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Archive for Pakistan Under PM Gillani
Roti More Expensive than a SMS
Latest Media Curbs After the Waziristan Operation
The Pakistan army has imposed censorship by various means on the independent news coming out of the areas where the army is conducting operations against militants. Officers of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), are reported to have been calling media officials to their offices and telling them to stop covering the news independently and to use only the ISPR press notes or information from the daily briefings of the ISPR.
Prior to the start of the South Waziristan operation (Oct 17),
representatives from the print and electronic media and also
journalists were reportedly asked by the army not to publish or air
independent views about the operation for fear that it will provide
assistance to the militants.
The journalists are only allowed to remain at Dera Ismail Khan, where persons displaced by the military operations are arriving for
aid.
During the normal course of the day journalists are prevented
from entering operational areas and the restrictions are rigidly
applied.
It is only when the military is successful in some phase of
the operation that they allow media personnel to cover that specific situation. Since the operation started, the military has taken selected journalists on helicopter tours to the affected areas on only two occasions. The journalists have been taken from Islamabad, and from Peshawar. However, they were not allowed to move about freely or without supervision.
The BBC Urdu service, a popular radio programme in the country, is disliked by the army as it broadcasts interviews through telephone calls directly from the military operation zones. In the effort to stop the BBC Urdu programmes, particularly its Sairbeen programme, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was used to stop the many FM radio stations who broadcast the BBC Urdu news on the hour, 16 hours a day. Those stations are: FM 103, FM106.2, FM 107, FM Apna, FM Ninety-One, FM Okara, FM Highway and FM Gujrat and Islamabad.
On the other hand the BBC Urdu broadcast was not stopped in Pakistani held Kashmir.
The BBC Urdu news has been broadcasting from different FM channels, under agreement with the BBC Broadcasting house for two years but PEMRA has turned a blind eye to their broadcasts. Since the start of the military operation in South Waziristan, however, PEMRA has been reportedly asked to put pressure on the broadcasting houses that relay the BBC Urdu news.
The ISPR has increased its pressure on the media and in the latest
development an official of the BBC Pakistan was called to the ISPR
head office, Islamabad on November 2, and asked not to
broadcast the interviews or statements of the militants as it would
create misunderstanding among the people of Pakistan. The officer who spoke to the BBC official asked him why Hakim Ullah Mehsood (the head of the Taliban, Pakistan) spoke directly to the BBC over the telephone. Hakeem Ullah Mehsood, the army declared, is a notorious terrorist. The previous week, a BBC Pakistan reporter stationed at Peshawar, was telephoned by an army officer and told not to interview the residents of the areas affected by the military operation and also not to entertain the Taliban in any way. On another occasion some journalists were told that human rights violations take second place to the importance of the army’s action against the militants and their activities.
According to a responsible authority at the BBC Pakistan office, the
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Salman Basheer, spoke to the British High Commissioner at Islamabad on November 2, and asked him to pressurise the BBC Urdu news not to issue interviews of the terrorists and residents of the affected areas. This message was duly conveyed to the BBC Pakistan.
PEMRA has ordered some radio stations not to broadcast BBC Urdu-language news programmes, while Parliament, (at the same time), is preparing to ratify drastic censorship dating from the era of General Musharraf.
The parliamentary information committee chaired by an MP from the ruling PPP on 29 October, decided that legal provisions on electronic media set out in November 2007, should be incorporated into the PEMRA act. These articles ban TV stations
from broadcasting footage that could “disturb the public order”
including statements from extremist groups, or those ridiculing or
defaming the head of state, the armed forces or the judicial system.
Programme presenters are targeted in clause 6 that bans them from putting out any news “prejudicial to Pakistan’s ideology” and
state sovereignty.
These draconian provisions were revoked by the former information minister, Sherry Rehman, after the PPP was returned to power. This decision, which had been supported by some opposition parties, was linked to growing criticism of government management of public affairs.
The committee also planned to set up councils in the four provinces and the federal capital to accept complaints from citizens about media content.
The situation of undeclared censorship of the media by the Army and its organisations is alarming for the growth of healthy
journalism in the country. The actions of military and paramilitary
organisations provide a good space for the militant groups and other political groups to use force against the media which would be harmful for the development of democracy and democratic institutions. In the presence of civilian rule and civilian laws, the security agencies do not have any authority to influence the free working of the media.
