Following is the first speech of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the newly-formed constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, three days prior to the official creation of Pakistan.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I cordially thank you, with the utmost sincerity, for the honour you have conferred upon me – the greatest honour that is possible to confer – by electing me as your first president. I also thank those leaders who have spoken in appreciation of my services and their personal references to me. I sincerely hope that with your support and your cooperation we shall make this Constituent Assembly an example to the world. The Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is the very onerous and responsible task of framing the future constitution of Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete sovereign body as the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. We have to do the best we can in adopting a provisional constitution for the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. You know really that not only we ourselves are wondering but, I think, the whole world is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the clan of creating and establishing two independent sovereign Dominions in this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel in the history of the world. This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled. And what is very important with regards to it is that we have achieved it peacefully and by means of an evolution of the greatest possible character.

Dealing with our first function in this Assembly, I cannot make any well-considered pronouncement at this moment, but I shall say a few things as they occur to me. The first and the foremost thing that I would like to emphasize is this: remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first observation that I would like to make is this: You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state.

The second thing that occurs to me is this: One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering - I do not say that other countries are free from it, but, I think our condition is much worse - is bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must put that down with an iron hand and I hope that you will take adequate measures as soon as it is possible for this assembly to do so.

Black-marketing is another curse. Well, I know that blackmarketeers are frequently caught and punished. Judicial sentences are passed or sometimes fines only are imposed. Now you have to tackle this monster, which today is a colossal crime against society, in our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food and other essential commodities of life. A citizen who does black-marketing commits, I think, a greater crime than the biggest and most grievous of crimes. These blackmarketeers are really knowing, intelligent and ordinarily responsible people, and when they indulge in black-marketing, I think they ought to be very severely punished, because the entire system of control and regulation of foodstuffs and essential commodities, and cause wholesale starvation and want and even death.

The next thing that strikes me is this: Here again it is a legacy which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any any influence directly of indirectly brought to bear upon me. Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.

I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division of India and the partition of the Punjab and Bengal. Much has been said against it, but now that it has been accepted, it is the duty of everyone of us to loyally abide by it and honourably act according to the agreement which is now final and binding on all. But you must remember, as I have said, that this mighty revolution that has taken place is unprecedented. One can quite understand the feeling that exists between the two communities wherever one community is in majority and the other is in minority. But the question is, whether it was possible or practicable to act otherwise than what has been done, a division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgement there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record its verdict in favour of it. And what is more, it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India’s constitutional problem. Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen. All the same, in this division it was impossible to avoid the question of minorities being in one dominion or the other. Now that was unavoidable. There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great state of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.

I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some states in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the nation.

Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.

Well, gentlemen, I do not wish to take up any more of your time and thank you again for the honour you have done to me. I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fair-play without any, as is put in the political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.

I have received a message from the United States of America addressed to me. It reads:

“I have the honour to communicate to you, in Your Excellency’s capacity as President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, the following message which I have just received from the Secretary of State of the United States:

“On the occasion of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly for Pakistan, I extend to you and to the members of the Assembly, the best wishes of the Government and the people of the United States for the successful conclusion of the great work you are about to undertake.”

Source: Dawn, Independence Day Supplement, August 14, 1999.

(Source: http)

The oldest known mammal to ever walk the earth may have forever been lost to us, thanks to the insensitive aggression of our leaders.

The Express Tribune recently published an article that suggests that several extremely rare fossils, including an almost complete set of the Baluchitherium, which were found in Dera Bugti and stored in Nawab Akbar Bugti’s mansion may have been bombed into oblivion during the army’s offensive against the late Nawab.

The ancient mammal’s fossils were first discovered in 1910 by English palaeontologist Sir Clive Forster Cooper who named it Baluchitherium, or ‘the beast of Balochistan.’ The creature was hornless and rhinoceros-like, measuring 21 feet from nose to tail and 18 feet tall, and weighed approximately the mass of four elephants.

