the secular domain get funding from all sort of foreign donors too...government says only 23 seminaries get foreign funding(ie probably saudi funding)
  
• Jan31-2015--blast at a shikarpur imambargah kills 53 after friday prayers...the small shiite place was attacked by the jundullah which is considered tobe balochistan based...anti shiite terror is a favorite of tribal religious groups as it creates rifts in the government which plays secular and is usually unable to nab the terrorists and gets a bad name...such terror strikes are closely associated with actions of organisations like the mqm and other terror activities and occur in cycles...shiites dominate the sindh government as well as the mqm...in response MWM than tries to create problems for the government by using women to block main roundabouts and usually the situations are resolved by compensations...while moderate organisations accept shiite diversionism extremists regard the shiite actions as inflamatory...
  
• Jan30-2015--Ogra the petrol ogre blamed by nawaz sharif for the petrol supply crisis tries to outdo nawaz sharif at people politics by suggesting that petroleum products should nosedive by 10-13% and for the first time make CNG costlier...Even the Ogra calculations seem weak given that it is the general principle that petrol price in rupees should be same as the dollar price in barrels...that would suggest that the reasonable price of petrol should be around Rs50...The government as usual refusing to pass on the tariff reductions that should occur in the electricity domain...one wonders who is going to relect these people...!
  
• Jan30-2015--The useless appendage of pakistani politics the Mqm again tries to raise a ruckus by shutting down karachi and blaming the rangers and forces for killing one of the many problematic people they have on the streets...not many days ago altaf hussein was calling for military courts and not long ago he was asking the military to take over as well...things donot last long in the altaf hussein confused mind...everyone else approves the military handling things in karachi and bringing a semblance of calm ...calm is not something that the MQM can tolerate for very long...altaf hussein many say as an alternate should otherwise accept the courts and the police and have the courage to support others apart from the PPP and PMLn...and have the bravery to face the courts himself...exposing his criminal mind he threatens to kill the ISI, forces and rangers thru his men...!!!
  
• Jan30-2015--The sharifs personally imported governor of punjab has been removed...chaudhry sarwar as do most when they arrive in government... many thought... had developed primeministerial ambitions of the wrong kind...he made the same bad mistake as the sharifs that bussinessmen are people...thus isolating himself to the faisalabad types...others saw him trying to develop a altaf hussein approach which is not easy and started to challenge the status quo with nobody behind him...many also suggest that he was interested in acquiring land and thus eventually ran into trouble with the troubled sharifs who have nothing going for them in punjab...so a scapegoat had tobe found...the punjab needs a lofty figure as governor given the sharifs failing image...!nawaz sharif could shift one of the failing federal ministers to the position or bring in a seraiki or even a general to steady his image...Nawaz Sharif probably has realized that nobodies or people who lack widespread political interests/abilities and are not people friendly eventually end up in trouble...he now says he has aspirations of a populist politician...this is no edinburgh he should realize...
  
• Jan29-2015--a recent study has shown that over 2 million abortions were performed in pakistan in 2012...while the figure is based on approximations of 623000 botched operations many believe that the study does know what it is saying...it is not only untrained or semi skilled/skilled health workers that perform abortions but also most of the huge of number of doctors that are being produced in pakistan literally tobe dumped on the streets...!...amongst the upper classes foreign neighbourly countries are the easiest options...there were approximately 9 million pregnancies in 2012
  
• Jan29-2015--Imran Khan pleads that NA122 records be re-examined by a different person...
  
• Jan29-2015--There are over 50 shops mostly in rawalpindi cantonment that sell military and police uniforms...the military and police are entitled to free uniforms, sweaters, jackets and shoes...terrorists have been raiding places dressed in paramilitary uniforms
  
• Jan29-2015--In an appointment that reeks of something fishy justice faisal arab of the treason trial appointed SHC chief justice....!!
  
• Jan29-2015--The sharif brothers have only one thing in common ie. both have been gifted high value cars by some unknown philanthropist...the daughter has also been gifted a high value car...!...Nawaz Sharif has raised hackles by being gifted over Rs200 million by his son living in london..many suggest that the money is either being siphoned off from government sources, are corruption payments or are donations by rich saudi officials...!
  
• Jan29-2015--drone attack kills seven in north waziristan as the confused nawaz sharif regime threatens to take action against indian terrorism...while india does whatever it wants including firing across the borders... nawaz sharif says that retaliating would destabilize his government and the non existent talks process
  
• Jan29-2015--In contrast to the rest of the country the LG process whatever its credibility has been completed in terror infested balochistan...!
  
