The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat Supreme Court of Pakistan has reinstated Mr Shahbaz Sharif, who is the brother of Nawaz Sharif and memeber of Pakistan Muslim League ( Nawaz) as the Chief Minister of Punjab. This is a very good development as it will bring much needed stabilty to the law and order situation in Punjab especially in the light of yesterday's attack in Lahore. Governor rule in Punjab was a mistake and I have said that in my previous posts as well. During this governor rule in Punjab, there were two major attacks on Lahore which dealt a major blow to law and order situation in the province. Transfers of senior security officers from their posts were partially responsible for the above mentioned security lapses. I do hope that now Salman Taseer will be removed from his post or at least he will be told to shut up in future for the stability of the country. There is a need now to focus on the enemies of Pakistan both on the eastern front, the western front and those enemies which are amo

By Sikander Hayat President Asif Ali Zardari has declared the end of governer rule in Punjab. It is a very good development as it will lead to political stabilty in the largest province of Punjab. It will also lead to political reconciliation in Pakistan between Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan Peoples Party.

President Asif Ali Zardari is adressing the joint session of Pakistani legislature today and big expectations have been associated with this address.

By Sikander Hayat It seems that PPP has still not learnt the lesson and it is acting as if nothing happened on 15th March on the streets of Pakistan. The party will be wise to learn from its mistakes and salvage some pride by requisitioning the Punjab assembly and asking the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to form the government as the largest party in the house. Salman Taseer should be asked to resign and a new governor should be appointed by the federal government. It must be said that Salman Taseer has on his own delivered a fatal blow to chances of PPP winning elections in Punjab in the short to medium term. Whatever credibility PPP had before 15th March is no longer there and people of Pakistan are sick of being treated as ignorant fools. PPP must respect PML (N) mandate in Punjab and PML (N) must respect PPP’s mandate at the federal level to make sure that the present assemblies complete their term in office and the after five years, let the people decide who they want as their r

By Sikander Hayat Long March was an unmitigated success for all Pakistanis from Khyber to Karachi and it showed in their reaction to the speech made by the prime minister Yusuf Raza Gillani. At the same time some people like Fazal-Ur-Rehman tried to give the impression that a party from Punjab (PML(N)) is trying to force the hand of a party from Sindh. We all know that it was a vile accusation as this was a movement started by lawyers from all parts of the country and PML ( N) was just one of many parties which were part of the Long March. Keeping that in mind, I still think that enemies of Pakistan can utilise this lack of a party ( which has a universal appeal in all parts of the country and which contest elections on issues not the ethnicity) and harm us in future. We need a party which has an equal influence in all four provinces of Pakistan because currently PPP has become a party of Sindh and PML(N) has become a party of Punjab. Imran Khan looks promising but he is good at ag

Raisani is meeting deposed chief minister of Punjab at the moment to discuss the further terms of reconcilitation between PPP and PML (N).

By Sikander Hayat Zardari is on a slippery slop at the movement as he has just been forced by the masses to restore the judiciary but what the future holds for him is even worse. Pakistan Peoples Party promised at the time of election that it will restore the powers of the Prime Minister’s office which were expunged by the former dictator Pervez Musharaf. These powers include the power to dissolve the national assembly and to appoint the army chief but so far Zardari has tried run the country from the president’s house instead of returning any powers to the prime minister. Surely, the pressure will build up now to give those powers back to the right full owner in the light of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan. Mr Asif Ali Zardari will try to fight this off as well but may not succeed as people of Pakistan are in no mood for allow anyone to veer away from the democratic path as they shown on the 15th March 2009. Although many challenges remain but this was a sweet moment for Pakistanis

Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Ifikhar Muhammad Choudhry has been reinstated. The government which was under intense pressure from the civil society, lawyers and PML (N) buckled under pressure and put the Chief justice back in office. He will start work on 22nd March 2009.

By Sikander Hayat Another day of agony and despair as Pakistanis live through a period of uncertainty but still I believe that army must not intervene in this crisis. These are the kind of circumstances when army need to show their resolve of not meddling in the political sphere of the country. No doubt that there will be people in the corridors of power and beyond who will be urging the army to step in and ‘save’ the country but let me tell you that country will only be saved if army stays away and let the politicians decide the future of the country, even if it means that there will be clashes on the streets of Islamabad. With free media in place, people are watching with open eyes the parts being played by each and every individual in this current saga. They know who is right and who is wrong and they will eventually decide who stays in power when the next general election comes. Who said that democracy was and orderly and pretty business ; it is anything but. Democracy

Sherry Rehman has resigned from her post as information minister after Geo TV was banned across the country by President Asif Ali Zardari.

A new low has been reached by the so called democratic government of Pakistan which has tried to stiffle speech by banning Geo TV throughout the country. In a step taken out of Musharraf's book, Asif Zardari has himself tunrned into a dictator.

