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  November 2008

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A former Deputy Attorney General Raja Muhammad Irshad has claimed that he was asked to convey to the deposed Chief Justice Iftakhar Choudhry to give favourable judgment in the constitutional petition challenging the eligibility of Pervez Musharraf to contest the presidential election in uniform. The Deputy Attorney General has said in an interview with DawnNews which will be aired soon that the Chief Justice was annoyed and rejected the request with contempt.

I personally feel that the Chief Justice was not justified in taking up the eligibility case against the president. He had already taken oath under him as the president in uniform. He had no moral standing to challenge him for his re-election. The judicial crisis started in the country because of the uncompromising attitude of judges, particularly the chief justice. A way out could have been found out. Both the president and the chief justice stuck to their guns and ultimately the country suffered.

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The State Bank of Pakistan has announced a Rs 270bn bailout plan for the banks to ease the liquidity crisis being faced by banks. A few days ago Dawn had reported that banks were facing acute liquidity crisis and big banks had stopped lending to small banks which created a credit crunch. As a result of this credit crunch, small banks were finding it difficult to make big payments. Bank to bank lending has almost dried up and large banks have stopped lending to small banks.

There are rumors that some small banks may collapse because of this crisis and heavy defaults on consumer loans. Governor of State Bank has said on a number of occasions that banking system in the country was on sound footing and it was capable of absorbing shocks. Despite this there is an air of uncertainty.

The liquidity provided by State Bank will help in dispelling fears that some banks may wind up operations. I personally feel that there is very tough time ahead. The liquidity introduced by State Bank may not be able to improve the situation if the present situation continues. There is extreme pressure on rupee and people are converting rupee into dollar on an unprecedented scale.

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The people of Pakistan voted for a democratic government in order to find a solution to their problem. It now appears that the new democratic government does not have the ability to solve the complex financial and economic problems of the country. The law and order situation in the country is at all time low and suicide bombings have become a common phenomenon.

The currency is shedding value against dollar with each passing day. At the time of writing this post the dollar was being traded in the open market at Rs.81 against a dollar. This is despite the steps taken by the central bank to regulate the price of dollar in the country. More than six months have passed and we have not yet seen any serious and sincere effort to find a solution to the economic woes of the country. The foreign exchange reserves have depleted to an extent where they are not even sufficient for one month’s import bill.

There are rumors in the country that some banks may collapse. This has created an air of extreme uncertainty in the country and people are reluctant to keep their money in banks. It is said that one foreign bank that has investment of from a large middle east group has collapsed and the news will be made public in a few days. If this rumor is true this will have devastating effect on the banking system in the country as people will resort to large scale withdrawals.

We are not seeing any change in the economic policies of the government. The lame duck prime minister is the new Shoukat Aziz in Pakistan. In fact he is worse that Shoukat Aziz. Shoukat Aziz had at least complete control on the economic policies of the country. Gillani does not seem to have any authority at all. He is the new “yes man” in Islamabad.

So the big question is if any thing has changed at all in Islamabad?

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Polish engineers working for a Polish Oil firm in Pakistan have decided to return to Poland after the kidnap of a Polish engineer a few days ago. The kidnap of foreign nationals in Pakistan, particularly those who are working in various development projects is very unfortunate indeed. It has embellished the country name worldwide. Countries advise their national to avoid traveling to Pakistan because it is a dangerous place.

What image do we want to build for Pakistan? Do we want to build an image of country where no one is safe? The government has also not been able to provide adequate security to foreign nationals. Kidnapping of foreign national is a very serious thing. All-out efforts musts be made to recover the kidnapped engineer.

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Lt General Nadeem Taj has been replaced with Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pash as Director General Inter Services Intelligence. This is a significant move. Lt General Nadeem Taj has been made a corps commander. Some other changes have also been made and the newly promoted lieutenant generals have been given key positions.

Lt General Nadeem Taj was considered a close confidant of General Pervez Mushrraf. Lt General Shuja Pasha has been Director General Military Operation. It is a key position in the army but his appointment has DG ISI will certainly make him very important.

