HOW ironic. Having reiterated time and time again over the past years that the then president of Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf, was (and remains) the best of the worst lot, it was highly amusing to read in a column headed “Musharraf’s Pakistan had true potential” printed in the Boston Globe of Aug 26: “The sad thing is that Musharraf was the best of the current lot.”

And how factual was an editorial in The Independent (London) of the same day which opened up: “Even by the notoriously low standards of South Asian politics, Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the PPP, is a compromised figure, dogged by corruption charges. So it is hard to be enthused by the PPP’s decision to nominate its leader as the country’s next president.”

This was one day after the Financial Times had broken the news of the medical reports compiled by two New York-based psychiatrists, which had been filed in a London court to support an application to delay corruption cases brought against him by the Pakistan government. The diagnoses were delivered in March 2007 and successfully served their purpose. The FT report opens “Asif Ali Zardari, the leading contender for the presidency of nuclear-armed Pakistan, was suffering from severe psychiatric problems as recently as last year, according to court documents filed by his doctors.”

The FT report has also been picked up and commented upon internationally. Pakistan is in the news again to its detriment. Presidential candidate Zardari has been diagnosed as suffering from “emotional instability”, memory loss and concentration problems, and major depressive disorder. These court papers have caused alarm amongst the citizens of his country who question his ability, and his fitness, to occupy the presidential chair.

In these past few days, I have been inundated with e-mails calling upon me to come to the aid of the country and save it from Zardari. Little do they know what a columnist can achieve — all he can do is save a few blind donkeys and some old trees. Even were I to approach the courts, under the present circumstances, my petition would be thrown out quicker than a wink of an eye. And the same goes for the Election Commission. Citizens of Pakistan are, these days, wary of ‘consequences’.

Now, constitutionally where does Zardari stand in view of the court-backed doubts about his mental state? The president, under Article 41(2) is required to be “qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly”. According to Article 63(a) a person is disqualified to be a member of the National Assembly if “he is of unsound mind and has been so declared by a competent court”.

The court in London accepted the psychiatrists’ certificates and acted upon them. Zardari, if he wishes to deny the diagnoses, must plead that the London court is incompetent and that the psychiatrists were falsifying. We must go with an editorial of Aug 28 which counselled that “It would be unwise to dismiss the recent revelations about the fragile state of Mr Asif Zardari’s mental health as irrelevant,” and asked “Does the country really need another potentially deluded individual to lead it through these troubled times?”

Dementia, as any psychiatrist will confirm, is a progressive disorder which usually does not remit with any known treatment. A combination of major depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder can hamper memory and judgment. This goes a long way towards explaining the recent Zardari string of dishonoured signed agreements and broken promises.

As if the Zardari mental health state was not sufficient unto the day, news broke in Europe and the US two days later about the release by Switzerland of assets amounting to some $60m which were frozen in 1997 by a Geneva court investigating allegations of kickbacks received by Zardari and Benazir Bhutto between 1994 and 1997 (her second term as prime minister). In June, our attorney general penned a letter to the Swiss prosecutor general informing him that neither husband nor wife had done anything illegal and that the charges were politically motivated (thank you, USA and Musharraf, for the NRO). The money laundering case was dropped and Zardari is now richer than ever having pocketed a dubious $60m, though the PPP leader vehemently denies receiving this amount.

The investigating judge in Geneva, Daniel Devaud, was flabbergasted. “It would be very difficult to say that there is nothing in the files that shows there was possible corruption going on after what I have seen in there. After I heard what the general prosecutor said, I have a feeling we are talking about two different cases.” The Swiss release should not in any way be interpreted as a sign of innocence.

Now, let us revert to our mutilated almost incomprehensible constitution which as far as Article 62 goes is clear. To qualify as a member of the National Assembly, and thus to be able to contest the presidential election, a man must be “of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic injunctions”, and he must be “sagacious, righteous and non-profligate and honest and ameen”. No further comment is necessary.

We must wonder how our armed forces feel about all this. After all, the president is not only their supreme commander but he has his finger on the nuclear button. Zardari and his sycophantic supine political party must ask themselves if he truly qualifies to be a head of state. He has five days in which to prove himself a patriot and a democrat. Democracy, no matter what the party slogan may proclaim, is not a form of revenge and for him to carry through his ambition (which he has nursed ever since he made up his mind to rid himself of Musharraf) would be an act of vengeance upon his country and its people.

Of the three presidential candidates, Mushahid Hussain is by far the cleanest (the ‘best of the worst’). I have suggested to him that, as a directly affected party, he go to the courts immediately and at least attempt to obtain a stay order. The frightened people of the world and the people of Pakistan will undoubtedly support his move. n


arfc@cyber.net.pk

TIMES being what they are, trepidation being as it is amongst many of those with experience or knowledge, and the leading characters on the national political stage being who and what they are, it was not completely out of the blue that a letter written by a former proud air marshal of the Pakistan Air Force landed on my table last week.

It opened up: “The attached letter sent to you is only for your information. I handed it over to General Ahsan Hayat, Commander 5 Corps, in the third week of August 2004 in his office. Generals Ali Kuli Khan and Moinuddin Haider, Admirals Iqtidar and Khalid Mir, and Air Marshal Daudpota knew of this letter.

“Military/dictatorial governments serve only vested interest (people and organisations) and these groups keep promoting such dispensations, always at the altar of the public and sometimes at their own expense. Mr Jam Sadiq Ali and Mr Adil Siddiqui and the likes of them are creations of non-representative governments and more may dawn if we continue to inspire for such dispensation. You may argue that Mr Modi (CM Gujarat) and Mr Laloo Prasad made their way to power through the ballot box. Yes, such exceptions will always be there but that does not mean that the democratic system is bad or not suited to subcontinental genes.”

The attached letter referred to was addressed to President General Pervez Musharraf: “I hope this finds you in good health and spirits and with a little time to read this letter. Through it, I would like to bring to your notice the attached column in Dawn of Aug 15, 2004 [‘At our own risk and peril’ available on the Internet]. This information may already be in your knowledge, so I will briefly state its contents and background.

