The Daily PakistanPolitics July 1-15, 2018

• Jul15-2018--family meets Nawaz Sharif in Adiala jail where he gets better food than at home...!Shahbaz Sharif heaves a sigh of relief that he does not have to boycott polls or even mount a movement...!with the PTI popularity rising the PPP and Pmln both claiming the election might be engineered...!
  
• Jul15-2018--The army chief has high praise for Siraj Raisani as being a patriot...!the Raisani elders are usually in the PPP...the BAP must have unnerved someone in the PPP, PMLN or TTP...The TTP has a new chief and he could probably be causing new headaches rather than the NAP implementation...!maybe someone blew up Raisani for raising the stakes for the BAP or someone thought he had acted against their interests...anyway this is the norm almost in balochistan although the death toll was really high...!
  
• Jul15-2018--The judges and generals should realize that politics will not solve the water problem...Wapda has enough resources to build the Bhasha dam...some prerequisites have tobe constructed first...we already have two dams which are lying empty...a third that is tobe built would also be empty...so are the rawal and hub dams...throwing money at a problem does not solve it...we have to substantially reduce usage to become water efficient and not waste all the available water...water availaibility for the dams depends on rainfall and snow and temperatures and that you donot use it all before it depletes...!if rainwater reduces than the third dam will always be empty as it will be used up by december...I envisage Tarbela as always being partially empty under the current circumstances even with a third dam...!
  
• Jul14-2018--suicide blast at BAP jalsa in Mastung kills 129...!Siraj Raisani the candidate for PB-35 among the victims...four killed in another attack on MMA candidate Akram Durrani NA35 convoy in Bannu...father and son of siraj raisani also died in terrorist attacks...
  
• Jul14-2018--Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Safdar arrested and sent to adiala jail...on arrival from england...lahore and other cities were in total lockdown to control any PMLn protests...people did get onto the street but nobody got near the lahore airport...Shahbaz Sharif ended up in Dharampura and was seen as relieved at ending the protest and focusing on the elections...!
  
• Jul14-2018--Imran khan blames renewed terrorist attacks on nawaz Sharif while army and PPP blame the NAP...!army chief almost suggested that Siraj Raisani was his man...!Humayun Akhter a son of a former ISI chief, head of the PMln economic team and a Pepsi bottler joins the PTI...!
  
• Jul13-2018--rumours about intelligence chiefs of pakistan, iran, russia and china meeting in islamabad to discuss return of IS followers from syria to afghanistan...!
  
• Jul13-2018--The SC again shows favoritism to the PPP or being frightened of Sindh by disallowing FIA probes of the Zardari gang during election time while NAB probes of the sharifs to continue ...!
  
• Jul13-2018--paperback thriller Reham Khan published in england and on the internet...many believe that Nawaz sharif and company are behind the publication in their desperate attempts to blackmail Imran Khan...!Reham Khan says sexual preferences/noninterest bedeviled her marriage...or she did not like the dog in the room! suggestions of having had sex with imran khans sons were removed after Jemima threatened to sue her...!
  
• Jul13-2018--SC decides a whopping Rs850000 as annual fee for private medical colleges...says they were charging as much as Rs 3.4 million...!
  
• Jul12-2018--TTP claims Bilour terror attack...!
  
• Jul12-2018--Nawaz Sharif claims he will work for civilian supremacy...usually the army chief usually runs the government ...Imran Khan claims Nawaz Sharif has looted Rs300 billion...
  
• Jul12-2018--while hindu girls are perfectly willing Imran Khan says he will prevent forced marriages to hindu girls...
  
• Jul12-2018--the government claims that over 55000 have whitened assets of over Rs577 billion foreign and Rs1192 billion domestic...foreign assets raised a puny Rs36 billion in taxes and repatriation of $40 million...Shamshad Akhter still pining for a new IMF agreement...nobody knows how many taxes will satisfy them...!
  
• Jul11-2018--the jeep and bucket symbol has been allocated to many PMLn deserters...Chaudhry Nisar denies he has left the PMLn and has formed a jeep group...many suggest that wary of defeat many PMLn walas have opted to take an independent route and could fall in again after the elections if the party does well...Chaudhry Nisar particularly seems unable to understand how Nawaz Sharif and Shabaz Sharif can dislike him so much to keep him at a distance and yearns for them tobe friendly again...
  
