Iqbal Haider Former Chairman Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in an exclusive interview with Noor ul Arfeen Siddiqui in fresh episode of Hot Seat on Aaj News.
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Pakistan’s Kangaroo Court calls itself “Supreme Court,” but in fact is another front for the Mullah-Military complex
Pakistan’s puppet Court – By Shiraz Paracha
The Supreme Court’s controversial detailed verdict against the elected Prime Minister of Pakistan is one more bad decision by a Court that has a dark history of collaboration with the military in depriving the people of Pakistan of their fundamental rights.
The Supreme Court has been transcending its legal boundaries and constitutional role. Its decisions are biased, unfair and politicized. The Court is not a neutral and objective defender of law and judges have been acting as puppets.
The Judiciary is not independent and appears to be playing someone’s game. Indeed the Supreme Court is acting as a proxy for imposing a controlled democracy in Pakistan. It seems that characters such as Imran Khan and Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan are part of this game. The former ISI chief Lt. General Shuja Pasha was an architect of the latest effort to introduce ‘clean democracy’ in Pakistan. General Pasha was not alone in military’s one more political adventure.
Actually, the military considers itself the sole defender of Pakistan and generals have been trying to shape and control the Pakistani politics. In fact, the military never felt comfortable with parliamentary form of democracy. For this reason every few years new campaigns are launched to ‘clean’ the system.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s recent calls for the establishment of a technocrat government and Imran Khan’s Tsunami are reflections of military’s new efforts to bring a setup that ‘suits’ Pakistan. The Judiciary and media are means to complete that agenda. As the Parliament is about to complete its term, Imran Khan is threatening that he would not accept results of the new elections. Dr. Qadeer, dubbed by some as the future president, has joined hands with Imran Khan. The media and the Judiciary are taking cue from some in the military to pressurize the present government. All these actors want to maintain the status quo by imposing a controlled democracy.
The current Political crises in Pakistan – CPP’s analysis
By CPP
The Pakistan’s current political crises, is the most horrific tussle among its top institutions, has morphed grievous consequent deadlocks for the running of the affairs of the state. In order to understand its fundamental reasons, here, we would need to analyze its background circumstances.
1). The Pakistani military is no more a mere security agency , but an industrial and business corporation, in real terms. The economic and business positions of the army Generals, has over taken in many folds, the volume of the civilian business enterprises on the basis of these economic interests, being a class in stalk ,the political privileges, advantages and access to power or supremacy over the political dispensation is for now realized to be an oxygen for them . Therefore , military, as a class no way can afford any civilian government to deliver things independently without their prior approval .
2). Among ,the many businesses of the army, apart from industries and import -exports , “JEHAD” is adapted to be the most credible business corporation ,which has been for long greatly flourishing in leaps and bounds , under US imperialist’s patronage for the last 40 or so many years ,as a result almost all 5 stars Generals and Major Generals have turned billionaires and down to the rank of Majors ,have become Millionaires ,in quite short span of life.
3). The Obama’s administration ( democrats ), seems interested to work out some settlement for the Afghan issue, in order to cut down its colossal expenditures , there . They earnestly aspire for to have been successful in installing a US amicable government in Kabul, which would mean for the Pakistani Generals to wash off hands from the Jihad dividends . Consequently, the Generals have to resort, applying every means to keep up the past madcap policy on Afghanistan intact, so as to let the Jihad business go on . The present elected government, has opted, greatly, a US harmonious policy on this issue.
4). There is also, exists a profound contradiction between the army and the civilian government over the establishment of relations viz a vis, India concerned . The Pakistani government desires to normalize relations with India, which is a total opposite perspective to the basic policy stand of the Generals. Keeping the Kashmir issue alive at all costs to legitimate the false security apprehension from India, so as to justify the persistent un-auditable increase in military budget and its personnel strength . This is subject to keep intact the security state, status of Pakistan, through enhanced empowerment and role granted to play by the military institution.
Continue reading The current Political crises in Pakistan – CPP’s analysis
Pro-democracy protest: Protestors threaten civilian unrest if govt toppled
LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Civil Society Network and Center for Peace protested against the judiciary and army on Thursday, warning the two institutions of civilian unrest if they tried to topple the PPP led coalition government.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Abdullah Malik, advisor to the Punjab governor, said that “The participants sensing the current democratic to be in danger have decided to come out on the roads to show their solidarity with the democracy.”
He added that only people had the right to change the government through their vote in a democracy and not the judge or the generals.
