Shuffling Deck Chairs on the Pitanic
By Saad Hafiz: As the opposition gears up to challenge the incumbent government, it is worth examining the challenges any future Pakistani government will face at the helm of affairs. It may become clear that a fundamental change in national priorities and not just a simple shuffling of deckchairs is required for a ship one feels is headed for disaster. To put matters in context and not intended as a deep dive into statistics, Pakistan annually spends around 1.7% and 3.2 % of its GDP on education and health respectively and public sector development expenditure is about $8 billion. The debt to GDP ratio has climbed to 55% due to increased borrowing to finance the annual budget deficits. Pakistan has been the third largest contributor to world population growth since 1950 and … Read entire article »
One year after Salmaan Taseer’s murder
“Heroism is not the measure of how gloriously one fights and dies; rather, it is the value of the deeds and events which drove the person to their final end.” A year has passed us by, and much has changed. I don’t want to dwell too much on history, for much will be written about that today, capturing the bravery and martyrdom of Salmaan Taseer. I rather want to focus on his legacy. The legacy which many seem to forget in favour of the more sensationalist diatribes that help get more hits, more clicks and more comments, particularly when the monologue gets sidetracked (on purpose) to focus more on Islam, Qadri, the black law and the pivot of it all: Asia Bibi, the Christian Pakistani woman who was jailed for allegedly blaspheming against the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
An open letter to CIO / Pc World Pakistan
To: CIO/PC WORLD Dear Sir/Madam: Respectfully submitted as follows: 1. That I am addressing you as the co-editor of the blogzine, http://www.pakteahouse.net (“PakTeahouse”) which was a nominee the recently concluded “Pakistan Blog Awards”. 2.That you awarded the “best current affairs blog” to a little known blog called http://zaviews.blogspot.com (the “ZAVIEWS AKA NEWS”). 3. That the PakTeahouse team has perused the aforesaid and the team unable to decipher how you came to the conclusion that ZAVIEWS AKA NEWS is the best current affairs blog, given that it has only a few blog entries, few of which are directly relevant to the recent events in Pakistan. 4. That in comparison PakTeaHouse blog has established its credentials as the go to blog for Pakistani current affairs and the same has been recognized not just nationally but internationally by such publications as The New … Read entire article »
Failure in national integration
By Saad Hafiz: As another anniversary of the disintegration of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh approaches, I am reminded of the eventful period from 1965 to 1971 I spent as a student in the former East Pakistan. We arrived in Dacca (Dhaka) just before the September 1965 Indo-Pak War. Pakistan’s military strategy in 1965 which manifested itself once again in 1971 effectively meant that the defense of East Pakistan lay in a victory or stalemate on the Western front. This strategy limited the physical impact of the war on East Pakistan as the main concentration of firepower and land and air engagements took place in the West. However, the West Pakistan centric military strategy employed in the 1965 war was the beginning of a sense of isolation and abandonment in East Pakistan which … Read entire article »
Pakistani identity’s claim on Indian heritage
By Amaar Ahmad: There is a vociferous debate surrounding Pakistan’s national identity. Let there be no doubt that there will not be a Pakistani today more patriotic than the founder of Pakistan – Muhammad Ali Jinnah. On the 11th August, 1947, Jinnah addressed the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan as the man who had led and inspired the Pakistan Movement. In his historic address, he does not shy away from mentioning “India”, in relation to the “Pakistani Identity”. In fact, his entire speech hovers around the task of building the Pakistani Identity. In his speech, he mentions “India” at least 10 times, very deliberately, very positively and very unapologetically. We need not try to be more loyal than the king. In view of this unchallenged status of Jinnah, it may be prudent … Read entire article »
When a US President was a Friend not Master…
By Ghazala Akbar: As Pakistan’s ‘battered wife’ relationship to the US hits an all-time low, members of the Ghairat Brigades, serial Uncle Sam effigy- burners and armchair theorists –- convinced of a Hindu – Zionist conspiracy and a perennial anti – Muslim bias of US policy should make an exception of at least one US President: Richard M. Nixon. He may have bugged his opponents, he may have been ‘tricky Dick’ but when it came to backing Pakistan in 1971, Nixon was truly masterful. A record of telephonic conversations in the dark days of December 1971, between the President and his chief mastermind, Henry Kissinger, reveal just how intensely the duo were prepared to battle for Pakistan. Geo-political considerations of the Cold War, a personal liking for General Yahya Khan, (‘a good friend’) … Read entire article »
Mr.pathan : A reintroduction !