According to all international norms and standards and the
Constitution of Pakistan access to information is the right of the
people and people cannot be denied this fundamental right.
Sindh Government Continues to Protect Child Rapists
Senior police officials are said to be preventing an investigation into the alleged gang rapes of female students by a group of teachers.
The family of one victim is being pressured to settle outside legal channels in a feudal jirga court, despite directions from the Chief Minister of Sindh to have the accused arrested. Their case has been compromised by local police, who willfully delayed the girl’s medical examination by a week. This incident shows the freedom enjoyed by Sindh police to work against the law and the public on behalf of wealthy patrons.
If the accused men had been arrested after the first allegation of rape, other young girls may not have suffered the same violation.
According to information received from the victim and other local
sources, Miss AK, 15, was gang raped by three of her school
teachers on the morning of October 10. A fellow student and relative of the rapists lured her to a house near the school. After being invited in by the home owner, Mr. Istikhar Jatt, AK was tied up and raped by Shoukat Jatt, Imtiaz Rajpar and Ghulam Mustafa Rajpar.
That evening at Faiz Ganj police station the head officer (SHO), Mr.
Mohammad Husain Samtio, denied AK medical treatment and refused to file a First Information Report (FIR) – as is required by law.
AK’s parents have been advised by the school headmaster not to
complain to the police to avoid reprisals from the teacher’s
powerful landlord connections and damage to their daughter’s
reputation. Allegations in the media have since suggested that the
headmaster’s own daughter was raped by the same men in July.
A checkup was finally authorized on 16 October after civil and
student-led street protests, but a week had passed and much of the
criminal evidence had gone. However the rape was confirmed and an FIR was finally filed. Yet because two of the accused had reportedly taken protective interim bail from the sessions court before their arrest, police only arrested one of the accused, Mr Shaukat Jatt, and Istikhar Jatt, the house owner. Rape is a non-bailable offence in Pakistan, but corrupt police are often able to arrange bail for perpetrators by selecting the information given to the judge. Their bail was extended on 28 October until the 31 October.
After the FIR was filed we are told that the police misconduct grew
more extreme: district police officer (DPO) Gul Mohammad Shar and several other officers tried to pressure the victim’s father to take the case to a jirga, an illegal tribal court, instead. The jirga in
this area is partly run by the father of two of the perpetrators.
Using a lawyer, AK’s father was able to file a constitutional
petition with the Sindh High Court, where the judge has summoned the negligent officers today (30 October) to explain their actions. On October 16 the provincial chief minister also reportedly directed various officers – the Sukkur regional police officer and deputy inspector of police, and the district police officer of Khairpur Mirs – to act on the matter and report to him directly. Yet two accused rapists remain at large. AK has had to leave the area because of threats from them and local police; officers continue to question her father on her whereabouts.
Local media reports claim that cases of rape and abuse have been
connected to these three teachers for a number of years – ever since a local bodies system was introduced that gives much more power to local representatives (mainly powerful landlords), and thus their relatives. The men were neither arrested nor removed from their positions in the school. The Rajpars are part of a powerful local family; their brothers are the chairmen of the union council and town council respectively. Local activists and parents of protesting students have said that they were threatened both by police officers and known henchmen of the landed aristocracy.
It appears that the rule of law has entirely broken down in this
district, with uniformed officials paying little or no heed to it, and
the high court and provincial minister unable to check their power
or that of the local landlords. In any semi-functional system strong
disciplinary action would be needed along with a thorough
provincial-level investigation for corruption. In this case however,
it appears that corruption is so entrenched that a local investigation could not be impartial, and intervention on a higher scale is urgently required. The criminal activity and institutional weakness exposed by these events warrants a top-level probe, with a view to making sweeping, overdue reforms.
This is particularly urgent when considering the total lack of
protection or redress so far being given to minors. That such impunity can be enjoyed by the known rapists of young girls for years shows the lethal stranglehold of a small group of wealthy men over a society, and its children.