“Ardeshir Cowasjee, who has been exposing scams in all our governments, has alleged that he has been threatened with dire consequences by a sitting minister, Mr Adil Siddiqui of the Sindh government, for writing about the irregularities in balloting of SITE plots in Karachi. The threat was conveyed to him through Mr Nazim Haji (ex-president of the CPLC Karachi) who has not denied conveying the message. The threat and the method of conveying the message reflects very poorly on the government and shows the fascistic mentality of some of its ministers.

“Such incidents are on the rise in the province of Sindh generally and in its urban cities in particular. Unless checked, today’s fight against religious extremism may tomorrow have to be waged against fascism. Recognising the political situation in the province, I request you to take whatever measures you deem fit.” The general apparently acted; the bully receded.

Fair enough. What happened in 2004 was under a democratic government installed at the command of a military ruler. The point now is, we do have a democratic government given to us by the ballot box, but the elections of Feb 18 were ordained by Washington, by dubious spooks, and by Army House and GHQ, Rawalpindi. Modis are said to be not in short supply. Further and pertinent is the fact that in the province of Sindh the political party concerned remains in power, in coalition with a party whose reputation for conveying threats and even carrying them out is equally shining. The vested interests they both share, naturally different, are well known — if not renowned.

Asif Zardari’s candidature for president of the republic was backed solidly by the Pir of London Town and also, interestingly, by the Tehrik-i-Taliban-i-Pakistan. What a fascinating combination. The tactics of the party of the Pir of London are well known and bear no repetition. Neither do the tactics of the ruling party in coalition. Both have been experienced by the people of Sindh for two decades — yes, two whole decades.

A report in The Guardian (London) on Sept 5, a profile of Asif Ali Zardari, quotes “friends and allies” of Zardari who have spoken to the writer Jason Burke. One such person “described him as an arrogant, uncultivated and often impatient man ruthless with his enemies. Some accuse Zardari of frequent personal abuse of subordinates”. And then the punch line: “An ally who preferred to remain anonymous said: ‘He is not a man you want to be on the wrong side of’.”

The problem is that as past experience has shown, the final sentence has also applied to far too many of Asif’s close cronies — the phrase is too close to the truth for comfort. However, there is always hope, and the hope is for the nation at large and, as always, in the greater national interest, that not only have the passing years mellowed Asif but that the gravity of office and national and international commitments will prevail. For all our sakes — and in particular in the interests of the continuing freedom of the press — we must also hope that the benefit of the doubt can be given to all our politicians of no matter which party, and that being on the right or wrong side of any individual will have no bearing upon their conduct towards the citizens of their country.

Having said that, and on reflection, it has to be admitted that certain signs are ominous. There is far too much talk of ‘revenge’. We firstly had young Bilawal-renamed Bhutto-Zardari made to say on the third day after his mother’s murder that she had once said that, taking into account the sufferings and ‘sacrifices’ made by the party of the people, “democracy is the best revenge”. Now, democracy brooks no revenge; it preaches no revenge; it is a consensual system in which the majority prevails. If we are to have a majority bent upon revenge of any sort, may the Good Lord come quickly to our aid.

A message to my compatriots: you cannot fear fear. Thirty-one years ago, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto boasted, “Humari kursi mazboot hai.” Five days later he fell upon Mother Earth, deposed.

If his heirs, including Zardari, have revenge in mind, then the game is lost before it is begun.


arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

NINE-ELEVEN is a date on which we in Pakistan mourn a natural death and a date on which the world remembers and denounces an act incited by religious extremism which brought with it violent death.

On this day in 1948 in Pakistan our founder and maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, died, and in 2001 on the same date war came to mainland America with destruction of a kind never before witnessed or experienced.

Two days prior to 9/11 of this year, I was visited by a charming young woman and a cameraman, both from DawnNews. A friendly soul to man and beast, unlike some of the bearded heavyweights who visit and climb on to chairs or up trees when greeted by my team of Jack Russell terriers, the young woman reacted to them in a normal civilised and friendly manner. She had come to record a few words from me on Jinnah as I remembered him for a programme to be aired on his death anniversary.

What can I say, I asked, other than he was a gentleman, a man whose word was his bond, a man who lived life to the full and achieved what few have achieved — the creation of a country? He professed to be a democrat, but in reality was a benign dictator who harmed no one. He merely put his foot down when necessary — and that was most of the time.

How was he dressed, asked young Sophia? What did he wear? He bought his suits and ties from Sulka, and his silver from Aspreys, I told her. His monocles were made by Meyerowitz. His shoes were handmade, mostly ‘correspondents’ as opposed to the normal footwear. I missed seeing the programme so have no idea as to what was cut and what was actually broadcast.

I suggested to her that she interview Yusuf Haroon, now the only living man who was his confidant as well as his guard commander. Yusuf lives in Connecticut but is now in Karachi. Whether she got to him or not, I do not know.

This 9/11 our brand new shining president, Asif Zardari, supported by Governor of Sindh Ishrat ul Ibad, and the ever-faithful evergreen Sindh Chief Minister Commuter Qaim Ali Shah, with his freshly dyed Cherry Blossom hair and moustache and unchanging facial expression, come hell or high water, duly went to offer themselves up at Jinnah’s tomb. As is the custom, they raised their eyes and hands before the empty catafalque and addressed themselves to their Creator. What they murmured, no one heard, but what it was that Jinnah growled out to them we can all easily guess.

They then all moved on to the visitors’ book in which those who go to pay public homage record their innermost feelings. Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words “May Gaad (sic) give us the street (sic) to save Pakistan.” Space precludes me from recording the lengthy ramblings of the other two.

Two days later, it can safely be said that the Omniscient and Omnipotent had heard Asif’s plea, for we read that his prime minister, the unsmiling Yousuf Raza Gilani, had assured us that Pakistan will not wage war against America. Faith had emerged triumphant, leaving Asif to finish off what Bush had started. At this, even I proclaimed, God be praised.

Now, on to the ravaged city of Karachi, and to parks and beaches the citizens are trying to salvage or save. Firstly, we have 55 acres of parkland, Ahmad Ali Park (locally known as Kidney Hill). Then, we have 450 acres of parkland, available for development for the benefit of the people, in the sewerage farm known as Gutter Baghicha. Also, 200 acres, stretching over some 14 km of seashore for which a movement known as Sahil Bachao (save the beachfront and resist the violation of the centuries old ‘Public Trust’ doctrine) has been launched by groups of concerned citizens.

