PMLN Picks the Game Up

Pakistan Muslim League (N) has literally started to change everything in the country now as the street of Pakistan and especially Punjab is briskly moving towards PMLN now. On Sunday, the party held three massive public shows and all in cities polls apart. One of them was in Hazara, where Mian Nawaz Sharif went to see his candidate in Havelian near Abbotabad. It was a massive show and there were thousands present at the occasion, although it was just a visit but still the gathering was massive and it is a proof that PMLN has immense support in the Hazara division still. During the past couple of years, it was being rumored that PMLN has lost support in these areas after the Hazara province fiasco but the recent public gathering in Mansehra was a proof enough that there is no support lost by the party. Yesterday again, when Mian Nawaz Sharif went to Havelian, there was tremendous support shown by the people of the constituency and though it was an unannounced show, the turnout was massive.

But the real show was staged in Murree which is a popular hill station of North Punjab and has been a stronghold of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a PML N stalwart. The village showed spectacular support that bewildered many. It was one of the biggest public gatherings ever witnessed by the streets of Murree. The speech made by Mian Nawaz Sharif was catchy and in his particular engaging style, he promised a lot of things and reminded people of the several projects that were completed by his past governments. He announced to make a hospital in Murree and promised that it would be equipped with the modern facilities and the services would be good enough that people even from Karachi and Lahore would come to Murree for their treatment.

The show was simply brilliant and the responsiveness of the crowd was evidence that people are rready to support the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) with all their heart and soul on the Election Day. But there was yet another show in Swat which was led by Amir Muqam and though it was over-shadowed by the three huge shows of the main leaders of the party but there were still enough people in the gathering led by Amir Muqam that could outnumber the gatherings of other parties by a big margin.

Another massive show of power was staged in Lahore where the former Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shehbaz Sharif led a huge rally throughout the city. He visited parts of almost every constituency of the city and the tremendous support and love showed by the people of Lahore was a result of what he has done during the past five years. His brilliant track record has won over Lahore again and after Sunday’s rally, there is air of PMLN being felt everywhere. Shehbaz Sharif was received warmly in all the constituencies as crowds chanted slogans in PML (N)’s favor.

The Jaranwala “Jalsa” was a massive one on Saturday and the stream continued on Sunday as well and was carried forward on to Monday as well. A gigantic public gathering was held in Okara today and it was probably one of the greatest public gatherings in the history of the city. The victory of PML-N can be sensed and a proof can be Imran Khan’s slip of the tongue in Chakwal Jalsa today where he asked the public to vote for Lion in the coming elections mistakenly. It is a proof that he is under stress and PMLN is on his nerves. Final decision will be on 11^th of May but the massive support of PMLN in public meetings is quite a substantiation that Nawaz Sharif is going to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Should we Dance about it?

We have been listening about the intra party elections that were held in one of the parties out of the several that are registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan. It is strange that the party boasted its election campaign as something that was never heard of in the history of the country and scores of TV ads and campaigns on Social Media and mainstream media were seen. Billions were spent on the advertisements that showed some people living in some suburbs of the country who were made presidents of certain Union Councils. Amazingly, media remained silent on the matter as it was being served with millions of rupees for their airtime in the peak hours by the said party.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a blatant lie that PTI is the only party in the country that had an election held within its ranks because it is impossible to get an election symbol from the Election Commission of Pakistan unless and until a party does not get the party elections held. Jamat-e-Islami is famous for having conducted the intra party elections for years and is lauded by even its worst critics for that. When countered with this fact, the trolls of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would tell you that they are a small party and theirs is the only “mainstream” party to have achieved this hallmark. God knows what makes them wonder that they are a mainstream party with having only one seat in the seventeen years of existence in the National Assembly and that too with the help of Pervez Musharraf in 2002.

But coming back to the intra party elections, the very claim that PTI is the only party in Pakistan to have conducted them is misleading as they already agree that Jamat-e-Islami conducts them on regular basis. Now let me tell you about the intra party elections that are held in the actual mainstream party Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). It was a long exercise that PMLN had to go through and thousands of party workers participated from all parts of the country in these elections. It took them some eighteen months to conduct the entire party elections and choose all the leadership from bottom to the top. They had to face the same problems as PTI had to face as there were defections from the party, people got angry with the leadership, there were allegations of favoritism and so on and so forth but the fact is that they were held.

