Nationalisation of education

Published in Dawn on April 27, 2013

I SEE returning officers behaving like Taliban, when I see lawyers garlanding a man who killed the Punjab governor in full view of the public, when I read of a judge who acquitted three rapists (despite DNA tests proving their guilt) because the rape victim could not produce the mandatory four witnesses to the crime. 

When I see all this, I know that this almost total collapse of society is due to the nationalisation of education by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first and the only civilian martial law administrator of the country.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

5 July 1977: the day Bhutto was removed

Embed from Getty Images

I was young at the time (35), but like almost every Pakistani I was overjoyed when Zia toppled Bhutto (and hanged him later). I have written elsewhere about how much Bhutto damaged Pakistan (https://tribune.com.pk/article/33546/we-will-never-forget-nor-ever-forgive-you-mr-bhutto). Indeed, I still believe that he was responsible for the break-up of the country, by damaging what remained of Pakistan by nationalizing industries and dividing the country by using the Sindh card.

But in hindsight, I believe that he should not have been executed. I still think he ordered many people to be killed, but then, as pointed out by many people at the time, even American presidents had done so. As I grew older, I gradually came to oppose the death penalty, which is why hanging Bhutto was the biggest mistake Zia made. If Bhutto had been freed, he would have won the next elections and hanged Zia (as he'd threatened to do). But of course, Zia could have saved himself by leaving the country, even though it's doubtful if Bhutto would have carried out his threat. 

By killing Bhutto, Zia made the PPP more popular, which lead to Benazir and Zardari getting elected, and the country suffering because of their corruption.

Memories of the past (Imran Khan vs Bhutto)

Published in The News on May 22, 2022

This refers to the article, ‘Dangers of populism’ (May 20) by Javid Husain. One is reminded of another such leader whose refusal to accept the results of the only genuinely fair elections in the country’s history ultimately resulted in the breakup of the country.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/959705-memories-of-the-past

Mohsin Baig's arrest: Imran Khan sinking deeper into quagmire

Imran Khan's most quoted words are "I know more about.....than....". No one's asked him so far about Bhutto, but I'm sure he will say the same thing, probably "I know more about Bhutto than either Bilawal or Zardari himself". Well, he should read about how the arrogant Bhutto was deposed after he refused to see the writing on the wall. Bhutto tortured journalists and others who criticized him, displaying a blatant contempt of the law. Imran Khan is doing the same thing now. This morning, the FIA arrested Imran Khan's former friend Mohsin Baig without a warrant and whisked him away. 

And just what was Mohsin Baig's fault? He parted ways with Imran and began revealing facts about what happens in the ruling party. He was the one, for instance, who said that he used to collect funds to meet the expenses of Imran Khan's house, the salaries to servants, and even the cost of the food. It was a massive amount. The public began to see the real side of Imran Khan, and more and more of his supporters were disillusioned with him.

But Mohsin Baig's biggest crime, in Imran Khan's view is to hint about the abnormally friendly relations between Imran Khan and Murad Saeed, who was recently rated the top performer in the cabinet, to the astonishment of many who didn't even know that Murad Saeed is a minister. In a video clip that went viral, Mohsin Baig slyly referred to what Imran's ex-wife Reham Khan wrote in her book about Imran Khan's deviant sexual preferences. She named Murad Saeed and Hamza Ali Abbasi as two of his favorites. 

Now this is the kind of thing every politician has to face in his lifetime. Imran Khan should have blithely ignored it (as he has ignored the allegations about his illegitimate daughter Tyrian). Imran Khan could also have taken legal action against Mohsin Baig (and Reham Khan herself). But the way he has reacted, people are bound to wonder if there is some truth in the rumors. Foreign news agencies and ambassadors as well as Amnesty International will no doubt have noted how a respected journalist was dragged out of his home without a warrant after being beaten up. But I doubt if Imran is now worried about what people think about him. He's behaving just like Bhutto did during his last days in power. And I hope he too ends up like Bhutto.

 

Parallels between the last days of Bhutto and Imran Khan

I've often said that Imran Khan is another Bhutto. who was an arrogant psychopath who didn't think twice before ordering the killings of political opponents. Towards the end of his tenure, when he saw that he was massively unpopular, he got his Federal Security Force to arrange the killings of prominent people. Bhutto got the death sentence and was executed for ordering the murder of a prominent politician of Punjab. Besides that he ordered his men to kill the aged Shakil Rizvi, a retired judge, as well as the famous actor Mohammed Ali (since these two were Shias, he assumed there would be a backlash by Shias against Sunnis had they been killed).

