Sikander Hayat's World

UK Helping America In Attacking Pakistan?

2011-12-18T17:59:00.002Z

The Government is coming under increasing pressure to reveal if the UK is providing intelligence to help the US carry out drone strikes in Pakistan.

Lawyers for the son of a man killed in such an attack have written to the foreign secretary William Hague wanting to know what the UK's policy is.

Pakistan has called the strikes, which the US does not publicly acknowledge, a violation of its sovereignty.

The Foreign Office says it will study the letter closely before responding.

The law firm Leigh Day & Co is acting on behalf of Noor Khan, whose father was killed earlier this year in a drone strike on a jirga - or council of elders - in north-west Pakistan.

Richard Stein, head of human rights at the firm, said he wanted to know whether any information was being passed by agents of the UK Government to US Government forces to assist in the attacks.

He said: "This legal action simply looks to ask a number of questions of our government regarding UK involvement in the drone strikes in Pakistan."

Read the full story here.

Pakistan - A Phoenix?

2011-12-18T17:40:00.001Z

Be it a natural catastrophe, man-made brutality, an economic nose-dive or fatal epidemics; Pakistan has been falling prey to the contamination of time, trauma and transition.

Just when we thought we had started rehabilitating after the disastrous floods of 2010, another torrent for Sindh (a province in southern Pakistan) was waiting around the corner. In spite of its magnitude, it did not frighten us as much as the one before this did. One may comprehend that we as a nation have come out of the past devastation so strong that no such calamity can hold us back. As a matter of fact, the rationale is slightly different this time around. Without tagging our attitudes with the expressions like 'heartless' or 'inhumane', one needs to underscore other angles to this dilemma.

The fact that hardships do not scare us any longer is itself quite frightening. Now the question arises 'what is keeping us so preoccupied' that we have started refraining from contemplating the difficulties besieging us. Though it may sound more like a rhetorical statement, answers to this question are not hard to stumble on in this day and age.

First, let us imagine a Pashtun or Muhajir in Karachi, or someone who is not a Balochi or Pashtun in Quetta, living in the areas highly vulnerable to targeted killing; a dengue patient in Lahore constantly having a check on his Blood Platelets' Count; someone who is jobless and bothered only about earning the next meal to feed his family; a small entrepreneur waiting for a few hours of electricity; a troubled textile mill owner thinking of shifting outside Pakistan, or a think-tank wondering about the FDI prospects in the midst of turbulent law and order situation of the country.

Read the full story here.

Zardari Returns To Pakistan?

2011-12-18T17:21:00.000Z

President Asif Ali Zardari, in Dubai for nearly two weeks for medical treatment, may return to Pakistan on Sunday night, two sources familiar with the president's travel plans said.

"He will fly out tonight (Sunday night)... he will leave in about two to three hours," a worker from Zardari's Pakistan People's Party told Reuters.

"He is perfectly fine now and was just waiting for the doctors to give him a go ahead to travel."

Another Pakistani source in Dubai said Zardari was expected to leave later on Sunday but gave no specific time for the departure. They said Zardari was flying back to Pakistan but did not say whether he would land in Islamabad or Karachi.

Read the full story here.

Military Intervention In Pakistan

2011-12-18T17:15:00.001Z

About 30,000 Islamists staged a protest on Sunday to condemn the United States and show support for Pakistan's military, which has reasserted itself after a cross-border NATO attack and a controversial memo that has weakened the civilian government.

Speakers included Hafiz Saeed, a fiercely anti-American cleric suspected of links to the group blamed for the 2008 militant rampage in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people.

Also at the podium was Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, known as the father of the Afghan Taliban, who are fighting U.S.-led NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's military was humiliated by the unilateral U.S. special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town in May, facing unprecedented public criticism.

But many Pakistanis rallied behind it after a November 26 cross-border NATO air raid killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, and plunged already troubled ties with Washington to a low point.

Read the full story here.

Pakistan Beats Bangladesh in The First Cricket Test - Younis Khan Scores A Double Hundred

2011-12-12T12:32:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Pakistan has continued their winning streak and have beaten Bangladesh comprehensively in the first cricket test being played in Bangladesh. Younis played the main role by scoring a double hundred while Hafeez & Asad Shafiq scored hundreds.
All Pakistani bowlers bowled well especially Rehman and Ajmal were unplayable for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a weak opposition but I am liking this new Pakistan which is more consistent and reliable in finishing off the opposition than many other Pakistani sides of recent years. Misbah ul Haq does deserve a lot of credit for this transformation and I would like to thank the English judge in the corruption case regarding spot fixing.

