Saturday, August 15, 2020
Even after 73 years, #Pakistan still struggling for independence: Pak journalist
Over the years the minority communities in Pakistan like Baloch, Pashtuns, Mohajirs, Kashmiris, Baltis, Christians and Hindus have been facing persecution at the hands of both the government and the army.
Pakistan is still struggling for independence even after 73 years as people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and other regions are yet to attain freedom, said journalist Marvi Sirmed.
"Marking 73 yrs of existence, Pak still struggling for independence. People in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pak admnstd Kashmir, nth military farms, Media, parliament, activists, 1000s of missing persons, #Julie...none is free. Happy birthday Pakistan!" She said on Pakistan's Independence Day.
While the country continues to share a troubled relationship with its minorities like Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, Prime Minister Imran Khan during his address to the nation on Independence Day once again raised the Kashmir issue.
Meanwhile, hours before Pakistan's Prime Minister raised the issue of Kashmir, an elderly man from the Ahmadi minority community was shot dead by assailants in Peshawar.
Over the years the minority communities in Pakistan like Baloch, Pashtuns, Mohajirs, Kashmiris, Baltis, Christians and Hindus have been facing persecution at the hands of both the government and the army.
On Friday, the Voice for Sindhi Missing Persons and other human rights organisations organised a protest rally to express solidarity with the families of missing persons in Sindh and shouted slogans like "Yeh jo dehshat gardi hai, iske piche vardi hai (The people in uniform are behind these terrorist activities)".
The Pakistan Police used force to stop the protesters, including family members of the missing persons and human rights activists, outside the Karachi Press Club.
https://www.timesnownews.com/international/article/even-after-73-years-pakistan-still-struggling-for-independence-pak-journalist/637467
Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law A Weapon Of Revenge Used Against Minorities
Harshil Mehta
It isn’t that a politician has never tried to change blasphemy laws or bring reforms. But those who did, faced the wrath of the religious zealot section of the country.Radical Islamists of Pakistan found a new ‘hero’ recently. His name is Khalid Khan, who shot dead Tahir Naseem, an American citizen accused of blasphemy, in a Peshawar courtroom on July 29.
Even though Khalid Khan surrendered before the police, thousands rallied in support of him and his photos were shared widely on social media. Even before he was taken to the court, he was welcomed with hugs and kisses.
Naseem was charged with blasphemy in 2018 after he declared himself Islam’s prophet.
The killing has ignited a debate on the dangerous blasphemy law and Pakistani society’s mindset in general. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws (PPC section 295 and subsections, section 298 and subsections) state that ‘derogatory’ remarks on the Prophet Muhammad, insulting any religion, disturbing a religious assembly and trespassing on burial grounds can cause lifetime imprisonment or sentence to death.
Till now, no blasphemy convict has been executed by Pakistan but allegations of blasphemy are enough to cause riots and killing of accused by vigilante groups. According to Al Jazeera, 77 people have been killed since 1990 over accusations of blasphemy. In Pakistan, as per data released by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a total of 776 Muslims, 505 Ahmadis, 229 Christians and 30 Hindus have been accused under the various clauses of blasphemy law from 1987 to 2018. Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus constitute less than four per cent of the general population of Pakistan, but they account for around 50 per cent of blasphemy accused.
It isn’t that a politician has never tried to change these laws or bring reforms. But those who did, faced the wrath of the religious zealot section of the country. In 2011, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his own guard after he defended a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, accused of blasphemy. She was acquitted in 2018.
In another case, Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member and first federal minister of minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was killed after he reportedly pressurised the federal government to change blasphemy laws. Pew Research Center, a prominent organisation for the survey, had found that 75 per cent of the Pakistani Muslims support the country’s blasphemy laws. The number is not small enough to ignore.
Rights groups and critics say Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used against religious minorities. Often the laws are used as a weapon of revenge. Therefore, there’s an urgent need to replace these laws.
It is important that murderers like Khalid Khan be given maximum punishment by the judiciary to set an example that the guilty will not be spared. If Pakistan wants to prove itself as a haven for religious freedom, then it must ban these regressive laws.
It’s also imperative that global powers raise this issue on international platforms to create pressure on the internal politics of the country. Proposal to put sanctions or interrogation at international level may force them to think on this again. Progressive countries of the world should give refuge to the acquitted.
#Pakistan’s persecution of #Ahmadi Muslims must end
By Siobhain McDonagh
Pakistan’s birth on Aug. 14, 1947 offered hope of a new country with new opportunities and new freedoms.
That was the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who as Pakistan’s founding father had rallied for a state where all would be free to believe in any faith or indeed in no faith at all. The country would harness the power of an equitable state and the talents of all its citizens to propel the country to the fore.
Seventy-three years on, Jinnah’s vision of secularism, equality and prosperity lies crumpled as Pakistan’s concern for civil freedoms has all but vanished. Ironically, its religious communities have suffered the most, and none more so than the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community recently published a report on the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan, titled “Suffocation of the Faithful.”
“Such is the extent of persecution that it is no exaggeration to describe the life of an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan as one that faces persecution from the cradle to the grave,” the report states. “At every step of their lives, they remain ever at risk of arrest, attack or harassment. Ahmadis have been denied their fundamental right to vote, they cannot possess their religious texts, and even after death their graves are targeted and bodies exhumed.”
Among the range of human rights violations, the report found worrying evidence of Pakistani textbooks promoting extremism by inciting hatred against other religious communities.
School textbooks incite hatred against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community by labeling Ahmadis as “Kafir” (disbelievers) and apostates, for which they prescribe the death penalty. Furthermore, textbook stickers are distributed in schools stating that any communication or friendship with Ahmadis is completely haram (forbidden) and calling for students to send names of Ahmadi students to Khatme Nabuwwat, an organization that has been at the forefront of violent anti-Ahmadi hostilities.