Now Imran Khan appears to be doing the same thing that Bhutto did. Two days back, a politician from PMLN was attacked and seriously wounded. The police are trying to trace the killers, but I doubt if anything will happen, since Imran Khan has been transferring non-compliant police officers. The present one obviously doesn't want to oppose Imran Khan, so he won't do anything to arrest the attackers, even if they are identified. 

Last night there was the firing on IK's ex-wife Reham Khan's car. She has come back to help Imran Khan get removed from power. Of course, it was expected that there would be some action to deter her from her mission, as it's common knowledge that she can easily influence some people around him to desert.

Finally, there is another similarity between the two. During Bhutto's last days, a huge oil discovery was announced, and he displayed a bottle of pure kerosene in the assembly as proof that oil indeed had been found (someone later told him that crude oil is black in color and not transparent like kerosene). Today, the Oil and Gas Development Corporation announced the discovery of large gas reserves in KP, without giving an estimate of the quantities. Like Bhutto's discovery, this too will be exposed as a fake one (or a very small one). 

Bhutto was stupid, but Imran Khan is worse

We saw Bhutto dismembering Pakistan and realized that he had been selected by outside powers to do it. Now we can't help wondering if Imran Khan too is another Bhutto. Like Bhutto, Imran Khan has wrecked the country's economy, and the effects will be felt for many years.

Recently, Imran Khan proved that he's more of a moron than Bhutto was. He first said that there would be no need for Pakistan to remain nuclear if the Kashmir dispute was settled. Of course, there's nothing more that India would like. If our nuclear assets are dismantled, Indian troops will walk into the country and break it up into four or five parts. It's like what happened when we lost the eastern wing of the country. Our defence was too weak at the time. History will be repeated and there will be no Pakistan. If Imran Khan keeps repeating things like this, the rest of the world will demand the immediate dismantling of our nuclear assets.

The next thing he said was to pander to the religious lobby. When asked why there were so many incidents of rape in the country, he blamed women for not being properly dressed. Until three years back (before he married the ultra-conservative Bushra Bibi), he had no problem with gallivanting on the beaches with scantily-clad girls. Suddenly he has become a fundamentalist just to please his wife (who, apparently, is the one actually running the country). There's going to be a protest by women today in Karachi, demanding that either he resign or take back his words. I doubt if it'll have any effect on him, but I'm happy that most women who supported him and voted for his party now know what kind of man he is. 

Of course, the thing he will be most reviled for was calling OBL a martyr. When his foreign minister was asked about it, that moron fumbled and said the usual thing: "the prime minister was quoted out of context". But when the foreign minister was asked whether he himself believed that the terrorist OBL was indeed a martyr, he fumbled some more and refused to say yes or no. He knew what would have happened if he had called OBL a terrorist: those who rule the country would have sacked him.

So, the future is dark. I don't see Pakistan progressing at all for the next two years, and even when the next government comes to power, it will have a huge task undoing the damage he has done to the country.

Why Bhutto was so unpopular

It's been forty two years since Bhutto was hanged. Even though I was convinced Bhutto was guilty of the murders he had been accused of, his execution was a great shock. Like almost everyone I knew, I felt that Zia would let Bhutto fly away to another country (probably Libya or UAE), as leaders of many countries were pleading with Zia to spare Bhutto. I think even Bhutto himself was convinced it was a farce, a drama to make him beg for mercy. In retrospect, I believe that it was wrong to execute him. His trial was not fair, and the judges were coerced into finding him guilty.

Why did I hate him? For one thing, he was solely responsible for the dismemberment of the country. If he had been a true democrat, he would have accepted the results of the 1971 election. But that of course would have meant power being handed over to Mujeeb, and Bhutto would have been the leader of the opposition for at least five years. He, along with the generals, refused to allow a Bengali to become the prime minister, and ultimately that led to the secession of more than half the country's population and the formation of Bangladesh.

But that was not the only reason why Bhutto was so unpopular. He destroyed the country's industrial base by nationalizing all the industries that had been set up over twenty five years by hard working entrepreneurs. Most of the factories were then handed over to incompetent people and the country's industrial sector soon collapsed. He nationalized schools and colleges so that his party workers could be given jobs. Karachi was particularly affected, because it was where most nationalized factories and colleges were situated. Due to Bhutto's indiscriminate nationalization, it's impossible to find a Pakistani graduate who can compose a single sentence in any language.

It's been forty four years since he was deposed, but the country is still paying for his vindictive policies. 

Is there a cure for “Imranitis”?

