Dear Admin,
Just to inform u if u have any idea about Newsexpress political show aired with the name of COLUMNKAAR. It is somewhat similar with Bolta Pakistan. The program is housted by seasoned pakistani columnist Haroon Rashid, Abdul Qadar Hasan, Majeeb ur rehman Shami And Athar Abbas. It would be good addition at Pkpoltics media category. we hope you will also add this program on Pkpolitics.Your acknowledgement will be highly appreciated.

Thx

admin, something is wrong with this video it shuts off after minute 3! this is the second Off the Record which is not working!

Really nice program … !

Hassan Khan
California, USA

@Democracy,

I added another video player below the existing one. Let me know if that is better.

Admin

Haven’t seen this programme but I just saw Meray Mutabiq. I don’t know why Shahid Masood is so obsessed with the clown Sheikh Rasheed. All through 2007, he brought Sh Rashhed again and again. He treats him like some sort of a jotshee who can see the future. All his predictions have come wrong, he is just a half-literate, uncouth thug who shot to fame for using abusive language in his jalsaas. The people of Pindi have finally booted him out. For God’s sake Shahid Masood, people have supported you when you were banned, rise above this trash and bring some one with some intellect. Admin, I am sure people will not mind if you ignore tonight’s episode of MM.

Hi Admin, the original one started to work and I watched the whole thing, about 32 minutes. thanks and will check out the new version too.

Free version added.

Admin

kashif is the best

@ aayjay

If you don’t like watching Sheikh Rasheed than please don’t. No one is forcing you to watch.

But please don’t ask admin to ignore MM because the rest of us want to watch him.

what PPP get against NRO was dead of BB.

PPP did not get single vote for restoration of Cj.

someone please kill this old hag talat masood. i cant stand this b*stard.

talat masood is great man,he must be respected

Good show.

This roedad khan was the stooge of zia ul haq and was involved in the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and now he is talking about independent judiciary and restoration of judges.

Roedad Khan is the best..he speaks with devotion and sincerity

PPP has to restore judges..Traitor Ganju Khosa group defeated in Pakistan Bar Coucil elections..i think its their 7th defeat in recent months …baber awan, khosa , farooq naik are traitors and they speak language of zardari who is forced by N league to restore judges

i challenge PPP not to restore judges and then see what will happen with them..there will be a movement and then zardaris Munafakana smile will disappear

@sleepingnation
Talking about Roedad Khan’s devotion and sincerity, I was reminded of a piece former The News editor Shaheen Sehbai wrote about him on the op-ed pages of The News in September 2006. In Sehbai’s words

