Upright Opinion
June 27, 2010
Pledging No Revenge
By Saeed Qureshi
President Zardari in his speech made on Benazir’s Bhutto 57th Birthday declared that he is not going to take revenge of his wife and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson’s assassination. It is a strange logic propounded by him. He thinks that the advent of a democratic order in Pakistan is the only revenge that was pertinent and befitting to the murder of a towering political leader of Pakistan.
He churned out the same logic last year on the second death anniversary of Benazir in that he too equaled his spouse’s murder probe with the compensation of a democratic dispensation in Pakistan. By the way, the re-establishment of democracy in Pakistan was the outcome of the legal activism and lawyers uproarious marches and stormy street agitations than any contribution by the PPP’s political leadership.
In the meantime, the government had assigned the task of probing the ghastly murder to the United Nations at a fabulous cost of 5 million dollars albeit with a limited mandate. Zardari and other PPP leaders have thus far welcomed the United Nations 65 pages report. However, all of a sudden the government has starting branding it as a flawed report.
In this connection, the PPP government has handed over a memorandum to the United Nations general secretary highlighting the inadequacies of the report. The two stances of the PPP government stand in contradiction with each other. One is flabbergasted to figure out why the government in the first instance bothered the United Nations to probe this case and why it welcomed it initially.
Even the investigation that was conducted indigenously confirms the names of the suspects who were arrested immediately after the murder. If they were the assassins then there was no need to invoke the United Nations to come into play and distract the focus from the domestic investigation, which was more relevant and credible than that of any international organization. Still there no reason for Mr. Zardari to declare time and again that he knew the real culprits but would reveal their names at an appropriate time.
The mandate given to the United Nations’ investigation team was narrowly limited in it scope and, therefore, was limited to broad conjectures, hazy hints and fuzzy corollaries that were not helpful in fulfilling the main task of reaching the heinous culprits. The government of Pakistan, has of late, objected to the United Nations’ report, which was of perfunctory nature. The objections of the report might have been due to a late realization by the PPP government that it
might have contained some hints to expose the real culprits in the longer run. The security lapse and lacunas pointed by the UN report must be to the chagrin of certain powerful actors who might have awakened to the murky possibility of being nabbed or identified as responsible for faulty and insufficient security arrangements for the fallen leader.
One can only scantly surmise that the later volte- face might have been due to the possibility that the president of Pakistan or some heavyweights of the party or other powerful invisible characters might be part of the conspiracy to kill Benazir Bhutto. Nevertheless, the minds of the people in Pakistan are not still clear of the doubts that her spouse who is clamoring no blood for the blood of Benazir was somehow trying to push the whole high profile murder under the rug to save him and other stalwarts in or out of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Hamid Mir the celebrated anchor of the GEO Television’s popular program, “Capital Talk” in his article ( published in daily Jang on April 26), has accused the then chief of Military intelligence Maj. General Nadeem Ijaz as one of the accomplices and mastermind in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He alleged that on his orders the place of assassination was hosed and even post mortem not carried out. Presumably, there seems to be a backdoor pressure on Zardari to not divulge any further information on Benazir’s Assassination. Hence, his backtracking from the previous pronouncements.
The traditions of Balochis and Sindhis is to not forgive but to exact blood for blood until someone begs for mercy or there is a quod pro quo for heavy compensation like marriages and confiscation of lands and property of the perpetrators. If they can kill a man or woman for committing adultery in broad day light, why should they relent on the blood of an eminent scion of the Bhutto family and chairerspon of the party whose other leaders are now in power?
It is a pity that the party whose top leader was killed has not hotly and assiduously chased the assassins and was rather painfully and staggeringly slow in conducting the inquiry. There have been more vociferous demands from other parties for the hot pursuit of the assassins than her own party. Woefully, an ace leader was brutally murdered without visibly any remorse from her heirs or the party top brass. The latest call from Zardari also means that, “do not ask questions about the poor insecurity, the fleeing away of Rehman Malik and Babar Awan from the murder scene and finally no post martem for the deceased leader.” In a nutshell it means forget about the murder.
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Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
David Laws of England and Babar Awan of Pakistan
June 1, 2010
David Laws of England and Babar Awan of Pakistan
By Saeed Qureshi
David Laws, the British chief secretary in the newly formed liberal Democrats’ government of Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned his prestigious post for illegal payment of 40,000 pounds as rent to his boy friend James Lundie. In contrast Pakistan’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan has refused to leave his post for allegedly taking a hefty bribe of a half a million dollars from a Pakistani business family in return for removal of their names from the NAB’s ( National Accountability Bureau) list of delinquents.