Birth of Bangladesh / Secession of East Pakistan & The Sins of Our Fathers

2011-12-11T10:14:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

December is the month when Pakistan lost its eastern half of East Pakistan which became Bangladesh in 1971. The cold chilly nights of December send shivers down the spine of Pakistanis forcing them to contemplate about what went wrong. Why our brothers who created Muslim League, who suffered partition of Bengal, who were at the forefront of the movement for the independence of Pakistan felt so angry that they decided to part their ways from the rest of Pakistan.

I do not want to blame our brothers from Bengal (East Pakistan) for wanting to secede as they gave us 24 years to correct our wrongs but leaders of West Pakistan, the intelligentsia, the elite and the general public attitude never considered East Pakistan as their integral part. There was a hint of racial, intellectual and martial prejudice and then there was a feeling in Eastern Pakistan that West Pakistan considered them the insignificant other.

It has been 37 years but the wounds are still not anywhere near healed. There is not much anguish about the succession itself as it was always going to be difficult for two parts of country to function as one when divided by thousand miles of hostile territory, but the way the separation took place make us Pakistanis anxious. If there was a referendum and had resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, it would have been fine but the birth of Bangladesh happened through a caesarean. A lot of bloodletting happened and a lot of innocent people lost everything they had.

West Pakistanis became foreigners in there on land with in a matter of hours. On 16th December 1971, Bangladesh was born, wounded, crying and dripping with blood.

Army operation which started on 25th of March and ended in a defeat on 16th December 1971 was an episode in the history of Pakistan which I as a Pakistani cannot justify.

A lot of West Pakistanis living in East Pakistan were killed by the Mukti Bahni but that still not justified the indiscriminately ruthless action by the Army. So here I am thinking what should be my reaction to all that misery and I have come to the conclusion that I must apologise whole heartedly, without any reservations.

I apologise as a Pakistani to all those mothers who lost their sons

I apologise to all sisters who lost their brothers

I apologise to all those sons and daughters who lost their parents

I apologise to all those daughters of East Pakistan who were humiliated &

I apologise for not keeping the promise we Pakistanis made to East Pakistan in 1947

These are the sins of our fathers, I cannot disown them, I cannot make them go away, I cannot forget them but I ask for forgiveness. I ask people of Bangladesh to forgive Pakistan (not forget the torment that you went through). Pakistan is not the same Pakistan; Bangladesh is not the same Bangladesh. I hope that when history lessons are taught in Bangladeshi schools, they end with a plea from Pakistanis for forgiveness and compassion.

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Thousands Of People Protest Against Vladimir Putin In Many Russian Cities

2011-12-10T13:45:00.001Z

By Robin Lustig

Perhaps I should start with a statement of the blindingly obvious: Russia is not Egypt.

Yes, there were thousands of anti-government protesters out on the streets of the capital this week. And yes, the security forces responded with great brutality. And yes again, online social networks played an important role in galvanising the protests and giving a voice to the protesters.

But no, an autocrat is not about to be toppled. And no, Vladimir Putin is not Hosni Mubarak. So I suspect any references to a "Russian spring" (in December, for goodness sake?) should be taken with a very large pinch of salt.

Let's rewind a few days. Last weekend, Russian voters went to the polls to choose a new parliament. This is not an event that normally excites much interest, because there is rarely any doubt about who is likely to win.

But this time was different. It was the first test of public opinion since Vladimir Putin (currently prime minister) and Dmitri Medvedev (currently president) announced that they intend to repeat their little trick of four years ago and swap jobs. (It's not an exact repeat, in fact, because four years ago, Mr Medvedev was a mere deputy prime minister. But the principle remains the same.)

Read the full story here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2011/12/what_next_for_mr_putin.html

Are Balochis Becoming A Minority In Balochistan?

