Pres Mush Line of Fire Reviewed

One has to give it to General Sahab. He plays to the galleries beautifully. His Line of Fire reads like an Indian movie script. Theres the trauma of partition. the train that amidst chaos and trauma brought him to the newly formed state of Pakistan, there is the childhood  where he writes about his Turkey and Karachi days, his girl next door romances with the girls ‘always making the first move’ the growing up of a boy to a man at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) and the drama…. Oh yes.. The high speed car chases, the ‘three ton Mercedes being airborne’ the loyal army, the humor in the face of crises… What are my dogs’ names…? Dot and buddy sir…

Theres everything. The only thing that is missing in the book is Sheba and Mush dancing around trees but I guess that will come in the sequel .For now we have to be content with Mush and Sheba in front of the Taj Mahal.

The book is certainly compelling reading. One of the compulsions is of course the heavy price tag. If I pay almost thirteen hundred for a book, I bloody well read it even if it is crap.Which Line of Fire is certainly not.

Ghost written by Hamayun Gauhar and if rumor is to be believed by a prominent Islamabad based female defense and security analyst, this book can best be described as a compilation of newspaper articles, speeches and interviews of the President. Apart from five or six pages, there is nothing that an average newspaper reader does not know.

Kargil…. Yes heard that story before but Mush’s account is certainly interesting when read side by side by Jaswanat Singh’s account of Kargil in his book A call to honor which like Mush’s book has been labeled as a pack of lies. Who’s lying the least, is what my question is.

 A. Q Khan… Yes have heard the story before so nothing new there.

The Colombo return flight. Yes heard that story before.

No wonder that most part of the book seem to jar a bit. In other words, the book, particularly the first half does not flow. It leaves the impression that it is cut paste job. However, the style of writing improves in the second part of the book. As stated earlier, there is nothing majorily new revealed in the book, not withstanding the ‘back to the stone age ‘ remark which I am at least inclined to believe.

Armitage just by his very appearance looks like a bar bouncer.. All he needs is a tight black shirt, denims and dark glasses to complete the look.

Anyways in addition to the Stone Age remark, what is new information in the book are the details of how we got our current Prime Minister. Mush baby writes,’

 I did not discuss any of this with Shaukat Aziz.He was simply presented with a fait accompli.On the day Jamali resigned; Shaukat was in Rawalpindi setting a huge cache of narcotics on fire. Driving back to Islamabad, he received a call from my chief of staff, who without telling him why asked him to go immediately to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.’ And good luck to you.’ My chief of staff said at the end of the conversation .Shaukat was nonpullsed.When he got there, Chaudhry Shujaat remained mum because I had told him not to reveal anything until jamali formally announced his resignation .Shaukat Aziz was told only that the prime minister had resigned. I had also requested that when Jamali announced his resignation he should inform the nation that Shaukat Aziz would be Prime Minister and Ch. Shujaat would hold the office for only an interim period. This Jamali failed to do, for whatever reason. I telephoned Shujaat and told him to call a press conference immediately and give the whole plan to the nation. That is when Shaukat discovered that he had been ear marked for the second hottest seat in Pakistan. “’

This is how in Mush’s real democracy Prime Ministers are chosen.

Another revealing statement is related to what went through Mush’s mind when he was pondering over what to do post Sep 11. Mush baby writes,’

 I knew that there would be an adverse reaction in the NWFP bordering Afghanistan, for obvious reasons.Sindh especially Karachi would be neutral or lukewarm . If I could make the Punjabis understand why I went with the United States they would understand me. Why unnecessarily take on a superpower and for what? The Punjabis are a pragmatic lot. As for Karachi which has many seminaries some of which run by extremists from the Frontier province, there certainly would be some street protests. But the bulk of Karachi’s people would not support it. So my considered opinion ,based on the ethos of the country and the inclinations of the people I knew so well, was that there was no bearable reaction or street protests’

Notice something ? The reaction of Sindh is considered. The reaction of NWFP also as well as that of Punjab. However, Balochistan, what its concerns are, how will it react is not even mentioned let alone considered. Although Balochistan shares a border with Afghanistan as well as history. Revealing.

Balochistan and its current turmoil are not at all mentioned. Mush baby thought it prudent to mention the water sports complex that he developed at Mangla, the promotion of sports in the country, mentioned his East Pakistan Bengali sweetheart but failed to mention Balochistan. It must be wonderful to have your prioritizes in life so clear.

