MicroPakistan

Archive Page 3 of 34

Of the same genetic sequence, yet…..

Published on January 8, 2008 in Pakistan. 3 Comments

[This one was forwarded to me by email. The name of the writer is unknown.]

Here’s what is happening in India :

The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.

In November, Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance. Continue reading ‘Of the same genetic sequence, yet…..’

Bhutto Assassination by Gwynne Dyer

Published on January 2, 2008 in People and Politics. 1 Comment

Benazir Bhutto did five years of hard time in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, after her father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown and hanged by the worst of Pakistan’s military dictators, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. But she was a woman who liked her privileges and her luxuries, and she was never a very effective politician.

I got to know Benazir Bhutto a bit in the mid-1970s, when she had finished her degree at Harvard and was doing graduate work at Oxford University. She actually spent much of her time in London, in a grand flat she kept just off Hyde Park.

If you knew a lot of people in town who took an interest in Middle Eastern and subcontinental affairs (I had been studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies), and you weren’t too old or too boring, you were likely to end up at her flat once in a while, at what some would call a salon but I would call a party.

A fairly decorous party as those things went in 70s London, to be sure, with everybody showing off their sophisticated knowledge of the region’s politics and nobody getting out of hand, but definitely a party. The hostess was well informed and quite clever, and she obviously had money coming out of her ears. We knew her dad had been prime minister of Pakistan before Zia overthrew him, of course, but she was neither a serious scholar nor a budding politician. Continue reading ‘Bhutto Assassination by Gwynne Dyer’

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: From freshers’ week to the political front line

Published on January 1, 2008 in People. 11 Comments

Here’s an article on Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and what is visible about him from his facebook profile.

Rachel Williams
Tuesday January 1, 2008
The Guardian

To his friends at Oxford in the autumn, he was Bilawal Lawalib, just another ordinary teenage student enjoying the social whirl of his first term at the university. To the rest of the world he is the shy-looking 19-year-old contending with a future as the head of Pakistan’s greatest political dynasty. Continue reading ‘Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: From freshers’ week to the political front line’

My heart bleeds for Pakistan. It deserves better than this grotesque feudal charade by Tariq Ali, The Independent

Published on December 31, 2007 in People and Politics. 3 Comments

Six hours before she was executed, Mary, Queen of Scots wrote to her brother-in-law, Henry III of France: “…As for my son, I commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him.” The year was 1587.

On 30 December 2007, a conclave of feudal potentates gathered in the home of the slain Benazir Bhutto to hear her last will and testament being read out and its contents subsequently announced to the world media. Where Mary was tentative, her modern-day equivalent left no room for doubt. She could certainly answer for her son. Continue reading ‘My heart bleeds for Pakistan. It deserves better than this grotesque feudal charade by Tariq Ali, The Independent’

Pakistan’s flawed and feudal princess by William Dalrymple

Published on December 30, 2007 in People. 2 Comments

It’s wrong for the West simply to mourn Benazir Bhutto as a martyred democrat, says this acclaimed south Asia expert. Her legacy is far murkier and more complex (Courtesy: Guardian)

William Dalrymple
Sunday December 30, 2007
The Observer

One of Benazir Bhutto’s more dubious legacies to Pakistan is the Prime Minister’s house in the middle of Islamabad. The building is a giddy, pseudo-Mexican ranch house with white walls and a red tile roof. There is nothing remotely Islamic about the building which, as my minder said when I went there to interview the then Prime Minister Bhutto, was ‘PM’s own design’. Inside, it was the same story. Crystal chandeliers dangled sometimes two or three to a room; oils of sunflowers and tumbling kittens that would have looked at home on the Hyde Park railings hung below garishly gilt cornices. Continue reading ‘Pakistan’s flawed and feudal princess by William Dalrymple’

My long journey with a vulnerable but brave charmer

Published on December 30, 2007 in People. 0 Comments

She bought fruit in a dusty bazaar, impressed me with her insights: two weeks later, she was dead