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| PAKISTANI VOLUNTEERS COLLECT DEBRIS FROM A DEMOLISHED AHMADI MOSQUE IN THE EASTERN CITY OF SIALKOT, PAKISTAN |
Additionally, the report reveals how Ahmadi Muslim students of primary school age regularly face threats at school. Teachers, rather than maintaining discipline, turn a blind eye or worse, actively identify, denigrate and ridicule Ahmadi Muslim students in front of their class. Ahmadi Muslims face a constant risk of being denied access to education and those who secure a place are routinely targeted and stigmatized through physical and emotional abuse.
We heard during the inquiry that it was not uncommon for teachers to seclude students from minority backgrounds: They would be forced to eat, sit and play separately.
One must wonder what Pakistan can gain by excluding rather than harnessing talent.
During the launch of the report, Lord David Alton highlighted the fact that millions of pounds in British taxpayers’ money is given in aid to Pakistan.
While Britain rightly remains committed to helping the poorest in the world, the U.K. government must not do so blindly.
As the report notes, it must ensure that U.K. aid is not being used inadvertently to teach hatred, for example through textbooks, which evidently nurture intolerance and extremism.
Rather, checks and balances must be put in place to effectively counter hatred and promote diversity, respect and inclusion among schoolchildren, for it is the youth who will bring about the change needed in Pakistan to revert the country to the ideals of Jinnah.
As I wrote in the report: “It is time to say that enough is enough and that is why this report calls on the UK Government, and the wider international community to take immediate action to give Ahmadi Muslims, one of the most charitable and peaceful communities I know, their basic human rights.”
#Pakistan’s minorities continue to suffer discrimination
By Robin Gomes
The National Minorities Day is observed on August 11 to honour Pakistan's religious minorities who have contributed to creating Pakistan and in nation-building. It commemorates the speech of Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah to the legislature on Aug. 11, 1947, days before Pakistan separated from India, in which he pledged to protect the rights of non-Muslims in the newly created country.
To assert this commitment, the government of Pakistan declared 11 August as National Minority Day in 2009.
Members of various religious minorities organized several events on Tuesday, including seminars and social gatherings.
In a message for the occasion, Pakistani President Arif Alvi reaffirmed that all communities residing in the country will be treated and respected equally so that the country can further march on the path of progress and development.
HRCP: the government has failed
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed concern over the state of religious minorities in the country and called for amending the Constitution to protect their rights and freedoms.
In a statement, the human rights watchdog noted that 73 years after Jinnah’s historic speech, Pakistan’s religious minorities "continue to be relegated to the status of second-class citizens, vulnerable to inherent discriminatory practices, forced conversions, and faith-based violence."
The HRCP expressed concern over the government’s Single National Curriculum, saying it “violates the constitutional guarantee that no member of a religious minority will be required to ‘receive religious instruction’ not relevant to their own religion”.
Over 96 per cent of Pakistan’s estimated population of 220 million is Muslim, in which the largest groups are ethnic Punjabis and Sunni Muslims. Catholics and Protestants number around 2 million each, making up less than 1 per cent of the population respectively. Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Shias are said to be the most discriminated against.
In its annual report released in May, HRCP had pointed out that religious minorities continued to suffer in 2019, including discrimination, unabated honour killings, forced conversions of minority Hindu under-age girls and continued use of a blasphemy law that carries the death penalty to intimidate and settle scores, forced conversions and persecution under blasphemy laws and discrimination.
Minorities: lack of enforcement mechanisms
At a conference organized in Faisalabad on the eve of the National Minorities Day, leaders of religious and civil society groups expressed concern over the government’s position towards minorities.
Speaking at the conference on “Collective efforts for advancing diversities”, Catholic Bishop Indrias Rehmat of Faisalabad said “disparities of rights in policies and laws can never ensure equality of status and treatment”.
The participants pointed out that the government has failed to take seriously the problems minorities face, noting that quotas for minorities are a futile attempt to ensure political, religious, social and economic equality if there is no proper enforcement mechanisms.
According to Rizwan Ullah Kokab, a professor at the Government College University, in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, the authorities’ "ethnocentric" approach is not useful to the cause of national unity.
Hamid Yaseen of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists noted that “education policy must incorporate the concept of human rights, social justice, peaceful coexistence and non-discrimination”.
Father Kahid Rasheed Asi of Faisalabad said more “efforts are needed to reverse discrimination and convert the representation of minorities into participation”.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-08/pakistan-national-minorities-day.html
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-08/pakistan-national-minorities-day.html
Joe Biden offers full-throated support to India against China, Pakistan
Joe Biden will support reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill — H-1Bs — to protect wages and workers and then their numbers.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will work with India in the Indo-Pacific to ensure no country, including China, “is able to threaten its neighbours with impunity” and will have “no tolerance” for cross-border terrorism in South Asia, if elected president, his campaign said in an expansive agenda released Friday for bilateral relations with India and the welfare of Indian Americans.A Biden administration also will place a “high priority” on bolstering ties with India, continue to strengthen India’s defence capabilities and bring the United States back into the Paris climate to work with India again to combat climate change, according to the agenda.
On immigration, which has been a major part of India-US relations, Biden will “preserve family unification as a core principle of our immigration system”, increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration — Green Cards, overturning the Trump administration’s switch to a merit-based system.
His administration will also exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programs in STEM fields, eliminate country limit on Green Cards, which has created a 100-year-long backlog for Indias. He will support reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill — H-1Bs — to protect wages and workers and then their numbers.
The agenda was a first expansive plan released by any presidential campaign yet for aims and goals for relations with India and Indian Americas. And, thus, marked the importance being accorded to India. It was released just hours before a major outreach by senior members of the Biden campaign to the community.On bilateral relations with India, the former vice-president will bring to the offie years of supporting India. As a senator, the agenda said, Biden had in 2006, said,“My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States” In 2008, he led other Democrats to back the India -US civil nuclear deal. The Obama-Biden administration declared support for India’s claim to permanent membership of the UN Security Council and Declared India a major defence partner.