PPP members along with prominent representatives of civil society demonstrated in favour of the current democratic government at the Liberty roundabout.
Participants warned the judiciary and army that if it tried to topple the PPP led coalition government by using the Memogate affair as an excuse, then the civil society will protest on the streets.
Civil Society Network and Center for Peace members, including IA Rehman, Hussain Naqi, Shah Taj Qizilbash, Abdullah Malik along with South Asia Free Media Association’s (SAFMA) Anjum Rashid, Imtiazul Haq, Shoaib Adil and Amina Malik participated in the demonstration.
Other PPP members at the protest included Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly, Azma Bukhari and Altaf Qureshi. …
Read more » The Express Tribune
Is the military establishment of Pakistan thinking to sack the elected civilian government?
The language of the analysis is urdu (Hindi).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzLHg6ysHXE&feature=player_embedded
Courtesy » Geo Tv (Khabarnaak with Aftab Iqbal – 19th november 2011, part 2)
Human Rights commission of Pakistan (HRCP): Proposed Local Government System in Sindh – Combining elements of 1979 & 2001 Ordinances/ Acts
Background
Democratic governance is among one of the major concerns of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. HRCP believes that an important aspect of democracy is governance at the local level. In Sindh, the issue of local government has caused deep divisions among the stakeholders, particularly in Karachi, Sindh, and led to the hardening of positions. This issue also demands urgency of settlement as the current arrangement, put in place through an Ordinance, will end on November 11, 2011. HRCP’s recent fact-finding into the causes of violence in Karachi indicated that the primary reason is a war of turf over who controls the city.
The Unchanged Look of Current Politics
The Unchanged Look of Current Politics – Fashion Expert Anticipates Presidential Candidates to Dress The Same for the Debate on October 11th, 2011.
People want change, but the more change is promised the more things stay the same. Even the way political candidates dress has been unchanged. It is the same old gray suit, white shirt, and red tie look. Men’s Fashion Expert, Hendrik Pohl, argues that “change starts with first impressions, how someone dresses, and he is convinced that people will respond positively to a changed look that incorporates new tie colors, bow ties, and even skinny ties.” But he is convinced that a changed look is not what people will see during the upcoming presidential debate on October 11th, 2011. ….
Read more → PRWeb
Electric motor made from a single molecule
By Jason Palmer, Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Researchers have created the smallest electric motor ever devised.
The motor, made from a single molecule just a billionth of a metre across, is reported in Nature Nanotechnology.
The minuscule motor could have applications in both nanotechnology and in medicine, where tiny amounts of energy can be put to efficient use.
Tiny rotors based on single molecules have been shown before, but this is the first that can be individually driven by an electric current.
“People have found before that they can make motors driven by light or by chemical reactions, but the issue there is that you’re driving billions of them at a time – every single motor in your beaker,” said Charles Sykes, a chemist at Tufts University in Massachusetts, US.
“The exciting thing about the electrical one is that we can excite and watch the motion of just one, and we can see how that thing’s behaving in real time,” he told BBC News.
Miniature uses
The butyl methyl sulphide molecule was placed on a clean copper surface, where its single sulphur atom acted as a pivot.
The tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope – a tiny pyramid with a point just an atom or two across – was used to funnel electrical charge into the motor, as well as to take images of the molecule as it spun.
It spins in both directions, at a rate as high as 120 revolutions per second. ….
Read more → BBC
Left and nationalist parties declaration on the current situation of Sindh
Karachi – Sindh (Press release) : Seven parties of left and nationalist leaning met in Karachi to discuss the prevailing political situation in Sindh and evolve joint strategy to cope with the situation. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Workers Party Pakistan (WPP), Labour Party (LPP), Communist party of Pakistan (CPP), National Party (NP), Jeay Sindh Mahaz(JSM), Awami Party Pakistan (APP) and Watan Dost Inqlabi party(WIP).
The one day meeting was hosted by Labour Party Sindh and presided over by veteran leftist leader Yusuf Masti Khan. The participants discuss in detail and brief about party position on the situation. The parties have unanimously approved the following points
· No compromise on the historic national integrity and oneness of Sindh
· Sindh is home land of different ethnic, lingual groups and they are part and parcel Sindhi nation, any move to divide the people on ethnic and lingual basis will be resisted.
· Condemn the interferences of foreign diplomats and emissaries in the affairs of Sindh and their backup and support to armed ethnic outfits instigate them to divide the Sindh on ethnic lines.
