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May 2013

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

ANOTHER TYPE OF TERRORISM

ALI SUKHANVER

ali-sukhanver2Though the nation is very much delighted over the continuity of democratic process in Pakistan but this feeling of joy and happiness won’t last longer if the tree of democracy does not bear the desired fruit. The list of the problems which this nation has been facing since long is not endless but it requires a lot of hard work, determination and above all a sincere will to resolve these problems. Unfortunately in the previous five years, the elected government wasted a lot of time in strengthening itself in the name of stabilizing democracy and nothing could be done for the betterment of common people and prosperity of the country. The PPP government could have delivered a lot to the people if the democratically elected representatives had behaved in a sensible manner. The situation today is the same as it was five years back. Ever increasing energy crisis, unemployment, scarcity of opportunities, a feeling of disappointment and depression and above all the uncontrollable wave of terrorism; in short nothing could be changed. The way the whole nation reacted to the inability of the previous government is very much obvious from the results of the recent elections. Same would be the fate of the newly elected public representatives if they did not learn a lesson from the past. The people of Pakistan demand nothing but peace and prosperity and both these desires are unachievable unless the menace of terrorism is crushed with iron hands.Read More »ANOTHER TYPE OF TERRORISM

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

FAFEN releases list of polling stations with over 100% turnout in Pak Elections

ISLAMABAD, May 13, 2013 – Based on data gathered by Free and Fair Election Network observers at polling stations showing impossible voter turnout greater than 100%, FAFEN called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to release all polling station Statements of the Count (Form XIV) to the public on its website before certifying any final election results in any constituency.

The voter turnout was more than 100% in at least 49 polling stations out of 8,119 polling stations sampled by FAFEN across Pakistan, according to Statements of the Count delivered so far by FAFEN observers.  Read More »FAFEN releases list of polling stations with over 100% turnout in Pak Elections

LAHORE: HRCP finds flaws in Pakistan polls

 

polling-reutors

                              Women register and cast their ballots at a polling station in the old part of Lahore May 11, 2013. -Photo by Reuters

Offers solutions;

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has recommended a serious initiative to revamp the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), redefine its priorities and reduce bureaucrats’ meddling in political affairs.

The recommendations have been made in the HRCP’s preliminary report on Elections 2013 based on its monitoring of the electoral process before and on the polling day. The commission’s observers visited 57 National Assembly constituencies — eight in Balochistan, 13 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 in Punjab and 17 in Sindh. A detailed report on its election observation project is under preparation.Read More »LAHORE: HRCP finds flaws in Pakistan polls