Amidst Democracy

After the June 24, 2013 speech of PM Mian Nawaz Sharif in National Assembly, very few were expecting that practical steps will be taken for the trail of former military dictator Gen Musharraf. Government against all the odds, opted for the proper procedure of trying Musharraf under article 6 of the constitution of Pakistan. After doing their home work the interior ministry wrote a formal letter to the Ministry of Law and Justice to formulate a special court for conducting the treason case. The Ministry of Law and Justice after going through the due procedures constituted a three member bench under the captaincy of Justice Faisal Arab. The establishment of a special court stunned those who were calling the June 24 speech a political gimmickry. A lot has been said since the establishment of the court, mostly from those who never peeped inside the historical perspectives. Author of this blog spent a lot of time investigating the circumstances of the military coup of '99 and would like to register the facts in this digital world. This first part of this blog will point out the pre-October 12 '99 situation and what exactly was the ground situation of politics then.

Waiting for 2 more days, Mian Nawaz Sharif finally dismissed the CoAS following the constitutional formalities, although he could had waited for his return to Pakistan. What happened on October 12, 1999 will be discussed in the next part.

Written by Engr. Hadeed Sher

Ever since the general elections 2013 there is an ongoing mantra of rigging by some fellow countrymen who are following the due course of Pakistani politics where one either loses or the elections are rigged. These people, equipped with the social media tools, are frenzied over the loss of their favorite candidate. However, since for most of them this has been there first ever democratic experience therefore they deny the existence of basic right of democracy. The holiest of the holy "Every citizen has equal status". Thus the person living in slums has a value of vote that is equal to the vote of a person living in President house. The election rigging has now turned into a carol where a single party is trying to sample the election in 1000 constituencies of Pakistan through 4 selected constituencies of their own choice. This party calls itself Pakistan ehreek Insaaf (PTI), formally known as Tehreek Insaaf Pakistan (TIP), TIP however, is a well known term among the bellboys and bellhops, which is perhaps the reason of conversion from TIP to PTI. Anyhow, what lies within the rigging carol is interesting and most of those who have a soft corner for TIP or PTI believe that a movement similar to the PNA movement 1977, is perhaps the only solution to teach PMLN a "lesson". I am assure that most of them know about the PNA movement as shallow as the lead singer of rigging CAROL knows by himself. The purpose of this blog post is to find out what exactly was Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) movement 1977 and what precisely TIP or PTI claims, but first have a recap of the GE2013.

It was long believed by the media analysts prior to the GE'13 that PTI will form the next government of KPK. However, contrary to the tall claims and reflection of what we call Hollow lentil makes more noise, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf after the GE'13 emerged as a regional party with some around 3 dozen seats that too mostly from strongholds in Pakhtoon dominated areas only, thus lacking the basis of a national party. More than two third of Pakistan rejected the politics of abuse and mud slinging. In KPK where there is all fine and clear, because Khattak lead PTI is on the driving seat, there are several districts & divisions where they fail to grab a single seat. For example in KPK PTI fails to get the confidence of people of Charsadda, Mansehra, Buttgram, Kohistan DI Khan, Bannu, Laki Marwat, Bunair, Shangla, Chitral, Dir and Malakand. The drama of "Taank Na Janay Waziristan terha" "ٹانک نہ جانے وزیرستان ٹیڑھا " for gaining the sympathies of victims of  US drone attacks was also badly flopped. PTI was not given a pity TIP from FATA people as a token of the modern fashion show in TANK.  Imran Khan lead PTI failed to grab any seat from Kurram, Momand, Bajor, North Waziristan and Orakzai Agency. But since the government is there with Pervaiz Khattak as CM and 3/4 (60 out of 80) of the ruling collation members are enjoying perks as provincial ministers and parliamentary secretaries, every thing is as legitimate and clear as Imran Khan is in the eyes of Haroon Rashid. However, despite  two mammoth gatherings in Lahore, PTI did manged to get a couple of Punjab Assembly and National assembly seats, and here comes the twist. Since, TIP has some huge public gatherings in Lahore therefore, it is a MUST thing to happen that at least 10 /13 seats of NA should fall in the lap of PTI. However, it did not happened and Imran Khan who once declared that he will contest the GE'13 against Mian Nawaz Sharif in NA-120, cowardly decided to stay out of Gawalmandi, thus leaving behind the female contestant Dr. Yasmeen to fight twice elected PM Nawaz Sharif. Similarly, his fellow party member who conducted the rigged party election of PTI, lost his seat against Khawaja Saad Rafiq in NA-125. Remember, it was Hamid Khan who was supposed to file a case against Khawaja Asif, and he FILED but in the lower court, which was rejected by the court stating that the court can not hear a case worth billion rupees. Anyhow, cutting the story short, as an evidence the one and only Dr. Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari produced a video of rigging in NA-125 in front of whole media. That video however, was an act of lunacy. Hamid Mir showed that video in his program in which SINDH RANGERS were shown inside the poling booth. Nothing was clear, however the mother of all question is "WHAT EXACTLY SINDH RANGERS IS DOING IN NA-125 LAHORE ??" and the father of all question is "How shameful Dr.SHIREEN MAZARI might felt after this blatant lie of rigging in LAHORE?". Try finding the answers and i am shifting to the PNA story in the coming lines.

1. Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) was an alliance of several parties who participated in GE'77. They alleged ZAB lead PPP for rigging in GE and decided not to be a part of Oath taking ceremony, PTI however took oath after GE'13.  
2. PNA members decided to launch a country wide protest against the rigging and it was so intense that it brought PPP on the dialog table, PTI also did that near ONE potato Two Potato for a week or two.
3. As a result of PNA movement the PPP government agreed that re-elections are possible on 40 constituencies (Ref:"Aur line Kat gae" by Kosar Niazi). PMLN however being the winning party has denied any involvement in alleged rigging. 
4. While PNA was agitating against the rigging the country was under the control of PPP, the chief election commissioner was an appointee of ZAB and so as the interim setup in all the four provinces. Neither happened in GE'13. In Punjab a wave of transfer orders actually shuffled the whole setup of Shahbaz Sharif. 
5. PNA movement in 1977 was on road because the opposition parties were clear about rigging and they decided not to be a part of democratic setup. In 2013, PTI however is enjoying full protocol in KPK, they have opposition leader in PA and their MNAs are getting full TA and DA for each session. 
6. In 1977, PNA movement decided to boycott election polling in the daylight without the presence of strong media. In 2013 PTI took part in polling process till the end of the day and waited another 3 hours to compile the results, and then RIGGING word was first introduced to the nation.

Transition of Command Stick 

Written by Hadeed Sher

It was the time when i was in my undergraduate studies, i fell in love with books. Books about those who have sacrificed their lives for Pakistan and those who have changed the history of Pakistan. Surprisingly i found most of the books by the military rulers and leaders of Pakistan, most of which were self praising. However one of my friend recommended me books by Lt. Col. (r) Ishfaq Hussain, the GENTLEMEN series and then the most inspiring book i have ever read in my life "Fateh Saboona".  This book was about the life of Maj. Shabbir Sharif Shaheed (NH, SJ). I read that book several times.

For the past few days the news about the appointment of new army chief were in the air. Several names were in the air and the anlysis was based on the seniority lists and their track record, however, being a keen observer of politics of PMLN i was somehow reluctant to agree with the results. My calculations were icnlined that Mian Nawaz Sharif will not appoint the senior most general. Firstly, it is not at all a constitutional criteria and secondly it is at his dicreation to whom he will appoint the new army chief. I was thinking of Gen Raheel Sharif as the new CoAS because his entire family has been in army since partition but never had any political ambitions. In a country where military has ruled and over thrown the democratic governments time and again, this is a great consideration.