The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat Lyari is considered one of the most dangerous places in Karachi due to ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry; certain areas of the town are literally controlled by gangs and municipal authorities have no power. Hence, the town has also been the site of many police operations. The two biggest gang leaders in Lyari were Rehman Dakait and Arshad Pappu, who were the most-wanted criminals in Karachi. Rehman Dakait died in a police operation and allegations about that police encounter are still flying around. Lyari is considered as the most backward area. Few schools, no proper hospitals, poor water system, not much facilities, broken roads are a feature of this area and made it the most dangerous place in Karachi.Last few days have seen the level of violence in Lyari go up to previously unseen levels. There has been so much bloodshed in Lyari because of a dangerous mix of politics, gangland activity, narcotic trade and ethnic animosity between the Bal

By Sikander Hayat It is true that Musharaf was the first person to really take a keen interest in the development of Gwadar and he was probably taking personal interest in the city of Gwadar to make it an industrial and tourist destination. Musharaf was an army man but not all of his ideas were bad. It can be argued that Gwadar in general and Baluchistan in particular have been neglected under democratic governments and it took an army man in the form of Pervaiz Musharaf to kick start the development projects in Baluchistan. Gwadar was the poster child of this development idea. Building the coastal highway to join Gwadar with Karachi was a master stroke and starting the port construction was another major step towards the right direction. Where he went wrong was the lack of consultation with the local stakeholders and tried to force feed development to Gwadar people. Locals thought of the project as a colonisation attempt by the federal government and balked at the idea of increase in

By Sikander Hayat 7th National Finance Commission Award has been signed into agreement today in the port city of Gwadar, Baluchistan. Punjab and Federal Government have given up some of their share to meet the needs of Baluchistan and NWFP. This is a historic occasion for Pakistan because it is first time that all federating units have reached consensus without any major disagreements. A new formula has been devised to distribute resources among the centre and the federating units. Under the award population will be given 82 per cent weightage, poverty 10.3 per cent, revenue collection five per cent (2.5 per cent revenue generation, 2.5 per cent revenue collection) and area 2.7 per cent. Under the new NFC Award, the federation met the demand of the provincial governments for a greater share in national resources. The provincial share of the divisible pool would increase from 47.5 per cent to 56 per cent in the first year of NFC and 57.5 per cent in the remaining years of the Award. Un

By Sikander Hayat Why is everyone so hell bent on removing a democratically elected president by any means possible. Is it not the job of the people of Pakistan to decide after another three years to give their verdict on the performance of this president. Zardari has made mistakes but has spent eleven years in jail and nothing has been proved against him yet. Please give democracy a chance so that people from Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan can keep their trust in the federation. PML (N) & PML (Q), both Punjabi dominated parties, are asking for Zardari's resignation on moral grounds but what about houses in Park Lane London and businesses in Spain. Now Nawaz Sharif is trying to pretend that he is the cleanest person in Pakistan. They are all corrupt but it is only the job of the people to tell who should be running the country. I am not a fan of Zardari, I know that he is president because all notable Bhutto’s are dead but I cannot second guess the choice of Pakistani people. Army

By Sikander Hayat Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the founder of Pakistan and today on 25th of December is his birth anniversary. From the day one, there has been an argument in Pakistan about what Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be. A secular state or a theocracy. I believe he wanted neither because Pakistan got its independence from the British in the name of Islam so Islam cannot be sidelined but also it cannot be a theocracy. A theocracy stops the practice of other religions but Pakistan allows it. So what is Pakistan these days. Before the reign of terror by Zia Ul Haq, who used Islam to prolong his dictatorship, Pakistan was quite a liberal country at its heart but Zia robbed Pakistan of her traditional tolerance and instead tried to turned it into a factory for producing Jihadis to fight in the Afghan Jihad against the Soviets. A whole generation of Pakistanis grew up thinking that they are the sole protectors of Islam in the world. They have to fight every oppressor of Muslims in

