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Pakistan and Politics

The site consists of comments on Pakistans current political scene. It will highlight the controversies, the scandals, the political leaders and happenings vis a vis the countries present day politics.

THE LATEST COMMENTS ARE ON THIS PAGE.AFTER THIS TRY PAGES 26 , 25 ,24 and 23. 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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AUSHWITZ, LIAQATABAD FREED,RANGERS, FAIKURE

MERIT, LIAQATABAD,SELLING THE SILVER

US VISIT, FCA'S, MILITARY COURTS,ESPIONAGE

ARMY CHIEF REFUSES TO GET ENTANGLED IN POLITICS , EB DECISION SUSPENDED

GST HIKED, BENAZIR IRRITATED,ELECTRICITY SUBSIDY

WAPDA RESTRUCTURED, DEVALUATION, UTILITY RATES, KARACHI

SENTENCE REDUCTION, EXERCIZES,POWER EXPORT,MILITARY COURTS ILLEGAL

IMF PACKAGE

ZARDARI BAILED OUT, COLUMBIANS ATTACKED , GHAURI PRODUCTION

MQM MPAS ARRESTED

MILITARY RULES SIND, BLACK MAGIC, ENTRY TESTS

AUSHWITZ, LIAQATABAD FREED,RANGERS, FAILURE -08 DECEMBER 1998

The interior minister has decreed that the Rangers have been authorised to check police highhandedness?One obviously does not know how this will work out
The MQM enslaved Liaqatabad area which was the scene of gunbattles yesterday between the MQM and police has been freed . Police have now moved in and are controlling the alleyways and rooftops says the Karachi DIG. 25 gunmen were arrested and a torture center was discovered
The MQM which has an anti pakistan bent of mind and has often been accused of trying to seperate karachi into an independent homeland conducted a small demonstration outside the Nawaz Sharif flats in London. They accused Nawaz of being the backstabing butcher of karachis mohajirs and called Pakistan another Auschwitz. The PMLn also held a demo outside the MQM headquarters calling mohajirs brothers and altaf the real enemy
The local MQM has approached the Supreme Courts to suspend the operation of military courts. The MQM which is responsible for most of the problems in karachi is expected to suffer from military courts which are dubious constitutionally
The Nawaz US trip has been dubbed a failure by the BBC.However Sartaj Aziz suggests that the US congress might soon move to lift military sanctions and a solution on the F-16 issue might be reached . The trip has not yielded much except for Clinton support on deals with the IMF/WB. There also seem to have been two faux pas.Apparently Clinton kept nawaz sharif waiting for over half an hour. The other was the non occurrence of a joint press conference which is traditionally an end of foreign leaders visits to the white house.
The Punjab High Court has suggested it might unfreeze FCA's if it can be proven that the action was malafide and discriminatory

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MERIT, LIAQATABAD,SELLING THE SILVER-07 DECEMBER 1998

Newspaper reports suggest that the PMLn is appointing dimwits, hangerons and sifarishis to important positions without consideration of real merit. Two cases have been recently brought to light. One is that of the appointment by Shabaz Sharif of the Womens University vice chancellor. Najma Najam came out of nowhere and was appointed without applying while senior women educationists who had applied and were shortlisted after extensive interviews were not given any consideration
The other case is that of the political dimwit appointed to head the House Building Finance Cooperation. A nawaz sharif personal steno he had previously been fired from a govt clerical position and had no experience of banking
MQM terrorists arrested from Bajaur have revealed that Farook Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui were incharge of financing and running the terrorists. They also suggested that the indians were their biggest financiers and even now around 40 were being trained at camp22 in bombay under the supervision of Javed Langra. They also admitted to the murders of Azeem Tariq, Senator Mohsin Siddiqui and a customs official Salim Malik on the orders of Pir Sahib(Altaf Hussein) from nine zero
The GOP has thru an advertisement asked for expressions of interest in the purchase of Habib Bank the countries largest bank . Details show a steady erosion of public confidence in the bank over the past three years.Deposits have fallen from $5.8billion to $4.8billion.Total assets have also fallen from $6.8billion to $5.8billion
One person was killed as the police cordoned of liaqatabad, gharibabad and sharifabad areas of karachi which have become the hideouts of MQM terrorists.As police moved in to search for weapons and terrorists they started trading fire with kalashnikovs and hand granades from street corners and rooftops . Several people were injured and one killed as the gunbattles continued all day
7500 peopel employed illegaly by the MQM-PMLn govt in the Sind Local Bodies dept and who were tyranizing everybody are expected tobe fired
Military courts are expected to stay for a few months. Already forty cases are being prepared for summary trial
The World Bank has ordered the GOP to expedite privatisation of Wapda ,Railways, Telecommunications, Banking, Gas and Petroleum sectors. Since companies in these fields are expensive only foreign concerns would be interested and pakistans heart will in fact become owned lock stock and barrel by external sources. One wonders how that would help the countries economy and its peopel

