Mushay Trial: Is it a trap for the ruling party?

Saeed Minhas 

http://thespokesman.pk/index.php/history/item/6491-mushay-trial-is-it-a-trap-for-the-ruling-party

Islamabad: Enough of debate and discourse has taken place both inside the parliament house and outside by our farishtey and chirya famed journalists on mini screens but the music for former dictator Gen. Musharraf has actually begun.

Anti terrorism court has summoned 15 witnesses to record their statements in the judges’ detention case, while cases like Benazir murder case and Bugti’s killing are waiting in the wings for the former commando. Above all the high treason case is the one which has attracted the most attention from all and sundry. It is bothersome not only for a fragile democracy of the country, the foreign guarantors and the powerful institution of the country. Yet the real nemesis of the dictator, the Lord Judge and his comrades continues to push hard for eking out a high treason case out of the cautious government of Nawaz League.

Besides the latest news that three lawyers refused to record their statement at Pervaiz Musharraf’s Chak Shahzad farmhouse that was declared as a sub-jail by the court in judges’ detention case, there are three simultaneous theories filling the Capital these days?

First let me inform you that our sources have confirmed that three lawyers namely; Wajid Gilani, Fazlur Rehman Niazi and Anwar Khan have turned down the option of going to the Chak Shahzad farmhouse where currently Musharraf is being held. They believed that instead of going to dictator’s house to record their statements they would rather go to Adiala Jail or a local court in Islamabad for their statements. Coupled to this development is information emanating from Musharraf’s camp that the lawyer who had actually lodged the FIR in police station against Musharraf for detention of judges, (Ghuman) has become a high demand buy out these days. He was offered Rs 20 million according to some insiders. Since the money bags sent by Musharraf is learnt to have vanished midway in the closets of a mediator, therefore, Ghuman has now been promised to get double the amount to keep his promised stance of withdrawing the basic application.

Nevertheless, the theories, or you may call them conspiracy theories making rounds in Capital are; 1-Is it a trap for Mian Nawaz Sharif? 2-Will army protects its former boss? 3-Are foreign guarantors going to jump into arena?

The first of the three theories is not given more weight by many political pundits but many in the farishtey(secret agencies) community believe that the newly elected prime minister is being pushed to lock his horns with an internally divided institute; i.e. Army. They argue that given the past of Nawaz League and the language its hawks like Chaudhry Nisar, Khawaja Asif and even to some extent Saad Rafiq have been using against retired generals, DHA and even the nexus between Malik Riaz and Generals dealing only in real Estates has forced Mian Sahb to announce initiation of the high treason case against Musharraf. As history will tell us that amongst many others Saad Rafiq was leading figure spotted amongst hundreds of others who stormed the Supreme Court during the second tenure of Nawaz League. Chaudhry Nisar has recently voiced his concern over the performance of army in Balochistan during his visit to Quaid’s residency after the fateful incident.

Whether it will prove a trap for Mian Nawaz Sharif or not cannot be determined solely on the basis of these hawks, many doves within League remarked. They argue that though Mahmood Khan Achakzai had tried to give a rationale in the first sitting of the national Assembly but after due diligence, the leadership has decided to go ahead with this. The leadership, these doves believe, understand that a weakened army at this point in time might not be in a position to walk in the high offices on the hill top with the help of triple one brigade. They further said that even the guarantors have not given any clue as to what should be done in this case. These leaders of League believe party leadership wants to establish for once that army should serve under the democratic leadership while staying within their barracks. They even said that Mian sahb wants to bring DHA’s and other corporations owned by military under democratic accountability.

As for the internal division of the army is considered, it remains a very tricky question for many analysts. They believe that army is in a constant state of war for almost past 12 years. More importantly, they are dealing with an international issue where it’s not a matter of dollars anymore rather it has become more a matter of relevance for them. The way things are shaping up in Afghanistan and the way Indians and even Chinese are gearing up to fill the vacuums likely to be created after the withdrawal of NATO boots; army seems more engaged in their own survival. Therefore, many inside the League believe that chances of them coming for the rescue of the jailed dictator might not arise. This confidence of the Leaguers, however, is strongly rebutted by many in the intelligence world because they believe that such a case would open such a Pandora’s Box where many serving and even retired army generals and many sitting and even retired judges of the vibrant judiciary might have to stand in the dock for their dirty deeds of the past. They argue that the same reasons which are considered a roadblock for the army to take over at this point apply to the political dispensation of this country. They are not operating in ideal conditions or in a vacuum, therefore, they too have to understanding eh dynamics of evolving situations on our borders which is threatening not only army as an institution but even the country as an entity, they emphasized.

As for the guarantors are concerned, many observers remarked that they only come into play once the politicians, Khakis and now even Courts would come to a make or break situation. They cite Mian Nawz Sharif’s case in this regard where Saudis did not intervene until Musharraf had ensured that he will get a life sentence from the same judges who later became one of the main reasons for his downfall. So the game is on and all the options seems to be on the table for all the stakeholders at this point in time and all we can do is to wait and watch the proceedings and twists as and when they are applied and appear in public domain.

http://thespokesman.pk/index.php/history/item/6491-mushay-trial-is-it-a-trap-for-the-ruling-party

 

Press Gallery: IPP lobbyists making hey while sun shines on Capital Hills

IPP lobbyists making hey while sun shines on Capital Hills 

Saeed Minhas

Islamabad: The government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has finally played the much-awaited reverse sweep to open its account of point scoring with the leading institutions of the country by announcing to bring high treason charges against a caged former dictator Musharraf.
Months of deliberations and speculations seem to have come to an end and finally a Pandora’s box is likely to open which will make not only Khakis but even black robes to look into the mirror. Besides accepting their follies of the past, they might be asked to furnish apologies; at least that’s what many leaders within Muslim League Nawaz are expecting with a bit of worry and concern in their voices.
But buried under this big news of the day was the highlight of the proceedings of National Assembly; pushing for the payments to the oil barons. The movers and shakers of country’s economic fortune successfully lobbied to bring in a call attention notice on the agenda asking the federal government to retire the circular debt with a view to improve the crippling electricity outages in the country. Finance minister has already announced to pay these companies without even settling any outstanding issues with them, some of them like heat rate settlement are even in the courts, by paying them almost half of their demanded Rs 520 billion within next three months. Will that improve the loadshedding in the country? Many industry experts believe that it might help lessen the shedding but not completely get rid of it.
Though lobbying is not yet official in the power corridors but like many other sins this one is paying off for the IPP moguls, oil barons and all those who have a direct stake in the repayment of circular debt. At least some babus in finance division have shown us the documents which prove that their lobbying efforts have materialized and payments are about to be made in lieu of giving some extra relief in loadshedding to Lahorites and posh Isloo sectors if nothing else.
The reasons they cite are that Pakistan is crippled for almost past seven years with a constantly increasing shortfall of over 6000 MW, especially in the peak demand seasons of summer and winter. Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) are the main producers of electricity. Electricity generation in Pakistan is a mix of hydel (31%), thermal (66.8%), and nuclear power plants (2.2%).
Rampant corruption (40 %), nepotism (99 %), technical losses (35 %) and infrastructural crumbling has forced the successive governments since first term of Benazir Bhutto to look for alternative ways to bridge the gap between demand and supply instead of correcting these white elephants. Despite all sorts of fishy stories about successive regimes and lots of court rulings, the fact remains that since 1994 till to-date 13 Independent Power Producers (IPP’s) are supposed to contribute about 7000MW while half a dozen Rental Power plants (RPPs) were supposed to give some additional cushion to country’s demand of above 15000 MW.
Isn’t it ironic that none of this could be materialized; neither the public sector nor the private generation is producing at its full capacity? Yet the electricity bills have more than doubled in the past seven years and are sure to climb further up when new surcharges and adjustments will be added on almost monthly basis to the consumers’ bills.
The figures of corruption and other losses quoted above are coming from auditor general’s books because hardly 25 per cent of the audit of Pakistan’s power generation sector reveals year after year misappropriation of over 40 to 60 per cent in almost every sphere of their functioning. But do not be surprised to learn that there has been no audit for IPPs or RPPs in the past five years or so, as minister after minister (Dr Asim after Dr Asim) have been blindly following their dictates. Still we are told that circular debt is climbing upwards from 500 billion rupees towards 600 billion rupees mark.
Khawaja Asif, the new federal minister assigned the task to carry on this burden of taking the corruption and nepotism in this sector to new heights is trying nothing out of the box but toeing the line of those who actually were responsible for all this mess. It’s not the Manshas’, Musadaq Malik or bureaucracy but it has got to do more with a vision to come out of this miserable situation. Especially when the foreign direct investment has already fallen by more than 88 per cent since 2008 (from $ 5.8 billion to mere $ 760 million), any more stories of loot and plunder in the power sector is sure to sink the entire set up, reveals economists sitting on back benches of finance and petroleum ministry.
Many observers are questioning quite openly the commitments made by prime minister Nawaz Sharif on the floor of the House in which he categorically decried corruption, nepotism and vowed to uphold merit and fair-play. But how fair is this that the people trusted with making a new energy policy for the country and even the federal minister for water and power himself has a direct conflict of interest?

