THE LATEST COMMENTS ARE ON THIS PAGE.AFTER THIS TRY PAGES 27 , 26 ,25 and 24. THE OTHER PAGES CONTAIN COMMENTS ON EVENTS SINCE MAY 1997.

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Pakistan and Politics

by ikram ul haq

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DEFAULTERS,LOAD SHEDDING, WHO KILLED ZIA

THE ARMIES WAPDA,NARCOTICS,SHERPAO'S SWISS ACCOUNT

F-16's GIVENUP,ARMY TAKEOVER,PAY INCREASE

ESCALATION, SECOND CAPITOL,WRITE OFFFAIR JUDGES

SECTARIANS, JANG,TAXES,HOCKEY

AMNESTY

READ HIGH FOR EHTESAB

IMRAN FAROOK,FOREIGN OFFICE,F-16'S

SAULAT MIRZA, HUBCO

SMUGGLER JEMIMA, YELLOW CABS, SUPREME COURTS AND CONCURRENT LISTS

JUDICIAL SYSTEM, ADB, F-16'S, JUDGES INTEGRITY

DEFAULTERS,LOAD SHEDDING, WHO KILLED ZIA ---27 DECEMBER 1998

• Benazir Bhutto has called for setting up military courts to try loan defaulters who include the countries ruling family the sharifs. She has however attacked the use of brigadiers as meter readers and linemen
• Protests have occurred in several NWFP towns to protest electricity and gas load shedding aswell as the unavailaibility of atta
• Electricity shutdowns of four to eight hours are taking place in the entire country apart from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi
• Nahid Khan a PPP leader has evaded arrest for the last three days as the Rawalpindi police raid PPP offices, their homes and setup roadblocks
• The Frontier Post has headlined a story accusing the CIA of downing the the PAF C-130 which crashed with Zia Ul Haq by the upto now unheard of method of detonating a cannister of nerve gas carried onto the plane by the american ambassador. Obviously the story does not hold up as several parts are unrealistic. If Farook Bhatti was the supposed pilot of Zia Ul Haq than he would have tobe based in Islamabad and would be unlikely to fly an F-16 from Shorekot. Also the CIA would be unlikely to create an accident with several ofits own on board . Also it has been verified that no explosion took place on board the C-130. PAF pilots are genrally promoted very quickly and a top notch pilot would not remain a squadron leader for eight years. If that is the same Farooq Bhatti who was arrested for heroin smuggling than it seems pretty unlikely that he was the pilot of Zia's plane. There are many rumours asto the real culprits of the crash. Some Sindhis to propagate their pir suggest that it was the Pir of Pagara who ordered it. Others say the pilot who was shiite decided that it was his duty to rid pakistan of such a tyrant and thus crashed the plane. Than there is the story of the mango crate which went on board with a bomb hidden init.Obviously there are other stories that involve the opposition leaders of the time as well as one which accuses even Nawaz Sharif .There is also one which accuses the pakistani supreme court of having ordered Zia Ul Haqs death for subverting the constitution in a secret hearing However the one which has elements of reality include the suspicions cast on the than army chief who flew in a seperate plane and on seeing the plane crash rushed to rawalpindi to setup the succesion. Ordinary mortals would have landed and gone to see what happened at the site but not Mirza Aslam Baig. Anyway it is rumoured that both of Zia Ul Haqs pilots were from the army?There are also the stories that Zia decided to pilot the plane himself, couldnt control it and down it went. Other rumors suggest that there was a coup on board the plane and in the ensuing takeover the pilot lost control and the plane crashed. There is also the rumour that Zias body was not on the plane and that he and his close associates who were all indian agents actually skipped across the bahawalpur border into india and the authorities staged a crash to coverup their disappearance. The most farfetched is the rumour that it was staged to remove Zia from the scene without a fuss after an agreement was reached between the army and the PPP and that Zia is now actually living undercover. Other rumours suggest that Zia was the one who created the crash and he is actually still managing events from behind the scenes. They say that Zias casket only contained his spectacles?? .Others suggest that Zia was actually sentenced to death by a military court and that was how the sentence was carried out.The final rumour is the funniest of them all. Zia who was a Bhutto protege had made an agreement with Bhutto that when his heir came of age he would faithfully arrange to hand over power. Benazir reached the age of 35 in 1988 and something had to be done to hand power back to the bhutto dynasty so the plane crash
• The arrest of suspected MQM killers continues in karachi and over 20 arrests have been made in the past two days as well as discovering a cache of terrorist weapons

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THE ARMIES WAPDA,NARCOTICS, SHERPAO'S SWISS ACCOUNT---25 DECEMBER 1998