Kidney Hill and Gutter Baghicha are in court, where conditions being what they are the people are floundering. Petitions filed by the citizens in the Kidney Hill matter have just been dismissed, as the court declared that the government had made contradictory statements. The court recommended that the petitioners now file a suit. The situation in court is the same with Gutter Baghicha.

In the case of Kidney Hill, Governor Ishrat ul Ibad was persuaded by a group of concerned citizens early last year to intervene and attempt to settle the contentious matter. He promised to do so, but nothing ever came of his promises. He may care to re-examine the issue anew.

What the few of us battling losers, concerned with open spaces and parklands in this congested overpopulated city, really want is money from those who have money and vocal support from the public, the awam, who are the ultimate grand losers when they find themselves with a city in which open spaces, parks and beaches are few and far between. The total area of just the three projects I have mentioned is 705 acres — no mean acreage for essential recreational purposes of the poor and deprived.

To battle the marauders, who are supported always by the government of the day, is not an easy job. But there is an alternative to battling. Can the all-powerful president of the republic Asif Ali Zardari come to the help of the people of Karachi, the city in which his wife was born, raised and schooled? Concerted cries of “Jeay Bhutto” will not keep her memory alive. He has named in remembrance of her a road in Rawalpindi and an airport in Islamabad. In Karachi what he can do is on each of these three open spaces build and nurture parks in her memory, erect monuments, plant trees and flowers, make them into areas of peace and tranquillity where the poor and the rich may rest, breathe the air, even meditate, and in tranquillity remember the good done by Benazir Bhutto.


arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Is the war over?

INFORMATION technology has made it possible for people to know that Pakistan has waged war against a formidable enemy, the world’s sole superpower, and that both warring sides are winners.

To boot, from the latest reports and statements made by the high and mighty of Washington and Islamabad it is proclaimed that ‘sovereignty’ and honour on both sides have been upheld and that we should infer that peace now reigns and all the gunfire heard is but ‘noises off’.

If such be the case, had information technology ruled the air waves in 1914 or in 1939, many lives may have been saved by the spread of instant information, no matter how biased, vague or misinformative. We in 2008 embroiled in our war must thank our former president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, for having opened up the air waves and the printed press.

Our television screens beam out over 80 channels, 61 of them locally conceived which regale us with a relentless string of analysts, retired army generals, renowned intellectuals, informed commentators, who move effortlessly from channel to channel spouting too often dangerous and inflammatory words — ‘take ‘em on’, ‘attack’, ‘teach them a lesson’, and so on, much in the vein of the Hizbut Tahrir Wilayah Pakistan. Its message to its Pakistani brethren during the holy month has been: “It is you that America fears the most. America is aware of your fighting spirit and it is well acquainted with your abilities to overcome India and the Soviet Union … the only practical way to protect ourselves from the American aggression is by responding to a stone with a rock.”

To relieve the monotony, thankfully television has also given us Animal Planet and BBC Food, and our press ‘The Wizard of Id’ and ‘The Gambols’.

Apart from the professional pontificators we have the frightened who write and remain nameless. For instance, we had a letter from a ‘concerned citizen’ — in this newspaper yesterday under the heading ‘Sickening example’ — who wrote that “There are many people today who think of Muslims as intolerant barbarians...” What is he afraid of? Being lynched? Sadly, the man is in his right senses.

On the matter of war and peace, I have been pipped at the post by two rare but sane writers whose columns appeared in this publication on Friday and on Saturday. Ayesha Siddiqa is unconvinced about the reign of peace: “... [T]he American government knows that Pakistan’s so-called liberal elite and many among the Pakistani expatriate community would be happy with the removal of the Taliban or other militants. If the Pakistan Army can’t do it, then let the US forces achieve the objective. Moreover, eliminating this threat would fundamentally readjust the military’s power vis-à-vis the civilian establishment because it would essentially mean roping in the intelligence agencies as well. This means that Pakistani society is divided and will not be able to pose an extensive threat to American attacks.”

And Irfan Husain yesterday very rightly reminds us that “Should our army actually kill a number of American troops, the resulting escalation could easily spin out of control very quickly. The Americans currently have two aircraft carrier groups in the Gulf, with a third on its way. Their combined firepower could wipe out Pakistan many times over. So, while it’s great fun to fulminate against the Americans before the cameras in TV studios, we need to get real here.”

As for letting the Americans do what has manifestly become obvious — taking on and reining in or eliminating the militant Taliban who cover the frontier area, press reports yesterday have it that within a matter of weeks dozens of US military advisors will descend upon Pakistan with their training teams. Hopefully this is correct, though we are informed that Pakistan has been resisting such a move. If it happens, this will alter the entire scenario as far as any cross-border incursions are concerned.

As to the aircraft carrier groups, they form part of the US Seventh Fleet, the largest of the forward-deployed US fleets, covering 52 million square miles, with approximately 60-70 ships, 200-300 aircraft and 40,000 sailors and marines assigned to it at any given time. It conducts operations to ensure control of the sea to defend the United States against attack through the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Friends of the Hizbut Tahrir would seem to be totally out of their depth.

The problem remains that no matter how many placatory statements may emanate from the spokespersons of the two antagonists, Pakistan is largely viewed by the American public as untrustworthy and ramshackle. They fear that the murderous violence that overwhelms Pakistan may spread to their own land once again. They feel that the war on terror started in this region, in the training camps and madressahs that swarm the Frontier and Balochistan regions, and that therefore it must be ended over here — however and by whatever means.

Unless there is a swift turnaround within the next few months, and then should Barack Obama, the more militant of the two American presidential candidates, have any say in the matter, we need to watch our backsides. He may have no compunctions about ‘acting’ against the ‘so-called’ Islamabad ally. He has committed himself in advance to the projection of American power into what is considered by too many of his compatriots and others around the world as one of the major enemies in the war on terror. If we do not amend our national mindset we may be in for a lot more war and a lot less peace.

As it is, despite the official placatory statements, some local expert polls have it that 53 per cent of the 173 millions of Pakistan would be happy were President Asif Zardari to declare war on America (though many are worried about how helpless we would be were we to win). If this is what has been achieved by COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani’s tactics of shooting not to kill, coupled with Zardari’s prosthodontic wall-to-wall perpetual grin, are they to be congratulated?