I was searching for a porter on the crowded railway station of Rawalpindi. At 12 in the afternoon, with the sun bright and pricking, the station was strangely packed. Today wasn’t a holiday or a festive occasion. Languid by nature, I stopped searching and sat down on a near by bench. My luggage lodged besides me, I continued to screen throngs of people for a yellow-colored turban. What a rarity, I thought to myself. My train was to leave at 1:30. Lying against the bench’s back support, I was suddenly jerked from my thoughts, as a man, who appeared to be somewhere in his 40s, sat down beside me. Tall, robust and broad ,he bore a sun burnt red complexion with splotches of tan on the forehead. His hair was streaked dark … Read entire article »
Law and Disorder: Radicalization of the legal community
By Abdul majeed Abid: Greek philosopher Aristotle famously remarked “The law is reason unaffected by desire”. Going by that description, lawyers should be the most logical/reasonable people in a society. In context of Pakistan, lawyers have played an important role in both creation of Pakistan and evolution of society. Founder of Pakistan Mr Muhamad Ali Jinnah and national poet Allama Iqbal were both lawyers. Lawyers are also the most politicised section of the society. Every major party in Pakistan has its legal wings. A disturbing trend of increased religious intolerance has been witnessed in the last few years. One basic reason for this has been the increasd influence of student wings of right-wing parties in law colleges across the country. Even the historic lawyers’ movement was almost hi-jacked by the right wing elements … Read entire article »
Why The Seventh Fleet was sent to the Indian Ocean in 1971…
By Ghazala Akbar: In December 1971, forty years ago, as Indian forces encircled Dacca for the kill, the BBC reported that the US Seventh Fleet had entered the Indian Ocean. A demoralised Nation hoped against hope. Could it just be possible that President Nixon was intervening to save Pakistan from impending disaster? Declassified documents released by the US Government clear the mystery: The Fleet was moving — not to help the beleaguered Pakistan Eastern Command — it was in readiness to aid its former foe, the People’s Republic of China, the USA’s new ‘best’ friend. Hard to believe now, but an internal civil war in East Pakistan, which became a war between India and Pakistan, was on the verge of a wider conflagration involving China, the USA and the USSR! A transcript of … Read entire article »
If Pakistan was an Islamic country
By Dur-e-Aden: All citizens of the state would be equal: God forbids you not, as regards those who have not fought you in religion’s cause, nor expelled you from your habitations, that you should be kindly to them, and deal equitably with them; surely God loves those who are equitable (60:9). Muslims won’t be afraid of being killed by their fellow Muslims: And whoso slays a believer wilfully, his recompense is Gehenna, therein dwelling forever, and God will be wroth with him and will curse him, and prepare for him a mighty chastisement (4:94). Jews and Christians would be treated with utmost respect because they are our Abrahamic brothers: Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians, and those Sabeans, whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness—their wage awaits them with … Read entire article »
Are Ahmadis enemies of Pakistan? Look at the historical facts
By Amaar Ahmad: Pakistan’s descent into crises is perhaps because capable and honest citizens are denied the right to contribute towards the country - even when the country desperately needs them. Many a patriotic Pakistanis have been banished and their role in the country’s progress ignored simply due to their religious affiliations. While this wrong has been done to many Hindu, Christian, Parsi and Shia-Muslim Pakistanis as well, but the suppression of the Ahmadi contribution to Pakistan is of incomparably monumental proportions. It is time to put the record straight. If we want to climb out of the present morass, we need to start respecting the people who have given to this country their best even in the face of discrimination. Following is a list of a few of the many sons of the … Read entire article »
How can Pakistan Army Retreat from Fata?
By Prof Farakh A Khan: The American and Pakistan armies are locked in Afghanistan (2001) and Fata (2004) respectively. Pakistan is a poor country and cannot financially afford its continued presence of 1.5 lac soldiers deployed in Fata and sooner than later the army has to pull out since Pakistan cannot afford a 100-years war. My questions are how can the army pull out of Fata if at all? And when? Pakistani Afghan policy is tied to the American policy in that country. The Americans after 10 years have realised that they are unable to bring peace or their form of democracy to Afghanistan. The American trained Afghan army and police force are corrupt and unreliable despite huge amounts of dollar inflow. At the same time the Americans cannot leave Afghanistan to … Read entire article »
STATE AND RELIGION IN PAKISTAN
By Shahnaz Khan: Will separation of state and religion contradict the spirit of the creation of Pakistan? Does this division threaten Islam? Should the state regulate the religious beliefs and activities of ALL Muslims? These questions are being hotly debated in Pakistan, with the primary focus on either the two nation theory or the vision of Jinnah. It, perhaps, may be more productive to review historical data and some fundamental principles of Islam in resolving these issues. After all this controversy is neither unique to Pakistan or Islam. It will also be helpful to define a secular state: A state which is not hostile to religion but is neutral to the religious preference of its citizens. The early European settlers in North America were deeply religious people—Puritans or Anglicans—victims of religious oppression in Europe, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Pakistan’s Parallel Government
By Saad Hafiz: US Republican Presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney said in a recent debate: “The right way to deal with Pakistan is to recognize that Pakistan is not a country, like other countries, with a strong political center that you can go to and say, ‘Gee, can we come here, will you take care of this problem?’” Romney should know that the Pakistan Armed Forces are the strong center in the country that one could go to take care of any problem. For over 60 years, successive US administrations from Eisenhower to Obama have either dealt directly with military governments or civilian setups backed by the military to get things done in Pakistan. Not so long ago, a few phone calls from an American Secretary of State to a military President saw … Read entire article »
Israel and Iran: On a collision course to Hell
By Saad Hafiz: The world waits with bated breath as Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad square off on Iran’s nuclear program. Bibi, who was recently referred to as a “Liar” by French President Sarkozy and the combative Ahmedinejad who dismisses the Jewish Holocaust, are hardly leaders who can be trusted at the helm in this delicate confrontation. For the moment, Israel’s top leaders are employing the good cop bad cop routine with Iran. Bibi is implying that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is imminent while ceremonial President Peres seemingly opposing unilateral action is saying that “Israel will first of all see what the world is doing.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Peres added: “We don’t want to jump alone, we are part of the civilization of the … Read entire article »
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