The Public Toilet

Does anyone remember what happened on 2^nd July 2007 (just two days ago)? If yes, then one must be sane enough to know what happened on the 3^rd of July (yesterday). Have you though that why it happened on the 3^rd? Why not on 1^st July?

General Pervez Musharraf is like a spark plug, like in a petrol engine. A spark plug produces a spark to combust the fuel in the piston cylinder. Musharraf works like a spark plug. He produces a spark every time the piston gets near enough, he sparks a debate until the next piston cycle because if he doesn’t, the engine will stop and so will he.

General Musharraf has just pulled his biggest Attention Diverting Maneuver (ADM) or fraud after his claim to fame. This time around, although he over did himself, the end was very anti climactic.

His latest ADM was the Jamia Hafsa attack. If anyone thinks that the whole Jamia Hafsa phenomenon was (as it’s over now) the prelude to Talibanistaion in Pakistan, he is dead wrong. It is nothing but another detour for the gullible Pakistani mind. A detour from what happened on 2^nd July, 2007, the day the official wizard of Pakistan, the man who can easily be dubbed as the father of almost all the governments of Pakistan, Mr. Shareef-ud-Deen Peerzada, who is the Governments Lawyer, took a beating from the Supreme Court Judges. The Supreme Court threw out the scandalous evidence presented by the Government lawyers against the Chief Justice and banned the entrance of the Intelligence officials into the court room.

The drop scene happened when one of the men in command of Jamia Hafsa, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was caught while escaping and that too clad in a Burqa effectively ending a bad joke no one understood except the spark plug.

Numerous incidents of similar nature have taken place during this agonizingly long regime. Kalabagh Dam, Wana, Damadola, Baluchistan uprising, Bugti and countless other incidents or rather dramas which took place just to make the minds wander. Is there a season for uprising in Baluchistan? Or are the Marri and the Bugti tribes on vacation these days somewhere in Europe? Isn’t there a need to finish the Kalabagh Dam debate once and for all instead of using it for ADMs?

The answer is that there is a season of uprising and there isn’t a need of finishing any debate because it is due to these issues that Musharraf and his government lives to die another day.

At first it was just Palestine which was in the line of fire, but now the whole of the Middle East a.k.a Nowhere Land joining the bandwagon. Initially, it used to be the good ol’ fashioned one-on-one Israel vs. Palestine bit; now things have gone to a triple threat match. To top it off, Palestine is taking on three at a time, even the US of A cannot do that without some significant help.

There is a proxy war going on in Palestine very similar to that which happened in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, there were rival factions fighting for power, one was backed the USSR and other by the USA.

This time around, the shareholders of this proxy war are many. In one corner there is the usual uninvited guest US of A along with Israel and flanked by Saudi Arabia. Their party in the ring is the organization ‘Fatah’ headed by Mahmoud Abbas, the so called Palestinian President. In the other corner, there is Hamas backed by Iran and Syria.

Although Hamas was the party elected by the Palestinians but the democratic countries of the world, some where in the West, did not agree to the results. Instead, they use the local bully and the fat side kick (Israel and Saudi Arabia) to get rid of the elected government.

If this wasn’t enough, there is another proxy war, on a smaller scale though, going on in Lebanon. The warring parties include the erstwhile dead Lebanese Army which is now, surprisingly, alive and kicking and some random Al-Qaeda wannabe faction settled in a refugee camp for Palestinians. Seeing the Lebanese Army alive again means that either the Lebanese Army is sponsored by Israel (and consequently Saudi Arabia) or it is made of some gutless wimps, or maybe both.

No matter what efforts the US-allied Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf puts in, it will never suffice a continuous unconditional amicable response from the West. The government has stooped down to levels such that the former Education Minister Zubeda Jalal single-handedly decided to exclude significant portions from the religious syllabi of schools just because they taught about ‘Jihad’, litterally translated as spiritual struggle. In late 2006, Musharraf’s regime bombed madarsa’s (religious schools) in Northern Pakistan to prevent the country from potential terrorists. He is also liable for all the lives lost in Afghanistan because of the Air base offered to the US Airforce. On March 30, 2007, an Islamic Radio Station was shut which was aparently set up by pro-taliban clerics. Every time the US pressurizes Pakistan to prove its pet-tish nature, the Pakistani military holds pretentious peace talks with Waziristan’s residents which undoubtedly result in the capture of a few prospects to fill the ‘vacant’ Guantanamo Bay prisons.

