Monday, November 9, 2015
US Defense Secretary Carter should know the world is not a cowboy movie
By John Wight
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter claims Russia and China are challenging something he describes as the “international order.” What he really means is that Russia and China refuse to bend the knee to US domination and hegemony.
History weaves a continual story of the rise of empires and their subsequent fall, under pressure of growing resistance to their writ by peoples and countries held in their grip. This is simply because regardless of language, culture or religion the need to be respected, free, independent, and to live with dignity is universal and unquenchable, and as such long recognized as human rights. Empire, by definition, represents the denial of those rights, and as such have always been a source of conflict.
What US and Western ideologues such as Mr. Carter and his colleagues - chief among them the notorious neocon Victoria Nuland - cannot get their heads round is that the cause they serve so faithfully and passionately - US supremacy – is ignoble, unworthy, and unjust. More significantly, it is a cause and a reality that has underpinned a world of chaos and conflict, involving the destruction of nations, societies, and cultures, responsible for the suffering of tens of millions of human beings at the same time.
Afghanistan is a failed state. Iraq is a failed state. Libya is a failed state. The global South in its entirety has seen its natural economic, social, and political development retarded over decades, reduced to a subordinate role as repository of the natural and human resources required to feed the hyper and unsustainable consumption of the United States.
Challenging this state of affairs, struggling to end the injustice it describes, is not a case of “saber rattling,” as Mr. Carter claims, it is an absolute necessity in order to stem the deepening instability and proliferation of terrorism caused by the determined attempt of US hawks and neocons to exploit the terrorist atrocity of 9/11 to reshape the world in their own image by force.
In a recent speech riddled with half-truths, untruths, and downright lies, the most offensive part is where the US Defense Secretary tries to conflate the threat posed by ISIL with Russia and China. “Terror elements like ISIL, of course, stand entirely opposed to our values. But other challenges are more complicated, and given their size and capabilities, potentially more damaging,” he said.
ISIL, also known as ISIS and Islamic State, is a product of US policy in the Middle East since 2003, when along with its UK ally it unleashed a disastrous war on Iraq, subverting international law and the United Nations in the process. The end result of this war and subsequent occupation was the destruction of Iraq and the destabilization of the entire region. It was out of this destabilization that ISIL emerged.
Worse, US efforts to meet the threat of the medieval butchery and barbarism of ISIL over the past year and more have been self evidently ineffective and insincere, driven as Washington has been by efforts to effect regime change in Syria. Those efforts have only succeeded in prolonging the most brutal conflict the world has seen in decades, pushing Syria perilously close to the abyss, while precipitating the worst refugee crisis since the end of the Second World War.
Russia’s intervention in the Syrian conflict, on the side of the country’s legitimate and sovereign government, has done more to hurt ISIL in a month than the US and its allies managed in over a year. It is therefore a gross insult to infer that Russia and ISIL belong in the same breath. In fact, it is an outrageous lie that demands retraction.
Russia’s intervention in the Syrian conflict, on the side of the country’s legitimate and sovereign government, has done more to hurt ISIL in a month than the US and its allies managed in over a year. It is therefore a gross insult to infer that Russia and ISIL belong in the same breath. In fact, it is an outrageous lie that demands retraction.
Moving on, when Mr. Ashton claims that, “In Europe, Russia has been violating sovereignty in Ukraine and Georgia,” he is clearly suffering from an acute case of cognitive dissonance. In other words the spectacles through which he understands the world need to be changed for a pair that will afford him a clear view and understanding rather than a distorted one.
In 2008 a Washington puppet named Mikhail Saakashvili was Georgia’s president. Supported in his efforts by the US, Saakashvili was intent on confrontation with Russia, using the pretext of unrest in South Ossetia to engage in military action against its civilian population, during which Russian peacekeepers were killed. Georgia under his leadership was being used as a US cat’s paw, angling to be admitted into NATO as its government engaged in the most base and crude anti Russian propaganda in an effort to win the Empire’s approval. Russia was well within its rights to meet the growing threat posed by Saakashvili’s aggression in order to return stability and security to its border and its people living there.
