Short Break!!!!

Dear Friends,

Due to my commitments and very busy schedule in Pakistan, I am not writing regularly on the BLOG. Insha Allah I’ll be back to Dubai on 25th of December 2008 and will then start writing regularly….

Thanks for your encouragement.

PPP Government interfering in Supreme Court Bar Elections

According to a news published in Pakistan’s largest selling English daily The News, Aitzaz Ahsan has alleged the PPP Government is interfering in the forthcoming Supreme Court Bar Presidential elections. Senior lawyer, Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd is contesting for this key position. According to Mr. Ahsan, Kurd’s position is very strong and he would win the election inspite of Government’s interference. He further added that Ali Ahmad Kurd was a national hero and his services and sacrifices for the independence of judiciary were unforgettable. Aitzaz said that no other candidate had the stature as that of Kurd.

On the other hand, Latif Khosa, when approached by The News, denied use of influence or other tactics to get the People’s Lawyers Forum’s (PLF) candidate successful. He said that M Zafar’s position was strong and that he would easily win the election.

My comments: This is indeed matter of shame for the so-called democratic champions that they have not restored the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan by now and they are just following the footprints of Mr. Musharraf. PPP must remember that if it does not change its current policies, people of Pakistan will never ever give PPP to form the government again.

President Zardari and US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin

Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin met Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari during his visit to US. She has been ‘Miss USA’ in the past. President Zardari who was representing ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ could not control his sentiments and made very unreasonable comment that created a bad reputation of the country. He warmly shook hand with Sarah Palin and said that he was highly impressed by her beauty. Photographers who were there to cover the meeting got the joke and asked both of them to shake their hands again. Zardari immediately shook her hand again and said if the photographers would demand he could hug Sarah Palin. Below is the video of this shameful act.

Its a mater of shame for all the citizens of Pakistan that such corrupt people are heading our state, who have no control on their non-Islamic acts. Pakistan Zinda Baad….Zardari Paainda Baad!!!!

Friends of Pakistan Conference in New York

New York

26th September 2008 (yesterday) can be termed as a positive day for Pakistan, when 12 friends countries of Pakistan gathered in New York. They discussed the present situation of Pakistan in the scenario of war against terrorism and its effects on the economy of Pakistan. These countries include, Saudi Arab, UAE, Chaina and G-7 countries. They decided to help Pakistan for upbringing its economy. For this purpose these countries will develop a fund. It was also decided that next meeting of this forum will be held in Abu Dhabi after one month.

This is indeed a good news for Pakistan after a long time when world is realising that we have suffered a lot in so called war against terror. President Asif Ali Zardari was also present at the occasion and he appreciated this gesture. He added that Pakistan has no objection if India wanted to join this forum. US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice appreciated the role of Pakistan for fighting against terrorism and she said that a consorcium would be made for helping Pakistan so that the country can become economically stable.

President Zardari in USA

UN Headquarters, New York

These days Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari is in USA on his first official visit as the President. It is being predicted that he will meet with President Bush and many other leaders who will be there to attend the UN General Assembly session, where Zardari will also address. This tour has come in a very critical situation when Pakistan is facing the worst time since its creation and terrorism has entered in its Capital Islamabad. President Zardari must speak in UN General Assembly about unjustified air attacks of US led forces in Pakistan as this is against the international laws. Zardari should also discuss about the situation in Pakistan with US President George Bush and must tell him clearly that Pakistan has paid lot of price in war on terror and cannot afford more. This is the time when these actions are required.

In case President Asif Zardari does not discuss these issues, this tour will be just the wastage of time and precious money that Pakistani nation cannot afford at any cost. We also expect that Pakistani President will raise the matter of unjustified and unethical possession of Dr. Aafia by the US government. He must help out this ‘Daughter of the nation’, who has sacrified a lot without any solid allegation against her.

