ANP Rally at Maripur Road 11th May 2008

The purpose of city nazim Mustafa Kamal’s on-going trip to the United States has been the subject of much discussion lately. All three major English dailies, Dawn, The News and Daily Times have carried stories on it recently.

On Monday, Daily Times reported he was getting “special treatment” from the State Department because they viewed him as a potential future leader of the country. The report in Monday’s The News was also on similar lines, it quoted CNN’s State Department Correspondent Zain Virje as saying that the mayor of Karachi was a “guest with a mission”. Daily Times also published the full transcript of the interview Kamal gave to Virje, and even though Kamal played down speculation about the purpose of his visit, telling Dawn’s Anwer Iqbal that he had come to the United States to urge American businessmen to invest in his city, speculation is still rife. (more…)

Few days back speaking to general workers convention at 90, Altaf Hussain said MQM doesn’t take a second to kick workers out on corruption charges. Indeed it was a good show for the cameras but the harsh reality on the ground is quite contrary. Many of you have seen these clips on TV recently but such stories are just formalities. Since poor chaps like WK cannot go beyond or take on BIG GUNS but at his place its a drop in ocean. THE NEWS makes a stunning disclosure yesterday about the biggest scam in the real estate history of Pakistan and which should have been all over NEWS papers today but since the GUN rules in KHI, publishing this story itself was a big deal for THE NEWS. Rauf Klasra has done a stunning job indeed.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has canceled with immediate effect 3,281 eligibility certificates issued by outgoing MQM housing minister Syed Safwanullah for government properties and accommodations in Karachi estimated to be worth Rs 450 billion.

Bulk of these properties was quietly sold in the private market by those who had received these illegal certificates. The prime minister who may face political pressure from his party’s new coalition partner in Sindh after this decision, has also ordered the immediate ejection of all those now illegally occupying these government properties and houses. The buyers of most of these government properties were given eligibility certificates by the housing minister during 2005-2008 but they sold them in the open market and disappeared. Read COMPLETE story

Few among us know that May 12 also marks the death anniversary of the People’s Poet Habib Jalib apart from what it is now known for. I shall try to do a detail post then but for now here is a song that is being seen quite regularly. Incidentally it also depicts the current situation except that its sola (16) carore and not dus (10) carore. The new ministers and advisor’s have(are) taken(ing) oath these days and so Habib’s poetry is as valid as ever. “Main Nay Kaha” is a satirical poem called “Musheer” (Advisor). Mr. M bokhari has done his bit to put the audio into text here in comment section.
Audio DOWNLOAD


Credits:
Mainay Uss Say Yeh Kaha - Habib Jalib
Vocals - Shahram Azhar , Music - Taimur Rahman , Backing Vocals - Mahvash Waqar , Director Producer - Taimur Khan

Experts (even COWASJEE ) have supported CDGK’s stance on KWSB and KBCA in a latest tussle (here here) with provincial gov. which may well decide the future shape of relations between the two sides i.e PPP and MQM. Personally from what i have been able to gather i too stay on CDGKs side. While all of us (especially me) dont spare CDGK for any shortcomings its unjust to take them to task when they are not fully empowered.

It has become a tradition to just throw every other evil into CDGK’s lap so when they talk about unity of command and control and coordination experts believe they are right. Today’s DAWN reports this story on the latest legal (and political) battle that has just began. A seminar on Karachi Strategic Development Plan-2020 organised by NGO Shehri. Ronald D’Souza of Shehri had this to say :
“We as Shehri believe that these two areas (water and sanitation and building control) should be with the city government”

On Thursday, the Sindh government through two notifications took over the administrative control of the KWSB and the KBCA and appointed Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani as the authority and chairman of the two bodies, respectively. However, the city government, in retaliation, issued two notifications on Friday in pursuance of the earlier orders of the Sindh government and made the KWSB and the KBCA as water and sanitation and building control groups of offices.

Read FULL STORY

PPP and MQM are heading towards a coalition gov. in Sindh but the ground realities are not as sweet as the media is trying to portray. No matter how how many flowers and smiles are exchanged at 90 and Bilawal house the fact remains the leaders are more into how to divide the pizza then to serve the ordinary man. If there is a will it will be translated to action but if there isn’t any we are not going to hear good coming out of Karachi in future. Following news report is not a good start for the future coalition if they have learned anything from past. The need is to resolve the differences within and especially not to bring it into public where the differences are translated into practical show of strength by party workers.

I came across this advertisement / piece of information in a local newspaper lying in the pile of junk. This picture is around 1 month old, I don’t exactly remember the date, but its probably published on 22nd of March, 2007. The title of the advertisement attracted my attention, I read it, and was very sad. :’((

Although the deceased is from a well-known family, but I did not expect DHL to promote this information in such a manner. A quarter page add costs around 300K ++ on Sundays. I was just thinking what if they had donated 300,000 rupees to some poor, the information of death could have made up an entire life of a poor person or probably lots and lots of them.

