The Valley of Death

 

Almost everywhere the life and training of soldiers and cadet is glorified to ensure that young men and women will continue to join this dangerous profession. 

The universal motto of a soldier can be summed up as, “kill the enemy without asking any question and do not regret it”. That is how wars have been won since time immemorial. Those who need the military for their survival, it is bravery, discipline, and pride.

However, in a world of changing realities, both real and virtual, one must do a ruthlessly realistic analysis of the soldier’s training.

By virtue of his training based on professional necessities،, a soldier or cadet develops three distinct character traits.

1.    1.   Has no respect for human life. The instinct of mercy has to be erased to ensure that he will not hesitate before shooting the enemy. He should even kill unarmed civilians without hesitation if ordered to do so.

 

2.       2.  Obeys orders against his better judgment.

I quote what Tennyson wrote about one hundred seventy years ago:

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew  

Someone had blundered. 

Theirs not to make reply,

 Theirs not to reason why,

 Theirs but to do and die.

 Into the valley of Death

 Rode the six hundred.

 

Yes. All units and all soldiers must act according to specific orders meant for them as they form parts of a larger plan. If everyone acted on his own judgement, the planning would fail. So, it seems pertinent to condition the soldiers and officers to wait for orders and blindly obey them without thinking whether it is right or wrong. A soldier or officer cannot afford any original thinking.

3.     3.   Does not take responsibility for his actions. A soldier is likely to be court marshalled and even shot dead for not obeying orders. Which means that everything a soldier does is effectively in self-defence. So, the conscience of a soldier must be crushed to such a degree that he does not regret any of his actions and hesitate in repeating them.

This is all very good as long as officers and soldiers are dedicated to military duties related to armed offence or defense against an enemy. But what would happen if such a person is placed in a civilian administrative position? How will a department perform if its head did not have respect for human life, could not take decisions but waited for orders and finally did not take responsibility for his actions? The simple answer is disaster. The department would become dysfunctional.

This is exactly what has happened in countries that have seen long periods of military dictatorships during which civilian institutions were intensely infiltrated by active-duty and retired military personnel. The bureaucracy and police got totally corrupted and crippled, and anti-government feelings became common trait. Worse still, the political scene came to be dominated by lackeys and cronies of the military dictators. Now, no amount of foreign assistance can restore the crumbled economy unless the active and retired servicemen are completely flushed out of the entire system and the state within the state is demolished.

 .

 

Brief history of Pakistan

 After the death of Jinnah due to neglected medical attention, the murder of Liaquat, and the departure of British imperial military commanders, General Ayub staged a coup abrogating the 1956 constitution and ruled for a decade until he became very unpopular. In effect, he imposed an indigenous imperialism by the army.

 Before departing, he imposed martial law and handed power to General Yahya, who held general elections in which Mujib won 160 seats in East Pakistan against Bhuttos 80 in the west. Mujib was denied premiership, and insurgency erupted in East Pakistan, allowing India to invade. The small Pak military force there could not stand long, and after Bhutto, the then FM rejected UN brokered cease-fire, Pak forces surrendered, and Bangladesh was formed. 

Bhutto emerged as a shrewd socialist leader as PM of remaining Pakistan. He nationalised all industries and big businesses and introduced a new parliamentary constitution in 1973. He was deposd by General Zia-Ul-Haq after a rigged election and controversially hanged for murder after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal by a split judgment. There are accusations that judges were unduly pressureised or influenced in their decision.

Next came Nawaz with large-scale deregulation and privatisation of industries and businesses with allegations of historic corruption, who was ousted and nearly hanged by General Musharraf. Later, he was disqualified from political activity by a Supreme Court decree on grounds that some consider weak. 

Then came Imran, the best of them all, who managed the Covid emergency very well, started schemes for the welfare of the poor, and achieved a sustained economic growth rate of 6% which was the highest ever in the country's history. Most significantly, mega corruption cases against some of the most notorious politicians like Shahbaz and Zardari were all but established. At this juncture, he was cunningly dislodged by General Bajwa in April 2022, who managed to entice away all his allies to form an unbelievable coalition of all 13 opposition parties and coerced judicial interference in parliamentary matters. Imran came out in protest with a massive rally and bravely survived three bullet wounds sustained in a joint murder attempt of PDM and an alleged intelligence agency on the way.

 He is now being hounded by General Asim Munir, the new army chief in pursuance of some unexplained delusion. According to the army's account, May 9 was a virtual sequel to 9/11 in Pakistan in which according to the propaganda scenario women and children of PTI leaders and workers allegedly attacked sensitive military installations with weapons of mass destruction. The army was unable to defend itself and appeared to be completely routed alongside the federal and provicial governments. There was not an army soldier nor a policeman to be seen on the streets. They had all gone into hiding.