There were some serious issues that the party had to face in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwah. Some of the main leaders of the party were blamed and some expressed serious reservations as well. Even veteran PML-N leader from Sindh Ghous Ali Shah expressed displeasure with some leaders within the party. SarAnjam Khan in KPK was unhappy with some things and had developed distances with the leadership but nothing held the PML (N) back from holding the elections. In the end, Nawaz Sharif, as expected, got elected as the President of Pakistan Muslim League (N) just like Imran Khan got elected as the leader of his party i.e. unopposed.

It is a mistake on PMLN’s part that it did not highlight the intra-party elections but then again, who knew it was something that should be celebrated in a fashion that is not seen even when parties win general elections. It was just a normal thing, like everyone breathes or drinks water or anything that is natural. Yes, it was something special for PTI, no doubt, because in seventeen years of its political life, it was the first time they had had an elections in their party. It was natural for them to be jubilant because they were being oppressed for so long but telling others that they are superior for having conducted an election in their party is not only a false claim but also a lie that can be caught without doing any hard work. Just Google PMLN intra-party elections and you can find the results. What makes people dance about it?

Gallup Survey – PMLN in Comfortable Position

As expected the latest Gallup survey has surfaced and it has indicated the same as almost every ground political worker could see. The Gallup has not yet released the results officially but the findings have been shared with few selected journalists and one of them was Umar Cheema who tweeted the results earlier today. It was interesting to see that the results were quite similar to the ones that were released last month and as the elections are drawing nearer and nearer, the upsurge in the PMLN popularity is also becoming evident and it seems quite clear now on the ground situation that PML-N clearly has the edge over the rest of the parties.

In fact, the total votes of PPP, PML-Q and MQM combined are much less than those of PMLN. And as it has been observed that some of the constituencies where PPP and PML-Q have not been able to reach any consensus can well be an easy prey for the PMLN. Despite all the media hype, PTI, led by former Pakistan Cricket Captain Imran Khan stayed at third position at both national and provincial level. Looking at the exact results of the Gallup survey, PMLN really looks strong in Punjab and KPK as well as Federation.

“Gallup-Pakistan Survey March 2013: 39% to vote for #PMLN, 18% #PPP, 7% #PTI and 5% #PMLQ. Conducted for Int'l Org, not publicly released.”

This was the tweet by Umar Cheema and it is quite evident that the PMLN has great prospects in the upcoming elections. On the other hand, there is news circulating on media today that Sikandar Hayaat Bosan who hails from Multan has joined PMLN and will be contesting elections of PMLN ticket. This will certainly be a huge dent in the PTI South Punjab chapter, if found true. There have already been rumors for quite some time that the Legharis of Dera Ghazi Khan will be contesting independently and although the same was being said about Bosan but the latest developments seem to be a bit different. The reports were coming from Multan ever since Sikander’s brother Shaukat Bosan had contested independently and PMLN had given him complete support.

The trends right now show that PMLN is certainly has gained a lot of political weight during the past few months and the recent public meetings of Mian Nawaz Sharif also reflect the public mood. Last year in November when bi-elections were held in 7 different constituencies of Punjab, PMLN won 6 out of them and almost on all the seats, there was a good increase evident in their vote bank. Other parties certainly need to work hard to beat the PML N in the coming election and PMLN would of course want to carry on with the momentum that it had gained through the bi-elections held last year.

Kashmiri Jihadi Forces Working From Within Pakistan – PTI Manifesto

It is a fact that the manifestos of the parties are the reflection of their ideologies and the basic document that tells what actually the party thinks about the problems of the country and what, according to those parties, are the solutions of those problems. One of the biggest issues that Pakistan faces right now is Terrorism and those who know the impacts of terrorism in the country would agree with me that not only Pakistan is losing lives of its soldiers and civilians but also losing a lot of business opportunities. It is extremely difficult to convince investors to invest in a country like Pakistan where their businesses do not even have the surety of being safe.

It is a known fact that the terrorists are being funded from outside and evidences have been shared a number of times by the security forces that there is a foreign hand involved in the terrorism in Pakistan. Some time ago, the same evidences were shared by the Pakistani Prime Minister in Sharm al Sheikh with the Indian Prime Minister. Raymond Davis is also a well-known agent who was living in Pakistan and came to surface only when he was able to kill two Pakistani boys near Mozang in Lahore. He was later handed over by the ISI chief General Pasha to the USA.

