After two days of ruckus, matters came to a head yesterday in the Punjab Assembly.

The opposition had a stranglehold of the House and there was no way business could have continued. The Speaker had a choice between a free-for-all brawl or to prorogue the session. He, sensibly, opted for the latter.

The session was prorogued, but not before adopting a treasury-sponsored resolution, amidst the ruckus, that rejected the commission on new provinces.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was heard uttering expletives in Punjabi for the women opposition members who had surrounded his chair. While the resolution was being presented, the PML-N members from northern Punjab served a notice to assembly secretariat for a resolution to carve out a province in the Potohar region.

This assembly session, which might prove to the last, has exposed the scheming by the two major political parties. Though none won a knockout, PPP seemed to have won the day on points. They wanted to expose the PML-N’s lack of support for new provinces in the Punjab and they did.

The treasury, like always, looked rudderless. By rejecting the commission out right and by introducing a resolution demanding a new province in north Punjab, the PML-N showed that they were no fans of a south Punjab province. The PPP also succeeded in showing that it stood for south Punjab.

Another interesting thing: PML-N women members who came to the assembly on reserved seats have already started campaigning for the next term. Rumour has it that eight of them have succeeded in getting the nod from the PML-N leadership.

Talking about women members, the incumbent assembly will be remembered for some over-zealous party activists. The women in the house fell in two distinct categories: ones that were over-enthusiastic and the others that slept through the entire tenure. While we all know the exploits of Samina Khawer, Seemal Kamran, Azma Bukhari, Sajida Mir and Samia Amjad there were also women who did not utter a word during the sessions. For the opposition, however, it is hard to imagine what they would have done without the support of their women comrades.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.

Raja Riaz, the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, has written to the Speaker, requesting that a medical board be constituted to examine the mental health of the chief minister.

The abysmal language used in the letter demonstrates that its three authors – Riaz, Shaukat Basra and Zulfiqar Gondal – did not receive a good education. The letter also lists the Punjab government’s initiatives that, according to authors, are examples of bad decisions of a ‘mentally unstable’ chief minister. The statement itself is not worthy of being taken seriously but nor do Shahbaz Sharif’s four and a half years in government support the view that he has been “the best administrator since Ashoka”, something his cronies would have us believe.

The list of his failures is long. The public deserves an answer about the money and resources wasted on ill-conceived schemes like Sasti Roti, food stamps, Danish Schools, laptops and yellow cabs. Billions were callously spent, and lost, in these schemes without any accountability. The last five budgets saw the chief minister using an increasing proportion of Annual Development Plans – amounting to approximately Rs10 billion – as block allocation (the funds he can spend at his own sweet discretion). Education and health facilities have continued to deplete under his charge and the law and order situation has deteriorated.

Had the money been spent wisely, it could have made a visible impact on people’s lives but all that people got was images of him smiling.

Enough about the Khadim-i-Aala. What made things worse was the opposition in the Punjab Assembly. Its leader Raja Riaz is a cruel joke played on the people of Punjab by the PPP.

The gentleman is unpopular and unknown. His manners are unpolished and he lacks political acumen. Legislation, parliamentary business and house debates are not his forte; he does not come to the assembly regularly and when he does, he finds a pretext to walk out.

After reading his letter to the Speaker, it is evident that English, the official language, is not one he is comfortable with. That of course does not discredit him as a politician right away. Politicians like Arif Nakai, Ghulam Haider Wyne, Manzoor Wattoo and several others were not known for their command of English but they did possess good political sense and leadership skills, which are missing in Riaz.

So who’s the loser? Not Shahbaz Sharif, who has enjoyed a full tenure as chief minister, and certainly not Raja Riaz. The real losers have been the people of the Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2012.

Today’s Punjab Assembly session, that lasted no longer than an hour, had a rather terminal feel about it. The Pakistan People’s Party bandwagon driven by the Basras and the Rajas, once again, raised the issue of south Punjab.

They have intermittently been asking the speaker to act on a letter written by National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza seeking the nomination of Punjab members to the national commission formed to carve a separate province in southern Punjab.

The speaker, in line with PML-N policy, however, gave no definitive answer on the nominations giving the PPP lawmakers the chance to kick off a pre-planned pandemonium in the house.

The slogans were non-stop and full throttle till the speaker announced the prayer break. As soon as the session reconvened, PPP lawmakers pointed out the quorum.

