Parade Lane attack (Rawalpindi Saddar)

Yet another brazen, well coordinated attack from militants. This time it is Friday and it is a masjid inside one of the most secure compounds in the country. Or so Pakistan Army thought before today's juma prayers. Attack leaves atleast 40 dead. Army's Major General, who usually is off limits to all civilians, is among the dead. So are others. Army is stunned so is our comical, useless security guru, Rehman Malik. All day TV anchors have had almost nothing to say besides replaying four photographs from inside the unfortunate masjid. However, there was one telling interview of the key eyewitness, a man who himself was once in Military Police, about what could have happened. He told the TV anchor of Dawn TV that he thinks militants might have put ladders on the wall and jumped in. That is quite possible and explains our lack of all preparation. Consistently, militants have played havoc on the streets of Rawalpindi and Peshawar destroying any semblance of governance in these two cities, putting everyone's life in complete danger and helping collapse Pakistan's economy.

I cannot say whether militants are being backed by Indian RAW or Blackwater agency, who now openly operates across Pakistan from American Embassy in Islamabad. (They also seems to be building a permanent residence at Karachi.) We cannot be sure who is behind such a mess so we almost always end up blaming President Zia and the mullahs of Jamat-e-Islami. But we seems to have no proof. And our ISI, now deranged and thrown like a football, looks itself in a bit of a mess. They cannot, for example, find a single culprit or connect the chain of suicide blasts which have killed over 3000 Pakistanis in one year alone. We have never heard of a major action being taken against these perpetrators of crime. If there has been a certain, targeted action then we must know. Unfortunately, fiddly Interior Minister, has failed us. Army Chief is quiet as always; Zardari remains holed up in his Presidential House. He cannot care less than that. How sick of our rulers. Here, people die on daily basis and the only thing our worthy President can do is dole out a silly blurb in media.

But now that 6 Serving Officers have died in broad daylight, which was not a simple suicide bomb blast but cold blooded murder of women, children and men, Army is likely to take certain measures. I am hoping that they won't stop their men from praying but certainly this marks the certain closure of beautiful Cantonment mosques across Pakistan for general public. And that's the sad side of safety measures. You close contact between the haves and the have nots. Certainly, whoever planned this attack knew too well that army men would be present along with their wives and children in the mosque. There is certainly someone from inside who has been giving key information to terrorists who struck today. So, the key point for investigators would be to investigate people who've been frequenting this masjid since last 15 days or so. I think that holds the key to the attackers as well as to the planners.

How to stop illegal CNIC users in SIMS

Recently PTA has announced albeit secretly that any mobile user in Pakistan who wishes to know whether anyone is illegally using his CNIC number for any un-authorized SIM can message 668 his complete CNIC and receive message.

Example:

If your CNIC number is Xa-XXXXXXX-bX and your mobile number is 0300-9200000 and if you wish to confirm whether anyone is using SIM on your CNIC simply type the following:

TO : 668
Message : XaXXXXXXXbx [type your CNIC without any dash instead of this code].

You will recieve message from PTA about the various Mobile SIMS using your ID illegally, if any. For example, I received the following message:

MOBILINK: 3
TELENOR: 7
WARID: 4

Which means there are 7 TELENOR numbers using my CNIC illegally. And there are 4 WARID Numbers doing the same. But 2 and not 3 MOBILINK numbers doing the same [as one number is my own].

It is my humble request that without wasting any further time, please use this facility and stop people from using your CNIC illegally.

Noorani Shah baba photographs

http://www.demotix.com/news/noorani-shah-baluchistan

Britney as Jamila: Afghan elections goes awry

Funniest thing to have happened in a week is this: One Afghan election card has a photograph of a blond Britney Spears next to a name which says 'Jamila', a fairly common Muslim name. If it had been James Bond as Muala Buksh or Beckham as Barish Khan, it could have been missed by a lot of men at Afghan polling station. But to make Britney into Jamila is taking things to far. And I am not sure if Britney really enjoyed that sort of name changing and even nationality changing.

Such picture, though being hilarious, nevertheless proves beyond doubt that Afghan polls are total sham. And USA, of all the countries, wishes to save its face on Afghan democracy reforms. I am not sure who will win - one which is supported by USA will win - but whoever does will have to face lots of criticism over the conduct of this elections - and probably lot of Britneys as nightmare.

I hope, for once in a century, rigging at Afghan polls are not connected to Pakistan or its intelligence agency, ISI. Pakistan has been a kicking bag for much of American media. And Indians have ridden the wagon on and off. I am yet to hear someone suggest that Pakistan may be involved. It is good news so far. And we hope it remains as such.

Gojra violence

Gojra violence is the newest touted phenomenon across world media. And once again Pakistan is the key to it all. No matter how many Muslims and their kids are burnt alive by the blood-thirsty Ultra-Jewish Israelis, all incidents related to Pakistan make it to the world headlines. And no wonder this violent episode will remain on world debate for quite sometime. It will be used by all and sundry as one more reason why Pakistan should disintegrate; a good reason why Pakistan has to be called a failed state [sic].

