Is another “Lal Masjid Episode” taking shape?

It appears that Lal Masjid Brigade is again testing the waters. Few days back, various TV channels reported that Burqa-Clad females of Jamia Hafsa armed with knives and clubs removed and tore the posters and banners of General Pervez Musharraf (Retired) in G-6 Sector of Islamabad.
This picture was published by The Express Tribune on April 18, 2013:

The event has not been taken notice of. The same series of events happened earlier and ignored when finally Lal Masjid Operation became a necessity.
Is the same crisis brewing again, who knows!
See a previous post on Lal Masjid: Echoing Lal Masjid
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Charter of Liberty – making fundamental rights inviolable

When I read the Charter of Democracy, the idea of rebutting it, and writing a new charter struck me. This found shape in the Charter of Liberty. I started working on it on April 14, 2007, and on May 17, 2007, completed it.
The Charter of Liberty responds to the Charter of Democracy issued by Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party and signed by their respective leaders and former Prime Ministers of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. The 70-page document presents a critique of the Charter of Democracy and is an independent Charter of Liberty also. It seeks to present a solution to the myriad problems and unimaginable sufferings faced by the ordinary people of Pakistan to achieve freedom and prosperity for all its individual citizens.
The Charter says that the charge-sheet against the political parties is not different from the one they make

The State of Property Rights Protection in Pakistan

Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing. 
(Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933)
It was in January 2007 that a letter appeared in some newspapers. Its writer was a former cricketer. He was part of the national cricket team which toured India in 1952-1953. He also received an award from the president for his services to the game of cricket. He had a heart-rending story to relate: An engineer by profession, he spent a good part of his life in Middle East. On coming back to Pakistan, besides his family dwelling, he built a house in DHA, Lahore, with an intention to give it on rent to meet their daily living expenses out of the rental income.
But as it happens, the tenant did not pay the rent for many years and he had to knock at the doors of the courts to seek justice. After five years’ tiring litigation,

State Aristocracy’s Loot of Pakistan – 26

I started collecting and sharing this information just because of my focus on how the state aristocracy makes use of its capture of the state to further its interests and loot; however, there is so much to it appearing daily in the newspapers that to me it requires another blog fully devoted to the state aristocracy’s appropriation of the citizens’ tax money and misuse of the public authority.
Hence, I think I should give only the links to such news items and of course from such newspapers which I happen to see.
راجہ پرویز اشرف نے جعلی اشتہاری مہم کے لیے 961 ملین ادائیگی کی منظوری دی: ٹرانسپیرینسی کا چیف جسٹس کو خط
http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101800293&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20130331
[Roznama Express, March 31, 2013]
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عدالتی احکامات نظر انداز، 175 سابق ارکان اسیمبلی نے ڈگریوں کی تصدیق نہیں کروائی، جعلی ڈگری والے 54 نام ایلیکشن کمیشن کی ویب سائیٹ پر جاری
http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101801620&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20130401
[Roznama Express, April

PML (N): enigma of principled politics

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
[Barry Goldwater, American Politician and Senator, 1909-1998]
  
It is said that every government is a perfect target for criticism. But interestingly this time in Pakistan though the Pakistan Peoples Party government is under heavy fire and of course it must be and even if outside government it should remain so; however, what should be the real target is Pakistan Muslim League (N). This article is an attempt at highlighting that point.
As for PPP’s politics both before and after February 18 elections and through the events that unfolded within the last 7 months, it is established beyond doubt that PPP is as usual on a collusion course with the elitist set-up, and is just continuing the policies of

Taliban and Hamas – the same ilk? – 2

Here is more evidence:
Hamas shaves heads of Gaza youths with long hair
Gaza City: Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have started grabbing young men with long or gel-styled spiky hair off the streets, bundling them into jeeps, mocking them and shaving their heads, two of those targeted and a rights group said Sunday. It is the latest sign that they are imposing their strict practices on the population. The crackdown began last week, and two of those targeted told The Associated Press said they were rounded up in separate sweeps in Gaza City included more than two dozen young men. – AP
[The News, April 9, 2013]
See the previous post: Talibanand Hamas – the same ilk? – 1

The State of the Rule of Law in Pakistan

March 9, 2007 is an epoch-making day for Pakistani citizens. With Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s (at the time Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan) blunt refusal to bow down before the unconstitutional demand of the military elite, and his unconstitutional removal by General Musharraf, at the same time Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan, the movement for his restoration with time transformed into a movement for the Rule of Law in Pakistan.
It’s just a co-incidence that the following article, which probably first time talks of the state of the Rule of Law in Pakistan, was completed on February 10, 2007. I realized the fact later.
This article was carried by The News in its edition of Political Economy on March 18, 2007 with a different title, The State of Misrule. Then, Business Recorder published it in two parts on March 24, and 25, 2007, without

Political moral depravity

Politics and morality are not the same thing. Politics is not religion nor is it a moral code. It is the art and the science of reaching, keeping and sustaining power. It is a system of making, or breaking alliances, for the common cause.
[Nafisa Shah, PPP MNA]
Lately in Pakistan, politics, politicians, political parties and their supporters have become an antithesis of whatever we associate with the name of morality. But the way this truth manifests itself under the present Pakistan Peoples Party government is dangerously alarming.
We know our given world is amoral, and it is we who try to make it morally meaningful. The physical and botanical world is absolutely beyond any moral apprehension. The zoological world shows some crude or not so crude signs of actions which may appear as morally motivated, but sure they are not. Taking care of each other, or of those who

Who is promoting the Sons and Daughters of politicians – 1

I read regularly The News, The Express Tribune, and Urdu daily Express.
The only reason I read The Express Tribune is that International Herald Tribune comes with it almost free. Just in Rs. 19 one can read both papers.
So, that’s my limitation. I keep an eye how prominently these newspapers place pictures / statements of the Sons and Daughters of politicians. Of course, it’s the prerogative of the administration and the editorial staff of these newspapers how and where they place the pictures / statements of the Sons and Daughters of politicians. But at the same time, as a reader it’s my right to judge what such coverage amounts to and why the Sons and Daughters of politicians are given such prominence. In most of such coverage, I don’t see any news value, relevance, or any such thing, which could justify their placement at such top

State Aristocracy’s Loot of Pakistan – 25

I started collecting and sharing this information just because of my focus on how the state aristocracy makes use of its capture of the state to further its interests and loot; however, there is so much to it appearing daily in the newspapers that to me it requires another blog fully devoted to the state aristocracy’s appropriation of the citizens’ tax money and misuse of the public authority.
Hence, I think I should give only the links to such news items and of course from such newspapers which I happen to see.
PM Ashraf is a defaulter, CDA informs SC
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-21770-PM-Ashraf-is-a-defaulter-CDA-informs-SC
[The News, March 23, 2013]
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PM Ashraf is a defaulter, CDA informs SC
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-21770-PM-Ashraf-is-a-defaulter-CDA-informs-SC
[The News, March 23, 2013]
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PML-Q ex-MNA has two fake educational certificates
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-167154-PML-Q-ex-MNA-has-two-fake-educational-certificates
[The News, March 23, 2013]
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Majority oppose fake degree holders, defaulters in polls
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-166976-Majority-oppose-fake-degree-holders-defaulters-in-polls
[The News, March 23, 2013]