Ray

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Neo

We were on the verge of defaulting, a country in financial crisis needs foreign assistance to initiate reforms.
Who war there to help except for the Saudis??

Yes indeed, so was unprecedented regime of nepotism..

Military comes into power when civil governments fail.
Now who was incharge before Mushy ceized power?

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Administrator @ Defence.pk

Neo

Economically yes!
We've had five years of sustained growth, if the trend continues Pakistan will be an Asian tiger soon if not already.

Ray

Lahori paa jee

Civilian governments fail because they are continously interfered by Military men. If one civilian government was corrupt it should be replaced by another not ended completely

As Ayaz Amir once said in an interview when asked the same quesiton

"Agar kisi ka operation karna ho aur eek doctor available na ho to us key liye aap dosra doctor latey hain na key kisi kasai ko lee atey hain"

Ray

Gautam

I have a question, How does Pakistan address the below two problems.
Corruption is something very active in South East Asian politics. The million dollar question is that every time corruption is exposed in Pakistan, military ends up taking over.

Revival of democracy in Pakistan would be a sharade yet again until Pakistan can combat two issues.

A) Have an independent election commission backed by the Judicial system.

B) Pakistan needs 2 find a way of stopping its military interfering with governments.

Lahori paa jee

I wish these questions could be answered for these are the basics of a long lasting civilian rule in any country.

Gautam

Well these are the questions Pakistan needs to answer in order to have a proper democratic government.

Lahori paa jee

I absolutely agree with you.

Ray

Ray

Where money sets the trend


By Anwer Mooraj

MOST Dawn readers who happen to chance on my Monday column, especially those who live in less violent parts of the world, have never heard me speak. But they will read these lines with the implication and inflection of an accent. Just as they do when they come across pieces of first person writing by former Pakistani prime ministers, chief ministers, retired generals, air marshals, admirals and ambassadors — of whom there suddenly appears to be an inordinately large number — with an excessive amount of time on their hands.

It may not necessarily be their accent. But it will be what they assume to be mine. It also doesn’t matter which of us is correct. We are all part of the assumption, snobbery and prejudice that go with writing in English.

For those who might be interested, my accent is a sort of late 1950’s Daily Worker, before it became The Morning Star. It isn’t, one hastens to add, the accent one speaks with — just the one that is used for writing. The accent used for speaking, started off in the 1960s as an all-purpose mandarin, a sort of refined Claude Rains, which went with the blazer and the old school tie. It was subsequently diluted with a bit of drop of Irish brogue, ever since this writer heard Barry Fitzgerald invite a group of Republicans to repair to a pub to talk a little treason.

The accent then changed over the years into an all-sorts medley as one came into contact with more and more Englishmen with regional and estuary accents. Eventually Claude Rains had to be read his last rites. The accent used for writing, however, hasn’t changed, which shows a certain consistency.

People who write with The Daily Worker accent and live in Pakistan are never at a loss for a subject. Every time they stir the witches’ brew fresh bubbles keep bobbing up to the surface. Like the recent visit of the prime minister to the United States and Spain along with 40 parliamentarians. The press release said it was to acquaint the parliamentarians with the working of the United Nations. Spain wasn’t mentioned in the handout.

It must, therefore, be assumed that as Spain doesn’t manufacture nuclear submarines or export AWACS, the purpose of the visit was educational and that somebody in the entourage must have been straining at the leash to discover the difference between the flamenco and the buleria, and the influence of the zarzuela on the development of Andalusian music. The visit was roundly condemned by journalists across the land. “The country doesn’t have money to rehabilitate earthquake victims and has to repeatedly pass around the beggar’s bowl,” said an angry correspondent. “But it has money to throw away on politicians for joy rides.” Another letter writer wanted to know why the prime minister didn’t just ask the Pakistan ambassador in Washington for material on how the United Nations operates. All it takes is an email. The next time the prime minister goes in for a bit of R&R he’d better come up with a more plausible excuse.

This writer was about to stir the pot once again when a newspaper cutting fell out of his scrap book. It was dated November 12, 1999, and was headed ‘Musharraf orders sale of luxury aircraft.’ The language has a certain old fashioned correctitude about it.

“With the revival of the terminally ill Pakistan economy high on his agenda, Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf has ordered the sale of the two luxury aircraft which were in the use of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

“The two Boeing 737s would be replaced with an aircraft cheaper to operate as the cash-starved country could not afford luxury aircraft, an official statement in Islamabad said.

“General Musharraf has promised to cut wasteful expenditure to put the economy on the road to recovery and a massive drive begins on November 17 to recover more than two billion dollars in defaulted loans. A downsizing of the government also is on the cards, sources said.

