A Letter to the Prime Minister

 

Mr. Muhammad  Nawaz Sharif,

Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Your Excellency,

I was much impressed with your address to the nation and the initiatives mentioned therein. I am sure that your team of capable senior executives and experts must have worked out detailed plans taking into account all the possible and selecting the best options. I do not claim to be wiser than your team, but consider it my national duty to point out the following points that come to my mind just in case something may have escaped their meticulous attention.

1.       Chinese Mega-projects: In finalizing the various ambitious megaprojects with the Chinese government such as the highways, railways, mass-transit, power and other projects we should ensure that Pakistani consultants, engineers and contractors get a substantial participation at all stages of the projects. This will help our local talent to acquire the technical know-how and continue similar work in all areas in Pakistan in future independently while maintaining the same quality. This will also help in the future maintenance of the projects. You may be aware that a major reason not being able to fully utilize the installed power capacity in Pakistan is that the power plants are dependent on foreign experts for annual maintenance and breakdown services. I would also suggest that our Chinese friends be persuaded to carry out as much manufacturing, fabrication and assembly of the hardware in Pakistan as possible.

 

2.       Negotiations with Taliban: This topic has been discussed extensively in press, television and drawing rooms, but there seems to be no agreement on the strategy. I think that we should try to persuade the Taliban that we share their dream of establishing an ideal Islamic state in Pakistan based on Shariah as good as or even better than in Saudi Arabia. This has been possible for the Saudis because they have great economic power due to which they can resist external pressures. If we try to implement Shariah fully at this stage, we may face the same fate as Afghanistan. So the Taliban should give us 10 years to develop our economic and military strength to such a level that we may be able to resist external pressures successfully. In the life of nations 10 years is not a long time. The Taliban may be allowed to keep their weapons, but they should be under oath not to use them against Pakistanis. They should also agree to suspend their overseas military operations and concentrate on dawah. Meanwhile, GOP should offer large numbers of scholarships to youth from Waziristan to study in schools, colleges and universities. Road works and other development projects should also be started in Waziristan.

3.       Law & order in Karachi: The only effective way of maintaining law and order in a city or town is frequent police patrol of roads and lanes. This is how the Americans changed the face of New York and Chicago which were worse than Karachi in the 1960s. Unfortunately over the past decade or so police patrols seem to have completely disappeared from the roads and lanes of Karachi. All the police and other security machinery is totally committed to guard and escort duties for ministers, high officials, foreign missions and VIP visitors. An expensive camera surveillance system for the entire city was installed but it seems to have stopped working. Perhaps a special federal security police may be formed which could be deployed for frequent and effective patrolling of the roads and lanes of troubled cities and towns and should be sufficiently disciplined and controlled so that it does not indulge in harassment of or extortion from the citizens.

Yoyr sincerely,

Muhammad Nasim

mnasim_99@ yahoo.com

Note: I would have sent this directly to the PM, but could not find his email address.

Welcome President Mamnoon

 

Pakistan's President-elect Mamnoon Hussain hails from Karachi and enjoys good reputation from his stint as governor of Sindh in the previous PML(N) government in the nineties. His election would provide a regional balance in the pillars of power.

However, his election was not without incident. With its characteristic ineptness and without reading all the relevant clauses of the constitution, the ECP first announced the presidential election for the first week of September, then brought it back to 6th August without looking at the Islamic calendar. When it was pointed out that with 20 seats vacant for by-elections and a large number of the pious parliamentarians either in Makkah or meditating in their local mosques on the 27th of Ramadan (6th August) the turn out would be very poor and the date could be shifted to 30th July, the ECP refused to change the date.

The ruling party took the matter to the Supreme court where the ECP had no argument in favor of its decision. The simple solution would have been to allow postal ballot facility to the lawmakers who would not be able to attend the assembly sessions on 6th August. (I even sent an email to the CEC with this suggestion.) In the Supreme court it was decided that the election would be held on 30th July, 2013.