Now another conspiracy has surfaced as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a political party led by the cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan. It is strange that despite posing himself off as anti-America, Mr. Khan has been toeing the policy of the Americans on the Kashmir issue. It is even stranger that Mr. Khan, when gives interview, to the Pakistani media, talks about the sufferings that Pakistanis have had to face during the past few years due to the drone attacks on the Taliban, he said in an interview with Indian TV channel Kashmir should be put on back-burner. “Free media of Pakistan” that never let go off any other Pakistani politician on any issue, was not able to highlight Imran Khan’s statement given to the Indian TV.

But this time, it has certainly crossed all the limits as the manifesto shared on the official website of PTI clearly says that Jihadis are operating in India from Pakistani soil, which is totally in contrast with the actual situation. Reality is that it is India instead that has been harboring the terrorists and supporting them in Baluchistan. Evidences shared in Sharm al Sheikh also proved the same.

It is also worth-mentioning here that it is not the first time Mr. Khan has gone against the facts in favoring India. When his auto-biography was published, named “Pakistan: A Personal History” he had played in quite a fishy manner as the Pakistan’s map shown in the books published in Pakistan had Kashmir in it but the international version had no Kashmir in Pakistani map.

But mentioning in the manifesto is more serious as previously only Mr. Imran Khan’s personal version was being given but this time it is the entire party that has given its collective wisdom and they believe that Jihadis operate from within Pakistan. This gives a narrative of what this party may do if given power and how it plans to run the affairs of Pakistan. It is a security issue that must be dealt with and the Pakistani nation must keep a close eye on.

PMLN strived to solve Power crises

We often hear the rhetoric that PMLN did nothing to solve the power crises in Pakistan during its latest tenure in Punjab. Here is some truth about the issue.
See for yourself.

Irrigation & Power
During the last four years. Eleven small dams in pothohar area were completed benefiting an area of 20,945 acres. Besides lining of channels for about 515 KMs. Improvement in Drainage and flood protection works for 255 KMs were completed. Some of the major initiatives projects of this sector are as follows:
* Taunsa Barrage Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernization
* Lower Bari Doab Improvement Project
* Punjab Irrigation System Improvement Project (PISIP)
* Construction of Chahan, Sowrra, Arrar, Mughlan and Chera Dam
* Lower Chenab Canal, LCC Part-B
* Punjab Barrages Improvement, Phase-II Project (PBIP-II), Jinnah Barrage
* New Khanki Barrage Construction Project
* Remodeling of SMB Link Canal

Energy

* Renewable Energy Development Programme (REDSIP) Construction of Marala Hydel Power Station (Rs 4 bn) and 4 other hydel stations with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance. Total 86 Mw generation would be possible with these new schemes.
* Coal based power plant of 50 MW being set up at Sundar Industrial Estate.

Article 62 & 63 - ECP’s Aces and the Poor Politicians

Elections are about to be held in Pakistan and of course these elections have great significance in deciding the future course of the country. Though every election and every political process that Pakistan will go through in future will take it a step forward towards the consolidation of the political and democratic bases of this country but the Elections that are to be held on 11^th of May, 2013 are definitely going to be one of the most difficult yet most important elections of Pakistan. Parties are making alliances with each other, accusing others of corruption and also trying to attract the common voter through every possible means.

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) opened its election campaign on 25^th of March in Mansehra in front of a massive crowd while Imran Khan started his campaign with a mammoth Jalsa at Minaar e Pakistan, Lahore. PPP, however, is yet to open the account. But the election season has set in and rumours and constant influx of news has made the life of the media personnel and reporters easy. In fact nobody is bothering to cross check the reports and their authenticity these days. All they need is a report, correct or incorrect.

But what’s happening in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is literally the funniest part so far and the way they have been treating the politicians is certainly fun for many, though the sane minds throughout the country look at them in a different way and most of them term it offensive and even blaming the ECP of conspiring against democracy. All this hue and cry is about the Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution and the main issue is of the fake degrees that were provided by most of the applicants in the 2002 and 2008 elections when it was mandatory for a person to at least be graduate in order to represent the people at National and Provincial levels. Although the clause has now been removed but those who had provided the fake degrees are now being brought to the book for having shown fake degrees previously. They are now ineligible according to the Article 62 that compels a person to be honest in all his dealings in order to be a public representative.

On this issue, almost everyone believes that such people should not only be disallowed from contesting the polls but also given punishments and prisons for having lied to the people and also to the state. But the problems get worse when it goes down to another level. The applicants are being forced to recite all the 6 Holy verses (Kalma) and a prayer (Dua-e-Qunoot) is also being listened and those who are failing the tests are not being allowed to contest the elections. Now, this is something that is not being welcomed by the liberal and secular minded people and they believe it to be irrelevant in managing the affairs of the state while there is the rightist element as well that is totally in favour of the implementation of this clause.