Instead, he had assumed the role of a superman in that he can dictate all and sundry, even the prime minister and the president what they have to do and how to conduct their state business. Although David Law is a homosexual, which Babar Awan is not, yet the former stands on a very high moral ground than the latter. This is the real difference between an answerable democracy and non-accountable dispensation.
Every minister in the sitting coalition government in Pakistan is saddled with plethora of corruption episodes, which might be true, or not because that is for the courts to decide. However, apparently and as a matter of principle, those under clouds of corruption charges should resign for the time being, until they are proven innocent or otherwise. Not one minister in the entire cabinet possesses the moral courage to put up his or her resignation. On the contrary, they come up with flimsy, unconvincing, and non-sense explanations for their dubious conduct. Not only do they adopt postures of defiance and obduracy, signaling the messages, “yes we are not only corrupt but would persist in our shady pursuits, irrespective of the public uproar and widespread condemnation.”
It is difficult to make a litany or list against all the cabinet members that have been basking under a glaring corruption galore. The money scams, the scandals, the swindles, the misuse of power, present one dimension of this murky scenario. . There is also a callous disregard of public woes and studied indifference to the critical importance of national assets such as telecommunication, the railways, the power units, the steel mills, the national airline, the cotton ginning mills and so on. The purchase of crops, the release of water from canals, the sale of essential commodities in the market, the CNG sale, the opening of petrol pumps, getting a favorable court decision, manipulation of cases before the accountability courts, appointments from a small time clerk to high profile bureaucrat: all carry a price, commissions, and kickbacks.
This is the kind of governance in Pakistan, where the majority of people live on day-to-day basis. The poverty, the starvation, the unbearable and spiraling prices, the scarce and dirty water, the crushing power shortfall, the massacres of minorities, the progressive breakdown of Pakistan Railways and other services, the Karachi mayhem between the ethnic communities, the disdainful disregard for the legal system, the bureaucratic complexities of rules: all make Pakistan a kind of hell.
In contrast, the ministers, the prime minister and the illustrious president have a retina of body guards, the bullet proof vehicles, the clear routes and safe roads to travel, high and luxurious meals being served, expensive foreign junkets, stay in five start hotels, enjoy at the cost of tax payers and then come back with reddish, joyful faces.
Have the people elected these masters, thugs, and revelers to enjoy and make merry on the miseries of the people, the laborers, the peasants, the tillers, the growers, the brick makers, the cart pushers, the venders, the rickshaw drivers, fathers of yet to be married daughters, and the poverty-stricken parents who cannot send their wards to school for education.
Have you seen the ministers with bushy mustache colored in black and with starched sartorial elegance, speaking with their wide mouths, splashed on an entire sofa, wringing their hands, making false promises, and emitting uproarious laughter,? They are the leaders, ranking number one in hypocrisy, duplicity, deceit, nepotism, and incompetence. Yet the people still elect them because there is no alternative available. Common person does not have resources or money to contest elections as the politics is the most prohibitive, and expensive game in countries likes Pakistan.
On top, the president issues presidential pardons to those convicted by the courts. In a show of counterpoise with and derision for the judiciary, those sentenced from courts have not only been pardoned but also given higher portfolios. Rehamn Malik retains the Interior Ministry with his unlawful deeds swept under the presidential amnesty carpet. Babar Awan is made part of the National Accountability Bureau that is dealing with the bribery and criminals cases of thousands felons including him. Jamshed Dasti without a proper degree and a notorious roughneck, who had to resign previously, now stands re-elected with the blessing and backing of the prime minister of Pakistan.
So whom would you vote for: David Laws or Babar Awan?
For comments or unsubscribe write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
David Laws of England and Babar Awan of Pakistan
By Saeed Qureshi
David Laws, the British chief secretary in the newly formed liberal Democrats’ government of Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned his prestigious post for illegal payment of 40,000 pounds as rent to his boy friend James Lundie. In contrast Pakistan’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan has refused to leave his post for allegedly taking a hefty bribe of a half a million dollars from a Pakistani business family in return for removal of their names from the NAB’s ( National Accountability Bureau) list of delinquents.
Instead, he had assumed the role of a superman in that he can dictate all and sundry, even the prime minister and the president what they have to do and how to conduct their state business. Although David Law is a homosexual, which Babar Awan is not, yet the former stands on a very high moral ground than the latter. This is the real difference between an answerable democracy and non-accountable dispensation.
Every minister in the sitting coalition government in Pakistan is saddled with plethora of corruption episodes, which might be true, or not because that is for the courts to decide. However, apparently and as a matter of principle, those under clouds of corruption charges should resign for the time being, until they are proven innocent or otherwise. Not one minister in the entire cabinet possesses the moral courage to put up his or her resignation. On the contrary, they come up with flimsy, unconvincing, and non-sense explanations for their dubious conduct. Not only do they adopt postures of defiance and obduracy, signaling the messages, “yes we are not only corrupt but would persist in our shady pursuits, irrespective of the public uproar and widespread condemnation.”
