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.

Killer rains and the joy of water

According to Pakistan Met office official website, lot of rain fell on the city yesterday and today. It reported that around 85mm of it fell across many parts of Pakistan on Saturday. And today it says that some parts of the city received 205mm. Reports from BBC state that around 26 people died as a direct consequence of such heavy monsoonal rains. And the facts go on.

I cannot blame the government for doing nothing to save those precious lives. I cannot blame the common public, I and you, for doing nothing except for complaining to KESC for prolonged load shedding (a term which does not properly define what it does to its consumers time and again). I cannot blame anyone. We are so enamored by what has been happening across much of Karachi that we've become sort of aliens to our own surroundings. No more does the death of 26 people bring us to streets. Although when electricity goes out for 10 hours we do smash windows and abuse KESC, even if we don't pay our electric bills on time. We are so self-loving, self pleasure seeking that a larger, national interest to us means nothing. How sad that beautiful rains, which happened yesterday and today, should bring this in sharp focus: Our bad qualities, our absolute low morals.

We are so bad, rains are so good.

I love indecent , provocative and ill-motivated SMS

I love smooching and indecency, etc. But I am too afraid of the draconian laws of the good government of Pakistan [whatever that means; sorry for indecency!].

I don't understand this democratic setup of our govt. They cannot just stand the funny jokes, made in good measure, against our good president of the very good country. Who are these people who have just got out this order of 14 years of prison for a person who dares to send out the jokes against very good men of our times, Zardari Sahib and his play mates, the PM, the FM, the CM, and all others. What will our govt. achieve by all this non-sense [am I being indecent here???]

One thing is for sure. If you add some taxes per SMS and if you delete the jokes on Zardari, then you've got the problem. At least if you are part of Mobilink or Warid network. Your business greatly suffers. And our collective sense of humour, even it is on a morbid side of things, suffers a lot. Already we are suffering lot of fools around us. And the mullahs. And the terrorists. And all other whacky kids from Afghanistan, India, Russia, USA, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

But Mr. Zardari, who must have helped in bringing this law to life, should be happy. I have not received, for a very long time now, any jokes on Zardari.

Long Live Zardari, the good President of a very bed-ridden and sick country. [Is this, my Lord, indecent, provocative and ill-motivated?]. Sirs, please answer.

CJ and other people

CJ of Pakistan, Iftikhar bhai phero, is now wanting to earn millions and trillions of money. So says the un-confirmed and un-known report. What else explains this exclusively stupid initiative of stopping the carbon tax on petrol and other products for one day and then getting over the next?

What is CJ suggesting? He seems a lame duck to me now. No proper decision making has come out from him or his office recently, a sad reminder how judiciary work in the country.

For further references, please note that all the murderers and rapists are roaming free. Historical structures are being damaged by the ministries. Corruption is rampant. And no cases against Zardari are being presently heard. Is this is what we Pakistanis wanted from CJ, for whom we did everything. We, the public and not Zardari and Co., restored him to his present status. Otherwise the lawyer's movement would have failed miserably.

And yes, CJ has taken no notice of the workings of KESC and our Education ministry.

Long Live Pakistan Long Dead Rule of Law!