2011-12-08T21:17:00.001Z

BY SIKANDER HAYAT

Balochistan is not getting resolved and there are no signs that it will get anywhere near resolution in near to medium term. Looking from the Baloch militant's point of view, it is very clear that they are not getting their goals nor there is any hope of achieving them. They are disrupting the march of advancement in Baloch dominated areas of the province and killing both frontier corps and ethnically non Baloch residents of the province. In all this killing, there is an exception and that exception is of Baloch militants not touching the Pashtuns of the province. According to Wikipedia, Balochistan is only 50% Baloch and the rest is mostly Pashtun with other smaller ethnicities making up the rest of the population. If they start fighting Pashtuns, they know they will be routed and without taking on the Pashtun they cannot achieve there goal, which is primarily to make the province a Baloch dominated land. This is a catch twenty two situation and a conundrum that the militants will have to resolve soon before the Pashtun become a majority in whole of the province.

According to various sourses on the web,

“Balochistan has a population of around 10 million inhabitants. Overall, the Baloch and Brohi tribes comprise 50% of the province's population. The rest are mainly Pashtuns, Hazaras and Sindhis. Baloch are concentrated in the sparsely populated north-west, west, east and south; Brohis in the centre of the province, while the Pashtuns are the majority in the north. Quetta, the capital of the province, has a Pashtun majority with Baloch, Hazaras and Punjabi minorities.
Near the Kalat region and other parts of the province there are significant numbers of Brahui speakers. Along the coast various Makrani Balochis predominate. In addition, 769,000 Afghan refugees can be found in the province including Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Hazaras. Many Sindhi farmers have also moved to the more arable lands in the east. There are also a growing number of other(s) ethnic groups consisting of Kurdish, Panjabi, Mohajir and Iranians who have made Balochistan their home in recent decades.”

“Balochistan's landscape in the 1980s changed markedly as Afghan refugee camps were established throughout the northern parts of the province. In many instances, temporary mud housing eventually became transformed into concrete structures. The refugees also caused the demographic balance to change as ethnic Pashtuns from inside Pakistan came to settle in Balochistan.”

Given the above information I believe that demographics is the issue at the heart of present unrest in Baloch areas of Balochistan. The common people have been told by the tribal chiefs that due to large number of mega projects like Gwadar port, a large body of non Baloch are moving into the area of Balochistan and soon Baloch will be a demographic minority.

It is evident from the census records that Baloch who were once the majority in Balochistan by a long way are now nearly 50% of the total population with a large number of Pashtuns living in the area as well. Other large minority are Sindhis speakers with a small number of Punjabi speakers present as well.

Hence the targeted killing of innocent non Balochis, especially Punjabis. Out of 200,000 Punjabis living in Balochistan, almost half have already left the province and the rest have sent their families to other parts of country to live with their relatives until situation settles down.

These demographic trends have emerged more by accident then design and as mentioned earlier Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, brought more than 3 million Afghan refugees into Pakistan and these people settle all along the Pakistani side of Afghanistan Pakistan border. Many of these Pashun people have settled in Pakistan and in the process changes the demographic landscape of Balochistan.

Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan is 50% Pashtun and Baloch are a minority in Quetta.

It seems to me that all three major outfits of the Baloch cause have decided that instead of taking on hard targets they should pick on soft targets and apart from killing Punjabi speakers, they have also kidnapped an innocent UN worker who has been in their captivity for last many months.

At one level, the trouble makers have found a very good way of correcting the demographic trends by killing people but it may backfire when Pakistan government will have to complete army garrison towns in parts of Balochistan to control these restive regions.

The history of garrison towns in Pakistan suggest that once they are established and start functioning they have a habit of exponential growth in terms of civilian population and examples of this phenomenon are littered all over Pakistan. Currently there are plans to build at least three such towns in the Balochistan region. Baloch, who already are at 50% of the population see this as an attempt by the Pakistani government to bring there demographic percentage further down and eventually dilute it to the point where they do not have any claim to the cause of Baloch ethnic group.

I believe that building these cantonments will be a great stride towards providing prosperity to the Baloch region as it will bring increased investment and skills to the region. I also do not buy the argument that these garrison towns will compromise Baloch identity because Punjab has the highest number of these towns and is the most prosperous of them all. These towns bring with them prosperity and continuous employment for the local people and Punjab has experienced that phenomenon first hand.

If these cantonments were actually a tool of occupation then there would not have been any of them in Punjab as surely Pakistan army has not occupied Punjab!

By the way, Pakistan Army has now said that no more garrisons will be built and any which have already been built will be handed over to the Frontier Constabulary . Army will have no role in running these garrisons. Eventually, all problems get solved with talks and by sitting on the table with your enemies. But before that Baloch nationalists will consume all their fire power and may be this fight will go on for next 50 to 100 years but with growing population in the rest of Pakistan and Balochistan itself, cards are firmly stalked against those who want to secede from the Federation.

