Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro (MNA Pakistan Peoples Party)

Times, going too swift _ roving all around & considering the golden sun glimmers of October 18, 2007 _ Ah! A scrutiny of the ambiance all about _ Either gazing at the sky, were those the crests of Himalayas or the gesticulates of the Arabian _ Were those wolfs in the woods or doves in the air _ Whether that was the soil or the firmament ¬_ All around was dispersed a Hope _ An expect which had likely died off, over a century _ Where the eyes caught spectacle of nothing, but red, green & black flags, casing the scope_ No words, but JEAY BHUTTO & WELCOME BENAZIR! _ O! Then unquestionably, one starts to muse about “Who Benazir?” The rejoinder comes “The same daughter of the East, who was banished, eight years ago” and then probably, the question “Why”? And the answer, I guess it’s what so likely fair in Pakistan’s politics only_ the only rationale following was that she spoke for classlessness, concerned, not for her own luxuries, but for the people of Pakistan! Exactly, she did not hold empathy, too callous enough to see millions starving or reaching the heavens, due to anguish and even greater excruciating is the fact that people who committed suicide, just because they had no means of survival. For these pitiable and distressed people, it was PPP which spoke of “BREAD, CLOTHING & SHELTER”, but who in the world can value that in Pakistan, and according to the commandments of the KING’S Parties, these things are just the chattels of the ruling class_ Not a layman, of course, from their point of view, he does not even acquire the right to take a gasp in the atmosphere of the state or moreover, he’s to reimburse the outlay of the sky as well. Situations like such prevail in the state & still, they speak of Change _ of a Revolution, superior to the FRENCH REVOLUTION, Oh God! It’s they, who address of ECONOMIC STABILITY in the country or they don’t have a little ignominy in uttering such a big lie in front of the world “Only 15% of the country’s total population is beneath the contour of poverty”, but start to knock every door _ The door of a layman’s house and then figure up the number of families, who daily take their meal twice…! You’d get to recognize the facts. Yeah! It is the same politicians, who speak of DEMOCRACY & tot up out the number of political prisoners in every jail of Pakistan! O! What a great democracy?? The leaders of the time, I mean the President or the Prime Minister mistook to declare PAKISTAN as the LARGEST DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of the world_ oh! Such a Republic, in which the opposition was never even authorized to sit in the Parliament! God!!! When I inscribe this too, the highlighter slithers out of hand & for a while, I think like “Can I _ Who hardly knows the meaning of starvation can subsist in such clauses?” “I _ who’s hardly or assembled out of the well furnished rooms can ever imagine of living in a prison”? That all pinches the peace of mind & thereby, such incidents, & the people conscientious for the crisis _ their shoe doesn’t even hassle _ God! Can a person be such a sick??? Or too arctic to feel anyone else’s pain??? At least, there are people like so in Pakistan’s politics!

In a research exercise, 14,534 news reports and columns that have been published in Jang and The News between August 22, 2009 and August 30, 2010 have been analyzed. The analysis is on the basis of the folloing heads:

Needless to say, 5,090 reports, columns and editorials have an angling rating of 3 which is 35% of the total. 6,912 have an angling rating of 2 which is 47.55%. The remaining 2,524 news items have a angling rating of 1. 8 News report have No angling rating.

Is this journalism? Our friend, Ansar Abbasi in his loose talk in Capital Talk on Friday, October 15, 2010 said “Dunya bhar mayn journalism good faith mayn hoti hay. Agar koi ghalat baat bhee ho to ussay good faith mayn chhap saktay hayn!” Wow Ansar. You are the best. In your shouting match with Nazir Naji on November 4 2009, in the same Capital Talk (available on Youtube), you had said “Mayn Islamist hoon, mazhabi rujhaan rakhta hoon!”. Does Islam teach you to lie and spread budgumani? 

Shame on all the team of Jang, The News and Geo!!!!

The 560 pages plus report in PDF can be seen here. As the say “Such jaan kar Jeeo!”

Recalling the last 63 years of Pakistan's history, democracy is found only as an interval before the arrival of the next military regime. Democracy was doomed when Liaquat Ali Khan, the first elected prime minister, was shot at a public gathering.

From there onwards, the balance of power shifted in the favour of the military. An interesting comparison reveals this shift: from 1951 to 1957 India had one prime minister and several army chiefs while during the same period Pakistan had one army chief and several prime ministers.

From Ayub Khan to Pervez Musharraf, military rule ruined the state structure of Pakistan as a whole, with only the elite benefiting from the system and no benefit being passed to the general public. Military policies have given the country cross-border and internal terrorism, millions of internally displaced people and a bankrupt national economy. Ironically we are always ready to welcome them again.

Although every person in Pakistan, whether in a position of power or not, is very vocal about the very idea of democracy, no collective effort is seen to establish it as an institution. As the political and government culture in Pakistan is a product of its links to the pre-partition British rule, Pakistan's leaders knew best from this inheritance the vice-regal system that made little or no provision for popular awareness or involvement. Consequently, even after more than half a century of the country's independence, we are still entangled in age-old feudal, tribal andpanchayat systems.

The historic flooding that has ravaged Pakistan was considered for a brief period to be a grave threat to the country’s stability. Analysts were unsure if the young democratic government would be able to provide relief and reconstruction services enough to satisfy a panicking public. As the waters subsided, though, the civilian government demonstrated that it could work with the military and the international community to provide services to the people. Today, however, the government faces a possibly greater challenge: continued attacks from the nation’s judiciary.

Pakistan’s judiciary has been threatening to topple the democratically elected government in what many are calling a “coup by other means”. While unprecedented challenges to elected officials have been going on for some time, the courts appear to be determined to continue their attacks.

ISLAMABAD: Financial crunch coupled with strong criticism has forced the government to shelve the Benazir Monument project, sources told the Express Tribune on Tuesday.

The Rs400-million-project was to be built at Shakarparian on 10-acres of land provided by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Amid the severe economic crisis, the construction of this monument had been heavily criticized as a superfluous expenditure in difficult times.

The CDA had opposed the project describing it a ‘violation’ of the capital’s master plan.

CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi told The Express Tribune, “We were informed that in view of the flood relief and rehabilitation operations, use of government funds for the memorial was stopped.”

But the sources said that, “Strong criticism from all fronts forced the government to shelf this project.”

The Finance Wing of CDA also confirmed that no funds had been released for the complex.

This project had been approved by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and was Islamabad’s second mega project of its kind during the last four years. The first such project was the National Monument that cost over Rs700 million to build in 2006 on the directives of former President Pervez Musharraf.

Senator Nayyar Bokhari is part of the governmental committee overseeing the project. He confirmed that the project had been postponed by the Federal Government.