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Shakir Mumtaz
April 23, 2008
Political Cartel Active Again in Pakistan.
The difference this time, however, is that it is under the guise of Democracy, borrowed from the West; historically tested, foolproof system of power and plunder, where the population becomes unwittingly sacrificial goat daydreaming of emancipation from all ills and miseries. The cartel has upgraded itself by becoming the member of the league of the democratic nations ushering the support of its founding members; based on the principle of power, plunder and designs sharing. The major player in this league, undoubtedly as always, are the Western imperialist masters, who are dictating the rules of the game.
The governments in Center and Provinces have been formed, after extensive bargaining for power and plunder under the supervision and sanction of the Grand Master, and now it is the time for share in the loot and perpetuation thereof. The dominant players, in succession, seem to be Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, APN and Mulana Fazlur Rehman. Altaf Hussain is trying to be part of the cartel, as he reportedly has the exclusive backing of the Ex-Colonial-Masters.
Fazalur Rehman has adapted and settled quietly for chimp-change, whereas Altaf is seeking a bigger chunk of the pie. Hurdle is the oddest and most awkward, undesirable member of the cartel, Nawaz, who is at odds not only with Altaf Hussain but also with Musharraf and PML (Q).
Zardari for the time has been able to muster a consensus but it is very fragile and would start showing cracks, in this Coalition of Convenience, very soon. Two incidents involving Dr Arbab Rahim and Dr Sher Afghan Niazi and the fallout in Karachi is just the beginning. The show of disruptive power is a signal to the members of the cartel, by those who have not yet been included in the scheme, that they cannot be ignored. On the other hand, for public consumption, the hand of friendship is being extended; playing all good and Comradery. Read the rest of this entry »
What a shameful last three days we’ve had. The media fabricated the story of Musharraf’s departure in a plane to ‘a neighboring country.’ The sad thing is that the rest of the good media is going to suffer when our politicians lead us to the next military takeover. Friends of Pakistan used to wonder why we’re so suicidal. Now they wonder why we’ve also reduced ourselves to a joke. This is the truth: Nawaz Sharif and the Musharraf-hating gang are getting desperate. Chances of taking revenge from Musharraf by using the hapless ex-CJ have all but receded. Zardari has cleverly got them mired in a 62-point bill that could take months if not years to materialize. Now they’re trying to play with the military. They tried once and got burned. Now they are trying again. This time there will be no U.S. president or Saudi crown prince to the rescue. My advice: Stop playing with fire.
By HUMAYUN GAUHAR
Monday, 2 June 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—One could concoct a tale out of anything. Here’s one.
The president explained to me the other day the sort of generator or UPS I should put in my house. How could a president know such things? Conclusion: He must be thinking of moving to his private home soon and is therefore studying alternative electric supply options. Scoop!
What a shameful last three days we’ve had. Our friends were wondering why we’re so suicidal. Now they wonder why we’ve also reduced ourselves to a joke. A daily comic that passes for a newspaper and the comic TV channel associated with it deliberately started the rumor last Thursday that President Musharraf would be leaving in hours.
It ran a ticker in its UK broadcast that the president was under “protective custody” when he was actually hosting a dinner at which the army chief was also present.
Karzai: A Roaring Mouse; Pak Politicians & Their Base In Diplomatic Enclave
Does Hamid Karzai want to start the Third World War? If the Pakistan Army was to respond, a clash between them and NATO forces could bring the world to the thermonuclear threshold. He shouldn’t forget that, U.S. help notwithstanding, it was we who did what Napoleon and Hitler couldn’t – defeat the Russian Empire and liberate Afghanistan. Karzai was ‘Pakistan’s Karzai’ when he lived on our largesse for two decades, protected by our own ISI. This poor hapless rodent is required to kill all the cats that belong to the fierce breeds known as ‘Taliban’ and ‘Al Qaeda’. If he is lucky enough to avoid the fate of his predecessor Najibullah, he can return to live in Pakistan again to end his days in comfort, telling his grandchildren stories of the ‘glory’ that was once his as the Lord Mayor of Kabul who couldn’t kill cats.
By Humayun Gauhar
Sunday, 22 June 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Have you ever heard a mouse roar? If you haven’t, you should have heard Hamid Karzai the other day. He called the Taliban leader “Pakistan’s Mullah Omar”, forgetting that the description “Pakistan’s Karzai” fitted him better once – the ingrate lived on our munificence for two decades under the protection of our ISI.
Now the latest occupiers of his country have ineffectively made him Lord Mayor of Kabul rejoicing under the title ‘President of Afghanistan’.
