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US Patience with Pakistan Running Thin – Panetta

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (Credit: tribune.com.pk)

KABUL, June 7: Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday the United States was reaching the limits of its patience with Pakistan because of the safe havens the country offered to insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan.

It was some of the strongest language used by a US official to describe the strained ties between Washington and Islamabad.

Panetta was speaking in the Afghan capital, where he arrived for talks with military leaders amid rising violence in the war against the Taliban and a spate of deadly incidents, including a NATO air strike said to have killed 18 villagers.

“It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan,” Panetta, who arrived in Kabul a day after a deadly insurgent bombing, told reporters.

“It is very important for Pakistan to take steps. It is an increasing concern, the issue of safe haven, and we are reaching the limits of our patience.”

Pakistan’s cooperation is considered critical to US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan before most foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014.

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Balochistan Conference Seeks Dialogue Vs Military Operation

SCBA Conference (Credit: thenews.com.pk)

ISLAMABAD: “Who are these people who have enforced these disappearances? Is there no rule of law or respect for the Constitution in this land?” asked Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, the chief of the main opposition party, as he addressed a conference on Balochistan held in Islamabad on Saturday.

“The Baloch have a right to rebel … why shouldn’t they, after all that they have been put through?” remarked the PML-N chief, one of the most vocal leaders at the conference, as he called bringing Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murderers to justice.

“His body was desecrated … while his murderers were presented with a guard of honour,” said Sharif as he referred to former President Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorial regime. “Does anybody have the courage to hold him responsible?”

Top leaders of major political parties were in attendance at the National Conference on Balochistan, organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), as they called for a dialogue with all stakeholders in order to solve the province’s problems.

A fifteen-point resolution aimed to resolve Balochistan’s problems was passed unanimously at the conference. The resolution calls for an end to the ongoing military operation in the insurgency-hit province, and the withdrawal of military and paramilitary troops from Balochistan.

While some leaders blamed military dictators, others called for addressing the issue of missing persons in Balochistan.

In his opening remarks, SCBA President Yaseen Azad said that the main unrest in Balochistan is the problem of missing persons which could only be addressed through parliament by political forces.

Speaking at the same venue, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan stressed that granting “unconditional amnesty” to Baloch rebels was the only way to resolve the complex problem.

Khan said that the solution lies in the hands of the country’s politicians, and not with military personnel. Moreover, he said that the soldiers were not trained to perform the job of policemen.

On the other hand, PML-Q Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed felt that the ‘Balochistan problem’ was spreading to other parts of the country and stressed: “We have to tackle it with a serious sense of responsibility. No one is taking responsibility for deteriorated law and order situation in the province.”

Asma Jahangir, former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, remarked that the solution of Balochistan issue was vested with the political parties and they should take immediate initiatives in that regard.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, was of the opinion that a society could not survive without justice and enforcement of Consttution could ensure all fundamental rights and provincial autonomy.

He said the rights of Baloch people over natural resources should be fully acknowledged.

President National Party Dr. Abdul Malik underlined the imperative need for granting basic rights to the people of Balochistan. “Balochistan is an integral part of Pakistan and we have to find out solution by dialogue with all the stakeholders.

Deputy Chairman Pakhtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party Abdur Rahim Mandokhel said all problems have been created by the dictatorial regimes and now it is the duty of political leadership to address and resolve them.

President Hazara National Jirga Abdul Qayyum Chengezi said solution of problems was by holding free, fair and impartial elections.

President JUI-F Balochistan Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani was of the view that problems of Balochistan need a united national solution in accordance to the teachings of Islam.

 

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‘Pakistan’s power crisis may eclipse terrorist threat’

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 27 — In the militant-infested northwestern city of Peshawar, hundreds of businessmen recently marched in a mock funeral procession — but not to protest bombings or kidnappings. The “corpse” they carried was an electric meter.

