Pakistan won the 3rd test match against England in Dubai, whitewashing the series by 3-0. This was a much needed win after humiliating scandal during last England tour with “News of the World” and spot fixing scandals.
Pakistan also broke a 105 year record of winning a test match after being bowled out for less than 100 in first innings. Exceptional performances were shown by Saeed Ajmal (man of the series), Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Abdul Rahman and Umar Gul.
Congratulations to the nation for this historic win against the top test team of the world!
Abdul Sabour, one of the prisoners, kidnapped two years ago, by intelligence agencies from Adiala Jail was found dead in Peshawar from the area of Haji Camp. His funeral will be held tomorrow at 11:30 am in Kohat.
Three other prisoners kidnapped by intelligence agencies from the same batch met with same fate. Their bodies were also found in Peshawar last month.
The original news of the kidnapping was shared on November 26, 2010 under title “How to Control the Armed Monster“.
The intelligence agencies under command of Pakistan Army have scored a new achievement after kidnapping 11 acquitted civilian prisoners from Adiala jail recently. Although kidnappings and enforced disappearances of Pakistani civilians has been a usual business for Army, but this recent incident has brought the criminal activities of Pakistani Army to a new height where even civilian jails are not enough to stop the kidnappings, and where Army Chief would not be able to give his usual excuse that these civilians were never picked up by his men and they probably went for Jihad in Afghanistan.
The kidnapping took place after plea of families of 11 prisoners in the Court, followed by judicial order to release the prisoners who were acquitted from charges against attack on ISI and other defence personnel several months ago. The Supreme Court, which was itself kidnapped and locked by Pakistani Army just three years ago, took an unusual bold stance and called the intelligence chiefs to respond on their latest activity.
The news about death of 4th hostage was reported briefly on Geo News and has not yet reported in any print media.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been summoned to Supreme Court by seven member larger bench for failing to implement the verdict of Supreme Court on NRO.
The PPP government led by PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has failed to implement the orders by almost four years by various delaying tactics. Just last week, NAB has finally start its action against the beneficiaries of NRO and arrested a few officials who were enjoying various senior positions in PPP government.
Prime Minister has announced that he will act on Supreme Court order and will present himself in front of the bench.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has just fired the pro-army Secretary of Defence and transferred the responsibilities to Nargis Sethi. This was done after PM recently issued statement against Army and ISI Chiefs that their response in the Supreme Court on the memo gate scandal was unconstitutional since they should have gone through defence ministry.
The ISPR has also issued a strong statement against PM and said that the replies of Army and ISI Chief on memo issue were not submitted in Supreme Court directly, but through Attorney General of Pakistan.
Army has also changed the commander of notorious 111 Brigade, which is usually the front line of military coups against civilian governments.
Babar Awan of PPP has been issued with two notices of Contempt of Court for conducting a Press Conference against the Judiciary on 1st December 2011 and making another statement on 4th of January 2012.
Notices have also been sent to all PPP members who sat were present with Babar Awan when they did a press conference against the court for taking up the memo gate petition. It is not the first time Babar Awan has made fun of the courts and his role was extremely negative since the day PPP did u-turn on the issue of restoration of the deposed judiciary.
Supreme Court has released a short order and declared that the memo inquiry case is maintainable and an inquiry should be carried by judiciary to find the truth behind the scandal.
The extremists on both sides of the memo case have launched full attacks against the judiciary through their unofficial spokesperson and media analysts.
Zaid Zaman Hamid, the unofficial spokesperson of Army and ISI has said the following golden words on his FB page:
Javed Hashmi, Senior Vice President of PMLN and a symbol of democratic struggle has left PMLN and joined PTI, marking one of the biggest achievements of PTI till date. At the same time, it has been a dark day in history of PMLN and has greatly demoralised PMLN and its supporters.
Javed Hashmi has claimed the move as personal reason, but several sources claim this move as disagreements on party policies and strategies. The exact motives for this move to PTI are still not yet clear, as Javed Hashmi has joined the party with Shah Mehmood Qureshi as Co-Chairman, who has always been a political rival of Hashmi.
If Hashmi had developed any differences, they could not be bigger than the achievements performed by PMLN with Hashmi and rest of senior members in a team effort, including the dislodging of Musharraf and Restoration of judiciary. Similarly, the very same discredited and dishonest politicians of PMLQ and PPP that Hasmhi fought against for 12 years under Musharraf and Zardari, it is beyond common understanding how Javed Hashmi would find comfortable working with.
