The Daily PakistanPolitics Aug1-15, 2016

• Aug14-2016--Popa an anti terrorism law promulgated for two years has lapsed...
• Aug14-2016--Three militants killed in quetta gunbattle...
• Aug14-2016--punjab government helicopter crew released by the taleban in parachinar
  
• Aug14-2016--The Daily Dawn bites the bullet and lists the top four choices for Nawaz Sharif...Lt General Zubair Hayat could be a very safe choice but would be saddled with removing his two brothers who are also generals...his father was also a major general...but has nuclear button and CGS experience...however Raheel Shareef has rued intelligence failures which in the military is his deptt...Ishfaq Nadeem corp commander multan said tobe blunt and a fighting man...said tobe an operations man, Javed Iqbal Ramday NDU, Bahawalpur corp...spent four years at NDU so he must have had a medical problem although has adequate fighting experience and qamar javed bajwa Inspector Training and evaluation...haggard looking but said to have northern area and kashmir experience and is said tobe compassionate with some Un experience as well...the chances of raheel shareef being given an extension are mild to low given the situation...The end of zarb e arab has not augured well for him and he says afghans pouring over the border are more of a problem...a change is always necessary for the army to change direction and bring in the new thinking for at least the next three years..reinventing themselves is not something that goes down well with a serving general...despite the similarity in training there are generally minor differences in attitude and behaviour...the soft looking men like zubair hayat and javed ramday might take the two top positions depending on what is in their bio's...usually the reccomendation of the ISI, army chief and chairman joint chiefs are important...if u go by recent experience than ishfaq nadeem and javed ramday might get the nodd...Ramday has political connections which usually donot augur well...while many thought that Raheel Shareef was almost going to coup however things have eased and his movement has been subdued...practicality would lie in appointing a serving corp commander but a multan corp lt general being promoted has been rare being in the middle and not noticed much...there are many attractive choices in the junior lt generals but avoiding seniority to that an extent would probably take something like a turkish coup where soldiers were beaten with belts...remote choices would be Lt general masood a Un military advisor, wajid hussein, Chairman heavy industries taxila and najibullah khan dg general staff hq...
  
• Aug12-2016--roadside bomb targets federal shariat court judges police van in quetta...recently the shariat court has been in the news after the SC CJ's wife was controversially promoted as a SC judge and appointed to the Shariat Court
  
• Aug12-2016--critics have blasted the indians, militants,american agents, the pro indian PMLn and the military establishment for the quetta blast...the military is generally tobe running balochistan and general raheel shareef has been the butt of criticism who usually gets off theh hook by attempting be on the ball...many have however pointed the finger at the national security advisor for irritating the ISIL unnecessarily when there organisations had been subdued for some time...
  
• Aug12-2016--Anushka Rehman pushes thru the Cyber crimes bill which is supposed to subdue internet critic of Nawaz Sharif who has been referred to a dog by some internet graphics makers...she referred to the opposition as the men of NGO advocates...!
  
• Aug12-2016--An Ary newscaster Dr masood has been banned by Pemra for 45 days for stating that the SHC CJ had taken corruption payments and when he failed to deliver his son was kidnapped...!
  
• Aug12-2016--Pia thru its subsidiary Pakistan Premier which has wet leased three air srilanka planes to introduce a new PIA uniform which is a mix of the emirates hat and PIA's old uniform colors...they had even gone for the emirates straight pants but they were replaced with shalwars...emirates also wears a dupatta hat...one sri lanka plane has already veered of the runway while onits way to skardu...!
  
• Aug9-2016--The death toll in the quetta violence has risen to 70 with about 55 lawyers and a couple of journalists amongst the dead...two offshoots of the taleban the jamiat ul ahrar and the khorasani group claimed responsibility alongwith the IS...both terror groups have been known for violent activities and are associated with the ISIL but have been subdued probably by the armys actions in Fata...The paranoid army chief and Nawaz Sharif suggested that the terrorism was meant to sabotage the CPEC a meaningless project to connect gawader to the Chinese border...The propaganda based Pakistan army has been pushing the project which is supposedly intended to give the Chinese a backyard entry into their own country if they are supposedly surrounded by their enemies ie india and the USA...a remote possibility but the Chinese have a secret fear of being surrounded and being cutoff from the world given their dependence on imported oil and world trade...the Indians too want to convince Pakistan that their enemy is china and not Pakistan...however the Pakistanis would find it easier to frighten the Indians if Chinese trucks were passing near the indian border in the northern areas...however the most probably reason is the restarting of a terror campaign by the ISIL in an area that is not directly associated with the ISIL turmoil in the middleeast...many point to the aggravation by a recent statement of the national security advisor in which he agreed to cooperate with the anti arab Iranians against the ISIL thus reigniting a sleeping terror outfit or outfits...still others think that it could be meant to repair strained relations between the army chief and Nawaz Sharif who has been refusing to get off his bed since his heart operation...others however point to the personal enmity driven tribal system and the perpretrator could easily be a diehard enemy of Bilal Anwer Kasi or even a politically opposed lawyer...terror outfits have been known to claim terror attacks and such methods get the actual perpretrator completely off the hook
  
• Aug9-2016--bar association president killed in quetta...as lawyers gathered at the civil hospital a suicide bomber struck killing 54..while taleban have used such tactics in Peshawar and DI Khan most are pointing to the Indians whose interior minister probably fled Pakistan after he was told of an impending bombing...others point to underground liberation movements...
  
• Aug8-2016--the change after being in government...imrans followers hold a car rally in Chamkani and threatened an accountability drive against the corruption of the rulers while a local PMln leader held a small jalsa in response also alleging PTI corruption syggesting that the billion tree planting had not materialized...ruing Nawaz Sharifs absence who has continued his rest and recreation after coming back...
  