• Jan29-2015--many think that the mqm and PMLn regard that mohajirs have an immunity against prosecutions/involvements in terrorism related processes in karachi...after a supposed mqm man became the 36th victim of the rangers led operation in karachi the primeminister ordered an enquiry...no enquiry has been ordered for the hundreds of others killed in the karachi operation...the mqm literally created the mayhem in karachi and has always been crying hoarse when their workers get handled by the police or rangers...the mqm man was apparently killed in the mochko area which is regarded as terrorist infested...the mqm has a deep involvement in all karachi criminal activity from ghunda gardi, extortion , bhatta and killing of altaf hussein's personal opponents...why the mqm thinks that it should have immunity against prosecutions of the law despite known involvements is not known. Nobody else in karachi protests the operations activities...the other organisations effected by the karachi operations are the AWSJ and the taleban who in general are opposed to the mqm and also opposed by the PPP apart from sectarian and other religious groups
  
• Jan29-2015--The government could soon face another crisis although the SC has distanced itself from an immediate judgement or suspension of the 21st amendment by asking the government to explain in two weeks why the military courts portion and that related to speeches and sectarianism should not be declared ultravires of the constitution...with the CJ looking almost like a PMLn man in uniform he has allowed the functioning of military courts for two weeks to see how effective they are...many regard the military as totally incharge of handling terrorism from operations, to trials and even handling the related foreign affairs...at the moment the military seems tobe moving slowly and if they can show that in a few cases judgements can be given quickly and according to the law the SC might back away even though the judges regard the ATA as having sufficient capacity to deal with the situation
  
• Jan29-2015--while it has been determined that petrol use quadrupled during mid winter times and the oil marketing companies including PSO did not realize that the demand would rise...the government however showed that it would blame all except those in ministerial positions...the ministers should have known that with supplies dwindling in all energy spheres petrol supplies should have been enhanced...the government now has ordered that twenty day supplies of 200000 tons should be arranged which are probably double what was previously thought tobe the limit...others suggest that ishaq dar may be the main culprit who was forcing reduced imports as prices fell...!and they have appointed an ex terrorist supremo to find the key accused in the petrol demand fiasco...most of the supplies were found depleted especially in the punjab which forces many to think of others who could arrange that for their own political gains...many have noticed the increasing clout of ishaq dar in many controversies from dharna's to petrol unavailaibility and he could be very happy if the army jettisons the sharifs who have not been keeping an eye on many emerging problems...many also point to the sudden reappearance of petrol despite no new orders or tanker arrivals...many also notice the PMLn's deliberate attempts to malign the state sector rather than just allowing everyone to import everything...since wapda and IPP's require furnace oil they could easily allow them to import their needs and keep adequate stocks as well...
  
• Jan26-2015--a soninlaw of Jumping jack or Pencil khattak the Chief minister of KP has remained senator for almost six years on a stay order after a returning officer declared him unqualified as a technocrat...!belonging to the Qaumi watan party of aftab sherpao...!
  
• Jan26-2015--the midnight blasts that wrecked the balochistan power system had not been fully rectified till sunday evening..the power system tripped in the entire country...many say the way the 500KV system has been created causes widespread disruption...and generation and distribution systems must be matched and work seperately to avoid countrywide disruptions..many regard beaurocrats and mba type managers as not having the technical skills to handle power systems...for example until recently the nawaz sharif regime had a pharmacist handling the power system because he could handle presentations...!!!now they have somebody called Yusuf Dhagga(cotton string or idiot) handling the system
  
• Jan26-2015--Obama many say has been fooled by the terrorist natured Modi as he gives india a nuclear agreement which does not include fuel safeguards...this is extremely dangerous and could in the long run destabilize the region further...Modi has threatened pakistan with terrorist actions and has has not done anything to nab the cuplrits of the samjotha train blast which killed over 60 pakistanis...Obama left india early for saudia as hollande upstaged him in offering condolences personally...others say he was frightened of of indian security lapses at the Taj Mahal...The USA has irritated the saudis with their strange daily change policies in the middle east which have furthered iranian interests...
  