It is difficult to make a litany or list against all the cabinet members that have been basking under a glaring corruption galore. The money scams, the scandals, the swindles, the misuse of power, present one dimension of this murky scenario. . There is also a callous disregard of public woes and studied indifference to the critical importance of national assets such as telecommunication, the railways, the power units, the steel mills, the national airline, the cotton ginning mills and so on. The purchase of crops, the release of water from canals, the sale of essential commodities in the market, the CNG sale, the opening of petrol pumps, getting a favorable court decision, manipulation of cases before the accountability courts, appointments from a small time clerk to high profile bureaucrat: all carry a price, commissions, and kickbacks.
This is the kind of governance in Pakistan, where the majority of people live on day-to-day basis. The poverty, the starvation, the unbearable and spiraling prices, the scarce and dirty water, the crushing power shortfall, the massacres of minorities, the progressive breakdown of Pakistan Railways and other services, the Karachi mayhem between the ethnic communities, the disdainful disregard for the legal system, the bureaucratic complexities of rules: all make Pakistan a kind of hell.
In contrast, the ministers, the prime minister and the illustrious president have a retina of body guards, the bullet proof vehicles, the clear routes and safe roads to travel, high and luxurious meals being served, expensive foreign junkets, stay in five start hotels, enjoy at the cost of tax payers and then come back with reddish, joyful faces.
Have the people elected these masters, thugs, and revelers to enjoy and make merry on the miseries of the people, the laborers, the peasants, the tillers, the growers, the brick makers, the cart pushers, the venders, the rickshaw drivers, fathers of yet to be married daughters, and the poverty-stricken parents who cannot send their wards to school for education.
Have you seen the ministers with bushy mustache colored in black and with starched sartorial elegance, speaking with their wide mouths, splashed on an entire sofa, wringing their hands, making false promises, and emitting uproarious laughter,? They are the leaders, ranking number one in hypocrisy, duplicity, deceit, nepotism, and incompetence. Yet the people still elect them because there is no alternative available. Common person does not have resources or money to contest elections as the politics is the most prohibitive, and expensive game in countries likes Pakistan.
On top, the president issues presidential pardons to those convicted by the courts. In a show of counterpoise with and derision for the judiciary, those sentenced from courts have not only been pardoned but also given higher portfolios. Rehamn Malik retains the Interior Ministry with his unlawful deeds swept under the presidential amnesty carpet. Babar Awan is made part of the National Accountability Bureau that is dealing with the bribery and criminals cases of thousands felons including him. Jamshed Dasti without a proper degree and a notorious roughneck, who had to resign previously, now stands re-elected with the blessing and backing of the prime minister of Pakistan.
So whom would you vote for: David Laws or Babar Awan?
For comments or unsubscribe write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
Look at Israel!
May 30, 2010
Look at Israel!
By Saeed Qureshi
Egypt an Islamic country is one with Israel in coercing the segment of palsetinians living in miserable conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas. In three years of the blockade( since June 2007) that bars such essential commodities as cement and even medicines, the resident living in the besieged Palestinian territory are cut off from the rest of the world and are forced to be confined to the harrowing life of a concentration camp. Israel allows only limited humanitarian supplies from aid organizations into the Gaza Strip that is equal to one quarter of the pre-blockade volume. The blockade has been decried by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Human Rights Council and many human rights organizations
Now moved by the pathetic and most pitiable conditions of the Gaza residents, some organizations from Europe and Turkey, out of sheer humanitarian spirit, wanted to deliver the much-needed necessities of life to the besieged inhabitants on six ships that carried no weapons as before their departure these were thoroughly examined by the Turkish authorities. If the Flotilla had reached the port, it would have given a saving grace to Israel by allowing the vital humanitarian aid to the worst afflicted people of Gaza. It could have given Israel a humanitarian and benign image and might have led to further easing of the tight and suffocating restrictions imposed by mighty Israel on Gaza residents. It could as well have diluted the bitterness now existing between Israel and Hamas.
However, even these modest and harmless relief efforts were stubbornly resisted by Israel and a military action was ordered to capture the flotilla by swooping down on them by airstrikes. The Israeli navy also took part in this excessive use of force. Israel is in the habit of taking every move aimed at making peace in the volatile region or easing the life of the helpless Palestinians as a challenge to its sovereignty or territorial integrity. It is an over-reaction and a paranoid propensity to use force even on occasions where mere negotiations would be enough.
