Author: Dr Khalil Ahmad

We are not a normal nation and live down inside the proverbial well made of our own presumptions. Thus we are a perfect subject matter for psychologists to study. In addition, we are never ready to admit that, instead declare others abnormal. That makes us own a stinted mindset in our heads. What’s wrong with this mindset is that it never allows us to live normally, to have introspection, to see ourselves in a critical mirror, to identify our mistakes, to understand our inconsistencies, to grant others the same rights and freedoms that only we rightfully claim to possess and enjoy. It is this mindset that does not let us come out of our obsession of a charismatic nation (for whom things will happen on their own without any effort), and finally it is this mindset that never permits us to move ahead and improve ourselves.

Forget the present crisis

[The Express Tribune, November 3, 2013]

[The Express Tribune, October 27, 2013]

I completed this article on April 2, 2007, after about a month when on March 9, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, refused to budge before the mightiest generals of Pakistan.

Like millions of other Pakistanis, I too was excited; yeah there was a way out of the quagmire Pakistanis have been put into by the Riyasati Asharafiya (State Aristocracy). However, I was trying to see this development on the political horizon of Pakistan from a very different angle: from the perspective of a theory of knowledge. The title I gave to this article was: Pakistan – victim of a dangerous theory of knowledge

I sent this article to The News, which carried it by a different title:
Judiciary’s first ever NO

Here is this article:

The following news story tells how Boots are replacing Books [Also compare the British Rule with the Pakistani Military Rule (including the Pakistani Civilian Rule)]:

Military rule legacies: Enter the boots, exit books

ISLAMABAD: Cycles of military dictatorship have left behind their fair share of legacies – amendments to the Constitution, controversial changes to school curriculum, the list can go on.  Some of these bequests have not only caused confusion, but also severely damaged national intellect and heritage.

Against this backdrop, the demolishment of libraries and recreational areas established during the British era at railway stations, more often than not to turn them into police stations, is one such example.

According to records, libraries have been shut down in the name of sanctity, sensitivity and national interest, to give way to more thanas. Consequently, even during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s ‘moderate’ military rule, countless precious books were discarded.

The

The Express Tribune of October 26, 2013 placed a tweet of Maryam Nawaz Sharif on top of its front page. Here it is:

“Education could be your wisest investment”

Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Twitter

One may ask: did your investment in education prove wise?

Or what else proved wise?

Is it because of your education that this newspaper highlights your tweet on its front page?

Or it is something else?

Such as Riyasati Ashrafiya’s (State Aristocracy’s) clout? And, Pakistani Media’s complicity with the Riyasati Ashrafiya?

Whatever it is, it is not your education, Ms. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, that the media is trying to make you another leader for the hapless citizens of Pakistan!

There are tribal citizens who favor Drone attacks!

“. . . interviews by The Economist with twenty residents of the tribal areas confirmed that many see individual drone strikes as preferable to the artillery barrages of the Pakistani military. They also insisted that the drones do not kill many civilians—a view starkly at odds with mainstream Pakistani opinion. “No one dares tell the real picture,” says an elder from North Waziristan. “Drone attacks are killing the militants who are killing innocent people.”

See the following news report by The Economist:

NATIONAL surveys find that Pakistanis are overwhelmingly opposed to CIA drone strikes against suspected militants in the tribal badlands close to the Afghan border. The strikes are seen by many as an abuse of sovereignty, a symbol of American arrogance and the cause

LAHORE  – Renowned singer Zubaida Khanum passed away in Lahore on Saturday night. Her funeral will be held at Westwood Colony Raiwind Road on Sunday (today).

Zubaida Khanum was introduced in film Billo by Baba Chishti in 1951 and got breakthrough from famous film Shehri Babu in 1953.

She sung (sang) lot of super hit songs in films during her short but valuable stay in the industry. Zubaida Khanum’s Pinjabi songs are still very popular since she is known as an evergreen singer, and would remain so.

Legend Zubaida Khanum also sang popular naat ‘Shah-e-Madina’ decades ago.

Zubaida excelled singing for Punjabi and Urdu films. Composers like Rashid Attre, Safdar, Saleem Iqbal and Chishti were definitely

[The Express Tribune, October 19, 2013]

Nadir Hassan stands apart from the courtiers in weighing up the achievements of General Kayani, ‘the political animal.’ See this article by him which The Newscarried on October 10, 2013.

