The Daily PakistanPolitics May1-15, 2015

• May15-2015--10 militants killed in various areas of balochistan in FC operations to recover kidnapped workers
  
• May15-2015--ASWJ says over 90 of its workers have been picked up by the police in the ismaili bus terrorist incident saying that they have no direct conflict with ismaili's...another 50 arrested are said tobe from other groups...
  
• May14-2015--three security personnel, five militants and four civilians killed in clashes in north and south waziristan
  
• May14-2015--In the judicial commission the punjab chief commissioner said that the ballots are ordered by the RO's as evidence emerged that a number of RO's ordered extra ballots...The CJ ordered politicians to shut up...The PMLn now wants to call RO's to the stand to explain any other reasons for extra ballots...Imran Khan seemed to blame the punjab election commissioner and called him a liar according to the PMLn lawyer
  
• May14-2015--In a sectarian-IS incident gunmen boarded a bus and indiscriminately shot at passengers on the outskirts of karachi killing 45...while there are no claims to the violence police claim that an IS pamphlet was left behind calling the victims rawafidh...it seems tobe an ismaili housing colony with its own bus which made five daily trips across karachi...the gunmen used 8-9mm pistols which are rarely used by religious extremists...it could point to one of the local outfits or the mqm...such incidents have in the past occurred in balochistan and kohistan...The ismailis are a secretive sect closely allied with shiites with iranian and yemeni origins...in fact some say that the earliest ismailis were sent to the subcontinent by a Houthi queen...The ismailis have built up a financial empire comprising hotels, banks, hospitals and commercial interests...with the government literally giving them the biggest bank Habib Bank for almost nothing...such largesse is not usual for the pakistani government...The ismailis are also accused of belonging to the iranian Assassins sect but are largely regarded as a commercial hard nosed community who take care of their own...while the government also pampers shiites the ismailis have been largely sponsored by the government...They also own the largest hospital in karachi built on state land...The head of the Habib Bank is also the head of the ismaili community...earlier they have been in conflict with other sects in GB where they ran one of the biggest welfare programs...The mqm showed its antagonism and immaturity by blaming the Rangers...while Nawaz Sharif did not take any effective action to change the situation...many feel with a placid chief minister and an ineffective governor no major change can occur...running a city by divide and rule will always have consequences..there have been a couple of other gun attacks on buses in korangi and near Suparco...while mqm had a habit of setting buses on fire...
  
• May13-2015--a major PTI leader has been disqualified in NA-162 Sahiwal for misdeclaring assets
  
• May13-2015--Nawaz Sharif earlier considered very close to the taleban says that any further violence in afghanistan will be considered terrorism...The afghan taleban while considerably softened said at Doha that they would end violence only after the foreigners left...ashraf ghani has recently tried playing the indian card suggesting that afghan transport be allowed thru to the indian side and they would otherwise block pakistan's access to central asia...!!india on the other hand wants to develop the charbahar port in iran for easier access to afghanistan...that is generally considered as a measure to circumvent pakistan and develop access to the persian gulf and weaken pakistan's ability to defend its sealines...
  
• May13-2015--The PTI attempts to upset Nawaz Sharif once again by bringing issues related to KP into constitution avenue protests...issues such as electricity royalties, china corridor, reduction in load shedding and refusal of mega projects in KP...many regard the electricity royalty issue as almost redundant as more pathans nowadays live in rawalpindi than KP and other provinces should seek a share in the loyalties for housing the pukhtuns who are literally acting as economical leeches on teh other provinces...!!!others suggest that since KP takes royalties it should also suffer more load shedding as it is known to not pay most of the electricity bills...it hardly makes any difference if chinese traffic passes thru multan rather than DI Khan...anyway KP's ability to provide security to chinese traffic is suspect
  
• May11-2015--Rafiq Rajwana is being touted as the sharifs second very own governor...The previous one wanted land which could not be arranged because of the land mafia..This one initially said he would work for south punjab but ended up saying that he would instead for the whole country...seems frightened of the P word...however he did say that he did not know whether the sharifs wanted a south punjab sooba or a seraiki sooba...!he apparently claimed to be not yet literate...!
  
• May11-2015--gas pipeline blownup in Dera Bugti
  
• May11-2015--Farhatullah Baber has finally failed to prove that the PPP wala's(Zardari's)'s are really not corrupt...he now proves the old pakistani adage that the employee is just as corrupt as the owner...he said Bilawal house lahore belonged to Zardari Ltd....Bahria town however differs and says that they still own the property as the zardari's are still in the process of making the payment...therefore FBR which is the worlds worst worst tax authority will have to tax the seller and the purchaser...the purchaser for tax evasion and the seller for sales tax...!one wonders what they teach FBR staff...sharif's and zardari's cannot be taxed...but ordinary people can be charged as much sales tax as possible...!...the people just get a few bites out of each roti...each MW of electricity and each barrel of petrol...!!!
  
