The Daily PakistanPolitics Jan16-31, 2016

• Jan31-2016--over $4 billion dollars were spent on the import of small to medium size electricity generators over the last four years showing the steady pace which has been maintained by loadshedding...
  
• Jan31-2016--private schools refuse to open due to what they say is provincial government resistance to provide schools security...at the moment private schools have occupied footpaths and land in the name of security fences and guardposts but no policeman is usually around...most schools have a razorwire fence with armed security guards
  
• Jan31-2016--a scientist who worked for the countries atomic agency says that Pinstech is making radio isotope injections that are incorrectly composed and pose a risk to cancer patients
  
• Jan31-2016--Rangers announce the arrest of Uzair Baloch the supposed PPP backed Lyari gangster...he had taken over Lyari after the PPP apparently had Rahman Dakait eliminated...family sources say that he has been in custody for over 13 months after his arrest in Dubai...The Sindh chief minister says that he personally is not opposed to the Rangers Operation...!while a BLF leader has been killed in a gunbattle in Mastung...
  
• Jan31-2016--In what many say is pathetic economics Nawaz Sharif eats away the only possible gains for the people a possible 10% reduction in oil prices...he reduced prices of petrol by Rs5...PTI terms it a cheap Nawaz Sharif joke...Oil is at its lowest in a longtime and is being traded around $30 although it made some gains after reports of a 5% Saudi Russian oil output cutback...with Iran however ready to start full scale production it does not seem tobe enough...the government also jacked up sales taxes on various types of oil with the highest on HSD...with high foreign exchange reserves and record taxes one does not know what the government is doing...
  
• Jan30-2016--there is a certain sectarian slant to the Shiite newspaper Dawn's second diatribe against mullah Abdul Aziz of the Lal masjid fame...they accuse him of sectarianism after he suggested that Shiite named people have been killing clerics in Rawalpindi-Islamabad none of whom have been sentenced...mullah Aziz has powerful friends in government despite suggesting that a Shiite ISI brigadier is out to get him...
  
• Jan30-2016--Oil has fallen to almost $30 a barrel but the Pakistani government still prices it at around $70...Ogra has suggested that prices be reduced by some say 21%...under the normal tax regime prices should be around Rs30-35 a litre
  
• Jan30-2016--the shebaz sharif regime banns the tableeghi jamaat from sending delegations to the punjab university or preach in hostels and mosques there...mosques in and around the university will have to get their sermons pre approved and the university has been told to setup its own intelligence unit...usually tableeghi jamaat teams visit the university and preach on Thursday evenings in mosques with supporters going around the university hostels and inviting students to pray with them in the evenings...the teams than suggest that invitees come to the Friday gatherings at their Raiwind mosque or center...the tableeghi jamaat while having some political affiliations has always been on the right side of the governments
  
• Jan30-2016--power breakdown hits Karachi as 500 KV line supplying power from hub and the north trips
  
• Jan30-2016--five injured in suicide attack near zhob cantonment
  
• Jan30-2016--A PIA employee strike has started to hurt the sharif regime as demonstrated by a mushahidullah press conference in which he offered to halt the privatization for six months...a surreptitious sell off of PIA was being planned to some dubious middle east characters...!just as HBL shares were offloaded to dubious unknown international investors...the shares many say have ended up in the pockets of a sectarian groups Agha Khan...still others have suggested that the Punjab government or shahbaz sharif has bought most of the shares...
  
• Jan30-2016--in what many suggest is the obvious divide that has come between Nawaz Sharif and the army chief was demonstrated at a meeting to discuss the security situation...with no one to occupy the second chair which has upto now been occupied by the army chief he chose Sartaj Aziz the pathetic foreign ministry advisor to occupy it probably until a new army chief gains sufficient stature...The army chief has distanced himself from Nawaz Sharif after what some say is a lukewarm US attitude during his visit...that in turn led to the sudden about turn on relations with Saudi arabia...sartaj Aziz who I think is the son of a legendary KP muslim leaguer is considered the architect of the anti Saudi pro Shiite foreign policy which has seen Pakistan reduced to a has been in Islamic and regional affairs...many suggest that Sartaj Aziz is not a worthy or as powerful a replacement for the second seat...others suggest that the army chief has been reduced to the status of a guest or nobody in government affairs despite his almost total domination of Nawaz Sharif's policies...many suggest that the Nawaz Sharif sudden about turn on Saudi arabia has resulted from the US shift towards its old Persian gulf ally iran
  
