Recent History

Selected items from the URL given below should enlighten you about the background of what is happening today in Pakistan.

http://pakistanspace.tripod.com

February 28, 1987 Indian journalist Kuldip Nayyar's interview with Dr. Qadeer Khan is published in London Observer, in which the latter is quoted as saying that Pakistan has developed a nuclear bomb. An international controversy erupts over what is labeled as the "Islamic Bomb."

June 4, 1987 Finance Minister Yasin Wattoo announces in budget speech that 20 billion rupees will be generated through a defence tax and across the board increases in the prices of all essential commodities. June 4 -12 Mass agitation against budget; two dead, several injured. June 12 PM Junejo withdraws all controversial taxes; part of the fiscal gap to be filled by small car ("generals in Suzukis") austerity drive.

December 18, 1987 Benazir Bhutto, "Daughter of the East," ties knot with the relatively unknown Asif Ali Zardari at Karachi's Kakri Ground. One of the most colourful weddings in national history, it is attended by thousands of well-wishers from all walks of life.

Oct 15, 1988 Shariah Ordinance fizzles out as there is no NA to approve it and its creator, General Zia, is dead

Dec 1, 1988 President Ghulam Ishaq Khan nominates Benazir Bhutto PM.

August 6, 1990 President Ghulam Ishaq Khan (right) dismissed Benazir Bhutto (left)'s government today on corruption charges. He has promised fresh elections on October 24 (NA) and 27 (PA).

Oct 10, 1990 - Aif Zardari arrested in Unnar case. Care taker prime minister Jatoi.

Nov 6, 1990, Nawaz Sharif elected Prime Minister.

Jul 18, 1991 NA passes 12th Amendment Bill for setting up Speedy Courts to decide criminal cases within 30 days.

February 7, 1991 The Nawaz Sharif administration announces a ground breaking 25-point economic package which, among other measures, eases the country's stringent foreign exchange control rules. At the same time, foreigners are allowed to repatriate profits as well as principal and to invest in the local stock market.

Jan 7, 1992 Government signs agreement with South Korean firm Daewoo for construction of 339 km motorway, to be completed in 3 years
Jan 11, 1992 PM inaugurates construction of Lahore-Islamabad Motorway
Mar 23, 1992 State Bank launches "no questions asked" Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates in US dollars; international uproar ensues.

June 19, 1992 Daybreak As the army and Rangers stand by like indifferent spectators, Haqiqi dissidents set upon Altaf Hussain's MQM, first in Landhi and then elsewhere in the city.The unthinkable has happened. Within the space of ten tumultuous days, Sindh's political landscape has changed beyond recognition as the army's operation in the province turns its guns on the MQM. Overnight, establishment eulogies to Altaf Hussain have been replaced by army supervised tours of captured torture camps, as a party that once held Karachi in vice-like grip suddenly finds itself on the authorities' most wanted list. (Contributed by Irfan Malik)

Sep 5, 1992 Yellow cab scheme is extended; locally assembled vehicles included, loans raised to 90 per cent of total price and foreign banks allowed to issue loans.

November 26, 1992 PM inaugurates PTV-2, a satellite educational channel
Jan 8, 1993 COAS General Asif Nawaz Janjua dies suddenly.

Apr, 1993 Hamid Nasir Chatta and 3 other ministers resign from federal cabinet in protest against Nawaz Sharif's nomination as PML president.

Apr 17, 1993 PM Nawaz Sharif addresses the nation, accusing President Ghulam Ishaq Khan of conspiring against the govt; "I will not take dictation," he says defiantly.

Apr 18, 1993 Sharif dismissed by President; caretaker PM Balkh Sher Mazari and his cabinet including Hamid Nasir Chattha, Asif Zardari and Farooq Leghari to supervise new elections.

May 26, 1993 Supreme Court bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Nasim Hasan Shah (right) has declared the President's action unconstitutional, restoring the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the National Assembly. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a court has placed a deposed prime minister and parliament back into the saddles.

July 18, 1993 COAS Kakar intervenes, forcing both PM and President to resign; fresh elections to be held on Oct 6 (NA) and Oct 9 (PA).