By Sikander Hayat Asif Ali Zardari is the democratically elected president of Pakistan. People of Pakistan knew about the NRO but still voted for his party. People like Khwaja Asif of Muslim League (Nawaz) are being hypocritical by asking for Mr Zardari’s resignation because his own party leaders were dismissed twice for corruption in the importing of scrap metal and unfair use of power. The same Nawaz Sharif who is untiring in his demands for the rule of law ordered the attack on Supreme Court of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah when his party member on his orders attacked to stop a hearing of a case about the misuse of powers. People like Khawaja Asif must understand that even though his party leader is a billionaire, he still pays about 5000 rupees worth of tax. If Zardari is a crook, than they all are and Sharif brothers are anything but innocent. People who talk about the removal of Asif Ali Zardari must understand is that they are playing with fire by making demands of him and his party w

By Sikander Hayat It seems that we like to talk about democracy a lot. We also like to talk about the supremacy of constitution but what is actually happening is quite contrary to what we like to like to think about aourselves. We alsolike to say that Asif Ali Zardari is a crook, he has a record of corruption matched by very few, he has bank accounts full of Pakistani money spread all over the world, he has appointed ministers who’s past records are dodgy as hell but, and it is a big but, Asif Ali Zardari is an elected president, elected by the parliaments of Pakistan and its provinces. This parliament was elected by the people of Pakistan. Yes, the people of Pakistan elected this parliament and its president. Now either stop talking about the supremacy of people, supremacy of constitution, supremacy of democracy or stop talking about the removal Asif Ali Zardari with all means possible. This is not the way democracies work and certainly a country, where every media person likes to t

By Sikander Hayat Elections in Gilgit Baltistan are keeping the spirits of the Pakistani democrats high as for the first time people of Gilgit Baltistan have been given the right to become a federating unit of Pakistan. These elections are a contest between two major political parties of Pakistan i.e. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) & Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN). Also for the first time MQM is making a strong case for becoming the party of the federation by getting out of it’s stronghold of Karachi and contesting most of the seats in the provincial assembly of Gilgit Baltiustan. It is a very welcome development for the people of Pakistan who want choice and want to vote for parties other than PPP & PMLN. I am amazed to see the total absence of Imran Khan’s Tehrik-e-Insaaf from the scene as it would have been a good opportunity for them to break into a new terrain. It will be a lost opportunity for Imran Khan as he is letting other parties strengthen their bases in Gilgit Baltist

By Sikander Hayat Mr Asif Ali Zardari when will you understand the implications of your actions. Acquiring 300 acres in Islamabad and being a company director while being president of Pakistan is not good game. There are levels of corruption, a low level of corruption is tolerated by many societies because most people believe that minute discrepancies cannot be stopped but the level at which Mr Asif Zardari and his cronies are raking it in, it seems that there is no tomorrow. Benazir Bhutto lost her government twice because of the actions of this one man. Many of the close friends of Benazir Bhutto tried to warn her that her husband’s actions were undermining her credibility but she never listened. Now even that thin veneer of respectively is no longer there and there is nothing between Asif Ali Zardari and his unquenchable thirst for money. Corruption it seems is something that Asif Zardari cannot live without and is looting the country as if there is no tomorrow. Pakistan can ill af

By Sikander Hayat Pakhtunkhwa government has request federal government of Pakistan to link the Eid days in Pakistan with Saudi Arabia. This move has been made to stop the confusion which occurs every year in Pakistan about the actual day of Eid where sometimes it is common to witness Eid on two or three different days in some parts of the country. I believe that it is a very good suggestion and must be discussed further as after all we do talk about Ummah a lot and what better way to have this claim established fully in the conscience of Pakistani nation than by starting every Islamic month with Saudi Arabia. But straight away the rebuttal came from the so called saviours of Islam who slammed this move as un-Islamic and tried to put it down swiftly. My suggestion to these people is that un-Islamic is their behaviour to divide Muslims by giving them different dates to celebrate Eid and to keep letting this happen in future will be a great disservice to Islam in Pakistan and not the o