• May10-2015--DSP and driver shot dead in karachi
  
• May10-2015--The MI-17 helicopter that crashed in Naltar is said to have lost power near the ground which points to engine and control failure or possible pilot error...
  
• May10-2015--Nadra says that 93000 or half the votes in NA-122 the speakers lahore constituency could not be verified...while that is a technical error it leaves it to the tribunal to order a repoll or re-election since no dhandli has been identified
  
• May10-2015--The Zardari's a family known tobe chakri's financially could possible have to pay a 33% tax on the lahore bilawal house which they claim to have bought from multiple owners including bahria town and malik riaz...they have upto now paid around 170 million against a value of 490 million...but their company has not shown any income of such a nature...!!!the poverty stricken agriculturists--donot pay any taxes...!!bahria town does not offer such deals to anyone else...???
  
• May9-2015--In another blow to the military a russian helicopter crashed in Naltar while ferrying diplomats...three military men killed alongwith four diplomats...wives amongst them...The lumbering helicopters were acquired from the russians second hand and repaired by the americans with ukrainian spares...This is the fourth crash in the last ten years of which at least two took place in terrorism infested areas...it points to poor maintenance schedules...suggestions of terrorism were rejected but many did not rule out taleban involvement..the pilots came from swabi and kohat and many suggested that was enough for a conspiracy theory...others suggested that army aviation be handed over to the airforce and a better quality of helicopter be acquired...other reports suggested that the military overlooked reports of control problems...like a C-130 crash in 1988 the helicopter was unstable coming down and crashed into an army public school...however 12 passengers were lucky to survive with injuries
  
• May8-2015--In the judicial commission punjab election commissioner mahboob anwer says that some RO's did ask for extra ballott papers...earlier a punjab chief secretary said that there were PTI relatives in the punjab beaurocracy and the election commission had asked for 200 men on election day but he cannot recall if he had said that they would come from the Urdu Bazaar...supposedly the government security printing press wanted 200 men after the elections with printing knowledge...!!
  
• May8-2015--The joint opponent of Asif Zardari and the mqm tobe tried in a military court says qaim ali shah...zulfikar ali mirza says that the sharifs and qaims taking away even the poor man's half roti...
  
• May8-2015--Foreign office spokesman says that they donot know what the army chief is talking about when he says that RAW involvements in terrorism are very clear and on the increase...Nawaz Sharif and the army chief have avoided dealing with indian border violations and Nawaz Sharif known to turn a blind eye to indian animosities.
  
• May8-2015--Nawaz Sharif appoints unknown senator rafique rajwana as punjab governor and he immediately hit the seraiki theme that he would work for south punjab...unconstitutional legally however we already have a governor who works in and for karachi...a chief minister who also works in and for lahore and a KP governor to assuage the hazarawal's and a KP chief minister for Banni gala...from bahawalpur he had better realize that almost every area in the country can be called disadvantaged in some context...opposed by shahbaz sharif earlier nawaz sharif brought in chaudhry sarwar from england to settle area antagonisms but he too could not get along and seemed to have other ambitions which ran counter to shabaz and nawaz sharif...the opposition was mainly from former gujeratis...it is shocking that nawaz sharif refused to appoint a settler as governor after opposition from racist seraiki's...
  
• May7-2015--Saad Rafiq to take the issue of the tribunal decision removing him as the successful candidate from NA-125 to the supreme court...he terms it unfair when he is not responsible for the problems...
  
• May6-2015--The armies top brass think that RAW is deeply involved in pakistan based terrorism...most of the accusations are aimed at two men who run the indian national security system and who are considered deeply anti pakistan...one of them is a known orchestrator of undercover activities...why the ISI does not apprehend RAW operatives many of whom are prominent in several political parties...many beaurocrats and politicians are said to send reports regularly...several of the terrorist activities blamed on the taleban are said to have been orchestrated by india
  
• May6-2015--The SC suggests that it may have inadvertently been applying the theory of basic structures...how they have allowed military coups and allowed military chiefs to seize power and position defies any explanations...the basic structure obviously as far as recent comments of the court are concerned is something that is incomprehensible to them...how the legislature and court can abruptly change something completely without a mandate is considered unconstitutional
  
• May5-2015--An Election Tribunal has removed Saad Rafique a vocal PMLn minister from his national assembly seat NA-125...The reasoning apparently that the record was carelessly stored and thumb imprints were not properly verifiable in ten locations...earlier the record could not be found...The tribunal however rejected the charges of rigging...repolls ordered on NA125 and PP155
  
