Dna issue 36

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sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014 I Issue 36 I Pages 16 I rs 25

THE TRAGIC FLAW MUtUALLy LET’S NOT CONFUSE DEMOCRACY AssUreD WITH FAMILY FIEFDOMS AND DestrUctIoN BUSINESS CONGLOMERATES oPINIoN: Raoof Hasan

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TWO GAUNTLETS FOR MR SHARIF cover story: Humayun Gauhar

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‘WE ARE STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY’ LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION REVEALS BACKCHANNEL DEALINGS MEANT TO DIFFUSE AZADI MARCH TENSIONS INtervIew: Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah

BY MIAN ABRAR

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

ediToriAl

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Shahab Jafry

Asher John

Joint Editor

Associate Editor

Chief News Editor

How things got to this point?

The caliphate has a dam

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2818125 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Everybody is to blame

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He first factor is the government’s arrogance. The majority seats that it got in the national assembly in May 2003 elections made the PML-n lose its head. The party’s leadership claimed that no one had the right to evaluate its performance or criticise it before the completion of its tenure. It refused to lend an ear to Imran’s complaints about rigging soon after the polls. as his demands increased with the passage of time, the PML-n leadership appointed three federal and a Punjab province minister to shout him down.

The pinpricks on their part created more bad blood. The PTI had got the second largest votes and has emerged as the third largest party in the

national assembly. It would have been appropriate to take note of Khan’s complaints and try to redress them promptly.

The system of governance has also contributed to the confrontation. Initially what Imran wanted was a reevaluation of results through verification of thumb impressions in four constituencies. The delay in addressing Khan’s demands indicates that there are serious problems in the system of governance which lacks an ability to effectively respond to discontent and complaints. reportedly the government is now meditating an amendment to the representation of Peoples act (roPa) 1976 to empower the election Commission to direct tribunals – something not currently provided for under the

legal framework. This handicaps the commission, especially in cases where tribunals violate the law by handing out unnecessary adjournments. The step being considered could have been taken months back if there had been a will.

Imran Khan too is responsible for escalating the confrontation. Finding nawaz sharif’s popularity falling like a stone in Punjab on account of the power crisis and PML-n government’s relations with the military strained, Imran Khan thinks this is the time to strike.

He wants to remove the government by bringing a million activists to Islamabad.

He forgets that someone might lead a million-plus a year after the next government fails to deliver, as it must in a single year’s time. g

Baroness Warsi’s bold stance Actions speak louder than words

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aroness Warsi’s resignation as British foreign office minister should be appreciated for a number of reasons. and even though her action will not have more than symbolic value, it has caused considerable embarrassment for the British government, especially in the country’s internal political debates. she has also questioned successive governments’ habit of ignoring public will on matters where the americans and Israel are concerned, regardless of the human cost and contradictions with British political ideals. It is not secret that just like many thousands of Britons, many in the political setup detest Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, but simply lack the moral courage to step up. and London has long played second fiddle to Washington in matters concerning the arabs, especially since Tony Blair’s days, when the prime minister ignored millions marching on the streets and lent support to a war for which he had no public mandate.

This should make the Israelis, and especially the americans, ponder. Their thuggish behaviour in the Middle east has gone on for more than half a century. and time and again, from the Yom Kippur war in ’73 to this tragedy in Gaza,

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america has shielded and armed Israel despite its blatant genocidal onslaught. But of late, especially since the social media revolution, images and stories of Israeli atrocities have reached middle class drawing rooms across the world. and this empowered group has come out very strongly against Israel and its unstinted support from america. The day is not far, it seems, when Capitol Hill will face far more hurdles in bankrolling Israel’s genocide than it has in the past, whatever manner of financial and political muscle the Jewish lobby is able to muster.

But this is also where the Muslim leadership has been lacking. Criticism from Israel has come from all corners of the world, yet Muslim leaders largely kept silent, and the saudis responded only when the international media began probing their convergence of interests with Israel seriously.

There are no words for the agony and anger of the Palestinians. and that is the point syeda Warsi has raised by resigning her position. If only more people in important places show such courage, Israel will be contained far sooner than seems likely. soon this sentiment will reach the United states, and they will have to disassociate themselves from such naked aggression. g

Can flood cities and cause droughts

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He control the so-called Islamic state – al Baghdadi’s caliphate – over Iraq’s largest dam in Mosul seems disputed for the moment, but even if they are beaten back from the facility, they have reached an important milestone. even the americans were forced to take notice after brushing off the issue for months, and sorties are underway.

If militants are able to retake the dam, however, and even hold it briefly, they could flood entire cities including the capital. They could also cut off water supply to thousands, causing serious drought. The americans have been forced to act because the government is clearly bracing for an assault on Baghdad, and the road south to Basra’s oil fields. For the moment, Maliki seems to have decided not to venture north to retake Mosul, Tikrit, etc. and the famed Turkish peshmerga troops, too, have been unable to stem rebel advances near their regions. They expanded their territory and moved to take the dam in the wake of the army’s withdrawal. But so far militants seem to have had the better of them.

The american component of the anti-Is onslaught will be the game changer, even though obama has taken far too long to respond to perhaps the greatest crisis in the Middle east. already, thousands of people have been killed as so called

whiteLies Apollo

caliphate forces consolidate and prepare for the tough fighting ahead. entire communities of Christians have had to leave areas they have inhabited for nearly two thousand years. and the shi’a, forever bearing the brunt of militant Islam, have all but been wiped out from areas under rebel control; thousands have been summarily executed, and many more have fled.

Unless the tide is turned urgently, Iraq risks being partitioned into at least three states, with the shi’a, sunni and Kurds fighting it out to protect their respective populations. It bears noting that areas where Is has made advances are the same regions where al Qaeda troubled the americans the most, and many of these cities had to be taken and re-taken a number of times before the war was over. and the manner in which militants have rebounded so strongly is proof enough, if any was still needed, that the americans did not finish the job before leaving. They engineered a fragile truce, with local sunni tribes backing government forces against rebels, but that arrangement quickly fell apart after the Us withdrawal. It is hoped that Washington will be more prudent in its engagement with Iraq this time. It has had to return to clean a mess of its own making. and hopefully it will lend a bigger hand than a few air strikes. g

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

They come in pairs, troubles for the League do. First, there is the desi Rasputin, Tahirul Qadri. Then there is Imran “KP? What KP?” Khan.

TuQ’s followers are being cracked down on. The Punjab Police, which has pressed the panic button since long, has intercepted communication within TuQ’s Minhaj-ul-Quran. Amongst the intercepts: food for 25 thousand people. Followers have been requested to bring along “musallas”, which Punjab’s finest, our boys in charcoal, fear is a euphemism for “musallah”. As in armed and dangerous.

Imran Khan, meanwhile, is said to have prepared a TuQ-style container from where he can do his thing. he can even change there, we are told. Change! g

********** NoW that handbags can cost upwards of a million rupees and even two, they are prime items for theft.

Recently, the former wife of a VVIP had gone to a beauty clinic, where her bag was stolen. The Punjab Police was spurred into action and they managed to apprehend the gang behind the thefts.

Nevertheless, expect more incidents of the like in the future. g

C M YK

Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

opINIoN

Independence Day: D-day for democracy?

Too late for a negotiated settlement?

ArIf NIzAmI

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today.

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akistan’s 67th independence Day is round the corner. But instead of being celebrated as an auspicious day when the country was created, it is being portrayed as the D-day for booting out a democratic government though street agitation.

Unless efforts of senior politicians succeed in some form of a last minute negotiated settlement, the pincer movement of imran khan’s Pti (Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf) and of the Canadian cleric tahirul Qadri spells the death knell for the PML-n government. the sharifs are adamant to use the vast arsenal of administrative machinery at their disposal to thwart the planned sit-ins while at the same time extending an olive branch to the Pti though political intermediaries. PPP’s co chairperson asif ali Zardari to Jamaat-e-islami’s amir Maulana sirajul Haq have got into the act to ‘save democracy’.

‘The Sharifs are adamant to use the vast arsenal of administrative machinery at their disposal to thwart the planned sit-ins while at the same time extending an olive branch to the PTI though political intermediaries’ the government’s narrative is simple: it has been elected for five years and hence the demand for it to quit forthwith has no basis. imran khan and his stalwarts, on the other hand, initially demanding verification of thumbprints in four constituencies including the one in which the Pti chief lost in Lahore to the speaker of the national assembly sardar ayaz sadiq, now brand the entire 2013 elections as fraudulent. they do not want to settle for anything less than mid-term elections under a new dispensation. nawaz sharif has suddenly turned a new leaf for the better. a prime minister who had earned the unsavoury reputation of being withdrawn and aloof is finally reaching out to the opposition. He has virtually met everyone who matters in the parliament –sans imran khan of coursein the past few days.

He is regularly attending parliament and has even condescended to take it on board by addressing it. Younger brother shahbaz sharif is granting television interviews for a change. in a recent interview, after huffing and puffing that those agitating against the government are somehow sabotaging the government’s pro-people economic agenda, he did

however agree to go the Pti chief’s house if need be.

Unfortunately the broad spectrum of the PML-n leadership, the sharifs included, are missing the wood for the trees. they are perhaps not unaware of the fact that in a parliamentary system being elected does not give a government the license to rule for five years – no questions asked. the Pti is hitting at the very legitimacy of the government by belatedly being unwilling to accept their mandate. the khan’s arsenal is the street power that he can muster to disrupt and paralyse the state machinery. the onus is now on the rulers to convince the critics that their mandate is unassailable and above board. the bipartisan special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms would have been a good forum to amicably resolve the impasse. However the PML-n government, under the weight of its own insecurities, squandered this opportunity. it desisted from supporting senator Raza Rabbani as the committee’s chairperson and instead elected ishaq Dar, the virtual deputy prime minister.

Rabbani being supported by Pti was an ideal choice. He was the one who spearheaded the eighteenth amendment of the constitution that gave birth to the socalled independent but toothless election commission. He was the best man to fix it through consensus. in the meanwhile everyone is waiting with bated breath for august 14. apart from the ubiquitous talk shows on news channels, even at social occasions the most common topic for discussion is the chances of survival of the government in the coming weeks. it is indeed ironic that sharifs commanding more than two-thirds majority in the national assembly and being ostensibly buttressed by the PPP, JUi (F) and the anP, are running helter skelter for survival. imran’s ‘azadi March’ is yet to be supported by Ji, his ally in kP. instead its amir sirajul Haq is trying to play the role of an honest broker. similarly, the MQM seems averse to upsetting the apple cart, and is hence paying lip service to democracy.

Only in theory the Pti seems isolated in its demand of sending the government packing. no one seems to be in a mood for midterm elections. Yet! However, depending on the mood of the ubiquitous establishment all this could quickly change. the Pakistani military is at war with the taliban, dealing with an existential threat. if it sees perennial chaos it will step in directly or indirectly, despite protestations to the contrary. this is perhaps what imran khan and his cohorts are hoping to achieve through agitation.

By invoking article 245 the government itself has given the army a foot in the door. For the time being however the military leadership is maintaining an ominous silence. not being averse to intervening in the past it could very well step in, to reform the system, as imran desires. after all, thailand’s military ended months of turmoil in May by overthrowing the elected government of Yingluck shinawarta. the ousted prime minister’s party would win again in an election.

But to obviate the possibility the interim governing body formed by the military, the national Legislative assembly, is in the process of “reforming

‘The PTI is hitting at the very legitimacy of the government by belatedly being unwilling to accept their mandate. The Khan’s arsenal is the street power that he can muster to disrupt and paralyse the state machinery’ the constitution”. Perhaps imran would welcome such an intervention in order to permanently blackball some of his erstwhile and potential opponents.

Bonapartists who hated the PPP and distrust sharifs even more have tinkered with such ideas in the past. in 1997 President Farooq Leghari, in cahoots with Chief Justice sajjad ali shah, and with a little help from the then isi chief, almost succeeded in getting rid of nawaz sharif only after a year into his so-called ‘heavy mandate’. at the time the COas General Jehangir karamat saved the day for the PML-n government by saying no to a belligerent Leghari. But instead of being grateful to

Jk, sharif sacked him just a few weeks before his retirement. the rest is history. it is yet to be seen who bails out sharif this time landing himself again in a political cul-de-sac of sorts. it will be a sad day for Pakistan if the military is sucked in the political equation by design or by default. the timing of summoning the nsC (national security Council) is ominous.

Ostensibly the meeting will discuss ongoing Zarb-e-Azb. But perhaps security issues relating to the ‘azadi March’ will also come under discussion with the top brass present. this might be good for optics. nonetheless in the end analysis the prime minister instead of relying upon administrative measures and use of naked state machinery — with its appended unpredictable consequences — will have to take bold political initiatives to extricate himself from the present impasse.