Our politicians can never learn lessons

Pervaiz Illahi - PML(Q) Leader

After the breakup of coalition between PPP and PML(N), the Nawaz Sharif and his party decided to support PPP government in National Assembly for the sake of democracy. However, it is very sad to see that PPP could not make a good reputation. Its appointed Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer started movement against the PML(N) led Punjab Government. He met with PML(Q) leaders and asked for their support in the provincial assembly of Punjab.

PML(Q) leaders who paved ways for all unconstitutional acts of former President Musharraf immediately welcomed Mr. Taseer and started dirty politics. They contacted people of the forward block and started threatning them to stand with them in this dirty game. They warned them that if they dont do so their memberships would be cancelled as they did not remain in the party from whose platform they had contested the election.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif is a sincere Chief Minister, who is always liked by the people of Punjab for taking revolutionary steps. Now he has managed to provide ROTI at a rate of 2 rupees throughout the province. People support him and want to see him in this position. He is hopeful that insha Allah majority of Punjab Assembly members will vote him.

Inj any case this game cannot be appreciated and I feel sad to say that our politicians give way to Army and they can never learn from their mistakes in the past.

TeamGeo Member comments on Aalim Online (7 Sep. 2008)

Its a matter of pleasure for us that Mr. Rehan Ibrahim of TeamGeo wrote for our website. (Shahid Javed)

There is a viral attack afflicting our inboxes these days fueled by anger, piety and resentment.

The object of people’s rage is a program on Geo , in which the anchor Amir Liaquat Hussain , allegedly called for the ‘lynching’ of all Ahmedis. As a TeamGeo member I was horrified that our channel , which has its motto the phrase , ‘Geo aur Jeeney Do’, could have stooped to such lows. Especailly since we are always accused by the conservatives in society against our many programs and projects like Zara Sochieye, Khuda Kay Liye and Ghamidi. I was also very disturbed to read the Asian Human Rights report on the subject and felt the collective guilt of having caused the deaths of 2 Ahmedis.

I am not a great fan of Amir Liaquat, and not many liberals or elite are. However, I must admit that his popular , show Alim on Line , did for the first time , bring together Alim’s from the Sectarian divide on to the same platform and their discussions helped greatly in bridging the viewpoints of these two great sects of Islam. This show has a vast appeal and has helped a large member of youth, women and men to resolve their confusions about the teachings of Islam.

That said , I was still very perturbed with what occurred on 7th September on Geo. I decided to try and get to the truth of the matter. I asked for a copy of the program and saw it myself. I realized how mob fury can be inflamed by sheer hearsay and exaggeration as well as through personal bias of people against Dr Aamir.

Nowhere in the program did Dr Amir or the three guests call for the death of Ahmedis. The discussion initially was based on history and how the Prophet (PBUH) and the Sahaba dealt with the emergence of ‘False Prophets’. It kept emphasizing that all Muslims must believe that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was the seal of the Prophets and was the last messenger of God. The first guest gave us a background of the Ahmediya controversy and how the Bhutto government declared them outside the pale of Islam in the 70’s.

He also took us through the constitutional implications of that parliamentary excommunication. The scholar did not at any point call for any lynching of the Ahmedi’s.

Amir then turned to his two studio guests’ including a Shia and Sunni Alim. Both of them stated categorically that they believed that False Prophets are punishable by death and gave much references to religious text and tradition. They also heaped scorn on the founder of the movement, which I personally felt was in bad taste, but refrained from any exhortation to kill Ahmedi’s.

I decided to transcribe that portion of program which I am attaching to this mail. I think this should clear some of the air.

I am also privy of the fact that the management of Geo held a series of meetings and took the matter very seriously. They made sure that the program was not repeated nor telecast outside Pakistan. Amir Liaquat followed up with his own regret in subsequent programs and the President of Geo went on the BBC and offered his apologies to those whose sentiments were hurt by the broadcast. Geo, however, does not feel that a causal link can be established between the program and the tragic killings because there was absolutely no exhortation to do so by Amir and the three scholars. I also feel that the Asian Human Rights report was based entirely on hearsay and not on facts. They need to correct their position after either viewing the program or going through the transcript.