• Everybody had better start investing in electricity generators as Wapda has been handed over to the army whose soldiers are generally regarded as pretty dumb.The faujis are also reported tobe very interested in all sorts of corruption oriented enterprises hence their interest in electricity distribution which is supposedly run by corrupt Wapda officials. The Lt General running the show says they are facing a loss of Rs 74 billion and will try to overcome it by reducing losses, ending subsidies and making the GOP pay its bills. All this is regarded as nothing new and the GOP will find it difficult to find buyers for anything apart from their power stations. Wapda has already started to resort to load shedding in Rawalpindi despite the country being considered a surplus producer of electricity.The army is apparently going to endup buying the electricity distributing companies. Around 30000 faujis generally lacking in experience and knowledge of electricity distribution are undergoing crash training programs to take over the electricity distribution functions of Wapda which will apparently sack its present staff as they will become useless
• The countries foreign exchange reserves have improved to over $735 million
• The Frontier Post which is generally regarded as a pro indian newspaper relying on narcotics related incomes has accused the ANF and ISI of involvement in narcotics smuggling. Funds thus generated they say are used to run political figures and the terrorism oriented MQM. They also contend that the ANF has around 2000 undercover agents in the tribal areas whose ISI provided vehicles are used for smuggling narcotics
• Aftab Sherpao reportedly has around $0.5 million in a Swiss bank account. The pakistani authorities are trying to embroil Sherpao in narcotic smuggling charges as he has not parted ways with the PPP totally
• The GOP is considering handing over the Pakistan Railways to the Pakistan Army which apparently afraid of fighting the enemy is willing to run civilian organizations as it has nothing better todo

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F-16's GIVENUP,ARMY TAKEOVER,PAY INCREASE---24 DECEMBER 1998

• The USA has decided to return the remaining money paid for the F-16's after the GOP gave up its claim for the planes delivery.The US will make payments of $324.5 million in cash and $60 million in wheat and $80 million in unknown items. There seems to be a discrepancy of around $25million which cannot be explained unless there are kickbacks involved
• The pakistan army is to take over Wapdas electricity distribution companies. Ordinary brigadiers have been appointed to head these organizations. Wapda has also been authorized to retire any officer or employee.Similarly military courts can be setup to try electricity power thefts.
• According to the press the Habib Bank unions have reached an agreement on a paypackage which shows an overall increase of 110% but only a minor 12.5% increase in basic salary
• People will have to pay more when they consult doctors, lawyers and financial experts as the GOP has decided to enforce GST on the services sector including mostly professional fields

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ESCALATION, SECOND CAPITOL,WRITE OF, FAIR JUDGES ---19 DECEMBER 1998

• According to the News the bodies of three faujis were discovered shot in the head from a stolen Suzuki pickup in karachi. This is being viewed as a serious escalation of MQM's continued terrorism. The faujis were killed by a single bullet to the head and their hands and feet were tied with ropes
• Nawaz Sharif has handed over karachis water supply systems and new water development projects to the pakistan army
• According to MQM sources the GOP is considering naming Karachi the countries second capitol as it has been noticed that karachiites feel a sense of inferiority vis a vis Islamabad. The country already has had the experience of two capitols when Islamabad and Dacca used tobe the countries joint capitols. Also the GOP would prefer to differentiate Karachi from the rest of Sind and declaring it the second GOP capitol would not anger the Sindhis and solve the mohajir desire for seperation from Sind and having a so called seperate identity
• The GOP's banks have written of more than Rs34 billion in loans over the past two years
• The Nawaz family according to their spokesman paid around Rs 50 million in assorted taxes over the past six years. However it has not been denied that Nawaz Sharif himself only pays Rs477 in income taxes. It was also revealed that Shabaz Sharif was richer than Nawaz Sharif or he has a better head for business matters
• Benazir Bhutto has demanded that her trials in various cases be conducted by fair and unbiased judges. One seriously doubts Benazirs sanity if she thinks that there are any fair and unbiased judges in pakistan. Judges in pakistan are appointed on a political basis and are not known for their intellect, fairness and honesty

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SECTARIANS, JANG,TAXES,HOCKEY ---18 DECEMBER 1998

• In a major blow to the two sectarian organizations in the punjab an anti terrorist court handed down death sentences to 14 for killing 32 in attacks on the iranian culture center in multan and shootings at the Al Khair mosque
• The govt is preparing tax evasion action against the countries urdu daily Jang. The reasons behind the action include politics as well as creating a negative image about the paper so as to benefit newspapers that have the sponsorship of the sharif family
• In the third military helicopter crash during the Nawaz Era-2 the punjab task force chairman on prices sajjad haider was amongst the four killed while three others were seriously injured. The others killed were Commisioner Bahawalpur and DIG Bahawalpur
• In what can only be regarded as funny the scion of one of the countries wealthiest industrial families Nawaz Sharif only paid Rs 477 in income taxes during 1995-96. His wealth taxes are also dwindling according to Mushahid the countries sinformation minister
• In what can only be considered sad the pakistani hockey team lost to the current Asian Champions South Korea in the semi finals to setup an India-South Korea final in the Asian games
• Nawaz Sharif has refused any amesty for the MQM terrorists who are being systematically arrested

