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analysis Agenda
Sindh
Desperate
measures RIPPLE
EFFECT
Several
analysts had observed that the Pakistan Peoples' Party, headed by
Benazir Bhutto, would find it difficult to join hands with General
Pervez Musharraf because of two reasons. First, as Talking
to media persons in New York on July 6 2007, Ms. Bhutto, instead of
contradicting or accepting the meeting with President General Pervaiz
Musharraf in Abu Dhabi, gave the reference of a statement issued by a
presidential spokesman in this respect. The former Prime Minister said that
she believed in dialogue to restore democracy in Pakistan and confirmed that
her party was negotiating with President Musharraf's government. She
refused that the UK and the US had played any role in her party contacts with
the government. She further said that, "PPP had always opposed Musharraf
in uniform. If the President would try to get himself re-elected from current
assemblies, then we have an option to tender resignation, challenge it in the
court and bring a candidate against him." Apparently,
she is not opposed to Musharraf's re-election as a president. She seems to
oppose it only when Musharraf is re-elected in uniform. She will support
Musharraf, probably, in return for her exoneration from the corruption
charges currently being pursued by the National Accountability Bureau. The
people on the streets might not understand the difference between the
uniformed and without uniformed general as long as he is at the helm of
affairs, which he will after he is re-elected. The Charter of Democracy
signed by the PPP and PML-N, as had been reported in the press, states that
the two major parties pledge to end the military's role in Pakistani
politics. Is this what the deal between BB and Musharraf envisages?
Talking
to a Dubai based cable network TV, the president of PML-Q, Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain, said that his party had no problem in accepting a deal between BB
and Musharraf in the best national interests. There are, probably, very few
people in the masses as brilliant as the Chaudhry is to understand the 'best
national interests'. Could he take some moments from his precious time to
elaborate the stale concept of national interests to the hapless masses? Stating
just the obvious, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, who is also
the leader of the religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Aml (MMA), Maulana
Fazlur Rehman, has made sure over all these years that his party remains in a
coalition government with the 'military-created' PML-Q in Balochistan, and
rule the NWFP alone. He has always shown his displeasure with those among his
rank and file who suggest to table resignations either with the speaker
National Assembly, or end co-operation with the regime in Balochistan. It is
no more a secret for the masses that the MMA, under the leadership of the
Maulana and Qazi Hussain Ahmad, helped Musharraf secure parliamentary passage
of a package of constitutional amendments aimed at 'giving a fig-leaf of
democratic legitimacy to Musharraf's dictatorship' in 2003. But he is still
the opposition leader. Probably that is what Sheikh Rashid wanted to say when
he said that, "our opposition is friendly". Sheikh
Rashid Ahmad, a leader of the PML-Q who had been close to the exiled former
prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the past, and now a prominent figure in the
present dispensation, said the other day in response to a question by a
reporter of a private TV channel that an election alliance among the
military-created PML, MQM of self-exiled Altaf Hussain, JUI of Maulana Fazl,
and PPP of Benazir Bhutto is not unlikely. The military leadership of
Pakistan is quite well-versed in distributing the share of these parties in
the pie. Who knows that the Maulana might again become the head of Foreign
Affairs Committee as he once was when the government of the BB was forced to
nurture the Taliban movement in the nineties? The Maulana seems to be in a
better position now, because, as he claims, he is able to bring the Pakistan
military and the Taliban to negotiating table under the auspices of the US. One
finds one's self in agreement with journalists Vilani Peiris and Keith Jones,
who are of the opinion that "all the opposition parties (in Pakistan)
fear that any serious struggle against the Musharraf regime could provide a
point of entry for Pakistan's toilers into political struggle and risks
destabilising the military, the institution that acts as both the bulwark of
the Pakistani state and of capitalist property". Here seems to be a
trope of the core issue. Believing but not believing in two contrary
propositions at the same time. Political parties are meant to work for
political institutions, but the mainstream political parties in Pakistan
usually work to stop the way towards political institutionalisation. They
will make all this hue and cry when a military regime establishes itself
(when a military regime takes over, they usually welcome it), but when there
is an opportunity to challenge the regime, they use different tricks to
strengthen the regime. The
masses have started understanding the process of doublethink, and have
probably become expert in its use. A cab-driver remarked while talking to me
the other day, "The rulers think they are deceiving the people, but I
think the people are deceiving the rulers more than the people are deceived
by the rulers." (The
writer is an Islamabad based academic. Email:
khadim.2005@gmail.com)
The
Sindh text board has been taken to task. They reportedly wanted to highlight
the contribution of G.M.Syed much to the dismay of the Federal government.
