Long March farce

If Mr. Aitizaz Ahsan, chief proponent of independent judiciary by which he primarily means Ch. Iftikhar, the former CJ of Pakistan, wishes to save his face he needs to concentrate on the idea that Mr. Nawaz Sharif is salable and is a useless drum beater. On one side Mr. Nawaz acts as if he is a Islamist and on the other he becomes quite a liberal by asking for a free justice system. Therefore, Mr. Ahsan, who is now no more part of PPP's central committee, should think about the financial constraints this long march will cause him and his poorer supporters.

I cannot imagine for my life that Nawaz Sharif, ever so changing, would be able to finance the entire operation. I also cannot imagine a shrewder younger brother, Shehbaz, to allow his big brother to finance such a futile thing. For one, USA does not want Mr. Iftikhar on the hot seat. They cannot afford to have him on a place from where they cannot fulfil their ambitions. USA wants general anarchy in the country and Zardari and his team mates are capable of achieving that. Long march and its future repercussions would be disastrous for the country. If CJ comes along on the hot seat, Zardari would be the first one to be sent to jail for good. His corrupt brothers, MQM and Chaudry brothers, who helped Musharraf storm Lal masjid and kill hundreds of innocent women and children studying inside, would follow.

Steel Mill, ever so in debt, would be audited heavily. CJ will also take up the case of hundreds of Baluch missing since war on Terror began along with many innocent men and women whom Musharraf either sold to USA for billions of Dollars or kept in dingy prisons countrywide.

So Long March should not achieve what it intends to do. It should be a face saving activity for American citizen, Zardari; it should help Nawaz become a puppet of USA. But it should not help the likes of Mr. Ahsan to come up and get CJ reinstated. That would jolt the entire program of USA govt. and thwart its global ambitions.

But marchers are out shouting slogans. If Nawaz sells at this time, and somehow he cannot be trusted, then the entire responsibility would fall on the lawyers. We know they are serious but would they be able to hold on to this sloganeering for good? And what shall be the outcome of all this mess when we are told that Sherry Rehman, Information Minister, has resigned. So have the DCO and DGP Lahore? We are also told that Zardari is being increasingly cornered by his own fellows at home. And Mr. Gilani, a very slow moving PM, is now flexing his muscles and asking questions.

NOTE: Gilani is a Punjabi and so are Mr. Ahsan and Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Chaudry brothers, although they hate Nawab group, are still Punjabis at heart. Pakistan Army Chief, General Kiyani is also a Punjabi. But Mr. Zardari is a Sindhi and has a serious dis-advantage. Will a mentally challenged Sindhi President survive this all Punjabi game ? BB would have certainly handled the situation much better but USA had other designs.

Long March and state of Pakistan

Much awaited - and dreaded - long march kick started, in fact, butt started, today from Karachi and Quetta simultaneously. The plan was to gather momentum as cities and towns got covered. Primarily, Karachi and Lahore were to be the basic stronghold of men and muscle. Zardari had other ideas.

In Karachi, I witnessed low traffic and almost no customers today. And lots of jammed areas around old city like Regal chowk and High Court. That is the sad part. These old parts of Karachi earn most in terms of revenues. Wholesale markets, as a matter of fact, are the engine of any economic society. If they are hit so is the basic business of the place.

Today, I also heard sporadic news of arrests and beatings as day passed in relative tension. People back in Karachi really fear 16th March. I was personally not expecting such robust action by our Zardari knickers, The MQM. But I am sure MQM and other side kicks will be in full show. And why not. Their arch rivals, Sunni Tehrik and Jamat-e-Islami are part of this long march.

Unfortunately, Zardari and his cohorts don't understand the point. By making all the noises, beating men on the streets, putting containers to stop the marchers, and by creating fear among common Pakistanis, he is doing harm to himself and to the party's image as a democratic force of the country. He could easily earn for himself a severe punishment from Punjabi-led Pakistan Army. In any case, Punjabis don't tolerate, or have ever tolerated, Sindhis or Baluch to rule them. So he is only giving them a good reason to show their antipathy towards him and his ethnic community by kicking him off. [USA seems to be sticking with Zardari].

Long March, if seen on a larger spectrum, makes Pakistan look like a failed state. No matter what we as Pakistanis have to say on the subject, international media led by the likes of Jewish CNN and Hindu India have been proved right once again by our misdeeds and a series of misfortunes. By beating and shutting down hundreds of black-coats (and black sheep) we are doing no good to our image and Zardari, as President of Pakistan, should shoulder most of the responsibility. And by failing to bring to Justice those 13 men (or were they less?) who specifically targeted Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore we have proven without doubt that the worst form of democracy is actually not better than the best form of dictatorship. Both are either equal or in our case, dictatorship happens to be much better than the likes of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif (Amir-ul-Momineen and Shia'-teen)> By hitting on this movement with so much force (one report in press puts it at 600 containers for stopping marchers from reaching Islamabad) Zardari-led govt. has proven that he is no better than Musharraf, though he came here by votes.

So where do we go from here? Is Long March going to change anything on political and social level? Will it end up in a blood bath? Will Zardari succeed in stopping angry looking protestors from reaching Islamabad? Only time will tell.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that our luck and the luck of the country doesn't fall out fast.

NOTE: India's RAW could have a field day on 16th March. Killers won't be blamed. Victims won't get justice.