Mamdani creates history

Most people had lost faith in democracy after seeing people like Trump and Modi getting elected. But there is some hope after all. With Zohran Mamdani getting elected as New York's first Muslim mayor (besides being the youngest so far), the people of that city have proved that they cannot be fooled by the Zionists and billionaires who did their utmost to defeat Mamdani.

I didn't know there was so much hatred against Muslims in the US until I saw a video posted on Facebook. In the video a young man is seen calling Mamdani a communist and die-hard Muslim, who would impose Sharia law in New York if he was elected. He also warned New Yorkers that their women would be forced to wear the all-enveloping burkha. 

But the most threatening tone was that of Trump himself. He warned that he would cut federal funding to the city if Mamdani was elected. Now that it has happened, he said that the US has lost its sovereignty and a communist has taken control of New York City. I don't know if it was Trump, but one US politician has claimed that Hamas has taken over NYC. The richest man in the world (Elon Musk) alleged  that the election process was a scam.

Mamdani's victory and those of other Democrats proves that Americans are not satisfied with Trump's performance. Trump and his Republican supporters should change their policies or they'll be routed in next year's mid-term elections. 

History proves that Israel can never be trusted

The cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel has been approved by both parties. Initially, Hamas will release forty eight hostages and Israel will set free a couple of thousand Palestinians in its jails. Israel may do this, but knowing how it has behaved in the past, it's doubtful if it will honor the other clauses in the agreement. Israel has consistently violated all previous agreements, including the Oslo accords, that stipulated the creation of a Palestinian state.

Most Western countries support Israel, despite evidence that a majority of their populations are sympathetic to Palestinians. Even Sweden supports the apartheid state, despite the evidence of its famous activist Greta Thunberg that she and other flotilla activists was severely maltreated after being arrested by the Israelis. 

We can be sure that Israel will go on killing innocent Palestinians, seizing their land and committing genocide as long as it has the support of the US and other Western countries. It will never agree to the formation of a Palestinian state. Perhaps the growing support for Palestine in the US may persuade American politicians to insist that Israel agree to give freedom to the Arabs but it won't happen soon. In the meantime, South Africa should insist that Netanyahoo be tried for genocide by the International Court of Justice.

More non-Muslims supporting Palestinians

For some reason, we see more and more non-Muslim states openly opposing Israel. On the other hand, leaders of Muslim countries are lukewarm in their statements. Until recently, Pakistan's position was that there should be no Israel, the country should be known as Palestine. Now it supports a two-state solution. Israel, of course, will never agree to it. As far as Arab countries are concerned, the UAE actually has recognized the apartheid state, while even Saudi Arabia appears to be neutral. Why is this so?

The only reason is that Arab states are more scared of Palesinians than of Israel. Too much oil wealth has made them soft and scared to fight. In fact, there is only one Arab country which is prepared to take on Israel, and that is Yemen. The only Muslim country which is directly fighting Israel is Iran (a non-Arab country). Pakistan is another country which has fought wars, but it is not in Israel's neighborhood, so a direct confrontation with Israel is not possible.

Whatever the reason, leaders of Muslim countries will have to unite and prevent Israel and India from invading neighboring countries. 

Imran Khan was sure he'd be acquitted, so why was he convicted?

Embed from Getty Images

Sometimes you can't help thinking that Imran Khan and all his cronies should be put in a mental asylum. One wonders how the army selected this psychopath to run the country. The latest proof of his stupidity is that after some of his minions spoke to the army chief, he was confident that he would be acquitted in the 190 million pound fraud case. Even the news channel ARY prematurely announced his acquittal, even before the judgement was announced.

I can guess what probably happened. Imran Khan's chosen party chairman (barrister Gohar)and his province's chief minister (the corpulent Gandapur) interacted briefly with the army chief during the meeting held with KP politicians to discuss the security situation in the province. Probably the underlings told the army chief that if he would get Imran Khan released, they would make sure that he remained army chief for another ten years, or they assured him that they'd make him president for life. Whatever they said, the army chief, being a man of few words, probably didn't react, so they thought he'd agreed. Imran Khan was jubilant, and even said that talks with the establishment were proceeding in the right direction. So he got a shock when he was convicted. Of course, he had to react immediately, so he sent out another tweet against the army and its chief. As I said, the man and his minions should be locked up.