Even though he has proved that he is without doubt the greatest fool in the country (if not the world), Imran Khan still has some followers who adore him. I call this phenomenon a disease (which I have named "Imranitis"). 

In this respect the moron is just like Trump, whose popularity has waned dramatically after his incompetent handling of the pandemic. Yet Trump also has his admirers, including a few Christian classmates of mine (all of them dark). I suppose when one day a white supremacist attacks one of them, they'll realize that Trump is responsible and will no longer feel good about him.

Once, at the club, I spoke of Bhutto's bad habits (including wife-beating). Two of his Sindhi-speaking fans immediately left and never spoke to me again. But of course Bhutto had helped Sindhis a great deal. Before he came to power, there were no native Sindhis in positions of power. When he became the president (and later, the prime minister), he sacked hundreds of senior bureaucrats and replaced them with his Sindhi-speaking followers. Suddenly the Customs, Income Tax and other government departments were filled with Sindhis. So I understood why, the day he was overthrown (and later, executed), my Sindhi neighbors were in tears.

But this obsession with Imran Khan is inexplicable. He's been in power for about two years, and already the economy is in tatters and shows no signs of recovering. His minions say it is due to the Corona pandemic, but that has been there for only two months, the economy had been going downhill much earlier.

I know a Bohri chap who was born and bred in Karachi, but moved to Lahore some thirty years back. He simply can't tolerate anything said against Imran Khan. Usually Gujaratis are not so emotional, yet he howls with rage whenever I say that Imran is untrustworthy, The other day I sent him a couple of video clips in which the speaker quoted from Imran's speeches to prove that he (Imran Khan) is a dunce. You should have seen the Bohri's reaction. It was as if I had said something vile about his mother or sister.

Which makes me wonder, "Is there a cure for Imranitis"?

Who damaged Pakisan more: Bhutto or Zia?

I can't decide who was more evil: Bhutto, or the man who overthrew and executed him (Zia). While we can never forgive Bhutto for his indiscriminate nationalization of industries and colleges, which set the country back by 50 years, Zia dealt the death blow to education. The rampant illiteracy we see today is due not only to nationalization of colleges, Zia's so-called Islamization policies have a lot to do with it.

I was talking to a man who proudly boasts of having two degrees, but who can't write a sentence in English. He (being a member of a religious, fundamentalist party), naturally thinks that a man and a woman working alone in an office, do nothing but engage in sexual intercourse all the time. He once told me that this kind of thing happens in multi-storeyed buildings, when most men are at work, and their wives have sex with their unmarried male neighbors. When he saw the picture of men and women having lunch together at a restaurant in Saudi Arabia, he immediately said they would soon be indulging in sexual intercourse right there, now that the veil is no longer mandatory and segregation is no longer compulsory. 

What really got my goat was when he said that he has seen naked men and women fornicating in Karachi's streets at eight in the morning, because now (according to him) there is a law which prevents cops from arresting them. I asked him to go to a lawyer and get a copy of this "law" (which, according to him, was promulgated by Musharraf). I know that he was referring to Musharraf's instructions to the cops not to arrest couples for sitting on a bench in the parks or sitting next to each other in movies. In fact, the other day, the police at Karachi airport refused to allow a woman to travel alone to Saudi Arabia, as they thought it was still mandatory for women to be accompanied by close male relatives. In Zia's days, couples were asked by the police to show their marriage certificates, and were arrested if they were not married. Often the women were taken to another room and gang-raped. 

With such people around, no wonder there are no tourists coming to Pakistan. 

Heading towards disaster: IK making the same mistakes as Bhutto did in 1977

It's happening again. Imran Khan is being as arrogant as Bhutto was in 1977. The people are fed up and we could see another uprising resulting in a violent change of government. Already, opposition activists and leaders are being arrested to prevent the proposed march at the end of this month, led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Almost all opposition parties have joined him, and IK will never realize that his policies of raising prices of essential items have turned people against him. We could have another Arab spring.

There is one thing IK and his minions have never been able to explain. According to them, Nawaz Sharif looted the country of 24 trillion rupees in five years. Well, as more than a year has passed since IK took over, so (since there is no more looting), why is the government short of money? Why did it have to borrow almost ten trillion in its first year? How was the previous government able to maintain inflation at a very low rate despite being so corrupt?

IK fooled his mentors into believing that he had a magic formula which would transform the face of the country. He didn't know that the so-called previous "corrupt" government was actually very popular with the people, and that if he hadn't been helped by those who cannot be named, he would never have been able to form a government.