In other areas of the country, shopkeepers have threatened mass suicide to protest 18 to 20 hours of power blackouts every day. Mobs are descending on utility offices to destroy records and meters, and they have attacked political parties’ headquarters during riots that sometimes turn deadly.

This month, Pakistan tumbled into sovereign default for the first time in its history because the government failed to reimburse millions to independent power providers — more proof that, after years of mismanagement and neglect, the nation’s energy sector is in extremis.

Now some experts suggest that the power crisis is more of a threat to Pakistan’s stability than is terrorism — a bitter outcome given the massive amount of aid the United States has poured into energy projects here over the decades.

A long-running Islamist insurgency has carved 2 percent from the nation’s GDP, said Sakib Sherani, a former government economic adviser, whereas rotating daily blackouts — referred to here as “load shedding” — have resulted in a 4 percent loss.

The shutdowns paralyze commerce, stoke inflation and unemployment, and further enrage a restive populace. Load shedding averages five to 10 hours a day in some urban areas and more than double that in rural ones.

Shopkeepers and factories use backup generators if they have them, but businessmen say the rising cost of fuel to run the machines hurts their bottom line.

“We have been shattered by these problems, and the government is responsible,” said Muhammad Naeem, sitting in the darkened office of the marble and granite company he runs in Islamabad. Persistent outages have forced him to cut shifts by half and reduce his payroll from 35 people to eight as production has fallen off, he said.

Pakistani officials, while accusing previous governments of neglecting a predictable crisis, say coal, nuclear and hydropower projects are in the works, as are electrical grid and dam repairs to boost capacity. But relief is years away.

“The government knows the suffering of people. It is trying its best to resolve the electricity shortage problems,” said Zargham Eshaq Khan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Water and Power. “The results will be evident in time.”

U.S. assistance on energy

Many power-improvement efforts are backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which says it has made the energy sector its priority in Pakistan. With $865 million in overall assistance this year, Pakistan is on the receiving end of the second-largest USAID program in the world, according to State Department officials. The share of aid devoted to energy this year is $112 million.

Yet, for all its efforts, USAID has earned scant credit among the Pakistani public, polls have shown. And reliance on non-Pakistani contractors and high administrative costs have fueled resentment, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report on aid to Pakistan.

Some Pakistanis are critical of a U.S. approach in which money was spread around too thinly for years, instead of focusing on more visible, large-scale public works projects. “The U.S. authorities’ main problem is that they don’t support tangible projects,” said Arshad Abbasi, an analyst on water and energy issues.

U.S. officials say they have struck a good balance in funding, and USAID has decided to focus on fewer projects without cutting the total dollar amount.

But Congress seems hardly in the mood to keep shipping money to Islamabad, which has blocked NATO supply convoys from traveling through its territory into Afghanistan for the past six months. Lawmakers have bridled at the Obama administration’s request for $2.4 billion in aid to Pakistan for 2013.

“Pakistan is like a black hole for American aid,” Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said during a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing this month. “Our tax dollars go in. Our diplomats go in, sometimes. Our aid professionals go in, sometimes. Our hopes go in. Our prayers go in. Nothing good ever comes out.”

During the past decade, he added, “we have sunk $24 billion in foreign assistance into Pakistan. It’s hard to fathom how so much money can buy so little.”

The help on energy goes back much further. In the 1960s and ’70s, a consortium of U.S. construction firms, backed with USAID funds, built two huge earthen dams, considered at the time to be marvels of engineering, to harness the hydroelectric might of the Indus basin waters that emanate from the Himalayas.

The dams accounted for 70 percent of the country’s power output at the time, and they still produce electricity, but Pakistan did not maintain them. USAID has funded repairs to the largest dam, Tarbela, but Congress has not released money for refurbishing the other, Mangla.

A sector riddled with problems

Even with U.S. and other donor money, the problem is monumental. Pakistani power stations are running at 20 to 25 percent capacity, experts say; transmission lines are rickety and failing.