Likewise when it comes to Ukraine, where that country’s legitimate government was toppled by a coup involving neo-fascists and ultra-nationalists at the beginning of 2014, openly supported by US officials and politicians such as the previously mentioned Victoria Nuland and Senator John McCain. Russia in this instance was not the aggressor but rather acted to stem the aggression that subsequently poured east from Kiev under a government whose writ millions of Ukrainians refused to accept. Ethnic Russians living in Eastern Ukraine and in Crimea immediately came under threat from forces intent on their submission, threatening Russia’s security at the same time.
Would Mr. Carter and his colleagues accept such a scenario on the border with Mexico or Canada? Would they stand by and do nothing while a democratically elected government is forcibly removed by an armed mob, imperiling the lives of millions of civilians looking to it for protection?
No, the world described by the US Defense Secretary, and by his State Department colleague, Victoria Nuland, is a fantasy world akin to one of the cowboy movies that Hollywood used to churn out one after the other. Unfortunately for them, however, Russia and China are not the Indians depicted in those movies, the bad guys intent on challenging the “international order.” For what they describe as international order is in truth US domination. What they call stability is in reality submission to Washington. And what they describe as a threat to peace is in fact resistance to the chaos wrought after a decade of the US and its allies rampaging around the globe like a juggernaut of destruction.
Russia and China do not seek supremacy or domination. They seek instead partnership, cooperation, and parity in a world that demands and will accept nothing less.
Deportation to Afghanistan: safe or unsafe origin?
The German government has decided to offer Syrian refugees protection in Germany but to send home more Afghans. German human rights NGO Pro Asyl is accusing the government of restricting the right to asylum.
The number of people from Afghanistan seeking protection is on the rise. More than 31,000 Afghan refugees arrived in Germany in October alone - and a total of 67,000 this year. They are the second-largest refugee group after Syrians, but the German government plans to curb the influx of Afghans .
Normally, officials from the German Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) decide whether the individual refugees are victims of persecution and should thus be granted asylum. But if the decision makers don't have a thorough understanding of the political, ethnic and religious conflicts in Afghanistan, they often seek advice from the affiliated German Information Center for Asylum and Migration, which works in a worldwide network of international institutions, non-governmental organizations and local partners in many countries.
Regional differences
Matin Baraki, a political scientist who teaches at the German university of Marburg, often helps in the decision making process. "If they come to Germany from parts of Afghanistan that are partly or entirely controlled by the Taliban, they have a good chance of staying here," he says of the refugees.
This is what awaits refugees like these Afghan men: a cot in a tent
Many Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and members of other ethnic groups cannot convince authorities that they aren't safe anywhere in the country. "The decision makers say if you are a victim of persecution in western Afghanistan, then you can move to Kabul," explains Baraki, who often works as an interpreter for asylum seekers.
International organizations, however, stress that the precarious situation in Afghanistan doesn't allow for easy solutions like that, since the Taliban and other radical groups carry out bomb attacks in many regions. The UN Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) has reported 1,600 civilian deaths in the first half of 2015. In September, the Taliban overran the city of Kunduz, even though it was considered safe shortly prior to its seizure.
Staying in Germany
Nonetheless, less than 50 percent of Afghan asylum applications have been recognized. The numbers do not reflect the entire picture, as many Afghans are tolerated in the country, while others sue for residency rights.
Court rulings in Germany have shown how different individual cases can be. The Higher Administrative Court in Lower Saxony has determined that westernized Afghan women would be exposed to violence and severe violations of human rights if they were to return to Afghanistan. Another example is an Afghan man who is allowed to stay in German because his conversion to Christianity would subject him to severe punishment in his home country.
Temporary residency
Baraki says that many Afghans stay in Germany without being granted asylum. What they do is withdraw their asylum application in return for a two-year residency permit. "If the person manages to make a living within two years and stops claiming welfare benefits, then they are granted permanent residency," says Baraki.
