Soft-drink bombs: SIMI's new weapon

AHMEDABAD: Having used ammonium nitrate-based bombs to devastating effect in serial blasts across the country, the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was experimenting with a new concoction using hydrogen peroxide to make liquid bombs.

Prototypes of liquid bombs were first experimented with in the Vagamon forests in Idukki district of Kerala where a SIMI camp was held in December 2007 to impart terror training to its cadres. The camp was organized by Kerala SIMI secretary, PA Shivli. The experiments with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were revealed in the statement of SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori during interrogation after his arrest by the Indore police on March 26 this year.

"Liquid bombs are as potent as the ones which use ammonium nitrate. The concoction can be injected in plastic or glass bottles of soft-drinks and detonated without attracting much attention," said a senior Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) official.

"The terrorists knew that the government would impose strict restrictions on supply of ammonium nitrate. H2O2 was a suitable alternative as it can be obtained from chemist shops easily," said the police official.

Officials said the soft-drink bottles could be placed in crates or stacked in closed goods carriers and then detonated. SIMI planned to use food colours to make these bombs look like the original beverage. They had also figured out how to fix the batteries and detonators for triggering the device.

SIMI was inspired by the liquid bombs tried out by the Trans-Atlantic flight bombers in London in August 2006. Eight Al Qaida terrorists were held while planning to carry the liquid bombs in seven Trans-Atlantic flights.

According to Nagori's statement, this bomb-making technique was first introduced to the SIMI cadres by Hyderabad-based Raziuddin Nasir who had been trained at the Dera Ismail Khan terror training camp in Pakistan.

Nasir (21) was arrested by Karnataka police in January this year from Davangere. He is the son of the Hyderabad cleric Maulana Naseeruddin, currently in a Gujarat jail facing trial in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.


(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Soft-drimk_bombs_SIMIs_new_weapon/articleshow/3379416.cms)

Pakistan is set to elect 1st woman parliamentary speaker

of the February 18 elections have said.

Fahmida Mirza has been nominated for the office of the speaker of the National Assembly by the Pakistan slain leader Benazir Bhutto and PML-N Party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and their allies.

Fahmida comes from a political family of southern Sindh, the stronghold of Peoples party.

The 51-year-old Mirza, who elected as Member National assembly on February 18 for the third consecutive term from Badin district, will be the first woman speaker of the National Assembly.

She is wife of Zulfiqar Mirza, who is a close aide of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and was also elected member of provincial assembly in Sindh.

She is an agriculturist and businesswoman by profession, although she is a medical graduate.

Fahmida Mirza has been winning her parliamentary seat continuously since 1997.

"I will remain non-partisan and will provide a level playing field to the treasury and opposition members," Fahmida Mirza told reporters after filing nomination papers with the Secretary of the National Assembly.

"A woman could be a best speaker of the National Assembly as this slot demands tolerance," she added.

The opposition PML-Q party and allied parties have fielded Israr Tareen, a lawmaker from southwestern Balochistan province, as candidate to challenge Fahmida Mirza.

Earlier, Begum Ashraf Abbasi was the only woman who had held the office of deputy speaker twice - once in second tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during 1977 and second time in the first government of late Benazir Bhutto from 1988-90.

The opposition fielded Faisal Karim Kundi, for the office of deputy speaker.

Kundi, belongs to Dera Ismail Khan in North West frontier province, who had defeated religious leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman, the chief of Jamiat ulema-e-Islam (F).

(http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-239/0803195934084943.htm)

The man who trounced Fazl weeps on backbenches

ISLAMABAD: A young PPP MNA, who thrashed JUI veteran Maulana Fazlur Rehman by about 40,000 votes, will now sit on the backbenches while the defeated Maulana will again be a minister in the PPP-led coalition cabinet.

Faisal Kundi, who was educated in London and was specially groomed by Benazir to beat Maulana Fazlur Rehman, appears to be the first casualty of the Zardari-Fazl romance, thanks to the ironies of coalition politics.

Last year, Benazir Bhutto had particularly sent this young graduate from London with the mission to defeat the MMA leader and this young man fulfilled her wish, though after her death.

Now with the changing situation, Kundi is facing taunts from his voters as he had assured them he would politically eliminate the chief supporter of Taliban.

Despite suffering a massive defeat at the hands of this young man, Fazlur Rehman is now having the last laugh as he successfully got a promise from Zardari to get his party in the future cabinet in the name of "reconciliation".

Faisal, who was expecting a ministerial job at Islamabad as a reward after defeating the JUI leader, is now puzzled as he would be sitting on the backbenches like an ordinary MNA. Kundi is practically hiding from his voters in Islamabad, as he keeps on receiving phone calls from his constituency.

Maulana Fazl, trying to pressurise Benazir Bhutto to withdraw him from Dera Ismail Khan, in return offered Benazir Bhutto to withdraw the MMA candidate from Larkana. Benazir Bhutto, at one stage, had seriously started considering withdrawing Kundi in her bid to ensure her return to parliament. But, when Kundi argued that he was in a position to win the seat quite comfortably, Benazir also agreed so that she could tell the Western countries that her party had defeated the chief supporter of Taliban.

Secondly, she wanted to eliminate Fazl’s chances of manipulation to become the prime minister with the help of the establishment.

The Maulana, who knew that he would not win against the popular Kundi, also tried his connections with Asif Zardari to get Faisal out of the way. But once again, Kundi presented his case before Zardari and succeeded in staying in the race.

Faisal used to tell his party leaders that he would defeat the mighty Maulana with a margin of 35,000 votes. Many used to laugh over his claim but when the results came, everybody was shocked to see how a young London graduate had trounced the MMA leader.

The young man now is being sacrificed at the altar of reconciliation and pragmatic coalition politics of national consensus.

Talking to The News, Faisal confirmed that he was facing taunts and sarcastic comments from his voters who had voted for him in the name of change in the area.

He sounded very disappointed over the developments taking place as he did not know whether he would be given any position in the cabinet to fulfill the promises he had made with his voters to defeat the MMA leader.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=101103)

PML-Q fails to convene NWFP parliamentary party meeting

PESHAWAR: Owing to differences between provincial leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its MPAs-elect, the former ruling party is yet to convene its parliamentary party meeting to elect the leader in the Frontier Assembly.

The PML-Q got five provincial assembly seats in the February 18 elections in the Frontier province whereas Nighat Yasmin Orakzai, party provincial information secretary, was elected on women reserved seats.

However, PML-Q Provincial President Amir Muqam and General Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani failed to reach the NWFP Assembly. Former provincial minister Sanaullah Miankhel, Dera Ismail Khan, Wajih-uz-Zaman, Mansehra, Haji Qalandar Lodhi, Abbottabad and Muhammad Zahir Shah, Shangla, and Ghulam Muhammad, a new face from Chitral, made it to the Frontier Assembly on PML tickets.

Talking to The News, an MPA-elect said that after losing elections on two provincial assembly seats, Amir Muqam was no more interested in the party affairs in the province. He said Muqam was visiting other provinces but did not bother to convene a parliamentary party meeting of the elected MPAs in NWFP.

The party has no plan whether it would sit on the opposition or treasury benches in the NWFP Assembly, added the MPA-elect, who requested not to be named. He said that Muqam was not a politician but a contractor, who joined the ruling party just to protect his business interests and promote his construction firm.

"His interest in the Frontier politics vanished after the party failed to get considerable strength in the provincial assembly as he [Muqam] was vying for chief minister's slot," the MPA said and added that the central leadership of the PML-Q should admit the defeat and reassess its policy and role in the future politics.

"We cannot take single step without guidelines from party leaders," the MPA-elect said, adding that even the party provincial secretariat in Peshawar had been closed after general elections. "Due to lack of interest by the party provincial leadership the independent MPAs-elect like Fazlullah from Shangla and Javid Khan Tarakai from Swabi, who were openly supported by the party during election campaign, did not join the PML," he pointed out.

The Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao, on the other hand, has convened its parliamentary party meeting and elected Pervez Khan Khattak as its parliamentary party leader in the NWFP Assembly. The Sherpao group has also extended its support to the ANP-PPP coalition government in the province.

Pervez Khattak told this scribe that they were enjoying the support of five independent legislators-elect, who had met PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and extended their support to the PPP in the Frontier province. He said the party would convene another parliamentary party meeting before the maiden session of the NWFP Assembly.
(http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=13529)

Rahimdad denies rift in PPPP

PESHAWAR: Pakistan People's Party provincial president has dispelled the impression of any rift in the party ranks, saying the PPP is fully united under the leadership of its Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Addressing a press conference here Monday, Rahimdad said the PPP was committed to work for political stability, restoration of undiluted democracy, strengthening of institutions and independent judiciary in the country.

NWFP PPP chief termed the power sharing and consensus between PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on important national issues as a landmark step towards democratic and prosperous Pakistan.

He said people wanted both parties to work jointly for finding a solution to their problems. Rahimdad demanded immediate summoning of the National and Provincial assemblies sessions to pave the way for the revival of a genuine democracy in the country.

About the formation of the coalition government at the Centre and NWFP, he said that names for the offices of speakers of NWFP and National Assembly would be announced soon, adding the PPP would also name the members from the party for the NWFP cabinet.

Highlighting his party stance on the renaming of the NWFP, Rahimdad said a consensus among people from every walk of life was a must before changing the name of the province. "People of Hindko-dominated areas such as Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan will be taken into confidence in this regard," he added. The PPP provincial chief requested the media to play a role in bringing people closer through creating the message of hope and unity.

ANP-led alliance gets support of 85 MPAs in NWFP

PESHAWAR: A tripartite alliance of the Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has succeeded in mustering the support of 85 MPAs-elect in the NWFP Assembly, leaving the opposition with little chances of fielding their candidates for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker offices.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has notified the official results for 117 seats in the Frontier Assembly, including reserved seats for women and minorities in the 124-member house. Polling on three provincial constituencies had been postponed due to the deaths of candidates prior to the February 18 elections.