Although Javed Hashmi struggled the most under General Musharraf, PMLN as a party was kept alive by a team of few good men, who faced hardships yet proved their loyalty with their commitments. In contrast to that, PTI has senior members like Mian Azhar, whom led the revolt against PMLN and were directly responsible for sufferings of Javed Hashmi.
Just recently on 15th March 2009, Javed Hashmi was manhandled by police before getting arrested in the hometown of Qureshi, while entire Punjab police was under control of Zardari and Gillani under PPP Governor Rule with support of Shah Mahmood Qureshi. This makes us wonder if the differences between Hashmi and PMLN had become far greater than his differences with likes of Mian Azhar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of PTI?
Secondly, the people of Pakistan have always loved and rewarded Javed Hashmi on name of Nawaz Sharif. The elections of 2008 are one of the examples, where Javed Hashmi lost his home seat in rural Multan but won the urban seats of Lahore and Rawalpindi on PMLN strongholds. Would these people feel betrayed by Javed Hashmi? Do you think Javed Hashmi would be able to get the same level of support by same people under PTI’s flag?
The departure of Javed Hashmi should also be a wakeup call for PMLN, who needs to put its house in order and make a clear strategy to engage with public and to provide solutions to steer this country out of crises. Their leadership should also keep distance with any “Khushamdi Group” that advises them with suicidal policies of promoting their family members like Captain Safdar and Maryam Nawaz in the youth.
For PTI, the inclusion of Javed Hashmi is a very positive development and it would bring political maturity in higher ranks of PTI and Imran Khan can learn from the vast experience brought by Javed Hashmi.
Dear Friends,
I would like to inform you that I received an SMS message at my blackberry today at 11:47 pm which said “i have not seen a real bastard than you. i wish somebody comes and strip you naked. i hope some Army man has not done real dirty with your dear ones.” This SMS was reaction of my show Capital Talk which was going on at that time on Geo TV in a repeat telecast.
I responded to this SMS and I got another message from the same number again (03335245252). Within few seconds another SMS from 03318175319 declared me a CIA, RAW and MOSSAD agent. I have received these kinds of threatening messages usually from intelligence agencies in the past. When I responded these messages quickly and told them to go court against me they were silent.
These recent threats are related to two recent shows on Geo TV. I discussed a story in The Independent in the UK reported by Omar Warraich on December 14th and raised questions about the political role of DG ISI [Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate Ahmad Shuja Pasha]. A constitutional petition was filed by [Community Party Chairman] Engineer Jamil Malik on December 19th in the Supreme Court of Pakistan [asking the court to remove Gen. Pasha] and I was included in the petition as one of the respondents. I came to know about this petition in the evening of December 19th. The same evening I discussed the press conference of Baloch leader Attaullah Mengal on my TV show. Mengal criticized Pakistan Army atrocities against Balochis. This show was aired in the evening of December 19th and repeated in the morning of December 20th between 11 and 12.
I am sure that security establishment of Pakistan is once again angry with all those who will raise questions about the political role of Army. If anything bad happens with me or my “dear ones” the security establishment will be responsible.
Hamid Mir
Rumors related to President’s health and departure have collapsed as Zardari landed back at Karachi today.
It is reported that he will be staying at Bilawal house for few days before moving back to President house at Islamabad.
The medical team and his daughter Asifa also accompanied President to Karachi in his special plane that landed at PAF Masror base.
There have been rumours in Islamabad about President Zardari’s departure to Dubai on health issues that he might not be coming back.
Zardari’s spokesperson Farhatullh Babar and party members have categorically denied this allegation, but today’s meeting between Bilawal and PM Gilani, and meeting between Rehman Malik and US Ambassador have given more weight to the rumour that something big might be on cooking in the background.
The timings of President Zardari’s departure could not be worse, when case Memogate case is in Supreme Court, and more importantly, the fresh allegations that President had advance knowledge of Abbottabad operation, where American Troops carried a lengthy deep inside in Pakistani territory killing Osama Binladed.
