Mar2003

Mar31--huge anti war rallies organised by teh MMA
Mar31--Literally the entire federal cabinet to sit on the NEC
mar31--The government apparently approves compensation package for baloch tribal land appropriated for gas exploration...Rs12600 per acre for 3300 acres of cultivable land and Rs6300 per acre for 1000 acres of non cultivable land...
Mar31--Pakistan refuses land route to india for afghan exports but allows afghanistan to use the land route to india
Mar31--The nawaz sharif family seems to have the permission of the government to return as long as they donot participate in politics openly...
Mar31--The Dailytimes suggests that the MMA is acting as the PMLq's B-team ready to step in if the PPP patriots drop out...They have apparently agreed tp listen to mushraf in parliament under a silent protest(meaning secret collusion or cooperation)
Mar31--Pakistan and india both apprehensive of US military might turning against them have refused to help the USA in its invasion of iraq...
Mar31--The US troops have paused after initial successes to bring in more troops and supplies for the assault on baghdad
Mar30--Pakistan protests two year US curbs on KRL...
Mar30--Musharaf in parleys on the LFO refuses... even as a minimum to step down as the army chief...
Mar30--Zafarullah Jamali to head the NEC which gives him some control over development outlays..
mar29--government to monitor 25 jihadi ulema...
mar29--heavy bombing of baghdad continues
mar29--21 member liberal opposition group formed in teh senate by PPPP, BNP,ANP and PMLn..to negotiate with 22 member MMA group to form a bigger senate alliance
Mar28--Pakistans biggest lender Japan reschedules $4.5 billion of pakistans debt...
Mar28--Even the MQM refuses to support the LFO despite being proteges of musharaf..
Mar28--Despite the PMLq and parliament being unanimous in their opposition to musharaf and the LFO musharaf refuses to restore the constitution and quit...In such a situation the elections and parliament become a total farce with all powers still concentrated in musharaf...
Mar28--The US parachutes troops into the northern kurdish areas of iraq after the turks refused land access unless they were allowed to takeover the iraqi kurdish areas which the US refused to allow...
Mar28--Irrigation water shortages have almost been ended says IRSA and punjab and sindh to get almost their entire allocation of 34MAF and 29 MAF
Mar27--18 pakistani soldiers killed in a jeep accident in kashmir..
Mar27--pakistan and india test short range missiles
Mar27--The US bombs a busy market in baghdad killing 15...a tactic used often by US bombers to destroy enemies public morale and movements
Mar26--As the US death toll rises to 18 the US moves past nasiriyah and controls umm al qasr and basrah...despite blinding sandstorms baghdads defences are pounded as the US closes in on baghdad...
mar25--60000 die of tuberculosis every year in pakistan despite known and available treatments
mar25--PTV to have a new managing director as Yusuf Mirza fired for incompetence..Dawn suggests that samina pirzada and mohammed mallick being considered ...
Mar25--The US invasion of iraq has been slowed by events in basra and nasiriyah while they have arrested over 2000 iraqis...the iraqis have downed an apache helicopter and captured six americans and killed over a dozen..a dozen others died in accidents
mar24--Australia win the world cup as a foolish ganguly wins the toss and puts them into bat...The australians pile up 359 and the indians are unable to even compete at this level...
Mar23--Fighting rages around, basra, nasiriyah and umm al qasr in the south of iraq...
Mar22--US bombing of baghdad and invasion of iraq continues..
mar21--US bombs baghdad and starts land invasion from the north and south
Mar21--Seniors dropped as a new one day cricket team comprising failures and undependables is selected..rashid latif, youhanna, naved lateef, muhammed hafeez, saleem elahi, taufik umar, misbahul haq, younis khan, faisal iqbal, abdul razzak, naveed ul hassan, shoaib malik, mohd sami, mohammed zahid, umar gul and danish kaneria.....yasser arafat, farhan adil, saeed bin nasr, abdur rauf amongst those ignored...
mar20--group of karachiites aamer sohail, saleem yusuf,shoaib mohammed, farrukh zaman become new cricket selectors alongwith failed shafiq papa
mar20--Airmarshal kaleem saadat who ran teh airforces personnel deptt surprisingly made new airforce chief...
mar20--The war against iraq begins with an air attack...
mar20--pakistan reappoint rashid lateef and miandad as captain and coach...rashid latif who has been diagnosed with a back problem had effectively retired and his performance in teh world cup was dismal
Mar19--The foreign direct investment rose to $630 million as compared to $245 million in the July-feb 2003
Mar18--The US loses in the UN and decides to start a war against iraq anyway...
