Posts in Politics

From Basket Case to the Emerging Economy: The curious case of Bangladesh

Historical Politics
bengali flag

Today marks the 50th republic day of a state, who once remained part of a country that was destined to exist till the end of the world. In the line of its founder “There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan”.

Bangladesh came into being in 1971 after a brutal war that killed three million people approximately.

Written off as ‘Basket Case’ by then U.S National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and faced severe difficulties in the early stages; the country faced flash floods, torrential rains, famines, and frequent military coups in order that it had 80 percent people living below the line of poverty.

The point to ponder is Bangladesh’s journey from a basket case to one of the emerging economies of the current world. Bangladesh turns 50 this year and the voyage that begins as a ‘Basket Case’ now transforming itself to become a developed country by the year 2041.

As we speak, the economy of Bangladesh has grown more than 7 percent annually and per capita GDP has more than quadrupled since 2000. The country’s main staple which is the production of rice has also trebled and the extreme poverty rate deflated to a little over 10 percent.

All may not be going well in Bangladesh as this fact also remain strident as well, that the state is contracting several voices of democracy and curbing the freedom of expression of many state-critic journalists. Amidst all these factors, the exemplary journey of Bangladesh from ashes to the economic state sounds really exceptional.

Read More:

COUNT US IN CENSUS!

 

 

COUNT US IN CENSUS!

Karachi Politics
population census

There hardly may have been any unfortunate city as much as Karachi! Period. Known as Pakistan’s financial capital, yet still, this city is a political orphan whose problems hardly matter to the country’s ruling class. Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan with a population of up to 200 million as per Google in 2012, is still a city with the least importance in the country’s political landscape. For instance, Karachi’s number of seats in the National Assembly is 21, with a population count of 16 million as per the recent census report. Whereas FATA, whose population is 5 million, makes 1/3rd of Karachi share 12 seats in the National Assembly.

Karachi, which contributes more than 50% of its tax revenue, is the only urban center without the Bus Rapid Transport system in the country. A city that generates up to almost 1000 Billion rupees per year gets Rs 10 billion in return, ending with zero development and dilapidated infrastructure. Pakistan’s most diverse and vibrant city, and a city with the most educated people, still bar its citizens from getting into the bureaucracy and administration – all thanks to the unjust quota system. Known as ‘Mini Pakistan,’ the city’s political importance can be easily measured by the fact that neither provincial nor federal govt require the seats from Karachi to form a government. And what could be a better example than witnessing PPP ruling this province for the third time consecutively despite not having even 1/4th of Karachi’s total seats?

And just when not having empowered local government and a decentralized govt system are the critical issues that bring the city on the verge of collapse. To make matters worse, Karachi couldn’t even get the correct population count in the census 2017. Adding insult to injury, it got the forged census results, which undermines Karachi’s population, neither a blind person can believe!

Census, which blown the senses!

On 23rd December, after a lapse of three years, the federal cabinet finally approved the 6th National Census 2017 with a dissenting note from MQM — one of govt’s main allies. The delay of 3 years in pushing this exercise invigorates a rat’s smell to what were the reasons that didn’t let the census results get past from the cabinet?

Census at regular intervals helps the government-run the administration smoothly, provides detailed statistical data, guides in framing policies, and allocates resources. Furthermore, the population distribution by the demography factors into the NFC award, the delimitation of constituencies, and the allocation of seats in parliament.

The roots of any problem lie in knowing the intensity and scale of it. And how can we take the problems to the solution when we couldn’t know the accurate scale of it, especially when it’s about a megacity like Karachi.

The crisis in terms of public facilities Karachi is facing is not a secret to anyone. From outdated drainage systems to poor urban planning, water scarcity to lack of public transportation, not having empowered local bodies, and a small chunk of budget against giant challenges. Amidst all these problems, now not having a fair census count is to sprinkle the salt on the burn of Karachiites.

Karachi is the financial hub and called Mini Pakistan for a reason. In the last two decades, if there is any city that has witnessed the huge influx of people coming to find jobs and a shelter for their families and offered more opportunities, it’s Karachi. Yet still, if the population count in the recent census is showing only 40% increase in last 20 years, whereas, on the contrary, Lahore – the capital city of Punjab have gone to more than 100% person increase in the population, then I am sure there is definitely something wrong with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and everyone involved in this census.

Note to state!

Already Pakistan’s history isn’t good enough in coping with the extreme challenges faced by the neglected communities or part of the society. The country has already paid a huge price against the decision of not accepting the representation from the larger ethnic group of the country.

Fair census count is a basic right of every citizen. The results of the recent census have been disputed by many political parties, especially ones that are representative of the financial capital of Pakistan. Already three years have been passed to this census, which was conducted without a pilot survey other than procedural anomalies, yet in all these years, there made zero efforts by the state to follow up this census by a post-enumeration survey (5% audit) as mentioned in the constitution.

Not having a fair count in the census is equal to the genocide of a certain community because there is no greater crime than denying the existence of a certain community on the basis of discrimination.

 You can also read:

Why I think Ali Zaidi’s cleanliness drive Karachi is a pure political stunt?

Data is the most valuable asset on Earth! Here’s why…

Historical Politics
data hack of cambridge analytica

Well… what do you think is the most valuable asset on the earth? Oil?

Nah!