  
• Jul11-2018--The ECP suspends all local government organisations barring sanitation services...
  
  
• Jul11-2018--In a terrorism incident that seems tobe odd an ANP candidate Haroon Bilor and twenty others were killed in a blast at a corner meeting in Yaka Toot, Peshawar...his father Bashir Bilour was killed in a suicide attack in 2012
  
  
• Jul11-2018--Politicians are a breed who need to get under the skin of the people...However most often they get under the skin of the super sensitive armed forces officers...The allegation made by the ISPR DG that they have developed a thick skin seems totally incorrect..most of the barbs directed at them seem to have fallen right on their mark...the DG ISPR seemed tobe perturbed at being called khalai makhlook or martians aka aliens...he responded that they were gods creatures and knew what they were...seeming to suggest that the allegations might be correct...the military generally considers civilians as idiotic and stupid...that also caused the DG to suggest that the military is not effected but the people will suffer if they sow the wrong seeds...!pretty unprofessional comments one must say...!...people suffer because the military makes all the gains and at times takes over the government almost totally...as governments rarely listen to the people but have to listen to the army chief whatever his views on the situations of the time...Maj Gen Faiz Hamid is the particular butt of criticism from Nawaz Sharif as being the person behind toppling his balochistan government and forcing desertions from his party...the ISPR chief said the desertions were a normal political phenomenon as politicians moved with the times and their preferred politicians calling it a democratic process...many suggest that the press conference should have been given by the ISI chief or even the army chief...!rather than the armies loud speaker...!Faiz Hamid is now the ISI director for counter intelligence and had suddenly appeared at the TLYR protest at Faizabad with envelopes which were said to contain just travel money for the participants...i think he was than the Punjab Rangers chief...many suggested that the army was being over thoughtful in handling miscreants or troublemakers irrespective of the religious issue...!Particularly interesting was his suggestion that the jeep symbol was not their creation and that they use more modern american and japanese jeeps...he again denied being responsible for the multitude of candidates related to the ASWJ and jamatudawa and newer religious incarnations...however i remember a previous press conference in which he had said that they should be allowed into the mainstream...!he also said that a letter sent to the judiciary for a coordination meeting was a mistake and that they had nothing todo with a PMLn candidate Siraj who was picked up by the agriculture deptt with whom he had problems...!It does seem that that the army is still deeply involved in maneouvring its political points of views and finds it difficult to accept that its choices might not be those of the people especially when all their efforts are totally considered as lets say 'allah's doing...'the army seems to have a childish view that the americans and pakistani politicians should be appreciative of their anti terrorism efforts especially when they have taken so long and worked so hard at it...the army has itself blamed a lack of government initiative and NACTA's failures in not being able to control terrorism...many regard the failures and success's in anti terrorism as the responsibility of the ministry of interior and the ISI...
  
  
• Jul11-2018--The fauj says it is not directly involved in elections engineering however if two soldiers are deputed per polling station they would need at least 170000 soldiers for security purposes... they say the are deploying a massive 371388 soldiers...also they have many suggest as many as upto 60 lakh serving votes and perhaps as large a number of retired voters... votes which they can use to influence any election...legally...they say they will see to how ex captain safdar the nawaz sharif son in law is treated after being jailed...
  
  
• Jul10-2018--The Nawaz Sharif son in law is now in Adiala jail...he was shown hanging out in a shabby state in a haripur/mansehra cave...but it was obviously not for him tobe an escaped convict...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--The IHC ordered the CDA to demolish illegal structures in Banigala and E-11... Banigala is a sprawling place and generally all of it is illegally constructed...Imran Khans palace would also have tobe demolished...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--In the first decision of its kind the SC disqualified two major Chakwal politicians for not having an income tax record...Nowadays not having an income tax record is legal..The accused said that they did not have enough income...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--The SC declared the gun and country club as illegal and ordered the 145 acres be used for building the Polyclinic...The same steps should be used for the posh Islamabad club where officials use government funds to pay membership dues...
  
