Posted on 08 December 2010. Tags: Chamber of commerce, Chief Minister of Punjab Pakistan, Dubai, Javed Malik, Lahore, Middle East, Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif, United Arab Emirates
Delegates from more than 20 countries will participate in The Pakistan Business and Investment Conference
The Pakistan Business and Investment Conference is being organised in Dubai on December 13 in which delegates from more than 20 countries will participate, official sources said yesterday.
A high level delegation of businessmen led by the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif is traveling from Pakistan to especially take part in this conference in Dubai which is being organised by International Business and Networking Forum (IBN Forum) in association with Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, said Javed Malik, the president of International Business Forum.
The 100-strong delegation of businessmen and top officials will also meet UAE-based business leaders and government officials.
“Pakistan and the UAE share excellent business relations, however there is still a lot of potential to further expand these ties, particularly trade and commerce activity. Pakistan’s geographical proximity with the UAE presents a wide range of possibilities particularly in trade and re-exports,” Malik said.
“There are additional opportunities in joint ventures, public-private partnerships and infrastructure development. We would particularly focus on expanding business-to-business relations and encourage entrepreneurs from both countries to enhance their cooperation. We have been working closely with Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other chambers in Pakistan as well as the Punjab Board of Investment with a view to institutionalise the business relations.” Malik appreciated the supportive role being played by Dubai Chamber, and without its cooperation this event would not have been possible.
The presence of the Chief Minister of Punjab indicates the high importance that is being attached to the conference. Big names from Pakistan’s business world such as Nishat Group Chairman Mian Mohammed Mansha, Arif Habib Investments’ Arif Habib, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Sultan Chawla, as well as chamber presidents of different cities will also attend the conference. This is probably one of the largest contingents of Pakistani businessmen that is visiting the UAE in recent times.
UAE Foreign Trade Minister Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, of Dubai Chamber Chairman Abdul Rehman Saif Al Ghurair, Mansha, Malik and Habib would join a host of other speakers. The special keynote speaker will be Sharif, who will also chair the inaugural session.
business@khaleejtimes.com
Posted in Current Affairs, Pak CA
Posted on 28 November 2010. Tags: Dal Khalsa, Gurdwara, Lahore, Manmohan Singh, Pakistan, Prime Minister, Sikh, Yousaf Raza Gillani
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan.
LAHORE:
A delegation of Sikh representatives met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday and presented him with a list of their demands.
The prime minister reiterated his government’s commitment to protecting the rights of minorities and women. Indian Sikh leader Sardar Swinder Singh complained to the PM stating the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) had sold land belonging to the Gurdwara Ramdas at Choona Mandi. Singh said that the construction of a plaza on the plot of land had already started.
“In the Sikh religion, the land of any gurdwara is never sold and only another gurdwara can be built on the land,” Singh said.
Gilani immediately asked ETPB chairperson Asif Hashmi to stop construction on the proposed plaza and assured the Sikh community that the land would be restored to them.
Sardar Swinder Singh also told the prime minister that some influential locals had encroached upon the land of Gurdwara Bhai Taro Singh at Naulakha Bazaar. The PM assured him that the land would be re-possessed and returned to the original owners. Asif Hashmi informed the PM that some clerics had occupied the gurdwara’s land and that he would try to resolve the matter amicably.
Singh said that PM has assured him that all gurdwaras in Pakistan would be made functional. He also asked the PM to allow members of the Sikh community to celebrate all their religious events in Pakistan.
He said that the PM had assured the delegation all efforts would be made to grant this wish. Prime Minister Gilani told the Sikh community that if India granted Pakistan permission to establish a counsulate at Amritsar the Sikh community would get visas for Pakistan more easily.
Singh demanded that visas be issued to all Sikhs’ whose passports said that they were born in ‘undivided India’. Gilani asked ETPB’s chairman Asif Hashmi to ensure that Sikhs who were born in Pakistan before partition were issued visas on a priority basis. The Sikh community’s demand to be provided residence in Lahore was accepted by the PM.
Dr Manmohan Singh of Dal Khalsa of UK, Dr Pritpal Singh of USA, ETPB’s additional secretary, PSGPC’s president Sardar Sham Singh and Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti also met with the prime minister.
“The government believes in promoting inter-faith harmony and the relations between the Sikh and the Muslim communities in Pakistan are a very good representative of our commitment,” Gilani said.
Posted in Current Affairs, Pak CA
Posted on 20 November 2010. Tags: Lahore, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pervez Musharraf, Samiullah Khan, Saudi Arabia
Image via Wikipedia
There is much speculation in Pakistan about Nawaz Sharif and why he has not joined the parliament. Most analysts think that he is abiding by a Saudi sponsored deal which prohibited him from participating in Pakistani politics for ten years.
Most analysts think that Mr. Sharif will join the parliament after December. The most likely route is a By-Election.
LAHORE: An unpublicised agreement between Nawaz Sharif and the Saudi Arabian government that provided for the former Pakistani premier to stay away from active politics in return for the dropping of criminal charges against him is set to expire in next 12 days.
And the country is agog with speculation as to what steps the PML-N strongman will take once his commitment is over.
The agreement, signed by Sharif and the Saudi royal family, was valid for 10 years and barred him from taking part in active politics during this period.
Sources said the pact will end on December 2. It was following this pact in 2000 that former President Pervez Musharraf dropped the charges levelled against the PML-N chief and allowed him and his family to go into exile in Saudi Arabia.
Musharraf had seized power in a military coup in October 1999 by ousting the government headed by Sharif.
Though Sharif and the PML-N have denied the existence of such an agreement, sources said that the PML-N chief’s taking a backset in recent years were indications that he was influenced by the commitment he had made to the Saudis.
Sharif returned to Pakistan in late 2007, when Musharraf’s regime began losing its grip on power.
Sharif chose not to contest the 2008 general election and subsequently withdrew his nomination papers for by-polls to a parliamentary seat in Lahore this year.
The sources said this was a clear indication of his “commitment to the pledge he made to the Saudis”.
Once the agreement expires next month, the two-time former premier will be eligible to take part in elections, they said.
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party has been criticising Sharif for “deliberately” not taking part in the electoral process.
“If we believe Sharif’s words about the veracity of the agreement, then it is not a democratic approach by the leader of the second largest party of Pakistan when he refuses to be part of the parliament,” Samiullah Khan, the acting president of PPP’s Punjab chapter, said.
Khan said Sharif should at least take part in by-polls to become part of the parliament after the expiry of the agreement.
“We will welcome him in the parliament,” he said. A PML-N insider however told PTI that even after the expiry of the agreement, Sharif had no immediate plans to contest a by-election to enter the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.
Posted in Current Affairs
Posted on 14 November 2010. Tags: Abul Kalam Azad, Ahmadiyya, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Islam, Lahore, Mawl?n?, Muhammad, Muslim
- Gandhi with Maulana Azad and Acharya Kripalani 1942 Wikipedia
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was once drawn by a correspondent of the daily Zamindar [16 June, 1936] of Lahore into the controversy as to the nature of the claims of the Founder of the Ahmadiyyah Movement and the rights of the Ahmadiyya communities to claim a position within Islam. Both these matters were set at rest by the Maulana in the very first passage of his first letter to the said correspondent thus:
“You enquire which one of the two Ahmadi groups follows the true path, the Qadian group or the Lahore one. In my opinion neither is on the true and right path, but the Qadian section has gone too far in its ghuluww, so far that the very fundamentals of Islam have been shaken; for instance, its belief that for faith and salvation the known and admitted doctrines of Islam are not now sufficient and that it is essential to believe in the Mirza Sahib of Qadian. But the Lahore group denies this ghuluww; it neither confesses a faith in the prophethood of the Mirza Sahib nor does it add any new condition to the conditions of faith; where it has stumbled is in the misplaced belief which it has created for the Mirza Sahib.”