Because gone are those days when oil used to be the most valuable asset on the earth. And being Oil-rich was meant that you were guaranteed an important status in the world. No matter if you are a country or a company.

But now since the World has turned into a global village, connecting and bringing people closer to each other than ever before regardless of the boundaries or distance, with just a few clicks away, undoubtedly it has exposed us too than ever before in history. And with the wake of globalization, we entered a world that comprises social media, feeds, online platforms, dating sites, online payments, maps, video platforms, etc with needless to say all these technologies require our date to operate and make our lives easier.

Now when these technologies have become an essential need in our daily lives, which means we interact with them in the form of data on daily basis, do we ever thought for a second where did this all data go? Is this useful anymore? Or could anything be achieved further from it?

Every data we post on social media sites or interact with (like, share, comment), every time we swipe our credit card, the places we visit, the search terms we used to get our desired results is the data, the new big deal which is now worth to companies more than oil. That is why last year, the data surpassed oil in its value. But which companies? Discover later in this read.

Many times in our lives, we came across some news of “data breach” or some malware attacks carried on some certain social media site, looking at it, did we ever think what the attackers or hackers behind the data breach are trying to achieve? Hell yeah! It’s the data, that comprises of the activities you and I performed online.

Therefore, it’s not the oil companies that are wealthiest anymore, in fact, “the wealthiest companies are now technology companies“. And the reason why these companies are the most powerful in the world is that they’ve got the data of millions and billions of users all around the world.

And in case if you don’t know, what is the power of data in the current world and what can be achieved from this data? Here’s what you want to know; from the election results of the superpower U.S.A to a small company situated in any small corner of the world, they all can achieve the desired results and become the derive the behavior of the whole society.

Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal and claims of the involvement of Russian agencies in U.S Elections 2016? That was all about data!

Importance of Data in the wake of U.S Elections 2016

Few months before the Presidential Elections, the Republican Party Candidate which is now the President of the U.S Donald Trump initiated a digital campaign for the upcoming elections named “Project Alamo“. This was considered as the digital arm for the Republicans in the Election Race.

Other than targeting people with sponsored campaigns, videos, blogs, stories, and promoting their election manifesto, there was another thing involved in all this project, which claimed to give Republicans an extra edge over their competitor, not only in elections but in targeting people with digital campaigns too.

And that was none other than the notorious Cambridge Analytica! A British political consulting firm by the intro, which was also known to be influencing hundreds of elections globally.

Through Project Alamo, on average, they spent approximately $1 million each day on Facebook ads.

But shocking situation arose at that time when two former employees of Cambridge Analytica, Christopher Wylie (Data Scientist) and Britanny Kaiser (Manager) whistle blows about the scandal that shook the world.

According to them, Cambridge Analytica was involved in a kind of data breach, in which they harvested the data of some 30 million individuals from Facebook.

Through the data, Cambridge Analytica fetched from Facebook, the truth is, they didn’t target every American voter equally. Because it is not fruitful to target those who are politically enlightened or polarized with fixed views. Hence, it is used to target that tiny sliver of people who didn’t have fixed views or say aren’t polarized, and they are called “Persuadables”.

 

persuadables
Source: The Great Hack – Netflix

The data giant companies target them with sponsored ads, blogs, articles, fake stories, and links, to persuade them to vote. Regardless to say, they even target those with personalized messages if needed. And in order to send people personalized messages, you need people’s data, which Cambridge Analytica claimed to have 5000 data points of every American Voter.

“We can use to predict the personality of every adult in the United States. Because it’s personality that drives behavior and behavior that obviously influences how you vote.”

C.E.O – Cambridge Analytica

Speaking on the issue of the importance of data, one of the whistle blower inside the Cambridge Analytica Chistoher Wylie said,

“if you want to fundamentally change society, you first have to break it. And it’s only when you break it is when you can remold the pieces into your vision of a new society.”

Among all this, the real controversy stirred up when Facebook, the social media giant too allegedly found to be involved in this. Due to which the Founder of it Mark Zuckerberg was called in Senate for the brief in a historical session.

Mark Zuckerberg in Senatte
Image credit: Mercurynews.com

While taking on the questions, one of the senators asked Zuckerberg, “Do you think that any employee from Facebook was involved in that scandal”? To which Zuckerberg replied,

Zuckerberg and Britanny kaiser
Source: The Great Hack – Netflix

It came as a shocking surprise to Britanny Kaiser who was the part of that Cambridge Analytica team involved in U.S Elections. Moreover, Kaiser directly rejected the claim of Zuckerberg and said, that the Republican Team in D.C was comprised of Facebook employees.

It didn’t last at this. The climax emerged when the Cambridge Analytica Team was contacted by Facebook concerning data breach. Cambridge Analytica agreed on terms according to which, the Analytica have to delete and erase all the data within weeks.

But when one of the whistleblowers within the company Britanny Kaiser looked back to retrieve some of her old stuff related to CA, she found out the famous presentation from her laptop, which she prepared and pitched to the Republican Party. In this presentation, which made weeks or years after the consensus reached with Facebook about the erasing of data in weeks, it was written that they had the database of 30 Million individual Facebook account users which makes them different from others as mentioned in the below picture.