  
• Jul10-2018--The ECP disqualified a PTI candidate for printing the CJ and army chief pictures on his posters in PP35...the contestant was obviously seeking the support of people who praise the army chief and CJ ...The CEC was unable to understand that...apparently...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--Both the PPP and PMLn believe that efforts to undermine them politically are being made specifically by the NAB and CJ...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--nacta names six top politicians under terrorist threat...including Hafiz Saeeds son Talha saeed...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--The Bhasha and Mohmand dams could cost about $20-25 billion...The CJP account for donations would at best only help in a very minor way...This years inflows would suggest that Bhasha might be very ineffective in the longterm as flood waters would barely fill Tarbela...!unless water outflows are conserved...
  
  
• Jul10-2018--SC summons on July 12 Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur and a number of related bankers and bussinessmen in a Rs35 billion money laundering case...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--Asif Zardari and top party officials were gathering in lahore and were indicating support for Nawaz Sharifs homecoming...!
  
  
• Jul9-2018--SC bars the chiefs of three banks from leaving the country in the Zardari suspicious funds transfer case as Bilawal Zardari a shrine devotee is stopped from visiting the Uch sharif shrine...
  
  
• Jul8-2018--The Sharifs to return to Pakistan on the 13th as PMLn plans a raucous welcome
  
  
• Jul7-2018--Nawaz Sharif arriving in Lahore on Jul13...NAB will attempt to arrest him inside the airport and shift him on a helicopter...If the crowds are too large than the flight maybe shifted to land at Islamabad...!PMLn attempting a huge gathering at Lahore...!
  
  
• Jul10-2018--Imran Khan announces a simplistic party manifesto with a south punjab province and building four tourist resorts every year...earlier he had announced that he would raise tax revenues to Rs8 trillion which would cause immense rises in cost of living...he said he would bring in a british firm to build 5 million low cost houses and raise employment opportunities...!There are numerous firms in pakistan involved in building homes from the low end to the luxury end...!
  
  
• Jul7-2018--after some delay dramas the accountability judge gave his judgement...it was so severe that many were stunned...he ordered the confiscation of the Avenfeld apartments...he fined nawaz sharif 8 million pounds and maryam 2 million pounds apart from jailing them for ten and seven years respectively...he also jailed the son in law safdar for one year...!that left at least two more PMLn candidates disqualified...Shahbaz Sharif tried to take charge and made a pathetic attempt at mujhe kyun nikala...!the situation remained the same with doubts about whether the sharif father daughter duo would come back to be jailed and whether they would file appeals in the high courts...!Apparently the judgement is just about concealment of assets...!while the judgement seems open and shut further appeals to higher courts will not theoretically concede any relief...The only way an appeal can succeed is by a complete change in attitude and any new real evidence that sharifs can bringup...there is also evidence of the Rs125 million that the senior sharif received from his son...in lieu of his avenfeld share or ownership...!!The sharifs could appeal while staying in london as they would need some sort of bail before arrest if they decide to come to pakistan which i find at this stage doubtful...!there is also the matter of confiscation of avenfeld assets...when that comes before the British government now it would have some basis...The British would again have to decide who is the real beneficial owner...they would probably have access to purchase records and would probably decide on that basis...!If the courts continue to fasttrack Sharif cases the appeals to the High and supreme courts might be decided within days...The sharifs should in theory delay the filing in the high court till the limit for appeals is almost over...!
  
  
• Jul7-2018--There is a heavy police presence around the court to stop any attempts by the PMLn to create a situation...Police has moved into key positions in Lahore...!The Sharifs lawyers are prepared to challenge any decision in the more lenient high courts...The judge of the accountability courts is the same as that in the cases of Asif Zardari who had ruled in favour of Asif Zardari suggesting that 140 boxes of investigative material and evidence had disappeared...!
  
