Baithak Desi May 06: Anjum - Media, Rauf Klasra, Headlines, Abul Fazl, Ayeda Naqvi, Cartoons

Newly returned MNAs want trips abroad – that's all they can think about at the moment; Asif Zardari demands presidential protocol; the MQM wants to stuff its people in lucrative ministries in Karachi; Nawaz Sharif wants to be the prime minister as does Zardari and the opposition plots and plots to overthrow the government. Democracy is hypocrisy. It nurtures designer-wearing, self-centered and egotistical leaders with billion-dollar bank accounts.

We need crusader-activists like Arundhati Roy and the late Akhtar Hameed Khan who served no vested interests other than the awam.

Let's talk about the Pakistani media and the men and women responsible for disseminating news, views and analysis. But for that I need one whole column. Let me in the meanwhile leave you with a thought provocatively penned by the Friday Times:

'President:pareshani
Prime Minister: Gilani
Army chief: Kayani
Speaker: Zanani
Aata na roti, bijli na pani
Wah re Pakistan
teri ajab hai kahani!' - Anjum Niaz


A retired army Major who spent a couple of years with prisoner Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, is being accused of forcibly grabbing 150 kanals of residential farmland worth millions in Islamabad suburbs, with the help of privately hired gunmen. The jail mate of the current prime minister has been accused of misusing the name of Gilani and an inquiry into the scam was ordered by SSP Islamabad Kaleem Imam to determine the facts. But the mystery about the alleged links of Major Ashraf with PM Gilani deepened when SSP Kaleem Imam, who enjoyed a good reputation of not yielding to any official or private pressure, was removed from his post the very next day and appointed as the chief security officer of Gilani. Business As Usual - Rauf Klasra


In the finest traditions [if you remember Nawaz Sharif had manhandled and confiscated and forcibly deleted a cameraman's video when the reporter questioned him over his flip flops over the length of his stay outside Pakistan] Rumpus in lawyers function


Headlines

Joker: Sherry criticizes delay in bye-election
And duplicity? Zardari condemns second postponement of bye-elections
More Spin: PML-N voices concern on bye-elections postponement
Fatima Bhutto: Fatima laments Pak’s personality mania
Zofeen Ebrahim: Caught Between State and Non-State Actors
Nothing new there: phones being taped - why Hood is acceptable?
How much is 9 billion? Shahbaz defaulter of Rs 9b: Chaudhrys
Savor this adter a coup? Gen Kayani democracy's best friend
A use for old shoes: M. Abul Fazl
Maulana Rumi a horse and its urine: Ayeda Naqvi