Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Humpty Dumpties' And Princess Pandora In Pakistan!

This is not a fairy tale as in fairy tales. Well so many stories, and so many rats, oh well I was not talkin' of Pied Piper but then who is this guy Brigadiere Imtiaz, with blue eyes? nicely retired in a comfortable Punjabi style house, all the time in his hands to spill the beans and now such a favorite pastime of every body politicians, retired generals, tv anchors or not , ordinary people like me ,not so ordinary people and of course ,thanks to relatively free and now almost unethical,out of bounds media , journalists!
So the recent blast of Pied Piper, brigadiere retired Imtiaz of Intellegence beaurau, comes on ARY digital tv and sings away as to why there was an army operation in 1992, against the MQM, a large urban, Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur based political party with 15 seats in national assembly.It is alleged that 15000 innocent party people were tortured and killed during this opertation. The MQM chief, Mr Altaf Hussain almost broke down in tears when discussing this with Jasmeen Manzoor in her 11th hour on 24 august.Brig., Imtiaz blames the then president for bringing about the operation against the MQM, of which he says the prime minister knew. On the same program, the then core commander came and said that the operation was against the criminal elements and not against the party in particular.So the Pandora's box is opened!
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) , now the second largest mandated party in assembly ,headed by Mr. Nawaz Sharif, who was the then prime minister, is now clarifying it's position by saying that he did not know at the time as to army launching any operation and their spokesman who is frequenting all tv channels by popular demand , is blaming the MQM to open this issue in order to divert attention from article 6 for the treason charge on general(retired) Pervez Musharraf, for subversion of the constitution, which the PML(N) is desperately trying to lodge.
Mr Altaf Hussain, chairman MQM, in his emotional telefonic, video address to his party members demanded the chief justice Supreme Court to probe inquiry in thi this issue and start the invocation of this article in all cases from general Zia ul Haq's era. The PML (N) spokesman says MQM is also trying to divert attention from the tragedy of May 12,2007 when 50 people were brutally murdered on Karachi roads (See Utube videos for both sides footage) and for whose trial the Sindh High Court has issued notices to Mr Altaf Hussain and general (retired) Musharraf.
Spilled beans, rats' infestations,Pandora's box contents: what is happening?so many questions, Pakistanis going crazy, spinning heads!
  • PML(N) pressurizing Zardari, Gilani government to finish off 17th amendment to the constitution,as agreed in charter of democracy by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.Mr Zardari has passed this on to 27 member comittee of parliament which is sitting on it.(Here maybe the HUmpty Dumpty fable entry).
  • The PML(N) increasing pressure,( the pressure cooker lid may blow off!) by asking govt., (Gilani) to invoke article 6 of constitution to hang the retired general for subverting the constitution and commiting high treason. this they say will eventually block the way for future martial laws.(You should listen to the incoherent Chaudry Shujaat of the now badly, centrifugally divided PML(Q) who emphasises the inability of "any thing" in Pakistan to prevent martial laws).
  • The PML(N) bringing about an outright assault on local governments and asking for their abolition and after much appearances in tv shows and show of force by all nazims and people in the whole country, conceding to change the system away from Musharraf"s sytem to the real local govt., system.Their recommendations to president are not made public, the chief minister (Punjab) continues to visit Ramzan Bachat Bazars in a whirlwind tours galore, to check ,punish, control prices and commodities provision to people in a magical, do it all way. Funny style of governance. All nazims and councillors were corrupt so here I am the intensely night awakener giving good governance in my personal magical style all over Punjab.Sorry what if you have intense diarrhoea or have to go to London for say a cardiac checkup and the next in line may not have this magical energy, or maybe "corrupt" ?What about proper local govt., after elections immediately on party basis? Would not they be able to control/check/provide provisions and commodities by institutional behaviour, mechanism. We will not need "JUST ONE" magic wand!And this will be for the whole country or has Pakistan shrunk to Punjab only.
  • The poor Cinderella like Mr Asif Zardari, who has so far managed to handle his party's affairs and also affairs of the coalition, is in a very tight corner, but thanks to his personality, he shows immense dexterity, sauveness and just the right amount of humility in taking all the actors(Some actors on Pakistan stage) together. His successful ingress into militants' strong and strange strangle holds, his almost successful consensus building amongst all political parties on these issues are apparent.
  • The lack of coherence in policies and price/ inflation/commodities issues seems at the level of provincial governments in Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan. the reasons are many and varied but in Punjab and Sindh it is apparent that poor governence style, lack of institutional mechanisms,appear to be the underlying reasons for all the trouble.

So if we want to spread magic and put everything right in on star spangled adabbra cadabra we must, let the Pandora's box remain closed, let Humpty Dumpty sit comfortably on his wall, let the Gulliver conquer the strange midgets in their hornets' nests,and improve Governance at local level, provincial ,level and let the incumbent government complete it's period.We must remain united lest we fall!

Almost post script,maybe the future headline; Mr Bugti 's murder FIR lodged in Chaman, Baluchistan against Retired general Musharraf.

What really happened here?What was the story behind the propakistan Bugti to ebecome the target for "They will not know what hit them"? What will be the enough evidence, including an intact pair of eyeglasses in a bombed out operation? Who will identify the body as family was not allowed to see the body before burial? Who bombed the cave in which Mr. Bugti was supposedly residing? Why were the companions who were killed with him not named?Why was the army involved in a clandestine operation?What are the institutional mechanisms of check and balances by which the army operates in such cases? why did the elected parliament and the prime minister not question such an operation? This is the Pandora's box which will have to be opened if we want to save Baluchistan and the future of federation. Another Pandora's box is Benazir Bhutto's murder. This has to be opened too. It cannot remain closed. This is too serious a problem not to be brought out in the open.

2 comments:

  1. As regards to this perception that president Zardari is in tight corner ,it is just imagination ; he is not a poor Cinderella . Remember the history when Nawaz shrif ran away from country cowardly 11 years ago and Zardari stood firm in front of all tortures and humiliations. Majeed Nizami had called him murde- hur. ; Zardari is a great leader and he knows how to face all political storms, typhoons and tsunamis . The prove for this that he is running the most difficult coalition government of world in which all the political leaders are sitting under same umbrella. Zardari has complete grasp over PPP but at same time Zardari does not interfere in autonomy of Gilani . As regards to Pandora box of murder of BB ,it is Zardari who invited UNO team to investigate this international level murder .

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  2. Thanks for commenting on my post. If you read carefully I have not said aword against mr Zardari. On the contrary, I find him dexterous, taking all with him, smarter than all the others. Also i think he has done a good thing by asking for a UN enquiry as the matter of BB's shahadat is so grave and this cannot be left just like that. It seems you have to read the post in it,s true spirit. I want th epresent govt., to complete it,s tenure and I want the PPP also to understand it's shortcomings and improve it's political behaviour for it's own benefit. Long live democracy, long live people of Pakistan.

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