This is not the first time Balochistan is facing a rebellion as there have been two rebellions before which were crushed and the way things are going, this time will be no different. The only losers in this whole exercise are the people of Balochistan who will be left further behind in development.

It is time that Balochis understood that the real resistance to their goal of becoming a majority in the province are not the few thousand Punjabis but the Pashtun population increasing exponential in last two decades. The sooner they realize this, the sooner they will know that taking on the Pashtuns is an impossible task.

Related Posts:

1. Balochistan - Bugti, Marri & Mengal Sardars Are Keeping People in Their Areas Underdeveloped To Further Their Own Political Cause

2. Why Balochistan is Not East Pakistan?

3. Pakistan & The Provinces – The Question of Provincial Autonomy & Its Impact On Pakistan’s Future Prosperity

4. Pakistani Balochistan - Call for creation of Pashtoon province

Verinder Sehwag Scores A double Hundred In One Day International Against West Indies

2011-12-08T11:26:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Verinder Sehwag is playing a gem of an innings against West Indies in Indore. He has been a great servant of Indian cricket over the years and have made many fans throughout the world with his masterful batting. He has made triple hundreds before in test cricket but he is the second man to score a double hundred in limited overs cricket after Sachin Tendulkar.
He has played in todays match like someone who is in complete command and has ample time for his shots.Darren Sami, the West Indies captain has no options left to stop Verinder Sehwag as he has used all his bowlers both full time and part time.

This is how wikipedia describes Sehwag "Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978), affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or theZen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honoured as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.

Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai). His other innings of 309 and 293 are also the second and third best by any Indian player. Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.

Pakistan Army Needs To Back Off - Let Zardari Complete His Term

2011-12-07T20:26:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Why is everyone so hell bent on removing a democratically elected president by any means possible. Is it not the job of the people of Pakistan to give their verdict on the performance of this president. Zardari has made mistakes but has spent eleven years in jail and nothing has been proved against him yet. Please give democracy a chance so that people from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan can keep their trust in the federation. PML (N) is asking for Zardari's resignation on moral grounds but what about houses in Park Lane London and businesses in Spain.
Now Nawaz Sharif is trying to pretend that he is the cleanest person in Pakistan. They are all corrupt but it is only the job of the people to tell who should be running the country. I am not a fan of Zardari, I know that he is president because all notable Bhutto’s are dead but I cannot second guess the choice of Pakistani people.
Army, if it is putting pressure on Zardari to resign, must back off or there will be dire consequences for the future of Pakistan.
Pakistan is as much a home for Sindhis, Blochis and Pathans as it of Punjabis. Leave it that way and respect the democratic mandate given to Pakistan Peoples Party by the people of Pakistan.

Is morality applicable to just people from smaller provinces. What about the morality of Nawaz Sharif's attack on the Supreme Court of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah? What about the morality of looting of Mehran Bank? What about the morality of creation of IJI to stop Benazir from gaining two third majority? What about the morality of creation of Q league? What about the morality of judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto? I can go on for ever but lets not pretend that anything PLM (N) is doing has anything to do with morality.

If the reports that Pakistan army is trying to remove Zardari are true than it is a very sad state of affairs indeed. Pakistan army generals have given Pakistan nothing but instability with their rash decisions and short term policies. From Isikander Mirza to Ayub Khan, from Yahya Khan to Zia Ul Haq and than Musharaf, all of them have made Pakistan what it is today. Pakistan was never allowed to have prolonged democracy and even when there was democracy, it was never allowed to do things against army's wishes.

I request to anyone who is listening, please stop meddling in the civilian affairs and runnning of the government. You allowed Osama bin Laden to hide in Pakistan and used him as a bargaining chip making Pakistan the laughing stock of the world.
You always play the national security card to keep Pakistanis on your side but America was able to invade Pakistan, came to the heart of Pakistan and picked Osama. How can you secure Pakistan when despite spending billions at the cost of infrastructure & human development, you cannot save Pakistan from its enemies.
Irony of all ironies is that an army which cannot conquor any other country, counquore its own every few years. Why? Why turn Pakistan into your dominion. Let Pakistan be run by its elected people and stay away from removing another elected government.