Dick Wittington returned to London when he imagined the bells tolling “Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London” and became a scullery boy again in the house of Mr. Fitzwarren. He found that his cat that he had sent on his master’s ship to be sold had earned him a fortune because it had killed all the mice in the King of Barbary’s palace. Sadly, Dick Whittington’s cat missed one mouse. Wonder of wonders, America adopted that mouse after occupying his country and has appointed him twice Lord Mayor of Kabul so far. It expects him to kill cats – a pipedream to beat all pipedreams!
The cats the poor hapless rodent is required to kill belong to the fierce breeds known as ‘Taliban’ and ‘Al Qaeda’.
Pakistan remains in a leaderless drift four months after elections, Western diplomats and military officials have said, and Pakistani politicians and Afghan officials are increasingly worried that no one is really in charge.
The leadership vacuum is most stark in dealing with militants, Pakistani politicians and foreign diplomats have said, adding that the Pakistani government and military officials were sending mixed signals about policy in the tribal areas that have become home to the Taliban and to Al Qaeda.
That confusion, military officials and diplomats warn, is allowing the militants to consolidate their sanctuaries while spreading their tentacles all along the border area. It has also complicated policy for the administration of George W. Bush, which leaned heavily on one man, President Pervez Musharraf, to streamline its anti-terrorism efforts in Paksitan.
If anyone is in charge, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats say, it remains the military and the country’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, which operate with little real oversight.
While the recently elected civilian government has been criticized for dealing with militants, the military is brokering cease-fires and prisoner exchanges with minimum consultation with the government, politicians from the government coalition, diplomats and analysts said. Meanwhile, politicians in both the provincial and central government complain that they are excluded from the negotiations and did not even know of a secret deal struck in February, before the elections, let alone the details of the accord.
America: Dubious Ally Or Outright Enemy?
Have our political and military elites lost the will to fight? Where is the befitting response? Our government, and our military, has reduced us to a laughingstock – a joke of a nation that can be pushed around. The point is, if our military is unwilling or unable to fight those who violate our sovereignty and kill our people, then what is the purpose of continuing to beef up and support this expensive organization?
By Shireen M. Mazari
Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—What have we been reduced to as a result of our successive leaderships’ kowtowing to the U.S. post-9/11? What many of us had feared and written about at the time seems to have come true — be it the
growing U.S. intrusions into our territory or the periodic diatribes from the U.S. against Dr A.Q. Khan whenever they feel Pakistan needs to be put under pressure. However, nothing reflects our state’s sovereign bankruptcy as much as the audacious threats issued by Afghanistan’s Karzai of sending in his Afghan Army into Pakistan to take out “militants” and “terrorists.”
Here is a man who barely has power in his own capital, Kabul, and has hundreds of occupation forces from the
U.S. and NATO — not to mention some Arab contingents from the Gulf states — and he is actually threatening Pakistan, a country with a massive conventional military, and nuclear capability to boot.
Herein lies the irony of Pakistan’s predicament post-9/11. Our military seems to have no stomach for fighting the violations of our sovereignty by the U.S. and its allies. That has emboldened the U.S. and they now feel they can target the Pakistani security forces directly — as they did in March 2008 in Bajaur, and more recently last week in
the Mohmand Agency which left 11 FC men dead, apart from the civilians that are a constant target of U.S. and NATO forces — especially as their frustration has grown over their lack of success in Afghanistan.
Since the war began in Afghanistan, one has seen only whimpers of protest from the Pakistani military and the government in response to brazen attacks on Pakistani soil by U.S./NATO forces in which many innocent Pakistani civilians have died. Sheltering behind these forces are the ragtag members of the “Afghan Army” — which Karzai now wants to send into Pakistan! Karzai, whose security forces stood helpless in the face of a massive prison break, actually thinks the Pakistani military is so weak that the same ineffectual security forces can simply march into our country and carry out military actions against our people.
Our government, and our military, has reduced us to a laughingstock – a joke of a nation that can be pushed around militarily by all and sundry. The point is, if our military is unwilling or unable to fight those who violate our sovereignty and kill our people, then what is the purpose of continuing to beef up and support this expensive
organization? Here we were thinking our investment in nuclear weapons and updating of conventional weapon systems would ensure that our borders were secure and any military threat from anywhere would be dealt with effectively by the Pakistan military. Yet nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, we continue to be subject to U.S. military attacks as and when they choose. From all accounts, they do not bother to inform us either until after the event. And all we do is whimper a few protests.
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