The Daily PakistanPolitics May 15-31, 2016

• May31-2016--given his healthy looks Nawaz Sharif did not look like having a blocked artery...in his reincarnation as Altaf Hussein-2 many suggest that he must have been feeling jealous of the altaf phone speeches...however his electronic approval of the budget could be illegal as no such method is mentioned in the workbook...and when important people are abroad they all have active replacements...however things that have tobe worked out will obviously not have his approval and could be unconstitutional...another joke making the rounds is that shahbaz sharif was begging the army chief for ISI funds for "Bare Bhai ka illaj kara sakun..." another person who apparently spends the summer in england is anti Punjab Shehryar khan...he insinuated that Punjabi speaking cricketers are ill educated and they must learn urdu and English to captain the under-19 team...at the moment the top leaders of the PMLN, PPP and MQM are living abroad...! who needs them says the army chief....!
  
• May30-2016--with the sharif family safely out of the country many are suggesting that the Shahbaz sharif visit to the army chief with Chaudhry Nisar could be of some significance...others are suggesting the army chief being the behinds the scene ruler was offered an extension and his ijazat was sought for shahbaz sharif to travel to London...many are wary of the emerging situation although the people donot worry much about martial laws and who might be the next primeminister...shahbaz sharif said that all the ills were due to Imran khan's 26 day dharna and no problem was created by Nawaz sharif spending over a hundred and ten days in London during this tenure...many have noted that Chinese funding for supposed CPEC projects are not forthcoming nor is there any movement on power projects...I suggests that nawaz sharif and the army chiefs politicking on CPEC projects is now almost floundering in the dust...
  
• May30-2016--The almost forty visits to the UK by Nawaz sharif are now being touted as medical visits suggesting that Nawaz Sharif has been chronically ill...the suggestions that he can run the government from a hospital bed in London are being pooh poohed by Imran Khan as Nawaz Sharif imitating being a king...earlier in his last stint he wanted tobe considered the amir ul momineen...Nawaz sharif will now chair NEC meetings from London and give assent to the budget verbally which might be considered unconstitutional since he is at best disabled or incapacitated to attend parliament or be personally able to attend a cabinet meeting...many consider that giving senator ishaq dar the acting charge is just like appointing another family member as ishaq dar has multiple close family relations with Nawaz sharif...!technically according to Imran Khan the primeminister should have resigned and allowed another leader to takeover as primeminister temporarily...it is being described by many as the "lohar di feudalism..." or the worse form of dynastiism...with Nawaz sharifs children all being involved in some sort of financial wrongdoings only a few senior PMLn leaders can be considered as worthy replacements...Ishaq Dar at best seems tobe only a temporary family replacement...!last time he could not handle the PMLn and told Nawaz Sharif "tusee hi sumbhalo"
  
• May29-2016--The primeminister has disappeared after his speech in the national assembly in which he said that industrialists were looting and plundering the government and the people since the sixties...apparently he has been on rest and recreation in England which is his favorite location to visit while in power...apparently he now wants a blocked artery replaced or bypassed...he apparently has already had several angioplasties and if he is going to recover in seven days than it is obvious that it is another angioplasty..he suggests that he is having open heart surgery even though nowadays even replacing arteries can be done thru laparascopic methods...open heart surgery is usually only attempted when multiple bypasses are required...anyway if he is going to continue his heavy siri paya diet than it might not be too long for another bypass tobe needed...anyway he has created a constitutional crisis and if he is to suddenly have serious problems parliament would have tobe called quickly to elect his replacement ...others suggest that he might actually be moving on and his anointed successor ishaq dar who is not too popular given his wasteful spending might continue in charge...!other reports suggest that several groups have been preparing for a major suicide attack and threats have been coming against Nawaz Sharif after he apparently ordered the removal of mullah mansour Akhter which also might have caused him to quickly leave the country to avoid becoming the target...
  