Sharif government unable to resist blackmail by Iman Khan

Embed from Getty Images

If Pakistan had been like China or Saudi Arabia, Imran Khan would have been sentenced to death and buried last year. Unfortunately, this government is too weak to resist blackmail by Imran Khan, who has been doing everything he can to destabilize the country. When sixty seven activists of Imran Khan's party (PTI) were sentenced to prison terms up to ten years, I hoped that the PTI leader would see some sense and apologize for the mayhem and destruction he caused on May 9, 2023. But he only hardened his stance, principally due to the chaos in his home province, where Shias and Sunnis are fighting in Parachinar. In fact, he is responsible for that trouble, having settled the Taliban rebels in that area (which until then was inhabited by Shias). 

But the real shock came when nineteen of his party activists were pardoned and set free by the military. This made Imran Khan think he was right in being tough. Pardoning those who attacked the state will make the activists think they can do it again.

In the meantime, Imran Khan's supporters are firmly convinced that Trump is going to get him freed. Yesterday, after a long time, we were able to access Twitter (X) without using a VPN, and today the internet speed is the fastest I have ever seen. This will undoubtedly make Pakistan's enemies believe that the government is weakening and their agent (Imran Khan) will again take over the government. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

Imran Khan's massive defeat

Embed from Getty Images

Imran Khan, being the psycho he is, has tried every trick under the sun to destabilize the government and defame the country. His latest attempt to do so ended in a massive failure.

His aim was to get the Shanghai  Cooperation Summit cancelled. He also wanted the Chinese Prime minister to postpone his visit to Pakistan. He had successfully got the Chinese president's visit cancelled in 2014, so he thought he could do it again. He failed.

He thought the state would strike back massively and there would be many dead bodies. But the authorities instructed the police and the army not to fire at the demonstrators (which were very few in number). The police were given rubber bullets and tear gas. 

Imran Khan told his henchman Gandapur to disappear before the procession reached the venue of the operation, apparently thinking that the cops would fire upon the demonstrators (many of whom were Afghan nationals). He also told his other parliamentarians not to take part in the procession, so only Gandapur was there, but he too went to KP house before the procession reached D-Chowk. After that he disappeared for many hours and then re-surfaced, just as he did in the last time he led a procession.

I'd like to see Imran Khan's face now. He knows that he has no chance to remove this government, which is doing much better than expected (according to all analysts). Imran Khan is finished, and I'm glad.

 

Was there really a genocide in East Pakistan?

I never went to East Pakistan when it was part of Pakistan. In fact, there was some talk of sending me to Chittagong a month before the massacres of Memons and other West Pakistanis began (yes, it was the Bangladeshis who started it). Fortunately my bosses decided I was needed in Karachi. In the month that the rebels had held Chittagong, almost all the Memons (including a distant relative) were slaughtered. Some managed to escape to West Pakistan and it was from them that we learned that the situation was really very bad (contrary to what the Establishment was telling us at the time). When I went there twenty four years back, I met a few who were staunchly pro-Pakistan but most hated it. This was because they'd grown up believing that millions of their countrymen had been killed deliberately by Pakistanis in the civil war that preceded the break-up of the country.

I met a former civil servant who had served in Islamabad before the break-up. He was now based in Canada, and asked me why Pakistani leaders were not apologizing for the so-called genocide of Bengalis. I asked him what proof there was that there had been a genocide. 

I met another Bangladeshi who quoted a discredited Pakistani journalist (Tony Mascarenhas) who had claimed that millions of Bengalis had been killed. I met a waiter in Dhaka Club whose father had been shot by a soldier. 

Perhaps a few thousand may have been killed, but then there were an equal number from our side who had also been slaughtered by them. I remember two Memon girls (both students in a medical college) who were taken away by the rebels and were never seen again (their mother went mad).

So, in my opinion, as atrocities were committed by both sides, the question of apologizing does not arise.

 

2024 elections and Gallup polls

There's a lot of talk about the recent elections being heavily rigged. One way of disproving this is to look at pre-election surveys done by Gallup.

According to an article in The News a couple of weeks back, the number of votes polled by the three political parties were exactly the same as predicted in the surveys. In Punjab, the survey had found the PML-N and the PTI almost equally popular (35% to 34%), and this turned out to be correct. In KP, the PTI got 45 percent of the popular vote, again as predicted in the survey. 

The conclusion is that if there was any rigging, it was very little. But try telling this to any PTI supporter and if you're lucky you won't be lynched. I'm surprised at how much support this party has among youngsters. Even more surprising is that among PTI voters the majority were educated people. It proves that the standard of education has deteriorated a lot.