In this passage Maulana Abul Kalam has made clear the three points: 1. The position which the Mirza Sahib claimed for himself, 2. Whether the Qadian group is outside or within the pale of Islam, and 3. The position of the Lahore group.
Let us consider first the position of the Mirza Sahib in the light of what the Maulana has said. In ascribing ghuluww to the Qadianis, the Maulana has in fact made it clear that the Mirza Sahib never claimed prophethood for himself, for a ghali is one who ascribes a position to its leader higher than that which he claims for himself. For example, the Christians are guilty of ghuluww when they ascribe to Jesus Christ a claim to Godhead because he never claimed Godhead for himself. Hence the Qadianis can be said to be guilty of ghuluww only if they ascribe to Mirza Sahib a claim which he never made for himself.
The above conclusion drawn from Maulana Abul Kalam’s letter is further corroborated by two of his earlier writings on the subject. The first of these is a passage which occurs in the Maulana’s well-known book the Tadhkirah published in 1919. Writing about Sayyid Muhammad of Jaunpur who claimed to be the Mahdi, the Maulana says:
”The affair of the Sayyid of whom we are speaking is full of wonder, and various sorts of claims and absurd sayings have been attributed to him. What the followers of a person say need not be paid attention to, for whomever a people take for their religious leader they would raise him to no less a dignity than that of God-bead, and if they are very careful they would not keep him below the position of a prophet. But some recent writers have written things which at first sight cause perturbance. Shah Abdul Haq, the Muhaddath of Delhi, writes:
‘According to Sayyid Muhammad of Jaunpur, every perfection possessed by the Holy Prophet Muhammad was also possessed by Sayyid Muhammad, the only difference being that there it was in asalat (possessed originally) and here it was by tab’iyyat (attained by following), and by following the Holy Prophet he attained to such a place that he became like a prophet.’
“Reading these words of Shah Sahib, it occurred to me that in our own days a big section of the followers of the Mirza Sahib of Qadian entertains an exactly similar belief about the Mirza Sahib and lays the foundation of all its ghuluww (exceeding the bounds) and ighraq (exaggeration) on this difference of asalat (possessing originally) and tabe’ijyat (attaining by following)” (pp. 30, 31).
Here the Maulana states that the followers of Sayyid Muhammad and a great section of the followers of the Mirza Sahib have fallen into the same error and have been guilty of exaggerating the claims of their respective leaders. Evidently he is referring here to the Qadianis and considers them to be guilty of ghuluww, i.e., exaggerating the claims of the Mirza Sahib and attributing to him what he never claimed. Thus attributing the claim of prophethood to Mirza Sahib is ghuluww on the part of the Qadianis; in other words, the Mirza Sahib did not claim to
prophethood.
As regards the second writing of the Maulana which exonerates the Mirza Sahib of laying claim to prophethood, it is really a fatwa given by him when extracts dealing with the alleged claim to prophethood taken from his different writings were placed before the Maulana. These extracts were sent to him by me personally, and he returned those papers with the following words: “He is a mu’awwil (one who explains a word as conveying a significance quite different from its ordinary significance) and a mu’awwil is by unanimous decision not a kafir.” [I am writing this from memory and the originals in my papers at Lahore. But there is not the least doubt in my mind as to the words quoted being in their essence those of the Maulana.]
This shows that after reading all the writings of the Mirza Sahib on the question of his alleged claim to prophethood, Maulana Abul Kalam came to the conclusion that he never laid claim to prophethood and explained his use of the word prophet as conveying a different significance from the usually received one.
Thus Maulana’s letters to the correspondent of the Zamindar settle at least one question, viz. that the Mirza Sahib was not a claimant to prophethood and that he was a Muslim and not a kafir.
We will now take the second question whether the Maulana looks upon the Qadianis as Muslims or kafirs. The Maulana considers them to be guilty of ghuluww (exaggeration and exceeding the proper limits), but at the same time he considers them to be Muslims — Muslims who have strayed away from the right path. That is all that one Muslim can say about another. Their error is very great, and it shakes the very foundations of Islam, says the Maulana, but he has not been carried away by the senseless agitation to expel this or that group from the pale of Islam. It is the Holy Prophet’s verdict that they are Muslims — yes erring Muslims — but Muslims all the same. For, does not the Holy Prophet say: “Whoever says prayers as we do, and faces our Qibla and eats our dhabiha, that one is surely a Muslim and for him is the covenant of Allah and the covenant of the Apostle of Allah, so do not violate the covenant of Allah” (Bukhari, 8: 28).
And on a certain occasion when a man abused the Holy Prophet in his face, and the Holy Prophet would not suffer any harm be done to him because, he said, “perhaps he said prayers,” Khalid remarked: “How many people there are who say prayers, yet there is on their lips what is not in their hearts.” But the Holy Prophet rebuked him, saying: “I am not commanded to pierce the hearts of the people or to break open their secret thoughts” (Bukhari, 65: 63).
The Maulana is thus a noble exception to the ‘ulama of the present day who care neither for the Holy Qur’an which says: “And say not to any one who offers you the (Islamic) salutation: Thou art not a believer” (4: 94); nor yet for the Holy Prophet who clearly commanded that the covenant of God shall not be broken by calling a man kafir who said prayers as the Muslims do. The Qadianis are undoubtedly shaking the very foundations of Islam by attributing prophethood to the Mujaddid of this century and by denouncing four hundred million Muslims as kafirs because they do not believe in the prophethood of the Mirza Sahib, but with all those grievous errors they are Muslims, just as the Shias are Muslims though they abuse the companions of the Holy Prophet and denounce them as usurpers and just as so many other extremist sects are Muslims though they raise their leaders to the dignity of Godhead or the dignity of prophethood.
I now come to the third question: the Lahore section of the followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, or the Ahmadis as they are now generally called as distinguished from the Qadianis. Maulana Abul Kalam has, here too, set at rest one question, viz., that the Ahmadis do not believe in the prophethood of the Mirza Sahib, nor do they add any condition to the accepted conditions of the faith of Islam. This clearing of the position of the Ahmadis in Islam is also an important contribution to sane criticism in the Muslim camp, for sanity is a gift which is so rare among the ulama, even among the general Muslim public, when they have to deal with Ahmadis, Once, Mufti Kifayatullah, the head of the Jami’at-ul-Ulama of Delhi, committed the mad act of denouncing the Lahore Ahmadis as kafirs because, he said, “they believed in the prophethood of Mirza Sahib,” and this in spite of the fact that we have been carrying on an incessant war against the Qadianis regarding their belief in the prophethood of the Mirza Sahib and their denunciation of the forty crores [400,000,000]of Muslims as kafirs.