All said and done, there are hundred and one points on which I can disagree with Mush. But on one thing I would have to agree with him a hundred percent, whole heartedly.

The dedication of the book. He dedicates the book to ” the people of Pakistan – those who toil, sacrifice and pray for their country and who wait patiently for a better future. They deserve a committed and self less leadership ‘ General Sahib has not told us as to where this ‘committed and self less leadership ‘ would come from?

Peace based on terror

A friend forwarded me a brillant  article on  Pak-India peace overtures against the  backdrop  of the recent Mush-Manmohan meeting. Some excerpts are :

The times when we have had uninterrupted periods of peace were when Pakistan has been obsessed with its own problems (in the 1970s, after the
Bangladesh war, for instance). Even now, the only reason why a reasonable General Musharraf came to meet Manmohan Singh in Havana, abandoning the hectoring rhetoric he employed in
New York last year, is because he’s in deep trouble at home. The mullahs want to kill him. Balochistan could explode. Civil society is restive. And the whole world has finally begun to accept India’s line that Pakistan is the centre of global terrorism — especially after all those arrested over the attempted London plane bombings turned out to have Pakistani connections.

Take a look!

Great news

Pakistan  already  had three  female  fighter  pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. However, we now have a  female  Sword of Honour who passed  out from the Air Force  Academy. Cadet Saira Amin made  history   last week when she got this honour.

  Heres to  her with the hope that we have thousands of Saira Amins all over the country.

Crazy week but aha !

The  week has  been crazy .I ‘ve been trying to  write  a report  titled,“ Federalism in Pakistan :The Liberal perspective” .As the week ended, I  finally managed to pass it to the  designer to make  it  all nice and pretty. Also  trying to juggle newspaper articles  deadlines….   these  deadlines will be the death of me  one day.

However, I did manage  to steal  off some quality time for myself during the week and  visit the  Lok Virsa Museum which also goes by the name of the Heritage Museum.

Excellent . It is  excellent.It   depicts  Pakistani  lifestyles and culture beautifully.All the four provinces are represented,  there is a corner  for the outstanding  women of Pakistan , there are  artisans  at work , there is  Kalash and the Northern Areas. Thankfully there is no Kashmir! A   Freudian slip  or  ???? Hmm…

Jinnah  is  shown  having  tea  with Rana Liaqat Ali Khan  , the wife of  the First Prime Minister of Pakistan , with Jinnah ’s sister Fatima  Ali Jinnah  standing at the side.What I liked about all this  was the attention to detail  although Jinnah  ’s  white kurta could do with a wash!

On the whole very nice  and the  ticket is  extremely  nominal…pay  thirty  rupees and you get a grand  tour of Pakistan’s culture.  Its  a pity that  they don’t have a website.

Taking  photographs  is not  allowed. Pity.

Next time in Islamabad, your  first  stop should be the Lok Virsa.

Free press in Pakistan ?

Is there a free press in Pakistan? Lets not ask this question today i.e. Monday, Sep 18th 2006.

Since morning,  one private channel, ARY has been pulled off the air waves by the Punjab Chief Minister, Ch. Pervaiz Elahi. 

A reporter , Mr.Mushtaq (name not  confirmed) covered a meeting of the opposition. The CM did not like it  and  has  according to informal media sources,

“Ordered that the Punjab police  ensures that all cable operators pull off ARY.” 

I tried to  contact friends in ARY but their mobiles were switched off.

I also could not find out what the meeting was about and what set off the CM.

Further adhocism on Balochistan

The International Crises Group  have come out with a report on Balochistan. The province of Balochistan , which was  simmering for  some time now, is  in a  full fledged turmoil  with the  state murder of Nawab Bugti. Or as   ICG  put it ,“ The Mushraff government  is  in a bind as far as Balochistan is  concerned” My analysis of the ICG report and it’s recommendations appeared as part of my  Monday weekly  column today. 

What also appeared in today’s papers is that today in Islamabad there will be a meeting chaired by the Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mr. Salim Saifullah Khan. The meeting  is reported to look into“various  issues confronting  federalism in Pakistan.”  What is the result of the meeting  remains to be seen  but  the comment by the  Minister is interesting.  He declared,`

“Balochistan is currently getting 3.5 percent funds from the  federal divisible  pool on the basis of the 1972 census. I will recommend five percent funds for the Province.”

