A huge, armoured, bullet-proof and missile-proof truck complete with bed, air-conditioning and other comforts and facilities, hundreds of guards in designer uniform and caps surrounding it, a sizeable police escort, color portraits of BB and Daddy by the thousands, not only stuck on hundreds of specially hired or otherwise pressed into service coaches, trucks and saloon cars but also peeping down from hundreds of buildings and huge billboards around the city, one could not help wondering what it must have cost in all and more pertinent, where did the money come from.
Some light was thrown on this by Mr Awan, a member of "the welcome committee" who disclosed that Rs 150 million were spent to set up camps, put up banners and posters and on security alone. Mr Awan would have us believe that the entire funding was contributed by PPP MNAs and MPAs who had their names and pictures printed on bill boards and posters along side that of BB. So much for the show and pageantry!
In the process, we got a public demonstration of the classic adage: "All are equal but some are more equal than others". Unlike the BB, the "human shield" was supposed to look after itself.
Since it was agreed all round that BB (and therefore her entourage) was under serious threat of a suicide attack, one (specially those planning the show) could safely predict that in such an eventuality the Jialas forming the human shield around the all-proof vehicle would pay a very heavy price in terms of life and limb.
Those planning the grand homecoming, long procession, snail-paced progress, therefore, should share at least part of the blame for what had happened, in as much as it was foreseen and could possibly have been avoided or at least its impact mitigated, if the obsession with a grand entry could be kept in check. Land of greedy rich and desperately poor - shame on us!
It had all started innocently enough as an act of good civic governance. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) had over the years leased 499 plots measuring a minimum of 2.5 acres each at very attractive prices to (presumably farmers or would-be farmers) for the purpose of growing vegetables and fruit so that these necessities were more readily available to the people living in and around the capital city.
A complaint in the Supreme Court revealed that most of the plots had been used instead for building residential palaces. In a suo motu case the Supreme Court asked CDA for a survey of the plots and a report on their misuse. Farms that had 80 % of the area under vegetable and fruit farming would be considered as meeting the lease terms.
An initial report of nearly half the plots revealed that no less than 70 leaseholders had used the plots to build country houses or had put it to other unauthorised use. One can safely assume that the list of owners would include members of our privileged classes in a big way.
The list of the lucky allottees includes the names of General Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The CDA report was quick to clear General Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of any wrongdoing "although we have not completed the survey of agricultural farms owned by the two leaders".
Now read this news item from the national press: Gujranwala, October 20. A woman and her minor son on Saturday committed suicide by taking poisonous pills in Usman Town Kamoke. Reports said that Shazia was dejected due to extreme poverty and swallowed pills along with her children, Gulam Abbas(4), and Maryam (3).
How desperately dejected a mother must be to kill her own children. Luxury and loot on one side and extreme misery, starvation and death on the other! What a contrast is offered by the rulers of our Islamic Republic of Pakistan!
THUS SPAKE THE ORACLE (ALIAS SHAIKH RASHID)Here are some nuggets of wisdom and forecast from the second most colorful (after Maulana Fazlur Rahman) political figure in Pakistani politics today, as reported in the press.
NEXT PM: PPP would have a positive role in the future set-up but Benazir Bhutto would not be the Prime Minister. Forthcoming Elections: MQM was likely to win one more seat than its traditional numbers.
NEXT PARLIAMENT: Maulana Fazlur Rahman would also have a key role in the next Parliament.
BENAZIR'S HOMECOMING: Politicians playing "rally, rally" make the masses pay the price; the PPP Chairperson should pay Rs 10 million compensation to the heirs of each of the 140 people killed in the blasts. After all, she has a lot of money.
18 OCTOBER RALLY TURNOUT: Read the reports of foreign news agencies. They put the turnout at between 150,000 and 200,000.
BB'S DEMAND FOR FOREIGN INVESTIGATORS TO PROBE THE 18 OCTOBER BLAST: If Ms Bhutto had no confidence in the local intelligence agencies, she would have trouble ruling the country. It was the mother of all agencies which had recommended her homecoming.
THE BLAME GAME: The blame game was said to be started by her husband Asif Zardari.
NATIONAL RECONCILIATION: National Reconciliation would be in jeopardy if Benazir did not stop pointing fingers at the officials and members of the ruling party.
MUSHARRAF-BENAZIR UNDERSTANDING: Although Benazir Bhutto had developed a good relationship with Musharraf, the PML-Q and the PPP had not begun getting along well.
ELECTIONS: If the assemblies were dissolved on November 14, the election campaign period would be 90 days, and if the dissolution was effected on November 15, the period would be only 60 days.
AFTER IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN "COLLATERAL DAMAGE" ENTERS PAKISTAN The other day, the spokesman for the armed forces Major-General Waheed Arshad admitted to collateral damage in the shape of civilian casualties when the army engaged the "militants" and rained down missiles from helicopters on houses from which, he claimed, attacks were being launched on our armed forces.