Another attempt by him to divert attention of the public from his failures has further alienated the people. He thought by trying to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he would be able to fool the people into believing that he is respected by world leaders. We soon found out that neither Trump nor Saudi Arabia asked him to mediate, he did it on his own.

I sincerely hope he is removed from power and sent to the UK to spend the rest of his life.

Advice to brainwashed followers of Imran Khan

It was quite a shock to hear a young relative say, "I and my friends never read any of your stuff, you always write against our hero (Imran Khan)". The tragedy is that even after eleven months of misrule by the so-called Mr. Clean, he still has a following. It won't be long before his brainwashed followers become disillusioned. We have seen it happen before, when the people overthrew Ayub Khan and Bhutto.

When Ayub took over the country, people welcomed him with open arms. There was a great deal of progress under his military rule. Like all dictators, he targeted those who opposed him, muzzled the print media and used the state-controlled radio and television to project himself as an incorruptible savior of the country. But towards the end, he had grown vastly unpopular and it wasn't long before the people came out on the streets and he was sent home.

The same thing happened with Bhutto. He too was an autocrat and jailed his opponents without giving them a fair trial. He too was against freedom of the press. The massive rigging of the 1977 elections was the last straw. He too was overthrown by people's power, and had to pay the ultimate penalty.

In Imran Khan, I see another dictator, one who displays a flagrant contempt for the law. He is using state institutions to suppress dissent. He is arresting those who point out his mistakes and corruption. He too is threatening the media to refrain from criticizing him, forgetting that times have changed and the internet cannot prevent the truth from being told.

So, to the young and old brainwashed ones I say, "A free media is essential for the country, the country would never have been divided in 1971 if Ayub had allowed the press to flourish, and those who point out the government's mistakes are the real assets of the country". And I predict that they will realize the truth of what I say when massive protests erupt against this illegal "selected" government and Imran Khan has to go home.

Bhutto re-visited

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Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first elected prime minister of what was left of Pakistan after 1971, led a chequered life. I had heard many times that his mother had been a Hindu dancing girl, but today I got confirmation from an article in DAWN. It seems that he was mentally challenged because his mother had never been accepted as a family member and his father had never given him much time when he was growing up. 

It was obvious that he was suicidal. He was also an autocrat and not very confident of himself. Which is why he always suspected that others were out to get him. 

It also explains why he was a sycophant. He told Iskander Mirza that posterity would say he (Mirza) was the greatest Pakistani who ever lived, greater even than Jinnah (who created the country). He was the youngest minister to be appointed until that time (1954). 

There is something I know which is not well-known. Bhutto had a rice mill which he had rented out to a Hindu. One day Bhutto (as prime minister) asked the tenant (through an emissary) to buy the factory as he needed the money. The man almost collapsed. He said he could never think of doing such a thing. But the emissary told him to collect the money and pay it as the prime minister was a poor man who wanted money badly. The tenant purchased the factory, and a week later, Bhutto nationalized it. I know this story is true because it was related to me by a close relative of the Hindu tenant. But the strangest thing is, despite Bhutto's treachery, the Hindu tenant continued voting for the PPP, even after Bhutto was executed. 

Inevitable curbs on women and press freedom by an illegitimate regime

When Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto assumed power in 971, one of our maids told my mother, "Now we'll live in your bungalow, you and others like you will have to live in our huts". It seems PPP workers had told simpletons like her that this would happen if they voted for the PPP. Much like today, when the ruling party's politicians promised the moon to the masses in pre-election campaigns.

Bhutto was arrogant and despotic, just like Imran Khan. He too went after the press, putting many journalists in jail and forcing others to leave the country. It seems whenever a government finds itself on the defensive, it either imposes draconian press laws to stifle dissent, or put restrictions on women. 

Unsurprisingly, Zia thought all his problems would disappear if both the press and women were curbed. Flogging of writers became common and women were compelled to wear headscarves. Many women came out in protest, burning their headscarves in public. 

Later, the Punjab government under Shahbaz Sharif also ordered college girls to cover themselves, as if doing so would prevent rapes in the province. Again, women protested, and the order was withdrawn.

So I wasn't surprised when a male guard prevented girls in Lahore from entering a public building because their heads were not covered, saying that seeing women with uncovered heads disturbed the males in the building. Of course he couldn't have done it without approval from the top, and it was thought that Yasmin Rashid (a PTI minister) had given the order. She denied it, of course, even though I strongly suspect she was the one who was behind it all. 

