From managing the Ambanis money to managing Pakistans finances, what a day!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Press Gallery
By Mohammad Malick
Islamabad: Taking part in the virtually meaningless debate on Law and order, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat sounded more like the future senior leader of the Musharraf-funded, and Barrister Saif-founded, All Pakistan Muslim League. Instead of blasting away at the PPP government as expected, the greater part of his speech, or verbal venom if you may, was instead reserved for an unrelenting castigation of PML-N leadership and all that it stood for. Or fallen for, viewing it from his perspective.
But keeping that for later, his remarks regarding the PPP governments obvious penchant for all things Musharraf warrant a prioritised mention. Looking straight towards minister of state Hina Rabbani khar, the Musharraf-loyalist-turned-PPP-jiyala, with his irritating sarcastic smile pasted on his lips, he mocked the government for not only retaining Musharrafs policies but also his people. Boy, is the holy Makhdoom prophetic or what.
Because if the latest power talk is right (and mostly it is) then another once upon a time Musharraf loyalist is expected to take oath of the finance ministers office within the next 48 hours. The gentleman, also had his meetings with the belligerent president and the consensus prime minister late Monday night before flying back to the United Arab Emirates.
Now why would a man about to take oath of the vaulted office of the finance minister of the Islamic(emphasis intended) republic of Pakistan dash back to Dubai? One wonders. Well what else would you do if you were managing a massive US$1 billion plus hedge fund which happened to be owned by the biggest Indian tycoons, the Ambanis. Obviously, you got to go back, make a couple of calls to Bombay, seek their blessings, apply for a leave of absence, and only then fly back to Islamabad and start looking after the **** money. Now, it doesnít hurt either to have the comfort of knowing that if the Pakistan experience doesnít work you can always fly back to the golden Indian nest.
By the way, the hedge fund is called New Silk Route Partners (NRS). Itís a US$ 1.4 billion hedge fund owned by Ambaniís with local partners from Dxb Rajat Gupta.
But on a second thought, you could also look at the NRS relationship as being a unique case of an Indian business house putting its eggs in a Pakistaniís hands. Could there be a better example of a growing dÈtente between India and Pakistan?
Oh, by the way did somebody just mention the gentlemanís stint as Musharrafís privatisation minister and the amazing privatisation deal of PTCL which saw the bartering away of a national asset in a criminal manner. So what if the nation is still paying for the multi-billion dollar fiasco (but that will come as a separate story like I promised in an earlier column). Can the country really afford to put a man in charge of the entire national kitty when he could not even safeguard the national interest in one tiny winy multi-billion dollar deal. Will those, whose candidatures are being pushed by IMF and the sort be expected to stand up to such institutional benefactors for the sake of ambiguous national interest? Isnít the answer obvious. Itís time, the consensus prime minister grew an individual spine and looked inwards to appoint someone with verve and imagination to take the nationís economy forward instead of allowing himself to be brow beat into re-imposing those who were tried in the past, and didnít make the cut. There are people even in his own cabinet who have the capacity to make this broken machine work. But since in all likelihood the gentleman will get appointed and I wonít be able to take out even a motorbike loan for writing this rubbish, allow me the audacity to offer another unsolicited suggestion: with Musharrafís finance whiz girl already here, and his privatisation minister too being brought in, Mr. Gilani might as well reappoint Tariq Aziz as his advisor and the president can get Gen Æ Hamid Javed back as the presidentís chief of staff and we could all live happily ever after as one big happy family. And who knows, if this trend continues, then maybe both Musharraf and Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat too would not have to toil with the new All Pakistan Muslim League and simply join the consensus government in one justifiable capacity or another.
One thing continues to trouble me though. A couple of days back the honourable Chief Justice Lahore High Court, Kh. Mohammad Sharif was really peeved at Hindus giving money to Muslims, I now wonder what he will have to say about Indian Hindus taking out their brilliant fund manager and loaning him to Pakistan as the future finance minister. Surely, Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz must be rolling on their sides and laughing their eyes out. Welcome to our democratic world, which just canít seem to shrug itself free of Musharaffs ghost(s).
Coming back to Makhdooms tirade. He wasnít that irrelevant either when he questioned the yawning gap between expressed words and executed deeds of our political leaders. Just to cite one example he rightly pointed out that PML-N had backed out of its own COD agreed modality of appointment of judges. He had a lot more to say but the paucity of space and urgency of my deadline prevents me from citing it here. In his longwinded response, the newly appointed prime ministerís political advisor Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gull apparently wanted to compensate ëhimselfí from his long absence from the House (he was beaten at the polls by the Chaudrys of Gujrat). In fact his long stuttering pauses added unfairly to his speech time but cutting through the slush of his wandering logic at times he did manage to say something very apt and so right. He said,î Nations are not destroyed by bomb explosions, famines or floods but from moral and ideological bankruptcyî. Welcoming a dear old friend like Ghazanfar back, so what if he came through the back door of advisor ship and whose book I borrowed many years back and forgot to return, I only have one advise for the prime ministerís advisor: ask your boss to take a stand and make the right appointment.