The government’s energy-sector debt, caused by subsidies and uncollected bills, is estimated at $4.4 billion. Pakistan defaulted on obligations of nearly $500 million to a group of nine independent utility companies that are supposed to be guaranteed payments. The default, which stems from a complex arrangement involving energy producers and distributors and the state oil company, could lead to a downgrade in the country’s credit rating.

“After this fiasco, who do you think will invest in setting up power plants in Pakistan?” asked Farooq Tirmizi, a blogger and head of business reporting for the Express Tribune, an English-language daily. “The silence from international investors will be deafening. You might even hear it over the roar of your generators which you will have to run almost constantly.”

Load shedding has stoked public unrest for several years, but the power crisis seems to have finally come to the forefront of political discourse, even if government leaders have no immediate solutions.

On a day this month when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s cabinet was supposed to be focused on reopening the NATO routes and mending Pakistan’s relationship with the United States, it was instead consumed by hours of debate over how to deal with the energy crisis.

One proposal is to crack down on individuals and industries that pirate electricity from the grid or just don’t pay their bills — a perennial problem. But the government is known to protect the deadbeats if they are prominent enough.

“Politicization takes place, so you provide electricity whether a person pays or not,” said Abdullah Yusuf, chairman of an advisory committee for the nine power producers. And, on a smaller scale, meter readers take bribes to instruct residents on how to disable the devices and, thus, lower their bills or evade payment altogether.

USAID’s $112 million contribution this year for energy does not impress Yusuf. “In relation to the quantum of the problem, it is actually peanuts,” he said. “If you want to see positive results, there has to be a bigger commitment.”

Just as searing summer temperatures took hold last week, the government announced energy price increases in an effort to pay its bills.

“As a small business, we are paralyzed — our job depends on electricity,” said Raja Hassan, 25, who owns a photocopying machine that he sets up in a busy Islamabad market, dispensing copies for a few cents per page. He rents a space in front of a toy shop that has no generator, so when the power cuts off, he is out of business.

In some northwestern regions, where support for militants is strong, 22-hour-a-day load shedding has been reported. It could hardly get worse — but it may feed the country’s other existential threat.

“The energy crisis is a fertile breeding ground for extremism and insurgency against the state,” said Sherani, the economist. “You see the huge demonstrations, the people are jobless, and the businesses have shut down — so that is like playing into the hands of extremists. It is serving their cause.”

Special correspondent Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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When Nature’s Bounties are Privatized by a Greedy Class

Thandiani hill station (Credit: flickerhivemind.net)
Imagine for a moment that you get up one morning with a deep feeling of suffocation, darkness, depression and emptiness. You find the entire neighbourhood in a state of asphyxiation, gasping for every breath of air. Soon you begin to realise that a small group of rich, powerful, pampered and lawless individuals have sucked all the air and enclosed it in a huge glass dome for their exclusive consumption. They have also installed special reflectors that push all the sunlight into their massive private dome, leaving the rest to deal with the gloomy darkness.

The rich and the powerful also made sure that the dome encompassed the densest pine forests along with the most fragrant smelling flowers, lovely ladybirds, cuckoos, parrots, fireflies, beetles and butterflies. Thus the ordinary citizens are left with almost no element of nature that inherently belonged to all citizens. No longer did they have the right to access and enjoy the natural scenery, hilly resorts, forests and flowers. It was therefore natural for those outside the dome to feel very unequal, deprived and aggrieved. Their children will never know a firefly nor chase a butterfly. What was meant for everyone was now grabbed, allotted, purchased, cocooned and monopolized by a few.

But while it seemed blissful from outside, things were not as sparkling or serene for the spoiled rich brats who lived inside the dome. Propelled by greed and a desire to acquire and demonstrate their wealth and power, they began to do everything that was harmful for the beautiful natural environments they had managed to capture. They started to build huge and ugly houses barricaded by tall boundary walls destroying the landscape and blocking others from looking at the forests and mountains. To make it yet more exclusive, they placed large stones to prevent people walking on the scenic natural forest trails that passed close to their homes. In collusion with the government they began to cut the mountains to build roads that would exclusively lead to their personal residences. So what started out to be an open natural territory was now an ugly clutter of brick and mortar.

