Pakistan what it means

by K. Hussan Zia
Much has been written and spoken of late about partition of the subcontinent in some sections of the media that questions Jinnah’s motives and doubts if a separate country was indeed called for or good for the Muslims. The claim of the subcontinent’s Muslims to a separate identity is denounced as obscurantist, retrogressive and a folly.

In the process historical facts are often distorted and misrepresented. The ghosts of thoroughly discredited politicians, rejected by the masses at the time and whose only call to fame was that they had opposed the idea of Pakistan, are resurrected and glorified. There is a conscious attempt to re-write history that could potentially undermine the belief and faith of unwary Pakistanis.

To put things in perspective, after 1857 Muslims were singled out for the worst kind of retribution by the British. The prevailing sentiment was summed up in a letter to his father by A. C. Lyall, a British civil servant, ‘If the Musalman could by any means be entirely exterminated, it could be the greatest possible step towards civilizing and Christianizing Hindustan’.

At the same time a decision was made to drive a wedge between Muslims and Hindus. The Viceroy, Lord Canning, wrote to the Board of Control in London, ‘The men who fought us at Delhi were of both creeds. ---- As we must rule 150 million people by a handful (more or less) of Englishmen, let us do it in the manner best calculated to leave them divided’.

Since Hindus were in overwhelming majority, they were favoured and patronized. A nexus developed between the two that resulted in the Muslims becoming, in the words of Sir William Hunter, commissioned to enquire into the effects of this policy, ‘a race ruined under British rule ---- there is now scarcely a Government office in Calcutta in which a Muhammadan can hope for any post above the rank of porter, messenger, filler of inkpots and mender of pens’ (‘The Indian Musalmans: Are They Bound in Conscience to Rebel Against the Queen?’ p.19).

To quote some examples of this discrimination, in Bengal where Muslims were in a majority, out of the 160 Fellows at Calcutta University in 1918 only seven were Muslims. The university Senate and Syndicate did not have even one Muslim member. Out of the 895 examiners, there were only nine Muslims. Similarly, in the Punjab University out of a total of sixty-eight professors in 1933 only nine were Muslim. In 1945, it was sixteen out of a total of eighty-two. In the first half century of the university’s existence not a single Muslim was appointed to the key Registrar’s position.

The same sorry state for Muslims existed in every government department and private organization, with the exception of the lower ranks in the Indian Army and police. There were a total of 957 judges and magistrates officiating in the Bengal courts in 1901 out of which only 98 were Muslims. In the five major railway companies, EBR, EIR, GIP, NWR and Burma Railways, that operated in India in 1933, out of a total of 1,048 gazetted officers there were only 45 Muslims. In the Telegraph Department of the Government of India in 1910 there were a total of forty Divisional Officers. Not one of these was a Muslim. Among the lower staff, there were 12 Muslims in a total of 429 (Do Kaumi Nazria, by Professor Ahmed Saeed, Nazria-e-Pakistan Foundation, Lahore).

Hindus regarded and treated the Muslims in social matters as ‘Untouchables’. At most official functions, the tables for Hindus were laid out separately to the rest. Most Hindu shopkeepers would not hand over merchandise directly to a Muslim customer. It was placed at the end of a paddle and dropped into his hands or a sack to avoid any contact with the maleech.

They dressed differently, followed a different calendar and lived in segregated areas, even stayed in separate hotels where Muslims and Christians were not welcome. Separate vendors provided water to Hindus at railway stations. Their food, social mores and traditions, indeed entire ethos was different. Inter-marriages were taboo. They did not co-exist peacefully either. Bloody riots broke out with regular monotony. In the face of this the claim that Indians constituted a single unified nation can only be described as a ludicrous and delusional myth.
Perhaps the most telling contrast in the situation of Hindus and the Muslims in India was in the economic field. Hindus under the British dominated commerce, banking and industry. Any Muslim venturing into the commercial arena was denied credit and systematically squeezed out. The areas that comprised Pakistan produced eighty per cent of India’s jute and cotton crops but virtually all of the processing plants and facilities were owned by the Hindus.