As president, the agenda said, “Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia – cross-border or otherwise”. The reference here was unmistakably to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which had also been a sore point with the Obama administration.
On China, the Biden administration will ensure continuity. “A Biden Administration will also work with India to support a rules-based and stable Indo-Pacific region in which no country, including China, is able to threaten its neighbours with impunity.” There was no explicit mention of the border clashes but, once against, the sub-text was clear, aligning with growing bipartisan support for India in these clashes.“Biden will deliver on his long-standing belief that India and the United States are natural partners, and a Biden Administration will place a high priority on continuing to strengthen the US-India relationship,” the agenda said, adding, “No common global challenge can be solved without India and the United States working as responsible partners.”
It added: “Together, we will continue strengthening India’s defense and capabilities as a counter-terrorism partner, improving health systems and pandemic response, and deepening cooperation in areas such as higher education, space exploration, and humanitarian relief.”
For the estimated 4 million Indian Americans, the Biden vowed adequate representation in the his administration if elected and pointed, as evidence, picking Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. “Our government will reflect the diversity of the United States, and Indian American voices will be included in shaping the policies that impact their communities,” said the agenda.
The Biden administration will address the rising incidents of hate crimes against “Indian Americans of all backgrounds -- Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, and others -- (who) have been subjected to bullying and xenophobic attacks”. He will see a legislation to increase the punishment for certain hate crimes that occur in houses of worship and other religious community sites, such as gurdwaras, mandirs, temples, and mosques.
“We cannot leave our faith-based organizations to rely on donations and internal fundraising efforts to guard against deadly attacks. Biden will work with Congress to attain an immediate and substantial increase in direct security grant funding to faith-based organizations,” said the agenda.
The Biden administration will also work with congress to reform the immigration system and find a way to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, including 500,000 from India.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/joe-biden-offers-full-throated-support-to-india-against-china-pakistan/story-QXXDd5Wxyp7KlhXq0A4mON.html
'جمہوریت پسند خواتین صحافیوں کو زیادہ نشانہ بنایا جا رہا ہے'
پاکستانی میڈیا میں کام کرنے والی خواتین صحافیوں نے کہا ہے کہ سوشل میڈیا پر ان کی کردار کشی کی جاتی ہے، ٹرول کیا جاتا ہے، ڈرایا دھمکایا جاتا ہے اور ان کے خلاف منظم مہم چلائی جاتی ہے، جس کی وجہ سے ان کا آزاد رائے کا اظہار مشکل ہو گیا ہے۔
پاکستانی میڈیا میں کام کرنے والی سرکردہ خواتین صحافیوں نے کہا ہے کہ سوشل میڈیا پر ان کی کردار کشی کی جاتی ہے، ٹرول کیا جاتا ہے، ڈرایا دھمکایا جاتا ہے اور ان کے خلاف منظم مہم چلائی جاتی ہے، جس کی وجہ سے ان کا آزاد رائے کا اظہار مشکل ہو گیا ہے۔
'ویمن اِن میڈیا' نے بدھ کو سوشل میڈیا پر ایک خط میں تفصیلاً بتایا کہ انہیں کن مشکلات کا سامنا ہے۔ خط میں حکومت سے مطالبہ کیا گیا ہے کہ ایسے عناصر کو روکا جائے جو خواتین صحافیوں کو کسی بھی طریقے سے ہراساں کرنے کے مرتکب ہوں۔
خط میں یہ بھی کہا گیا کہ تمام سیاسی جماعتیں اپنے فالوورز اور سپورٹرز کو پیغام دیں کہ وہ 'غیر اخلاقی' حرکات کرنے سے گریز کریں۔ خط میں قومی اسمبلی کی قائمہ کمیٹی برائے انسانی حقوق کو نوٹس لینے کی بھی استدعا کی گئی ہے۔
یہ خط اور اس حوالے سے ایک ہیش ٹیگ آج صبح سے ٹوئٹر پر ٹرینڈ میں ہے اور لوگ اس حوالے سے مختلف تبصرے کر رہے ہیں۔ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے خواتین صحافیوں کے خط پر ردعمل دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ 'بطور چیئرمین قائمہ کمیٹی برائے انسانی حقوق، میں نے اس معاملے کا نوٹس لیتے ہوئے خواتین صحافیوں کی نمائندوں کو کمیٹی کے آئندہ اجلاس میں طلب کیا ہے تاکہ وہ اپنے تحفظات سے آگاہ کر سکیں۔'
دوسری جانب وفاقی وزیر برائے انسانی حقوق شیریں مزاری نے اپنی ٹویٹ میں خواتین صحافیوں کو درپیش اس مسئلے کو 'افسوس ناک' قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ 'اس ضمن میں وزیر اطلاعات سے بات کی ہے کہ صحافیوں کے تحفظ سے متعلق بل کو ترجیحی بنیادوں پر فعال کیا جائے۔'
انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ 'جنس کی بنیاد پر خواتین صحافیوں کی کردار کشی اور حملے ناقابل قبول ہیں اور آئین و قانون بھی اس بات کی اجازت نہیں دیتا۔'
سینیٹر شیری رحمٰن نے بھی اپنے پیغام میں کہا کہ 'سوشل میڈیا پر خواتین صحافیوں پر حملوں کے محرکات دیکھنے کی ضرورت ہے اور اس ضمن میں سینیٹ کی قائمہ کمیٹی برائے انسانی حقوق معاملے کا نوٹس لے گی۔'
اس حوالے سے سینیئر صحافی عاصمہ شیرازی نے انڈپینڈنٹ اردو سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ 'جمہوریت پسند خواتین صحافیوں کو زیادہ نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے جس کی وجہ سے وہ محسوس کرتی ہیں کہ اس معاملے کو سامنے لایا جائے تاکہ وہ بات کرتے ہوئے خوف میں مبتلا نہ ہوں۔'
انہوں نے سوال اٹھایا کہ 'کب تک منظم مہم کو برداشت کیا جا سکتا ہے؟ صرف حکومت پر تنقیدی آوازوں کو نشانہ بنایا جا رہا ہے اس لیے اب آواز اٹھانی ہو گی۔'
عاصمہ شیرازی نے مزید کہا کہ 'آئے دن سوشل میڈیا پر خواتین صحافیوں کے خلاف کردار کشی، ہراسانی اور گالم گلوچ کی مہم نہ تو خواتین کو ڈرا سکتی ہیں اور نہ ہی انہیں سچ کہنے سے روک سکتی ہیں۔'
دیگر خواتین صحافیوں نے بھی ٹوئٹر پر اپنے خیالات کا اظہار کیا۔ جیو نیوز کی اینکر علینہ فاروق شائق کہتی ہیں کہ 'سوال کا جواب بد زبانی، گالی، ذاتی حملے اور ٹرولز کے ذریعے ہراساں کرنا نہیں ہوتا لیکن بدقسمتی سے ہمارے ہاں خواتین میڈیا ورکرز کو بہادری سے یہ برداشت کرنا پڑتا ہے۔ روز بروز یہ رجحان بڑھتا چلا جا رہا ہے اور اب ہمارے کام میں رکاوٹ بن رہا ہے، لیکن ہم ڈٹے رہیں گے۔'
ذمہ داری کسی کی بھی ہو،کراچی کے مسائل ہم حل کرینگے، بلاول بھٹو
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہاہے کہ صوبوں کو
Friday, August 14, 2020
#KamalaHarris - The Undertold, Undersold Story of Kamala Harris
By Frank BruniAs a prosecutor, she can make you tremble. But as a trailblazer can she make you cry?