BRIEFING FOR ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
During the past 72 hours since a meeting was held between the president, the prime minister and the chief of army staff, there has seen a significant deterioration in Pakistan’s political atmosphere. Increasingly desperate efforts by the various agencies and factions within the government to find a home – ISI and/or Army, or the civilian government – for assigning blame over the UBL raid now dominate the tug of war between military and civilian sectors. Subsequent tit-for-tat reactions, including outing of the CIA station chief’s name in Islamabad by ISI officials, demonstrates a dangerous devolution of the ground situation in Islamabad where no central control appears to be in place.
Civilians cannot withstand much more of the hard pressure being delivered from the Army to succumb to wholesale changes. If civilians are forced from power, Pakistan becomes a sanctuary for UBL’s legacy and potentially the platform for far more rapid spread of al Qaeda’s brand of fanaticism and terror. A unique window of opportunity exists for the civilians to gain the upper hand over army and intelligence directorates due to their complicity in the UBL matter.
Request your direct intervention in conveying a strong, urgent and direct message to Gen Kayani that delivers Washington’s demand for him and Gen Pasha to end their brinkmanship aimed at bringing down the civilian apparatus – that this is a 1971 moment in Pakistan’s history. Should you be willing to do so, Washington’s political/military backing would result in a revamp of the civilian government that, while weak at the top echelon in terms of strategic direction and implementation (even though mandated by domestic political forces), in a wholesale manner replaces the national security adviser and other national security officials with trusted advisers that include ex-military and civilian leaders favorably viewed by Washington, each of whom have long and historical ties to the US military, political and intelligence communities. Names will be provided to you in a face-to-face meeting with the person delivering this message.
In the event Washington’s direct intervention behind the scenes can be secured through your personal communication with Kayani (he will likely listen only to you at this moment) to stand down the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, the new national security team is prepared, with full backing of the civilian apparatus, to do the following:
1. President of Pakistan will order an independent inquiry into the allegations that Pakistan harbored and offered assistance to UBL and other senior Qaeda operatives. The White House can suggest names of independent investigators to populate the panel, along the lines of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, for example.
2. The inquiry will be accountable and independent, and result in findings of tangible value to the US government and the American people that identify with exacting detail those elements responsible for harboring and aiding UBL inside and close to the inner ring of influence in Pakistan’s Government (civilian, intelligence directorates and military). It is certain that the UBL Commission will result in immediate termination of active service officers in the appropriate government offices and agencies found responsible for complicity in assisting UBL.
3. The new national security team will implement a policy of either handing over those left in the leadership of Al Qaeda or other affiliated terrorist groups who are still on Pakistani soil, including Ayman Al Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani, or giving US military forces a “green light” to conduct the necessary operations to capture or kill them on Pakistani soil. This “carte blanche” guarantee is not without political risks, but should demonstrate the new group’s commitment to rooting out bad elements on our soil. This commitment has the backing of the top echelon on the civilian side of our house, and we will insure necessary collateral support.
4. One of the great fears of the military-intelligence establishment is that with your stealth capabilities to enter and exit Pakistani airspace at will, Pakistan’s nuclear assets are now legitimate targets. The new national security team is prepared, with full backing of the Pakistani government – initially civilian but eventually all three power centers – to develop an acceptable framework of discipline for the nuclear program. This effort was begun under the previous military regime, with acceptable results. We are prepared to reactivate those ideas and build on them in a way that brings Pakistan’s nuclear assets under a more verifiable, transparent regime.
5. The new national security team will eliminate Section S of the ISI charged with maintaining relations to the Taliban, Haqqani network, etc. This will dramatically improve relations with Afghanistan.
6. We are prepared to cooperate fully under the new national security team’s guidance with the Indian government on bringing all perpetrators of Pakistani origin to account for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, whether outside government or inside any part of the government, including its intelligence agencies. This includes handing over those against whom sufficient evidence exists of guilt to the Indian security services.
Pakistan faces a decision point of unprecedented importance. We, who believe in democratic governance and building a much better structural relationship in the region with India AND Afghanistan, seek US assistance to help us pigeon-hole the forces lined up against your interests and ours, including containment of certain elements inside our country that require appropriate re-sets and re-tasking in terms of direction and extent of responsibility after the UBL affair.
We submit this memorandum for your consideration collectively as the members of the new national security team who will be inducted by the President of Pakistan with your support in this undertaking.
During height of load shedding and electricity crisis, Khawja Asif made a heartbreaking speech on the floor of National Assembly and represented the grief of public. Khawja Asif also updated about his petition in Supreme Court on rental power scam, against which 5 Billion rupees were recovered. This was followed by protest of PMLN in front of President house.