Some more obscene habits often associated with this self-indulgent class began to surface and to destroy the very peace and tranquility of this exclusive zone. The rich and powerful have a strong belief that life is meaningless without plastics, pampers, Prados and violating the law of the land. So they began to destroy the environment by throwing and spreading polythene bags, plastic bottles, used pampers, empty plastic cups, wrappers and disposable dishes. One could no longer walk on those majestic forest trails for they were now riddled with plastic, garbage and toxic waste. Atrophied by obesity and lack of exercise, these pampered delinquents and their accompanying urchins resort to high speed driving often in official vehicles consuming fuel and creating noise. The very peace and tranquility for which the exclusive zone had been created was now on the verge of a total collapse.

The above narrative, barring a few lines of “poetic license” is not just utterly true but also one that snugly fits the situation at the heavenly hill resorts of Nathiagali, Doongagali and other Galiyat. These wonderful gifts of nature are now being systematically acquired, allotted and plundered by the ruling and the wanting to rule elite of Pakistan. The booty is shared by those in power, the ministers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, rich businessmen, their friends, relatives and cronies. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has already approved the plunder of yet another hill station (Thandiani) by approving 1,200 kanals for residential and commercial purposes. Likewise Rs100 million have been approved for developing infrastructure to facilitate similar devastation at Malsa and Beringali hill resorts.

The massive acquisition and personalization of the natural heritage that belongs to all citizens of Pakistan is a violation of the fundamental right of ordinary citizens of Pakistan. It violates their right to equality and equal opportunity, their right of access to natural resources and locations, their right to preserve the natural heritage and their right to move freely at hills and forests now usurped by the insensitive and self-centred elite of Pakistan.

Several studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that the rich and the powerful behave more unethically and more unlawfully than their poorer counterparts. No one could better exemplify the results of these studies (carried out at the University of California, Berkeley) than the parasitic lawless elite of Pakistan. They have not just taken over our natural heritage but also built on it hundreds of rest houses staffed and maintained by the state (at taxpayers’ expense) for the luxury of high officials. As an example, Rs3 million are spent only to maintain rest houses for TMA and DCO Abbotabad.

Even an organisation like PESCO that is facing losses worth Rs40 billion has no shame in grabbing a two-kanal piece of land in Nathiagali for building a lodge that will provide luxury holidays to those actually responsible for its losses. What we need is a government that will reverse these plunders and declare our forests and hill stations as a common heritage and shared property of all citizens of Pakistan.

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Introduction to Aboard the Democracy Train (Excerpt)

Karachi Gymkhana

The British exited India just as Pakistan was carved out of it in 1947.  As a child in the 1960s I grew up in the bubble they left behind. Being a well-off new Pakistani, my father was among the select few to become a member of the Karachi Gymkhana. The gymkhana was part of a chain of exclusive clubs left by the British. It had red Spanish roof tiles, lush green lawns and had, up until partition, displayed the sign:

“Indians and Dogs not allowed.”

Elphinstone Street in 40s

We were seeped in Western culture, wearing shorts and frocks to the clubs, which were frequented by European families. It was at the Karachi Gymkhana that I saw blond and blue-eyed kids for the first time. I was fascinated: they looked just like the golden-haired dolls my mother brought back from Europe. And yet times were changing, as we locals with darker hair and eye color began to inherit their privileges.

Karachi Zoo

In those days, Karachi was dotted with bookstores and lending libraries. The exposure to English literature would open up new and exciting worlds. As a teenager, I came across D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, with its vivid descriptions of sexuality. The expression of shame on my relative’s face as he took the book from me made me aware of the high premium society placed on female chastity. Indeed, in a rapidly Islamizing society in which women joined the ranks of the veiled and unseen, it was difficult to believe that men did not obsess about female sexuality in the recesses of their minds.