The harm of Pakistan’s entrenched anti-women sentiment is also brought to light in this case, with the officers and the headmaster using the fragility of the victims’ reputations as an excuse not to take their attackers to court. It is clear that much more work needs to be done on this issue by the government in Pakistan, particularly in removing the stigma of rape from its victims and placing it on its perpetrators. The first step will be to hold all those accused of rape legally accountable. Any official attempting to intervene in such a case must be held criminally liable.
Subhaan Allah: Foreign Minister’s Son Working with Senator Kerry
Ahmad Raza Kasuri has revealed in a television talk show that son of the foreign minister is on staff of Senator John Kerry in Washington, working as Legislative Fellow.
Foreign Minister’s son Mr. Zain H. Qureshi’s assignment is clearly linked with John Kerry’s legislature work. Against this backdrop, foreign minister’s vociferous defence of John Kerry-Lugar Bill tends to lose all lustre.
It is clear that the foreign minister might have been aware of the John Kerry-Lugar Bill’s formative stages through Mr. Zain H Qureshi. If that was the case, what was the rationale of foreign minister’s rushing to Washington to seek “ clarification” or in-depth briefing from the horse’s mouth.
If all this was Act One of a melodrama, Act Two was rushing back to Islamabad with John Kerry’s assurance. Based on that was foreign minister’s rhetorical statement in the parliament.
The posture of our ‘His Excellency’ in Washington, our ambassador Hussain Haqqani who sounds more like John Kerry’s spokesman than Pakistan’s envoy also leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
If Zain Qureshi’s association with John Kerry’s Office is correct, then it is a clear conflict of situation and the FM should resign
Balochistan is Slipping Away from Pakistan
Balochistan can only be likened to an active volcano that may erupt anytime with dire consequences. The situation is alarming and worsening by the day.
It is apparent that the decision-making is firmly in the hands of elements that were in command before February 2008. It is the military that still calls the shots.
The provincial government is isolated and made dysfunctional in critical areas. An over-sized cabinet, absence of an opposition and wide-spread corruption have all contributed to a political vacuum.
There are deep concerns of governance in the entire country but in Balochistan the crisis is deeper. In this crisis, a large section of the people of Balochistan has been driven to the conclusion that they are being viewed as enemies of the state. They feel abandoned by the people as well as political forces in the rest of the country. There is a sense of isolation, rejection and dejection.
The incidents of human rights’ violations in Balochistan are wide-spread and harrowing. Regrettably, the state has not addressed these complaints and the media, either under pressure or on account of its own failings, has been unable to probe and report the dreadful reality on the ground.
The most hair-raising are the continuing incidents of enforced disappearances. This appears to be only the tip of the iceberg as a large number of families do not have access to any forum of protest or redress. There is ground to believe on the basis of the allegations of victims’ families that the perpetrators of enforced disappearances are intelligence agencies and security forces. This has been conceded by high officials and politicians in authority. Even public figures in power are unable to secure relief or assurances that such incidents will stop. This amounts to rubbing of salt into the raw wounds of the victims.
The existence of check posts are causing inconvenience and humiliation all over Balochistan. Incidents are reported where the FC personnel manning these checkpoints insulted the people by shaving their moustache, tearing the Baloch shlawar and making other gestures derogatory to their culture and bearing. There are arbitrary arrests and reports of endemic torture at unauthorised cells.
A history of neglect and betrayal over the decades coupled with systematic human rights abuses carried out with impunity has made a vast number of Baloch people desperate. No wonder, in this situation the Baloch youth has been driven into repudiating their allegiance to the state. Indeed, the voice of the youth is so strident that even those who disagree with them do not dare to express their views.
The refusal of the Baloch youth to fly the Pakistani flag or play the national anthem in many areas and the insistence of the authorities to the contrary is only aggravating the situation. When the people’s will is being broken, their voice ruthlessly stifled and their bodies charred in torture cells; where mothers die every second waiting to hear from their disappeared child – the state cannot expect any other reaction but one of rebellion. In such circumstances the youth particularly is vulnerable to manipulation.
It is imperative for all national leaders act with responsibility and to exercise a positive influence so that facts are not distorted.