Please excuse the video quality and audio sync issue.
Mazhar Majeed – Sentenced to 2 years 8 months in prison
Salman Butt – Sentenced to 2 years 6 months in prison
Mohammad Asif – Sentenced to 1 year in prison
Mohammad Amir – Sentenced to 6 months in prison
Haroon Rasheed, a senior journalist and columnist claimed on 27th January 2010 as a guest in Kashif Abbasi’s program Off The Record that he received three plots from the government, which he was ready to return to set a good example.
PKPolitics highly appreciated Haroon’s offer towards becoming good role model in journalist society.
Respectable journalist Haroon Rasheed was again a guest in yesterday’s program of Kashif Abbasi, where he claimed that he never received any plot and sent God’s curse on liar.
by Dr Akram Khan
It has been interesting to observe the heated debates by followers of Imran Khan, who is at the height of his popularity on Internet, closely followed by Musharraf. Imran’s followers are in high spirits and they want to continue the momentum and translate that into electoral success. All of this is very positive for the political development of society, which has been traditionally confused between military rule and democracy.
Although majority of the debates on electronic media has become between everyone versus PMLN, the biggest battles are usually observed between PTI and PMLN supporters, who both share the same target of a “Prosperous Pakistan” but through different approach.
Strict lines were drawn specifically by PTI supporters, after two of the biggest problems of Pakistan as repeatedly explained by Imran Khan were resolved by PMLN – Removal of Military Dictator after 9 years through threat of Impeachment in Parliament and the Restoration of Independent Judiciary through Long March led by Nawaz Sharif.
Although PTI has focused all energies in constituencies against only PMLN strongholds, the current debates are focused on the battle of Lahore, which make some people wonder if Imran Khan has given up from rest of Pakistan with major cities like Karachi, Multan, Quetta, Sukkur, Abbottabad and all other rural areas against PPP, PMLQ, MQM, JUI-F and ANP?
Based on recent results of Sahiwal and several analysis by political experts, PTI seems to be on weak ground outside urban areas of Punjab and their chances in urban cities like Lahore are also debatable, however I want to highlight another important aspect.
What if Imran Khan sweeps Lahore and some other urban areas and grabs around 16 seats of National Assembly? (all 11 urban seats of Lahore, 3 from Faisalabad, 1 from Gujranwala, 1 from Islamabad). What will be the next for Imran Khan?
Lets take a rough scenario based on current popularity, where PMLN grabs largest number of around 50% national seats, followed by PPP/PMLQ alliance, MQM and rest by PTI, ANP and other nationalists parties.
Now immediately after elections, what will be the strategy of PTI?
Will PTI join the coalition of PPP, PMLQ, MQM and ANP to keep PMLN from forming a simple majority? Or will PTI become part of joint opposition of PPP, PMLQ, MQM etc?
The most likely scenario will be none of these, but instead it will be closer to what PMLQ did in Balochistan and Punjab in 2008. The majority of members of PMLQ in these provincial assemblies revolted against their leadership and either merged into PPP or formed a forward block that is effectively supporting PMLN.
The most solid reason of the same happening after elections in PTI, is based on the fact that non-ideological and recycled politicians has been selected by Imran Khan against genuine PTI workers for the constituency positions.
Lets take an example of PTI’s Senior Vice President Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, who recently charged up PTI in Lahore by taking massive 19,432 votes in by-elections, despite losing against PMLN.
Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokar was elected on PPP ticket in 2002 elections. Immediately after elections and before the oath of Prime Minister, Zaheer changed his loyalty and joined the newly formed PPP-Patriot group that made alliance PMLQ and MQM to support Musharraf. The entire PPP-Patriot, with members like Faisal Saleh Hayat, Raza Hyat Hiraj and Sherafghan Niazi later merged into PMLQ. Malik Zaheer recently joined PTI.
Now please tell me a single reason why politicians like Malik Zaheer would not revolt against Imran Khan if he decided to sit on opposition benches?
On top of this, lets say that election results prove that a few seats of PMLN were indeed won by PPP through some votes of PTI, then what will be the morale of Imran’s supporters? In worst case scenario and as scientifically explained by many analysts, PTI members may help Zardari grab just enough seats to help him form another government for 5 years in the center.
Would that be the ultimate anti-climax of PTI’s tsunami?