"G.M who?" you ask. Well this was the man who spent thirty years of
his life in varying degrees of imprisonment, detention and house arrest.till
his death in 1995. He was labelled anti-Pakistan, a separatist and was even
charged with treason although never tried. On March
3, 1942 Pakistan Resolution was presented for the first time in Sindh
Assembly. The mover So how
come the darling of Muslim League, the man who was made the Provincial Chief
of Muslim League by Jinnah, the man who in 1938 organised a meeting of the
Sindh Muslim League at Karachi where the Leaguers were given an overwhelming
welcome become a 'Pariah'? Political analysts and historians have differing
views. Some point to G.M's obstinate idealism citing his refusal to back
Muslim League's feudal candidates when Jinnah declined to accept his nominees
for the 1946 elections. Some declare that the candidates' episode wasn't that
serious; what made him a pariah was his falling out with Jinnah over what
Syed considered the former's disregard for Sindh's rights soon after 1947. It
was then that he was expelled from the Muslim League. Some
point out that for him Sindh and Sindhi interests came first, regardless of
the political party. His membership of the Indian National Congress and later
Muslim League are quoted as examples to support their point. An ardent member
of the Congress, he fell out with the Congress leadership over what he
considered the leaders' disregard of rural Sindh's problems. Reportedly,
Congress leaders Maulana Azad and Sardar Patel came to investigate Syed's
allegations but could not satisfy him resulting in Syed's quitting Congress.
He then joined the Muslim League. Some
analysts declare that G.M.Syed became convinced and frustrated much later
when he realised that provincial autonomy would always be a dream. After all,
before the dismemberment of the East and West wings of Pakistan it was
G.M.Syed who tried to bring Wali Khan and Sheikh Mujeeb Ur Rehman around. He
struggled against the One Unit System leading to its dismantling in 1970. He
supported the legislative restoration of the Sindhi language position in
1972. Thus, he tried to struggle for Sindh's rights within the system.
However, the final straw for him was the dismemberment of the country .It was
then that he lost all hope for provincial autonomy and articulated his 'Sindhudesh'
call. Whether
Syed was an idealist, a separatist, a realist or a nationalist is a matter of
opinion. What is understood is that all his life Syed articulated Sindh's
interests. He resisted vehemently the separation of Karachi from Sindh, the
dispersal of evacuee properties, the creation of one unit, the allotment of
barrage lands to non-Sindhis, the relegation of Sindhi language to
irrelevancy in the educational/official system and the erosion of provincial
autonomy. It is
clear even to his worst critic that Syed's agenda was Sindh. But lack of
electoral majority in Sindh and his failure to reach the heights of let's say
Bhutto or Khuro is questionable. Some analysts declare that Sindhi
politicians have been divided over the strategy for attaining the rights of
Sindhis. One school, which is the majority, believes that nothing can be
achieved through open confrontation with the establishment and that the only
feasible course is to fight from within. In other words, if you can't beat
them join them. This group, according to Sindhi political analysts, include
leaders like Shahnawaz Bhutto, Muhammad Ayub Khuro, Allah Bux Soomro in
earlier generations and in the later ones, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mumtaz Ali
Bhutto, Muhammad Junejo and of course Benazir
Bhutto. They contested elections were in power and sometimes out of power but
made their compromises with the main ruling establishment. These politicians
contributed to the whole of Pakistan for instance Hafeez Pirzada gave
Pakistan the 1973 constitution, Bhuttos of course also contributed. However,
another set of Sindhi politicians were people like Syed who did not. He had
little respect for those whom he considered collaborating with the main
ruling establishment. He believed if Sindhi politicians had not collaborated
with the ruling establishment, the fate of Sindh would have been different.