This greatly distressed the PPP who had been claiming that they would persuade all opposition members to vote for their candidate  and win the election . Meanwhile PTI of Imran Khan decided to field its own candidate and the MQM showed leaning towards the ruling party candidate. So PPP decided to boycott the presidential polls as their candidate was not willing to vie for second or third place.

In the end Mr. Mamnoon Hussain won by 432 votes to 77 for PTI's Retired justice Wajihuddin.

One good thing about the expedited election is that it made horse-trading and transfer of funds impossible in the short time allowed for canvassing over a weekend and this could be the first election of any kind in Pakistan which was free from corrupt practices.

To silence his critics, Mr. Mamnoon Hussain on being elected promptly resigned from his PML(N) membership and became a neutral figure -- something that Mr. Zardari of PPP had failed to do.

 

Happy Birthday Malala

The unusual ceremony at UN headquarters on the 16th birthday of Malala Yusufzai has created ripples in many minds. People are wondering why the western world has shown so much sympathy to Malala while ignoring the screams of pain and cries of help by millions other young girls suffering at the hands of many different types of tormentors. The following video link which I have just watched is an example:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151535774803097

To start with, Malala became famous in the West because she was the child star of a NYT documentary "Class Dismissed" about Pak Army operation in Swat. The link is given below:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/22/world/asia/1194838044017/class-dismissed-in-swat-valley.html
Whether the film maker had links with CIA or there were other factors is another matter.

The 16th birthday has special significance in the life of a western girl becase it gives her three significant rights:

1. The right to quit further education after the compulsory 16 years.
2. The right to work full time for full pay without being called child labour.
3. The right to sleep with any man of her choice without getting married.

Obviously Mala would not be very enthusiastic about the first right as she seems committed to further education.

If it was the launch of her working and earning career then starting at the UN General assembly which is the top of the world one wonders whicg way it will go? There seems no "UP" after that.

As for the third right, it would certainly be highly objectionable for a Muslim girl and if her benefactors have any ideas in that direction, they may be disappointed.

If the British and US diplomats are trying to use her to provoke the Taliban, it is a bad move as it will bring misery to the helpless thousands of Malalas in northern Pakistan and further geopardize any chance of negociated peace.

The Pakistani permanent representative at UN was conspicuous by his absence from the party. Was he invited to introduce Malala?
Another question is from where did the shawl of Benazir come, and what was the object of projecting it?
 

Terror in India

In my following 2 blogs written at the time of the events I had doubted the genuinness of the purported terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and the Mumbai Tajmahal hotel in 2008:

http://www.naseemmahnavi.blogspot.com/2005/06/i-wrote.html  see post dated 14/12/2001
http://www.naseemmahnavi.blogspot.com/2008/12/return-of-mugambo.html

In today's Dawn on page 14 there is a news item titled "India party wants commission on Delhi, Mumbai attacks"
As I searched the web I found the following link:

http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/16/india-govt-accused-of-hatching-26-11-parl-terror-attack-1260557.html
 which gave the details as:

New Delhi, July 16: Congress-led UPA government and rest of the country might have received one of the most shocking news in recent past. IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma allegedly had claimed that the central government had hatched the infamous Parliament and 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2001 and 2008 respectively.The new controversy regarding Verma's remark surfaced when former home ministry official RVS Mani sent a letter to his senior in Urban Development Ministry.

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/16/india-govt-accused-of-hatching-26-11-parl-terror-attack-1260557.html

Those interested in the topic may follow the links.
 

Hero or Traitor?

One of the major causes of anxiety for the Pakistani nation today is the trial of retired general Pervez Musharraf for high treason arising from the issuance of the “provisional constitutional order” on 3rd November, 2007. It is interesting that when the General staged the coup in protest against his dismissal,he was hailed as a hero by some and as a great leader by many for a few years in the beginning. Even the Supreme court gave him 3 years to do what he liked in national interest. It is a pity that he did not keep the promise to shed his uniform and ignored some of the basic infrastructure development causing severe hardships to the nation in the years to come.