Women and children who don't feel safe in their home provinces flee to Kabul
Until now, only a few Afghans have been deported as it is a time-consuming and costly procedure. Baraki is personally aware of only about 10 cases. "Only people who committed crimes have been deported," he says. But things are changing, as Germany is negotiating a re-admission agreement with Afghanistan.
In addition, asylum procedures should be completed within three weeks in the future - including a decision on a possible appeal. Human rights organization Pro Asyl accuses the German government of targeting the Afghans with these measures. According to the aid organization, the government intends to revise the basis of the BAMF's decision making processes.
"The recognition rates will be reduced and people will be deprived of rights so that they are ready for deportation," criticizes Pro Asyl director Günter Burkhardt. The organization complains that the fate of the refugees already living here will serve as a deterrent in the future.
پېښور کې د عمران خان پر ضد د خبریالانو مظاهره - Go Imran Go Video -
په پېښور کې د پنجشنبې پر ورځ خبریالانو د عمران خان پر ضد مظاهره وکړه د دوی وینا وه چې په یوه غونده کې عمران خان د یو خبریال د پوښتنې په ځواب کې ستغې خبرې کړي دي. په اړه د غلام غوث ویډیو وکورئ.
Pakistan - Faisalabad: A Christian student beaten and locked up for using a washroom
A Christian student beaten and harassed for using a bathroom which Muslim students use.
In keeping with details, a Christian student namely Sara Bibi, landed into trouble when she used a bathroom which was in use of Muslim students of the school. The incident took place in Samudari, where a Head Mistress of Government Girls Primary School Chack number 228 GB, threatened, tortured and harassed the Christian student when she was found using the washroom.
Zahida Rana, the Head Mistress of the school victimized for Sara Bibi for her faith while bullying her. It has been learnt that she locked Sara Bibi in a washroom for three hours as a punishment for using the bathroom of Muslim students.
Local media revealed that the principal tortured the Christian student, beat her and taunted her, “You are Christian an infidel and how you dared to use washroom which Muslim girls use.” As a result, Sara Bibi kept pleading her not to lock her up in the washroom but the head mistress was bent on evil. However, the head mistress kept her for three hours locked in the washroom to punish her. However, the ordeal of the innocent Christian youth ended when the school was over and so she was released from the washroom.
Taking notice of this incident, President of Pakistan Christian Congress, Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti has strongly condemned the incident and inhuman behaviour of the head mistress towards her Christian student. He said, “Christian cannot eat in Muslim owned restaurant, schools, colleges, office buildings nor they can drink water in same glasses which is worst kind of hate on religion in Pakistan but this new trend of prohibition on use of toilets in schools is inexpressible in words”
Moreover, he urged the government of Punjab to take notice of his incident and conduct a thorough investigation into it. He stated that the provincial government should deal with the head mistress Zahida Rana on strict terms and file charges against her so that similar incidents can be prevented in future.
Moreover, the Central Secretariat of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC issued a press note regarding this incident and aired grave concerns over soaring incidents of “hate crimes against Christians in Pakistan.” PCC called upon the government of Pakistan, to take steps to promote religious tolerance and interfaith harmony so that anti-Christian violence could be curbed in Pakistan.
Pakistan - #Lahore's Sundar factory collapse - Child Labour Exposed
Children rights’ activists have called for an inquiry after the tragic Sundar factory collapse exposed how blatant underage labour continues, with no action being taken against it. This collapse has been called the deadliest once in recent years, where most of the victims identified so far are children, as young as 12. There are 19 underage boys are among the 48 dead, while another 35 teenage boys are battling for their lives.
These boys were earning less than Rs 200 per day, while the owners of the factory were enjoying special incentives and government subsidies. It is clear that child labor goes unnoticed in the Punjab where number of unemployed youth is multiplying every year. Poverty-stricken teens are left with no other choices except to accept low paid labor jobs, with the labor department only existing on paper, laced with bribes to look the other way.