Due to the insecure conditions and remote location of Dera Bugti, no one was allowed access to the sites of the discovery until the late 1990s when Nawab Bugti allowed a team of French palaeontologists from the University of Montpellier and their colleagues from the University of Sindh in Jamshoro to conduct their research and excavations under the conditions that they will stay in his mansion, be escorted by his guards wherever they go and will have lunch or dinner with him every day. These conditions may seem strange to some people, but they are just examples of his hospitality towards them.

The scientists made a lot of very important discoveries in Dera Bugti. They found a complete set of the Baluchitherium and according to a BBC news item from May 10, 1999, “the team also found a nine-metre-long fossilised trunk of a palm tree, along with fossils of two different types of crocodile and what the scientists describe as a very big pig.”

After the discoveries, the team asked permission from the Nawab to take the bones to France for detailed analysis. After some hesitation, Nawab Bugti agreed on the condition that they would be returned soon. However, the palaeontologists did not receive the funds they needed for the transfer and the bones stayed at the mansion until early 2006 when the city was bombed by the army.

The loss of one decade of hard fieldwork was collateral damage.

Following is a brilliant article by a brilliant journalist - Syed Talat Hussain.

Since I have nothing to add to the perfectly written and accurate details in the article, I’ll just go ahead and paste the original piece.

This is the season to count the blessings of  ‘positive engagement’ with the US, the hallmark of which is the opening of Ground Lines of Communication (G-LOCS, an American coinage). The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), the highest decision-making body in crisis situations, fell just short of declaring a national holiday to emphatically send the message to Washington about how relieved it was to be proposing a new beginning in bilateral relations. The DCC’s authorisation to different heads of departments to prepare the finer details of the agreement to unblock the stalled supplies to Afghanistan is being made to look like a well-considered and a painfully-arrived-at decision from a responsible state that wants to avoid the disastrous course of confrontation with a large group of very important states.

The facts of this particular matter are, however, wholly different. The entire rigmarole of holding marathon meetings and burning the midnight oil to smooth over complex policy creases had nothing to do with the 40-plus ‘important countries of the world’; nor was it a master stroke of fine diplomacy born of genius. While scripted differently, at heart it was an unconditional apology by all Pakistani decision-makers tendered to Washington for their act of closing the Nato supplies six months ago. And this apology had to be made under duress created primarily by a string of miscalculations by the country’s army high command and the political elite.

The more prominent of these miscalculations was the assumption that the hurried act of closing the gates of supplies to Nato and the US forces through Pakistan’s land would, in turn, make the world sit up and take note of the mood at the General Headquarters following Salala.

It was meant to be more than just a profound protest. In fact, Pakistan’s second miscalculation was that it perceived this as an opportunity to re-design its relations with the US in a manner that would secure Islamabad’s core interests in a deal publicly accepted to be between equals and sealed with guarantees of declared respect for Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty. This was an important point to make at the time as Salala came on the heels of the OBL raid. Since the army high command could not retaliate in kind, nor could it sit back and take these repeated hits, it chose the middle way of fighting it out on the table of hard bargains with Washington.

The political elite played along this strategy, but for different reasons. A weak-kneed government had to resort to the crutches of parliament to sustain the policy of cold confrontation with Washington in the hope that the collective will of the people’s representatives would add strength to this posture and help it cut a popular deal with the US. The parliament, never a brooding forum of high-rolling intellectuals, took the mandate with open arms, stretched it according to the aspirations of the people and returned the government a document that would be hard to implement even by the strongest of countries. What was meant to be a source of strength for the government thus became its biggest weakness: the parliament’s wish list could not be turned into a command for the world to obey. Certainly, not by a government that was consumed by its power play with the judiciary.