Jul 18 Moeen Qureshi takes oath as caretaker PM and Senate Chairman Wasim Sajjad becomes acting president. Caretaker Prime Minister Moeen Qureshi seems intent upon thrusting his World Bank expertise and ethics on the country. Economic transparency is the cry of the day: Yellow cab scheme is scrapped and Sharif's grand motorway is also shelved. Qureshi government issues a list of loan defaulters, who may be barred from contesting the new elections, as well as a sensational roster of the amounts paid in income tax by some of the richest people in the country, including the Sharif family.

October 19, 1993 Benazir Bhutto takes oath as PM after NA elects her with 121 votes against Nawaz's 72; Wattoo of the PML (J) becomes Punjab CM despite only a handful of seats, in effect keeping a PPP nominee out of Punjab once again; Abdullah Shah Sindh CM, Aftab Sherpao in Frontier and Zulfikar Magsi in Balochistan.

Nov 4, 1993 Murtaza Bhutto arrested at Karachi airport on his return from Syria on pending charges of terrorism and 1981 hijacking.

Nov 13 PPP nominee Farooq Leghari, ex-foreign minister, elected president in run-off against Wasim Sajjad.

Jun 24,1996 Jamaat-e-Islami stages dharna (sit-in) in Islamabad: three party workers killed in clashes with police.

September 20, 1996 Mir Murtaza Bhutto, along with Ashiq Jatoi, is killed near his Clifton residence in what authorities claim was a police shootout with his body guards, but the feeling persists that this was a well-planned murder. The public, depending on who one talked to, is pointing accusingly at Murtaza's sister and Prime Minister Benazir, her husband Asif Zardari and even the President. (Contributed by Irfan Malik).

November 4-5, 1996 Something serious was certainly afoot. On the night of November 4, troops were on the move in Islamabad as well as in all the provincial capitals, and it seemed the nation was witnessing yet another military coup. But this time the midnight knock came at the behest of President Farooq Leghari, who then told the nation that he had dismissed the Bhutto government on charges of extra-judicial killings, corruption, mismanagement of the economy and complete breakdown of law and order. (Contributed by Irfan Malik).

Dec 12, 1996 President announces adult franchise for Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in February elections, discarding the system of one malik (tribal chief), one vote.

February 3, 1997 In the wake of a landslide victory in Election '97, Nawaz Sharif's PML and its allies sweep to power. The PML (N) wins an astounding 134 seats and the PPP crashes to an all-time low with just 18. The MQM gets 13, while Imran Khan and Mussarat Shaheen fail to make an impression, as does Ghinwa Bhutto.

Apr 9, 1997 PAF Squadron Leader Farooq Ahmad arrested in New York while trying to sell 2 kg of heroine

Apr 24, 1997 Admiral Mansurul Haq dismissed on charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

TOTALLY BIZARRE-16th May, 1997In one of the most bizarre cases filed in pakistans history the leader of the opposition in the Sindh province and other leaders of the previous govt have been charged with murdering G.H. Unnar a onetime ally of theirs. According to available information G.H Unnar died of cardiac problems. Unnar was previously indicted in a case with Asif Zardari in looting an expatriate (US citizen of Pakistani origin) under bizarre circumstances in which the expatriate was led to a bank supposedly with a bomb tied to his legs to withdraw millions which were to be used for a charity hospital. Both Zardari and Unnar were not convicted in the case.

Dec 2, 1997 President Farooq Leghari resigns in the wake of a complicated battle between the judiciary and the Prime Minister.

Dec 23, 1997 A Supreme Court bench of 10 judges holds invalid the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1994. On the directive of the same bench, the federal government has appointed Mr Justice Ajmal Mian as the Chief Justice. This blunt move has brought to an end the complicated tussle between the judiciary and the Prime Minister that had been going on since the last month.

Dec 31, 1997 PML nominee Rafiq Ahmed Tarar is voted President amid sarcasm from liberal newspapers, who have openly accused that his major qualification for the office seems to be his personal friendship with Nawaz Sharif’s autocratic father.

The Forbidden City

There is news that the PPP government intends to seal off all entrances into Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan to prevent the entry of protesters for an indefinite period and convert it into a sort of Forbidden City of ancient China. That would take the country back a few centuries.