The rightwing Washington Times last week carried a column by Arnaud de Borchgrave which ended with an ominous warning: “in authorising this month’s raid into South Waziristan ... President Bush was testing the boundaries of the new government — and the authority of Mr Zardari over the army. In Afghanistan, the future of the Atlantic alliance is at stake. In Pakistan, the state itself is at stake.”



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

THIS was written on Saturday, Sept 27. The nation, the father-motherland, is in deep trouble and we are now approaching virtually one week of Eid holidays.

The country will shut itself down, the moneyed classes and the keeping-up-with-the-Khans clans will consume more than they can digest and our cities and towns will illuminate themselves to capacity whilst the generator-deprived classes sit and ponder over life’s inequalities as their various electric companies switch off their lights and fans.

Saturday’s first front-page lead story in this newspaper is entitled ‘Over $15bn needed — ‘Friends’ unveil initiative to avert collapse’. To use Ziaul Haq’s immortal phrase, taking stock of our present economic situation, we can only mutter “peanuts”. (Friday’s front-page told us that ‘Pakistan assured of $1.3bn World Bank assistance’ which will not get us very far.)

Those writing from New York told us yesterday that “A permanent forum was launched in New York on Friday to help raise billions of dollars to avert a possible economic collapse in Pakistan.” Our ‘Friends’, those who help us, feed us and succour us will be holding their first meeting some time next month (do we survive till then?) in the ‘capital’ of the world, Abu Dhabi.

Our brand new president of the Republic, who has made his mark in the land of the sole superpower, when commenting on the forthcoming initiative of the ‘Friends’ remarked, “I don’t want them to give us the fish. I want to learn how to fish and do it myself.” Well, bully for him. If he can fish for Pakistan as he has fished for himself we can look forward to better days ahead.

What has he left back home after flying off, very correctly in a commercial flight and with a reasonable entourage? Let us see how long all this lasts — if he can keep it up and persuade his party people to act likewise he will be deserving of praise. But in our country, such gestures have never been long-lived. Let us see.

Friday’s headlines, which the president and his ever-alert information minister may have missed, told us that all our ‘Airports on red alert after bomb threat’, ‘Extremists threaten Pakistan’s existence: US general’, ‘US suspends visa and consular services for security reasons’, ‘Asif’s plea to help defeat terrorism’; an editorial commented on our ‘Intelligence deficit’, a columnist wrote on the ‘Threat to the state’, the business section let us know that our ‘Forex reserves fall to $8.82bn’ and that ‘Rupee weaker’. Sufficient unto the day!

Moving on to yesterday, we learnt that three terror suspects and a kidnap victim were killed in Karachi, 14 militants were killed in Bajaur (civilian deaths were not mentioned), that four were killed in a bomb blast that derailed a train, that our blooming tourist industry “falls victim to militancy”, that the diplomats posted to our country are asking for effective security, that ‘Pakistan needs over $10bn to avert meltdown’.

An editorial commenting on the previous day’s reported remark made by the US Gen David Petraeus reminded us starkly that “There is no doubt that the war on terror is Pakistan’s own war”, and hopefully but somewhat erroneously has it that “The more civilians the Taliban kill, the more girls’ schools they bomb, and the more they intensify their war on the state of Pakistan the more they unite the people of Pakistan in their common resolve to crush terrorism”.

Sadly, signs emanating from our irresponsible independent television channels who give time and space to militants and their organisations, and from the plethora of ‘expert’ commentators who urge us to support the militants in their battles against the evil empire of the US of A have it otherwise. We can only hope they are in some sort of a minority.

The last editorial commented on ‘An insensitive gesture’, which has caused much sniggering over in the States and much cringing in embarrassment at home. The presidential remarks extended to US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin were strictly uncalled for, as was the introductory remark made by his aide and minister of information who is supposed to guide his steps in his new role as head of state.

Dushka Saiyid’s column on ‘The threat from within’ was a timely warning not only for our government to come to terms with reality, but for the nation to awaken and realise what it is facing. Yes, the government must do something to radically alter the prevailing public opinion and drum it into our heads that there is no quick fix to the present situation, and unless the national mindset is given a boot in its backside and told to overturn its thinking we may well one day find ourselves bombed back into the Stone Age (from which we still have to fully emerge).

Lastly, friend Irfan Husain, again writing eminent sense, reminded us of the damage that a free and independent media can do if it is allowed to do so by those who operate channels and by a government that sits idly by and observes without comment or action. An unstable participant, a doctor of sorts, in one of the endless talk shows incited the public to murder those of the Ahmadi faith, all in the name of the religion which guides this country. And subsequent murders there were. Such is the national mindset.

Now, if the much needed turnaround in the national mindset is to be brought about this can only happen through education, education and more education.

Reportedly, the Senate Standing Committee on Education on Friday asked the government to appoint an education minister, a portfolio which is considered by all our governments to be the least important (is it perhaps the least lucrative?). We must have a functioning education ministry with a substantial budget with which to operate. As we all know, the state of education in this country is lamentable, to say the least.

We have a provincial education minister in Sindh. His help is needed by Shehzad Roy’s Zindagi Trust which has recently adopted the government Khatoon-i-Pakistan School and College, a non-functional institution, and its adjacent Home Economics College, the principal and a few ‘kaam-chor’ teachers of which are ‘protesting,’ stopping the functioning of the college, inciting the students to join their protest.

Adoption permission has been obtained from the Sindh education minister, but support stops there. Though the ministry is keen that this school function as do the other Trust-adopted government schools, it is doing nothing to calm the situation and to allow it to educate our future citizens.



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Black is not white

FORTUNE has given me the pleasure of having a good friend who has lived on this earth for 93 years, though looking at him and talking to him one would never be able to guess his true age.

Mahmud Futehally is at peace with his Maker and it would seem that his Maker is at peace with him. Amazingly, the man still has great faith in the goodness of man and his aim in life remains, at this advanced age, to somehow benefit the population at large, and particularly the poor and deprived. His activities in the field of agriculture and horticulture are laudable.