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SECTARIANS, JANG,TAXES,HOCKEY ---18 DECEMBER 1998

• In a major blow to the two sectarian organizations in the punjab an anti terrorist court handed down death sentences to 14 for killing 32 in attacks on the iranian culture center in multan and shootings at the Al Khair mosque
• The govt is preparing tax evasion action against the countries urdu daily Jang. The reasons behind the action include politics as well as creating a negative image about the paper so as to benefit newspapers that have the sponsorship of the sharif family
• In the third military helicopter crash during the Nawaz Era-2 the punjab task force chairman on prices sajjad haider was amongst the four killed while three others were seriously injured. The others killed were Commisioner Bahawalpur and DIG Bahawalpur
• In what can only be regarded as funny the scion of one of the countries wealthiest industrial families Nawaz Sharif only paid Rs 477 in income taxes during 1995-96. His wealth taxes are also dwindling according to Mushahid the countrie sinformation ministerIn what can only be considered sad the pakistani hockey team lost to the current Asian Champions South Korea in the semi finals to setup an India-South Korea final
• Nawaz Sharif has refused any amesty for the MQM terrorists who are being systematically arrested

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AMNESTY ---16 DECEMBER 1998

• The intelligence agencies have arrested the notorious terrorist Javed Langra from a border town in Sind alongwith two others including Mobin Tunda.. . It has also come to light that MQM terrorists especially those with indian connections have been using sindhi hindus as a means of going underground and slipping across and back from india
• Karachi police meanwhile arrested another terrorist named Jan Mohd alias Tension who is reportedly involved in ten murders. The MQM's terrorists have only one interesting aspect that of having some really interesting aliases.
• Apparently MQM is begging for the declaration of an amnesty but the GOP is still studying the matter

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READ HIGH FOR EHTESAB---15 DECEMBER 1998

• The Supreme Court partially allowed the shifting of all cases against Benazir and Asif in the Punjab High Court to the Rawalpindi Ehtesab Bench after controversially declaring that the Ehtesab Benches as High Court Benches. Now Benazir and Asif will have to face court cases in Rawalpindi and Karachi their places of residence The court also directed that dates of hearing cases in Sind and Rawalpindi be announced after consultation between the judges concerned
• In an incident of official harassment a senior FIA official raided the Jang Offices in Rawalpindi apparently on the orders of the GOP
• Nawaz Sharif revived the yellow cab scheme and announced the provision of gas to Mianwali a major town in the punjab
• The Frontier Post in an article suggests that Aftab Sherpao the dissident PPP central VP has made a secret deal with the Nawaz Sharif govt to avoid prosecution. Sherpao has been under a cloud in the PPP after being pinpointed as a Faruk Leghari tout and as a person who perhaps helped in ousting Benazir from power. He has also been at odds with the PPP leadership after being ousted from the NWFP PPP leadership . Considered tobe involved in the Sharif sponsored Mehran bank scam to distribute slush funds he continues to raise suspicions by hobnobbing with the PMLn and the ANP

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IMRAN FAROOK,FOREIGN OFFICE,F-16'S---14 DECEMBER 1998

• MQM's dissident terrorist Saulat Mirza was travelling as Farhan Amin when arrested by karachi police.One of his assertions that MQM deputy leader and arch terrorist Imran Farooq has been killed by the MQM leadership has been rejected by Altaf Hussein. Imran Farook was considered by many tobe the the MQM's underground terrorismleader in karachi during the PPP era however his name has not surfaced in reports for some time giving rise to the theories that he was either arrested/killed by the authorities or eliminated by the MQM
• The pakistani foreign office has rejected certain impressions created in the press about nawaz sharifs US visit. However the FO confirmed that the US had made demands in the nuclear field which pakistan could not agree to. One of the demands seems tobe the cessation of producing nuclear material, nuclear weapons,deployment and capping missile research and production.Pakistan apparently suggested a bilateral approach which would coincide with indian attitudes and actions. However there seems to have been no disagreements on Afghanistan, Osama and Iran which had been speculated in the press
• Several press reports have suggested that the US and pakistan donot agree on the amount owed to Pakistan in the F-16 issue. The US has reportedly offered to pay around $350 million in cash and the rest estimated at around $150million in commodities such as wheat.If no agreement is reached than pakistan is prepared to move a US court on the issue. This issue arose because the Nawaz govt continued to pay for the F-16's in the early 90's despite George Bush's barring the delivery of the planes