Thus, hemmed in by gross miscalculations, the Pakistani decision-making machinery went into hasty retreat trampling on itself. The army high command started to blame the politicians for creating a mess in parliament over a fine and delicate manoeuvre to get the best deal with Washington. The civilians in power quietly began to shift responsibility towards the generals for playing populist cards and landing the government in an impossible situation, leading to the blocking of Nato supplies. An empty kitty forced further gloom and doom upon a directionless policy-making apparatus.

The saga that started after the Salala attack is a sad and worrying testimony of how matters of extreme national importance are decided. Knee-jerk reactions have replaced long-term planning in every sphere and no collective wisdom seems to inform — much less set the direction of — the debate about Pakistan’s abiding interests. In the most precarious of times, the country is in the most fickle of hands.

This article was published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2012.

اردو کی ایک پرانی کہاوت ہے اول خوش بعد درویش۔ یعنی اگر کوئی اچھا کام کرنا ہے تو سب سے پہلے اپنے گھر سے شروع کریں تاکہ دوسروں کے لئے مثال قائم کی جاسکے۔ اس مثال کو ذہن میں رکھتے ہوئے میں جب عمران خان جیسے شاہانہ طرز زندگی گزارنے والے شخص کو غرییوں کے درد میں تڑپتے دیکھتا ہوں تو مجھے ہنسی آتی ہے۔ ایک غریب اور متوسط طبقے سے تعلق رکھنے کی وجہ سے میں اس بات کو اچھی طرح سے جانتا ہوں کہ عمران خان یا ان جیسا کوئی اور شخص غریب آدمی کے مسائل کو سمجھنا تو درکنار، انہیں پوری طرح سے جاننے کا دعویٰ تک نہیں کر سکتا ،حل کرنا تو بہت دور کی بات ہے۔

ایک بات قارئیں پوری طرح سے سمجھ لیں کہ عمران خان بھی دیگر سیاستدانوں کی طرح ہی کے سیاستدان ہیں۔ ان میں اگر کوئی بات دوسروں سے مختلف ہے تو وہ محض یہ ہے کہ وہ ابھی تک حکومت میں نہیں آئے۔ وہ دوسروں سے مختلف تھے لیکن 30 اکتوبر کے جلسے سے پہلے۔ اس کامیاب جلسے کے بعد انہوں نے جس تیزی کے ساتھ اپنی پارٹی میں اول مشرفین کو شامل کیا اس سے ان کی جماعت کے چاہنے والوں کو خاصی مایوسی ہوئی۔ عمران خان اس حوالے سے یہ دلیل دیتے ہیں کہ پہلے انہیں یہ طعنے دئے جاتے تھے کہ ان کی جماعت میں کوئی ہیوی ویٹ نہیں اور اب یہ کہا جاتا ہے کہ مشرف کے ساتھیوں کو کیوں اپنی پارٹی میں شامل کیا۔ سیاست کے ایک ادنیٰ طالب علم کی حیثیت سے میں ان کی اس دلیل سے قطعاً اتفاق نہیں کرتا۔ کیونکہ میں سمجھتا ہوں کہ 30 اکتوبر اور اس کے بعد کراچی کے جلسے میں لوگ ان کی وجہ سے آئے تھے، نہ کہ مشرف کے ساتھیوں کی وجہ سے۔

عمران خان کی اب تک کی سیاسی حکمت عملی سے تین باتیں سمجھ میں آئی ہیں۔ ایک پراپیگنڈہ، دوسرے پسپائی اور تیسرے پنجاب یا پی ایم ایل۔نواز۔

30 اکتوبر جب سے عمران خان کی سیاست نے پلٹا کھایا اس وقت سے آپ بغور جائزہ لیں تو بجائے اپنا منشور ،ایجنڈا اور مسائل کے حل کی کوئی حکمت عملی پیش کرنے کے خان صاحب سمیت پاکستان تحریکِ انصاف کی قیادت نے اپنا سارا ذور مخالفین کی کردار کشی میں لگایا ہوا ہے۔ ٹیلی وژن ٹاک شوز میں پی ٹی آئی کے نمائندے پی ٹی ماسٹروں کی طرح نکمے، نالائق اور بے ایمان سیاستدانوں کی ٹھکائی کرتے نظر آتے ہیں۔ میں جب عمران خان کے نمائندوں کودیگر سیاستدانوں کی طرح ٹاک شوز میں چیختے، چلاتے اورمخالفین پر چنگھاڑتے دیکھتا ہوں تو تبدیلی کی ضرورت اور بھی زیادہ شدت سے محسوس ہوتی ہے۔