Their domination became starkly evident at the time of Partition after Hindus and Sikhs moved out. The cities appeared like ghost towns. In Lahore, all the shops in Anarkali and The Mall were closed. Houses in the more affluent areas were abandoned. The number of cars left on the roads was probably less than half a dozen. The railways ceased to operate and road transport was minimal. It was the same with the Post and Telegraph and other service departments. All economic activity had been brought to a grinding halt.

Compare this with the situation today to know the blessing that is Pakistan. We were told that the country would not survive economically. Now, it has a vibrant middle class that constitutes forty per cent of the population, as against twenty-five per cent next door. The share of Muslims, who constitute about fourteen per cent of the population in India today, is no more than one per cent in the white collar jobs and about three per cent in the blue collar jobs. In the armed forces it is less than half per cent. According to Sachar Commission, set up by the Indian Government recently to enquire into the state of minorities, Muslims are now worse off than the Untouchables. This is what it would have been like for us also had it not been for Pakistan.

What transpired at the time of Partitition can never be forgotten. Close to a million innocent people were brutally murdered ---- more than ninety-five per cent of them Muslims. East Punjab was turned into a picture of Dante’s Hell. Village after Muslim village was burnt to the ground and unsuspecting inhabitants struck down in the cruelest ways imaginable. Pregnant women had their bellies ripped open; others had their breasts sliced off. Many jumped into wells and killed themselves rather than fall into the hands of murdering Sikhs. Babies were cut in half or had their skulls smashed before throwing them back to their dying mothers. Children were burnt alive in fire pits. It went on for four months without let until there was no Muslim left in the province.

Members of a supposedly cohesive nation do not go on rampages and orgies of slaughter and mayhem against their own. The victims may have belonged to a different religion but like the rest they too had become citizens of free and professedly secular India. Yet the State did little to protect them. In many cases it actively participated in the bloodlust. There were numerous cases in which local officials accompanied the bands of killers to facilitate their grisly work. No man was ever put on trial for the horrendous atrocities. We have to ask, would the reaction have been the same if the victims had been Hindus or Sikhs?

There are memories that continue to haunt. Each night when the alarm was sounded I, only thirteen at the time, would pick up the shotgun and rush to the roof to take position next to my father. As we lay there in the stillness of the dark night waiting for the attack to materialize, he would remind me that if he was killed first not to use up all of the cartridges but save at least one each for my mother and sisters to make sure they would not fall into the hands of the Sikhs alive. Try as one might, it is impossible to get rid of the image of what might have happened had we been overrun. Only Allah saved us from the tragic fate that befell a million others whose luck had run out. He also gave us a safe haven for the future.

This is what makes Pakistan so precious for without it the future would have been very bleak indeed. Freedom can’t be taken for granted. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. There are enemies both external and within. It is the latter that are most dangerous. The threat can take many forms. It is for each of us to guard against it. There is no better way than to follow the Quaid’s dictum and maintain our unity, faith and discipline.

The writer is author of ‘Pakistan: Roots, Perspective and Genesis’ and ‘Muslims and the West: A Muslim Perspective’.

Wah Munshi jee, Kya khoob Munshi jee’.

by Khurshid Anwer

Age had caught up with Nawab saheb and he was unable to fulfil his conjugal duties. He got his young Munshi to perform in his place. He would sit and watch admiringly and keep repeating, ‘Wah Munshi jee, Kya khoob Munshi jee’.

Our Munshi is screwing the opposition to the great delight of friends and foes who are thumping the tables and shouting ‘Wah Munshi jee, Kya khoob Munshi jee’.

In their wide eyed admiration they forget that he is screwing not only the opposition but also the country.

He is screwing the state enterprises by using them as parking places for his cronies in their dozens, and his jialas in their thousands, in each entity.

The cronies are there to do his dirty work. The only work the jialas will ever do is to cast their votes. Fat chance these entities can ever become productive. Fat chance they can ever be off loaded. They will keep digging a 400 billion hole in the economy every year – ‘Wah Munshi jee, Kya khoob Munshi jee’.