The feared intruders (soon to be declared terrorists?) are the lawyers of Pakistan, a part of the cream of the society, who have been agitating for the last two years for the restoration of the uninterrupted status of the supreme and high court judges who had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the then unpopular military dictator Pervez Musharraf who had suspended the country’s constitution. For the last two years the high and supreme courts have been boycotted by most conscientious lawyers and very little genuine judicial activity has taken place.

The displaced judges were freed from captivity after the February, 2008 elections by the coalition government of PPP, PML(N) and others. But the coalition broke down when the PPP which led the coalition failed to restore the judiciary and PPP gained further concessions from its allies on the same pretext after the forced resignation of the ex-general president, without honoring any of its commitments. It is now being suspected that having reached a seemingly unassailable position the PPP is trying to eradicate all other political parties and national institutions in a systematic process of convictions by puppet judges, horse trading and even use of force.

Almost all of Pakistan’s lawyers, retired judges, intellectuals, civil rights activists, retired generals (except Pervez Musharraf) and politicians (except Peoples Party leaders) believe that the only practical way to snub the anti-constitutional actions of 3rd November, 2007 without acknowledging its existence is to restore Iftikhar Chaudhri as chief justice without a fresh oath, honoring his original oath of office. Any other gimmick will legitimize the much hated 11/3 treachery.

Once the legitimate chief justice is restored, all other matters can, hopefully, be resolved through due process of law.

The Lawng March

Ex-general Pervez Musharraf did to the 11/3 judges what every general does to his officers -- maneuver them into a situation where they have to fight for their survival and save the general's skin. However, there is a difference between judges and army officers. Whereas army officers are trained in a vacuum in such a way that they become totally devoid of morality and conscience and care only about career advancement until they retire and come in contact with the real world, the judges are constantly involved in human disputes and ethical arguments which keeps their conscience alive. Infact, the law is the conscience of the society.

The legal/judicial fraternity of Pakistan has refused to digest the indignity of 11/3 and has demonstrated exemplary fortitude and unanimity in the struggle to restore the sanctity of the oath which is the foundation of the legal ethics. The betrayal of an oath is moral death, especially if it is from a judge. However, one good thing about the campaign is that the black sheep in the ranks of the legal/judicial fraternity have become marked. One wonders why Qasuri has not yet received the same treatment as Niazi.

The NRO-sanitized rulers of Pakistan obviously can not be bothered about such non-vulgarities as justice and fairplay. The people who do not feel ashamed about breaking written and signed pledges can hardly be expected to understand the significance of an oath.

The way things are moving in Pakistan, a civil war seems inevitable. If it will result in the purging out of undesirable elements as in the French revolution or the stronger unification of the nation as in USA, let it happen now rather than later. But in so doing we shoud be prepared to simultaneously fight an external aggression as in the case of the Bolshevic revolution in Russia.

Coming back to the judicial crisis in Pakistan, the 11/3 judges were judges before they committed the cardinal sin and need not be told the basics of judicial propriety. They have had a year to recuperate from the trauma of 11/3 and should be able to recall their courage and conscience to take the right decisions.

According to Islamic traditions, legislation and justice are the functions of scholars and not illiterate parliamentarians or beaurocratic judges.

After studying the history of the last three score and ten yeas I have come to the conclusion that Uncle Sam has a very simple foreign policy: The more you kill, the more you save.

The Israeli Problem

The Dec, 2008-Jan, 2009 Israeli onslaught on the Palestinian population in Gaza was perhaps the most brutal and inhuman military action in recent history which attracted disgust even from conscientious Jews in many parts of the world. Over a thousand unarmed and innocent civilians including elderly citizens, women and children were mercilessly slain by incessant tank, artillery and aerial bombardment. The flimsy excuse put forward to justify such ferocious blood-letting reminds one of Aesop’s fable of the wolf and the lamb. And this was not the first time.

From time to time, the Israelis who are otherwise considered to be a civilized people explode into a frenzy of insane destruction and blood-thirst. Is it a genetic defect of the Zionist race as the Nazis believed, or are there external factors that bring about the hysteric, barbaric and insane behavior?