He has to reign in his hawks and move quickly and decisively. the khan can perhaps be convinced that extended chaos in the country will make his goal of being prime minister even more elusive. But perhaps it is already too late for a negotiated solution to the crisis. g

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C M YK

Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

opinion

The tragic flaw Let’s not confuse democracy with family fiefdoms and business conglomerates CANDID CORNER

Raoof Hasan The writer is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Regional Peace Institute. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com Twitter:@RaoofHasan

And let me speak to th’ yet unknowing world How these things came about. So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; Of deaths put on by cunning and forc’d cause; And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads – all this can I Truly deliver.

–William Shakespeare, Hamlet

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hen I was studying for a master’s in literature, a question that we often debated was whether Shakespeare’s masterpieces would classify as ‘tragedy’ or ‘tragedies’.

This was so because there were uncanny similarities in the plots of most of Shakespearean scripts that would unremittingly head towards the ultimate tragic denouement which, predominantly, appeared to be self-inflicted.

The Pakistani landscape finds an unmistakable resonance with the tragic spirit and the most gruesome enactments contained in the Shakespearean masterpieces. A C Bradley, possibly the most celebrated authority on Shakespeare, divides tragedy into an exposition of the state of affairs, the beginning, the growth, the vicissitudes of the conflict and the final catastrophe or the tragic outcome. Bradley emphasises the Aristotelian notion of the tragic flaw: the tragic hero errs by action or omission, this error combining with other causes to bring about his ultimate ruin. The idea of the tragic hero as a being destroyed simply and solely by external forces is quite alien to him and not less so is the idea of the hero as contributing to his destruction only by acts in which we see no flaw.

This uncanny similarity, joining the traditional plot of a Shakespearean tragedy and the perpetual tragedy that has been repeatedly enacted in this country, exclusively scripted, directed, produced and supported with nauseating soundeffects composed by the criminal political mafias operating here, is woefully disconcerting. Whether it be the case of the classical tragedy, its medieval and the renaissance versions, or the modern concepts of tragedy, there is an unequivocal convergence around the common factors of an inherent tragic flaw and an exaggerated proclivity for selfinfliction in the characters that perpetuate the conditions leading up to the bloodbath on the stage before the final curtain is drawn — a general direction in which

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Pakistan seems headed barely four days before completing sixty-eight years of its independence.

What are the essential ingredients to the ensuing catastrophe that apparently awaits the nation? It may actually require volumes to expound the entire repertoire of the political leaders’ follies, but, principally, the tragedy is contained in their selfish commitment to advancing personal interests and perpetuating family fiefdoms as the most integral component of their political strategy and operational mechanism in preference to the combined interest of the state and the people. The military dictators have not been free of committing a similar blunder particularly when they would attempt to carry the mantle of a political role to legitimise their coup and elongate their stay in the corridors of power.

The political system that is central to the authority of the government is based on the necessity for all its components to be corrupt. The election-time is a time of investment by the candidates and their patrons and promoters to ensure that their nominees are returned to the legislatures.

The ensuing five-year tenure is the period devoted to making up for the election-time investment plus a lot more to be set aside for illicit use in the future to ensure a seat close to the power echelons. All conceivable stakeholders – they make for a long and sickening list — demand their pound of flesh which has to be paid many times over to keep them in the loop. And who bears the cost of this malevolent indulgence? It is the state that suffers repeatedly to maintain this corrupt chain of activity to continue delivering an unending supply of individuals of the most decrepit variety to the assemblies – people who don’t have the foggiest idea of what legislation is all about and what would be the impact of their actions on the state. All they are interested in is to keep their patrons happy and contented so that they would be available the next time around to patronise them on their way to the assembly chambers. The stinking cycle continues and no one, practically no one, wants to change this as they are all its ultimate beneficiaries. This constitutes the cardinal component of the tragedy that stalks the country.

The tragedy is further compounded by the presence of a pitiable bunch of cronies and paid pedestrians and foot-soldiers around the prime minister whose consuming passion it is to please the master through all his misconceived flights of fancy. They come from multiple backgrounds: the lowest stock of the political variety, heads of criminal mafias, petty gangsters, members of a thoroughly politicised, corrupted and inefficient bureaucracy, representatives of the business community who have prospered by evading paying their due liabilities to the state and soliciting undeserved benefits from the government and its various institutions, the legal king-pins who have fattened their bank accounts through securing payments from the government exchequer, and battalions of miserly hangers-on who are ever so eager to prove their ‘loyalty’ to the master. This lowly stock is selected to constitute the team of the emperor’s advisors because it is only this stock with its ‘corruptibility’ quotient that the leader finds comfortable resonance with. nawaz Sharif’s tragic flaw is his fatalistic penchant for being the imperial despot who forever sits on the throne. In his quest for glory and an unchallengeable and uninterruptible hold on power as well as to secure the rule by his coming generation, he has made a concerted bid to

‘What are the essential ingredients to the ensuing catastrophe that apparently awaits the nation? It may actually require volumes to expound the entire repertoire of the political leaders’ follies, but, principally, the tragedy is contained in their selfish commitment to advancing personal interests and perpetuating family fiefdoms as the most integral component of their political strategy and operational mechanism in preference to the combined interest of the state and the people. The military dictators have not been free of committing a similar blunder particularly when they would attempt to carry the mantle of a political role to legitimise their coup and elongate their stay in the corridors of power’ subvert the state and liquidate its multifaceted assets. he has done so because he sees these as potent threats to his perceived ascendency. The military is a threat. The ISI is a threat. A genuinely independent judiciary is a threat. A free and fully-empowered election Commission is a threat. A credible electoral system ensuring a transparent process is a threat.

Conducting an audit of the flawed elections is a threat because that would only prove what is already widely known.

Initiating a genuine dialogue to constructively engage other political forces is a threat. Conducting an independent and transparent enquiry of the excesses committed by the government and its security extensions resulting in deaths of the unarmed and the innocent and apportioning responsibility thereof is a threat. Allowing the judicial arm of the state to proceed with looking up the leaders’ accounts and assets and undertaking an enquiry of their financial conduct is a threat. What is not a threat is an uninhibited use of the state’s security apparatus to kill and eliminate political opponents. In the process, the Sharifs have become both the literal and the allegorical personifications of what can be safely construed as an inveterate evil: A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch, Past speaking of in a king; –William Shakespeare, King Lear nawaz Sharif desperately projects himself as a democratic ruler, but behaves as the anointed emperor, ala the undying Amirul Momeneen penchant and would not hesitate for a moment to resort to the ugliest and the meanest tactics which are pregnant with the prospect of dividing the nation along dangerous lines, be these religious, sectarian or ethnic. The only criterion is that such a move should serve his selfish and deceitful purposes.

To achieve the evil designs, nawaz and his brother of the fake police encounters’ notoriety, have used every vile trick in their armoury. Saying that the Sharifs literally bought their way to the prime minister’s office would be an abject understatement. They actually did that and have used more of the same potion to elongate their stay in power, be it stabbing their benefactors in the back, or using the

ill-gotten funds to secure political support, politicising the bureaucracy and crime, weakening and pushing other state institutions to the point of becoming dysfunctional, rigging the elections, assaulting the judiciary through their paid goons, kidnapping and torturing their opponents, using the state machinery to brutally threaten and eliminate their political adversaries, and employing just about every vile trick that one could conceive of to subdue any opposition to their usurpation.

The other key instrument that the Sharifs have nearly perfected is the art of corrupting and purchasing everyone who has a role, no matter how insignificant, to play in the dispensation of things in the state of Denmark where just about everything stinks to the core. The cumulative result of all this has been the virtual opposite of what they intended to achieve by employing these devious tricks. having lost legitimacy and relevance in a fast-changing world that requires more sophisticated democratic values and a decidedly irreversible progressive and enlightened approach, the Sharifs have been pushed far into a dark dungeon with little to no light filtering through. That makes for a tragedy which is even more haunting than what could be gauged by Shakespearean proportions.

All their proclamations of carrying the people’s mandate bear no value or relevance because their election was grossly fabricated in the first place. It has also not delivered any relief to the hordes of the down-trodden and the underprivileged whose life has become even more difficult, thus further depleting their chances of survival. This is principally because the avenues for inducting the genuine and deserving people to the legislatures have been completely blocked through a combination of blatantly tampering with an inadequate and inefficient system as well as by using partisan state machinery that is briefed in advance of the results that need to be secured.

Understandably, the Sharifs and democracy cannot coexist. The two are divergent commodities with one being the very antithesis of the other. The two should be separated and put in their respective slots: the Sharifs in the slot reserved for despots and democracy in the slot reserved for a desirable ultimate objective. It is the path to the latter that is strewn with potholes. All experiments in democracy so far have failed to help the evolving of a democratic mindset. The political parties that provide the platform for these despots to wear the apparel of democracy are not democratic in their internal working. These are ruled by family mafias: the Sharifs, the Bhuttos/Zardaris, the Chaudhrys, and the pitiable rest. how can one have a democratic polity in the country without a democratic mindset and an egalitarian approach?

The only way out of the existing crisis is to take a step back, ponder the prospects in total objectivity and take decisions which will work for the state, not individuals. Democracy should remain the ultimate desirable objective, but the path leading to it should be carefully chiselled that would allow for adopting sustainable solutions in place of contrived appendages that have failed to deliver. All protestations to the contrary should be read in the spirit of Cleopatra’s parting words who killed herself to escape the fear of being paraded through the streets of Rome by Caesar as war bounty: Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me. g

C M YK

Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

People before politics Sajid Khan Lodhy

The writer is a journalist. He corresponds at sajidkl@hotmail.com and tweets at: @sajidsadeem.

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NEASy lies the head that wears a crown. Credit goes to Shakespeare for putting it so beautifully, though in our neck of the woods, like many things other, this quote loses its meaning. We have been known to cheer for the head that deserves no crown while jeering at the one that deserves it. This affliction is not limited to the public alone which can be forgiven for the mistake — whether they deserve forgiveness for an affliction they ask for themselves remains a separate question to be answered — it is the relatively more educated and politically active class that makes not knowing the difference between what is right and what is wrong, who to support and who to criticise, when to stand up for their rights and when to perform their obligations unquestioningly, a mockery of the idea of a nation.

Despite pre-election claims of an overthrow of archaic economic policies, throwing away of the begging bowl, keeping prices of commodities in check, putting an end to hikes in power and fuel tariffs, a reduction in load shedding and an improvement in general law and order situation, the PML-N government has not done anything substantial it promised to do.

Granted the government didn’t have enough time to settle in – and that’s being lenient; ideally it should have been ready to tackle any or all of the problems before taking on the reins – it still seems confused on a number of issues, mainly law and order, terrorism, monetary and fiscal policy, allegations of corruption and rigging in elections, social uplift, poverty alleviation, women emancipation and universally accepted fundamental rights of health and education.

Instead of getting down to business, the federal government has been found to be busy in offering lip service, exactly what you would get when you don’t have fully functional or well developed institutions.

Instead of considering politics some gameplay whose plots and contours therein are beyond the understanding of mere mortals, what every man with conscience should do is hold responsible the very politician he voted for when he fails to deliver on the promises he made during his election campaign. A vast majority of Pakistanis consider politics dirty and politicians dirty old men who when not busy in corruption and plundering the country are found busy in other such despicable activities. for them the politicians are reprehensible, wicked men who would often connive together to achieve their ignoble purposes. How our particular brand of politicians has acted over the past more than six decades hasn’t helped to do away with this impression, instead it has been

opinion

political maturity isn’t something you can buy, it is achieved

cemented over and over again.

Unless we take politics as an institute, there is no chance we can undo this conundrum. Is politics necessary? yes. Does it have to be this murky and maligned? No. Is there a way out of this? yes. Does it mean we would see ‘any less of politics’? No, it would actually bring in more politics. The problem isn’t with the whole crop; it is with the weed that has grown in so heavily that it has started eating up on the useful part too. We just need to weed out what’s ailing the system, and to that end there is no better place to start than questioning every move of your respective political representative, be he in the government or the opposition. Hold him responsible for everything, for the legislation on women rights he missed voting on, for the terror attack on a mosque, an imambargah, or a church at the corner of your street, for every hike in power tariff, for every hour of load shedding, for every minor girl being raped, for mullahs’ seemingly innocuous indifference towards DNA tests that can make a substantial difference in determining liability in rape cases, for the dilapidated conditions of roads in your area, for every life taken by dengue, measles, fake medicines and lack of medical facilities in hospitals, for not providing impregnable security defences to citizens, for letting terrorists gain sanctuaries within country’s territory, for letting Pakistan become “one of the most dangerous places in the world”, and most of all for not fulfilling the oath they take so solemnly every five years or so.

