Yes Bilawal is a Kid

Yes, Bilawal is a Kid

Reacting to a teenager inheriting a major political party in a nation of 140 million plus somebody said in defense "come on Bilawal is a teenager." Yes he certainly is. And he just lost his mother. So all my sympathies for him and his siblings.

In his column in the Daily Jang Aur Bilawal Jeet Gaya, Hamid Mir (who also writes in English for Rediff) has thrown all caution to the wind and has come out in full support of the teenager from Dubai and lately London, who has received the chairmanship of a major political party as inheritance.

He did mention four PPP supporters by name whose property was looted or burned in Larkana. He did not mention any owners of the over 900 cars, 200 truck trailers, hundreds of shops, dozens of factories burned in Karachi. Not one word!

He credited Asif Zardari (of the she said so in her will fame) for controlling the youth of Sind from inflicting more damage this time. And wondered aloud if the PPP loses out on Feb. 18, would Asif Zardari then be able to control the Sindhi youths.

Khakistocracy

In late eighties, I think, humourist Mushtaque Ahmed Yusufi wrote about Qehat ur Rijaal. What this means is 'an absence of talent and or qualified people.' I don't know why an Urdu writer would resort to Arabic to express this phenomenon. Perhaps he should have coined khakistocracy?

The scarcity of able and sincere leaders is well illustrated in the current Pakistani political discourse. The talking heads on display testify to this famine of intellect. They cry hoarsely about what they want: in the press, on the web, in the electronic media and on their road hustings.

Here is a partial recap of their demands:

* Restoration of the 1973 constitution
* Restoration of the Judges who took oath under PCO 1
* Free and Fair Elections
* Lifting of the restrictions on Media
* Roti, Kapra, Makaan
* Release of all political prisoners

Here is a partial list of demands not made:

* Transparent (Free and Fair Elections) within their Parties
* A Truth and Reconciliation Commission
* An independent Ombudsman with Accountability and Prosecution powers
* Temporary Disbarring of all politicians who have criminal and civil cases pending
* Ban on participating in elections from more than on riding
* Standing shoot to kill orders for anyone damaging any public property
* If elected how would they tackle the Talibanesque cancer

The dichotomy is obvious. Their modus operandi is clear: Power at any cost! Do as I say not do as I do.

Dr. Strangelove:

Senator Lieberman, Chairman and former Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today met with President Musharraf and separately with the Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Director General of Strategic Planning Division (SPD) Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmad Kidwai. Appreciating the strong command and control system for the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, he said he was impressed by the system adopted by the country to secure its nuclear warheads.

If the boys at Langley, Va. would like to break the code Musharraf's ADC carries in the black brief case they only have to read it here! It cannot be anything other than 786.