Ever since Suddle took charge it seems Karachi-related news does include his name almost daily now. THE NEWS reports low intensity operation being planned by Sindh Police to control crimes.

“The Sindh Police, under its new chief Dr Shoaib Suddle, are putting its act together to launch a “low intensity operation” against terrorists, kidnappers, extortionists and miscreants.” Read complete story

While past mistakes need not to be repeated, it is hoped that this operation would be without any discrimination else it would just be another of the typical eye-wash acts our gov. do every time they come into power.

Just a small recall of the times when you are on / near Shahra-e-Faisal and you are stuck in between a sea of cars standing still. You see an ever-increasing and endless trail of cars piling up from a point where your sight can’t even reach, after a couple of minutes you see a VIP protocol whoosh-by on the empty adjacent road and that’s when you feel like a…….. You know what! :)

Here are some pictures and a video… (a friend happened be in office (on Shahra-e-faisal) when he capture this on his cell phone, so the credits for the pictures and the video goes to Danish)

My previous post “Terror sets in” triggered numerous comments, mostly directed towards the good that our current state of affairs hold for them. The number of comments, and the repeated emphasis on my perspective only compels me to write this open response to all the commentors.

Before I begin, I must say that I am not a political analyst of any sort, nor am I cunning enough to understand any underlying motive of any establishment, be it in power or opposition. My opinions are purely from an average ordinary joe perspective, that represent more than 70% of this country’s population. Also, since the commentors have luxuriously used the names of our rulers, please allow me to do the same.

Our nation does not hold many choices when it comes to running the country. We have seen our situation go from bad to worse under different governments. As a child, I was as naive as most of our nation today, and was an ardent fan of Altaf Hussain, with a poster in my bedroom and a firm belief that he is the all-good in our country. I would snap at anyone who criticized ‘Altaf bhai’. But like I said, I was stupid! Till very late, I couldn’t see the extent of evil that man is. How ordinary people have to bear the expense of his frivolity in maintaining his so-called ‘life as a political refugee’!

Half the country sings carols for BB, to the extent of almost sainthood. My family took a direct hit during her government in the early 90s when my father, a very senior executive at the Pakistan Steel Mills, refused to sign off a payment cheque which had a pre-decided cut for the party in government. He, along with 5 other officials, was sacked overnight, after a series of threats. Some of those officials could not take the shock and died, leaving behind growing children with no bread-earners. Luckily, my mother was a working lady and we survived well. The incident however, did alter our educational opportunities. I’m sure there are others whose tales will shadow mine; our country has suffered tremendously due to her and Zardari and yet today, we are saying cheers to the very man who we called “Mr. 10%” and who became the 1st suspect in our minds when BB was assassinated. Are we not worse than them?

Onto Nawaz Sharif, oh well, we all know the various stories and projects to rob the country of whatever remained. Those who call the Zia’s regime as the worst era in Pakistan’s history, please note that Nawaz Sharif noted General Zia as his political mentor! There was however, 1 good that came out of his government, the nuclear tests! However, the famous 13th and 14th amendments clearly signify his never-ending thirst of power with no barring on any of his schemes. For the record, he was officially sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for corruption and tax evasion charges. The ‎Accountability Court of Pakistan has also disqualified him from holding any public office for 21 ‎years, and fined him 20 million rupees.

To reiterate here, I look at what these governments have given to ordinary citizens. At the end of the day, you and I have the same demands of security, human rights, affordability of basic necessities, and of course, prosperity.

Onward to Musharraf, the Martial Law that I have experienced enough to remember. Although many challenge that his term has been more corrupt than anyone else, the common man has seen atleast some good out of it in the form of economic growth, foreign investments bringing more facilities to Pakistan, better road conditions etc. I donot entirely disagree with the fact that Musharraf’s rule has been corrupt, much like the previous governments.

I think most of the commentors have taken my post to be pro Musharraf. Let me clear a few points here.

As a nation, we have lost all the civic sense we had, we have lost regard to law, regard to the rights of others, and any spirit to become a part of any struggle for improvement. As a nation, we are spoilt brats to the point that we need a stick to discipline us! we have lost the right to deserve democracy!

If I were to change my initial post any bit, it would be that we need a Kingdom system in our country. That way, even if the heads of the state eat off the national treasury, it would be only a matter of time till they realize that there’s no way out than to work for Pakistan! Sadly, that can only remain a dream!

Call it Martial Law, call it whatever you want, but eradicate the plague of the current lot of politicians, make the law and order enforcing agencies strict, execute a couple of terrorists in public and I’ll see how it doesn’t scare the Sh** out of everyone and reduce the crime rate!

70% of our population lives under some kind of fuedal setting. That’s what they know, that’s what they believe in, and that’s what they’re going to elect!

You cannot empower the nation until they know the difference between good and evil.

I end my post with an open prayer for prosperity of Pakistan!