Cambridge Analytica database
Source: The Great Hack – Netflix

To know about this scandal in detail, tune in to Netflix and watch “The Great Hack”. And remember, “Don’t underestimate the power of a common man and data”, as the data is powerful enough to influence the elections of a super power country. This wasn’t the first time data have been used to manipulate the society’s behavior to achieve a certain goal, before the U.S elections, the same strategy had been applied for Brexit to promote the Leave European Union Campaign, etc.

It’s about the time when considering human rights, animal rights, and others, we must make developments and legislation regarding the data rights to hold the data possessive companies accountable!

Because Data Rights are the new Human Rights!

 

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Story of an unfortunate Chinese Doctor who warned about the COVID-19 at first!

 

Story of an unfortunate Chinese Doctor who warned about the COVID-19 at first!

Politics
Dr Li Wenliang image

China nowadays is in the news as the epic center of the spread of worldwide killing disease, known as the Novel Corona Virus. However, it has come out successfully from the worst and one of the deadliest epidemics in its history, losing more than 3000 human lives.

On Saturday, China mourned the thousands of “martyrs” who have died in the Corona Virus outbreak. The National Flag of China flown at the half-mast across the country and all forms of entertainment remained suspended. At 10:00 a.m. Beijing Time, the country observed a three-minute silence to mourn those who have died, whereas in Wuhan (The center point city of his epidemic), all traffic lights turned red too in remembrance of the martyrs.

Among those who died, includes “Dr. Li Wenliang” too, who was specially honored by the Hubei Provincial Government. But that honor comes with a despotic price.

Dr. Li Wenliang – Unfortunate citizen living under an Authoritarian State!

Dr Li, a young ophthalmologist, was the very first doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the COVID-19 disease and its deadly outbreak. On December 30, he sent a message to his fellow doctors in a group chat warning them to wear PPE’s (Personal Protective Equipment) to avoid this infection.

Then what could happen under an authoritarian state? Four days later, he was reprimanded by the Police (Public Security Bureau) and accused of “spreading rumors and misinformation” that had severely disturbed the social order. What is astonishing here is that, local authorities even later apologized to Dr. Li, after knowing the reality of the disease.

Later on, after one month of sending out the initial warning, Dr. Li Wenliang posted his story on Chinese social site Weibo (equivalent to twitter, under the authority of the govt), in which he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever, and within next 2 days he was in hospital. He was diagnosed with Corona Virus on 30 January, and passed away on 7 February while battling with deadly pandemic.

This shows the worst aspect of China’s totalitarian command and control system of governance under the President Xi-Jinping and the Communist Party to remain blind and not to see it.

Yet the same thing occurred at the time of Dr Li’s death. As soon as the news of Dr Li Wenliang’s death broke out, a wave of anger and grief flooded the Chinese Social Site Weibo, with top two trending hashtags “Wuhan Government owes Dr. Li Wenliang and apology” and “We Want Freedom of Speech.”

But these two top trends couldn’t stand against the magic of authoritarian government. Both hashtags were quickly censored by the Chinese Government as they hold the control of the social site Weibo – and Chinese have no access of Twitter and other social sites.

Not The First Time…

This is not the first time, the Chinese Govt have carried out such acts. In fact, what else can you expect from a government who is running the whole country under an authoritarian/dictatorial regime.

Recently, as per the International Media, the Chinese Government also hides the actual number of Corona Virus Covid-19 cases. The International Media refuses the number of Corona Virus patients in China, stating that Chinese Government intentionally hided the actual number of patients and deaths.

The deaths in China, are far more in actual than it has been reported in the National Media, U.S. Intelligence claims.

Such is the cruelty destined to occur in the authoritarian state. What else could expect then?

If the response of Chinese Government to a dangerous health emergency and deadliest outbreak is for the police to harass a doctor trying to blow the whistle, then something is definitely broken in the structure of the state.

READ MORE:

“Karachi – Our Stories in our Words” – Book Review

Col. Qaddafi’s Libya was more than just free Electricity & Healthcare

Historical Politics
muammar gaddafi

Few months ago, the death anniversary of Libya’s most revolutionary politician, political theorist and monarch Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had passed. Gaddafi, who being a Colonel, governed and ruled Libya for more than 42 years as the revolutionary chairman, but ended up his life being killed by its own country people, as a result of civil war, which led the rebel group of Libya to captured Gaddafi, causing him serious injuries which led him to the death.

Politics apart, the personality of Col. Gaddafi still ranks as an important and influential one in the Muslim Countries, specially in Pakistan too. The biggest proof of that is Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, named by the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in honor of the Libya’s colonel and dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Other than that, the least, what people of Pakistan knows about the Libya under the rule of Gaddafi is that, there were free healthcare, electricity and subsidized housing schemes for the people of Libya provided by Gaddafi. This is yet just peanuts. Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya was more than just free electricity, healthcare and subsidized housing schemes.

Gaddafi’s Authoritarian Regime…

Despite the fact that the Gaddafi’s govt provide free healthcare along with free electricity etc, the Gaddafi’s regime was based on absolute authoritarianism. Gaddafi banned all private enterprises, so that no one can stand against its govt as a challenge. No private organization was allowed extra space to grow its enterprise, as it would become a sign of threat for the country’s regime.

Freedom of speech that was supposed to be the basic right of people in prosperous countries was so squashed that even dealt with acts of violent repression numerous times. Even unsound books were burned under his regime. So no new idea can be generated in the people’s mind to question his regime. Also, he had dissidents based abroad murdered just because they disagree with the policies of dictator’s regime.