It appears that Pak Army regrouped and launched a counterattack on PTI tagged as the imaginary enemy. With a whole procession of professional turncoats ready to cooperate, a new political party seems to be emerging in addition to the existing coalition, which will support and bow before the revived sovereign army imperialism. 

Petrol Bomb Terror

 Petrol and diesel prices have traditionally been lower in Pakistan than other South Asian countrues, because of discounts given by friendly middle eastern petrolem suppliers in recognition of its contribution to their defence.

50 million liters of diesel and petrol are consumed daily in Pakistan.

The disputed and discredited government of renowned leeches has increased the price by Rs. 60 per liter (40% above existing 149), fleecing Rs. 3 billion from the public daily, amounting to over one trillion a year. If the goons are right, this amount was being subsidized from tax collected from the rich and the motorbike rider was benefitting.

Now the fuel cost of bikes, rikshaws, taxis and trucks has risen suddenly by 40 percent.
The tricle effect is bound to be disastrous. The cost of food delivery is going to double and many senior citizens who have to utilize the service may face malnutrition. Even if the goons announce some relief for the worst hit, the money will most likely end in their own pockets.

Officers of IMF need to solemnly testify that they were sober when they gave this instruction to the goons as they claim, and that they will not have any share in this loot.

THE IMF QUAGMIRE

IMF is known to be the world's most powerful financial institution. Its board of trustees consists of representatives from various governments who have contributed its seed capital. Hence the IMF is not answerable to anybody except the largest shareholder. They are said to have the world's largest team of highest ranked economists and financial experts. They specialize in formulating mathematical models of a country's economy and analyze it. Probably they use Einstein’s tensors and supercomputers to execute their analyses. However, since my knowledge is limited to Newtonian mechanics, I would try to convey my observations in a language that my wife would understand. Blogging, in any case, is love’s labor. From close scrutiny of the terrific things that have happened in countries that sought assistance from IMF in their hour of peril, it seems that there exists an IMF dollar that makes the ordinary US dollar disappear. Wherever this august institution extends its helping hand, severe scarcity of US dollars takes place and its price in local currency inflates, often to determined levels. This inflation of the dollar or in other words the devaluation of the local currency creates contrasting scenarios when viewed from different perspectives. To the IMF actuaries who maintain accounts in US dollars, it results in the shrinking of the local debt in dollar terms dollars and the total debt in current dollars reduces. That is a good indicator. However, the local economists notes that whereas the local currency debt is constant the local currency equivalent of the dollar or other currency debts has increased in proportion of the devaluation and the total national debt in local currency has increased and a larger chunk of tax collected would go into debt servicing. It actually happens that way. The tale of woes does not end there. If the GDP in local currency remains the same or increases at a rate less than the devaluation, then the GDP in current dollars will register a hefty decline. That would be a bad indicator and cause embarrassment. Now, the local currency GDP can be increased in two ways; either by rapidly increasing the volume of indigenous production or by instantly inflating the costs of goods and services. The former requires dynamism, capital goods to expand industries, finding new markets, additional skilled labor, and increased supply of raw materials assuming that additional capital is available. The latter is extremely easy, it just requires mismanagement. So, the cost of local goods and services must inflate to bring the local currency GDP to such a level that current dollar GDP exceeds the previous year’s value. A simple numerical example should suffice to elucidate the complicated logic. Thanks to the IMF economic package USD parity grew from 100 to 160 PKR. Soon price of wheat flour rose from 40 to Rs. 64 per kg and sugar, rice, vegetables, meat, poultry, clothing, stationery, and everything else followed suit except salaries of civil servants; therefore, bribe rates and police extortion were upgraded accordingly. Now all indicators are good, and the IMF has done a great favor to this Godforsaken nation.

