Bash thy army the right way
Bashing the military is a favourite past time of the ones who feel they have been enlightened. Following this trend, an increasing number of people want to join this enlightened group, so they have taken to bashing the army too. The tool is a laptop; the location is a cosy house in Defence. The new army bashers however, in my humble view, need to know a thing or two before launching into a gallant bayonet charge. So I have decided to help them out and will now try to explain how to effectively bash the malicious military, or how to ...
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PTI & PML-N: Saviours of justice or a national joke?
There is never a dull moment in the land of the pure. We have a special knack to turn even solemn things into national jokes. A few leading political parties of the country have tried to hoodwink gullible people by posing to be ‘saviours of the judiciary.’ Unfortunately, they have been doing so with complete impunity and have, so far, remained successful in their designs. The PPP-led coalition government has also been accused of hatching conspiracies against the independence of the judiciary. This spectacle began on January 19, 2012 when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court in a ...
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Why I will never leave Pakistan
I have been robbed twice at gun point. On an almost daily basis I witness the gross negligence or ignorance towards the concept of civic sense. Traffic cops more often than not are more interested in lining up their pockets with ‘chai paisa’ (money for tea) rather than implementing the traffic laws and regulations. The festive season in this country sees a surge in prices rather than a celebration of the occasion. Our current government doesn’t carry the best of reputations and is widely thought of as corrupt. The remaining political options consist of an idealistic autocrat, a tried and tested party from ...
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PTI and Marvi: A love story turned sour
When the PML- Q joined hands with the current PPP government, Marvi Memon took a stand (along with some other MNAs and MPAs of her party) and decided not to join the federation. She even went a step ahead and tendered her resignation from the National Assembly. This move improved her image in the public eye and people began to feel that she will take revolutionary steps in politics; that she will use her political standing for the people of her country. Political analysts and critics were of the view that Marvi Memon will join the PTI after she left her parent party. But due ...
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Political moralization is not the way
A politician will stand on the pulpit and thousands of people will watch, as he or she weaves a story about the past. For some, it will be Ayub Khan’s decade of development, for others it may be an issue or a cause like Kashmir or Balochistan. Regardless, the gestures and punches that will be emphasized will all constitute an act of moralization. For democratic societies, political moralization, in its greater sense, undermines democratic political culture because it discourages debate and discourse. Democratic systems are based on the concept of competing ideas and institutions against a moral framework that allows for a system ...
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Sights and sounds at the Karachi Literature Festival
Foreign correspondents like conjuring the “books, not bombs” angle to justify the expense of flying down to Karachi to hear a bunch of people talk about politics and their books (in that order). But at this year’s Karachi Literature Festival there were bombs everywhere. Pervez Hoodbhoy led a discussion on bombs of the nuclear kind, Ayesha Siddiqa lobbed a few verbal bombs in Anatol Lieven’s direction for not nursing sufficient hatred for the Pakistan Army while Mohammed Hanif even dropped the deadliest bomb of all: the F-bomb. I began my annual pilgrimage to the Karachi Literature Festival by making a mental ...
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Of laptops, marriages and Nawaz Sharif
For sometime now, I am really concerned about the recent claims by Nawaz Sharif that only his political party can save the country and solve all political, internal and security crisis. He also stated that 20 precious years of both his life and the country’s progress have been wasted by external and internal enemies and had he remained in power, he would have made Pakistan an Asian Tiger. Apparently, truth is more powerful than falsehood and often time becomes a catalyst to prove it. I am talking about a man whose choices (of both words and decisions) have proven to ...
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The president’s immunity
The question of whether President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys immunity against criminal or civil proceedings requires an analysis of Article 248 of the Constitution. This states that: Article 248 (1) : The president shall not be answerable to any court….for any act done or purported to be done in the exercise of those powers and performance of those functions. The article goes on to state that: Article 248 (2): No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the president or a governor in any court during his term of office. Article 248(3): No process for the arrest or imprisonment of the ...
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Call me an Indian Pakistani
I recently wrote a blog post titled ‘An Indian who moved to Pakistan‘. The response I got – positive and negative – is much appreciated. It inspired me to write this piece about my dream of a world without borders and wars. Before I begin, however, I want to make clear that I do not have any desire to undermine the sovereign and political borders between India and Pakistan or between any other countries. My dream is to erase the psychological borders that are etched in our minds in the shape of prejudices and hatred towards the other. So I’ll get to ...
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10 notable protests, political movements of 2011
When a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in late 2010, he ignited a mass protest movement across his country. What Mohamed Bouazizi likely never expected, however, is that the uprising would be followed by many others worldwide. With 2011 drawing to a turbulent close, now is an opportune time to highlight the ten most notable protests and political movements of the last year. Tunisia protests: Removing President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali from power is only part of the story. Remarkably, notwithstanding isolated demonstrations against the new government’s failure to prosecute the ousted president’s supporters, Tunisia has enjoyed a relatively smooth ...
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