Bilawal Zardari Bhutto could be the next prime minister

Embed from Getty Images

With the denial of the "bat" symbol to PTI, it's almost certain that support of independents (mostly PTI candidates) will be crucial for the party forming the next government. Even though most people are convinced that Nawaz Sharif will manage to become the next prime minister, I believe Bilawal Bhutto is more likely to form the next government.

The Establishment (army) knows that Nawaz Sharif is not the malleable type. He will definitely try to avenge his ouster and rigging of the 2018 elections to get Imran Khan elected. Bilawal has never been subjected to that kind of treatment so far. 

Another reason is that the independents (PTI candidates) will demand a heavy payment to support whoever gets to form the next government. They have each reportedly paid a princely amount (Rs. 40 million) to Imran Khan's sister Aleema Khan to get party tickets. At the moment, it looks like only PPP (Bilawal's party) has that kind of money, unless PTI is somehow restored and the candidates go back to their parent party.

Since everyone knows that our politicians are helpless and can do only what the army tells them to do, I don't see why I should waste precious petrol and time on driving to the polling booth to vote. I didn't get to vote the last time as I was in the UK. In 2013 I had to drive sixteen kilometers to vote. I'm not going to make the same mistake again.

I'm not convinced that Khawar Maneka is telling the truth

Khawar Maneka, the ex-husband of Bushra Bibi (Imran Khan's current wife) has suddenly appeared and cast aspersions against his wife. We already knew that she married Imran Khan despite having five children and being married for 28 years to Maneka. At that time, Maneka had praised both his ex-wife and her new husband, saying that they were both very pious and God-fearing. He even went to Saudi Arabia in the same plane with them (being so close to one's ex-wife is forbidden in Islam). But then, he's been a senior Customs officer, so you can't expect him to know much about Islam.

It's been known for a long time that Maneka has benefited enormously from Bushra's marriage to Imran. So one wonders why now, after almost four years, he's come out with these allegations about his wife. Perhaps he's been told that all cases against him will be withdrawn if he does so.

Now he says that she wanted a divorce so she could marry Imran Khan on the first of January (2018), otherwise Imran Khan wouldn't become the prime minister of the country, so she didn't observe the mandatory waiting period (iddat), which makes one wonder how she can pose as a Muslim spiritualist. It also proves that Imran Khan doesn't know anything about Islam and he should stop talking about making Pakistan another Madina. In the state of Madina, such a man would probably have been stoned to death (along with his wife).

What really amazes me is that Imran Khan, despite being an Oxford graduate, believes in all this mumbo jumbo of astrology, palmistry and what not. I can understand the average Pakistani falling for such stuff but at least Imran Khan shouldn't have been duped. But then, truth is stranger than fiction.

 

Why are Zionists and others able to get away with genocide?

This question has always perplexed me. We have seen, in recent years, George Bush waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, killing millions of Muslims, and not being punished for it. Before that, in the 1960s and 70s, the Americans bombed Vietnam to kill millions, but still no one has the guts to try them for war crimes. Nowadays, the Israelis are bent upon exterminating Palestinians and despite widespread protests in almost all countries, no one is able to stop them.

Of course, one reason is that the Americans are militarily the most powerful nation on earth. They give almost four billion dollars every year to Israel (which undoubtedly uses part of it to bribe US congressmen and senators). The Zionists are in fact so powerful that the US will now give more than fourteen billion dollars to Israel, despite not having enough to spend on health care for its own citizens.

There is something else which we ignore. It's what we do and they don't. For instance, they never prevent their women from voting in elections. They won't even think of forcing a biology teacher to say that evolution never happened or that women should not be allowed to venture out of their homes. They don't consider birth control as a heinous sin. Their governments do not encourage attacks on minorities. They implement their laws strictly. 

But of course our leaders will never do what they do. 

Nawaz Sharif depending on "electables" to return to power

One of the defects in Pakistan's politics is that the prime minister is not popularly elected. He needs to persuade only 172 elected parliamentarians to vote for him. Even though his party may have won only thirty percent of the total votes cast, he can form the government. And to persuade them to vote for him, he promises them ministerial posts and other perks. The result is that there are too many ministers and advisors in his cabinet who enrich themselves instead of spending our tax money on health and education. The men who benefit are the "electables" who have a hell of a lot of money that they spend on getting elected by the gullible voters. They not only help in getting the prime minister elected, they can also blackmail him whenever they feel he's not helping them to get even richer than they already are.

Nawaz Sharif wants to get elected again (after being prime minister three times). I believe he should retire now, as he's crossed the age of 70 and has had heart problems in the past. In any case, he's not liked by those who wield power in the country. His younger brother is much better in administration and governance. He is a born diplomat, unlike Nawaz (who is not a good administrator and doesn't like opposition to his rule).

