Baithak Desi Mar 05: 160 million what? Shaheen Sebhai, Hamid Mir, Headlines, Rafay Alam, Mariam Mufti, Marjorie Husain, Zahoor, Jawed Iqbal
My short rant for today is a big number - 160 million! From the dimunitive Ali Ahmed Kurd to towering Nabil - politicians, lawyers, analysts of every stripe oh so conveniently use this number.
"160 million Pakistanis would not..."
Arey bhai, when have ten pakistanis unanimously agreed on one statement? And here and there everyone is throwing around 160 billion as if there is no tomorrow.
OK let us pause.
In the recently concluded elections more Pakistanis opted out rather than vote. That is a a cool 80+ million.
And then those who voted, discerned, and spread it around between PPP, PML (A-Z), MQM, ANP, JUI and that irascible bird named Independents.
So, next time you hear a blanket statement about 160 million emanating from a walking, breathing mouth stuff it back in
****
In the News today there is a lead article by Shaheen Sehbai. He claimed he was "hounded" out of Pakistan by Musharraf. He stayed in Washington for a few years, started a website that was full of criticism of Musharraf and army rule. (This is only a backgrounder)
He writes in Why Zardari should be helped, not attacked:
All the guns are out and ready to fire, or already firing, at Asif Ali Zardari for betraying, delaying, dragging or denying the quick restoration of the deposed judges, violating the Murree Declaration, playing games with his coalition partners, risking even a break-up of the grand coalition and, in the eyes of some, secretly helping, abetting or collaborating with President Pervez Musharraf or even insulting the intelligence of the people. Nothing could be further from the truth, if the context is properly understood.
and he concludes with:
Zardari knows that if he fails so perhaps will the PPP, because after Benazir and her newly-crowned heir, the party has no one to keep it together. It would break up into many factions ranging from PPP-Aitzaz to PPP-Zardari or PPP-A to Z. If, however, Mr Zardari succeeds in resolving the judicial crisis largely to the satisfaction of the lawyers and the political spectrum, he would emerge as a political leader larger than life.
In the middle of this column he write:
According to my understanding which is based on close contacts and discussions with Benazir and Zardari during their years in exile, Asif is deeply apprehensive of the establishment. He is, thus, stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. He wants to achieve the common goal but in a different manner, as he has dealt with the brutal powers of the state for many more years than Nawaz Sharif.
Somewhere in the middle there is the only reference to NRO:
The answers to these questions lie in the process through which Zardari had made his transition from a detested prisoner to a comfortable VIP in a hospital to a deal negotiator and then a beneficiary of soft peddling concessions, and ultimately the NRO.
A veteran journalist should be read not only for the information s/he disseminates but also for what s/he says of skips to mention and inform his readers. There is a lot more to Mr. Zaradri's portrayal than he choses to reveal here - sadly
***
Veteran columnist and broadcaster Hamid Mir seems to be way out of touch with ground reality. He begins today's column thus: (translation mine) "On May 12, Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the restitution of suspended judges to their posts. There is no denying the fact that a great majority ("aik baRi aksariyat") of Pakistanis, suffering from unbearable inflation and load-shedding, has pushed them in the background, and are concerned with the judges issue."
My issue with Mr Mir is simply this. A majority of Pakistanis are poor, very poor, unread and not vocal. They struggle to make their ends meet. Politics is far removed from their horizon. Such is their dire straits. How can he cite them in his column to push for his views?
***
Headlines
Bol kay lubb aazad haiN...: Temple in Karachi used as auto repair workshop
Where did we hear this earlier?Gilani vows to solve peoples problems
And then this start:PM Gilani announces development package for Multan
Kyun nahiN? Zardari will get official protocol
Business as usual:ANF seize 3 tons of hashish
More business....:BAN ON SHOAIB AKHTAR SUSPENDED FOR ONE MONTH
Quick to pounce: NEW DELHI: SHOAIB AKHTAR CAN PLAY IN INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: IPL COMMISSIONER
Pir Pagara? PML(Q) may get new chief
Does Zardari know this? No rubber-stamp Parliament: Gilani
In the name of Zardari, the merciful: Conflict between Shoaib Akhtar and PCB ended
To restore or not to restore: Three options for restoration of judges being considered
Ji Haan! We've heard this: PPP, PML-N united over judges’ restoration
Yeah, yeah, yeah: Cells to be set up to oversee PPP ministers’ performance
In Lahore, Shahbaz Sharif’s experiment during his previous tenure as chief minister to widen the roads in Lahore is now proof that, if you do so, they will only be filled with more and more cars. Despite the clear results of the experiment, in the past five years, the Government of Punjab recklessly authorised the construction of billions of rupees of road infrastructure. The proposed widening of the Lahore canal is a good example: despite the compelling arguments of citizen action groups like Lahore Bachao, the government remains adamant on spending another 700 million rupees to make the commute from Dharampura to Thokar Niaz Beg 10 minutes faster. Remember the expenditure of this money is in ignorance of the many pressing urban issues facing the city. When an elite minority manipulates
Small steps need to be undertaken to improve this sorry state of affairs. Top priority should be given to the training of legislators. They should be made aware of their responsibilities and obligations to the parliament and constituents. They should also be encouraged to develop policy profiles by engaging in actual research, and improve their budget-reviewing skills so that they can carry out effective oversight. This is especially important when it comes to reviewing the defence budget and military action in parliament. In the next 50 years perhaps
"160 million Pakistanis would not..."
Arey bhai, when have ten pakistanis unanimously agreed on one statement? And here and there everyone is throwing around 160 billion as if there is no tomorrow.
OK let us pause.