عمران خان جو کھیل کے میدان میں چٹان کی طرح مضبوط کپتان سمجھے جاتے تھے سیاست کے میدان میں پسپائی پر مجبور دکھائی دیتے ہیں۔ انہوں نے پہلی پسپائی اس وقت دکھائی جب 30 اکتوبر کے جلسے کے بعد ان کی پارٹی پر موقع پرست سیاستدانوں نے اچانک دھاوا بول دیا اور خان صاحب نے کسی کا حسب، نسب اور کسب دیکھے بنا سب کو گلے سے لگا لیا۔۔۔ اور تو اور مشرف کے ان ساتھیوں کو بھی اپنا لیا جو آج اس ملک میں ہونے والی تباہی میں برابر کے حصہ دار ہیں۔ صرف ایک مثال سن لیں۔ عمران خان ڈرون حملوں پرسب سے زیادہ احتجاج کرنے والے سیاستدان ہیں۔ انہوں نے ڈرون حملوں کے خلاف باقاعدہ دھرنے بھی دئے ہیں۔ لیکن افسوس، خورشید محمود قصوری جس نے جنرل مشرف کے وزیر خارجہ کے طور پر ان ڈرون حملوں کی منظوری دی، اسے اپنی پارٹی میں شامل کرلیا۔ خان صاحب، یہ منافقت ہے یا سادگی؟

کپتان غریبوں کے بہترین اور اعلیٰ تعلیم کے بہت بڑے داعی ہیں لیکن پاکستان میں کمرشل سکول کی سب سے بڑی چین کے مالک بھی ان کی پارٹی کے عہدیدار ہیں۔ تحریکِ انصاف جوائن کرنے کے بعد انہوں نے کتنے فیصد غریب بچوں کو اپنے سکولوں میں مفت داخلہ دیا؟

خان صاحب خود کو کرپشن کا بہت بڑا دشمن کہتے ہیں۔ کبھی کہتے ہیں 90 دن میں کرپشن ختم کردوں گا، پھر کہتے ہیں 90 دن میں اوپر کی کرپشن ختم کردوں گا، پھر ایک اور چھلانگ لگاتے ہیں اور کہتے ہیں 9 روز میں کرپشن ختم کردوں گا حالانکہ پاکستان کے بوسیدہ اور انتہائی پیچیدہ نظام کی ذرا سی بھی سجمھ بوجھ رکھنے والا اچھی طرح سے یہ بات جانتا ہے کہ عوام کا اصل مسئلہ اوپر کی نہیں نیچے کی کرپشن ہے۔ تھانے، کچہری، پٹواری کی کرپشن ہے اور اس قسم کی کرپشن کو ختم کرنا ناممکن نہیں تو بہت مشکل ضرور ہے۔ خان صاحب کی نیت پر شک نہیں، لیکن اتنی عرض کرنا چاہتا ہوں کہ حضور جوش خطابت میں ایسے دعوے نہ کریں جنہیں پورا نہ کرسکیں۔