But the most dangerous move of the present government is to make a new law punishing those who defame the present ruling party. Apparently the fat and corpulent Fawad Choudhry (the information minister) doesn't know the meaning of defamation. He doesn't want the truth about his party's failures to be told. Just like Bhutto, who thought anyone criticizing him was a traitor. In fact, also like the present chief justice, who made opposing the construction of dams a treasonable offence. Future generations of Pakistanis will wonder what exactly made the chief justice do what is not in his domain. But then, this is Pakistan.

Why have elections?

Published in Daily Times on May 16, 2018

After the recent charade of the senate elections and the election of the chairman and deputy chairman, one cannot be blamed for wondering if we really do deserve to have the kind of democracy which allows politicians to loot and plunder.

Of course, since Nawaz Sharif himself did his best to destabilise past PPP governments, he ought not to have been shocked at what has happened to him.

It has been obvious for a long time that we are not democratic by nature. The ten immediate years after partition saw politicians fighting among themselves, while prime ministers did not last long in those tumultuous days, with one, I I Chundrigar, resigning only a month into his tenure.

The people, therefore, actually welcomed General Ayub Khan with open arms, calling him the saviour of the country. Claiming that universal adult franchise (one man-one vote) is not suited to the temperament of our people, Ayub introduced the basic democracy system in which an electorate of only eighty thousand people, out of a total population of eighty million, voted to elect members of the national assembly.

These basic democrats elected Ayub Khan as president, rejecting the popular Miss Fatima Jinnah. Those elections were thought to be massively rigged, as she was the sister of the founder of the nation and was very popular among the masses. Ms. Jinnah also died under very suspicious circumstances, and it is widely believed that she was murdered during her sleep.

When Ayub Khan became unpopular, however, our people came out on the streets to throw him out. The people did not protest when he handed power over to another general, although his own constitution said that the national assembly speaker, an East Pakistani, should have taken over as president.

After the first supposedly free and fair elections in 1970, the winner Shaikh Mujeebur Rahman should have been allowed to form the government. Unfortunately, our so-called ‘democracy-loving’ politicians, led by Bhutto, and those who were in power at the time simply could not bear the thought of having an East Pakistani heading the government.

The country was dismembered, and we had to start anew, with Bhutto serving as the civilian martial law administrator and whose intransigence was the main reason for the country’s breakup.

Despite calling himself a committed democrat, Bhutto was highly autocratic, very much like Imran Khan, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. He humiliated and tortured many of his party stalwarts like JA Rahim and Mukhtar Rana, who had the courage to oppose him.

Bhutto’s tenure ended in 1977 when the people came out to protest against the massively rigged elections, and when General Zia seized power even though he held Bhutto in high esteem mere days before launching the coup. Then again, our politicians too have the knack of changing sides at the drop of a hat, as is being witnessed nowadays.

After the restoration of democracy, both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto connived with the establishment to dislodge each other’s governments. Even during the last PPP government, both Zardari and Nawaz were at each other’s throats. Zardari imposed governor’s rule in Punjab, while Nawaz sided with the establishment in the Memogate scandal.

If our politicians favour real democracy, why do they not hold transparent elections in their own parties? Shahbaz Sharif was elected unopposed as party chairman of the PML-N. Apparently no one else had the guts to oppose him.

The PPP, moreover, is a family business, with grey-haired and experienced veterans like Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani forced to obey the orders of the virtually inexperienced Bilawal, while the PTI chief rejected his own election commission’s report about rigged elections and corruption within his party.

It has sadly been like this since the country’s independence, with history repeating itself every few years. Our leaders have always been embroiled in trying to retain or attain power, which gives an opportunity to the establishment to step in, much to the relief of the common man. Those who lose elections try their best to dislodge the winners, who in turn try desperately to remain in power and therefore cannot concentrate on good governance, which leads to the country suffering.

It has been said that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Talk to the voter in our rural areas and you find that he is not at all bothered by corruption. He respects those who are wealthy and who live in their own palatial houses.

In fact, if our politicians were to suddenly adopt simple lifestyles like giving up their motorcades and getting their children educated in government schools, they would find themselves losing the confidence and respect of their voters. The common Pakistani thinks, “If this man is not wealthy, how can he solve our problems?” The average Pakistani peasant will either vote for his feudal landlord’s party or to someone who belongs to his own caste or tribe. Which is why the PPP will continue to win elections in the rural areas of Sindh.

One may well ask then, “Why have elections at all?” Why not simply appoint members of the feudal elite throughout the country to rule and supervise development in those areas which they control?

Look at our assemblies, dominated by feudal lords and the filthy rich. The nation has to incur massive expenditure on holding elections, which in any case tend to be rigged and tend to cause so much bitterness.