‘Instead of considering politics some gameplay whose plots and contours therein are beyond the understanding of mere mortals, what every man with conscience should do is hold responsible the very politician he voted for when he fails to deliver on the promises he made during his election campaign’

yes, it does sound like a tough calling but this is exactly what we need to make progress politically. And no, the politicians are not that bad; a certain politician may be petty, another may be illiterate about how parliamentary democratic system works, and yet another may be in for just himself.

However, this doesn’t automatically qualify them to be rejected outright. Instead, this calls for the public to play their part in making them accountable for their each and every action and even stricter adherence to the rule of law.

Politics is an institute and we should treat it as such. It is nothing alien; it has evolved out of social and human needs. Like any other institution, it must follow certain set of norms to function properly, and when those norms – that should ideally be converted into concrete laws over time – aren’t followed, there must be consequences. And who better to hold politicians in check than the ones who empower them to amount to something: the people. They are the ones who should feel the burden of the crown, for every action by the one who wears the crown ultimately affects those who crowned him in the first place. g­

The great and growing disconnect The importance of identifying trends that shape events around the world

Spearhead Analyses are collaborative efforts and not attributable to a single individual. Webiste: www.spearheadresearch.org

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f the chatter on the net and the debates in the media are to be believed then we should be hearing the sound of marching boots. No such sound is being heard not even distantly. What has sunk home, however, is the fact that the military is truly the glue that holds the country together and that it stands as a bulwark against all internal and external threats. The fact that the military is fighting the insurgency that became an existential threat, and that it is doing this on multiple fronts, and that the security of the capital Islamabad has been handed over to it should have removed all doubts. If this is being seen as the beginning of the end of democracy then a very great disconnect exists between the government and those it governs. Unless corrective steps are taken this disconnect will grow and in due course become a serious threat to democracy — and that would be a serious retrograde development.

The last election brought a majority government to power but it also delivered regional and nationalist governments to the provinces. A strong credible and competent team at the centre would have delivered the kind of governance that was needed to establish credibility and assert central authority.

This was especially important because of the security situation, the energy shortfall and the economic uncertainty.

Such a team working in harmony with the military would have also led to sound decision making and policy formulation procedures as well as balanced institutional development.

That this has not happened is evident from public opinion and from the weaknesses being exploited by the opposition and others either on the side lines or sitting on the fence because they are looking at midterm polls or some radical turn around. The military forced centre stage to fill the policy making and implementation vacuum adds to the uncertainty. Perhaps the scale and magnitude of the problems were underestimated. If so policy correction is urgently required before it is too late.

The gains made by the government, its future plans and the potential in the regional and international environment need to be fully exploited.

In the corporate world as well as in military organisations the establishment of communications — upwards, downwards and sideways — is considered the key to effective leadership and organisational efficiency. The significance of this phenomenon in the political field is often over looked because positional authority gained through elections is confused with the political leadership required to set the tone on major issues and prevent disastrous institutional misunderstandings and conflict. The tendency to use authority to ride rough shod over rules, norms and procedures creates fissures that can be exploited by opposing political forces thereby

creating the environment for the strongest institution to assert itself or for the government to cede authority gradually thereby implicitly accepting failure and its consequences. This should not be allowed to happen especially when the military, learning from the past, has signalled its support for democracy. The downslide can be prevented by ensuring governance through a competent team and effective communication between the government and the governed. The media should not sought as a means of communicating thereby giving it inordinate influence but it should be used skilfully together with all the other means at the governments disposal.

It is also important to identify the trends that are shaping events around the world and more importantly the drivers behind those trends. There are lessons to be learnt. Libya has disintegrated after central authority disappeared and is in the grip of violence because of competing militias leading to the closure of several

‘In the corporate world as well as in military organisations the establishment of communications — upwards, downwards and sideways — is considered the key to effective leadership and organisational efficiency. The significance of this phenomenon in the political field is often over looked because positional authority gained through elections is confused with the political leadership required to set the tone on major issues and prevent disastrous institutional misunderstandings and conflict’

embassies. Egypt has gone through serious turmoil because of religious nationalist forces gaining control and forcing their edicts on a people unwilling to accept them. This also happened after strong central authority collapsed under the weight of its own over reach. Iraq may fragment because of uncontrolled sectarian conflict that also fuels the violence in Syria leading to various countries and factions supporting one or the other sect. An Islamic State has already been declared with control over parts of Syria and Iraq and the oil resources in those areas.

Afghanistan faces a resurgent Taliban threat post 2014 but is trying to stabilise politically to meet the threat.

The separatist movement in China Sinkiang province seems to be rising.

Israel’s stated reason for the aggression in Gaza is defence of its territory and security of its people against Hamas attacks — a stance that is tacitly supported by the US. The precedence this sets needs to be well understood.

Pakistan does not have problems on such a scale and in any case its democratic government has the time, the resources and the expertise to avoid any such fate by harnessing and orchestrating state power through effective leadership. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 05

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cover STory: MuTuaLLy aSSureD DeSTrucTIon

Two gauntlets for Mr Sharif Look upon Qadri as the catalyst of change, Imran as the trigger

HuMayun GauHar

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at: humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com.

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he creeping coup continues as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif keeps needlessly ceding more and more space to the army with the contradictory idea of gathering maximum power in his office. having handed Islamabad over to it for two months under Article 245 of the constitution, anything could happen. The army could even arrest him if his presence is considered inimical to law and good order to save Pakistan, which is the very justification of its existence and its first responsibility.

The question is: how does Nawaz Sharif deal with the two gauntlets thrown down at him by Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri?

It seems obvious that he is going to overreact and do the stupid thing as always. Qadri and Imran have common and uncommon objectives. Their common objective is to bring down the government. Their uncommon objectives are that whereas Imran Khan wants to force midterm elections while remaining within the political system, Qadri wants to bring the entire system down and replace it with one that delivers on Pakistan’s promise of 1947.

Because Imran’s party emerged as the second largest in the May 12, 2013 elections and formed a government in one province he has morphed from revolutionary to beneficiary of the system. Any wonder he only wishes to force mid-term elections while protecting the system that he thinks will now work for him? Times were when he thought that he could change our man-eating system from within. Instead, the man-eating system changed him. But his essential honesty remains strong enough to sublimate the mistakes that he has made. Imran remains

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the same Imran bent on salvaging his country. Revolution is forgotten for the time being, except for its sound effect. Now it’s all about power, not for power’s sake, but to use it to improve the people’s lot. Imran thinks that midterm elections will lead to victory provided that – and it’s a big proviso – they won’t be rigged this once. There is no gainsaying that he might not win, so fed up are people of the old parties and their decrepit leaderships long on rhetoric and short on delivery. The system is not programmed to trash its few beneficiaries and improve the condition of the deprived many.

It is not in its DNA. Imran being convinced that honest elections will lead to fortune is fine, but the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. Whatever happens, Imran should certainly emerge as an even more powerful force than he has already become unless he makes a complete hash of it.

Between him and Qadri it is ego Versus ego – who is the alpha male? If it were just Pakistan and its people that they had at heart and nothing else, they would join forces and make it one big Intifada. But one has to be top dog.

The times are interesting worldwide, perfect for a writer who thrives on seeing history in the making. The Leviathan is morphing, convulsing, shedding its old skin and acquiring a new one, bringing societal change with a massive shift in the global centre of gravity, the pendulum of power swinging back from west to east, a unipolar world becoming multipolar, geographies changing again, old states dying and new ones being born. Pakistan could either change course 180 degrees and upturn the status quo or go full circle once again and take another 360 degree turn, returning to the same status quo with some old faces or their Mini-Me progeny, as has happened so often before in our chequered history – from feudal to feudal urban or rural, leader to progeny, dynasticism prospers.

Imran Khan threatens to blockade Islamabad on Independence Day. If he is hindered, things could get badly out of hand. If blood flows or in the horrific event that Imran is injured or killed, all hell will break loose and the wheels of the creaky Sharif bandwagon will fall off. It’s a high price to pay though to rid us of these self-destructive morons who will commit another

political suicide anyway.

Dr Tahirul Qadri says that he will mark Martyr’s Day four days earlier on August 10 (today) to commemorate the massacre of his workers, men and women, children and unborn babies, by the Sharif provincial government in Lahore. The day, promises Qadri, will also mark the beginning of revolution leading to the demise of the Sharif government by the end of August.

One waits with bated breath to see how well or badly the government handles these two challenges. The portends are that they will overreach and invite their political doom again.

But wait a minute. Toppling a bad government is easy but revolution is quite another matter. Toppling can come by street protest, a military coup or a combination of both as it almost always does.

Governments have been toppled before in Pakistan and elsewhere by a combination of agitation that provided the justification for

‘Toppling a bad government is easy but revolution is quite another matter. Toppling can come by street protest, a military coup or a combination of both as it almost always does’ the military to intervene openly or from behind the veil. Problem is, what to do the day after. Yet another election will throw up yet another bad government and we will be back yet again to square one. Young Imran’s notion that an honest and fair election can be held in this system without any significant rigging of the ballot is a delusion.

Rigging and dishonesty are the hallmark of our system and the only politics our politicians know. And if Imran thinks that he can win elections without support from forces behind the scenes, and I don’t mean just the army but also the country that runs the world, he has another thought coming. however, if he becomes prime minister with their backing, what difference could he make? It will be the same old wine in a new bottle and different rhetoric. But considering how sceptical many people and much of the press were when Imran entered

politics, and how some lampooned him, Imran has come a long way. Well done, Skipper. I for one am very proud of you.

You are far better than the odious, smelly, corrupt political leaders we have had ever since we achieved majority. Actually, Imran doesn’t have to destroy this political system bequeathed to us by the British colonisers and their British India Act of 1935. It will destroying itself for self-destruction lies in the genes of any alien transplant. What Imran should do is to think what system should replace it, a system that delivers to the people and continuously and significantly improves the human condition starting from the poorest strata of society.

Tahirul Qadri has thought on these lines; so should Imran.

I have always said that one should separate the message from the messenger. Not being comfortable with the messenger should not detract from his message if it is broadly right.

There certainly are some contradictions in Qadri’s past that need explaining but at the moment saving Pakistan should be the prime focus. Look upon Qadri as the catalyst of change, Imran as the trigger. however, if Qadri thinks that toppling the government will mean toppling the system, it won’t. It will mean just that – toppling the government. To change the system and bring in another, new constitution and all, will need genuine revolution that shakes the citadels of the great, awakens the poor, sets the blood of slaves afire and causes the little sparrow to engage the mighty falcon. For this he will need street power, ideologues, cadres, a vanguard and a propaganda machine that understands strategic communications and perception management.

Woefully short on imagination and untutored in “the art of the possible” the two Sharif governments, provincial and federal, are reacting in the manner that governments on the run usually do. Remember the ridiculous October 12, 1999 episode when Nawaz Sharif hijacked General Pervez Musharraf’s plane and tried to send it to India? It didn’t occur to this mastermind that handing over his army chief to the enemy would mean treason. he overreacted again when his kid brother’s Punjab government massacred 15 of Qadri’s people, smashed cars and injured over

‘Woefully short on imagination and untutored in “the art of the possible” the two Sharif governments, provincial and federal, are reacting in the manner that governments on the run usually do’ eighty. When Dr Qadri was to land in Islamabad Nawaz blocked off the airport and all roads leading to it, the police unnecessarily attacked his workers and got thrashed in return, and hijacked his aircraft to Lahore. Nawaz Sharif is a serial hijacker of aircraft and elections. he is doing the same again: blocking roads and arresting Imran and Qadri’s workers. If he arrests them too he loses. If one of them is killed, he loses. If people are massacred, he loses. If he cedes more space to the army, he loses. If he calls snap elections, he might win.

To spoil Imran’s show Nawaz tried to hold a parade on the dug up Constitution Avenue on Independence Day. Not unexpectedly, the army refused, saying that historically the parade had been held on Republic Day March 23 when Pakistan stopped being a British dominion. Anyway, the army was too busy in wars against foreign and native terrorists to be distracted. So the ‘Mastermind’ and his irrational henchmen went one better: they activated Article 245 of the constitution and handed Islamabad over to the army. Now only the houses of state remain. They think that by so doing they would make the army the fall guy in the event of any conflict with the people. Or is Article 245 Nawaz Sharif’s escape route that will keep him politically alive as a martyr of ‘democracy’? I don’t think so, because Nawaz is not so clever.

More likely he and his entire cabal will run away. The times they are a changing fast and it is all going over poor Nawaz Sharif’s head. he is so mentally out of it (I hesitate to use the word ‘intellectually’) that it could well be that he doesn’t understand the import of what he has done and neither is there anyone in his ‘democratic’ junta to tell him, for they are as mentally challenged as he is. g

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

Kakar style intervention, maybe?