An important number of people have fallen victims to target killings simply because of their ethnic origin or belief. The sins of the federal government must not be visited on unarmed and innocent citizens. The government’s obligation to investigate and punish the culprits is manifest and any failure in this regard fuels discontent and mistrust. In this climate of fear, a large number of government employees, academics, skilled people and members of intelligentsia have migrated from Balochistan to other areas. Many more are following. This has seriously affected the quality of services available to citizens, especially in education and health sectors. It is also causing serious imbalances in the community’s social structure.
An additional factor of insecurity and tension is the uninterrupted sequence of sectarian killings for the last six years. The representatives of Hazara community have claimed that 270 of their members have been killed since 2004. They have accused the security agencies of colluding with the criminal elements. As an example, they have presented the case of two notorious criminals who were arrested and kept in the anti-terrorist lock-up from where they mysteriously fled. The government had set up tribunals – one in 2004 and one in 2008 – to investigate two separate incidents of sectarian killings but the findings of these tribunals have yet not been made public.
The representatives of Pakhhtoon community list a long series of grievances relating to denial of rights, discrimination in the allocation of resources and non-acceptance of their demand to be an equal unit of the federation.
A large number of people expressed concern over the influx of so-called Taliban and other categories of militants in Pakhtoon-dominated areas. There are serious allegations that these elements are operating within Pakistan and across the border with impunity. This is particularly worrying for the Pakhtoon community itself. Ill-imagined, ill-informed and belated measures by the federal government will not improve the situation in Balochistan.
The patronising manner in which “Balochistan package” is being promoted will only add insult to injury. There is an urgency to create a climate of confidence and trust where wider consultation with all stake-holders is made possible.
As a first step, demilitarization of Balochistan is essential.
All those held under illegal custody be freed and compensated. Political prisoners be released and perpetrators of human rights violations be brought to justice. In the long run, all political forces of the province should be brought in the mainstream.
The people of Balochistan be assured that they will have full authority to decide their affairs including the management and control of their resources. If corrective actions are not taken immediately with the concurrence of Balochistan’s people and to their satisfaction, the country may dearly regret the consequences.
Using Pakistan’s Land to Grow Food for the Saudis
by Nirupama Subramanian
A proposed lease of 500,000 or more acres of land in Pakistan to Saudi Arabia for agricultural use has raised fears of adverse consequences for the country’s scarce water resources and its food security, aside from possible implications for national sovereignty.
The transaction-in-the-making was first reported some three weeks ago from Dubai. Agriculture Secretary said that the Pakistan government was in talks with the Saudis on the issue. A process was on, he said, to identify leasable land in all four provinces of the country, and a Saudi team is to visit Pakistan soon for negotiations.
Saudi Arabia wants the land to grow grain and vegetables, which it will take back to the kingdom, hoping in this way to strengthen its own food security. With a projected food import bill of $15 billion this year, outsourcing food production is one way for Saudi to keep its food bills down.
The proposal to invest in Pakistan seems to have come after an announcement by the Pakistan government in April offering foreign investors one million acres of land for lease or sale.
Investment Minister Waqar Ahmed Khan said in April the government would also spend $2 billion to raise a security force of 100,000 men for the protection of the leased lands and the people who would work on it. He also spoke about tax exemptions for the import of machinery to work these lands.
But despite the much-vaunted “brotherly” relations between the two countries and the influence the Saudis wield in Pakistan, questions are being raised about the wisdom of such a move.
Water commitment
“We are already a water-stressed, water-deficit country. We even have a problem with India for getting our share of river waters. Committing land to anyone, especially for large-scale agriculture, means you will have to commit water. How can we commit any more water when our existing water is already committed 120 per cent?” asked Rabia Sultan, a south Punjab landholder and an office-bearer in the Farmers’ Association of Pakistan.
“We are not Turkey that we can think of importing water,” she said.
Instead of leasing out large tracts of land to Saudi, the Pakistan government would do better to improve national agricultural yield and export the surplus to those who need it, said Ms. Sultan, who holds 400 acres of land in Muzaffargarh, 100 kms from Multan .
As a “hands-on” farmer, said Ms. Sultan, she was “worried that this plan will affect the water that is committed to my lands.”
The absence of details about the scheme has fuelled the fears. It is not clear yet if the proposal involves a lease, and if so, for how long, or if it would be an outright sale.