• Jan25-2015--A baloch SC judge Qazi Essa questions the Nawaz regimes military courts by saying that the ATA is fully capable of handling all terrorism cases and must be fully understood...The LHC CJ says that they have quickly dealt with at least 53 terrorism cases...The Nawaz Sharif regime and the punjab government have tried to focus on anti shiite attitudes as the basis of terrorism however many say the real terrorists are not directly concerned with shiism or supposedly hate speeches...
  
• Jan25-2015--nearly 80% of the counties power system tripped as the Uchh 1 & 2 power stations tripped in balochistan...the power stations had their gas supply disrupted by blown gas supply pipes while all three power transmission lines into balochistan developed faults due to blasted pylons...
  
• Jan24-2015--Punjab which has not been able to nab many terrorists is in the front in confronting hate speeches...many regard the subjugation of free speech as an incentive to terrorism...
  
• Jan24-2015--the 145 killed in the army public school peshawar are awarded the Tamgha i Shujaat
  
• Jan24-2015--the anarchics in balochistan blew up a key 18 inch gas pipeline that feeds two Uchh power stations causing the deteriorating energy situation to further destablize
  
• Jan24-2015--The saudis who pretend to run a popular monarchy trying to reinvent the wheel as the failed duo of the abdullah reign takeover as king and crown prince...King salman and primeminister Muqrin are experienced hands however they have been running into severe opposition as the iranians literally occupy the arab neighbourhoods of lebanon, syria, iraq and yemen...the saudis have just been watching as the iranians strongarm the sunnis into almost annihilation in cooperation with the the anti muslim americans...The saudis have lost much support by supporting a military regime in egypt while governments all around them are in turmoil and falling into iranian shiite controls...those that are not have severe problems like Tunisia and Libya...pakistan too has blamed the saudis for funding the Imran Khan dharna's...Muqrin who has experience in handling destabilized states and Salman has been a longtime governor of Riyadh...while they are a younger lot compared to the aging kings of the past both have been running things under abdullah and nothing much is expected to change...if the saudis donot really want to fight than the militant shiites will be able to subdue them everywhere...recently the saudis refferred to local shiites as their brothers...the only stable islamic countries are in the far east...the saudis must develop a capable way to implement and project their power...they must gain control and force islamic/muslim governments to make their citizenry happier and thus make the militants look less attractive...they must also realize that internal wars are self destructive and islam must be focussed on fighting its enemies mostly located in the developed west...ie apart from the shiites...the Dawn says Muqrin is relatively liberal in that he does not have a token french beard common amongst the saudi royals and he is also stated tobe a non Sudayri...however the family of abdul aziz al saud still rules which is the only one apart from one other monarchy which has survived in the arab world...The arabs in general are said tobe descended from the eleven sons of Ismael son of Abraham...
  
• Jan22-2015--The government again tries to imply that the NAP anti terrorism policy will help subdue opponents who harp on their inefficiency and do nothing approach to governance...while there has been at least one suicide blast reports suggest that groups involved in terror threats apart from those identified by the government are still active...the government policies are mainly against anti US, charitable and antiindia groups while on the ground the action is mostly against anti shiite groups who are usually vocal on the meaninglessness of shiism and its anti prophet approach to religion...in punjab groups continue to threaten people as well as the government...most of those involved are usually pukhtuns both in the anti shiite sphere and terror attitudes...with the US and india the only ones satisfied with such an approach...mostly many regard the NAP as a total failure however there are some who seem subdued in the main terror groups...one incident cannot be effective as a propagator of proper government action and changing peoples mindset if the government as a whole is ineffective and the government fails to control the many small terror groups and solve people problems in general...most regard NAP as a way to subdue peoples negative attitudes...in punjab an ordinance has come which effects free speech...now nobody can glorify terrorists although how they can control that is difficult to see unless the terror groups are completely eliminated...rumours suggest that phone calls to the chief ministers house were recorded as saying "kouchi zindabad"...the support groups are just as insidious as the terrorists themselves...the government hopes that it will end all opposition to its pathetic governance while the opposition sees it as just a temporary euphoria generated by meetings after meetings and the sharifs are expected to continue to shoot themselves in the foot...many are starting to look to the army chief for real leadership as well as good governance after the pathetic failures of the sharifs although many regard him as not having the ego and confidence...unless the government creates an energy czar and an anti terrorist czar few things will change...although many hope that afghanistan will one day finally block ammunition supply routes to end the lingering afghan war and the terror war against pakistan
  