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The US embassy in Islamabad has resumed visa service from Monday which it had suspended after the bomb blast at Marriott hotel in Islamabad. Earlier the United States had suspended its visa service in Pakistan for an indefinite period of time. I think that it is a very good step and it will certainly be a good news for many.

The UK embassy had also suspended its visa service after the bomb blast and British Airways had cancelled its flights in Pakistan. I hope that this will also be restored soon.

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President Zardari met Sarah Palin on the sidelines of his visit to United States to address the General Assembly of the United Nations. Please listen carefully to what he says to the “gorgeous” republican vice presidential nominee.

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The United States has suspended its visa service in Pakistan for an indefinite period of time. A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed that the visa service has been suspended for an indefinite period of time.

A lot of people will have to suffer because of this decision by the US embassy. I think that terrorists incidents such as Islamabad bomb blasts should not be made an excuse for suspending visa services. The United States issues visa through its embassy in Islamabad only. People from all over Pakistan have to travel to Islamabad to get US visa. Visa services in Karachi were suspended long time ago.

I hope that the US would resume visa service soon.

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Islamabad has been rocked a large bomb explosion. The explosion has occurred in Marriot Hotel Islamabad. It is said that two trucks laden with explosives were used to carry out the attack. The area near the hotel is in pitch darkness and the buildig as I see on television is in flames. The explosion has caused severe damage to the hotel building.

It is feared that a large number of people are trapped in the hotel building. A large number of people have been injured. Large number of casualties are feared.

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I have received this scanned image of piece of writing by our president Asif Ali Zardari. It says “May gaad give us strent to save Pakistan Zardari learned a lot of things from Benazir Bhutto. I wonder why did he not learn to write good English.

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Pakistan is in the grip of various types of crisis. It is faced with the threat of fully fledged US attack in the tribal areas, there is political instability in the country as the ruling coalition has fallen apart and the economy of the country is in bad shape. There is acute energy crisis in the country and people have to do without electricity for long hours.

It has been only five years after the new government was formed and it has already lost credibility with the people. Ordinary people of the country who had voted to bring about a change in their fate now feel that the government has forgotten all the promises which it made during electioneering. If it continues like this, then I am sure that the government will not complete its term. It will have to go under mounting pressure from public.

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The twelve year son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui has returned to Pakistan. Dr Aafia was accused of maintaining close links with Al Qaeda elements. She was abducted from Karachi with her three children 2003 and her whereabouts were not known since then. The US authorities disclosed her presence only after international press reported about a mysterious woman prisoner at Bagram airbase a few months back.

The custody of the boy has been handed over to her aunt Dr Fauzia who lives in Islamabad. The whereabouts of the remaining two children of Dr Aafia are still not known. Even if Dr Aafia has anything to do with Al Qaeda, what was the fault of her minor children?

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The judges of the superior judiciary in the country who have been saying that they will fight to the end for constitution, principle and justice are lining up to save their jobs. Eight judges of the Sindh High Court and four judges of the Peshawar High Court have taken fresh oath against their earlier stand. According to news reports some judges of the Peshawar High Court, including its Chief Justice have also agreed to take new oath.

The role of the judiciary in Pakistan has never been exemplary. They have always acted to protect their petty interests and sided with the powerful establishment. The fresh oath by the judges has implicitly accepted the as legitimate the action taken by President Pervez Musharraf on 3rd November 2007. If the action of the president was illegal there would have been no need for a fresh oath and a simple executive order would have been enough.

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Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is all out to get President Musharraf impeached. He is also expressing his desire to hold President Musharraf accountable for American aid extended for fighting terrorism.

Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan is of the opinion that there should be an across-the-board accountability of both President Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari. According to Tehrik-e-Insaf Chief Mr. Asif Ali Zardari has about 60 million euros deposited in Swiss banks. Is it not fair?