“How should a Pakistani, living in a foreign land, away from the country for years, view, analyse and react to the mainstream press articles and website rants of a well-informed insider of the Pakistani establishment?
“Is this frustration of an almost senile angry old man? Is this because he has been kept away from the corridors of power by military masters similar to those he has been serving for decades? Is this a belated feeling of guilt after enjoying, and mostly misusing, decades of unchecked and uninterrupted administrative and political power? Or are these the anguished cries of a genuinely concerned citizen who cannot see his country get buried into the dustbin of shame and ignominy?
“Yes I am talking about the recent articles of Roedad Khan, the super-bureaucrat who proudly claims on his website that during his service he got to know two prime ministers Benazir and Nawaz Sharif and six presidents — Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, ZA Bhutto, Ziaul Haq, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari — in varying measure.
“They all displayed vast differences in personality, character and style. Each one of them has directly or indirectly contributed to our generation’s anguish and sense of betrayal, our loss of confidence in our rulers, in our country, in our future, in ourselves and the souring of the dream of Pakistan. Every now and then, I put pen to paper and unburden myself of the things that weigh upon my spirit: the sense of being in a blind alley, the perception of our collective guilt, the knowledge of all that has been irrevocably lost,” he states recalling those he served.
“At another place on the same website, under the title of “Friday Club”, Mr Khan reveals the company he keeps every Friday in Islamabad at his residence. “This is an informal, social gathering of about 20 persons, mostly retired civil servants, all united by a common interest in current affairs, meeting every Friday, for intellectual stimulation and catharsis, without a fixed agenda at 10:30 am at the residence of Mr Roedad Khan, who acts as host and coordinator. Its origin goes back to the mid 1970s when ‘club members’ used to meet every Friday at Zubaida Agha’s residence. Altaf Gauhar, Ejaz Naik and Roedad Khan formed the nucleus. Others joined the club later.
“He claims the members of the Friday club now include retired governors, foreign ministers, air marshals, federal secretaries, ambassadors, educationists, poets and columnists. No papers are read and no speeches are delivered. No minutes are recorded and no record is kept. Discussions are uninhibited, free, frank, animated, and end up as brainstorming sessions. According to him these meetings last for about four hours.
“Among other points on his long CV since he joined the civil service in 1949, the year of my birth, Roedad Khan can boast of several important appointments, including those of chief secretary, Sindh; secretary, ministry of interior; secretary general, ministry of interior; federal minister in charge of accountability; and advisor to the prime minister on accountability.
“His latest article in a national daily newspaper has fired me up, so much so, that I decided to write about him ignoring the hot shot disclosures made by President Musharraf in his just released memoir, In the Line of Fire. Mr Khan had already come in my line of fire before General Musharraf released his bombshells and hot air balloons.
“This is what Mr Khan wrote which angered me more than General Musharraf’s truths. “Pakistan is a nation of teahouse politicians, midgets with no commitment to principles and no values; nothing to die for and nothing to live for. Here we have pocketbook liberals, pseudo-democrats and orthodox religious leaders concerned only with short-term profits and only too eager to do business with the military…” And he goes on and on against everybody else.
“The descriptions he gave in the above paragraph, ironically, fit his own character and performance since 1949, like a glove on a lady’s hand. He talks of everyone’s failings except bureaucrats, his own, to be specific. He was a collaborator and partner in every crime the military rulers and their henchmen committed against the country but he forgets all that with ease. He calls politicians midgets with no commitment to principles, but does he have any of his own to show?
“He accuses all pocketbook liberals, pseudo democrats and orthodox religious leaders of being opportunists and eager to do business with the military. But what about his own association and business with the military dictators of the past? Was Ayub Khan or Yahya Khan or Ziaul Haq an elected leader that he served and boot-licked?
“Who does not remember his role as the leader of the secret election cell in the Ghulam Ishaq Khan presidency in 1990 when he rigged the election blatantly in collaboration with his colleague Ijlal Haider Zaidi and General Rafaqat? His exploits have all been recorded in several books written about those elections. Does that conduct fit into his description of “nothing to die for and nothing to live for” or was it only for a short-term gain?
“By his own admission he sits only with the elite or the so-called elite of Islamabad, mostly those who are now retired and have nothing else to do but find faults with everybody else. The list of foreign ministers, retired governors etc. does not appear to include any one who may have enough respect and credibility that he could be named by name. The Friday club is apparently nothing but a group of has-beens who envy the magician Sharifuddin Peerzada and curse him day in and day out as he has managed to stay inside the power corridors, despite his age and frailty. So if they are not in, nothing is right, cannot be.
“Mr Roedad Khan and his Friday club may be making the right noises at this point in time but they owe tons and tons of apologies to the nation before their voices could be taken as sincere, honest and well meaning. They have to remove the stigma of their yester years of serving all ilks of dictators and autocrats who have brought the country to the current pass. Mr Khan cannot escape the burden of guilt that would forever stay on his shoulders.
“Who can say with confidence that if tomorrow General Musharraf summons him for consultations and help on how to run a democracy, in uniform, Roedad Khan would not order a new sherwani, or a three-piece suit, on an urgent delivery basis and be there in the king’s court within 24 hours.
“The lack of credibility issue has to be resolved first before the Friday Club lectures on democracy make any sense. Mr Khan can begin with an apology to the nation in his next column or display it on his website.”

ppp again going against the mandate… NROz, deals, power etc etc… what do u call what ppp is doing??? what they always did.. isnt it hypocrisy.??.. i never understood from the 80s how come they are supported by people… the real ppp died with ZAB

@

hamidwattoo

just ask your zardari that not to restore judiciary ..then see what will happen…….you are explainaing past of roedad khan but please look at the present of your party PPP..NRO, american agenda, deal with Mush…

there should not be any justification for wrong deeds

@sleepingnation

I agree… right always is right and wrong always is wrong… no matter who is involved… i hope mr hamidwattoo here has done the same research on ppp as he did on roadad khan.. and im sure he wont have to go back in time much…

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, they say, and Kashif Abbasi is nothing but a crude imitation and fuzzy copy of Talat Hussain. He is palpably patial and nothing but a mouth peice of conservative right and nawaz sharif camp.

Roedad , a pashtoon buddy and beneficiary of Ayub, Yahya and Gholam the grim, an embodiment of establishment in service and a revolutionary in post retirement period, a la Hameed Gul. He coolheadedly served forces of status quo all his life and now to gain popularity speaks passionately inline with the public sentiments. “haee zalim ko kis waqt khuda yaad aya”. Post retirement life out of lime light of corridors of power is surely difficult.

Irfan Sidiqi is Mian sb’s speech writer, that will be suffice to say.

Tariq Fatmi evidently responds to peer pressure. Can and would any one PPP, NS or Imran simply walk out of war in Afghanistan/FATA. Easier said than done.

Talat Masood is the only saner voice on the set. Pakistan needs generals like him, who accapt the supremacy of Civilians in the affairs of the state.

@sleepingnation, linear chaos
Well, let me state that I am not a Zardari supporter at all. I would be the last to be one. Your writing the words ‘your Zaradri’ actually pained me. Secondly, I agree to everything you have said. Among the current lot of politicans, I only consider people like Imran Khan, Aitzaz Ahsan and Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the best and above board. But my favourite continues to remain Sherbaz Mazari. If you want to know the man, read his book ‘A Journey to Disillusionment’ which I believe is the best political commentary on Pakistan. The idea of raking up the past was not aimed at denigrating the mighty Roedad Khan. His book ‘Pakistan: A Dream Gone Sour’ is also a good pick when trying to know the nature of regimes which have lorded over us. It was just meant to put things in perspective. Of course, he is a changed man now but why it takes these men of letter so long to discover the truth is what baffles me.