Iftikhar Mubarak, a leading child rights activist in Pakistan has urged the public to speak out against this exploitation, where these industrialists use their economic power to make sure that the Labour Department officers to skip regular inspections. For him, child labour, in fact, promotes poverty and, “this practice is a sheer violation of the constitution of Pakistan”. The government and its institutions are directly responsible for this incident - their callous attitude and lack of regulation has allowed this to happen.
The performance of the city district government and the Punjab Labour Department is also being questioned as field officials supposed to conduct regular inspections of the industrial units for working conditions of labourers, structural strength and child labour violations were absent from their duty.
This tragedy raises serious questions about Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s claims of focusing on improving the state regulatory regime and jumpstarting an economic development agenda. It’s not like his government hasn’t had warnings that factory inspections were needed. At least six high-profile incidents of building collapses have occurred in Lahore since June 2014.
It is customary that nobody cares about illegal, unapproved and faulty construction work and practices, until it a tragedy occurs. Had the government departments done their job and implemented the laws, this catastrophe could have been avoided. There is no concept of moral responsibility, what to speak of honesty and following the rule of law. The Punjab government’s priorities are absolutely misguided.
Earthquake hits Chitral, Shangla and Swat
Tremors were also felt in the adjoining areas as well.
The epicenter of the earthquake is said to be Hindu Kush Range.
Pakistan - IS recruiter arrested from Peshawar
The provincial police claimed on Monday to have arrested a recruiter for the self-styled Islamic State (IS) from the Badaber area of Peshawar.
The suspect was allegedly involved in recruiting for IS, said a police official.
“The suspect arrested, Dadullah, belongs to Afghanistan, and was recruiting for an international militant organisation,” said SSP Operations Mian Saeed.
The police official added that a First Information Report [FIR] has been registered against the suspect. Weapons and hand grenades were also recovered from the arrested individual, according to the police official.
In January this year, security forces had arrested a man they believed was the commander of IS in the country as well as two accomplices involved in recruiting and sending fighters to Syria.
Rifts among the Taliban and disputes about the future of the insurgency have contributed to the rise of Islamic State’s popularity but security sources believe there are no operational links yet between IS and South Asia.
Disgruntled former Taliban commanders have formed the so-called Khorasan chapter — an umbrella IS group covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other South Asian countries — in recent months but have not been involved in any fighting.
Their leader, Hafiz Saeed Khan Orakzai, a former Pakistani Taliban commander, appeared in a video address urging people in the region to join the group.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/11/09/national/is-recruiter-arrested-from-peshawar/
Can the idealist Afghanistan & realist Pakistan cooperate?
It seems that Afghanistan and Pakistan are perennially unwilling to see eye to eye. The conflict between the two neighbor states has become a protracted conflict. As the regional situation is further deteriorating, it becomes necessary to question whether there is hope for cooperation and de-escalation of the conflict. To this end, it is necessary to analyze the growing narrative of animosity that is spurring from within both nations. In particular, it begs to question what images both countries have of each other? Commend
It doesn’t take long to see that the varnished narrative in both nations is one of mistrust and misinterpretation. These perceptions partly developed because of legacies started 150 years ago when the region was controlled by the British Empire and partly because of the alliance system under the city states rulers prior to the British Presence.
It could be more than these two and that is all about modern definition of power; how to apply virtues and vices to survive and win. It can be said in the Machiavellian sense that men have always been ungrateful and deceivers. They always shunt danger and are greedy for profit. Perhaps this is why both countries are trying not to be good. Are Afghanistan and Pakistan really trying not to coexist? Are Afghanistan and Pakistan ready to embrace the unvarnished truth of the current condition or continue to perpetuate an imaginary conception of each other?
No need to go far in the history of conflict in the region between the old city states when they were friends on Wednesday, enemy on Thursday and again friends on Friday praying together, but let’s look at the very recent history of both countries policies and decision making process since mid-20th century. Pakistan since its birth and Afghanistan were on the road towards virtual rapture; neither real friends nor real enemies, reacting towards incidents.