On September 11 of this year, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s death anniversary, he asked me whether I was aware that the large cement signboard on a periphery road running past Jinnah’s Mazar on which was engraved the words ‘Dadabhai Naoroji Road’ had been removed and a smaller tin signboard put in its place. No, I was not aware.

The following day, I passed by to check the road’s new name and the tin signboard and discovered that some enterprising person had been prompted to spray upon it ‘peshab karna mana hai.’

To digress for a moment: Dadabhai Naoroji Road was named much prior to the year of Jinnah’s death. Our road-name changers are obviously unaware that the man who founded and made their country was laid to rest in the proximity of a road named after one of his mentors. To quote Stanley Wolpert (Jinnah of Pakistan, pub. OUP 1984): “In politics, Jinnah’s heroes remained Dadabhai Naoroji and another brilliant leader of Bombay’s Parsi community, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta …”

One of the original founders of the Indian National Congress, Naoroji left India for London and decided that he would stand for election to the House of Commons. In 1891 he succeeded — the first Indian to be elected to the British parliament.

Ironically, he was helped by a man who did his best to ensure that he would not be elected, the prime minister of the day, Lord Salisbury. By his speaking the following words he ensured Naoroji’s success: “however great the progress of mankind has been and however far we have advanced in overcoming prejudices, I doubt if we have yet got to that point of view where a British constituency would elect a black man.”

The British, whatever else they may be, believe in fair play and supporting the underdog.

The words ‘black man’ made a hero of Naoroji. Salisbury was publicly castigated for his insult to members of the great British Empire, Naoroji became a household name, and his constituency delivered.

Now, back to this September 12 when I went to the Mazar and asked the keepers to let me have photocopies of what had been written by the September 11 visiting ‘dignitaries’ in the visitors’ book. I was given copies of remarks recorded by the president, the Sindh governor and the Sindh chief minister. Subsequently, on September 14, I wrote in my column: “Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words “May Gaad [sic] give us the street [sic] to save Pakistan.”

The internet then took over, and messages attaching a photocopy of what had been written were flashed around the world. The spooks sprang into action. They removed from the 100-page book the double-page on which Zardari’s message and that of the Karachi station commander were recorded, leaving 98 pages in the book in which visitors will now record their views, and on a fresh page rewrote Zardari’s message correcting the two misspelled words.

On September 26, on the back page of The Nation, a news item under the heading ‘Zardari’s misspelled remarks proved fabricated’ reproduced images of the original page and the rewritten new page, informing readers that “Some hidden hands have sent an email … claiming that the President had misspelled the words God and strength. However a verification of this matter by The Nation revealed that the campaign was a venomous propaganda against President Zardari … It was distressing to note that a senior English-language columnist did not bother to verify the facts and added fuel to fire in his column while referring to this fabricated story.”

This was picked up by APP and their report on the ‘outrage’ was printed on September 27 in The News under the heading ‘Spokesman slams malicious campaign against Zardari’ and in The Nation under the heading ‘Propaganda against Zardari ‘malicious’’, both telling us that “The presidential spokesman has taken strong exception to a malicious campaign initiated by some anti-democratic elements to tarnish the image of President Asif Ali Zardari.”

Not to be outdone, that same day an editorial in The Daily Times under the heading ‘A shameful forgery’ commented on the original Nation report of the 26th. It opened up: “The past week has seen a vicious electronic and press campaign maligning President Asif Ali Zardari through a forgery”, and reproduced the comments about hidden hands and the columnist.

This was all very unnecessary and somewhat foolish to draw even more attention to the matter. The initial news report did no favour to the president, and neither did the amateur ‘presidential spokesman’ who would have done better to remain silent. Admitting that fuel had been added to fire indicates that indeed a fire burns (or even rages) when it comes to the matter of Zardari’s image.

Unfortunately, for him and for us as a nation, his image has not been exactly shining since the early 1990s. Botheration and concern about his image is nothing new, but it has all been enhanced since the tragic assassination of his wife, his usurpation in her name of the largest (apart from the army) political party of this country, and his subsequent indirect election through the various assemblies and senate to the post of head of state.

The image took further hefty knocks when he decided to do his bit for his relationship with the US and attend the UNGA meeting and address it (Benazir’s photo carried in and placed by him on the rostrum). His behaviour, as reported in our press and in the international press and as commented upon in detail by the American media, did little to enhance the image. So be it.

Now, what he should do is appoint a federal education minister in double-quick time so that the upcoming citizens and leaders of this country at least learn how to spell correctly.



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Hobbling along

OUR moth-eaten Pakistan will hobble along, led as it always has been since 1948 by men endowed with mediocrity or men endowed with moral depravation, until, through God’s infinite grace, it rights itself and follows the path envisaged by its Founder-Maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

We know, as Jinnah knew, that the first thing our governments must ensure is law and order all over the land, and to have that we must have an independent judiciary which no government up to now has been able to live with. Secondly, we must have equality — all citizens of Pakistan have to be equal in all ways — and for that to happen religion must not, repeat must not, be the business of the state. The country was founded on the premise that it would not be ruled over or influenced by a maulvi-mullah fraternity that has assumed unto itself a divine right.

Herbert Feldman, an Englishman who lived and worked in Pakistan for many years after Partition has written three volumes on the history of Pakistan from 1947 up to 1971. His second book covering the years 1962-1969 was aptly titled From Crisis to Crisis (OUP, 1972). As a friend of Pakistan, he rightly predicted that the country would continue to exist, until some solution cropped up, with a mere six inches of water below the keel, surviving crisis after crisis.

Or, as my old friend Perico, Duke of Amalfi, a former Spanish ambassador to Pakistan, always had it, this country will drift from crisis to calamity, from calamity to catastrophe, and from catastrophe to disaster. This was also in the 1960s — and so it has been. He wrote little, spoke even less, but had a sound perception of the lands in which he served.

Moving on to where we now are, verging on the disastrous, last week I was rung up by Rashiduddin Ahmad, a gentleman unknown to me but who had seen me on television the night before, who politely asked if he could meet me. Of course, I said, and round he came. His immediate lament was the behaviour of our gun-toting public, particularly the student element, and how they were adversely affecting an already fraught situation threatened by terrorism.