When I saw on Wednesday morning that Kamala Harris had released a short video marking and celebrating her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate, I clicked — eagerly and instantly. I wanted to continue riding my wave of excitement about all the firsts: first woman of color on a major party’s presidential ticket, first Black woman specifically, first Asian-American.
By the time I finished the video, that wave had crashed.
OK, that’s an overstatement. But as I listened to her flat, desultory recitation of her biography and philosophy, I did feel a sense of frustration, and it was familiar. I’d wrestled with the same letdown during the Democratic primary, when the experience of Harris didn’t live up to the idea of Harris. She often skipped or skimmed over facets of her background that she would have benefited from dwelling on. She frequently zoomed past the poetry to the prose, more a steely lawyer rattling off lists than a soulful leader serving up inspiration.
Harris the prosecutor can find the holes in your argument and make you tremble. But can Harris the history-making vice-presidential candidate find the cracks in your heart and make you cry?
That’s certainly not a requirement — most politicians not named Barack Obama fail to do that — and I’m not complaining per se. As I wrote when the news broke, her presence on the Democratic ticket makes total sense in terms of the experience that she possesses, the values that she represents and the contrast that she helps Biden draw between his politics of inclusion and Donald Trump’s politics of division.
I’m articulating a wish, one that’s tied to my belief that a decent future for this country hinges on an end to Trump’s presidency and my concern that Biden and Harris use every arrow in their quivers to defeat him. I’m venting a worry that Harris doesn’t fully use one of her arrows. She did poorly in the Democratic primary because, yes, her campaign was a mess. But she also did poorly because she never discovered the right, stirring way to tell and sell her story.
I want her to discover it on Wednesday night, when she speaks at the Democratic National Convention (or however we’re describing its virtual facsimile). I want her to hold on to it between then and Nov. 3, because I want to call her the vice president of the United States soon after that.
Although Trump would cringe at the following thought and never understand it, Harris reflects this country’s ideals and its reality much better than he does. “Her story’s America’s story,” Biden said when he and she first appeared together as running mates on Wednesday afternoon. He’s right, and I want her to embrace that and flesh it out at every turn.
She’s the biracial daughter of immigrants: Jamaican father, Indian mother, both beckoned to this country of newcomers and transplants. Growing up in California’s Bay Area, she was bused to an elementary school in a richer, whiter neighborhood than her own, so she knows the fact of segregation and the dream of integration from the road she traveled.
She understands how families, despite their best intentions, fray. Her parents divorced, and when her mother found teaching and research work in Montreal, she moved for her middle and high school years to that largely white, French-speaking city. For college she went to Howard, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., that allowed her to appraise America — its past, present and future — from a different vantage point. From there she forged her own path, with her own rules. She didn’t marry until she was 49. Her husband is white and Jewish and she’s a stepmother to his two children.
What a rich mix of influences: as multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural as the country in which her parents wisely invested their hopes. What a portrait of life as it’s lived, with all sorts of swerves.
In her public remarks she makes references to some of this, but they’re usually just that — references. After she mentioned school busing (“that little girl was me”) to attack Biden in a primary debate for his opposition to it, I went back and looked at the big speech that she’d given to kick off her presidential campaign. Busing was nowhere to be found. In fact her speech didn’t have all that much biographical detail, period, at least if you edited out the professional stuff. It was strikingly impersonal. I recently read much of her memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” published shortly before that speech, and came away with the same impression. She gives you less of her history than you expect, not more. She steers away from emotion, not toward it. Maybe that’s what a woman aiming for top jobs in a man’s world has to do. Maybe that’s even more incumbent on a woman of color. A scintilla too angry and you’re unhinged. A soupçon too misty and you’re unraveling.
It’s worth noting that when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood in the House last month to call out the misogynistic remarks of a male colleague, she twice stressed that she was speaking from the perspective of principle, not of upset. “I want to be clear that Representative Yoho’s comments were not deeply hurtful or piercing to me,” she said, adding that she was made of tougher stuff than that. She later reiterated that she “was not deeply hurt or offended.” To be at all emotional, she had to establish that she was unemotional.
A male lawmaker wouldn’t have felt that need. John Boehner, the House speaker from 2011 to 2015, certainly didn’t: He was famous for weeping at the drop of an amendment. If Nancy Pelosi behaved as soggily, she’d be savaged.