Nawaz may not remain the Sharif calling the shots

MuhaMMad Mutahir ali

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The writer is a student of political science. He tweets @MMutahirAli.

ith pressure mounting with every passing day, the Nawaz government now clearly seems in trouble. imran Khan’s Azadi march is set to hit the capital on independence Day and tahirul Qadri is also likely to announce his revolution any time now. While Qadri aims for a complete roll over of the system, Khan’s demand is limited to the removal of the government and re-elections. in what seems to be a final attempt at defusing tension, Nawaz Sharif ended his political isolation and held meetings with the leadership of different political parties this week. the government posits that it is ready to negotiate with Awami tehreek and Pakistan tehreek e insaaf to find a political settlement. however, with both parties continuing to move ahead with their plans, it looks nearly impossible that a solution can be found on the negotiations table. Pti has made it clear that the ‘time for talks’ is over and its Azadi march is imminent whereas tahirul Qadri is not ready to settle for anything short of a ‘revolution’.

The heavy-handed government With the removal of the government being the first order of business for both PAt and Pti, the government is seemingly doing whatever it takes to quarantine itself from the danger. Although PML-N wants to keep its options open by showing an inclination for negotiations, the state-

machinery has been thoroughly activated to hamper the march on the capital.

Reportedly, Punjab police has started to arrest and detain the workers of PAt and Pti in many districts and thousands of motorcycles have also been locked up in police stations. Closure of petrol pumps on Gt road has been announced and the capital has been sealed with hundreds of containers while the army had already been called in to ensure the law and order in the city under article 245. however, government’s iron-handed approach can also backfire. in a minor skirmish, feared by some to be the first of many to come, three policemen were injured after a clash with the PAt workers outside tahirul Qadri’s residence in Model town on thursday night. the next day, violent clashes broke out between the police and PAt workers. tahirul Qadri had earlier directed his followers to take on the policemen with force if necessary. “the government itself is developing a situation of confrontation”, said Qazi Faiz, spokesman for PAt. he said PAt wanted to keep its agenda peaceful however the government is “instigating us to call for the revolution before time.”

According to some news reports the government has devised different strategies to tackle PAt and Pti. While it is trying to politically deal with the latter, PAt will be taken down administratively. Arresting the top leadership of both parties is also on the cards. “the PML-N government is using all kinds of undemocratic means to halt our Azadi March”, said Ejaz Chaudhry, Pti Punjab president. he criticised the Punjab government for using police to intimidate workers of both parties. Chaudhry repeated imran Khan’s statement that his party will choke the whole country if the chairman is put under house arrest. “Pti condemns the government’s behaviour towards Awami Tehreek and will react strongly if tahirul Qadri is arrested”, he added.

Once in the capital...

Currently, only Pti has announced to march on the capital while PAt is

scheduled to observe the Yaum-e-Shauhda on 10th August (today) in Lahore. As Pti has categorically negated any kind of possibility of calling off its march, it plans to take ‘at least a million people’ to islamabad on August 14. Once people reach the capital in such big numbers, the situation can take any turn. “if Pti stages a sit-in in islamabad for a couple of days, it will shut down the capital and call for immediate steps to be taken”, said hassan Askari Rizvi, a senior analyst.

Rizvi believes that if Pti manages to gather a large number of people in the capital, “the government will not be able to stay as it is today”.

Rasul Bux Rais, an analyst and academic, believes “imran Khan is a leader of national stature and can mobilise people in large numbers”. Rais also said that if Khan manages to sustain the crowd in the capital for a few days, Pti can expect a major breakthrough. however, he said, “media’s role will also be a key factor in determining if the Pti is able to mount pressure on the government”.

Boys with barrels the army has always played a crucial, and mostly decisive, role in such situations.

With Pti aiming for the prime minister’s resignation and the government calling it an ‘insane demand’, a deadlock is the only likely possibility and the final call, it seems, will have to come from the GhQ. “the situation can get violent in the capital and violence will essentially jeopardise the government”, said Rizvi. “in

‘According to some news reports the government has devised different strategies to tackle PAT and PTI. While it is trying to politically deal with the latter, PAT will be taken down administratively. Arresting the top leadership of both parties is also on the cards’

‘The army has always played a crucial, and mostly decisive, role in such situations. With PTI aiming for the prime minister’s resignation and the government calling it an ‘insane demand’, a deadlock is the only likely possibility and the final call, it seems, will have to come from the GHQ’ the case of bloodshed, the stalemate will not continue and the army will have to intervene”.

Army intervention has never been a good omen for Nawaz Sharif. in 1999, his government was ousted by army in a coup whereas in 1993 the then army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar pressured Nawaz into resigning after Benazir Bhutto announced a long march against his government. he is currently faced with a similar challenge and his response — or the absence of it — will be crucial in determining his fate. however, Rasul Bux Rais thinks that Pti’s march can indeed result in a “Kakar style intervention”.

After demanding the audit of the ‘famous four’ constituencies for fourteen months, Pti has decided to come out on streets in a final attempt to remove the government. Pti is going all out for its August 14 march and imran Khan has said that his eighteen years in politics have come down to it. On the other hand, tahirul Qadri is upping the ante as well and the day of his ‘revolution march’ does not seem very far.

Pti has made it clear that it will also not shy away from resigning from the assemblies. if PPP or any other major political party decides to rock the boat, troubles for the Nawaz government will only increase. the currently pursued ‘crackdown approach’ of the government can turn the situation violent on D-day.

Once people reach the capital and the situation escalates, Nawaz may no longer remain the Sharif who will call the shots. g

www.pakistantoday.com.pk 07

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cOver stOry: mutuaLLy assured destructiOn

Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

Life after august 14 PTI knows there is no constitutional or legal way to remove the government

aZiZ-ud-din ahmad The writer is a political analyst and a former academic.

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vEnts can unfold in two different ways depending on whether or not the PML-n and Pti manage to reach an understanding in the next few days. the hectic activity undertaken by a number of politicians has led both parties to at least rethink their respective extremes. the PML-n, whose ministers often poohpoohed imran khan’s march and issued provocative statements on almost a daily basis, finally seems to be weighing the outcome of the confrontation. this is indicated by nawaz sharif’s meetings with a large number of politicians during the last few days over how to resolve the confrontation. Meanwhile Punjab Chief Minister shahbaz sharif has said he is willing to go to imran khan to resolve the differences. attempts by the PML-n government to crack down on motorbikes of Pti activists, harassment of Pti workers, pressure on private transporters to deny buses for the march and the artificially engineered shortages of petroleum indicate the

government is still focused on administrative measures to deal with the protest. the party has yet to fully realise that it would be the biggest loser if things go out of control. the Pti knows there is no constitutional or legal way to remove the government. the prime minister can be sent home only through a no confidence vote or when his five year term is over. Pti leaders have been asked a number of times during tv appearances how they would remove the prime minister if he refused to resign. Will they ask the army to step in? Everyone has invariably dodged the issue, indirectly conceding that he has no answer to the question. What is more, the Pti’s real problem is the national assembly, where it is in minority and therefore resignation by nawaz sharif does not help it. the Pti also knows it is taking a solo flight with no opposition party standing by its side, not even Jamaat-e-Islami, its major coalition partner. all these questions will crop up at the party leadership’s meeting on august 10 where it is supposed to finalise its response to all these issues. irrespective of its heroics the Pti might go back on its rejection of the election results provided it is assured of mid-term elections. after all it needs electoral reforms and a commonly agreed election commission for the next polls. With the PML-n led by politicians with big egos and imran khan motivated by sheer obstinacy it would be hard to predict whether the two sides will succeed in reaching a compromise instead of pulling down the entire edifice over their heads and be buried under its rubble. the PML-n-Pti confrontation is taking

place at a time when the federal government’s relations with the army are far from cordial. During the last fourteen months several issues have caused frictions between the two. these include Musharraf’s trial, government’s insistence on peace talks with the militants, the Geo affair and nawaz sharif’s quest of friendly relations with india. as things stand despite all the administrative measures taken to deter the Pti by the Punjab and federal governments the party will go ahead with its protest march on august 14. the protest in itself will not harm the government. What will is the sit in, in case it goes on for a number of days. the immediate effect of the sit in by hundreds of thousands of activists would be the shutdown of the government. islamabad houses all the offices of the federal government. it is through these offices that various federal ministries convey their decisions to related departments and ensure their implementation. the offices are manned by thousands of civil servants and office workers who come daily from various parts of the city and adjoining Rawalpindi.

With crowds clogging incoming roads it will not be possible for them to reach their work place. the sit in will disrupt the work of some of the crucial ministries for a number of days. in case of imran khan reaching anywhere near the target of a million marchers the prime minister and other members of the cabinet may not be able to come out of their residences. the capital city markets might have to close down causing hardships for the residents. the administration would then be left

with no option but to disperse the protestors by force. it might soon find baton charges by police, water cannons, and rubber bullets inadequate to achieve the aim. Meanwhile the Pti parliamentarians would announce their resignations. this along with the islamabad crackdown may lead to protests in other cities also. the clock will then start ticking on the government. it would be accused by the ultimate referees who are already unhappy with it of being responsible for social unrest, causing haemorrhage to the economy and creating hurdles in the conduct of the military Operations in north Waziristan agency. the referees could take recourse to one of the two options then. they could tell the prime minister to announce fresh polls preceded by a caretaker set up of their choice. they could alternately impose martial law. the sound of the approaching military boots is being heard as far as Washington. this explains why the Obama administration thought it necessary to publicly reiterate it stance that it would stay neutral if the threatened agitation in the country leads to a government change through “constitutional means”, but would be opposed to a coup. this must not be interpreted by the PML-n as a support from the Us. Washington in the long run invariably reconciles with whosoever is in power, be it the military or the civilians. the ruling party and the Pti have to find a way out with the help of the parties in the opposition at the earliest if they are keen to ensure the continuation of the system. g

Azadi and inqilab marches

Game over?

Omer Zaheer meer

The author is a Director of the think-tank “Millat Thinkers’ Forum”.

He is a leading economist, qualified accountant and anti-money laundering expert with international exposure who can be reached on Twitter and www.myMFB.com @OmerZaheerMeer or omerzaheermeer@hotmail.co.uk

P

akistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) announced its million march towards islamabad for august 14, calling it the Azadi or freedom march whereas Shiekh-ul-Islam, ‘allama’ Dr tahir-ul-Qadri’s Minhaj-ulQuran (MUQ) cum Pakistan awami tehreek (Pat) is yet to announce a date for its Inqilab or revolution march.

While PML-n ministers and supporters are arguing that the marches are unconstitutional, one wonders whether the same would apply to Mian nawaz sharif’s long-marches, including one in the recent past against the Zardari government on the issue of restoring the judiciary. if they were constitutional, then how can these marches be termed unconstitutional just because

08 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

they’re against PML-n? settling that question, let us examine the two marches. Qadri’s march has a precedent from the dying days of Zardari’s rule, when thousands of women, children and elderly were kept waiting in the cold while Qadri was leading from the comforts of what some termed as a “five-star” container. it ended in a non-conclusive and long-forgotten agreement with “Yazeedi” government amidst chants of “Mubarak Ho, Mubarak Ho” meaning congratulations by Qadri.

Word within sensitive circles has been that a gift from Zardari government amounting to tens of millions of rupees was awarded to Qadri for “services” to the country via Minhaj ul Quran. it is not surprising then that during the early hours of thursday, august 7, while blockade of Model town was underway, the ex-interior minister of PPP Rehman Malik tweeted whether this was a consented action providing face-saving to Qadri. it may not be so but history has left serious doubts about the intentions, capabilities and persistence of tahirulQadri. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons that despite PML-n’s unprecedented blunder of the infamous model town massacre, Pat has not been able to garner the kind of support Pti would have in a similar situation.

Contrary to Dr Qadri’s controversial image, Pti’s chairman imran khan enjoys a formidable reputation of being honest, upright and steadfast. there is a section within Pti as well as some allies including shiekh Rashid who argue that an alliance

should be forged to direct united force towards the incumbent government of PMLn for the sake of achieving political goals. this, however ignores the questionable repute of tahirul-Qadri, often criticised for hypocrisy in his statements on religious issues, saying one thing when in Pakistan and another when in Canada. a lot of the educated group which forms the core support base of Pti has a very negative view of Qadri and any such alliance would definitely benefit him at the cost of Pti. Whether Pti and Pat will overcome their differences and eventually forge a united front is something time will tell but for now Pti has played its cards quite well. it has been successful in mounting pressure on PML-n, has united party workers for a common cause, garnered public support and made its position of “stolen mandate” regarding 2013 elections widely accepted. the government has now approached Pti, showing willingness to not only open four constituencies but reform the electoral process too should Pti call-off its Azadi march. all of this seems pretty impressive for a party reeling from a huge psychological setback just about a year ago. the problem, however, is that PML-n has made and not kept similar promises before.