Even in the US, a man like Donald Trump became president, despite the fact that Hilary Clinton got three million more votes than he did. In our own country, we had a prime minister who has been elected three times, and who is the alleged owner of property worth millions.

Perhaps a few years without elections may be the solution to our ills. Plus, of course, having incorruptible leaders like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore who will not hesitate to take strict action against those indulging in corruption.

Shakir Lakhani

The writer is an engineer, a former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, an industrialist, and has been associated with the petroleum, chemical industries for many years. He tweets @shakirlakhani

https://dailytimes.com.pk/240455/why-have-elections/

Like Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif can’t see the writing on the wall

Published in the Express Tribune blogs on November 30, 2017

I have never considered Nawaz Sharif as an intelligent man. Considering the events that have taken place this year alone, he should have learnt the lesson that he cannot continue looting the nation anymore. In fact, he should just spend the rest of his days in the holy land (Saudi Arabia) or he could go to London and guide his party members from there, like Altaf Hussain.

Furthermore, with the humiliation he has suffered after being disqualified as the prime minister of Pakistan and from contesting future elections, he should have at least had the grace and dignity to admit his defeat. But like General Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he can’t see the writing on the wall. He thinks he can bounce back and take on the premiership of this benighted country for the fourth time.

So what does he do?

First, he amends the Constitution which would enable him to remain the party chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). This apparently is to ensure that he bags the prime minister position when (more like if) his party wins the upcoming general election. Moreover, he wants to establish his power as “the boss” over his party members and allies, so that they know that this isn’t the end of Nawaz Sharif and hence they should continue following his orders.

In any other democratic country, he would have had to resign immediately after the Panama leaks surfaced. But that is clearly not the case in Pakistan though. For some parties like Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), however, we have seen the complete rout of them which resulted in them losing popularity in Pakistan. Looking at the events that are currently taking place, it seems that PML-N might be following in their footsteps and tumbling down.

To save his place in PML-N, Nawaz got the National Assembly to pass the Elections Act 2017 bill, after removing the clause preventing a disqualified person from heading a political party. No one from the opposition objected to it at that time, but when the bill came for approval by the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan noticed the missing clause and contested to have it included. The Senate rejected his move and passed the bill, though with a very narrow margin, but later, however, decided to adopt Ahsan’s objection and barred disqualified persons from leading their political parties.

Hence, the National Assembly recently passed the law, making it possible for Nawaz to head the PML-N. The bill will be presented to a joint sitting of both houses, but since his party has an overall majority, it will be implemented by law. However, it is now up to the Supreme Court to decide if the law is in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Even a layman could have told Nawaz that his preoccupation with being the head of his political party was bad for the country. It seems that he and his supporters, including those in government, thought that this was the only issue the nation was facing, and hence they should go all out to ensure that Nawaz remains the chief of his party.

Furthermore, no one is surprised by the government’s inadequacy to effectively deal with the Tehreek-e-Labaik protesters during the 22-day long Faizabad sit-in which had paralysed the country. Despite boasting that he could disperse the crowd and end the dharna within three hours, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was compelled to ask the Army to deal with the situation. When the army had reservations about doing so, he surrendered to those who were indulging in what the court called “anti-state activity” and “an act of terrorism”. One would have thought, after ruling Punjab continuously for 10 years, the party would at least have gained enough experience to enforce law and order (which is what every government should be able to do), and even more so after the Model Town clash of 2014.

Due to the ruling government’s failure to control the protesting mob, November 25, 2017 will go down as the blackest day in our country’s history. Now, instead of being penalised for terrorism, we shall see such people creating mayhem and paralysing the country, demanding that the government should resign on some flimsy pretext. Our enemies must be enjoying themselves, watching our helplessness against those who do not want the country to prosper.

Before Nawaz cries wolf over how the dharna was a means to prevent him from returning to power again, or how it was a conspiracy by the establishment, or how the country is crumbling without him being in power, he should know that his own party was divided on the issue; his own son-in-law, Captain Safdar Awan, was firmly supporting the protestors. He should have seen the writing on the wall when in the recent vote in the National Assembly, his party and its supporters were able to garner only 163 votes. Fifty of his own party members did not turn up to vote, this coupled with the fact that at least 10 PML-N lawmakers have resigned from the party, prove that his party is not united and he is not suitable to be the party chief of the PML-N.

