Baithak Desi Apr 20: Free Foodlines, Only 40%, Aitezaz, Right to Info Act, Zardari Warned, Mustafa Malik, Fatima Bhutto, Amina Jilani,Ejaz Haider,Zah

It is a trend that cannot be ignored. On the foot path outside Sabir Hotel, situated on the proximity of Jamia Cloth Market, off M.A. Jinnah Road, gather hundreds of poor people every day. They anxiously await for some philanthropist to come and place an order with the restaurant management to provide them with free food. Most of people visiting the restaurant, famous for its ‘Nihari,’ are daily wage workers. Some years back, it would have been a majority of drug addicts who would come for the free food. Now the number of unemployed persons is rising in these lines. Abdul Rahman, 70, a Pushtoon worker says he has not been able to get a job for the last 20 days and has no choice but to feed himself at the Sabir Hotel. He is a loader and lives in Saddar and has three children who live in Peshawar. “One or the other ‘Seth’ visits the hotel every day and orders meal for us,” he says. “Either we get ‘Nihari’ or ‘Daal’ to eat. It depends upon the ‘Seth.’ Sometimes we also get ‘Kheer’,” he adds with a smile. Abdul Rahman earns Rs200 to Rs250 a day, on the days he is lucky to find work.So far, the city informal social network has been able to help in feeding the empty stomachs. “People hand over their Zakat money to us and we serve these jobless people from that money. A meal costs Rs15 and people start coming here after the morning prayers and continue to do so till late night,” says Junaid, adding “Sabir Hotel was established in 1964 and is offering such services since its inception.” Sabir Hotel is not alone in that it attracts jobless people for free food. One can also find hundreds of jobless workers waiting for food at hotels on Tariq Road and other places. These are haven for the people who can’t afford to buy food. Even women have started frequenting these hotels in search of free food. Some years back it would be unheard of to see a woman in a line for free food. Now it is also becoming common. Unemployed replace drug addicts in free food lines - Shahid Hussain

LAHORE: President Supreme Court Bar Association Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan Saturday announced not to resign from the office of President of Supreme Court Bar Association. Talking to newsmen in Lahore Press Club, he said during manhandling of Sher Afgan Niazi only 40 percent lawyers were present at the place while remaining were non-lawyers. He said on advice of the police Dr. Sher Afgan was guarded to a vehicle, but it was without driver. Only 40% were lawyers so Aitizaz Ahsan takes back resignation

***

* Will there be an insistence on "judicial inquiry" in this incident?
* Will SCBA give a "time limit" for the inquiry?
* Will he revisit the resignation if the "percentage" moves forward?

ISLAMABAD, April19: Member of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Pakistan Peoples Party's Senator Latif Khan Khosa Saturday said that the legal fraternity would not allow PBC President Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan to contest the coming bye-polls adding hundreds of lawyers did not participate in the February 18 general elections because of the decision of polls boycott by Aitzaz Ahsan. Talking to media persons here after attending meeting of the PBC, he said Aitzaz's Ahsan decision of boycotting the general election of February 18 has deprived hundreds of lawyers to take part in the pollsand PPP lost a number of seats due to the boycott decision. "The Supreme Court Bar Council took serious note of the decision of its president (Aitzaz Ahsan) for going in the bye-polls and issued notice to him for explaining the matter", he informed. However, PBC members including Hamid khan and Ali Ahmed Kurd who also spoke on the occasion to reporters and both denied Mr. Khosa's statement that a notice was issued to Aitzaz Ahsan in this connection. "A person who boycotted the general elections despite requests by colleagues not to do so has no moral authority to take part in the bye-elections as a solo flight", Senator Khosa said. He advised Aitzaz Ahsan to tender an apology to the legal fraternity for depriving hundreds of lawyers from contesting elections. He further said that the issue will be put on the agenda of next PBC meeting. To a question about restoration of deposed judges, he said the parliament as the sovereign forum is to decide the issue and no one can dictate to the parliament. Aitzaz under pressure for taking part in by-elections