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US VISIT, FCA'S, MILITARY COURTS,ESPIONAGE-05 DECEMBER 1998

The GOP has categorically refused to unfreeze FCA's and asked FC investors to shift to dollar bonds. This is in sharp contrast to earlier Nawaz Sharif statements that FCA's will be defreezed when the monetary situation improves
Nawaz Sharif seems to have failed in Washington and the only achievement seems tobe a confirming of the dominant role of the WB and IMF. The americans have refused to accept his logic on defence issues and he has refused to accept their view on CTBT.There also seem tobe differences over Ossama and the Taliban. Nawaz seems tobe distancing himself from his earlier pro Taliban stance and now says he prefers a broad based govt in Afghnistan. He has already backtracked from earlier support of the Taliban type of judicial system
The GOP is also backtracking on the IPP issue and is approving all IPP deals if they accept a token reduction in rates of around 0.3 to 0.5 cents per unit. The GOP has uptill now reiterated that the IPP's power generation capacity was extremely expensive and beyond pakistans normal needs.Also that all the deals involved kickbacks in the approval process
Military Courts have been established in karachi but will only deal with recent cases. This has been done to reassure Altaf Hussein who is named in numerous murder cases. It has also been reiterated that the courts will not reach decisions within any specific timeframe such as three or seven days.
The police have picked up several of MQM's alleged murderers from Multan and Malakand. In karachi too the hunt for the killers of Hakim Said continues in the form of arresting all MQM activists considered to have participated in any criminal event. Most of the Hakim Said murderers group is still at large. Some suggest that the ring leaders have already flown out of the country
Standard & Poors the financial rating firm has downgraded pakistans long term debt from CCC to CC after pakistan delayed interest payments on a $300 million loan
A navy commodore has been sentenced to three months and withdrawal of all privileges for photocopying service record files ostensibly for espionage. Recently four foreign service officers were also sentenced for espionage

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ARMY CHIEF REFUSES TO GET ENTANGLED IN POLITICS, EB DECISION SUSPENDED -03 DECEMBER 1998

The army chief in a statement appearing in the Frontier Post has said that he does not interfere in politics and therefore will not answer altaf husseins letter. He also said that the judgements of military courts will be fair and that the army is not physically involved in karachi thereby proving that the governor and police are in total control. While there has been some involvement at the level of the COAS in decision making initially the governor seems to have wrested total control over Karachi from Nawaz Sharifs ministers.This is a new phenomenon in pakistani politics that the COAS will now only be answerable to the GOP and will not concern himself with the views of politicians of any sort
Four minor demonstrations were carried out at the Whitehouse in Washington during Nawaz Sharifs visit
Altaf Hussein wants seperate television for Sind. The current mohajir dominated PTV obviously does not meet his needs.
The daughter of punjab mpa Abbas Khokhar from Okara ,Humaira Mahmood(28) was forcibly arrested from the Edhi center in Karachi where she had taken refuge after marrying Mahmood Butt against her families wishes
The Supreme Court has suspended the sentence and fine of the Sind Ehtesab Court against octroi Contractor Razak Afridi who is accused of paying Rs2million out of a Rs5.24 million octroi contract for town committee Khoski, Badin. The contract was opposed by secretary local govt and approved by the minister and thus the case which obviously seems tobe politically and beaurocratically motivated. The contractor could obviously not have paid out around 40% of the contract amount and the Supreme Court if it finds wrongful sentencing must take strict action against the beaurocrat who created the case

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GST HIKED, BENAZIR IRRITATED,ELECTRICITY BILLS SUBSIDY-02 DECEMBER 1998