Kothari Parade Clifton

My earliest memories of Karachi are of a city developed in 1843 by the British from a sleepy fishing village to a seaport and a well-planned city center with theaters, clubs, hotels, and coffee-shops and bookstores. By the 1960s, the Mohajirs had completed their major migrations from India to the newly created Pakistan. Still, it was a relatively calm period in which the refugees arrived with smaller families and fanned out to rural Sindh in search of job opportunities.

Karachi in 1947

The creation of Pakistan had been a symbol of immense hope for India’s Muslim refugees. They arrived from all parts of India: young and old, rich and poor, by train and by bus. Those who crossed the border by foot hoped to achieve the prosperity that they never dreamed of attaining in predominantly Hindu India. In a short time, they would give up hopes of finding job opportunities in the rural areas of Sindh and begin to converge on Karachi.

Karachi sea side

Twenty years later, I saw how the convergence of ethnic groups, fighting over a shrinking economic pie, would the stoke the fires of intolerance and political instability. Until such a time, Karachi was a clean and quiet city. We took leisurely walks at night around the city’s showpiece, Frere Hall, enjoying the cool summer breeze from the Arabian Sea.

Karachi tramway

We could not have predicted that the well-planned British built city of Karachi would grow into a sprawling, unplanned metropolis and a hotbed for ethnic and sectarian violence.  Nor could we foresee that the US consulate located across Frere Hall would become a repeated target of bomb attacks, with its fortified presence becoming symbolic of anti-American sentiment.

Back then, as my father’s antique Austin car inched its way through the city, I sat up and watched for new titles of English movies screened at Rex, Palace, Odeon and Lyric cinema houses. Perched on top of the Bambino cinema house, owned by Hakim Ali Zardari – father of President Asif Ali Zardari –  was the object that made me sit up with special interest: a flashing blue neon sign with the image of a woman dancer gyrating her hips.

Karachi movie hall

Inside, wide-eyed audiences watched classic movies like Toby Tyler and Gone with the Wind. It did not matter that the crowds did not understand English. Through the movies came the images of Western culture – where women mixed freely with men – and one saw the trappings of great material wealth and progress.

 
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Snipers Kill Nationalist Supporters Marching for Unity in Sindh

Karachi Burns in Ethnic Fires (Credit: blogstribune.com.pk)

KARACHI, May 22: At least 12 people have been killed and 29 injured in violence that erupted after unidentified gunmen opened fire on a rally organised by the Awami Tehreek and banned Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) in Karachi on Tuesday.

The protestors were rallying against the proposed Mohajir province and operation in Lyari.

Soon after the attack, the protest turned violent and dozens of cars and motorbikes were torched. The violence, which erupted in the Napier Road area, spread to the nearby localities including Lyari.

Police personnel deployed to maintain security failed to control the situation, however, after Rangers arrived, violence was brought under control.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has taken notice of the violence and has sought a report from the Sindh government.

Meanwhile Express News reported that Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, PAC, Punjabi-Pakhtun Ittehad (PPI), KCI had participated in the rally, but they had not sought prior permission from the government. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been formed to investigate into the matter.

Later, while commenting on Twitter, Malik said he had proposed to Chief Minister Sindh for an inquiry into the incident through a judge of the Sindh High Court. The Court should then ascribe responsibility for a probe.

The interior minister, further tweeted late Tuesday night, posing questions to the parties involved in the rally, asking why Ayub Awan, Ayaz Latif Palijo and particularly PML-N’s Marvi Memon led 2000 people into sensitive areas including Lyari and Kharadar.

Malik blamed PML-N for the deaths, caused due to the violence.

He also shrugged off any responsibility for the episode of violence, saying that it was the responsibility of the local police, Home Secretary Sindh and Chief Minister Sindh, adding that he is only responsible for providing logistical support and forces.