His particular reference was to an incident that took place on Oct 12 at the Pakistani Swedish Institute of Technology (PSIT) in Quaidabad. An admission test was held that day in which 1,250 candidates were enlisted. Since the re-introduction of political activity into the educational field, at this particular institution the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba (IJT) students’ organisation has established itself as the leading group. When activists of the Pakhtun Students Federation came to take the test the IJT lot objected and after an acrimonious verbal exchange between the two groups, the inevitable arms were produced and they opened fire upon each other. Two policemen were injured, one reporter and two cameramen who happened to be there, and four students.

The Rangers were called in, tear gas was pumped, and the two groups dispersed. As a result of this fight hundreds of students and teachers were besieged in the institute. It took a heavy contingent of police, which was called in, over an hour to free the trapped people.

Such is just one result of the deadly mixture in this country of politics and religion when student elements are allowed to form political groups. The Sindh information minister (a post that should not exist) later paid the usual visit to the injured, mouthed the usual platitudes, amongst which was that the “gun culture at educational institutions will be ended.” The gun culture has invaded the entire country, from the presidential palace down to the katchi abadis.

Rashiduddin was most upset by the incident, as since the PSIT was founded in the late 1950s it had not witnessed such violence. His knowledge of the institute sprung from his friendship with Martti Ahtisaari who worked at the institute from 1960 to 1963, training teachers and managing the students’ hostel. He and Rashiduddin were both learning German at the Goethe Institut and became firm friends. After Ahtisaari’s departure Rashiduddin maintained his interest in the PSIT.

If I had not seen it, Rashiduddin suggested that I take a ride with him and visit this once fine establishment. So off we went. At the gate was a posse of armed policemen stationed to maintain the peace. The institute stands on 22 acres, with trees still living that were planted by Ahtisaari. One could tell that in its day it had been a fine place, but now, as is the norm in this Republic of ours, there was a stench of decay emanating from it, the result of decades of continuous neglect. There is a shortage of funds, teachers cannot be paid adequately and the equipment is all outdated. The government budgeted funds cannot meet the expenses needed to run the institute as it should be run.

The Sindh education department is helpless — it always has been for want of funds as education comes last on the list (vying with population control) when it comes to dishing out government funds. It is now more helpless as it is in the hands of a man well known as a Zardari crony, Mazharul Haq.

One must hope that Martti Ahtisaari does not know to what depths of degradation this once fine institute has sunk. To remind my readers, on Oct 10 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this year. Ahtisaari was born in Finland where his father was a non-commissioned officer in the service corps. He grew up in a town called Oulu where he studied through a distance learning course at the teachers’ college and qualified as a primary school teacher in 1959.

After he left Pakistan, he joined the Finnish foreign ministry and spent several years as a Finnish diplomatic representative. He later served as a United Nations commissioner and special representative in various posts in the troubled regions of the world. In 1993, he took up politics and as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party stood in the Finnish presidential election and won, which position he held until 2000 (he did not seek re-election).

His post-presidential activities won him his Nobel Prize. Shortly after leaving office, he founded the Crisis Management Initiative, an independent non-governmental organisation with a goal in developing and sustaining peace in troubled areas. He was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process, in troubled Kosovo, and in 2005 he successfully led peace negotiations between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government through his CMI.



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Bagh-i-Benazir

THE condition of the huge overcrowded Bagh that is Pakistan is, at the moment, not quite that as envisaged by Benazir Bhutto before she was so tragically assassinated.

For starters we have severe economic difficulties — plunging foreign exchange reserves, spiralling inflation, and a potential defaulting on our external loan repayment commitments.

Our financial envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, able banker Shaukat Tareen, flies the national flag of Pakistan whilst conversing with those hopefully to be classified as lenders, indicating that he can commit the country. This, even though the Standard & Poor’s rating has been downgraded to the sovereign debt level of CCC-plus (seven notches below investment grade). At the same time, he says that Pakistan will default “over my dead body”. This is hardly the time to overburden us! He toys with options B and C. He should settle at anything up to option Y, strictly avoiding option Z.

Our ratings depend on how we conduct our affairs. For instance, it has taken the people and the owners of the land over 10 years of arguing in the law courts to try and save 500 acres of parkland in Karachi, population 15 million-plus (Hyde and Kensington parks, London population 10 million, 625 acres; Central Park, New York City population 19 million, 820 acres).

In the 1850s, after Sindh was annexed by the British and the capital established at Karachi, it took many years to install a sanitary sewerage system. Numerous cholera outbreaks ravaged the city up to the end of the century, until a drainage system was installed by James Strachan in 1894. Expansion of the sewerage system and installation of ejector-pump stations to facilitate the gravity flow from all over the town continued into the middle of the next century.

The effluent from the sewerage network was discharged at a treatment plant on Manghopir Road across the Lyari River on a 1,017-acre plot called the Municipal Sewage Farm (Gutter Baghicha). The Handbook of Karachi, 1913 reported that the location, within a short period of 20 years had become “an oasis in the desert and a paradise for insects, birds and naturalists”. The Karachi Guide & Directory, 1915 described the Sewage Farm as a location “where cereals and green fodder and vegetables are grown and sold at a considerable profit to the garden department of the municipality.”

All of this was to change in the decades after the creation of Pakistan. The influx of migrants from India created chaotic conditions and squatter colonies on the outskirts of the city, and Gutter Baghicha was not spared.

In 1993, after some 530 of the 1,017 acres had been swallowed up by various mafias, the government decided to allot 200 acres to the KMC Officers’ Cooperative Housing Society, and auction cottage industry plots on 50 acres of Gutter Baghicha. Concerned citizens and area residents, appalled at this proposed desecration of the remaining amenity park space, filed a human rights petition in the Supreme Court. Although the court stayed any action on the plot, the KMC-OCHS surreptitiously tried a number of times to develop the housing site and had sub-leases issued.

Under various town planning laws, a sewage farm is an amenity plot. Amenity plots and spaces are established for the public welfare and common good of all citizens. They cannot be converted or used for private residential, commercial or industrial purposes.

The very concept of establishing a housing colony on an amenity park plot is an anathema, especially in a situation where there is a severe paucity of open spaces, parks and playgrounds for the burgeoning population of this city.