In its continued implementation of IMF advice or orders the govt increased indirect taxation across the board by increasing sales tax or GST by 2.5% to 15%. That means that things like soaps,ghee,sugar oils,cars, motorcycles,detergents etc in fact anything that is purchaseable will become dearer by 2.5% except some foodstuffs, vegetables,services and pharmaceuticals.In another significant move the powers of the Central Board of Revenue to withold taxation approved by parliament thru SRO's was withdrawn by an ordinance. The govt has however not gotten approval for its IMF agreement or the tax hike from parliament or the national assembly.The overall increase in tax collection thru these measures could be anywhere from Rs.2-8 billion
Nawaz Sharif is willing to sign the CTBT agreement but not under coercion. It is generally believed that both India and Pakistan have agreed to become signitaries by September 1999
According to the Jang, Benazir has expressed her irritation at the destruction of her family life by the Sharif brothers.Her husband Asif Zardari is in jail on trumped up charges, Her children live and study in Dubai for safety reasons and her mother lives in Islamabad while she mostly lives in army controlled Karachi.Her father Zulfikar was executed by the military while brother Murtaza was shot dead by the police.Still another brother died of a poison pill administrated by his wife or himself.Tragedy after tragedy has hounded her family until now when only the women are left.This sad tale of a pakistani political family still continues as the punjabi govt of the Sharif brothers continues to hound her as enemies in person and in politics.
The sale of dollar bonds has increased significantly according to the News
Pakistan has attained the capability to build a 750km solid fuel rocket
A policeman was shot dead in karachi and police arrested a previously unnamed suspect named Saeed in the Hakim Said case from Multan
Cement manufacturers have raised the price of cement from around Rs150 to Rs240 apparently without any clear reasons
There seems tobe at least one daily encounter between police and criminals in various parts of Punjab resulting in multiple deaths over the past week. Such encounters are known as "puls muqabilas" and the press generally believes that they are police setups to cover unnatural deaths in police custody
While electricity costs show a 60% hike since end 1997 the bills for this month show a 20% federal subsidy discount. The press suggests that wapda has increased surcharges to offset the subsidy

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WAPDA RESTRUCTURED, DEVALUATION, UTILITY RATES, KARACHI-01 DECEMBER 1998

Karachi Police arrested Salim alias TT the alleged killer of Takbir editor Salahuddin alongwith seven other MQM terroristS. He alleged that alongwith Khalid Anjum sector incharge Burns Road he and others carried out the murder on the orders of Shahood Hashmi, Imran Farooq and Altaf Hussein
A suspect in the Hakim Said murder, Mubasher Ali a travel agent who arranged the travel of two suspects died in police custody apparently of a heart attack
According to the Frontier Post the govt has agreed in negotiations with the IMF to increase utility rates thru regulatory bodies GRA and NEPRA.The govt has apparently also agreed to devalue or unify the rupee dollar parity.These steps are reportedly tobe carried out by March
In karachi it seems that most of the terrorists have moved to the Liaqatabad area. Under cover of darkness they demolished five police checkposts that were manned by two policemen each.Around a dozen MQM terrorists were later rounded up by the police
PPP leader Munawwer Talpur has been granted bail by the Supreme Court .
The GOP has placed a ban on marriage ceremonies after sunset. This comes in the wake of the ban on serving food at such ceremonies
In what can be termed as another condition of the IMF accord the ministry of Water and Power has in principle announced the restructuring of Wapda into twelve companies in exchange for WB loans.Similarly again on IMF orders the GOP has also asked its committee to resolve the dispute with Hubco

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SENTENCE REDUCTION, EXERCIZES,POWER EXPORT,MILITARY COURTS ILLEGAL-28 NOVEMBER 1998

In the strange world of military justice the naval officers sentenced for receiving kickbacks have been pardoned as long as they deposit the money received. They will however not be allowed to leave the country and will be under house arrest until the matter is cleared
Due to inflation, high costs, uncertain conditions and better communication facilities passenger traffic on internal air routes has dropped by around 10%
The army which was earlier given powers to supervise investigations is now also allowed to investigate if the need arises in the troubled areas of sind
India is to conduct a supposedly massive military exercise near the sind border in early december. Given the situation in karachi the significance and reasons for such an exercise which aims to train the indian army to launch a quick surgical strike into pakistani territory is obvious. The indians obviously have not given up thinking that we will not retaliate in appropriate terms to such threats
In the north however the GOP has shown its willingness to export around 400MW of surplus power to Indian areas especially in the punjab. Pakistan supposedly can quickly setup a transmission line and metering facility for the purpose. Pakistan could theoretically earn around 7-11 cents per unit from such surplus power ie. approx $300 million per year.At seven cents pakistan would not be earning much profit
Benazir Bhutto suggests that article 245 of the constitution does not allow the setting up of military courts as it only pertains to the armies assisting the civil administration .She also urges that karachi like steps also be taken in the punjab where the situation is relatively under control vis a vis karachi .
In karachi the police seems tobe on the trail of the killers of Hakim Said. While trying to nab ASI Naushad alias major dandy the police after a gunbattle nabbed Salim Ganja alias Dentor who was involved in over 50 murders including that of Pir Pagaras son in law.Another MQM worker involved in batha gathering and providing shelter to the Hakim Said killer group Abdul Shakoor alias shakoora was also arrested

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IMF PACKAGE-26 NOVEMBER 1998

