As drama grips nation

Pakistan PM Gilani in court

That Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would walk out of the country's increasingly aggressive Supreme Court without wearing handcuffs had been predicted by all seasoned observers.

But emotions in Pakistan run on a short leash, and doomsday scenarios sell like hot cakes.

So when the prime minister arrived for an unusual hearing at the court where he was accused of contempt, people across the country glued themselves to their TV sets, waiting restlessly for high drama to unfold.

Pakistan's ubiquitous television news channels had put their best anchors on air with live video links to experts and their crews at the Supreme Court premises to provide analyses and blow-by-blow account of the proceedings.

Hundreds of camera crews and security detachments braved the chilly, drizzly winter morning around the sprawling building, covering all the vantage positions so as not to miss any single movement of interest.

Standing room only

Inside the courtroom, an impressive line of important cabinet ministers and political allies of the prime minister was arrayed opposite a stage on which seven judges sat behind a semi-circular table.

In the press gallery, overlooking the court, it was standing room only.

For an unfamiliar eye, the scene was decked with all the trappings of a fight to the bitter end.

But the prime minister ended up making a dignified deposition before the court, denying any wilful contempt. The judges heard him out with solemn respect in recognition of his official status.

The anti-climax came when the prime minister's lawyer, Aitezaz Ahsan, was able persuade the judges to give him nearly two weeks to prepare his defence which many say would raise more legal questions, and more time needed to answer them.

Survival

For now, there are signs that at the very least, Mr Gilani will see the government through to 2 March, when senate elections are due.

His Pakistan People's Party (PPP) party is poised to win an absolute majority in the senate. This will extend the party's influence over legislation for at least six years even if it loses in general elections, likely to be held later in the year.

It is generally believed that once senate elections are over, the need for some political factions and state institutions to destabilise the government would end.

But that does not mean that Pakistanis' appetite for political drama will end too.

It is very closely linked to the country's 65-year long history.

During these years, the Pakistani public and Pakistan watchers abroad have seen long spells of military regimes, punctuated by short-lived democratic governments that have been booted out and humiliated without exception.

Mr Gilani's government has defied predictions of a collapse so far, and has become the longest surviving elected government in the country's history.

If it survives until next elections, and a successful transition to the next government takes place, maybe then Pakistanis will start getting used to the new rules of the game that seem to be in the works.

Gilani bows before SC, get a breather

Embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani earned a breather today by presenting himself before the Supreme Court in response to a contempt notice and defended his stand in not reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, but the simmering crisis gripping Pakistan persisted. Bowing to the judiciary, Gilani appeared before a seven- judge bench in compliance of its directive after being slapped with a contempt notice, and walked away with a breather when the apex court adjourned the hearing till February one and exempted him from personal appearance on future dates.

However, Gilani's problems may not be over since the crisis involving his unpopular government's confrontations with the powerful army on the one hand and with the judiciary on the other, remains unresolved. Backed by top lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, a barrister, the 59-year-old Prime Minister, the second premier in office to appear before a court in contempt proceedings, said he could not even think of committing contempt of court as he had complete respect for the judiciary. "I have come today to show my respect to this court," Gilani told the Supreme Court.

 "It will not give a good message to proceed against a president who is elected by a two-thirds majority." "There is complete immunity for head of states everywhere," Gilani told the bench, headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, that is presiding over the case. "I have discussed this with my friends and experts, and they all agree that he has got complete immunity," Gilani added. The bench appreciated Gilani's decision to appear before the apex court, with Justice Asif Khosa, a member of the bench, saying his appearance showed the supremacy of law.

Child prodigy: Lights dim on a beautiful mind
Arfa Karim passes away: Whiz kid loses battle for her life

Last farewell for child prodigy Arfa Karim

Funeral prayers of the World’s Youngest Microsoft Certified Professional Arfa Karim Randhawa, who passed away on Saturday after protracted illness, were held on Sunday in Lahore

The prayers, held in Cavalry Ground, were attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and attended by her close family members.

Her coffin was draped in the national flag. She was 16.

The teenage genius suffered an attack on that which had given her recognition and made her a source of inspiration for young and old across the country – her brain. Arfa had an epileptic attack on December 22 and had been in a coma since, while well-wishers prayed and watched her progress closely.
On December 29, doctors said there was no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off “at any time”. However, she had then miraculously responded to certain stimuli, as recently as January 13.

