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.

Text of ISPR Press Release:

No PR4/2012-ISPR Dated: January 11, 2012

Rawalpindi – January 11, 2012:

APP has issued a statement on 9th of January 2012 giving details of the interview given by the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan to The People’s Daily Online of China when the COAS was also on an official visit to China. The Honourable Prime Minister inter alia termed the responses given by COAS and DG ISI in the alleged Memo Case to the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan as unconstitutional and illegal. This part of the statement has been quoted and widely debated in the media.

There can be no allegation more serious than what the Honourable Prime Minister has leveled against COAS and DG ISI and has unfortunately charged the officers for violation of the Constitution of the Country. This has very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the Country.

The statement does not take into account following important facts:-

– COAS and DG ISI were cited as Respondents in the Petitions as such and after hearing the parties the Honourable Supreme Court served notices directly to the Respondents. This was not objected to by the learned Attorney General of Pakistan.
– The responses by the respondents were sent to the Ministry of Defence for onward submission to the Honourable Supreme Court, through Attorney General (Law Ministry).
– A letter was also dispatched to the Attorney General of Pakistan and the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan informing that the replies have been submitted to the Ministry of Defence.
– It is emphasized that copies of the statements of the two Respondents were not forwarded directly to the Supreme Court.
– Responsibility for moving summaries and obtaining approvals of Competent Authority thereafter lay with the relevant ministries and not with the Respondents.

It is also highlighted that after a meeting between the Honourable Prime Minister and the COAS, the Honourable Prime Minister had publicly stated through a press release of 16th December 2011 that the replies submitted were “ in response to the notice of the Court through proper channel and in accordance with the rules of business.” No objections were raised before and thereafter, on the legality and constitutional status of the replies, at any time, during the last more than three weeks of hearing of the case by the Honourable Supreme Court.

It is also categorically stated that COAS and DG ISI in their response to the Honourable Supreme Court were obliged to state facts as known to them, on the Memo Issue. The issue of jurisdiction and maintainability of the Petitions was between the Honourable Supreme Court and the Federation.

Any expectation that COAS will not state the facts is neither constitutional nor legal. Allegiance to State and the Constitution is and will always remain prime consideration for the Respondent, who in this case has followed the book.

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.

Link to Express News Article

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:

Chief Justice has disappointed us big time once again. The country is in war, institutions are colliding, crisis after crisis is engulfing the nation, war is being waged against us on all axis through multiple strategies of Af-Pak, 4GW and Cold start and standoff with NATO/US continues. CJ should have decided the memo on the basis of the evidence given by the ISI and army and removed the government.

Now the government has got a breathing space to rob, loot and plunder even more while the ship sinks rapidly. The SC might know the law, they have not shown the urgency and the wisdom which was required in this crisis.

Now it is army or the government. we will not support the government against the army. SC should have sided with the justice and the nation not rules and procedures.

Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid probably thinks that the nation is dumb and we forgot how the same Pakistan Army broke the doors of Court #1 of Supreme Court on 3rd November 2007 and arrested all the Judges by orders of Army Chief. The very same government that Zaid wants to be removed was brought into power through NRO negotiated by General Kiyani in London and issued by General Musharraf through an ordinance.

Dr. Babar Awan has called for a day of mourning because Supreme Court declared the memo case as maintainable. Asma Jehangir, the lawyer for Hussain Haqqani has said that she’s forced to think if this is the people’s judiciary or the establishment’s and calls this the ‘darkest day’.

Who is Who in the Memo Scandal?

Army/ISI or the local establishment is the original architect of NRO and responsible for handing over the government to PPP at height of their unpopularity after 8 year rule. Army and ISI are claiming that Zardari regime wrote the memo to the US against Pakistan Army.

Zardari Regime is the main beneficiary of NRO along with MQM and they lobbied to the US for NRO against probably some favours that they would pass once they are in power. PPP claims that the memo is fake.

US or the International establishment is the broker of NRO between the Army and PPP, and it ensured transition of power from Musharraf to Zardari regime against their own interests in Pakistan and War of Terror. Admiral Mike Mullen of US has confirmed that he received the memo from Manzoor Ijaz.

It is not yet confirmed if the memo was indeed sent by President Zardari, or was created by Ijaz or Haqqani themselves and Supreme Court has initiated an inquiry through a panel of high court judges.

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.