The Munshi is also screwing the State Bank by getting it to print 2 billion rupees, not every year, not every month, not every week, but every day. This is for funding the other vote churning machine, the Benazir Income Support Machine.

Space does not allow to enumerate the many other areas where the country is being screwed by the Munshi amidst our adulations.

However all praise to the Munshi for clinging on to power by hook or by crook, more crook than hook, and for protecting the interests of his party at the cost of the country. Yet many of us are bending over backwards to chant – ‘Wah Munshi jee, Kya khoob Munshi jee’. 

PTI & Imran Khan must get their priorities right

PTI & Imran Khan you MUST consider, apart from #Justice, #Protection of the rights of every individual as an equal Citizen of Pakistan WITHOUT discrimination #Legal & #Social equality MUST BE PRACTICED and SEEN TO BE PRACTICED! Not just given lip service! #Education needs a revamp! 

Start with a major overhaul of education, make it compulsory and train professional teachers whose wages are equal to the Civil Servants cadre to build a quality delivery system in EVERY school of Pakistan, ensure and equip every student to be a responsible citizen, give each child health support and soon you will have citizens who will do what is BEST for Pakistan! 

PAKISTAN FIRST and FOREMOST!

Memories of our daily trip to Edwardes College, Peshawar…!

By Mizan Ul Mowla
 
During our stay at Warsak Camp…almost, 22 Bengali students of our camp were given free education by Edwards College Peshawar….The credit goes to our friend Haider. He discovered Edwards College for all of us…! Hats off to Haider…Hats off to the Principal of Edwards College, Peshawar…!
In the mornings…we would all reach the main gate of the camp…near the guard room. We had to log our names before boarding the military truck going to Peshawar every morning. The person who was in charge at the guard room…I still remember his name…Ashiq ! In the beginning he used to be very tough…and somewhat impolite…gradually, at a later period, he became very friendly and helpful. Our trip to the college …had to be made on this military truck only…..but very soon we had the liberty to use the public transport service…of course, we had to pay the bus fare!
The truck used to drop us at a convenient location…very near to Edwards College. We had to walk a little distance…and that stretch is still a memorable walk. We used to have lot of fun…walking to the college…pulling each others leg…cracking jokes …planning the time we had to spend at city center...Gora Bazaar after the college was over.
Though the principal of the college had waived off the college fees for almost 22 Bengali students….he had instructed all of us to put on the uniforms like all other students of the college. All of us got our uniforms stitched….white shirt and grey trousers. This was fine till the end of summer…..winter started and we had to wear warm clothing. The winter uniform was the same…white shirt, grey woolen trousers and a green Edwards College blazer! The first two… we could afford…..since our parents did not have enough money…we could not wear the blazer. During the college assembly every morning ….all 22 of us had to be away from the assembly…we were politely told by the Principal to abstain from the assembly…since we broke the uniformity!
We all used to stand under the trees….at the far end of the play ground. When the assembly was over…we would move to our class rooms. Here I would like to express gratitude towards the Principal….who had shown us lot of consideration and kindness! We are all indebted to that great personality….who rescued us! He helped us to continue our studies…..without paying any fees in a prestigious missionary college of Pakistan…where so many students aspire to seek admission…I would say, we were very fortunate to have been blessed with such an opportunity!
The class mates were excellent….we were never discriminated. I cannot recall any incidence…where we were bullied by any of the students. The teachers were all very nice too….though we had good class mates, the circumstances…and the mental frame of mind…plus the constraints of living in a POW camp never gave us an opportunity to get close to the other Pakistani boys. The saddest part….or the unfortunate truth is…I cannot recall even a name of one of my class mates!
Very sad… Though they were so nice…yet we did not mingle very closely with them.We had a nice cafeteria in the college….sometimes we used to spend moments of our time to have a cup of tea with delicious “samosas”..! I still remember the nice taste …at this very moment; I feel like going to Edwards College ...and have a bite of those …tasty “samosas”..! I really don’t know…why I am thinking so much for those “samosas”…. perhaps, I want to visit Peshawar once again..!
Everyday,after the classes were over…all of us used to go to city center…Gora Bazaar! Most of us traveled from the college to Gora Bazaar by taking a ride on a Tonga…! Some would travel that distance by the public transport bus also. Our meeting point was at the American Centre (Library)…what a nice place it was..! We could read the daily newspapers…magazines...like TIME magazine, National Geographic and other periodicals. The most popular was…Time magazine…it always had lot of articles on Bangladesh and independence war. Very interesting and valuable for us..! We really enjoyed our time at the American Center.