Diplomatic Bubbles: Chinese getting up and close to Pakistan’s spy networks

Chinese getting up and close to Pakistan’s spy networks 

Saeed Minhas

http://thespokesman.pk/index.php/history/item/6327-chinese-getting-up-and-close-to-pakistan-s-spy-networks

ISLAMABAD: China’s emergence in a post-2014 exit of NATO forces from Afghanistan has become all the more important these days, especially when the diplomatic corps in Islamabad believe that Chinese are not only involved deeply in Pakistan’s strategic planning, but even in their spy network.

It is not the first time that Chinese are being discussed so vigorously by the Western diplomats. When the news of transferring civil nuclear technology between the two countries was leaked through a Washington-based newspaper, the hype had much more negative connotation attached to it as compared to a similar deal reached between India and US just a few months back.
If I may recall my conversation with one of the top military officials during hey-days of Gen. Musharraf, Chinese were already involved with the Pakistan’s top spy network, ISI. Reason was nothing but the Uyghur uprising in its western province of Xinjiang and Chinese intelligence had brought up some irrefutable evidence blaming Pakistan for not controlling their militants from crossing the border into China and orchestrating the riots. The riots actually took a new dimension in 2009 when even the western media pounced on it to screw the Chinese by declaring it a revolt against the mainland China. Reports from the Chinese visiting dignitaries, though they always prove a hard nut to crack when it comes to talking on strategic issues, was that China have to work closely with the Pakistani establishment to ensure not only its own interests but that of Pakistan too. They believe Pakistan’s ping-pong policy with US is quite upsetting for the Chinese top leadership.
A recent delegation from the Chinese security agencies, just before the arrival of the new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Pakistan in May, had almost a similar story where Chinese preferred to monitor the entire security of their dignitaries themselves than leaving it solely in the hands of world known agencies of Pakistan.
A Western diplomat, only on condition of anonymity, revealed that the entire telecom traffic in Pakistan is very closely being monitored by the Chinese. He said that though the entire media and he agreed that for all the right reasons is hell bent to prove Snowden leaks as Watergate of Obama, but whenever this facet of Chinese spying on Pakistanis will come to open, it will prove even a bigger scam. He, however, avoided the issue of UAE based company doing the same for Americans in Pakistan by saying that Americans have many more ways of doing that then just relying on a Gulf company.
Our insiders in the establishments revealed that they see hardly any problem in working with the Chinese as compared to westerners. After hours of discussions with the insiders, one can glean the simple fact that no matter how involved Chinese become in their strategic maneuvering, they hardly mind it. Trust gap, however, between the Americans and Pakistani establishment has not gone anywhere. The reasons as they put it are simple.
 Pakistani establishment could hardly escape itself from the onslaught of 60 international warrior nations fighting a unanimously lost war against extremists, fundamentalists and insiders in Afghanistan for being part of all their problems. The suspicion about Pakistani involvement in aiding and abetting Taliban and Haqqani Networks associated with remnants of Al-Qeda has always been there ever since the invasion of Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11. Wikileaks just brought those suspicions of Americans Ambassadors and commanders in Afghanistan and Pakistan to the fore to prove that Americans just do not want to share any intelligence with Pakistan military. With several ups and downs, there had been a phase spanning over three years after 2006 that even the communication lines stopped working between the two sides. Not only communication but even coalition support funds remained stuck for years. The mantra of ‘do more’ from Washington, meanwhile, remained the only constant throughout these years.
Despite the fact that every visiting American dignitary including the diplomacy queen Hilary Clinton make it a point to tell Pakistani people through their heavily sponsored media that “Americans will not leave Pakistan in a lurch this time”, Pakistani establishment seem to believe not even an scrap of such statements. One senior official even pulled out a newspaper showing me that Americans have scrapped worth US $ 7 billion vehicles and military equipment in Afghanistan instead of handing it over to Afghan National Army; whom they want us to believe have been trained to perfection by NATO. A retired official speaking on this topic was of the view that Americans did the same with Pakistan when they ultimately triggered the infamous Ojhri incident towards the fag end of Ziaul Haq.
He recalled that he was in charge of an assignment when Americans packed their bags and decided to leave instantly after the downfall of USSR; to collect every single bullet and machine used by Pakistanis throughout Jihad days. Instead of handing them over to their loyal servant of 1980s-Jihad, Americans sent a team of senior Generals to witness the destruction of everything in front of their eyes near Kala-Chitta (Black and white) mountains; situated close to Tarnol terminals of NATO supplies in Rawalpindi. Witnessing the fireworks from a distant camp, American Generals were still not happy because they thought that some of their stingers are still missing, he recalled with a visible anguish written all over his wrinkled face.  

Press Gallery: Does an attribute like ‘My Lord’ sound Colonial?

Does an attribute like ‘My Lord’ sound Colonial?

The Spokesman

Saeed Minhas

Islamabad: Rising political mercury across Karachi, Quetta and even in judicial compounds is certainly having an impact on an already cautious finance minister Ishaq Dar and even the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar hence forcing them to constantly dampen their stance on every issue they have taken so far.
While rounding up the debate on finance bill, Ishaq Dar was very much conscious of the fact that Supreme Court has literally handed him not only a demarche but put a question mark on his expertise which he has been proud of ever since he rescued his party boss from an economic debacle in the post nuclear test scenario. Dollars since then have become a synonym for Dar in the country’s economic and power corridors for all the opposing reasons.
In the same vein, many have observed the see-saw games of Chaudhry Nisar in the short span of one week. First he was seen full of fire in Quetta challenging and chiding everyone for worsening law and order situation in Balochistan. Then we saw him backtracking and adopting a more serene approach to ‘issues of national importance’ by inviting everyone for talks and even walks. Another turnaround was quite noticeable when we heard him issuing an ultimatum to a provincial government while fully understanding the highly charged atmosphere in Sind and the history of his party sending troops there in their first outing at the federal level.
To add just another twist to the ministerial maneuvers, our superior Lords have stamped their authority by reminding their staunch supporters since the movement days that they are running the watchdog factory no matter what. They have proven it with their deeds that whether someone pitches their driver Aitzaz Ahsan or bring in their mark-man Munir A Malik; it does not matter to them.
Interesting in this regard was the discussion going on within Nawaz League circles. Ishaq Dar very magnanimously surrendered the issue of GST after intervention and interpretation of the superior court but many in finance ministry and even in planning division were sitting in a huddle to carve a way out of this new development. They were happy for the fact that though a huge chunk of direct taxation has gone awry but at least their effort to help the new government give some soothing talks to investors and businessmen regarding the drop of 50 basis points in interest rates. Certainly State Bank of Pakistan took the cue from the oft-repeated budget speech of the federal finance minister that inflation is dropping down to below eight per cent therefore they decided to play their old game of facilitating the big barons with another round of loans, restructuring and even returning of many sick units back to the old players. All this will be done in the name of reviving economy and that too with the state money. So fasten your seat belts as lot many tycoons are already sitting with the notoriously involved banks to reschedule their defaulted loans, retrieve their sick units, jack up the real estate and all those tricks they have learned during Mushy days with the help if State Bank’s ably tuned administration.
Therefore, the Nawaz League camp and our ‘impartial’ bureaucrats of the finance ministry were not that much bothered about the mini hurdle Supreme Court has thrown in their march. They know that the ratio between direct and indirect taxes already stands at 35:65 and making them 25:75 would hardly make any difference to them. After all it's not the economy which our finance ministry runs; it’s the parallel economy which makes their life politically worth for every ruler in this country.
Talks were about the judgment of the superior judge as where Attorney General was asked to advise the government to get rid of British laws labeling them as colonial laws in a free democratic Islamic Republic. One of the senior leader of the party was laughing this out by telling everyone that “what does the Judges consider about abolishing the Colonial practices of calling the judges of superior judiciary or even the lower judiciary ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Honour’, ’Your Lordship’.”
A leading legal expert of the League even revealed that Ziaul Haq had abolished all such attributes in 1982 through a presidential ordinance considering them repugnant to Islamic injunctions and the basic tenants of the objective resolution and preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The issue has also been raised since then in the higher judiciary very recently by none other than a usual petitioner Advocate AK Dogar who asked for abolition of these colonial attributes. But as the Leaguers revealed that the High Lords of Lahore High Court just brushed it aside.
In a country where religion is a very touchy issue and it takes just a triggering point to provoke zealots go berserk, the plan seems quite sinister. But as many insiders believe that it has got some logic because after all ‘law is a law’ hence it applies to everyone regardless of the status and situation.

