|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
system Street protest Taal
Matol situationer Accommodating
with judges
system By
Adnan Adil The
landscape on the Mall Road and Gulberg's Main Boulevard in Lahore is dotted
with banners displaying bicycle, the election symbol of PML-Q. The prime
advertisement site is believed to have been devoted to party's publicity
campaign for gratis, which otherwise is sold off by the city authorities for
millions of rupees. This is one prominent example of how the king's party is
receiving The
worst hit by Musharraf party's election campaign is Punjab's public exchequer
that stands bankrupted due to overspending of outgoing Chief Minister.
Insiders say that in the first five months of the current fiscal year
(2007-2008), former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi had released more than 100
billion out of 120 billions available for the entire year's development
projects. In a usual year, the government spends this amount of funds in 8-10
months. In the
last couple of months alone, the chief minister is believed to have
re-allocated the entire development outlay and spent more than Rs four
billion on the development schemes in his home district Gujrat which is also
his electoral constituency, cutting down the share of some other districts.
Moreover, in last three months more than Rs four billion are said to have
been spent on media campaign projecting the so-called achievements of the
Punjab government. As a
result of ruthless spending for the king's party's election support, Punjab
government has gone broke. To pay the salaries to the government officials
for the month of December, Punjab government borrowed money from the separate
accounts of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and the Faisalabad
Development Authority (FDA). For the payment of January salaries, the
provincial government is looking towards the funds' transfers from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) that is to be made by the 20th of this month and the
federal transfers that have also been slow since April due to pervasive
unrest in the country. Still,
the caretaker government is focusing all its attention to provide money to
those projects at the local level that were initiated on political grounds to
help the PML-Q candidates in the elections. Insiders say that former chief
minister Punjab allocated more than Rs 10 million for development schemes of
each union council of the Punjab on the recommendation of the party's
candidates. To buy
local luminaries' support, the Punjab government is believed to have dished
out loans on political grounds from the Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank
which is in red with Rs 7 billion outstanding due to non-payment of political
loans. To meet the cooperative bank's deficit, the provincial exchequer will
have to bail it out. The former rulers of Punjab have allegedly sold out most
of their industrial units and coincidentally all the parties that bought
these units have received huge loans from the Bank of Punjab. Among the
beneficiaries of the Punjab Bank are those who matter in Islamabad. In the
last couple of months, thousands of new government jobs and new departments
(such as prosecution department) have been created to employ people on
recommendations ignoring merit and to buy political support. Many of the
newly employed people belongs to Gujrat district. These officials would also
work as election staff to conduct the polling. The
caretaker chief minister is believed to be a close friend of the rulers from
Gujrat. The caretaker administration has not transferred any secretary of the
provincial government or the staff members of the chief minister secretariat
or any district police officer (DPO) or district coordination officer (DCO).
It is alleged that some police officials have helped the PML-Q bigwigs to buy
thousands of national identity cards in certain key constituencies to ensure
the victory of the party's candidates. These
district officials were posted keeping in view their loyalty to the rulers of
Punjab and a majority of them have a reputation that leaves much to be
desired. A number of DCOs are retired PCS officials who were re-employed to
beef up the loyalist group. Insiders say no foreign investment project in the
Punjab was allowed unless a handsome commission was received by a top civil
servant supervising the provincial administration. A troika
comprising chief secretary Salman Siddique, Home Secretary Khusro Bakhtiar
and Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brigadier Ejaz Shah (retd) is
believed to be running the show. To keep the bureaucracy in line, a strong
impression has been created that Pervaiz Elahi would be the next prime
minister. Official estimates say that the king's party would bag more than 90
national seats out of 148 in the Punjab. In case, PML-N boycotts the polls
the number is likely to cross 120. Conversely, a PPP-PML-N seating adjustment
may upset the entire plan. According
to insiders, senior officers sitting in the Punjab Secretariat are receiving
orders from the former secretary to the chief minister in the name of former