As asked by Enrique Penalosa, the renowned ex-Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, when he visited our city about a month ago, what will our future generations of congested city residents do when they find that we have greedily occupied and converted most of our parks, playgrounds and open spaces? He pointed out the obvious fact that wealth and other assets can be created in future, but how can open spaces and parks be created for the beneficial use of the citizens?

Within a four-mile radius of Gutter Baghicha live about five million lower-income and lower-middle-income residents of Golimar, Pak Colony, Orangi, Baldiya, Garden, Nazimabad and North Nazimabad. They have restricted access to recreation and playground opportunities: this leads to frustration and waywardness among the citizens, especially the youth, and culminates in drug abuse, juvenile crime, mental illnesses, social problems, and so forth.

The KMC-OCHS has presented numerous dubious documents in the Supreme Court. A site layout plan of the land leased by the KMC, with about 1,300 plots thereon, was submitted in 1993. A completely different layout plan was submitted in 2006. Last year, a third layout plan was prepared, blatantly contravening the requirements of Karachi Building & Town Planning Regulations 2002: this has been approved by ‘friends’ in the Master Plan Group of Offices of the CDGK.

CDGK officials are charged with a public duty and protection of the public interest. This they cannot do because many senior officials of the CDGK are members of the KMC-OCHS and are parties to the blatant misuse of power. The original allotment is a gross betrayal of public trust.

The NGO Shehri and other concerned citizens have been waging a war for the past 15 years to save this open park space. Public interest litigation, seminars, press campaigns and tours, signature drives, and YouTube presentations (for more details visit www.shehri.org/

gutterbageecha/index.htm) have been employed to increase the awareness of the need for parks in this beleaguered city, and to rally support to save what is left of Gutter Baghicha. A citizens’ suit is now being heard in the Sindh High Court.

Space precludes a continuation of the woes and background of Gutter Baghicha, but more will follow.

As reported on the front page of the Metropolitan section of this paper yesterday under the heading ‘Minister vows to build park on Gutter Baghicha land’, a meeting was held on Oct 24 which was predominantly attended by people from Lyari, representing the millions to be affected were this parkland to be lost to them. Cries were heard that the park should be named ‘Bagh-i-Benazir’, which cries were supported by all present, myself included.

This parkland falls within what was her constituency. She may not have influenced the affairs and policies of Pakistan for as long as the Sun King did for France, but she certainly has a place in the pages of our history (not merely in its footnotes) and in the hearts of millions of this country’s people.



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Bagh-i-Benazir & diversions

TO digress, as we must because it affects our survival, a quote from the front page of yesterday’s edition of this newspaper of record — first the headline: ‘FO admits ties with US strained’, under which is a recording of the “politically and diplomatically” strained relations due to the ongoing drone incursions.

“Pakistan is against the violation of the sovereignty and national territory of any state.”

Well, we plebeians cannot solve the problem and neither for sure can the FO. What the FO can do is to tell the Americans, even indirectly, that “You have got us into this mess, now get us out of it. Your machinations have seated our present president and he now reigns and rules at your behest and to the best of his ability.”

His ability must be questioned as there appeared in last week’s press a news item announcing that Sharmila Farooqui, niece of deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Salman Farooqui, and daughter of Usman Farooqui of Pakistan Steel Mills fame, has been appointed adviser to the Sindh chief minister. If we can believe it, as reported, “President Asif Ali Zardari had directed the chief minister to appoint her as special adviser owing to her sacrifices for the party.”

It would be of immense interest to know, just in this one particular case of nepotism, exactly what her sacrifices were, and as she will presumably be paid for her advisory services from the national coffers we need to know her qualifications to advise and precisely what will be the subject upon which she will tender advice to Commuter Qaim Ali Shah (who in this dispensation also spends much of his time commuting between Karachi and Islamabad — thanks to the advent of technology, flying and not on horseback).

Now, to use one of the favourite phrases of our former president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, we must move to the ‘core issue’, which our judiciary can well solve. Last week’s column was devoted to Gutter Baghicha, out of which area I suggested that a park be carved, laid and nurtured and named after Benazir Bhutto. It brought in many responses, mainly from those settled abroad who elaborated on the virtues of London’s Hyde Park, New York’s Central Park, Paris’s Bois de Boulogne, Washington’s Orchard Park, and so forth.

Parks and open spaces are necessary if the citizens of cities are to be allowed to ‘breathe’ in their congested polluted and overpopulated environments. An open space such as Gutter Baghicha in densely populated Lyari is not only a boon but almost a ‘must’.

The fight for the preservation of Gutter Baghicha started 17 years ago way back in 1991 when the KMC went to the Supreme Court and filed a writ petition against the Government of Sindh asking that the land be handed over so that the KMC could construct offices, cooperative housing societies and such constructions.

The NGO Shehri intervened in 1993, pleading that the space should be retained as a park. The land was handed over to the KMC and a stay was granted which lasted until 2003 when, at the request of the CDGK which had replaced the KMC, the Supreme Court directed the two parties to settle the matter out of court through negotiations and in consultation with Shehri.

Nothing happened until 2005 when it was found that the CDGK was, on the quiet, trying to implement the original KMC plan. Shehri filed a contempt application in the Supreme Court maintaining that it had not been consulted. The application was dismissed in 2006. Shehri immediately filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court against the CDGK and others who were aiming to convert Gutter Baghicha from an amenity plot into residential/commercial plots, and a stay was granted. The stay remained in force until the petition was dismissed early this year as having been already decided by the Supreme Court contempt application.

Then, Shehri appealed to the Supreme Court against the dismissal and was advised by the Court to file a suit in the Sindh Hight Court as a constitutional petition did not lie. Shehri did so, against the CDGK and others, and a stay was granted.

Herewith an excerpt from the order handed down in the Sindh High Court on Oct 23, 2008 signed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed: “It is contended by learned counsel [needless to say Naeemur Rehman] that there was a garden maintained by erstwhile KMC by the name of Gutter Baghicha in Lyari, which was of about 1,000 acres of land and that such Garden was being enjoyed by the people of Lyari and adjoining area for almost about 100 years. He states that the KMC allotted about 200 acres of land out of said Garden to Defendant No. 3 against which the plaintiff filed Human Rights Petition No. 6-K of 1993 in the Honourable Supreme Court, which was disposed of vide order dated 29.5.2003 in the form of a compromise that the matter will be settled by negotiations among the parties.