The attack on peaceful flotilla has further tarnished the already besmirched image of a brutal and bully Israel that talks of holocaust but has created and imposed another holocaust on the helpless and economically crippled people of Palestine who have enormously suffered in all manners ever since the creation of Israeli state. They have been forced all these years to live like animals and survive at the mercy of a power-drunk Israel aided, abetted by a super power: the United States of America.
In the frenzied hate for the Muslims which is not rational nor prudent, most of the Christian world blindly supports Israel that has acted and operated more like untamed bandit and uncontrollable rogue in that sensitive region of the world. The Christian world takes leave of it sense of justice and fair play and humanitarian zeal when the Muslims are bludgeoned by a reckless and unbridled Israel.
The Palestinian state has been promised by the United Nations side by side with a Jewish state. Then why one state exists, while the rightful claimants of other are being subjected to barbarities that continue unabated. Why doesn’t, the Western civilized world and particularly United States and United Kingdom honor the United Nations resolution number 181 of November 1947 recommending partition of the territory into two states, one Jewish and one Arab? Why have they equipped Israel to the teeth with lethal and atomic weapons while the civilian Palestinian population is made to suffer for over six decades now for no fault? The legitimate demand and right of an independent state by Palestinian nation has invariably been met with brutal massacres as was done by both Israeli army and the Christian Lebanese Forces militia group in Sabira and Shatilla refugee camps in September 1982.
Thereafter, Israel with impunity and on her bidding, has been killing Palestinians, raiding their areas with more massacres, and inflicting more miseries on the Palestinian nation. One shudders to see that several millions Palestinians, a part of human race, is languishing in concentration camps and denied even barest necessities of life and given rationed food. They are forced to live within a bounded territory with no chance of rebuilding their shanty houses destroyed frequently by Israeli bombing.
The flotilla’s horrendous episode must awaken the slumbering conscious of the world at large and give rude jolt to those nations that have been unconditionally and unjustifiably supporting Israel’s barbaric and savage treatment of the Palestinian nation that has a moral and legal right to an independent piece of land. The world community must act fast to bridle and restrain a merciless Israel that knows no bounds when it comes to butchering and brutalizing innocent Palestinians.
For comments or unsubscribe write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
Look at Israel!
By Saeed Qureshi
Egypt an Islamic country is one with Israel in coercing the segment of palsetinians living in miserable conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas. In three years of the blockade( since June 2007) that bars such essential commodities as cement and even medicines, the resident living in the besieged Palestinian territory are cut off from the rest of the world and are forced to be confined to the harrowing life of a concentration camp. Israel allows only limited humanitarian supplies from aid organizations into the Gaza Strip that is equal to one quarter of the pre-blockade volume. The blockade has been decried by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Human Rights Council and many human rights organizations
Now moved by the pathetic and most pitiable conditions of the Gaza residents, some organizations from Europe and Turkey, out of sheer humanitarian spirit, wanted to deliver the much-needed necessities of life to the besieged inhabitants on six ships that carried no weapons as before their departure these were thoroughly examined by the Turkish authorities. If the Flotilla had reached the port, it would have given a saving grace to Israel by allowing the vital humanitarian aid to the worst afflicted people of Gaza. It could have given Israel a humanitarian and benign image and might have led to further easing of the tight and suffocating restrictions imposed by mighty Israel on Gaza residents. It could as well have diluted the bitterness now existing between Israel and Hamas.
However, even these modest and harmless relief efforts were stubbornly resisted by Israel and a military action was ordered to capture the flotilla by swooping down on them by airstrikes. The Israeli navy also took part in this excessive use of force. Israel is in the habit of taking every move aimed at making peace in the volatile region or easing the life of the helpless Palestinians as a challenge to its sovereignty or territorial integrity. It is an over-reaction and a paranoid propensity to use force even on occasions where mere negotiations would be enough.
The attack on peaceful flotilla has further tarnished the already besmirched image of a brutal and bully Israel that talks of holocaust but has created and imposed another holocaust on the helpless and economically crippled people of Palestine who have enormously suffered in all manners ever since the creation of Israeli state. They have been forced all these years to live like animals and survive at the mercy of a power-drunk Israel aided, abetted by a super power: the United States of America.
In the frenzied hate for the Muslims which is not rational nor prudent, most of the Christian world blindly supports Israel that has acted and operated more like untamed bandit and uncontrollable rogue in that sensitive region of the world. The Christian world takes leave of it sense of justice and fair play and humanitarian zeal when the Muslims are bludgeoned by a reckless and unbridled Israel.