It clearly demonstrates the level to which Pakistan’s current government is ready to give up its dignity and little respect that it may once have had. But will any of this be enough to receive continuous patronage and support from the West? And if it is, how much more of the constitution will be amended, how many more lives lost, how many years till Pakistani leaders comprehend the irregularity of Western-aid to Pakistan? It has for years, been an on-and-off event; whether Pakistan was allied or not, US and other foreign aid has been inconsistent through out history. Even today, after all these measures were taken, newspapers, critics and Western leaders continue to demean Pakistani alliance and never appreciated the extent to which Musharraf’s regiment sidelined all religious hardliners. Why is it, that these politicians choose not to learn from history?

No matter how ‘pleasant’ international relations may be,current affairs within Pakistan demonstrate extreme state instability in the interiors of this politically-befuddled nation. The Chief Justice vs President case seems to be beating the bush in convoluted terms and the aim of each has now been resigned to dirtying the other’s professional records. The MQM audaciously continues to threaten, now not only the lives of political figures but also all journalists involved with the coverage of this case and the May 12th incident.

What does the government do to implement its Western agenda without the public’s intervention and criticism? They introduce an ‘American Idol’ into the country, contrasting only to suit the different audience of the country. The Imam of the Ka’bah, Adbul Rahman Al-Sudais is invited to the country which attracts not only the most religious peoples’ attention but also that of the semi-religious and even that of ‘Islamic modernists’ to whom such events represent the full extent of religious fervor and devoutness. But the question holds, who, amongst the following short-listed nominees will win the Pakistani Idol:

1. The President Pervez Musharraf and his pawn government electives
2. The Chief Justice and his Opposition supporters
3. The MQM and their incessant juvenile tactics to ‘liberate’ muhajirs (immigrants) and separate Karachi from the rest of the country
4. The innocent Pakistani citizen who needs no more than a peaceful economic environment to subsist

The result is in the hands of every Pakistani civilian. Cast your vote now because by remaining apolitical, one exhibits apathy for oneself and one’s own future generations.

By Dr. Farrukh Saleem

Nelson Mandela ruled South Africa for five years. Mandela could have easily ruled for ten more but Mandela opted to walk away from all trappings of power. That’s magnanimity. Mandela shall live forever.

General George Washington wasn’t a member of any political party. Neither is General Pervez Musharraf. Washington ruled for eight years. So has Musharraf. Washington could have easily ruled for four more but Washington opted to walk away from all trappings of power (presidential term limit was passed in 1947). Washington thus lives on.

Musharraf’s legacy is that of prosperity. More Pakistanis now own their homes than ever before. More Pakistanis own cars than ever before. Pakistan’s rate of economic growth has been second only to China. Pakistanis have been registering new companies at a rate that they have never done before.

Musharraf’s legacy is that of education. Funds provided to public sector universities went up from Rs3.8 billion in 2001-02 to Rs14.3 billion in 2004-05. Musharraf’s legacy is that of women empowerment. The Hudood Ordinance was amended and women participation in the political process increased manifold.

Musharraf’s legacy is also that of media. Geo, Aaj, ARY, Indus Vision, Prime, Musik, DM Islam, Style Duniya, Ujala, Healthline, Hum, Masala, Fashion TV, Haq, CNBC, AVT Khyber and QTV. Then there’s Mast FM103 Karachi, FM101 Hyderabad, City FM89 Faisalabad, FM101 Sialkot, FM100 Islamabad, FM101 Bannu and FM101 Quetta. Internet hosts have gone up from around 4,000 when Musharraf took over to 73,000 currently.

On May 17, the US Department of State said that General Musharraf has not yet reached the “end of his line.” That may indeed be so, but that line now forks out either to democracy or repression (no third choice). Democracy is all about compromises and power sharing. Repression means a military solution, unenlightened immoderation even more confrontation, black laws, censorships, violence, end of prosperity and everything else that Musharraf has built over the past nearly eight years; bringing down each and every feat one by one. Imagine, an architect ripping apart his own most treasured building brick by brick, window by window, floor by floor. Could there be anything more painful than that? A painter putting to light his most adored piece of art inch by inch. A sculptor fracturing his most beloved sculpture bone by bone, tissue by tissue, joint by joint. Repression entails all of that and more.

On August 11, Musharraf will turn 64 (the average life expectancy of a Pakistani male is 62.73 years). Will there be a Nelson Mandela moment in Musharraf’s life? Will there be a George Washington moment in Musharraf’s life? Only the luckiest among mortals get to live forever.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=57897

This insightful article is applicable on each and every Pakistani in general and on those Pakistanis in particular who become the apple of the Public’s eye. From sportsman to politicians, no one realizes that he is too old till he is too old to realize it.