While I am sincerely thankful to Maulana Abul Kalam for definitely and clearly upholding the truth in these three matters, that the Mirza Sahib never claimed to be a prophet, that the Qadianis in spite of their grievous errors are Muslims, and that the Ahmadis deny the prophethood of the Mirza Sahib and accept him only as a Mujaddid, adding nothing to the accepted doctrines of the faith of Islam, I must say that the Maulana has not done justice to us. He has every right to say that we are not on the true path, for to differ with others is the Muslim’s birthright; the Maulana has a right to differ with us and we have a right to differ with the Maulana. But when he says that we have ”stumbled” in a “misplaced belief which we have created for the Mirza Sahib,” he is unjust to us. We have created no belief for the Mirza Sahib except only what the Qur’an and the Hadith say. For what is our belief regarding Mirza Sahib? We accept him as a Mujaddid and we accept him as fulfilling the prophecies relating to the advent of the Messiah among the Muslims. And the coming of Mujaddids and the advent of a Messiah are both based on Hadith.
As regards the first point, the Maulana was undoubtedly misunderstood as denying the coming of Mujaddids when his two letters to the correspondent of the Zamindar appeared in the press. But the writer of Tadhkirah who describes the Mujaddid is the centre of all hope in the triumph of Islam could not deny the coming of Mujaddids. His words were surely strong, but he has tried to explain them away in a later statement, and whether we accept or reject his explanation, we have no tight to ascribe to him denial of the coming of Mujaddids now that be has reaffirmed his faith in their advent in very clear words. His real views on this point are met with in his famous writing, the Tadhkirah:
“These perfect ones are given the name of muhaddath in the hadith of Bukhari, and in them, too, is fulfilled the hadith relating to the appearance of Mujaddid, which has been narrated through various channels, and about its genuineness, therefore no doubt can be entertained” (p. 94).
“And these are the clear and manifest characteristics of the place of tajdid (the position of the Mujaddid), the vicegerency of prophethood, about which I have again and again said that the highest of heads must bow there” (p. 140).
Now when it is accepted that Mujaddids must come, and the Hadith says that the commencement of every century of Hijrah shall see the appearance of a Mujaddid, I fail to see how our belief about the Mirza Sahib being a Mujaddid of the fourteenth century is “misplaced” when there is no one to claim that office, nor has any one else been unanimously accepted as the Mujaddid. In accepting Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Mujaddid of the fourteenth century we have bowed only before the Hadith of the Holy Prophet. One of the two positions must be accepted; cither the hadith relating to the appearance of the Mujaddid is not genuine, which view is however strongly rejected by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, or Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Mujaddid of the 14th century, for there is neither another claimant nor has the Muslim world unanimously declared another man to be the Mujaddid of this century.
Now there remains only one point. Have we created any new belief in accepting the Founder of the Ahmadiyyah Movement as the Messiah that was to come among the Muslims? Happily Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, whose letters in the Zamindar raised apprehensions in some minds that he was denying the hadith referring to the advent of Messiah, has cleared his position in a later statement, and we are glad that he accepts the hadith, I am further certain that, like us, the Maulana also believes in the death of Jesus Christ. Now the position is this: The Messiah must come as the Hadith says, but Jesus Christ cannot be that Messiah because he died long ago. There is then no escaping the conclusion that the Messiah that is to come among the Muslims must be a Mujaddid of this ummah. We accept Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be that Mujaddid. We have created no new belief. Here again we bow our head before the Hadith of the Holy Prophet. What are our arguments for accepting him as such is a different question which cannot be discussed here. The Maulana has a right to say that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is not the Mujaddid and the Messiah, and that we have made a mistake in fixing our choice, just as we have the right to say that the Maulana is making a mistake in rejecting him, but two conclusions are inevitable: There must be a Mujaddid of this century, and only a Mujaddid can be the Promised Messiah
Posted in Current Affairs
Posted on 29 October 2010. Tags: Asia, China, India, Lahore, Ministry of Railways, Pakistan, Pakistan Railways, Rail transport
The Federal Minister of Railways, Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Bilour is the worst Railway Minister in the history of South Asia and most probably the world. It was on his watch that the Pakistan Railways has lost more money than ever before. His incompetence is not limited to Railways, he is a failed politician too.
He can make a lot of excuses and has no solutions. If things are bad, he should have held a conference of local and international experts and come up with solutions two years ago. He didn’t. because when he took over the Railways were fine. His absence from the scene and horrid management has brought it to the brink. He has time to interfere in the politics of other provinces, and doesn’t have time to pay attention to his own job.
It is amazing that Mr. Gilani has not yet fired the man.
In describing the railways he said that the British had given South Asia a good railway system and Pakistan had not maintained it. Duh! The Railways was just fine even under the guidance of Sheikh Rashid–admittedly not the brightest crayon in the box.
Even during his time, he added several trains and juggled the schedule and ordered about 300 brand new engines from China. To hide is ineptitude Ghulam Ahmed Bilour tries to blame the Chinese engines for the malaise that he finds himself in.
Federal Minister for railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said the recent floods in the country have damaged the railways system immensely. However rehabilitation work is being done on it.
Talking to media after addressing the passing out ceremony in Lahore Bilour said that in the past railways have been badly neglected and on top of that recent floods in the country have completely destroyed the system, but we are hopeful and will soon put railways back on the tracks.
While talking to the media he stressed the need to prioritize railways as its considered the back bone of any nation, he also said that work had been done for motorways in the past but nothing positive for railways and due to which the system is collapsing .
The federal minister also said that although we are facing huge problems but we are striving to put railways back on its feet, as it will be a big deficit for the economy if the system collapsed. We are trying our best to make it a profitable institution and for that we need to buy new engines.
Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Bilour blames the current state of the Pakistan Railways on bad parts from China. It is amazing that Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Bilour did not get on a plane and head to China to resolve the issue with the manufacturers of the engines. Railway insiders say that Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Bilour doesn’t have a clue about the Railways or anything. Mr. Bilour has run the Railways into the ground because he did not enforce regular maintenance on the engines and did nothing to find out what is profitable for the grid. The Railways still has billions of Dollars of assets which can be leveraged to purchase new bogeys and engines.
Mr. Bilour represents the corruption of the heads of about 10 major departments. To stop the bleeding drastic steps have to be taken to turn the organizations around. Just spending $1 Billion on the Rialways will not solve anything. The Railways have always been an asset for Pakistan and Mr. Bilour is to blame for its sorry state of affairs.
Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Bilour should be fired immediately and replaced with a professional engineer that knows how to run a professional organization.
Posted in Current Affairs, Pak CA
Posted on 27 October 2010. Tags: Ali Ahmad Kurd, Asif Ali Zardari, Asma Jahangir, Bal Thackeray, Bar Association, Hindu, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Lahore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, National Reconciliation Ordinance, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, secularism, United States
In one of the most contested elections of our time, Asma Jehangir has brought dirty politics where it doesn’t belong–in the Bar Association. Asma Jehangir has won the elections for the Lahore Bar Association. This is seen as a great victory for the left in Pakistan. Asma Jehangir is a Civil Rights Activist and great believer in Secularism.
The victory was achieved by infusion a lot of money into the elections by unnamed NGOs and forces that are working behind the scenes. There were a total of 2,226 eligible voters for the election, which took place on October 27. Ikram Chaudhry and Ahmed Awais are the other candidates who are contesting the polls against Asma.
The PPPP has backed Asma Jahangir in supporting the Anti-Iftikhar Chaudhry coalition of Musharraf and PPPP forces all of whom hate the current judiciary. The elections will portend a front against the tenure of Chaudhry Iftikhar Chaudhry’s independent judiciary.