Nawaz Sharif and Biharis

Those who have been following the history of South Asia must be familiar with the harrowing facts about the genocide and persecution of Urdu speaking Biharis in the wake of the formation of Bangladesh. Out of a population of around 800,000 about 200,000 are reported to have been killed, about 300,000 are understood to have come to Pakistan through various routes between 1971 and 1988 according to UNHCR records. In July 1988, it was estimated that there were 260,000 Biharis in Bangladesh.  Ehtesham Shahid of Al Arabia English reported in April, 2017 that there were still 300,000 Biharis suffering in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

From the following chronological record it is evident that during his two terms in office, Mr. Nawaz Sharif managed to get about half a billion dollars from the World Muslim League for the noble cause of resettling the Biharis in Pakistan. A recent survey of Google maps shows at least half a dozen Bihari Colonies in different parts of Punjab, but less than 500 Biharis were actually repatriated under the scheme before it was abandoned due to alleged violent reaction from Sindhi nationalists. Nobody knows how the half billion dollars were spent or how many houses were built and who lives in them? Could this be one of the ways how the Sharif family got so rich? The times of the WML donation of USD 300 million and the purchase of Mayfare flat and again the 200 million dollars and the Hyde Park house seem to be quite close.

http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=printdoc&docid=469f3868c

Refworld | Chronology for Biharis in Bangladesh

Jul 9, 1988 It was announced that the Pakistani government had reached agreement with Rabita al-Alam al-Islami, a Mecca-based humanitarian group, to assist in the repatriation of an estimated 260,000 Biharis in Bangladesh.

Nov 12, 1991 Pakistani officials announced that their government had decided to expedite the repatriation of the Biharis stranded in Bangladesh.

Nov 17, 1991 The Muslim World League urged Muslims around the world to fund the return of the Biharis to Pakistan (estimated US $300 million).

Jan 10, 1993 The resettlement of Bihari refugees began with the arrival of 325 people in Lahore, Pakistan.

Jan 11, 1993 A bomb exploded in the southern Pakistan town of Kotri, killing 13 people. The bomb was planted in a Bihari colony in Kotri (Sindhis are alleged to be involved in the bombing).

(A small contingent of Biharis had also arrived on ship by sea and they were allegedly butchered by Sindhi nationalists while travelling in a railway train from Karachi to Punjab through interior Sindh.  As a result of this incident, the program of repatriation was halted.)

July 18, 1993, Nawaz Sharif was sacked.

Jul 16, 1994 The leader of the SPGRC (Nasim), Nasim Khan demanded the early repatriation of 3000 families as per the joint declaration issued in August 1992 by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Khan stated that 3000 housing units had already been built in Punjab to accommodate the stranded Pakistanis. So far, only 321 Biharis have been repatriated (Xinhua News Agency, 07/16/94).

Nov 14, 1995 Around 130 Bangladeshis have been deported from Pakistan (and arrested on their arrival in Dhaka) as part of the Pakistani government's campaign to remove alleged illegal immigrants (Reuters, 11/14/95).

Jan 27, 1998 Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif gives his firm commitment to repatriate the Biharis once the necessary funds are raised. Since 1988, a joint Pakistani-Saudi Arabian NGO, the Rabita Alam Al-Islami (World Muslim League), has been providing funds to run the camps in Bangladesh (Agence France Presse, 01/27/98).

Oct 14, 1998 Pakistan says that it is working on the repatriation issue and that it has approached the Rabita Alam Al-Islami for US $200 million. Pakistan would match the funds which would be used to build housing and resettle the Biharis (The Independent, 10/14/98).

Oct 12, 1999, Nawaz Sharif was sacked.

http://english.alarabiya.net/authors/Ehtesham-Shahid.html

Al Arabia English: Ehtesham Shahid Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Even in today’s turbulent times, it is difficult to imagine a population of over 300,000 virtually stateless and abandoned. This has been the tragic state of Biharis or Urdu-speaking people stranded in Bangladesh for more than 45 years. Unfortunately, little is being done to change their condition.

Pak Election 2018

The term of the current National and provincial Assemblies of Pakistan expires in June 2018, when a caretaker government is to be formed which should conduct elections for all the assemblies within 3 months and transfer power to them.

As usual, this routine matter has been made an object of controversy by the delay in holding census by the federal and provincial governments and criticism of the recently concluded and announced census results.

The ruling PMLN wants to bring a constitutional amendment but other parties are not prepared to vote with them. In the recently passed Electoral reforms bill they cheated them by inserting a clause to enable their disgraced leader Nawaz Sharif who was disqualified for misrepresentation to become party leader again and forcing a vote while many opposition senators had gone to say their Friday prayers. They fear something worse this time.

Since the urban population of Sindh has increased substantially, the Peoples party is playing tricks to ensure that the elections are held on 20 year old census results and delimitations which place about 70 percent seats in rural areas where PP wins by virtue of its affiliated landlord oppression.

The relevant clause of the Pakistan Constitution post 18^th amendment is as follows:

25[51. National Assembly.- (1) There shall be three hundred and forty-two

seats for members in the National Assembly, including seats reserved for

women and non-Muslims.

(2) A person shall be entitled to vote if-

(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan;

(b) he is not less than eighteen years of age;

(c) his name appears on the electoral roll; and

(d) he is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind.