Sheeshnag: Oil money set to exchange hands

Oil money set to exchange hands

Whether you consume less electricity or more, resort to any austerity campaign or not, you will continue to get inflated bills month after month from here on. Khawaja Asif, our new electricity guru is, learned to have already pledged a gradual but consistent increase in electricity prices while the petroleum wizard Shahid Khaqan Abbassi has vowed to do the same in front of Uncle Sam’s viceroys in one of their welcome celebration meetings.

Transparency, fair play and merit will all be in the hands of these new faces in the energy sector but don’t ever expect that these will actually be followed in letter and spirit. Even if you hear that Khawaja Asif is a 50 million rupees (gifted) shareholder in one of Mansha’s gobbled IPPs or whether Munir A Malik has been brought in by this duo to supposedly protect them from the sharpened nails of the judiciary, don’t even bother to dig it out. Neither is there any need to find out why Mansha and Nadeem Babar have been included in the energy task force, because after all, they have stakes in nine of the controversial 13 IPPs in the country.

You might also come across information that the Mansha group is about to take over the Muzaffargarh power plant but that won’t be the full truth but only half of it.  One wondered whether to praise the Nawaz government for rewarding Musaddaq Malik—the recent water and power minister under the caretaker set up of Mir Khoso—for unleashing intensified loadshedding throughout the electioneering season or not. But one thing is for sure; all those who can manage to have a relationship with the money laundering ministry of finance and money guzzling entities holding the lucrative IPPs is sure to become the darling of any government in the centre. Doctors, after all, are trained to learn the chemical characteristics of money and oil these days; that’s why first we saw Dr Asim  and then Dr Musaddaq Malik running the affairs of an otherwise unrelated ministry of petroleum and natural resources.

Perhaps the term ‘natural’ might have made them relevant not only to ministry of finance and FBR but also to petroleum. You know why? Because these IPPs are making 35 to 40 per cent of profits just by palm greasing the FBR, ministry of finance and, of course, the incumbent ministers. How they do that is not rocket science to understand for you and me because they simply use the oldest trick in the book of over invoicing, under utilizing and successfully keeping the auditors under their charms.

But if you still believe that this energy team is going to deliver than rest assured that they will deliver but only for the barons they have deals with, not for you and me. There is already a clue as to why Ishaq Dar has not gone for his favourite dollars this time because he is already finalizing a deal with an unknown car importer for flooding the market with the first ever 800 to 1200 cc hybrid cars, which at present are not available even with the best of Chinese smugglers.

Let’s not digress from the topic of electricity and let us share with you the inside that can smelled in the air, that circular debt is such a scam that had it happened in any civilized part of the world—certainly not America because we have seen them and what they did with the AIG and stock exchange wizards—we might have seen by now an Asian Spring bursting out of its seams. Tsunami, or as many have started calling him, Taliban Khan now, is still on a learning path so don’t expect that he will even get a clue about all this because he has already got so much to deal with now, ranging from former Jamaatis to former Leaguers, that his invisible and perhaps nonexistent financial masters might not have the time to learn these power games, simply because they have never been in power.

Let us bring you back to IPPs. There has been an anonymous letter addressed to the speaker of the National Assembly and all the members of the parliament and even to the men wearing black robes, telling how they have swindled the public since 1994. The irony is that those who have been at the centre stage of this, the likes of Mansha, will be deciding the fate of these IPPs.

You know what the fate is, these IPPs would be paid their claimed, rather oiled, billions without caring for the fact that these barons have revoked the sovereign guarantees of the state of Pakistan and above all have challenged the state of Pakistan in the superior courts. Yet the same men will be shown by our well-oiled anchors as the only patriots without telling us that they love to plunder here and surrender that in dollars to off shore accounts.

Guess what, that’s why Ishaq Dar just bunked at least three attempts in the National Assembly to talk on off shore accounts, knowing well that how can he expose all those men in arms.   

Venom Inc. This should not be held against me in a court of law as I solemnly declare that these are absolute lies, dirty whispers and wild speculation that I have heard while crawling in the dark power corridors of the creepy Capital. You will believe them at your own risk Shh...If you have venom to spill please don’t hesitate to share with us on our blog at www.thespokesman.pk

Press Gallery: Return of Tsunami Khan, Judicial activism dominates the scene

Return of Tsunami Khan, judicial activism dominates the scene 

Saeed Minhas

ISLAMABAD: Return of a matured and diplomatic tsunami Khan to the floor of the National Assembly remained one of the major highlight of the day but what made it even more interesting was the way an otherwise blazing Chaudhry Nisar welcomed his suggestions and the way Rawalpindi-express Sheikh Rasheed was trying to tail and trail Khan throughout the day.
What remained encouraging was that neither the treasury benches nor the opposition troika of PPP, PTI and MQM were trying to play to the galleries. Discussions remained glued to issues and responses from the treasury benches were adequately measured where one can hardly get the impression that they were just beating about the bush. If Imran suggested verification of votes in four constituencies, Chaudhry Nisar offered to get the same done for 30 seats. If Imran wanted to push his main post-poll agenda of revamping the election commission by question the conduct of Fakhru Bhai and his four provincial comrades, Nisar reminded in a jovial manner that he was actually the nomination of PTI and not of PML (N) in the good old days when CEC was being decided by PPP government.
Much to the dismay of street smart Sheikh Rasheed, the whole debate remained very friendly and comical too which left no space for anyone to play referee or fix a bout. Sheikh, however, was seen tailing Imran Khan even when he went to sign member’s roll all the way up to the table of the Speaker, Ayaz Sadiq. After all Sheikh has to show his loyalty to a man who made it possible for him to return to air-conditioned power brokering halls after making two unsuccessful attempts during PPP tenure, remarked one of senior journalist who has seen all his political overtures since his youthful Gordon College days.
As discussions, suggestions, accusations and complaints continue to echo the NA hall, Babus from FBR was gathering sympathies for their new political bosses by declaring before the black robes that proposed increase in sales tax would not impact the common man because it has not been levied on 70 edible and daily use items. They were presenting their case before the Supreme Court as if the suo moto on actual hike in prices of daily commodities is based on misplaced information. Whether our honourable justices go for shopping these daily items or not but one should commend them that at least they have shown to the public that their authority to summon and at least ask him/her is potently present there.
As one of our lower judiciary friend currently based in southern Punjab reveals that he hardly knows who fills his fridge with fresh vegetables, all sorts of meat, edibles and even beverages but whenever he opens it he finds it fully topped up. Same goes for his clothing cabinet which remained tip-top with Junaid Jamshed collection whenever he needs one. He recalls that on the first day of posting to a remote district all he remember was that a local patwari asked about my clothing and shoe sizes and showed me the gate of my palatial official house and since then neither he had asked anyone who is doing this all hence no one is telling him. “I used to call my elder brother in the village to send me some money every month while I was posted in Lahore but ever since I have been posted in this God-forsaken area I have never felt the need to spend a single penny from my official pay which is piling up in my bank account,” he revealed with amusement written all over his face.
Certainly the case with the higher judiciary is totally different and they are considered not only above all such ‘don’t know’ stuff but above board from even public accounts committee of an elected house. Of course they get salaries from the same public exchequer from where rest of all public servants including public representatives is paid and for sure they do not have any other source of income other than their highest (amongst public servants) salary package. That’s why they have shown their class by devoting their time and energies on correcting the path of in-land and even outlandish issues like Swiss (President), US (Haqqani) and UK (Wajid Shamsul Hassan).
Being class apart, our black robes sitting on high pedestals of white marble building, displayed their prowess by even telling the newly appointed attorney general--their old buddy throughout lawyers movement--Munir A. Malik that instead of advocating a law from British days of 1931, he should ask his new masters to frame laws which carry more common sense. We do remember when Aitzaz Ahsan was rebuked for making a case in Swiss-graft case. Therefore, legislators from the opposition benches were hoping that superior judges should know that once levied this one per cent will ultimate be passed on to consumers, as no manufacturer ever has paid any tax, duty or surcharge from his own profit bucket. They do not even pay their taxes honestly, why should they pay new levies, remarked a legislator adding that especially when they can just 10 per cent of their tax to FBR Babus why should they bother burdening them with book keeping tasks.