Of course it had happened in Bajaur as well some months ago when American forces destroyed a Madrassah and killed scores of students on the same pretrext. This time, however, it was our own forces that fired missiles on houses.
The same pretext is used in Iraq and Afghanistan to kill thousands of innocent civilians, a large number of them women and children. To American way of thinking what is the loss of a few score of Iraqi civilians as long as, in the process, they manage to kill one or two "terrorists" as well.
Commentators have pointed out that Pakistan is the only country apart from Iraq and Afghanistan under foreign occupation in which "collateral damage" in the shape of civilian casualties appears to be gaining increasing acceptance and use as a valid strategy.
It has been pointed out that even India, in desperate armed fighting against the Mujahideen since decades now, has not ever resorted to firing missiles at houses suspected of housing freedom fighters.
The current strife is centered in the settled area of Swat rather than in the tribal areas. The cause appears to be an unfulfilled promise to enforce Sharia Law in the region which was previously under the Frontier Crimes Regulation enforced by the British rulers.
When it was being replaced by new regulations by the Government of Pakistan, the people in the area demanded that in the area, Sharia Law should replace the FCR rather than the regulations in force in the rest of Pakistan.
The then Government of Pakistan, it is reported, committed to fulfil this demand but there was no progress in that direction though more than a decade has elapsed.
Strife in the tribal areas and sometimes nearer home has already assumed alarming proportions with serious long term dangers looming ahead. The Swat situation is an additional cause of alarm.
There are also cases of beheading of captured army men in retaliation for what the other side claims has been done to them. General Musharraf has been talking tough saying that the trouble is caused by people who only understand the language of force.
The rhetoric is the same as heard on the eve of the killing of Akbar Bugti. May Allah save this country, established in the name of Islam, but gone quite astray, from disaster and give its people and rulers another chance to mend their ways. Aameen.
FAZL ON THE FENCE - HIS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY ENUNCIATED The enunciation, however, is not from the horse's mouth. It comes from Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Jamaate Islami chief and Maulana Fazlur Rahman's colleague in the tottering MMA. According to Qazi Saheb, the JUI Chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman had a firm belief that since no political party could think of coming to power without the support of the establishment, "doors of cooperation" with it should always be kept open. Further.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman did not want the MMA to become an all out opposition party. He added that his party - Jamaate Islami -- did not believe in this logic and wanted to come to power with the support of the people of Pakistan without depending on the establishment or any foreign power. So much for what Qazi Saheb claims to be Maulana Fazlur Rahman's political strategy. It would be interesting to see if the Maulana himself will ever come forth with a definition of his political vision.
ML (N) - MMA - TEHRIKE INSAF, THE TEETERING TRIANGLE A combined opposition group comprising the above parties and a few others appeared to be on the cards as late as a month ago. There appears to be considerable doubt about this happening as these lines are being written towards the end of the month.
The discord started when Maulana Fazlur Rahman decided to dissolve the NWFP Assembly only as late as 2 October. This was immediately and widely seen as facilitating the rulers since within hours of this declaration, some members of the provincial assembly opposition, controlled by the Federal government, moved a no confidence motion against the provincial government which automatically put a legally required procedural delay in the dissolution process.
As a direct result, the assembly was still functional on 6 October. The opposition move to challenge the Presidential election as illegitimate, due to non-existence, on the crucial date, of an important federating unit (the NWFP Assembly) was not successful and thanks to the delayed dissolution move, the assembly was intact on 6 October.
When full realisation of the significance of the delay in moving the dissolution of the Assembly sunk in, flood gates of criticism targeting Maulana Fazl opened up. Several leaders of APDM called for expulsion of JUI(F) from the as yet fledgling alliance.
Statements by Federal Government Ministers and by leaders of ML(Q), the party in power, that discussions with the Maulana for cooperation in the future scheme of things were successfully ongoing, further fuelled the infighting in APDM. Stung by the widespread criticism and deciding that offence would be the best defence policy, JUI started a general offensive against other parties, hitherto its allies in MMA and the APDM.
An MMA meeting scheduled on 8 November 07 will try to patch up the internal differences of the MMA since both JUI and JI have been repeatedly talking of saving the Alliance from break up. An interesting theory making its rounds is that the Federal Government strategists are very keen that MMA remains intact. The logic behind this is that this will ensure (with the cooperation of JUI) that a ML(N)-JI-TI alliance is prevented at all costs.
AITZAZ WINS PRESIDENTSHIP OF THE SUPREME COURT BAR ASSOCIATION Aitzaz Ahsan has won the contest, defeating his sole rival by a wide margin. This comes as no surprise as the Barrister is currently riding a wave of popular goodwill for his role in the Supreme Court.
A problem, however, is at hand. Mr Ahsan is also the PPP candidate for a National Assembly seat from Lahore. The SCBA role demands a politically non-partisan approach whereas in the elections the rough and tumble of the political campaign will pit him against other political parties which can reflect back adversely on his ability to play a uniting role for democratic causes as president SCBA.
