MNAs suggest unity among political parties for Karachi peace

ISLAMABAD: Members of different political parties in the National Assembly on Friday recommended unity and harmony among all the political parties on all national issues to remove ethnic, sectarian and political divides in Karachi and in other parts of the country.
Taking part in the debate, PML-N leader Shireen Arshad said Karachi was the economic hub of the country but unfortunately the law and order situation in the city was not under the provincial government’s control.
She said indiscriminate action should be taken against criminal elements and assassins. They should be punished in public so that they become an example for others, she said.
Ms Arshad said all political and religious parties would have to join hands against anti-state elements and criminals to establish lasting peace in Karachi.
She recommended modern training for the police force and the Rangers and provision of state of the art weapons to them.
MQM MNA Abdul Wasim said terrorism, price hike, inflation, unemployment and poverty were the main causes of unrest in Karachi and other parts of the country.
He said time had come to address the issues and problems of the masses especially the poor.
The parliamentarian deplored that feudal lords and rich segments of the society wanted to rule the country without giving opportunity to intellectuals, scholars, professionals and experts.
Laiq Mohammad Khan criticised the government for not apprehending and punishing the assassins of former premier Benazir Bhutto and questioned that if the government could not arrest the killers of Ms Bhutto, how would it establish its writ in the country.
He suggested that heads of all political parties would have to leave all their political activities and sit together to explore measures for durable peace in Karachi.
Hayat Khan said anti-state elements are endeavouring to divide Karachi ethnically and to destroy the economic hub of the country with an aim to destabilising Pakistan.
He said anti-state elements term each and every killing as ‘target’ killing just to create a sense of panic and hate among different segments of society.

Mr Khan further said that all political parties needed to rise above party politics and sit together for a peaceful Karachi.

SC hears PCO judges case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) heard the case pertaining to the non-implementation of its verdict in the PCO judges case Friday, Geo News reported. A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry heard the case, while the federation was represented by Senator Babar Awan.
Awan informed the court that a summary in regards to the PCO judges had been sent to the Prime Minister, to which the Chief Justice replied that this was a court order and required no summary.
The Chief Justice remarked that he would not allow the authority of the court to be unsuccessful and directed that the Prime Minister issues the notification today (Friday).
Babar Awan informed the court that the Prime Minister was not in Islamabad and requested two days time. The Supreme Court summoned the law secretary and attorney general and gave the government time till August 9.
In its May 18 decision, the Supreme Court had declared that seven High Court judges who had taken oath under the PCO were never judges. The government had assured the court that it would implement this decision but despite this assurance the judges were never de-notified.

No Taliban shura in Quetta, Raisani tells Munter

QUETTA: Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani on Thursday said that there was no Taliban shura (council) in Quetta, DawnNews reported.

Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zwahiri are not in Pakistan, Mr Raisani said in a meeting with US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter.
Both Mr Raisani and Mr Munter agreed that a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan was in the region’s interest.
Regarding the issue of missing persons, Mr Raisani expressed his anxiety and said that the issue could lead to hostility between the parties. He further said that the government should bring the disgruntled groups in the national fold.
Mr Raisani also referred to recent sectarian attacks in the province and said those attempting to spark sectarian tensions in the region would not be allowed to succeed

Zardari khappay

I am going to attempt doing something that many folks from the class that I belong to (urban middle-class), can’t imagine doing. I am going to praise President Zardari.