· Condemn the demand to declare the capital of Sindh, Karachi as the Federal capital and consider it the deep rooted conspiracy to separate the city from Sindh again. No to Nazmmen system, considers it breach on provincial autonomy, vehicle to control the district directly from center. No to commissioner system which put all the power in the hand of hand full of bureaucrats, a local bodies system should be evolved catering the needs of masses on grass roots scale and within the parameter of national autonomy.
· It was reiterated again that Pakistan is a multinational state and each nation have full-fledged right on their resources and to run their affairs. Right of Self determination is an indisputable right of every nation.
· Pakistan is in the clutches of chronic feudal system, to unleash the democratic norms and for the emancipation of vast majority of poor masses abolish feudal system and introduce revolutionary land reforms.
· Condemn military operation against Baloch nation and demand to end army operation in Baluchistan, release all arrested and missing Baloch activists.
· Condemn the scheme to create new provinces on administrative bases and demand to creation provinces on nationhood and historical grounds.
A 14 member Working Group, two members from each party was also formed in the meeting to discuss in detail the possibilities of joint program and points for the struggle and the committee meeting will be held on Sunday 21 August in Karachi, Sindh.
The meeting was attended by Akhter Hussain Advocate, A.R. Arif and salahudin Gandapur (Workers Party), Comrade Latif leghari, Comrade Bakshal Thalho and Nasir Mansoor (Labour party), Abdul Khaliq Junejo and Ayaz Hakro (Jeay Sindh Mahaz), Ramzan Memon, Ghulam Mohammad Jadoon Advocate and Yusuf Khatak (Awami Party), Jan Mohammad Buledi (National Party), Imdad Qazi, Dr Nisar Ali Shah (Communist Party) and Dost Mohammed Channa, Mohammad Khan Ahmdani and Dasgir Uqaili ( Watan Dost Inqalabi Party).
Courtesy: → Sindhi + Pakistani lists/ e-groups, August 20, 2011.
Pakistan: A Ship without a Captain
– By Dr. Muzaffar Iqbal
Pakistan has a strange history of strongly directed, self-centered, military rule followed by a democratic drift into an abyss; it is, once again, in the midst of a drift, like a ship without a captain. If logic dictates historical necessity, then the next military coup should not be too far. This is not a forecast, just a possible outcome of the current so-called democratic experiment, which is perhaps the greatest watershed in the political history of this unfortunate nation where genuine leadership has been as rare as the legendary huma bird.
One does not need to fortune tellers to see where the country is going; the drift itself is so obviously toward a certain chaos which will leave nothing in tact in an already fragmented polity. One can understand how the ruling party has led the country into this state, but it is hard to understand the impotency of the official as well as unofficial opposition. In more concrete terms, all that the country has is empty bombast, being issued from the frothy mouths of the entire spectrum of those who constitute “opposition”. …
Read more: REBELNEWS
Pakistan after Osama
By Omar
The taliban struck in Peshawar today [– Twin bomb blasts kill 32 in Peshawar –], but the massacre in Peshawar will not be blamed on the Jihadists. Instead, Pakistan’s security establishment will use its multiple websites and paid agents to spread vague rumors about Blackwater and the Hindu-Jewish taliban. They will NOT change their orientation until at least 5 or 6 three star generals are directly targeted. Probably not even then (after all, general Aslam lost his son but that did not lead GHQ to change its double game).
Its not that they are seriously jihadist at heart (most are just trying to get through another day without letting anyone find out how dumb they are), but there is such superbly effective negative selection in the army’s promotion process that by the time they become 3 star generals their combined IQ does not exceed 20. They will not learn because they cannot learn. When their choice is between giving up their most fundamental beliefs or giving up reality, they will give up on reality. Given their fragile and limited intellect, this choice may even be rational.
I just happened to meet a foreign office retiree at a lunch today and he said: “Iran could have an extremely disruptive Islamic revolution and still come out intact because it is a deeply rooted country. We are not a deeply rooted country. A hard shaking may cause a breakup. So we have to be very careful. Change must be very carefully managed..”. I asked him if ten years was not long enough to manage a change in direction. He just smiled. I guess that is why he has retired to the US and not to Islamabad. Many more like him are making sure their green cards remain current…..
Courtesy: Brown Pundits
Writer, columnist, and intellectual, Najam Sethi’s honest views
Pakistan’s estimated losses by terrorists during attack on Mehran Navel Base is 10 arub rupees (about $13.0 million). The language of the talk show is urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Geo TV (Aapas Ki Baat – Najam Sethi Kay Saath, views On Current Affairs – 23 May 2011)
– YouTube
Interview with Pratap Mehta on Pakistan
– Pratap Mehta: Pakistan’s Perpetual Identity Crisis
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a political theorist and intellectual historian based in New Delhi, is leading us through another reflection on the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.