It also remains unclear yet if the government proposes to lease the land that it owns — most of it arid, and uncultivable without the injection of huge amounts of capital for treatment of brackish ground water — or if it would encourage private landowners to enter into agreements with the investors.
Ayesha Siddiqa, a strategic and political analyst, said if the idea was to get individual landowners to lease to investors, the scheme would open the door to large-scale corporate farming, in the process marginalising the small farmers. It would also increase tensions between the feudal wealthy and the rural landless, and push much-needed land reforms further down the country’s political agenda.
“Big landowners who are now renting out their land to small farmers will throw them out and put it up to the highest foreign bidder,” said Ms Siddiqa, predicting that small landholders with 5-10 acres would be bought out, and “landlessness and rural poverty will increase.”
With hundreds of thousands landless aspiring to own even a small square of land, big land acquisitions by foreign investors, pointed out Ms Siddiqa, would lead to political unrest.
The owner of 300 acres of farmland in the famed mango-growing area of Bahawalpur herself, Ms Siddiqa also raised concerns about the “cartelisation of agriculture” in which a few big landowners with political influence would join hands with foreign investors.
“You will have a situation where the cartels will be deciding the country’s agricultural policy, deciding what should be grown and how much, in ways that will affect Pakistan’s food security in the years to come,” she said.
The issue of food security was centre-stage in recent weeks in Pakistan, as people reeled under sugar and wheat flour ( atta) shortages during the entire month of Ramzan, artificially triggered by unscrupulous hoarders. The resultant high prices put the two basic commodities literally out of reach for many during the festive season.
Additionally, a food security index ranking Pakistan as the 11th most food insecure nation triggered more fears. The government contested the ranking and hastened to assure that it had enough stocks to feed everybody. But the deaths of 20 women and children in a stampede for free atta in Karachi some days ago led to the accusation that instead of making food more accessible to the poor of this country, the government was putting its land up for sale to foreigners.
“This is the time we should be thinking of cooperative farming to help our own people,” said Ms Sultan, mentioning the Amul project in India, “instead of inviting in corporate farming investors.”
Another concern is for national sovereignty. Already, there is discontent that large tracts of land in the Cholistan desert in southern Punjab have been virtually made over to some Gulf rulers who use it for hunting shoots every winter and have built virtual palaces in the area.
Ms Sultan said the entire scheme was a throwback to the time of the British colonialists who milked the sub-continent for its resources.
In an influential article in Dawn, I.A. Rehman, the eminent political commentator and human rights activist, urged the government to go no further with the “outlandish” farmland leasing project without consulting the people of the country through its legitimately elected Parliament.
Warning it could give the foreign investors undue influence in how Pakistan is run, Mr. Rehman said it may even strain relations with Saudi Arabia. He reminded the government that according to official theory in Pakistan, the government itself was a lessee as all land belonged to God under the Islamic faith, or to the state. “Both restrict the government’s power to lease/sell land.”
Spill-over benefits
But the project does not entirely lack supporters. There are those who feel that if the plan is to lease the vast swathes of uncultivable land owned by the government, it may bring benefits to Pakistan.
“Take Cholistan. Under the desert is a huge resource of water that is brackish, and investment can change the face of that region,” said Chaudhary Anwar Aziz, a former Food Minister. He was opposed to the idea when it was floated some years ago, but, he said, “no longer. We have neither the capital nor the technical know-how to use this resource. So if a foreign investor is prepared to inject both, why not? I think we will stand to gain.”
Corporate farming would generate employment for local populations, and Pakistan would learn from the technical know-how that the investors bring, said Mr. Aziz, even if the investors took away all the produce from the land.
“There will definitely be a spill-over effect for Pakistan,” he said.
But the question is bound to arise: does the government have any business offering even wasteland to a foreign power? “Landless peasants have the first right on any land that is at the government’s disposal,” wrote Mr. Rehman.
