THE LATEST COMMENTS ARE ON THIS PAGE.AFTER THIS TRY PAGES 25 , 24 ,23 and 22. THE OTHER PAGES CONTAIN COMMENTS ON EVENTS SINCE MAY 1997.

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Pakistan and Politics

by ikram ul haq

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KILLERS OF ABDULLAH SHAS BROTHER HELD

MQM DEATH SQUAD UNEARTHED

SIND GOVERNOR GIVEN NEW REMOTE CONTROL WINGS

REMMITTANCES DOWN, GOVERNOR LAW, WAPDA TAKEOVER

GOVERNOR CLIPPED, PEPCO, SIND ASSEMBLY

IMF, TAXES, EHTESAB OF SINDHIS, NAWAZA ETC

SANCTIONS SOFTENED, SIND ASSEMBLY AND RESIGNATIONS

NO CONFIDENCE IN THE ECONOMY

KARACHI CALMS DOWN

KILLINGS CONTINUE

GOVERNORS RULE HAVING NO EFFECT

MOINUDDIN, IPP's, EXAMS, BONDS ETC

INJECTIONS, BLAST, KARACHI, GHAZI-BAROTHA

KILLERS OF ABDULLAH SHAHS BROTHER HELD-19 NOVEMBER 1998

• Karachi police arrested MQM terrorist Samar Hasan Zaidi for the murder of the Ahsanullah Shah brother of than Chief Minister Abdullah Shah. The terrorist disclosed that the murder was conducted on the orders of MQM leader Shoaib Bokhari. Even the kalashnikovs were supplied by nine zero. Another terrorist Aslam Memon was also arrested who was involved in distributing guns and torching cars.He disclosed that he belonged to Altaf Husseins 3000 strong army who were regarded as MQM's special cadre
• Despite having created a complicated four tier exchange rate mechanism comprising the frozen account rate, composite rate, interbank rate and the money changer rate which vary from Rs46 to Rs57, Ishaq Dar says that there will be no devaluation meaning that there is no plan for a stable single exchange rate at present

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MQM DEATH SQUAD UNEARTHED-17 NOVEMBER 1998

• In what is being seen as a major blow to the MQM's terrorist operation police have arrested three terrorists belonging to MQMs death squad which was controlled by the Korangi sector incharge Khalid with orders coming directly from Nine zero via MPA Zulfikar Hyder. The terrorist Ajaz Ahmad alias Kala Munna reportedly along with his accomplices have killed over 350 people. Kala Munna alone committed over 70 murders. They reportedly killed for just Rs500 per person. Kala Munna headed the MQM death Squad and was also responsible for distributing kalashikovs amongst MQM supporters.Another terrorist Abdul Khaliq sector incharge Sharahe Faisal was also arrested who was incharge for strikes and used to torch vehicles to make strikes effective.
• The Sind assembly was sealed off so that opposition mpas could not meet to elect a new speaker. The 52 mpas than staged a sitin on the road.

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SIND GOVERNOR GIVEN NEW REMOTE CONTROL WINGS-15 NOVEMBER 1998

• Benazir suggests that a working relationship with the terrorist MQM is possible in parliament as they agree on several provincial/regional issues. There is a remote possibility that the next Sind govt might be a PPP led coalition with the MQM. However that hinges on PMLn cooperation.
• The clipped wings of the Sind governor have been restored after opposition protests. However the primeminister insisted that the governor will follow the informal instructions of the primeminister. The reason stated is that the Establishment Division takes too long in vetting beaurocrats.
• Ghous Ali Shah the advisor to the Sind governor says that the army could be called out if the situation warrants. Overnight four people were brutally murdered in Karachi
• The army chief however sees no reason for involving the army at this stage
• Rumours are spreading that the GOP was considering dissolving the Senate after it became clear that the Senate was in no mood to pass the 15th amendment bill. Govt supporters have called for killing/breaking the legs of Senate opponents. Nawaz Sharif is also questioning the powers of the Senate to oppose him on this issue.Tarar however states that he has no powers to dissolve the Senate