It was indeed a well managed setup! Any person would love to spend some time in such a library...having a vast collection of reading material. At times….we tore off pages from various publications having articles and news on Bangladesh…! Though this pinched our conscience ...yet we never refrained from such actions as we wanted to carry these informative material back to the camp and share them with all others who did not have the liberty to go out of the POW camp. We thought of the possibilities of getting caught…in case the librarian takes notice of the torn pages…all related to Bangladesh…Obviously, possible suspects will be the Bengali boys from…Warsak!
To distract the possible attention towards us…we started to tear off pages of other topics also. This practice continued till the last visit to the American Center!
There were other families in the camp who did not have big children going for college …..We were the ones to buy their commodities from city center. Although…we had some shops near the WAPDA and PWD colony on the other side of the camp….still the provisions available, were limited.
Every evening, list of provisions needed was given to us by the other families… along with the money for the purchase. All these requirements we used to meet after college hours….we used to have almost 2 hours free time for us since the truck used to pick us up from the location on the Mall Road at around 1.30 PM in the afternoon.
I had a very good taste of picking up clothes for the ladies…like saris. My mother had asked me to buy some saris…which I did. She had approved all the saris…and liked them very much! When the other aunties saw the saris which I had chosen…they also asked me to buy some for them as well. I used to enjoy…shopping! I became quite popular amongst the shop keepers. During one such visit to a shop…the shop keeper displayed many saris.
When I enquired the origin of the product…he told me that it was made in China…and showed me the printed label on the sari as well…It was printed as MADE IN CHAINA….immediately I reacted saying…” this is for sure not made in CHINA “…the shop keeper insisted that it was! He even took support of his colleagues to convince me. I kept on saying” I am sure that this is not a Chinese product…”…” how do you know that this is not a Chinese product…” he questioned. So I explained to him…” the printed label says CHAINA….WHICH IS INCORRECT….if this was truly a genuine Chinese Sari, it should be printed as CHINA and not CHAINA..!
He had no words to defend himself and honestly admitted…” Achha to aapko pata lag gaya hai….ye batao, aap kidar se hain… I replied …” main Bengali hoon…” His reaction….”Issi liye hum pakra gaya….pehle humko kisi ne nahin pakra…” This was certainly a compliment!
At times…some Aunties would give us gold ornaments to sell to the Gold Shops and bring them the money for meeting the household expenses at Warsak Camp…the officers were paid only a subsistence allowance…very meager amount, not sufficient for most of the families. What a pity…to have sold one’s favorite collection of gold ornaments...!
There was a joint for Chapli Kebab in one of the streets of Gora Bazaar. Very nice Kebabs were prepared there…Almost every day…when all our other assignments used to be over at Gora Bazaar….most of us would visit the place and enjoy a nice meal…Chapli Kebabs and Nan Roti…and later a cup of tea! This was not a proper restaurant…we had to climb up to the roof top, where the seating arrangement was made for the customers. If I remember correctly…the total cost used to be 50 or 60 paisas only! The smell and the taste of fresh Nan Roti was too good…and of course the Kebabs were the specialty!
After this…it was about time for us to walk towards the spot where the truck picked all of us….to carry us back to Warsak Camp.
The spot, where we had to wait for the truck, was on the Mall Road….a walk of 7-10 minutes from city center. There we could meet all the other boys from the group of 22 students. While waiting, the passersby …whether walking or in cars, would glance at us…They all knew we were Bengalis stranded in Pakistan. Everyday 3-4 GCs used to be at that spot…waiting for the truck to take them back to Warsak Camp. We used to feel much secured with their presence amongst us…while waiting for the truck to arrive.
Then one day…the worst nightmare happened! A group of 15-20 Pakistani students came out of a college bus…all carrying hockey sticks…in no time, they had surrounded us! “ Kal kis ne ishare kiye the…?” one of them enquired. They all looked so hostile and …all ready to give us a bashing!!! We were all very concerned….fearing what will happen if a fight starts?? Fearing…how would the public react in case such a thing happens??? Within minutes….5-6 GCs, who were also waiting for the Truck ride, intervened…they came in between us and the Pakistani students. The moment this happened…the Pakistani students backed out. They quietly left...but warned us of serious consequences in the future.
Later on, we found out that a day earlier, the Pakistani college students were jeering at some of the Bengali students while they were waiting for the truck. In response…the Bengali students made some gestures. That had provoked them..!
Anyhow, nothing serious happened that day…nothing happened in the future also… Thank God!
Coming back to the truck ride back to Warsak Camp… It used to take almost 20-25 minutes. The highway was somewhat uneven…bumpy at times. Passengers seated at the rear of the truck…could not keep them selves on their seats! On certain stretch of the highway…we used to bump off the seats, as high as 2 feet! The feeling was a weird one…we could not stop ourselves from a burst of laughter…! It was really fun…too good!
Upon arrival at the camp guardroom …we all would log our names once again. This was a measure to keep track of all who had gone out have returned back…! No attempts to escape to Bangladesh…through Kabul!!
This brief description is …….for all those who did not enjoy the opportunity of going out of the camp everyday…it was like enjoying freedom for 11 hours everyday in the outside world!