Bal Thackery with Asma Jahangir: Ms Asma Jahangir in full Hindu mahasabah Saffron regalia meets Shiv Shena’s Mr. Bal Thackeray, the most avid Anti-Pakistan Islamphobic bigot in the world. Imagine a Jewish Israeli sitting with a Nazi in full Nazi uniform. If this sort of “consorting with the enemy” happened in America–the American would be boycotted for life and hounded off the air–and possibly sent to prison. Gitmo is full of people who did less. Asma Jahangir is a darling of the Delhi establishment. She visits Bharat often. To show her “Hindu” credentials she dressed up in saffron Red to meet one of the most virulent mahasabah Hindus who is actually wanted for murder of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Pakistan. Mis Jahangir speaks ill about Pakistan on foreign shores, all under the guise of liberal secularist humanism. Of course she has double standards. She never criticizes Bharat. She is part and parcel of the “Blame Pakistan First” crowd.
It is astonishing that Ms. Jahangir took the support of the Pro-Musharraf forces and the forces aligned with the PPPP. A team of independent Lawyers led by PTI’s Hamid Khan has now be defeated.
Asma Jehangir on Wednesday won the election for the office of President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) here at Peshawar and Abbottabad with a clear margin.
According to results here, Asma Jehangir grabbed 47 votes against his close rival Ahmed Owais (33) and Akram Chaudhry (18) in Peshawar.
Likewise, Asma Jehangir also bagged 17 votes, Ahmed Owais (11) and Akram Chaudhry (2) in Abbottabad.
The election of Ms. Jahangir proves how much the so called “elections” in Lahore were influenced by foreign forces.
The judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Ordinance of Pervez Musharraf are also canvassing for her. Federal law officers, including deputy attorneys and standing councils and PPP-affiliated lawyers, are also making all-out efforts to secure victory for her.
The presence of Federal Law Minister Babar Awan, a close aide of President Asif Zardari, in Lahore has also raised many eyebrows in the legal community. They believe that the minister has come to Lahore to make “arrangements” for Asma’s election.
Three former presidents of the SCBA and prominent names of lawyers’ movement are supporting Asma. They include Ali Ahmad Kurd, Munir A Malik and Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood.
Interestingly, all these three had won the top slot from the platform of Professional Group, led by Hamid Khan
With the crucial Supreme Court Bar Association, old cronies of former president Pervez Musharraf are pinning strong hopes on candidate Asma Jahangir to bundle out the loyalists of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by winning the election.
Asma, who had earlier fought for the restoration of the judges, has now become a strong critic of the Supreme Court, more in line with the position taken by President Zardari and his PPP government, The News reported.
Though she presents herself as an independent candidate, the government’s overt and covert support to her candidature has served her badly because of its own unending confrontation with the judiciary, the paper said.
The judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Ordinance (PCO) of Pervez Musharraf are also canvassing for her. The presence of Federal Law Minister Babar Awan, a close aide of President Asif Zardari, in Lahore has also raised many eyebrows in the legal community, who believe that the minister has come there to make “arrangements” for Asma’s election, it added.
Though Asma had earlier supported the lawyers’ movement and the restoration of judges, she changed her stance soon after the formation of the PPP government and became a harsh critic of the Supreme Court, and has been making some anti-judiciary statements especially in response to its December 16, 2009 judgment, which not only declared Musharraf’s November 3 emergency as illegal and unconstitutional but also sent the Dogar court judges home.
While the lawyers are taking a serious note of the shift in her stand, interestingly, Iqbal Haider, who had worked with her in the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is openly labeling her as the government-backed candidate.
On the other hand, the second candidate for the position of SCBA President- Ahmad Awais- has always appreciated the apex court judgments in all his statements, which have gone well with the lawyers, the media and the civil society in general, the paper said.
Apart from them, the PCO judges, former attorney general and pro-Musharraf lawyers are backing Asma against Ahmad Awais, a candidate of Professional Group led by Hamid Khan. These elements want to settle their scores with the SC.
At the top of the list of her supporters is PPP Senator Sardar Latif Khosa, who has also faced strong admonition from the SC on the allegations of corruption.
Former judge Ahsan Bhoon had betrayed the lawyers by quitting the the LHCBA’s president slot during their movement for restoration of the judiciary. He had accepted judgeship during the Musharraf’s rule. He was removed through the SC’s July 31 judgment, along with other PCO judges. The remaining PCO judges, including Akram Qureshi, Ramzan Ch, Irfan Qadir, Anwarul Haq Punnhu, Zulifqar Bokhari and Zafarul Haq, are wooing voters for Asma Jahangir. Irfan Qadir was later appointed NAB prosecutor general but was removed in the light of the SC’s decision.
Next on the list of her supporters is Mansoorur Rehman Afridi, a former president of the Lahore Bar Association. He was the first person who had invited Pervez Musharraf to a reception at a hotel.
Rana Ijaz Ahmad had enjoyed the slot of provincial law minister during Pervez Musharraf’s set-up. Rana has extended his support to Asma.
Malik Qayyum was appointed attorney general by Pervez Musharraf. The Supreme Court in its judgment on the National Reconciliation Ordinance had strongly criticised him, because he had withdrawn the Swiss cases against President Asif Zardari without having any authority to do so. He is also backing Asma. Asma Jahangir had supported the lawyers’ movement and restoration of judges but she changed her stance soon after the formation of the PPP government and became a harsh critic of the Supreme Court. The lawyers are also taking a serious note of the shift in her stand.
Interestingly, Iqbal Haider, who had worked with Asma in the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is openly labeling her as the government-backed candidate.
Other prominent supporters of Ms Jahangir include, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Senator Kazim Khan, Justice (retd) Sabihuddin, Abid Hassan Minto, SM Masood, Azam Nazir Tarar (former secretary LHCBA), Shehram Sarwar (ex-secretary LHCBA), Malik Saeed Hassan, Rana Ijaz Ahmad, Mian Israrul Haq (former president LHCBA), former judge Ramzan Chaudhry who was appointed during Musharraf’s era and removed by the SC, are also quite active in wooing voters for Asma. Moreover, Ali Zafar, son of PML-Q Senator SM Zafar, is also a supporter of Asma.
On the other hand, Ahmad Awais, a former president of Lahore High Court Bar Association, enjoys backing of a large number of voters and the track record of Professional Group showed that it had been consecutively winning the SCBA’s top slot for four years.
Awais had been in the forefront of the lawyers’ movement for an independent judiciary and for ouster of Pervez Musharraf. He was the first man among the legal community who had raised voice for Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 of the Constitution. He is also a close relative of former head of ISI Gen (Retd) Hameed Gul.
The supporters of Awais include former presidents of LHCBA like Justice (retd) Ch Arif, Anwar Kamal, Justice (retd) Karamat Nazir Bhandari, Saeed Ahmad Ansari, Justice (retd) Ameer Alam Khan, Kaleem Ahmad Khurshid, Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal, incumbent LHCBA President Mian Abdul Qaddus and Justice (Retd) Rasheed Rizvi, president of Sindh Bar Association.
Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Azhar Siddique has announced support for Awais. Justice (retd) Fakharun-Nisa Khokhar, who was elected MNA on the PPP ticket on reserved seats, is backing Ahmad Awais, going against the party guidelines.