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REMMITTANCES DOWN, GOVERNOR LAW, WAPDA TAKEOVER-14 NOVEMBER 1998

• Remmittances from expatriate pakistanis have slipped by around 40% to $300.82million in the first quarter of this financial year from $482.15 million for the same period last year. Remmittances in July were $133million, August $96.1 million and September $71.1 million. This shows a steady decline attributed to govt policies and the forecasts are for a total of $900-$1200 million for the whole year. However inflows could increase if the govt revises its devaluation and multiple exchange rate policies
• The GOP has revised its policy on the powers of the Sind governor and has now asked him to focus exclusively on law and order and if transfers are thought necessary to consult the GOP before making them.It seems apparent that some components of the GOP are issuing orders without the primeministers approval. These components could be the ISI or the establishment division or some maverick ministers who regard themselves as the prime decision makers of the government.
• The GOP has cancelled the the high remuneration recruitments for PEPCO and a new attempt is being made to control line losses in the distribution companies by appointing senior army officers as managing directors with powers to utilize the fauj to monitor and control theft of electricity. This could ineffect militarize Wapda which has been using military officers in some depts such as Stores and administration. What could eventually happen is that these military officers if successful would be retired from the army to become the permanent heads of the restructured Wapda which is going to be divided into 12 independent companies

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GOVERNOR CLIPPED, PEPCO, SIND ASSEMBLY-13 NOVEMBER 1998

• The Sind assembly met in partial session after the governor backed off and the Deputy Speaker assumed the powers of the assembly secretary . The election of a new speaker was however putoff.
• The GOP(govt of pakistan) in a surprise move withdrew the powers of the governor to appoint,transfer or remove beaurocrats from all essential positions in Sind without the approval of the center. This might be a sign of the politicians attempt to reassert control or signs of internal conflicts between Nawaz , Ghaus, Haleem, Shujaat, Moinuddin and Musharraf. Most newspapers suggest that the appointment of a new governor might be in the offing and the names of Haleem Siddiqui, Ghous Ali Shah, Major Gen(r) Sikander Hayat are being bandied about. The governor on the other hand is moving into the MQM corner suggesting that the anti terrorist arrests should be politically aportioned and that his advisors be non political . The MQM moved behind the governor in essence approving governors rule by walking out of the Senate. Appointment powers in the provincial beaurocracy are in any case exercised by the GOP in all provinces There are some indications that governor rule was imposed after consultations with Altaf Husein
• The new Wapda chairman Lt Gen Zulfikar moved quickly to consolidate his powers by having Javed Burki removed from PEPCO. Now the Wapda chairman will takeover PEPCO and have full control of the deregulation and privatisation of Wapda
• The police have removed nogo areas from Korangi where MQM terrorists had set up road blocks and bunkers. Four people were killed by terrorists in the past few days
• The govt has reached agreements with 5 small IPP's on minor changes in tariff