Who drinks most vodka, gin, whisky and rum? The Economist

High spirits

Jun 17th 2013, 15:31 by J.S. and G.D.

Who drinks most vodka, gin, whisky and rum?
ASIA'S growing middle classes are driving demand in the global spirits market. According to IWSR, a market-research firm, consumption last year grew by 1.6% to 27 billion litres—and China, the world’s biggest market, quaffed 38% of that. The national liquor, baijiu, accounts for a whopping 99.5% of all spirits consumed there, so China does not even feature in rankings of the best-known internationally consumed spirits, below. The most popular of these is vodka, mainly because it is drunk in copious amounts in Russia. Russians downed nearly 2 billion litres of the stuff in 2012, equivalent to 14 litres for every man, woman and child. (Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Russians are among the biggest drinkers in the world, according to the most recent World Health Organisation data.) The Filipinos' taste for gin can be attributed in part to good marketing and to the spirit's long-established toe-hold in the local market. Ginebra San Miguel, a firm that makes the world's two best-selling brands, started operations there in 1834.

Press Gallery: Govt Resorting to deadlines not helplines

Ruling parties resorts to politics of deadlines and warnings 

Saeed Minhas

Islamabad: Deadlines, warnings and cautions were all on display in the National Assembly on Monday as parliamentarians discussed the disturbing details of Balochistan carnage in which more than two dozen including 14 female students lost their lives at the hands of terrorists.

First we heard almost all those open secrets which have always been known to all and sundry in the power corridors but none had dared to say them in open. These revelations coupled with a deadlines and warning came from none other than Pashtun nationalist leader from Balochistan Mahmood Khan Achakzai. The decade’s old theory of our Khakis to pamper strategic assets for countering foreign aggressions, complacency of huge civilian and military spy networks in controlling terrorism in the country, escalating number of missing persons and what not was all spilled out by Achakzai. Amidst many other deadlines, Achakzai also hurled a deadline at Nawaz league government that if they could not reign in the secret agencies within next three years, he would prefer to resign from the assembly and sit on the sidelines to see the ongoing situations from his safe heavens of Pashtun fortress in Balochistan.
Fluidity of the current situation is making these revelations all the more important. First we have seen the judiciary breaking away from its doctrine of necessity and taking a stand against the dictator with the help of a freedom-filled media. Army, as an institution has seen several setback after its latest stint of rule under Gen Musharraf. On the one side its ranks are filled with infected jihadis while on the other hand extensions in the services of the top brass has left many scars on the health of the institution which by far is considered the only functioning institution in the country. Now politicians with rolled up sleeves are asking for their tormentors to come and at least share with them their old and new security paradigms to find a way forward at a time when country is facing both internal and external aggressions.
Balochistan has been burning for quite some time, and recent escalation in violence under an on-going mini insurgency has just brought things to a stage where political forces are just hoping that their predators join hands with them to counter the rising monsters in KP, FATA and Balochistan. National security, a phrase which has long been under the firm controls of the Khakis has all of a sudden becomes of major concern for our political elite. What remains to be seen is that how opposition is going to take up this emerging tri-lateral war amongst Khakis, ruling politicians and judiciary. Peoples Party had even confessed during its recently concluded rule that it has become a pro-establishment party and had tried their level best to mitigate the misunderstandings Khakis have about their character and past. Nevertheless, Zardari led party managed to complete for the first time its allotted constitutional tenure but how up and close they could bring Khakis is there for everyone to guess. Perhaps knowing this harsh verdict of the history, Peoples Party leadership seems to be in no mood to extend a hand to Nawaz league at this point in time and is preparing to play along the lines of mild confrontation to spread even more confusion. Power game after all is very cruel, at least that’s what not only Muslim history but even the world history teaches us.
Therefore, as many military and political analysts believe that latest strikes by militants in the heart of Balochistan seems to have pitched the new government and its allied parties against the civilian and military spy network by posing serious questions to their abilities and operations. This new tug of war between the Nawaz government and the spy agencies might not be of the same nature what we have witnessed during Yusuf Raza Gillian’s tenure when he tried to bring ISI under civilian fold. Especially when Mahmood Achakzai has opened a Pandora’s Box right in the middle of a chorangi and Chaudhry Nisar unleashing his usual venom against the Khakis, things are likely to hit the dominators a bit hard.
Many of our military friends are hinting a possible solution to Nawaz League leadership that Achakzai’s first speech on the opening day of the parliament whereby he proposed the government to let go Musharraf and develop a working relationship with the army should be taken more seriously. Using Musharraf as bait is one open option in front of the government but not without soothing the ego of the men in black robes, observed a senior Nawaz league leader from pothohar region. However, he and many others favouring Achakzai’s idea are finding their own leadership extraordinarily apprehensive of taking any steps in haste.
Earlier, we saw Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Chaudhry Nisar speaking on the predicaments of the country’s security agencies as if they hail from opposition benches and not part of the ruling party. Certainly the latest wave of militancy in Balochistan has come as an eye opener for the newly elected government. But irony is that federal interior minister Ch. Nisar is yet to come to grips with his new role in parliamentary democracy and instead of providing solutions he is still pointing fingers in all directions. Instead of reaching out to political, social and even military agencies, he is still using media to convey his feelings. Though government has invited all stakeholders for 21st June parleys to formulate a security policy for the country, but as our sources reveal that unfortunately Nawaz League does not have any homemade solution to present in such parleys. Will this remain a talking session for the sake of scoring political points or will it help us really form a unified front against terrorists and aggressors is a million dollar question right now?

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Press Gallery: SBP helps Dar bring Thekedars back into driving seat

SBP helps Dar bring Thekedars back into driving seat 

Saeed Minhas 

ISLAMABAD: The latest bubble of the economy inflated by our animated Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has already started to deflate a bit after strong reaction from the opposition and government employees for taking some bureaucratic decisions aimed at further dumping the middle and lower class in the debris of hiked prices and actually towering inflation.