Besides the unambiguous support of 85 members, Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) has also extended its unconditional support to the PPP, while Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has yet to decide its future role in the assembly.

The ANP's strength reached to 46 MPAs-elect in the assembly after the inclusion of nine women lawmakers on reserved seats and one minority MPA.

Five independents formally joined the nationalist party while two independents, Malik Hayat from Dir and Mehboob Alam from Kohistan, announced their support to the ANP.

The PPP, which had initially secured 18 general seats, is now enjoying the support of 30 MPAs-elect in the assembly after six independents joined the party, while six on the women reserved seats and one on minority have also been elected to the provincial assembly.

The PML-N enjoys the support of nine members, who would back the ANP-PPP coalition government in the province. Likewise, PPP-S has shown its unconditional support to the PPP in the province. Two independents, Murid Kazim of Dera Ismail Khan and Habibur Rehman Tanoli associated with the PPP-S in the past, would support their party.

After ANP and PPP, the MMA emerged as the third largest party with 14 members in the House.

The tally of independent MPAs has shrunk to six from 22. Pakistan Muslim League-Q, with six MPAs-elect, would have no other option but to sit on the opposition benches in the 117-member assembly.

On November 27, 2002, the combined opposition had proposed the names of Syed Qalb-e-Hasan of the ANP and Nighat Yasmin Aurakzai of the PML-Q for the offices of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively, against the MMA's Bakht Jehan Khan and Ikramullah Shahid.

The ANP, PPP, PPP-S and PML-Q had formed the combined opposition against the religious parties' alliance at that time.

22 cities hit harder by high prices

ISLAMABAD • The State Bank of Pakistan data has revealed that nine cities of the Punjab, four of North west Frontier Province, six of Sindh and three of Balochistan remained the worst hit by inflation in 2007-08.

These cities faced more than six percent increase lit the aggregate inflation hitting all baskets of consumption while the rest of the country was subjected to more than 5.4 percent hike, the latest SBP data shows.

Income Group-wise Inflation rate examined by the SBP during January 2008 reveals that inflation for various income groups, three out of four income categories have experienced higher than the overall average Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation: general, food and non-food.

The only category that displayed lower inflation than the overall CPI inflation was the income group earning Rs12,000 or above.

The highest Year on Year (YoY) CPI inflation was recorded for the income group of up to Rs3,000 that recorded double-digit inflation for the fourth consecutive month (14.7 per cent), followed by income group of Rs3,001 to

5,000(14.5 per cent) and income group Rs5,001 to 12,000 (13.0 per cent) while the highest income group, with incomes above Rs12,000, experienced the lowest inflation in all categories (10.2 per cent). City-wise data of income groups exhibits that the lowest YoY inflation was recorded in Rawalpindi by the group with income up to Rs3,000 followed by Sialkot (for the group with incomes in the range of Rs3,001 to 5,000, and for the group with income in the range of Rs5,001 to 12,000).

Rawalpindi recorded the lowest inflation for the income groups with earnings of above Rs12,000 per month. The highest YoY inflation was recorded in Bannu for all income groups.

In all, price hike data of 35 most impacted cities was examined, to find that 25 cities were in the category of high-inflation towns. The data exhibited that the highest level of year-to-year inflation was recorded in Bannu.

The inflation in CPI of January 2008 in the following cities showed on the extreme: Bannu, Attock, Bahawalnagar, Sargodha, Nawabshah, Jhelum, Khuzdar, Karachi, Shahdadpur, Bahawalpur, Samundari, Okara, Vehari, Lahore, Loralai, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Islamabad, Turbat, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Larkana, Mianwali, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mardan, Gujranwala, Abbotabad, Mirpur Khas, Kunri, Dera Ismail Khan, Jhang, Multan Quetta, Faisalabad and Peshawar.

MD inaugurates APP Station office at D I Khan

D.I.KHAN March 3 (APP): The Associated Press of Pakistan is committed to realize its responsibilities with regard to promoting the soft image of Pakistan as well as face the present challenges, said Rai Riaz Hussain Managing Director APP while addressing inaugural ceremony of APP Station Office here on Monday. The MD said that APP is the largest and premier national news agency, disseminating news on different aspects within its video and print journalism capacity.

He maintained that Pakistan was faced with different challenges of modern age. Signifying organizational aspect of APP, he underlined that with its 750 professionally trained and skilled staffers had emerged as powerful media institution of Pakistan to confront the challenges. Rai said APP was focusing on the main national issues with its objective and creditable reporting. He informed the participants including local newsmen that in recent few months the Agency further accelerated its performance. He added that APP was not merely restricted to project official version rather believes in progressive and liberal motives of media industry and for this purpose the organized news agency was giving maximum space/coverage to all political forces in line with an acceptable press freedom.

While referring to Video News Service, Rai Riaz further highlighted that taking into account the needs of the modern age APP had recently introduced its video news service so as to ensure timely and fast flow of information. He informed that Rs. 250 million have been spent to launch this major project. Rana Akif Ali Station Manager D.I.Khan also addressed the ceremony. He called upon local newspapers owners to acquire credible and objective news, photos, features on different national and regional issues from APP to enhance quality and objective journalism.

On the occasion local newsmen interacted with the Managing Director and discussed various issues of national and local journalism. Local correspondents and officials also attended the colorful inauguration ceremony of APP from information group.

Blast injures three in DI Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A bomb blast in Shah Ajmal area of Prowa Tehsil injured three persons here on Saturday. The injured, identified as Ghazi Muhammad Wazir, Ghazi Khan and Annan Gul, were rushed to hospital. Unknown miscreants had planted the bomb near the wall of a house.

Bomb attack in north-west Pakistan kills three policemen

Islamabad - Suspected Islamic militants killed three policemen Friday in north-west Pakistan by targeting their vehicle with a remote-control bomb, a police official said. The early morning attack in the Dera Ismail Khan district of the volatile North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Islamic militancy is rife, also injured two officers, said Hamza Masud, the district police chief. He said the area's deputy police superintendent, Javed Iqbal, was among those killed. "He was leaving for the office from his residence when suspected militants targeted his vehicle with a remote control roadside bomb," Masud said. "The vehicle was completely destroyed."Dera Ismail Khan lies close to Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, from where Taliban, al-Qaeda and other armed militant groups frequently target security forces across the province as well as other parts of the country with suicide bombers and roadside bombs. Meanwhile, a British-based non-governmental organization has resumed work in Pakistan following an attack Monday by armed men on its offices in the NWFP that killed four local staff. Plan International, which works to help children in developing nations, reopened its offices in Islamabad and Punjab province, but continued a suspension on work in the NWFP's Mansehra district until an investigation into the attack was completed, a statement released Friday said. Several men armed with rifles attacked the Mansehra office without warning on Monday afternoon, setting off explosive devices that burned the building to the ground. The motive in the attack remained unclear, the statement said.

Pakistan, a Different Country!

Benazir selling Benazir Chai or Benazir paan massalla!

The Army crime syndicate in Pakistan is down but not out by any means. City after city and village after village, as I traveled through the heart of Pakistan, I got one overwhelming message…people can’t stand the army anymore but also are realistic enough to understand that it will take a lot to get rid of the army from the politics and break the power structure the army has created over the years. My impression was that this structure has been damaged and is deeply hurt in Pakistan.

The night before Benazir’s chehlum in Larkana, a young man, barely in his early twenties, challenged me to describe the mood in Sindh and on hearing my take claimed that I have lost touch with Sindh after living away for so many years. Driving with a candidate to attend election rallies and public meetings, the slogans I heard were against the army and listened to the speeches that would have had intelligence agencies declare people anti-state when I lived in Sindh. I knew of many friends who suffered years in jail for saying a lot less. Larkana has become a crowded city after her death. There were people everywhere. Benazir is now remembered as a Rani, a princess and soon will turn in to the first woman Saint in Pakistan.

While kidding with many young Sindhis Turks, I blamed them for Benazir’s death as they had taken a hard-line on her arrival which caused her breakup with the army. The kids just laughed. I then asked them how are they going to treat Asif Zardari? Mostly the answer was: he better listen to us or he too will take the Liaquat Bagh route!

I was told the Sindhi nationalism as I knew it has since died its natural death but the Peoples Party in Sindh is really the Sindhi Nationalist Party. Young Sindhis believe in Pakistan but would not hesitate to break away if they felt the need for it. No one thinks about joining with India as the old Sindhi Nationalists used to dream of but an independent Sindh would be a much preferred option. Young Sindhis are now joining the army and some are climbing the ranks pretty fast.

Lahore and Pindi were in full election mould. Pictures of candidates and the leaders were on pretty much every space that was available on walls and hoardings. Benazir was so prominently displayed in so many different poses that often I felt she was the only movie star in town. Knowing the Punjabi penchant for hero worshipping and taking it to the extreme, I felt that soon they will have Benazir selling Benazir Chai or Benazir paan massalla to her followers in Punjab.

While Pindi is bursting through the seams, Islamabad looked its best from the margalla hills and the Manal restaurant where I had lunch with an old flame. We had problems keeping our hands to ourselves despite couple of grown kids on both sides.

Peshawar is just another story. I have some great memories of that city which I last visited in 1987 for just a few hours. This time around, I barely had a few hours to spend in Peshawar again. I asked my friends to drive me around the city while we talked. I was unable to recognize the city. New shopping malls in Saddar, my old hang out hotel Deans now a shopping mall and office complex. The Green hotel looked different. The cinema in Saddar where I used to smoke charas during the shows was gone too. The great shopping areas in Hayatabad with Sikh shop owners and Sikh Hakims just belied all the storylines about Peshawar and Peshawaris living in fear of Taliban and the suicide bombers. New six lane roads, a ring road and the Pushtoon car and bus drivers had my heart in my throat almost every time I was on the road. Peshawar is no more a sleepy town it used to be in the 70s and 80s, the life in the city is hectic and the traffic has increased manifolds like in Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Islamabad! If someone now tells me that Peshawar is going down to Taliban, I would slap that person hard enough to show fingerprints all over his/her cheeks. Though I must admit the uncertainty of the suicide bombers had surely put some dent on the city’s rep.

