SBID2008

The people of Pakistan voted for a democratic government in order to find a solution to their problem. It now appears that the new democratic government does not have the ability to solve the complex financial and economic problems of the country. The law and order situation in the country is at all time low and suicide bombings have become a common phenomenon.

The currency is shedding value against dollar with each passing day. At the time of writing this post the dollar was being traded in the open market at Rs.81 against a dollar. This is despite the steps taken by the central bank to regulate the price of dollar in the country. More than six months have passed and we have not yet seen any serious and sincere effort to find a solution to the economic woes of the country. The foreign exchange reserves have depleted to an extent where they are not even sufficient for one month’s import bill.

There are rumors in the country that some banks may collapse. This has created an air of extreme uncertainty in the country and people are reluctant to keep their money in banks. It is said that one foreign bank that has investment of from a large middle east group has collapsed and the news will be made public in a few days. If this rumor is true this will have devastating effect on the banking system in the country as people will resort to large scale withdrawals.

We are not seeing any change in the economic policies of the government. The lame duck prime minister is the new Shoukat Aziz in Pakistan. In fact he is worse that Shoukat Aziz. Shoukat Aziz had at least complete control on the economic policies of the country. Gillani does not seem to have any authority at all. He is the new “yes man” in Islamabad.

So the big question is if any thing has changed at all in Islamabad?

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gillani has formed a committee to discuss modalities to purchase nuclear power plants. Energy crisis in Pakistan is deepening with each passing day. I think that the Prime Minister has made a good decision. The nuclear energy is not only cheap but clean as compared to energy obtained from burning fossil fuels.

I thin that we will need international support for obtaining nuclear technology for peaceful purposes which we do not have at present.

It was said that President Pervez Musharraf had arrogated powers under the constititional seventeenth amendment which made the office of the president very powerful. He can dismiss the National and Provincial Assemblies, appoint provincial governors and services chief in his discretion. Under the original constitution of 1973 these powers rested in the office of the prime minister who is the chief executive of the country.

Zardari had said that he would repeal the seventeeth amendment and bring back the constitution in its original shape which envisiged a parliamentary system of government where president is only a ceremonial head who has to act of the advice of the prime minister. He had also said that this would be the first gift of the president elected by his party.

Now that he has got himself elected as the president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I think he has forgotten this promise as well. He has now lost all credibility with the people of the country because of his ability to break promises without any compunction. In his maiden speech in the joint sitting of the parliament he was all praise for his wife Benazir Bhutto, his father in law Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but said nothing new about the policies of his government for solving the problems of the country.

He has said that a committee will be formed to look into the constitutional package to reduce the powers of president. Now we all know very well that committees in Pakistan are formed when the idea is to sleep over any issue. I am sure that Zardari will not let go a single power that is available to him at president.

I had written this post based upon a letter published in Dawn on 20th September. It said that Aamir Liaquat Hussain incited people to kill Ahmadis without fear. At the time of writing the post I had not seen the programme myself. I have now seen the entire programme on YouTube and now I feel that at no time he said anything to incite people to kill Ahmadis.



Please see the following two clips.



Part 1.







Part 2.









The letter said that Aamir Liaquat Hussain repeatedly urged that Ahmadis should be killed.

Dr Amir urged fundamentalist Muslims to kill without fear, and this statement was repeated by him and two other Islamic scholars several times during a popular television show.

I have not deleted the original post which is retained completely below. If any part from the programme is missing in which he incited killings of Ahmadis, then kindly let me know.





Aamir Liaquat Hussain has declared in his programme “Alim Online” that members of Ahmedi sect should be put to death. The Ahmedis were declared non-Muslims by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after an uprising in 1970s.



The programme was aired on September 7 in which the former Minister of State for religious affairs urged people to kill Ahmedis without fear. This statement was repeated by him and the other two scholars during the programme.



Amir Liaquat Hussain was expelled from his party nearly one and half years ago and he was asked to resign from the ministry. In his anger he not only resigned as minister but also resigned from his seat in the National Assembly.



Amir Liaquat prefers to call himself Dr Amir Liaquat Hussain, even though he does not hold a Ph. D. degree. He was a student at Liaquat Medical University where he did not complete his course. He obtained degrees from some online universities which were not recognized by the University Grants Commission of Pakistan. His documents were challenged in the National Assembly by Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and he could not come up with a proper reply.



He does not hold any religious degree as well. He does not know Quran and certainly does not have knowledge of Islamic Jurisprudence. Despite this lack of knowledge he has considerable viewership of his programme which speaks volumes about the dearth of religious knowledge in general public.

By ruling out the possibility of an alliance with PML-Q , Mian Nawaz Sharif has actually bid farewell to his political insight. It is certainly not a matter of principle because if it had been so, he would have never joined PPP government as a coalition partner.

To form alliance with PML-Q will be only mixing rice with rice but to form alliance with PPP was mixing one grain with a totally different kind of grain.

If he does not want any alliance with PML – Q, why is he holding out a bait to their parliamentarians?

The PPP government has almost completed the task of restoration of deposed judges, of course in her own way. Four Supreme Court judges took their oath today only a few hours before the President Zardari’s address to the joint session of the parliament.

The government gave an open choice and the honourable judges used their own brain and wisdom to listen to the call. I think that the judges realized that if they did not take oath, they stand to lose a lot. They also realized that the political leadership of the country was not sincere in restoration of judges on the guidelines given in the Murree declaration which called for declaring the act of 2nd November 2007 as unconstitutional. 

The lawyers community of Pakistan gave a lot of sacrifices for the independence of judiciary, but the meek judges, as always, succumbed to temptations of perks and priviliges.

By allowing Chaudhry Nisar to get elected Chairman of Public Accounts Committee unopposed Asif Ali Zardari once again made a great move for sure success. No doubt, in a democratic set up this post usually goes to the leader of opposition, but such things seldom happens in Pakistan. This time it has happened as it should have happened.

Chaudhry Nisar is the right choice as a leader of opposition and consequently the head of the PAC. What is the game?

 The game can be seen between the lines of the statement that Chaudhry Nisar made after his election as PAC chief. He said,” The opposition would not protest during the President’s speech.” 

Islamabad has been rocked a large bomb explosion. The explosion has occurred in Marriot Hotel Islamabad. It is said that two trucks laden with explosives were used to carry out the attack. The area near the hotel is in pitch darkness and the buildig as I see on television is in flames. The explosion has caused severe damage to the hotel building.

It is feared that a large number of people are trapped in the hotel building. A large number of people have been injured. Large number of casualties are feared.

Pakistan has made it clear to the United States that incursions into Pakistani territory by US forces will not be tolerated. It has been widely reported in international press that Pakistan Army stationed along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been given orders to retaliate any attempt by US forces to cross into Pakistani territory.

United States has launched several attacks in Pakistan through its unmanned drone plane which created problems for the newly formed government. The most significant statement came from none other than Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaque Pervez Kayani himself who said that no one will be allowed to conduct operation inside Pakistani territory.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen has arrived in Pakistan to discuss the situation arising out of US attacks and to defuse tension between the two countries. Pakistan is the most important country in the US war against terror. I think that the US government should not create problems for the civilian government by taking unilateral steps.