Jason Burke
Sunday December 30, 2007
The Observer

Benazir Bhutto slipped off the white headscarf she always wore in public and sank back in the rear seat of her armoured police Land Cruiser. On one side of her sat Farhatullah Babar, her long-time aide. I sat on the other, notebook on my knee. After a rally near the dusty frontier city of Peshawar, the motorcade was heading for the capital, Islamabad.Bhutto did not stop talking during the three-hour journey - except once. As we drove through the crowded bazaar of a small town called Pabbi, she suddenly said she wanted to buy oranges and, stopping the vehicle, stepped down into the chaos of the market. Five minutes later, a crate of fruit sat beside her designer handbag on the seat, and crowds of bemused Pashtun tribesmen waved us on our way. Two weeks later, to the day, she was dead. Continue reading ‘My long journey with a vulnerable but brave charmer’

A Macro-Analysis of Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan’s Open Letter

Published on December 21, 2007 in Emergency and Judiciary. 2 Comments

Guest Post by Hassan Baig

(Accessible at http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/2007/12/open-letter-from-aitzaz.html)

Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan is a leader in his own right. A populist leader even. Moreover, his read of the political spectrum and all developing eventualities is sensible and practical.

But perhaps not practical enough.

Ms. Benazir Bhutto is widely believed to be averse to the idea of the reinstatement of the deposed judges. In fact, she has gone as far as publicly chiding the lawyer community (and probably Barrister Ahsan in particular) to form their own political party if they so wish. This stand is understandable when seen under the light of the economics of it: the political and self-preservation costs to Ms. Bhutto of a reopening of her files by independent-minded judges are far greater than the costs of loss (if any) of the PPP’s public appeal as a result of her endorsement of the establishment’s agenda. Ms. Bhutto would never underwrite an option which pays dividends only in moral rectitude and not in monetary and/or realpolitik terms.

For someone so ethically-decided, it is abnormal how PPP loyalists endure in their support for Ms. Bhutto. It is almost as if her metamorphosis from her debut in 1988 to the skilful opportunism management she practices today has been completely lost on these supporters. Some quarters insist that Ms. Bhutto’s support is a product of her hereditary right – that many support her with blind conviction borne of the psychological guilt of inaction, engendered among the loyalists when her father was hanged till death without much ado. This is perhaps a major ingredient for Ms. Bhutto’s political adhesiveness, but probably not the only one. There’s also that promise – only to political heavyweights albeit – of garnering a high Internal Rate of Return[i]. And on some level, there’s probably ideological mesmerism involved too - at least for those few who are still motivated by overarching principles instead of material agencies.

Continue reading ‘A Macro-Analysis of Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan’s Open Letter’

The Plan To Topple Pakistan Military by Ahmed Quraishi

Published on December 1, 2007 in Emergency, Musharraf and Pakistan. 8 Comments

[I am a bit unsure about what’s written here as it is almost a mini-thesis yet Ahmed Quraishi fails to address the most important issue for me. He doesn’t talk about the judiciary. There is no mention of what they did wrong, unless he is implying they were also part of the US campaign against the Pakistan army. Because at the end of the day Musharraf and his government, by imposing this emergency, took action against no one except for the judiciary. Our superior judiciary is jobless. The media is mostly back on and soon GEO should be up and running as well. I believe the Dubai authorities have allowed them to operate.

You see it seems like Mr Quraishi is blaming the entire world for what’s going wrong in our country, yet he fails to explain why action was only taken against the judiciary. Also, if the judiciary is part of this whole thing, just like the media, students, activists, lawyers, then something inside me questions why, if at all, all the good men are in the army?

Also, if this is there is a conspiracy against the army then what’s more important is how has the Musharraf government tackled it since November 3 or, in fact, prior to it? All I can see is an act that has visibly weakened the superior judiciary for many years to come.