Peshawar University looked as beautiful and unspoiled as it was a long time ago. The kids in Islamia College were still wearing sherwanis and the girls in their chadors looked as pretty as ever. Girls were clearly noticeable in pretty much all areas, some did not care very much about chador covering the heads or not. I found many of them walking alone unescorted contrary to the stories that I had heard and believed. Peshawar has extended well beyond Gul Bahar colony on the GT road on the east. Hayatabad on the west, it seems, is as big as Peshawar itself right next to the tribal area. Hayatabad was a small development when I last saw that, this time around I was looking at houses as big and as great looking as one can find in Defense or Clifton, Karachi or some areas in Islamabad and Lahore.

This was just another Pakistan. Things have changed so drastically between my visits that often I was lost in the areas where I grew up in Karachi and Hyderabad. New highways, bright shining roads or just the amount of construction overwhelmed me. The face of Karachi is changing, Hyderabad still lags behind but lots of changes had already made me feel good about that city.

Lahore or at least the parts of Lahore that I saw showed me that it is perhaps the best city to live in Pakistan right now. Lahore looked better than Karachi and Islamabad both and traffic too was a little less crazy. My only long distance drive was from Pindi to Peshawar and back. The Daewoo bus took the GT road which is now a four lane highway. The Bus conductor was a young, petit, pretty, and apparently Pathan/Hazara girl in her 20s. That was a big no-no (especially in NWFP) during the old days but now seemed common. I kept cracking jokes with her to her amusement. I guess age allows one to be a little bold with young girls! The driver turned off the video and the music upon entering NWFP. When I asked the conductor to play it back she said, “Na!na!! mullah ghussa karega!”

My return journey on M1 was just fabulous. M1 is a six lane highway that can leave many highways in the West to dust. I took a Mercedes van on my return journey and the driver followed all the traffic rules for lane changes and passing other traffic. I thanked him for excellent driving and gave him a great tip for just making my life easy on Pakistani roads!

In between, I took a short trip to Taxila museum and the monasteries in the area. My driver cum guide had worked in Taxila for years and knew the area inside out. Still I used professional guides on every site. I was just a teenager when I first visited Taxila and never caught on the significance of the archaeological sites there. Walking in Sirkap, climbing stairs to Jaulian or checking out the monastery in Mohra Moradu just had another feel to it. At Mohra Moradu, I met an interesting man. Throughout the drive from Pindi, my driver kept talking about a Scotsman living in Mohra for the last forty years. The driver thought he was some sort of a saint and took me to his place. This long haired, bearded Scotsman, Luqman called his place a Khanqah! Turned out this Luqman guy was actually a Canadian from the Montréal area. I had visited Montréal just in August-Sept for three weeks so we started talking about the changes in Montréal. He not only had access to the Net but was also connected to his friends in Ohio via skype! He invited me to his Olive Garden just above the Mohra monastery, which I declined citing lack of time.

Driving down from the Taxila museum to Jaulian, I, all of a sudden, found myself on a well paved and well maintained road. I thought the quality of the construction was due to the tourist traffic to Jaulian. But it turned out just above Jaulian, the Pak army maintains a big ammo dump. I had visited some US army dumps in New Mexico and the layout of the area looked very familiar to the missiles/nuke sites in New Mexico. Once I climbed the mountains and in Jaulian, using Binoculars, I tried to spot the entrance and climbed farther than the guide would allow me to take pictures. It appeared that there were two sites both had unmarked cars, buses and trucks parked there. Nothing would disclose that they were military sites. However, it was clear that the army was hiding something there. One can hazard many guesses but hoarding missiles and nukes next to the prime archaeological sites could only be a Pak army idea!

The night after the elections, my old friends got together in a Clifton house of a friend for a party. I had taken two bottles of Chivas with me from the US but these guys were already loaded with all brands of scotch. The eight of us had our last party in a Khairpur rest house sometime in 1983. That night we could only get cheap Indian whiskey but things have changed. All were successful and loaded with money now. In the Khairpur rest house we had four girls serving us and in 2008 in Karachi, eight girls were assigned to the party. The service was good, drinks and food was fabulous. Politics again was the main topic as all of us are still attached to the politics in many different ways. We broke up at about three in the morning and would probably see each other on my next visit, whenever that happens.

Elections

Before the elections the discussions in Larkana and the other places were that there would not be much rigging in Sindh or NWFP but most of the rigging would take place in Punjab and that too against Nawaz Sharif. No one expected Nawaz to bag more than 40 seats and after rigging the number of seats for N league was expected to be around 15-20. On the night of the elections, it became clear that either the pro Mush forces deceived themselves or there was some hidden hand that prevented rigging. Still, the consensus was that the PPP would be forced to form coalition with parties minus Nawaz. This still can happen but right now if the PPP tried to shake hands with Mushraf, expectations are that the PPP would break apart right away! Everyone is now watching the changing situation and they are many a slip!

However, this election would go down in the Pakistan history as the most rigged election ever. In Karachi and in parts of Sindh, people wherever they could have, rigged the whole thing. In Karachi, MQM was unable to bring out its supporters to vote and the motivated PPP voters were showing up at every polling station, on seeing that the MQM high command just decided to take over the polling stations and the results in Karachi are more dubious than any other place in Pakistan!

All other parties contested elections on some program and with some agenda. PPP for democracy, PML(N) for Judges, ANP for provincial autonomy and against the MMA but MQM really had no agenda, no program and offered nothing to its voters and thus its voters stayed away from the polling booths. More on elections later!

(http://chowk.com/articles/13666)

Taliban Facilitated Elections in Waziristan!

In North Waziristan, the government sought the help of the militants to conduct peaceful polls

By Mushtaq Yusufzai

The Taliban in North Waziristan tribal agency facilitated the Feb 18 polling, where the tribespeople, unlike the rest of the tribal regions, evinced a keen interest in exercising their right to vote.

Almost a day earlier, in the militants-dominated North Waziristan Agency, the government had struck another peace deal with militants with the hope of restoring peace to the militancy-stricken tribal region.

In the peace deal, the government and tribal militants, who prefer to be called Taliban, had pledged to work together in future for maintenance of peace and resolving disputes.
The militants, on Dec 17, 2007, had announced a unilateral ceasefire and then extended it almost five times when the government reciprocated accordingly.

A senior militant commander on condition of anonymity said that the peace truce was signed in the grand 'jirga' where the militant commanders, tribal elders as well as government officials were present. He said that it was almost the same agreement which had been signed on Sep 5, 2006, between them and the government.

The government had almost made up its mind to reschedule polls in the adjacent North Waziristan after postponing the election on NA-42 in South Waziristan due to the mass migration of the Mahsud tribespeople to distant Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and other parts of the country as a result of clashes between security forces and Baitullah Mahsud-led militants.
Later, the government announced to conduct elections in North Waziristan but declared all the polling stations there the 'most sensitive' ones and suggested extraordinary security measures for holding free and fair polls.

Keeping in view the security concerns in the region, the government sought the help of the militants in conducting the election in a peaceful manner.

A senior government official said that the task was given to the Taliban after the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and Khasadar force or tribal police personnel expressed their reluctance to provide security to the polling staff deputed in the remote and the most sensitive areas.
Tribespeople from parts of North Waziristan told TNS that not a single security personnel was sighted in almost all the 10 subdivisions of the volatile tribal region, including Miramshah, Mirali, Shawal, Data Khel, Ghulam Khan, Spinwam, Shawa, Dosali, Razmak and Garyum in the election day. Residents in Miramshah, North Waziristan's regional headquarters, said that militants were the ones who conducted the polls and provided security to the voters.

People felt it was primarily that reason, the presence of Taliban, which encouraged the already terrified tribesmen to come out of their homes and cast their votes.

"It seemed more like jubilation here. The people enthusiastically participated in elections and there were no signs of fear as the well-armed militants were deployed everywhere in and outside the polling stations," said Mohammad Salimullah, a tribesman while talking to the TNS by telephone from Miramshah.

The residents said that they felt a threat from the militants before the elections, but when learnt that they themselves were part of the game then everyone came to the polling station.

"It was the day of the militants and they proved themselves more capable than those who were supposed to do the job," said Haji Gul Halim, a resident of Dande Darpakhel town, near Miramshah.

During the polling, witnesses said, heavily armed militants were seen patrolling the streets and thoroughly searching voters before entering the polling stations.

"In some of the polling stations, militants, even briefly detained people for allegedly violating the Taliban's code of conduct which they had set for the election," said Mohammad Rahman in Mirali town, the second biggest town of the agency.

He, however, added that the Taliban were later seen releasing the detainees and giving them advice to help the people elected a sincere and pious representative. Interestingly, when the polls finished, militants informed the local political authorities that their job was finished and that they should collect the ballot boxes.

"The ballot boxes were then taken in armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to Miramshah and the name of the successful candidate was announced," said a government official, but wished not to be named.

16 candidates were contesting the election for the lone National Assembly seat of North Waziristan Agency (NA-40). Except for a few, like PML-Q's Ajmal Khan, who served as federal minister in the past, and an

independent candidate Abdul Qayyum, the majority of the contestants belonged to Maulana Fazlur Rahman's Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), but only Maulana Nek Zaman, a former pro-MMA MNA from North Waziristan, was JUI-F nominee on NA-40.

The remaining candidates, including Aurangzeb, Haji Kamran Khan, Fazal Subhan, Mufti Sadeequllah and Nisar Ali were JUI-F dissidents and decided to contest when the party refused their nomination for the election.