By Sikander Hayat According to Dawn newspaper “The Northern areas will be renamed to 'Gilgit Baltistan' and will have a province like status, Prime Minister Gilani announced on Saturday. In a special cabinet meeting, the government approved reforms package for the Northern Areas during which the PM stated that the area will be given full autonomy. Gilgit Baltistan will also have its own assembly council with a total of 15 members. There will be a governor, chief minsiter and six other ministers of Gilgit. Pakistan Muslim League - N (PML-N) has welcomed the approval of self-governance for the Northern Areas, saying PML-N would support every step which aimed to bring people of these areas into the mainstream”. I believe that this is a very good and long overdue development and must now be a great step towards giving Gilgit Baltistan full provincial status. This area of Pakistan has long suffered due to being incorrectly linked with the Kashmir problem and work has no

By Sikander Hayat It seems that beginning of end for Taliban in Malakand area is in sight. Pakistan army has started a military operation against the Taliban in Dir at the request of local government of Pakhtunkhwa after a FC convoy was attacked by the terrorists. A soldier and five terrorists including a key Taliban commander Maulvi Shahid has been killed as well. Frontier Corps has entered the Taliban hide out of laal Qila and heavy fighting has been reported.Gunship helicopters have also been deployed in the ongoing operation.

Beijing, China—Former President of Pakistan, Gen. (R) Pervez Musharraf continued his international lecture tour with several engagements in key Chinese cities. [If pictures don’t appear, click Pic1, Pic2, Pic3] For this tour in China, the former President was invited by the government of China, through the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA). His first lecture was in Beijing to CPIFA, attended by many Chinese Ambassadors, experts on South Asia, and graduate students. The former President’s lecture focused on the deep relationship between Pakistan and China, and an in-depth analysis of regional issues including Afghanistan, India, terrorism and extremism. The former President stressed the need for closer global cooperation to defeat terrorism and extremism, and a more proactive role for China. His next lecture was in Shanghai, with the prestigious Shanghai Institute for International Studies. The President addressed Chinese experts on South Asia, Asia Pacific, and the

BUNER: Taliban militants from Swat took control of Buner on Tuesday and started patrolling bazaars, villages and towns in the district. The militants, who had sneaked into Gokand valley of Buner on April 4, were reported to have been on a looting spree for the past five days. They have robbed government and NGO offices of vehicles, computers, printers, generators, edible oil containers, and food and nutrition packets. Sources said that leading political figures, businessmen, NGO officials and Khawaneen, who had played a role in setting up a Lashkar to stop the Taliban from entering Buner, had been forced to move to other areas. The Taliban have extended their control to almost all tehsils of the district and law-enforcement personnel remained confined to police stations and camps. The Taliban, equipped with advanced weapons, were reported to be advancing towards border areas of Swabi, Malakand and Mardan, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti. Read the whole story h

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has demanded the dissolution of the Balochistan Assembly and hold fresh polls so that Balochi people could elect their genuine representatives. Talking to the media at the reception of new members of the party on Friday, he condemned the murder of three Baloch nationalist leaders, saying the present assembly had failed to come up to the expectations of Balochis and lost its mandate. Supporting the Swat peace deal, he said the deal was indispensable because it was the long standing demand of the local people. Besides, he added, there was no option to restore peace as all the government agencies had failed to control situation. He condemned the critics of Swat deal, particularly MQM which was undermining the peace agreement only to serve the interests of the US and the UK. He alleged that MQM itself was a terrorist organization active in Karachi and urban areas of Sindh. He announced that he would visit Karachi on May 3 at every cost. R

By Sikander Hayat A few weeks back, I wrote an article about the necessity for more provinces in Pakistan and in response to that I received a lot of emails from you that it is not the issue of more provinces that will resolve the problems of Pakistan but making Pakistan a true federation will cure the ills of our country. I see this as a viable alternative solution and lately I have heard many notable politicians especially from Pakistan Muslim League (N) like Shahbaz Sharif and Khwaja Asif talking about the need for a new social contract in Pakistan where all six federal components namely Punjab, Sindh, Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir & Northern Areas be given equal representation in Parliament and Senate and each provincial assembly have sweeping powers in terms of tax collection, spending and other issues. Federal government must only have its jurisdiction in Defence, Foreign affairs, Currency and Communications ( air, sea and land ports should be under federal jurisdict