In 2004, Aarifa Karim Randhawa was the youngest ever Microsoft certified professional in the world. Born in 1995, she received the prestigious title at the age of nine.


On December 22, Aarifa was admitted to Lahore’s CMH hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. On Thursday, doctors said there is no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off ‘at any time’.

When Aarifa, now 16, was given the title of a Microsoft professional as a young child, she visited the company’s headquarters in the US. When she met Bill Gates himself, she had two questions: Why weren’t children allowed to work for Microsoft, and why such few women worked for the organisation.

Her love for technology, however, started long before she was recognised internationally. After discovering computers for the first time at the age of five, she pestered her father for a personal computer, and after that there was no looking back.

Aarifa’s achievements go far beyond recognition from Microsoft alone. The 16-year-old, a student of Lahore Grammar School’s Paragon campus, has represented Pakistan in various international forums. In 2005, the child prodigy received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal from the government as well as the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award. In addition, she has received the president’s award for Pride of Performance, medals from IT professionals around the world, and also became a brand ambassador for PTCL in 2010.

Her talents however, are versatile. Besides excelling in the field of science and technology, Aarifa also flew a plane at the age of 10.

Aarifa’s father recalled the year in which his daughter passed the test which enabled her to be declared the youngest professional certified by Microsoft in the world. “When she passed the test at age nine, everyone thought the result was wrong,” he reminisced. She wanted to make software just like Bill Gates, he added. She would say that she wanted to work for children and poor people.

PM holds out olive branch to military

In a sudden reversal in the tide of events, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauded on Saturday the army’s role in preserving country’s security and impressed on national institutions to work in harmony, days after he accused Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani of acting ‘unconstitutionally’.

“National unity is the need of the hour. Each organ and state institution has to play its due role, within its respective domain, to bring forth the best in promoting Pakistan’s national interest,” the prime minister said at a meeting of the Defence Committee of Cabinet, making it clear that while the government wanted to avoid a collision course, it also expected the military establishment and the assertive judiciary not to transgress their constitutional confines.

That the prime minister wanted his terms for reconciliation known publicly was clear from the unusual arrangements made by Pakistan Television to record and telecast his opening statement. On no other occasion, the prime minister’s remarks at the DCC meeting were recorded and broadcast.
Noticeable also was the absence of ISI Director General Lt Gen Shuja Pasha who, though not technically part of the committee, has been regularly invited to its meetings. In his place, the director general of Intelligence Bureau, the civilian spy agency, attended the proceedings.

Gen Pasha had been at the forefront of those pushing for getting the memo scandal, which is at the centre of the confrontation between civilian and military leaders, investigated by a Supreme Court-appointed commission even though Gen Kayani had only asked for the matter to be probed as a national security matter.

Moreover, there had been an unannounced agreement between the military and the government not to further pursue the matter after former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani had been made to resign.

Prime Minister Gilani apparently extended an olive branch to the army as mediation efforts by senior politicians and ‘foreign friends’ got into top gear.

Hours before the DCC meeting, Army chief Gen Kayani had, in a surprise move, called on President Asif Ali Zardari. The one-on-one meeting is said to have lasted 45 minutes, possibly laying the ground for a rapprochement.

The army, according to one of the mediators, is ready for backing off, but wants the government to make the first move towards peace. This possibly explains the conciliatory stance taken by Mr Gilani at the meeting and devoting significant part of his opening speech to the civilian-military tiff which, otherwise, was not part of the agenda.

According to a participant of the meeting, Mr Gilani and Gen Kayani showed positive body language.

Islamabad: where facts meet fiction

Oh our love for the conspiracies. We truly present the image of a mentally sick, addicted child. Every simple event turns into a conspiracy, everybody is an evil enemy. I just hope somebody can cure this sick child one day. Or we leave it to God to intervene…

Saturday may have been quiet in comparison to the crisis-ridden week that just passed but it had its fair share of political activity.

Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met President Asif Ali Zardari for the first time since the heated outburst of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the ISPR’s waspish reply. The COAS then went on to join the prime minister in the DCC meeting who then waxed lyrical over the Pak military.

Hence, many predicted that the latest crisis to shake the house of the PPP was over. But for others, this was just a peaceful interlude; war is the natural state of affairs in the Hobbesian civil-military affairs.