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IMF, TAXES, EHTESAB OF SINDHIS, NAWAZA ETC.-12 NOVEMBER 1998

• The govt inits continued anti democratic attitudes suspended the powers of the speaker and deputy speaker of the Sind provincial assembly to summon the provincial assembly. Armed guards were placed around the provincial assemblies and MPA's were not allowed to enter.
• Due to the extremely different stances on terrorism, riots and politics the PPP and MQM are not expected to reach a consensus on a coalition in Sind. That leaves only three prospects. A return to the PMLn-MQM coalition , a minority PMLn or PPP govt or new elections. It is most likely that when the PMLn reaches the decision that terrorism in karachi is under control than new provincial elections will held in Sind as a PMLN-PPP coalition is considered impossible
• The indian occupying forces have killed another leader of the kashmir independence movement Sharigh Bakhshi belonging to the Harkat al Ansar
• The pakistan govt has started conclusive talks with the IMF and the World Bank. At issue will be around $2.56 billion in credits and the IMFs insistence to force its control over economic policy.The issues include power sector losses, IPP issues, exchange rates, privatisation,GST etc
• The recent talks between india and pakistan on various contentious issues have yielded no results. The pakistan foreign office regards that as normal.
• It appears that nawaz sharif like benazir before him is finding it difficult to tolerate the unrespectful attitude of pakistanis Benazirs information controllers tried to have her referred to as mohtarma which was difficult as she was literally too young tobe one. Nawaz on the other hand who started out as Mian Nawaz Sharif went thru a name change to become Mohd Nawaz Sharif. However people were not too impressed knowing lahori attitudes and refer to him as nawaza, sharifa, ganja or simply nawaz or sharif. His information handlers expect people to refer to him as wazir e azam sahib but as before respect for govt figures continues to be pretty low ie apart from his growing group of chelas PTV now has Nawaz shouting out of TV sets at least twice during echa days main news bulletin
• The Sindh Ehtesab bench has sentenced former PPP minister Mir Munawwer Talpur and brother in law of Asif Ali Zardari for awarding a contract. The govt seems tobe concentrating on jailing the Sind PPP leaders as no major cases are being moved against PPP leaders in other provinces
• The News reports that the govt is moving to increase taxes by Rs10 billion in exchange for IMF and WB loans as the govt is facing a shortfall of around 30-40 billion in tax collections
• The govt expects to solve the F-16 issue during Nawaz Sharifs visit to the USA

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SANCTIONS SOFTENED, SIND ASSEMBLY AND RESIGNATIONS-08 NOVEMBER 1998

• Bill Clinton has partially lifted economic sanctions against pakistan which could assist pakistan in arranging necessary loans from world bodies as well as getting major purchases from the USA financed.
• The MQM has requisitioned the Sind assembly to elect a new speaker as Nawab Mirza has resigned. The dy speaker has summoned the assembly on the 12th. There is some confusion as to the status of the assembly in the presence of governors rule. The govt has not specifically suspended the assembly and could allow the session to take place . However since the govt has suspended all relevant constitutional provisions of provincial governance the provincial assembly is theoretically non functional until governors rule is ended.The govt could however suspend the assembly if things go awry
• The people most affected by the appointment of Ishaq Dar as Finance minister namely Moeen Afzal (former secretary finance), Hafiz Pasha(former advisor to the PM) and Moeenuddin Khan(former CBR chairman) have resigned even though they were offered alternate jobs by the govt.
• pakistans annual export target has been revised downward from $10 billion to around $8.6 billion
• The Frontier Post reports that the ANP and the MQM will join the PAI to from one joint opposition body. After ditching the PMLn the ANP was focussing on forming an alliance of nationalists.

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NO CONFIDENCE IN THE ECONOMY-07 NOVEMBER 1998

• Expressing no confidence in his govts handling of economic issues Nawaz Sharif replaced everyone apart from his finance advisor, commerce minister and BOI chairman. The new economics minister was former employee, dirty tricks expert and Nawaz crony Ishaq Dar who also retains the commerce ministry. The secretary finance moeen afzal was replaced by Khalid Javed. Another failure CBR chairman Moeenuddin Khan brought from Hong Kong at a huge salary was replaced by commerce secretary Iqbal Farid after he was unable to increase revenue collections. A new post of special secretary finance has been created for promotee Ghafoor Mirza which creates an obvious infighting situation at the finance ministry. Another promotee Qamar Baig has been appointed Chairman Steel Mills.
• The son of slain maulvi bdullah of islamabads red mosque has accused the Nawaz Sharif govt of killing his father for being behind a taliban type revolution
• Rehman Malik the ex FIA chief who gained reknown for accusing Nawaz Sharif of dirty economic tricks has been dismissed from govt service
• The primeminister has announced a revamped dollar bond scheme with slightly increased profits. The scheme is meant to increase confidence in the govts attitudes after the freezing of dollar accounts. However if all $12 billion of dollar deposits shift into this scheme the govt would have to payout around 400 million dollars every six months which would be impossible for the govt to arrange

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KARACHI CALMS DOWN-6 NOVEMBER 1998