The debate on the federal budget resumed in the National Assembly even on Sunday. It marched on gradually and slowly as members from ‘little-impact’ parties raised their voices and advices just to fall on deaf ears. Economy has always been considered a technocrat’s ball game and there is hardly any difference this time around. We have been hearing a lot of speeches from esteemed members of this august house for decades but hardly few talk about economic issues as 90 per cent talk about political economy. Irony of the matter is that even ‘political economy’ is touched upon only by those who hail from opposition benches as treasury benches have only one task and that is to provide that cushion to their technocrats and his (hardly any her I remember as finance minister in the past few decades) handpicked babus so that they in unison can continue to concentrate on ways and means of obliging some and depriving some.
Therefore, we were least stunned to hear from a planning division babu, who has spent some late nights with the federal minister Ishaq Dar and his team during the preparation of this budget when he said that “commands are simple that spur an economic activity in the country through thekedars (contractors).” Babus have come to know one thing for sure that when it comes to Peoples Party the budget policy will be to help the ministers or even their family members but when it comes to Nawaz League it’s the Thekedar who gets priority. Nothing was different even during Musharraf era, when his imported Shoukat Aziz used to read out budgets; the motto was to give middlemen and Thekedars a priority. MQM, many babus still remember made the most of this policy throughout Musharraf era. Mustafa Kamal, hailed as the architect of a new Karachi, was given bagful of monies to make Mushy’s city a dreamland, many recall. Mustafa did that by simply engaging the Thekedars and asking them to give the blueprint and reality based budgets for all the overhead bridges, underpasses and what not. Once the budget falls in his domain, he would call in the Thekedars and ask them to get their desired money but sign the bills for double the price of the project, as the rest would have to go to the party funds, revealed the senior babus who have grown their grey hair seeing all these back and forth transitions from ministers to Thekedars happening in front of their eyes.
“Thekedar policy has been very effective since the days of Ziaul Haq, they remember vividly by telling that the motto was that it makes the old dictum work that ‘seeing is beleiving’. People see for themselves that construction works are underway, cement factories, labour forces, white colour jobs and what not gets an immediate kick out of such activities. Leadership of Nawaz League, babus reveal strongly believe that once we engage a number of people and circulate some money in the country, we will get time to do our own businesses without any hindrance. With simple in hand and almost two third stuffed in various pockets in the shape of JUI (F), JI, Sherpao and even independents of FATA, this formula has already been finalized by financial gurus of Nawaz League, they confirmed.  
Meanwhile, our vigorous finance minister, Ishaq Dar continues to shift sides to keep the opposition, his own party and even the media calm. Public is not an issue because he believes that his party has just won an election through the votes of the same public and since they have voted for their mandate, therefore, they should not be the focus of priorities right now. Priorities, of course, remains the social media, the media, the opposition and then of course his own bosses.
By reiterating time and again during his budget speech as well during his post budget briefing that inflation has remained below eight per cent, Ishaq Dar justified his moves of not increasing the salaries of the federal employees and raise of one per cent sales tax. The reason, many in the businesses know, which Dar tactfully kept under guise of inflation was the fact that so much emphasis on these fudged figures of State Bank of Pakistan was to ensure that upcoming meeting of the central bank should further cut down the interest rates.
Isn’t it interesting that ever since Shoukat Aziz times—or even before that—State Bank of Pakistan has been facilitating the ruling elite by giving them fudged figures in the name of their surveys and accounts movements. How ironic is that even a layman knows that every single hike of even one rupee in the petroleum products unleashes a chain of reaction thus increasing the prices of food, transport, health and even rent. There has been a hike of over 40 per cent in petroleum products, which has been the basis of increases in surcharges even by the government itself since 2007.
More than 45 per cent hike in fuel surcharges in all the utilities has come from the federal government, which somehow remains out of sight of State Bank monitors. On the edible front, it hardly takes few hours to trickle all such hikes down to the end consumers. Prices of vegetables rose in the same period between 35 to 70 per cent, pulses by 40 to 60 per cent, fruits (of even much less quality) gone up by 50 to 150 per cent, transport fares have gone from Rs ten per stop to over 25 rupees per stop. But how smart are our financial and economic gurus sitting in the air-conditioned-chilled rooms that they have started giving us the inflations figures by eliminating the food and petroleum products out of their engineered automated systems to make us believe that inflation has actually come down in May 2013 to 5.3 per cent. What a joke, isn’t it? 

Balochistan Unrest: A quagmire seeking immediate attention of Khaki and political establishments 

Saeed Minhas

The honeymoon of the federal government, as predicted earlier seems to have not lived beyond first week. First the onslaught from self-exiled leadership of MQM, then the budget and last but not the least is the terrorism hitting with full vengeance the Pashtoon dominated areas of Pakistan’s largest but poorest province on Friday and Saturday.

Almost two dozen causalities, including some top officials, scores of injured and more importantly a well synchronized series of attacks starting from residency of Quaid-e-Azam in Ziarat and then in Quetta’s women university and hospital are raising all the old questions. Some fingers are being pointed in the direction of foreign hands, others are considering it a reaction of the ultra nationalists against their decade old demands of giving them the ownership of their resources, while few others are raising the point that it’s just another episode to prove the existing gap between political and military leadership with regard to the province.

Leadership of Nawaz League seems to be still in a fix and besides issuing cyclostyled statements are still trying to find a way out of this testing situation. Talking to the PML (N) leadership reveals that knowing the complications of the Balochistan issue, Nawaz League had earned the wrath of Sardars and Nawabs by gifting the chief ministership and even Governorship to their allies. They were fully aware of the fact that Mengals and Baloch nationalists are under tremendous pressure from the known separatist groups. Similarly, the Nawaz League had an idea that how sensitive army establishment has grown over the years with regard to this issue.

The complication of the issue can be gauged from the fact that Baloch nationalists have been plying in the Baloch dominated areas throughout the election campaign. Most of their strikes and threats were meant for the leaders and voters of the 12 Baloch districts in west, east and south. There was hardly few countable strikes, outside of Quetta reported during the election period in northern parts, mostly dominated by Pashtun population. The result was that few thousands of votes secured a national assembly seats in almost all the Baloch populated areas during the recently held elections.

A strike in the Pashtun dominated area; namely Ziarat shows that Baloch nationalists have decided to put their signature across Balochistan to give a clear signal to the army establishment and Nawaz government that even a democratic dispensation might not deter them from their goals. Army establishment has long been trying to establish that these seperatists and even nationalists are being backed by foreign elements. Mainly India is singled out but as the local population reveals that many of our brethren Islamic countries from across the Arabian sea are equally involved in this endeavour of the insurgents. Presences of Quetta Shura have also remained very much at the centre of debate since the last years of Musharraf. US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher even introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to recognise the Baloch right to self determination. The motion was co-sponsored by other congressmen Louie Gohmert and Steve King, highlighted in detail Balochistan’s troubled past with the centre after the creation of Pakistan. It was the same time when Obama administration was thinking of expaqnding their drone strikes in Balochistan apparetntly to get rid of Quetta Shura but in fact to accelerate the separatist feelings, remembers a Baloch nationalists sitting in the Balochistan Assembly these days.

The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Dr Malik has already come on record asking the army establishment to coordinate its efforts to purge the insurgents with political leadership. Finding no response from the Khaki establishment, insider believe, Dr Malik was left with no option but to rush to federal capital and inform the prime minister of the simmering tensions in his province. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has had detailed meetings with all the services chiefs soon after the budget and sources believe that the issue was brought up during his meetings. But the response is learned to have been that “we know how to deal with the situation.” Army chief has been on record not once but several times asking the political leadership to come up with some workable plans and let the army out of troubled areas. Because Army too believes that guns may not resolve the issue but talks might. But the paradox is that mistrust between the gunners and political leadership as well as administration is not that smooth which can ensure a coordinated action plan, revealed senior Leaguers. The ball has always been in the federal government’s court. The Baloch package seems to have failed to quell this separatist trend and now the sacrifice of Nawaz League to allow nationalist parties form the government is not bringing in the desired results, agreed the Leaguers. Therefore, entire political leadership have to join hands to bring Khakis on the table to find a workable and less cumbersome solutions to issues like resource allocations, missing persons and even the sense of ownership to the Baloch people, they argue.

Press Gallery: Governance in a media driven world

Governance becomes a nightmare in a media-driven world

Saeed MiNhas 

ISLAMABAD: In a media-driven world, governance has become such a nightmare that if you follow the media, you find yourself dumbfound at some point and if you don’t follow the monstrous small screen, even then you are set to doom.