Some of them are considered to be very close to the militants, including Abdullah Shah, who belongs to a banned outfit Al-Rashid Trust, Haji Kamran Khan and a few others. Now some of the losing candidates had started raising questions over this unique trend of involving militants to hold elections.

They have accused the government of allowing militants to help elect their blue-eyed candidate, Haji Kamran Khan in the polls.

They said that the militants organised a huge rally in support of the winning candidate and fired shots in the air when Kamran Khan was declared the winner.

(Coutesy The News)

My Comment: This report of cooperation between Taliban and the Government of Pakistan in Waziristan suggests that if there is enough will for peaceful co-existance, peace might not be so elusive an ideal, after all. Indeed, it suggests that while US and Taliban may remain irreconcilable, the same may not be true for Pakistan and Taliban. In the interests of the people, both parties can, and should, arrive at some reconciliation. Pakistani state, on the other hand, would do well to learn from history and keep itself out of that difficult region; above all, it would do well to spill less blood, there and everywhere else.

(http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/2008/02/taliban-facilitated-elections-in.html)

Pakistani press

Pakistan - Annual report 2008

Area: 796 100 sq. km.
Population: 159,500,000.
Languages: Urdu, English.
Head of state: Pervez Musharraf.

It was an annus horribilis for journalists in Pakistan. Six reporters were killed, nearly 250 arrested and more than 100 incidents were recorded of threats and physical assault. The brutality came from all sides: the army, Islamists, political militants and local organised crime. And Gen. Pervez Musharraf, rocked by a protest movement launched by judges and lawyers, made life impossible for privately-owned television and radio stations.

Pakistan has been through a year of major political crisis which began in March 2007 with the sacking of the President of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, deepened with the 3 November declaration of emergency rule and culminated in December with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the historic leader of the leading opposition party. Pervez Musharraf’s reaction to this crisis only aggravated the situation. After unleashing a first wave of repression and censorship in April and May, the head of state at the start of November ordered a blackout of all independent television and radio stations.

The president and his ministers however constantly boasted of the “total freedom allowed to the Pakistani media”. In March, when several TV stations were censored for showing footage of demonstrations in favour of Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani told Reporters Without Borders that, “The government never banned the media from broadcasting these images. It was a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council. The media are close to our heart and no station has been censored”. The authorities in November rejected international condemnation of the ban on privately-owned broadcast media, claiming it was not censorship but a necessity to “save the nation”.

The political crisis prompted a craving for news among Pakistanis. Newspaper sales soared, particularly supplements devoted to the state of emergency, after the ban on private TV and radio. The Urdu service of the BBC World Service boosted the number of news bulletins while its programmes were pulled from Pakistan’s FM band after the army closed the FM 103 station. And although only 15% of Pakistanis are connected to the Internet, more than a million people visit the Geo TV website on a daily basis.

Silencing of privately-owned television and radio

The government in 2002 allowed the development of electronic media but did not create the conditions to guarantee their independence thus exposing them to daily and unfair harassment from some government officials and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). This authority abused its power on at least ten occasions to force cable operators to halt broadcasts by certain television stations.

The government, overwhelmed on all sides, at the end of May banned live broadcasts of news events. Information minister, Mohammad Ali Durrani, warned media not to cross the “legal limits”. As a result privately-owned stations Aaj and ARY TV were pulled from the cable package by operators in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. A manager at ARY TV told Reporters Without Borders that the government claimed not to know anything about it. “But when we call the cable operators they tells us that is it the government who asked them to do it”.

The government in June promulgated the PEMRA Amendment Ordinance 2007 to boost the regulatory body’s power of censorship and control over television stations and cable operators. It gave the PEMRA the right to seize TV equipment, to close installations and cancel licences for any violation of the law. Fines were also increased from one to ten million Rupees. The regulatory authority no longer even needed to go to the complaints council set up under a previous ordinance. Faced with an outcry, the government at first backed down, then took advantage of the 3 November state of emergency to impose the new measures.

On the day emergency rule was declared, Pervez Musharraf told PEMRA to halt broadcasts on all cable networks of all privately-owned regional and national TV stations, and in particular news channels. Only state-run PTV continued to broadcast. Mobile telephone communications in the capital were also subject to constant interruption.

The head of state amended the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance of 2002 and the PEMRA Ordinance of 2002. Under these amendments, it was totally forbidden to all media to broadcast footage or news about a suicide-bombing (the terrorist, his claims or the victims); to make remarks prejudicial to the ideology, sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan; to broadcast any news ridiculed the head of state, the army and institutions; or to refer to ongoing judicial proceedings.

On 15 November, international channels BBC and CNN were restored after being interrupted on 9 November, while covering the house arrest of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Islamabad. The previous evening they were able to get back on air for a few hours during which President Pervez Musharraf announced that elections would be held in February 2008. The government had in July prevented journalists from the US channel from entering the Red Mosque, after it put out a documentary called, “The threat within” on the presence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

Radio Mast FM 103 in Karachi was able to resume broadcasting on 6 November after accepting certain conditions: no national or international news or presidential election news and the BBC Urdu-language news bulletin was to come off air.

The federal government was enraged to see thousands of Pakistanis buying satellite dishes so that they could still watch privately-owned television, and on 13 November decided to make it more difficult to buy decoders, modulators and other equipment, making importers obtain permission from the PEMRA. The authorities also put pressure on the Dubai government to close Geo News and Ary One World, broadcasting from the emirate. The emir of Dubai ordered a halt to broadcasts on 17 November, but following an international outcry the two channels resumed broadcasting ten days later.

At the start of 2007, privately-owned channels had begun showing news programmes and talk shows which became more and more daring. The authorities applied political and financial pressure to try to stop the most troubling of them. In June, colourful television presenter Ali Saleem announced the end of his programme on Aaj because of “increasing government censorship”. He invited guests for interview in his “boudoir”, in which he appeared in drag. At the end of November, Aaj pulled its talk shows “Live With Talat” and "Bolta Pakistan".

Serious police brutality

As the crisis surrounding the sacking of the president of the Supreme Court gathered steam, journalists were frequently attacked and beaten up by the security forces. They also raided editorial offices, as on 16 March at the studios of Geo TV, in Islamabad, which had just shown footage of lawyers injured during a demonstration in support of Iftikar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Police wielding clubs in Islamabad injured at least 30 journalists on 29 September, in a bid to prevent them covering a crackdown on a demonstration by lawyers opposed to the candidature of Pervez Musharraf at the presidential elections. Journalists complained to the Supreme Court which ordered the government to suspend the chief of police and two officers, which order was carried out. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) declared 30 September to have been a “black day” and the Pakistani press called the incident, “The battle of Constitution Avenue”.

Brutality and raids against the media also accompanied the imposition of emergency rule. Members of PEMRA and about 30 police officers arrived at the offices of radio FM 103 in Islamabad on 3 November and seized broadcast equipment. Police surrounded the studios of Aaj television and radio FM 99 in the capital. Police arrested at least five photographers and cameramen in front of the Karachi Press Club on 5 November as they covered a demonstration by human rights activists. At the same time a correspondent for the BBC was arrested close to the home of a judge in Karachi. A police officer in Quetta tried to destroy a camera belonging to a reporter for Agence France-Presse who was covering a demonstration. And in Rawalpindi, police beat and insulted journalists covering a lawyers’ demonstration. Photo-reporter Muhammad Javed had two fingers broken by one officer, who also seized the memory chip of his camera.

The secret services also went after journalists, and even more aggressively. Eight agents arrested Shoaib Bhutta, editor of the Urdu-language Daily Tulou at his office in Islamabad in November. In two days of questioning, during which he was kept chained up and deprived of sleep, they quizzed him about why he was critical of the authorities. A few days later, Khurram Hashmi, of Aaj television suffered a brutal interrogation about the funding of the press protest movement against the state of emergency. He was beaten and threatened with reprisals before being released in Karachi. Secret service officers in Islamabad beat up Babar Malik, of the ARY TV in August. “If you break scandals, we can also break your arms and legs”, one of the soldiers told him, shortly after it broadcast a report by the journalist about the disappearance of Imran Munir, sentenced for spying by a military court.

Journalists campaign to defend their freedom

Journalists’ organisations, particularly the PFUJ, have also suffered official harassment. A lawsuit was started against nearly 200 journalists for defying a ban on protests after they held a press freedom rally on 4 June. The collective suit was withdrawn a few days later on the orders of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz after it was condemned in the press. Secretary General of the PFUJ, Mazhar Abbas, found an envelope containing a bullet in his car at the end of May.

During the November crisis, the principle media organisations - the PFUJ, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors, the Pakistan Broadcasters Association and the South Asia Free Media Association (whose director Imtiaz Alam had been held for one day) - joined together to fight the new laws and demonstrations drawing thousands of journalist defied the government.

Police in Karachi and Hyderabad arrested some 160 journalists on 20 November. One police officer said he had received the order to use force against journalists who were assembling near an official building. Around a dozen journalists were beaten.

Violence in the tribal areas

The few journalists who work in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, members of the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), were targeted by the Taliban and their Jihadist allies, but also by the authorities. The vice-president of the TUJ, Noor Hakim, a journalist on the Urdu-language daily Pakistan, was killed in a bombing in June in the tribal area of Bajaur in the north-west. Four other people died in the attack that was aimed at an official.

Foreign journalists are banned from going to the most turbulent regions, particularly Waziristan, while Pakistani reporters now hardly ever venture there. The most radical Islamists use illegal FM radios to broadcast calls for Jihad.

The case of Hayatullah Khan, a reporter from the tribal areas kidnapped and killed in 2006 had a further tragic twist when in November his widow was killed in a bombing at her home in Mir Ali in North Waziristan. The teacher had campaigned to condemn the kidnapping and murder of her husband. The journalist’s brother Ehsanullah Khan accused his brother’s killers of being behind the death of his widow. In the past he had accused members of the military secret services of taking part in the kidnapping of his brother, which the government has always denied. But the authorities have never made public the conclusions of the inquiry carried out by a judge in Peshawar in 2006, which identifies the killers. Ehsanullah Khan said that he informed the information minister, Muhammad Ali Durani, that the life of his brother’s widow was in danger, but the authorities did not take any steps to protect her.