Secret of Shamsi Base revealed as closure ordered

 

Ahmad Noorani
Sunday, November 27, 2011

 

ISLAMABAD: Shamsi Airbase was the major operational centre for US drones that was given to UAE which sublet it to American forces to launch attacks on targets in the tribal areas.

In the in camera session of the parliament the top military authorities had admitted that Shamsi Airbase was given to UAE by the government and now it turns out that it was in the use of the US and has been asked to be shut down. There were also reports that the notorious Blackwater people also remained stationed at Shamsi.

Shamsi Airbase was first given to the US by the Musharraf government under secret agreements after the 9/11 attacks. Some of media outlets had also published pictures of US drones parked at the base in 2004-05.
When the Musharraf regime was asked by the media to explain the pictures, US and Pakistani spokesmen had explained that the drones parked were used only for landing at the base, and not in the attacks. It was a ridiculous explanation as landings could not happen unless the planes took off with missiles to fire at Pakistani targets.

Some other airbases were also given to US forces immediately after the 9/11 when US forces attacked Afghanistan and a Nato website had then revealed, by mistake, that some 59,000 sorties took off from Pakistani bases to attack the Taliban government in Afghanistan in three months and hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs were dropped by aircraft which used Pakistani soil.

The cutting off of Nato supply through Pakistan will hit the major sources of furnishing all kind of goods ranging from oil to food, weapons to fuel for Nato forces fighting against Afghans.
The supplies are shipped to the Karachi port from where these are loaded on big Nato tankers and transported to Afghanistan through roads of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan had also blocked Nato supplies in October 2010 after a Nato helicopter strike, which had killed three soldiers then. However, after some calls from Washington and reported apologies both military and civilian leadership had reopened the supply line in a few days.

Most of Nato supplies mostly comprising big tankers and trucks are also sitting targets of anti-US fighters inside Pakistan.

THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH ! ! !

By Asif Ali Zardari

(A Satire written by Jean Pierre Marches – Nom de plume)

Recently I have been in the news again. I thought it appropriate that
I gave a response, but my decency requires that I should not hit below
the belt as most have done in the past.

I am a democratically elected leader of the Great Islamic Republic of
Pakistan. Just as a reminder to my critics that 498 members of the
Senate out of a total of 500 voted for me as the President. They were
the representatives of the people of Pakistan. It is a great
compliment to me and rather reluctantly, I accepted the challenge to
serve my great nation.

For those who want to change the rules of the game now will have to
wait till the next elections when my term is over.