CM. Sources say that secretaries and other senior officers fear in case of
defiance they would have to face the negative consequences if the Chaudhrys
again come into power. In fact, the way bureaucratic postings have been made,
the present caretaker government could not be effective in getting its orders
implemented even if by chance it starts acting neutral. One
major threat to the king's party was from the media. The imposition of the
Emergency Plus effectively gagged the vocal part of the electronic media,
stopping the opposition's point of view from reaching the masses. While the
stick was employed to control the television channels and stopping the
official advertisement for independent newspapers, carrot was used to buy the
support of some influential opinion makers. In November, the discretionary
fund of the chief minister, which runs in billions of rupees and is beyond
audit, was believed to have been distributed for this purpose. Keeping
in view the fact that the entire system is loaded against the opposition
parties and to ensure the victory of the PML-Q, the prospects of the
opposition parties to have a level-playing field in the general elections
seem remote to say the least. Unless a caretaker chief minister with a new
cabinet is set up and a massive reshuffle is made in the bureaucracy, the
holding of fair elections is not likely. Last but
not least, the date of general elections has been announced abruptly keeping
in mind the convenience of the king's party which was using state resources
for the last one year to prepare for this and opposition parties have very
little time to mobilise their support and run the election campaign. A
neutral caretaker administration and postponement of elections for a couple
of months could ensure a level-playing field for the opposition and break the
stranglehold of the Chaudhrys on Punjab.
By
Beena Sarwar "General,
just think, your own judges have refused to accept your actions," said
Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, the well known former Supreme Court Judge. Standing
atop a stage set at the end of what has been re-named 'Azadi Street' in front
of the Jang/Geo office in Karachi, he was addressing a Justice
(r.) Ebrahim drew the audience's attention to the joint statement signed by
as many as seventeen retired judges of the Sindh High Court and made public
at a press conference that afternoon, on Nov 27. The statement condemned the
emergency declaration as illegal and demanded the restoration of the
independent judiciary and the media. The
retired judges denounced the martial law as "entirely
unconstitutional." "A
return to democracy is impossible without the restoration of all chief
justices and judges to their rightful position as of Nov. 2, 2007," they
declared. The statement also holds that "any election carried out under
a de facto martial law shall be farcical and illegitimate." Similar
declarations were expected from retired judges of the Supreme Court as well
as the High Courts of the other three provinces (the retired Supreme Court
judges issued their letter on Dec 2, as reported in the papers) Members
of the People's Resistance initiated this thought-provoking street event to
show solidarity with the banned television network Geo, which has now been
off the air for over three weeks. The ban has caused huge revenue losses to
the media company. But more importantly, it has deprived the people of
Pakistan of their right to information. The
event featured brief addresses by eminent persons who are in the forefront of
the movement for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan, and who recognize
that the struggle for the independence of the judiciary and the media are
interlinked to this issue. The addresses were interspersed by spots provided
by Geo which the channel had started to run as soon as General Pervez
Musharraf imposed martial law on Nov 3. All the
television channels, except for the official Pakistan Television were
immediately blocked on the cable network. All except Geo have been allowed
back on air in Pakistan. For over a week, Geo even disappeared from the
satellite world as on Nov 16, the Dubai government under pressure from
Pakistan ordered the network to stop its broadcast from its base in Media
City, a free zone in the Emirates state. (The Dubai government restored Geo's
satellite link on Nov 30). Justice
(r.) Ebrahim jokingly warned students in the audience that they would hear
him at their own risk, as the government had banned them from participating
in any debate on the crucial issue of media and judicial independence.
"I have to speak about this, because it is a matter of life and death
for the people of Pakistan," said the retired judge, who has also held
office of the Sindh Governor. "Even under British rule we were never
stopped from debate and discussion, particularly in the universities and
places of learning." He said
that Article 5 of the Constitution obliged the government to restore the
Constitution -- not just as of Nov 3, but since Musharraf's coup of 1999 when
he overthrew an elected government and took over power. "We do not
accept any amendments made after Oct 11, 1999," said Justice (r.)