(3) The seats in the National Assembly referred to in clause (1),

except as provided in clause (4), shall be allocated to each Province, the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital as under:–

                                                General Seats Women Total

Balochistan                                             14       3             17

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa                              35       8             43

Punjab                                                   148     35           183

Sindh                                                       61     14             75

Federally Administered Tribal Areas       12       -              12

Federal Capital                                          2                        2

Total                                                      272     60           332

(4) In addition to the number of seats referred to in clause (3), there

shall be, in the National Assembly, ten seats reserved for non-Muslims.

(5) The seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each

Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital on

the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially

published.

In para 1 the total number of NA seats has been fixed at 342. In para 2 the qualification voters has been defined. In para 3 the regional distribution of seats as per census data available at the time of 18^th amendment has been given. In para 4 the reserved seats of non-Muslim population have been defined. In para 5 the need for redistribution of seats among regions according to latest census has been stipulated.

The requirements for the provincial assemblies have been given in article 106 of the Constitution and there seems no problem in their delimitation.

The relevant institutions for census and electoral management are the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and Election Commission of Pakistan respectively.

The results of 2017 Census in Pakistan have been published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on its website:

http://www.pbscensus.gov.pk/

The Tehsil wise results are published by PBS on their website:

http://www.pbscensus.gov.pk/sites/default/files/PAKISTAN%20TEHSIL%20WISE%20FOR%20WEB%20CENSUS_2017.pdf

This is the data required by the Election Commission to carry out fresh distribution of constituencies according to constitution para 5 above and their delimitation.

If the results of the census are placed on the official website for public reference, they are published for all intents and purposes and there seems no logical reason why they should need additional verification by the prime minister or his cabinet or any other group of politicians.

Similarly, the Election Commission is an independent constitutional institution and should not require any instructions from the prime minister or other political element to do its work. It should obtain an authenticated copy of the census results from the PBS and get on with fulfilling the constitutional requirement of updating the distribution of NA seats and their delimitation according to the latest census results so that it may hold the General Elections 2018 in time.

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Whither Pakistan?

Wording of the April 20 judgment clearly shows the utter frustration and chagrin of the three judges who seem to have been forced to change their concurrence with the other two who declared Nawaz Sharif unfit for premiership and membership of parliament. Next time round they managed to find the straw that breaks the camel's back. Bravo!  Justice could not have been done in the Panama leaks instigated corruption, fraud and misdemeanor cases which are still continuing if Mr. Sharif had remained in office and machinating tampering of records about his past misdeeds. The Chairman of SECP is already facing trial on that account.

Ironically, Nawaz Sharif missed completing his term for the third time by nearly a year keeping intact the record that no prime minister in Pakistan has completed his term. It is interesting that none of the parties whose governments were sacked by the president under section 58-2B of the constitution failed miserably in the follow-up elections, which means that they had lost their popularity and right to rule when they were sacked. Even this time every politician and educated member of the civil society had been asking Nawaz Sharif to resign but he clung to power like a leech until his sins took him down.

Areticle 58-2B was deleted in the 18^th amendment and now voices are being heard from some quarters that Mr. Sharif who was disqualified under article 62-1F of the constitution is trying to muster the support of other corrupt politicians to abolish this law that requires the aspirant of a seat in the parliament to be just, honest and truthful. Indeed the constitutional provisions are inadequate as the Quranic standard of uprightness is given in Chapter 4 (An-nissa) verse 135 as below:

Although he owes his rise in politics and attendant accumulation of wealth to army generals, Mr. Sharif has been quick to forget favors and failed to get over the trauma of the death cell after a mutual overthrow dogfight which Gen. Musharraf won. This man, his family and his cronies simply hate the national army and seem to be prepared to compromise national security in a bid to discredit the army and establish his absolute monarchy.

Mr. Sharif’s animosity of the judiciary and judges dates back to his second stint as prime minister when he tried to amend the constitution to make MNAs totally subservient to him and the supreme court struck it down as bad law. According to Wikipedia “Chief Justice Sajad Ali Shah, however, continued to assert his authority and persisted in hearing Sharif's case.^[85] On 30 November 1997, while the hearing was in progress, Sharif's cabinet ministers and a large number of his supporters entered the Supreme Court building, disrupting the proceedings.^[85] The chief justice asked the military to send the military police, and subsequently struck down the Thirteenth (XIII) Amendment thereby restoring the power of the president.^[85] But, this move back fired on the chief justice when the military backed the prime minister and refused to obey the president's orders to remove Sharif.^[85] The prime minister forced President Farooq Leghari to resign, and appointed Wasim Sajjad as acting president.^[85] After the president's removal, Sharif ousted Chief Justice Sajad Ali Shah to end the constitutional crisis once and for all.^[85]” This created severe sense of insecurity among the judges.