Islamists in Waziristan killed four family members of Din Muhammad, a reporter for the newspaper Inkishaf, who had assisted a group of Pakistani correspondents working for the national and international press, to go to Wana, a town under the influence of Jihadist groups. Three other members of his family were kidnapped.

The home of Nasrullah Afridi, correspondent in the tribal areas for the Urdu-language daily Mashriq Khyber, was targeted in a grenade attack in May. Five days earlier, the head of the Jihadist group Lashkar-i-islam, Mangal Bagh, made a death threat against the journalist on the illegal FM radio that he runs. The journalist, who had already moved home because of similar threats, told Reporters Without Borders that “I am in fear for my life” and I will have to “leave the town”.

The army, which has proved unable to get on top of the situation, sometimes makes life difficult for local journalists. An officer in the Pakistani army insulted and threatened to kill Sailab Mehsud, correspondent for the newspaper The News and Al-Jazeera in Dera Ismail Khan, south of Peshawar, and editor of the website Karwan-e-Qabial (karwan-e-qabial.net). The former president of the TUJ had the previous evening broadcast news about a clash between the army and the Taliban in South Waziristan. “He introduced himself as a member of military intelligence based in Dera Ismail Khan. He insulted me and said I would disappear and future generations would never find me,” said Mehsud.

Islamist threats

The offensive by Islamist groups was not limited to the tribal areas. A religious leader at the Red Mosque pronounced a fatwa in June against, among others, Zubair Kasuri, editor of the fashion magazine Octane, for publishing series of photos captioned “Adam and Eve, the apple of discord”. Police in Islamabad made a “blasphemy” complaint against the magazine. Then, in July, the presenter on a talk show on state-run PTV, received death threats from extremist students after broadcasting an interview with the former imam at the Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, wearing a woman’s burka, in which he had disguised himself to escape the besieged mosque.

Suicide bombers posed serious threats to the safety of journalists, particularly photographers and cameramen, who have to closely follow political figures. A young freelance photo-journalist, Mehboob Khan, was killed in this way in April during a suicide attack against the interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao. Four other journalists were wounded. The cameraman Muhammad Arif of privately-owned ARY TV, was one of the 133 victims of the suicide-bombing of the cortege of former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto in Karachi on 18 October.

Kidnappings and censorship in Balochistan

Pakistani security forces fighting separatism in Balochistan, in the south-west, secretly detained many civilians there, including journalists. The secret services in August released Munir Mengal, director of the channel Baloch Voice, after holding him secretly for more than 16 months. But police immediately sent him to prison for 30 days in Khudzar, Balochistan province under the Maintenance of Public Order. “How can he threaten public order when he is already in the hands of the security forces?” asked one journalist reporting on the case. After so many months in the hands of the military he was “weak and suffering from unexplained illnesses.”

Javed Lehri, of the Urdu-language daily Azadi, based in Quetta, in Balochistan province is disappeared since November. One colleague who request anonymity, told Reporters Without Borders, “Even if Javed Lehri belonged to an opposition political party, his disappearance seems much more likely to be linked to his journalistic work”. Editor of the paper considered that secret services agents were behind his disappearance. Javed Lehri had just done a report on a political party rally against the assassination of Akbar Bugti, the head of the Balochistan National party.

Riaz Mengal, of the newspaper Intikhab based in Khuzdar, was kidnapped on 5 October. Before his disappeared he had written articles about a car-ringing gang. “Riaz had received death threats after his reports His life was in danger”, one Balochistan journalist told Reporters Without Borders. He managed to escape from his captors on 25 November.

Criminal tendencies

It is in the rural areas - dominated by a quasi-feudal system - which the henchmen of politicians go after the press in the most brutal ways. For example, six men armed with Kalashnikovs on 17 June killed Nasir Ahmed Solangi, correspondent for the Sindhi-language Khabroon in Kingri, Sind province. A colleague, Khan Muhammad, told Reporters Without Borders that “Solangi had received death threats two days before the murder from the Junejo tribe which was furious about his reporting”. One of his colleagues rebutted the official theory that he had been killed for ethnic reasons. “He was killed because of his work,” the journalist said.

Also in Sind, Zubair Ahmed Mujahid, correspondent for the national daily Jang in Mirpur Khas district was shot dead on 23 November, by an unknown attacker on a motorbike. “My brother was killed because of the critical articles he wrote, including on the state of the poor in our region,” his older brother Muhammad Iftikhar said. The experienced correspondent for Jang wrote a weekly column “Crime and punishment” in which he often exposed landowners and police officers. “Our family had no family conflicts (...) My brother wrote articles about the plight of the poor, which were aimed of course at influential people,” said Iftikar.

Independents trounce bigwigs in NWFP

PESHAWAR: In the NWFP districts of Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, and Kohistan, voters have elected the maximum number of independent candidates to the national and provincial assemblies.

Of the two national and six provincial assembly seats from Swabi district, one independent candidate, Engineer Usman Khan Tarakai, was elected to a national seat while two independents, Javed Iqbal Tarakai and Sardar Ali, were elected for two seats of the provincial assembly.

Situation in Swabi: In the NA-12 constituency, Usman Tarakai defeated Asfandyar Wali Khan, chief of the Awami National Party (ANP), while the two independent winners of PF-32 Swabi-II and PF-34 Swabi-IV defeated Amir Rehman and Amjad Ali Khan, also of the ANP. The remaining NA and PF seats were swept by the nationalists, against candidates from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S).

Independents in Kohistan: In Kohistan district, the single NA constituency of NA-23 was won by independent candidate Mehboobullah against his rivals from mainstream parties including the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), while all the three provincial assembly seats were also taken by independents in this district.

The three independent winners include Maulana Obaidullah (PF-61), Mehmood Alam (PF-62), and Abdul Sattar (PF-63). Kohistan is the only district where none of the mainstream political parties were elected.

DI Khan: The situation in DI Khan is similar, as two independents were elected to the provincial assembly. Two of the five provincial assembly seats – those of PF-64 DI Khan-I and PF-68 DI Khan-V - were won by independent candidates Khalifa Abdul Qayum and Murid Kazim respectively, while the remaining three seats were grabbed by PML-Q and PPPP candidates.

Kohat: In Kohat too, two of the provincial assembly seats were won by independent candidates Malik Amjad Khan Afridi (PF-37) and Qalbe Hasan (PF-38). The third seat (PF-39) was won by an MMA candidate. Interestingly, the NA seat from this district was won by ANP candidate Pir Dilawar Shah.

Haripur: In Haripur district, three of the four constituencies were won by independents, while only one seat was taken by a party candidate. Former chief minister and provincial president of the PML-N Pir Sabir Shah is the only party candidate in Haripur who stood firm before the independents, who took PF-49, 50 and 51.

One seat in each of Karak and Hangu districts was won by independent candidates, while MMA candidates also won a single seat in each district. While the election for the PF-59 seat was postponed in Batagram, one of the remaining two seats was won by independent candidate Maulana Ubaidullah. The other was taken by the MMA’s Shah Hussain.

Among the four provincial assembly seats in Bannu, again two were grabbed by independents, while the MMA was victorious in the other two, as former NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani and his son Ziyad succeeded in the two seats of PF-73 and PF-70.

Two of the three provincial assembly seats were won by a single independent candidate Anwar Saifullah, while the third was grabbed by PML-N’s Anwar Kamal. In Shangla, one seat, PF-88, was won by an independent and the other by a PML-Q candidate.

The election was postponed in PF-81 Swat and PF-92 Upper Dir, but one independent candidate emerged successful in PF-93 in Upper Dir.

In Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Abbottabad, Tank, Bunair, Swat, Chitral, Dir Lower and Malakand, no independent candidate won the election, and the seats were mostly grabbed by candidates of the ANP, the PPPP or the MMA.

Politics takes new turn in DI Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Political scenario in all the five provincial seats of DI Khan has changed after candidates with strong tribal as well as family backgrounds notched up victories with the MMA not gaining even a single seat.

In the 2002 elections, 26 independent candidates out of total 46 candidates contested in the five constituencies. Three winners were independent candidates.

PF-64: Seventeen candidates were in the race and the real fight took place among Hafeezullah Alizai (PPPP), Hafiz Hamadullah (MMA) and Khalifa Abdul Qayyum. Khalifa won the seat by securing 14,696 votes. His close rival was Hafizullah Alizai who got 12,244 votes.

The polling turnout was 31.95 per cent.

PF-65: Former Dera Ismail Khan Nazim Lateefullah Alizai, brother of Hafeezullah Alizai, took on debutant Maulana Ubaidur Rehman, brother of Fazlur Rehman.

The main fight occurred between Latifullah Alizai and Abdul Haleem Qasuriya. Alizai won the seat by securing 13,595 votes. Qasuriya got 10,745 votes. The polling ratio was 62.73 per cent.

PF-66: Maulana Lutfur Rehman of JUI-F, the brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, did a lot for the development of this constituency.

But he lost to Sanaullah Khan Miankhel of PML-Q, who won the seat by securing 18,353 votes against Lutfur Rehmanís 16,709. The polling ratio was 41.71 per cent.

PF-67: This constituency is the stronghold of the Gandapur clan and late Sardar Inayatullah Gandapur's son Israrullah Gandapur (PPP-S) won the seat, which he secured in 2002 as a debutant. Israr toppled JUI-F's Maulana Lutfur Rehman.

He got 15,047 votes while Lutfur Rehman secured 8,611 votes.

The polling ratio was 37.93 per cent. Lutfur Rehman and Israr were the only two party-backed candidates and the rest of candidates were independent and not politically strong.