Hence not many in Pti and certainly not imran khan are too willing to take the bait this time.

Meanwhile, Pti workers are being rounded up in huge numbers while those harassed number even more. as if that wasn’t sufficient, thousands of motorcycles

including those belonging to ordinary citizens were locked up following an announcement by Pti that 100,000 bicycles will form the vanguard of its march. add to that PML-n’s plan of closing down fuel supplies close to the march and you have a very scared and immature reaction at hand. as if that’s not enough islamabad and Model town Lahore (having both the secretariats of Pti and Pat) are besieged with containers, some of them sand filled.

What these strictures are actually doing is not only motivating the workers of Pti and Pat but also exposing how the government is fast losing its moral authority. arrest of workers and blockades may actually serve to fuel the fire of rebellious passions of the aggrieved masses already reeling with rising inflation and a stifling power crisis. Even if these measures are successful in preventing the marches, the government will be left weakened. if you remember the underlying just demand of election reforms by Pti, the PML-n’s response in allowing the situation to reach this stage exposes the bewildering state of mind of its decision makers.

Last but not least; my sources have revealed that the establishment will intervene if the situation gets out of hand. though the preferred option, a technocrat setup is not decided upon as yet. Perhaps PML-n needs to take a democratic pause and let the people exercise their democratic right to protest. Oppressing such sentiments may lead to the very results that the government wants to avoid. g

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

satire: CaptiOned

Mian sahib, it’s game, set, and match!

OpiniOn Hafsa KHawaja The writer, a student, has a keen eye for socio-political issues, national and international affairs. She blogs at: hafsakhawaja.wordpress.com.

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mbroiled in a war at home and a plethora of political, economic and national crises, Pakistan is nearing a tumultuous 67th year in existence. imran Khan’s initial demands for electoral recounts in particular constituencies have now snowballed into the demand for the departure of the entire Pml-N government or badshahat; and mid-term elections that he, once again, expects to sweep.

For many, this transformation of demand indicates imran Khan coming out with what he has really wanted all along, for a government that he refuses to believe was not given to him to lead. All set to head as prime minister, a development he was sure enough to have declared it on national television on Hamid mir’s show, Khan Sahab’s romantic expectations defied entrenched Pakistani electoral dynamics and intricacies, leading to a result he did not anticipate. in a developing, chaotic and overlypoliticised country like Pakistan, there are no doubts that the elections of 2013were not without irregularities, problems and issues. All of which lend greater gravity to the need for electoral reform.

However, to deem the entire election ‘stolen’ and call for re-elections is to repudiate the will of those who voted for the government. Some of the top electoral rigging claims of PTi have been debunked for political claptrap, most recently done

by Zahid F ibrahim in his op-ed ‘Ten Truths about Electoral Rigging’ which takes each claim and factually counters it. it is also quite peculiar that, according to the PTi, the entire elections were a

Oh yay, tennis!

As if the cricket analogies weren’t annoying enough.

at the cost of pakistan

PTI’s politics is more about Khan than the country dishonest affair with the election commission, caretaker government, media, and judiciary actively colluding – and it is yet to present evidence and prove how exactly this collusion transpired - to prevent its victory in all of Pakistan. With this in mind, it really does seem to be the case then that the PTi is protesting against winning in the ‘wrong’ province. in a recent video PTi deputy information Secretary Fayyaz Chohan not only accuses Gen Kayani of rigging; but also goes far to point to an international electoral conspiracy including the USA, UAe, KSA and india.

Popular blog Kala Kawa also writes: ‘That the PTi is demanding mid-term elections on the back of evidence that election tribunals have found insufficient speaks solely to the damaging lust for power imran Khan has found himself in.’

As evident is the callow approach of the PTi operating under the Azadi march, which seems to be exactly as Ammar rashid, an independent researcher and information secretary Awami Workers Party (islamabad/rawalpindi), called out to be: PTi standing for little more than making imran Khan Pm at all costs equally astounding is the performance of the government in its first year that has largely been characterised by lethargy. The Pml-N has come to power at a time when Pakistan is the convergence tip of crises; which does not grant the government the allowance of incompetence and lassitude.

With increasingly unbearable power shortages, huge numbers of the unemployed, persisting poverty, a sluggish economy and fear of a terrorist backlash of Zarb-e-Azb; this is a moment demanding sharp and decisive decisions, policies, works and implementations. The Sharif government must realise that gone are the days when it was till the ballot box that a party had to prove itself; in today’s competitive political environment, it is now beyond the ballot box that parties have to prove themselves with performance; or risk being pounced on by opponents.

With blockades and containers around lahore, and the decision to invoke Article 245, the government’s panicked response to the planned marches of the PTi and PAT is congruent with its disappointing tendency to overreact and create crises that it needs to learn to avoid.

Similarly, it is essential for imran Khan to accept that his expectation of becoming the prime minister was not fulfilled by the majority of the people as demonstrated by ground realities which hit him hard in elections. Having broken the shifting political monopoly between the PPP and Pml-N, PTi holds immense potential to be potent force of opposition in the parliament, assuming an attacking but constructive role augmenting the democratic plinth in Pakistan. but its present politics of fixation, immaturity and obstinacy are not only destructive for Pakistan’s nascent democracy but for PTi itself. it needs to channel its potential and power as a formidable political force in Pakistan; as opposition, keeping the government with their socks pulled up all the time; and as the provincial government, focusing its strength and vision in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and practically presenting itself as a plausible alternative to other parties in Pakistan.

PTi should focus on developing KPK as a model of its governance; it should compete with the Pml-N government through governance, for the last thing Pakistan needs right now is destabilisation.

‘Protesting is one of the most important constitutional rights.

However attempts to topple a democratically-elected government and seeking to sink the system merely because your dominance is denied in it are no rights whatsoever’

As Adnan rasool mentions in his article in dawn: ‘The way the system works is that the opposition, irrespective of how small it may be, asks the tough questions and projects an alternative ideology, instead of trying to leave the system because of being beaten in the elections. They need to make the government work hard for a reputation.’

Columnist Gul bukhari raised a pertinent point on Twitter commenting that the Sharifs seem to have lost all interest in governance and adopted a singular programme of reacting to imran Khan’s relentless pursuit of power.

Protesting is one of the most important constitutional rights. However attempts to topple a democratically-elected government and seeking to sink the system merely because your dominance is denied in it are no rights whatsoever.

The system in Pakistan has problems, Pakistan’s budding democracy has problems, but to set the stage for instability, destabilisation and the doctrine of necessity in the pursuit of personal political and party interests is never the solution. imran Khan’s bare demand of fresh elections coupled with his obstinacy project a sure stalemate. However, if the government displays political maturity and level-headedness in handling this delicate situation with cautious care and control; if the army stays at the battle front; if other political parties like PPP, JUi-F, Ji, ANP and mQm recognise what is at risk and come together in interest of Pakistan and democracy; if better sense prevails, the situation may still be able to be salvaged.

Just last year, Pakistan witnessed the term-completion of a democraticallyelected government for the first time in its history. And the elections were expected to augment this democratic tradition, however ensuing political attitudes inclined towards infighting seem to push Pakistan back into the 90s which was an era of intense tug-of-war, and we all know where that led to. All at the cost of democracy and Pakistan. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 09

C M YK

IntervIew: Syed KhurShId Ahmed ShAh

‘we are strengthening democracy’ Leader of the opposition reveals backchannel dealings meant to diffuse Azadi march tensions By mIAn ABrAr

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hess-like calculations of causeand-effect were central to the soviet mindset, but the kremlin could not possibly have war-gamed how deeply its actions would reverberate across the globe – sounding its own death rattle, triggering fault-lines that would break the delicate sectarian balance of the Muslim world, and creating an unprecedented security vacuum – when Brezhnev ordered his army to cross into Afghanistan that fateful Christmas morning of ’79.

Pakistan, of course, played the most prominent role in the Great Game that followed. CiA proxy project, saudi Riyal-politik, and Pak army’s embrace of the jihad rhetoric, all converge at this particular point in history. Years later, Gen Musharraf would write in his memoir that “We did what Napoleon and hitler could not do. We beat the Russians”.

With PTi’s Aug14 long march imminent, opposition parties have been busy trying to hammer out a solution acceptable to all. khurshid shah has been at the centre of this feverish activity, trying to bring the PMl-N and PTi together before their differences harm the entire political system and the country. in an exclusive interview, he explains the rationale for this back-and-forth between the government and the PTi, and just why all opposition politicians want tensions to subside before independence Day. Q: Your thoughts on the long march?

KS: imran khan has conveyed to the government that the long march would be taken

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out at all costs, whether the government and his party reach a backchannel solution or not. We support his right to hold a protest demonstration which is the constitutional right of every citizen of Pakistan. it would have been better if the long march was delayed until after the reforms in the electoral process but imran khan cannot postpone his march due to political compulsions.

Almost all political parties have exercised the right of long march. But we thin k that there should be measures to ensure a peaceful and protected march.

‘It would have been better if the long march was delayed until after the reforms in the electoral process but Imran Khan cannot postpone his march due to political compulsions’ We think the government should not take any unconstitutional and unethical step. state forces should not be used against protesters. But we want the protestors to remain peaceful and not violate the law.

Once the march reaches islamabad, khan would hold dialogue with the government and we also support this idea. i think that the dialogue would finally succeed and the government would show flexibility in keeping with our past traditions.

Q: Are there any

backchannel efforts underway?

KS: There are backchannel efforts and the government has sought guarantees from khan that the march would be peaceful and his workers would not take law into their hands. khan has responded in the affirmative and guaranteed that the marchers would remain peaceful and no law and order situation would be created by his party-men.

We think it is a good omen from khan and we have asked the government to formulate terms of reference (ToRs) for this long march and the dialogue. The government is working on it. The government also wants some guarantors to ensure khan would not violate the deal. khan in return wants that his workers are not harassed and kept protected by law enforcing agencies. We support his demand but we feel that protection should be provided to the demonstrators, the people of the federal capital, government and sensitive installations and the political leadership.

Q: There are reports that efforts on part of members of the opposition, including yourself, to solve the developing crisis are actually a message for the army not to intervene. Do you believe army intervention might be a possibility?

KS: in my view, there is no role of army behind this unrest and long marches whatsoever. By helping diffuse the situation, politicians are not sending any messages to the army by gathering on a platform. Rather the message is for the government and the PTi.

As far as military intervention is concerned, the army may come in for an adventure anytime. But external and internal affairs may impact any such decision.

Therefore, we are trying to cement the democratic system.

The joint efforts by all political forces are aimed at strengthening the democratic system. Any internal bickering within the democratic forces would only benefit a third force. so we want to avoid a repeat of the politics of confrontation of ‘80s and ‘90s. so like other political forces,

‘We want that matters should not be allowed to go to the point of no return. If any of the parties creates such a situation, it will lose our support. We will oppose any move to jeopardise the democratic system’ the PPP is playing a key role to achieve this objective. We want that matters should not be allowed to go to the point of no return. if any of the parties creates such a situation, it will lose our support. We will oppose any move to jeopardise the democratic system.

There are clear rules for the game and we would not allow anyone to resort to foul play.

Q: What do you think about Tahirul Qadri’s demands?

PPP thinks that Dr Tahirul Qadri is violating the law of the

land and we oppose his demands. he does not accept the supremacy of the constitution and wants extraordinary measures which we don’t accept.

We will oppose any ultraconstitutional demands. There is no constitutional worth of the demands being put forth by Dr Qadri. We respect Dr Qadri as a religious scholar but his opposition to a unanimously adopted constitution of 1973 is unacceptable for all political forces.

We could have negotiated with him if he had any representation in the parliament or he had at least explained how he wanted the constitution be amended. since he has no such idea, we will not accept his demands.

Political parties are trying to mediate in the ongoing political crisis. We are not siding with the government but we are trying to save the system. We have rendered countless sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country and we want this system to continue.

The government should allow PTi to go forward with its long march and the crisis can be resolved if the government demonstrates some magnanimity.

Q: What about the minusone formula? it is not possible to implement a minus-one formula in the current political crisis. No party would be happy with the exclusion of its leader from the political arena. Without electoral reforms, in case the country has to undergo immediate mid-term elections, those would have to be held under the supervision of the current election commission. g

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

www.pakistantoday.com.pk 11

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

profile/opinion

A digital innovation at the bottom of the pyramid Meeting pakistan’s labour challenge Sarah Khan The writer holds a Bachelors degree in business administration from NUST Business School. She writes about things that interest and inspire her.