There is now no choice for Nawaz Sharif but to quit politics. To paraphrase a British parliamentarian, “You have done enough harm. In the name of God, go!”

https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/60736/like-ayub-khan-and-zulfiqar-ali-bhutto-nawaz-sharif-cant-see-the-writing-on-the-wall/

“Corruption is our right”: Have you not looted Sindh enough already, PPP?

Published in the Express Tribune Blogs on July 6, 2017

Embed from Getty Images

Really, the scale of corruption in Sindh is mind-boggling.

Ask any schoolboy in Pakistan which political party is the most corrupt and he will reply at once,

“Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).”

Even before a Swiss court convicted the former president and his wife Benazir Bhutto of money laundering, the leaders of this party have been known to be highly corrupt. It was not for nothing that former President Asif Ali Zardari was known as Mr 10%.

So it was highly ironical to see PPP stalwarts such as Aitzaz Ahsan in Parliament demanding accountability of Nawaz Sharif. Either he forgot the rampant corruption in his own party or deliberately chose to ignore it. Mr Ahsan, how can we ever forget your party’s Prime Minister Raja Ashraf’s corruption in the rental power case?

And surely you remember that payment of Ayyan Ali’s air ticket was made from the same bank account as that of Bilwal Bhutto Zardari’s? Have you never wondered how an ordinary low-paid Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) meter reader (Syed Khurshid Shah) became so wealthy?

So why should we be surprised that the shameless PPP majority party in the Sindh Assembly passed the bill to repeal the applicability of the National Accountability Ordinance, preventing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from taking action against corruption by its ministers?

After all, it was a PPP stalwart (Abdul Qayyum Jatoi) who said,

“Corruption is our right!”

What he really meant, of course, was,

“Corruption is our religion!”

https://youtu.be/OEQZ_iZs3NQ

While tabling the bill, Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said,

“The Sindh government will introduce a new anti-corruption law in 30 days… to eliminate corruption from the province.”

If the recent past is any guide, the Sindh government will probably appoint someone like Superintendent of Police (SP) Fida Hussain Shah (who is himself facing corruption charges) to investigate corruption in the province.

And we should not forget the strong resistance put up by the Sindh government towards the appointment of Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khawaja. You cannot appoint your party activists as policemen as long as you have an honest officer heading the police department, can you, Mr Murad Ali Shah? Nor can you have ghost teachers in ghost schools if NAB is constantly looking over your shoulder.

Really, the scale of corruption in Sindh is mind-boggling. From sale of parks in Karachi to mismanagement of water purification plants in Thar, there is looting and plundering everywhere.

Gangsters like Uzair Baloch have been freely used to further the agenda of Sindh’s rulers, while a little known Sindh government employee (Sharjeel Memon) became a billionaire within three years.

Even though property prices have shot up numerous times and the common man can no longer afford to buy a house, the Sindh government charges taxes and stamp duties at the old prices (which are only 2% of the actual values). Government employees in the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and the land department take huge bribes from builders as well.

So, by making NAB ineffective in the province, the Sindh government wants to ensure that the loot and plunder of Karachi continues. It doesn’t want to be held accountable for the garbage on the streets of Karachi, nor does it want anyone to prevent the sale of amenity parks at throwaway prices to builders.

So I wasn’t surprised at all to see a glum and despondent Shah in the apex committee meeting with the army chief, which was held to impress upon him the need for, amongst other things, improvements in the functioning of the police department and to appoint police officers on merit.

I know that he was upset because he had never thought that there would be resistance from any quarter to his ministers’ aims to further enrich themselves, nor to his power to appoint unqualified louts in the provincial police department. He thought that by exempting Sindh from NAB, people like Memon, Dr Asim Hussain, and former SBCA Director General Manzoor Qadir Kaka would now be immune from prosecution.

Well, he is wrong, as he will soon find out when the proposed law is struck down by the courts.

Get real, Mr Shah, the people who voted for your party are not ignorant. They can see that there has been no development at all in Sindh, when compared to the other provinces. They know that your party has failed them.

You still have about a year to do something for the people of your province, Mr Shah. Stop thinking of protecting the corrupt, start accountability, get rid of those who are bent upon making themselves rich. Otherwise it will be too late, and the people will come out on the streets to remove your party from power, as they did in the times of Ayub Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Shakir Lakhani 

Engineer, former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (twitter.com/shakirlakhani)

https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/52693/corruption-is-our-right-have-you-not-looted-sindh-enough-already-ppp/

Our authoritarian leaders & true democracy

True democracy

Published in the Friday Times on December 2, 2016

Sir,

The leaders of most of our political parties are authoritarian by nature. The recent PML-N intra-party election proved that its leader cannot tolerate any opposition – he was elected unopposed after his opponent was disqualified. This reminded me of how Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was elected unopposed from his home town Larkana in the rigged 1977 elections – his rival Jan Mohammed Abbasi was picked up and held incommunicado so he could not submit his papers to the ECP. Although Bhutto would have won the elections anyway, he was too insecure to allow anyone to stand against him. The same trait can be observed in the PTI chairman, Imran Khan, the former president Asif Zardari and the founder of the MQM. The Jamaat-e-Islami and the Awami National Party are perhaps the only parties that conduct transparent elections. The leaders of these parties often consult with senior party members before taking decisions.