Please note that this is a recommendation (not a suggestion) given by an individual. This has not been discussed with Balochistan or  any of the provinces. It has not  been discussed in the National Finance Commission meetings. It has not been discussed within the Parliament. No. Not at all.  

Adhocism. When will we be rid of it? 

 

Disgusting news.

Pathetic. Shameful. Disgusting. My first reaction to the news was this. It actually made me physcially sick. The news?   

That a young woman and her mother were  kidnapped and raped by a  Minister of State Raza Hayat Heraj men.  The reason? The girl belonging to the lower caste had dared to study and get a  Master’s Degree. The family was celeberating but not for long.

According to  the Asian Human Rights Commission

“Ghazala Shaheen and her mother were abducted from their house at 1:00 am by the henchmen of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is a Minister of State on 25 August 2006. The victims were only freed after local villagers took action and stormed a house, while detaining the perpetrators on September 5. 

The father of the girl was also so severely beaten by the minister’s men that he could not move for two days. The police first refused to register the case after the arrest of one of the accused by local people who secured the release of the daughter and mother from the abductors.

The police then arrested one person and released the two other accused. Among them one was the guard of the said minister.However, now the victims are being threatened by high police officials.”

 

This is disgusting. Even more  so if  we remain quiet. I would request you to use  all  means  whether it is  writing letters to the editor, asking your local press club to take it up etc  to  raise  hell  about this.

Out with the old.. in with the new

I’m  finally back  home. I ‘ve  been travelling within Pakistan  and outside for more than a month  now. The latest  trips were  to Taiwan and Malaysia . Its  fun to travel and  meet interesting people  but good  to  be home. I finally get to have a  closet and not a suitcase  . Ahem.. this is ofcourse not  to suggest that I  live “within a closet” back home!

For my trips to Taiwan and Malaysia, my flights were  through  Bangkok. The Thais are getting  a new airport ,Suvanabhumi  airport at the end of the month. The new airport is certainly the focus of attention … at the cost of the old one.

The  cooling at the old airport is  pathetic now. The bathrooms  have become dirty as most of the cleaning staff is engaged  at the new airport. My favourite  place  at Bangkok airport, the  Bangkok Cafe, has also partially shifted there. In short, the transit this time at Bangkok was’nt  fun.

But  guess  that was  to be expected. Speaking of  new airports, what ever happened to the new Islamabad airport ? Has the land  been acquired for it ?  What’s the latest ?

Pakistan’s economic figures

I’m still at Kaula Lumpur .Attended the  first day of the Economic Freedom Network Conference. The conference  will  conclude tomorrow.

There are a number of  interesting  things being discussed here but  I’ll get to  those later. What was  more  interesting  was that the  2006  Economic Freedom of the World Report was launched here today.

This report  studies  data from  130 countries  under five heads  and  gives them a rank  according to  the  degree of economic freedom .  There are only two such indices. One is this one  published by the Fraser Institute  ,Canada and the other  is  done by the Heritage Foundation. The five  areas that it looks at  are :

• Size of government
• Legal  structure
• Access  to sound money
• Freedom to exchange with foreigners
• Regulation  of credit, labor and business.

I don’t  know  if I can say how Pakistan fared.

It improved slightly  on the rule of law from  last year  but it is  still looks  sad… a rank  of 2.3 .On  Freedom to Trade , the score remained the  same.

So why am I not   labelling  it  bad ?

Well because data shows that there has been quite an improvement  in  the  tax structure and starting  a  new business is   far  easier  today.  So there is some good news. Ofcourse  on other  rankings like legal structures and  framework  Pakistan  needs to do more.

And  oh …  I was ashamed to  hear Robert Lawson , the  guy  behind the report  say ,“ The black  market  rate has  disappeared from  most of the world except Pakistan and Mongloia.” 

 Pakistan  has  more to offer than a black market. So why are’nt  we offering?

….on a serious note

In a recent interview ,I  found myself telling  the journalist:

 I’m  in the business of ideas.

Most of us are. 

 Ideas  on how to  fix  the lawn  mower,to ideas for  how to  get a car or ideas on writing a book  or ideas for legislation. 

That is why you and I need to take a message of this  illustration  very  seriously