A prominent name of the lawyers’ movement Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad from Karachi and incumbent president of Balochistan High Court Baz Kakar are also backing Awais.
Former president SCBA Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has kept himself at distance from the bar politics. He had gone abroad and would not return till the polling day. However, Hamid Khan’s group is claiming his support. Lahore has gained significant importance in the polls, as almost half of the eligible voters are registered here. The city is considered to be a strong hub of the Professional Group. The total number of eligible voters is 2126, including 1,018 voters registered in Lahore.
Four candidates are in the field for the seat of secretary, including Sohail Dar, Malik Munsif Awan, Qamar Zaman Qureshi and Rana Farman Ali Sabir.
Twelve candidates are vying for one seat each of vice president for all four provinces. They include Jahanzaib Jadoon and Mohsin Javed for Balochistan, Malik Manzoor Hussain and Arif Khan for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hameed Talib Rana, Abdul Sadiq Chaudhry, Malik Imtiaz Mahl and Zubair Khalid for the Punjab, while KA Wahab, Shafaat Hussain, Shamsuddin Khalid Ahmed Ansari and Syed Jamil Ahmed are contesting for Sindh seat.
Saliheen Moghal and Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta are contesting for one seat of additional secretary. Sanaullah Zahid has already been elected unopposed as finance secretary of the SCBA. Hopes are high among the old cronies of Musharraf about the win of Asma Jahangir, who is also enjoying the blessings from Islamabad to break the four-year-long hegemony of the Professional Group led by Hamid Khan in the Supreme Court Bar Association
The ephemeral victory of Ms. Jahangir has brought to light the blatent interference from foreign forces into the bar of Pakistan. The fight has just begun. Ms. Jahangir will face very stiff opposition from galvanized forces who have already begun to prepare for the next elections. Agencies, The News, Tribue, Sify etc.
Posted in Current Affairs
Posted on 22 March 2010. Tags: Lahore, Pakistan
“My strength is made perfect in weakness.” – II CORINTHIANS
It had long been suspected that the Indians and, to a certain extent, their stooge in Afghanistan were fomenting trouble in this country. The recent spate of bombings in Lahore has finally provided concrete evidence to the security agencies that proved, without any doubt, the involvement of the Indian government in the acts of terror in which nearly 60 innocent people lost their lives.
The Indian administration has since long been playing a double game where it has almost successfully convinced the Western world that whenever there was an act of terror in their country, Pakistan was responsible for it. However, it was the Indians who were not only vigorously training insurgents in camps located in Afghanistan, but have also been providing them with financial support, arms and ammunition. For years, the Indian strategy has been to bleed the economy of Pakistan, so that it is unable to mount a formidable challenge to their expansionist designs in this region. According to the latest reports, the mastermind of the Lahore terror blasts was not only trained by the Indians in Afghanistan, but also his group was provided with financial help and other logistic support that indeed plays a critical role in these dirty games.
It will now be up to the Government of Pakistan to approach the international community and show them the evidence, which is presently available, that would prove the involvement of the Indian administration and its intelligence agencies in every second act of terror that happens in this country. It is very easy for the western countries to believe that the war, which is being waged by the insurgents, is the creation of Al-Qaeda or Taliban, some of who are supposed to have their bases in the border areas of Pakistan. Perhaps, this suits the strategic interests of the United States and its allies who have been increasing pressure on the Pakistani government, demanding more and more concessions in what they call the ‘global war on terror’. However, this does not mean that the war against terrorism is not Pakistan’s war. It is now being fought in the Pakistani territory by our armed forces that are constantly engaged in curbing this menace in which the innocent people are being killed everyday.
In this context, the evidence that the Pakistani authorities have now could not have come at a better time because recently the Indians, like their previous hypocrisy, demanded that they will only talk on the issue of terrorism. This time they have also asked the Pakistani government to take more serious measures against the terrorists before they resume the peace talks, which was derailed by the Indian government on a flimsy pretext. Perhaps, it is Pakistan’s turn to pursue its case more aggressively and expose the Indian double standards before the entire world. For this purpose, a competent and comprehensive policy must be followed at the federal level. The independent media can also play its role by digging deep into what happened in Lahore and then reveal the facts before the people of Pakistan and also to the international community.
The alarming issue that has come to light after the attacks, in which six to seven low intensity devices were also exploded in a densely populated area of Allama Iqbal Town in Lahore, was the fact that some of the devices discovered and the ammunition used in the RA Bazaar bombing had explicit Indian markings on them. Undoubtedly, it is a great success for the intelligence agencies of this country, which were able to nab some of the terrorists that were involved in this heinous crime.
Preliminary investigations showed that the suspects were working as Indian agents in Pakistan. While the investigations continued and it is expected that more incriminating evidence will be collected by the agencies who are investigating these acts of terror, the Pakistani government should, without wasting any time, place before the people of this country and the US administration the evidence that proves Indian involvement in this horrible act of terror in which several people died and nearly 150 were seriously injured. In case the government fails to aggressively pursue its case at various international forums, like the European Union, they will fail to discharge their fundamental duty towards the people of this country.
Moreover, there was no need for the government to take an apologetic approach because national interest demands that diplomacy must be set aside in this case, and every effort should be made to place the facts that are available before the international community. This may not be considered a tit-for-tat diplomacy because the Indians have been trying to damage not only the vital interests of this country, but also to tarnish its image and were reportedly spending a fortune to achieve these objectives.
The Government of Pakistan should only talk about the facts that are available with them and keep on hammering the issue till the time the western countries accept that the Indians were the main culprits in what was going on in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. And, at the same time, were also responsible for the suicide attacks that sporadically occur in various areas of this country. Once the government was able to clinch this issue, it may be able to solicit a more productive relationship with the international community that can then help Pakistan to rebuild its weakened economy; this should be the prime subject of Pakistan’s negotiations with the west.
The Indians, besides creating lawlessness in this country are, also trying to deprive Pakistan from its legitimate requirements of water. Therefore, this issue also needs to be agitated by the Pakistani diplomats along with the issue of Indian involvement in the acts of terror. That has been proved by the arrest of the mastermind who orchestrated the acts of terrorism in the capital of Pakistan’s most populous province.
One hopes that the western democracies, trying to please the Indians without seeing the real picture of their administration that is based on deception and hypocrisy, will use their influence to rein in the Indians. The West needs to have an even-handed approach as far as taking into consideration the economic requirements of India and Pakistan are concerned and in case that is not done, it would mean that the Americans also have a hidden agenda against this nuclear powered Islamic country.The writer is a freelance columnist. Email: zarnatta@hotmail.com. Azam Khalil
Posted in Current Affairs, India CA, Pak CA, Politics
Posted on 25 May 2008. Tags: Electronic Manufacturing, Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan
Electronics complex in Lahore, Karachi planned
Thursday, May 22, 2008 By our correspondentLAHORE: The Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC) is planning to set up Common Facility Centres (CFCs) in Lahore and Karachi to develop and promote the electronics industry in a bid to quickly reduce billions of dollars worth of imports of electronics and telecom gadgets and boost exports.
Electronics is considered the world’s largest industrial sector and the most lucrative market. Unfortunately, Pakistan since independence has not developed a significant place in the ‘electronics world’ which has an annual turnover of US$1.2 trillion.
Though electronics goods burden the import bill by 10 per cent, regrettably they earn less than 1 per cent through exports. Pakistan is currently importing more than $1 billion worth of mobile phones annually to meet increasing demand commensurate with growing tele-density.