“President Pervez Musharraf on Monday accused opponents of using his ouster of the chief justice to conspire against him and said he would weep if “lies and deception� prevail in the crisis threatening his grip on power.

In a defiant speech, Musharraf defended his government’s record and accused unidentified opponents of hijacking a purely legal issue, allegations that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry abused his office, for their political ends. “They are conspiring against me and want to incite the people,� Musharraf told hundreds of supporters at a rally of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in the earthquake-hit Mansehra, broadcast live on state TV.

“That will be a day of grief for me if these lies and deception triumph over truth and reality … That will be a very sad day for Pakistan and the point where I will cry,â€? he said. He insisted the party could still win year-end parliamentary elections.â€? http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7998

Pervez Musharraf is in public campaigning overdrive these days yet the snake is not showing any signs of shedding his second skin. The General overdid himself by saying that “he’ll cry if the CJ wins�. Seeing Musharraf cry will be the sight that will give immense pleasure to many Pakistanis, besides, obviously the Indians.

Musharraf is making a banana republic out of Pakistan. He has perfected the art of making issues out of non issues like that of Jamia Hafsa’s just to divert the attention of the people from another issue: the Chief Justice fiasco, and then he has the audacity to say that he is trying to promote the softer image of Pakistan.

To take this promotion to the next level butchers from MQM are hired just to stop the Chief Justice from speaking at the cost of innocent lives. To top things off, the dapper Shaukat Aziz condoles with the Chicago-taxi-driver-turned-politician-turned-Godfather Altaf Hussain. But it is a relief to know that at least someone, the British media, has started pursuing the ‘Godfather’.

What is Pakistani politics coming to? Why is the government restricting the opposition’s efforts to secure support of a few thousand people when they are confident of their own strength and authenticity? What are they afraid of?

An insight into the history of current affairs should provide us with sufficient answers.In chronological order, it starts with the CJ’s denial of the Steel Mill’s privatization and exclusion of other by-laws which he considered judicially discrepant and erroneous.All this went against the President’s reign, leading to the government’s heightened embarrassment. It gave way to his displeasure and subsequent attempts to force the CJ to either take back his decisions or quietly resign. The CJ’s refusal of both options aggravated the government’s reaction and they filed a ‘fundamentally strong’ case against the CJ. The allegations included the usage of a private plane on several occasions and the appointment of the Chief Justice’s son as medical officer in the Provincial Health Department, as a member of the Police Services of Pakistan, and the nomination of his son for a foreign course on combating international terrorism.

How do these allegations compare to the millions of rupees taken as loan by several members of the national assembly and parliament and written off with the President’s consent? Leaving that issue for another time, lets head back to the issue at hand today, the inter city rallies taking place all over Pakistan. The rallies taken out by the CJ and his supporters in the northern parts of the country were done so peacefully without any riots. However, when the same rally is channeled to Karachi with the backing of the country’s most didactic and respectable professionals, they face government resistance! The government’s puppets, better known as Muttahida Qaumi Movement, took full advantage of being in power in Sindh. The Adviser to Chief Minister for Home Affairs, Waseem Akhtar, warns the CJ that his life is in danger upon his arrival in Karachi. Unless Waseem Akhtar and his fellow MQM-ers decide to take such drastic measures, there is no harm to the CJ’s life. The opposition is in favor of the Justice, why would they want to hurt him in any way? And if in retaliation to the opposition’s rally, MQM wanted to take out its own, why didn’t the central government hold back its pet dogs? Not only did they decide to take their own rally out, they blocked all routes which the Chief Justice had decided to take, jeopardized the opposition’s vehicles, and kept the Chief Justice Iftakhar Chaudhry, Aitezaz Ahsan and all other lawyers stranded at the airport until they had no choice left but to accept boarding passes back to Islamabad! In the meantime, the Karachi police was stripped of all their powers to stop riots on the potential throngs on the streets. They shamelessly watched the massacre with fellow rangers. As if that was not enough to quench their thirst for power, they chose to shoot a few individuals to make their point LOUD AND CLEAR!

What is coming out of all this, other than the clash of dirty politics? Innocent people who decide to take a stance that they believe is right, are dying.On the other hand, the President himself addressed the general public in Islamabad from a bullet proof glass box with his toy Prime Minister and pawn government officials where the Police and Rangers positioned were alert and maintained security efficiently.What a democracy where one has to fight for one’s own life to support policies that do not follow the government’s agenda, where one has to die for having an independent opinion!