Welcome to Islamabad where theories flourish and facts are forced to fit pre-existing hypotheses.

An inexplicable development such as the prime minister’s outburst on Monday where he described Kayani’s and ISI honcho Shuja Pasha’s affidavits as legally shaky, can easily lead an entire city to predict the coup that it had earlier ruled out.

Everyone and his aunt were sure that the government was ready to remove the COAS and that in response the army was about to walk in.

But why would the PPP that too had paid the price of Nawaz Sharif’s foolhardy move in October ’99 consider a similar move? And similarly, no one explained how an army, which is battling a hostile Washington and militias and resentment from within the ranks over May 2, Salala and the extension of the army chief, contemplate a takeover?

Imagine a roomful of corps commanders who all remember the promotions blocked by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s overly long tenure. They then got rid of him to bring in a professional soldier who too got glued to the seat. Would they now allow anyone to move and take charge a la Musharraf and stay put indefinitely?

In Islamabad on Wednesday afternoon, everyone thought so.

And of course, it’s now universally accepted that each time the military is about to move, it not only changes the command of 111 Brigade but also announces this through the media.

Such is the logic of the speculations and analysis that rule Islamabad.

We can and we do predict the future. And if we are ever proven wrong we simply plough ahead with more predictions.

Is the government going? And if so, will it go before the Senate elections or after the budget? Why is its departure imminent and how? The answers vary by the hour as well as the political affiliations of the person asked. But discussed they are everywhere — at dinners, the parliament house, over cups of coffee and tea, telephone conversations as well as BBMs!

It’s hard to find a ruling party member who does not believe that the judiciary, the military and Nawaz Sharif are colluding to send the government packing.

It’s a conspiracy on the lines of the Da Vinci Code.

It was under a grand plan that ‘memogate’ was unveiled and Nawaz Sharif petitioned the Supreme Court. In these hard cruel times the military is going to use the judges to send the government home.

If it is not the NRO implementation case where the judges have already inched closer to disqualifying the president or the prime minister or both, then it might go for the jugular (aka Zardari) with the memo case.

The commission will investigate and find the memo to be the real McCoy. This will give the courts the chance to then try and declare Husain Haqqani and the president guilty of treason.

The minus one formula is at work.

So what if both these options leave the PPP numbers in the parliament intact?

Not really, for once the president or the prime minister are rendered useless by the court, the fickle rats will desert the sinking ship, leaving the PPP government bereft of a majority.

And why these rats have not been given the signal to do this already so as to save the time and energy of first orchestrating a court verdict and then juggling numbers in the national assembly?

This silly question is not even worth asking. In Pakistan we are wont to never grab our nose directly when there is the option of stretching our hand from behind the head and then pulling at the nose.

The PPP is being targeted and that is the only script anyone is familiar with. Any new twists and turns in the old plot are not acceptable.

But of course the PPP can pre-empt this all by announcing early elections. That none of the other parties are agreed on a single date for the general election is irrelevant.

Fact and fiction are not just stacked up against the PPP but also the PML-N. For the very evil establishment that has colluded with Sharif and the judiciary on ‘memogate’ has also propped up Imran Khan as an alternative to the PML-N.

The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf with its revolutionary message and open embrace of has-been politicians is the establishment’s latest ploy. As it once created the IJI to deal with the PPP, it has now created the PTI to deal with both the PML-N and PPP.

But is the establishment colluding with the PML-N or with the PTI? And is it going to throw the PPP out to put the PML-N in power or the PTI? Silly, small details.

The establishment, like the proverbial playboy, flirts with anyone and everyone. It also controls the MQM that blows hot and cold with the PPP. The party’s tantrums are another sign that the army has decided to send the PPP government home.

The theories are unending. And the scenarios they throw up are limitless.

But common to them all is an omnipotent establishment – despite being vulnerable to international pressure, domestic anger and resentment within the ranks.

So powerful that it somehow allowed a PPP and a Zardari that it hates to come to power and stay put for four years. But now it finally has a plan to send it home but no one knows why.

No wonder then that one is tempted to rephrase the anonymous proverb to say that those the gods want to destroy, they simply send to Islamabad to take its gossip seriously.

 Desi treat.