Due to today’s violence, Board of Intermediate Education in Karachi and Hyderabad have postponed exams scheduled to be held on Wednesday. The exams will now be held on May 30 in Karachi and May 26 in Hyderabad.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Wasay Jalil expressed sorrow over the incident and called it a planned activity. He further claimed that the rally “had caused the violence”

Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Palijo, in a press conference, said that the police left the areas as soon as firing began and the PPP “stood there, watching Sindhis being killed”.

“I thank PML-N and Jamaat-e-Islami who supported us in the protest,” he added.

He further warned that every drop of blood that was shed in today’s riots will be avenged, “not from innocent Urdu-speaking people, but from terrorists”.

Palijo also said that he had received text messages last night from a certain party which threatened of repeating the May 12 scenario today during the protest.

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Zardari Attends Chicago Moot Amid Disconnect with NATO

President Obama & President Zardari (Credit: dailymail.co.uk)

CHICAGO, May 21: Nato leaders agreed Monday to hand Afghan forces the lead for security from mid-2013 as they rush to end the war and ensure Afghanistan can ward off Taliban militants after foreign troops leave.

In a Chicago summit declaration, US President Barack Obama and his 27 military allies confirmed plans to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014.

But they also ordered military officers to begin planning a post-2014 mission to focus on training, advising and assisting Afghan troops and special forces.

“As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone,” Obama told the opening of a gathering of more than 50 world leaders, focused on ending the international mission in Afghanistan and helping the war-torn country shape its own destiny.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen vowed: “We all remain committed to our goal, a secure and democratic Afghanistan in a stable region.” But while the Western alliance coalesced around an exit strategy, they struggled to convince Pakistan to reopen a vital supply route for their troops in Afghanistan.

The leaders declared that the transition process was “irreversible” and would put Afghan forces “in the lead for security nationwide” by mid-2013, allowing US-led troops to gradually shift their focus from combat to support.

“We are gradually and responsibly drawing down our forces to complete the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) mission by 31 December 2014,”they said in a declaration setting in stone a roadmap agreed in 2010.

With the Taliban still resilient after a decade of war, Nato leaders sought to reassure Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the international community would not abandon his country after 130,000 foreign combat troops are gone.

The 28 allies, who discussed Afghanistan over dinner at the American football Soldier Field late Sunday, were meeting Monday with their 22 partners in the war as well as other world leaders including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari’s attendance had raised hopes his government was ready to lift a blockade on Nato convoys, but talks on reopening the routes have stumbled over Islamabad’s demand to charge steep fees for trucks crossing the border.

In their declaration, the Nato leaders said it was still working with Pakistan to reopen the border crossing, which was used to bring fuel and other supplies to foreign troops, “as soon as possible.” Islamabad shut its border to Nato supplies in November after a botched US air raid that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.

To ferry troops, food and equipment into Afghanistan, the US-led force in Afghanistan has relied on cargo flights and a more costly northern route network that passes through Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Obama said after talks with Karzai on Sunday that there were still “hard days ahead” in a conflict that has left that has killed over 3,000 coalition soldiers, maimed thousands more and left tens of thousands of Afghans dead.

In a sign of growing impatience within the alliance, new French President Francois Hollande refused to back down from his decision to pull troops out in 2012, a year earlier than planned.

“I told everyone I spoke with that this was not negotiable because it was a question of French sovereignty and everyone understood,” he said, adding France would continue to train Afghan forces after 2012.

Karzai said his country no longer wanted to be a “burden,” urging the international community to complete a security transition to his Afghan forces.

The Afghan leader came to the summit armed with a demand for $4.1 billion a year from Nato and other nations to fund his forces, giving them the means to prevent a civil war.

Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in recent days calling for an end to war. Although the rallies have been largely peaceful, scuffles broke out Sunday when some hardcore demonstrators refused police orders to disperse.

Police said 45 people had been arrested and four police officers suffered minor injuries.

 

 

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Pak Government Warns Millions May be Affected by Floods Again

Escaping the flood (Credit: guppu.com)

ISLAMABAD, May 16: About 29 million people could be affected from possible floods in 2012, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) official warned on Wednesday.

