The Daily PakistanPolitics DEC 1-15, 2018

• Dec15-2018--a newly contructed part of the IIA starts to cave in
• Dec15-2018--gas shortfalls as winter reached its peak caused by asad umar decision to liberalize gas for industries which was earlier blocked
• Dec15-2018--Dawn says that no progress made on western CPEC route which exists partially
• Dec15-2018--six FC men martyred in Kech attack and 14 injured
• Dec15-2018--PTI does another somersault and says they named shahbaz sharif PAC chairman under pressure...no pressure was visible..
• Dec15-2018--Pakistan say they are now aiding US-afghan taleban talks in Dubai which were recently initiated in Doha...
  
• Dec14-2018--The CJP obviously does not believe that wealth is not a sin and orders a 20% cut in private school fees...
  
• Dec14-2018--The government does a double somersault and agrees to Shabaz Sharif as the head of a PAC committee
  
• Dec14-2018--the supposedly wealthy Imran Khan says that wealth is not a sin...!he tells the wealthy that they can have more tax concessions and opportunities...to hell with the people they can pay more for electricity...The government has been doling out subsidies to the already rich military, agricultural and bussiness sectors...with the difficulties being foisted on ordinary people...in pakistan there is never any trickle down from the rich and wealthy...all the investment opportunities go to the same groups of industrialists or their families...it is not ordinary people who are involved in money laundering or keeping dollars abroad...! The CJP in a somehat new theory under an unexplained law has imposed a fine of Rs29 million on the primeministers sister for having wealth abroad...hopefully such decisions will become common place and just informing the government that they have properties abroad will not be a letoff...it would have been wonderful to fine nawaz sharif and tareen as well rather than disqualify them only...!
  
• Dec09-2018--many wonder at the asad umar assertion that he is not doing things to get the IMF loan...with history as an example he probably is in the same conundrum of do more to satisfy the IMF conditionalities...given the first quarter results he is either wrong or misguided
  
• Dec13-2018--PTI 's all out aid to industry and free for all gas allocations have again caused the same result...shortage of domestic gas supplies all over the country...with current gas resources the country just cannot afford wasting gas on industries...The primeminister also seems to have a misconception that the private sector with all sorts of subsidies is not making profits...! A textile mill usually makes 30-35 crores annually many say...one wonders why the primeminister only considers the rich worthy of aid and subsidies...and the only higher electricity and gas prices for the people...
  
• Dec09-2018--many think that Imran Khan should appoint a full time interior minister..the information minister seems to want the interior job while sheikh rashid wants the information job many say...
  
• Dec09-2018--Iran tries to rope everyone into an anti american posture says it is hurt by reduction in aid to pakistan, pressures on turkey and russia and sanctions on iran...they say donald trump is in an allout economic assault on the region...pakistan does not suffer much and people prefer an end of USaid
  
• Dec09-2018--NAB wants to know how the ex PSO MD received a monthly salary of 4.95 million and says that his appointment and salary fixation did not follow normal rules...
  
• Dec09-2018--FBR forcing Imran Khan to make another uturn by increasing taxes...specifically they want a fixed tax on each litre of petroleum and they want to again impose a tax on mobile cards...with the petroleum price on the rise it seems foolish to make the tax a fixed amount...the taxes on mobile telephony are already substantial
  
• Dec09-2018--Imran Khans squabbling ministers seem tobe fighting it off for the information ministers post...imran khan seems to have made mistakes in selection on teh basis of ability...Sheikh Rashid kept the tongues rolling by saying that Chaudhry Fawad the troublesome information minister was picknicking in wintry London...!
  
• Dec08-2018--Pakistan after losing to New zealand make jokes in selection for South africa...they bring in an extra legspinner, drop the successful offspinner and bring in an extra wickekeeper ? With Hafeez retiring they bring in two openers in the dasher Fakhre Zaman and Shan masood...they also bring in a sixth pacer in Amir...!they also refuse to add Abid ali the inform opener who has a first class average of 60.36...shan masood was not even tried in the UAE
  
• Dec08-2018--Imran Khan and Asad Umar must have been asleep...with the dollar nearing 150 they say they were never consulted...There seems no particular reason for the dollar rise...they probably did not read the press report a few months ago which said that the dollar is going tobe pushed upto Rs.150 by the PTI regime..anyone say on IMF concerns..!earlier governments took such steps after they got the IMF money...The PTI on the other hand is taking such steps even before the IMF deal goes to its board for approval
  
• Dec07-2018--The army chief wary of the falling PTI popularity goes on the air to say he has nothing todo with the PTI manifesto or governing parties...as a subordinate government organisation the army has been on board to government programs as they cannot issue their own policies...
  
