September 2010

A large number of former district nazims have started approaching former president General (R) Pervez Musharraf, who is set to formally jump into the political arena next month, it was reliably learnt here on Sunday.
“Over 70 former district nazims are in contact with the former president and will attend an important meeting of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in London next month,” a reliable source told The News, requesting anonymity.
When contacted, Chaudhry Fawad advocate, adviser to Musharraf on political affairs and his counsel in court cases, confirmed that many former district nazims are in touch with the former president. Read More »Many ex-Nazims in touch with Musharraf

Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has made a personal call to President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and expressed the gratitude of the government and people of Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates for its extended humanitarian assistance to floods inflicted people in the country.

Ongoing saga in shape of super floods has badly affected our macro-economy. Millions of people are confronting against all odds for their socio-economic survival. Agriculture, livestock, infrastructure and cash crops have been cleaned out and levels of human miseries are increasing day by day. There is doom and gloom and wandering souls of hapless, hopeless and homeless are at receiving ends. Read More »United Arab Emirates Relief Operations in Pakistan

Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan

Islamabad September 4: Secretary General of UAE Red Crescent, Mohamed Khalifa Ahmed Al Qamzi and Ali Saif Al Awani, UAE Ambassador in Islamabad, meet with the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Haider Khan Hoti in Peshawar today as a part of their tour to analyze the situation of floods affected people and their basic needs. In the meeting Al Qamzi briefed him about the different relief operations carrying by Red Crescent for the affected families in all the provinces. He further said that it shows our brotherly concerns, true human emotions and signs of solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their difficult times.

He proudly said that RCA has been engaged with rescue operation along with providing food stuff, tents, and medical caring. It sent two medical teams to provide health services, treatment and initiated a big vaccination campaign to immunize thousands of children and women against measles, tetanus, polio prevention, respiratory and skin diseases. Read More »Secretary General of UAE Red Crescent meets with chief minister of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa

LONDON: Batsman Yasir Hameed has reportedly claimed that Salman Butt, Muhammad Aamer and Muhammad Asif have been fixing “almost every match”. The News of the World newspaper quoted Hameed as saying that the players were throwing matches. “They were doing it in almost every match,” Hameed was quoted as saying. “God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages,” he said. “It makes me angry because I’m playing my best and they are trying to lose,” he said. Hameed, however, denied the claims, saying he had not given any interview to the paper. Read More »Pakistan players fixing ‘almost every cricket match’: Yasir Hameed

By Ayaz Amir

Democracy is the sum of its parts. American democracy in action is what the Republican and Democratic parties make it out to be. UK democracy is about the functioning of the three major parties represented in the House of Commons. It is simply not possible for political parties to be sick and corrupt and for the tree of democracy to be in robust health.
This is Pakistan’s problem. Barring the civil and military retired classes which are eternally-enamoured of military-controlled democracy, the rest of the country’s mortal population craves nothing more than ordinary, everyday democracy. The problem is, and it is a huge one, that Pakistan’s political parties, all of them, even the most self-righteous, refuse to change. Most things evolve and grow. Even viruses mutate. But Pakistan’s political parties, champions of the hollow word, are incapable of changing.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and the MQM are the only political parties in the country where the hereditary principle—the mantle of leadership passing from one family member to another, usually from doting father to dutiful son—does not reign supreme and unchallenged. The rest are family fiefdoms. While there is an element of comedy in this, it is not very funny for a nation which even after 63 years of its birth is still caught in the throes of trying to fathom the meaning of its existence.Read More »Democracy is not an abstract miracle

By Justice (r) Kazim Ali Malik in the Supreme Court of Pakistan

Re: Suo moto case no 14/2010 action regarding murder of two young persons by a mob at Sialkot in presence of police.

Report:

1. To start with, I seek refuge with the might of Allah almighty while recording bitter truth regarding Sialkot incident under inquiry as I genuinely apprehend that a campaign of vilification and character assassination would be launched by unscrupulous elements after submission of this report in the apex court.

2. This is a case of version and counter version I find it convenient to bring on record counter claims of the parties touching this incident for combined examination and analysis.Read More »Text of inquiry report on Sialkot tragedy

By the time Musharraf exited, the army’s name was in mud within the country, and outside. Where once the uniform was worn with pride, it became a target of public anger and scorn. Rumour had it that somehow the army’s image had to be reinstated in public eyes

The atrocious mob lynching incident in Sialkot, with the police present as conniving bystanders, and the despicable cricket ‘spot fixing’ incident, alleging the involvement (among others) of one of our new young bowling heroes, shocked the country and deepened the pervasive national depression prevalent because of the man-made and natural disasters simultaneously besetting us. One may be forgiven for believing, even for a fleeting weak moment, that we may indeed be God-forsaken. Is it a coincidence that militant propaganda in the conflict zones as well as the flood-affected area pushes this perception to our gullible masses for all that it is worth? How do we reverse the tide (no pun intended) of the twin floods of terrorism and water? Certainly not while we are facing the greater disaster of being subjected to deliberate (and even criminal) mis-governance under the banner of ‘democracy’.
Read More »Why martial laws go horribly wrong —Ikram Sehgal

Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan

Islamabad, 31 August: UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Saif Al-Awani met with the governor of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, Owais Ghani at his office and briefed him about the integrated relief operations of the UAE teams since the very beginning of this natural calamity hit the province. He also shared with Governor the different activities of UAE Red Crescent medical team having a filed hospital in the province.

On the directives of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan the UAE Armed Forces, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, Crescent Red and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charitable Society started their relief and airlifting operations in the most affected areas of super floods in the country further said by the ambassador. Read More »UAE Ambassador meets Governor of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa on the ongoing relief operations in Pakistan

Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan

Islamabad 1st September: Pakistan is passing through a severe natural catastrophe in shape of super floods which has created doom and gloom in the country. Ongoing saga of floods has already damaged its macro-economy. The Head of delegation of Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation Mr. Muhammad Ali Zainal Al Bastaki has today distributed five trucks carrying food stuff, tents, mineral water bottles, and dates totaling 80 tones in Nowshera, Charsadda and Swat. It was done with the coordination of Armed Forces of Pakistan under the supervision of UAE Embassy, Islamabad.

He shared that His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of UAE ordered urgent delivery of relief goods to shelter-less the displaced people soon after the news of the worst ever floods in the century that hit all the provinces of Pakistan and destroyed its major socio-economic fabric and the appeal of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Sayed Yousuf Raza Gillani,. In compliance with his directives, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation started its intensified humanitarian operations in Pakistan. We were among the first foreign aid agency/organization that responded on time for the help of these floods affected people in the country and carried out our humanitarian and relief works in various regions. Read More »Khalifa Foundation of UAE completes fist stage of relief operation in Pakistan