As the time for elections, the PPP, it seems, is left with only one card to play: a separate province for south Punjab.

Battered and bruised in the arenas of economy, law and order, war on terror, fight against extremism and Balochistan unrest, the Zardari-led party holds on to the cause of south Punjab as a life-line.

However, for the last four-and-a-half-years that the party has been in power, there has not been a single serious political move by the party on the issue.

Their posturing and cajoling started as the term neared its end.

Unlike central and north Punjab, where the rival PML-N rules the roost, the PPP has a significant presence in the south. Hence, the slogan of a separate province looks a last-ditch effort to hold the turf which, especially in the face of the rising political power of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the urban centres of the south, it is in danger of a losing.

As far as the political brinkmanship is concerned, the party has so far succeeded in making the ages-old demand of a separate south province their own.

The PML-N, instead of competing with the PPP on this tricky pitch, has been evasive and ambiguous.

Their stance of ‘being against ethnic divisions and not administrative division’, is a vague position no one wants to buy into.

One thing is clear to everyone. The south is Seraiki and any carving out of the territory in the south will be done purely on the basis of their long-standing demand of a province of their own.

Another factor that is hard to ignore here is the Bahawalpur factor. The people of the three districts of Bahawalpur have been demanding the formation of a Bahawalpur province ever since they lost their state after the One Unit was done away with in Ayub Khan’s regime.

Creating a Seraiki and a Bahawalpur province would be a complicated process that ends up pleasing no one. This very position of the PML-N makes them ‘not so popular’ in the south.

The point, however, is that both parties know that there is no time left for these assemblies to take such monumental decisions. All the PML-N wants by not nominating members to the commission is to deny the PPP a political upper hand at the time of campaigning. On the other hand, the PPP is clearly conveying to its voters in the south the message that the PML-N is to be blamed for the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2012. 

LAHORE: Leading American political cartoonist Daryl Cagle has said that contrary to popular belief that cartoons have a universal appeal, political cartoons are deeply embedded in their socio-political environment, where caricatures could be understood and create humor within the context of everyday life of a society.

Speaking from the Washington DC via live video link, Cagle, who currently works for the cable news channel MSNBC, ran through his samples of Pakistani political cartoonists and journalists and later held a question and answer session for the audience. The veteran cartoonist said that from the sample of the Pakistani cartoonists’ works that he saw, he found the caricatures politically poignant and direct.

Cagle stated that since electronic and social media now dominates over the printing press and people are increasingly tuning in to television for news rather than read newspapers, the cartoon media in the US has adapted to modern trends by diversifying itself. He said that cartoon blogs and syndicated drawings were playing an important role in his country’s media industry.

The popular cartoonist, who started drawing professionally in 1979, said that in the US, cartoons were still a very popular medium and there were generally no restrictions or censorship on what cartoonists wanted to draw. Pakistani cartoonists present in the audience claimed that for them there were plenty of social and political taboos that hampered their flight of imagination.

After observing a sample work of Cagle, a leading Pakistani cartoonist claimed that it was almost impossible to draw caricatures depicting judiciary and religious institutions in Pakistan, as opposed to the US. He added that barring a few exceptions, one could draw almost everything under the sun in the US and that included the Pope too.

Pakistani journalists present at the seminar also shared their experiences and insight into the political reporting situation of the country. One of the participants felt that the trending medium of drawing cartoons was giving way to the onslaught of the electronic media and there were no established traditions of electronic or syndicated cartooning.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2012.

A PTI team told a visiting MQM delegation that their party leadership would discuss the invitation before coming up with a reply. The team comprised PTI President Javed Hashmi, Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Information Secretary in Punjab Andleeb Abbas.

Although the PTI did not reject the invitation outright, the party’s leaders hinted after the meeting that they would not attend any roundtable.

MQM lawmakers have been meeting with leaders from various political and religious parties and inviting them to a proposed roundtable conference on national security.

The MQM delegation that met with the PTI leaders included Deputy Convener Senator Farooq Sattar, Raza Haroon and Wasay Jalil.

During the meeting, Hashmi discussed issues like extortion mafia in Karachi, rise in extremism and volatile security situation and unstable economy.

Asked if the PTI would attend the roundtable conference, Hashmi said, “We’ll consult the central executive committee and then take a decision.”

Hashmi also said Pakistan was being divided due to a “game played by international and regional powers” and encouraged the MQM to pressure the Pakistan Peoples Party and other coalition partners to install an interim government and hold general elections.