Respectable voices, including renowned human rights activist Asma Jehangir and Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood, have been raised against the practice while on the other side honourable people like Ansar Abbasi and Dr. Shahid Masood believe the practice to be strictly in line with the constitution and also feel that it is necessary for the people who want to represent the people to know about these basics. The arguments of both the sides seem to be strong and it is certainly difficult for a lay man like me to choose a side but still I am trying to analyze it according to my understanding of the matter.

First of all, it is a false belief that most of the people in the country have learnt the 6 Kalmas and Dua-e-Qunoot. It is a fact and I challenge any person in favour of this clause to conduct a survey in any part of the country and hardly 20% would be able to fulfill the requirement. I believe that the person representing the public should be like public. But the counter argument also seems to be valid that the representative must be better in qualities than a normal man and also that it is a constitutional provision so must be fulfilled.

The other problem is that the proceedings are being covered by the media. Now, here I have simply failed figure it out that why is that so. If someone isn’t able to recite the 6 Kalmas then why is it necessary for him to be embarrassed before the public? Isn’t it between him and his God? Why do we need to humiliate him? And then there begins a malicious campaign on the social media against that applicant. Is this how we should be treating people? Is Election Commission a school or a Madrassa where Qari sahib would punish the kid before all the class to teach everyone a lesson? This is certainly not done and every sane mind would definitely condemn such an act, whether it is being done by the ECP or the media. We have no right to humiliate someone for not being able to learn a long verse in a language that he does not even understand.

On fake degrees issue, there is no second opinion. Those people committed a crime, lied to their people, lied to the nation, lied to the state organs and must be humiliated and punished but the other practices th

at are being carried out must be checked. If there is a provision, it must be fulfilled but it does not permit me or anyone to humiliate and disgrace a person on media. Politicians are the easiest targets in any country and same is the case with Pakistan. No other institution in the country goes through such a tough scrutiny process so if I wasn’t asked by my employer about the Dua-e-Qunoot when he hired me, I have no right to humiliate someone who wasn’t able to learn it by heart. It was my luck that I didn’t have to go through that test and I can assure everyone reading these lines that most of us recite Surah Ikhlaas in Isha prayers thrice while offering the Witr.

Now there is another issue. The ECP has added a new box in the ballot paper that will be empty and by checking which the voter will signify that he did not believe any of the candidates of being worthy of his vote. This is another attempt, in my opinion, to prove that Pakistan is not fit for democracy and the minds behind this innovative idea also belong to the same clan that always believed that Pakistanis must be dealt with a stick. It is a fact that politicians are never loved anywhere in the world. There is a large majority that believes no man to be fit enough to represent them and they don’t go to vote. Now instead of making it compulsory for them to vote so that they must choose the least worse of the lot at least, they are being given a choice to show total disapproval of the entire electoral system.

The foundations of the first dent in the credibility of the future government of Pakistan have already been laid. The self-righteous journalists and those who will lose the election will always keep the winners reminding that most of the people of the country did not want the ruling party/parties to be in power. Isn’t it going to discredit the political and democratic process in the country that has been restored after so many sacrifices? I wonder who is advising ECP to invent such wonderful ways of discrediting democracy. However, I should not be wondering about it. We all know who does that.

I seriously feel, and may be blamed for committing blasphemy after sharing my opinion, that this clause must be edited when the new parliament comes into existence. I know it is difficult and all the Mullah Mafia along with all its media and social media warriors who are no angels themselves will wreak havoc throughout the country but the strength of a parliament only lies in its strong decisions. It was a great ploy set for the future politicians of the country by General Zia ul Haque and later added on by General Pervez Musharraf in a completely different way. The two clauses together have knocked out several people from the electoral process and it is the duty of the politicians now to make it workable at least. I am not against the clauses related to truthfulness and honesty but at least the clause that compels the applicants to recite the verses before the ECP should be amended. If it is not compulsory for any other job in the country then politicians should also be exempted.

Right now, the media should be stopped from covering the proceedings and only the end result of the application by a candidate should be shared with the media by the Election Commission of Pakistan. If his application is accepted, the media should be told that he has qualified while if he fails to qualify, the media should just be told that he wasn’t able to fulfill the constitutional requirements and there should be no mention of the reason of his disqualification.

It is hard to be a politician in this country and negative sentiment among the public for this poor political lot is extensive. No further humiliation is required as there is enough already.