• Jan21-2015--The PMLn reached the limits of inefficiency when it found no one amongst its own responsible for the disastrous oil supply situation...apparently PSO had exhausted its supplies by Janauary 3 and its next tankers will arrive by months end...local refineries can only supply 4000 tons compared to the PSO demand of 20000 tons of petrol daily just for petrol...The PMLn blamed Ogra which theoretically should be in the loop to check two week availaibility of supplies...in rawalpindi only Caltex was supplying fuel with almost all other petrol stations shut down...a shell sea tanker was due in a few days...the demand of petrol had doubled due the winter unavailaibility of electricity and gas as well as the problematic supply of CNG and LNG...The main culprit seems tobe Ishaq dar and PSO many of whose LC's were rejected...PSO was not being paid by industrialists and other power stations with unpaid bills of over Rs180 billion...At the moment the country is dependent on local refineries as well as private suppliers such as Shell, Caltex, Total amongst eleven oil marketers...with low local production supply... at least a large 50-60000 ton tanker every few days is a necessity...the public is already being made to pay excessively high prices...with profits to companies and government of around Rs60 per litre...with government ministers blaming saudi money for destabilization many think that Imran Khan is now the obvious choice of saudi's to rule pakistan because of the pakistani governments obnoxious behaviour...earlier countries like saudia and kuwait were always willing to supply a few tankers quickly...the hescol refinery in balochistan which is export oriented could be asked to supply its products locally and they could beg iran to send in oil tankers by road for emergencies...other methods include allowing everyone to import petrol, diesel and furnace oil...many see ishaq dar and the pathetic shahid khaqan abbasi as the main culprits with khawaja asif in third place...with sindh coming in fourth for blocking use of hydel potential and restricting gas supplies to punjab
  
• Jan19-2015--pakistan may be in the grips of a mad scientist syndrome many say...these 'mukaar mufakirs' on the one side suggest terrorism as a solution and on the other are found counting and claiming bodies as counter terrorists...many feel that the government should deal with issues as individualistic rather than try to reform everything including the judiciary, army, police and, education systems(normal and seminaries)...reforming entire systems is a never ending exercise...the government has been trying to reform police and seminaries since the ayub khan sixties...now police totally disempowered just stand around while everyone else starts acting as the police including the terrorists,army, political convolutionists such as ethnic and religious groups...
  
• Jan19-2015--Imran Khan to follow PMLn advice and implement a new KP social agenda...while he might not be able to get foreigners to work in KP people could start visiting the KP health facilities if he succeeds...one would suggest even in the future it would be best to provide employment opportunities to pakistanis rather than foreigners...Imran Khans suggestion that foreigners would takeover the pakistani job market under him is a horrendous suggestion for a heavily populated and under unemployed country...!!
  
• Jan19-2015--The petrol crisis threatens to get worse as analysts say that no oil maybe available at the lower prices...Oil traders or selling conglomerates and agents have expensive oil lying around as prices fall...arabs and traders refuse to sell at the lower prices...the pakistanis having waited for prices to fall to their lowest are stuck with almost no inventories, no cheap oil left in the international market and are unable to arrrange quick deliveries having lost their goodwill with most arab states as well...the suggestions of no money left with the government is unfounded as revenues are enough to handle such situations and even in dire circumstances provinces can be asked to forgo their shares...many feel that the sharifs are usually nowhere tobe found when things get difficult...maybe it is time to legislate that primeministers have to stay in islamabad rather than running off to murree and raiwind...!
  
• Jan18-2015--with everything going topsy turvy the government has also lost over 2000MW of generation capacity and could plunge the country into an electricity crisis as well
  
• Jan18-2015--The government has again been caught napping... many regard the PMLn as tailor made to create problems rather than solve any...with oil prices down one wonders how an oil company does not order as much oil as possible...with the government having little to do after farming out even terrorism to the army...energy prices and supply availaibility seem to be only job the federal government has...the situation seems almost out of control of shahid khaqan abbasi who is the petroleum minister...at the moment the availaibility of all forms of energy ie. gas, gas products ie CNG and LNG , petrol and gas plus electricity are in short supply...Nawaz Sharif seems to have selected the most pathetic ministers who despite total control seem lifeless and asleep at the wheel...Nawaz Sharif should start by firing a couple of ministers to make them realize that governance has tobe worked at and secretaries are not the only ones responsible...Nawaz Sharif has suspended just a few secretaries and the PSO MD...maybe it is time for ishaq dar, khawaja asif and shahid abbasi to move on towards retirement from public life if not the end of the line for the sharifs...