MQM leader Farooq Sattar said the proposal of a roundtable conference was floated by MQM chief Altaf Hussain in an effort to unite the parties to focus on grave issues facing the nation. Sattar invited the PTI to visit the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, in Karachi.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for elections.  “Now is the time to prepare for the elections and go to the people. If the MQM could put their weight behind this proposal we’ll be glad to accept it,” he added.

The MQM has already met with President Asif Ali Zardari, who is co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2012.

Hundreds of workers from Reprieve, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation working to raise awareness about capital punishment and drone strikes, will take part in PTI’s long march in September.

PTI aims to lead a 100,000-strong rally from various parts of the world to Waziristan in its protest against remotely-controlled airstrikes in Pakistan’s tribal region. The convention will congregate in Peshawar, from where it will advance towards Bannu and onwards to Miramshah.

Renowned writer and intellectual Tariq Ali along with other international celebrities are said to be participating in the march. PTI chief Imran Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Khan, who is an active member of the NGO, also took part in an anti-drone march in November last year.

“We are talking to the army and other concerned quarters about the arrangements for the march which is expected to take place on September 23,” said PTI’s central vice president Naeemul Haq.

The event will be the first of its kind. The area in question is said to be housing al Qaeda and Taliban militants and with the exception of the army, movement has been restricted for all.

“The world will witness no less than a 100,000 people march towards Waziristan in September. Preparations are already under way,” said PTI’s nformation secretary(Punjab) Andleeb Abbas.

“We are being told it will be very dangerous to proceed beyond Bannu. Some don’t even think we’ll make it beyond Tank. But barring any major tragedy, we are going to Waziristan for sure,” said an adamant Abbas.

“Reprieve is mobilising people from Europe and the US. We basically want to go there to express solidarity with the people of the area, and find out first-hand who is really being killed by the US drone strikes. We are told the drones are only targeting terrorists, but we want to find out for ourselves.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.

India has blamed JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for masterminding the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Taking cue from New Delhi, the United States also announced bounty for information leading to the prosecution and conviction of Hafiz Saeed.

Through its Twitter account, the JuD appealed to its 2,186 followers for donations for itself and for its welfare arm, the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation Pakistan (FIFP).

The FIFP appeal was also made from the Twitter account of JuD, which has been under sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.

The message on Twitter, which was also posted on its Facebook page, appealed for Zakat in any form, either by cash, donating an ambulance or sponsoring medicines or meals for Sehri and Iftar.

Recently, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik denied any banned outfit was raising funds and had vowed to stop if any proscribed group was found collecting money.

The JuD says that since it is not banned in Pakistan, it can collect funds.

“Everyone knows that when the UNSC slapped sanctions on Jamaatud Dawa, we moved the Lahore High Court against it – which ruled in our favour,” said Khalid Waleed, chief coordinator of JuD’s political cell, which is headed by Abdur Rehman Makki.

“Look at the charity work we do. All this needs money. We feed the poor during the month of Ramazan at 100 places in Lahore alone. We have provided ambulances to every Tehsil hospital in Punjab,” Waleed added.

However, he could not explain why the JuD was collecting funds in the name of Falah-e-Insaniat. “They are just two different heads of the accounts. If someone wants to donate to either the JuD or Falah, we welcome it,” he said.

The Punjab government, on the other hand, said it was for the federal government to monitor the activities of the organisation.

“The Lahore High Court has cleared the JuD as a legitimate charitable network, so under what law can Prime Minister arrest its members?” said Senator Pervez Rashid, an adviser to the Punjab government.

“If they are on Twitter or Facebook, it is again the responsibility of the federal government to hold them accountable, as internet laws are under their jurisdiction,” Rashid stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2012.

Pakistani media speculated that the outgoing US envoy had told his bosses in Washington that the PTI would sweep the next elections. The report had been the topic of columnists in national dailies.

“We think since the report was a leak and it was a confidential document, the ambassador did not concede its existence,” said Andleeb Abbas, the information secretary for the Punjab chapter of the PTI.

“The ambassador must have seen public meetings of Imran Khan, especially the ones in Quetta and Peshawar, which were an eye-opener,” said Abbas. In September, thousands of people would participate in a rally towards Waziristan carrying the message of peace and friendship, she said.

The PTI spokesperson said her party’s membership drive has produced amazing figures. “Our target was four million but we ended up registering 6.7 million members – a figure that also took us by surprise.”

