WELCOME TO COMMENTS ON PAKISTANS POLITICAL SCENE

Ikram Ul Haq's POLITICS

A Non Commercial Personal HomePage

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 31 , 30 ,29 and 28. OR CLICK THE NEXT PAGE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO SEE THE PRECEDING PAGE.THERE ARE THIRTY-TWO PAGES IN ALL. THE OTHER PAGES CONTAIN COMMENTS ON EVENTS SINCE MAY 1997.THERE ARE LINKS TO INDEXES FOR 1999,1998 AND 1997 AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE

IF YOU WANT TO BUY A BOOK CLICK, ON THE AMAZON

LinkExchange Member Free Home Pages at Geocities

Pakistan and Politics

Events,Policies,Views,,Leaders,Reactions,Comments,News,Politics

by ikram ul haq

PAGE INDEX click on any link

WHEAT SUBSIDY, HUSSAIN HAQQANI,NAJAM SETHI

OVER 400 PPP WORKERS ARRESTED IN CJ SON SHOOTING

ATC ORDINANCE,1086 MURFDERS,334 SUICIDES, 170MILLION,NAZIA

TERRORISM, SECTARIANISM, ETHNICISM,PPP, ALTAF

PROTESTS,1500 KILLINGS, SUICIDES, JEHANZEB BURKI, JUDGES, RESPECT, SHAHEEN

STRIKE IN SIND, DEMOS, FOOD BAN,SU-27s

BENAZIR JAILED BY PMLn JUDGES

MINISTERS NOT BEING REPLACED AS PM PREFERS CRICKET TO HIS JOB

RIAZ BASRA LOOKALIKE KILLED TO APPEASE TJP

WHEAT SUBSIDY, HUSSAIN HAQQANI,NAJAM SETHI-10 MAY 1999

The Punjab govt has ended the 10%subsidy on wheat after protests by other provinces
Benazir Bhutto has apparently requested Aftab Sherpao to resume the party post of Senior Vice Chairman from which he was was removed recently.
The lahore police has shot dead a cyclist who refused to stop tobe checked. The police say he was thief
The GOP's attempts to rule by ordinance are proving futile as it seems unable to get the ordnances thru parliament. Recently ordnances related to wapda including one to curb power theft lapsed.
Hussain Haqqani a journalist linked to the previous Bhutto govt was arrested alongwith his colonel brother while on a walk in rawalpindi.The colonel on identifying himself as a fauji was dropped in islamabads outskirts after being roughed up.The interior minister was unaware of the exact agency involved Another journalist MAK Lodhi was picked up and released after a two day detention.In another incident the car of the News Current affairs editor was burned by miscreants
Najam Sethi editor,The Friday Times was picked up by ISI operatives after being roughed up in the middle of the night. His wife was tied up and locked in the bathroom. Formerly a Bhutto think tank member turned opponent was apparently arrested for seditious remarks in a speech in India and suspicions of links to indian intelligence.Others suggest that he has been targetted for opposing the Sharifs corruption while some suggest he is linked to a anti Sharif BBC documentary.Still others say his characterisation of the punjab police boss Jehanzeb Burki as an executioner caused his arrest.