Nargis Fakhri first Pakistani appeared in the America’s Next Top Model
Nargis Fakhri is the American model from New York. She will appear in the upcoming Bollywood movie Rockstar, next to Ranbir Kapoor.Personal LifeFakhri was born in New York,  her father is Pakistani, her mother is from Czechoslovakia.

Nargis Fakhri was a semifinalist during Cycle 3 of ANTM.
Born and raised in Queens, New York, the half-Kashmeri, half-Czech model narrowly missed her chance of making it into the Top Model house during episode 1 of Cycle 3. She also auditioned for Cycle 2, but was unable to make it to the finals.
The aspiring model was memorable because she tangled up her words when introducing herself to panel for the first time. She later expressed that she had no interest in fashion or modeling, just looking at a job modeling as simply a job; a way to make a living. Even though Mr. Jay commented that he liked Nargis’s body type, Tyra seemed unimpressed by Nargis’s lack of interest in the fashion industry at the time. Before the final girls were chosen, Tyra did express that she appreciated Nargis’s upbeat attitude during initial auditions.
Following her audition for the show, Nargis went on to appear in TV commercials/campaigns for Aquafresh, Herbal Essence, Pantene, Subway, Jeep, Bruno Banani Perfume, Ponds and many more globally. She’s also been on the covers of Vanidades and Shape Magazines – to name a few.
Nargis is currently signed with Ford Models in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Miami, NOVA Models in New Zealand, Leni’s Models in London, ANC models in Hamburg, Scoop Models in Denmark, La Agencia in Spain, Mannequin Studio in Singapore, SG Planet Models in India and CESD for television.
At present, she is working in South East Asia with an emphasis on India.

Pir Pagara passes away: The political oracle goes silent

Veteran politician and spiritual leader of the Hur Jamaat, Pir Pagara died in London on Tuesday.

The 83-year-old suffered from a lung problem, but initial reports suggest he passed away due to a heart attack. His body will be flown to Karachi today (Wednesday) evening before being taken to his home town Pir Jo Goth in Khairpur Mirs.

Famous for his predictions, the chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), at his last press conference, had said he would take a week’s leave ‘to go to nurse land.’

Pagara was admitted to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi on November 24, where his lungs were operated upon. Shortly afterwards, due to deteriorating condition, he was put on a ventilator. He was subsequently flown to London on an air ambulance, accompanied by family and party leaders, and admitted to Wellington Hospital.

Childhood and early education

The seventh Pir Pagaro (chieftain) of his jamaat, the deceased was born Shah Mardan Shah II, alias Pir Sikandar Shah, on November 22, 1928 in Pir Jo Goth.

His father, Syed Sabighatullah Shah Rashdi, was hanged on March 20, 1943, in Hyderabad Central Jail by the colonial government for his struggle against British rule. His burial site remains unknown. Pagara and his brother, Nadir Shah, were taken into custody by the British government after their father’s death.

Before being sent to London, Pagara was under the custody of a police official Qazi Sadurdin in Aligarh, India, between 1943 and 1946. He was taught the Holy Quran during that time.

He received his early education at Davis Elementary School in London, where children of rebellious leaders were usually schooled, and was taught French, Latin and English.

Returns to Pakistan
Pagara met with the first prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan after independence, who played a key role in bringing him back to Pakistan in 1951. His confiscated property and ‘gaddi’ (spiritual seat) were subsequently restored, and he became the spiritual leader of the Hur Jamaat in 1952.

His first marriage was to the daughter of Miran Muhammad Shah, a landlord and spiritual leader from Rahim Yar Khan, who is the uncle of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
He had three sons from that marriage – Sabghatullah Shah Rashdi (Raja Saen), Sadruddin Rashdi (Younus Saen), and Ali Gohar Shah. One of Pagara’s daughters is married to PPP leader Agha Siraj Durrani, while his granddaughter is married to one of Prime Minister Gilani’s sons. Pagara married a second time, a few years ago, into his relatives in Pir Jo Goth. He has three children from the second marriage.
Political career

Kingri House, Pagara’s residence in Karachi, served as a focal point for politicians from across the spectrum who came to meet him and seek political guidance. Pagara started his political career from Ayub Khan’s Conventional Muslim League before switching to Sheikh Mujeeb’s Awami League.