• Within days of the removal of the PMLn-MQM coalition govt from Sind the city of killers (karachi)has started to calm down.There are so many killers in karachi that if u pickup anyone from the streets of karachi he will inevitably have participated in some violent event.
• An MSF( student wing of the PMLn) leader was shot dead in lahore
• The govt in a secret decision which remained under wraps for almost a month has doubled the salaries of the judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court. The judges have helped Nawaz Sharif a lot by exonerating him of all charges and dealing aggressively with his main political opponents.Within days of that the first sindhi PPP leader Pir Mazharul Haq was sent behind bars for allotting plots
• A leader of the kashmir liberation front was gunned down in occupied kashmir as the pakistani defence secretary visited india leading to suspicions that the pakistan is working against the liberation of kashmir
• Nawaz Sharif has appointed a personal secretary Col(retd) Iqbal Niazi as the acting head of the countries Intelligence Bureau. Nawaz seems tobe wary of independent minded police intelligence officers and seems tobe depending on the yessir type of army officers
• Lt General Zulfikar Ali Khan who until recently headed the armies combat development unit has been appointed to head the countries electricity giant Wapda. Nawaz Sharif and his ministers seems unable to get total obedience from civilian officers and have started to turn to the army for subordinate management expertise.Previously such experiments have not been considered very successful

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KILLINGS CONTINUE-4 NOVEMBER 1998

• FATA members of parliament have demanded two seats in the govt otherwise they too will join the opposition.
• Five more people were gunned down in karachi in manners similar to earlier MQM orchestrated violence.
• Nawaz Sharif who has been compromising with Altaf Hussein on everything now says he will not cooperate in murders and bhatta gathering.
• With the govt again giving into the WB and IMF people can expect a devaluation, raises in utility rates and even medicine prices are set to increase. IMF and WB policies are generally held responsible for price inflations and the generally deteriorating economy and rising unemployment
• The workers strike at Ghazi Brotha continues and the govt has been unable to solve the IPP issue as yet

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GOVERNORS RULE HAVING NO EFFECT-3,NOVEMBER 1998

• It is still early days yet however governor rule seems tobe having no effect. The MQM groups are continuing to murder but at a slightly reduced rate. A retired colonel from rawalpindi working as a security officer at the Pearl Continental was shot dead cold bloodedly after his car was waylaid .Similarly the police could not arrest the accused MQM killers of a police cop in Korangi. While there have been reports of mass arrests the interior minister states that only around 28 hardened criminals have been arrested.The govt has shifted its focus from a short quick antiterrorist politically focusd operation to a longer duration subdued cleanup operation.They have also cancelled the formation of an advisory council as being unneccesary.The govt already seems tobe preparing to mend its fences with Liaqat Jatoi and the MQM. On the other hand Benazir Bhutto is moving to oppose governors rule and increase cooperation with the MQM. The leaders of the haquiqi faction arrested yesterday for not obeying police orders were also released.The MQM on the other hand is moving the Supreme Court against the decision to impose governor s rule. The govt is still mulling the option to hand over karachi to the armed forces under article 245 of the constitution
• The strike by workers at the Ghazi barotha construction site continues
• The govt has urged govt deptts to pay at least 25% of their dues to Wapda immediately. Govt deptts are the biggest defaulters of electricity bills
• PRESS reports suggest that the govt is going to induct three more ministers at the center namely Ijaz Shafi, Hasil Bizenjo and someone from the punjab

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MOINUDDIN, IPP's, EXAMS, BONDS ETC--2 NOVEMBER 1998

