The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat There is no way to placate people in Baluchistan , the only way out of this quagmire is to do what Israel has done and establish three garrison towns in interior Baluchistan and populate them each gradually from people all over Pakistan without any one group having any advantage. The population o f these cities should be 2 million each. This will redress balance in the federation . Give Baluchistan more seats in the National assembly and there will more tax payers in Baluchistan . This will increase the size of cake for all provinces to be shared. Highways should be built to connect all major cites of the province to Islamabad . Every city with a population of 500,000 should have a major university. Pakistan must learn from Turkish experience and not fool herself into thinking that by simply giving in to demands would change anything. Related Posts: 1. Balochistan - Troubles Of A Demographic Nature 2.Why Gwadar Must Not Be Abandoned Like A B...

By Sikander Hayat Every day, I read stories about " Dangerous Pakistan " but then people say something which forces you to think if journalism is just about lying and propaganda or there is some other purpose to the exercise as well. What caught my eye was an opinion piece saying that Iraq is safer than Pakistan and I must ask this question, how? Is it because people in Pakistan lawyers are protesting on the streets? Is it because there are no green zones in Pakistan ? Is it because there is no active Shia Sunni Conflict going on in Pakistan? Is it because of above 7% GDP growth rate sustained over last eight years? May be it is because Pakistan is not divided into Kurdish, Shia and Sunni regions which are mutually hostile. We must think before writing, before going on this path of gutter journalism, writing about a place where we have never been. I have seen plenty of states declared "failed" when hostile to America and "booming" when friends with Ame...

By Sikander Hayat Turks must abandon European dream as they have rejected again and again by Europeans . They must understand that they are too big and powerful for the EU to allow them in and by this time they must understand that not matter how secular they are or strive to be, the tag of being a Muslim country is hampering their dream. They must leave this notion and try to revive RCD so that Turkey, Iran and Pakistan can create an economic and ever closer political union and with 300 million people, this would be the most respected economic zone in the world. There are pre-requisites to this zone being established and must be fulfilled before anything like this could happen. In Pakistan, military must relinquish the rule and give the country back to civilians, Iran must get rid of its mullah regime to establish a secular forward looking Islamic country and Turkey must forget about being the member of the EU ( there must be a limit to humiliation). All three tasks are the ...

By Sikander Hayat Finally, after so many days of pain, I have today heard what I should have heard a long time ago. Elections have been announced and not too late either. People of Pakistan will be given a chance to elect their representatives and if the elections are fair then the result would be a happy and prosperous Pakistan. President Musharaf has made the right decision in removing the judges who were violating the limits of judiciary and instead of interpreting law and leaving law making to Parliament; they were trying to do all three roles. Now the main thing to see is how parliament or new judiciary can help in rolling back the emergency while keeping the good aspects (removal of judges) intact. The first way is that parliament reconvenes and enshrines the PCO in law by two third majority; this can only happen if PPPP and PML (Q) can join forces. Second way is that Supreme Court of Pakistan rules in favour of President so that he can keep the uniform and 58 (2B), which...

By Sikander Hayat I am confused as I try to write the words for this entry as my minds go numb every time my fingers go towards the keyboard and nothing seems to matter anymore no matter how grave it is. The topic which I had in mind was the update on the situation in Pakistan but it seems that not writing about it may be an antidote and a stabilising effect on my mind and my being. It is true that sometimes events have the power to overawe, be they the ordinary people or nations and my personal situation is not very much different from this country as I am starting to believe that just forgetting may solve my problems. People have the power to change what is divine and my people have decided to break what many think is divine. The reason? Well, reason exactly is that some people (read Jihadists) have taken it upon themselves to make this country the part of the “ God’s Empire ” at any cost. This may be something to do with overreaction on their part to stop the people who...

By Sikander Hayat These days it is a custom to present every event in catastrophic terms and the imposition of emergency in Pakistan is just such an event. Throughout its history, Pakistan has seen all sorts of upheavals as any self respecting country would. People seem to forget that every great nation in the world has gone through centuries of extreme blood sheds. For example United States went through a brutal Civil War ( between Confederates & Unionists ), after wiping out all the indigenous red Indian population and it was not until the end of 2nd world war that it became increasingly successful in economic terms and in political terms . In France, revolution after revolution spilled blood and gave this country a fertile ground from where the roots of present bliss get their energy from. France is going through its fifth republic and no one seems to mind the constitutional changes which happen each time a republic collapse in France. I can go on and on but my poin...

By Sikander Hayat I do sincerely hope that this emergency is short lived and goes away tommorow as not even in my wildest dreams I was envisaging a situation where both sides have point. Both are trying to get to a position of calm but both are pushing the country into abyss of anarchy. We shall see. Related Articles 1.  Pakistan Army Must Not Intervene In The Current Crisis - Who To Blame For the Present Crisis in Pakistan ? 2.  Azad Kashmir - Is China Taking Extra Interest In Kashmir? 3.  Doomed Israel Palestine Peace Process – There is Only One Possible Solution & That Is One State Solution HOME

By Sikander Hayat Life in Pakistan is going through a period of turmoil and President has called a state of emergency but I do not believe it will solve anything in the long run. The country is so polarised between those who favour him and those who want him dead one way or the other that life may be never the same in this country of 160 million people. Every one is on someone else’s payroll as NGOs get paid and do the bidding of western countries generally and USA especially and islamists who get paid by Iran in the case of Shia militants and Saudi Arabia in the case of Sunnis . The land of Pakistan is being used to do battles of which the people of this country are not the part of. Pakistani soldiers are being asked to kill their own people in the name of War on Terror without understanding the consequences of such actions on the ordinary Pakistanis in the form of collateral damage and lost hearts and minds. Today I am feeling very depressed about this situation as the c...