It’s good that the Supreme Court has held that the prime minister cannot decide state matters without the consent of the cabinet. Let’s hope that the prime minister follows the order. This can be the first step to introduce true democracy in the country.

Shakir Lakhani,

Karachi.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is the reason the state of education in Pakistan is so bad

Published in the Express Tribune blogs on November 11, 2016

I recently came across an Urdu newspaper in which the date was stated to be October 32, 2016. Apparently the editor didn’t know that October has only 31 days, and it can’t ever have 32 days, not even if Imran Khan wants it and threatens to lock down the whole world if it is not done. Teachers of English in our schools are not qualified to teach, which is why most Pakistanis routinely add an apostrophe before an “s” even when it is not required.

Education standards have deteriorated drastically. I usually come across such phrases as “his” husband or “her” wife. At such times I wish that the writer would stick to his mother tongue instead of massacring the English language. One of the aims of a good education is to train students to express themselves (if not in English, at least in their mother language). Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

It was undoubtedly Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who gave the death blow to quality education in the country. His rampant nationalisation of schools and colleges to provide jobs for his party workers (one of whom became the principal of a school despite not being able to sign his name) ensured that the common man would never be able to provide a decent education for his children. Teachers no longer took their work seriously, knowing that being government employees, they could never be sacked.

A couple of years ago (40 years after the reckless nationalisation of education), I interviewed a graduate of a prestigious business institution of the country. He didn’t even know basic math (including how to calculate percentage increase or decrease in prices). In fact, he could not even do simple addition or subtraction. When I asked him what he would do without a calculator, he said a modern cell phone can also be used as a calculator. I asked him what he’d do if he didn’t have a calculator or a cell phone and needed to do simple calculations like when paying for groceries.

“I’ll ask someone who knows how to do it”, he said.

When I asked him how he was able to get his current job, he smiled and said,

“My father is a senior government officer”.

Way back in 1972, in the first cabinet of Bhutto, the health minister, Sheikh Rasheed, announced that by introducing generic medicines in the country, prices had come down by up to “a 1000%”. And he said this at an international conference outside Pakistan, which made us the laughing stock of the whole world. One foreign reporter asked the minister how prices could be reduced by a 1000%, since a decrease of only 100% in the price of any item would mean that its price would now be zero. I don’t remember how the minister retrieved himself from this awkward situation. Someone should have told him that by reducing the price of something by a 1000%, the pharmacy selling that item would not only have to give it away for free, but would also have to pay Rs900 to the buyer.

So, even before Bhutto nationalised schools and colleges to provide jobs for his party activists, quality education was not available in some government schools (like the one in which Sheikh Rasheed studied and passed his matric exam). I was surprised that Bhutto didn’t replace him (perhaps because he was a senior member of the party and already beyond retirement age).

I, myself, was fortunate to have studied in a missionary school which is famous for having produced a president of the country, a prime minister as well as a provincial governor and chief minister, a senior Indian politician and some army generals (a couple of whom were my classmates). One of my class fellows is a well-known columnist writing for a leading English newspaper of the country.

Teachers were dedicated and strict. The school was run by Dutch Christian priests who spoke to us only in English. They were strict disciplinarians who didn’t hesitate to cane us if we didn’t do our homework. This school was among the two missionary schools in Karachi that were not nationalised, but when I had my son admitted there in 1980 I found that the former teachers had retired and had been replaced by those who were products of nationalised schools and were not as good as ours had been. Nowadays, of course, private schools have sprung up and children of the elite are being trained to get good jobs after they graduate. But even some private school teachers are not as good as the ones we had when we were kids. My teachers were so good that I didn’t need tuition, but most children nowadays need to avail private tuitions to be able to pass. Perhaps it’s because school teachers are not paid more than the minimum wage prescribed by the government.

It will be a long time before things improve, and I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

Shakir Lakhani

Engineer, former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (twitter.com/shakirlakhani)

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=711135857457794804#editor/target=post;postID=7621587102746871598