Warning all provincial governments of the possible flood-related devastation, NDMA Chairman Zafaq Iqbal said there would be more monsoon rains this year.

He said “the NDMA has asked for Rs20 billion from provincial governments to start preparations in order to avert possible flood devastations.”

The NDMA chief said the federal government has also been requested to release Rs5 billion in this regard.

Iqbal said monsoon rains are likely to begin from the mid-June. CNBC

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Mumtaz Bhutto’s party merges with Sharif’s PML (N)

Mumtaz with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Credit: nation.com.pk)

Years later, as I flew to Larkana to interview the aristocratic Mumtaz Bhutto at his ancestral home, I found he had also not forgiven the PPP “riff raff” for their challenge to the feudal lords.

With his cool demeanor and long moustache, Mumtaz spoke slow clipped sentences in British English. It established his credentials as a barrister-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn, U.K. Well-spoken, and comfortable with hosting Western diplomats in his Karachi mansion, Mumtaz was just as at ease in his sprawling estate as in the otherwise poor and underdeveloped Larkana.

The Larkana feudal had stayed away from Benazir’s attempts to reorganize the PPP after her father was hanged by the military. Instead, he had watched incredulously as Benazir had worked her way up through the old boy network of entrenched male feudals.

Mumtaz came to receive me at his gates in Larkana after my hosts dropped me off from the airport. We walked back to his magnificent estate.  Rows of elderly men touched his feet in reverence all the way back to the house. I felt guilty that grown men prostrated themselves. But, the Larkana feudal walked erect, scarcely looking down at the emaciated peasants. This was the traditional welcome for a man who owns lands in Larkana, Jacobabad and Shahdadkot and in the adjoining Balochistan province.

Sitting in the shade in Mumtaz Bhutto’s brick courtyard where the afternoon sun gently sizzled, we chatted after I finished interviewing him. An avid reader of Dawn, he told me he was familiar with my name. It did not surprise me, knowing that Western-educated feudal politicians and bureaucrats alike read the newspaper for which I wrote. At the same time, he complained that politicians shot into prominence – and I knew he hinted at Benazir – because of the media attention they received.

Perhaps the inordinate attention Benazir had received in the press after her exile overseas had seemed excessive to her uncle. In particular, he seemed irked by how green Benazir was for Pakistan’s seamy politics.

With a sardonic smile, Mumtaz told me that when Benazir had arrived from London to lead the Pakistani nation of over 100 million, her youth and unfamiliarity in getting the top job as prime minister made her seem like “Alice in Wonderland.”

“You know that when Benazir first came to me, she didn’t know anyone. Instead, she asked that I introduce her to people,” Mumtaz told me.

“Did you?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said in his non-committal way.

But I knew that as a political rival Mumtaz was least likely to introduce his ambitious niece to the powerbrokers.

Mumtaz was a man who belonged to another era, another system. His style was in sharp contrast to Benazir’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto had used his fiery speeches to empower peasants and the working class, who had, for centuries, cringed before the aristocracy.  Apart from being a demagogue, Bhutto had left lasting effects. My visit to Larkana – the ancestral home of the Bhuttos – gave me an insight into the contrasting style of the rival politicians from the best-known political family of Sindh.

We sat in the courtyard where the sounds of chirping birds and the fresh country air made me glad to be out of Karachi city. As the servants brought tea, Mumtaz poked fun at Benazir’s poor knowledge of her mother tongue, Sindhi.  It was an issue I could identify with myself:  like Benazir, I was born a Sindhi in Karachi. Being primarily educated in Western institutions, my parents had never encouraged me to learn my own language.

But Mumtaz was relentless with his niece.

“When Benazir comes to Larkana and I hear her speeches in Sindhi blaring out from the loudspeakers, I want to cover my ears,” he laughed sardonically. He saw me smile, in spite of myself.