Restored Supreme court must take up NRO and Main sb’s highjacking case as also it should look into the case of Asghar Khan upon which it has been sitting for over a decade now, people of Pakistan should be told the names of politician who received money from ISI to fight elections against PPP. It should be approached to give a verdict on the “judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto”, and should be asked to give a verdict on the causes of dismemberment of Pakistan, in 1971.

Or may be supreme court should take suo moto action on all these cases. Judicial activism should be across the board.

@aboves on Imran Khan

I am living in UK for good long period.. I go to night clubs every weekend.. I am studying at Imperial College London (world no 5), and I dine out at london restaurants..
with that I am well aware of pakistani political issues, poverty in pakistan. I cant see any conflict of my social life with my career goals which are to improve pakistan. e.g. I have alredy secured internship with Oxfam.
Its just upto you how you see it..

If you are just a loser than you will blindly criticise one’s life but you know that IK doesn’t give a damn what losers think. just so you know..

@linear chaos

“real PPP died with bhutto”

You are right. In 80s it was Mian Nawaz sharif who struggled against and suffered at the hands of Zia Marddod.It was PML workers who faced shahi kila, korey and deaths while BB and PPP were supporting and benefiting by ruling under Mard ed Momin.

Thanks for keeping the historical facts straight.

@hamidwattoo
“Who can say with confidence that if tomorrow General Musharraf summons him for consultations and help on how to run a democracy, in uniform, Roedad Khan would not order a new sherwani, or a three-piece suit, on an urgent delivery basis and be there in the king’s court within 24 hours.”

I can say with confidence that Roedad Khan would not order a new sherwani, or a three-piece suit. You don’t leave such things to chance. I can guarantee you he has both — a new sherwani and a new three-piece suit — hanging in his closet just in case.

No I am not just blaming Roedad alone for this. This “lota-pun” of sorts has become a national characteristic of ours. For example It has become normal to have a “durse” function at weddings followed by a function that goes against everything taught at that “durse”.

yeh faizan-e-nazar tha ya lafafe ki karamat thi

I just can’t understand why these media guys only talk about NRO and PPP cases, and US plan etc. There is a Saudi plan as well. they took their amir-ul-momineen away and planted him back when the time was right. Also, unlike PPP people, the pardon given to sharif’s was in cases with conviction (and conviction too by judiciary of which their beloved judges were members of). No case proven in 12 years against PPP men. Most of the cases acquitted by court even before NRO. From Saif-ur-rehman to Chaudhary Shujat to Pervaiz Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif, all have acknowledged one way or the other that cases were politically motivated and baseless. Even then the media focuses on these cases only in a bias manner and then claiming to be “free, independent and unbiased” media.
To me, the conservatives in establishment and agencies fear the end of their game of exploitation under liberal forces taking power (for the first time with full international backing). And roedad’s and tariq fatmis and irfan siddiquis (all henchmen of ghulam ishaq khan’s and zia ul haq’s of their time) are desperate to undermine them.

@nota: “For example It has become normal to have a “durse” function at weddings followed by a function that goes against everything taught at that “durse”.”

That is so true.. this is the kind of pervasive hypocrisy that we can only move away from when we start looking at our own characteristics (and that of our history) that would make a modern, reasonably educated human cringe.

Pragmatic approach leads us to hypocracy, while principled one keeps away from hypocracy.

But as the discussions have evolved from right march9 to April20, one can easily judge how the discussions are moved from principled ones to pragmatic ones.

So atleast we should not blame others only but include us as well in the same catogory of hypocrates(exceptions are always there).

Roedad Khan, Tariq fatmi and Irfan siddiqui raised excellent points.. Mr. dacoit zardari should not be allowed to do all that corruption and then deal with MUSH through USA…..its shameful…..

General Talat as always trying to keep his army brothers happy as well as trying to prove that he is an independent analyst…….he is cunning ……

i salute raoedad khan for being so active in lawyers and civil society movement even in this old age and facing tear gas from Mush police in islamabad….

Kashif is doing an excellent job and he is exposing double standards of PPP which the most corrupt political party in whole south asia……

@ hamidwatoo

IK being above board….mann what a statement by you…IK has not been above board in making his children…how do you expect him to be above board in public matters…..second we saw his above board politics when he climbed on Mush’s sham referendum truck…IK is any thing but above board…..

I must appreciate one point which was raised by pgrogramme anchor KA that Why always every corrupt/ culprit enjoy a safe passage? Why does not accountability hold? When will accountability culture initiate in this country in a true manner? We should think over it.

Dear Admin, can you upload the latest Off the Record and the interview of Asif Zardari on Aaj by Nasim Zahra, in a program called Newsmaker. thank you.