All the cartoons on the same page!
See this cartoon by Sabir Nazar carried by The Express Tribune on September 11, 2013.
Any guess: what’s the book all the parties are on the same page of!
Is it the Constitution of Pakistan! Or what else!
Plato’s dark forecast about Democracy without Rule of Law
Plato knew well democracy without rule of law in Pakistan will be dominated by demagogues, chaos will ensue, to reestablish order, the people will welcome tyrant, and tyranny will give to other evils!
See this article which appeared in The New York Times on September 11, 2013:
Democracy as chimera
The news from Egypt confirms Plato’s dark forecast about democracy. Early this month the ruling junta in Cairo arrested a labor lawyer and a journalist, raising concerns that the regime’s repression now targets not just Islamists but also secular critics.
As Plato warned, extreme freedom risks extreme slavery. He predicted that democracy — “people rule” — will quickly be dominated by demagogues. Chaos will ensue. To reestablish order, the people will welcome a tyrant. Tyranny will give birth to other evils.
One of America’s leading specialists on the Arab world, the late Ambassador Hermann F. Eilts, agreed with Plato. Having helped mediate the
Murders, Pakistani State writes
Re Shahzeb murder case
Today’s tweet:
Pakistan is fast turning into a state of the murderers, for the murderers, by the murderers! Where and how the 66 years were wasted!
Now see this news item:
Sindh govt sought pardon for Shahrukh Jatoi from Zardari
KARACHI: Important revelations have come to light regarding the Shahzeb murder case. It was revealed that the Sindh government had sent a summary to the Aiwan-e-Sadr to quash the death sentence of Shahrukh Jatoi.
According to the information received by Geo News, the home minister Sindh had sent the summary to the president by bypassing the Interior Ministry. The Aiwan-e-Sadr sent this summary back to the Interior Ministry. Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali had rejected the summary.
The Sindh government had sent this summary to governor Sindh on July 19 and sent the same to the Aiwan-e-Sadr on August 6. The Sindh government
Everything that glitters in Media is not gold!
Today’s tweet:
… Re Pakistani media’s praise for Asif Ali Zardari: Everything that glitters in Media is not gold!
Pakistani media’s alchemy – making a seer out of a crook
What’s happening at this time in Pakistani media has no precedent! It’s desperately trying to transform Dust into Gold using its science of alchemy and its alchemists.
As Asif Ali Zardari leaves the Presidency, Pakistani media slides into a frenzy to be all praise for him, forgetting all the names it has been calling him with. Probably all the television (may be radio also, do not listen to any) channels and almost all the English and Urdu newspapers are making a seer out of him. As is said in Urdu and Punjabi:
’’چوروں قطب بننا‘‘
It may be translated into English as: a thief’s turning into a (sufi) saint
So the Pakistani media’s alchemy is transforming Asif Ali Zardari into a Great Democrat!
This act of Pakistani media reminds of a classic idiom:
Everything that glitters is not gold!
And, I would like to amend this idiom as:
Everything that
Political parasitism in Sindh
Today is the day when the five-year term of President Asif Ali Zardari has come to an end (writing this blog in the evening).
See the today’s newspapers. I guess almost in every paper there is a full-page ad. I saw 4 newspapers: Jang, Express, The News, The Express Tribune. The ad has been given by the Sindh Government, where Peoples Party is the ruling party.
In the ad with a photo of Asif Ali Zardari is printed:
I translate: “The trustee / preserver of democratic traditions”
Then the “achievements and the accomplishments” of this “trustee / preserver” has been counted.
In the end is printed:
Sharjeel Inaam Memon
Minister for Information and Archives, Commerce and Industries
Government of Sindh
Obviously, Sharjeel Memon did not pay for these ads eulogizing his mentor. Nor the Peoples Party! This was done at the cost of taxpayers of the Sindh province.
I think
Good Riddance Day – President Asif Ali Zardari leaves presidency today
Today’s Tweet:
… Good Riddance Day – the devastation caused by Asif Zardari to exert its impact on the Pakistani state, society and ideas for years to come!