Latest victims of this doom and gloom theory include our newly elected government of PML-N while Peoples Party has just learned that lesson after a humiliating outing in the recently-held general elections. Ever since this mini screen has brought a feisty dictator down and put a new life in the compromised judiciary, its role in setting the agenda for any political or dictatorial regimes is becoming a permanent headache for the entire ruling elite. As one senior and instrumental parliamentarian from the recent PPP government put it “things are changing so rapidly here because of TV. People are taking their comedians more seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
First we saw Gen. Musharraf challenged by the yelling anchors in 2007 for not taking any action against the imposing mullahs of Lal Mosque. When media pushed a commando into action, within 24 hours the same anchors were yelling at the use of brute force by then then corp commander of Rawalpindi Tariq Majeed. Hardly weeks went by when the same media showed chief justice of Pakistan presenting his progress report to Gen Musharraf in his presidential palace while discussing the role of complacent judiciary in validating the 1999 military coup and subsequent endorsements. Then the same experts even senior analysts were seen criticizing the general for sending a reference against the chief justice for his removal on charges of misuse of power. The commando failed to comprehend the scale of TV’s impact and continued showing his fist which eventually made him sit for hours in front of the same anchors whom he used to call names and do the damage control. But result is there for everyone to see.
Peoples Party, riding on the lessons learned from jails and political criminology adopted a unique way of blocking out the media by resorting to boycott the agenda setting anchors and media house. It eventually completed five years despite the fact that major anchors of a media house were seen jumping on their mini screens to predict the ouster of Zardari government at any given time. But the tight lipped policy only helped PPP to put a question mark on the credibility of all such anchors. But as they say that who cares about credibility when in President Zardari’s own words political actors sitting on screens become holier than the policy makers. Zardari-gimmick worked only to the extent that the party completed its tenure but the common buzz word heard in every goth, village or remotest part of the country was that even if a cow is stolen, the blame would fall on President Zardari or his government.
Now comes the Nawaz government which has got more than even it had wished throughout the election campaign of 2013. The federal finance minister was heard joking about the social media’s outburst against him for not raising salaries of the federal government employees just a say after presenting the budget in the House. “Only few thousand people cannot tell me that what I should do for a country of 180 million,” he told the scalp-hungry media men in his post budget briefing. It hardly took two days for him to realize that even these few thousand coupled with the anchors he used to love just a few weeks back, made him announce a ten per cent raise for the employees. Ziarat and Quetta is just another example where we can see the switching of the roles of opposition and treasury benches. Chaudhry Nisar, known for making lengthy speeches on every single issue for castigating the government, was seen occupying the same seat from where few weeks back Rehman Malik used to assure the nation that “I have got everything under control.”
Debate on the budget was all but seemed an effort in vain because finance minister Ishaq Dar was hardly listening to the few suggestions hurled at him in between lots of criticism on almost everything under the sun. Hardly anything was new in today’s proceedings, except the faces receiving the pouncing from other side of the House wore a green goblin’s looks while a few months back those yelling at the top of their voices now were sitting on the treasury benches with red rolled sleeves. As for the budgetary deficit is concerned, one of Leaguer sitting with a bureaucrat of the finance ministry just summed up our day by quoting famous remarks of American President Ronald Regan: “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”

Budget 2013 Analysis:Ishaq Dar kick-starts a ‘bubble economy’

Budget Analysis:Dar kick-starts a ‘bubble economy’ 

Saeed Minhas

Newly elected government of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has finally presented a budget to lure businessmen, army and investors by raising their hopes of getting the real kick out of the cash starved economy.

The same man who had orchestrated a US $ 7.6 billion loan from IMF at the start of Peoples Party government in 2008 was seen ensuring nothing but covering all the vulnerable bases for his own party’s government. Their core vote bank of business tycoons and an institution which has lately become nothing less than an Achilles Heel of Nawaz League (or for that matter for all elected governments) have all been extended a hand which remained elusive for them during Zardari led government of the past.  

Army has been offered a 10 per cent (15 % if we add PSDP dole outs) hike whereas investors and businessmen have got what they have been looking for in the past five years; a further decrease in interest rates to help them stave off their burden of heavy bank loans. By resorting to the old paradigm of ‘you scratch my back and I yours’ federal finance minister Ishaq Dar was magnanimous to indirectly praise the previous government of PPP by highlighting the fact that the inflation has scaled down from double digits to just 8 per cent.

What does that mean for an ordinary person? Nothing but despair, reveals many economists when asked about the reality of ever climbing inflation. According to IMF and CIA fact books it still stand around 11.9 per cent in Pakistan. However, figures from State Bank of Pakistan differ dramatically because according to their latest revelations inflation has further gone down in May this year from 6 to 5.7 per cent. Interestingly, the CPI reveals these startling figures because SBP does not include food and energy sector hikes while calculating these figures. With three hikes in electricity and an added fuel surcharge during the caretakers, people are already reaping the fruits by paying not only these hiked rates of absent electricity but almost double the prices for all edibles and basic necessities. Real fruits of nature seem to have become a dream for majority of the population even in urban centres. Yet if the newly elected government, which few weeks earlier was crying hoarse that massively corrupt regime of PPP has made life miserable for common citizens, feels that a magic wand has turned things around, then we should all head for jungles to join the massive roars of the new Lion. But remember this too that gone are the verbosity-filled electioneering as reality has already sunk in and is biting not only Nawaz League but more so to the common man on street.

Minimum wage was supposed to see at least 50 per cent if not 150 per cent increase as per the election manifesto of Nawaz League in May 2013. But that too did not materialize. You know why because of the emphasis of the federal finance minister that inflation has actually come down. Therefore, it gives the justification to the federal government to leave the federal employees and pensioners without any need for increase in their purchasing power. However, because the inflation has remained low, therefore, it will be the same common man who will have to pay an extra one per cent in sales tax (another IMF promise fulfilled).

All of a sudden it seems that federal government within a span of couple of weeks of taking over the federal government has started seeing the people living in green pastures without any complaint or shortcomings. Isn’t it amazing?  Of course it is.

Ishaq Dar has already made his intentions clear that no matter how much his party leader wants to break theKashkool (begging bowl), he sees no other way to pay off the spiraling burden of internal and external debts but to resort to new loans. Many economist believe that the new government is interested in creating a ‘bubble economy’ by resorting to the same old tactics they knew the best; low mark-up loans for 50,000 youth, duty free import of hybrid cars and lowering of interest rates. Does it have any resemblance with yellow cab schemes, youth investment scheme and duty free import of Mercedes Benz by the same party during 1990s? Certainly a lot. So let’s welcome the first budget of a party, which seems to have transformed a lot, or at least that’s what we have been hearing in the lead up to their oath taking.

With mini budgets likely to be pouring on all of us like an unending monsoon, we should be ready for another bank driven bumpy ride for at least next five foreseeable years. Federal minister Ishaq Dar has kick-started the same bandwagon which Silk Tareen tried to decorate with his banking connections, Hafeez Sheikh with his hedge-fund investors and then caretakers with the dictates from the Khakis.

Diplomatic Bubbles: Chinese massages Vs Chinese ambitions

Diplomatic Bubbles: 

Chinese massages vs Chinese ambitions

Saeed Minhas

ISLAMABAD: An eventful election period in Pakistan seems to have exhausted the diplomatic corps in federal capital to the extent that soon after hearing the opening address of the newly-elected prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif many of them were seen rushing for a kneading in the city’s elite and notorious parlors.

There was hardly anything wrong with that as many of us encountered some European, Gulf, Latin Americans and eve African diplomats in many such known places run by elite hospitality groups waiting for their turn to get into massage gowns. After all many of them have been running from Karachi to Khyber throughout the four weeks of electioneering to gauge the sentiments, weigh the options and find something to write back home. Ranging from anti-Americanism to TTP’s purported influence on the elections, they observed everything throughout these grilling and tension-marred weeks. The polling and the results and then the first democratic transition of power remained great interest to many of them as they saw many firsts during these days. Record polling, exuberance of youth, emergence of a third political reality, boycotts, voices of rigging, role of media and an election victory speech within hours of polling time, they remained glued to such and much more happenings.
Ostensibly, politics should have remained the discussion point in these parlours as well but to my surprise it was not the case. While sitting in one such elitist place, I had no option but to eavesdrop to what was going on next to me between a Chinese telecom company employee (wearing Zong’s logo on his shirt) and an American, full of slangs and mouthful of them.
Federal capital already having a notorious touch for having cat or key clubs and night parties was the topic of discussion between these two which later was joined by a Romanian and Czech diplomat. A gang of five families, all of Chinese origin ad their competition with the new arrivals from central Asian republics mostly from Baku and Tashkent was the exact topic of discussion. Crux of the matter was that which place gives better value for money when it comes to body massage.
Hot talk over the sex slaves of China was not the only thing which was going on there as others were also endorsing the lethal combination of such slaves with spying assignments, the air soon became so tense that parlour management had to send them both to their respective service places and end this conversation.
Chinese and Americans seems to have become so much engrossed in each other’s movements these days that it seems that there is a mini cold war going on between the two in our federal capital. If Americans have blocked entire roads on security reasons, so are Chinese doing in F 6 area. If Americans have developed their own clubs and handout places within diplomatic enclave, so are Chinese doing to establish little China Towns in Islamabad. One such was found in F 11’s jungle of multi story buildings where a telecom company has rented out any entire building for its employees. Once you enter the heavily guarded doors of the complex, you can simply tell by smelling the air that our closest and all weather friends are bringing Shanghai here.
A talk with the security experts in the capital also revealed that this tit for tat is becoming a big diplomatic hassle for the foreign office these days. Just before the visit of the Chinese prime minister to Islamabad, they said that a high level security delegation arrived in Islamabad to ensure the security arrangements. During one such meeting, they informed that the Chinese left the then caretaker interior minister Malik Habib completely dumb by telling him the figures of American spies in the capital and around Pakistan. They even asked Malik to completely block the entry and exit points of federal capital for the entire duration of Chinese premier’s stay in Islamabad besides blocking the phone networks to avoid any mishap.
Another official further confided that our all season Chinese friends have officially protested to the government of Pakistan about engaging Saudis in Gwadar port area. Since the Chinese company is entrusted the task of making the deep sea port of Pakistan operational by the last government, therefore, they believe that though Americans have not been allowed to set up their consulate in Baluchistan but by giving the huge tracts of lands to Saudis would eventually bring Americans in Gwadar- game.
Certainly a game is on between China and America for supremacy at the world stage but Islamabad seems to be fast becoming a mini stage for this Sino-US cold war.

ICFJ: NGOs Appeal to President of Egypt: Free the journalists and Freedom of Expression

 

Appeal to Egyptian President 

 

Below is the testimony of  Joyce Barnathan, President of  International Center for Journalists he made before the US Congress to seek justice for two Egyptian and three American journalists who have been sentenced to serve in jail just for training journalists on issues like freedom of expression, truthful journalism and adhereing to journalistic code of ethics while reporting from difficult areas. 

We the media NGOs, appeal to the President of Egypt to free the senteced journalists to let the world know that freedom of expression is not restricted in Egypt.

 

 

 

TESTIMONY BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE

ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

“AMERICAN NGOS UNDER ATTACK IN MORSI’S EGYPT”

 

JUNE 12, 2013

Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify about the terrible verdict in Egypt.

 
The International Center for Journalists’ work in Egypt and around the world is aimed at raising professional standards. We offer practical, hands-on programs using the latest digital tools. We help today’s journalists produce responsible, ethical coverage.

When we first learned of the startling charges against five ICFJ employees, we worked with excellent lawyers to present overwhelming evidence that the allegations were false. Up until the verdict, our lawyers were convinced of an acquittal. The decision to convict all of the NGO workers is a politically motivated move.  It does not reflect the work of ICFJ in Egypt. 

But this decision has ruined lives. What do you say to a distinguished journalist like Yehia Ghanem, whom we hired to lead our new program, which hadn’t even begun, and to finish the registration process? He got a two-year sentence and cannot return home to his wife and three children – and the country he loves – without going to prison. 

What do we say to his children, who cry daily because they miss their father? One of his kids had both arms broken in school for defending his dad’s honor. Our other Egyptian employee, Islam Shafiq, is separated from his pregnant young wife. Though his one-year term was suspended, is it really safe for him to return? Both are here today.

The court labeled the three U.S.-based defendants – Patrick Butler, Natasha Tynes and Michelle Betz – as fugitives, though they were not based in Egypt and were not there when the charges were filed. They got five-year terms. These people’s livelihoods depend on travel. Labeled as convicts, will they be arrested and sent to Cairo by a nation that has an extradition treaty with Egypt? 

Then there's the societal impact. Egyptian court officials say they will pursue anyone who helped the NGOs—and they want to investigate other civil society groups. The draft of a new NGO law, by many accounts, including the State Department’s, is onerously restrictive. 

There is a chilling effect that has frozen the hopes of an Arab Spring. 

For ICFJ, this politically motivated decision is particularly painful. We are not a political organization. We do not take political positions or offer political advice. 
ICFJ has been working in Egypt since 2005, with the complete knowledge of the government. We applied for registration from the start—and shortly before our offices were raided, we gave the government full details about all of our programs. 

We always have formal contracts with prestigious universities or news organizations, which are registered to carry out our programs. In 2011, our lawyer recommended that we open an office, a legal requirement for registration. We had conducted no activities in this office while we waited for final approval. 

At the heart of this matter is a dispute between the U.S. and Egyptian governments over funding for NGO activity.  The Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation was angered that the U.S. gave funds to NGOs instead of to her ministry. ICFJ and its employees were not aware of this dispute. 

The verdict is full of loaded language. The court claims that NGOs may appear to support human rights and democracy, but that the underlying goal is to “undermine Egypt’s national security and lay out a sectarian map that serves U.S. and Israeli interests.” The judges described NGO work as a new form of “soft imperialism practiced by donors to destabilize, weaken and dismantle” Egypt. 

How do we even relate to any of these charges? The ICFJ defendants did nothing wrong by training journalists. We are discussing with our lawyers how to appeal this verdict. But how can we be confident in the appeal process when judges simply ignore the facts? Our employees also risk getting thrown in jail if they return home for an appeal. And those tried in absentia have no legal recourse. 

Egypt’s news media have made groundless attacks on our defendants. These distortions show that the media need ICFJ’s services more than ever. The real victims are the Egyptian people, who will likely see further backsliding in democracy and freedom of expression. 

Members of Congress who visited Egypt during the trial assured our staff there that they had nothing to worry about. The U.S. government would protect those working on programs it funded, they said. We urge Congress now to hold fast to that promise. Please use all means possible to get these unjust verdicts overturned.

We need a pardon so that good, decent people like Yehia Ghanem and Islam Shafiq can recapture their lives. It would be a shame if Egyptian citizens now fear that working to build democratic institutions will only land them in jail.

2000 M St. NW, Suite 250 | Washington, DC 20036 US

PEMRA fails in everything else but corruption SAEED MINHAS

PEMRA fails in everything else but corruption

SAEED MINHAS

ISLAMABAD: Open violation of its own rules and regulations, harassment of cable operators and obliging the big wigs associated with the presidency seems to have become the order of the day at Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) these days. Investigations into the affairs of the regulatory authority, meant to streamline private TV and radio stations in the country, reveals that other than violating their mandated rules and regulations, the authority is busy in pleasing the ousted rulers while ensuring that new one does not get a smooth sailing in the media. Informed sources confirmed that besides obliging former interior minister Rehman Malik with an illegal TV license and shifting the monopoly of cable operations in Lahore and Islamabad from the Salman Taseer family-operated World Call to an in- form media house with established links to the Presidency (Lakhanis), PEMRA is leaving no stone unturned to not only make big bucks in this process but more importantly doing it in the name of the Nawaz government which is yet to settle down in Islamabad. In the same go a news license has also been issued to a channel which was supposed to be a drama channel, informed the sources. Under this new shock and awe policy unleashed by a newly inducted coterie of officials led by DG Operations Rana Tahir, a leading private channel has been given another license for airing their fifth outlet, whereas PEMRA rules do not allow more than four channels to any single media group. “It’s like a smack in the face of
transparency and even competition commission,” commented a senior official of PEMRA.  Rana Tahir, who darted in recently from Lahore to set up this cell in PEMRA has made sure that none of the applications coming via the presidency get delayed while any other request is thoroughly subjected to inquiries and ultimately, the bargains. The case cited as prime example was that of DM TV, which is owned by Rehman Malik. This TV was given landing rights for Pakistan within record time. Under the PEMRA rules all those TV channels who receive landing rights have no authority to do up-linking from within Pakistan. Despite knowing that DMTV is up- linking from Karachi and Lahore, PEMRA officials have been instructed by the chairman and DG operations to simply ignore this. “We have pointed this issue to our top management, but the orders have been that find someone else and leave this out,” commented a PEMRA official working in the field. The story does not end here because besides playing with rules and regulations, this special team with a mission, as they are known within the new glassed tower of PEMRA offices, the cable association has been given a valid reason to revolt against the Nawaz government by forcibly dividing them on provincial lines. The Rana Tahir supervised ”Divide CAB” operation has finally resulted in pitching the central Punjab and KP operators against Karachi based Sindhi, Quetta based Baloch and Multan based Seraiki operators. An apparently united cable association was divided very swiftly by arranging and funding a convention of cable operators by PEMRA officials in
Lahore. The ousted chairman of CAB, Khaled Arayan was on record having said that “PEMRA officials were intimidating and harassing cable operators to support their newly nominated officials in the Lahore convention to oust the existing ones.” Babrak Khan from Baluchistan Cable Operators Association was also on record that “operators hailing from Baluchistan, Karachi, Sind and even South Punjab were forcibly kept out of the convention by using police force.”
How this harassment is being inflicted upon cable operators from the PEMRA head office in Islamabad is another interesting episode to look at. Many of the cable operators were not allowed to enter the convention because they refused to side with a PEMRA sponsored nominees in Lahore held in the last week of April this year are either getting notices of termination of their cable licenses or heavy fines. Those who can afford to bargain with the special envoys of Rana
Tahir and his bosses are being let off the hook while those who cannot afford to fulfill the huge demands of this coterie are being suspended and thrown out of business. The facts were verified from almost a dozen cable operators, who were stopped from attending the Lahore convention, as they showed notices they have received from DG Operations in the past few weeks. They included even those who have got favourable orders from none other than the Supreme Court of
Pakistan asking PEMRA to avoid a one sided witch hunt of cable operators. Many of these operators refused to be named fearing repercussions. On condition of anonymity some of them told that “when you are asked that Rana Tahir is from Punjab and has close connections with Nawaz League, how can we dare to come out in the open against such people who are openly demanding millions in the name of PML (N) government.” Rana Tahir was not available for his comments despite several attempts but officials working under him brushed these allegations aside saying that PEMRA is just trying to tame these cable operators who do not want to be governed by anyone. Chaudhry Rashid was not available for any comments in this regard. Many in PEMRA strongly believe that Nawaz government has got nothing to do with these malpractices and open violations going on in PEMRA. They said that newly inducted chairman is already facing at least five litigations in various courts challenging his appointment while Rana Tahir in his previous stint with PEMRA is known for under the table bargains. Therefore, they believe that it’s more about personal interests and money than the backing of Nawaz government which has made this coterie completely blind. Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif in his first speech had categorically stated that his government would not tolerate nepotism and corruption and many inside and outside PEMRA are now considering this regulatory authority as the first test case for the new government to prove its claims of transparency and good governance.