• Moinuddin Haider has ordered the suspension of all political activities in karachi and reinitiated investigations in all major murder cases. He also states that he has been given all powers apart from those of the provincial assembly. His view is that the sole reason for governor rule is to cleanse karachi of terrorists.
• The sind governor has again pointed to the involvement of indian intelligence agencies in terrorism and has reiterated that the indians are obviously not our friends
• Reports suggest that most of karachis terrorists have left town.
• The haqiquis tried to hold a rally in Landhi which was dispersed by the police and caused riots to break out in which the police was stoned and cars burnt with the arrest of over 50.
• A bullet ridden tortured body of a policeman was discovered from Korangi which resulted in the arrest of am MQM mpa. The MQM has been running several torture camps where people opposed toit are tortured and killed
• The govt it seems is backing down inits attempts to reduce the exorbitant tariffs being charged by IPP's such as HUBCO.The IMF and WB have been literally blackmailing the pakistani govt to breakup Wapda and increase utility and dollar rates. But it is apparent that IMF policies have never had a good effect on the economy apart from increasing the debt.
• The prime minister is to announce a revamped dollar bond scheme in an attempt to revive remmittances but they are expected to fail as the necessary confidence can only be achieved by the complete revival of frozen dollar accounts. Such accounts were mainly maintained by expatriates who consider the freezing of accounts as a personal betrayal by Nawaz Sharif
• Benazir Bhutto suggests that the policies followed by Nawaz Sharif could result in either in an islamic revolution or a military coup by junior officers
• In one of the strangest decisions coming from a High Court a Punjab High Court judge personally remarked the English exam paper of a student and doubled his marks from 42 to 82. The student was the son of the high courts registrar. Since only one students paper was remarked it shows that the judiciary indulges in individual favouritism and takes on the responsibility of other institutions illegally.. If one students paper needs remarking than the entire batch of students should have their papers remarked as a similar marking policy should be followed for everyone.The Supreme Court has suspended the decision.
• The breakup of Wapda presently being planned could result in serious financial problems for the little Wapdas. Since most of the organizations being created will have no way to generate funds independently their financial interreliance is sure to cause problems. The govt has formed an organization named PEPCO headed by a non technical lazy retired beaurocrat whose only known experience is in the field of cricket. One would urge the govt to appoint such people to head these organizations who at least have personal technical knowledge and experience of generation , transmission and management

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INJECTIONS, BLAST, KARACHI, GHAZI-BAROTHA ---1 NOVEMBER 1998

• In what can only be described as AIDS terrorism upto seven children were forcibly injected in Rawalpindi with something while on the way to school or playing outside. Rumours of them being aids infected injections were debunked by laboratory tests.
• A bomb blast in Sialkot which is considered a conduit for indian terrorists killed five and injured 33
• The govt seems to have backed out ofits initial plan on karachi as reports emerged of differences between the governor and islambads ministers. Only one person was killed in an act of terrorism in karachi overnight. Rangers and Police continued patrolling and nabbing suspected terrorists. The mohajir dominated areas were said tobe tense .The PTV telecast of the confession of the hakim said murder suspect amirullah which triggered the crackdown was cancelled.The formation of the sind advisory council was delayed and only Ghous Ali Shah was named the senior advisor. The daily Jang opines that the govt will study the situation for a week to ten days before deciding on handing over karachi to the armed forces. If the current plan works than the provincial assembly might be revived with a senior politician such as Ghous Ali Shah, Mumtaz Bhutto, Ishtiaq Azhar or Abdus Sattar Edhi as chief minister. However since the provincial assembly is divided with none in a clear majority the final solution maybe new elections in sind in which the PMLn expects todo well having recently won a byelection in interior sind.
• Benazir Bhutto on the other hand suggests that cooperation with the political wing of the MQM should continue alongwith an operation against terrorists.
• Interior minister Shujaat calls the coalition with the MQM a political choice of Liaqat Jatoi despite the repeated meetings of Nawaz Sharif with Altaf Hussein
• WORK AT THE COUNTRIES MAJOR HYDRO ELECTRICITY project Ghazi-Batotha has been suspended for several weeks after union officials beat up the construction companies italian Personnel Manager for improper dealings with workers and bad behaviour with women employees. The company pulled out its foreign workers and the work site was surrounded by paramilitary forces. The govt is now in the process of taking judicial action against the union.When work restarted yesterday no workers turned up. Most of the workers belong to the Swabi, Hazara and Ghazi areas.

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