However, a couple of years later when Mr. Sharif tried to stage a coup against his own appointed COAS and CJCOSC Gen. Pervez Musharraf while he was on a flight back from Sri Lanka, the army turned against him and not only staged a counter coup but also tried him for attempted hijacking of Musharraf’s plane and sentenced him to death.

The judiciary took a sigh of relief and when Gen. Musharraf sought their blessing for a plan to rule the country for three years as military dictator keeping the constitution suspended, they willingly gave him a free hand which helped him to remain president until 2008. Looking back, it seems that Gen. Musharraf was not as brave or as smart as he thought himself to be. When asked by the Saudi King he surrendered Nawaz Sharif on condition that he would not interfere in Pakistani politics for 10 years.

In 2007 he was outwitted by Benazir Bhutto who after making a deal with the Americans that they would be allowed to bring personnel and equipment and have the use of Shamsi airbase to carry out drone attacks within Pakistan, promised to let him remain president if she was allowed to return to Pakistan and contest and win the elections in 2008. Nawaz Sharif was also allowed to return prematurely and his main function was to lead all honest and patriotic parties away from the election.

The 2013 general elections though certified by everyone to have been free and fair were actually heavily rigged. The rigging mainly took place in the secluded women’s polling centers. With poor security, weak administration and low turnover, these polling stations that were not very strictly monitored, provided ideal opportunity for bogus voting. In fact, Khwaja Rafique was caught on camera casting bogus votes in a women’s booth.

As of now both PMLN and PPP are anti-army, anti-judiciary and mired in corruption. It is imperative that a third political party with clean and patriotic leaders forms government in the next general elections which need to be really fair. To achieve this Imran Khan needs to recruit and train at least two polling agents for each polling booth in every constituency. Women polling agents need special training and should be in adequate numbers to ensure that rigging is prevented. Imran Khan also needs to have support of local vernacular TV and radio channels that have a lot of weight in forming public opinion in rural areas.

The Great Bluff

As the judicial probe of impropriety against prime minister Nawaz Sharif approaches its logical conclusion, there is a crescendo of noises by the ruling party that the imminent disqualification of their leader would apply brakes to the wheels of progress in the country. It is true that the motorcade of the prime minister’s daughter has grown from 3 to 15 vehicles and some highly cosmetic infrastructure development projects have emerged in Lahore which are of little use to the general public. There has been no improvement in education, health or water, gas and power supplies services. Crimes are as prevalent, roads are as unsafe and jobs are as scarce as before the PML(N) government came into power.

Let us look at some of the statistics.

1.       Power Supply: The government has been claiming that there has been tremendous economic and industrial progress as in the following tweet of the Defense and Power minister:

If you add the average generation and shortfall you get the total electrical power demand for the year in question. Simple arithmetic giver the average demand figures as follows:

Year                                         June 2012            June 2013            June 2016            June 2017

Total Power Demand               17070                   19742                 19684                  20841

This shows that there has been a growth of only 5.57 percent in 4 years ie less than 1.4 % annually which is even less than population growth rate. Thus there has been no growth in either industry or people’s standard of living. Actually there has been perceptible deterioration.

2.       Trade: The following trade data has been taken from the government website and tells a sad story of the utter failure of the businessman prime minister:

There has been a steady fall in the volume and value of exports over the last 4 year period and the government has done nothing to arrest the decline.  The textile and garment manufacturers have been running from pillar to post but have not had any success.

3.       Stock Exchange:  The success of Karachi Stock Exchange now Pakistan Stock Exchange has been told as the great achievement of the incumbent government. Here is the 5 year progress report taken from their own website:

Above chart shows that although the 100 index has been blown out of proportion, the number of listed companies has remained stagnant and a meager increase in base capital has taken place. The only IPO in 2017 so far was for an iron works owned by Sharif family.  During this period there have been about half a dozen upheaval and mini-crashes in which more than 4% market capitalization was lost in one day causing heavy losses to small investors.