Ebrahim. "If the Constitution is the soul of the nation, then the
judiciary is its heart. We are currently without a heart and a soul." Justice
(r.) Ebrahim refuted the government's allegation that the deposed judges had
released terrorists. Talking about the judges who have taken oath under the
PCO, he said, "With a judiciary like that, independence of the judiciary
is in the doldrums. We stand for a democratic Pakistan, the supremacy of the
Constitution and an independent judiciary and media." He added:
"Anyone who is not with us, is against us." Geo TV
provided content for the event, including the bold statement set to images
taking off from the famous anti-Nazi declaration about remaining silent as
one by one different elements of society are victimized, ending with
"Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up." The
Pakistani version starts, "First they came for the Ahmedis..." Another
powerful spot featured the hard-won rights enshrined in the Constitution that
the emergency has suspended -- after alternatively outlining some of these
rights, a male and female voice together enjoin the people to stand up for
the Constitution and for their rights. Arif
Parvaiz, a development writer and researcher, read out Noon Meem Rashid's
celebrated poem 'Aadmi se dartey ho' that resounded with the current times,
and the kinds of vicious restrictions ordinary people face for speaking out
against martial law. Secretary
General of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Mazhar Abbas, also
addressed the gathering. He had just returned from New York after accepting
the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award on
behalf of the PFUJ. "The fight has just started," he said.
"The November 3 situation was not one that we could have kept quiet
about. The issue is not that of one ordinance, or one channel or FM station.
This fight is about freedom. We've never demanded this freedom for ourselves,
but for the people who have right to know where their taxes go." He said
that till 1986, the journalists were mostly pliant and fell in with the
government's directives. "We kept silent about the situation in then
East Pakistan. The Pakistan army's surrender of December 16, 1971 was
mentioned in just four lines in Dawn." Abbas blamed the media's silence
not on the working journalists, who always spoke out even in the most
repressive times, but on the media owners, "who have been late in
joining the fight for press freedom." Drawing
attention to the PFUJ's prompt response to the martial law, Mazhar Abbas
pointed out that even the 'Black Laws' of PEMRA contain clauses that
stipulate certain steps before any media is shut down. On Nov 3, "verbal
orders were issued to close the channels, without quoting any clause of PEMRA."
The procedure, he explained, was that any complaint had to be followed by a
show cause notice. This then went to the Council of Complaint, "which
can summon the media organization in question. The Council could then
recommend in writing for the closure of the media, citing the causes for this
recommendation. None of this was done in this case." The government had
instituted a PCO for the media, like it has done for the judges. "The
media was being punished for March 9, when it showed Chief Justice Iftikhar
A. Chaudhry's campaign," he added. "This is not a fight of the
owners. This is a fight for the freedom of expression. This is our fight, and
we will fight whether the owners are with us or not." "The
restored channels are not free," said Abbas. In fact, the current
restrictions on the electronic media are so severe that the offending talk
show host or anchor has to prove their innocence, rather than the authorities
having to prove their guilt. (Reminds one of the Hudood Ordinances in which
this was the case for rape survivors, who were presumed guilty until being
able to prove their innocence). "The anchor is even responsible for any
words coming out of his guest's mouth. This is a constant sword dangling over
our heads. Today, anyone can get a telephone call from the authorities and be
summoned. We are treated like criminals." The good
thing is that APNS, CPNE, PFUJ have taken a unanimous stand, demanding that
the government withdraw the ordinances and restore the media to the
pre-November 3 position. "We have to be the voice of the people. Simply
restoring Geo will not be enough," he said. "A free media is
necessary for democracy. An independent judiciary is necessary for democracy.