 

Netanyahu's audacity!

The recent attack by Hamas has the support of almost all Muslims in the world. The only ones who disapprove of it are of course the Middle East royal families who rule with an iron hand. But I can't help but admire those who invaded Israel and wreaked havoc. 

Of course, if the Palestinians had not been Muslims, there would have been no problem with the West supporting them. Unfortunately, like the Kashmiris, they happen to be Muslims, which is why they will always be oppressed. The difference between the Palestinians and the Kashmiris is clear: the latter are not willing to die for freedom.

Strangely enough, Netanyahu has the gall to ask the residents of Gaza to move out of their land. Where can they go? Into the sea? Netanyahu himself has come from Europe, so he cannot claim to be a native of Palestine. If anyone has to move out of Israel/Palestine, it is people like Netanyahu, who should go back to Europe or wherever they came from.

There is another irony in the whole scenario. Arab countries were depending on Israel to protect them against Iran, but Israel has been shown to be vulnerable to those who are weak. It's like David and Goliath. The Palestinians have no resources, yet they managed to manufacture rockets and struck Israel with full force. Israel's Iron Dome shield proved to be useless. Saudi Arabia and the UAE should now seriously think whether recognizing Israel is worth it. Why not develop relations with Iran instead?  

The Afghan Transit Trade Treaty should not be renewed

I have written many times about the huge damage done to the country's economy by misuse of the Afghan Transit Trade facility. Goods imported by Afghan traders are either removed from containers before reaching Afghanistan and dumped in local markets or smuggled into Pakistan after crossing the border. The government loses billions every year due to misuse of this agreement. Despite many attempts to force the Afghan government to stop this misuse, it still continues. The time has come to terminate this agreement and ask the Afghans to import their requirements from Pakistan or other neighboring countries.

I know that this suggestion will be received with howls of protest from those Pakistani patriots who think paying taxes is a heinous sin. Most of these people are in the northern province of KP, where most people steal electricity and gas and resist any attempts to refrain from illegal activities. It will be tough, but it's the only way.

It is reported that the government is planning to disallow the import of tires, black tea, home appliances and cosmetics into Afghanistan via Pakistan. This is not enough. If we are to live with the Trade agreement, Afghanistan should raise duties and taxes on its imports to make it very expensive for smugglers to loot Pakistan. If not, then the only way is to terminate the agreement.  

Army chief should not get involved in economic matters

Embed from Getty Images

Like many of his predecessors, the present army chief (Asim Muneer) thinks he can steer the country out of its present crisis. Someone should tell him that no one has yet succeeded in reducing inflation, chiefly because the powerful mafias in the country refuse to pay taxes. Any leader who dares confront them will find himself out of office. 

Addressing leading businessmen of the country he told them of his plans to crack down on money changers, power thieves, smugglers and other worthy citizens of the country. It may work for a while, but after a few weeks things will be back to normal. 

As a result of his efforts, the dollar depreciated by Rs. 15 in the past couple of days, but sugar prices rose by more than a hundred percent. Petrol prices depend on international crude oil prices, so the army chief can do nothing about it. Getting tax evaders to pay taxes depends on the FBR, which is riddled with corruption, so one can be sure that this too will not happen.

So the army chief's attempts to improve the country are doomed to fail.

President Arif Alvi should go home

Arif Alvi is the only Pakistani politician I have known. Before he entered politics, he was a dentist. But I never got treated by him. It's because of his half-brother Mujeeb that I got to know him. Mujeeb was running one of the largest sea salt works in the country. When I bought Grax Salt Works he was incensed, He had wanted it for himself, and he had even spent money to get it closed (but I won't go into details of that right now).

Arif Alvi was a dominant and vocal member of Imran Khan's party (PTI) before it was helped to win a rigged election to get into power, Naturally, Imran Khan saw that Arif Alvi was not to be trusted (as he is a non-Punjabi from Karachi), so he made him the president of the country where he didn't have to do anything but sign whatever papers were sent to him. That was okay as long as Imran was the prime minister. Alvi should have been very careful now that Iman is in jail, but unfortunately for him, he gave his consent to two controversial bills that will get Imran and some of his supporters sentenced to jail terms. The two bills were the Official Secrets Act and the Army Act which could be used to hang Imran Khan for his role in the May 9 attacks on army installations.