PAGE INDEX

OVER 400 PPP WORKERS ARRESTED IN CJ SON SHOOTING ---03 MAY 1999

According to the The Jang, punjab police have rounded up over 400 workers mostly of the PPP in the shooting of the CJ's son who is said tobe improving from multiple bullet wounds and surgery. The police has taken this opportunity to round up all PPP activists so as to kill two birds with one stone. It would crush the budding PPP campaign against the GOP and show that they are acting to find the killers.
According to a press report 70% of the countries newspaper readers prefer The Daily Jang an urdu newspaper. The percentage of people reading urdu/english newspapers is said tobe 95%/5%
The News has contradicted an earlier news item about Nazia Hassan being in a coma due to blood cancer. She is now reported tobe feeling better and recuperating after being under treatment for eight months
Ishaq Dar confirms press reports that in accordance with IMF orders the dollar maybe devalued by 8% to achieve a unified exchange rate which will eventually raise wheat and petroleum prices
The pakistani press has been characterized as partially free by a US ngo Freedom House. The pakistani press at the moment is 99% pro govt and generally self censors news damaging to the GOP. It is also prone to printing govt handouts and propaganda
A large rally was held in the PPP's karachi stronghold of Liyari to protest the GOP actions against the PPP leadership
The HRCP the pakistani human rights watch has issued a statement calling for stopping the drift away from democracy.They asked for concerted action to stop the PMLn from turning pakistan into an authoritarian police state.
According to a News report Samia Sarwar Imran who was shot dead in Asma Jehangirs office was murdered by her fathers driver who being president of the NWFP's industrial owners association has not even been arrested as yet
With there being no chance of forming a PMLn govt in Sind the chances of the assembly being dissolved and fresh elections held are becoming brighter says the Sind governor.With the possibility of the PPP boycotting the PMLn could sweep the elections.The current Sind assembly has 38 PPP , 27 MQM, 16 PMLn and the rest belonging to ragtag parties such as the Pagara party, NPP,SNF,independent and minority members.
According to the State of Pakistans Children Report(UN) there are only 2% educated adult women in balochistan and an estimated 10 million workers under age 18. They also say that a survey in lahore shows that the average age of female domestic workers was 11
Eight more people committed suicide according to The News

PAGE INDEX

ATC ORDINANCE,1086 MURFDERS,334 SUICIDES, 170MILLION,NAZIA ---02 MAY 1999

In what can be seen as the most damning assessment of the Shabaz Sharif govt it was announced in the NA that 1086 murders and 354 rapes occurred in the punjab in the first three months of this year. In NWFP the figure was 633/34, Sind 434/75 and balochistan 61/9. With these figures governors rule is indicated in the NWFP and the punjab too. The GOP said that the killings were not politically motivated and thus did not compare to the Sind situation
The GOP has promulgated a new ordinance to establish anti terrorist courts which can try cases such as murder, extortion,kidnapping, child molestation and a new and controversial addition called civil commotion which includes strikes, go slows, carnapping, carburning, incitement etc. This new addition has come under a lot of criticism as the GOP intends to use it to suppress political dissent.
There was a lot of commotion in the senate as the senators accused the GOP of protecting the killers of one Samia Sarwar who was killed at the offices of a well known lawyer Asma Jehangir while pursuing her divorce. It is surmised that the either the inlaws or family of Samia who are from the NWFP had her killed.
Nawaz Sharif seems to have a strange dress sense. While meeting the smartly dressed corp commanders he turns up in a shabby kameez shalwar(with the shalwar above the ankles according to tableeghi tradition) and while visiting refugees in albania he prefers the formal sherwani (usually lined with a bullet proof vest).He definitely looked odd in the milleau of troubled people from kosovo
Police carried out a house to house search for arms in multan areas after 49 people were killed in sectarian incidents over the past four months reports The NEWS
The GOP reveals that Nawaz Sharifs foreign tours cost Rs 170 million($4million) and his entourage usually consisted of around 50 people each time
Benazir Bhutto suggests that Nawaz Sharif conspired with Ossama Ben Laden to have her overthrown
Three MQM terrorists were awarded death sentences in the murder of former PMLn MNA from karachi Zohair Akram by an Anti Terrorist Court
The son of the Punjab High Court CJ and his clerk were shot at while leaving their law offices in lahore.The clerk died on the spot and the son, a barrister was critically wounded and underwent surgery.Reportedly one of the lawyers in the firm worked as a prosecutor for the GOP in ehtesab cases against PPP leaders. The barrister is also said to have turned down a sectarian case
About one thousand PPP workers were arrested by the punjab police mostly from lahore and other areas of the province to reduce to reduce participation in may day rallies
According to The NEWS famous singer Nazia Hassan is critically ill with blood cancer and is in a coma in a london hospital. She had previously recovered from a bout of throat cancer
According to the PPP there were 334 cases of suicides countrywide during the last four months while 158 cases occurred in the punjab during april alone