By Dr Ghayur Ayub
It is said when American policy-makers plan a policy about Pakistan they put Pak army on top of the priority list. The others, in order of preference are: media; politicians; intellectuals; and the public. Let us assess them one by one;
The Media;
Media is the most powerful tool to make or change opinions in the west. At one time, before his downfall, a meaningful wink by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch could make or break the career of politicians. In Pakistan, up until 2006 electronic media was under control of the government. The print media was not as effective as electronic media for it lagged in time. The latter showed the events ‘live’ which the former couldn’t. Maximum they could do was to print special editions to cover special news. It was CNN which brought live news coverage including war zone to people’s drawing rooms. In 2006, Musharraf, on the insistence of America, launched over three dozen TV channels in the private sector to propagate his policies of moderation and westernised culture. This backfired as public sentiments were growing against him and soon, talk shows and news items became the most popular programs. It was too late when he tried to reverse his decision. By then, Pak media had joined the international fraternity. In the end, he not only lost his plans but the presidency also. Today it is the most important tool in the political game and America is trying hard to infuse millions to install the players of her choice.
The Politicians
Politicians the world over are of the same breed; they are perceived as deceitful. People despise them for the duplicity in their words and deeds. Politicians in Pakistan go one step further by misusing their power for personal gain in the most appalling manner. Some of them claim corruption as their basic right, while others return the loot when exposed and continue to work as ministers. According to Wikileaks, many known politicians approach American diplomats for ‘blessings’ and ‘posts’ making them easy preys. It is not surprising the executives have become the biggest hurdle in implementation of judicial decisions. Democracy, in such circumstances, has become the target and has been injured. People get annoyed when they hear some prominent politicians call ‘democracy the best revenge’ or ‘worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship’, or they don’t want to see ‘democracy derailed’. The public want a system which could alleviate their miseries and provide them with their basic needs.
The intellectuals
This group is an intriguing lot. Most of them are retired servicemen who, while in active service, did the opposite of what they preach now. Most of them were known for their incompetence and malpractice. When they analyse issues their listeners look back at their past and find their analysis unconvincing, insincere and shallow. America chooses a few from this group who are good orators and uses their services.
The Public
For some reasons, American policy makers do not give much priority to public opinion in third world countries. We saw this in Philippines and Iran. More recently, their response to the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings was delayed and those revolutions are taking anti-American shape especially for its strict pro-Israel stand. Again, they are lukewarm towards Yemen and indifferent towards the Bahrain uprisings. This could have damaging repercussions in the future. When it comes to Pakistan, they are treading the path they followed in Iran and ignoring public sentiments. It is going to have a devastating effect on American interests in the region.
The Army
The army has played an important role in the politics of Pakistan. America has always maintained cordial relations with it starting from early 1950s. That also goes for the two intelligence agencies-CIA and ISI-with a small difference. ISI is under control of the army and CIA is under civilian rule. Despite this asymmetry, the links between the two agencies remained close and relations between the two armies cordial. As American politicians found the Pak army stable as an institution, they leaned on it and supported the repeated take-overs. Some even suggest that Americans were behind those ventures.
The cooperation between the two armies went sour recently when an American judge made the ISI chief party in a court case about Bombay attacks. Tension escalated rapidly between the two agencies also when Jonathan Bank and Raymond Davies were exposed as CIA agents and OBL was eliminated. Things went from bad to worse ever since, to the disadvantage of both countries. According to some, the decades-old deep understanding between the two armies and agencies may not be as low as to pitch the armies against each other. So how can one assess the present tension in which bullets are fired in the direction of ISI/army by the Pentagon, the White House and the State Department? Three possibilities/outcomes come in mind;
American boots on Pakistani soil.
Diverting world focus from Palestinian issue.
Building Pak army image
American boots on Pak soil;
Attacking the tribal region to eliminate Haqqani Network will have devastating affects for the key American interests which made them invade Afghanistan in first place. Invasion of tribal region would mean war with Pakistan. Its multi-faceted, obnoxious effects are too big to imagine. All one can say is that it could even escalate into a nuclear war with devastating results. Also, it would open a huge corridor for free flow of Al-Qaeda and Taliban to and fro between Pakistan and Afghanistan with astounding consequences. The effect of war could easily spread to the Muslim world and quickly incubate more movements geared against America.