I have suffered at the hand of various governments in the past. My
loving wife Benazir Bhutto was murdered by the political enemies. I
was  incarcerated in the jail for 8 long years. I was ill and suffered
from innumerable diseases as I had very little medical attention. The
scar left from that period still haunts me. I have nightmares and
sometimes I find myself floating from Islamabad to Manhattan in USA or
to an unknown Chateau in Normandy, France. These are terrible visions
and I hope and pray to the Almighty that no one should suffer such
ignominy.

People have been talking about my past, my childhood and my family
background. Well, I am proud of all these things and I do not wish to
disown my past. I am also proud to admit that I am a classic example
of “rags to riches” story. Whilst there are many in Pakistan who can
easily be given the same title but they shy away with embarrassment,
timidity or secrecy. I am not one of them.

To clear the hot air surrounding these allegations I will take you
for a joy ride into my past.

I hail from a very humble Sindhi family of farmers. My father Hakim
Ali Zardari broke away from the clan and set up a small cinema in
Karachi called “Bambino Cinema”. It was a good start though it made no
large money.

I was the most handsome guy in Sindh. My step-mother Mrs Zarina
Zardari is a very shrewd and visionary lady.. She suggested that I get
married to this lady the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who had
finished her studies at Oxford. People accuse me that I do not have a
degree. Quite right! Did education matter in politics or the Army?
Generals Musa Khan, Tikka Khan or Yahya Khan never had any kind of
degrees. They all rose from the ranks.

They all rose to high positions. Generals like Yahya Khan or Zia ul Haque became Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I do not have to teach you about
what kind of mess these people got us into. I have maintained a status
quo all around. Look at the politicians like Pehlwan Nawaz Sharif, and
younger Pehlwan Shahbaz Sharif who have “degrees’ and what have they
contributed towards the  betterment of Pakistan. I digressed so I will
continue about my own career.

My wife had full faith and confidence in me. When Benazir came to
power in her second term she appointed me on a very sensitive
assignment as The Minister of Investment. It was a tough assignment
and I fulfilled my assignment with due diligence. In the process, as
luck would have it I had the chance to make, as they say; “a buck or
two”. This was done without hurting anyone. I shared the profit
element with the rich people of Pakistan; otherwise these rich people
would have become super-rich.

I am a bold and honest man. I will tell you the truth and will not
hide the facts like the barons of Raiwind, who continue to hide how
they made their fortunes. There was this Agosta submarines and Exocet
Missiles deal. I was approached by the Naval Chief at the time and
suggested easy way of making large sums. Vow! I exclaimed, and said
how? I was told to use the services of one Amer Lodhi (brother of
Maleeha Lodhi – colloquially who has one leg in PPP and one leg in
Nawaz’s camp!).

Amer is a lawyer and he devised the entire scheme for
me “gratis” but retained certain portion for himself and Admiral
Mansur ul Haque. I was the innocent man who simply made it convenient
so that there were no impediments. Unfortunately, US$60 Million is
still owed to me as “my commission”. This NAB chap called Saifur
Rehman, now in self imposed exile sits in Qatar, put a case against me
and as a result these funds are still stuck in Swiss. I am just
waiting for an opportune moment to go and claim these funds i.e. “my
funds” – hard earned commission.

By the way, according to NAB’s Saifur Rehman there were 40 Accounts identified with about US$1.5Billion in them.

Wrong! I had more accounts in Spain, France, USA, UK and
Switzerland.  The total is now three or four times the figure stated.
People have been trying to damage my reputation by calling me by the
epithet “Mr. Ten Per Cent”. They think I was raking off 10% on any
deal that went past my eyes. So wrong!. How do they know such intimate
details?

Well, I will again be honest and tell you the truth. The
deals that I brokered in my privileged position ranged, between 10% to
50%. I had the power to approve the deals. My nation had elected me as
the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to do as I willed. I did
exactly that. There is nothing in the Constitution that says I cannot
make money. They call me “King of Thieves”, “Mr Ten Per Cent” or
“Zardari 100% Pure Corruption” – all these are sour grapes.  Saifur
Rehman had frozen 40 accounts in Switzerland, United Kingdom.. He is
very nasty man. This was hard earned money that he managed to block
but thanks to Musharraf’s NRO I have now managed to move all
elsewhere. Who is going to have the last laugh?