PAGE INDEX

TERRORISM, SECTARIANISM, ETHNICISM,PPP, ALTAF ---28 APRIL 1999

Two policemen were killed in karachi
A soldier from the rangers was killed in lahore
An airforce employees family was slaughtered in Chakwal
Shiites lobbed a hand grenade into a mosque in karachi while someone lobbed a hand grenade into a bus carrying shiites
Five shiites from Jhang and Bhakkar were shot dead in Dera Ismail Khan
PPP has denied that it will be shifting its secretariat to Dubai. BBC says that the Emirates has refused to allow any sort of political activity which probably means that Benazir will probably have to stay in London. Benazirs exile might be permanent if the Supreme Court does not allow her appeal. However the PPP seems confident that the Supreme Court will overturn the judgement in which case she will make a triumphant return . The PPP is gearing up to mount a protracted campaign and is going to start motivating its workers especially in the punjab
Anwer Zahid a retired beaurocrat and one of the numerous advisors to the primeminister died in lahore of cancer
According to the News the PPP and Altafs MQM are getting closer even though Altaf wants to base his cooperation on an ethno- racist anti punjab platform since the MQM has little support outside karachi and some areas of sind. Altaf has been alternating between the PPP and the PMLn since the late eighties

PAGE INDEX

PROTESTS,1500 KILLINGS,SUICIDES,JEHANZEB BURKI, JUDGES, RESPECT, SHAHEEN ---26 APRIL 1999

The ANP a pukhtun nationalist organisation has rejected the constitution change proposals put forward by PONM its subsidiary organization as being unworkable as 80% of the constitution would have tobe changed.The ANP is against creating new provinces as it could lead to the division of NWFP as well
The GOP moved quickly to file disqualification petitions against Benazir and Asif. However the CEC who heard the petitions a few days after they were filed put off the next hearing till May 17 as defence lawyers requested that an appeal to the SC was being filed and a hasty decision would be counterproductive
Minor demonstrations and protests continue at the GOP decision to jail the opposition leader.There have been protests in front of parliament and in the senate. Protests could heat up after the shiite rites on the death of Hussein in a political power conflict end in a few days
Opponents of the PPP leader see it as her families demise in politics while others think that she can now live in exile and fight the govt thru her proxies. The PPP secretariat it is said is being shifted to Dubai and Benazir might continue to stay in britain till her conviction is either overturned or a new govt comes into power
Pakistan these days is witnessing a high suicide rate as suicides for various causes are being reported from all over the country. Ten suicides were reported on the 26th alone
The TFT a weekly has dubbed Jehanzeb Burki,IG ,Punjab Police as the executioner/butcher of punjab as a spate of killings in police encounters have taken place. Since 1997 over 1500 people have been killed in police encounters while over 200 have been killed in the last four months
The Nawaz Sharif family has defaulted on a $30 million loan and have been indicted by a London court. It is theoretically possible that nawaz family assets in england in the names of trusted servants and family members maybe confiscated
All vacancies have been filled in the provincial High Courts by the appointment of 14 judges. The Chief Justices of the Sind and Balochistan high courts were elevated to the Supreme Court however the CJ of Balochistan Amir Ul Mulk Mengal preferred to resign for unknown reasons.Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Justice Nazim Siddiqui were appointed Chief Justices of Balochistan and Sind
The Frontier Post opines that the Sind Governor could be replaced by a sindhi politician such as Illahi Baksh Soomru, Ghaus Ali Shah or Mumtaz Bhutto
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court wants the judiciary tobe respected. He however forgets that respect is not an automatic process and can only be earned by an honest judiciary. The comment came when the SC allowed the bail of Nahid Khan a PPP worker for throwing ink on a judicial official
An industrialist Ibrahim Zaheer was shot dead in front of his residence by two suspected islamic miliatants after having been abducted for ransom on March 14
A famous underworld killer Shafiq baba involved in over 200 murders including that of Justice Nizam was killed in a police shootout in karachi
Beware of Muslim Leaguers says one press report as they maybe reporting to the GOP ON the everything u say. Reports suggest that the PMLn workers are acting as an intelligence agency
Many senior PMLn members of govt have been found tobe involved in power theft. Such luminaries include Chaudhry Shujaat, Abida Hussein,Nisar Mohammed Khan, Aftab Sherpao, Azam Hoti, Ch. Jaffer Iqbal, Nasim Wali Khan etc
Ghulam Mustafa Khar has rejoined the PPP
Police have raided the MQM HQ's in karachi to confiscate files and applications
There have been minor sectarian clashes in karachi and multan
The production of the 700 kilometer Shaheen missile has commenced. According to press reports the scientists were unaware of the precise location of the missile target landing during its first test firing despite a supposed sohisticated inbuilt missile guidance system