The Pakistani media is the most vibrant in all the Islamic world, the most
critical of its own government. We are all for responsible journalism. If
anyone has been irresponsible, prove it." "Under
this government," he said, "uniformed men come and slap journalists
covering public events, and snatch their equipment. This has happened in
Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Sukkur." Taal Matol Kipling By Shoaib Hashmi I am
sure you are familiar with the name, if only from the old story of this man
who met a beautiful girl and trying to impress her with his erudition opened
with, "Do you like Kipling?" And she flashed a brilliant smile and
said, "I don't know, I've never kippled!" Actually Rudyard Kipling,
along with Dickens forms the duo of the two greatest novelists in the English
language. He was
born in India where his father was working, then spent an unhappy time in
school in England I must
admit, sometimes I feel envious of the Indians who always seem to find some
'sir-phira' who does the right thing. The other day Tom Alter, the Bollywood
actor of many films, was here with the Indian troupe at the Performing Arts
Festival. He turned out to be a charming man, an admirer not only of K L
Sehgal, whose dramatized life story he was performing in, but also of Jim
Corbett. That was
another Englishman who spent many years in India , hunting down man-eating
tigers in the jungles of Kumaon. Then he wrote books chronicling his exploits
and they are masterpieces of adventure writing. In my youth I remember
spending months immersed in 'Man Eaters of Kumaon' and 'The Temple Tiger'.
Tom too had not only read all the books, but had been lucky enough to have
visited most of the places mentioned in them. It seems
they have dedicated a large tract of land as a safari park named after
Corbett, which was the right thing to do. The younger generation there never
knew the man, have not read his books, and in fact know nothing about him.
Nevertheless, not only the safari park, but any number of streets, shops and
hotels flout the name of Jim Corbett. Which
reminds me that one of the places Kipling spent some amount of time is in
fact Lahore. His father, John Lockwood Kipling was the first Principal of the
Mayo School of Arts which is now the National College of Art, and I presume
he lived in the Principal's House, which is still there, and is familiar from
the many wild arty parties we had there in the tenure of many Principals. Of
course it has since been incorporated into the hostel, but it is still there.
As a
child Kipling played around the great canon that stands outside the College
on the Mall. It was originally made for Ahmed Shah Abdali and was named 'Zamzamma'
which is still etched on it. Later it came in possession of the 'Bhangee Misl,'
a part of Ranjit Singh's conquering army and among us Lahorees it is called
the 'Bhangion ki top'. It figures in the stories of 'Kim' written by Kipling
and among English readers it is well known as 'Kim's Gun!' Later he
worked for some time as a sub-editor in the 'Civil & Military Gazette'
which was probably Lahore's second English Language newspaper after the
'Tribune'. The Gazette had its offices on the Mall in a sprawling one-story
building next to the Dinga Singh Building, which it later shared with 'The
Pakistan Times' before it moved on. The building has since been pulled down
to give place to the Panorama Centre, so if you want to put up a plaque in
his name, you'll have to look elsewhere!
situationer By
Muhammad Ejaz Khan Mystery
shrouds the killing of Nawabzada Balach Marri, the top leader of Baloch
Liberation Army (BLA) on November 21. Some media reports suggest he was
killed in Afghanistan while others claimed it to have occurred in Pakistan. The
scale of target killings and terrorist attacks on state-owned installations
in Balochistan became A BLA
spokesman told TNS that Balach Marri was killed by security forces but
refused to disclose the location where the killing had taken place. "Balach
Marri was killed inside Afghanistan and there is no involvement of the
Pakistani security forces in his killing," said Balochistan Governor,
Owais Ahmed while talking to TNS. He said that Balach Marri had been buried
in Afghanistan and asked, "Had he lost his life in Pakistani territory,
why he would have been buried in Afghanistan?"