• May5-2015--The SC on the other hand was discussing whether the constitution can be fundamentally changed...The context was the 18th amendment and the appointment procedure for judges...theoretically a constitution can only be amended and its reasoning is that the courts should be able to protect it...however the change in appointment of judges to senior posts is very fundamental as is the procedure for their selections...many feel that no criterion has been laid down for selecting the best educationally/intellectually and the seniority rule for promotion to the top ranks seems pathetic...it also seems strange that judges select themselves without any transparency...similarly if a court can reject religion than it can also reject secularism...both systems have their flaws...for eg. a judge can rule that there are rules to protect religion therefore it is not necessary or fundamental to governance...however if the legislature wants to end the system of the judiciary or make the army chief the constitutional head of the country it is very fundamental but maybe at that stage the judiciary has no power...this has happened in this country at various stages...the government has also in the past attempted to remove judges because they were opposed to a certain decision...Therefore the courts must look at the seriousness of an issue and its nature before deciding to strike down a legislation...the courts can also tell the legislature that this is unacceptable and they had better change it in a system that is working or workable...however u can have a saudi type of system where the religion is run by the clergy and the government by the king and as in pakistan the judiciary can run and select itself and the army can run itself...so who wants Nawaz Sharif just to decide electricity and petroleum prices...the courts must look at the laws and decide whether they need the courts protection or not...the fundamental nature is different in different places and secularism is changing in Turkey whereas pakistan is becoming supposedly more secular...a system only works peacefully when it is acceptable in all aspects...
  
• May4-2015--seven policemen kidnapped near rahimyar khan
  
• May4-2015--soldier killed in attacks on checkposts in south waziristan
  
• May4-2015--three killed in attacks on a police mobile in karachi
  
• May3-2015--The judicial commission has summoned 14 PTI witnesses to record their statements on May6
  
• May3-2015--In another bizarre incident a supposed mob lynched two who had killed a police ASI in karachi
  
• May3-2015--44 militants killed in airstrikes in north waziristan and khyber
  
• May3-2015--In another joke...! Rao Anwer the SSP who had been transferred for seeking a bann on the mqm survived a grenade attack and suggested that the attackers belonged to a banned organization(mqm) apparently...five of whom were killed in retaliatory firing...!
  
• May2-2015--five militants killed in Tirah...Nawaz Sharif apparently escaped to Fata to avoid friday prayers at the faisal mosque behind the saudi's kaaba imam...!
  
• May2-2015--Aitezaz Ahsan the billionaire PPP lawyer says he has no evidence of rigging
  
• May2-2015--In another police encounter the DSP who replaced Rao anwer in Malir last night was gunned down along with his driver and guard...!
  
• May2-2015--after apparent mqm attacks on the police Nawaz Sharif says the lights in karachi are being restored and altaf hussain is doing a good thing(apologizing to the army)..His army was critical of the altaf hussain statement for encouraging military training and seeking alms(aid) from RAW and threatened him in return...Pemra also told channels not to air altaf hussains inflamatory statements which are nothing new...apparently altaf hussain is joking with country...!!Altaf hussains associations with intelligence agencies ISI and RAW are quite old...he is also accused of kidnapping a soldier and killing him in the early part of mqm's violence ridden campaign...Asif Zardari also seems to support mqm's anti state activities as normal...!early on the ISI and altaf hussein had similar views about turning karachi into a HongKong but continuous mqm violence brokeup the alliance...!
  
• May1-2015--The PTI now says that the PMLn has also robbed them of the cantonment elections thru pre poll rigging
  
• May1-2015--ten militants jailed for life for the attack on malala
  
• May1-2015--five soldiers and 27 militants killed in continuous Tirah fighting...the military is seeking to control the area occupied by the Tariq Afridi group...generally the TTP, jamaat al ansaar and lashkar-i-islam are fighting it out in the area
  
• May1-2015--a police officer in karachi opines that the government should bann the mqm as it is an uncontrollable anti state organization...he also alleged that mqm workers were being trained in India and coordinated by senior london based mqm leaders...their welfare organization Khidmat Khalq arranged funds thru a terrorist criminal network...The mqm has recently stated that the establishment theoretically the Rangers aka the army are their only enemy...a PPP leader which is a close ally of the mqm said that the police are getting out of control of the sindhi-mqm politicians...the PPP has been allowing literally mayhem in karachi just to preserve a meaningless coalition...The mqm is generally thought to want a seperate karachi province which would enrich them beyond known limits...given the present provincial financial distribution structures...others opine that karachi is pretty much the most developed place in pakistan and mohajirs were all compensated on arrival in pakistan and that the mqm has something wrong with its head(damagh kharab)...the poor SSP malir was immediately relieved of his job by the chief minister...Given the evil nature of the mqm he said that they were more dangerous than the TTP...