Mumtaz had reserved his deepest contempt for the commoners who joined the PPP under Benazir. I could see how difficult it had been for him to digest the victory of a PPP candidate of “inferior standing” like Deedar Hussain Shah, who won against him in Larkana.

“You know that fellow (Deedar Shah) used to be my kumdar (manager of lands) – who waited outside my office to get my attention,” he told me.   “And now he has the nerve to stand against me,” he added in disgust.

That came as news to me. I knew Deedar Shah as one of the best-read parliamentarians in the Sindh Assembly.

We left the ancestral courtyard after Mumtaz offered to take me on a tour of his ancestral lands in Larkana in his Pajero jeep. It was an unusual step for a feudal to drive a vehicle with an unveiled woman, but there were important things on my host’s mind.

As we drove through his constituency, he told me to note the broken roads and a gaping gutter in Naudero, Larkana where a child had fallen a few days ago. He cited them as examples of how his humble PPP rival Deedar Shah had failed to fulfill the needs of the community.

Both Mumtaz Bhutto and his PPP opponent Deedar Hussein Shah, knew from experience that getting funds from the Punjab was like getting blood out of a stone. Deedar Shah grew hoarse in the Sindh Assembly as he appealed for development funds for interior Sindh. Eventually he quit politics and became a judge.

As a prominent feudal lord, Mumtaz claimed he would have more leverage with the federal government in getting funds for rural Sindh. That, I suspected, was true.

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Ex MNA from Kohistan Threatens Working Women

Maulvi Abdul Haleem (Credit: elections.com.pk)

MANSEHRA, May 5: Former Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA from Kohistan Maulvi Abdul Haleem on Saturday warned women working in non-governmental organisations against entering his district and said violators of the warning would be forcibly married off to locals.

“I issued a decree during Friday sermon that getting education for degrees by women is repugnant to Islamic injunctions because if a woman gets degree, she may use it for job, an act which Islam doesn’t allow in absence of mehram (close relatives),” he told reporters here.

Mr Haleem said: “If women working in NGOs enter Kohistan, we won’t spare them and solemnise their nikkah (marriage) with local men.”

Maulana Haleem, who remained MNA during the Musharraf regime, said if a woman got education and used it for job, then it was against the teachings of Islam.

“That’s why girls are not going to schools in Kohistan and girl schools are used as cattle pen,” he said.

The ex-MNA, who was once a mufti at Darul Uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak, and also taught top clerics Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Anwarul Haq, Maulana Nizamuddin Shamazai, said he was not opposed to NGOs and would ensure complete protection of their male staffers in Kohistan.

He said if NGOs wanted to work for women’s development, they should spend money for the purpose through government departments.

“We won’t let them (NGOs) influence our women in the name of empowerment and financial support through women workers of NGOs,” said the ex-MNA, who remained the district chairman in Kohistan during the General Ziaul Haq regime.

He said he issued a decree in the past in favour of poppy cultivation and trade and continued to believe so.

“I also rose up against the unjustified slaughtering of animals by Jehanzeb Khan, the ruler of the formerly Swat state, at his birthday. Kohistan was part of the state of Swat at that time. Even he (ruler) put me behind the bars but I didn’t withdraw the decree,” he said.

The ex-MNA said killing of women in the name of honour was a ‘local custom and religious practice’ in Kohistan.

He said if someone witnessed female members of his family roaming with ghair mehram (other than close relatives), he could kill her without producing four witnesses,” he said.

Meanwhile, a man was killed and his father and two brothers critically wounded on Saturday when their rival tribesmen attacked their house in Palis area.

A dispute over the ownership of a water reservoir was blamed for the Narng Shahkhail attack on Badakhail tribesmen.

The dead included Azizur Rehman, while the injured were his father, Mohammad Asghar, and his brothers, Mohammad Essa and Abdul Quddos, whose condition was stated be critical at a local hospital.

The Palis police lodged an FIR and began investigation. Last year, four people were killed and three injured when Badakhail and Narng Shah-khail tribes exchanged heavy fire over the same dispute.