But in the book “The Firsts,” about the women who entered Congress in record-breaking numbers after the 2018 midterms, Jennifer Steinhauer of The Times notes that several of those newcomers did permit themselves to tear up at appropriate times — for example, when discussing an issue that had greatly affected them or their loved ones — and it came across as authentic, not weak. Maybe the world is changing for the better. Or maybe there’s more allowance for women in House seats than for women in even higher posts.
The Kamala Harris I’ve met and chatted with informally, in person, is warmer and more winning than the version I’ve watched on the stump. More transparent. More accessible.
And I saw flashes of her on Wednesday afternoon, during that appearance with Biden, when her huge smiles suggested that she couldn’t contain her exhilaration. She shouldn’t try. Her story is genuinely exhilarating.
Storytelling is everything. Trump won the presidency with a story about America that appealed to many Americans. It mixed imaginary villains with real ones, lies with truths. But he told it expansively. He told it effectively.
Obama’s rise was rooted in his own story, in the eloquence with which he spoke of Kenya and Kansas and how their commingling inside him was the American dream. I can’t count the number of times, on his path to the White House, that he put a lump in my throat.
Harris’s story is the rival of Obama’s. She just has to give it a comparably mythic shimmer. I know “that little girl” was her. But I want to know more about her, and I want to hear her voice.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/kamala-harris-biden-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurates People’s Square in the heart of Sindh capital, Karachi
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the Federal government is not giving due share from its funds to the Sindh government, therefore, it has collaborated with the World Bank, under compulsion for improving certain key infrastructures in the province, especially in provincial capital.
PPP Chairman inaugurated People’s Square, a public place and underground carparking near Sindh Secretariat for commuters, visitors to the Secretariat and the students of nearby historic educational institutes here today.
He said that the people of the province would benefit from the People’s Square while the masterpieces of the architecture in the surroundings and the rest of the city as well would also be restored under this Neighbourhood Improvement Project with the assistance of the WB. The project has been named ‘The People’s Square. “We have focused on the solution. We will alleviate the problems of the people of Karachi by making plans in the style of People’s Square. Thanks to the 18th Amendment, financial powers have been assigned to the provinces constitutionally. We will build such People’s Squares in every district of Sindh, “ he added.
He pointed out that Sindh government has fought the terrorists. The Sindh police and law enforcers have restored peace in Karachi, for which the citizens, police and rangers have sacrificed their blood and lives.
At the inaugural function of People’s Square, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah, his cabinet members Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Imtiaz Shaikh, Suhail Anwar Siyal, Advisor to CM Barrister Murtaza Wahab and other PPP leaders were present.
Both current and former WB Group Country Director spoke to the ceremony online.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while congratulating on Independence Day said that today we are celebrating special Independence Day in Karachi and inaugurating projects. I think this project is the beginning of a revolution to reduce the problems of the people of Karachi and to improve the governance of Karachi. The PPP has always paid attention to the problems of the people. We constantly complain that our provinces are being denied their due after the 18th amendment, due to which there is a lack of resources and people are facing difficulties in resolving their problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardaru further said that this project is our first phase as other similar projects are also underway in Malir and other districts of Karachi. A similar project would be launched at the Wazir Mansion in Kharadar where Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born and appreciated that Sindh government plants to put sewerage and other utility services networks underground throughout Karachi to protect the historic sites and the people. We are working for the reduction in problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PPP has a very old relationship of close attachment with Karachi as Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to teach law at SM Law College and we would also develop Kakri Ground in Lyari where the marriage reception of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari was held. We believe that if Karachi develops then not only Sindh province but the whole of Pakistan will develop but there are problems and difficulties. We would manage the funds ourselves and the Sindh Board of Revenue achieved its target even during the Coronavirus outbreak in the country. However, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) failed but we want the local governments to also increase their revenue.
He said that PPP is sincere with the capital of Sindh and its people, whoever has the responsibility but we will solve the problems by becoming representatives because we know that one’s statements dont work but one has to work hard. The long standing problems of Karachi could be solved together and slowly because the PPP had found Karachi where terrorists from all over the world were operating here and local thugs had also an abetting role. The security forces and Police in Karachi have made the greatest sacrifices against terrorism and the citizens here have restored the lights by sacrificing blood and now such an environment has been created for such projects to start.
He said that we respect the mandate of local governments; we are the only province where the local government will complete its term in the same month which is history. Imran Khan abolished local government in Punjab but we did not.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the term of local government is coming to an end and then elections will be held. Sindh government will work at the forefront to solve the problems.
He said that Imran Khan’s government has done nothing for the people of Karachi except lip service. He promised but did not fulfill a single promise, did not give a job and did not build 5 million houses here, and did not complete a single project despite the promise of water supply project.
Reiterating his commitment to projects in Karachi, he said that the federal government has not come up with a single new project for the city but we are starting from today and this is the first phase of projects in the city in collaboration with the WB then in each district we will build People’s Square. We will solve the problems of the people by investing in their infrastructure.
He appealed to the people to support the PPP and said that if we walk together, work together and struggle together, we can give this city its due rights and restore its past glory.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/08/14/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-inaugurates-peoples-square-in-the-heart-of-sindh-capital-karachi/
PPP Chairman inaugurated People’s Square, a public place and underground carparking near Sindh Secretariat for commuters, visitors to the Secretariat and the students of nearby historic educational institutes here today.
He said that the people of the province would benefit from the People’s Square while the masterpieces of the architecture in the surroundings and the rest of the city as well would also be restored under this Neighbourhood Improvement Project with the assistance of the WB. The project has been named ‘The People’s Square. “We have focused on the solution. We will alleviate the problems of the people of Karachi by making plans in the style of People’s Square. Thanks to the 18th Amendment, financial powers have been assigned to the provinces constitutionally. We will build such People’s Squares in every district of Sindh, “ he added.
He pointed out that Sindh government has fought the terrorists. The Sindh police and law enforcers have restored peace in Karachi, for which the citizens, police and rangers have sacrificed their blood and lives.