He would do well to persuade BB to let him stand down as a candidate for the National Assembly. PS: After these lines were written a newspaper report spoke of a congratulatory statement issued by BB. As the new President of SCBA was quick to note pointedly and publicly, there was no phone call from the BB.
It appears that AA & BB have been steadily drifting apart if not already quite lost to each other. Perhaps a good omen for democracy in the country! Aitzaz on his part would be well advised to show magnanimity in triumph and not let his successes go to his head.
Of late his rhetoric has become somewhat strident, in venting his anger against General Musharraf, for example, or in claiming that money was spent to get votes for his opponent in the Bar election.
THE SUPREME COURT TO PULL PARLIAMENT'S CHESTNUTS OUT OF THE FIRE The Supreme Court had done a tremendous job in coming to the rescue of hundreds of citizens (and their families), getting them released from the clutches of the powerful whom no one, before now, could think of calling to account.
This is no more the case and our Captain Courageous of the Supreme Court - Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry - and no less, has never balked at hauling before the Court, with tight deadlines and under pain of quick punishment, the high and mighty of the land.
The persistence with which he has pursued these cases has earned him deep gratitude of the affected people and great admiration and respect from the people at large. No wonder the Court is overwhelmed with petitions seeking justice and relief from oppression and injustice at the hands of the powerful.
The Court is often justifiably irked, however, that it is being asked to undo the mischief Parliament has done in its own domain in the past by passing laws that cannot be justified as being in the realm of good governance.
The Court is also currently seized of weighty state matters of an urgent nature and is shortly to decide whether General Musharraf's candidature for President of Pakistan is valid in law. The Court also is to rule in the contempt case concerning Nawaz Sharif's deportation (kidnapping according to Aitzaz Ahsan). Moreover, the Court has taken suo moto notice of October 18 Karachi carnage.
THE HONEYMOON IS BOOBY-TRAPPED Americans are fond of comparing the frequency of their Presidential polls (once in 4 years) to the time it takes for a baby elephant to be conceived and born. The implication of the comparison perhaps is that the campaign itself is nearly as long and politicking with an eye on the next election (4 years away) begins almost at once.
Our own campaigns are fortunately not quite as long as that but the "deal" talks between BB and Musharraf, extending well over a year, must be a world record for a political deal.
Notwithstanding hectic activity spread over such a long period, with the head of the state himself travelling to another country more than once and the "other party" called down post haste from UK at least once, and notwithstanding the Big Brother breathing down their necks to nudge, push and finally shove the two parties into close embrace, the deal appears to have gone sore almost as soon as it was struck.
Even before BB's return plans crystallised, or perhaps very soon after that, a message from the President said: 'Don't' come yet. Wait for the matters in the Supreme Court to conclude'.
The PPP, already smarting from criticism about the corruption cases being the main issue in the deal, about BB's dependence on America to broker the deal, about BB's politically and morally bankrupt statements in respect of allowing access to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, about allowing American Army to operate in Pakistan under certain conditions, was horrified at the prospect of her postponing the return at the behest of Musharraf.
A lot of preparation had already gone into giving BB a resounding welcome, scores of millions had been spent on posters, billboards, a very special armoured car and so forth, workers and others seeking excitement of a road show in Karachi had been programmed into the show and a postponement at this point would have been a big anti-climax. For once the Party people got their wish and BB firmed up her plans.
There were more problems, however, almost as soon as she landed. The horrible carnage was followed by claims that leaders of the ruling party and cabinet ministers were responsible for the attack which took the life of over 140 persons and injured hundreds more.
There were counter claims blaming BB and her husband for what happened. Then BB said evidence that could lead to the culprits was lost through deliberate action or by negligence. Then she demanded, quite in character, that foreign experts be called in to join the investigation.
This was hotly refused by the authorities. Now there is talk of a caretaker Government for conducting the elections but that is also filled with controversy. The matters in the Supreme Court loom as an overriding backdrop although the Attorney General talks with a show of confidence of the Government having several options should the Court decide against General Musharraf's candidature.
As we write these lines towards the very end of the month, the scepter of the case in the Swiss Court against Mr and Mrs Zardari was again raised by General Musharraf. Can we get more confused than this?
INSTIUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION -WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Mr Irshad Hussain Bukhari, President of Karachi Transport Ittehad, in the presence of DIG Traffic Wajid Ali Durrani and other senior Government officials at a seminar organised by Shehri (a non-government organisation) made the disclosure that millions of rupees in bribes are being paid to the police by the transporters on a monthly basis so that they could turn a blind eye towards traffic violations.
Mr Bukhari also revealed the open secret that monthly bribes were also being paid to senior police officers. Mr Bukhari defended the action in these words: "we violate he law as others also do. Every one in this country is violating the law". And what did the DIG Traffic have to say about this? Simply (after admitting to the fact of bribes) that "this would be abolished gradually, as nothing can be changed overnight"! Where do we go from here.
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