The Oil Rich Libya, But…

Libya under Gaddafi’s rule, with a population of just six million (60 Lac) and oil revenues of $32 billion in 2010, holds great potential. Yet most Libyans believed that this wealth and living conditions were reminiscent of far poorer countries. A lack of jobs outside government means that unemployment is estimated to be 30% or more.

However, Libya’s particular and typical from of socialism does provide free education, healthcare and subsidized housing schemes but under the carpet the wages were extremely low and the wealth of the state and profits from foreign investments have only benefited a narrow elite ( specially the ones that worked for him).

Security or a Social State?

Under the banner of upholding the security of the state, a set of draconian laws were enacted, further exposing the colonel’s claim to be the champion of freedom from oppression and dictatorship. Legal penalties included collective punishment and death for anyone who spread the idea and theories for seeking the change in the constitution and life imprisonment for disseminating information that portrays the country’s negative reputation. Tales abounded of torture, lengthy jail terms, executions and disappearances and that was all happening without a fair trial.

Mostly educated people and qualified citizens of Libya chose exile, rather than pay lip service to the lunacy.

Most of Libya’s most educated and qualified citizens chose exile, rather than making a compromise over their career and life. Nevertheless, Gaddafi still managed to target Libyan exiles, dozens of where killed by assassins linked to a global Libyan Intelligence Network.

The Diplomatic Blunder!

In the late 90’s, Libya went through under an International isolation, on the charges of allegedly involved in Lockerbie Bombing. Then in 1999, the Libyan Leader Gaddafi made a comeback from almost total isolation and that is when he accepted the blame for the bombing, which caused several embargo’s and restrictions directly affected the lives of the Libyan people.

In the beginning, Gaddafi refused to hand over the two Libyan suspects to Scottish Jurisdiction which later resulted in a protracted period of negotiations and UN sanctions, finally ending in 1999 (after the acceptance from Gaddafi) with their surrender and trial.

Unequal Sharing of Wealth & Fear of Transition

Libya Under Gaddafi produces 0.27 barrels oil per citizen per day; the United Arab Emirates produces 0.34 barrel per citizen per day. Yet the average citizen of Emirates was three times as wealthy as the average Libyan, records IMF GDP data at purchasing power parity per ca-pita.

Large sum of money was used to maintain his unlikely rule. The leader of revolution Gaddafi often used high-paying jobs and contracts to buy off the loyalty of enemies and to turn allies into bitter rivalries.

Colonel Gaddafi announced to develop enormous projects to give people hope for the bright future and then cancel them at the last moment — usually putting blame on some foreign enemy, or domestic circumstances.

As mentioned earlier, the leader of revolution never wanted any business organization to grow strong. Hence when middle class grew too strong, he [Gaddafi] abruptly changes the currency causing the collapse of personal saving for them. And when somehow business organizations became too powerful, he opened up more unnecessary subsidies to shut them down.

When government leaders earned enough influence to be able to potentially challenge his rule, he shifted their power to consuls. Such is the fear of Gaddafi to never leave his position. It was surely up to him, about how to behave with political opponents. One year he might free political prisoners, the next put them into mass graves.

Libya Under Sanctioned !?!

Libya under Gaddafi was sanctioned for more than 20 years by the European Union and the United States. These sanctions came through in the form of an arms embargo, which prohibited Libya to import, export and also transport of arms and related material of all kinds.

Moreover, sanctions in the form of travel restrictions and the freezing of assets and providing the access to persons and entities identifies by the UN or the EU.

More embargoes put into effect towards Libya such as in order to stop illicit export of petroleum, included crude oil and refined oil products.

Constitution Monarchy

The regime of monarchy by Gaddafi of several decades couldn’t be easily overthrown by the Libyan National Assembly. As being Gaddafi in the power, means, the Libyan Constitution was no longer in effect. In alternative to the constitution book, a book named as “Green Book” put forth by Gaddafi which became the foundation of the laws of Libya.

The Hidden Aspect of Gaddafi’s Life

Being the head of the country, Muammar Gaddafi paid visits to public places such as hospitals, schools etc. During his visits to a school or college, Gaddafi would often place his hand on the hand of a girl. To people, it shows a symbol of affection and blessings to that girl, but in actual, this was placed not to bless the girl. It was a signal to his minister or staff to make the girl available in his Harem.

This way a number of school and college girls ended up in his harem.

Furthermore, the girls that have been took up by the Gaddafi’s staff, ended up spending a large number of years of their life in Gaddafi’s Harem where they were given beauty treatments so as to fulfill the sexual desire of the dictator at best. Also, the girls were required to undergo various tests such as blood tests and others for diagnosing diseases.

These facts shooked the world when an author Annick Coejan, a special correspondent for Le Monde wrote a book “Gaddafi’s Harem: The Story of a Young Woman and the abuses of power in Libya“.

This book brings up the tale of a 15 year old girl Soraya who was chosen to present him with flowers during his visit to her school. She was told that it was an honor to be chosen for this occasion, and thereafter, the very next morning she would end up in Gaddafi’s Harem where she lived forcefully for the next 5 years!

Read More : Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan and the Pakistani’s!