Pakistan blames Afghanistan for playing a dubious role during creation of Pakistan; tried to stop Pakistan from membership of United Nations. Later on, Afghanistan became the center of pakhtoonistan separatist movement and acted aggressively along borders with a military move in September 1960. Finally, According to Pakistan, Afghanistan has always favored the other neighbors over Pakistan, namely Iran and India.
Afghanistan claims that the Afghan attitude and the government of Afghanistan policy have always been friendly towards Pakistan. For instance, during three Pakistan wars Afghanistan stayed neutral with strong sympathy to Pakistan. In 1969-1971 in spite of great internal turmoil in Pakistan, Afghanistan did not attempt to destabilize the internal security of Pakistan, but Pakistan has always dishonored its words and promises such as commitments in Geneva Accord, Islamabad Accord, Peshawar Accord and transit agreement with Afghanistan.
The reality of the last four decades in the region has been completely different from the above narratives. The Soviet Union military intervention in Afghanistan changed the power politics and the ability of both countries. Pakistan embraced political realism and survival mentality in Machiavellian sense: perceiving the international system as is. For Pakistan politics and power became a zero-sum game and their politicians adapted themselves competitively to this short, nasty and brutish environment.
Afghanistan on the other hand has looked at the international system in ultra-liberal perspective and framed its worldview idealistically. Its politicians having more faith on the so called international community rather than its internal power. Afghanistan has strived to integrate into the international system by relying first on Former Soviet Union and recently the United States; talking of idealist agendas that are foreign to the nation, liberal reforms before traditional values, radical change that would somehow bring peace and prosperity to the whole nation.
Regardless of what assumption both countries may have, what really matter is to play the cards properly. In this case both countries frequently and repeatedly have played the wrong cards against each other in the conflict. Pakistan right after the Soviet intervention redirected its ties from the existing Afghan government to close ties with the exiled Mujahidin factions based in Peshawar. Since then Pakistan cannot deny interfering in the Afghans affairs. In addition to Geneva Accord signed between Afghanistan-Pakistan-United Sates and USSR, a bilateral agreement was signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan pledging non-intervention and non-interference in each other affairs, but not respected.
Pakistan, during the Soviet presence 1980s and during Mujahidin in 1990 never hid its interference in the Afghan affairs. On September 30th 1995, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali publicly said that “ Government of President Burhanddin Rabani be removed.”; A government which was the outcome of Peshawar and Islamabad accords, widely sponsored and supported by the Pakistani government. The result was that a year later the Taliban overthrew Rabanni's government in a decisive military victory. Therefore Pakistan in the last 40 years could not adopt a balanced approached towards the Afghan conflict.
Similarly, Afghanistan cannot deny of its unpleasant behaviors discomforting Pakistan by hosting twice large military presence in its territory (Soviet Union and United States ) both super powers sympathizers with India. In Pakistan's politics and power relations there is no room and consideration for this, as they calculate in Machiavellian style applying vices and virtues to win.
The lesson of notable Afghan “successes” on defeating 25 empires in the last two and half centuries has proved to not intervene in this region unless you are prepared to remain involved forever which certainly neither the United States and its allies nor the (China-Russia-Pakistan) are prepared for this.
Therefore, time has come to a point that Afghanistan and Pakistan can no longer go on how they have lived as neighbors so far. They must depart this point and shift on how they ought to live. They need to think what ought to be done. Reaching decisions on how to live together might be hard but not impossible. Both states need to look at the dangers which the region is plunging into: in the last fourteen years this region has become home to a new generation of violent extremists even more dangerous than the al-Qaeda thugs whom America entered Afghanistan to eradicate.
Both countries (Afghanistan & Pakistan) are sharing the largest ethnic group of the population in the region that socially, politically and economically have legitimate grievances and moving towards more acute poverty which can be a breeding ground for the international terrorists. The United States, Russia and China are competing into a sort of battle to form new global power system which affect the region negatively. Finally, organized crime is on the rise in the region.