PF-68: Independent candidate Murid Kazim Shah reached an electoral alliance with the JUI-F to ensure he retained the seat that he won in 2002.

He faced Ihtesham Javed Akbar Khan, son of Javed Akbar Khan, who won the seat four times. Murid Kazim won the seat by getting 28,406 votes against Ihtesham's 28,211 votes.

The polling ratio was 51.86 per cent. In 2002, Akbar Khan did not contest because of the graduation bar.

This time, he was disqualified on a Madrassa degree. Kazim was PPP-S parliamentary leader in the erstwhile NWFP Assembly. Kazim had a slight edge over his rival.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=97257)

General election-2008 results

Party NA PP PS PB PF

PPPP 87 78 65 7 17
PML(N) 66 10 10 0 5
PML(Q) 38 66 9 17 6
MQM 19 03 8 0 0
ANP 10 0 2 1 31
INDEPENDENT 27 35 1 10 18

TOTAL RESULTS 258 285 125 46 91

so Pakistans Peoples Party and PML-N gain lead in elections. The general elections have given clear lead to Pakistan Peoples Party in National Assembly while another opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-N has also attained obvious gains in the polls.President Pakistan Muslim League-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his 22 former federal ministers have faced clean defeats in the elections.

Losers:

Several political stalwarts were defeated in elections including President Pakistan Muslim League-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, secretary general Pakistan Peoples Party Jahangir Badar, chief of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto Ghinwa Bhutto, Hamid Nasir Chattha, former chief minister of Sindh Aftab Shaban Meerani, MMA leader Maualana Fazl-ur-Rahman from Dera Ismail Khan, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Fakhar Imam, Begum Abida Hussain and Sughra Imam. The other prominent politicians that have suffered setback in the elections included Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Naurez Shakoor, Ejaz-ul-Haq, Shaikh Rashid, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Ovais Leghari, Ishaq Khakwani, Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Khalid Ahmed Lund, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, Dr. Sher Afgan, Wasi Zafar and Yar Muhammad Rind.

According to unofficial results of 256 National Assembly seats Pakistan Peoples Party has won 86 seats, while Muslim League-N remain victorious at 65 seats and former ruling party PML-Q trailing far behind with 37 seats. Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have won 19 seats each, while other political groups and independents won 27 seats.

Winners:

The political leaders that have returned back successfully included Asfandyar Wali, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Jam Muhammad Yousuf, Manzoor Wattoo, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Yousuf Raza Geelani, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali, Chaudhry Perwaiz Elahi, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Dr. Farooque Sattar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and former chief minister of Sindh Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar.

The vote turnout remained at 45.6 percent at 181 constituencies of the National Assembly, the election commission sources said.

A migrant from D.I.Khan

I hail from Dera Ismail Khan, now part of NWFP in Pakistan. I lived in several cities as my father was in the Army. After graduating from Roorkee, I worked in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi before coming to Bangalore in 1985. All these places welcomed outsiders, with Bangalore being the most welcoming. This is the essence of India, where people from diverse backgrounds live, work and contribute together.

It is easy to make Bangalore your home. The people are friendly. The presence of a large number of educational institutions and PSUs has created a multi-cultural society, which gives the city a distinctive character. All of us have a feeling of collectively contributing to Bangalore and Karnataka.

I love Bangalore, where I have spent most of my corporate life. I have been part of the growth of the IT industry, which gave Bangalore the title of India’s Silicon Valley. MindTree Consulting, which I co-founded with nine others, was set up in 1999. Apart from contributing to the city’s economic development, we have contributed to creating an environment-friendly workplace and a high-quality image of the industry. Through CII, I worked with the government to plan for the long-term development of Karnataka.

I also get immense satisfaction from my association with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled and the Spastic Society of Karnataka.

Ustad Rashid Khan Kolkata
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Special_Report/Im_a_migrant_this_is_my_city/articleshow/2788430.cms)

Pillion riding banned in D I Khan on 17, 18th

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pillion riding in D I Khan has been banned on February 17 and 18 as part of security plan devised for peaceful conduct of general election, Additional Inspector General of Police Haji Habib-ur-Rahman said here Saturday.

He said the police have sealed all entry points of the city as a precautionary measure for the general election.

A comprehensive phased-wise security plan has been devised which is pre-polls, during polls, and post-polls, he said, adding to avert any untoward incident on February 18, D I Khan police have also chalked out elaborate security measures, sending appropriate deployment to around 429 polling stations. Besides ten points have also been established at different locations in the city that would be manned by police personnel.


(http://thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=145018&catid=2)

The moment of truth for Fazlur Rahman

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

The man who until a few months ago was one of Pakistan's most influential politicians is now mostly confined to his rural home in a remote part of the country in Dera Ismail Khan. Maulana Fazlur Rahman cannot campaign publicly due to security concerns in an election that could drastically reduce his importance and cut down to size the MMA, the religio-political alliance that he and fellow Islamic political leaders led to a spectacular victory and power in the October 2002 general elections.

The maulana and his brothers live outside the city of Dera Ismail Khan and not far from the airport, which is deserted due to disconnection of PIA flights for quite sometime now. An under-construction mosque with its tall domes and minarets beckons from afar. The sprawling compound behind the mosque contains the row of houses belonging to the five brothers, four of whom are contesting the February 18 elections. The fifth, Ziaur Rahman, is a government employee and, therefore, ineligible to become a candidate for the polls.

Twice in recent months, the compound was attacked with rockets fired by unknown people. According to the maulana's youngest brother Obaidur Rahman, who is a candidate from the NWFP Assembly constituency comprising the city and its suburbs, the rockets fell in the agricultural fields on both sides of their houses but failed to cause any damage. On one occasion, the rockets were fired from the road just outside the compound and directly targetted Maulana Fazlur Rahman's home. The rocket attacks and subsequent intelligence reports put together by government agencies highlighted the danger to the maulana's life. Though the maulana isn't convinced that the militants linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban were plotting to kill him, he has been forced by his family members and party leadership to restrict his outdoor political activities. This has affected not only his own election campaign in Dera Ismail Khan and in neighbouring Bannu district where he is contesting another National Assembly seat but also that of his party, JUI-F, and MMA.

Visiting the maulana at his home a few days ago, one saw him delivering a speech on the phone to an election rally of his party in Ziarat in Balochistan province. Seated on a comfortable sofa in his spacious drawing room, he spoke in Pashto to a crowd sitting far away in a place so green, forested and pleasant that Pakistan's founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah selected it after falling ill to spend his last days. One wasn't aware of the impact that the maulana's speech would have made on the voters in Ziarat. His physical presence in Ziarat and the rest of Balochistan would certainly have made a difference and swung sections of the electorate to vote for his party candidates. Thanks to the London-based MQM leader Altaf Hussain who introduced the idea of telephonic speeches due to his inability or unwillingness to return to Pakistan on account of security concerns, this innovative method to keep in touch with supporters and run election campaign has now caught on. Islamic politicians, forever keen to make use of modern technology even if they initially suspect the western innovations to be some kind of a trap, are now increasingly using all kinds of phones, emails, SMS texts and websites to mobilize supporters, organize rallies and seek votes.

Though the maulana said he was able to visit five villages in Dera Ismail Khan the previous day and was planning to campaign in some more places that evening, it was obvious that the threat to his life has severely curtailed his movement and almost made him captive in his tightly-guarded home. His party activists are sending out CDs containing his speeches to compensate for his absence.

Making matters worse for the maulana is the split in his party, JUI-F, in Balochistan and also in some districts of NWFP and the disunity in the ranks of MMA following boycott of the polls by the Jamaat-i-Islami. A faction of the JUI-F led by Maulana Asmatullah has parted ways and formed a group known as JUI-Aaeeni, or the JUI Constitutional. It is challenging the mainstream JUI-F faction headed by Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani and has put candidates against party ticket-holders. This was a golden chance for the JUI-F to sweep the polls in Balochistan, particularly in the Pashtun belt due to the boycott of the elections by its major rival, Mahmood Khan Achakzai's Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP). But the emergence of the splinter JUI Constitutional faction and also the aloofness of top JUI-F leaders such as former MNAs Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Noor Mohammad due to the denial of party ticket for the coming elections have spoiled its chances of success at the polls in Balochistan. In its NWFP strongholds, the JUI-F has encountered split in its ranks in Swabi, Swat and some other districts and dissidents are contesting election against party nominees. This would certainly result in defeat of several JUI-F candidates and further reduce the political clout of the MMA.

Being a realist, the pragmatic maulana conceded that the Frontier was heading for a split mandate in the elections. However, he was hopeful that the MMA despite the disunity in its ranks would emerge with the largest bloc of seats in the NWFP Assembly. In his view, MMA would have to be accommodated as part of the ruling coalition in the province and at the centre as the alliance would be holding the balance of power. Known for long to be nursing ambition to become the prime minister, he humorously remarked that the parties could agree to his becoming a consensus candidate in view of the likelihood of a split mandate at the centre as well. That is unlikely to happen. Neither PPP nor PML-Q and PML-N would forego claim to the prime minister's office in favour of someone like Maulana Fazlur Rahman with much fewer number of seats in the National Assembly. In fact, his best chance to grab the prime ministerial job was after the 2002 general elections when the MMA had almost 70 seats in the National Assembly and was the dominant electoral force in the NWFP and Balochistan. That is now history and there is no chance that the MMA would repeat its unprecedented electoral performance.

However, it would be wrong to underestimate Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who is widely acknowledged as a shrewd politician. One cannot help recall that his late father Mufti Mahmud too bargained for and got the chief minister's job in the NWFP despite having only three seats in the provincial assembly compared to 13 won by its coalition partner, National Awami Party, the predecessor to Khan Abdul Wali Khan's ANP. To his credit though, Mufti Mahmud resigned as chief minister some months later to protest the dismissal of Balochistan chief minister Sardar Attaullah Mengal by the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on trumped up charges. That was probably the only time that a Pakistani politician gave up such a coveted position to uphold principles. Times have changed and Maulana Fazlur Rahman cannot claim or be expected to practice principled politics in a country where politics has become the name of a money-making and power-grabbing game and political parties have been turned into family businesses.