Some analysts believe that perhaps his vision might not have too off the
mark. In present day Pakistan, we do see challenges in having an effective
federal system where the provincial autonomy is secure. Whether it is
Balochistan, Sindh, NWFP or parts of Punjab, all are trying in various ways
to articulate their demand for greater provincial autonomy: what Syed tried
to do all his life. A
prolific writer Syed wrote more than sixty books mostly in Sindhi on politics
as well as arts and literature .One of his more interesting books was the
'Nine Jewels of Modern Politics' in Sindhi and Urdu, giving critical analysis
of the political careers of Jinnah, Gandhi, Iqbal, Nehru, Maulana Kalam Azad
among others. As a government minister, he laid the ground work of the Sindh
University, which later became the Karachi University. He established the
Sindh Literary Advisory Board which later developed into the Sindh Adabi
Board. In 1925, he formed an organisation of farmers to protect the rights of
the growers of the Karachi district. In 1926, he founded an organisation for
promoting the interests of growers of Mahal Kohistan, an arid zone and
neglected area of Dadu district. These activities extended to the founding of
the Lower Sindh Cooperative Bank in 1930. By
faith, Syed was a liberal Muslim having moved away from the orthodox version
of Islam and adopted Sufism as his creed. He incorporated certain elements of
Buddhism and Jainism in his personal faith. He was also influenced by the
doctrine of Ahisma preached by Gandhi and the Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar
Khan. Even
after so many years after his death, G.M Syed remains an enigma. Author
M.S.Korejo states, "G.M Syed was at one time the most reviled man in
Pakistan and at the same time a demigod to his followers. Yet neither could
his detractors clearly pinpoint their principal cause of revulsion for the
man, nor could his supporters elucidate the precise clarity of his thought
and vision. The press and political commentators ignored him to the point of
disbelief of his very existence. It was almost as if this mover of history
was arbitrarily adjudged, convicted and relegated to the footnotes on the
back pages of history without the benefit of fair proceedings. It seems as if
the verification of contradictions attributed to him by others were
considered by the political establishment as too tiring an effort." Whether
or not this continues, it remains to be seen, but at least on one account
there is no ambiguity that G.M. Syed was a son of Sindh first and foremost.
The rest is all just detail.
I've
been here a few days, and I haven't seen a thing. I've been too busy reading
all the instructions and notices. It is amazing the number of notices New
York expects you to read before you take a step, there are signs on the floor
on the streets, on walls, hanging from poles, everywhere. 'Sidewalk Closed
Ten Feet Ahead', I'm not bloody blind! I can see it's closed by this
humungous barrier. 'Use sidewalk on other side of street', what am I, stupid?