The issuance of the PCO is considered tantamount to the subversion of the Constitution of the Islamic republic of Pakistan and can be construed as being within the purview of article 6 of the Constitution.

The determination as to whether the issuance and enforcement of the PCO are acts punishable under the High Treason act of 1973 is to be done by a court of law to be approached in writing by the government of Pakistan.

The High Treason act of 1973 is a hastily written law under which even the abrogation of the constitution of a private volleyball club would be punishable by death retroactively from 23^rd March, 1956. Obviously this law was made to intimidate and keep in check Field Marshal Ayub Khan. It is really strange that divulging secrets related to national security or cooperating with Pakistan’s enemies are not listed as acts of high treason. Maybe there is another law for that.

As for his accomplices under sub-clause b of article 6, people he consulted before issuing the order cannot be charged as abettors. He may even have prayed to God for guidance before signing that document, but I would not recommend the justices to issue orders to arrest God. The men who should also be in prison are the men who actively participated in drafting the PCO and its subsequent enforcement as ministers, heads of departments and institutions etc. Mr. Musharraf should cooperate with the investigators and reveal their names without delay.

We should also not forget that Gen. Musharraf has a right to defend or justify his actions before the court yet to be found and he should not be called a traitor in anticipation.

Election-2013

1.       Imran Khan didn’t get any runs for his opponents’ wide-balls and no-balls. He is right in complaining.

2.       Lesson for all discovered by IK: Never allow yourself to be shoved up on an unguarded platform. May he recover speedily and fully.

3.       Altaf Hussain is trying to become Bhutto of the Mohajirs. He has chosen the wrong example to follow.

4.       Everyone Except Nawaz Sharif is complaining about the election results.

5.       Some success has been achieved in the emancipation of the captive votes.

6.       The elections were freely, fairly and transparently rigged.

7.       Sindh is doomed to misgovernance and chaos for the next five years.

8.       IK hit Maulana for a six, but the ball was caught in the stands: Maulana is appealing.

9.       Let us hold next elections with electronic ballot and biometric verification as soon as possible.

10.   The following news item in Dawn of 16^th May titled “Over 30 get bail in vote rigging cases” on page 16 has been ignored by the TV channels and the ECP:
 

The Truth about Musharraf’s Trials

Retired army chief and ex-president Pervez Musharraf is incarcerated in his own farm house pending trials against various charges brought about in citizen’s appeals before superior judiciary. These are as follows:

1.       Treason by way of abrogation of the constitution of Pakistan: There is a document signed by him in the form of the “provisional constitutional order” which is a material proof, but in the absence of legislation including the offence in the penal code, the matter is open to debate and the punishment will have to be assessed as a new precedent. The justices will also have to take into account the intention behind the act. As for his accomplices, people he consulted before issuing the order cannot be charged as abettors. He may even have prayed to God for guidance before signing that document, but I would not recommend the justices to issue orders to arrest God. The man who should be in prison is the man who drafted the PCO and Mr. Musharraf should cooperate with the investigators and reveal his name without delay.

 

2.       Eligibility for Election: I had written a blog way back in 20007 saying that Mr. Musharraf and his associates were guilty of violating their oath of allegiance to the constitution and disqualified themselves from holding public office in future. I still hold that view.

 

3.       Involvement in Benazir Bhutto’s murder: There is no material evidence made public so far, and all enquiries have indicated a complex situation in which many people could be suspected for being beneficiaries from them crime.

 

4.       Negligence in providing protection to Benazir: This charge does not hold water, as three out of the 4 persons in the same vehicle as Benazir remained unharmed and she came out of the hatch of her own free will. If the president is to be held responsible for the deaths of passers-by in terrorist attacks the Mr. Zardari has to take the blame thousands of deaths in the last four and a half years.