PAGE INDEX

STRIKE IN SIND, DEMOS, FOOD BAN,SU-27s ---18 APRIL 1999

In response to the GOP decision to sentence Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari to five years in jail, disqualify them from politics,fine $8 million and confiscate all property and bank accounts the PPP organized a successful strike in Sind. All activities came to a halt including bussinesses and transport. There have been small demos in other cities as well. Things might hot up on the political front as the PPP plans to organize demos from the 20th.
Benazir who was in London might move to Dubai until the Supreme Court suspends her sentence says another press report
A petrol bomb was thrown at the home of Corp Commander peshawar with no damages.
Nabil Ishtiaq a former swimmer and Mrs Qadir the wife of an Income Tax Commisioner were shot dead in Lahore.
The GOP has repromulgated an ordinance to ban food, lightings and fireworks at wedding ceremonies. The PMLn could not get the ordinance thru the assembly and has reissued the ordinance despite a Supreme Court instruction not to reissue ordinances
Nawaz Sharif is on his way to russia in an attempt to buy SU27's. The pakistan airforce has been forced to rely on russian hardware because of the ban on military supplies from the USA. Earlier the Benazir govt ordered 300 russian tanks from the Ukraine

PAGE INDEX

BENAZIR JAILED BY PMLn JUDGES ---15 APRIL 1999

In an abrupt sudden decision which was prepared before the defence even completed its presentation Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari were sentenced for five years and fined 8 million dollars in the SGS-Cotechna bribery case. The prosecution had suggested without much evidence that she had taken bribes totalling $4.6million dollars in a contract worth only $137 million dollars. The defence which was not allowed to summon any witnesses had argued that it was all politically motivated and that the SGS -COTECHNA scheme had raised custom revenues by upto seven times. Not even the bribe or commission givers were called to provide evidence. The judges were all PMLn stooges says Benazir Bhutto.Even if the evidence is tobe believed only Asif Zardari could be convicted and no evidence of actual payments was produced. The only supposed link to Benazir is the payment for an expensive necklace from the accounts of Bomer Finance which supposedly received the commisions and was owned by asif Zardari. The scheme for pre shipment inspection of imports was in the works for some time as bussinessmen frequently used fraudulent documents and underinvoicing was rampant. It must be remembered that the PMLn generally represents bussinessmen and they were forced to pay correct custom duties under the scheme.The haste in which the decision was given demonstrates the PMLn and the judiciaries dishonesty. An appeal is in the works. If Benazir is actually removed from politics then Amin Fahim, Yusuf Gillani,or Aitzaz Ahsan are regarded as her likely successors to lead the PPP
Pakistan has test fired two long range missiles in response to an indian missile test. This can be said to have effectively ended any Nawaz Sharif (nobody else has any belief in talking to the indians)hopes of a reconciliation with india and the lahore declaration can now be said tobe a mere piece of paper that can be tornup
Nawaz Sharif has removed two of his cronies Chaudhry Shujaat and Sartaj Aziz from influential party positions so that they could not mount a bid to gain the party leadership. Replacing them are punjab finance minister Zulfikar Khosa as Punjab PMLn head and Senator Saranjam Khan the NWFP PMLn secretary as the PMLn secretary. Khosa was said to be in line for the punjab chief ministership and at odds with Shahbaz Sharif. He has thus sidelined influential party opponents who could have been troublesome for the brothers. In balochistan Syed Fazal Agha amd mir majid Bizenjo replaced Jam Yusuf. Three of the new party appointees Saranjam,Nazir and Fazal have been appointed advisors to the prime minister
In what could be a death blow to the Lashkar e Jhangvi,( a group of political and sectarian killers) its deputy Ijaz Jajji and three associates were killed in a shootout with the police near Chiniot in an attempt at kidnapping a qadiani farmer for ransom who was also killed. Two other lashkar killers were killed a day earlier in a another police shootout. The police are gunning for the lashkar as it is supposed to be behind attempts to assasinate Nawaz Sharif