The lessons of the volatile situation on the ground in Afghanistan and in Pakistan dictate that military operation is not the solution, but understanding of the reality and cooperation is the definite and only mechanism to overcome the problems.
To do so, Afghanistan and Pakistan have to retreat back to their positions prior to 1979 in which both countries relatively had embraced more anti-war elements in the region. Both countries have to stop the anachronism game of the Pashtuns and unresolvable Durand Line dispute; it belongs neither to Pakistan nor to Afghanistan, it belongs to the people who are attached and living along the territory. This issue has to be left for next generation to deal with. Pakistan should redirect its ties with the Afghan government not with non-state actors. Afghanistan is to balance its relations with India, Iran and United States, Afghanistan to address political and economic grievances of its large segment of the population which is dissatisfied with power sharing mechanism that has been in place since 2001.
Pakistan: Wars in the head
By Naomi Conrad
They report on suicide attacks, drone strikes and torture, and give the victims a voice. But who listens to the war correspondents? A unique trauma center in Peshawar offers them a place to turn to.
He can't erase the memories of the first suicide attack he witnessed, the journalist says. It was some ten years ago when a young man blew himself up in front of a village school. The journalist ran towards the building as soon as he heard the explosion. "Blood and body parts were everywhere," he says. He pauses, looking down at his hands, and swallows. "There was a brown satchel lying on the ground. And next to it, a severed hand." His voice is hoarse and barely audible. "It was such as tiny hand."
The journalist is now 34 years old. His beat is the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan, a rugged region that for many years was a safe haven for Al Qaida, drug lords, and Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. Reporting from the tribal areas means documenting an endless string of suicide attacks, drone strikes, kidnappings and torture. But reporters themselves can and do become targets.
Many have received death threats from extremists, for example. "The stress is enormous," says the correspondent, who asks to remain anonymous. He has spent the last 15 years reporting from the tribal areas for international print media. During that time 13 of his colleagues have died, many of them murdered.
Traumatized correspondents
Attack on a school: a woman journalist reports on site in Peshawar
Given the circumstances, is independent reporting possible in the tribal areas? He shrugs. If you want to survive you don't tell every story and sometimes you don't tell the whole story, he says. "No story is worth dying for." Many reporters in the tribal areas suffer from psychological problems. "Most of us have pills in our pockets," he says grimly. Others try to drown their trauma in alcohol - at least for a few hours. He has seen how work like this can gnaw away at a person. Many of his friends and colleagues have become aggressive, others argue with their families or have trouble sleeping.
He admits to having some psychological issues himself, but it's not something he wants to talk about. Instead, he gestures to the cigarette he's holding in his hand, saying it's another way to numb oneself. When he comes home in the evenings, he's quiet. "I can't tell my wife and children what I've seen," says. "It wouldn't be fair to them."
Counseling and support
Anxiety, depression, nightmares and flashbacks - the psychologist Erum Irshad recognizes the symptoms. She heads the University of Peshawar's psychology department and together with colleagues and DW Akademie opened the first trauma center for Pakistani journalists in November 2014. Irshad says journalists require about 15 to 20 sessions to ease some of their symptoms and to learn techniques that can better shield them from future traumas.
Forty journalists have undergone therapy so far, and with psychological problems still seen as taboo in Pakistani society the center is considered a great success. "I didn't think the reporters would accept their trauma so quickly and that they'd be so motivated to recover," Irshad says. She adds that she's very pleased when reporters who have been treated here recommend the trauma center to other colleagues.
An extremely dangerous profession
Constantly in fear of attacks
Altaf Khan, head of the university's journalism department, believes the center is incredibly important for Pakistan's media environment. He sets his teacup down on a table in the cluttered editorial office of the university's radio station. The department accepts some eighty students per year and Khan grimly estimates that as many as seventy of them will at some point in their careers suffer from trauma. Journalists in the tribal areas are at great risk, he adds, and given the current conflict that's not likely to change any time soon. "But thanks to the trauma center they'll at least have a place they can turn to," he says.