The
police authorities in Quetta compared these clashes with the violence of
August 2006 when an angry mob torched dozens of shops in and around Quetta in
protest against the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation
in the Tartani area of Kohlu. In the
latest row of violence, bomb blasts and incidents of public property losses
have become the order of the day despite claims by the police that the
security was tightened all over the province, especially in the capital which
was on high alert. Baloch
nationalists feel that the insecurity stems out of the neglect the people of
the region have faced since partition. Baloch nationalists argue that while
Islamabad exploits their rich resources, it gives little in return. Instead
its resources are utilised in Punjab. They say they have been demanding
provincial autonomy envisaged in the 1973 constitution. Balochistan
which was given the status of a province only in 1970 has experienced four
military operations. The fifth one is on. "If
the government wants to remove the sense of deprivation in the province and
wipe out hatred, it should take immediate steps by making Pakistan a true
federation," said ex-senator and leader of National party (NP) Mir Tahir
Bizenjo. He said
all provincial and national rights of Balochistan should be recognised,
including rights on the resources generated in Balochistan. Those
who believe that the rights of Baloch can only be secured by a resistance
movement think that parliamentary politics would take centuries or more to
achieve them. Balach Marri, an electronics engineer from Moscow, who won the
provincial assembly seat from Kohlu with record votes of over 18,000 in 2002
elections -- the highest ever cast in the constituency -- claimed that the
Baloch resistance movement has never harmed the masses and resistance
movement fighters are on a direct war path with the state. He had criticised
the mega projects in the province and held the rulers responsible for
maintaining the colonial policies in Balochistan. It was
in this backdrop, analysts say, that the strategic importance of Balochistan
kept growing as China started building Gwadar as a port it could use. The US
is looking at this with suspicion because they do not want China in the
region or close to Pakistan. As long as Balochistan remains unstable and the
law and order situation remains uncertain, Gwadar's true potential cannot be
realised. The bomb blasts and rocket firing incidents and killing of Chinese
engineers in Balochistan during the last couple of years affected the
credibility of the provincial government. In the present scenario, the
Chinese will certainly be compelled to take a second look at their growing
economic commitment in Pakistan, especially Balochistan. They were moving in
a big way into the Pakistani market, especially in terms of investment in the
industrial sector. One
recalls the statement of Balochistan's Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf on
August 13, 2004 that RAW was running at least 40 camps in his province.
Later, the government claimed to have removed all the camps. On
Tuesday last,the people of Sariab road Quetta witnessed a group of Baloch
students set ablaze their books in the premises of Government Degree College
and demanded release of all those Baloch youth, who had been rounded up by
police on the charges of recent wave of terrorism in Quetta. "We
are burning our books because we are fed up by the police actions. The
government is pressing the Baloch students to take guns in their hands
instead of pens," said Wahid Baloch, a student, while talking to TNS in
the premises of the college. Threat
to non-locals The
sporadic incidents of violence since the killing of Balach Marri have
increased the sense of insecurity among the people of the
province-particularly non-local, whose houses and lives are persistently
attacked by unidentified armed men. On
November 23, a thirty-five year old traffic police constable Manzoor Ahmed,
who belonged to Azad Kashmir, was performing his duty at the busy Jinnah Road
Quetta. As he was ready to leave his duty place after serving the whole day
in the chilly weather, he was targeted and killed by unidentified gunman. The
deceased left behind two children aging five and six years and a wife. Over ten
policemen and personnel of the security forces of low rank were targeted in
the fresh wave of violence in Balochistan. In another incident fifty years
old Bashir Ahmed, head constable in police, was killed by unknown gunman in
Killi Ismail Quetta when he was on his way to home on his bicycle after
performing his day long duty. The
attacks on non-local continue unabated despite the claims of the police
authorities to have maintained law and order. After sunset all barber shops
in Quetta are forced to close business in view of the possible attacks on
their lives and property. "We have no idea what to do as we are forced
to close our business by 6pm," said Zafar Hussain who runs a barber
shop. "Where
is law in Balochistan?" asked Mistri Muhammad Alam, a non-local
carpenter who hails from Sialkot district of Punjab. "We feel very
insecure. Even our family members are not sure whether we will come back home
in the evening." Majority
of the non-local labour has either shifted to Punjab or Quetta from the
Baloch-dominated areas of the province. Defunct BLA claimed responsibility
for most of the incidents and its spokesman Berburg Baloch in telephone calls
said they would continue to target the non-locals who earn their livelihood
from Balochistan but work against the province. It is
generally believed that violence strengthened its roots in Balochistan during
the five years of Jam Yousuf-led government, as the PML-Q did nothing in the
province. Baloch nationalists hold Punjab solely responsible for usurping the
rights and backwardness of Balochistan. When
asked this question a Baloch nationalist, on the condition of anonymity, told
TNS that the exploiting class who is looting the wealth of Balochistan
belongs to Punjab; moreover, majority of the decision makers of the country
also belong to Punjab. "That is why, the Punjabi people are being
targeted in Balochistan," he added. Meanwhile
the people of Quetta strongly condemn the poor law and order situation
despite the two dozen pickets of the para military force i.e. Frontier Corps
(FC) at every nook and corner of the city. -- M.