She said the membership records were transparent and anyone, including the media, could check that. The basic members of the PTI would form an electoral college that would pick the ticket holders in the next elections.

Meanwhile, PTI chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that if the PPP continued to defy the Supreme Court and did not write the Swiss letter, his party would unleash a ‘tsunami march’ on Islamabad to get the court verdicts implemented. In a statement, Imran said his party stood by the apex court and would force the rulers to implement its rulings.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2012.

The house went through the motions of taking up the bills bounced back by the governor and passing them on Wednesday, a dull exercise that many members decided to skip. The lack of drama, plus problems with the air-conditioning, meant most of the press corps was to be found in the assembly cafeteria rather than the house.

There, a group of PML-N MPAs engaged in a heated debate with two PPP members about whether this was the last assembly session before the caretakers are called in. As expected, the PML-N members pushed for early elections, saying a caretaker government should be put in place soon after the Eid break. They thought it was time for them to go back to their constituencies instead of “wasting time here in Lahore”.

The PPP members insisted that their PML-N colleagues were engaging in wishful thinking and the elections would be held in February, when the legislature’s term ends. They argued that President Asif Zardari had hinted as much on many an occasion.

Looking at the debate, the two sides weren’t actually that far apart. If elections are to be held in February, as the PPP members said, the assemblies would still have to go in late November to make way for a caretaker set-up. Though the Constitution does not make it mandatory, calling in neutral caretakers has become a tradition essential for holding credible elections.

If the caretakers are to be installed after Eid, as the PML-N members wanted, elections still wouldn’t be possible before December, as the interim administration would need time to make all the necessary arrangements. So give or take two months, we will have elections soon. The question then becomes, why does the PML-N want elections before the PPP?

For the PML-N, the sooner the elections are held the better. Its members figure that with the power crisis and tanking economy ensuring strong anti-PPP sentiment, now would be a good time to go to the polls. Also, early elections are perhaps not best suited to Imran Khan’s Tehreek-i-Insaf, which is figuring to be the PML-N’s biggest challenger in the Punjab. The PTI is currently re-organising, holding party elections, setting up committees and running a membership drive. The PML-N hopes early elections would come too soon for the PTI.

For the PPP, however, it seems the party wants to make hay while the sun is shining. Many of their detractors seem to think it will be the party’s last chance, since voters would surely punish the party for its five-year performance on energy, law and order and the economy, even if the elections were moved a couple of months back.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.

Though Tuesday was an eventless private members day at the Punjab Assembly, a resolution moved by a minority member caught the attention of the galleries.

Najma Saleemi, a PPP member, asked the house to adopt a resolution urging Pakistan Air Force to name a base after Cecil Chaudhry, the late war hero. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah read out a reply on behalf on the air force, saying that the suggestion will be considered “in due course of time.” At best the answer is a non-committal sentence right out of a bureaucrat’s book and at worst a polite way of saying ‘no’.

Though the House approved the resolution without any opposition, the treasury members opted for silence.

It is widely believed that Chaudhry, who was decorated in the 1965 and 1971 wars for his courage, was retired quietly because of his faith. The conservative military establishment could not consider a Christian commanding the air force. Otherwise, a decorated war hero was certain to make it to the position of air chief.

Squadron Leader Anwar Shamim who led the 1965 Amritsar mission to destroy the radar station (that brought a Sitara-i-Jurat for the then Flight Lieutenant Cecil Chaudhry) made it to the top. However, Shamim’s name was later tainted for allegedly accepting kickbacks in an F-16 deal with the US.

Cecil’s patriotism did not wane until his death. After his retirement from the air force, he fought for the rights of minorities and served as an educationist. It’s a shame that it took a resolution from a minority member to remind us that Chaudhry has not been appropriately recognised. It should have been done already.

We frequently see the names of captains and majors who laid down their lives for the country inscribed at crossings. We also see fighter planes installed at road crossings to remind us of the blows to the Indian Air Force in 1965 war but we don’t see the name of the hero who flew one of those Sabres.

The life for minorities is hard as it is. Limited economic and political opportunities and the fear of persecution at the hands of extremists define their lives.

And now we don’t want to acknowledge the heroes among them. Have we forgotten that Muslims were a minority when they raised the slogan of a separate nation in the name of their religious identity? The minorities in Pakistan are now facing exactly the same circumstances as the Muslims in India did 65 years ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.