Press Gallery: Cumbersome Journey starts for Sharif

Cumbersome journey starts for Sharif

Saeed Minhas 

ISLAMABAD: A cautiously low-profile start by the third-time prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, a beating about the bush attitude of Makhdoom Amin Fahim and a wise advice from Mahmood Khan Achakzai for his coalition boss remained the highlight of a historic day in National Assembly proceedings on Wednesday.

There hardly was any doubt about the election of Mian sahb as prime minister and a division of the house for counting his majority vote was considered nothing but a formality. The number game was in favour of Nawaz League. Coalition partners of Imran Khan in KP (Jamaat-e-Islami and Qaumi Watan Party) along with MQM and solitary member of ANP and independents of FATA had already announced to vote for Mian Sahb. Yet, what concerned many in the League camp was the fact that Mian sahb got only 244 votes as compared to 258 votes for his party-nominated speaker.
Symbolic gestures by PTI and a more strategic one by Peoples Party to pitch their respective candidates against Mian Nawaz Sharif was all aimed at scoring some points to mature their claim for an all powerful seat of the Opposition leader in the assembly. Peoples Party, went a bit overboard in its bid as they tried to show off their daggers by scratching upon a sensitive point of Nawaz League when NICL-tainted Makhdoom of Hala Sharif congratulated the agencies in the same breath he felicitated the newly elected prime minister.
Passionate and speaking from the heart, Mian Nawaz Sharif tried to touch upon everything under the sun but fell desperately short of all those expectations whereby a policy statement or for that matter a 90-days road map was coming. He, however, hinted at addressing the nation—a 90s technique of using PTV for politicking—to reveal his home-made solutions for economy, loadshedding, lawlessness, drones, foreign policy issues and his three priority areas of agriculture, industry and trading.
From the written script to extempore utterances, Mian sahb tried to prove an epitome of reconciliation and rapprochement. Nevertheless, Mian sahb proved all those wrong—at least for the time being—who were betting their souls to convince every Tom, Dick and Harry that judiciary, media or military will prove one of his first causality. Rather, he avoided all of this and said only few many words for the media that it will be free to not only point out his government’s follies but also show them the directions to improve the governance. A far cry from what has so far been associated with Mian Sahb that he would set the media houses, defiant judges and even un-related faujis in order just like he did in his previous two outings. Instead, he was looking for cooperation, extending a hand out to opposition and more importantly acknowledging PPP government for decisions like Gawadar port.
Chief of PkMAP, Mahmood Achakzai amongst many others also spoke on the role of agencies but then he was quick to caution everyone out there to deal with this delicate matter very tactfully hence prepare for the marching orders. Showing a clear way out of Mushy-saga to his ruling party friends, he almost spelled out the mindset of Nawaz League that let the bygones be bygones and enjoy the new mandate. But as the wise-guys in the Muslim League believe that “Mushy is none of our concern, it’s between him, the courts and the guarantors,” the matter for sure lies with My Lords. As one of our friend from legal fraternity very pertinently mentioned that media-driven my lords have already started making headlines to make their presence felt very loud and clear.”
As for the policies are concerned, which Mian sahb has not divulged to the same house, whose sanctity he wants to uphold, Nawaz Leaguers believe that besides sending many babus between grade 17 and 21 back to educational institutions, investors and bankers have been asked to come up with any loose change they may have. Empty coffers and mere promises are likely to cut not only honeymoon short but the entire journey might become a big question mark. Therefore efforts are afoot by dollar-dar to do the scavenger’s job while Chaudhry Nisar has been asked to come up with a security roadmap which can pave way for secure environment for the investors. Therefore the man from Chakri is not only reviving the contacts with the cantonments to find a workable solution for internal and external negotiations, revealed some insiders.

Press Gallery: A changed man or a changed plan?

A changed man or a changed plan? 

Saeed Minhas  

Islamabad: Formality of elections for the speaker and deputy speaker for the fresh National Assembly was overshadowed by Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s double-edged outburst as it turned every elected party on the House’s platter especially the ruling Nawaz League to think twice before endorsing it.

There was hardly anything unusual in the demand of PKMAP’s chief but the reaction from everyone was so noticeable that it mattered in the end to hear everyone out there on the issue of constitutional supremacy. Many thought that Achakzai has done so with the tacit understanding of Nawaz League and to thank them for adhering to his thought of endorsing Dr Abdul Maalik as chief minister of Balochistan. It hardly was the case, especially when not one but two members, representing two different school of thought within Nawaz League had to stand up and talk on this. It surely was not the case when Shah Mehmood Qureshi, this time speaking from PTI benches, asked the ruling party to spell out their strategy with regard to Gen (r) Musharraf who is awaiting a trial under high treason if the government initiates such a case against him. Then of course, MQM had its own axe to grind even on this issue when Farooq Sattar discretely sought an answer from the ruling party that would they like to respect others so that they can be respected.
In short it was a prelude to what is bound to become the norm in an assembly where besides other usual actors, an all rounder with the ability to upset if not change the game has got 31 members sitting on opposition benches.
With the old chartered of democracy long buried under the debris of Zardari-Nawaz unholy parleys, or the day LFO-marred judges were restored, Achakzai has certainly set the tone for a new one. And that too, on a single point agenda of not entertaining anyone who breaches the constitution or even those who had helped him in doing so. He rightly pointed out without singling out anyone that despite showing and uttering their love for democracy they have harboured lackeys of the past dictators in their parties.
Nawaz League was the first one to react through Khawaja Asif by fully endorsing the Pakhtoon nationalist from Baloch lands. But perhaps the deep fissures within the party, over the issue of ministries or may be Riaz Malik, soon prompted Chaudhry Nisar to take the floor just to add another punch to what Asif had mentioned earlier.
As the voting for the election of speaker and deputy speaker was going on, a Karachite belonging to obviously a linguistic-specific party representing them in the upper house invited a group of journos for a cup of tea. The mission was simple to water the seed planted by his leader on the very eve of polling regarding the Punjab centric mandate of Mian Sahb. Listening to all such arguments about the past practices and stuffing of the cabinet and the top offices of the federation with a certain linguistic background proved one thing that opposition is out there to do the lobbying right from the outset. They are not wasting anytime and any occasion to highlight this aspect of Nawaz League.
Nevertheless, Nawaz League earned praises from almost everyone out there for Dr Maalik’s decision and also for the fact that they turned down the temptation of forming a government in KP proposed to them by JUI chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Certainly everyone including the bureaucratic galleries were talking more about the man of the moment than his acts. “So far it’s been quite atypical, but still majority of us are waiting for the post 5th June scenario, when the man officially takes charge of the prime minister,” commented one senior official awaiting his fate while seeking anonymity. And it’s not the bureaucracy alone but as Farooq Sattar had hinted the opposition, the media houses and even business community is watching with dropped jaws that will they be able to see a changed man in the top office or just a changed plan? A million dollar question at this time in point.