There is ample evidence that the judiciary and the govt are acting in a coordinated manner to subdue the PPP leadership. The latest example is the Supreme Court decision to ask the Sind Ehtesab Bench to continue the trial in the PIA appointments case but withhold its judgement pending an appeal in the Supreme Court. The SC has also opined that it lacks jurisdiction and cannot oppose political victimisation by the govt. So why not throw the appeal out until the Ehtesab Bench reaches a decision?
The govt now admits that there are 37 million unemployed in the country
The govt and its deptts are the biggest defaulters of electricity dues. According to latest figures bill collection from the public is around 95% while the govt deptts only pay 28% of their bills
The govt ha s reached a tentative $5.5 billion bailout package with the IMF. The main feature is that the IMF has decided not to interfere in fiscal policy and will allow the GOP to decide policies and timings on their own. The govt will get around $1.33billion from the IMF, ADP and WB while around $400 million will come from other sources. The IMF will also help arrange a debt rescheduling package amounting to $3.5 billion. The dates have not been announced and usually the process takes around six months to a year for maturing such deals. So the pakistani economic crisis may linger on upto the next financial year
The army chief has been awarded the Nishan e Imtiaz medal. No specific reasons have been announced.
In karachi two people were killed and the murderers of education board chairmn Ismail Memon and DSP Shamim Ahmed were arrested The accused Ayub Haider disclosed that the order for the murder was given by MQM minister for education Qazi Khalid
Nawaz Sharif is expected to focus on having all economic and military sanctions removed during his visit to the USA. That will mean talking about the 28 F-16s and resumption of military sales so that a conventional balance of forces is achieved.
A shutdown strike was held in sindi towns on the call of the JSQM to protest of all things the disallowing of a protest against the kalabagh dam. Two hand grenades were thrown in hyderabad to make the strike a success

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ZARDARI BAILED OUT, COLUMBIANS ATTACKED , GHAURI PRODUCTION-25 NOVEMBER 1998

Asif Zardari has been released on bail in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case. No evidence linking Zardari to the case has yet been disclosed in which police gunned down Murtaza and several of his associates
The Supreme Court and Punjab High Court have suspended two indictments made by the Ehtesab Courts against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari in the Cotechna contract and PIA appointments cases
The navy chief has reduced the sentences of two naval officials for receiving kickbacks in the Agosta submarine purchases from France
The Sind govt has acquired the services of two columbian experts from the UNDP to start clearing karachi of illegal weapons.
The two columbian experts who immediately went on a tour of the Liaqatabad area in an armoured carrier were fired on by two motorcycle terrorists.This came after the MQM met the experts and insisted that the lawlessness was due to the non recognition of their electoral mandate
The police have identified at least eight MQM mpas who are openly involved in terrorist activities
Another bullet ridden tortured body was found in a gunny bag . That and the attack on the columbian experts suggests that the MQM has relocated its terrorist cells which have again become active after a few days lull
The establishment of military courts in karachi has been challenged in the Supreme Court
According to a news item mass scale production of the 1500-1700 kilometer Ghauri missile has been started

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MQM MPAS ARRESTED-22 NOVEMBER 1998

Two MQM MPA's Shoaib Bokhari and Wakeel Jamali were arrested from the MQM MPA hostel as police raided the place to arrest one of the killers of Hakim Said, Arif Lamba on the tipoff another suspect Sohail Rana. Five kalashnikovs and a few guns were also recovered.The two mpas are involved in 131/40 cases.
Belarus has offered to sell its old planes to pakistan
The Frontier Post reports that Admiral Fasih Bokhari might be appointed the Chairman Joint Chiefs and that one of Vice Admirals Aziz Mirza, Mohsin, Mehmood Dogar, might become the navy chief. Others suggest that Nawaz might mend his fences with former army generals by appointing a retired general to the position
A report suggests that Pakistan Steel might also be handed over to the army
The MQM has threatened the GOP with revenge

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MILITARY RULES SIND, BLACK MAGIC, ENTRY TESTS-21 NOVEMBER 1998

In a gruesome murder nine people of a single christian family were killed in Nowshera.The family indulged in black magic, spells and taweez etc
In a court martial sentencing two relatively junior officers of the navy were GIVEN JAIL SENTENCES AND FINES for kickbacks in the purchase of submarines from France. The decision does not seem tobe judicially correct as one cannot expect the makers of the submarines to pay officers who are not directly in the decision making process. The decisions to purchase submarines were made at the highest levels of govt
Under an ordinance promulgated under article 245 of the constitution the GOP has ordered in the army to aid the civil administration in karachi.The military will have full police and judicial powers.summary military courts are being setup to administer swift punishments
The GOP expects a $5 billion economic package tobe the result ofits negotiations with the IMF and WB
A test for potential entrants to the govts medical colleges was held for the first time in the punjab. However rumours have it that the govt is manipulating the results to serve its near and dear ones.
According to a news item Benazir is suing the Swiss govt
The Supreme Court has suspended the sentence of the Sind Ehtesab Bench thus giving Zardari relative and PPP leader Munnawer Talpur a few more days to enjo9 liberty

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