“Nawaz Sharif, who now faces charges which carry a death sentence, is also being investigated for keeping a Russian-made helicopter for personal use without accounting for it in his tax returns.”

It made jolly good reading at the time. Interestingly enough, the reporter who carried the story didn’t bother to find out just why it was necessary for an unelected head of state of a fifth rate country to have an aircraft in the first place. After all, a former prime minister of Turkey, Tansu Ciller, didn’t have her own aircraft and preferred to travel by the national airline.

Then came the Reformation. The nation was informed in full page advertisements and television broadcasts that the New Order would set the country right, and bring back to the people what was rightfully theirs. The nation held its breath. In fact, six years later, it is still holding its breath and wondering when the president and the current prime minister are going to start implementing their grand plan.

All that the people have witnessed is a series of manoeuvres designed to ensure that no substantial or meaningful change ever takes place in the physical, mental or legal sense in the country. Vani is still being practised in Punjab. The iniquitous Hudood Ordinances are still firmly in place. Women are still being killed in Sindh on the slightest pretext, often with the connivance of the police. The job market is as bad as ever. And criminals move about with impunity. It is now beginning to appear that the present government doesn’t attach too much importance to these things.

The Reformation was carried out in two stages. Phase One started with the stifling of the PPP and the catapulting to power of the MMA, the installation of the government of the turncoats, supported by defectors who collectively still owe the nationalised banks billions of rupees, the election of an obscurantist speaker in the National Assembly who makes doubly sure that no progressive bill will ever get past a first reading, the initial appointment of a prime minister from a minority province who still owes the Agricultural Development Bank 400 million rupees.

Phase Two commenced with the globe trotting tours of the two top functionaries, each with hundreds of hangers-on who could quite easily have paid for their own ticket and hotel expenses, the purchase of a fleet of bullet-proof Mercedes Benzes, the destruction of the civil service, the snapping up of civilian jobs by retired military officials, the wining and dining of opposition politicians in an attempt to wean them over, the passing of the controversial 17th Amendment after the clergy demonstrated a remarkable degree of naivete, and finally the announcement by the spokesman of the government, the man with the two-stroke voice, who said that the people ought to get used to the idea that the president was going to be around for a very long time — naturally, wearing his uniform.

Meanwhile the people of Karachi continue to groan under conditions that worsen every year. There is a dreadful shortage of water and, in spite of the new German management in the KESC, load shedding continues unabated. The roads are in a dreadful state, litter dumps can be found at every corner and getting about is becoming almost impossible. On many thoroughfares pedestrians are finding it almost impossible to cross. And yet the city government continues to display tunnel vision by coming up with plans for more flyovers and underpasses.

What the city desperately needs is an underground railway from Merewether Tower to Tin Hatti and a surface rail connection to Sohrab Goth, with stops at regular intervals. A concerted attempt should also be made to revive the old circular railway with the data one already has and to stop the ridiculous practice of repeatedly sending for more and more consultants who keep raising the price.

One wonders what happened to that warm announcement that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz made on that windy November day in 2001 when he formally inaugurated the circular railway. He said a mass transit project similar to the one at Karachi would be started at Lahore. He also said that 3.5 billion rupees would be spent on the complete renovation of the circular railway, and that previous governments had neglected the project. But...wait for it...the present government is paying full attention to this department. The people of Karachi are still waiting.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/24/op.htm

Ray

Accceptable or not, the reality is that they have to accept elections under Musharraf.

Of course it will not be fair, but then beggars cannot be choosers.

Nor have they the following to do a Nepal.

They might as well like down and enjoy it!

Ray

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version

‘PPP will not merge with any party’


SWABI: Interior Minister and President of Pakistan Peoples Party Sherpao (PPP-S), Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Monday, praised the successful policies of President Pervez Musharraf on the internal and foreign fronts and said that his party would not merge with any party. “PPP will not merge with any party and we will compete every other party in the elections”, Sherpao declared while addressing a public meeting.

Sherpao criticised the MMA leadership for failing to resolve the socio-economic problems of the NWFP people, despite being the governing party of the province. He said, issues could not be resolved just by using Islam’s name, practical measures had to be taken as done by President General Pervez Musharraf through his people-friendly policies. Terming President Musharraf as a true servant of Islam and the country, Sherpao said that with the announcement of the NFC Award by the President, the provinces would get additional funds of Rs 52 billion including Rs 11.5 billion for the NWFP. He said that it was due to the policies of President Musharraf that the country’s position and image had improved in the world and the democratic institutions were gaining strength.

Sherpao also referred to the announcement of special development funds of Rs 100 million for district Swabi by President Musharraf during his visit to the district. He recounted the development works and other welfare projects initiated during his tenure as the NWFP chief minister and vowed to arrange funds to complete the un-finished work on some projects. APP
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2006_pg7_12

Ray