ایک اور بات جو خان صاحب کی سیاست میں مجھے سب سے زیادہ نمایاں نظر آتی ہے وہ ہے پی ایم ایل ن اور پنجاب پر ان کا فوکس۔عمران خان اپنے جلسوں،جلوسوں،ریلیوں اور ٹی وی ٹاک شوز میں سب سے زیادہ تنقید پاکستان مسلم لیگ نواز اور شریف برادران کی کرتے ہیں اور اسی وجہ سے انہیں سب سے زیادہ فکر بھی اس بات کی ہے کہ پانچ مرتبہ اقتدار ملنے کے باوجود انہوں نے پنجاب کےلئے کچھ نہیں کیا۔ اس بحث میں جائے بغیر کہ آیا شریف برادران نے پنجاب کےلئے کچھ کیا یا نہیں، میں خان صاحب سے صرف اتنا پوچھنا چاہتا ہوں کہ کیا پاکستان کامطلب صرف پنجاب ہے؟ آپ کو جتنا دکھ پنجاب کی پسماندگی کا ہے اتنا دکھ آپ سندھ، بلوچستان، خیبر پختونخواہ اور گلگت بلتستان کے لئے کیوں نہیں دکھاتے؟ کیا اس وقت پنجاب باقی صوبوں سے زیادہ پسماندہ ہے؟ کیا پچھلے پانچ سالوں میں باقی صوبوں کی حکومتوں کی کارکردگی پنجاب کی حکومت سے زیادہ اچھی رہی ہے؟ اگر جواب ہاں ہے تو ٹھیک، وگرنہ اپنی سیاسی اصلاح پر توجہ کیجئے۔

آخر میں آپکو آپکی ہی ایک بات یاد دلانا چاہتا ہوں۔ یاد کیجئے آپ مشرف دور میں شیخ رشید کے ساتھ ایک ٹی وی پروگرام میں آئے تھے جس میں شیخ صاحب زور و شور سےشوکت عزیز کو وزیراعظم بنانے کے حق میں دلائل دے رہے تھے اور آپ اس کی مخالفت کر رہے تھے۔ پروگرام کے دوران جب شیخ صاحب نے آپکو ناکام سیاستدان کا طعنہ دیا تو آپ نے ایک تاریخی جملہ کہا تھا – ‘شیخ صاحب میں سیاست میں چاہے ناکام ہوجاوں لیکن کل کو جب اپنا چہرہ آئینے میں دیکھوں گا تو مجھے کوئی شرمندگی نہیں ہوگی’۔

آج جب ٹاک شوز میں آپکو اسی شیخ رشید کی ہاں میں ہاں ملاتے دیکھتا ہوں  اور اسی مشرف اور شوکت عزیز کے ساتھیوں کو ساتھ مل کر سیاست کرتے دیکھتا ہوں تو آپکا وہ تاریخی جملہ بہت یاد آتا ہے۔

احمد ظہیر

کالم نگار ایک صحافی ہیں اور اپنے 10 سالا تجربہ کی بنیاد پر لکھتے ہیں۔

For those who don’t understand Urdu, a translation of this post is in the works.

(Source: write-wing.com)

This is an article I wrote on another blog on July 27, 2011, and now I’m just pasting it here. The reason why I chose to paste this one is that this concerns a very important point that every journalist is taught and is repeatedly told that it is his biggest rule – staying impartial regardless of personal views. Another thing I felt appalling in the article on which I wrote this is that CSM were actually defending a terrorist who had brazenly KILLED 77 innocent people.

I was going through the Christian Science Monitor, a website that was highly recommended by some of my friends. However, what greeted me was something I had never imagined I would see in a journalistic outlet with such international repute.

On the right of the site is a widget where the top news of the website is featured. What caught my eye was a particular link that read: ‘Hey, that Norwegian terrorist has a point!’ Below is a screenshot of that widget.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not only was this website defending him because he’s a Christian, but it was justifying his inhuman and abominable act of murder with this headline. Can you imagine that?

Naturally, I clicked on the link to read what was on the page. In the article, the writer seemed to sometimes struggle to remain neutral, but for most of the article, he just couldn’t contain his bias against Muslims and the multicultural society of the West.

