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Pakistan's First Independent Weekly Paper - March 04-10, 2011 - Vol. XXIII, No. 03

The Friday Times, 72 FCC Gulberg IV, Lahore, Pakistan

Ph: 92-42-35763510, Fax: 92-42-35751025,
e-Mail: tft@thefridaytimes.com

The word "inqilab" or "revolution" is on every Pakistani’s lips despite the visible slide into anarchy as demonstrated by two top assassinations in two months – that of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and the Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti. The poor are hoping for it and the rich are fearful of it. Mr Altaf Hussain has compelled Mr Nawaz Sharif to clutch at it and the two have jointly propelled Pir Sahib Pagaro, a self-proclaimed GHQ man, to announce the dire necessity of a 40 year military interregnum to set things right! Is Pakistan ripe for it? ... read more


Diary of a Social Butterfly	Nuggets	Such Gup	Letters

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	The tragedy of local government Khaled Ahmed Pakistan's local governments are representative but not yet participatory. Real benefit of the system will accrue the day local elected members are allowed to administer themselves.
	The great tussle Ali K Chishti A virtual cold-war now exists between the PPP and the MQM where the MQM is actively pushing for LG elections and the PPP is hell bent on delaying the elections to everything under its control
	Floor crossing: once again? Asad Jamal The issue of floor-crossing is once again being debated. This time again the centre of focus is the province of Punjab where the issue has acquired importance after the PPP ministers were kicked out of the cabinet
	The Punjab saga: towards political uncertainty Imtiaz Gul Do the Sharif brothers want to create a Tunisia-like situation in Pakistan and rock the boat through street agitation, plunging this crisis-ridden country into another phase of political uncertainty and economic adversity?
	Curtains on the Qaddafi Pantomime Saeed Naqvi An East-West division of Libya is already beginning to loom large. The sanctity of post colonial borders may no longer remain inviolable

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	The crisis of local representation Ahmad Rafay Alam When the tenure of local government expired in December 2009, no elected representation was left within the entire local government apparatus. Some provincial governments, in an unprecedented move, appointed "administrators and ignored the legal lacuna created by decentralising power and control to themselves
analysis
	Desperate measures Safiya Aftab Pakistan is preparing for a situation where IMF funding may be hard to access. This is fundamentally a good idea but is a costly choice to make given Pakistan's status as a high credit risk country
reports
Week in focus

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	Too School For Cool Rabayl Manzoor Teacher Rabayl Manzoor is outraged by the culture of “decent marks”
culture
The plays and ploys of paandaans Amtul Jamil tells the story of one of South Asia’s most enigmatic creations
travel
	From Nagaur with love Sadia Dehlvi finds peace in the desert
obituary
AZK Sherdil (1941 - 2011) Zubair K Bhatti remembers the distinguished bureaucrat who passed away recently

history
Caught! (But what?) Shahid Saeed follows the mystery of the arms cache that was discovered in the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad in 1973
books
	The land of his dreams Raza Rumi reviews an educationist’s unusual new memoir
The enduring taboo – I On the 10th anniversary of its publication, TFT brings you this extract from Dr Fouzia Saeed’s sensational ‘Taboo’, which chronicles the Lahori middle class’s strange fascination with the city’s ancient pleasure district
photo archive
Zoraak Zagr’s collection Gul Khan Nasir, Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo and Wali Khan Yasser Latif Hamdani
art
Call it Colin Salman Toor revisits his thrilling teenage discovery of the painter Colin David