• Jan29-2016--a serai alamgir resident lobbed grenades at motorway police after he was seen acting suspiciously near a railway line before blowing himself up in Domeli
  
• Jan29-2016--mullah Aziz who is said tobe close to the taleban and the governments interior minister says he is negotiating with the ISI to stop its campaign against him..the ISI says that is hogwash...The ISI which is barely a shadow of its former self is known to act surreptitiously inits campaigns...Its actual job was to ensure a spyless army...however it is now supposed to only have its hands on electronic intelligence systems barring monitoring government employees..this the third instance in recent times of pro Shiite tendencies having overshadowed the ISI work...The ISI had a great reputation and was always at the cutting edge of intelligence activities however terrorism and the taleban have reduced it to a shadow of almost nothingness
  
• Jan29-2016--four police personnel shot dead in quetta
  
• Jan29-2016--Ishaq dar who it seems is pathetically unaware of peoples attitudes slammed another 100 billion tax down the throat of domestic gas users...while already having collected over a 150 billion in GIDC he wants the people to pay for an LNG pipeline to Lahore from Karachi to benefit a few industrialists...what that has to do with poor people is unknown...he also gave the industrialists another Rs3 reduction in electricity tariffs...the pipeline in theory must be paid for by the industrialists generally billionaire types who will use the LNG...there is not much of a people content left in this government and one must suggest that PMLn supporters are at best pathetic and unaware of the cruel nature of the sharifs so much so that ishaq dar turns up at meetings without preperations and starts begging beaurocrats to help him out...
  
• Jan29-2016--LHC stays work on the Orange Line 200 feet from any heritage site...the Punjab government has sought over Rs200 billion in loans for the project
  
• Jan29-2016--railway track near Sibi destroyed by an explosion
  
• Jan28-2016--four killed in Karachi operation
  
• Jan28-2016--while the Raheel Shareef statement of calling it a day is still in the air Raheel Shareef started out on an interim period by visiting Karachi and urging all out efforts to clear Karachi of troublemakers...usually the army chief can go into early retirement or LPR however it is also his job to recommend the best possible successors so he generally goes around all the corps and meets senior officers...Kayani had also announced his retirement early and Nawaz Shareef opted for the milder Raheel Shareef compared to tougher military options...though no one is thought tobe a shoein obviously the reccommendations of the two senior military chiefs as well as what the PMLn top leaders think of the person and the considerations they think necessary for the job...though the army chiefs job is an easy one the politicians would think that selecting a person not too keen to coup is the general requirement with maybe no secret histories...most senior officers are capable enough and have these days a history of intelligence, tribal warfare, education, political understanding, strategies and a general ability to do without thinking of the troubles or consequences...their abilities to fight a real war are however suspect and Pakistan depends extensively onits nuclear capability...however their inability to extend their powerbase overseas or even fight overseas has been shown recently tobe problematic...however there is always the personal attitude that surfaces in senior jobs and creates the reputation...these days u can even find senior officers from engineering, nuclear warfare experts and missile thinkers...it is generally how an officer and his support staff see the situation around them that really moulds them...the politicians are always a second away from trouble and the military has tobe tough not to want to topple them...many now think that Raheel could be offered a ministerial job or even replace the mohajir mochi president...at the moment both the president(mochi) and primeminister(lohar) are mohajir industrialists and many feel that they lack a local flavor or constituency...most senior politicians and even military generals have their children living abroad due to the precarious situation despite bullet proof cars, intensive security and mobile communication blockers
  
• Jan28-2016--In what can be said tobe a weak uncertain security situation private and military schools as well all institutions were closed in the punjab till Feb1...reasoning not clear but obviously when threats cannot be ascertained clearly closing schools should be an option...
  