• Aug7-2016--US spy arrested in Pakistan...earlier he had been arrested and evicted from the country in 2011 after being found in a sensitive area...he than claimed to have been married to a pakistani
  
• Aug7-2016--Pakistan meaninglessly agrees with the Iranians on anti IS measures despite there being no realistic threat from the organization based in Iraq-Syria-Libya...iran however suggests that charbahar is not an indian intelligence outpost...despite ample evidence that iran, india and Afghanistan are the next American stooges in the region and they will cooperate against Pakistan...
  
• Aug7-2016--The at best pathetic Nawaz Sharif offers to treat victims of indian aggression in held Kashmir despite having no access to the area
  
• Aug7-2016--former CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry generally regarded as a Nawaz Sharif ally sends a petition to the national assembly stating that he has now become a liability as a ruler under article 5 and 63(2)...Chaudhry doubts that Nawaz Sharif is now loyal to the country given his misguided relationship with Modi...!and revelations of his foreign financing and investments
  
• Aug7-2016--Iran executes upto 20 sunni kurds in a move that demonstrates the Shiite states personal enmities and religious sectarianism...iran last year executed 977 people compared to just 158 in Saudi arabia and 320 in Pakistan
  
• Aug7-2016--Move On Pakistan head remanded into Islamabad police custody..The party has been involved in hanging pro army chief banners at various times over the past three years...alarm was raised when the latest phase suggested that the army chief takeover the country...theoretically the army chief is not a politician and such banners cannot be hung...however the army chief who is probably very narcisstic seems to enjoy the praise and adulation which has negative implications...for the government it implies an implicit army opposition generally based on anti civilian rule and opposition to bad nature of politicians viz their financial, personal and political shenanigans...however the army chief should have acted to stop the campaign which implies that he or the organizations with ample resources such as the ISI and ISPR have been behind such actoions...while the army is allowed propaganda or self praise this army leadership has gone much further by allowing the military financing of films and drama's...however the internet and media campaign is seen to be lately creating negative consequences...supposedly the army responded that such campaigns are mounted by groups whose views about army matters have been rejected...the campaign has floundered after reports emerged that the army chief and Nawaz Sharif have been using ISI funds for personal expenses...!!??
  
• Aug6-2016--Punjab helicopter crew in the custody of a Pakistani taleban group while government attempting to seek the help of the afghan government and US troops for their rescue...
  
• Aug6-2016--Murad Ali Shah seeks 3500MW from non existent coal power stations in sind...also wants gas for a 100MW power plant and be allowed to import LNG..he wants representation in federal run organisations such as the KPT, SSGPL,KElectric, PSO, Port Qasim etc....he also wants keti bunder tobe included in the CPEC...!rebuilding of railway stations, sukkur barrage and 5 billion for Rangers Karachi operations...what Sindh will onits own is unknown...!
  
• Aug5-2016--six militants arrested in quetta involved in two bomb blasts
  
• Aug5-2016--The uncouth Rajnath who seems apparently involved in the Kashmir violence leaves the saarc home ministers conference in a fit of rage at Chaudhry Nisars comments
  
• Aug5-2016--Punjab governments helicopter crash lands in Logar province while on the way to Russia for repairs...later the damaged helicopter was taken to Kabul on a truck while the helicopters crew was captured by the Taleban...
  
• Aug4-2016--Rangers extension of powers in Karachi announced by the interior ministry for three months and their stay in Sindh for one year...generally the paramilitary functions under the provincial government...
  
• Aug4-2016--Karachi land developers say FBR property evaluations are less than 50% of market values while declared values will be 20-25%...remoter areas of Karachi have lower prices where FBR values maybe higher than market rates...in older days declared values were as low as 5%...
  
• Aug4-2016--five militants ki8lled in Bhambore valley, chitral
  
• Aug4-2016--KP to hire 2778 doctors for a total of 8000 to provide doctors at least eight doctors at rural health centers for round the clock healthcare...doctors now get more salary than the health secretary
  
• Aug3-2016--Turkey wants turk schools which have been setup all over Pakistan tobe monitored for security problems...turkey believes that these schools have been setup by Fethulah Gulen an opponent of the Turkish government
  
• Aug3-2016--with only two years left the PMLn is said tobe worried at the slow pace of power projects...not many major projects seem to have been gotten off the ground including coal and hydel projects...an LNG project could possibly be completed
  
• Aug3-2016--Three militants killed in Kech while Awaran DEO shot dead
  
• Aug3-2016--about 650 Pakistanis are involved in the conflict zones in various Islamic territories...intelligence agencies have identified 132 and worry that on their return they will find it easy pickings in pakistan
  
• Aug3-2016--Dr fauzia Saeed the lok virsa head has apparently hired seventeen of her friends in grade 17 and has taken to advertising jobs on her facebook page...!
  
• Aug2-2016--CDA cancels the allotment of a 13.5 acre plot on constitution avenue after the allottees did not deposit the the full Rs4.88 billion...an over 700 ft skyscraper was planned which was reduced to 300 feet...
  
• Aug2-2016--Sc bars work on Bahria town malir after bahria started to occupy government land
  
• Aug2-2016--The CJ of SC has appointed his own wife as judge of the federal shariat court after using some dubious measures to promote and appoint her as a judge...however the CJ of the LHC rejected a writ challenging the appointment...!
  
• Aug1-2016--seven militants killed near sheikhupura
  
• Aug1-2016--security forces destroy two militant camps in Turbat, Kech
  
• Aug1-2016--SRA claims attack on Rangers in Larkana killing one...they claim all of Sindh's resources are being used to exploit the people...and that Rangers should leave rural and city areas
  
• Aug1-2016--13 PIA employees arrested for smuggling heroin to Dubai from lahore