The government plan to raise a special security force to protect investors’ lands has also raised suspicions. “If the Cholistan desert is what the investors are after, why should the government offer to raise a special security force to protect land that no Pakistani wants?” asked Ms Siddiqa. The government must immediately reveal all the details of the proposal, she said, so that “the stakeholders, the people of Pakistan, can see for themselves what this deal is all about
PPP Government Opposes Mian Mansha
PPP govt set to punish Mansha Group
RBS handover to MCB in jeopardy
by Shah Hasan
The handing over of Royal Bank of Scotland, Pakistan (RBS) to MCB Limited headed by Mian Mohammad Mansha has virtually hit snags because of the wrath of the incumbent regime, which is too much incensed over non-cooperation by MCB Bank to resolve the issue of circular debt in energy sector.
MCB signed an agreement on August 12, 2009 with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc to acquire 99.37 per cent of the ordinary share capital in RBS Pakistan at the cost of Rs 7.2 billion ($85 million). “Now, the materialization of this transaction and acquisition of RBS is in jeopardy, as State Bank of Pakistan toeing the line of the Government has expressed concerns that include that this transaction will help strengthen one group in the country and will trigger the concentration of ownership of one group in the banking industry which will prove lethal in the days to come.”
“The State Bank of Pakistan also showed its anxiety that the banks should not be run by the industrialists as it will not help ensure the level playing field for all business tycoons to have access to the credit lines.”
The Central Bank has also expressed the concern that MCB bank is not being run under the corporate governance model, rather it is being run as a family entity.
Mian Mohammad Mansha is the head of the Mansha family and the Chairman of the Nishat Group. He is regarded as the richest man in the country, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
Mian Mansha’s conglomerate greatly benefited from the privatization drive of the 1990s during Mian Nawaz Sharif era. Through this period, he made a number of acquisitions and buy-outs, including engineering at least one hostile takeover. When the dust settled, Mansha had acquired a controlling position in Adamjee Insurance, the country’s largest non-life insurer, and DG. Khan Cement, previously owned by the Saigol family.
While going through these large acquisitions, he was simultaneously expanding his legendary Nishat Textiles, the country’s largest exporter of textile goods. But all these achievements, perhaps, played third fiddle to Mansha’s master-stroke: the acquisition of one of Pakistan’s most profitable banks MCB Limited. MCB has also joined hands with Mybank of Malaysia which has a 20% controlling share in the bank. “Keeping in view the existence of Mr Mansha being the biggest industrialist and most influential financial wizard, the State Bank of Pakistan has come up with certain concerns,”. However, the formal transaction can take place subject to approval of the regulatory body (The State Bank of Pakistan) and issuance of NOC by the Finance Ministry. The unwillingness by the Government in handing over of RBS, Pakistan to MCB Bank Limited is the first part of its wrath to punish the Mansha group, which according to the officials, refused to cooperate with the Government on erasing the circular debt because of the political backing and unwavering support of top leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-N that Mr Mansha is enjoying. The official said that the Zardari regime had taken the refusal by MCB Limited seriously and was all set to cut Mansha Group to size. “Mr Mansha who brands himself as over 100 per cent a smart person and refuses to play his role in purchasing the Terms Finance Certificates issued by the Government in the national interest whereas other all 18 banks purchased the TFCs valuing Rs 85 billion, should be ready to face the music,” the chief economic manager of the current regime Shukat Tarin was quoted as saying during the Iftar party arranged on September 14 by Dr Asim Hussain, former Advisor to Petroleum Ministry and Natural Resources to PM and Chairman NRB.
“Mr Mansha will now face the music as the government will withdraw its deposits valuing Rs 13 billion in the MCB and will never give any business to the said bank.” When asked if MCB Limited had refused to take part in TFC purchasing on the ground that its lending exposure to power sector had exceeded its limits and it had also to cater to extend the credit line to other sectors of economies, the official said that all other banks had come forward in the national interest of the country, and only this bank did not cooperate.
Jokers in the Pack: PPP Spokespersons
PPP never but never deals with dictators. It was the figment of our imagination that ‘Bezamir’ had cut a deal with Musharraf in Abu Dhabi to make a come back in Pakistan politics from where he had kept her out, in return for electing him as her own president. Not possible, because PPP never deals with dictators. Or so we are told.
It is also inconceivable that the Benazir deal with Musharraf could end up with a Zardari deal with Musharraf. Not possible, because PPP never deals with dictators. Or so we are told.