“He states that as such order was not complied with by the KMC the petitioner filed a contempt petition in the Honourable Supreme Court which was disposed of and the petitioner filed C.P. No. D-17 of 2006 in this Court which also came to be dismissed vide order dated 14.2.2008, against which a Constitutional Petition was filed in the Honourable Supreme Court, which has been decided by order dated 19.8.2008 whereby the petitioner has been advised to avail the remedy by way of a Civil Suit. Learned counsel states that in the Human Rights Petition, the contempt petition … in the Honourable Supreme Court and the Constitutional Petition in this Court a status quo order was operating and that unless such a status is continued the plaintiffs apprehend that the defendants will create further third party interest in the said Gutter Baghicha garden.”

Now, the case will be heard by Judge Gulzar Ahmed in the High Court of Sindh on the 12th of this month. The poor people of Lyari have been fighting to save this baghicha of theirs for the past 17 years. What they now need is help and money. Will President Zardari, placed as he is, help them? After all, Lyari was his wife’s constituency from which he and his party will continue to glean political support.



arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Zero plus zero equals zero

MY very dear old friend, Haji Ebrahim, a merchant born in Dhoraji (then in Kathiawar), and I converse in our mother tongue, Gujerati, a language which can encapsulate a chapter-long ‘situation’ in one single sentence.

His remark to me, after reading that President Asif Zardari had hot-footed it to Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, “Ee pojishun em cheh, keh Badshah bee janey cheh keh jeh mulak no rajah vaipari te mulak ni prajah bhikharee,” is translated thus: the position is such that the Badshah also knows that if a country is ruled by a merchant the people of that country will be beggars.

Reporting on the meeting, this newspaper, under the headline ‘Saudi response ‘positive’ to Pakistan’s request: Tarin’, told us that Saudi Arabia had “assured” Pakistan that it would provide the assistance sought but Tarin was unable to give any “specific details”. The Saudi response had been “positive” but the matter “would be finalised” at a later date.

A second English language newspaper also headlined the ‘positive’ factor but again was unable to give any details. The headline in a third announced that ‘Zardari wins oil facility, financial help’, but admitted that “officially no word had been given about the outcome” of the visit. “Credible sources” were optimistic. The fourth was highly ‘positive’ and rashly headlined: ‘S. Arabia to give $4bn to Pakistan’ over a report that the news also emanated from “reliable sources” but that “a formal announcement was to be made at a later date”.

We will have to hold our breath until the much trumpeted meeting of the Friends of Pakistan later this month — whilst remembering the hard fact that in international relations as in politics there are no ‘friends’, there are allies and there are enemies, and that’s that.

The progeny of the sons of Ibn Saud are able men, habituated to reigning and ruling, and remain well informed about the world around them. What thoughts would have flashed through King Abdullah’s shrewd mind when told that President Asif Zardari, apart from bringing with him a begging bowl, brought 240 people, mostly presidential cronies and friends, involving three chartered flights? How would he have reacted to the sparing of no pains by the prime minister of Pakistan to assure everyone that Zardari had footed the bill for the 240 and their spin to SA out of his own depthless pockets? Would the expenses incurred not have been better used to bolster up the national kitty? If he has so much lucre to spread around, why the rush from counter to counter pleading for funds?

And, also, perhaps the King wondered (along with many others) why a bankrupt country needs 61 ministers to run it into the ground when China, that great friend and greater nation, can manage with 25 and Germany can get along with 18. Puzzling as well is the invitation to investors from abroad when local Pakistanis, particularly those in politics, are reluctant to invest one rupee in their own country.

The matter of the 61 ministers is a sore point with many of Zardari’s countrymen as he has followed time-honoured traditions and made the appointments not on merit or ability to do the job but purely as a pay-off or a reward or even a future investment. And it will not end at 61 — the other coalition partners have to be accommodated so it is likely that Zardari will end up beating Shaukat Aziz’s record.

What must be censured even more than the number of ministers is the quality and choice made by Zardari, particularly in the case of two appointments. The man from Balochistan, Mir Israrullah Zehri, has had a special ministry fashioned for him — the new portfolio of postal services.

The man Zehri’s fame precedes his ministership. As an honourable senator, on Aug 29 in the upper house, when the issue of the burial alive of five (the figure is disputed) women in Balochistan, in the name of ‘honour’, was raised by Senator Bibi Yasmin Shah, Zehri cautioned the good Senator Shah, suggesting that she not refer to matters which are part of “our tribal custom”, which “are centuries-old traditions”, and which he “will continue to defend”. “Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid,” was his warning.

As is the custom in the Senate, such matters as honour killing are always strictly avoided and under the party of the people this custom was continued by the leader of the Senate Raza Rabbani, now of devious thinking, who finished off by condemning it and stating that a report on the incident would be submitted. Where is it?

Then, in the vital position of education minister, the education portfolio normally shunned by the ambitious and greedy but is taken as being better than nothing, we have Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani who was reportedly involved in a vani case in 2007 (he says he was acquitted by a lower court). He was one of the 11 members of a jirga which ordered that five minor girls be handed over to the family of a murdered man as compensation. As in many similar cases, a Supreme Court bench headed by the then CJP, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, ordered the arrest of the members of the jirga and froze the illegal decision to hand over the girls. But, now that CJP Chaudhry is no more, the fate of the young girls is unknown to us — but not to Bijarani.

Now, how do the women who sit in the cabinet with these two men, Zehri and Bijarani, react? They are silent. How can they bring themselves, in all good conscience, to even sit in the same room as these men who think in the manner in which they do, let alone agree to be their companions in cabinet?

When Sherry Rahman, daughter of that able man of law and letters, Hasan Ali Abdur Rahman and the niece of a former good Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Tufail Ali Abdur Rahman, both upright men, became minder-in-chief to President Asif Ali Zardari, her friends and supporters heaved a sigh of relief. After having read at Smith and Sussex, should she now not resign and persuade her fellow women ministers to do the same? Should they not be worried about what will be written in the footnotes of history?


arfc@cyber.net.pk

__________________
Regards,
P.R.