Ejaz Khan
Accommodating
with judges As the
Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights issued a notification to sack all
the superior court judges who did not take oath under PCO, the Registrar,
Lahore High Court issued notice to those judges who were availing the
facility of official accommodation to vacate the houses by December 3. The
defiant posture adopted by Justice Siddiqui, who does not have a house of his
own, has drawn widespread attention; the issue has been highlighted in the
media to the annoyance of powers that be. The official accommodation of
Justice Siddqui's official residence has become a rallying point for civil
society including lawyers, activists and the media people alike. Since
last Monday night vigils are being held and there is constant presence of
people from different walks of life. However, Justice Siddiqui made it clear
while talking to media people and civil society activists that he was not
interested in keeping the residence and was looking for an appropriate
accommodation in the city. He
informed that he was not being allowed to keep the car for which he would be
entitled in case of retirement and that his residence phone had been
disconnected. It was obvious that he was tense, and on another occasion when
a group of students went to see him he became near tearful. On Tuesday
Justice Siddiqui who is a heart patient had to be hospitalised after he was
warned from certain quarters that he should not turn this into an issue. He
was reportedly going under angiography on Thursday. A LHC
judge who has refused to take oath under PCO when contacted informed that it
is obvious that the Registrar acts on the orders of the Chief Justice. He
pointed out that one could understand the issue in terms of three things: the
relevant rules, Presidential Order, 1997 and traditions. "Whatever the
rules or the presidential order may prescribe, the tradition is that no judge
is ever told to vacate official accommodation after his retirement. As a
result we see that so many judges in the past have continued to stay in the
official accommodations, notwithstanding the rules and the presidential order
providing for a period of one month or whatever. You see it must be noted
that superior court judges are not 'employees' in the usual sense of the
word, and they are in the service of the state under constitutional
provisions, not under an ordinary law. "Of
course, the Chief Justice of the concerned court decides about accommodation
issues. The tradition is that if a judge wishes to continue to reside for a
little longer than usual in the official accommodation then the Chief
Justices have found it obligatory upon themselves to respect and honour the
judge's wish. As a result we have seen that a judge of the high court whom I
do not wish to name, overstayed in the official accommodation for around four
years. There are tens of such examples when judges have overstayed for two to
six months. So this essentially means that a judge even when retired is
treated like a serving judge." Under
the relevant rules, a superior court judge is allowed to continue to stay in
the accommodation for 30 days after retirement. But as late as this year Mr.