Just for e.g. the man attacks Ayesha Siddiqa and mentions her Indian contacts. Yet he says nothing about the facts contained in her book. If the research is accurate then what difference does it make whom she meets or befriends?

Well, it’s an interesting read for the conspiracy factor, though completely unsubstantiated.]

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

The Plan To Topple Pakistan Military

This is not about Musharraf anymore. This is about clipping the wings of a strong Pakistani military, denying space for China in Pakistan, squashing the ISI, stirring ethnic unrest, and neutralizing Pakistan’s nuclear program. The first shot in this plan was fired in Pakistan’s Balochistan province in 2004. The last bullet will be toppling Musharraf, sidelining the military and installing a pliant government in Islamabad. Musharraf shares the blame for letting things come this far. But he is also punching holes in Washington’s game plan. He needs to be supported.

Continue reading ‘The Plan To Topple Pakistan Military by Ahmed Quraishi’

He’s a General, He’s a President..oh wait he’s also a Judge…ahhh he has to be Superman!

Published on November 29, 2007 in Emergency. 1 Comment

[This piece was written before General Musharraf stepped down as Chief of Army Staff and took oath as President.]

Even Superman would envy the kind of powers our man Mr. Musharraf has. After all not every man heading the army can impose an emergency, then ratify it as President and subsequently get it validated by the Supreme Court (or rather a more pliable Supreme Court).

My claim that the President has also assumed judicial powers may strike you as being absurd as he has not yet claimed the title of a judge. However, in this case the title does not matter. Let me explain.

One of the reasons in the Proclamation of Emergency was:

WHEREAS some judges by overstepping the limits of judicial authority have taken over the executive and legislative functions;

Now, I wonder how the General or any of his pongos arrived at this conclusion. After all, the superior judiciary with over a couple of hundred years worth of experience combined would be in a better position to decide what the limits of judicial authority are than anyone else. However, it seems that on November 3, 2007 the head of the executive seemed to know better than the head of the judiciary, or in fact the entire judiciary, what the limits of its authority were. I am certain that is not a function of the executive. What I am even more certain about is that it is an essential function of the judiciary to review the actions of the executive and the legislature, known the world over as judicial review and covered in detail under Article 199 of our Constitution. Although I agree that the judiciary was showing off its new-found status it did everything well within its powers. The judiciary has much more judicial review powers with regards to the executive then the Legislature, but even then it can declare a law null and void if it is ultra vires of the Constitution. It was in this light that Constitution Petitions were filed in court challenging the NRO, although that law was an Ordinance promulgated by the President and not yet ratified by the Parliament. Continue reading ‘He’s a General, He’s a President..oh wait he’s also a Judge…ahhh he has to be Superman!’

Permanent and Serious Physical Damage Rising to the Level of Organ Failure by Anil Kalhan

Published on November 29, 2007 in Emergency. 0 Comments

By Anil Kalhan

(Posted at Dorf on Law)

No, I’m not referring to any physical damage associated with my jaw dropping to the floor upon hearing George Bush say that ~~Gen.~~ Mr. Pervez Musharraf has not “crossed any lines” in his full-scale assault on civil society. There are so many things to be said in response to that ridiculous statement, but one particularly disturbing irony seems to stand out.

We have long known that when it comes to torture, the Bush administration has at times drawn “the line” in a rather peculiar place, at one point seeking to limit the definition of torture to acts “likely to result in permanent and serious physical damage … ris[ing] to the level of death, organ failure, or the permanent impairment of a significant body function.” Well, after several weeks in which many have feared that Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, and their agents might be perpetrating unspeakable crimes in Pakistan’s jails, it now appears that Musharraf has crossed even the dubious “line” drawn by the 2002 Office of Legal Counsel memo Continue reading ‘Permanent and Serious Physical Damage Rising to the Level of Organ Failure by Anil Kalhan’