They tell you which line not to cross, who to give up your seat to, and to
scoop your dog poo after you! Obviously
the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers have never been to Lahore, and
therefore labour No, no I
am not quite provincial, and do go to soak in the art, and even claim to
understand and appreciate it, but I must confess that the pleasure of lunch
is in a class by itself. Perhaps it is because one feels one is in the middle
of a serious endeavour and a fine purpose. But there is something about the
aura of a gallery restaurant which is most satisfying. There is
also the feeling that one is overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of art, and
that one can never experience it all. One way out of that is to circumscribe
the visit by homing in one of the special exhibits, and just taking in
snatches of all the rest in passing. This time round there was a show of the
works of sculptor Richard Serra; a retrospective of forty years of work,
spread over three floors. Huge mansion sized forms made out of what seemed to
be sheets of rusting steel folded and twisted into shapes you could walk
through. And New
York is also the theatre centre of America, although this is not the opera
season, there is oodles of regular theatre. Once again one is constrained to
pick and choose, and we chose Vanessa Redgrave. She has long been a theatre
icon for our times, but there was also a bit of nostalgia thrown in, because
we happened to be in London back in the sixties, the time of the great
anti-war 'Aldermaston Marches' when Redgrave was making some of her landmark
performances, and also making a name as an activist. It was
also the time when her father, the magnificent Sir Michael Redgrave was still
at the height of his powers performing in the West End and impressing a
younger me enough to read up two of his biographies. And the performance was
at the Booth Theatre, named after Edwin Booth the brother of the other Booth
who had assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Too many associations to resist! The
performance 'The year of Magical Thinking' was a tour de force, a one-person
monologue, on a bare stage; and Vanessa kept a full house rooted to our seats
for an hour and a half! So if you happen to be passing by, I've already made
a good choice for you, and then you can take time out for a chicken pannini
at the cafeteria at Moma! Or maybe hold on, I am here for another week and
may come up with even more brilliant suggestions.
When the
army took over in October 1999, the political party most damaged was Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). 90 per cent of its office bearers and
parliamentarians joined the newly formed PML-Q within days after October 9.
The remaining 10 per cent were those who had no In such
a scenario, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi was a ray of hope for PML-N and its exiled
leadership. Mian Nawaz Sharif, before leaving the country, appointed him
acting president of his party. It was because of his commitment with the
party that Nawaz Sharif nominated him as a party candidate in the 2002
general elections from his home constituency in Lahore. He also managed to
mobilise the party workers whose morale was low in the wake of government
propaganda that Mian Nawaz Sharif and his family had left country under a
deal. His
success infuriated the military establishment. He was jailed nine times on
different occasions between October1999 and October 2003. On October 29, 2003
he was arrested for the tenth time, nine days after he distributed a letter
to the media in the parliament's cafeteria. The letter was allegedly written
by an anonymous Pakistan Army officer and incited people against the army.
Hashmi was sentenced to 23 years in jail on April 12, 2004, on charges of
inciting mutiny, defaming the army and army officers, forgery and abetment by
a lower court. On
August 3, 2007 the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered his release. This has
come as a setback for government while a good news for PML-N because he is
the party's only popular leader in Pakistan. Before his release Raja Zafarul
Haq was leading the party who could not mobilise his party very effectively
-- it is alleged that PML-N failed to exert pressure on government even after
Hashmi's arrest. The role of PML-N was minimised for want of an energetic
leadership in the past four years. As for Hashmi, he has spent six out of
eight years of the present regime in imprisonment. He was victimised because
government knew that he was the only leader in PML-N who has the energy to
create problems for the government. Even the speaker of the National Assembly
did not order his production in the House throughout his confinement. PML-N
leadership is hopeful that with Hashmi leading the party from the front, it
will now be possible for the party to mobilise its workers and play a
significant role in politics of opposition in the country. Ahsan Iqbal,
secretary information PML-N, thinks that Hashmi's release from jail will have
a phenomenal impact on the politics of PML-N as well as of the opposition as
he has the credibility to challenge the autocracies of present regime. He
believes he has already engaged the party workers and in future he will
create more impact "He
will lead movement of workers from the front as he is an activist and does
not believe in drawing room politics," Iqbal says. "Hashmi enjoys
very good relationship with leadership of all opposition parties; his active
role in politics will help to create a close liaison among different
opposition parties." Ahsan admits that his party was dysfunctional at
least at the leadership level in the last four years in Pakistan and that may
be the reason that PML-N's role for release of Hashmi was not considered up
to mark. According
to him Javed Hashmi will work here in politics as deputy of Mian Nawaz Sharif
and Shahbaz Sharif. Even his
political rivals admit that his release will have a positive impact on the