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The senior most journalist of the country Ardeshir Cowasjee in his column has written that issuing of National Reconciliation Ordinance is the greatest sin of President Musharraf and veteran leader Mumtaz Ali Bhutto have said almost the same thing.

President Musharraf should say sorry to the nation and withdraw this ordinance, sooner the better. This will flatten many balloons.

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Is the Pakistan Army going to ask Pervez Musharraf to resign? According to a report which is published in the Telegraph the Pakistan Army is going to ask Pervez Musharraf to resign within a week. The newspaper has quoted an undisclosed former military aid of the president according to whom the army leadership does not want the president to face the humiliation of impeachment.

The source says that the army is neutral but is expecting the president to resign. It will influence the president’s safe passage as the senior leadership of the army would not want him to be punished It further says that the ruling coalition decided to impeach the president because he had started to plot against the government with the help of intelligence agencies.

I think that there is not much substance in this report. Zardari wants to become the president and Nawaz wants to settle personal score. There is no other reason for bringing the impeachment motion against the president. I would also say it here that the day Zardari becomes the president of the country, it will be the unfortunate day in the history of Pakistan

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According to a CNN report the United States fears that the move to impeach President Musharraf may harm the war on terror in which Pakistan plays a pivotal role. The CNN report contradicts the statement issued by the spokesman of the Statement Department according to which the impeachment would not affect the war on terror.

The CNN has said quoting senior State Department officials that the internal turmoil which has resulted from the impeachment move will harm the efforts to defeat militants hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The signals which we are getting from Washington regarding the impeachment move are conflicting. I believe that United States would not stand behind its most important ally in the war on terror. This is not a new thing with the United States. They always leave their friends high and dry, when they have served their purpose.

This is a fact that President Musharraf was the most important person and the driving force in the country against the war on terror. If his towering personality is removed, the efforts to defeat the rising insurgency in the country will not succeed and I fear that it may spread to other parts of the country as well.

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The leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has warned against the presence of Taliban in Karachi. He has warned about the activities of Taliban in Karachi and this is borne out by the statement issued by Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umer that they can take over Karachi.

Strangely the Sindh government has brushed aside the threat as baseless and has accused MQM of baseless propaganda. Karachi is the most important and largest city of Pakistan and is rightly called the revenue engine of the country. It is necessary that the government takes such threat seriously instead of resorting to party politics. The fate of the city cannot be left in the hands of inept provincial home minister who has nothing to recommend him besides being a close friend of Asif Zardari.

Karachi has seen massive development work in recent years and is emerging as an important city in the region. It has the potential to grow and attract foreign investment. If proper steps are not taken to check the presence of Taliban in the city, it can be harmful for the whole of country in the long run.

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The federal government has reduced the customs and deemed duty on petroleum products by 25 per cent but it has decided to use the average Rs. 4.30 per liter for budget financing instead of passing it on to the consumers. There has been a downward trend in the international market and prices have fallen down nearly 20 dollar per barrel.

I think that the government should have lowered the prices keeping in view this downward trend and passed on the benefit from reduction in customs and deemed duty to the people. It is unfortunate that the government which claims to be people’s government has so far not taken a single decision in the interest of the people.

It has increased prices of all necessary things, including petroleum a number of times which has made earning means of livelihood more and more difficult for the poor people.
We look forward to the day when the government will be able to pass some financial benefit to the common people of the country. So far it has been blaming the previous government for all the bad things, but soon a time will come when they will no longer be able to use this lame excuse as well.

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The minister for finance has said that CNG dealers would be required to charge only the price of gas set by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority OGRA. He said that he was surprised as to why CNG dealers are being allowed to charge a price of their own choice.

Good sayings Mr. Minister. You must be surprised. It is only because the PPP government has no concern for the welfare of the people whom it seeks to represent. Had it been sincere in its protestations to give relief to the people, it would have never allowed CNG dealers association to work as a cartel and increase prices on their own. The CNG dealers are charging nearly 6 rupees per kg more than the price set by the government.

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