According to a TUSDEC spokesman, the Lahore Electronics Complex being set up at a cost of Rs2.7 billion would focus on the mobile phone and telecom sectors while the Karachi Electronics Complex costing Rs3 billion would cater to the needs of consumers and home appliance industry including LCD (liquid crystal display) TV, computer monitors and multimedia products.
The two centres are designed to support and help grow the local industry through ‘economies of scale’ supply of sub-assemblies and kits at competitive prices compared to those being imported from China and nearby countries. The ‘economies of scale’ supply will contribute significantly to lowering the cost of electronics products in Pakistan compared to other players in the international market.
The local electronics sector basically focuses on consumer electronics, with activities confined to the assembly of conventional TV sets, radio, cassette recorders and other allied consumer electronics products using completely knocked down (CKD) or semi-knocked down (SKD) kits, imported mostly from China.
The share of electronics in the country’s manufacturing sector is merely 3 per cent. In the light of need assessment surveys carried out by the TUSDEC, the CFCs would provide the industry with much-needed help in the supply of competitively-priced and readily available parts, component kits, SKD and sub-assemblies including complete printed circuit solutions as well as expert services for product design and prototyping. This will facilitate the industry in the production of internationally competitive gadgets in terms of price and quality.
The TUSDEC spokesman said these centres would house modern electronics design and quality assurance labs and would be equipped with hi-tech SMT machines for assembly of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) as well as high-volume automated assembly.
The centres, the spokesman said, would handle all requirements of an electronic company’s printed circuit or mother boards for use in the final product.
To ensure that local electronics products penetrate the world markets and cross new ‘non-tariff barriers’, compliance with various standards is required. The Federal Institute of Materials and Homologation (FIMH), being set up in Gujranwala, would carry out testing and homologation of these electronics products to allow their export to Europe, the US and other advanced countries bringing revenues for Pakistan, the spokesman concluded.
Posted in Pak CA
Posted on 20 April 2008. Tags: 1947, 5 Es, AAJ, Abu Dhabi, Advani, Afghan, Afghania, Ali Bhutto, Aliph, Allied forces, America, America–Sweet Land of Liberty, Amin Fahim, Ann Coulter, Arabs, ARY, ARY One World, ARY TV, ARYOneWorld, Asif Ali Zardari, Asif Zardari, Asifa, Asrar Ahmad, Assassination, Athens, Azhar, Bakhtawar, Benazir, Benazir Bhutto, Bhutto, Bible, Bilawal Bhutto, Bombay constituency, Bombay presidency, Brahmin, Brazil, Britain CA, British Empire, Carnage, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Chaudhry Shujaat, CIA, CNN, Communication skills, Cowri, Current Affairs, Current Affairs of America, David Horowitz, Dawn, Democracy, Dinar, Dr. Ghamdi, Dr. Shahid Mahmud, Dubai, Durand Line, education, Election Commission of Pakistan, Elections, Elections in Pakistan, Eliminate Durand Line, Emersen, employment, Empty promises, energy, England, English, environemnt, equality, Faiza Dawood, Fatima Bhutto, Flour, Foreign Investment, Fox, Gandhi, GEO, Geo TV, Gert Wilders, Ghinwa Bhutto, Guru Nanak, Hafiz Saeed, Hamid Mir, Hamilton, Hindi, Hindu Mahasaba, History, History of Pakistan, History of Urdu, House of Lords, http://www.BLOGSOFPAKISTAN.COM, http://www.PAKBLOGESPHERE.COM, http://www.PAKBLOGSPHERE.COM, http://www.PAKISTANBLOGSPHERE.COM, http://www.PakistaniBloggers.com, http://www.PakistanLedger.com, http://www.PakPunch.com, http://www.RupeeNews.com, http://www.RupiNews.com, Hussain Haqqani, Imarn Khan, Imran Khan, Independence, India, Indian, Investment, Irshad Manji, ISI, Jamaat e Islami, Jang, Javed Iqbal, Jefferson, Jemima Khan, JF-17 Thunder, Jinnah, John, Kalachi jo goth, Kama Sutra, Kamran Khan, Karachi, Kashif Abbasi, Kauri, Khalid Malik, Killed, Kissinger, Kodi, Koran, Lahore, Language skills, Lashkar e Mohammadi, Lashkar e Taiba, Lashkar e Toiba, Letters, Liaqat bagh, Liaquat Bagh, Locke, Lord nazir, Lover, Machiavelli, Madison, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, manzil nahin nishan e manzil hai, Marina Khan, Mashriq, Media, Molana Masood Azhar, MQM, Mr. 10%, Ms. Faiza Dawood, Ms. Shaista Wahidi, Muhammad, Muhammadi, Mumbai, Musharraf, muslim league, Nadia Khan, Naheed Khan, Naqai e Waqt, National Assembly, National Assembly of Pakistan, National Language Authority, Nawaz Sharif, Nehru, Now Dero Feroz, Now or Never, Nuclear Bombs, Nuclear proliferation, Nukes, Occidental Urban Legands, Oriental Myths, Paine, Paisas, Pakistan, Pakistan Election Commission, Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan National Language Authority, Pakistan Television, Pakistani Americans, Pakistani bloggers, Pakistani Britishers, Pakistani elections, Pakistani fighter plane, Pakistani Nukes, Pakistanis refuse to call is “partition”. It was a, Panja Sahib, Peloponesia War, Pervaiz Ilahi, Pervez, Pervez Ilahi, PIA, PML (N), PML (Q), Political Science, Politics, Politics of Pakistan, PPP, Prices, Prime Minister, Prince, PTV, Punjab, Punjabi, Quran, Rahman Malik, Rai, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi Epress, Rehman, Riots, Robert Spencer, RSS, Rupee, Rupees, Sanam Bhutto, Sarhad, Savage, Seductress, Selective Amnesia of Americans: Pakistan is the most mi, Senate, Senate of Pakistan, Sex, SEX LIFE OF MRS INDIRA GANDHI, Shaharyar Azhar, Shahbaz Sharif, Shaikh Rasheed, Sherry Rehman, Shoab Akhtar, Shujaat Hussain, Sikhs, Sind, Sindh, Socrates, South Asia, South Asian History, Sparta, Subcontinent, talat Husain, Talat Hussain, Taliban, Taslima Nasrin, Television, Terrorism, The real scoop, The States, Tubelight, Two Nation Theory, UAE, Unitarianism and Islam, United States of America, Urban Myths, Urdu, Urdu Newspapers, Urdu proficiency of Pakistani Politicians. Urdu, US, USA, USA. Islam, Watandost, Were the American Founding Fathers Muslim? Deism, Western press, Wheat, Worst Islamphobe, Zardari, Zulfiqar Ali, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Jr., Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Junior
The purpose of the peace process is to form a confederation between India and Pakistan. This was stated by Indian leader Advani which represents the thoughts of the majority of the Indians and the Indian leadership.
The hawks in the Pakistani body politics understand that the “peace process” is a ruse to eliminate the Radcliff line and build the “Akhand Bharat” from Kabul to Raj Kalhani (a mythical land East of Bali, Indonesia. The US right now wants India and Pakistan together to confront China.
The doves in Pakistan don’t have a clue and think that the peace process will lead to peace and prosperity.