The Ahmedi issue is a very sensitive one and it cannot be discussed or debated openly because it opens up too many wounds. When we cannot have a balanced discussion on a topic, it is better to leave it alone . Otherwise, we will err and subvert our philosophy of Geo Aur Jeeney Do. I trust that our management will also ensure that if at all this matter is discussed in a tv programme, the point of view of the Ahmedi’s must be incorporated.

Author: Rehan Ibrahim (TeamGEO)

Financial crisis in US

Yesterday a breaking news hit the TV channels all over the world. According to the news, fourth biggest US banking group, LEHMAN BROTHERS decalred itself as bankrupt. It is termed as the worst decline in the US economy in the history of country.

US economic crisis ism hitting the stock exchanges throughout the world and stock markets in Japan, Singapore, Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and many other countries suffered badly on Monday. According to the financial experts, the Bank got bankrupt after sudden unpredicted fall in the property mortgage market. This crisis will affect the economies all over the world and in the coming days many other financial institutes can fall. US Dollar (US$) also got a decline in its value against other currencies like Euro and GB Pound.

Its the time when Bush government must think over their policies in Iraq and Afghanistan due to which US is losing its reputation and facing the worst economical and financial crisis.

Zardari – the new President

Asif Ali Zardari - 12th President of Pakistan

At last Zardari got the position that he was dreaming for a long time. Asif Ali Zardari got record 481 electoral votes yesterday and became the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. No doubt, after Benazir’s assassination, he is the person who got maximum benefit. First he took the chairmanship of PPP. Then he kicked out Benazir’s loyal partners Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Safdar Abbasi and Naheed Khan. Then he successfully kicked out Pervaiz Musharraf out of the presidency. After getting the required help for doing so, he kicked out PML(N) from the federal government and at last he entered the presidency.

However, in Punjab he got defeated by PML(N) candidate Justice (r) Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui, who got 201 votes and Zardari could get only 136 votes. Later PML(N) congratulated Asif Ali Zardari. They also asked him to withdraw his party’s ministers from Punjab government as the coalition between PPP and PML(N) is already ended in the federal government. PPP’s Governor of Punjab, Mr. Salman Taseer took this demand very unhappilly and said that if PPP came out of Punjab government, it would not stay for more than 24 hours. So now a new battle is going to start between the two parties in Punjab, which is not good for the country in this crucial time when we are already facing the worst terrorism and instability. Let us pray to Allah for giving us unity and wisdom to work for the betterment of Pakistani people.

Presidental election of Pakistan today

Presidential Election 2008

Today its 6th of September 2008. Pakistan celebrates this day as Defecne Day every year in the remembrance of 1965 war against India. Today our Assemblies and Senate will select the person for the office of President of Pakistan. There are three candidates contesting for this very important position. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is the candidate from ruling party, PPP. Justice (r) Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui is the candidate from PML(N) and Mushahid Hussain Syed is from PML(Q).

All three parties have been trying very hard for making sure that their candidates should get maximum votes. However on papers, it can be predicted that Mr. Zardari will win this game and he will be the 12th President of Pakistan.

Unfortunately Asif Ali Zardari does not enjoy a good reputation. He has been blamed for transferring billions of Rupees from Pakistan to his foreign accounts in Swiss banks. He was given title of Mr. 10% by his olitical rivlas during the last reign of PPP. His wife, late Benazir Bhutto, who was selected as the Prime Minister twice, suffered a lot due to his corruption and had to leave the government. Now after her death Zardari captured the chairmanship of her party. Since that his controvercial acts and stepping back from the commitments have left a bad impression of him on the people of Pakistan. So now if he is elected for this very crucial seat, it will be going to be a tough time for the country, which is already suffering a lot due to the wrong policies of President Musharraf and his allies.