The entire West has long prided over its tradition of accepting multicultural and multiethnic migrants from across the world. Their tradition of promoting a multi-cultural society is what made them what they are. Imagine if America had refused to accept the Jews that fled Hitler’s Germany. One man among them was Albert Einstein. Imagine where the US would be today if Einstein had never gone to that country. In all probability, he would have either been killed by the Nazi forces or would have hidden somewhere never to be seen or heard of by anyone. The world would have been very different without his scientific discoveries and theories.

Coming back to the article at CSM, I was appalled to read that the article not only sided with the ideology of the Norwegian Christian fundamentalist, but also gave him more respect than they give most people, including the political analysts and commentators that were quoted in the same article. The terrorist’s name was written ‘Mr. Breivik’, whereas the journalist and author who was quoted in the article was addressed simply as ‘Bawer’. Not once was Bruce Bawer’s name affixed with the title ‘Mr.’ in the entire article.

The writer put in quite a lot of words in support of Bawer’s claims that Islam was a threat to freedom in the West. However, the fact that Anders Behring Breivik is a Christian fundamentalist and an advocate of intolerance towards other religions, particularly Islam, was not mentioned once in the article. Before reading this article, I was sure that the CSM would condemn Breivik for bringing a bad name to Christianity and, for the first time since 9/11, attaching the word ‘terrorist’ to this religion.

The truth is Breivik is not the first Christian supremacist. He is just one member of a complete section of society that had so far kept itself from the spotlight. Breivik has confessed to the police that his terrorist organization recruits youth to train them for terrorism. He also told the police that there were two fully functional and trained cells in his organization that were ready to launch terrorist attacks across Europe. If that is true (and we have no reason to doubt it), I’d say Europe is in danger from people of its biggest religion. These parishioners are set to burn down their own parishes.

If anything, Breivik’s actions only serve to reaffirm the fact that the answer to all kinds of terrorism is not more aggression; it is to teach the masses more about tolerance and encouraging people to live in harmony. People like Breivik should not only be condemned, they should never be let out of prison. And preachers like Pastor Terry Jones, who not only preaches intolerance, but encourages people to do violent acts against other religions, should also be thrown into prison never to be let out. These people don’t do anyone any good to anyone. All they want is fame and money.

A very important question here is who funded Breivik. Had he not been a Christian, the American authorities and their media would definitely have pointed their fingers at Al-Qaeda, but I cannot imagine Al-Qaeda funding a Christian fundamentalist and telling him to kill people because they live in harmony with Muslims. Well, if not Al-Qaeda, then who was it? It was the people of his society. His family, friends, acquaintances and the people he recruited to his (allow me to say) evil organization.

That means that Europe needs to check the level of intolerance in its society and stop acts that incite hatred among its peoples. This includes actions such as the drawing of funny or ridiculing caricatures of holy personages. This inspires feelings of hatred among followers of the religion being ridiculed against the religion of the people behind the acts. Another example of such actions is Terry Jones’ attempt at making people burn copies of the Quran. Such actions inspire strong reactions that serve to increase the tensions that the original actions created.

The above mentioned acts were targeted against Muslims, but Muslims are not the only people being targeted in today’s world. The term ‘anti-Semitism’ was not created for fun. And we would be fools to think anti-Semitism has faded away, it has merely been reported less and has been less violent of late. Similarly, many other religions have frequently been subjects of ridicule in the West. Hinduism has also had its share of violence against its practitioners, but the reactions by Jews and Hindus have so far been non-violent, thus unreported. However, reactions have been there and imploding reactions are more dangerous than exploding ones because they are bound to come out sometime and there’s no telling how strong they would be then.

Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari was born on 22 March, 1971, in a feudal political family of Choti Zareen, a village in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab. His family is a major land owner of the area and owns approximately 2,500 acres of land.

His father – Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari – was a former president of Pakistan. His grandfather Muhammad Khan Leghari and great grandfather after whom he was named had both been ministers in the British government. Awais Leghari’s father was also the chief of the Leghari tribe. His father died in October 2010 after which Awais’ brother Jamal was crowned the 27th chief of the tribe.