Killing human beings for their ideas
It’s just inhuman, against the very norms of the human world, that anyone be killed for his / her ideas.
Everyone has ideas, good or bad, and nobody knows whose ideas are good and whose ideas are bad.
Ideas are extensions of thinking beings. And, it’s ideas which have built this human world. It’s ideas which protect us in an unknown universe. Hence, killing human beings for their ideas amounts to killing this human world, our abode!
“Kabuliwala’s Bengali wife” was living inside the camp of the enemy and fighting the killers of this human world and her weapons were but Ideas!
[From The News International]
See the full story carried by The New York Times:
Civil Pakistan – a blog for Urdu posts
Be informed that I have decided to separate the Urdu postings from English ones and put them together into another blog.
For the Urdu posts, I am setting up, CivilPakistan: Urdu Blog. As the setting up of the Urdu Blog finishes, all the Urdu postings will be shifted there.
This will let the Blog: NotesFromPakistan.combe available wholly for English posts.
Khalil
Yeh Hawaon Kay Musafir, Yeh Samandron Kay Rahee – another accomplishment
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Riyasati Ashrafiya (State Aristocracy) and the chronic debt dependence
Chronic ‘debt dependence’
By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq
All is set for the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (MF) to consider Pakistan’s request for a fresh bailout package on September 4, 2013 after Islamabad has purportedly “fulfilled all prior requirements” — the IMF has already circulated amongst members the Letter of Intent (LoI) it received from Islamabad. Reportedly, though the IMF has agreed to provide $6.6 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Islamabad is insisting on $7.3 billion confirming its insatiable ‘debt addiction’.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a news conference on August 26, 2013, revealed that “in the first year, the IMF will give $2.2 billion while we have to pay back over $3 billion.” He conceded that Pakistan had no option but to borrow $12 billion “to retire its previous debts”. Dar said the “most vital precondition of the IMF for broadening of
Pakistan Kay Tufaileyay Siyasatdaan
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
The myth of economic imperialism: a brief take
[Recently, I was asked to express my views on the notion of economic imperialism and answer to a few questions. It was suggested that “the notion that Pakistan controls the reigns to the economic resources of the country is incorrect – she doesn’t. The G-7 does. They are the ones who make all the economic decisions for us, for our country, through their institutions like IMF, World Bank, and WTO through the policies of SAP, TRIPS, and TRIMS. The idea is to expropriate our land, our labor, our raw materials, and our markets for their own profits. This is what economic imperialism is all about.”]
Here is the email I received on September 7, 2007:
We are a group of MBA students from LUMS, IBA, and CBM who are launching a quarterly socio-economic magazine here in Karachi in November 2007.
We visited the Alternative Solutions Institute website and found it
Siyasat Aur Jurm Saath Saath
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Pakistan Ka Sab Say Bara Masyela – Tardeed Ka Tamasha
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Yeh Hawaon Kay Musafir, Yeh Samandron Kay Rahee
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Aaj Ka Akhbaar Aur Pakistan Ki Halat-e-Zaar
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Riyasati Ashrafiya (State Aristocracy) grabs loans and distorts the economy
‘Qarz burhao, mulk bigarho’
By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul Haq
[This article first appeared in the Business Recorder of August 30, 2013.]
In 1997 the slogan of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was ‘Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro’ [retire debt, adorn country], which is reversed in 2013 as all efforts are underway to increase public debt – both domestic and external. The new slogan appears to be ‘Qarz Burhao, Mulk Bigarho’ [increase debt, damage country].
People of Pakistan have yet not forgotten the fate of ‘Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro’ Scheme announced by Nawaz Sharif on February 23, 1997 along with declaring Friday as weekly holiday instead of Sunday within one week of assuming his second term as Prime Minister [February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999]. The Government of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) [PML-N] in its third term is using the same old tactics-misleading the people on economic issues.
Finance
Atum Bum Kay Tukray Ya Pakistan Kay Tukray!
Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog – Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:
Weapons kill the same citizens!
My today’s tweet:
… While equipping their army with any weapons, the citizens must be cautious the same may be used against them also- lesson from Syria and co!