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A book by any serving head of the state is obviously going to be discussed to the bone, with every comma and semi colon analyzed and discussed. However, I hope that the President’s team is following the debate over the book very closely and hopefully picking up the signs, dangerous as they may be. Five years down the line General Mushraff might find himself bemoaning the date the book was launched and consider it the beginning of the end. Just what am I talking about?  Read all about it   in my  weekly  column  in the POST  entitled Fire, Fire and more Fire.

The present Pakistani government   with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the helm of the financial affairs have followed a steadily expanding privatization policy. Let me confess from the very onset that I am a strong supporter of privatization.  My  whole perspective  on privatization  can be summed  up  in this oft  quoted   question : Why  are whales extinct  and cows aren’t ? Well because no one owns whales. “However, I am convinced that the process that is being labeled as privatization   presently is anything but. Privatization means breaking monopolies not creating them.  Privatization involves   open bidding and the winner would be the highest bidder not the hidden one.  Privatization means that the government gets out of the business of being in business. It does not mean that the government formulates policies for one individual or company.

Therefore,  although  I stand for  privatization  per se,  in Pakistan  I  stand  with  the  anti  privatizers .

I   will close with  one  example. The Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited  (PTCL) shares have been sold to the Dubai based  Estilaat. While  there a number of  gray areas in the deal one   is : the GoP  has promised Estilaat that   no  new permits  will be issued  to  private telephone  companies for the next twenty  five  years  thus  creating a   monopoly.

This is not   privatization  in the interests  of   citizens.

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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

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? 

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.

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 ?

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?

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

I’m in Malaysia  where today I  attended the  Atlas  Economic Research Foundation  Annual  Asian Liberty  Forum.

This one day event was titled “ Pathways to liberty and free markets in Asia”. In the morning session  there were  a number of interesting speakers such as  Chris Derry, Grover Norquist,Andrew Work and Kris Mauren followed by others. 

The sessions were  on :

Planning for a think tank success

Communications

Promoting ideas in challenging environments

Impediments to Freedom

The details of the  Forum can be accessed  from Atlas’s site by next week.What occupied my mind during the sessions (based on the discussions)were :

Can freedom have impediments? Or as Barun Mitra says  freedom has  such energy of it’s own  that it  just flows over  stones in it’s way  sooner or later ?

Is our  task just  to channelize the  energy of  the freedom wave ? Can we do that? What are our tools if we  decide to do  just that ?

Trading   is important  to  maintain peace as  than people  have stakes .Therefore a constituency for peace  is created. If that is true than why do we have examples  of countries who  traded but still went to war? Is  the “trade against war” view  too simplistic?

It is said that ideas have consequences. However, Grover Norquist said “ideas of people in power  only have consequences.”  Is  this true? Don’t  my ideas have  consequences?

More later……

I’ve been  on a business  trip to Taiwan for the last  few days. Am leaving tomorrow  for  `Malaysia..  truly  Asia“.

While  throwing things in my suitcase, was catching  up on  home news. One particular item struck me . The NEWS newspaper  reports

 The National Assembly was informed that  a total of 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol and 210,000 metric tonnes of diesel was sold to Afghanistan at shockingly low price by Islamabad .This at a time when its own citizens were made to pay three times more, i.e. Rs 50 per litre in the name of inflation at international level. Even diesel was provided to Afghanistan at the rate of Rs 14.33 per litre when its own 140 million people were sold the same at double this rate.

 Thats  pretty oily! There are several  slippery questions regarding the energy sector in Pakistan. I recently came out with a report on it  called, “Fuel for thought“

This report formed part of the  charge sheet on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz  during the August non confidence motion filed against him.

That was August. This is Sep. The sticky issues keep surfacing.

Old  news No  1 : Mush signed a peace deal with “Taliban  friendly  tribal  leaders” in the  Tribal Areas  of Pakistan.This `deal”  is  supposed to  herald peace  and stability to the region. How it does  that  is beyond me  but  more on that  some  other day.

Old news No 2 : Mush met President Hamid Karzai  of Afghanistan when he  visited Afghanistan after almost  two years. Mush declared that  he would “not  allow  Pakistan  terrority  to be used by anti  Kabul fighters to launch attacks  on Afghanistan. ” As  a way  to  implement this  ,Mush  specifically  mentioned the “peace deal” that  his govnerment  recently bokererd  with the tribals.

New news: Both these  news items are being  discussed in the  blogging  world.  Political  animal  while  quoting India’s  Defence  declares, Pakistani analysts argue that

“Musharraf may well and truly may won himself more time in office.”

Comments to this  are interesting. Most of them declare that they  don’t understand  as to what  is meant  by Mushraff buying  more time   for himself  in office?

 Let me   explain. Mushraff is  an intelligent and sophisticated  player. This is  no simple  army solider. He  was clever  enough  to make  right  choices for himself.

However, his romance  with GodFather (read Uncle Sam ) is seen by some analysts  as cooling down.  So, periodically he keeps injecting new life into  his  relationship with Uncle Sam.Sometimes it  is letting  the religious politcial alliance Mutahida Majlis -e-Amal (MMA) run  wild on the streets. Sometimes  its   turning a blind eye to streets demonstrations on the Islamic  cartoon  issue. Caputring  a Taliban or two.

Why  is  all this  done? To   show to the world  that  he is the answer. That  if he is not  around  ,nothing can  stop  the  mullahs to  go crazy.

The analysts  view that the recent  `peace  deal” is   another one of his ploy  to buy more time  is seen as another example.

Whether this is true  or not , I do not  know. I do know  one thing  as a Pakistani. Peace  does not come with deals.  It does not come with empty promises.

Peace certainly does not come  from  an army general. Peace  does not  come  in areas where political parties are not allowed  to function.