 

[Special thanks to @te7telzeytouna (twitter) and @hiba76sh for making this information reachable.]

Pakistan v/s India

Pakistan Politics
pakistan and india

Pakistan’s neighboring country India sent its space mission ‘Chandrayan 2’ for the second time on the moon. The probable landing on the moon last week was 9 pm. In a country with more than a billion people, the eyes and the curiosity of every man was on this mission, and why not? India was finally on the list of a few countries that have successfully flagged their country on the moon.

When no ray of hope could be seen, the head of the ISRO said, removing the uncertainty of the nation, that the satellite of the Chandrayan mission lost the signal just two kilometers away from the moon, causing it to lose contact with the center. They had said this and with it the hopes of billions of people have been stretched. But where the hopes of so many people have come to fruition, the celebration has begun as it has in the neighboring country of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Let us make fun of!

Well! The Pakistani people are right to make fun of India’s failed Chandrayan mission. Leading was the Federal Minister of Pakistan is Science and Technology Fawad chaudhary. And to those who are talking about competition in space field with India, let me tell you that the competition is only fair when both the opponents are of same level.

The truth is that Pakistan has no competition with India. India has twice tried to send its mission to the moon, but it seems that our space agency SUPARCO (Pakistan Space and Upper Aerial Research Mission) has yet to send a Pakistani mission to the moon. And not too old when Pakistan’s ruling party PTI gave a 114-day stay in Islamabad while staying in the opposition, during which our neighbor country India successfully launched its space mission ‘Mangalyan‘ to the planet Mars.

Even with the failed experience of the last days with Chandrayan, India has since joined itself with the United States, China, and Russia in the race of space. Because the total cost of Chandrayaan on the moon sent by India was only 900 Crores, which in other sense is less than the budget of the Hollywood movie “Interstellar“. India has also shocked the world, including NASA, in a failed attempt at a South Pole.

When talk about the total space comparison between Pakistan and India, the difference is clear. The chairman of the Indian Space Agency, ISRO, is named “Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan“, who has a PhD and 35 years of experience in aerospace engineering. On the contrary, Pakistan’s spacecraft, SUPARCO, which was founded by Pakistan’s only Scientific Nobel Laureate, Dr. Abdul Salam, have its current chairman, “Major General Amir Nadeem“. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

Now the question that arises is whether the performance of SUPARCO, a space organization with 6,477 million in the annual budget in the form of public tax money, is not satisfactory? And if not, why are we wasting millions of rupees like water on the people of this poor country!

Now leave the scientific field and come to comparison with India in the field of general public facilities. It would not be wrong to say that if Pakistan is reviewing the whole series, Pakistan needs to launch its mission from the ground up instead of sending missions to the moon.

India certainly sent missions to the moon, but before that it crossed all public facilities missions on Earth. It can be inferred that the railway metro has been set up in ten major cities including Delhi, Bombay and Kolkata in the public sector, benefiting millions of people every day. While no city in Pakistan enjoys this facility (Lahore’s Orange Line Railway Metro project is also incomplete and delayed due to insensitivity of Punjab government).

And when the talk of public transport has begun, not only the railway metro but also the modern urban transit buses are being running in eighteen cities in India. While the misfortune of Pakistan is that the Metro Bus project is working in five cities of Punjab, but its main hub, the financial hub of Karachi, is lacking in any kind of public transport.

Now let’s talk about comparing the universities of India and Pakistan with regard to the education system. So in the field of education, it is also the case that India has its university ranked in highest number of 150 universities in the world, while the University from Pakistan ranks among in the top 400 universities.

In the technology battleground, India, being called the technology hub, is showing expertise in the IT sector in a country with a population of more than a billion, including modern e-money transfer systems like PayPal, the world’s largest Amazon store, and mobile payment systems. The native mobile app is powered by “Paytm“, etc.

And when it comes to our country, Pakistan, the second largest freelancer in the world, is not even equipped with facilities like PayPal, Money System and Amazon.

So instead we dream of reaching the moon ourselves in an attempt to send a mission to the moon of India with a trillion dollar economy, more importantly to fight India while on Earth. Because otherwise India has just shocked the world by sending its failed missions to the moon, but in the upcoming years it willbe in the few countries in the world that operate on the speed of aircraft, inaugurated the “Hyper Loop” train and filled us with this.

Now all we have remain is a slogan in which we are number one, but according to the Foreign Minister, war is not an option!

READ MORE:

Times When Judiciary in Pakistan Could Set an Example but It Laid us Down

 

Why I think Ali Zaidi’s cleanliness drive Karachi is a pure political stunt?

Karachi Politics
ali zaidi

Imagine a group of people shouting at your doorstep, streets and your media screens claiming that they got the ultimate solution for every problem, and are the best group of people to deploy it.

Well, leave that!

Why not talk about the oppressed Karachi? And in case you are wondering why I’ve termed Karachi as oppressed, let me prove my word.

There may be any other unfortunate city as Karachi, because any other country whose financial hub had witnessed the killings of 22 people from electric current due to rainfall had gone into deep depression and crisis.

But in Karachi, who cares? If the thousand people died from heat stroke or a numerous from electric current during the rainfall… this city gets nothing more than few headlines.

And now when the damage has been done. The Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Mr. Ali Zaidi [who ran for the mayor in the recent local bodies elections in Karachi] has now accidentally jumps in; claims to make Karachi clean in the next 14 days.