4.       Currency Parity: When the present govt. came to power in 2013, the PKR-USD parity stood at Rs. 108. Mr. Dar played some quick tricks and brought it down to Rs.98 and touted it as a financial miracle. Soon afterwards heavy borrowings were made from WB and others and the parity was maintained at on average at Rs. 104 against the demands of exporters. Recently it jumped back to Rs. 108 and SBP declared that it reflects the current economic situation. The result of maintaining low parity is that Pakistani families that depend on remittances from family members working abroad have lost nearly 400 billion rupees in money exchange and textile and garments have become uncompetitive and reduced production and cut jobs. The only beneficiaries of this policy are those who have been sending their money abroad for buying properties in Dubai, Qatar and UK etc as they got more dollars for their Rupees.  It has also helped to show higher GDP in dollar terms to fool the world.

If one takes all above facts into consideration, it seems that the government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif has been working intentionally to harm national interests and the people of Pakistan. Take into account the Dawn story plant against the armed forces, the tirades against the judiciary and the family friendship with pm Modi and other Indians with deteriorating border situation and silence on the arrest of Indian terror mastermind one can’t help but wonder if the stage is being set for something like the French Revolution.

Swift justice and early elections may avert a disaster, I hope and pray.

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Good Hindu in Kashmir

The following is a copy of a sensitive Indian's account and feelings about what is everyday occurrence in Kashmir as posted on facebook:

The following video is a graphic evidence of what Rahul has written:

Moving Movie on Kashmir

I recently watched the 2014 Indian Hindi movie "Haider" set in Indian occupied Kashmir, directed and produced by Vishal Bhadwaj. The story is based on the age old theme of love and treachery, but it depicts quite graphically the hardships of the Kashmiri people and the atrocities of the Indian army. Alongside repeated suggestions that political freedom is meaningless without freedom from the obsession of revenge which has constantly poisoned the communal life in India, it also shows how the lives of most Kashmiris revolve around the freedom struggle. It clearly shows the role of the Indian army as an oppressive, cruel and vindictive occupation force. By projecting the story characters, it also hints that the Muslim Kashmiri politicians who are participating in the puppet elected government of Indian occupied Kashmir are committing treachery towards their brethren.

The United Nations Security Council resolutions no.  47 is copied below from the UN archives:

  

Decision of 21 April 1948 (286th meeting): Modification of instruction to the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan. On the return of the Indian delegation the Council continued consideration of the question. The draft resolutions submitted to the Council eventually were replaced at the 284th meeting on 17 April by a joint draft resolution submitted by the representatives of Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, the United Kingdom and the United States, ⁵³⁵ which was voted upon paragraph by paragraph and adopted at the 286th meeting on 21 April 1948.⁵³⁶ The resolution read as follows: ⁵³⁷

 “The Security Council,

 “Having considered the complaint of the Government of India concerning the dispute over the State of Jammu and Kashmir,

 “Having heard the representative of India in support of that complaint and the reply and counter complaints of the representative of Pakistan,

 “Being strongly of opinion that the early restoration of peace and order in Jammu and Kashmir is essential and that India and Pakistan should do their utmost to bring about a cessation of all fighting,

 “Noting with satisfaction that both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite,

“Considering that the continuation of the dispute is likely to endanger international peace and security, 

“Reafirms the Council’s resolution of 17 January,

 “Resolves that the membership of the Commission established by the resolution of the Council of 20 January 1948 shall be increased to five and shall include in addition to the membership mentioned in that resolution, representatives of------ and------, and that if the membership of the (Commission has not been completed within ten days from the date of the adoption of this resolution the President of the Council may designate such other Member or Members of the United Nations as are required to complete the membership of five;

 “Instructs the Commission to proceed at once to the Indian sub-continent and there place its good offices and mediation at the disposal of the Governments of India and Pakistan with a view to facilitating the taking of the necessary measures, both with respect to the restoration of peace and order and to the holding of a plebiscite, by the two Governments, acting in co-operation with one another and with the Commission, and further instructs the Commission to keep the Council informed of the action taken under the resolution, and to this end, ……”

India has been postponing that plebiscite for the last 68 years on a series of inordinate excuses and started wars with Pakistan when pushed to the limit. The situation now is totally acceptable for anyone with even a modicum of humanity.

The Indian leaders need to realize that the Plebiscite in Kashmir will not be their defeat, but the triumph of the principles of democracy and human rights which they claim to cherish and will free Kashmiris, Indians and Pakistanis alike from the bondage of revenge.

..

New Pakistan Constitution

Unlike the US Constitution which runs in 17 pages, more than half of which consist of amendments, the Pakistani Constitution contains detailed stipulations and rules for the functioning of the parliament and the federal and provincial governments. 

However, there are no penalties for not implementing the constitutional stipulations. The result is that ambitious men and women attain power by hook or by crook and then simply ignore their constitutional responsibilities.