• May29-2016--The interior minister is now admitting to inefficiencies and corruption in Nadra who apparently are rather free in issuing ID cards without any checking...while lower order staff are responsible and should be removed the interior minister should also resign and take responsibility for the almost widespread corruption that is Nadra...reports about illegal cards to afghanis have been spreading since even before the days of Nadra...I suppose many families will find that cards have been issued without checking with the heads of families...I just last day heard of a report which suggested that one official wanted $50 to be placed under his NICOP...the immigration , passport and iD cards are all run under the interior ministry and there is widespread misuse of cards if not total corruption...unnecessary rewards which are not for everyone are a perk that causes corruption just as plots in the military have led to widespread corruption in the military...the government should hire honest folk and everyone should have the same salaries...enrichment of the military and a few officials causes the main problems amongst government officials
  
• May28-2016--Nawaz Sharif disappears from the country and suddenly announces that he is to have open heart surgery... a political method to quickly recover after the complete loss of credibility over Panamagate...he has subdued the opposition over a TOR and is openly wasting the countries resources in a foreign country...Pakistan has a credible cardiology sector and has been performing heart bypasses since the 1970's...however whether he can recover in seven days is questionable as an artery graft takes a little longer to heal than a angioplasty...many presume that he is having some other unpolitical operation...
  
• May28-2016--Chaudhry Nisar who has presided over a problematic interior ministry overlooks his own pathetic incompetence while suggesting that Nadra which has a problematic reputation will now reverify all its CNIC's...they have been issuing cards to afghans since the 1980's
  
• May28-2016--The Iranians think Pakistan must be pretty stupid to think that the Indians wont cause problems for Pakistan while being stationed in charbahar...?Indians have a totally anti Pakistan policy in all spheres..for pak-iran gas pipeline to benefit Pakistan is a pretty big if given the high prices and what the Pakistani government intends to use it for...
  
• May28-2016--four afghan invaders killed in Mohmand as the Indians kill six in occupied Kashmir...Modi's two way street has one side completely blocked
  
• May27-2016--after the elimination of the tired looking Mullah Mansour Akhter a clear eyed Mawlawi Haibutullah reiterated that he would continue the fight for islam in the face of threats in the middle east and especially the US from the likes of Obama and Donald Trump...Mullah Akhter is now seen as a financial whiz and apparently travelled all over the UAE and Iran to collect funds as well as from his tribe and local drug lords...The army chief and foreign affairs advisor expressed disappointment at the appointment of the hardline cleric...some seemed to worry about his Shiite sounding last name...mullah Akhter had been issued a pakistani ID card by the Pishin deputy commissioner who has been arrested
  
• May27-2016--The CII justifies light beatings of domestic women...issues hardline edict banning coeducation past the primary level, banning contraception and abortion after 120 days and opposing some localized social ills
  
• May26-2016--Mullah Haibutullah has rejected peace talks
  
• May26-2016--Mullah Haibutullah one of the deputies of Mullah Mansour has been appointed to the taleban leadership...a former hardline taleban chief justice he was known to mete out strict punishments...he was said tobe the guiding voice in discusssions that were taking place and was appointed in contrast to the other two contenders mullah yaqoob and mullah sirajuddin...a cleric with known credentials he could survive American attacks since he does not move around much...sirajuddin and yaqub were appointed his deputies...Yaqub is the son of Mullah Omar and sirajuddin haqqani the americans dreaded haqqani network...The quick choice is seen as muting opposition and not making too great a change...yaqoob and haqqani handle fighting in Afghanistan...opponents of mullah mansour had been protesting that a cleric should have been appointed to lead....with the strike near dalbandin it is feared that drones could again have been stationed in balochistan...as their northern base could be too far to order a quick strike...with the main US drone base apparently in teh north many suggested that the Pakistani airforce might have carried out the strike or a US aircraft which can at best be a declaration of war...Obama's speech in Vietnam in which he suggested that big nations not bully small ones seems far from his actual views
  
• May26-2016--Inzamam ul Haq announces a new 21 man frontline for the test team which only includes two major changes in asif zakir and akbarur rehman ...iftikhar ahmed he now thinks is an alrounder although his recent form has not been that great...players like fakhr zaman and baber zaman are in the A-team and should be in the test squad to provide some competition to the oldtimers...The A-team for England also seems to have similar already tried names barring a couple and looks like a strong squad as compared to tired sounding oldtimers in the test training lineup..The test trainees include the injury prone Yasir Shah and the doubtful alrounder iftikhar ahmed...hardhitters, alrounders and faster stroke players have all been omitted
  
• May26-2016--three FC men gunned down in Peshawar
  
• May25-2016--13 killed in Lahore, Dikhan etc due to rain and thuderstorms...seven orange line workers died when a wall fell on their tent...
  
• May25-2016--Interior minister creates doubts over the killing of mullah Mansour...however other sources suggest that a new leader may already have taken over...deputies of mullah Mansour included haibutullah, yaqoub and sirajuddin haqqani...he says the bodies were completely charred and that Pakistan who had been monitoring Mansours travels had not provided the info for the attack...a passport for wali mohammed was found outside the charred vehicle...The americans had found mullah Mansour problematic for his attacks inside Afghanistan...Nisar also insisted that Mansour was not against talks but his positions ran counter to a solution...that the taleban leader would travel without guards seems improbable...he like mullah omar could possibly have been sent into retirement li>May24-2016--five navy men sentenced to death for an attempted hijack of a navy ship in sept, 2014
  
• May22-2016--The panamagate story has caused lot of puns and cartoonist material...eg..Miriam: Abbaji abbaji ajay thada didh nahin parhya..NS:.. chup kar panamaleaks di tootii...Miriam...mein te keiya hun tak roz roz de laser peels tu thak gaye hoso...NS...tun wi te Bibi de bjaye zardari ban gai hein...Miriam...mere khiyal ich hun raheel shareef nu wi byby kariye...NS...kis tara ghuzara hoi ga usde baghair...Miriam...haan laser peels te botox da mahir je hoya...sunya he ke sun city ich tin hafta chutti ghuzar ke aya he...NS...log hun usni wi corrupt hi kehnde nein...usde bache wi hun England ich parde nein...apne waste hun medical sfari de jahaz we ghareed Riya he...NS...haan sade akhri safar da intezam kar Riya he...laser peels zindabad...
  
• May22-2016--two policemen shot dead in Azizabad, karachi
  
• May22-2016--In what maybe a game changer the afghan taleban chief eliminated in a US drone attack while travelling inside the Pakistan border...The taleban have had to regroup after the assassination of each successive leader...recent events have seen the release of top level PPP kidnappees...Mullah Mansour had carried out numerous raids inside Afghanistan while there have been some taleban action in Pakistan as well...while mullah Mansour had been able to regroup their actions are dictated by small groups who support some aspect of their policies...by and large the taleban leaders have been similar in their actions increasing and decreasing militancy at will however they have had to hide in order to live and extend their rule...
  
• May19-2016--NAB arrests a senior foreign ministry official who was running a cable business...something very similar to what the countrys primeminister is accused of doing...many regard the PMLn attempt to dilute the Panama leaks controversy by blaming innocuous others as pathetic...
  
• May19-2016--Pildat an NGO states that democratic systems have been considerably weakened in Pakistan as the army or its chief has wrested control of key issues...there are very few cabinet meetings but there have been 78 PM-COAS meetings since 2013 and in only 21 has the defence minister been present. The government pullback of NAB and the loss of the SGS-Cotechna record are major milestones...
  
• May19-2016--eight militants killed in multan shootout
  
• May19-2016--two IED blasts in Peshawar attack police polio team killing one policeman
  
• May19-2016--The government and opposition inched closer to each other with a twelve member committee to draft the TOR which would include further accusations apart from the Panama Leaks...kickbacks and commissions and loan writeoffs would be included..there seems tobe an interpretation of the Panama Leaks which suggest that the London Flats were bought by Nawaz Sharif thru kickbacks...!there were even jokes about a 22nd amendment on corruption...
  
• May19-2016--Imran Khan critsizes Nawaz Sharif for not coming clear on the London flats and the panama leaks...Imran Khan he said he was ready to be investigated on the SKMCH and any TOR was acceptable to him...Khawaja Asif seems to suggest that he too had donated to the SKT...Imran Khan however accused Nawaz Sharif of doing business thru his daughter and creating a conflict of interest...Nawazharif and family are accused of massive money laundering since the 1970's...Nawaz Sharif has not even cleared when he bought the flats...
  
• May18-2016--The opposition has prepared a new 70 question questionnaire for Nawazharif to answer mostly about their alleged financial wrongdoings thru banks in Switzerland, Riyadh, and the virgin islands...use of hawala companies and front men and misappropriation of a loan from Faisal Bank...the opposition has again agreed to talk on the TOR while the double dealing MQM has dropped out of the opposition something that they often do...
  
• May18-2016--four militants shot dead near gujranwala in a police shootout
  
• May18-2016--Nawaz Sharif who has already spent the next years budget on two meaningless roads for the Chinese says improving police stations in KP will not help Imran Khan win the elections...while Imran Khans chances in KP maybe become problematic Nawaz Sharif too could now face a torrid time in Punjab if the PPP drops out of his pocket...!
  