The Palestinian state has been promised by the United Nations side by side with a Jewish state. Then why one state exists, while the rightful claimants of other are being subjected to barbarities that continue unabated. Why doesn’t, the Western civilized world and particularly United States and United Kingdom honor the United Nations resolution number 181 of November 1947 recommending partition of the territory into two states, one Jewish and one Arab? Why have they equipped Israel to the teeth with lethal and atomic weapons while the civilian Palestinian population is made to suffer for over six decades now for no fault? The legitimate demand and right of an independent state by Palestinian nation has invariably been met with brutal massacres as was done by both Israeli army and the Christian Lebanese Forces militia group in Sabira and Shatilla refugee camps in September 1982.
Thereafter, Israel with impunity and on her bidding, has been killing Palestinians, raiding their areas with more massacres, and inflicting more miseries on the Palestinian nation. One shudders to see that several millions Palestinians, a part of human race, is languishing in concentration camps and denied even barest necessities of life and given rationed food. They are forced to live within a bounded territory with no chance of rebuilding their shanty houses destroyed frequently by Israeli bombing.
The flotilla’s horrendous episode must awaken the slumbering conscious of the world at large and give rude jolt to those nations that have been unconditionally and unjustifiably supporting Israel’s barbaric and savage treatment of the Palestinian nation that has a moral and legal right to an independent piece of land. The world community must act fast to bridle and restrain a merciless Israel that knows no bounds when it comes to butchering and brutalizing innocent Palestinians.
For comments or unsubscribe write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
Benazir’s Murder: Back to Square One
May 28, 2010
By Saeed Qureshi
The Pakistan government’s much awaited inquiry report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is out and there are no surprises. Same individuals have been mentioned as murderers and conspirators in the latest report who were charged and arrested during President Musharraf’s presidency. This belies the claim of the incumbent president Zardari that he knew the names of the assassins but would divulge their identities at an appropriate time. His statement came much after these five young persons were nabbed and an FIR was registered against them. The statement of Mr. Zardari clearly indicated that the names that he has in his mind were different from those arrested for the crime.
If these five youngsters were the assassins then what was the rationale or reason for the United Nations’ investigation for a heavy price, augmented by the government’s oft-repeated claim that the real culprits would be exposed and brought to justice. It means that the PPP government and specifically the widowed spouse of the late Benazir Bhutto was merely bluffing and trying for the matter to cool down and then repeat the same names. However, the persons who were already known to the people of Pakistan cannot be those whom president Zardari promised to unravel.
Hamid Mir the well-known GEO TV anchor of the “Capital Talk” program has claimed many a time that the then military intelligence Chief Nadeem Ejaz is the mastermind of this very high profile murder that deprived Pakistan of an illustrious politician and a legatee of the Bhutto legacy. Mr. Mir has established Nadeem Ejaz’s connections with former president Musharraf, implying that the MI chief removed Benazir from the political stage of Pakistan under the tacit approval and connivance of the former president who was incensed over Benazir’s changed stances, and challenging postures to his government.
As such, the domestic inquiry that was initiated with lot of sound and fury is back to square one. Now where is a brave Person in Pakistan who should question President Asif Zardari that if these were the killers of her souse then why he claimed that he knew the real culprits but would reveal their names in the future? It is mind boggling that why is he so afraid to name the assassins despite being the most powerful person in Pakistan. The uncanny effort to conceal the names of murderers is tantamount to protecting the heinous killers who should have been exposed without loss of even a day.
There has been loud talk also about the involvement in Benazir’s murder of big wigs of the PPP including law minister Babar Awan, the interior minister Rehman Malik and even Asif Zardari himself. Even the will written by Benazir before her death became a subject of speculation and controversy. There is a common prevailing perception that while the will was a false document, it was forged to legitimize the ascension and succession of party leadership by Asif Ali Zardari. The whole episode is so confusingly shrouded in mystery that it has been difficult to make any head or tale of the murder case.
Therefore, there seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of the sitting government to curb and conceal the real culprits of this most anguishing crime of this century. The dilly - dallying demonstrated by PPP government and patently lack of interest or dim exuberance in pursing the assassination of Benazir for almost three years now, shifts the blame also on the party leaders. More specifically president Zardari is accountable for remaining unconcerned about the timely and prompt investigation of BB’s murder.
Now who is this person Nadeem Ejaz known to be stronger than the state of Pakistan and more powerful than the president of Pakistan? Why is he so strident and overbearing as to be kept immune from the inquiry and to explain his position regarding the doubts cast on him for involvement in Benazir’s assassination? His propensity for intrigues and sadism in torturing many Pakistanis including members of parliament and political leaders is a public knowledge.
Why is he being treated as a sacred cow despite coming under a heavy burden of serious violations and inhuman activities and alleged conspiracies on behalf of his master: former President Pervez Musharraf? Is there any forum or court of law that has the courage and conviction to summon this dreaded individual and ask him to answer questions for his alleged dirty deeds and dubious conduct?