  
• Jul7-2018--The Avenfield accountability court case decision was to be announced at 1230...however it was than delayed till 1430...and than to 1630hrs..the explanation that copies were being photostated...Apparently Nawaz Sharif wanted the decision delayed until his supposedly dubious return to pakistan...Nawaz Sharif apparently wanted to shout in court..."Avenfield is mine...Avenfield is mine..." The sharifs have been unable to give a clear money trail...apparently they say that a qatari prince gave the sons $12million as well as the Avenfield apartments after getting the money for investment from Nawaz Sharifs father a relatively hardworking anti PPP couplotting type...most of the case is lies, subterfuge and duplicity... as reports suggest the purchase did not involve any qatari and apparently took place around the time of the daewoo motorway and the 2c/6cent IPP era involving huge kickbacks...The court however can still accept the Nawaz Sharif case as well as totally reject it...however they could just disqualify the rest of the sharif family and let Nawaz Sharif off the hook in this case...reports suggest that a huge amendment has been made on the intervention of the caretaker primeminister and the ISI/army...however it is possible that the delay could be normal to add more details to the judgement instead of a brief judgement with details tobe issued later...!a 100 page judgement was announced
  
  
• Jul6-2018--SC wants reduction in recently announced oil price increases...
  
  
• Jul6-2018--PMLn announces that it will still focus on large projects of infrastructure but also work on job creation
  
  
• Jul6-2018--TLP fields 259 candidates on punjabs 290 provincial seats which are more than the PPP
  
  
• Jul5-2018--The TLP challenges other religious groups dominance by nominating 103 candidates in punjabs 117 NA constituencies while independent candidates with the jeep symbol are 119...
  
  
• Jul5-2018--The SC suspended an IHC judgement for the ISI to clear road blockages in front of its office saying the IHC judge did not have suomoto powers...However the SC asked the ISI to remove all encroachments from public land...
  
  
• Jul5-2018--CJ orders immediate construction of two dams despite their efficacy being questionable and asks for donations for a dam fund...!
  
  
• Jul4-2018--six killed in lahore as almost entire lahore is flooded by rains...pathetic caretaker CM says Wasa working efficiently...Wasa almost ineffective...cavein's near GPO chowk helps drain water on mall road...wasa tankers standing around helplessly as is their staff...almost 400mm rain..more rain supposedly forecast
  
  
• Jul3-2018--six security men of a bomb disposal team killed in a rocket attack in Awaran...
  
  
• Jul3-2018--11855 in the run for 2018 elections...
  
  
• Jul3-2018--ECP grills a PTI candidate for printing the army chief and the chief justice pictures on his posters...and threatens disqualification
  
  
• Jul2-2018--many feel that the government should announce any heavy salaries it gives...eg. the PSO chief gets 2 million a month...a former md PTV gets 15 lakhs per months...Punjab company chiefs were getting upto 3 million a month...This is in the same context of the army chief who apparently gets a salary of upto 12 lakhs...The army chief apparently is the only government employee who gets everything free including free food and can save his entire salary...It does seem a bit odd...!
  
  
• Jul2-2018--There are several underconstruction incomplete hospitals in rawalpindi but the CJ only visited one of them...however he says that he is not running sheikh rashids campaign...rumours had however been making the rounds that the CJ in exchange for Rs5 billion was attacking PPP opponents in a deal with Asid Zardari...The CJ had shown a good deal of restraint/fright in dealing with smaller provinces including backing off from the kalabagh dam issue...Bilawal says that CJ has no right to interefere in the issues of dams...Sindh has a strange case of duplicity in matter of dams...they keep asking for more water but refuse to support building the kalabagh dam or any other dam...!Apparently the CJ has a deal with sheikh rashid that he will resign on his orders ...!
  
  
• Jul1-2018--The tax amnesty scheme has definitely failed...because if it was a success they could have immediately returned the chinese loan of one billion dollars...!without an extension...the chakry shamhsad akhter...dollar at 124 and petroleum prices already at around Rs100 with oil at $75...what will happen when oil returns to a $100...!probably a hike in electricity prices next...!The CJ apparently does not know that that two dams are already in the process...!they have already tendered for a bhasha housing colony and road to the site
  
  
• Jul1-2018--seven candidates return PMLn tickets in DGkhan and get jeep and bucket symbols...Maryam says jeep is khalai makhlook(martians or aliens)
  
  
• Jul1-2018--PMLn candidate says he was tortured in PP219 multan...!