As for the Maulana, he possesses a trump card that would keep him and his ilk of Islamic politicians relevant even if they lose elections. Here is how he explained it: "The MMA is a wall that is blocking the militants and hardliners. If the MMA comprising moderate Islamic parties is removed from the scene and made irrelevant, then it would not be easy dealing with the militants, particularly the emotional young men among them, who believe in the power of the bullet unlike us striving for a peaceful change through the power of the ballot."

The writer is executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar. Email: bbc@pes.comsats.net.pk

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96590)

6 would-be suicide bombers arrested: AIG Dera

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Additional Inspector General Dera, Habib ur Rehman has disclosed that six would-be suicide bombers have been arrested from Dera and investigation is underway to expose the entire network.

Addressing a press conference here, Additional Inspector General Dera has said that it is our utmost priority to ensure peace on the occasion of Elections 2008 and a comprehensive plan has been devised in this regard.

AIG Dera Habib ur Rehman said that Dera has been divided into 6 sectors and 36 sub-sectors, adding that 63 polling stations out of 229 have been declared most sensitive while 123 polling stations declared less sensitive.

He further told that on the most sensitive polling stations, one police officer and eight armed policemen would be deployed at the polling stations while on the less sensitive areas, one officer and six policemen be deployed.

AIG Dera Habib ur Rehman informed that besides 3,000 police officials, FC officials would also be deployed to ensure law and order situation in the area while the services of Pakistan Army could be acquired immediately if needed, added by AIG Dera.

Commenting on the investigation of Benazir Bhutto, Habib ur Rehman said that Dera Police after effective planning and in time information of the Intelligence Agencies, arrested the most important accused Aitzaz Shah.

After his (Aitzaz) arrest, Sher Zaman and other accused were arrested and most of the accused have now been in custody, he added.

(http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=124503)

February 18th, 2008-Election Day

Salamona everyone. So the Election Day is approaching fast and InshAllah this Monday voters are going to polls to determine which party is going to run Pakistan (of course after the CIA, World Bank, IFP, AB, ISI etc.) Although, unfortunately I won’t be able to vote in the election but I think I have done a fair bit in the election campaign to at least feel better. I worked on the campaign of Tariq Hameed Khattak in Nowshera where his constituency covers my village and Arbab Najeebullah covering our Peshawar residence. Also, while baba (my dad) was out of the country for Hajj I made some preliminary arrangements for Asfandyar Wali Khan’s proposed invitation to our hujra in the village. Although I must admit, nothing beats putting a stamp right next to your choice of candidate, I wish the elections were held on the original planned date in January, I would have certainly been able to vote then.

But over the last few weeks I, like many others, am beginning to question the integrity and fairness of the forthcoming elections. Pakistani politics have been complicated even by the mere standard that they ARE politics. For years our beloved president Musharraf maintained that he was not going to let Mian saheb and Bibi (Benazir Bhutto) let back in the country. But not only did he let both of them in, he also made a deal with Bibi where all the corruption charges were dropped. At one point when the deal between the president and late Bibi seemed to be going South, our honest Attorney General said that corruption charges might be brought back against Bibi should she choose not to cooperate with the President. Did I mention that this statement came from our ATTORNEY GENERAL?

The murder of Bibi has been shrouded in mystery as well. As always, Islamabad has blamed Taleban and more specifically Baitullah Mehsud for this murder. They funny thing here though is that Mr Mehsud has denied any involvement. Usually groups like his are very quick in accepting responsibility for acts like such and actually militant groups jump to take credit for such incidents but that did not happen to be the case here. In a press conference, the interior minister also presented an audio tape where he claimed that Baitullah Mehsud was accepting the responsibility for bibi’s murder but since then the minister has been taken to the cleaners by the media for several things that did not add up in the alleged Mehsud tape.

Now back to our round and naughty Attorney General again, there is an audio tape out on the streets where allegedly he has been boasting to his peeps that the election is not going to fair and free by a long shot.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7247667.stm

No wonder a good deal of people in Pakistan think that the election is going to be rigged.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7244018.stm

I think for all intensive purposes, an election in the province of Balochistan is going to be invalid. All the Baloch parties and major Baloch tribes are boycotting the election. Tribes staying on the sidelines include names like the Bugtis, Marris, Domkis, Mengals, Zarakazis, Bazenjos, Dehwar, Bungalzai and of course many others. In the Pushtuns areas of Balochistan (Pushtuns make up 45-55% of the province’s population), the largest Pashtun nationalist party, Pukhtunkhua Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) of Mehmud Khan Achakzai is also staying out. Remember that PkMAP was the largest party in the National Assembly from Balochistan in 90 and 93. There are also a large number of plotical and tribal leaders in the province who are either in jail and exile or worst yet, died in Islamabad’s military incursions in the area over the last few years. I think it would be fair to say that regardless of what happens in other parts of Pakistan, an election in Balochistan will simply be formality carried out by Islamabad.

Election in Tribal Areas and Pukhtunkhua province has been marred by violence. There have been attacks on the offices and rallies of all major political party.
http://bachakhan.com/blog/360400/Shahadat_of_ANPs_workers

It will be interesting to see how Sunday and Monday go, 48 hours is an eternity in politics especially Pakistani politics.
(http://chowk.com/articles/13617)

Peshawar police foil major sabotage bid

PESHAWAR: Entry of Afghan refugees to urban areas has been banned while police have arrested hundreds of people during a crackdown on suspicious persons and activists of various political parties ahead of the general elections on February 18.

The Peshawar Police claimed to have foiled a major sabotage bid ahead of the polling day by recovering 46 dynamites, 42 detonators and 60 fuses from an under-construction building in Shaftal Banda on Phandu Road here on Saturday.

"The Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees has been directed to confine refugees to camps. They will not be allowed to enter the areas where polling would be going on," said special secretary Home, Khalid Umerzai, while briefing media persons about the security arrangements made for the general elections.

Hundreds of Afghan refugees as well as locals have been arrested from across the province as part of "security measures" ahead of the polls. Some political parties have alleged that the government has arrested a number of their workers to disrupt their electioneering.

The political activists who were arrested during different raids in Gulbahar, Karimpura, Hashtnagri, Sikanderpura and other parts of the city included two nazims, Arif of Gulbahar and Tariq Aziz of union council Lahori.

Other detained political activists were identified as Rahmanullah, Sultan Mohammad, Malik Zrawar, Attaullah, Abdul Rahman, Shahid Noor, Mufti Naveed of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Arif Qadri, Sher Wazir, Shafiq, Roohul Amin, Pehlwan Lateef of Pakistan People's Party.

A number of workers of the Awami National Party were also arrested during raids by the city police.

A total of 1,094 polling stations have been declared most sensitive all over the province while 3,219 others rated as sensitive. Only 3,618 polling stations have been declared normal.

The government has already declared Charsadda, Swat, Shangla, Tank, Hangu and Malakand as the most sensitive districts while Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Lower Dir have been termed sensitive.

The foreign observers and members of the international media have been directed to avoid going to Swat, Shangla, Lower Dir, Malakand, Hangu, Bannu and Tank districts and the Frontier Region of Kohat as law and order situation is not satisfactory there.

"The province has been divided into seven ranges -- Peshawar, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Hazara, Malakand and Mardan. Police control rooms would be established that could be approached in case of emergency on the polls day," Khalid Umerzai said.

The official said that elections were being held in the NWFP for 35 National Assembly and 96 provincial assembly seats.

Polls have been postponed in three provincial assembly constituencies due to the death of the candidates.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96817)

The top 33 fights among big guns

ISLAMABAD: Electoral fights in at least 33 constituencies of the National Assembly will be under close watch because of the presence of high-profile personalities in the run.

Of these seats, 25 are in the Punjab, four in Sindh, three in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and one in Balochistan.

The contest in three the Punjab constituencies where PML-Q leader and prime ministerial aspirant Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is fighting has evoked increased interest. He is vying for NA-58 Attock where the PPP and PML-N have pitched their nominees against him. In the neighbouring Chakwal, he is seeking election from NA-61 where two Tammans, Mansoor and Faiz, have challenged him on the tickets of PPP and PML-N, respectively. The third constituency where Pervaiz is in the run is NA-187 Bahawalpur where the nominees of the PML-N and PPP, among others, are pitched against him.

The fight in the two constituencies of Gujrat and Sialkot where PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is contesting is of interest. In Gujrat (NA-105), PPP's Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, the old challenger against PML-Q chief, is in the run. There is no prominent political personality facing Chaudhry Shujaat in Sialkot (NA-112).

Eyes are set and heated discussion continues to take place on the fate of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who is the PML-Q nominee in NA-55 and NA-56 Rawalpindi. In the first constituency, top PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi is contesting against him and in the second, Hanif Abbasi, who switched over to the PML-N from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) shortly before the elections. Besides, Hashmi is running for two other National Assembly constituencies, NA-123 Lahore and NA-148 Multan. The PPP and PML-Q candidates in Lahore have challenged him.

In Multan, top PPP leader Shah Ahmed Mehmood is contesting against him. PPP's Secretary General Raja Pervez Ashraf is mainly challenged by PML-N's Chaudhry Riaz in NA-51 Rawalpindi (Gujjar Khan).

Senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is aspiring for election from two Rawalpindi seats, NA-52 and NA-53. His contest against former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has created interest.

Another two Attock constituencies, NA-57 and NA-59, assume importance because the husband (Wasim Gulzar) and wife (Eman Wasim), the daughter of Attock district Nazim and niece of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, are in the run. PML-N's Sheikh Aftab and Malik Amin Aslam are fighting against Ms Wasim while the PPP and PML-N nominees are pitched against Wasim Gulzar.

