Thursday, May 28, 2020
#کرنل_کی_بیویی - Pakistanis are not just scared of coronavirus but of ‘colonel ki biwi’ too
NAILA INAYAT
Hurling abuses, demeaning officers, and threatening them of dire consequences, colonel ki biwi kept reiterating that no one is above her majesty.
Driving on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hazara Expressway, lady in pink lost her temper when a police officer dared to stop her car along with several others. Coming out all guns blazing, she introduced herself as colonel ki biwi. In that moment, even time would have stopped. But who could stop the wrath of colonel ki biwi?
Hurling abuses, demeaning the officers, and threatening them of dire consequences, she kept asserting that no one is above her majesty, not even the law of the land: Subedar ki m**, main colonel ki biwi hoon, woh kut**y ka bacha, usko bulao main uski wardi utarwati hoon. In that moment, she seemed to be the most powerful person in Pakistan. She got out of the car, pushed the barricades and ordered her driver to run over the officer. It didn’t end there. At one point, she told the officer main aapko dhakka doongi. She could definitely be crowned Biwi No. 1.
While the officer stood guard all along patiently, his colleague recorded a video and later made it public, followed by a complaint. Now, video spoke louder than words. According to local media, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa took notice of the incident and reprimanded the colonel over the ‘misdemeanour’ of his wife. However, no official communication on the issue was made by the Army chief’s spokesperson at ISPR.
No ‘stopping’ colonel ki biwi
If you think there is just one colonel ki biwi in Pakistan, then you are thoroughly mistaken. In fact, colonel ki biwi is not a person, it is an attitude of entitlement that many carry in this country. A mindset that allows the powerful to exploit those who they think have no power over them in the society, often stemming from the VVIP culture. The Indian equivalent of Pakistan’s colonel ki biwi is: jaanta nahin mera baap kaun hai?
They consider being stopped at a checkpost as an insult. To obey the law of the land is beneath them. In Pakistan, the powerful follow a separate set of laws from an unwritten book.
In this case, association of the biwi with an institution (Army) became a case for the people to voice their grievances with the establishment at large. It doesn’t matter if General Musharraf can’t be punished for high treason. We will treat a slap on the wrist of Colonel sahib as a big win. Oh! Our idea of any civilian supremacy.
Some civilians are also colonels, they don’t need badges or titles. In the past, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, Shireen Mazari and Uzma Kardar, who is also a retired colonel’s wife, have displayed their colonel ki biwi hun hoon side.
That the women in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), are made to stand in long ques for hours, while a colonel ki biwi can have her way after humiliating authorities, is a localised version of Pakistan’s two-nation theory.
And Pakistan’s making memes
But you can’t criticise colonel ki biwi for long. She has to be credited as well. In these difficult times of coronavirus, colonel ki biwi gave us a treasure trove of memes.
Stay home, stay safe is now even more important because colonel ki biwi is roaming in the streets. The danger is real.
You bloody civilians, that’s the attitude of colonel ki biwi, who thinks there is a master-slave relationship between those in the Army and those outside of it.
It is said that the role of colonel ki biwi’s driver in the viral video is very much the part Imran Khan has in running the country.
They say the plight of colonel sahib is real. The ordeal he’s been put through might even win him a Nishan-e-Haider. Who knows.
When Colonel’s powers were abused by his wife he called his mom to inform her.
But then, there is no gain without a little pain. Colonel is in demand. Forget captains or majors, Colonel is the new General.
And not to forget ISPR’ drama Ehd-e-Wafa. Pakistanis have been swift at drawing comparisons between the real colonel ki biwi and the one in the TV soap. That’s how life imitates life.
Twitteratis and their appetite for memes did not stop here, it reached to the ‘top’. There was another take on colonel with biwi.
Either way she’ll find her way, so better if we make way for colonel ki biwi.
For all those who have dared to talk about colonel and his biwi, a special Vigo ride awaits. A car ride that will ‘disappear’ you. Is it too late for us?
RSF Calls For Independent Investigation Into Pakistani Journalist’s Killing
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling for a special independent team to investigate this week’s “shocking murder” of a Pakistani journalist, saying there is “every reason to doubt” local police claims that it was a so-called honor killing.
The body of Zulfiqar Mandrani, a reporter for the Sindhi-language dailies Kawish and Koshish, was found on May 26 in the town of Dodapur in southeastern Sindh Province with two bullets in the head and marks of torture across his back.
The same day, police in the nearby city of Larkana announced the arrest of two suspects, who allegedly confessed to killing Mandrani for reasons of “honor.”
However, the journalist’s father filed a complaint with the police on May 28 naming several different suspects, including a police officer, said to be linked to a local drug trafficker, RSF said in a statement.
Mandrani, who had been investigating the activities of this drug trafficker, received death threats from the suspects before his murder, the father was quoted as saying.
“The initial findings reported by the local police are clearly unreliable because everything is being done to ensure that those behind Zulfiqar Mandrani’s murder get off scot-free,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the death of a journalist who was murdered because of his reporting is being passed off as an honor killing,” Bastard said, calling on the chief minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, to send an independent team from Karachi to investigate the case.