Only real democracy and continuous democracy can make Pakistan stronger and completion of PPP’s term in Parliament is a must for that to happen.

Related Articles

1.Tribune Take: Who is behind the Zardari rumours?

2.Pakistan's Zardari Denies Rumors of Exit

3.Pakistan president’s Dubai trip sparks rumours

Why Gwadar Should Not Be Forgotten?

2011-12-04T17:07:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

I have always been very interested in Gwadar and have been a keen observer of the scaremongering that Western and Indian media have been spreading for a long time. They have never understood what Gwadar really is and what are its implications for the people of Baluchistan. Their only concern is China and how China has helped Pakistan build this port of Gwadar to achieve its own strategic objectives. To understand Gwadar you have to understand Balochistan and its sense of deprivation over last many decades. Balochistan has no proper urban centres apart from the capital city of Quetta and this capital city lies on the Pakistan Afghanistan border. It has suffered hugely from the influx of Afghan refugees and general law and order condition over the border in Afghanistan. It does not make sense to have a capital of a large entity like Balochistan on a volatile frontier and then to hope that this city will become the engine of growth of all of Balochistan.

Balochistan needs a new start and this new start has no better contender than Gwadar as a capital. Gwadar has been declared the winter capital of Balochistan and this is a very good step in the right direction for this province but a lot needs to be done. Federal government needs to rethink its strategy towards Gwadar and need to pick up from where Musharaf government left.
It is true that Musharaf was the first person to really take a keen interest in the development of Gwadar and he was probably taking personal interest in the city of Gwadar to make it an industrial and tourist destination. Musharaf was an army man but not all of his ideas were bad. It can be argued that Gwadar in general and Baluchistan in particular have been neglected under democratic governments and it took an army man in the form of Pervaiz Musharaf to kick start the development projects in Baluchistan. Gwadar was the poster child of this development idea.Building the coastal highway to join Gwadar with Karachi was a master stroke and starting the port construction was another major step towards the right direction. Where he went wrong was the lack of consultation with the local stakeholders and tried to force feed development to Gwadar people. Locals thought of the project as a colonisation attempt by the federal government and balked at the idea of increase in the population which they thought would have come with the development of local infrastructure.

The current democratic government must takeover the development of Gwadar from the point where Musharaf government left it, instead of abandoning the project altogether. A democratic government will be better placed to include the Gwadar residents in the development and give them a stake in the uplift of the city.
Gwadar can and will take Baluchistan out of poverty and give the province its rightful place in the federation. Gwadar has an excellent climate
all around the year, a bit like Sharm Al Sheikh on the red sea coast of Egypt. Gwadar should be developed as a tourist attraction where sun bathers from Europe, North America, rest of the world e.t.c can lounge around in sun and have a good time on a week or two of luxury holidays.
This development should be done on top of the port operations and connection of Gwadar by road and rail to other major cities of Pakistan. Unless Gwadar is connected fully and properly to the rest of the country, there will be no or very limited private investment in the city when it is in desperate
need of private investment.
Gwadar needs attention and needs attention now. Federal government and Baluchistan government must put all their efforts in reinvigorating the Gwadar port which will result in the progress dividend for the people of Gwadar & Baluchistan resulting in peace and prosperity of this vital federating unit and the whole country.

Related Posts:

Balochistan - Troubles Of Demographic Nature

Gwadar - Jewel Of Balochistan

Gwadar - Centre Of Central Asia

Gwadar Port Becomes Fully Operational

Imran Khan Declares His Assets

2011-12-04T11:15:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

PTI chariman Imran Khan is declaring his assets in Pakistan.

He says that he has nothing to hide. He asked Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari and all other major leaders to declare their assets.

He calls on the media wing of both parties to stop lying and declare their own assets before defaming Shaukat Khanum Hospital.

Imran Khan said that he was never in government so he has no way of squandering public money whereas other parties currently in power in Pakistan have corruption running in their veins and people like Hanif Abbasi who have made billions of rupees by selling counterfeit drugs will be sued in court of law to make sure that truth comes out.

Meanwhile Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been made vice chairman of Pakistan Tekreek -e- Insaaf.