At the inaugural function of People’s Square, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah, his cabinet members Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Imtiaz Shaikh, Suhail Anwar Siyal, Advisor to CM Barrister Murtaza Wahab and other PPP leaders were present.
Both current and former WB Group Country Director spoke to the ceremony online.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while congratulating on Independence Day said that today we are celebrating special Independence Day in Karachi and inaugurating projects. I think this project is the beginning of a revolution to reduce the problems of the people of Karachi and to improve the governance of Karachi. The PPP has always paid attention to the problems of the people. We constantly complain that our provinces are being denied their due after the 18th amendment, due to which there is a lack of resources and people are facing difficulties in resolving their problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardaru further said that this project is our first phase as other similar projects are also underway in Malir and other districts of Karachi. A similar project would be launched at the Wazir Mansion in Kharadar where Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born and appreciated that Sindh government plants to put sewerage and other utility services networks underground throughout Karachi to protect the historic sites and the people. We are working for the reduction in problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PPP has a very old relationship of close attachment with Karachi as Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to teach law at SM Law College and we would also develop Kakri Ground in Lyari where the marriage reception of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari was held. We believe that if Karachi develops then not only Sindh province but the whole of Pakistan will develop but there are problems and difficulties. We would manage the funds ourselves and the Sindh Board of Revenue achieved its target even during the Coronavirus outbreak in the country. However, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) failed but we want the local governments to also increase their revenue.
He said that PPP is sincere with the capital of Sindh and its people, whoever has the responsibility but we will solve the problems by becoming representatives because we know that one’s statements dont work but one has to work hard. The long standing problems of Karachi could be solved together and slowly because the PPP had found Karachi where terrorists from all over the world were operating here and local thugs had also an abetting role. The security forces and Police in Karachi have made the greatest sacrifices against terrorism and the citizens here have restored the lights by sacrificing blood and now such an environment has been created for such projects to start.
He said that we respect the mandate of local governments; we are the only province where the local government will complete its term in the same month which is history. Imran Khan abolished local government in Punjab but we did not.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the term of local government is coming to an end and then elections will be held. Sindh government will work at the forefront to solve the problems.
He said that Imran Khan’s government has done nothing for the people of Karachi except lip service. He promised but did not fulfill a single promise, did not give a job and did not build 5 million houses here, and did not complete a single project despite the promise of water supply project.
Reiterating his commitment to projects in Karachi, he said that the federal government has not come up with a single new project for the city but we are starting from today and this is the first phase of projects in the city in collaboration with the WB then in each district we will build People’s Square. We will solve the problems of the people by investing in their infrastructure.
He appealed to the people to support the PPP and said that if we walk together, work together and struggle together, we can give this city its due rights and restore its past glory.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/08/14/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-inaugurates-peoples-square-in-the-heart-of-sindh-capital-karachi/
Bajwa may be trying to smooth things with Saudis, but Imran Khan dreams of Neo-Ottoman world.
HUSAIN HAQQANI
Saudi Arabia has always bailed out Pakistan and given job opportunities. But now Imran Khan’s government is giving it ultimatums and living in a fantasy world.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, is set to visit Saudi Arabia in an effort to end the recent tiff between the partner countries. Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had brought disagreements between Riyadh and Islamabad out in the open by issuing an ultimatum demanding the Saudis call a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan has been dependent on Saudi Arabia for years, seeking economic bailouts and jobs for unskilled workers whose remittances help Islamabad’s perennial balance of payments difficulties. But now, miffed Saudis are asking for the immediate return of short-term loans and have dragged their feet over completing an oil deal that ensures flow of oil to Pakistan on concessional terms.
General Bajwa’s intervention to stop the drift in ties affirms the realisation that Pakistan simply can’t afford to alienate the Saudis. Why, then, did Qureshi engage in anti-Saudi rhetoric that was unsustainable? To understand that requires an examination of the overly simplistic populism of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his backers, and the fantasy of many Pakistanis about an altered global order, with Pakistan at its center.
Another Great Game
For decades, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, retired Pakistani generals and civilian writers on strategic issues have spoken about a ‘new Great Game’ in South and Central Asia that would make Pakistan a geopolitical ‘pivot’.
This was an adaptation of British geographer Halford Mackinder’s heartland theory, submitted in 1904 when Pakistan did not exist, the United States was not yet a superpower, and airpower or the military applications of satellite and cyber technologies could not be imagined.
Pakistan’s pre-9/11 involvement in Afghanistan, its support for jihadi militants as an instrument of asymmetric warfare, and its close ties with China were all explained as part of the grand strategy to capitalise on Pakistan’s strategic location and make it a bigger player on the world stage.
Some Americans dismissed it as ‘a grand illusion’, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, which forced Pakistan to seek an alliance with the United States once again. But the theory of Pakistan’s inevitable greatness, notwithstanding its economic problems and its constant dependence on outside powers, has persisted among Pakistanis.
Pakistan at the center
The impending withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the prospect of a return to power of the Taliban, and the commitment of an economically stronger China, have all played a role in cementing the view that Pakistan would emerge as a key player in a new global order.
According to this outlook, Pakistan benefits from the impending decline of the United States and the rise of China as a global superpower. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) might add to Pakistan’s debt but it also attaches Pakistan and China at the hip. And the two countries share hostility towards India, a country the US and other Western nations see as an ally in their imminent confrontation with an aggressive, totalitarian China.
Believers in Pakistan’s inevitable strategic salience expect that after Afghanistan, the US will also withdraw gradually from the Middle East. In their imagination, Pakistan would then be China’s link to the Middle East, making it Beijing’s go-to satrap in tapping Middle East oil and securing Gulf shipping lanes.
The hope is that Pakistan can then fulfil its old dreams of exercising paramountcy over Afghanistan, resolving disputes with India (including Kashmir) on its terms, and finding its rightful place as the Muslim world’s natural leader and sole nuclear weapons power. Such fanciful thinking is championed by several influential voices, including Prime Minister Imran Khan and his followers. Their allies in Pakistan’s deep state and permanent establishment see value in these ideas for building a more positive national narrative. But they are probably a little more pragmatic in understanding the gap between hopes and reality.