It might be difficult to presume that the Taliban had the vast resources, the abundant explosives, the well-marked diagrams of the routes and ample knowledge of the communication system to conduct mammoth explosions in Benazir’s procession in Karachi on 18 October 2007, when she returned from self-exile.
For the second time when she was killed at Liaquat Garden in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007 after addressing a public rally, the explosions and bombing that took place seem to be very meticulously and professionally planned.
Even if the Taliban sneaked into the crowd, which is a slim possibility, why was the security apparatus and intelligence network so fragile, incoherent, and lax as to allow the saboteurs to execute their murderous plan? The interior minister who owns the paramount responsibility to protect Benazir fled from the scene. There was no security cordon to be placed around Benazir’s vehicle and take her to the hospital. Anyway, Taliban denied their involvement in the murder of Benazir Bhutto.
The PPP government and president Zardari have to come up with plausible explanations of all these questions about Benazir’s murder. Such questions would keep nagging the minds of the people of Pakistan until these provoke the rational and logical answers.
By Saeed Qureshi
The Pakistan government’s much awaited inquiry report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is out and there are no surprises. Same individuals have been mentioned as murderers and conspirators in the latest report who were charged and arrested during President Musharraf’s presidency. This belies the claim of the incumbent president Zardari that he knew the names of the assassins but would divulge their identities at an appropriate time. His statement came much after these five young persons were nabbed and an FIR was registered against them. The statement of Mr. Zardari clearly indicated that the names that he has in his mind were different from those arrested for the crime.
If these five youngsters were the assassins then what was the rationale or reason for the United Nations’ investigation for a heavy price, augmented by the government’s oft-repeated claim that the real culprits would be exposed and brought to justice. It means that the PPP government and specifically the widowed spouse of the late Benazir Bhutto was merely bluffing and trying for the matter to cool down and then repeat the same names. However, the persons who were already known to the people of Pakistan cannot be those whom president Zardari promised to unravel.
Hamid Mir the well-known GEO TV anchor of the “Capital Talk” program has claimed many a time that the then military intelligence Chief Nadeem Ejaz is the mastermind of this very high profile murder that deprived Pakistan of an illustrious politician and a legatee of the Bhutto legacy. Mr. Mir has established Nadeem Ejaz’s connections with former president Musharraf, implying that the MI chief removed Benazir from the political stage of Pakistan under the tacit approval and connivance of the former president who was incensed over Benazir’s changed stances, and challenging postures to his government.
As such, the domestic inquiry that was initiated with lot of sound and fury is back to square one. Now where is a brave Person in Pakistan who should question President Asif Zardari that if these were the killers of her souse then why he claimed that he knew the real culprits but would reveal their names in the future? It is mind boggling that why is he so afraid to name the assassins despite being the most powerful person in Pakistan. The uncanny effort to conceal the names of murderers is tantamount to protecting the heinous killers who should have been exposed without loss of even a day.
There has been loud talk also about the involvement in Benazir’s murder of big wigs of the PPP including law minister Babar Awan, the interior minister Rehman Malik and even Asif Zardari himself. Even the will written by Benazir before her death became a subject of speculation and controversy. There is a common prevailing perception that while the will was a false document, it was forged to legitimize the ascension and succession of party leadership by Asif Ali Zardari. The whole episode is so confusingly shrouded in mystery that it has been difficult to make any head or tale of the murder case.
Therefore, there seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of the sitting government to curb and conceal the real culprits of this most anguishing crime of this century. The dilly - dallying demonstrated by PPP government and patently lack of interest or dim exuberance in pursing the assassination of Benazir for almost three years now, shifts the blame also on the party leaders. More specifically president Zardari is accountable for remaining unconcerned about the timely and prompt investigation of BB’s murder.
Now who is this person Nadeem Ejaz known to be stronger than the state of Pakistan and more powerful than the president of Pakistan? Why is he so strident and overbearing as to be kept immune from the inquiry and to explain his position regarding the doubts cast on him for involvement in Benazir’s assassination? His propensity for intrigues and sadism in torturing many Pakistanis including members of parliament and political leaders is a public knowledge.
Why is he being treated as a sacred cow despite coming under a heavy burden of serious violations and inhuman activities and alleged conspiracies on behalf of his master: former President Pervez Musharraf? Is there any forum or court of law that has the courage and conviction to summon this dreaded individual and ask him to answer questions for his alleged dirty deeds and dubious conduct?
It might be difficult to presume that the Taliban had the vast resources, the abundant explosives, the well-marked diagrams of the routes and ample knowledge of the communication system to conduct mammoth explosions in Benazir’s procession in Karachi on 18 October 2007, when she returned from self-exile.