politics of opposition. "He is acting president of a big political party
of Pakistan and also enjoys good support with his party workers so he will
definitely play a positive part," says Shah Mahmood Qureshi, president
PPP Punjab chapter. Both
Shah Mahmood and Javed Hashmi traditionally contest election from the same
constituency of Multan (NA 149) and last time Qureshi won. "I am
provincial head of ARD while he is central head ARD and it depends on our
parties to decide who will contest elections from where. But in the last
elections I won elections from Multan while he won the NA seat from Lahore
and principally I should contest elections from Multan while he should from
Lahore." Even if PML-N decides Javed Hashmi contests election from
Multan, Mahmood Qureshi is ready to face him. Javed
Hashmi is very clear about his role in the politics of Pakistan. He says that
he enjoys full support of his exiled leadership and he has no intention to
breach their confidence. He tells TNS his prime objective is to fight
dictatorship until it vanishes from the country "I will continue to
struggle for the country's freedom from the clutches of dictatorship even I
am put behind bars again for doing so," he says. "It
is a tyranny that most of us instead of fighting the prevailing system become
part of the system after getting elected. In this way, though we are able to
get some personal benefits, it damages the people and the country." The PML-N
leadership is clear about not allowing the opportunist politicians to play
any role in the party, Hashmi says. "At least 50 per cent of
parliamentarians including senators of ruling party are in contact with us
and many of them have already submitted their resignations to our party but
Mian Nawaz Sharif is not ready to give them space," he says. Hashmi,
who also is the president of ARD, wishes to see all opposition parties
together on one agenda -- restoration of true democracy without any role of
military. "Judiciary will not approve doctrine of necessity and army
rule will soon become a part of past in Pakistan," says Hashmi. Hashmi
thinks that lawyer community and media have played a very important role in
the movement for independence of judiciary. Now it is up to the political
parties to follow them. "We need to lead the movement from the
front."
Sub-Inspector
Liaqat Ali, 55, lost his life piteously last month at the Police Training
School (PTS) Chuhng in Lahore due to cardiac arrest. He had offered himself
for training on a 'fake fitness certificate'. The fake certificate got by
Liaqat before joining the training school concealed the fact that he was a
heart patient. On the morning of July 25, 2007 he fell on the ground
unconscious and was taken to Jinnah Hospital where he was pronounced dead
following a cardiac arrest. A short
spell of controversy followed the incident and his colleagues criticised the
school management for tough training conditions. Some of them held Chuhng
Police Training School Principal The
criticism disappeared in thin air when 17 out of existing 607 senior trainee
police officers were reportedly declared unfit for training by one cardiology
institute. More are expected to be exempted from training as a result of
their medical re-examination launched by the PTS Chuhng after the death of SI
Liaqat Ali. It may be noted that the government has increased the age limit
from 45 to 55 for the promotion of a police officer to the level of Inspector
from Sub-Inspector. This has forced many to get fake certificates of fitness
at the cost of their lives. Talking
to The News on Sunday Mubashar said, "One of the 17 unfit officers can
hardly stand on his feet but still insists to get trained and promoted to the
rank of Inspector. The concerned SI is so obsessed with his promotion that he
has offered written self-responsibility in case he loses his life during
training. "We
have turned down his offer," he added. Mubashar further said he would be
writing to the concerned district administrations to take action against the
doctors responsible for issuing fake medical certificates to the aged
employees of police. One
administrative officer in Peshawar told that practice of producing fake
medical certificates to avoid routine parade is also common among young
police trainees. "It's like a double-edged sword, as the aged trainee
police officers produce fake fitness certificates to join the training, the
young trainees use it to avoid training courses." However,
the practise of using fake medical certificates is neither limited to the
police department nor specific to Pakistan. The Directorate of Vigilance and
Anti-Corruption in Tamil Nadu, India, has recently unearthed a multi-million
fake medical certificate scam in Railways department where public servants
are involved in claiming compensation on medical grounds, causing crores of
rupees loss to the Indian Railways annually. The scam that hit the newspapers
headlines on August 2, 2007 pertains to the issue of fake medical
certificates by government doctors to beneficiaries, mostly public servants,
enabling them to claim compensation to the tune of several crores from the
Income Tax and Labour departments and insurance organisations between 1999
and 2003. But
story does not end at the public departments in Pakistan, India or anywhere
in the third world. Students in the educational institutions and travellers
to foreign countries are also major beneficiaries of the fake medical
certificates. Particularly by those travelling abroad for job and other
assignments. In Middle East, the respective governments have, therefore,
ordered re-examination of all immigrants travelling from Pakistan and other
Asian countries. Press reports suggest that many are deported from the
airport once they are diagnosed with chronic diseases not disclosed by the
medical certificates procured from the local (Pakistani) medical
laboratories. Sources
in the intelligence agencies reveal they receive number of queries regarding
issuance of fake certificates by the private sector medical laboratories.