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USSTANSEr Tinauli has an interesting background for a ‘social innovationist’. After finishing his Bachelors in Computer Science from Mohammed Ali Jinnah University in Pakistan, he went on to do a research Masters at Malaysia’s Multimedia University (MMU) and then, to do his PhD, ended up at Politecnico di Milano – one of the leading Design Schools in Italy which itself is a leading Design Nation. In the meantime, he also held an IBM PhD Fellowship and Progetto rocca Fellowship to conduct research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , Boston, USA. At MIT, Musstanser worked at the Sustainable Cities Lab where he worked on a project aimed at creating Trash Track - a tracking system for recycled waste. It was here, and through his subsequent work, that he became interested in solving the problems of the poor. It was then that this researcherto-be began to look at challenges at home - in South Asia.

Musstanser sees a swell opportunity in South Asia. The numbers, he thinks, are simply staggering. From Afghanistan to Bhutan and Nepal, there are more than 1.5 billion people living in South Asia and a labour force of over 700 million. A vast majority of these are poor. More than 75 per cent of the populations in India, Bangadesh, and Pakistan live under $2 a day - an international poverty line standard. Most of this population goes by taking on unskilled jobs on a temporary basis. Over the years, there has also been a massive shift from rural to urban life bringing forth further dislocation and disruption to lives and livelihoods.

Wanting to do something about this, Musstanser came across at an Innovation Camp on the idea of setting a digital clearing house to facilitate the poor - many of whom serve a day-labourers and more - and to bring additional benefits of verifiability, networking, and reviews. Fori Mazdoor (‘Instant Labor’) was born. During this timeframe, Musstanser also came across the National Innovation Grand Challenge (NIGC) - a flagship initiative of Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF) - that seeks to inspire and incentivise innovators like him to take a stab at Pakistan’s various Development Challenges. The Agriculture and rural Development Challenge funded by Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) seemed like the kind of initiative that could jumpstart a platform like Fori Mazdoori.

Over the last few months, Musstanser has come a long way in activating his vision of creating this platform for organising and credentialing labour. Some of his most valuable lessons have come from actually hitting the ground early with his concept.

Musstanser raves about the enthusiastic

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response he and his all-volunteer team has received from people on the ground.

“Whenever we’ve gone to places labour tends to agglomerate and look for work,” says Musstanser, “We’ve been amazed at how eager and welcome they are to get registered.

Once we’ve explained to them what we’re there for, they would almost encircle our team, urging us to put them on our system.

We then have to teach them how to make lines and wait for their turn to be registered.

We’ll do a few hours of membership drive and then move on to the next place,” he adds.

Musstanser’s team already has several thousand labourers - plumbers, masons, electricians, carpenters, etc - on his database. his carefully verifies them through their CNICs and logs their address and skills, etc.

While this on-the-ground testing is happening, Musstanser’s programmers are busy building a social network - almost a facebook of labour - and a mobile app that could used to sift through those available.

The next challenge is to work on those who may require the services of this labour.

“The challenging part about this project is that it requires working on both the supply and demand side of the equation,” notes Musstanser. “Not only do we have to organise labour such that it could be verified but also effectively create a critical mass of users. Pure network effects, I would say,” he adds.

The users of the Fori Mazdoori service would be able to not only access registered help online through the (soon to be launched) website and mobile app with the peace of mind that someone on the list has been credentialed through cross-referencing the CNIC of the person (ie he/she is who he/she claims to be) but also check references from others who have used an individual’s help.

Suddenly you have a market for unskilled labour that is beginning to look a bit more organised and safe.

Musstanser believes that ultimately the labour will also benefit not only from getting jobs through referrals also for getting higher compensation for higher quality work. By creating a history of work, the marketplace shall also create an incentive for the labour to ultimately acquire certifications which, if it happens, would be a fantastic unintended consequence of the system.

Many challenges remain, though, as this clearly not the easiest problem to solve. But Musstanser in passionate and adamant that he will make this platform work. Soon, Musstanser plans to launch this service in Lahore because of accessibility to his own homebase (Islamabad) and the large labour market there. A successful pilot in Lahore will go a long way in bringing partners, investors, and users to his network.

Then there are technical challenges such as deciding when to stop (coding) and launch the service. Musstanser understands that he must not let perfect be the enemy of good enough and that moment may be just around the corner.

The million rupee question for Musstanser is whether the service will deliver as much benefit to rural labour as it promises to urban labour and whether this system can be made to work in rural areas - with its distances and other challenges, etc - at all?

Under the terms of the challenge, he must demonstrate that his system actually works in the field - ie a complete proof of commercial concept, so to speak. The coming weeks - not months - shall determine whether he has put enough in his idea to claim the PPAF rural and Agriculture Prize or not?

Musstanser’s idea can go a long way to help solve Pakistan’s labour challenge by adding more formalism to the labour markets at the bottom of the pyramid, and with ambition as big as his, perhaps to South Asia as a whole. g­

arabic for Dummies The spirit of learning

Mehreen oMer The writer is a digital media scientist, a movie buff and a cultural critic. She tweets @mehreen_omer

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hy are people losing faith in the Moulvis and the Mullahs? Why is the young lot of this country renegading from Islam?

Where did we go wrong? Who’s to blame; Islam or the Muslims? We have got a pandemic at our hands but no one is willing to even talk about it simply because it has become a religious taboo to raise the issue. The police of our society is busy constantly blaming the youth for their immorality but never tries to dig deeper in the issue and shove out the root cause; faithlessness. yes, face it, many young boys and girls in Pakistan are openly defying religion and professing to be adamant atheists. They are fed up of Muslims, fed up of their hypocrisy, and fed up of Islam because those who claim to be the representatives of Islam simply are not giving them the answers. The fact is; they can’t give the answers simply because they don’t have any. Many of our Moulvis and Mullahs, with due respect to all, are not learned in religion at all. They are ‘Hafiz-e-Qur’an’ (Memorisers of the Qur’an) only. They have crammed the Surahs and Ayahs in Arabic without even understanding their meaning. Most of their fatwas and opinions are not derived from the Qur’an but from that of other scholars whose opinions in turn are derived from that of other scholars. So the cycle continues with the net result that all those claiming to be the masters of the religion really have no real connection with the Qur’an.

And yet there are those holy elite of our society who try to adorn their haram-earned wealth with lots and lots of Sadaqah (charity) and Hajj (pilgrimage) because apparently the positives would neutralise the negatives and render them sin-free. It doesn’t end here; they have the audacity to sound all religious in parties and gatherings and the courage to demean others who don’t give millions of rupees per month in charity. They have portraits of Ayahs and Surahs, the meaning of which they themselves don’t understand, embedded on the walls of their houses. They engage in Tasbih and Dhikhr in Arabic but themselves don’t know what they are reciting. And it is these blatant hypocrites who are causing our younger generation to lose faith in religion altogether; because to them religion is only a tool in the hands of the powerful to control others. Any opposition against religion means opposition against the power structure of the society, and that our youth is already very-well attuned to.

Deciding to apostate is an individual’s personal decision but there is hardly any discussion on why a person decides to be an atheist in a society which has religion embedded in it as the strongest core value. Well, everyone has access to the Internet these days and every religious young man and woman gets a chance to be a Mufti online and give his/her on a particular religious issue. And of course there are hardcore debaters on youTube, Facebook and many other forums who would cross the line but

would not let the militant atheists or the Christian evangelists win over them.

Their usual arguments about the number 19 miracle in the Qur’an and how the repetition of words alludes to mathematical miracles have become pretty unconvincing. Problem is many of these supposed miracles are floated online in forums and blogs until they are considered facts, but only a few are talking about the real miracles, which usually require deep study.

And yet no one actually tries to read the Qur’an himself. Linguists know that a translation can never do justice to the original text and sometimes translations change the meaning altogether. Similarly, there are many idioms and phrases in the Qur’an which if literally translated into English would mean something completely different.

And so when a young man endeavours to come closer to Islam and opens up the Qur’an and reads its translation, he is faced with so many questions and doubts, simply because the translation does not do justice to the original Arabic text by any means.

But no one has the time these days to learn Arabic, and some people argue that if the Qur’an is for the entire mankind, everyone should be able to understand it, and not just the Arabs.

Well, the Qur’an definitely is for everyone but it’s only in one language isn’t it? And you don’t have to invest more than 10 minutes a day to at least learn the basics. Nouman Ali Khan, the CEO of Bayyinah, has opened up an institute which teaches Classical Arabic as well as modern-standard Arabic to be able to understand the Qur’an better. he has an online library of videos where he teaches his 11-year old daughter husna, the basics of Arabic Grammar. I’m sure that if she can do it, we all can. Nouman Ali Khan says that many of the translators of the Qur’an were not Arabs, and so it’s pretty lame to excuse yourself of learning Arabic simply because you are not an Arab. It’s time that Muslims finally read the Qur’an in the language that their God chose for it; Arabic. The trouble with the Urduspeaking lot of our society is that they think that Urdu and Arabic are more or less the same; if they understand Urdu, they have a command over Arabic too.

But the problem is; many of the words in Urdu mean completely the opposite in Arabic. An example is the word ‘Ishan’ which in Urdu means doing somebody a favor; while in Arabic it means excellence. That is exactly what many moulvis do in Pakistan; translating Arabic words using their Urdu meanings and thus causing complete confusion as a result especially amongst the youth who are already turning skeptical about their religion.

Failure to understand the Qur’an for its true meaning and relying solely on its archaic English translation has already led many to lose interest. After all, no one uses ‘Thy’ and ‘Thou’ in normal conversation anyway, so such Shakespearean English used in many translations of the Noble Qur’an is no longer relevant to many. Because the old translations are seemingly more reliable, the society does not encourage the youth to pick up new ones as they could be written by Islam-haters. So where does the solution lie? If one has to know the truth, one has to do a little effort too. Just like there is a huge difference between an eight-grade Physics book and a Masters-level physics book, a person who reads just the translation has only learned the basics and is at worlds apart from he who has endeavoured to study the book in its original language; Arabic. So make your choice today; do you want your understanding of the Qur’an to be shallow or deep? g

C M YK

Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

opinion

Indian, Chinese arab americans anxiety grows and american over Afghanistan muslims are at risk how the chinese move correlates with the ‘pivot to asia’ needs to be factored in as well

arif ansar The writer is chief analyst at PoliTact, a Washington-based futurist advisory firm (www.PoliTact.com). He can be reached at: aansar@politact.com, and on Twitter at: @ArifAnsar.

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hilE world attention is focused on Gaza and the seemingly slow undoing of Middle East, another crisis is looming on the horizon. This one has to do with Afghanistan. On his visit to Afghanistan in June, Us secretary of state John Kerry had helped reach an interim agreement, stipulating the recount of all votes, and temporarily raised hopes. Now he is back to keep the momentum going. Just like in iraq and Palestine, ‘unity government’ and ‘power sharing’ are also the buzzwords in Afghanistan. With so much polarisation, such a set up provides the best hope.

The assessments continue if the Afghan army is ready for the difficult task at hand and nerves are running high in the aftermath of the iraq debacle. More and more the reviews are turning bleak.

The death of Maj Gen harold Greene in an insider attack this week has once again raised concerns regarding Us Afghan strategy.

Us policy circles continue to debate the strategic goals for the mission in Afghanistan and if that requires a quick draw down or preservation of what has been achieved so far. With the political and security transition at risk in Afghanistan, high-level diplomatic exchanges have also taken place between Us and Pakistan. however, it was the appointment of the Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, sun Yuxi, which was especially noteworthy.

The diplomatic exchanges between Pakistan and Us had a lot to do with the long awaited North Waziristan operation, and the accompanied policy change related to good and bad Taliban. On the Us side, there remains a concern that Pakistan’s military operation has not targeted the haqqani network, and for the most part its members may have escaped unharmed across the border.

From Pakistan’s side, there has been a strong negation of this viewpoint. The country maintains that it is now going after all brands of extremists. To amply convey its perspective, Pakistan sent its special assistant to the prime minister on foreign affairs, Tariq Fatemi, to Washington.

Without equal pressure from the Afghan side of the border, most extremists were likely to take refuge there, as has occurred in the past when Pakistan has conducted military operations. As they do, they become someone else’s headache, not Pakistan’s.

This approach, however, does include the risk of continued cross border raids in to

Pakistan from the Afghan side.

From what one can gather, Pakistan’s emerging strategy is premised on reestablishing its writ over FATA. Due to the unfolding situation of Afghanistan and Middle East, Pakistan finally seems to see the dangerous ramifications of the spreading influence of the non-state actors. if it is ready to revise the policy towards good Taliban is another matter.

While Tariq Fatemi was in Washington, the retiring Us special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins was making rounds in the region and also met with senior military officials in Pakistan. he was probably gauging how much unity exists between Pakistan’s civilian and military officials on this significant policy change.

Judging from the joint statement that came out during the visit of John Kerry to india while attending the Us-india strategic dialogue, Dobbins’ agenda with Pakistan may have also included a discussion on the nations posture towards Punjabi or india oriented jihadists (leT).