The Israelis are so overwhelmingly outnumbered by the Arabs around them that even if all the Arabs just honestly spit on them, the entire Israeli population would drown and perish. The handful of Zionists in whose hands a couple of million pious moderate Jews have become hostage in a practically resourceless piece of land snatched from the Palestinians depend heavily on assistance from the diabolical elements in the American and European ruling elite. During the confrontation with Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Israelis would have got overrun if the Americans had not airlifted munitions to them in gross violation of their own laws. Recently also the carnage was stopped only after the Americans were persuaded by saner people not to send military supplies to Israel.

The fact is that Israel can not survive for long without active American support. The Americans themselves believe (or pretend to believe) in peace and equality of man, yet they blindly support Israeli brutality. Could it be that the Israelis occasionally act in such inexplicable manner because they are ordered to do so to test new weapons, munitions and poisons developed in USA and Europe, or to refresh terror and intimidation in the minds of the Palestinian sympathizers, or last but not the least to divert the world’s attention from some other sinister deeds which go unnoticed? After all they are a universally despised three and a half million people who have nowhere else to go.

Personally, I would not care about what happens to the megalomaniac Zionists of Israel or elsewhere; but I do care about the two million or so pious moderate Jews who are trapped in a living hell. Their sweat and blood is being exploited by the Zionist elite of Israel and other western diabolical elements.

The Christian world, apart from USA, has disowned its Jewish populations and will never agree to accept them back. The only chance of their deliverance lies in Muslim compassion and magnanimity. It is about time Muslim countries realize the fact that moderate Jews are as close to Muslims as followers of any other religion can be. Whether they know it or not, the only people with whom moderate Jews can coexist with peace of mind are Muslims. It is true that those who go by the events of early Islamic era would think otherwise, but an enlightened Muslim and an enlightened moderate Jew have so much in common that they can be the best of friends.

I would strongly recommend that Muslim countries should adopt a policy of sympathy towards moderate Jews and allow them to migrate and settle and build Synagogues. The moderate Jews have produced many great minds of modern history; they are a resourceful and hard working people and will bring prosperity wherever they go.

Mumbai Massacre

The Nov. 26 terror activity in Mumbai resulted in the gruesome deaths of nearly 200 innocent and unsuspecting people which is lamentable and reprehensible by any account.

For those who live in relative peace and calm, it was a great shock and outrage. However, for most Pakistanis it was just another of those things that happens frequently in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta and almost daily in the tribal areas. In fact, it was a relief that this time it was outside the borders. The Mumbai carnage is different from the Islamabad Marriott terrorism which was the act of a lone truck driver meant to cause wanton death and destruction on the Hotel whose two floors were occupied by an American intelligence agency. In Mumbai there were nearly two dozen John Rambos who struck at 10 different places and majority of them who had return tickets for the ferry by which they came disappeared leaving caches of ammunition and explosives to be discovered later, which can give clues to the investigators.

Ten terrorists took hostages in three buildings, but it is very strange that they also started major fires in the buildings in which they were holding the hostages. They also posed smiling to photographers and did not have any expression of tension or hatred on their faces. It seems that they were just having a bloody picnic. It is even more surprising that they had enough ammunition to hold off the entire Indian security machinery for up to 60 hours. If the terrorists had been surrounded, why wasn’t an attempt made to negotiate the release of the hostages? Much useful information could have been gained in the process and the hostages could have lived a bit longer if nothing else. Equally surprising is the fact that many cameras but no guns were aimed at Ajmal Kassab and he was such a friendly terrorist that he told his whole story to the Mumbai police while the Americans have failed to get any confessions in Guantanamo Bay in years. It is a pity that the Indian media failed to interview the owners and staff of those buildings.

Most intelligence agencies seem to have known in advance that the attack was coming. The reaction of the Indian intelligence in immediately blaming the Pakistani ISI creates the impression that they were expecting a reprisal for some mischief they had made in Pakistan. It is very easy for the Indians to instigate sectarian and ethnic violence in Pakistan as the headquarters of both Barelvi and Deobandi sects are located in India and there is no reason why Indian intelligence agencies would not have infiltrated them and sent misleading messages through American satellites. If a hoax call can be made from the office of the Indian foreign minister to the president of Pakistan, the anything can happen. There is also a strong opinion base in Pakistan that believes that some of the religious fanatics involved in suicide attacks may also be externally motivated. However, there are a number of other possibilities that also need to be eliminated.

The Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, like many other parts of the world is a land of vendettas. In 1971 when Indian troops comprehensively defeated the Pakistan army in what is now Bangladesh, the Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi declared that the battle of Panipat had been avenged. Panipat was the venue of a battle in 1526 when the Moghul emperor Babar from Afghanistan laid the foundation of the Moghul empire in India. The lady was gunned down by her own Sikh bodyguards to avenge the desecration of the Golden Temple by Indian troops. Her son Rajiv Gandhi who had succeeded her as prime minister and avenged the death of mother by allowing thousands of Sikhs to be lynched, was killed in the first suicide attack of its kind by Tamil dissidents who were taking revenge of the Aryan invasion and subjugation in which the Tamils, the original inhabitants of the subcontinent were made untouchables. In 1996 when the Bangladeshi cricket team defeated the Pakistani team in a world-cup match, the Bangladeshi prime minister declared that the age old domination of Bengalis by the Pakistanis had been avenged. There must be hundreds of other scores that remain to be settled. Let us not create new avengeable incidents and hope that some day in future all old scores will be settled and lasting peace will prevail. More than a division of Pakistani army backed by artillery and air force is engaged in fierce fighting to eliminate terrorist movement in the Northern Areas which has 10 legislators in the National Assembly. Many people have a misconception that the Northern Areas are a disputed area between India and Pakistan as the map in Encyclopedia Britannica wrongly shows. According to the UN Security Council’s resolutions no. 38, 39, 47, 51, 80 etc., Jammu and the Vale of Kashmir wrongly shown as a part of India in the encyclopedias are the disputed territories where a referendum is to be held under UN supervision to decide whether it should be a part of India or Pakistan. The world community has already rejected India’s claim and given the choice to the Kashmiris. Sanctions were not imposed on India for noncompliance because on each occasion the Soviet Union vetoed the resolutions against India. It is note-worth that almost every coalition government in India includes the Communist Party. However, conspiring to change maps does not change the reality. One can only hope that the US president-elect Barack Obama has taken the trouble to find the facts and has come to the right conclusions before taking an initiative on Kashmir.

The NATO forces in Afghanistan are somehow not satisfied with what the Pakistan military is doing as they are more interested in eliminating people of certain beliefs on a selective basis. The Europeans are still trying to shake off their genocidal streak which raises its head from time to time. The NATO army wants to enter the Northen Areas and carry out aggressive activity. The Mumbai attack did create a situation in which the Indians could attack the eastern borders of Pakistan forcing Pak army to withdraw from the western borders leaving the field open to the NATO forces. NATO leadership has acted swiftly to dispel any suspicions on that account.

The Russian president was about to visit India a few days later to sign deals for building nuclear reactors and supply of military hardware which the Americans were trying their level best to stop at the eleventh hour as they have already invested heavily in their nuclear cooperation agreement with India. The Mumbai attack forced the Americans to support Pakistan against the wild Indian allegations and wash their hands from the nuclear and military equipment deals. State elections are proceeding and general elections are scheduled in India in a few months’ time and in a national emergency with the threat of war, the ruling party usually benefits as people do not want to change the status quo. A party that can not find an elected legislator good enough to be prime minister would inevitably need to play some tricks. However, if the Indian leaders would admit that they make the noises about a foreign hand in their homegrown terrorist activities in order to avert widespread communal violence, one could have pity on them. Most intelligence agencies have their representatives in most terrorist and criminal organizations. Sometimes even intelligence agents who have broken away from the national organizations join the underworld for their own protection and vice versa and occasionally commonly known terrorist in the offing are hijacked by intelligence agencies and exploited. The criminal gangs based in the Arabian Gulf have often ruined the peace of both Karachi and Mumbai, at times due to their own mutual or internal differences. Why don’t the Indians ask the ruler of Emirates to do something about it? However, the quality and credibility of intelligence agencies is not to be trusted in the light of the WMD hoax created by them prior to the Iraq invasion. The problem is that many political leaderships have no intelligence other than that of the agencies.