Majority of these laboratories are at the panel of different embassies. The
aspirant immigrants are bound to deal with them in getting medical
certificates against heavy fees. Sources in the doctors community believe
that the financial position of the doctors, inducted to the panels of foreign
embassies and consulates, have changed overnight. A TNS survey revealed that
doctors were charging $2500 for medical certificate to US immigrants and
$1500 for rest of the world including Europe and Middle East. Dr
Mohammad Mohsin, a local doctor, told that heavy fee against each medical
certificate has made it very attractive for the doctors community. Times are
gone, he asserted, when we were supposed to charge Rs30 to issue a medical
certificate to the public department employees. Medical Superintendent of a
local Hospital, requesting anonymity, told that the personal staff of the
medical practitioner is also involved in issuing fake medical certificates
across the country. The medical practitioner is sometimes unaware of many
deals under his nose carries out by his staff. Issuance
of fake medical certificates in the field of insurance is also very common. A
doctor told that one insurance agent produced his fake ECG test to sell
health insurance policy at the earliest. Many public sector employees grease
the palm of medical practitioner in order to get early retirement on the
medical basis. In principle, any medical practitioner registered with the
government can issue a medical certificate. If one wants to check the misuse
of authority, he is supposed to initiate legal action under the
anti-corruption laws against a medical practitioner. But the medical
practitioners have a very simple excuse that no symptoms of a certain disease
were visible in a patient the medical examination was conducted. Therefore,
the violators of the law are playing with the lives of many poor ones like
Sub-Inspector Liaqat Ali in connivance with the corrupt public servants.
RIPPLE EFFECT Perks for MPs -- PIA style By Omar R. Quraishi PIA has
to be perhaps one of very few (if not the only) airlines in the world which
have a separate counter for members of parliament. Whenever I travel on it I
come across this aberration -- something that has no place in this day and
age. For starters, it is bound to offend PIA's other revenue-generating
passengers (it's another story that most are so used to this blatant
discrimination against them, and coupled with a general apathy among people
on such matters, that no one says anything). Other than that, one would like
to ask the PIA senior management as to on what grounds can it justify such
preferential treatment to a particular section of society -- especially one
that is already so privileged. Of course, setting aside separate counters for
say handicapped passengers (which is not done) or for those who have no bags
to check in makes sense and is not discriminatory but to allow MPs a separate
counter is absurd. During a
flight last week from Lahore to Karachi, one again came across this
'Parliamentarians only' counter. Just for the sake of curiosity, a PIA
ticketing official at one of the other counters was asked about this.