Why Leveson Inquiry Must Investigate Treatment Of Muslims At The Hands of British Media

2011-12-02T21:47:00.000Z

By Sikander Hayat

English press’s hatred against the Muslims who are living in United Kingdom must be investigated in great detail. The press spew venom at Muslims anytime it wants. You have to be blind to not see the openly biased coverage of any events involving Muslims.
By providing circumstantial evidence and conducting a media trial for weeks on end is not justice but a try to imprint on the minds of general British public that “these guys” are cheats and in the process sow the seeds of mistrust among different communities of Britain. They did the same against the Jews just before the Second World War. Same is true for Muslims now. Let us see if the consequences of this hate mongering are different this time around because the history does repeat itself, sometimes.

This situation must be investigated by the Leveson Inquiry in great detail.

According to Wikipedia "The Leveson Inquiry is an ongoing public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal. On 6 July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced to Parliament that a public government inquiry would convene to further investigate the affair. On 13 July, Cameron appointed Lord Justice Leveson as Chairman of the inquiry, with a remit to look into the specific claims about phone hacking at the News of the World, the initial police inquiry and allegations of illicit payments to police by the press, and a second inquiry to review the general culture and ethics of the British media".

Will this enquiry look into the constant lies that British Media in its entirety has spread about
Muslim in general & British Muslims in particular. Since 11 September 2001, there has not been a day gone when there has not been a bad story about Muslims. Muslim organizations have not been strong enough to challenge the constant lies in the media. I do not deny that there must have been some cases where they have reported correctly but overwhelming majority of these stories have been fabricated.
There might have been one or two newspapers like Independent who have been less responsible of this character assassination of a community but on the whole everyone has played their part.

Lord Justice Leveson must ask this question of the people responsible for the editorials and invite Muslim community and ordinary members of the community whose lives have been destroyed by this witch hunt.

Why Awami League Of Bangladesh Hates Pakistan?

2011-12-01T16:29:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Since Hasina Wajid has come to power in Bangladesh, relations with Pakistan are steadily going downhill. Pakistan has no borders with Bangladesh, there is no water or land issue and there is no reason for the Bangladeshis to keep hating Pakistan. A different generation of Pakistanis was responsible for the separation of Bangladesh and whatever took place in 1971. If a country wants better relations with another country, she will do that despite any issues and if a country wants to pick a fight than again it does not need a reason. Currently, Hasina Wajid's government is trying to rake up dirt at every possible moment. Here are some of the issues which this government is using to make sure that they always use Pakistan as a safe whipping boy:

1. War reparations2. Apology for civil war in East Pakistan3. Division of assets4. Opposing Pakistan at the WTO 5. Treason trial against those who supported the united Pakistan ( East & West) One can understand that background of Hasina Wajid does play a role in her hatred for Pakistan. She is after all the daughter of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman who was murdered by Bangladeshi army officers after separation from Pakistan. She needs to understand that whatever wrong her family has suffered is not the fault of Pakistan. Pakistan cannot be held responsible for her father's treatment at the hand of his own army and sooner she realises that it will be better for her own country.

In Pakistan, nobody cares what Bangladesh is demanding as their hands are full. Pakistan has bigger fish to fry in the form of United States of America, NATO, India & Afghanistan and in all this Bangladesh's concerns rank very low. In my view, Bangladesh should stop using Pakistan as an excuse for their problems and grow forward as a nation full of pride in the future, not looking back and blaming Pakistan.

Is It A Good Decsion By Tehreek-e-Insaaf To Let Shah Mehmood Qureshi In?

2011-11-27T15:28:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Today PTI conducted a jalsa in Ghotki, where Shah Mehmood Qureshi joined them. This is same Shah Mehmood who was Finance Minister of Punjab in the government of PML(N). He left Pakistan Muslim League and joined Pakistan Peoples Party and became foreign minister of Pakistan. He was also the Nazim of Multan in the time of Pervez Musharaf. His father Sajjad Hussain Qureshi was the Governor of Punjab in 1985 under the Martial Law government of General Zia-Ul-Haq. To keep the long story short, what I am trying to say is that this person and his family has been eternally in governing structures of Pakistan. Bringing him into the fold of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf will test the resolve of Imran Khan as the leader of the party and as the head of this anti corruption movement.