BY SIKANDER HAYAT I have written before and there is a need for me to write it again that Mr Asif Ali Zardari has done what no other in Pakistan Peoples Party could do and that is to fight for the same people against whom founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party Zulfikar Ali Bhutto fought against and eventually gave his life. People Party was a party which stood for the oppressed and marginalised, which promised ‘roti,kapra or makaan’ to the masses and which fought for the right of the people to protest. To protest against the injustice of the state, to protest against the overbearing establishment and protest for the right to protest. Mr Zardari has shown that he is not capable of handling the party which was once lead by a giant like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto let alone lead a country of 160 million people. He has shown himself to be an incompetent ruler who has turned the running of government into a small time business. He acts like someone who is most comfortable in a smoke filled drawing

Ali Ahmad Kurd has started a sit-in at Sindh Balochistan border as he has been stopped from entering Sindh by Sindh police so that he cannot travel any further towards Islamabad.

Senior lawyer Ali Ahmad Kurd has been stopped outside Sindh so that he cannot travel towards Islamabad for the sit in outised the parliament.

By Sikander Hayat ‘Long March’ in Pakistan? What is all the fuss about? Why are people shouting ‘insaaf’ on the streets of Balochistan, Sindh, Pakhtunkhwa, Northern Areas, Punjab & Azad Kashmir. I now know what it is all about. I was just an observer until yesterday. It was yesterday when my father Mr Khizer Hayat Sandhu was arrested in Lahore while he was leading a contingent of Pakistan Muslim League workers for a ‘Long March’ towards Islamabad. His crime was to ask for reinstatement of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ( who was sacked by the dictator Pervez Musharraf for being too good at his job). My father (who contested elections on behalf of Pakistan Muslim League for the Punjab provincial assembly) is not the only one incarcerated as there are many who are facing state brutality and persecution just because they want to restore rule of law in the republic of Pakistan. Mr Asif Ali Zardari, with your actions against the same people who helped elect you as president,

Liaqat Baloch has said in Lahore that Pakistani leaders are giving in to the demands of the foreigners and letting their own people down. Liaqat Baloch is the leader of the right wing Jamat-e-Islami and is taking part in the Long March for the restoration of judiciary ( which was sack by Pervez Musharaf) on 16th March.

By Sikander Hayat It has been claimed that about 27 memebers of Nawaz League will support PPP in any government formation in Punjab. PPP has promised to bring this people in front of the camera soon.

BY SIKANDER HAYAT Today, I am thinking about writing on the issue of Balochistan and its delicate ethnic balance but first here are some facts about the demographic situation in Balochistan. According to various sourses on the web, “Balochistan has a population of around 10 million inhabitants. Overall, the Baloch and Brohi tribes comprise 50% of the province's population. The rest are mainly Pashtuns, Hazaras and Sindhis. Baloch are concentrated in the sparsely populated north-west, west, east and south; Brohis in the centre of the province, while the Pashtuns are the majority in the north. Quetta, the capital of the province, has a Pashtun majority with Baloch, Hazaras and Punjabi minorities. Near the Kalat region and other parts of the province there are significant numbers of Brahui speakers. Along the coast various Makrani Balochis predominate. In addition, 769,000 Afghan refugees can be found in the province including Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Hazaras. Many Sindhi farmers have

BY SIKANDER HAYAT I hope that today’s verdict by the Supreme Court to declare Nawaz Sharif & Shahbaz Sharif ineligible from the electoral politics of Pakistan has not been taken on the behest of President Asif ali Zardari. If Mr Zardari was involved in any way in this debacle by the judiciary (which was appointed by Mr Musharraf and widely seen as corrupt and incompetent) then I foresee a long period of political disharmony in Pakistan. Pakistan cannot afford any such situation at the moment but it seems that it is the writing on the wall that long march on Islamabad, called by the lawyers movement and Imran Khan’s justice party, will lead to the kind of instability which is an ideal breeding ground for the fundamentalist forces the likes of which are operating currently in North West Pakistan. Mr Zardari’s reign so far has been that of broken promises on judiciary, political reconciliation and high incompetency in handling events related to foreign relations. Leaving Mumbai debacl

Sufi Muhammad, born in Dir, is the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a Pakistani militant organisation with Wahabi and Deobandi leanings (declared a terrorist outfit and banned in 2002) vying for implementation of Sharia in Swat and Malakand Division. It operates mainly in the Dir, Swat, and Malakand districts of North-West Frontier Province. He is the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who assumed the leadership of TNSM during Muhammad's imprisonment. During the 1980s Sufi Muhammad actively participated in Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1992 he split from the group to form TNSM. Sufi Muhammad remained in prison until 2008 when he agreed in talks with the chief minister of the NWFP to use his influence to work towards peace in the region. Maulana Sufi Muhammad took part in negotiations with the government that led to the announcement of a temporary ceasefire in the Malakand region on February 16, 2009. The Pakistani government agreed to allow the implementation of Sha