Furthermore, When Ali Zaidi was asked about why the PTI Karachi failed to step up despite having 14 MNA’s from Karachi during the recent fall, he got nothing new to say in contrary to the different stakeholders of this city; that all the development power of this lies in the rank of Sindh Government.

Only God knows better, if there is any greater power than having the Federal Government which is enjoyed by PTI at large — the same party from where the 14 MNA’s of Karachi including Ali Zaidi belongs.

Karachi Cleanliness Drive

Now, when Ali Zaidi has just announced to make Karachi super-clean in the next 14 days, I am pretty sure that no sane person can be seeing it as an ultimate solution for Karachi. As this campaign also lasts as no more than a political stunt, carried out by so many others in the past.

To Mr. Ali Zaidi, who’s now presenting himself as the savior of Karachi, here’s my few questions about your politically motivate cleanliness drive.

  • If the PTI Karachi do not have the development power for this city as claimed by you previously, then why the hell you were scolding in your election campaign and seeking for the votes? You left no stone unturned to take a jibe at the MQM for their powerlessness; and now your are tasting your own medicine.

 

  • Does the 2-week cleanliness drive is an ultimate solution of this city? When this city have no proper garbage disposal system? What will be the fate of this city in terms of Garbage disposal after the 2 weeks successful cleanliness campaign? What will Ali Zaidi be achieved after 2 weeks of successfull cleanliness campaign, when the city meets the same fate as it is today, because there is no existence of garbage disposal?

 

  • Let’s not put all the buff on the people for not being responsible? For an example, let’s believe, if the people starts putting all their litter in the dustbins and garbage containers. Still this garbage ends up going into the sea or burning at the corner of our street or beneath any flyover/bridge. Except Karachi, all the other cities of Pakistan (Faisal Mosque pictured below) filled up with the litter and garbage every day and every minute, yet their garbage disposal is so pro active, that all the litter picked up within a day.

 

garbage

 

  • Also, the savior Ali Zaidi announced the Cleanliness fund following the foot prints of the mighty Dam Fund. I wish, he could more elaborate, that if to pick the garbage of this city requires the funding from its citizens, why the hell the people of this city are still paying a large share of taxes? Karachi has already given a share of around 6000 Arab to federal and provincial govt on the name of various taxes… wouldn’t that be enough?

[Read More : Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan and the Pakistani’s!]

Fact of the matter is, this cleanliness drive of Ali Zaidi is no more than a joke. Karachi requires serious political attention and permanent solution. Not so gimmicks in the name of weekly campaigns and else.

And as far as the issue of “Ikhtiyarat” [control] is concerned, what is the difference between MQM and PTI; when even PTI still failed to claim authority over anything despite having the federal govt? What about those promises that our current President Arif Alvi made through out the whole election campaign?

The truth is, PTI isn’t interested in making Karachi a separate province which directly means they’re not interested in solving the issues of Karachi. Because there is no other permanent solution for Karachi than being turned into a separate administrative unit or having the provincial govt from Karachi which seems impossible for the next decade.

 

Anything other than the separate administrative unit for Karachi is a gimmick!

 

And who knows, that Ali Zaidi might run in the race for the Mayor Of Karachi in the upcoming local bodies elections on the platform being set up by Khalai Makhlooq!

To PTI Karachi, when pulling out a political stunt next time, please do not be fool, or either don’t try us to be. The people of Karachi didn’t voted you for this!

Who is Leading the Muslim World?

Politics
who is leading the muslim world?

It’s about almost 50 years ago, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (O.I.C) was formed. An organization representing the population of over 1.8 billion with 53 out of 57 being Muslim countries, reached on a consensus to become the collective voice of the Muslim World and works to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim World following International peace and harmony.

Those were the days when a ray of hope emerged for the Muslim Ummah to become a single body under the united leadership of several Muslim countries. Oi- rich countries to small countries with several newly born, all got united to provide a better future to the Muslim Ummah.

Who led the Muslim World and when?

The biggest question at that time was who will lead the consensus? And that was about who will lead the Muslim World? The largest Muslim populated country Indonesia will lead or oily rich Saudi Arabia? The military power Pakistan or the Post-Ottoman wound retail Turkey? And by leading means, a country with a foremost voice to head O.I.C.

In a broader scenario, there haven’t been any specific or formal country claims to be the leader of O.I.C. However, time to time, there has always been a country who seems to be leading the Muslim World with its unprecedented economic and diplomatic value in the current World.

The 1967 Arab/Israel War

In 1967, just 2 years before the creation of O.I.C, a war had erupted between a Jewish State Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt (known at the time as United Arab league). It was the third Arab/Israel war within a span of 20 years. Egypt and its neighboring countries consisting of Syria and Jordan had suffered appropriate damage.