The joint statement read: “Minister swaraj and secretary Kerry reiterated their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and reaffirmed their commitment to eliminating terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, and disrupting terrorist networks including Al-Qa’ida and the lashkar-e-Taiba. The leaders called for Pakistan to work toward bringing the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice.”

As the Afghan situation becomes more uncertain, China and india are also worried; they both have security and economic interests at stake. While China appointed a special representative for the region, india has indicated it will buy arms from Russia to supply to Afghanistan. The country is also involved in training Afghan security forces, a concern for Pakistan. As a result of the crisis in Ukraine, it would be interesting to see how the Russian position evolves towards Afghanistan. in a recent discussion on a blog linked to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Chinese involvement was portrayed in a positive light. however, it would be naïve to think that Chinese involvement in Afghanistan is singularly focused on extremism. how the Chinese move correlates with the ‘Pivot to Asia’ needs to be factored in as well. While the Pacific is the home sphere of influence, south and Central Asia represent the other flanks for China as it strives to secure its energy and trade routes.

The rise of China and west’s deteriorating relations with Russia increases india’s importance. The country is using this to its advantage to acquire state of the art weaponry by strengthening its strategic relation with the Us. Furthermore, india is also seeking a permanent position on the reformed UN security Council. if the west doesn’t oblige, india can pressurise by moving closer to BRiCs. however, such an approach is not without risks. Firstly, if india gets sucked further in the pivot strategy, its membership and role as a member of BRiCs will lose efficacy and its security footprint in Afghanistan will also become a concern for China. g­

Attitudes towards Muslims are cause for concern Washington Watch

Dr James J Zogby The writer is President, Arab American Institute, Washington.

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his past week the Arab American institute (AAi) released its third biannual poll of American attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims. Conducted

by Zogby Analytics, 1100 likely voters were surveyed nationwide. The results were deeply troubling.

What we found was that there has been a continued erosion in the favourable ratings Americans have of both Arabs and Muslims, posing a threat to the civil rights and political inclusion of both Arab Americans and American Muslims. For example, in 2010 favorable ratings for Arabs were 43 per cent. They have now declined to 32 per cent. For Muslims, the ratings dropped from 36 per cent in 2010, to 27 per cent in the 2014 survey.

A direct consequence of this disturbing downward slide can be seen in the substantial number of Americans (42 per cent) who say that they support the use of profiling by law enforcement against Arab Americans and American Muslims and a growing per centage of Americans who say that they lack confidence in the ability of individuals from either community to perform their duties as Americans should they be appointed to important government positions. Thirty-six per cent of respondents felt that the decisions made

by Arab Americans would be influenced by their ethnicity, while 42 per cent of respondents felt that American Muslims would be negatively influenced by their religion. in the responses to every question covered by the poll, we found a deep partisan split. For example, when respondents were asked whether they believed individuals from either community could perform their duties in an important government post without their loyalties to their ethnicity or religion getting in the way— by a two-to-one margin Democrats express confidence in the loyalty of their fellow citizens who are of Arab descent or the Muslim faith. By the same two-to-one margin, Republicans said that they feared that the loyalties of members of these communities would be compromised by their ethnicity or religion.

On closer examination, it appears that the differences in the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans mask a deeper demographic divide. Younger and nonwhite Americans have more favourable views and are more protective of rights and respectful of the loyalties of Arab Americans and American Muslims. Across the board, the gaps between younger and older voters and white and non-white voters are striking. For example, by a twoto-one margin Democrats, younger Americans, and non-whites oppose the use of profiling by law enforcement against the two communities; while the attitudes of

Republicans, older Americans, and whites are two-to-one in favor of this discriminatory practice.

Given the persistence of negative Arab and Muslim stereotypes in popular culture and the pervasive bias in media reporting, an explanation for these divides may be found in the different life experiences of these groups of Americans and the sources they utilise to get their news about the world. Other polling by Zogby Analytics demonstrates that younger Americans have developed a more inclusive and tolerant worldview as a result of their broader exposure to the internet and social media. Older Americans, on the other hand, rely on more limited traditional sources of information.

Our polling establishes that an additional factor that is important in shaping attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims comes from direct exposure to Arab Americans and American Muslims.

Americans who say they know either Arabs or Muslims have significantly higher favourable attitudes toward both (33 per cent higher in both cases) and also have greater confidence in their ability to serve in important government positions. This is especially true among younger and nonwhite Americans, greater percentages of whom indicate that they know Arabs and Muslims and have more favourable attitudes toward both communities.

Another of the poll’s findings establishes that a majority of Americans say that they feel that do not know enough about Arab history and people (57 per cent) or about islam and Muslims (52 per cent). Evidence of this lack of knowledge comes through clearly in other poll responses where respondents wrongly conflate the two communities. For example, by a two-to-one margin Americans say that they believe that most Arab Americans are Muslim, while in reality about one-third are. similarly, opinions are evenly divided on whether the majority of American Muslims are Arab. in fact, only a one-quarter of all American Muslims are of Arab descent.

The way forward is clear. Education about and exposure to Arab Americans and American Muslims are central to the efforts to create greater understanding of these growing communities of American citizens and to insuring that their rights are secured. Media has a role and politicians have a responsibility. hollywood’s negative stereotypes and media’s obsession with negative stories not only feed misunderstanding, they threaten the rights and security of American citizens who are of Arab descent or of the Muslim faith. irresponsible political leaders who fuel islamophobia must also be called to account. When the GOP launched its 2010 campaign against the construction of an islamic Center in lower Manhattan and when the majority of GOP presidential candidates in 2012 stated that they would require special loyalty oaths from any Muslim who sought to serve in government, damage was done.

But Arab Americans and American Muslims have responsibilities, as well. The communities must do more to make themselves known through civic engagement, education, and political empowerment. if the poll’s declining favorable ratings teach us anything it is that passivity has consequences. The challenge is clear and must be met. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 13

C M YK

The real revolution in military affairs Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

international

anthony h Cordesman

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Centre for StrategiC and international StudieS

t doesn’t seem all that long since the United States was considering how advancements in military technology would allow it to use advances in long-range precision weapons, intelligence sensors, and command and control capabilities to dominate conventional wars. the Gulf War in 1991, the fighting over Kosovo, the initial invasion of Afghanistan, and the US-led invasion of Iraq to topple a Saddam Hussein all seemed to prove that superior technology and tactics had led to a “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA) that would dominate modern warfare.

No one can deny the importance of such changes today.

Precision strike capability combined with superior intelligence and command and control capabilities have changed the face of conventional warfare. At the same time, the Afghan War, the Iraq War, the fighting in Gaza, the fighting in Yemen, the fighting in Ukraine, and the other conflicts following the political upheavals in the Middle East have all involved a different kind of revolution.

Most modern wars have become irregular or asymmetric conflicts between states and nonstate actors. the resulting wars are not high-technology duels between conventional forces, but struggles that pit governments and their allies against opponents that fight along religious and cultural lines and use their own internal divisions and populations as weapons.

Many of these conflicts are shaped by religious ideology and extremist sectarian differences.

Most are shaped by civil-military struggles that are driven by weak or failed governments and economies, the absence of a meaningful rule of law, and demographic pressures throughout the developing world that have created a “youth explosion” in terms of the demand for education and jobs and pressure on internal stability. the nonstate actors that shape most such conflicts do attack the full range of national security forces; rather, they attack the weaknesses in local governments and the fault lines in their societies. they not only “swim” among the population, to use Mao tse-tung’s

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terminology on guerrilla warfare, they use that same population as weapons and as the equivalent of human shields. they counter hightechnology strike capabilities with people, propaganda, and by exploiting the civil casualties and collateral damage that hightechnology weapons create. they use insurgency and political influence as additional weapons and tactics, and they fight as much on the civil level as they do using weapons and terrorism.

Gaza is just the most recent case where the use of the population as shields, and manipulation of popular support, acts as a critical limiting factor on the ability of high-technology forces to actually use their military capabilities. Israel has increasingly had to justify every strike that produces civilian casualties or collateral damage in each new round of fighting, but it is scarcely the only example of the growing demand for “perfect war” in which precision and improvements in command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I/) and battle management are expanded to reduce or eliminate civilian casualties and collateral damage.

Ever since the first Gulf War in 1990–1991 showed what precision weapons could do in selectively hitting targets and avoiding civilian casualties, the United States has progressively had to cut back on the use of airpower and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs). It had to do so in Iraq to win popular support. It had to do so in Afghanistan both to win popular support and as a result of taliban and Pakistani propaganda and political pressure. It now faces a future environment that seems certain to further limit the kind of strikes it can make with airpower and missiles, as well as sweeps and raids by ground forces in populated areas. the real revolution in military affairs is forcing modern states to use the advancements in military technology to focus on minimising civilian casualties and collateral damage rather than destroying the enemy. In some cases, it makes laws of war designed for totally different types of combat a political and propaganda weapon in the hands of nonstate actors and nations that use asymmetric means of combat. this, however, is only part of the real revolution in military affairs. In most cases where nonstate actors pose a serious threat, the government is so weak, unpopular, and vulnerable that effective action requires armed nation building. the civil dimension in creating greater political stability, more effective governance, and adequate employment and economic development is at least as critical as the military dimension, and at times the political effort in fact supersedes the military fighting. the propaganda and strategic communications aspects of the

fighting become equally important. tactical victories becomes meaningless without civil victory, and military forces alone cannot defeat the enemy. the measure of success ceases to be which side wins a given series of battles; instead, success is measured by which side has influence and control over the population. time and resilience become weapons, as well. there are usually no quick ways to deal with a nation’s internal economic and social problems and the failures of its political system and governance.

Experience shows that long, lowlevel wars tend to favour the nonstate actor or simply the most persistent side. the human and political dimension in wars of attrition become the real centre of gravity.

Moreover, the financial cost of war often favours the nonstate or ideological actor over modern military forces by several orders of magnitude. Less need for weapons and money by relying more on human sacrifices, martyrdom, and unconventional fighting has become another new element of the real revolution in military affairs.

So has the sheer complexity of the factional and other struggles involved, along with the diversity and changing character of nonstate actors. As al Qaeda and other jihadist factions have shown, the fragmentation and diversity of nonstate actors can in effect distribute affiliated but independent militant networks that are aided by the public impact of high-technology social networks and use of the Internet.

Nations have also grasped the opportunities involved. As Iran, China, and Russia have shown, the military forces of state actors are also adapting to use irregular warfare effectively. the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) now has a complex mix of asymmetric air-sea-missile-ground forces dedicated to challenging Iran’s neighbours and the United States, as well as a branch called the al Quds force dedicated to working with nonstate actors in other countries to challenge unfriendly

regimes.

China has made irregular warfare a key element of every aspect of its military doctrine, has focused on political warfare in the South China Sea, and shown that it can use its coast guard and even an oil drilling platform to achieve its objectives. Russia has shown in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine just how much it has learned since its clumsier earlier attempts in Chechnya and Georgia.

Using asymmetric means to intimidate and to avoid or limit conflict has become an element of the real revolution in military affairs as well. the goal of “wars of intimation” is to win at the strategic level without ever actually fighting. the superior side is the one that can manoeuvre, threaten, and pressure its way to victory without ever firing a shot or at least taking a serious military risk. Here, the model advanced by Chinese military strategist Sun tzu is still as relevant as ever: “100 victories in 100 battles is simply ridiculous.

Anyone who excels in defeating his enemies must triumph before his enemy’s threats become real.”

None of these developments means that “conventional war” does not remain a risk and reality.

Conventional war goes on every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a constant risk in the Koreas and in the Persian Gulf. It is now a spectre in every US military calculation involving the emergence of China and re-emergence of Russia in a far more multipolar world.

Nevertheless, the United States needs to do a far better job of coping with the real revolution in military affairs. As Afghanistan and Iraq—and Vietnam before them— have shown, the United States cannot rely on professional forces and superior technology alone to fight conventional wars, any more than it can rely on “soft power” and partnerships with weak and internally divided allies as a substitute for the use of force. the United States must adapt its forces to fight at asymmetric levels of politico-military warfare. It must progressively improve its ability to selectively attack enemy

with minimal civilian casualties and collateral damage. It must do a far better job of integrating its civil and military approaches to warfare, and it must focus far more on shaping the lasting strategic outcome of a conflict than on winning tactical victories. technology has not triumphed over the human dimension of warfare, and the United States must be prepared to engage in long, complex political and ideological struggles fought on local terms and under local conditions in a steadily more complex mix of state and nonstate actors. the United States needs to focus on just how different the conditions are that shape irregular or asymmetric wars in given areas of US strategic interest.