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SAULAT MIRZA, HUBCO---12 DECEMBER 1998

• Karachi police arrested MQM terrorist Saulat Mirza on arrival from Thailand. Police say that he has confessed to involvement in many murders on the orders of Altaf Hussein and Nusrat Nadeem. The murders mentioned are those of two US diplomats, four US oil workers, major Shahnawaz Toor of the DEA, Shahid Hamid(KESC), SDNM Nawaz Khushk, officials of the rangers, army, police and five relatives of SP Khawaja Nisar and PPP student leader Nasir Guddu.He also stated that about 80-100 MQM boys were in South Africa under the training of Safdar Bakri and that many of them were being sent to India for commando training. Police also arrested Aslam Chor who stated that he had been ordered by shoaib Bukhari and Zulfikar haider to clean(eliminate) ASI Aslam Hayat
• It appears that the US now believes that the indians are committing atrocities(murdering freedom fighters) in occupied kashmir and that they will urge the indians to work towards a realistic solution of kashmir
• Hubco in a press release has stated that its price per unit for Wapda is around 2.87cents and not 11 cents. It also suggested falsely that its construction cost was around $870 million rather than $1200 million or $1600 million.It suggested that its cost per unit was less than Wapdas which is obviously false. It also falsely suggested that Wapdas problems are not due to the high cost of private power but due to non payment of dues by the govt
• In a clear admission of defeat MQM has decided not to defend its terrorist types if there cases are brought to military courts. Military Courts have to reach a decision one way or the other as opposed to civil courts which can take years(1-20) to reach decisions

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SMUGGLER JEMIMA, YELLOW CABS,SUPREME COURTS AND CONCURRENT LISTS---11 DECEMBER 1998

• Jemima khan the wife of cricketer turned philanthropist turned politician Imran Khan was caught at the Islamabad airport trying to smuggle antique tiles worth millions which she had purchased from the Islamabad markets
• The Yellow cab scheme is being revived
• The Convention Center and Prime Ministers Secretariatt which had been advertised for sale with much fanfare by the Nawaz Sharif govt have been taken off the chopping block due to a poor response
• The pakistani missile plan has been halted says Farook Leghari to appease washington, WB and IMF
• The PPP dissident central vice president Aftab Sherpao wants Supreme Courts in provinces while ANP mpa Nasim Wali Khan wants the concurrent list tobe abolished from the constitutution. Since the current courts are not to helpful in solving any problems additional courts in provinces can hardly be expected to improve things. As far as the abolishing of the concurrent list is concerned that could increse provincial confidence and resources however one would like to know why the ANP could not get it implemented when it was in a coalition with a two third majority.
• Benazir has rejected the possibility of cooperation with the jamaat islami. The semi religious jamaat is in a partial coalition with the PMLn at the moment,
• There is no direct evidence against Benazir and Asif Zardari in any corruption case says the Attorney General

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JUDICIAL SYSTEM, ADB, F-16'S, JUDGES INTEGRITY -10 DECEMBER 1998

• Khalid Anwar the countries law minister and some say behind the scenes judicial decision maker says that the countries judicial system has collapsed. He said he would endeavour to provide each judge with a car and a house thru foreign or institutional loans. Most people regard judges as pretty well off and it is their ability and decisions that are questionable rather than their financial condition
• The poor US which owes pakistan around $500million for undelivered F-16's is suggesting that the money be repaid in wheat rather than in dollars. If pakistan were to suggest that their debts be repaid in say onions it would be considered sacrilege. One suggests that Standard and Poors reduce the debt rating of the US govt to CCC as a consequence
• The ADB has agreed to provide around $800 million over the next six months to tide pakistan over its recurrent repayment crisis
• The liaqatabad area saw further violence when around 35 MQM terrorists opened fire in the early morning on the Liaqatabad police station. The police retaliated in kind and the terrorists fled.
• The Karachi police arrested seven hardcore MQM terrorists involved in several prominent murders.
• Benazir Bhutto has filed a case in the Supreme Courts that all her cases be heard in one place so that she can defend them properly. At the moment the GOP has her running after cases in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Karachi. One of the judges advised her not to challenge the integrity of the judges and leave it to their consciences todo the right thing. These same judges did not leave it to the conscience of Sajjad Ali Shah when similar matters came up between themselves. The Supreme Court should at least rule that the cases in various places should be so scheduled that there is at least a week between each cases hearing date. The court however has in earlier cases filed by Nawaz and Benazir ruled that all cases against one person be heard by the same judge or panel. One sometimes wonders why the judges donot take precedence into account and rule on such matters without delay

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