In Jhelum, former federal minister Chaudhry Shahbaz is contesting for two seats (NA-62 and NA-63). In both constituencies, the PPP and PML-N candidates are running against him.

Former minister Dr Sher Afgan's bid for re-election from NA-72 Mianwali has generated interest. Humair Rokri, a relative of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, is the main contender against him.

In NA-88 Jhang, the old rivals, Syed Abida Hussain (PPP) and Faisal Saleh Hayat are facing each other.

The contest in Sialkot (NA-111) is important where National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain has been challenged by PPP's Dr Firdous Ashaq Awan, who left the PML-Q and joined this party some time before the election schedule was unfolded.

The PPP and PML-N nominees have challenged the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Daniyal Aziz in NA-116 Narowal.

In the adjoining NA-117, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal is in the race. Similarly, former minister Naseer Khan is vying for NA-115.

Hamza, son of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, is fighting for NA-119 Lahore where the PPP and PML-Q candidates, among others, are facing him.

Another prime ministerial hopeful of the PML-Q Hamayun Akhtar is desperate to win from NA-124 from where PPP's Aitzaz Ahsan withdrew his candidature to honour the lawyersí boycott of the elections.

PML-N's firebrand leader Saad Rafiq is contesting for NA-125 Lahore.

Yet another prime ministerial aspirant Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri is in the run for NA-140 Kasur where another former foreign minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali (PPP) and independent Sardar Hassan Akhtar Moakkal (backed by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi), are contesting. Top PPP leaders Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Fakhar Imam are vying for NA-151 and NA-156 Multan respectively.

PML-Q's Sikandar Bosan and its Raza Hayat Hiraj have challenged Gilani and Imam, respectively.

PML-N's firebrand leader Begum Tehmeena Daultana is contesting for two Vehari seats, NA-168 and NA-169. In the first constituency, PML-Q's Ishaq Khakwani is facing her. The father (Farooq Leghari) and the son (Awais) are contesting for Dera Ghazi Khan's NA-172 and NA-173 seats, respectively.

In Sindh, the fights of PML-Q's Ghous Bux Mahar (NA-203 Shikarpur), Ghinwa Bhutto (NA-204 Larkana), PML-Q's Fahad Malik (nephew of caretaker prime minister Muhammadmian Soomro) and Functional League's Jam Mashooq (NA-236 Sanghar) will be of interest. In the NWFP, the constituencies where Aftab Sherpao (NA-8 Charsadda), Asfandyar Wali (NA-8 Charsadda) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman (NA-26 Bannu and NA-24 Dera Ismail Khan) are contesting have also created interest.

Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani of the MMA and PPP's Wazir Ahmed Jogezai are vying for Balochistan constituency (NA-264 Zhob).

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96827)

JUI-F facing tough competition

JUI-F facing tough competition in NA-25

The deteriorating security situation occupies the mind of every Tank resident. After months of calm, some disturbances have begun to reccur, as the situation in nearby South Waziristan has become increasingly unstable. A major clash between the Taliban and security forces can lead to lower turnout on polling day

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a force to be reckoned with in the southern districts of the North West Frontier Province, is facing multiple challenges to its claim over the NA-25 seat. These range from a split in the party, to a “public image” problem in Tank district, which is still under threat from the Taliban despite deployment of troops to protect it from the Baitullah Mehsud-led group operating in nearby South Waziristan.

Some Dera Ismail Khan district areas — some parts of Paharpur, Panyala, Kulachi and Durabin tehsils — were included in the NA-25 constituency, thus terming it the DI Khan/Tank seat.

Tank was the oldest tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan district and it was given district status on July 1, 1992, with a view to develop it. Two major tribes – Bhittani and Mehsud – live in Tank district, along with the Kundi, Gandapur and Jaat tribes.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s brother, Maulana Attaur Rehman, won NA-25 during by-elections when Fazlur Rehman won both the NA-24 (Dera Ismail Khan) and NA-25 (DI Khan/Tank) seats, but chose to retain only the Dera seat.

“I know there are problems, but party discipline is more important,” Fida Muhammad, 37, who is campaign manager for Attaur Rehman in Tank city, told Daily Times, conceding that the party had split into several factions.

The JUI-F has been facing problems keeping the party united because of ticket allocation throughout NWFP, but the situation in Tank district appears to be more serious. The split could help rival candidates capitalise on the situation, analysts have said.

The situation deteriorated further when Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced at a public meeting that the JUI-F nominee for NA-42 (South Waziristan–II) would be Maulana Mirajuddin, leaving Maulana Hisamuddin, who is also one of the candidates for NA-42, out in the cold. Hisamuddin is a senior JUI-F leader, as well as being deputy head of the party at the provincial level.

Local poll observers told Daily Times that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s decision to make Mirajuddin the party candidate in South Waziristan would “sink the party deeper into crisis” in Tank district where JUI-F is facing “a kind of revolt” from supporters. These people say the maulanas “did not look back when Tank was burning” in May 2007 in the face of Taliban onslaught.

Last year, local Taliban attacked Tank from all sides to avenge the killing of their commander in a police shoot-out in May 2007, forcing the authorities to impose curfew to return calm to the city. The attack left unforgettable memories among the residents. “It was like hell when the city was under attack from all sides,” 18-year-old Manzoor Gandapur recalled the night when the Taliban wreaked havoc, looting banks and destroying government buildings.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman conceded that the party “lost contact” with the voters after the 2002 polls. “Yes, I acknowledge that we did not keep contacts with the people, but I am talking to them and the situation is improving,” he told Daily Times after addressing a December 25 public meeting in Tank city under tight police security.

Eleven candidates are currently in the running, with Dawar Khan Kundi of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians, Hizbullah Gandapur of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Umar Farooq Miankhel (independent) representing a strong challenge to Attaur Rehman.

Dawar was main rival of Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the 2002 elections, bagging 31,976 votes against Fazl’s 59,102. Attaur Rehman’s margin of victory during by-elections was lower.

The election also faces an added wrinkle with Habibullah Kundi being allowed to contest the polls after a Peshawar court ruling on January 15 reversed the earlier disqualification that had resulted from problems with his degree. In the final candidate list for the February 18 polls, Kundi’s name is still missing as he was disqualified at the time.

Analysts have said that the JUI-F chief’s victory in the 2002 polls is “indebted” to Kundi, popularly known as “Baboo Khan,” because he supported Fazl and holds considerable sway in the district. However, with the changing situation, a new political realignment has occurred.

“Baboo Khan” has previously won the provincial assembly seat from Tank three consecutive times — in 1990, 1993 and 1997 — in various capacities. Unofficial reports suggest that he “plays into the hands of establishmentnt’ and weeks before the court decided to allow him to contest the polls, it was rumoured that he would be running. He is making his debut for a NA seat on a PML-Quaid ticket, and he may pay for choosing a party symbol that many independent candidates are calling the “symbol of election suicide”.

However, political analysts describe his personality as a “shrewd politician who knows the art of electioneering much better than others”.

The youth of the constituency appear to favour Dawar, who is campaigning with donations from friends and well-wishers, as his father Amanullah Khan Kundi, does not support him. “Let’s pray Dawar wins as he is young and I am also young and a young man wants some colours (sic) in his life,” Manzoor Gandapur said. “I am for Dawar because there should be someone who can pull Tank city out of Taliban influence.” Dawar appears confident that he would overrun the JUI-F candidate this time. “I see a trend among the people who want to hand the mullah a crushing defeat,” the young Dawar told Daily Times in his main campaign office.

Before Tank was given separate district status, it was part of Dera Ismail Khan, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had won this seat in 1988 and 1993, while losing it in 1990 and 1997.

The district has always had a solid vote-bank for the JUI-F, but it needs support from regional “strong political players” to ensure its victory. The Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao has agreed on a seat adjustment with the JUI-F in Dera Ismail Khan, but whether the Gandapurs of Kulachi tehsil would lend vital support to Attaur Rehman in Tank district is still uncertain. If the anti-JUI-F parties do not unite, it is highly likely that the JUI-F would win. Reports say Israrullah Gandapur, PPP-S candidate for PF-66 (Dera Ismail Khan), has made an arrangement with Hizbullah Gandapur. However, Dawar and Hizbullah would probably divide anti-JUI-F votes amongst themselves, which would only help Atta.

Bhittanis make up a large part of the Tank population and generally vote for the mullah, while the Mehsuds who reside in large numbers in the district have registered themselves in South Waziristan. The deteriorating security situation occupies the mind of every Tank resident. After months of calm, some disturbances have begun to reoccur, as the situation in nearby South Waziristan has become increasingly unstable. A major clash between the Taliban and security forces can lead to lower turnout on polling day.

PF-69:
Tank district spreads across just 1,678 square kilometres and has only one provincial assembly seat. One candidate each from the PML-Q, the PPPP, the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, along with five independent candidates are vying for the seat. The winner in 2002 was independent candidate Tahir bin Yamin (15,842 votes). Traditionally, this provincial assembly seat has never been won by the JUI-F and strong candidates have always emerged from the independent side or strong clans like Kundi or Gandapur. It signifies a unique vote trend that prevails in this district: for NA a mullah is traditionally elected, while for provincial politics a different man is elected. Habibullah Kundi is one candidate who has won the seat three times consecutively. However, he is trying his luck on the National Assembly seat this time leaving Irfanullah Kundi of the PML-Q and Mustafa Kundi of the PPPP strong claimants for the seat. Irfanullah Kundi is hoping his uncle - Habibullah Kundi – will use his influence to help him win the seat. All hopes of the MMA triumphing were almost completely erased when Haji Gulistan, party candidiate for PF-69, was disqualified on the ground of sanad issue. However, less than two weeks before polling day, the Supreme Court allowed him to contest the elections.Iqbal Khattak