For the past seven decades the way successive military and civil governments have treated and handled Balochistan has been a clear example of one-way traffic – the center dictating its terms and conditions for political stability and economic development agenda; the net result is the absence of both. The National Party’s late Senator Hasil Binzeno was very right in saying that “investment in laying out communication lines is what every colonial master does in colonized…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
By ZEN SOO, AP in The Chicago Tribune, Jan 5, 2021 at 7:58 PMAbout 50 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures were arrested by police on Wednesday under a national security law, following their involvement in an unofficial primary election last year held to increase their chances of controlling the legislature, according to local media reports. Those arrested included former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists, and the group were arrested on suspicion of subversion under the city’s national…
by Kalbe Ali in Dawn, January 4th, 2021ISLAMABAD: A security report for 2020 released by Pakistan institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) has said while the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliates continued to regroup in erstwhile Fata, Sindhi and Baloch insurgent groups also intensified attacks. The report launched here on Sunday stated that though terrorism was no longer an epidemic in Pakistan, the country faced a more severe challenge of religious extremism. “There is also…
by Sulman Ali in The Nation blogs, Jan 4, 2021 at 4 :06 PMOne of the most frequently aired news in both Pakistan and India media is the arrest of fishermen of both countries, by the security forces of other state. Every other day, news channels report that either Pakistan or India has arrested the fishermen for ‘crossing the border’. It has become so common that newspapers and channels report it like regular news, but…
Osama, an innocent 21-year-old, was gunned down and killed by five officers of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) who now, fortunately, face criminal charges. Given that the responsibility of such a body is to shelter civilians from such acts of terrorism, it is appalling that such a pre-meditated act was carried out by members of the CTD. It is undeniable that accountability in its place needs to be carried out but, the government also needs…
‘Shocking, ‘act of terror’, ‘brutal’ – no words can quite describe the death-by-police-shooting of a 22-year-old young man in Islamabad in the early hours of Saturday. As per most accounts, Usama Satti is said to have been on his way back home after having dropped a friend (or cousin) off when he was stopped by the anti-personnel of Islamabad Police. When he allegedly did not stop his car, he was chased by the police who…
THE government’s plan to settle the outstanding dues of IPPs amounting to Rs450bn in three tranches is only the first step towards liquidation of the power sector’s circular debt. According to reports, the IPPs will get 30pc of their existing debt stock this month and the remaining amount in two equal tranches in June and December. Under the plan, one-third of the arrears will be paid to the power producers in cash and the remainder…
THE Pakistani taxpayer has to foot yet another bill. The government is paying a whopping $28.7m from the national treasury to a Washington-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC because it reneged on a contractual agreement. At the centre of this debacle is the National Accountability Bureau that had signed the original agreement with the company to recover stolen assets stashed in various offshore accounts. The disagreement between the two parties ended up in court which…
The government should think twice before dismissing the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as a spent force because the parties that make up the alliance have just had to rethink some of their positions. It is only natural for new and sometimes contradictory ideas to emerge as the situation changes, and it is a good not a bad thing in a democratic environment for allies to sort out issues through dialogue and mutual give-and-take. If anything…
by Ali Anwar in Daily Times, Jan 4, 2021Unnatural alliance of PDM will notch up nothing. Rather it will go down the pan sooner than later. As I have pointed out in the previous columns that these unnatural bedfellows will fall apart very soon, because each of them it meant only to feather his nest. On one hand, they ask the establishment not to interfere in politics; on the other hand they say that they…
CCPO’s transfer: EDIT in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2021.
Controversy-plagued Lahore Capital City Police Officer Umar Sheikh was finally shown the door last week. Many are amazed he even lasted this long, given the impact of his victim-blaming in the wake of the motorway gangrape case. Why he was removed, however, remains up for debate. The government has not provided a reason for his removal, and in the last week alone, he has provided plenty of possible reasons. For one, he got an earful…