It is pointless to try to shape strategies and doctrine to broadly fit many different cases when so many different variables exist in the conflicts, even in a single region. the United States needs to adapt to the limits and opportunities of each case and not expect the case to adapt to its limits.

Finally, the United States needs to learn how to make choices between risky and uncertain options, rather than leap in or stand and wait. It must be prepared to actually engage in terms of local realities and the real-world capabilities of its allies and local partners, rather than its own desires. things do not get better in irregular warfare by allowing an enemy to exploit the situation while waiting for hope to triumph over experience. they do not get better when the United States rushes in to attack a perceived enemy without honestly assessing the threat posed by the limits to its potential allies and current security partners, or ignores the fact that trying to impose its own values and war fighting methods can be a form of blindness where the United States is as much a threat to itself as the enemy. g Anthony H Cordesman holds the Arleigh A Burke Chair in Strategy at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

Satire

Pakistani men urged not to marry Pakistani women Matches are no longer made in heaven Fraudian SliP

The author often plays matchmaker in her spare time and is an avid follower of fatwas. To discuss your marriage potential, email at: fraudian.slip@yahoo.com.

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howing overwhelming support to Saudi Arabia’s decision to bar Saudi men from marrying women from Pakistan, Chad, Myanmar and Bangladesh, a Pakistani local cleric has also produced a fatwa disallowing the same.

Earlier this month a report outlined that over 500,000 women or more originating from these countries were currently living in Saudi Arabia. in a bid to ensure that Saudi men do not favour foreign brides over local women, regulations surrounding imported wives were further tightened. if a man wishes to wed a woman from another country he

must first submit several marriage applications and get official approval from the government before he can proceed. in an odd twist the local cleric from Pakistan has produced a fatwa which is meant to ensure that Pakistani men do not marry women from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar or Chad either. The cleric has suggested that Pakistani men that wish to marry women from their own country, or any of the other three outlined, must first apply for similar consent to the Saudi government before they can proceed. The cleric Maulana habib-ul-Yak exclusively spoke to Pakistan Today to explain his fatwa, “we must always follow Saudi Arabia, it is the capital of islam. i am surprised i am the first one to address this issue. if the supreme country for Muslims doesn’t feel that women from these countries are fit as brides, then how can we?

Any good Muslim in Pakistan will Alhamdulillah pay heed!” he said.

Some people are calling the move a confused one citing the lack of an original fatwa as the main problem. An opposing and equally popular cleric Maulana Atish said that “we should wait for a fatwa to come through from Saudi Arabia itself before we issue such fatwas for our people. i agree that Saudi Arabia is the supremacist of supreme countries, they have the Kaaba afterall, and we should always ALwAYS follow their footsteps. who are we to issue a fatwa on our own? we have no such authority, Astaghfirullah.” “it seems this was only a notification from the government, and Pakistanis who have trouble following their own rules and regulations will have a huge problem implementing a foreign law. This problem may resolve overtime but in the short term it is an issue,” he said. on the other hand, local women responded with mixed reactions to the new fatwa. Bibi izhar-e-nargiz is well respected in her community as a prominent matchmaker. “when i first heard the news i

In an odd twist the local cleric from Pakistan has produced a fatwa which is meant to ensure that Pakistani men do not marry women from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar or Chad either. The cleric has suggested that Pakistani men that wish to marry women from their own country, or any of the other three outlined, must first apply for similar consent to the Saudi government before they can proceed. The cleric Maulana Habib-ul-Yak exclusively spoke to Pakistan Today to explain his fatwa, “We must always follow Saudi Arabia, it is the capital of Islam. I am surprised I am the first one to address this issue. If the supreme country for Muslims doesn’t feel that women from these countries are fit as brides, then how can we? Any good Muslim in Pakistan will Alhamdulillah pay heed!” he said. didn’t know how to react. of course it’s Saudi Arabia and indeed we must follow any fatwas that are inspired by the great land, but it is chaos here. where am i supposed to find brides for all these helpless mothers that come to me with their sons’ pictures and biodata now? how am i supposed to cater to my clients after this ban?”

Bibi is now considering new tools that she can use to rectify the situation. “i am actively looking for girls with foreign passports… you know the ones who were born abroad but got dragged back to Pakistan by their parents so that they wouldn’t go crazy. Those girls were always easier to get hitched anyway. other than that i’ve made a Facebook page and started a Twitter account under the name ‘Bibi izhar-e-nargiz finds good girls’, and i’m hoping to find girls from countries that haven’t been banned for our poor boys here. i’m positive this will work.”

Some women also welcomed the news and were overjoyed that they would now forcibly have to end up finding their spouses elsewhere. “Pakistani men have been brought up in the worst possible misogynistic and patriarchal setup around. great that they’re

not allowed to marry us, we’ll find better men and we’ll be happier as we do it,” exclaimed an excited woman on the condition of anonymity. however, not all people have taken the news all that well. Sheikh Tahir Ali Malik, a young student, has several issues with the new law. “i am the first to support everything that is Saudi. i mean look at my license place. it reads Al-Bakistan and not Pakistan. i think Pakistan is totally uncool. i always talk in favour of the holy land, i even added a Sheikh at the beginning of my name to feel closer to being an Arab. But this ban will ruin my life.

“Meri khala ki beti se shadi honi thi yar. Ab mein kya karon ga? Kash woh Pakistani na hoti,” he lamented before bursting into tears.

At present people aren’t precisely sure what the fallout from this fatwa will mean for Pakistan and it is the wedding industry which has been on a boom even during times when poverty and unemployment have been sky high. wedding planners, decorators, hall owners and other vendors are gearing for a storm, one where people will either marry in secret or not marry at all, of course in the name of Saudi pride.

Subhanallah. g

Similarities between Zionism and Islamism Shocking revelations that would change the way you think about the two extremist ideologies forever – or at least the next ten minutes

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T is believed that both islamism and Zionism are a threat to mankind. it is also believed that any person who recognises the threat of one while ignoring the threat of the other is a threat to mankind as well.

Therefore, this column, vying to not become a threat to mankind, would be unearthing some crucial similarities between Zionism and islamism. This would allow the author to appear neutral, and there is nothing more important for the author than the approval

of the two and a half people that seem to value his opinion.

After spending eons studying the two movements, we have compiled a list of all the similarities between Zionism and islamism. here are a few shocking revelations that would change the way you think about the two forever – or at least the next ten minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the five similarities between islamism and Zionism that you would’ve have thought about in your wildest dreams: 1. Both have -ism as their suffix it took us a lot of time digging this out, but anyone who is still unsure about Zionism and islamism being two sides of the same coin, look no further. it is no coincidence that both movements have a common suffix. it is probably a hidden code or something that needs to

be dug out. And we will extricate it. Just give us some time please.

2. Both use religious identity okay, now we are getting closer. Zionism uses the Jewish religious identity. islamism uses the Muslim religious identity.

This basically means that both movements are driven by religion. however, there were a few minor details that we managed to sidestep to make this hypothesis more unambiguous.

3. Both originated in the Middle East if you still have a doubt about the correlation and commonalities between Zionism and islamism, just take a look at the startling fact that both these movements have their origin in the Middle East. Zionism has its origins in the land that is now called israel, while islamism has its origin in the rest of the Middle East. Kicking off from the same

place, both the movements have only one goal in mind…

4. Both are abhorred by Marxists if you want to find out the commonalities between movements, just figure out who they pinch in unison. we don’t have to look beyond Marxists.

They condemn both islamism and Zionism wholeheartedly and are at the forefront of making comparisons between the two movements as well. we tried to contact a few leading Marxists for this essay on comparisons between Zionism and islamism, but no one replied.

That’s when we realised that Marxism has the suffix –ism as well.

5. Both are activists’ goldmine whether it is social media activism or real life protests in a country far far away, protesting against either one of them gets

you a lot of attention. not so surprisingly, our extensive study found out that people who condemn both rank higher on activist PR. what is even less surprising is the fact that if you condemn both in unison, your activist PR skyrockets to a whole new realm. now that you know about these similarities just do the right thing and spread awareness as much as possible. You see those social media like counters on the top left corner of the screen? The numbers wouldn’t increase on their own.

Also, remember that one like is equal to one prayer for the victims of islamism and Zionism. g The writer is against all kinds of –isms, including prisms, especially the really colourful ones. All side-effects of reading The horizontal Column are the readers’ headache. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 15

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Sunday, 10 - 16 August, 2014

sATIre

TELLING IT LIKE IT ALMOST NEVER IS khabaristan.today@gmail.com

Imran certain he’ll be Pakistan’s prime minister by 6pm on Thursday

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Islamabad

Our SpeCial COrreSpOndent

akistan tehreeke-insaf (Pti) Chairman imran khan is a ‘hundred percent sure’ that he will become the country’s prime minister by 6pm on thursday, august 14, Khabaristan today has learnt. a party official, not wanting to speak on record, told Khabaristan today that the party leader has also announced a party later on thursday night for all the party members. “it will be a party where the taliban come and have a blast,” the party official said, putting emphasis on the word blast. it is pertinent to mention here that the Pti has organised an ‘azadi March’ on august 14 to ‘free’ the country from the authoritarian regime of the sharifs, and establish the authoritarian regime of imran.

Making imran the prime minister of Pakistan is a

prerequisite for Pakistan’s freedom, according to party officials. it is believed that “millions” of Pakistanis are awaiting this massive change. “this is naya Pakistan, take 2109651,” the party official commented. according to sources, imran khan has already prepared his victory speech after his announcement as nawaz sharif’s successor on thursday. Khabaristan today has also learnt that the Pti chief has a few tweets ready as well. sources reveal that ‘drones, taliban, amreeka and dollars’ get regular mention in khan’s ‘to thank’ list. the Pti chief talking exclusively about the rumours of him becoming the prime minister on thursday said, “i have no interest in becoming the prime minister, all i am interested in is the azadi of my fellow Pakistanis. it is just a coincidence that this azadi is impossible without imran khan being the prime minster.” g

Rishta aunties urged to make matches like Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan Islamabad/lahore/KarachI

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Our MatriMOnial COrreSpOndent

ishta aunties all over Pakistan have been urged to make ideal matches like tahirul Qadri and imran khan. From islamabad to Lahore to karachi streets in all the major cities in Pakistan were jam packed with anxious parents’ waiting to see their children being married as soon as possible. and it is every parent’s dream that their kid finds a match made in heaven. this is precisely why massive scale movements have been carried out all over Pakistan to urge the rishta aunties into making perfect matches “a la tUQ and ik”. shakeela aunty, in the rishta making business for the past 40 years, talking exclusively to Khabaristan today, said, “Parents are now coming to us with pictures of tahirul Qadri and imran khan saying that’s the kind

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of match i want for my daughter… this is the sort of marriage i want for my son.” “and while i respect their sentiment and overwhelming desire, what these parents refuse to understand is that matches like Qadri and khan are made in heaven. it is virtually impossible to find similar matches for anyone else.” shakeela aunty went on to explain why the Qadri and khan match was as perfect as everyone was claiming it to be.

“theirs is the ideal marriage, because despite their minor disagreements their goals in life are the same. in fact if they had no disagreements at all, and agreed on everything that would have been a disastrous marriage,” she said.

“Just look at all the hue and cry over the azadi march.

Despite their ostensible disaccords, the end goal is the same for both imran khan and tahirul Qadri: being a pain in the backside of nawaz sharif. and when the spouses work in tandem – spouses as perfect as Qadri and khan, if i may add – they are sure to achieve what they want,” she added. it is expected that rishta aunties all over the country would come out in numbers, in response to the parents coming out in numbers, clearly telling them that it is impossible to find matches like Qadri and khan, and that parents should be more realistic. g

PM decides to observe ‘Parachinar Day’ on August 17 Islamabad Our Staff repOrter

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akistan Prime Minister Dr Mian Muhammad nawaz sharif has decided to observe ‘Parachinar Day’ on august 17, following a crucial meeting with Jamaat-e-islami (Ji) chief sirajul Haq. the meeting was held amidst deteriorating political situation in the country and has turned out be extremely crucial. During the meeting the prime minister of Pakistan praised the Ji chief not going all inqilabi on him like Pti Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) and

Pakistan awami tehreek (Pat). nawaz extolled the stance of Ji chief sirajul Haq, whose politico-religious party announced protests all over the country on august 17, to show solidarity with the people of Parachinar that are facing brutal attacks from the taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and sipah-esahaba Pakistan, whose political wing happens to be Pakistan Muslim League nawaz’s (PML-n) ally, ahl-e-sunnat Wal Jamaat (asWJ). the prime minister said that the ongoing shia genocide in Pakistan and the government’s inability to counter the situation had become a major concern and that earmarking a day to support the shia brothers and sisters had become the need of the hour. the prime minister feared that the international community might start boycotting Pakistani products owing to the shia genocide and the state sponsored volatility in Balochistan. g