THE CHARISMATIC ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO WAS HATED IN WASHINGTON : The youngest Foreign Minister of Pakistan, the mercurial Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was building Pakistani bridges with China. He wanted to close the US base in Pakistan, which he succeed in doing. President Johnson told President Ayub Khan ”Bhutto must Go! Bhutto must Go!”. Soon thereafter Bhutto resigned a created the Pakistan Peoples Party.
The favourite slogan, the one that caught on during the May 1968 fête in France was “it is forbidden to forbid”. There is nothing to forbid the youth of Europe to reject both communism and capitalism. What will they build in the absence of both systems? Will their concept of building a new structure with a new philosophy mean willful self-destruction? This sounds insane but the youth of Europe is not insane. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto A letter from the Death Cell (2007)] p. 15 p. 20
BHUTTO’S UNIQUE BRAND OF ISLAMIC SOCIALISM APPEALED TO THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN: Bhutto was “Left leaning” and a Socialist. President Johnson wanted President Ayub Khan to fire Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto launced a movement and forced Ayub Khan to resign. disappointed with the Americans after 1965, President Ayub Khan wrote a book called “Friends Not Masters” for America. Bhutto wrote a book called “Myth of Independence” in which he wanted to eliminate American influences on Pakistan.After 1971 Bhutto was elected Prime Minister and started Pakistan’s nuclear program.
“We badly need to gather our thoughts and clear our minds. We need a political ceasefire without conceding ideological territory.We need a ceasefire to bury dead thoughts and to overcome fatigue. The modus vivendi has to be honourable and above board. Both sides have lost or, should I say, neither side can win. During the ceasefire a combination of existing forces might create a new order or a new equation between existing forces. Whatever the formula, it cannot be evolved on the battlefield of the old or new cold wars. The new international order has to emerge through the demands of a Third World summit conference. The answer to the North-South conflict, which is more serious than the East-West conflict, has to be found honestly and with unimpeachable integrity. Genuine disarmament will not come on its own or by platitudes at special sessions of the United Nations on disarmament, although, I was among the first to propose such a conference eighteen years ago. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto A letter from the Death Cell (2007)] p. 15 p. 28
KISSINGER THREATENED BHUTTO: In May 1974 India exploded a Nuclear device which it called “peaceful”. Following India’s explosion, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto pledged to press ahead with Pakistan’s nuclear program.
“We will eat grass… “Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Referring to financing the Pakistani Nuclear program.
Insistence on Kashmir will do Pakistan no good: Advani By Nayyara Rahman
NEW DELHI, April 19: Senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and leader of the opposition in the Indian parliament L.K. Advani has said that Pakistan’s insistence on describing Kashmir as the core issue “would not achieve anything”.
In an exclusive interview with DawnNews TV, Mr Advani spoke of communalism in India, his party’s role in national politics and the prospects of peace between India and Pakistan.
The BJP leader said although he encouraged the Composite Dialogue between the two countries, he believed that other issues, like information and commerce, should precede Kashmir. “Kashmir later,” he said.
However, he remained optimistic that although the Kashmir problem would take time to resolve, a day would come when India and Pakistan would form a confederation, to solve the issue.
In comments pertaining to the Agra Summit, Mr Advani said he was ‘incorrectly’ blamed for its failure by President Pervez Musharraf. Far from being the cause behind its failure, he said, he was in fact one of the architects of the summit.
According to Mr Advani, it was President Musharraf’s inflexibility that led to the summit’s failure. “Musharraf just would not admit that there is any such thing like terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, or in Punjab, which has been inspired by him or his country. And he maintained that what was happening in Jammu and Kashmir or in other parts of the country… cannot be called terrorism. It is a ‘freedom struggle’ of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their own freedom.”
Mr Advani stressed that cross-border terrorism was a serious bone of contention in the India-Pakistan peace process. While agreeing that militancy had decreased along the borders, he said it could be attributed to the Joint Statement reached by India and Pakistan, and was still there in the country. He was of the view that until this problem was dealt with, there could be no progress on the peace process.
When asked why diplomacy was not initially used to solve the Kargil crisis, he said that it was not diplomacy that resolved the issue, but intervention by the United States. He believed that it was a ‘war of a kind’ in which ‘Pakistan refused to accept its own dead bodies’ and implied that Pakistan had capitulated before the US while India had not.
The former deputy prime minister also spoke at length about his party’s communal image and its role in nationhood. He implied that religion was inherent in any democracy, since ‘religion is a considerable part of life’, and anyone not subscribing to the view could live in a ‘communist country’.
“The role of religion is not much. But it is considerable in life. In a democracy religion is important. In a communist state, it isn’t.”
He consistently denied accusations of playing the communal card, but was less successful in projecting a non-communal image of his party. When asked to comment about his support for Chief Minister Narendra Modi, after the ‘post-Godhra’ riots, instead of defending his actions he quoted the onslaught India’s Sikh community faced after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984.
“They were not riots. Not a single Hindu was killed. About 3,500 Sikhs were killed. Congress said, ‘So what? When a huge tree falls, the earth is bound to shake.’
“How can I find fault with the [Gujarat] government then? I am bound to say that this is not fair to the Gujarat government and this is why I defend it.” Furthermore, he said, the votes spoke for themselves.
Responding to whether the Gujarat killings followed an ‘action-reaction’ logic to Godhra, he said he agreed to the suggestion to some extent.
When asked if Pakistan’s ‘Islamic Republic’ status bothered India, he said, “A theocratic state does bother us… it does.” But he insisted that Jinnah was inherently a secular leader, and had his 11th August, 1947 speech been implemented, Pakistan too would be a secular state.
Mr Advani said his party’s hard-line resolution on Pakistan following his 2006 visit to the country, was because Jinnah’s speech ‘was pushed beneath the carpet’.
The most striking moment of the interview, however, was when Mr Advani, in his own words, clarified his stand on Ayodhya for the first time. He said that while he stood by the Ayodhya Movement, and embraced it, he was saddened by the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
BJP’s subsequent electoral victory, he said, was because the Ayodhya Movement, and not the demolition, reflected the people’s aspirations. “I believe a temple should have been built at the site. But the demolition disturbed me.”
It would have been interesting to see how a mosque and a temple could have co-existed on exactly the same spot in Ayodhya.