RSF said the perpetrators of a murder in Pakistan can escape criminal justice if they can pass it off as an “honor killing” because a village assembly of elders, or panchayat, may then try the case. Then, the perpetrators could avoid punishment if they obtain the family’s forgiveness, by paying financial compensation if necessary, the Paris-based media freedom watchdog added.
Mandrani is the second journalist to be killed in Sindh Province since the beginning of the year.
The body of Aziz Memon, who also worked for Kawish News Network, was found in a canal near his hometown of Mehrabpur with wire tied around his neck in February.
Pakistan is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
https://www.rferl.org/a/rsf-calls-for-independent-investigation-into-pakistani-journalist-s-killing/30640314.html
The body of Zulfiqar Mandrani, a reporter for the Sindhi-language dailies Kawish and Koshish, was found on May 26 in the town of Dodapur in southeastern Sindh Province with two bullets in the head and marks of torture across his back.
The same day, police in the nearby city of Larkana announced the arrest of two suspects, who allegedly confessed to killing Mandrani for reasons of “honor.”
However, the journalist’s father filed a complaint with the police on May 28 naming several different suspects, including a police officer, said to be linked to a local drug trafficker, RSF said in a statement.
Mandrani, who had been investigating the activities of this drug trafficker, received death threats from the suspects before his murder, the father was quoted as saying.
“The initial findings reported by the local police are clearly unreliable because everything is being done to ensure that those behind Zulfiqar Mandrani’s murder get off scot-free,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the death of a journalist who was murdered because of his reporting is being passed off as an honor killing,” Bastard said, calling on the chief minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, to send an independent team from Karachi to investigate the case.
RSF said the perpetrators of a murder in Pakistan can escape criminal justice if they can pass it off as an “honor killing” because a village assembly of elders, or panchayat, may then try the case. Then, the perpetrators could avoid punishment if they obtain the family’s forgiveness, by paying financial compensation if necessary, the Paris-based media freedom watchdog added.
Mandrani is the second journalist to be killed in Sindh Province since the beginning of the year.
The body of Aziz Memon, who also worked for Kawish News Network, was found in a canal near his hometown of Mehrabpur with wire tied around his neck in February.
Pakistan is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
https://www.rferl.org/a/rsf-calls-for-independent-investigation-into-pakistani-journalist-s-killing/30640314.html
سابق صدر آصف علی زرداری اور پارٹی کے سیکرٹری جنرل نیر بخاری کے درمیان رابطہ
آصف زرداری نے کہا کہ کورونا وباء کے دوران وفاق کی کوئی حکمت عملی نظر نہیں آئی ٹڈی دل نے فصلوں کو تباہ کردیا ہے لیکن وفاق کی کوئی پلاننگ نظر نہیں آ رہی آصف زرداری نے نیر بخاری سے گفتگو میں کہا کہ میں پہلے دن سے ٹڈی دل کی تباہی سے متعلق خدشات کا اظہار کرتا رہا ہوں ٹڈی دل نے پورے ملک کو لپیٹ میں لیکر فصلوں کو شدید نقصان پہنچایا ہے آصف زرادی نے کہا ٹڈی دل جیسے حساس مسئلے کو نظرانداز کرنا قابل مذمت عمل ہے
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/05/27/sabiq-saddar-asif-ali-zardari-or-nayyar-bukhari-k-darmiyan-rabta/
#Pakistan - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari describes Federal government’s inaction against locust attack as criminal negligence
In a statement issued here, the PPP Chairman said that he had repeatedly warned the central government about the threat of locust attack posed to the economy but it didn’t move and finally country’s agriculture has come under severe locust onslaught, which may cause a dangerous blow to the national economy already reeling under the coronavirus ravages.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that failure of PTI-led federal government to protect the growers and their crops from the locust attacks despite having chances to take advance efforts was unpardonable criminal negligence and Prime Minister Imran Khan and his entire cabinet has to be held responsible for worsening the situation.
PPP Chairman said that time and again he and his Party leaders were raising the issue and stressing for implementation of National Action Plan agreed between the Federal and provincial governments to ward off the locust threats.
He said that required number of planes were not hired to control the swarms heading towards the meadows from borders as it was the duty of Plant Protection Department of Federal government to arrange measures to destroy locusts at the entry points. “Now, the reports about the attacks of locusts in Khairpur, Sukkur, Sanghar, Nawabshah, and several other parts of Sindh as well as in other provinces were pouring in. Standing crops and matured fruits are being destroyed by locusts while the poor growers are looking at the ravages helplessly,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appreciated Sindh government for taking steps on its own including hiring planes for aerial spary against the locusts though it was the responsibility of Federal government to conduct sprays and provide required chemicals to the provinces for sprays on the grounds.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/05/27/chairman-ppp-bilawal-bhutto-zardari-describes-federal-governments-inaction-against-locust-attack-as-criminal-negligence/