 Forget about praise, my class contemporaries don’t even bother to give him a fair critique. This is all the more baffling because in spite of the fact that these men and women are always ready to offer an objective critique of the Taliban and assorted extremists, they just cramp up when it comes to a man who may be controversial, but does not go around murdering innocent people in mosques and bazaars.
 Maybe he should start doing that – along with, of course, mixing his Edward Said and Chomsky with Mawddudi and Syed Qutb. This is bound to bag him a sympathetic trial from our oh-so-occidental, urban talking heads.
 The president I am sure is least bothered by what this section of the middle-classes have to say about him. Because how much do they mean to the on-the-ground dynamics of the kind of populist democracy that takes place in this country?
 Secondly, how many of these thousands are actually potential voters? Very few. In fact most of them find the whole idea of taking part in an election rather off-putting. The elections are never fair, y’know. 
 Nevertheless, some ‘adults’ among them have found a platform in the electronic and print media where they peddle fancy theories as startling facts and package the act of inhabited hatred towards the president as something to do with their concern for Pakistan’s moral wellbeing and sovereignty.
 The funny thing is, even though many of them have often been caught out churning out barefaced fibs and delusions, they soldier on. Losing face is never an impediment.
 But then Zardari also soldiers on. Some of his most vocal opponents too have begun to grudgingly admire his survival instincts; instincts that are a sublime mixture of astute Machiavellianism, hawkeyed pragmatism and some simple street-smartness.
 Yes, but what about things like vision?
 Well, in Pakistan (so far), any government that comes in through a democratic process has to be at its Machiavellian best to ward off the usual diatribes and manoeuvres that it has to face from what we call the ‘establishment’, and from political instruments that may not have any electoral attraction but do tend to generate enough nuisance value through the media.
 Sure this PPP-led coalition government is certainly not the most visionary thing to happen to Pakistan. But what gets lost in all the knee-jerk whining one gets to hear in urban middle-class drawing rooms and TV studious is the fact that Zardari and co. have actually managed to turn politics in this country on its head – for good.
 The concept of reconciliatory politics indicated as a thought by late Benazir Bhutto some five years ago and then first exemplified through the historic meetings between Benazir and Nawaz Sharif, is today a living, working reality.
 So what if PML-N is no more a part of it, and there is growing tension between PPP, ANP and MQM? This does not reflect a failure of the said thought and action.
 In fact it has set a positive precedent for the coming governments in a country where the whole concept of single party majority rule is now an almost implausible outcome.
 Coalition governments are the future and this government, like it or not, is setting the pattern where coalitions would be formed by mainstream parties and not by any benevolent military dictator cherry-picking his way into the parliament with the help of electoral rejects, sell-outs and assorted disgruntles.
 Unfortunately, since we are a nation that is always late to count our blessings, the media failed to grasp this aspect of new democratic politics in the country by still ‘analyzing’ it through the tainted glasses prepared by the ‘establishment’ and its political, economic and religious lackeys in the 1990s.
 They fail to notice that it is due to this reconciliatory politics that the PPP’s infamous Bhutto ego of going it alone was actually put aside – an event that has done wonders to make parties like the MQM and ANP retain their membership in the PPP-led coalition for far much longer than was expected.
 It is also this brand of politics that has made PML-N’s leadership to refuse spoiling its hands with another round of musical chairs so lovingly orchestrated by the figurative establishment and so obsessively enjoyed and contemplated by a section of the media.
 Of course PML-N would like to see the demise of Zardari’s rule, but it won’t be playing ball with any cherry-pickers, especially those still under the delusion and impression that the world awaits another (self-claimed) messiah in Pakistan. It doesn’t. The messiah cannot escape the election process anymore. He will have to dirty his hands with ballot ink like everybody else.
 The PPP, like any other party, is not beyond criticism. But the way some sections of the media have gone about attacking its every move, this is not criticism, its sheer harassment.
 The PPP-led government wasn’t handed a land blooming with a hundred flowers. Any government would have struggled in the current scenario. The current version of the party, in spite of being at the helm of a country boiling with an unprecedented number of problems, is still in a good position to formulate a lot of policies that, say, the PPP government under BB couldn’t.
 For this it must continue to engage with parties like the ANP, MQM and PML-N. In fact, it already is.
 The current PPP-led government still has a lot of potential, even if there are now more chances of early general elections.
 So, more than just concentrating on survival, this government has to come out with some bold decisions, especially in the context of what this country has been facing in the name of economics, religion, crime and governance. And though I am not an economist, I believe this government has handled the situation the best way one could in this environment. I mean how differently would any other party have acted when in 2008 the country’s economy went kaput?
 It’s very easy to chant slogans about self-reliance, but even an economic novice like me realizes that a bankrupt and defaulting Pakistan would be ten times more dangerous, chaotic and bloody than it already is.
 It is political parties like PPP, PML-N, MQM and ANP that hold the key to a better, more stable and tolerant Pakistan. Not the military, mullah and the right-wing media that the middle-classes keep calling and falling for

Balochistan is of importance for US: Munter

QUETTA: US Ambassador Cameron Munter said Pakistan and specially Balochistan is of importance for them and US would continue to work for strengthening democracy in the country, Geo News reported.
He was talking to media after a meeting with Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani here today. Munter noted that we US would always be there whenever needed.
'People of Balochiatan are very hospitable and I have always receive respect by them.' He told journalists that US would cooperate in Balochistan's water and energy projects.

In meeting with Speaker Aslam Bhootani, they discussed matters of mutual interests.

Two including child killed in Lyari building collapse

KARACHI: A five-storey residential building in Baghdadi area of Lyari collapsed Thursday that killed two people including a girl while dozens are injured, Geo News reported.
According to police sources, a five-storey building came down in Baghdadi Mosa Lane area of Lyari killing two persons while 70 people are feared trapped under the rubble.
Rescue teams and fire brigades are taking part in rescue efforts while twelve injured have been shifted to hospital so far.
Approximately 12-15 families were residing in the building, sources added.

Zardari authorised to hold talks for peace in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The coalition partners in Sindh government authorised President Asif Ali Zardari to hold negotiations with political forces for bringing peace to Karachi by taking appropriate administrative and law and order measures.

The coalition partners took the decision in three back to back meetings held here at President House on Wednesday on the situation in Karachi.

Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the decision authorising the President to hold political negotiations was taken at the first in the series of meetings of the Sindh cabinet comprising of provincial ministers belonging to PPP, ANP, PML-Q and PML-Functional and chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

The meeting reiterated the government's resolve to restore peace in Karachi at all costs and to bring the culprits to justice regardless of their affiliations, if any.

The meeting that lasted for over two hours was attended among others by Federal Minister for Interior A. Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Senator Dr Babar Awan, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and members of Sindh cabinet belonging to all coalition parties in the province.

Matters concerning law and order situation, coalition matters and performance of various provincial ministries were discussed during the meeting.

The President during the meeting called upon all the political forces to complement the government's efforts in bringing peace and normalcy to the city and to bring the criminal elements to justice.

He said, "we believe in taking along all the political forces on the issues of national importance and would continue to do so in future also. He said Karachi was not only the economic hub of the country but also a factor of social and political stability and had international significance.

The President called for emergent administrative, political and law and order measures to bring peace to Karachi.

Addressing the coalition partners the President said, "We have to resolve this issue ourselves and at the earliest keeping in view the importance of this city and its role in the economy of the country.

Briefing the meeting, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that police and rangers were fully prepared and motivated to maintain peace in Karachi.

Farhatullah Babar said that the larger meeting of coalition partners was followed by another meeting of the President with the PPP Ministers in the province during which not only the subject of peace in Karachi was taken up further but the performance of various PPP ministers was also reviewed.