It's not clear what really happened. Alvi says he didn't sign the two bills, he asked his staff to return the two bills to parliament within the stipulated ten days. He asked his party members to forgive him for what happened. The question is, if his assistants didn't do what he told them to do, why ask Imran for forgiveness? He should ask the FIA to arrest those of his staff members who didn't comply. The fact that he doesn't want to do that means he either signed the bills or that he didn't ask them to send the bills back to parliament. So the bills automatically became the law after ten days.

Whatever the truth, it's clear that Arif Alvi should resign and go home.

The next general election may also be heavily rigged

The most heavily rigged election in Pakistan was the one held in 2018, when the entire establishment ganged up to ensure that Imran Khan's party would win. It increasingly appears that the election in 2023 will also be heavily rigged, but this time to ensure that Imran Khan's party is sidelined. It will indeed be bad for the country if this happens.

A recent poll showed that Imran Khan's popularity is at an all-time low of only three percent, compared to Nawaz Sharif's seventy percent. The same survey found that Bilawal Bhutto's popularity is five percent (in Punjab), while that of Maryam Nawaz is eighteen percent. Of course, this poll may not really reflect reality, but now it's evident that in Punjab at least, Imran Khan is wiped out. The defection of many PTI stalwarts in KP also proves that he has no chance of winning in that province.

So there is no reason for the establishment to indulge in rigging the 2023 polls, considering that Imran Khan's party has disintegrated and he has very little support in the masses.

By naming Ishaq Dar as caretaker PM, Nawaz Sharif proves he's an idiot

I always knew Nawaz Sharif is an idiot, but even I did not ever suspect he'd go so far as to prove it. The current government is scheduled to step down next month and hand over power to an interim set-up for which a neutral caretaker prime minister is to be appointed (after consultations with other parties). But Nawaz Sharif is adamant that the current finance minister Ishaq Dar (who is also his close relative) should be the prime minister in the interim set-up.

It stands to reason that the caretaker prime minister (like the Chief Election Commissioner) should be someone from a neutral background. He should not be a minister in the current government, and he should preferably be a non-political person. Yet Nawaz Sharif wants a caretaker prime minister who is from his party and is his close relative. 

I wasn't surprised when the PPP came out and categorically stated that Ishaq Dar is not acceptable as caretaker prime minister. I hope they don't back out from this principled stand.

 

Waiting for the cyclone to strike

In June 1984, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called General Zia ul Haq and told him about a cyclone headed towards Karachi. Those living near the sea shore immediately headed inland and the roads were jam packed. 

In recent years cyclonic storms have threatened Karachi but every time they've either dissipated or moved north towards Oman. Superstitious residents of Karachi say that the saint (Abdullah Shah Ghazi) buried in Clifton has always protected Karachi from such calamities. I remember the Speaker of Sindh Assembly (Agha Siraj Durrani) saying this many years ago. 

For the past two days, the people of Karachi have been told of a cyclone that is slowly approaching the city. This time too the superstitious ones are convinced that the saint will protect the city from extensive damage. Those on the other side say that this saint was not able to protect his own grave twice (this is his third one, after the previous two collapsed in heavy rains), so how can he protect a city of millions?

The cyclone is predicted to hit lower Sindh and Indian Gujarat (where I was born) the day after tomorrow. Even if it doesn't strike Karachi directly, it will cause heavy rains and dust storms. Let's hope the people are safe and there are no casualties.

The war against the Chief Justice begins

The shameless Chief Justice Bandial must be passing sleepless nights nowadays. A huge crowd has collected outside the Supreme Court to demand his resignation. He was due to issue a contempt notice to the Prime Minister for not holding elections today, but it looks like he's changed his mind. The protest against him may continue until he resigns.

I believe this was the only way to make the masses aware of the terrible corruption in the judiciary. The common man does not know how much money has been looted by Imran Khan and his wife and cronies. The country needs to be reminded daily that the man who was certified as Sadiq and Ameen (Mr. Clean) is a greedy, shameless looter and liar. 

When the present Army Chief was DG ISI, he told Imran Khan of the rampant corruption of his wife and other cronies. Imran Khan's reaction was typical of the corrupt politician: he transferred the DG ISI. And when it looked like that the same DG ISI was going to be the next army chief, he did his best to stop it. He even circulated a rumor that Asim Munir (the man chosen to be the next army chief) is s Shia. When they heard this, the Saudis were so upset that they woke up their ambassador in Islamabad to confirm if this is true. 

Imran Khan will stop at nothing to re-gain power. The nation needs to be united against him. He should be tried in a military court for all the damage he's caused to the country and sentenced to death (or life imprisonment at least). 

As for the Chief Justice and his corrupt cronies they should be asked to resign immediately before they do further damage.