Actually what led to her being asked this was a request for a bulk head seat
-- next to the aircraft's door and which always has more leg room than seats
in other rows. This is one of PIA's perennial mysteries because by right any
passenger can request to be allotted such a seat and any normal airline would
allocate it on a first-come-first-served basis. But not so at PIA -- you may
call the much-advertised reservations call centre number 111-786-786 even a
week in advance or ask for a bulk head seat when you buy the ticket well
before your scheduled flight but the standard reply is that no seats are
available. However, when you board the plane you invariably find that at
least some of these seats are available. The only plausible reason for this
is that some bulk head seats are kept in reserve and not allotted to any
ordinary passenger just in case a member of parliament or other such VIP
happens to get on that particular flight at the last minute. As for
the PIA official who was asked why the airline should have such a counter,
her reply was that in the past some employees had even been suspended after
MPs were not given the seats of their choice. Hence, the separate counter --
according to her -- while a way to placate the members of parliament, was
also a means for the airline to protect its own staff. By the way, the
official also said that in this regard armed forces officers were often
equally demanding of good seats and for them too the airline had to make
similar concessions. But whatever the compulsions, such preferential
treatment cannot and should not be justified on any grounds -- and also helps
explain PIA's decline compared to other world airlines, most of which would
never have such biased policies -- even if they were fully or partly
government-owned. This
matter also helps explain some of the factors behind the airline's decline,
and these are often not mentioned by the usual industry 'experts'. For
instance, the fact that the airline comes under the ministry of defence and
has been used and abused by successive governments -- often as a kind of
job-generating factory for their political favourites or by successive heads
of government to reward their friends (by appointing them to head the
airline) -- is usually ignored. This probably has the biggest role in the
airline's decline and unless this government interference is stopped chances
are that wholly discriminate aberrations like separate counters for members
of parliament will not be stamped out. This doesn't necessarily mean that the
airline should be privatised (who will buy such a loss-making enterprise in
the first place, and with an ageing fleet) but rather that the government,
particularly the ministry of defence and politicians don't interfere in its
operational matters and that MPs don't treat it as their personal transport
service. Also, it
would be good if PIA's passengers -- those who don't happen to be MPs,
ministers, army generals or related to a senior airline official -- also
become a bit more assertive about their rights as full-fare paying
revenue-generating passengers and demand that they be given equal treatment
in matters as basic as seating. (Incidentally, the passenger next to me on
the flight -- a resident of New Jersey but who often took the JFK-Lahore PIA
flight -- told me that recently he had travelled on that route twice and both
times the flights in-flight entertainment system had failed to operate. The
flight was for 16 hours and the passengers could not watch any TV or listen
to music!). Just by
way of comparison, while travelling on Thai to Bangkok last year, with wife
and our one-year-old son, we weren't able to get bulk head seats initially.
However, on each flight sector -- we took a couple of domestic flights in
Thailand as well -- the airline staff went out of their way to make such
seats available for us, which was a huge help given that we had an infant
with us. I can't imagine that happening in PIA's case -- unless things turn
around in a big way. Let's see what the new MD of the airline is able to
achieve in such matters -- given that such matters are very important to the
airline's passengers. The
writer is Op-ed Pages Editor of The News. Email:
omarq@cyber.net.pk
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Musharraf's power comes
from his control of the military, therefore he does not want to make any
arrangement under which he is forced to give up his uniform, the PPP would
not be able to strike a deal with the general in uniform. Second, the leaders
of the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League, who currently head the
government, will resist any deal with the PPP.
Mind
you, Bhutto is only talking about options in case Musharraf tries to get
himself re-elected. She might not prefer to use those options. Keeping in
view her limitations, one can simply imagine that BB might use the last out
of the three options given above, and in this case, her presidential
candidate is bound to lose.
of the resolution was none other than G.M.Syed, the man
whose name soon became synonymous with the demand for Sindhudesh or
independent Sindh. 
under the delusion that they live in the most wonderful city
in the world. Of course they are wrong, but not too far wrong; a visit to the
Big Apple has many pleasures to offer. One of the chief of these is a day
spent at one of the marvellous art galleries, the Metropolitan or Moma, and
taking time out for a leisurely lunch at the gallery eatery! 
recognition beyond district
level politics and consequently were unable to play an effective role in
politics at the national level. 
Major (retd) Mubashar responsible for giving
hard time to the senior trainee officials. 