You want to know about Rockwood Surrey Mansion. I fail to understand
as to why people are interested in our Rockwood Surrey Mansion? We
have the money at our disposal and we decided to splash it the way we
wanted to do it i.e. in style. We bought the Mansion for over
£4Million in 1994. It had 400 acres of land, 15 bedrooms. We furbished
it with a beautiful Lalique Glass Dining Table which cost a small sum
of £120,000. Then we had beautiful crystal Chandeliers, and Gilded
furniture.

It has had so much bad publicity of jealousy that I have
decided to sell it and is on the market for £7.5Million (say
US$11.25M). Villa in Spain. It is a palatial Villa but I do not get a chance to go
there that often.I managed to acquire a 5 acre Chateau in Normandy, France.  President Sarkozy of France on his present tour was kind enough to provide his
personal helicopter to enable me to visit my father Hakim Ali Zardari
in this Chateau. 

By the way, I always had connections.  Sarkozy was
then the Minister of Defence when I was negotiating a deal of Agosta
submarines and Exocet Missiles.  If you see the recent footage of my
visit to his official residence Quai d’Orsay you would have observed
that he received me with such warmth at the steps along with my son
Bilawal. 

My Chateau is called Manoir de la Reine Blanche (Manoir of
the White Queen).  It is 16th Century Chateau and was built for the
widow of Phillippe the 4th.  It is a feather in my cap.  There is no
Pakistani who owns a Chateau in France.  Pakistan Zindabad!
Mansion in Manhattan, New York, USA
 

As regards the politicians in Pakistan I decided to choose these
people; Salman Taseer, Zulfiqar Mirza, Qayyum Soomro, Rehman Malik,
Farhatullah Babar, Babar Awan, Aitzaz Ahsan, Amin Faheem, Salman
Siddique, Raza Rabbani and interalia many others.  There is an old
saying “Every dog  has its price”.  They are my pedigree dogs and I
use them at will. They are hungry for money all the time.  I just need
to throw crumbs at them to keep them satisfied.  Do you see them bark
at all? 

Take for example Aitzaz Ahsan, a barrister and a Cambridge
graduate.  What has he contributed to democracy and well being in
Pakistan.  I have hired Aitzaz Ahsan and Babar Awan to protect me.
They are my ramparts.  They know that if they turn away and oppose me
in any form I will have their backside kicked.  That will put a stop
to their steady and regular income from me, which makes up to millions
of Rupees on a regular basis.  Like Faustus, they have sold their
souls to the devil!  That is the way to operate and you must give me
full credit for my method of operation.

As regards the question of a Degree to become eligible to be a member
of the Senate, well I am told that half the members at present Senate
have fake degrees.  In December a study by Pakistan Institute of
Legislative Assembly and Transparency reveals that the average net
worth of a Pakistani parliamentarian is US$ 900,000 and the richest
tops US$ 37M.  So much for the parliamentarians with DEGREES.  At
least I confess I do not have a degree but I have done well.  I had
nothing and I am a billionaire three times over.  Not bad!
 

My European Visit was planned well ahead.  I had to visit France
which was also convenient for me to see my Dad.  I wanted to
re-establish my old contacts with Sarkozy.  What people forget is that
all these trips abroad by the Head of State are paid for by the
Government.  I cannot change the rules.  I was not wasting
government’s money.  To maintain the dignity of the Head of State, one
had to stay in a £7,000 suite, which was a bargain.  It is slightly
cheaper than what the Rulers of Middle Eastern countries pay.

Visit to UK was essential.  I had to meet PM David Cameron to clear
the air regarding his statement in India on Pakistan and Terrorism in
Pakistan. I had also planned to induct my son Bilawal to the PPP as heir
apparent.  I want to give up politics and I plan to get him become the
Head of PPP. 

This visit had been planned by The High Commissioner and
he insisted that I go ahead.  The floods in Pakistan have been worst
for 100 years but my presence would not have made any difference.
These political animals were making a big hullabaloo about my being
here and not returning to Pakistan.  They are simply idiots.
 