• Jan26-2016--The SC in a surprise move deseatd a PMLn lawmaker Justice Iftikhar Cheema from NA-101
  
• Jan26-2016--rumours about the Pakistan taleban chief having been eliminated in a drone attack
  
• Jan26-2016--apparently Raheel Shareef has announced his decision not to seek a second term...while normally second terms have only come in military rule there is the example of General Kayani who was given a second term by the PPP...however General Kayani is seen by many as soft compared to Raheel Shareef...however trouble had been brewing between Raheel and Nawaz Shareef...there was the news that Raheel Shareefs foreign minister had announced that they are not interested in anything outside their region...Raheel Shareef had also started tobe seen as a sort of foreign minister type...that put the Saudi's in a very difficult spot who had openly sought military help against the troubling Iranians...that came to a head after the Saudi's beheaded a terrorist ayatollah and supposedly the ISI inspired mild shiite demo's in Pakistan...with the pro Iranian/indian Nawaz Shareef jetting off on a decidedly problematic peace mission...rumour about the whole sale corruption of the General Kayani siblings spread..a raid on an indian airbase which Nawaz Shareef blamed on the jaesh a mohammed and a terror attack on a pukhtun university in charsadda...with raheel shareef unable to convince the afghans to go after Umar Naray the dice as it seems was spiked...there is no terror in any of the junior Lt.generals that can be selected with the ISI chief and Karachi corp commander being very junior...so Nawaz Shareef can handpick anyone he chooses...the Sindh government also picketed the army chief on his Karachi policies...That left Raheel shareef no choice but to ask the government to pick another army chief to succeed him...while Raheel Shareef was in a way a filmi hero he had imposed some psychofants who wanted to make films and drama's rather than fight the terrorists...however he in a way failed by not completely eliminating the terror component...most believe that the handling of the Saudis by Nawaz Shareef was the key that finally convinced raheel shareef to call it a day...like other army chiefs there had been a consistent ISPR inspired pro Raheel Shareef campaign waged in the press and media that led many to believe that the military was interested in a coup...that worked eventually against raheel shareef...the problems in controlling Karachi were also seen as military inspired as the Rangers got hold of terrorists and the corrupt...The Asim case in which he was revealed as healing all the terrorists from all parties and the escape from Pakistan of the entire Zardari clan at one stage...Zardari is still holed up in Dubai...many see generals like Ashfak Nadeem and Zubair Hayat taking over the top two positions...others see remote possibilities such as Naveed Mukhtar and Hidayat ur rehman or generals who have experience of fighting the tribal war...anyone in the top six is usually selected as there is a general acceptance of whoever is the army chief...the senior most at the moment is serving in the UN...many also noted how the Imran Khan also some say indian inspired dharna was snuffed out after he met the army chief...!
  
• Jan22-2016--the Pakistani delegation to saudia offered tobe referees in the saudia-iran fight...sort of calling the start and end of a fight and declaring a goal...the Saudis found Pakistan having dual interests which precluded their being honest mediators or referees...saudia also told them that they did not need referees as it was not a match like the Imran-Nawaz fight...!given the fighting ability of Shiite militia's saudia would need to depend on iran more than it needs Pakistan who say they are a power but cant do anything outside their borders
  
• Jan21-2016--Three militants killed in quetta raid on a house
  
• Jan21-2016--The only alternate that Saudia has against the raging iranians and US animosity is to become friendlier with the Chinese...In fact he would be better off with the chinese who could supply them a workable Navy to control the gulf...in press photos the king seems more relaxed with the Chinese than the malaise driven Pakistani duo of Nawaz and Raheel Sharif...Given his attitude Nawaz Sharif should be considered in the Iranian shiite camp...Since the americans have almost opted for the Iranians the kingdom has more options with the financially driven Chinese who are also military suppliers for the Iranians...The Saudis told Nawaz Sharif that they have no enmity with Iran despite known Shiite animosities and facilitate them just like Sunnis...the Pakistanis are driving themselves into a corner with the Iranians and Indians having almost better relations with the americans while Pakistan tries to consider itself an area superpower with no allies or the ability to really fight anyone in the region...the Iranians are known to have area ambitions and some see pakistans capitulation in allowing a road to be built from Charbahar to Gwadar which can initially only benefit indian construction firms
  
• Jan21-2016--In what could be another wave of terrorism four assailants invaded the Bacha khan university in a remote village near Charsadda..around 20 were killed alongwith four militants...many had been relieved at the subsiding of terrorist incidences...however according to Dawn it was an afghan based group led by Umer Narra which did it on the context of the continuous elimination of its facilitators...The terrorists given pakistans weak policing of border areas and communications have constantly attacked pakistans weak underbelly in one place or another at regular intervals...initially many thought it would an indian retaliation or a work of sectarian/ethnic groups...the death toll in terrorist incidences from the last 20 days has risen to over 60...with afghan animosities and infrastructure still in a development stage there is not much that Pakistan can do under its present policies...The KP chief minister, assembly speaker, five senior ministers and opposition figures were in Scotland at the time with no one looking after government responsibilities...what they are doing in Scotland is hard to figure out unless they are studying the Scottish devolution...!1
  