Muhammad Akhtar Shabbir, who retired from the High Court on March 31, 2007,
has continued to occupy 13-Tollinton Lane to date. He is now elevated to
Supreme Court under PCO. On the
other hand, there are examples that civil servants, who may live in their
official accommodations for a period extending to six months, occupy their
houses for extended periods. For instance, a former Chief Secretary Hafeez
Akhtar Randhawa Chief Secretary who retired on December 25, 2003 continues to
occupy the official accommodation to date in the same vicinity. Meanwhile
a three member bench of the Lahore High Court has, on the application of the
Registrar Lahore High Court, on Thursday issued contempt notice to the Chief
Secretary and the CCPO to show cause as to why have they failed to take
action against people who continue gathering on the Tollinton Lane and
jeopardise the safety of the judges living in the locality. As these
lines are being written, some students and lawyers keeping a vigil outside
judge Siddiqui's house have been reportedly picked up by the police,
apparently in line with the above-mentioned order. -- Asad Jamal
Lesson for teachers By
Khan Sheram Eousophzye In a
latest development, the government has issued arrest warrants against four
Professors of LUMS, charging them under MPO 16 and for violation of section
144. The professors who have come under "The
government has resorted to legally unacceptable means to suppress, intimidate
and threaten us," said Dr Rasool Bux Rais. He further added that
"the Musharraf government has never before witnessed such a mass
movement that condemns his policies and actions." Dr
Rasool Bux Rais seemed very calm about the warrants issued and emphasised
that his arrest will not at all result in shattering his confidence and that
he will continue his struggle against the Musharraf regime. He laid emphasis
on the fact that restoring the Constitution of Pakistan is a challenge for
every citizen of Pakistan. On a question related to the true essence of this
movement Dr Rasool Bux Rais said that "this movement is aimed for the
future of Pakistan. There are no personal gains in this movement for
us." Prof
Asim Sajjad is also among the four professors who have been charged of
violating the law. "I would go for the arrest," said Prof Asim
Sajjad. "Why should I be afraid? The government has charged me for
violating the law while I was not present at the scene." Prof
Asim Sajjad said that the students, the legal fraternity and the media have
not taken the responsibility to carry out the movement on behalf of the
Pakistani people. "What is stopping the political parties and the laymen
of Pakistan to join hands with them?" The
students of LUMS were all set to meet the challenge. "The government is
totally wrong if they think that the arrest of our teachers will result in
suppressing this movement. By doing so they have just added more fuel to
fire," said Ali, a student of one of these four professors. The students
were of the opinion that the professors who have also been charged of doing
graffiti against the state are highly regarded within the university. Sarah, a
student of economics at LUMS, sums it up in the following words "This is
not only a movement, it is the voice from within that has forced us to
believe that bad laws by bad rulers are not acceptable to us." By
Omar R. Quraishi There
are morons and then there are morons in this world. For some reason, it
appears that Pakistan has more than its fair share of morons -- in other
words, if anyone were to carry out a proper survey (and I'm not sure whether
this has ever been done), Pakistan would probably have the highest -- or
among the highest -- morons per capita. Take your pick below of which moron
you encountered where. 1.
People who don't wait for you when you are running towards the lift. 2. Once
inside the lift, people who stand with their back to you. 3.
People who, while you wait in line to pay a bill or cash a cheque, or make a
deposit, stand to close to you. When you tell them to move back because they
happen to be invading your private space they look all bewildered and even
mildly offended. 4.
People who don't have the decency to say 'thank you' if you keep the door
open for them while they enter the lift or if they are behind you as you
enter a room. 5.
People who, while you wait in line, to pay a bill or cash a cheque, or make a
deposit, cut the line or form their own line. Also women who try and go to
the front of the line, using their gender -- whatever happened to equality of
the sexes? 6.
People who, while you wait in line patiently to get your passport stamped
your leave or return to Pakistan, jump to the front of the line or, worse
still, who allow others to go in front of them -- and you. Also, people -- in
most cases passengers themselves waiting to get on a flight -- who see all of
this happen and don't utter a word. 7.
People who spit for no reason. 8.
People who spit for no reason, while they drive, and it lands on your car. 9.
People who spit pan on the sidewalk, as if it were all one giant spit toon. 10.
People (read men) who grab their crotch every two seconds. 11.
People who burp loudly and don't have the decency to say 'excuse me'. 12.
People who pick their teeth in full view of strangers sitting around them --
probably taking everybody else to be their dentist. 13.
Aunties to jump to the front of the queue in a bank expecting to be served
before anyone else. 14.
Tellers who actually serve these aunties before others waiting in the line. 15.
Parents of ill-behaved and rowdy children. The latter, despite being told a
hundred times to behave, go about their destructive ways without the
slightest bit of guilt or restraint shown by their parents. 16.
Parents of ill-behaved and rowdy children who think that their child's bad
behaviour is 'so nice' and actually encourage them to act that way. 17.