Awais Leghari started his education at Aitchison College, Lahore. He passed Higher Senior Cambridge Examination in 1988. For higher studies he went to the University of Rochester in New York, USA. He graduated in 1994 with economics (Game Theory) and political science as his majors.

Leghari entered politics in 1997 when he contested and won a provincial assembly seat from Rajanpur as an independent candidate. He joined the Millat Party soon after it was formed on August 14, 1998. After the Millat Party and the Sindh Democratic Alliance merged with the ruling PML-Q in May 2004 to form a united Pakistan Muslim League, Awais Leghari became one of the senior vice presidents of the newly constituted party.

Leghari contested the October 2002 elections and was elected from two seats, a National Assembly seat from Dera Ghazi Khan and a Punjab Assembly seat from Rajanpur. He won the NA seat from Dera Ghazi Khan again in 2008.

He was appointed the federal minister for Information Technology in the cabinet of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali in 2002 and was very successful in the office. He is known for his policies that helped promote IT and cellular networks in the country. It was in his tenure that Pakistan won the GSM award, which only Brazil had won in 2006 for its excellent IT policies. Leghari had been very successful in this ministry and after him the sector could not grow with the same speed. Thus, Pakistan has been left quite behind by other developing countries as it has failed to introduce the third generation (3G) mobile technology which other countries are operating on.

However, Awais Leghari was also controversial in his first ministerial position and was the central figure in the Jamali government’s first corruption scandal. A highly classified governmental report had accused Leghari of taking kickbacks and for favouring some companies. The controversy had become so intense that the government considered replacing him during a cabinet shuffle. However, his father Farooq Leghari stepped in and threatened to leave the government alliance if his son was removed from the ministry on corruption charges.

Awais Leghari joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in December 2011 along with his brother Jamal Leghari and 28 other PML-Q members. He is developing their IT policy to bring the country at par with the world in the communications sector.

Besides agriculture, which is both his hobby and means of income, Leghari is fond of hunting and plays tennis.

Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali hails from an influential political family of Pakistan and is a notable leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He is a former foreign minister of the country and has been a member of the National Assembly since 1994 when he won his first National Assembly election from Kasur.

Ali’s family has been active in politics for more than a century, having played key roles in the fight against Sikh rulers and then the British. His uncle, Sardar Muhammad Hussain, was a member of parliament pre- and post-partition and was instrumental in the introduction of the Pakistan Muslim League in Central Punjab. His father, Sardar Ahmad Ali, who also remained a member of parliament throughout his career, and uncle Sardar Muhammad Hussain led regional movements against the Unionist Party, which was patronised by the British. The first mammoth public rally for and on behalf of the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah was held near his ancestral village, Ganja Kalan, in Kasur, Punjab. As a result of the partition, the family lost vast tracts of agricultural land near the Satluj River, Kasur.

Education and politics

Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali studied at Lawrence College in Ghora Gali before earning a B.A. (Hons.) degree from Government College University, Lahore (1959–62), and a B.A (Hons.) degree from St. John’s College, Oxford (1963–1966).

Sardar Aseff served as the minister for Economic Affairs during the 1991-1993 Nawaz Sharif government, but resigned from the cabinet after developing differences with the prime minister. His resignation along with those of other members of parliament eventually led to the overthrow of Nawaz Sharif’s first government.

Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali formally joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 2004. He was the foreign minister in the cabinet of Benazir Bhutto during her second tenure as prime minister.

During his tenure as the economic affairs minister, Sardar Aseff led delegations to Russia and states of the former Soviet Union. He was awarded honorary citizenship of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

As Foreign Minister of Pakistan, he was unanimously elected chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

In 2003, he held an exhibition of his hand-drawn sketches in Lahore.

In the 2008 general elections, he returned to the National Assembly for the fifth time after defeating archrival Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.

Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali left the PPP in December 2011 and joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Shafqat Mahmood is the central information secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

One of the educated few, having a distinguished academic career, a former civil servant and a committed Pakistani, Shafqat Mahmoud was born in the Gujrat district of Punjab on 19 February, 1950. After having his early education from the Sadiq Public School Bahawalpur, he joined Government College Lahore wherefrom he got Master’s degree in Psychology in 1970. His association with the prestigious Government College was further extended when he was selected to serve as a Lecturer in the same institution in 1971. He got Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard University in 1981 and another Masters in Public Policy and Administration from University of Southern California, USA in 1987.

Shafqat Mahmoud had a distinguished academic career. He received a certificate of merit from the Punjab University in 1970 for his outstanding performance in the University examination. His name was inscribed in the Academic Roll of Honour of the Government College Lahore in 1970 for excellence in academic achievement. Mahmoud was awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey North-South Fellowship by the United States Government in 1980 and the Edward S. Mason Fellow in Public Policy in developing countries by the Harvard University in 1980-81.

Shafqat Mahmoud passed the civil services exam in 1973 and served as assistant commissioner in Murree and Pakpattan from 1975 to 1978. He was then appointed deputy secretary in the Punjab Government until 1980.

Mahmoud served as deputy commissioner in Gujranwala and Dera Ghazi Khan for about five years and as additional commissioner for the Afghan Refugees Organization in 1985. He also served as additional finance secretary in the Punjab Government in 1988-89 and finally as joint secretary at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat from 1989 to 1990.

Political Experience:

Mahmoud stepped into the world of politics in his teens in 1966, when late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto left the Ayub government for his differences on the contents of the Tashkent Accord with India. Mahmoud was among the organisers of a mammoth reception for Bhutto on his arrival at the Lahore Railway Station. However, when the police baton-charged the reception members, Mahmoud was among those seriously injured – he received severe injuries to the skull after being hit by police batons multiple times.

Shafqat Mahmoud started his formal political career in 1990 when he quit his job at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and joined the Pakistan People’s Party. He was appointed the political secretary for then prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Mahmoud was always respected in the party which he represented at several international seminars. He also held key positions in the party’s central executive committee and was the party spokesman between 1990 and 1993.

Shafqat Mahmoud was elected a senator in 1994 for a six year term and was a member of the Senate Standing Committees on Cabinet, Establishment and Management Services, Defence, Defence Production, Aviation, Foreign Affairs, Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas and that of the Functional Committee of Senate on Government Assurances.

(Source: write-wing.com)

Hamid Khan (born 16 April 1945) is the vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. A Supreme Court lawyer by profession, he has been practicing for the past 30 years and has risen as a notable lawyers’ leader.

He is a senior partner of Cornelius, Lane and Mufti, a leading law firm in Pakistan.

Hamid Khan has been at the helm of several top lawyer bodies of Pakistan. He has been the executive chairman & vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, the vice chairman of the Punjab Bar Council, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (2001–2003) and the president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (1992-93).

Hamid Khan studied law at the universities of Punjab and Illinois (US). Hamid Khan regularly lectures on various legal subjects at Punjab University, the Civil Services Academy, the National Institute of Public Administration and the Pakistan Administrative Staff College.

He has authored five books on legal subjects, three of which – Islamic Law of Inheritance, Principles of Administrative Law and Administrative Tribunals for civil Servants in Pakistan – are prescribed as textbooks at law schools. He is an Ebert and DAAD Fellow, as well as a member of The Hague Academy of International Law.

His book “Constitutional and Political History of Pakistan” is taught at the LLB level, and is a comprehensive reference on the making of Pakistan.

Khan was the lawyer of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when former president General Pervez Musharraf put forward a reference against him and Chaudhry decided to defend himself in court. Hamid Khan contributed considerably to the lawyers’ movement of Pakistan which led to the reinstatement of Chaudhry as the chief justice of Pakistan.

(Source: write-wing.com)