Accurate reporting is another matter altogether. In a real-time medium such as television, mistakes can be made in the heat of the moment — a gas cylinder explosion, for instance, may initially be described quite erroneously as a bomb blast. But this happens elsewhere as well, though the western media does lay greater emphasis on the unconfirmed aspect of initial reports. The major problem, however, is access to information. How can journalists verify all the facts at the official level when confronted with stonewalling at every turn? More than five years after its promulgation, the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 exists only in name and to this day it is next to impossible to quickly and conveniently access documents that should by rights be in the public domain. At the same time, so many types of documents are off-limits under FIO 2002 that anything even remotely ‘sensitive’ — we aren’t talking of defence-related documents here — cannot be accessed by citizens. If a request is turned down, the process of appeal is so long-winded that the requester may as well give up then and there. Dawn Editorial on Right to Information [A suggestion for them - investigate how it is working in India]


Indeed, the PML (N) ministers have made it a point not to attend or participate in official functions featuring the retired general. But there is an easily discernible method to their madness. This is their very well calculated move, aiming at cashing on the sweeping anti-Musharraf public sentiment for bigger political gains, particularly in any future electoral contest. And it would really be ununderstandable if PPP leader Asif Zardari doesn’t wake up to this dexterous game plan of Nawaz Sharif even now. FP Editorial Warning Zardari

A recent visit to Pakistan reminded me of the movie Gone With the Wind. The country where I lived and worked has been hit by turbulence that has blown away many of the symbols of secularism and Western lifestyle that once characterized its urban life. Gone were the bars and dance clubs, the love songs playing in restaurants, the movie posters showing scantily dressed actresses, and the Western women tourists strolling sidewalks in bikinis. Today stores and buses in Pakistan resonate with Quranic verses flowing out of cassette players. On college campuses coeds with elaborate hairdos have been replaced by women in head-scarves. Posh hotels known for their joyful musical performances have discontinued them; some have added prayer rooms. In the capital, Islamabad, I asked a journalist colleague what had brought about this cultural revolution. Pakistan: Terror War Bolsters Islamism, Nationhood Mustafa Malik [thanks GS]

Fatima sealing deal to sell Bhutto story?

* Benazir’s niece has reportedly sent proposal for as-yet-untitled memoir to British agent

ISLAMABAD: Slain former premier Benazir Bhutto’s fiery niece Fatima Bhutto may be about to sell a memoir on the Bhutto dynasty.

Twenty-five-year-old Fatima, who already has two books to her credit, has reportedly sent a 12-page proposal for the as-yet-untitled family memoir of Pakistan’s best known political dynasty to top British literary agent David Godwin.


There is a relatively obscure monthly publication, The Wag , emanating from New Rochelle, New York. Its April issue carries a story by Seema Boesky about a Manhattan apartment which she sold either at the end of 2006 or early in 2007 (she is not specific). The story is entitled The Cursed Apartment and opens up "I wrote an article last year about the complications of selling my New York City apartment." The apartment in question was a penthouse which was "pristine, beautifully furnished, with panoramic views overlooking the East River." Why 'cursed'? Because, "my first buyer dropped dead at the closing. The second, with contract in hand, bolted down 47 flights of stairs never to be heard from again. Why? My building is the one New York Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle flew an airplane into, tragically crashing it five floors below my apartment - where my buyer was signing our contract." Benazir was the Next Buyer - Amina Jilani


This seems like an old column that was mislaid by the paper. Or, the columnist was on vacation. Stale news, like stale columns is waste of bandwidth. No country for good men. Normally Ayesha T Haq is not that stale.


Simple. I have been educated and therefore I have to play my perfidious part in this comedy of knowledge; it allows me to be comfortable, lazy, respectable and, with some more education and laziness, perhaps even rich. Plus, if I didn’t do it someone else would! There was a time they hanged conmen and tricksters. Now the world honours them as intellectuals. It couldn’t have happened without education. Comedy of Knowledge - Ejaz Haider

ZAHOOR'S CARTOON: