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Pakistan isn’t banana republic, it’s absurdistan

Firstly, I disagree with a lot of what @Syed.Ali.Haider has written here.

But......

Is this now allowed on PDF? You can use abusive language against people for absolutely no reason? I thought the Senior Cafe specifically was supposed to be about better language than that.

And yes, I'm sorry to say this in public, but even if action was taken, those posts with personal attacks should be removed.

There is a way to attack 99% of what he posted without even referencing the person himself. Maybe people here should learn the difference

Assigned attack poodles have management support to do this Sir, otherwise they would be banned, as I would be, if I responded in kind, in a heartbeat (which may be the goal). :D

Now, back to the topic, what did I post above that you do not agree with?
 
Assigned attack poodles have management support to do this Sir, otherwise they would be banned, as I would be, if I responded in kind, in a heartbeat (which may be the goal). :D

Now, back to the topic, what did I post above that you do not agree with?
That this process against Nawaz is somehow an attack on democracy. Checks and balances are an important part of any democracy. If this court case goes through smoothly, then democracy will be stronger for it
 
That this process against Nawaz is somehow an attack on democracy. Checks and balances are an important part of any democracy. If this court case goes through smoothly, then democracy will be stronger for it

This whole charade is a soft coup, plain and simple. Nothing has changed in who still exercises power in Pakistan, illegally, and to its everlasting detriment.



This is what the charade of accountability looks like:

https://www.dawn.com/news/1354149

Zardari acquitted in final corruption case
Malik AsadAugust 27, 2017


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FORMER president Asif Ali Zardari has been acquitted in five corruption cases — the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, Polo Ground and ARY Gold references — since 2014.


ISLAMABAD: Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday got a clean chit in the sixth and final corruption reference against him, thanks to an apparently “friendly” and “weak” prosecution.

A Rawalpindi accountability court, on Aug 17, had reserved its judgement on a plea filed by the former president and announced the verdict nine days later. Mr Zardari had sought acquittal in a reference regarding his alleged illegal assets, in Pakistan and abroad.

Accountability courts have already acquitted Mr Zardari in five corruption cases since 2014: the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, Polo Ground and ARY Gold references.
 
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This whole charade is a soft coup, plain and simple. Nothing has changed in who still exercises power in Pakistan, illegally, and to its everlasting detriment.
There is proof against Nawaz. Zardari is much more clever in how he hides his wealth
 
There is proof against Nawaz. Zardari is much more clever in how he hides his wealth

LOL. There is tons of proof against just about every politician in Pakistan. Only those who do not compromise with the real power get dragged over coals, and at only the right time to suit certain goals.
 
LOL. There is tons of proof against just about every politician in Pakistan. Only those who do not compromise with the real power get dragged over coals, and at only the right time to suit certain goals.
What certain goals though?
 
LOL. There is tons of proof against just about every politician in Pakistan. Only those who do not compromise with the real power get dragged over coals, and at only the right time to suit certain goals.

The selective accountability is a very bad omen and quite a conspiracy theory in my mind as well.

But how is this any different to any country's make up everywhere. Don't flirt with idealism in a shrinking communicative world.

Corruption though infact is unforgivable.

Look at it this way.

While respected Trump never did actually release his tax returns and we have ours cut to size in 10k dollars.

We have different priorities than your adopted country.

The judiciary the armes forces and the political setup. That's what constitutes a state.

How is simple clerical procedure of clamping down on corruption a coup?

That's far fetched as conspiracy theories go.
 
https://www.dawn.com/news/1363627/the-growing-khaki-shadow

The growing khaki shadow
Abbas Nasir October 14, 2017



ARMIES defend the territorial integrity of nations; when called upon to do so, they help deal with internal strife and even fight wars outside the geographical confines of their country when national security imperatives so dictate.

But in this day and age, wherever elected civilian governments exist, there are not many examples of big burdens being carried by the capable shoulders of the defence forces. The reverse is true for Pakistan.

There was a time when our army was tasked exclusively with protecting our country against foreign aggression. Then Gen Ziaul Haq placed on it the additional burden of ‘safeguarding’ the nation’s ideological frontiers.

In Zia’s era, and even before him when Field Marshal Ayub Khan was at the helm, developing and fine-tuning quasi-civilian models were additional tasks the military devolved to itself in order to eventually usher in a ‘democracy’ that in Zia’s words could deliver ‘positive results’.

All through the late 1980s and nearly all of the 1990s, whenever ‘positive results’ (no matter how they were defined at a given point in time) started to dry up, the civilian government was wound up and replaced by another carefully tweaked civilian set-up.

However, by 1999, the civilian set-ups’ positive-results tanks had run completely dry so the whole set-up was dispensed with. The rest is history — so recent that it need not be repeated. What all of us have had to live with are the consequences of the follies of those uniformed chief executives.

Mismanagement, corruption and the entrenched non-democratic internal structure of many of the political parties today does not engender much love for them, but whenever they form a government it is always via elections and they are representative.

And, guess what? If they fail to deliver, misgovern and rule by empty slogans their fate is sealed; in the next elections, the astute voting public will throw them out. A different party will be ushered in and the sifting process will continue till someone delivers to ensure their longevity.

One hates going on like a broken record but whether it is mismanagement or corruption, the record of Pakistani rulers in uniform is no better; in fact, it is actually worse than that of the civilians, although historically military rulers have had much more space to govern than any civilian administration.


Even then, we have seen key areas such as national security policy and foreign policy being slowly but surely dominated by the security establishment and its thinking. If civilians have policy priorities, these remain mostly un-pursued.

Over the past 30 years, whenever a civilian government has come to power, signs of friction with the military have started to emerge. Historically, it is always the civilians who have had to back off and concede ground to the security establishment, regardless of whose area of responsibility the issue lies in.

The ISPR-FPCCI seminar on the economy this week in Karachi was an indication that the country’s powerful military may now be venturing into a new area to possibly influence decision-making, as the army chief shared his concerns about the economy.

While nobody would dispute the merit of the army chief’s argument about the narrow tax base in Pakistan and his advice to the government to broaden it, he should remember that the issue is such a political hot potato that even military rulers who were not answerable to any electorate failed on this count.

Lamenting the increasing footprint of the military in so many of the country’s policy areas by itself will not change the ground reality. It is equally the responsibility of civilian politicians, the elected ones in particular, to try and wrest control of policy areas for themselves.

It is obvious they can’t do it by merely wishing or hoping for it. Their conduct in office would have to be so exceptional that the military would have no choice but to head back to the barracks. But is it?

Well, the verdict is mixed even if you look at only this week’s events. On the positive side, the foreign and interior ministers on visits to the US seem to have said all the right things and robustly argued the country’s case.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s presentation at the Asia Society and US Institute of Peace seemed to have such an impact at least in Pakistan that those usually sceptical of any good coming from this government actually acknowledged the difference a fulltime foreign minister can make.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal’s address to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore was equally well received as was his tweeted comment in support of the minorities in Pakistan after PML-N MNA Capt Safdar’s tirade on the floor of the National Assembly. His outburst assumes greater significance in view of the fact that he is former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law.

The latter episode was only one among a number of very negative developments reflecting rather awfully on the civilian leaders. The postponement of the indictment of Maryam Nawaz in the Panama Papers case in an accountability court in Islamabad after pandemonium in the courtroom was very alarming, blamed as it was on lawyers loyal to the PML-N.

Equally appalling was Imran Khan’s refusal to appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan; now that he has said he would defy the arrest orders for non-appearance, it is clear he is upping the ante and seems prepared to throw out the baby with the bath water.

With the conduct of the main political parties’ big guns leaving much to be desired, the influence of the elected civilian politician is likely to recede further and the military’s footprint will get bigger and bigger. One can only hope it does not get so big that we are forced to revisit past disasters.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2017
 
What nation can afford the absurdity of letting its economy drift without decisive actions that are needed to stave off dire consequences?

https://www.dawn.com/news/1363874/state-bank-report

State Bank report
Editorial October 15, 2017


THE latest annual State of the Economy report issued by the State Bank basically confirms much of the commentary that has been pointing out that the challenges confronting the economy are growing increasingly stark. On the fiscal side, the report notes that with election year approaching, the deficit between revenues and expenditures is going to be difficult to contain at target, especially since it is believed that the provincial governments are far less likely to turn in the surpluses they are expected to run. Likewise with reserves. The report says that pressures from the current account deficit — the leading culprit contributing to the drain on reserves that began last October — are likely to persist as import volumes continue to grow and exports fail to keep pace. These are the twin deficits that have been the Achilles heel of Pakistan’s economy for decades, and the chief reason why the country keeps landing at the doorstep of the IMF every few years. That cycle, of short-term booms followed by quick bust, is likely to be repeated one more time if the situation does not reverse itself. By now, it is quite obvious that the government has few tools at its disposal to bring about a reversal through policy action. Steps like regulatory duties on ‘unnecessary’ imports have failed to arrest their growth in the recent past, and an exchange rate adjustment has been ruled out one more time by the finance minister — not that it would solve the problem.

The report presents some interesting numbers. For example, contrary to the government’s claim that the rise in imports is due mainly to the import of capital goods, which are growth-enhancing for the future, and therefore healthy, the report points out that 48pc of the increase in imports since last year is due to capital goods. That is undoubtedly a significant percentage, but it still means that 52pc of the increase is coming from elsewhere, chiefly fuel and textiles. In a number of places the report suggests that, given the present levels of productivity and competitiveness, Pakistan cannot afford to grow in this manner because the costs mount up faster than the dividends. This should be noted by the critics of the government as well, who are seeking to score a few political points using the travails of the economy.

Still, the scenario presented is far from doomsday — although the economy is stressed, and pressures on the fiscal and external accounts are mounting with no end in sight. With course correction, it is still possible to avert a hard landing, but the only problem is the political atmosphere and timeline. A beleaguered government and the approach of elections means that space for bold policy action is limited. The economy is on its own through all this.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017
 
That this process against Nawaz is somehow an attack on democracy. Checks and balances are an important part of any democracy. If this court case goes through smoothly, then democracy will be stronger for it

Ask yourself, why only Nawaz Sharif & Co and why now? I, myself was very happy when the court's decision came. I deluded myself that this was the start of a new era, one in which everybody will now be held accountable for his/her action or inaction or both. That maybe long awaited change, had come finally. Even though, I knew better. But then, time passed and we saw the judiciary act against no one else. Thus, making the whole verdict suspect, not because it was wrong. No, it is very much correct. There's not even a shadow of doubt that Nawaz Sharif and his family are corrupt. The problem is that a lot of other people, are too and they are still at large. The problem is selective accountability and selective justice. How come it is not being extended to other politicians, military-men, bureaucrats?

I, now believe, with high confidence, that Nawaz Sharif most likely stepped on the toes of the powers that be and got beautifully tackled, by the book. The courts acted, on the whim of the those-who-must-not-be-named and labeled him corrupt and not worthy of running in elections anymore. See, this is the beauty of it. If they acted directly, Nawaz Sharif would become a political martyr, they would risk coming into spotlight and letting the public see what they really are. But since they are experienced been running this game for long and work with an extremely effective strategy, they acted through a third party - the judiciary. Now, they have created a valid reason for his dismissal and made certain that he's not a problem for them anymore. Everything they desired has been executed, while maintaining the cover of vagueness and without exposing their identity.

Btw, how much do you get paid per post?

How come you can't post anything positive/constructive and instead choose to merely increase your post count through irrelevant nonsensical one liners? If you think that what is written in someone's posts or posted articles is wrong, start debunking it. Whats this obsession with making personal attacks?
 
How come you can't post anything positive/constructive and instead choose to merely increase your post count through irrelevant nonsensical one liners? If you think that what is written in someone's posts or posted articles is wrong, start debunking it. Whats this obsession with making personal attacks?

How nice of you to have tunnel vision, has the said member, ever posted ANYTHING positive? But how can I expect you who speaks the same language, to be neutral.
 

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