Following the end of this war in the month of June, the Khartoum Conference was convened in September 1967. This was the first Arab Summit to be held after the end of third Arab/Israel War. This conference was important for a several reasons. First, the Arab leaders agreed to unite their political efforts on the International and diplomatic level to eliminate the method of War and to force Israeli forces to withdraw from Arab occupied lands. Second, the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia announced the substantial financial assistance to the front-line states (that have been involved in the war). Third and foremost, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came out as the only single country to have balls to lead the Muslim World (mostly the Arab Countries). And this was due to several reasons :

  • The King Faisal of K.S.A encouraged other countries such as Libya and Kuwait to join in the offer to give financial assistance to the front-line countries.
  • Also, this conference underscored some of the constants of Saudi Arabia’s stand on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Moreover, it was decided that the Kingdom wouldn’t recognize the state of Israel as long as the holy sites of Muslims in Jerusalem were under Israeli control.
  • Despite the strong rejection of K.S.A with any kind of negotiations with Israel, diplomatic and political efforts were not ruled out. Also meanwhile, the military force was not seen as the ideal and exclusive method for liberating the occupied Arab states.
  • As the kingdom has never been a front-line state; neither it had any military confrontation with Israel not it wants directly.

Not only this, even in the 1970’s, the Saudi Arabia invested heavily to put its weight behind improving the Syrian and Egyptian military capabilities. This led the K.S.A to form a coordination triangle with Egypt and Syria, forging countries to consulted on strategically and military issues.

And it was due to this muscle, this trio produced one of the most successful military campaigns that the Arabs have ever launched against Israel. Furthermore, the Kingdom led other Arab oil producers in imposing an oil embargo on the United States and other countries for their support to Israel.

The Saudi Arab under King Faisal was undoubtedly the leader of the O.I.C/Muslim World for the late 20th Century. However, it couldn’t go on further with this legacy due to the shift in the geopolitics of the Middle East.

The Inevitable Afghan War

In the early decade of 70’s, Saudi Arab was the only ultimate leader of the O.I.C. But the circumstances couldn’t remain the same for a long time. Meanwhile in 1975, the influential, as well as the popular leader of the Muslim Ummah of that time, Saudi’s King Faisal, had been assassinated by his nephew Faisal Bin Musaid.

With that debacle, the path to the leadership of the O.I.C darkened again. Then in the late 70’s, with the Soviet Union making a solid presence in Afghanistan by installing a self-backed govt there, raised a cloud of concerns to the Super Power America.

To restrict the rising power in the form of Soviet Union, the United States had to seek a plan. With Saudi Arabia as its ally in one hand, the USA look forward for another. And it couldn’t be any other than the Islamic Republic of Pakistan who shared a border with the battleground of that moment Afghanistan.

Pakistan, a country, none before had now been become the formal ally of the United States of America followed by Saudi Arabia. Not only the Muslim countries of that time, but the whole World was then looking closely to the Pakistan. Pakistan by every mean, was going to feature as the leader of the O.I.C.

Pakistan stands with America till the withdrawal of the Soviet troops. What was the pros and cons of the role in Afghan War is a different topic, but one has to admit that Pakistan put the future of its own people at a large stake.

The First Atomic Country

After the end of brutal Afghan-Soviet War, a lot of things had been changed. A change that occurred within the Soviet Union and Afghanistan wouldn’t even left Pakistan from its epitome.

Since after the active role of Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan then، was ranked among the U.S important allies.

However,This relationship faced a severe blow, when Pakistan announced to test its nuclear missiles in 1998, in order to answer its neighbor but arch-rival India.

This was no less than a shock for the Western Countries including Pakistan’s important ally America. As this was the time too, when a campaign backed by western countries، to abolish nuclear bombs was undergoing.

Among all this, the greatest side of all this scene was the Pakistan’s power to convince the World what it is capable of. In addition, this news was no lesser than good news for the Muslim countries as Pakistan became the only country with having Atomic Missile.

Since the creation of Pakistan, a lot of states believed that it will enlighten a path for the Muslim World. The geographical importance of Pakistan in the region, along with its ideology and capabilities ranked Pakistan as topmost country to lead the race of Muslim World.

No Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt or Turkey… it was Pakistan who was supposed to be the leader and an important country of the Muslim World.

Who is Leading the Muslim World?

The Muslim World of today is facing one of the greatest turmoil of the history. Let it be in the form of development, innovation or prosperity or terrorism, the Muslims of today are in deep trouble. The question of the past, in now concerning again and again. Who is leading the Muslim World?

As I mentioned earlier about the past leading countries of the Muslim World, there is another country seems to lead the Muslim World with its affairs.

The situation of Muslim World, especially in Middle East is getting worsen day by day. Recently, Gaza (the Israel-striped) city had the worst cloud of oppression by Israeli forces resulting in the thousands of deaths of civilians. No such steps from Pakistan and Saudi!

Not enough here? The U.S.A had announced several days before, giving clean chit to Israel to annex West Bank of Palestine. Looking at it, the negligence of Muslim countries other than Turkey shows that this issue has failed to make in the list of their priorities.

West Bank is Palestine territory and belongs to Palestinians only, Erdoğan

Another exclusive issue، heading up for the Muslim World is of Uighur Muslims. The so called brother country of Pakistan, and one of the largest economy of the World، China is going over the Uighur Muslim with extreme brutality.

Few days ago, an 800-years old mosque has been demolished by the Chinese Government. Not stopping here, the Chinese govt has also ban Uighur Muslims from fasting and put a ban on women wearing burqa.

Here’s the tweet from an American journo

Nonetheless, the Saudi Arabia stands with China over this issue and shown his support to it. Pakistan too has been highly influenced by the Chinese interference in development project in the country. First, the President of Pakistan, announced to support China over this oppression. Then comes the mighty Prime Minister of Pakistan, who living in the denial, found himself unknown about the issue.

