Tahirul Qadri will triumph!

Writing in Jang Shaheen Sehbai contended that Tahirul Qadri will succeed in his agitation to change the status quo because such agitations had toppled the order in the past: Benazir’s mini-march of 1993 toppled Nawaz Sharif; and Nawaz Sharif’s 2009 agitation got the Army to step in and restore the Chief Justice. Democracy is a mask of corruption and treachery which had lasted too long (lambi rassi) this time. It seems that the Army is waiting in the wings and thinking how to get rid of the politicians; but now there is nothing left for the Army to take.

Pakistan punished for not attacking Iran

Columnist/Anchor Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that after toppling the regime of Bashar al Asad in Syria America will plan toppling the government in Iran and for that it will need Pakistan to attack Iran. It is not succeeding in persuading Pakistan to take part in the American Drama against Iran. The US knows that only a non-political government in Islamabad imposed through agitation will obey the American order. Therefore such conditions will be created in Pakistan to place a pliable non-political government in Pakistan.

American drones and MQM drone

Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that MQM had joined the American bandwagon and Tahirul Qadri by using its political strategy as a drone attack. The western embassies are busy putting out denials of Tahirul Qadri’s connection with America while MQM is freely using the American symbol of assault on Pakistan as its political strategy.

Girl abducted in Lahore found in Quetta

Daily Jang reported that a 13-year old girl abducted from Lahore’s favourite haunt of families Minar-e-Pakistan monument was found by the police in Quetta. She informed the police that she was taken by men to Quetta and she was raped on the way. She was in seriously injured state and was admitted to district hospital of Dera Ghazi Khan in South Punjab.

Tahirul Qadri collects more than Imran, Edhi

Columnist Nazeer Naji wrote in Dunya (13 Jan 2013) that Tahirul Qadri was the top collector of people’s money. Imran Khan and Sattar Edhi had to stand by the roadside for hours to collect the charity they needed from the people but even then that money was not enough to equal the amount Tahirul Qadri paid to mount his publicity campaign in the media. There was no one who had bought TV talk shows because they cost big money.

What Qadri said

Writing in Jang Nazeer Naji quoted Tahirul Qadri as saying: ‘Provincial and federal government were in cahoots with the terrorists and will never be able to end terrorism’. What he will say next will be that he is the only leader who will get Pakistan rid of terrorism because only he will have the trust of foreign powers that can change Pakistan. He is the only religious leader who is enlightened and progressive in the eyes of the foreign powers. Naji wrote he was convinced that Tahirul Qadri had convinced the foreign powers of his plan for Pakistan.

Victimising the liberals in Pakistan

Columnist Rauf Klasra wrote in Dunya (13 Jan 2013) that a friend columnist had thrashed the stuffing out of what he called liberals in Pakistan. He looked at them as if only they were responsible for all the crises in Pakistan while the entire media is crawling with anti-liberal conservatives. These media persons look at the ANP as anti-Pakistan and pro-India enemies of the state. Yet the fact is that these same ANP leaders are sacrificing their lives to terrorist elements once praised by the conservative media persons but who had so far killed 40,000 innocent Pakistanis. These rightwing elements who abused liberals looked at the wars outside Pakistan as Pakistan’s wars and dragged all conflicts home. Today the same rightwing elements were saying the war against terrorism was not ‘our war’.

Aslam Beg & Hameed Gul war duo

Daily Dunya (13 Jan 2013) had columnist Rauf Klasra stating that retired generals Hameed Gul and Aslam Beg were declaring open war with India. Gul was saying the only relationship with India was that of war and Beg was taunting India with another lesson to India as if Pakistan had made it a habit of winning wars with India. Klasra thought maybe Gul was thinking of buying Indian politicians as he had bought the Pakistani ones with secret funds. When Pakistan thinks of normalising relations with India these rightwing scholars and soldiers suddenly realise that India is nothing but an enemy.

Tahirul Qadri is no Imam Khomeini!

Reported in Dunya Tahirul Qadri could muster only 50,000 in Islamabad instead of the 40 lakh protesters he had promised. Justice (Retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi said his demands were unconstitutional and commentator Mujibur Rehman Shami said Tahirul Qadri would be no Imam Khomeini.

Raisani grabbed 6,000 acres and London flat

Reported in Jang (17 Jan 2013) Chief Minister Balochistan Aslam Raisani grabbed 6,000 acres of land in Chaghai district in the name of his clan. In Pasni he had similarly grabbed 15,000 acres in his own name. In the four and half years of his rule the Rs 170 billion given to his government were mostly made to disappear. Aslam Raisani recently bought a four-bedroom flat in Knightsbridge in London naming it Sarawan House.

Hazara killed by ‘strategic depth’

Writing in Jang Hasan Mujtaba stated that the Hazara came to what is now Pakistan from the Afghan region of Bamian and Mazar Sharif in the 19th century because of the cruelty of Amir Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan. They flocked to Quetta after getting employed in the railroad project through the Bolan Pass under British Raj and settled also in Mastung, Khuzdar, Loralai and Pishin. Next Amir Habibullah announced the Hazara could return to their homes but they refused to go back. In 1963 they were accepted as genuine ethnic stock of Balochistan. In 1969, famine in Afghanistan pushed another number of Hazaras into Quetta. Many say that the killing of the Hazara is a part of Pakistan’s ‘strategic depth doctrine’. And it was because of suspicion that in the Musharraf era they were kept away from the army.

Klasra challenges Dr Asim

Writing in Dunya Rauf Klasra recounted that adviser on petroleum Dr Asim Hussain had accused him of having disrupted the process which would have delivered Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Pakistan. He told someone that Klasra had published a scandal and got the court to stop the LNG project. But Klasra stated that Dr Asim had actually praised him for disclosing irregularities in the project with rumours of billions of rupees of kickbacks to the friends of Dr Asim. The scandal was that an American company that was about to go bankrupt had been awarded the contract.

Chief minister loves dogs and bikes

Reported in Jang Aslam Raisani chief minister Balochistan who was found in the UK when the Hazaras were being killed in Quetta and did not return upon hearing of the massacre was fond of raising ferocious dogs but when a dog bit someone he quietly put a bullet through his head. Raisani also spent 90 percent of his time in Islamabad instead of Quetta. In Islamabad he was seen riding big motorbikes with a batch of kids fond of this pastime.