Diverting world focus from Palestinian issue;
The campaign for independent Palestinian State has gained strength in recent months. Out of 193 Nations 112 have already accepted it as independent state. Despite strong pressure on Mehmud Abbas, he put his case effectively with logic and passion on the floor of the UN General Assembly. He got a thumping ovation by majority of the members. The bill will go through despite Israel lobbying against it. America might be thinking that ringing war bells against nuclear Pakistan at this crucial time might divert world attention from Palestinian issue.
Building ISI/Pak army image;
The May 2nd incident was a shattering blow to the army and ISI. The image General Kayani has worked hard to build in the past two years was smashed instantly. Before it could recover from the shock, the Naval Base was attacked, army Rangers killed innocent Chechnians in Quetta, they killed an unarmed civilian in Karachi and to make the situation worse, Karachi became a killing field under their nose. Its image has been sliding down. There is a common locution in Pakistan that the American enemy is the darling of the public. In other words, American criticism against anyone gets an instant public support. So American criticism of ISI has suddenly stopped the downward slide and public support for the ISI/army sprang as a result. Many think that it is an American game to build the image of ISI/army and in the process improve the public image of AAZ who, according to Wikileaks, is the most favourable ‘yes man’ in the history of Pakistan.
So the question is; what is America up to. Does she really want to attack Pakistan and put all its plans at risk? There are other ways to disable our nuclear assets-the vital part of the plan. If the aim is to improve the image of ISI and army in the eyes of the public, then the obvious question which comes in mind is why? After all, it was CIA which played essential role in demolishing it in first place. Is there something more than what meets the eyes? Has Nature decided to play its role as some would believe? If it is, then one can link the recent upsurge in Karachi killings, Sou Motto action of SC, Altaf’s unconditional support for ISI/army, and, of course, the failing democracy? These questions, especially the last one, will soon be answered after what we see on the grounds in coming weeks. Meanwhile it is comforting to see a united Pakistani nation supporting ISI and military with one voice.
The End
Rehman Malik today announced that the Pakistan Government reserves the right to ban Google and YouTube in Pakistan if the “Google Administrator” did not assist ‘them’ in ‘their’ criminal investigation.
Pakistan’s track record on banning sites without cause or notice, isn’t certainly not a very pretty one, but here’s where statements passed in the media by technology-illiterate government representatives, make the technology-business community a little worried.
Google is a search engine. Just like hundreds of other search engines, it helps people to search for things that they may be looking for based on keywords and phrases. If you were looking for, let’s say, ‘how to build a bomb in a toilet bowl’, the search engine itself would not have the answer – it would simply find the website where the answer could be found. This is achieved through billions of lines of code and combinations of algorithms which make finding things easier.
But what the Government Rep may not know is this: the user searching for this specific query uses a computer or laptop branded by DELL or HP, which uses motherboards manufactured by Intel, which connects to a wireless router built by Cisco or TP-Link, or an Ethernet cable that’s been made by some unnamed company in China. The bandwidth that the search query traveled across belonged to an ISP or DNO that is connected to a caching servers and firewalls managed by Cisco or Juniper, through more fiber, across hundreds of thousands of kilometers of cable. Transworld manages some portion of the network and almost 30 other large corporations help make it possible for that user to submit his/her query and get a response.
At this rate, the Government Representative should consider naming all these organizations accessories to the crimes being committed in Pakistan. Going on the record and passing an irresponsible statement along the lines of “We reserve the right to ban your services” without any just cause or understanding, makes each of these organizations wonder why they would want to set foot in a country where its leaders and speakers live in the dark ages.
Foggy E-Legislation Continues to Hinder Way Forward
Since the PECO and other Cyber Legislation are still so vague and non-existent, at least in their implementation, discrepancies and a customized interpretation of the law will always be a problem.
Since organizations such as Google (and I think it’s Gmail that the Rep was trying to point a finger at, rather than Google) maintain privacy of the sender (ie: keeping IP private), perhaps instead of running out and threatening to ban one of the world’s largest companies services in Pakistan, this could be the way out:
Government Rep (GR) receives a valid threat. GR justifies the threat in court. Google retrieves information on that specific threat and shares the intel with GR.
End of story. Lack of policy is what makes this entire process so scary and haphazard! Sure there is a lot of chaos in technology, but the systems and processes are supposed to help sort all that out. How is this helping anything ongoing in the country with the technology-business community?