The center also offers an important contribution to human rights work, says Karin Schädler, DW Akademie's country coordinator for Pakistan. "Freedom of expression can only be ensured if correspondents are psychologically strong enough to provide people with independent information," she says. An additional counseling center is being planned in Baluchistan province, and is based on the Peshawar experience. This long-term project is funded by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
From the university's tree-lined campus it's only a few kilometers to the tribal areas. Sometimes at night, one can make out the dull, menacing thud of explosions. The journalist is smoking a cigarette with a few colleagues and says he's considered getting counseling himself. "Maybe," he adds, grinning. And then he becomes serious again. The attacks, kidnappings and death threats haven't stopped, he says, and there will always be a need for reporters to cover the tribal areas. "Who else will report on the people living there?" he asks. "Who else will tell their stories?"
Video - Pakistan - Exclusive interview of opposition leader Syed Khurshed Shah
92 at 8 - 7th November 2015 by nmalik1 Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said that the next phase of the local bodies elections should be held under the supervision of the army. He said the PTI Chairman Imran Khan had done nothing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He said that the confrontation of political parties benefits ‘someone else’ and not politicians. Shah said that his son has entered politics as a worker. He said that there was need for introducing reforms in the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo had offered to quit as PPP Punjab president but he was stopped from doing so. He said the massage for PPP is that the party should go to the masses. He said the sitting government wins local body polls. Shah said Asif Ali Zardari will return to country after improvement of health. Shah said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is his leader. In an interview with a private TV channel, he said, “Votes do not increase through Metro Bus. A female relative of Qaim Ali Shah stamped once and the media unduly highlighted the issue”. Shah said the local government representatives would secure powers themselves. Shah said the sons of politicians would become politicians like those of doctors or any other professionals, adding that no one has lodged complaint against the unopposed election of his son in local government elections in Sukkur. Shah said he has also come from grassroots level, adding that he was elected councilor in 1979 and in 1988 he was elected as MPA. Shah said his son will follow him in politics. He said that today 80 percent parliamentarians are sons of former parliamentarians. He said the politics is becoming more and more difficult with the passage of everyday. He said politicians were stopped in participating in local government elections. He said that there is need to introduce biometric system. He said the sign of election commission should also be printed on ballot paper. He said if reforms are not brought in ECP then the rigging allegations in elections will continue to be leveled. Shah said the members of the commission should have quit along with Fakhruddin G Ibrahim. Shah said he had asked the chief minister Sindh to hold judicial inquiry into Khairpur incident which was held during the 31st October local government elections. Shah said he had offered Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to come in National Assembly and become opposition leader. He said Qaim Ali Shah is better than others in Sindh Assembly. He said the party will decide to give him any other responsibility. Khursheed Shah said Dr Asim Hussain was worker of MQM, adding that he treated Asif Ali Zardari in hospital and he is also his personal doctor. He said investigations should have been held against Dr Asim Hussaim first and then action should have been taken against him. Shah said that any operation against the terrorists should be across the board in whole country. He said that the supporters of terrorists should be apprehended. He said in Punjab and KP no one is being arrested and it looks like that there is no terrorism in both provinces. Shah said they have raised in the National Assembly the issues of Nandipur Power Project, circular debt and IDPs, population, agriculture, labourers, matter of salaries and other facilities of low grade government employees, exports, oil prices and terrorism in country. He said the issue of earthquake victims would be taken up in parliament. He said media wants aggressive opposition, adding that every media house should provide him two-three stones and he would through these stones on government officials in the Parliament. He said that the PPP is not doing friendly opposition. He said the PPP played positive role over the resignations of PTI and MQM. He said that the confrontation of political parties benefit someone else instead of politicians. Shah said everything of politician is public property, adding that he had advised Imran Khan to go abroad for some days being a friend. Shah said Asif Zardari will return to country after improvement of health. Shah said Zardari was treated for three months in Dubai when he was president of the country.
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