Later, he joined the Muslim League before launching his own party, the PML-Functional.

Pagara had a political dispute with Bhutto, when the later came to power, which resulted in the death of seven of his devotees in Sindh.

The veteran politician supported all military rules in the country. He welcomed Ziaul Haq into power, after Bhutto was hanged, and recommended Muhammad Khan Junejo for the post of prime minister.

The self-dubbed ‘modern Pagara’ was fond of smoking cigars, the reason cited by his close aides for his lung problems.
Condolence messages flew in from across the country as a large number of political leaders, friends and devotees gathered at his Karachi and Pir Jo Goth residence following the news of his demise.

Chief Khalifa of the Hur Jamaat Qadir Bux Mangrio, while talking to The Express Tribune, said “No one can fill the gap left behind by Pir Saen.”

Judiciary always supports army rule

Judiciary should not consider itself as an all-knowledgeable entity.

Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir condemned the judiciary on Wednesday, saying it has always approved military rules in the past.

She said if judges wanted a hand in politics, they should contest elections. Talking to reporters at the Lahore High Court, she said that Parliament, not judiciary, was the supreme body in the country.

The judiciary should not consider itself as all knowledgeable, Asma said, while expressing her reservations over many decisions of the Supreme Court.
The judiciary also disregards decisions of Parliament, she said, while pointing out the annulment of the parliamentary committee’s decisions on judges’ appointment.

She further expressed her inability to understand the SC’s January 10 judgment on the NRO non-implementation case. She said that while the NRO was a complicated issue, she never favoured it.

Asma regretted that state institutions were being politicised and added that no institution was clean.

She advised the judiciary not to keep pursuing the NRO issue but rather take up thousands of other pending cases.

Over the role of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the present tense political situation, Asma said that PML-N is the same party which had, in the past, attacked the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2012.

Army statement given with my consent: Gilani

Shooting down any talk of a clash between civil and military forces, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that the army’s strong-worded statement, in response to his earlier criticism, was released after his consent.

The premier said that he spoke to Chief of Army staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani over the phone prior to the ISPR’s release of the military reaction.

Prime Minister Gilani elaborated that Gen Kayani contacted him about the army’s desire to issue a clarification on his recent interview with a Chinese daily.
“The army chief issued the statement following my consent,” Gilani said, adding that he did not have any problem with the issuance of a clarification.

The premier added that his interview with the Chinese media was prescheduled and took place before the army chief’s visit to China.

“We have always stood by the army and we have nothing against anyone,” the prime minister said while addressing the media.
Responding to questions over his remarks about the DG ISI and the COAS, Prime Minister Gilani said: “They did not write to the defence ministry and sidestepped the Ministry of Law and Justice and merely sent a copy to the Attorney General. They sent the replies straight to the Registrar.”
Gilani added that his remarks did not reflect personal grudges towards the armed forces but a matter of rules of business that were violated when the DG ISI and the COAS filed replies to the Supreme Court.
The prime minister said that the democratic system will flourish and continue to function in the country and the Senate elections would be held on time. He added that he considers the developments a “diversion” in a bid to stop Senate elections.

He further said that there should be a balance between the institutions in the country.

Responding to queries regarding the sudden dismissal of the defence secretary, Prime Minister Gilani said the secretary was sacked for disciplinary reasons following a detailed inquiry held by government officials.

The prime minister further said that the Supreme Court’s remarks regarding him a ‘dishonest man’ were very hurtful.

He added that he was surprised that the Supreme Court reached to a conclusion without even hearing him first.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2012.

ISPR warns of severe consequences concerning Prime Minister’s statement

In a deepening civil-military divide, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has taken notice of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s interview to a Chinese newspaper in which he said that the army chief and DG ISI gave statements to the Supreme Court without the government’s approval.

Allegations leveled by Gilani against Kayani & Pasha serious: ISPR

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has recently posted a statement on its official website that called the comments made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raze Gilani about the Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani

as well as the Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha as very serious.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan had given an interview to a Chinese online newspaper by the name of

The People’s Daily Online and had referred to the COAS as well as the DGISI of Pakistan. This was done during the time Kayani was on an official visit to China.

According to the ISPR website, the comments of the Prime Minister of Pakistan can have“very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the country.”