In the recently concluded elections more Pakistanis opted out rather than vote. That is a a cool 80+ million.
And then those who voted, discerned, and spread it around between PPP, PML (A-Z), MQM, ANP, JUI and that irascible bird named Independents.
So, next time you hear a blanket statement about 160 million emanating from a walking, breathing mouth stuff it back in
****
In the News today there is a lead article by Shaheen Sehbai. He claimed he was "hounded" out of Pakistan by Musharraf. He stayed in Washington for a few years, started a website that was full of criticism of Musharraf and army rule. (This is only a backgrounder)
He writes in Why Zardari should be helped, not attacked:
All the guns are out and ready to fire, or already firing, at Asif Ali Zardari for betraying, delaying, dragging or denying the quick restoration of the deposed judges, violating the Murree Declaration, playing games with his coalition partners, risking even a break-up of the grand coalition and, in the eyes of some, secretly helping, abetting or collaborating with President Pervez Musharraf or even insulting the intelligence of the people. Nothing could be further from the truth, if the context is properly understood.
and he concludes with:
Zardari knows that if he fails so perhaps will the PPP, because after Benazir and her newly-crowned heir, the party has no one to keep it together. It would break up into many factions ranging from PPP-Aitzaz to PPP-Zardari or PPP-A to Z. If, however, Mr Zardari succeeds in resolving the judicial crisis largely to the satisfaction of the lawyers and the political spectrum, he would emerge as a political leader larger than life.
In the middle of this column he write:
According to my understanding which is based on close contacts and discussions with Benazir and Zardari during their years in exile, Asif is deeply apprehensive of the establishment. He is, thus, stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. He wants to achieve the common goal but in a different manner, as he has dealt with the brutal powers of the state for many more years than Nawaz Sharif.
Somewhere in the middle there is the only reference to NRO:
The answers to these questions lie in the process through which Zardari had made his transition from a detested prisoner to a comfortable VIP in a hospital to a deal negotiator and then a beneficiary of soft peddling concessions, and ultimately the NRO.
A veteran journalist should be read not only for the information s/he disseminates but also for what s/he says of skips to mention and inform his readers. There is a lot more to Mr. Zaradri's portrayal than he choses to reveal here - sadly
***
Veteran columnist and broadcaster Hamid Mir seems to be way out of touch with ground reality. He begins today's column thus: (translation mine) "On May 12, Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the restitution of suspended judges to their posts. There is no denying the fact that a great majority ("aik baRi aksariyat") of Pakistanis, suffering from unbearable inflation and load-shedding, has pushed them in the background, and are concerned with the judges issue."
My issue with Mr Mir is simply this. A majority of Pakistanis are poor, very poor, unread and not vocal. They struggle to make their ends meet. Politics is far removed from their horizon. Such is their dire straits. How can he cite them in his column to push for his views?
***
Headlines
Bol kay lubb aazad haiN...: Temple in Karachi used as auto repair workshop
Where did we hear this earlier?Gilani vows to solve peoples problems
And then this start:PM Gilani announces development package for Multan
Kyun nahiN? Zardari will get official protocol
Business as usual:ANF seize 3 tons of hashish
More business....:BAN ON SHOAIB AKHTAR SUSPENDED FOR ONE MONTH
Quick to pounce: NEW DELHI: SHOAIB AKHTAR CAN PLAY IN INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: IPL COMMISSIONER
Pir Pagara? PML(Q) may get new chief
Does Zardari know this? No rubber-stamp Parliament: Gilani
In the name of Zardari, the merciful: Conflict between Shoaib Akhtar and PCB ended
To restore or not to restore: Three options for restoration of judges being considered
Ji Haan! We've heard this: PPP, PML-N united over judges’ restoration
Yeah, yeah, yeah: Cells to be set up to oversee PPP ministers’ performance
In Lahore, Shahbaz Sharif’s experiment during his previous tenure as chief minister to widen the roads in Lahore is now proof that, if you do so, they will only be filled with more and more cars. Despite the clear results of the experiment, in the past five years, the Government of Punjab recklessly authorised the construction of billions of rupees of road infrastructure. The proposed widening of the Lahore canal is a good example: despite the compelling arguments of citizen action groups like Lahore Bachao, the government remains adamant on spending another 700 million rupees to make the commute from Dharampura to Thokar Niaz Beg 10 minutes faster. Remember the expenditure of this money is in ignorance of the many pressing urban issues facing the city. When an elite minority manipulates
Small steps need to be undertaken to improve this sorry state of affairs. Top priority should be given to the training of legislators. They should be made aware of their responsibilities and obligations to the parliament and constituents. They should also be encouraged to develop policy profiles by engaging in actual research, and improve their budget-reviewing skills so that they can carry out effective oversight. This is especially important when it comes to reviewing the defence budget and military action in parliament. In the next 50 years perhaps
Reviewed by Marjorie Husain
The Dreamer Awakes is a book containing 37 poems and 51 art images put together by Beo Zafar and Tabinda Chinoy and lauded by such icons as Khushwant Singh and Bapsi Sidhwa, both of whom wrote congratulatory pieces for the book. The verse and images coordinate as if composed intentionally for the volume, but this was not the case. It is an extraordinary coincidence that the friends, close from schooldays, had expressed thoughts and philosophies in verse and paintings so similar in sentiment. Beo had been writing for years and as she explained, after expressing her thoughts and feelings, she would stuff them in to a drawer. These were her very private thoughts and feelings because she was known as ‘a comic, as someone remarked: a ‘clown’ but throughout history clowns and comics have used humour to disguise their angst, the melancholy of very sensitive people. Painted words
ZAHOOR'S CARTOON:
posted by temporal at 5/06/2008
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