For the second time when she was killed at Liaquat Garden in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007 after addressing a public rally, the explosions and bombing that took place seem to be very meticulously and professionally planned.
Even if the Taliban sneaked into the crowd, which is a slim possibility, why was the security apparatus and intelligence network so fragile, incoherent, and lax as to allow the saboteurs to execute their murderous plan? The interior minister who owns the paramount responsibility to protect Benazir fled from the scene. There was no security cordon to be placed around Benazir’s vehicle and take her to the hospital. Anyway, Taliban denied their involvement in the murder of Benazir Bhutto.
The PPP government and president Zardari have to come up with plausible explanations of all these questions about Benazir’s murder. Such questions would keep nagging the minds of the people of Pakistan until these provoke the rational and logical answers.
Ministers or Gangsters!
May 26, 2010
Ministers or Gangsters!
By Saeed Qureshi
I have seen in pictures the Italian drug mafia charlatans wearing black glasses, tattoos over bodies, totting guns and uttering filthy slangs. Invariably this has become symbolism of mafias and stings involved in drug and human trafficking, prostitution, and in similar heinous crimes around the world. These drug lords and gang leaders are also depicted in crime movies.
Similar make of dark glasses was covering the eyes of Pakistan’s Law minister Babar Awan when he emerged from the Supreme Court building on May 25, after hearing on cases related to National Reconciliation Ordinance and the amnesty given to a host of the people now in government including the inimitable president Asif Ali Zardari.
Dr. Babar was not alone. He was in the fold of the human shield and a closely-knit company of his peers with overarching arms. Their faces exhibited a self mollifying calm, a kind of mockery, an unabashed tinge of deliverance and a show of camaraderie as if they have defeated a whole army of European crusaders of the Middle Ages. They were demonstrating their unity and togetherness that is so closely associated with the cults and criminal gangs in Europe, America, and elsewhere. They were smiling with a vicarious glimpse of triumph, spread on their deceitful faces like screen savers.
Thes four or five guys in the incumbent government are in the forefront of an odious militancy against the civilized society in general and the judiciary (one of the four pillars of state) in particular. They have taken upon themselves to brace against the state institutions, individuals, and political parties that censure or point out government delinquencies or derelictions.
The Law Ministry of Pakistan seems to be hosting gladiators with a ringleader in the grab of Babar Awan, obsessed with demolishing their opponents, be it the chief justice, the leader of the opposition, the civil society, the media, and critics of other brands. A law minister under the onerous accusation of taking a hefty bribe goes to the apex court to plead propriety on behalf of the government, which is up to the neck in a maze of corruption charges. The sun of crimes and corruption is blazing on them and they are trying to hide it behind their fingers.
The NRO gives a blanket pardon to the criminals and felons mentioned in the list attached with the NRO proclamation. It is a list of a few thousand individuals, accused of robbing the national treasury and the institutions and the individuals by way of elephantine briberies and involvement in huge money swindles. The person who issued this amnesty was not a prophet of God or an angel blessed with the divine rights to issue such sacrosanct proclamations that cannot be challenged anywhere on earth.
The president enjoys amnesty under the constitution, no matter how incorrigible, hardened, and big crook he is. If this is the law and this is what the constitutions lays down, then better that law and statute book be scrapped. The nation knows that, an individual who is presiding over the country, has amassed ill-gotten money, and has the sordid record of impropriety. Then does he have a right to rule?
The criterion for a Muslim ruler is honesty, simplicity, modesty, and acute uprightness. If Pakistan is an Islamic state by argument then where are the Islamic zealots like Fazal Ur Rehman and Jamat-e- Islami chief Munawar Hasan and other Islamic rabble-rousers to speak truth and declare openly that such a person must be prosecuted and does not deserve even to be a clerk in the bills’ department of the water and power?
If he is clean and all these accusations against him are fabricated or baseless then let him clear him before the court of law: come clean, and rule for a century. However, the writing of a letter to the Swiss banks could be done on the dead body of the law minister which means that he was ready to go to any extent to defy the legal rulings with the spurious motivation of shielding himself, his boss the president of Pakistan and his blemished ilk all sailing in the same boat.
During the past two years, scores of reports about financial robberies and backdoor money making deals by the ministers and their high and low cohorts have been circulating in Pakistan. From the child to an old person believe that their government functionaries were thoroughly corrupt and were focused on enhancing their wealth. The national assets like steel mills and award of gas contracts and import and export licenses were some of the glaring manifestations of misuse of power to inflate their already bulging bank accounts both offshore and indigenous.
The renting of private power producing units is one of the juicy sources of pocketing huge commissions. The Benazir Support Program is unaccounted and there is no clue how the mammoth funds allocated for this program are being used. Those who are awarded sentences by the court are pardoned by the president as if the NRO legacy is still being followed as a gospel truth.
So where do we go from here? Shall the heaven burst open, the wrath of God will descend upon the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; there will be a deluge; a volcanic eruption or the people will rebel against the degenerate and morally bankrupt system?
For comments or Unsubscribe, write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
Ministers or Gangsters!
By Saeed Qureshi
I have seen in pictures the Italian drug mafia charlatans wearing black glasses, tattoos over bodies, totting guns and uttering filthy slangs. Invariably this has become symbolism of mafias and stings involved in drug and human trafficking, prostitution, and in similar heinous crimes around the world. These drug lords and gang leaders are also depicted in crime movies.
Similar make of dark glasses was covering the eyes of Pakistan’s Law minister Babar Awan when he emerged from the Supreme Court building on May 25, after hearing on cases related to National Reconciliation Ordinance and the amnesty given to a host of the people now in government including the inimitable president Asif Ali Zardari.
Dr. Babar was not alone. He was in the fold of the human shield and a closely-knit company of his peers with overarching arms. Their faces exhibited a self mollifying calm, a kind of mockery, an unabashed tinge of deliverance and a show of camaraderie as if they have defeated a whole army of European crusaders of the Middle Ages. They were demonstrating their unity and togetherness that is so closely associated with the cults and criminal gangs in Europe, America, and elsewhere. They were smiling with a vicarious glimpse of triumph, spread on their deceitful faces like screen savers.
Thes four or five guys in the incumbent government are in the forefront of an odious militancy against the civilized society in general and the judiciary (one of the four pillars of state) in particular. They have taken upon themselves to brace against the state institutions, individuals, and political parties that censure or point out government delinquencies or derelictions.
The Law Ministry of Pakistan seems to be hosting gladiators with a ringleader in the grab of Babar Awan, obsessed with demolishing their opponents, be it the chief justice, the leader of the opposition, the civil society, the media, and critics of other brands. A law minister under the onerous accusation of taking a hefty bribe goes to the apex court to plead propriety on behalf of the government, which is up to the neck in a maze of corruption charges. The sun of crimes and corruption is blazing on them and they are trying to hide it behind their fingers.
The NRO gives a blanket pardon to the criminals and felons mentioned in the list attached with the NRO proclamation. It is a list of a few thousand individuals, accused of robbing the national treasury and the institutions and the individuals by way of elephantine briberies and involvement in huge money swindles. The person who issued this amnesty was not a prophet of God or an angel blessed with the divine rights to issue such sacrosanct proclamations that cannot be challenged anywhere on earth.
The president enjoys amnesty under the constitution, no matter how incorrigible, hardened, and big crook he is. If this is the law and this is what the constitutions lays down, then better that law and statute book be scrapped. The nation knows that, an individual who is presiding over the country, has amassed ill-gotten money, and has the sordid record of impropriety. Then does he have a right to rule?
The criterion for a Muslim ruler is honesty, simplicity, modesty, and acute uprightness. If Pakistan is an Islamic state by argument then where are the Islamic zealots like Fazal Ur Rehman and Jamat-e- Islami chief Munawar Hasan and other Islamic rabble-rousers to speak truth and declare openly that such a person must be prosecuted and does not deserve even to be a clerk in the bills’ department of the water and power?
If he is clean and all these accusations against him are fabricated or baseless then let him clear him before the court of law: come clean, and rule for a century. However, the writing of a letter to the Swiss banks could be done on the dead body of the law minister which means that he was ready to go to any extent to defy the legal rulings with the spurious motivation of shielding himself, his boss the president of Pakistan and his blemished ilk all sailing in the same boat.
During the past two years, scores of reports about financial robberies and backdoor money making deals by the ministers and their high and low cohorts have been circulating in Pakistan. From the child to an old person believe that their government functionaries were thoroughly corrupt and were focused on enhancing their wealth. The national assets like steel mills and award of gas contracts and import and export licenses were some of the glaring manifestations of misuse of power to inflate their already bulging bank accounts both offshore and indigenous.
The renting of private power producing units is one of the juicy sources of pocketing huge commissions. The Benazir Support Program is unaccounted and there is no clue how the mammoth funds allocated for this program are being used. Those who are awarded sentences by the court are pardoned by the president as if the NRO legacy is still being followed as a gospel truth.
So where do we go from here? Shall the heaven burst open, the wrath of God will descend upon the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; there will be a deluge; a volcanic eruption or the people will rebel against the degenerate and morally bankrupt system?
For comments or Unsubscribe, write us at qureshisa2003@yahoo.com
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