According to wikipedia, 'Gojra (Punjabi, Urdu: گوجرہ), the capital of Gojra Tehsil, is a city of Toba Tek Singh District in the Punjab province of Pakistan[1], it is located at 33°16'60N 73°20'60E[2] and is located 30 miles (50 km) from Faisalabad,.. ' So you know, if you happen to be a fan of Saadat Hassan Manto that Toba Tek Singh is and has been part of violent, mentally short circuit culture of many parts of our region, specially that of South Punjab. I was, therefore, not surprised to hear from Dawn's analysis in monthly Herald that many of the most cultivated terrorists of Pakistan are actually coming down from Southern Punjab region including nearby Jhang. Further, it should not surprise any that the violence which killed 7 Christians in Gojra this Sunday was perpetuated by the men from Jhang and that it was supported at Police level. And considering the recent reports about an imminent operation in South Punjab by Pakistan Army [Punjabi-led Army higher ups are concerned about the fall out of this war zone] we know for certain that ISI officials must have known this mischievous act in the making. They did nothing speaks for itself about the quality of men we now have at all official levels: Army, Intelligence, Police and Ministers.

Damage has been done and now Shahbaz Sharif, who himself supports hardliner Wahabis and Jihadis, has ordered an inquiry. What for? Why did he and his minnows not stop the violence when it was perpetuated in broad daylight? Why O Why dear Minister? And no answers from his office or any such office are forthcoming. That itself is sad and speaks for all of us.

For me it goes to another level. For 11 long years, from Class 1 till completion of my O' Levels [Year 1999 Batch] I studied at one of the premier schools of the city, St. Michael's Convent School. It disturbs me no less that the Christians with whom I studied and who were well behaved would be treated in such a brazen, horrific manner. It is hopeless to note that certain elements within our country would want to destroy such a peaceful bunch of men and women. And more so to note that such elements operate with immunity across the country. They burn everything; they kill everyone. For them Islam and Prophet are but a step towards their own nefarious goal achievement strategy.

This incident, and the past incidents involving minorities in the country, clearly shows our apathy towards other faiths, towards other human beings. This incident would no doubt put a question mark over many Christians' minds. They have been inevitably forced to rethink their loyalty to Pakistan. It being August, month of our freedom, government should at all costs bring to gallows the men involved in this heinous crime. Instead of giving sweeping and long statements by ministers, we need to ask why this crime was done. And who did it.

Supreme Court asks Musharraf to defend himself

Supreme Court, in not-so surprise move, has asked Musharraf to answer as to why did he kicked out 60 judges when emergency was declared in the country during his final stint as Pakistan's top ruler.

Musharraf is presently in England afraid that his coming back would seriously compromise his security. But now, as SC calls him, he has to come and defend his decisions. What a turn around from the day Musharraf called on Chief Justice, Chaudry Iftikhar, and ordered him out after a marathon 5 hour closed door meeting. Chaudry fought back and was eventually reinstated. Now, once again, he is the CJ of Pakistan's top court and now, as fate would have it, Musharraf will stand trial. And if he cannot answer properly - and Pakistan's military chief, General Ashfaque Kiyani has indicated that army won't interfere - Musharraf will have to face the music.

But my question is: Why is he not being charged for murdering hundreds of Lal Masjid students? Why is he not being charged for not improving electric capabilities of the country? Why is he not being charged for covertly supporting militants across Swat valley who are now being eliminated? When Musharraf, the all-powerful two in one leader, could have done a lot he did not. Why?

We need answers from Musharraf. But we also need to ask Supreme Court's demanding answers for only one crime. Why bigger, more horrible, crimes are being over-looked?

Answers, not reasons.

KESC takeover by Govt. of Pakistan?

KESC has been issued a show-cause notice by the government for being lazy in providing electricity to the consumers, you and I and everyone in between. That much was expected from the lame duck government, which we have, on our heads and on our country.

KESC has been doing nothing, except for giving statements, regarding the power shortages across the city. It has all the reasons in the world when load shedding occurs for, say, 19 hours on the run. Even when 80% of the city was black out this rain fall KESC told us that it was due to tripping of transformers and disconnection with the national grid. All science to me!

Now what if President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, takes over the management of KESC from the private sector. What will be the change? Will KESC deliver better goods. We have all seen that KESC has gotten worse in the time of Musharraf, darling of the West and of our continuously-fighting army. We saw, to our collective horror, privatization of a public utility. We chided it for being naive and very un-courteous. We expected Musharraf to take back his decision. But he was money-hungry, like most army generals are. So he sold KESC to someone who had no experience running such a huge utility firm. Sorry and sad.

Now, President of Pakistan, by issuing a notice to KESC has already warned it of dire consequences. [And that may have come due to persistent rioting by many citizens of Karachi]. Let us see, with crossed fingers and double crossed hope that KESC does something better. But can it do anything better when the people running it are of the same lot who ran it before privatization? Can a utility do miracles without the proper auditing of its reports and with all the Kundas we see everyday. I am not sure.

Before Zardari takes action against KESC he must ensure that there is not a single home or an office or a factory which is being run on Kunda system. There is not a single bill which is not paid. If Zardari and his minnows can do that, they have all the right in the world to take action against the utility including the reversing of privatization of the firm. Otherwise, morally speaking, Zardari should stick to his government.