People waiting for relatives outside the arrivals lounge smoking right in
front of a big 'no-smoking sign.' 18. ASF
and FIA personnel at airports smoking in front of a big 'no-smoking sign'. 19.
Motorists who switch lanes without giving an indicator, and who also get
angry with you after you tell them off for doing just that. 20.
Motorists who do give an indicator and attempt to switch lanes regardless of
the fact that there is a car right next to theirs -- moral of story: merely
giving an indicator does not mean you may automatically switch lanes. 21.
Motorists who drive with their car's headlight in full beam. 22.
Motorists who think that there is nothing wrong or dangerous with having
their two-year-old sit in their lap while they drive the car. 23.
Motorcyclists who dart in and out of traffic, as if they were driving on
their personal playground. 24.
Motorcyclists who insist on going in between cars when there is no space and
when scratching either or both of the vehicles is a certainty. 25.
Motorcyclists who come the wrong way and almost hit you. 26.
Motorcyclists who come the wrong way, almost hitting you in the process and
who, when screamed at for their terrible and illegal motorcycling skills,
leer at you as if you have done something wrong. 27.
So-called VIPs who travel around with intrusive and often obnoxious security
escorts as if they owned the road. 28.
So-called VIPs for whom traffic is stopped half an hour in advance -- as if
they were the US defence secretary travelling out of Baghdad's Green Zone. 29.
Motorists who drive in the middle of the road -- at 40 kilometres per hour --
busy talking on the mobile phone. 30.
Traffic cops who see such motorists drive in the middle of the road -- at 40
kilometres per hour -- busy talking on the mobile phone, and don't do
anything to check or fine (this is now illegal, at least in Sindh, punishable
with a fine of Rs 500) them. 31.
People who call you and ask you who you are, instead of introducing
themselves first. 32.
Telephone operators who call you and then put you on hold, while they try to
connect their superior, on whose behalf they called you in the first place. 33. FM
and TV DJs/presenters who talk with obviously fake/concocted accents. 34. FM
and TV DJs/presenters who talk down to their callers, apparently because they
(the DJs) think they are socially more adept and sophisticated than their
callers. 35. FM
and TV DJs/presenters making silly jokes only they and two other people --
both in the studio and their friends -- can understand and make sense of. Readers
are welcome to add to this list -- there are a whole lot of morons out there
whom one has forgotten or overlooked for now. The
writer is Op-ed Pages Editor of The News. Email:
omarq@cyber.net.pk
|
|
official patronage in the run-up to the general elections. The list
is long -- from doling out of public funds to gerrymandering and the use of
police to buy votes.
gathering of hundreds
of Geo and Jang employees along with the event organizers -- members of the
People's Resistance, a loose coalition of individuals and organizations
opposed to the continuing martial law.
before coming back to this India, and spent the rest of his
life in America England and India. The news is that his house in Bombay has
been turned into a museum named after him. That was easy because the house
happens to be next door to, in fact on the premises of the J J School of art,
with which his father was associated, and the school has a large collection
of art works, and no place to put it in, so they have offered to put it up in
the museum. 
more intense soon after the news of his death came by.
As many as eighteen people, including a dozen policemen and security
personnel, were killed in the over two dozen bomb blasts and rocket attacks
that followed.
Nevertheless,
a fresh wave of violence erupted in Quetta and some other Baloch dominated
areas of Balochistan following the killing of Balach Marri. Railway tracks
were blown up at various places, including tracks in main Sibi and Quetta. At
least four electricity pylons of 132 KV were blown up in Kohlu alone and the
Election Commission offices were set ablaze in Nushki.
Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui considering himself a judge reacted
forcefully by issuing contempt notice on November 30 to the Registrar. 
the wrath of the government include
Dr Rasool Bux Rais, Prof Osama Siddique, Prof Dr Farhatul Haq and Prof Asim
Sajjad. They have been charged for wall-chalking anti-Musharraf and
anti-emergency slogans on Defence Police Station. The accused claim they were
not even present at the site. 