The reconsideration of partition is a critical, current existential question not only for South Asians, but also for Americans who watch the continuous outrages from Taliban and CIA sanctuaries inside Pakistan. It’s a question on many levels — terrorism, geopolitics, ethnicity and religion — but, Pratap Mehta says, “it’s fundamentally the question of the identity of a country.”
In his telling of the partition story, the contemporary reality of Pakistan grew out of a failure to answer a core challenge of creating a nation-state: how do you protect a minority? It’s Mehta’s view that the framers of the modern subcontinent — notably Gandhi, Jinnah & Nehru — never imagined a stable solution to this question. He blames two shortcomings of the political discourse at the time of India’s independence:
The first is that it was always assumed that the pull of religious identities in India is so deep that any conception of citizenship that fully detaches the idea of citizenship from religious identity is not going to be a tenable one.
The second is that Gandhi in particular, and the Congress Party in general, had a conception of India which was really a kind of federation of communities. So the Congress Party saw [the creation of India] as about friendship among a federation of communities, not as a project of liberating individuals from the burden of community identity to be whatever it is that they wished to be.
The other way of thinking about this, which is to think about a conception of citizenship where identities matter less to what political rights you have, that was never considered seriously as a political project. Perhaps that would have provided a much more ideologically coherent way of dealing with the challenges of creating a modern nation-state. – – Pratap Bhanu Mehta with Chris Lydon at the Watson Institute, April 12, 2011.
Unlike many other Open Source talkers on Pakistan, Pratap Mehta does not immediately link its Islamization to the United States and its1980s jihad against the Soviets. Reagan and his CIA-Mujahideen military complex were indeed powerful players in the rise of Islamic extremism in Pakistan, he agrees, but the turn began first during a national identity crisis precipitated by another partition, the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Suddenly, Mehta is telling us, Pakistan could no longer define itself as the unique homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent. In search of identity, and distinction from its new neighbor to the east, Pakistan turned towards a West Asian brand of Islam, the hardline Saudi Wahhabism that has become a definitive ideology in today’s Islamic extremism.
Mehta is hopeful, though, that in open democratic elections Islamic parties would remain relatively marginalized, that despite the push to convert Pakistan into a West Asian style Islamic state since 1971, “the cultural weight of it being a South Asian country” with a tradition of secular Islam “remains strong enough to be an antidote.”
Courtesy: http://www.radioopensource.org/pratap-mehta-pakistans-perpetual-identity-crisis/
Unrest in the Arab world: Islamabad assures Riyadh of support!
By Qaiser Butt
ISLAMABAD: In the backdrop of the current political uprisings in the Arab world, Pakistan has decided to play a significant role in the region by supporting Saudi Arabia, sources told The Express Tribune.
The decision came following a string of meetings that Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, special emissary of the Saudi king, had with the Pakistani leadership over the weekend.
The Saudi royal family scion met the top political and military leaders ….
Read more : The Express Tribune
Citizens suffering for the evil of their establishment
Topic: Current Political Scenario of Pakistan. Host: Arshad Bhatti, Guests: Latafat Siddiqui, Moeen Siddiqui and others.
Courtesy: Rawal TV, Current Affairs with Arshad Bhatti – 18th March 2011
The People of the Book!?!
The People of the Book!?! Watch.
Meet with Dr. Karim Rajpar and Fayaz Naich of SindhTV in Washington
Washington : Dr. Karim Rajpar and Fayaz Naich of SindhTV are currently visiting USA. Washington Sindhis would like to take an advantage of their presence to hear from them the real-time take on political situation in Sindh and Pakistan.
Washington Sindhis look forward to a very serious discourse on most pressing issues confronted by our kith and kin. SindhTV has consistently taken moral stand on vital social and political issues of our times from its inception.
Washington Sindhis will meet at 3:00 PM on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 1910 Holly Ridge Drive, # T2 in McLean, Virginia.
Sindhi Language and Literature – Current Trends
Dr Baldev B. Matlani, Mumbai, India
… Sindh is an exception in this regard as even in the face of mounting hostilities and pressure from government, Sindhi writers are leaving no stone unturned in Sindh.
Read more >> Dr Baldev B. Matlani
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)