Disrespect to the Presidency.  Then there was this bearded man who
got up in his madness and threw his shoes.  He showed utter disrespect
to the President of Pakistan and that too abroad.  This is not the way
to behave.

I hear that there were some people who were very upset about this
man’s behaviour.  They protested tooth and nail in their columns and
in their BLOGS.  My hats off to these people for their courage to
support me.

Thank you, Thank you and Thank you very much.  Pakistan Zindabad

  
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Looted billions back after dry-cleaning

Mehtab Haider
Sunday, October 30, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Who says the billions looted by our corrupt rulers are not coming back into the country? Ironically they are, but only after being cleansed and sanitised by being brought back through official legal avenues while a clueless State Bank looks on helplessly.

An investigation by The News revealed that a substantial portion of the foreign remittances of $23.8 billion, during the almost four-year rule of the PPP led govt, is actually a major source of re-routing of dirty money earned through corruption and tax evasion by the political mafia and its business associates. To cite one instance, while there have been no mentionable increases in salaries or the number of Pakistani ex-pats working in the UAE, there are instances where the remittances have surged three-fold from Abu Dhabi, a favourite fund parking choice of our dirty elite.

The foreign remittances stood at $6.4 billion in 2007-08 and went up to $7.6 billion in 2008-09. The remittances witnessed another jump and touched $8.6 in 2009-10 and surged to $11.2 billion in the last financial year ending on June 30, 2011. This rising trend continued in the first quarter (July-Sept) period of the current fiscal year as it stood at $3.297 billion during this period. The figures of the Bureau of Immigration showed that the number of employed workers in the Gulf region did not witness any unprecedented increase but the received remittances jumped up three times in the case of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, the European Union and maintained the same level from the USA despite the fact that the developed economies such as the USA and EU were facing an acute financial and debt crisis.

The economists describe this funds-movement phenomenon as money laundering, pure and simple, and the easiest method of turning black illegal wealth into legal white money. No questions asked, no taxes paid. And the method is one of the cheapest money laundering tools as well. The entire exercise of taking dirty funds out illegally and bringing them back clean and legal costs a mere 2 percent of the cost of the entire value of the involved sums.

As put by one economic crime investigator, “This is what we call the Dutch disease that needs to be investigated because if it evaporated it could cause us to plunge into a default on our external account.” This is not a baseless apprehension as proven in the wake of emerging realities. Workers’ remittances showed a declining trend by a massive 32% to $890 million in September 2011 compared to $1,310 million in August 2011.

“One should not see development on the remittances front for the first quarter as it is a worrisome indicator if closely reviewed by the economic managers. In terms of remittances, Pakistan can be compared with the Philippines as its growth is almost flat with authorities expecting a 4.5 percent jump keeping in view the economic outlook of major economies such as the USA, United Kingdom, European countries and the Gulf region. But there is a complete mismatch in the case of Pakistan as the country is witnessing a phenomenal  increase by 25 percent without having any economic justifications,” a top officer of the government’s economic team told The News here on Saturday.

Former economic advisor to the government of Pakistan, Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan who is currently serving as Dean NUST Business School (NBS) opined that there was a mysterious growth in remittances which was not consistent with the level of economic activities in countries from where the bulk of expatriate Pakistanis were sending their money. For example, he said, the US has been the single largest source of remittances and its economy is near to recession as millions of people have lost their jobs. He asked how Pakistanis are still maintaining the same level of remittances as had been the case during the good times in the USA.

He said that another major source of remittances was the European countries, which had been suffering a severe debt crisis for the last two years and economic growth there was almost flat. How one can justify that Pakistanis can afford to continue sending money despite experiencing a standstill economic growth in the EU countries, he asked.

Dr Ashfaque said that another major source is the Middle East and remittances from there witnessed a three-fold increase in recent years. Neither the wages nor the number of overseas employees increased in this period so there is no justification for the sudden jump, he said, arguing, “What is happening on remittances is an unknown phenomenon,” and lamented that so far no credible response had come from the SBP.--