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Pakistan Politics

Articles related to Pakistani politics

Justice Iftikhar played like Afridi, not Tendulkar: Aitzaz

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* Kurd says CJP never looked back at common people who had campaigned for him

* Asma says country needs a constitutional, not political, CJP 

Senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Aitzaz Ahsan has said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry played his innings like Shahid Afridi, not like Sachin Tendulkar.

Talking to a private TV channel on Wednesday, he said, “Iftikhar Chaudhry did politics and he wants to be a politician,” he added. He said that the chief justice might not have been expecting such a reaction over permitting only one private TV channel to cover the full court reference. “Discrimination was just a no ball from the Supreme Court’s side,” Aitzaz Ahsan said. He maintained that the CJP committed a fatal mistake in the end and he did not leave as Tendulkar, “he just played like Afridi”.Read More »Justice Iftikhar played like Afridi, not Tendulkar: Aitzaz

Tumultuous end to a whirlwind era

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* Justice Chaudhry’s retirement day hit by controversy over SC administration allegedly favouring a private TV channel by providing it with an exclusive footage of full-court reference

Romance between the media and outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry came to a tragic end on his retirement day, as the Supreme Court’s administration on Wednesday allegedly provided the video footage of the Supreme Court’s full court reference to one TV channel (Geo), and other TV channels started a campaign against the outgoing CJP. Read More »Tumultuous end to a whirlwind era

Judging Chaudhry

BY BABAR SATTAR

IT is ungracious to take pot shots at someone walking into the sunset. But to refuse to take stock of the performance of a public office holder as remarkable as Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and draw lessons for the future is also undesirable.

In measuring up Chaudhry’s tenure as chief justice there are five broad areas that invite comment: judicial independence; suo motu powers; judicial appointments; judicial reform; and Arsalan Iftikhar.Read More »Judging Chaudhry

Roar of the lion

By Ayaz Amir

What was the election slogan of our straw lions? “Kaun aya, kaun aya, Sher aya, Sher aya”…who is coming? the lion is coming, (lion being the election symbol of the winning PML-N). And Punjab swooned to the sound of this slogan and voted the straw lions into power, convinced salvation was at hand.

In barely three and a half months the national landscape seems transformed. The same voting public awaiting miracles has begun not just to squeal but to howl. The rupee was slipping vis-à-vis the dollar, making everything more expensive, and prices of common necessities were shooting into the sky. As if this was not enough to sour the public mood we have had the two mighty kicks just delivered, sharp rises in the prices of electricity and petrol. Punjabi wit can be devastating and jokes these days are about the strength and hunting prowess of the lion.
Read More »Roar of the lion

Learning lessons from Sri Lankan victory over rebel Tamil Tigers

By Sabir Shah

While Pakistan continues to be hit on regular basis by terrorism after 9/11, it needs to gain some inspiration from a much smaller and poorer Sri Lanka, which is literally rising from ashes after having fought with the rebel Tamil Tigers for nearly 27 long years and ultimately defeating the insurgents on May 29, 2009.

Sri Lanka was left with a daunting post-war task to ensure the welfare of nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who were held as a human shield and a bargaining chip by the rebel Tamil Tigers.Read More »Learning lessons from Sri Lankan victory over rebel Tamil Tigers

Tragedy waiting to happen

By Ikram Sehgal

While thankfully Imran Khan’s injury was not life threatening, it has immobilized him for the time being. One should be grateful that it was an accident rather than a security incident.

However security guards were involved, therefore one must look at all the aspects of personal protection afresh, particularly when it involves the security and safety of important persons. There are a lot of books and material about security protection, unfortunately most of these are written by those who have learnt their security as a subject in a classroom and have never put theory into practice. While personal protection is a specialised subject, security professionals are very reluctant to disclose details about the nature and modus operandi of their job mostly because of the confidential nature of their business; at most times they are prevented by law and the rules governing their employment.Read More »Tragedy waiting to happen

Rigging factories reduce PTI victory

 By Jalilur Rehman

It were the rigging factories in the provincial metropolis and other parts of the country that began working in the evening on the polling day and reversed the results for winning PTI candidates. In the city Hamid Khan renowned jurist, Dr. Yasmeen Rashid known gynaecologist and Hamid Zaman a businessman appear to be victim of the rigging factories the ultimate outcome of which was their engineered defeat and victory of their opponent who belonged to PML (N). Interestingly the PTI leadership, their candidates, voters and supporters knew that rigging has been committed but how and when was not known to them. There are reports with documentary evidence and footage of the cameras that in the provincial metropolis some towering candidates of the skipper Imran Khan’s team have been made target of engineered rigging but still the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seems to be unmoved rather reluctant for taking appropriate action in accordance with law to redress grievance of the victims. It is believed that all those constituencies where results had been delayed the political opponents of the PTI rigged the results through rigging factories. Read More »Rigging factories reduce PTI victory

How MQM works in Karachi

By Dr Arif Alvi 

I’m Urdu speaking, my grandparents made a lot of sacrifices and migrated to Karachi, Pakistan, from India.

Karachi was a city of lights until nearly 30 years back when MQM started showing its true face. I will tell you how MQM works and I have experienced all of this myself. This is a very well-managed organisation, which works under a tight command and control mechanism. They have divided Karachi into a number of sectors; each sector is divided into units. The first tier is called the unit. There are MQM units in every nook and corner of Karachi. Every apartment complex has one unit, and nearly one in every 500 houses there is a unit. The units report to a particular sector under which they come. Each unit has a unit in-charge and other proper posts. As these guys live among us, they know each and every house and shop that comes under their supervision. The unit in-charge literally controls whatever goes within the jurisdiction of his unit. From cable persons reporting to him to the SHO of that area; everyone obeys that unit in-charge. Read More »How MQM works in Karachi

The truth about Nawaz Sharif’s exile deal

Following are the details of an article published in the daily THE NEWS written by Aamir Mir regarding Mian Nawaz Sharif’s exile deal in 2000.
PML-N President Nawaz Sharif’s repeated assertion while the general elections are near at hand that he had actually been sent into forced exile to Saudi Arabia by the Musharraf regime runs contrary to an October 2007 verdict passed by a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The October 17, 2007 SC verdict said: “The former prime minister’s release from prison and his journey to Saudi Arabia after getting a presidential pardon due to an undertaking could not be described as forced exile.”Read More »The truth about Nawaz Sharif’s exile deal