No one has so far suggested that Mumbai should be placed under the control of UN troops and a thorough investigation should be held under the auspices of the UN Security Council.

Welcome President Obama

The election of Barack Hussein Obama to USA presidency is indeed a historic event. It shows that the extremists and the racists of USA have taken a back seat at least for now. Let us hope that they stay that way. It is interesting to note that the Republican candidate failed in spite of the incumbent president maintaining a discreet distance from his campaign. Mr. Obama's charisma worked because he remained totally focused and objective during his entire campaign and did not leave himself at the mercy of media advisers.
Well done and welcome president Obama. I hope that you will not be afraid of stopping an ongoing war and would be able to transmit your courage and convictions to your generals who seem to need both. I am sure that your success will inspire many potential leaders among common men all over the world and the examples set by you will be followed by many for a long time to come. Just be yourself and stay focused.

Light Talk

Sir,
Please go to page 31 of New Scientist 1 Nov, 2008, Cover story on Relativity. In the illustration if Frank is moving due east at 50 mph and Kate is moving northeast at 70 mph, it will appear to Frank that Kate's train is pointing northeast but drifting northward at 50 mph. Frank will never see the back of Kate's train. I have tried to read and understand Relativity with commonsense but if I were not averse to hurting many people's feelings I would have called it the theory of illusions. A good scientist must not confuse apparent drift with resultant velocity. We see the same face of the moon throughout the year and in its motion relative to us it does not rotate on its axis, but in so doing it does rotate on its axis in exactly one month in its absolute motion. Einstein's postulates are more compromises than prophecies, far from universal truths. Believe me, there are absolute motions and universal truths.
Regards,
Naseem Mahnavi.

The Endgame

When you are at the top there is no room for error. Once you slip and start going down, there is no stopping. The mistakes of Pakistan's perishing president Musharraf are too obvious. He did not resign from the army at the retirement age, instead he gave the supreme court the authority to change army service rules in his favor by creating an exception. He failed to tell his american friends that he was bound by certain ethics and national idiosyncrasies which he could not violate. He failed to let go of the prime minister when it had become obvious that a brilliant finance minister may not necessarily prove a capable prime minister. He allowed himself to be manipulated by opportunists and men like the Chaudhry brothers, Niazi and the Pirzadas and constantly fiddled with the Constitution. He was dazzled by the knowledge and wisdom of the west, not knowing that I still receive invoices from USA and Europe in Indian rupees and letters addressed "......., Pakistan, India." He failed to realize that in fighting Islamic extremism which was necessary, he was unnecessarily aligning himself with Christian and Jewish extremists. When it became obvious that Benazir was not hurt by either the gun-man or the suicide bomber on her left, he failed to infer that there must have been a third assailant on her right. Above all, he did not keep his words and betrayed his oaths which caused immense pain and grief to the mostly faithful people of his country. He deserves not only a failing grade but also some stick.

However, there is a silver lining to every cloud. MQM, the working class leadership of elite Karachi still believes that Mr. Musharraf's mistakes can be forgiven in consideration of his services to the nation. Although Mr. Musharraf may succeed in mellowing many who have hard feelings against him when he passionately answers the charges against himself, the voting in the parliament would definitely be on partisan lines and he has little chance unless he can find the money to buy nearly a fifth of the delegates. However an impassioned plea might avert any future cruelty against him. On the other hand he can negotiate a favorable secret deal and resign avoiding embarrassment to fellow soldiers.

The prime concern now is how the impossible coalition now ruling Pakistan will work in the months to come. Peoples Party is basically a socialist party now headed by a multi-billionaire habitual gaolbird, while PML(N) is dominated by industrialists and business tycoons. Previous governments of both were dismissed in the past on charges of corruption which were partly true. ANP and MQM have only localized following. All parties suffer from autocratic or elitist top leadership and a tendency to be violent at times. The leaders of all political and religious parties in Pakistan must reform and democratize their organizations and carry out a purge of elements having criminal or fraudulent tendencies. The formation of a new nab and grab team and persecution of opponents would be simply tragic.