On the contrary, the current leader of the Muslim World Tayyip Erdogan describes the crackdown on Uighurs as “genocide”.

The fact of the matter is, the Muslim World is passing through the darkest era of its history. Yet, it has no preference for the issues related to the brother countries, even some are busy in cold war with other Muslim Countries. No matter what, the people dying in Yemen through the brutalities of Saudia are human being and Muslims, and others dying in China, Gaza and Syria are Muslims too.

Its high time for the Muslim World to get United under one umbrella, and pull out from the other cold wars for the sake of the future of Muslims. Also, no matter how much another country is investing in your country, one should never get influenced and deprived of the principles of which the basic foundation is based.

Or in other case, the Muslim World has also got a 34-countries coalition army…!

Read more : [Review] After The Prophet : The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split In Islam by Lesley Hezleton 

 

The Ill-fated Democracy In Pakistan

Politics

Pakistan is a democratic country. This is what the world believes. This is how the people knows it. And more than all, this is how Pakistan portrayed itself to the others. Right? If you think the same, then I am sure you are absolutely deprived of the facts and reality.

BTW What is Democracy?

The democracy in Pakistan has always been ill-fated. Apart from the people’s government, by the people, for the people… The term Democracy comprises of many other things. Out of all, the greatest aspect which stands out in a Democracy is the “freedom of expression”.

The democracy in any state doesn’t measure by how frequently does election held in that state, but how far the “freedom of expression” exists in the country.

Democracy without the freedom of expression is referendum under a fascist or fascist state.

Pakistan is witnessing its biggest democratic streak now, which has now transitioned to the third government after the successfully completed 5 years tenure of previous two governments consecutively. Since the start of the third government of P.T.I, a number of serious concerns are raised upon the freedom of expression.

It seems that the current government is in no mood to tolerate the criticism marked on it or the state institutions over their blunders or silly mistakes. Whether it came from the political circle or non-political circle, the government seems ready to going over it.

However its another question, that the government and establishment are a single body or a lies in a separate domain.

The recent general elections in Pakistan have raised a quite few questions over the transparency of the elections due to the involvement of non-political forces. Since then, a sarcastic tone had been conveyed by the opposition parties to criticize the non-political forces in an indirect way.

Pakistan holds a strange history of the interference of non political forces on several occasions. From the creation of Pakistan to the tough of war of power/government in earlier decades. The false use of Article 58-2(b), and the Mehran Bank saga of IJI… these are all the mysterious aspects of our past regarding the interference of non-political forces.

I will be no wrong if I say, Pakistan is governed 35 years directly by the military dictatorship and 37 years indirectly over the vendetta of democracy without civil supremacy. Enough to say that democracy has remained ill-fated in Pakistan so far.

The Rise Of Censorship

Recently, the government has started a crack down to silence the voices raised against its policies and mistakes, no matter either it comes from the media or the opposition. But in the age of social media, how would it be possible for the government to silence its all critics? Well, only the government can answer it in a better way. So far it tends to left no stone un-turned.

The fresh example of that is Shahzeb Jillani, who is a part of “Aaj Kamran Khan ke Sath” show team on Dunya News. Shahzeb specializes in making documentaries and detailed video reports on the past events which refreshes one’s mind at give the touch of nostalgia moments.

Recently, he had posted the video about the former Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, highlighting his tenure of government along with many other videos.

Few days ago, the journalist came under a problem when he came to know that he had been summoned by F.I.A over his controversial marks about the state institutions.

Speaking about this issue, the journalist said that he had said nothing controversial about the state institutions. All he said was “Mr. Junejo was a moderate Prime Minister despite being the puppet of Gen Zia-ul-Haq“, which our institutions found controversial.

Moreover, the govt has also banned the former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail from speaking onto the television about the economic crisis, and analyzing the current economic situation. Not only this, he also granted with another surprise came in the form of his name in the ECL. One can differ with the opinion of Miftah and his party, but no sane person can believe, that the name of Miftah Ismail can ever be on ECL.

By going over journalists and the opposition politicians, the govt has gone an extra mile to put a bar beyond Supreme Court. It all came when the PTI government along with the MQM and Sheikh Rasheed filed a petition against Justice Qazi Faiz Issa over his remarks in the Faizabad dharna Case. In case you didn’t know, Qazi Faiz Issa roasted the state institutions over their prohibited involvement in the Faizabad Dharna.

*You can download the Faizabad Case Judgement by clicking here .

Those 3 major scenarios are enough to define the current situation of democracy in Pakistan which has been kinda ill-fated in the past.

A Clear-cut Message

From the past events, the government seems to be very clear-cut on going over those who raised question on the state policies. It is due to which the media anchors and journalists are bared for not speaking against the state policies and the involvement of non-political forces in the current politics.

If somebody still tries to break the shackles of Government policies, then the govt has got only one solution, which kept using repeatedly since the earlier days of Pakistan. That is none other than to throttle the voice using the “Censorship Formula”.

From Fatima Jinnah to the current era’s politicians, all have been suffered brutally from this curse. And you know whats’s more saddening is that, we may have entered in the year 2019, but we are still a victim of old 60-70’s policy. May we ever try to learn!