A letter in the Nation of Sep 14 titled ‘Jokers in the pack’ talks about PPP spokespersons on TV: You ask them a question about north, and they will tell you a story about south; you ask them east and the answer will be west. These people are so short of grey matter that they cannot speak a single sentence without including the name of ‘shaheed’ Zulfikar Bhutto or ‘shaheed’ Benazir Bhutto.
The best of these court jesters in order of their performance are: Jehangir Badar,
Qamaruzzaman Khaira,
Fauzia Wahab,
Farzana Raja or Mardana Raja or Maharaja
Pervez Ashraf,
Babar Awan,
Manzoor Watto and the bulky lady doctor.
It appears they are being paid to sing eulogies of Zardari and nothing else.
Had Hitler had the services of these people he would today be remembered as a great democrat who had given many sacrifices for democracy.
Mother of all Bureaucracies in the Presidency
Nation Sep 11:
A burgeoning bureaucracy has been established within the Presidency comprising President Zardaris Public, Personal, and Political Secretariats.
The strength of this collection of Presidential staffers is unprecedented and is even larger than General Musharraf’s staff even though the latter was also wearing the COAS hat as well.
Apart from the Presidents personal staff and an array of political advisors and assistants, over half a dozen top level civil servants working in the Presidents Public Secretariat under Secretary General Salman Faruqi indicate that there is in reality a parallel bureaucracy in the Presidency.
According to the list of senior level staff under Salman Faruqi,
Malik Asif Hayat, a retired secretary of the Police Services, has been rehired on contract basis as Secretary to the President.-
Seven Additional Secretaries in their respective areas of responsibility include:
Zaid Usman (Administration) looking after Presidents Contingent Grant, General Petitions, President Estate and Transport, Auditor General of Pakistan, Social Welfare And Special Education Division, Bait-ul-Mal, Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA), National Accountability Bureau, Religious Affairs Division, Council of Islamic Ideology, Minorities Affairs Division, Zakat and Ushar Division, Sports, Pakistan Cricket Board, Federal Ombudsman, and Islamabad Capital Territory.
Abdul Shafiq (AS Coordination) looks after Presidents programmes, Presidents Travels, Attorney General, Supreme Court, Prime Ministers Secretariat, Prime Ministers Inspection Commission, the National Commission for Government Reforms, National Disaster Management Authority, National Assembly, and Senate Secretariats, Law and Justice Division, Federal Services Tribunal, Parliamentary Affairs Division, Election Commission, Cabinet Division, Intelligence Bureau, Establishment Division, Federal Public Service Commission, and Federal Land Commission.
M Shahzad Arbab (AS Establishment) takes care of State and Frontier Regions, IDPs, Federal Divisions for Commerce, Industries, Special Initiative, Investment, Planning and Development, Economic Affairs, Textile, Ministry of Information, Local Government and Rural Development, Finance, Statistics, Revenue Division (FBR) besides State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, PTV and Radio Pakistan.
Muhammad Ishaq Lashari (AS HD) is responsible for Divisions including Culture, Environment, Education, HEC, Food and Agriculture, Health, Overseas Pakistani, Livestock and Dairy, Population Welfare, Women Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs, Housing and Works, Human Rights, Labour and Manpower, besides the Presidents website, NCHD and NRB.
Zafar Qadir (AS Infra) takes care of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and Pakistan Telecom Authority and Divisions including Ports and Shipping, Postal Service, Railways, IT and Telecom, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Scientific and Technology, Privatization, and Water and Power,
Hassan Javed (AS FA) is responsible for Special Committee on Kashmir and National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Justice Retired Ali Nawaz Chohan (Consultant Legal Affairs), appeals and cases of Mohtasib, and Federal Tax Ombudsman, Cases referred for legal advice, mercy petitions, and stay of execution.
No wonder the parliament has noting to do. Here we a have the mother of all presidential systems.
Khurshid Anwer
Are we Better-off under Zardari?
MUSHARRAF VS DEMOCRACY
Ataa Rs. 13 / 31
Sugar Rs. 21 /55
Petrol Rs. 54 /61
Bike Rs. 32,000 /45,000
AC Rs. 23,000 /32,000
Stock Market Rs. 16,000 /7,500
US$ Rs. 60 /83
GST 15% / 16%
Tax calls/ sms 15% /20%
Jobs on merit 60% / 0% 