The website also added the following statements: “The Honourable Prime Minister inter alia termed the responses given by COAS and DG ISI in the alleged Memo Case to the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan as unconstitutional and illegal.”

The statement given by the Prime Minister of Pakistan was in response to the developments made in the memo gate case that is ongoing in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The case is investigating the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Hussain Haqqani, against whom there are allegations that he had a hand in delivering the message to the US to rein in the military of Pakistan on the request of the President of the country, Asif Ali Zardari. The allegation was made by an American based Pakistani

businessman according to whom the memo requesting the help of the US to deal with the military of Pakistan was asked to be forwarded by Haqqani.

Since the time that the memo gate issue came to light, there has been a deepening divide between the military of the country and the civil government. According to the ISPR statement that is present on the website, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza

Gilani has in fact held both the COAS as well as the DGISI responsible for being in the direct violation of the country. As a result, the matter will not be taken lightly.

According to the statement issued by ISPR, APP had issued a statement on 9th of January 2012 giving details of the interview given by the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan to The People’s Daily Online of China when the COAS was also on an official visit to China. The Honourable Prime Minister inter alia termed the responses given by COAS and DG ISI in the alleged Memo Case to the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan as unconstitutional and illegal. This part of the statement has been quoted and widely debated in the media.

The statement said that there can be no allegation more serious than what the Honourable Prime Minister has leveled against COAS and DG ISI and has unfortunately charged the officers for violation of the Constitution of the Country. This has very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the Country. The statement does not take into account following important facts:-

COAS and DG ISI were cited as Respondents in the Petitions as such and after hearing the parties the Honourable Supreme Court served notices directly to the Respondents. This was not objected to by the learned Attorney General of Pakistan.

The responses by the respondents were sent to the Ministry of Defence for onward submission to the Honourable Supreme Court, through Attorney General (Law Ministry).

A letter was also dispatched to the Attorney General of Pakistan and the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan informing that the replies have been submitted to the Ministry of Defence.

It is emphasized that copies of the statements of the two Respondents were not forwarded directly to the Supreme Court.

Responsibility for moving summaries and obtaining approvals of Competent Authority thereafter lay with the relevant ministries and not with the Respondents.

It is also highlighted that after a meeting between the Honourable Prime Minister and the COAS, the Honourable Prime Minister had publicly stated through a press release of 16th December 2011 that the replies submitted were “ in response to the notice of the Court through proper channel and in accordance with the rules of business.” No objections were raised before and thereafter, on the legality and constitutional status of the replies, at any time, during the last more than three weeks of hearing of the case by the Honourable Supreme Court.It is also categorically stated that COAS and DG ISI in their response to the Honourable Supreme Court were obliged to state facts as known to them, on the Memo Issue. The issue of jurisdiction and maintainability of the Petitions was between the Honourable Supreme Court and the Federation.

Any expectation that COAS will not state the facts is neither constitutional nor legal. Allegiance to State and the Constitution is and will always remain prime consideration for the Respondent, who in this case has followed the book.

Memogate case: Kayani, Pasha replies were illegal, implies PM

Having initially backtracked from cutting comments made against the military in a scathing speech in parliament, the prime minister has fired another salvo – this time questioning the acts of the military brass.

Speaking to Peoples Daily Online, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is reported to have stated that army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha had not been given approval by the ‘competent authorities’ – in other words the government – before submitting their responses in the Memogate case.

Read together with his referral to remarks made by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that an act from a government functionary made without a prior nod from the government was unconstitutional, the premier was implying that Kayani and Pasha’s replies to the Supreme Court were illegal, given they did not have clearance.

The prime minister had earlier expressed similar concerns on the same issue when the matter was before the Supreme Court, only to retract them later saying he was mistaken. But now Kayani and Pasha seem willing to appear before and give statements to the court-mandated judicial commission, too.

When pressed by the interviewer, Gilani emphasised that the pair had not taken permission from the defence ministry or the defence minister before submitting their rejoinders.

Gilani also stated that in the two issues which had recently rocked the political and military establishment – the Nato border attacks and Memogate – the civilian and military leadership of Pakistan had considered the matter collectively and taken quick, decisive action. The resignation of Husain Haqqani was also accepted by both civilian and military leaders, Gilani said.

The PM went on to say that the parliamentary committee on national security was dealing with the two issues.