A new Ertugrul
These days, Pakistan’s television commentators frequently talk about the country’s forthcoming grand role in a China-Russia-Turkey-Iran-Pakistan alliance that is destined to defeat the US-Israel-India partnership. Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan has encouraged discussions about this five-country alliance, ignoring the various issues that might hinder cooperation among this diverse grouping. It is not unusual to read in a Pakistani newspaper about the post-Covid world order that would be based on the dreams of Pakistani Islamo-nationalists.The rhetoric in Pakistan is not dissimilar to the neo-Ottoman bombast of Turkey’s Islamist President, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, which ignores Turkey’s currently weak economic prospects.
Imran Khan is a huge Erdogan fan and purveys pan-Islamism as the panacea, not only for Pakistan but for the entire ummah.Pakistan has long embraced pan-Islamism, but it was more a device to address the identity crisis of a nation that was carved out only 73 years ago and conceived just shortly before that. Most Pakistani leaders understood the limits of Islamic unity and allied with the West for economic and security reasons. But Imran Khan seems to believe his own rhetoric.
The cricketer-turned-politician has encouraged Pakistanis to watch a Turkish drama serial Ertugrul, supposedly based on the life of the father of the Ottoman dynasty’s founder, Osman.
Historic records about Ertugrul are scant but the show’s producers and story writers have stretched the few sketchy historic references into a 150-episode period drama.
The show portrays its hero as a great Muslim warrior who overcomes external enemies and domestic traitors to emerge victorious in an early phase of what Erdogan once described as the ongoing “struggle between the crescent and the cross.”
It seems that Imran Khan shares Erdogan’s vision, with the additional twist of putting Pakistan in a more important role in bringing down the West in addition to winning its own battles against Hindu India.
A make-believe world
No one should be fooled by Imran Khan’s external Westernisation to think that his description in parliament of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a ‘martyr’ was a slip of tongue. It reflects a worldview that has significant support among Pakistanis.
In this backdrop, Imran Khan and his followers do not see Saudi Arabia’s current leader crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as an ally in their Islamist Neo-Ottoman fantasy world, which they hope to create with China’s help.The Saudis now oppose the Islamist ‘Muslim Brotherhood’, maintain good relations with India, and are not willing to engage in knee-jerk opposition of Israel. That upsets Imran Khan as much as it offends Erdogan.Khan engaged with the Kingdom because of Pakistan’s transactional needs, just as he temporarily took off his anti-American cloak to befriend President Donald Trump. But in his heart, and that of most of his supporters, lies the desire for a make-believe global order in which China dominates the world but allows Muslims to remain ascendant in their heartland.
The Uyghurs of China may have a thing or two to teach Pakistan’s armchair jihadis about China’s tolerance for Islam and Muslims. But for now, Khan’s eyes are closed and his foreign minister’s grandiloquence at its peak.
Meanwhile, reality requires that General Bajwa continue to engage in damage control missions like the one he is undertaking to Riyadh now.
https://theprint.in/opinion/bajwa-going-to-saudis-but-imran-khan-dreams-of-neo-ottoman-world/481107/
Opinion: Saudi Arabia's Shocking Snub From Pakistan Is a Bonanza for China and Turkey
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
Pakistan’s foreign policy has a rule: Say yes to whatever comes out of a Saudi mouth. But last week, Pakistan slapped back. Why? And who will it really benefit? Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi recently launched a shocking broadside at Saudi Arabia, the Gulf state with whom Islamabad has become increasingly close, let alone dependent on.It was a sign of a new configuration in Pakistan’s foreign and economic policies which will have far wider repercussions: the pivot away from Riyadh, towards China and Turkey, is a recognition of a new global cold war, whose most explosive faultlines will include the border between Pakistan and India.
Marking the anniversary of India revoking Kashmir’s special status last week, Qureshi issued a stark and unprecedented warning to Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He demanded Riyadh categorically support Pakistan’s position on the long-disputed territory of Kashmir, threatening that inaction would force Islamabad to ally with other Muslim states over an issue that Pakistan has long framed as a "genocide of Muslims."
Riyadh retaliated immediately, insisting Pakistan repay $1 billion for oil supplies that had previously been repaid in deferred payments. Who stepped in cover the debt with a last-minute loan? China. Six days after Qureshi’s TV offensive, Riyadh ended the loan and oil supply to Islamabad, despite Pakistan’s repeated requests for the renewal of the facility. Such was the magnitude of what Qureshi had said that anything barring his sacking would mean that the state – which in Pakistan translates into the all-powerful military, with complete control over its foreign policy – is fully behind the foreign minister’s claim, even if it is not clear if Pakistan thought through all the repercussions.
A week on, while the opposition parties have opportunistically looked to cash in on the apparent diplomatic curveball, the government’s own reaction has been to talk up relations with Saudi Arabia. But it has pointedly refused to backtrack on the foreign minister’s statement, maintaining that Pakistan would always "protect its interests."
Thursday, August 13, 2020
PPP to oppose attempts to turn Karachi into colony of PTI’s Federal government adding that judicial cover to such unconstitutional step would be tantamount to attack on Sindh: Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his Party would vehemently oppose PTIs Federal government if it makes attempts to make Karachi a federal colony warning that if any unconstitutional step related to the Provincial Capital gets judicial cover would be tantamount to an attack on Sindh.
Addressing a press conference at Sindh Assembly building, the PPP Chairman said that instead of uniting the nation during the Coronavirus pandemic, the government is trying to snatch away the resources of the people adding that PPP’s choice had been clear since its inception as we prefer people and their rights over power, motherland over government. Our leadership walked proudly to the gallows instead of compromising on people’s rights and national interests in the past and the legacy lives on even today. “Whenever it comes to national importance, the PPP has worked for the national interest by keeping politics above the fold,” he stated at the press conference attended among others by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his cabinet members Syed Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Murtaza Wahab and MPA Munawar Wassan.