Mar17--pakistan to get around $400 million in 2003-2004 from teh US
Mar17--Nusrat Bhutto suffers stroke in dubai and condition stated tobe serious..
Mar16--Wasim sajjad becomes PMLq leader in the senate...
Mar16--Another al qaeda leader arrested in lahore
Mar16--Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao take over in China as Jiang Zemin loses majority support but still remains military chief with 98 votes and 122 abstentions...
Mar16--Petroleum prices raised by teh jamali government yet again...petrol price now an astronomic Rs37.11 per litre with diesel at Rs26 per liter...
Mar16--Bush declares war on iraq as he goes to teh azores to meet with two european primeministers to discuss war strategy...
Mar16--US waives democracy related economic sanctions while military sanctions are still in place..pakistan had already been receiving US economic aid after sept11...
Mar14--The opposition in the pakistan assemblies could adopt a measure to rotate the position of opposition leaders between various parties...The PPPP, PMLn and MMA have been unable to decide on the position of a unified opposition leader although they have been cooperating on some issues...
Mar14--North Korea said to have a weapons grade plutonium plant and an enriched uranium plant both of which could produce weapons grade material enough for a few nuclear bombs within months...
Mar14--Seven killed in imambargah stampede in sorgodha
Mar14--The US lost any chance of a majority vote on a new UN resolution on iraq as the threat of a russian/french veto and the wavering of support from countries such as pakistan, chile, mexico, cameroon, angola and guinea...
Mar13--The government has reached an agreement with Akber Bugti on contentious gas matters...acording to teh agreement free gas will be provided within a three mile radius of teh sui gas fields and 70 percent bugtis would be hired...
Mar13--The opposition which was expected to stage some sort of protest over teh illegally amended constitution did so by taking the oath but boycotting the election of teh senate chairman...The opposition alleges that the senate chairmans election was stage managed by teh ISI and Mohd Mian Soomru literally a non politician with no personal support base was made the chairman...the PMLq had to contend with a vice chairman in commander khalilur rehman...The JI also alleged that teh government had kidnapped its mna's during the fata senate election...
Mar13--The constitution has been revived and if it is the original constitution than musharaf stands retired and a new president has tobe elected...However the LFO should be dealt with quickly to end the military occupation of the presidency....
Mar12--A former ISI chief suggests that the pakistan govt had arrested khalid sheikh several months ago and might also know where other al qaeda leaders are hidden...The pakistani ISI is known to have a mixed up thinking process and might have allowed al qaeda leaders the freedom to live in pakistan until needed...
Mar11--it seems that teh Supreme Court has also had a change of brains alongwith the military govt...While the military govt saw wealth amongst non faujis as illegally acquired the SC has suspended property seizures in two PML related personalities. Ayub Afridi the US indicted drugs smuggler has also been issued a passport for Hajj...!!
Mar11--The dollar which has been blocked from a freefall by the State bank could fall to as low Rs55 if the government decides that dollar reserves are more than enough...The government policy on the dollar has been to support the dollar lobby and specific personal interests...
Mar11--The LFO issue assumed serious proportions as the national assembly was recessed as the opposition protests continued while zafarullah jamali thought that capitulating on iraq might serve as an appeasement..As in the national assembly opposition senators too will refuse take an oath under the LFO...In the national assembly the oath was taken under the unamended constitution...
Mar11--As russia and france decide to veto a un resolution on iraq... pakistan decides to oppose a war on iraq...
Mar10--Rana Sanaullah the deputy opposition leader in the punjab assembly was thrown onto the motorway after severe torture and shaving of his head and moustaches...It is assumed that either the punjab police or ISI goons were involved...