Peace  does not  come where problems  are solved in  non formal  tribal gatherings such as jirgas.

Such  peace deals are not worth the paper that they are written on.

Heard  on CNN  today that a poll was  taken to gauge  Bush’s popularity.With mid term November elections  coming up, his candidates don’t look too good. According to the  CNN poll, over  fifty percent  of respondents would not vote for a  Republican  candidate.

According to  the commentator , “ It’s not good if you have an “R” attached to your  name. 

What  does this mean for  Pakistan? No,  what does this mean for Musharraf ? The picture  best  illustrates it.

I learnt about  directly proportional relationships at school.Mushraff and Bush have certainly taken  this to a new level.

Aha some  good news. Or  should I say some  encouraging  news. In a recent World Bank  South Asian  regional  report, Pakistan  has improved in  rankings of  “ease of business”

The ease of business indicates  (yup you  guessed it!) whether or not the country’s enviornment  is conducive to  welcoming new  businesses  or not. The indicators include  crtieria  such as  how many  days does it  take for the paper work  to  be done, how much paper work  there is  etc. 

In Pakistan reforms  to modernize customs  reduced time to import from thirty nine to  fifteen  days  and time to export from  thirty three to   twenty four  days.

Corporate tax rates fell from  thirty nine  percent in  2004 to  thirty seven  percent in  2005 and   thirty five percent  in 2006.Bangladesh  also reformed introducing a new land registration act to improve security  and  reduce corruption in land transactions.

Excellent.

 Its finally here. The movie  Kamosh Pani  by Sabiha Sumar out on DVD in Pakistan.  I had waited with baited breath for it  to be allowed  screening last year.

Sabiha Sumar  plus  other friends  were  actively lobbying for it but  the permission  for general viewing was not granted. However, very private viewings to  select  friends of Sabiha Sumar were organized .Since I was not  a `special friend” I only saw  it today.

The story revolves around  widowed Kiran Kher  and  her  only son . The  son used to be a happy  go lucky  village lad secretly meeting his girl friend in deserted village spots.Kiran  is shown  as a secluar  Muslim who teaches children the Quran but declares,“ Janat is not  only for Muslims. It is  for  all  good souls“ 

She has  friends and is seemingly ok with the world. But  for  one slight thing. She never goes to the well to fetch water. Her neighbours do it  for her and put it down to her  idiosyncrasy.

Enter two  young men from the city. They are invited by the village chaudhry .They’ve come  bearing the  message of General Zia -ul- Haq . The message is ,“ Do jihad  and become  proud sons of the soil” Those who do not  do jihad ,“ are   bigharat  and not men enough”  

 Kiran Kher’s  son  is fascinated by this and  takes up arms against the “infidels“ .

Too bad that he finds out that his mother is a Sikh who  was abducted  by Muslims in  ‘47. Upon this discovery not only  her son but  also the whole village shuns  her.  

 At the time  of  ‘47 riots , Kiran’s father had wanted her to jump in  a well to avoid ,“dishonour” of being abducted by a Muslim. Valuing life more ,she ran  instead of jumping , got  abducted, raped,converted and finally married her Muslim rapist.

She thought she had escaped. She was wrong. Years later, she jumped.

She jumped because of  her fanatic son. She jumped because of late  General Zia. She jumped because of politicalized  religion. She jumped because she was a woman. She jumped because her body was and is  connected to men’s “honour. ” She  jumped.

Today, blasphemy law still  exists in Pakistan. Religion is still used as a defining frame of reference. Hindu girls are being forcibly converted in interior  Sindh. The question remains: till when will women continue to  jump?

Defense Day, Sep 6th. Messages marking the day have been issued.  Events to mark the day were organised in the four corners of the country– at least officially. Whether or not, there is any citizen participation in these events is another matter.

We were told  that  the security and  defence of  Pakistan is  ‘impregnable’ . We Pakistanis have been told today to hold our heads high because of the ‘superior defense system’ that we have.

In other words, on Sep 6th 2006 we celebrate our strength and security.

But are we strong or secure? What constitutes security? Protection of territory or people? How are people made secure? Through walls of weapons which block out the light?

Are people more secure when they know that at the touch of a button, millions can be rendered dead?

Noted economist Mr. Mahbub ul Haq once remarked, “Lets work for security of people, not just territory; security of individuals, not just nations; security through development, not through arms; and there is security of all people everywhere-in their homes, in their jobs, in their streets, in their communications, in their environment.”

How do you and I feel secure?

• Do we feel secure when we nervously watch the exchange of accusations and words between Pakistan and India?
•  Do we feel secure when we see parts of the country marred by violence and strikes to protest Nawab Bugti’s killing?
•  Do you and I feel secure when we fear hunger, violence and poverty?

Years back Mr. Mahbub ul Haq gave the concept of human security.

According to him, `human security is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an ethnic tension that did not explode in violence, a woman who was not raped, a poor person who did not starve, a dissident who was not silenced, a human spirit that was not crushed. Human security is not a concern with weapons.

It is a concern with human dignity.

So now tell me , is Pakistan  secure ?

Quick question . Which is world’s  largest minority today ? No ,they  are not the Aborigines or the Madas tribe. The single  largest minority in the world  is the individual. Political and social discourse   speaks about  the collective .About the people. Fair enough. But why  is a fundamental  fact forgotten? That  people, society  are actually  a collection of individuals. If the individual… you and I  are missing from the equation  than how can the sum be whole ? 

Power  is exercised in the name of this collection of individuals i.e. people  but indivdual voices are not  heard . Especially  in  countries like Pakistan . Some might   argue that in Pakistan even the people  are out of the equation  but I digress.

This blog is about  me. About you.  About the individual and his/her perspective on Pakistani politics. So this  is not just another  blog. This is  where  the Pakistani individual arrives.