He said that the root of all current problems in Sindh is the result of it not getting the due share of NFC continuously as other provinces have also not been given their right. Last year, there were talks of a reduction of Rs.116 billion from the share of Sindh and this year, the share has been reduced by more than Rs.200 billion and this is being done continuously with every province.
PPP Chairman pointed out that after the 18th Amendment the provinces have been given more work and responsibilities, so the share of the NFC should be increased for further improvement in the lives of the people. “If more share is given in NFC then work will be done for the betterment of public health, education, local government and other systems but the Federal government is not ready to give that right,” he added.
He said that every time when nations go through a disaster, a global pandemic, be it the presidential, parliamentary or any other system, they stand united whatever the system of government be, the nations are united on issues like Coronavirus and monsoon floods and where there are problems, they try to help each other. “Unfortunately, even in a pandemic situation like Coronavirus in Pakistan, the rights of the people are being snatched and seeds of disunity are being sown,” he stated.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that when the unprecedented monsoon rains hit this province, which had not occurred in 10 years, caused problems in Karachi like Ghotki, Thatta and other areas, it is a matter of concern for him. “We all went through a crisis and another spell of rain came after which the Federal government thought that maybe there is a crisis in the capital of Sindh. We are very grateful to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).” He said that when the people are in trouble, the intention of the Federal government should be clear, but it is unfortunate that for the people of this province, the efforts of the PTI government look malicious.
PPP Chairman said that this is not the way politics is played during national disasters and crises. How can we deprive the people of their rights when they are going through misery? How can we take resources from them in these difficult times? Such approaches will harm national unity adding that whenever it comes to national importance, the PPP has always worked for the national interest by keeping politics above the fold.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said PPP always remains in the forefront on national issues and it would severely oppose and resist PTI regime’s attempts to turn Karachi into an Islamabad’s colony. Any unconstitutional step for Sindh’s capital would not be tolerated and the people would consider it as as attack on Sindh if such unconstitutional step was given judicial cover because the wounds of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto have not healed even today and hoped that no such move will be made because the country cannot invite more trouble.
He said that undemocratic people wanted power by using the name of FATF, which could have become a black law, but we played a role and made it a positive one through our share in it and thus the law was improved. He categorically stated that the PPP would oppose any bill other than FATF and the protest was on that the members of the Assembly were not given time to read the bill adding that the three other bills presented in Parliament didn’t pertain to FATF.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/08/13/ppp-to-oppose-attempts-to-turn-karachi-into-colony-of-ptis-federal-government-adding-that-judicial-cover-to-such-unconstitutional-step-would-be-tantamount-to-attack-on-sindh-chairman-ppp-bil/
Addressing a press conference at Sindh Assembly building, the PPP Chairman said that instead of uniting the nation during the Coronavirus pandemic, the government is trying to snatch away the resources of the people adding that PPP’s choice had been clear since its inception as we prefer people and their rights over power, motherland over government. Our leadership walked proudly to the gallows instead of compromising on people’s rights and national interests in the past and the legacy lives on even today. “Whenever it comes to national importance, the PPP has worked for the national interest by keeping politics above the fold,” he stated at the press conference attended among others by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his cabinet members Syed Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Murtaza Wahab and MPA Munawar Wassan.
He said that the root of all current problems in Sindh is the result of it not getting the due share of NFC continuously as other provinces have also not been given their right. Last year, there were talks of a reduction of Rs.116 billion from the share of Sindh and this year, the share has been reduced by more than Rs.200 billion and this is being done continuously with every province.
PPP Chairman pointed out that after the 18th Amendment the provinces have been given more work and responsibilities, so the share of the NFC should be increased for further improvement in the lives of the people. “If more share is given in NFC then work will be done for the betterment of public health, education, local government and other systems but the Federal government is not ready to give that right,” he added.
He said that every time when nations go through a disaster, a global pandemic, be it the presidential, parliamentary or any other system, they stand united whatever the system of government be, the nations are united on issues like Coronavirus and monsoon floods and where there are problems, they try to help each other. “Unfortunately, even in a pandemic situation like Coronavirus in Pakistan, the rights of the people are being snatched and seeds of disunity are being sown,” he stated.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that when the unprecedented monsoon rains hit this province, which had not occurred in 10 years, caused problems in Karachi like Ghotki, Thatta and other areas, it is a matter of concern for him. “We all went through a crisis and another spell of rain came after which the Federal government thought that maybe there is a crisis in the capital of Sindh. We are very grateful to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).” He said that when the people are in trouble, the intention of the Federal government should be clear, but it is unfortunate that for the people of this province, the efforts of the PTI government look malicious.
PPP Chairman said that this is not the way politics is played during national disasters and crises. How can we deprive the people of their rights when they are going through misery? How can we take resources from them in these difficult times? Such approaches will harm national unity adding that whenever it comes to national importance, the PPP has always worked for the national interest by keeping politics above the fold.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said PPP always remains in the forefront on national issues and it would severely oppose and resist PTI regime’s attempts to turn Karachi into an Islamabad’s colony. Any unconstitutional step for Sindh’s capital would not be tolerated and the people would consider it as as attack on Sindh if such unconstitutional step was given judicial cover because the wounds of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto have not healed even today and hoped that no such move will be made because the country cannot invite more trouble.
He said that undemocratic people wanted power by using the name of FATF, which could have become a black law, but we played a role and made it a positive one through our share in it and thus the law was improved. He categorically stated that the PPP would oppose any bill other than FATF and the protest was on that the members of the Assembly were not given time to read the bill adding that the three other bills presented in Parliament didn’t pertain to FATF.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/08/13/ppp-to-oppose-attempts-to-turn-karachi-into-colony-of-ptis-federal-government-adding-that-judicial-cover-to-such-unconstitutional-step-would-be-tantamount-to-attack-on-sindh-chairman-ppp-bil/
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