Mar10--The ANP has expelled three of its mpa's after they revolted in the senate vote..How they won two senate seats with seven members is difficult to comprehend...?? The PPP on the other hand has refused to expel its nwfp and sindh members who voted against party candidates...
Mar10--The PPP which has an ambivalent attitude towards musharaf and the LFO has finally clarified that they donot favour an army/LFO tainted democracy
Mar10--Huge MMA gathering in rawalpindi against US war against iraq
Mar10--The PMLq's anti democratic attitude viz the LFO and musharaf is being seen by many as their achilles heel as the opposition pressurizes them to bring the army imposed laws to parliament for review..
Mar09--The punjab assemblies deputy opposition leader was apparently picked up by ISI ghundas for anti army speeches in the assembly...?
Mar09--According to chaudhry shujaat the PMLq has agreed to discuss the issues of the national security council, article 58-2b and musharaf's anomalous attitude of refusing to retire from teh army despite reaching the age of retirement and the election of a really elected president...!!!
Mar08--pakistan received $891 as compensation after the sept11 incident and debt rescheduling of $12.5 billion since Dec, 2001
Mar08--The pakistani opposition in the national assembly successfully stopped proceedings and agreed to hold talks outside the assembly on the issue of teh LFO..PMLq supreme leader chaudhry shujaat whose speech was drowned out by chants of "no LFO no" and "go musharaf go" later said that they would urge musharaf to give up his attempts at military dictatorship and restore teh constitution...
Mar07--Pakistan has begun the process of handing over nuclear tipped missiles to its armed forces after India refused to start negotiations on kashmir...Pakistans retaliation against future indian threats could be nuclear...
Mar07--The inarticulate Zafarullah Jamali who seems to support the illegal/undemocratic intrusion of the military into constitution making seems to have no proper response to the oppositions refusal to accept the LFO...The PMLq is now falling back on behind the scenes negotiations on teh LFO after failing to dent the opposition on teh issue...The only solution to teh issue is a legally elected president who could than be given such powers by a legal constitutional amendment....
Mar06--Concusions reached in pakistan suggest that Ossama is still alive while others suggest that ossama was actually an undercover operative of the CIA and used to transmit information about al qaeda thru open speeches....
Mar06--Four ministers Sherpao, Faisal saleh, Liaqat ali jatoi, and Sheikh rashid are still on teh exit control list...
Mar06--In what many see as a triumph for democracy over military dictatorship the opposition in the national assembly returned the LFO copies of teh constitution and vowed to defend the original constitution by bringing the assembly to a standstill thru loud protests...
Mar05--The illegally amended LFO constitution has yet to reach the national assembly for what seems tobe an aimless discussion as teh PMLq prefers military supervision to a peoples government...The speaker who seems tobe a chauvinist male has been accused by women members of not allowing them to speak...The PMLq is fast losing any supposed public support and unless it shows that it can remove musharaf and bring in a civilian president its image will suffer further as a military stooge which really does not understand governance...They have already fallen back to the military economics formula of raising prices whenever in trouble
Mar04--Army major arrested from kohat in connection with al qaeda links and possible destruction of airforce plane...was the airforce fokker downed with a missile...
Mar04--The jamali government is going to increase airfares , gas and electricity prices
Mar03--massive MMA rally in karachi against the USA as Qazi Hussein Ahmed calls for friendship with India...
Mar03--Khalid Sheikh supposedly the Sept 11 mastermind arrested in rawalpindi and handed over to the USA...!!!
Mar03--Police and administration begin preperations to deal with muharram disturbances
Mar02--Turkey rejects US forces on its soil
mar02--rangers official dies in landmine explosion during patrolling of gas pipeline near Rajanpur
Mar02--A gas pipeline was blown up near Ghotki
Mar01--Sindh assembly falls into its usual anti punjab mode and passes a useless resolution against the thal canal...
Mar01--As christina rocca arrives in pakistan three are killed in US consulate shooting in karachi...
Mar01--Fata member suggests that nwfp governor had him kidnapped to influence senate voting...
Mar01--The Jamali govt which had promised lower prices raises oil prices again and again...petrol is now Rs36 per litre