The Pakistani electorate which is mostly illiterate and impoverished is totally unaware of its 

constitutional rights. It does not know that it is being constantly short-changed, and in the case of the 

rural population that is utterly oppressed by the land and mill owners it is even afraid to find out. The 

result is that the same irresponsible and self-seeking fortune hunters are returned to power in every 

election on the basis of the same empty promises.

To ensure that office holders in government take their responsibilities seriously, it is imperative that 

the following clauses be included in the Constitution in appropriate places. If the politicians are not 

interested in doing so, the Supreme Court judges should find some way to incorporate these in their 

judgments. 

1. Any violation of the terms of the Constitutional oath of office that an individual takes shall be 

considered an act of treason.

2. Any prime minister or chief minister who fails to implement any stipulation of the Constitution 

applicable to his or her government shall be barred from taking part in politics and contesting elections for life.

3. Any speaker, deputy or acting speaker of national or provincial assembly who suspends rules or fails to implement Constitutional provisions or stipulations applicable to his or her office in relation to respective assembly's functioning shall be barred from taking part in politics and contesting elections for life.

Obviously, these clauses can not be applied retrospectively as it would disqualify almost the entire body politic, judiciary, military etc.

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Mehsud’s Murder

The fact that a coyote court in USA indicts someone does not make a premeditated murder a legitimate execution. It remains an assassination ordered by the US president. Even a mass-murderer deserves a fair trial.

It seems that American policies in this part of the world are based on an upside-down perception of realities. Neither the Afghan Taliban nor the TTP are militant cults anymore. Thanks to sustained conflict with extremist Christians and Hindus both have become popular movements. The TTP has more than 50 constituencies and it now has a stable pyramidal structure. Killing its top man will hardly make any more difference than the murder of a US president makes to that country. It was the realization of this fact that prompted the Pakistani leadership to treat them with some respect and negotiate peace with them.

The problems that the world is faced with today arise from a single cause that the political, economic and military leaderships of the USA are not on the same page. The thoughtful political leader ship is a hostage of the rash military and the economy is too dependent on military production and support. Even oil prices are being maintained at unacceptable levels throughout the world to keep the US shale business viable. The mystery of the standoff between the presidency and the house on budget is not over and horror may be yet to come.

The American addiction to bloodshed and arson cannot be justified in terms of sustained pursuit of retribution. If that were so, why do they expect the Japanese to forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the Palestinians to forget Sabra and Shatilla? Believe me when ever colonial rule is discussed in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, someone always reminds the audience of the Jalianwala Bagh massacre by the British as history and not as a mission for revenge.

One thing is obvious: the Americans are not reliable friends. The question now faced by the Pakistani leadership is whether it is preferable to have them as friends or enemies?

Bhutto’s Gallows Revisited

President Asif Ali Zardari has made a reference to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to revisit the case in which Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death on the charge of ordering the murder of an innocent man Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri. Interestingly enough the parliament has already prejudiced the case by passing a resolution in its initial session declaring the execution of Mr. Bhutto a ‘judicial murder.’

 In this background, the reference really is a request to determine whether or not the national assembly resolution had any merit or whether it was a contempt of court. The reference also establishes the principle that the judgment of the Supreme Court has greater meaning and weight than a resolution of the national assembly. In order to understand the case it is important to know the background.

Here are some clippings from Nation and Express newspapers and Wikipedia:
Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan, Kasuri’s father, was killed in 1974. Kasuri himself was the complainant for the murder case registered against Bhutto, who was eventually hanged in 1979. In April this year, 32 years after Bhutto’s death, President Asif Zardari filed a reference under Article 186 of the Constitution to the Supreme Court to reopen the murder trial.
Bhutto was convicted in a murder case and sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 1979 during the dictatorship of the then army chief General Ziaul Haq. He was executed on April 4, 1979 by then military dictatorship.

A five-member bench of the LHC, headed by Maulvi Mushtaq Ahmad, had held the Bhutto trial for five months and awarded death sentence to him on March 18, 1978. The Bhutto family had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. A seven-member bench upheld his death sentence in its February 6, 1979, verdict with a bare 4-to-3 majority. His review petition was also dismissed on March 24, 1979. Bhutto was hanged at the Central Jail, Rawalpindi, on April 4, 1979.

Sheikh Anwarul Haq is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan [September 23, 1977 - March 25, 1981]. He is often considered 'ill-famed' for giving legitimacy to General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq’s martial law and for upholding the decision of the Lahore High Court which sentenced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death for the authorization of the murder of a political opponent. Four Supreme Court judges headed by Chief Justice Anwarul Haq upheld the murder conviction of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. On 25 March 1981, S. Anwarul Haq became the first Justice and only Chief Justice to refuse taking the oath under the military imposed PCO and resigned on conscientious grounds.