Gilani also expressed his view that it was only after the two issues were taken up by the committee that the Supreme Court took suo motu action on Memogate.

It may be recalled that Kayani is on an official visit to China – a trip during which he has met the Chinese premier. The meeting has raised a number of eyebrows.

Women and Islam

God-daughters

A biography of two women whose lives have been transformed by militant Islam
 
Wanted Women: Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui.
 

AYAAN HIRSI ALI and Aafia Siddiqui are forceful, intelligent women who were born around 40 years ago in the heart of the conservative Islamic world, into families of some prominence. Later, they moved to America. Like tens of millions of others who made similar journeys, they had to negotiate the interface between an immigrant sub-culture that harked back to the homeland and a liberal society where very different options existed. Presented with two sharply contrasting value systems, two diametrically opposed ideas about the meaning of virtue, success and fulfilment, they had to make their choices.

 

There, it would seem, the resemblance ends. Somali-born Ms Hirsi Ali is an admired public intellectual who denounced Islam as an oppressor of her sex and the source of many other woes. Ms Siddiqui is serving an 86-year prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, after being convicted of shooting at the American officers detaining her in Afghanistan. A Pakistani-born neuroscientist who excelled in her studies at leading American universities, she has been described as the only senior female member of al-Qaeda and “the most wanted woman in the world”. Her alleged complicity in terrorist plots has not been tested in court (her trial had a narrower remit) but there is no doubting her jihadist zeal.

 

As Deborah Scroggins, an American journalist, recalls in this gripping and finely textured double biography, the two women’s marital histories are also different. Ms Hirsi Ali is now wedded to Niall Ferguson, a British-born historian, forming one of the world’s most lionised couples. Their son was born last month. Formally speaking, her first marriage was an arranged union with a fellow Somali who wanted to take her to Canada. Ms Hirsi Ali instead sought asylum in the Netherlands. Eventually she became its best-known politician after her artistic collaborator (on a film denouncing Islam’s cruelty to women) was murdered by a Muslim extremist and her own life needed protecting.

As Siddiqui, who seemed to personify the very demons that Ms Hirsi Ali was fighting, married the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11th 2001 terror attacks. An earlier, failed marriage was to a Pakistani-born doctor, another high-flyer in American academia, who shared her piety but not her extremism.

Ms Scroggins has spent much of the past decade tracking both women and is struck by what she calls the weird symmetry between them. Ms Hirsi Ali could have been an Islamist; as an adolescent in east Africa she was exposed to persuasive activists in the Muslim Brotherhood. Ms Siddiqui could have settled for life as a “Volvo-driving mother of two” as she was described (accurately, in a way) by those who insisted that her detention and trial were unfair. By flipping between the two lives, the book cleverly shows how both women were influenced by successive episodes in history, from the Bosnian war to the New York attacks and the overthrow of the Taliban, gradually becoming protagonists in subsequent events.

Although the book avoids psychobabble, it is tempting to conclude that very personal factors influenced the women’s choices. In Ms Hirsi Ali’s childhood the dominant figure was her father, a rebel leader who was frustratingly absent most of the time. In her own battles, she at once defied and emulated him. In the Siddiqui household, the strongest role model was her mother, a passionate advocate of ultra-conservative Islam and close associate of Pakistan’s most hard-line clerics. Both lives were also affected by the final phase of the cold war. The Siddiquis were part of a wave of Islamist zeal unleashed by Zia ul Haq, a Pakistani general who enjoyed American support as an ally in the anti- Soviet fight in Afghanistan. As opponents of Somalia’s pro-Soviet regime, Ms Hirsi Ali’s family were initially welcomed by pro-Western Saudi Arabia; but when Somalia switched sides, the family had to move to Kenya, where life as an exile remained difficult. The worst features of traditional life, especially domestic violence, were easier to reproduce than any other aspect of Somali culture.

In the introduction, Ms Scroggins says she hopes her meticulous investigation into the two women’s lives (which did not enjoy the collaboration of either) will help her to understand the “deep structure” of the defining conflict of the early 21st century, pitting militant Islam against the West. (Something her subjects share, of course, is that both regard that battle as primordial and non-negotiable.) Some may find the book’s stated intention slightly over-ambitious. But it does add greatly to the understanding of several interlocking conflicts, some grand and geopolitical and others intimate and personal.