_________________________________
Courtesy ciopakistan.com
Update: Nusrat blasts MQM in Capital Talk
Nusrat Javed, one of the senior most journalists and host of Bolta Pakistan at AAJ TV has been reportedly fired from AAJ TV and his program was taken off air after 10 minutes of airing.
Nusrat said that MQM threatened the owners or management of AAJ TV that if they want to guarantee safety of 600 employees, then Nusrat should be fired.
More details coming shortly …
The recent press conference from MQM’s Mustafa Kamal in a very late response to Zulfiqar Mirza has largely backfired on MQM. Mustafa Kamal, who is considered to be one of the better and convincing young speakers from MQM, made couple of blunders in the press conference that will have long term impact on both MQM and his personal goodwill.
The first blunder from MK was about Altaf Hussain’s letter to Tony Blair, which was published and discussed on PKPolitics almost 3 months ago. Mustafa Kamal claimed that the UK address of MQM’s office on the letter was incorrect, hence the letter was fake.
Within hours of Press Conference, members at discuss forum exposed Mustafa Kamal’s lie through the archived press releases at MQM’s official website, which confirmed that the address was indeed correct.
Mustafa Kamal also did a poor attempt of defending some of the clauses in the letter, which confused the viewers if MQM was trying to own or disown the letter.
The issue of fake address and lie of Mustafa Kamal was also exposed to millions of viewers through Najam Sethi and Kashif Abbasi in their outstanding shows.
Both Kashif Abbasi and Najam Sethi got big applause from PKPolitics members through the comments as well.
The other main blunder Mustafa Kamal committed was to directly threaten the anchors and media of grave consequences for defaming MQM. Mustafa Kamal played his usual racial card and claimed that media was trying to defame and corner Muhajir community and this community (MQM) reserves that right to attack (aka commit some more murders) that group. More than 60% of the press conference was against the role of media, where Mustafa Kamal claimed that only one sided story was being portrayed by media, but he failed to clarify MQM’s absence on media after Zulfiqar Mirza’s press conference, despite repeated invitations from TV channels.
In an attempt to repair the damage, Kamran Khan delivered one of his poorest performance today to rescue MQM and ridiculed all the evidences against MQM. Kamran Khan claimed that all evidences and accusations will vanish like a bubble, similar to the forgotten accusations against other politicians in the past, who he claimed that are above the law.
PKPolitics members took good care of Kamran Khan at the discuss forum and claimed that KK was puppet of MQM, as he sided with MQM instead of his colleagues in media.
For the first time, detailed reports of target killers, majority of those belonging to MQM were exposed in JIT reports by 6 intelligence agencies and were published at PKPolitics around 6 months ago.
MQM’s lawyer also performed poorly in Kamran Khan’s program and said that MQM’s demand was only to bring accountability across the board, which was a clear indication that MQM was not claiming to be innocent and not denying the detailed reports against them.
This is an interesting event in short history of electronic media, where MQM seems to be on back foot and nation awaits for the justice and peace to prevail in Karachi this time.
Mirza said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was “hand in glove with terrorists” and called him a “compulsive liar”. He said that he had evidence against Malik which he would present to the president and the army chief. He went ahead to add that Malik was harmful for Pakistan.
Mirza said that his ministry had been changed due to blackmail and said that there existed a manipulated mandate in Karachi.
He also said that if had been given a free hand, he would be able to bring peace in Karachi within 15 days.
Zulfikaqar Mirza also spoke out against the MQM again. He called the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain a “killer” and called his party a terrorist organisation.
During his press conference Zulfiqar Mirza revealed about a meeting that he had with the MQM chief in which Altaf Hussain allegedly said that the United States wanted to break up Pakistan and that the MQM would work with them to achieve this agenda.
He also accused the MQM of being responsible for the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and revealed the identities of five alleged target killers who were behind the killing.
Source: Dawn
Updated:
Zulfiqar Mirza press conference video
Views by Kamran Khan, Hamid Mir, Nazir Naji and Irfan Sidique.
Reply by MQM’s Rehman Malik
Views by Sheikh Rasheed, Hassan Nisar, Hamid Mir and Kamran Khan
Special episode of Kal Tak by Javed Chaudhry.
Views by Asma Chaudhry and Naseem Zahra from Dunya Operation Room.
Second part of Kal Tak with Dr.Shahid Masood