• Jan17-2016--In what can be a seen as a strange move the primeminister and army chief want to dash to Tehran and Riyadh to mediate...mediation and diplomacy take careful ground work which is anathema to Nawaz Sharif who seems tobe triggered by Imran Khans utterances...mediate what no one knows...Pakistan has been seen as generally seen as groveling for Saudi money with even the army chief supposedly after funds...Pakistan's initial response to the Saudi pleas for military support eventually backfired after the Pakistanis sought at least six billion......the Iranians could have their coffers full soon too given the end of sanctions...whether Tehran would agree to stop interfering in other countries to the detriment of Saudia is also not seen as possible given their recent meddling history...going back to a sort of detente with the Iranians running riot in arab territories seems impossible...The Saudi interests are usually in the gulf states while the Iranians have only Shiite area interests where Iraq and Syria are probably problematic areas...the Saudis could agree if the Iranians agreed to say dump Asad...! given the Iranian successes in Shiite states they would probably refuse to back down given the Saudi's lack of any controllable firepower in those areas...an example of Iranian power abroad is seen as the Bekaa valley in Lebanon where Iranian ayatollahs control power and have their faces emblazoned on large hoardings...the Iranians have also rebuilt hezbollah homes destroyed by the Israelis...whether they are looking for such a status in Iraq and Syria to dupe or subjugate Saudi power brokering at best is the real question...many see the interests of iran in surrounding the Saudis and controlling their weak points...whether the Saudis have enough power to defend themselves is a case in point...at best a working solution could be for the Iranians to back off from internally aggravating the saudis...the saudi's can only look on as iran literally controls syria , Iraq and Lebanon...but they would like their interests tobe preserved in other areas...Pakistan has been meddling but from a distance and would like a friendly iran but not a too distressed saudia...whether the Pakistanis want to preserve the Saudi dynasty which is generally friendly to us and opposed by Shiites is a point that the Iranians might takeup with them now that they have turned around the wests animosity...the Pakistanis have changed substantially from the undying friends of saudia and want to be friends only with their animosity prone neighbourhood some of which the Saudi's could earlier control...!The Saudi's could best understand that Pakistan is unable to project any power abroad and are seen by many as a weakling in the region...they should be trying to shift their dependence on pakistan's supposed nuclear power to other countries such as the militarily tougher turkey and Egypt...!
  
• Jan17-2016--The SC has been asked to stop the hanging of one aksan mehboob who was picked up by agencies in July 2014..he was later said to have been killed in an encounter...but suddenly it was announced that he had been sentenced to death by a military court...
  
• Jan17-2016--A cleric has been arrested for inciting the chopping of the hand of a boy for blasphemy in Okara
  
• Jan17-2016--Dawn suggests that there are reasons to believe that Ajmal Kasab is still alive as suggested by a schoolmaster...while others have said that ajmal kasab returned from india after a month of his sentence...while this is old news the Pathankot incident in which nobody died has been troubling the Modi wife Nawaz Sharif...they have closed down a small remote daska mosque and arrested leaders of the jaish a muhammed a banned organization with not much of a base or leaders...many think that Modi and Nawaz sharif are conspiring against what is dead and buried but not solving anything concrete...but are also not willing to deal with some of the past...zakiur rehman lakhvi was arrested as a mastermind of the Mumbai attacks but prosecution has suffered from it being an overseas incident...The Indians too have not found the mastermind of the samjotha blast...so a status quo détente exists and they are using supposed incidents to help each other...the Indians are literally all over Nawaz Sharif...with some saying that Nawaz Sharif told Modi that it was orchestrated by an indian steelmaker...otherwise a detailed story is there of what happened in Pakistan...if the story is true or false does not matter if there is not a duality of responsibility with both sides doing things honestly...the Indians definitely think that they have never interfered in Pakistan or terrorized us even with their army chief saying that they retaliate and take the fight to the perpretrators...Pakistan obviously has its own dossiers that the Indians never deal with...intentions and substance donot match
  
• Jan17-2016--Sethi says that Pakistan wont go to india in 2017 until they fulfill their cricket commitments...!