By Nadir Hassan

The bar for a successful chief of army staff is very low in Pakistan. So long as you don’t show so much disdain for democracy that you do away with it altogether you have done better than most. This is why, in the six weeks left before he retires, there will be many odes to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the man who could have grabbed absolute power but chose not to.

Ignore this hagiography. Kayani is without a doubt a very shrewd and calculating man but his net benefit to the country is in the red.

The first stint seemed to go so well. After the Musharraf nightmare, Kayani seemed like a new

[The Express Tribune, October 2, 2013]

[Daily Jang, October 12, 2013]

[The Express Tribune, October 16, 2013]

Here is the story of an island’s violent birth in an earthquake:

By Henry Fountain

A small island that appeared in the Arabian Sea off Pakistan after an earthquake last week most likely formed when the shaking released methane gas and water trapped in undersea sediments. The gas and water forced part of the seabed to the surface, experts said.

[The New York Times]

“It looked as if a section of shallow seafloor had simply been pushed up,” said Game McGinsey, a volcanologist with the United States Geological Survey. Photographs of the island, which measures roughly 100 feet by 250 feet and rises about 60 feet above the water, showed a rough-textured surface suggesting that the seafloor had risen and cracked, he said.

Dr. McGinsey said the way the island was created was similar in some ways to that of a so-called mud volcano, in which gas

Isn’t the accomplice, and the culprit the federal government, which gave consent for this scheme? Isn’t it the ruling party, i.e. Pakistan Muslim League (N)? Aren’t they the politicians of Pakistan, who allow such usurpatory schemes?

So, who is the main culprit? The answer is: the politicians of Pakistan.

Farm land allotment scheme for army officers

ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is retiring in November after completing his six-year tenure as Chief of Army Staff, approved a few months ago a scheme for allotting agriculture land to serving and retired army officers.

After the approval, the Welfare and Rehabilitation (W&R) Directorate of the General Headquarters circulated on July 31 details of the scheme to all the regiments, corps centers, station headquarters, ministry of defence and other relevant quarters.

According to a former officer, retired Colonel Mohammad Sajjad such schemes are announced after certain periods of time and

The real strength of the hardcore Taliban lies in their softcore allies!

[The Express Tribune, October 7, 2013]

See how one member of an elite family is being showered with praises for her real degree and distinction in the LL.B. examination by a senior journalist! Though his story tells about her family, but her belonging to an elite family is not highlighted.

Also, the journalist writes: “Ayesha was elected member of the National Assembly on the reserved women’s seat on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket along with others after the May general elections.” It may be mentioned here that no elections are held for the reserved seats, only nominations are made.

Poor Pakistani media!

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: While lawmakers dubiously take pride in possessing fake degrees, getting or giving out of the way favours to their cronies and exploiting their positions, a female novice among them has earned a rare distinction that is reserved only for

[The Express Tribune, September 29, 2013]

Some of the issues are not political. Maybe one party which is in power toady will be in opposition tomorrow. So better be considerate regarding one’s political trading! Also, they are all brothers in arms after all!

See this news item regarding such an act of the Riyasati Ashrafiya’s (State Aristocracy’s) “insider trading”:

ISLAMABAD: Deafening political rancour apart, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has approved “compulsory” acquisition of a huge piece of land, 1,000 acres (8,000 kanals), for the Namal College Mianwali of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan at a throwaway price but several key PML-N figures are loudly protesting the decision. 

Top officials of the Punjab government and Namal Education Foundation (NEF), which runs the facility, confirmed to The News that the chief minister has sanctioned acquisition of 1,000 acres of land from local landowners under the 1894 Act,

FAISALABAD: Scores of traffic wardens staged a protest demonstration here on Friday shortly after a traffic warden was beaten up allegedly by an MPA’s guards.

The warden was taken to a hospital, from where he was released a few hours later.

The protesting wardens surrounded the office of the regional police officer and shouted slogans against the MPA. They demanded that action be taken against the MPA and his guards.

The wardens said that a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA was passing through the road, when

[Voltaire, 1694-1778]

Years ago, it was in a National Book Foundation book-shop in Lahore that I came to realize the helplessness of hapless fellow citizens, though I am as unlucky as any one of them could be. The Foundation is a government body, and we know that government employees are a bit privileged than other people. For police it is not easier to harass or coerce them. Also general public consider them under a protective umbrella. But probably it was so in the past.

That man just reaching his middle age was in-charge of the shop. How weak he might be feeling at that time that he did reveal his heart to me. He lived apparently in an unprivileged locality. He owned a small house and was a father to three young ones,