• Dec07-2018--Corruption in the Pakistan Army is pretty substantial...they say that they have kicked out or penalized 400 officers in 2017-18...for a supposedly disciplined organization that is at best a vipers nest...!while low level officers are charged they are usually rehabilitated later...however senior generals are never exposed...reports suggest that the current army chief has upto sixty million in his bank accounts and and has a huge tax free income...!Other reports suggest that Imran Khan looking for living quarters in Abu Dhabi...!
  
• Dec07-2018--everyone thought Shaheen airlines was owned by the PAF but its owners have now fled the country...!
  
• Dec06-2018--In another case the CJP definitely overstepped the law when he took up the case of Zulfi Bukharis under the articles for disqualification...Zulfi Bukhari is a british national and his appointment as advisor could be threatened by that...at the moment foreign nationals cannot stand for election...Zulfi Bukhari is not an expert on expatriates and his appointment could be cancelled on those grounds alone..even he does not seem tobe a friend...!some people have suggested that Imran Khan's expatriates are behind the rupee devaluation...others say it is imran khan himself...the rupee devaluation is not going to increase foreign remmittances substantially but might increase exports...if the the dollar buys more the exports should theoretically decline...the only way to increase exports is to increase quality of fibre and stictching...
  
• Dec06-2018--The bias shown by the CJP is substantial in the Azam Swati case...despite a mix of evidence that the IG islamabad was negligent of even attending phone calls and even the IG's report said that they were azam swatis servants the judge has nominated two lawyers to suggest steps to take against azam swati...it is the judges responsibility to decide a sentence and it now seems that the judge is wary of deciding things himself...They donot seem too complicated from a laymans point of view...!Azam swati has resigned from the cabinet
  
• Dec06-2018--a new JIT will investigate the model town incident obviously in a pro PTI way...two investigations have already taken place...!
  
• Dec06-2018--trade with bigger countries is always a negative and the WB suggestion that pakistan increase trade with india is negative by pakistani standards...india refuses to buy anything from pakistan and even in tourism it would be lopsided...hav'nt heard of any indian flights to pakistan
  
• Dec06-2018--In suggestions that the PTI had some underhand connection with the CJP Imran Khan handed over the "toota bhajja" naya pakistan to the CJP..."tusi sambhalo"...The CJP's intentions are dubious after he ran off with his entire family to England and came back lasered and with new eyeglasses...suggesting that the CJP could not see properly with the old ones...!Imran Khan too has been undergoing a facial uplift...!Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had started it with "we will make a new pakistan" in 1971 which was dragged down by the military...such slogans are the makers of fiascos in governance and it is already the butt of jokes in political butt slapping...rivalling it are Ayub Khans "decade of development" immediately bringing the government to an end...
  
• Dec05-2018--Punjab which has seen a 40% decline in development spending is apparently sidelining the LG's which are totally PMLn dominated and now they have shifted lg sithority to deputy commissioners ...the LG's have only policy making powers but that has also been taken away from ...many suggest that the LG elections should be held to create a new mandate...
  
• Dec05-2018--CDA raises 14 objections to regularising Imran Khans Banigala house...apparently it is still in Jemima's name and they also want a money trail and a complete structure and design of the house...apparently Imran Khan only filed sketches with his application...
  
• Dec05-2018--Imran Khan and the ousted Jehangir Tareen who still is seen participating in active government politics seem tobe suggesting that they could go for early elections if they are thwarted...it is doubtful that they could win or better their assembly positions think many others...even if the dubiously thrashed PMLn might be hesitant they could put up a much better front than before...
  
• Dec05-2018--In another "muje mara" complaint Nawaz Sharif complains that JIT investigation methods are not nice...one has'nt heard of the JIT using underhand methods or thrashing the politico or water boarding him...!.any way the CJP in the Pakpattan landscam allowed him to name any investigation agency..technically it is the FIA job but he was allowed to select anyone from ACE, FIA, JIT or NAB...The JIT and NAB have made hay out of being allowed to investigate top politicos at best...initially it was the courts that did not trust anyone...!
  
• Dec05-2018--PTI is now softsoaping the economy after their doom and dust theories failed to arouse the suspicion that they knew nothing about the economy...Asad Umar technically a sarkari industrialist has scant respect for the people and has literally upset the imran khan doom scenarios...he now says that there is nothing wrong with the economy that a few billion dollars wont fix and says that he has brought down...the current account deficit from Rs2 billion daily to a billion daily...That seems a lie as the deficit had increased in the first quarter...he could not control spending...There are some who suggest that the first quarter 50 billion extra spent by the armed forces contained an extra years salary for top ranking army officials...!many suggest that the PTI are mere pranksters and cannot be expected to even start something new...with only nawaz era programs going on they have nothing to inaugurate or start...their own pending programs in the KP have also not been completed...the swat motorway and peshawar metro being the only two..!