FOOTNOTE: I read a line on a Hollywood B-movie poster many years back. It said, ìIf you donít stand for something, you will fall for everythingî. The time has come for our political leadership to stand up and rely on home grown political leaders to shoulder the burden instead of falling for forced messiahs. Otherwise, the line goes on to predict the future as well.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Press Gallery
By Mohammad Malick
Islamabad: Taking part in the virtually meaningless debate on Law and order, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat sounded more like the future senior leader of the Musharraf-funded, and Barrister Saif-founded, All Pakistan Muslim League. Instead of blasting away at the PPP government as expected, the greater part of his speech, or verbal venom if you may, was instead reserved for an unrelenting castigation of PML-N leadership and all that it stood for. Or fallen for, viewing it from his perspective.
But keeping that for later, his remarks regarding the PPP governments obvious penchant for all things Musharraf warrant a prioritised mention. Looking straight towards minister of state Hina Rabbani khar, the Musharraf-loyalist-turned-PPP-jiyala, with his irritating sarcastic smile pasted on his lips, he mocked the government for not only retaining Musharrafs policies but also his people. Boy, is the holy Makhdoom prophetic or what.
Because if the latest power talk is right (and mostly it is) then another once upon a time Musharraf loyalist is expected to take oath of the finance ministers office within the next 48 hours. The gentleman, also had his meetings with the belligerent president and the consensus prime minister late Monday night before flying back to the United Arab Emirates.
Now why would a man about to take oath of the vaulted office of the finance minister of the Islamic(emphasis intended) republic of Pakistan dash back to Dubai? One wonders. Well what else would you do if you were managing a massive US$1 billion plus hedge fund which happened to be owned by the biggest Indian tycoons, the Ambanis. Obviously, you got to go back, make a couple of calls to Bombay, seek their blessings, apply for a leave of absence, and only then fly back to Islamabad and start looking after the **** money. Now, it doesnít hurt either to have the comfort of knowing that if the Pakistan experience doesnít work you can always fly back to the golden Indian nest.
By the way, the hedge fund is called New Silk Route Partners (NRS). Itís a US$ 1.4 billion hedge fund owned by Ambaniís with local partners from Dxb Rajat Gupta.But on a second thought, you could also look at the NRS relationship as being a unique case of an Indian business house putting its eggs in a Pakistaniís hands. Could there be a better example of a growing dÈtente between India and Pakistan?
Oh, by the way did somebody just mention the gentlemanís stint as Musharrafís privatisation minister and the amazing privatisation deal of PTCL which saw the bartering away of a national asset in a criminal manner. So what if the nation is still paying for the multi-billion dollar fiasco (but that will come as a separate story like I promised in an earlier column). Can the country really afford to put a man in charge of the entire national kitty when he could not even safeguard the national interest in one tiny winy multi-billion dollar deal. Will those, whose candidatures are being pushed by IMF and the sort be expected to stand up to such institutional benefactors for the sake of ambiguous national interest? Isnít the answer obvious. Itís time, the consensus prime minister grew an individual spine and looked inwards to appoint someone with verve and imagination to take the nationís economy forward instead of allowing himself to be brow beat into re-imposing those who were tried in the past, and didnít make the cut. There are people even in his own cabinet who have the capacity to make this broken machine work. But since in all likelihood the gentleman will get appointed and I wonít be able to take out even a motorbike loan for writing this rubbish, allow me the audacity to offer another unsolicited suggestion: with Musharrafís finance whiz girl already here, and his privatisation minister too being brought in, Mr. Gilani might as well reappoint Tariq Aziz as his advisor and the president can get Gen Æ Hamid Javed back as the presidentís chief of staff and we could all live happily ever after as one big happy family. And who knows, if this trend continues, then maybe both Musharraf and Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat too would not have to toil with the new All Pakistan Muslim League and simply join the consensus government in one justifiable capacity or another.
One thing continues to trouble me though. A couple of days back the honourable Chief Justice Lahore High Court, Kh. Mohammad Sharif was really peeved at Hindus giving money to Muslims, I now wonder what he will have to say about Indian Hindus taking out their brilliant fund manager and loaning him to Pakistan as the future finance minister. Surely, Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz must be rolling on their sides and laughing their eyes out. Welcome to our democratic world, which just canít seem to shrug itself free of Musharaffs ghost(s).
Coming back to Makhdooms tirade. He wasnít that irrelevant either when he questioned the yawning gap between expressed words and executed deeds of our political leaders. Just to cite one example he rightly pointed out that PML-N had backed out of its own COD agreed modality of appointment of judges. He had a lot more to say but the paucity of space and urgency of my deadline prevents me from citing it here. In his longwinded response, the newly appointed prime ministerís political advisor Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gull apparently wanted to compensate ëhimselfí from his long absence from the House (he was beaten at the polls by the Chaudrys of Gujrat). In fact his long stuttering pauses added unfairly to his speech time but cutting through the slush of his wandering logic at times he did manage to say something very apt and so right. He said,î Nations are not destroyed by bomb explosions, famines or floods but from moral and ideological bankruptcyî. Welcoming a dear old friend like Ghazanfar back, so what if he came through the back door of advisor ship and whose book I borrowed many years back and forgot to return, I only have one advise for the prime ministerís advisor: ask your boss to take a stand and make the right appointment.
FOOTNOTE: I read a line on a Hollywood B-movie poster many years back. It said, ìIf you donít stand for something, you will fall for everythingî. The time has come for our political leadership to stand up and rely on home grown political leaders to shoulder the burden instead of falling for forced messiahs. Otherwise, the line goes on to predict the future as well.