The President claims this is not a political matter. Tehrik-e-Insaaf’s chairman, Imran Khan, claims it IS a political war. Politics,by definition, is matters between the state and citizens.Who could represent that relation better that the Chief Justice who maintains law between the state and citizens. So, addressing definitions, it IS a political issue. Had the political parties not amalgamated their political with lawyers and judicial powers, the Jamali chapter would repeat itself.

Tomorrow is Black Day in Karachi, followed by God knows how many days of strikes by several agencies. Are we going to see further bloodshed? Where are the law enforcement agencies of the country? What comes of the people who lost their lives innocently? Why could MQM not have taken out its rally a day before or after the 12^th of May? Was this manslaughter planned? Who is responsible? Is the country on the brink of civil war?

To Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry

“Tu Hai Agar Be Wafa to Apna Bhi Yehi Tor Sahi

Tu Nahi Aur Sahi Aur Nahi Aur Sahi” (Urdu)

“If you are not sincere, then I am no different

If you were not to be, there are many others to love”

Courtesy: http://modeltownblog.wordpress.com/

I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world - have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God’s sake, what’s wrong with putting a bag over her head? That’s what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it’s hard to breathe. Then it’s perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can’t be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are.

It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn’t be able to talk at all. Of course they’d probably find it even harder to breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn’t be humiliated.

And what’s all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It’s time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of solitary confinement. That’s one of the many privileges the US grants to its captives in Guantánamo Bay.

The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn’t rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it’s just invaded. The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras!

What’s more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting “stress positions”, which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle failure. It’s all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will confess to anything to get out of it.

And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all conclude that she is “unhappy and stressed”.

What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her “unhappy and stressed”. She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals, they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can see exactly what has been going on.

As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.

· Terry Jones

Original post: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2046991,00.html#article_continue

One of those 15 Brits: I was blindfolded; I was pushed to the wall with weapons cocked behind me, sniff.

Another one of these: “Some of the Iranian sailors were becoming deliberately aggressive and unstable and scary and my pants got wet.”

Another said: “If we admitted we had strayed, we would be on a plane back to the UK soon and just in time for the Arsenal match. If we didn’t we faced up to seven years in prison”.

First one again: “We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall. Basically there were weapons cocking. Someone, I’m not sure who, someone said, I quote ‘lads, lads I think we’re going to get executed’ and I leaked againâ€?

Just look at what those Iranians have done to these cute little kids who were vacationing in Iraq. What were the poor little things to do except to give in!?! Those treacherous Iranian monsters; they should be bombed for not following the oh-so-holy Geneva Convention.

After doing what they do best in Abu Gharaib and Guantanamo Bay, whining over pushing and plastic handcuffs is extremely childish on the part of these soldiers.

Britain is surely sending kids to Iraq. Apart from these fifteen, four British soldiers were killed on Thursday, three of whom were less than 22 years old; one being 19. As someone rightly said that this was not a gift to Britain from Ahmedinejad, rather, it was the other way around.

This crisis could have escalated into a war, just like the Israel-Lebanon war over the two kidnapped soldiers. The US even offered a score of options to Britain in retaliation to the capture. In the end the master stroke of Ahmedinejad saved the day.

To add insult to injury, the released sailors have now been allowed to sell their stories to the media. This action alone is enough to weaken the sailors’ side of the story. We can expect a movie in three years time; a Bond movie perhaps.

Does he think he is Macho Man or does he really think his witty sarcasm will divert Western attention away from the Iranian nuclear program?

I must applaud Ahmadinejad’s untimely sense of humor though, for releasing ‘the 15 detained British sailors and marines on Wednesday as an Easter season gift to the British people.’ He also jokingly mocks Prime Minister Blair’s government by asking him not to punish the sailors for having recorded the ‘truth’ on taped confessions in Iranian detention. Where will this ridiculous satire get him? But more importantly, where does he want it to take him?

The Western world has not and will not easily forget his childish fun-poking; ‘Satan inspires Bush’, ‘Britain Arrogant’ and ‘Israel acting like Hitler’ are only few of the many blatant name-calling incidents tied to the Iranian President. What makes him think that denying the holocaust and wanting to wipe Israel off the world map will do him any good? All he manages to do is continuously attract more attention towards their nuclear program which is already under the Western World’s critical eyes. His unfaltered belief in upsetting the world’s most powerful lobby is sinking him and his country deeper into the invisible quick sand better known as the “War Against Terror”!

Kudos to his bravado, but nonetheless, he should really watch his back. Afterall, the Iranian nuclear program in its small-scale entirety is ‘ever so harmful’ to the greatest nuclear power on the planet!