Posted in Current Affairs, Pak CA
Posted on 19 April 2008. Tags: 1947, 5 Es, AAJ, Abu Dhabi, Afghan, Afghania, Ali Bhutto, Aliph, Allied forces, America, America–Sweet Land of Liberty, Amin Fahim, Ann Coulter, Arabs, ARY, ARY One World, ARY TV, ARYOneWorld, Asif Ali Zardari, Asif Zardari, Asifa, Asrar Ahmad, Assassination, Athens, Azhar, Bakhtawar, Benazir, Benazir Bhutto, Bhutto, Bible, Bilawal Bhutto, Bombay constituency, Bombay presidency, Brahmin, Brazil, Britain CA, British Empire, Carnage, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Chaudhry Shujaat, CIA, CNN, Communication skills, Cowri, Current Affairs, Current Affairs of America, David Horowitz, Dawn, Democracy, Dinar, Dr. Ghamdi, Dr. Shahid Mahmud, Dubai, Durand Line, education, Election Commission of Pakistan, Elections, Elections in Pakistan, Eliminate Durand Line, Emersen, employment, Empty promises, energy, England, English, environemnt, equality, Faiza Dawood, Fatima Bhutto, Flour, Foreign Investment, Fox, Free Trade Zone, Gandhi, GEO, Geo TV, Gert Wilders, Ghinwa Bhutto, Guru Nanak, Hafiz Saeed, Hamid Mir, Hamilton, Hindi, Hindu Mahasaba, History, History of Pakistan, History of Urdu, House of Lords, http://www.BLOGSOFPAKISTAN.COM, http://www.PAKBLOGESPHERE.COM, http://www.PAKBLOGSPHERE.COM, http://www.PAKISTANBLOGSPHERE.COM, http://www.PakistaniBloggers.com, http://www.PakistanLedger.com, http://www.PakPunch.com, http://www.RupeeNews.com, http://www.RupiNews.com, Hussain Haqqani, Imarn Khan, Imran Khan, Independence, India, Indian, Investment, Irshad Manji, ISI, Jamaat e Islami, Jang, Javed Iqbal, Jefferson, Jemima Khan, JF-17 Thunder, Jinnah, John, Kalachi jo goth, Kama Sutra, Kamran Khan, Karachi, Kashif Abbasi, Kauri, Khalid Malik, Killed, Kissinger, Kodi, Koran, Lahore, Language skills, Lashkar e Mohammadi, Lashkar e Taiba, Lashkar e Toiba, Letters, Liaqat bagh, Liaquat Bagh, Locke, Lord nazir, Lover, Machiavelli, Madison, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, manzil nahin nishan e manzil hai, Marina Khan, Mashriq, Media, Molana Masood Azhar, MQM, Mr. 10%, Ms. Faiza Dawood, Ms. Shaista Wahidi, Muhammad, Muhammadi, Mumbai, Musharraf, muslim league, Nadia Khan, Naheed Khan, Naqai e Waqt, National Assembly, National Assembly of Pakistan, National Language Authority, Nawaz Sharif, Nehru, Now Dero Feroz, Now or Never, Nuclear Bombs, Nuclear proliferation, Nukes, Occidental Urban Legands, Oriental Myths, Paine, Paisas, Pakistan, Pakistan Election Commission, Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan National Language Authority, Pakistan Television, Pakistani Americans, Pakistani bloggers, Pakistani Britishers, Pakistani elections, Pakistani fighter plane, Pakistani Nukes, Pakistanis refuse to call is “partition”. It was a, Panja Sahib, Peloponesia War, Pervaiz Ilahi, Pervez, Pervez Ilahi, PIA, PML (N), PML (Q), Political Science, Politics, Politics of Pakistan, PPP, Prices, Prime Minister, Prince, PTV, Punjab, Punjabi, Quran, Rahman Malik, Rai, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi Epress, Rehman, Riots, Robert Spencer, RSS, Rupee, Rupees, Sanam Bhutto, Sarhad, Savage, Seductress, Selective Amnesia of Americans: Pakistan is the most mi, Senate, Senate of Pakistan, Sex, SEX LIFE OF MRS INDIRA GANDHI, Shaharyar Azhar, Shahbaz Sharif, Shaikh Rasheed, Sherry Rehman, Shoab Akhtar, Shujaat Hussain, Sikhs, Sind, Sindh, Socrates, South Asia, South Asian History, Sparta, Subcontinent, talat Husain, Talat Hussain, Taliban, Taslima Nasrin, Television, Terrorism, The real scoop, The States, Tubelight, Two Nation Theory, UAE, Unitarianism and Islam, United States of America, Urban Myths, Urdu, Urdu Newspapers, Urdu proficiency of Pakistani Politicians. Urdu, US, USA, USA. Islam, Watandost, Were the American Founding Fathers Muslim? Deism, Western press, Wheat, Worst Islamphobe, Zardari, Zulfiqar Ali, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Jr., Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Junior
The Pakistani Stock Market is the worlds fastest growing stock market in 2008. In 2007 despite earthquakes and elections the Pakistani Stock Market reached records heights. Qatari, Muscat, Saudi, UAE, Arab, Chinese, Malaysian, and other Asian investment in Pakistan is increasing exponentially. Western investment is also expected to increase with the new aid package with the USA. The FTA with China, the new plans in energy, defense, train, pipelines will further enhance the pace of growth. With UAEs Emaar heavily entrenched in Pakistan homes (pun intended), it is investing $28 Billion in building two islands near Karachi. Additionally other Arab investments are coming to totally transform Manora and the Hawkesbay area into a “mini Dubai”. The FTA with Malaysia and Qatar will bring new benefits to Pakistan by opening up ASEAN, UAE and Arab markets. With the Iran Pakistan pipeline in the works, and the Tukmenistan Pakistan pipeline being planned, and the $7 Billion package from the USA, Pakistani exports will increase dramatically. Pakistan is also ready to export Al-Khalid tanks and JF-Thunder fighter jets to friendly countries which is a boom to the export industry and also to the 2nd and 3rd tier manufacturers in Pakistan. The Pakistani IT industry is expected to reach $11 Billion within a few years. This baseline will improve the track to make it into a robust industry. An FTA with the USA has not been approved, but Pakistan is working on the plans to convince the Americans on expanding the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) from the border areas, FATA to all of NWFP and Baluchistan.
Now the latest news from Qatar and Muscat informs us that another $8 Billion will be invested in Pakistan. The exponential affect of these huge investments will further expedite the growth of Pakistan’s indigenous entrepreneurs and have a trickle down effect on increasing the growth.
Qatar, Muscat to invest $8 bn in Pakistan Updated at: 2040 PST, Saturday, April 19, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Qatar will invest 5 billion dollars in Pakistan while Muscat 2.75 billion dollars in various projects in Balochistan.
This was stated by ambassadors of Qatar, Jordon and Muscat during their meeting here with Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics, Senator Ishaq Dar.
Hamad Ali Al-Hanzab, Ambassador of Qatar said that Qatar would be investing in all US $ 5 billion in Pakistan.
He said that Qatar has launched Islamic Taqaful Insurance Company in Pakistan and hoped that more investment would be made in the financial sector to tap Pakistan’s investment potential for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
The two sides also agreed to convene the meeting of Joint Ministerial Commission at the mutually convenient dates.
Dr. Saleh Ahmed Aljawarneh, Ambassador of Jordan proposed convening of the meeting of the Joint Economic Ministerial Commission and the meeting of Joint Business Council to increase economic cooperation between the two countries.
He informed the Finance Minister that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) wasexpected to be signed in August between the two countries.
The two sides also reviewed the cooperation in the fields of agriculture and railways. Possibilities of Joint venture in manufacturing of phosphate fertilizer was also discussed.
The Ambassador of Muscat, Mohamed Said Mohamed Al-Lawati discussed role of Pak-Oman Investment Company in promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries.
He said Muscat by financing various projects has been instrumental in accelerating development in Balochistan.
It was also noted that Pak-Oman micro finance is playing a positive role in poverty alleviation in Pakistan.
The two sides agreed to accelerate implementation of various projects in Balochistan costing around US $ 27.5 million being financed through grant from Muscat.
The two sides also noted positive development of purchase of 65 percent shares by Pak-Oman Joint Investment company of World Call shares, its interest in telecommunication and power sector.
The Muscat Ambassador also expressed the interest to develop tourism in Balochistan.
Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar assured the envoys of his full cooperation for promoting increased economic cooperation
Posted in Current Affairs, Pak CA