• May17-2016--The foreign ministry advisor Sartaj Aziz suggests that India is now gaining an undue strategic advantage by developing nuclear submarine missile capability and testing advanced supersonic air defence interceptor missiles...he also suggests that interception in the Pakistani context seems meaningless however having a second strike submarine nuclear missile capability is a definite advantage...
  
• May17-2016--Nawaz Sharif on the one hand is claiming victimization and on the other is suggesting that his father left him a lot of money as well...he claims that his fathers Ittefak Engineering at the time was making around Rs40 million at the time of nationalization...it makes clear the loot and plunder of the industrialists at the time of nationalization when he suggests that the dollar was Rs13 and CSP officers made Rs500 a month..nationalization was across the board in banking, atta, oil, electricity, engineering, sugar, ghee, cement, fertilizer, chemical and cotton industries barring any foreign owners...The industrialists at the time had been plundering the people thru blackmarketing of ghee, atta, sugar and cement...The industrialists were not only evading taxes but also were refusing to return loans and were not providing the necessary jobs...There was also widespread shifting of dollars overseas as seemingly clear from Nawaz Sharifs statements
  
• May17-2016--In what can be termed his Panama leaks statement the only thing he has refererd to as related to the Panama Leaks is that his father had left him enough money to buy flats in Park Lane or Mayfair...however most newspapers referred to a $13.7 million loan from a Geneva bank...he also states that he had set up a steel mills in saudia and UAE...however earlier reports have him setting up a textile mills in UAE and a supermarket in Saudi arabia both of which were failures although he suggests that he sold those properties for 33.37 dirhams million and $17 million approximately...it also brings up some interesting facts...while Mariam Safdar is supposedly the owner of the flats thru front companies another owner claiming ownership seems tobe Nawaz Sharif ...while he claims that his father left him money it seems that the father did not leave that much money to the other brothers...!It also brings to the fore the illegal foreign bank accounts of Sharif senior...!The opposition claims that Nawaz Sharif has not shown any valid proof of sale or ownership...It also points to the fact that Sharif senior ran off to the UAE with around 40 million dirhams and Nawaz Sharif ran off to Saudia with 20 million dollars...the claims that his fathers or his factories have paid Rs10 billion in taxes should be checked as it seems tobe false...most of the sharif factories barring sugar seem tobe failures...the last time his suggestion of billions in tax paid were made by Nawaz Sharif it included electricity bills...so what the sharifs say should be checked by the commission...!!! recently Nawaz Sharif sold Ittefak industries for Rs6 billion to payoff bank loans of the 1980 era...so one wonders who are being victimized the people or the chakry industrialists
  
• May17-2016--Instead of responding to the seven simple questions asked by the opposition he has provided information which makes him and his father the biggest money launderers in Pakistani history...earlier his wife had said that they had bought the flats as their sons were studying there...pathetic one must say...
  
• May17-2016--the opposition listened to the meaningless Nawaz Sharif statement in silence and walked out...Imran Khan waved the deed of sale of his flat in London...the opposition seems at a crossroads as to what to do...if they press to hard at best the PMLn can ask Nawaz Sharif to resign which given the sheep in the PMLn is an impossibility...however they will study the statement which is meaningless in the Panama Leaks context...however Nawaz Sharif seems also tobe suggesting that my father and children were crooks but not me...others suggest that in earlier submissions he has referred to Miriam Safdar as his dependent whom he paid 24 million in 2002...so that makes Nawaz Sharif a false declarant since he owns the London flats and the panama leaks companies indirectly...lawyers are submitting fraud claims against Nawaz Sharif and his son in law Safdar for making false declarations of assets...
  
• May16-2016--the PMLn wala's who had been literally put to sleep by accusations of Nawaz Sharifs corruption ridden financial history started to wake up after reports of Imran Khan's own Panama leaks company surfaced...however Imran Khan is a very small player and his company only owned a flat and has been out commission soince the flat was sold by Imran Khan...upto now Nawaz Sharif has literally been bamboozled by the dharna and Imran Khans small successes in KP...KP literally were jumping on ishaq dar and getting whatever they wanted...Nawaz Sharif to answer to accusation of financial wrongdoings in the national assembly today
  
• May16-2016--five pro govt volunteers shot dead in landikotal and Tank