5.       Dismissal and house arrest of judges: The action was indeed highly objectionable and could be inferred as persecution (condemned in the Holy Qur’an as worse than murder). But it is a unique case in which the victims have taken it upon themselves to judge the case – in a way taking the law in their own hands. Perhaps a tribunal of retired justices should be formed to try the case in which the aggrieved judges should appear as plaintiffs. After all, no body is above the law.

Myanmar Massacre

News of the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar (previously Burma has been filtering in for the past one year. Waves of refugees have come to Pakistan and other Muslim countries from time to time in the past also and the matter has been occasionally rather halfheartedly raised by the international press and television. The pictures below show the scale of the tragedy and the extent of savagery shown by the Buddhist terrorists. It is a shame for humanity that the war on terror has not found feet to strike those terrorists.

Love?

 

مدّ توں   پر بات  یہ اپنی سمجھ  میں آی  ہے 

ٹھوکریں کھا کھا کے ہم نے یہ نصیحت پایی ہے 

شیخ اور ساقی کے ما بین ایک قد ر مشترک 

چا ہے جا نے کی تمنا با عت رسوائی  ہے

 

It has taken me long to comprehend,

and faced a pitfall at every bend..

The fact that the holy and the whore must face:

Desire to be loved is the cause of disgrace.

 

Minkowsky’s Myth

For many centuries wise men have followed the golden rule: To every impossible question there is an inaudible answer.  However, in today’s world when electronics has augmented our perceptive powers to the extent that sounds and images can be shared and exchanged with those who are worlds apart, the silence must be broken. One such poser is Minkowsky’s Point Event introduced in early twentieth century.

It is said that Minkowsky, using the principles of special relativity and the four dimensional geometry of Rieman was able, in 1908, to present to the world a new and unique concept of four dimensional space time continuum which is represented mathematically by the second order differential equation ds² = dx² + dy² + dz² + c²dt². The square of time has no practical significance by itself, but multiplied by the square of velocity it represents an area like the other terms of the equation. Similarly, in the Cartesian coordinate system x.y, y.z and z.x represent area but x.x means nothing. In terms of 20^th century physical science this means that the minute displacement represented by ds is not completely described by the three coordinate dimensions dx, dy and dz, as in classical Euclidean geometry; but in addition by the time dimension dt also, forming the fourth coordinate of relativistic geometry. The quantity ds is renamed as a "point event" and is not exactly a distance in space, but an element in the four dimensional Minkowsky space-time continuum which is `simultaneously finite and boundless.' However, in this continuum, matter is able to assert itself as "the pressure of matter distorts the curvature of the four dimensional space-time continuum which is the physical universe." 

Minkowsky’s equation can be rewritten as ds²/dt²=dx²/dt²+dy²/dt²+dz²/dt²+c² in which the left hand term is an acceleration equal to the sum of accelerations in each of the three coordinate directions plus the velocity of light squared. A body with such acceleration would exceed the velocity of light in no time and in the case of a body at rest or moving constant speed we get 0=c² which is absurd.. The constant c² in the equation also indicates that the basic relationship might be a third order differential equation. You could multiply both sides with m to get

mds²/dt²= mdx²/dt²+mdy²/dt²+mdz²/dt²+mc²

 in which the left side is a  force but the last term on right hand side would be energy. Moreover in classical mathematical analysis higher powers of infinitesimal quantities are ignored as zero, which if applied would make it 0=c².  We can also write ds=√(dx² + dy² + dz² + c²dt²) which means that the displacement ds is equal to root sum of squares of displacements in three coordinate directions plus the distance covered by light in time dt. It is mind-boggling as to how the displacement of any or every particle in space can be related to the displacement of a photon in equal time anywhere in vacuum. However, the mathematical geniuses of that era were able to utilize it for greater achievements.

One can only wonder how the self contradicting expression of “simultaneously finite and boundless” was accepted by the scientific community of that time. Such a thing is possible only if you stand in a hall of mirrors and insist that each of the innumerable images you are seeing is a real human being.  Perhaps this was the beginning of the century of illusions which I shall discuss in future.