These people are the feudal lords of Pakistan and want to keep governing the peasants in one way or another. Shah Mehmood saw very clearly in which direction the wind was blowing and was desperate to jump on the band wagon. It is now very clear that Imran Khan will be a very powerful figure after the next elections even if he cannot make government at the federal level. He has a very good chance of forming government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and to some extent in Punjab. In Balochistan, he is trying to form alliance in the Pashtun areas with Mehmud Achakzai and in the Baloch areas with the baloch nationalists. It will be very hard for him crack rural Sindh but Karachi & Hyderabad are there to be taken from MQM or may be in alliance with MQM. Imran Khan must make sure that everybody ( no matter who they are) follow the principles of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf or leave the party. There must not be any allowance for corrupt practices of the past to carry on. If that means that at some point people like Shah Mehmood Qureshi needs to be thrown out of the party than so be it.

It is Time For the American to Admit Defeat In Afghanistan & Leave Pakistan Alone

2011-11-26T13:37:00.001Z

By Sikander Hayat

Today America has attacked Pakistan again showing all the arrogance of an evil empire. Breaking every international law in the process and treating an ally like an enemy. It would be more palatable if America declares Pakistan an enemy and then kill us. We would than know who to fight against.The Taliban or the so called allies. Imran Khan has been saying this from the day one and now the popular public opinion is agreeing with him that our true enemies are the American government and not the Afghans.

America is trying to forge an alliance which has all the enemies of Pakistan in it ranging from India and present puppet government of Afghanistan. Now openly killing Pakistani officers and soldiers in cold blood is basically telling Pakistanis to fuck off and may be this is time for our leaders to wake up from their deep sleep and tell the Americans to stay in Afghanistan if they can on their own. This alliance must not go no any longer and must end now.

Utho Meri Dunya Ke Gharibon Ko Jaga Do - By Rahat Fateh Ali khan

2011-11-25T22:10:00.001Z

Aljazeera in Balkans

2011-11-12T19:10:00.001Z

IN THE centre of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, a gleaming piece of Arabic script adorns the top of a new building. This is the logo of Al Jazeera, the Qatari network that has changed the face of television news since it was founded 15 years ago. Inside the building, carpenters and technicians are putting the finishing touches to the offices. But this is not just another foreign bureau. Al Jazeera’s Balkan service goes live on November 11th. This will be the second foreign-language station the network has opened, after Al Jazeera English in 2006. But what language is it? Journalists will be broadcasting in “their” language, say station bosses. This tongue used to be called Serbo-Croatian; now it goes by a number of names: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Montenegrin. (Think New Zealand, Scottish and American versions of English.) The target audience for the channel will be the former Serbo-Croatian speaking regions of the ex-Yugoslavia. But plenty of Macedonians and Slovenes understand the language, as do older Kosovo Albanians. Tarik Djodjic, the managing director, says that €15m ($20.5m) has been invested in Al Jazeera Balkans. The channel’s editor, Goran Milic, is linked in the (older) public mind with Yutel, a state-run news station that sought, between 1990 and 1992, to keep Yugoslavia from falling apart. Also based in Sarajevo, the channel died in the shelling. But Mr Milic dismisses any comparison with Yutel. His new venture is privately run, he says: “No one can tell us anything about our editorial decisions.” What is not clear is whether people from one part of the Balkans are still interested in the others. They might enjoy each other’s reality shows. But news broadcasts from Sarajevo, Banja Luka (capital of the Serb part of Bosnia), Belgrade and Zagreb are all utterly different. The channel faces another problem. Many Serbs and Croats will assume it is “Muslim” television. Mr Djodjic concedes that “we will need some time to prove that prejudice wrong.” Milos Solaja, an analyst in Banja Luka, says Bosnian Serbs will watch, but only to see what the other side is thinking. Gordana Igric, who runs the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, says the station has a chance to make an impact. This year the BBC closed its last local-language radio services in the Balkans. The region’s domestic media are dominated by the interests of politicians and tycoons; the few independent outlets are too poor to carry out serious newsgathering. Al Jazeera Balkans has money, and its viewers will also be able to watch subtitled news and documentaries produced by the Arabic and English-language networks. Mr Milic says that when he took the job he was told that Al Jazeera’s only interest in the Balkans was to fill a gap in the market. But the channel’s Arabic service played a key role in the Arab spring earlier this year. What sort of influence Qatar may want, or gain, in the Balkans, is a good question. Read the original story here.

Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

2011-11-12T19:03:00.001Z

“I AM almost full for next summer”, boasts Mike Aghjayan, an Armenian from Lebanon who is managing a new hotel in the town Azeris call Shusha and Armenians Shushi. Visitors, mostly diaspora Armenians, will come from the United States, Canada, France, Russia, Lebanon and Iran. In 1988 this was a pleasant hilltop town, home to 15,000. Today barely 4,000 live on amid the ruins of war. His guests, Mr Aghjayan explains, “want to see the land people gave their blood for.” Nagorno-Karabakh is often described as one of several post-Soviet “frozen conflicts”. However, as the war in 2008 between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia showed, ice can melt quickly. In Soviet times Nagorno-Karabakh was a mostly Armenian-populated autonomous enclave inside Azerbaijan, some 4,000 square kilometres (1,540 square miles) big. Conflict erupted in 1988 as the territory’s Armenians sought to secede from Azerbaijan. By the time the war ended in 1994, the victorious Armenians had doubled the enclave’s size and carved out a land corridor to Armenia proper. Between 1988 and 1994 more than 1m Armenians and Azeris fled from both countries and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azeri-populated towns in the region were left devastated. Read the full story here.

Chinese American Envoy In China

2011-11-12T18:54:00.001Z

AS the powerful Communist Party chief of Guangdong Province waited in an ornate conference room last week for the arrival of the new American ambassador, Gary Locke, the banter with his aides naturally turned to Mr. Locke’s Chinese roots. Mr. Locke had stopped in Guangzhou to talk to the party chief, Wang Yang, en route to a visit to his ancestral village. Mr. Wang put a quick end to that topic. “He’s no hometown folk,” he told aides as they shifted in a reception line. “He should clearly realize he is an American.” Just a few months ago, some Chinese media outlets were offering Mr. Locke as a role model for China’s stuffy political leaders — an American bigwig who flew economy class and shunned having a retinue of underlings, like those who attend to the needs of politicians here. Read the full story here.

GOP Debate Concludes With Candidates Wrestling Squealing Pig To Ground And Slaughtering It

2011-11-12T17:54:00.001Z

Latest GOP Debate Concludes With Candidates Wrestling Squealing Pig To Ground And Slaughtering It

Libya, Tunis, Egypt

2011-11-06T21:02:00.000Z

Is Aamir Liaqat a villain?

2011-08-15T23:03:00.001+01:00

Aamir liaqat has been turned into a villain overnight. Pakistanis do not believe in half measures. First you declare him a saint and now he is the biggest devil out there. He was never an aalim in the first place but the people adored him. We need to look at our own actions and decide if we were wrong in the first place. May Allah help us in making sensible choices.

Pakistan independence day

2011-08-14T23:05:00.001+01:00

Pakistan celebrating its day of independence today. Zardari is in charge, sharif controls Punjab and Pakistan is suffering badly. I do not think that anybody cares. People who have left Pakistan will not come back to a totally mismanaged country where there is no hope for the future. Pakistan needs change and need it now. Few more years like this and there will be nothing to save.

August of misery, riots, mayhem & fears of a second recession

2011-08-10T23:14:00.000+01:00

By Sikander Hayat

A very hectic day at work with lots going on and the urge to prove myself to the authorities in charge kept me going through it. With Ramadan, it is very hard to keep oneself motivated and productive but may be that is what it is all about. Today, I left office at about 7:30 in the evening and reached home at about 8:50pm, just in time for the iftar.
While I was driving to work in the morning, I heard on the radio that 3 men of Pakistani origin have been killed in the mayhem which has engulfed all of England. These guys were trying to save their petrol station from being looted when this incident happened. British Pakistanis are very sad and this is one more blow for them as many of them have lost their businesses and livelihoods in this anarchy which has taken hold of England.
Many Pakistanis and people of other ethnicities have lost their life's work. A shop keeper whose shop has been looted and burnt to ground has nothing else to survive on. Tragic, very tragic situation indeed.
What has amazed me is the fact that it was so easy for the social order to break down completely and utterly. There was no presence of state anywhere in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other big cities. The façade which was there before this orgy of looting & mayhem started is no longer there.
Many law abiding citizens have lost trust in the state and if this continues for few more days than there is every chance that people will take law in their own hands and deal with these thugs with whatever means they have at their disposal.
On the other note, markets are crashing left, right and centre in Europe and USA sparking fears that a second recession is on its way. Investors are frightened and are taking refuge in Swiss Francs and Gold. Swiss franc has gone so high in its value that Swiss government is thinking about taking measures to stop its buying by the outsiders. Gold is souring above all the previous highs and these are not good signs for the western economies especially and the world in general. Let's see what happens next.