PAGE INDEX

MINISTERS NOT BEING REPLACED AS PM PREFERS CRICKET TO HIS JOB ---11 APRIL 1999

With the dropping out of Abida Hussein the ministers that have left the cabinet since its formation and have not been replaced total four. That leave a number of important ministries without ministers. Slow coach Nawaz Sharif who prefers making speeches, eating, driving on the motorway and playing cricket to important decision making has a lot of work todo. On top of it all comes the news that one of his henchmen retired fauji Sikander Hayat has lost his job as head of the Primeministers Inspection commission as he has become the owner of an expensive sugar mill in Sind with no explanation asto how he arranged the finances. He also tried to forcibly arrange bank loans for the said mill while conveniently forgetting his job of inspections. Since the PMLn has no real contenders for the positions Nawaz Sharif is said tobe in a fix as most PMLn walas are generally considered mediocre
According to another press report the Jhang police have apparently traced a few members of the Lashkar Jhangvi who have told them that they are gunning for GOP supporters in their areas such as mna's and mpas. However the senior leaders of the lashkar have not been traced
The GOP is considering supporting the chinese proposition of a return to the ineffective multipolar world. However when queried the chinese inability in getting kashmir released from the clutches of the indians became apparent. The chinese obviously are only a weak super power vis a vis taiwan and have little influence on anyone apart from the pakistani GOP

PAGE INDEX

RIAZ BASRA LOOKALIKE KILLED TO APPEASE TJP--10 APRIL 1999

Nawaz Sharif a proponent of selective and political justice may have given the orders to kill the Riaz Basra lookalike to appease his shiite allies the TJP. According to The News the two were killed in cold blood by a retired colonel. One of those killed was apparently a police informer while the other had just been declared innocent in the murder case of a shiite commisioner
The army chief General Musharraf has been given the additional responsibility of acting CJCOSC. That according to the News also gives Musharraf the responsibility of iniatiting a nuclear attack. The post had been lying vacant since the resignation of Jehangir Keramat.Apparently the AirForce chief who is senior to Musharraf turned down the offer
PTV reports that minister for population planning Abida Husein has resigned . She had recently commented on the need for a Margaret Thatcher type prime minister thus categorizing Nawaz Sharif as a softie unable to handle difficult matters.She had earlier been implicated in a corruption case and had recently been embroiled in a controversy surrounding electricity theft
Four people were killed in a clash between tribals and paramilitary forces in a dispute related to the tribal status of around 50 villages near the Mohmand Agency
There are rumours that the Punjab Governor Shahid Hamid will be replaced by a Nawaz Sharif relative Mian Azhar. This also points to a falling apart of the Nawaz Leghari coalition. Leghari has started to mobilise support in Southern Punjab which has been disregarded in the matter of development projects by Nawaz Sharif

PAGE INDEX