Prime Minister Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed, the democratic socialists alliance who had previously allied with Bhutto began to diminish as time progresses. Initially targeting leader of the opposition Vali Khan and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP), also a socialist party. Despite the ideological similarity of the two parties, the clash of egos both inside and outside the National Assembly became increasingly fierce, starting with the Federal government’s decision to oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan Province for alleged secessionist activities and culminating in the banning of the party and arrest of much of its leadership after the death of a close lieutenant of Bhutto's, Hayat Sherpao, in a bomb blast in the frontier town of Peshawar.

Dissidence also increased within the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the murder of a leading dissident Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was accused of masterminding the crime. Powerful PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar openly condemned Bhutto and called for protests against his regime. The political crisis in the NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Balochistan intensified as civil liberties remained suspended, and an estimated 100,000 troops deployed there were accused of abusing human rights and killing large numbers of civilians.

On January 8, 1977 a large number of opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Bhutto called fresh elections, and PNA participated fully in those elections. They managed to contest the elections jointly even though there were grave splits on opinions and views within the party. The PNA faced defeat but did not accept the results, alleging that the election was rigged. They proceeded to boycott the provincial elections. Despite this, there was a high voter turnout in the national elections; however, as provincial elections were held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott, the PNA declared the newly-elected Bhutto government as illegitimate.

All the opposition leaders called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime. Political and civil disorder intensified, which led to more unrest. Bhutto imposed martial law in major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad. However, Mr. Bhutto accepted that there were major irregularities in the election in a number of constituencies and a compromise agreement between Bhutto and opposition to hold fresh election in some constituencies was ultimately reported. This compromise theory was however probably a later day addition as a major PPP armed rally was in the offing.

Zia planned a the Coup d'état carefully as he knew Bhutto had integral intelligence in the Pakistan Armed Forces, and many officers, including Chief of Air Staff General Zulfiqar Ali Khan and Major-General Tajammul Hussain Malik, GOC of 23rd Mountain Division, Major-General Naseerullah Babar, DG of Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence (DGMO) and Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, were loyal to Bhutto.

To remove this intelligence, Zia secretly contracted with the active duty British SAS army officers to maintain a staff course for the Army personnel while Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Mohammad Shariff quietly removed naval personnel loyal to Bhutto and his government from the Navy's active duty. Zia ordered Bhutto's loyal officers to attend a staff and command course and none of the officers were allowed to leave the course until the midnight. Meanwhile, Zia with his close officers, including Admiral Mohammad Shariff, then-Chaiman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, arranged the coup in the evening. On July 5, 1977, before the announcement of any agreement, Bhutto and members of his cabinet were arrested by troops of Military Police under the order of Zia by the evening.

Bhutto's last personal appearance and utterances in the supreme court were not merely a long defence of his conduct he also made some matters clear. He mentioned the words of "heir" for his son "Mir Murtaza Bhutto". He made some remark which indicated that he has views similar to a Sunni, though he was Shia albeit a non-practicing one. He also effectively cast doubt on the reliability of star witnesses against him i.e. Masood Mahmood who was a UK-trained lawyer and not merely a police officer and FSF chief. He mentioned repeatedly Lahori Ahmedi connection of Masood Mahmood in his testimony. He repeatedly brought the subject of his maltreatment in the death cell. Bhutto made it abundantly clear, even though indirectly that he wanted either freedom or death, not something in between, and appreciated Khar and his lawyer Yahya Bakhtiar.

While witnessing the dramatic fall of Bhutto, one U.S. diplomat in American Embassy in Islamabad wrote that:

During Bhutto's five years in Pakistan's helm, Bhutto had retained an emotional hold on the poor masses who had voted him overwhelmingly in 1970s general elections. At the same time, however, Bhutto had many enemies. The [socialist economics] and nationalization of major private industries during his first two years on office had badly upsets the Business circles... An ill-considered decision to take over the wheat-milling, rice-husking, sugar mills, and cotton-ginning, industries in July of 1976 had angered the small business owners and traders. Both leftists— socialists and communists, intellectuals, students, and trade unionists— felt betrayed by Bhutto's shift to centre-right wing conservative economics policies and by his growing collaboration with powerful feudal lords, Pakistan's traditional power brokers. After 1976, Bhutto's aggressive authoritarian personal style and often high-handed way of dealing with political rivals, dissidents, and opponents had also alienated many....

—U.S. Embassy, Pakistan, U.S. commenting of Bhutto's fate,