BANGLADESH
1.Hafiz Muhammad Idris commenting on the chaos in Bangladesh says that the entire JI Bangladesh leadership was facing the government’s angst because JI was against the movement in 1971. Non-religious face of Hasina Wajid was behind this conspiracy to erase JI from Bangladesh. (Jasarat)
2. In his column, Orya Maqbool Jan writes that before 1971, enemy elements in East Bengal made people scared of West Pakistan by accusing of them of capturing East Pakistan’s rights and resources. As a result, East Pakistanis began hating West Pakistan and the country broke up. Today, 2 crore East Bengalis were struggling for daily wages in India, 10 lakh Bengali women have been sold all over the world and 20 lakh Bengalis have migrated to Karachi and have taken up low level jobs. He says that now, in order to break up the remaining Pakistan, it was necessary to make one province appear as capturing resources of other provinces and Punjab was chosen; hence, people of other provinces, especially Baloch hate Punjabis and even kill innocent Punjabis. (Roznama Duniya)
3. In his column, Hamid Mir writes about former Air Force officer MM Alam who suffered for being Bengali and outspoken. Mir writes that during the 1971 war, all Bengali officers were not allowed to fly, but Alam did not protest and remained faithful to Pakistan. Mir writes Gen Zia ul Haq halted Alam’s promotion and then forced his premature retirement since Alam had opposed Zia for promoting undeserving candidates. (Jang)
INDIA
1. Imports from India had increased a lot due to very low agricultural produce in Pakistan. (Nawa-i-Waqt)
DEFENCE
1. Chief of Army Staff Gen. Kayani has reached Jordon on a two-day visit. In his meeting with Jordon’s military officials, he will discuss enhancing military cooperation between the two countries. (Jang, Urdupoint)
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
1. Central Secretary of Information of ASWJ Allama Aurangzeb Farooq has raised an objection over the meeting between the leader of Tehrik-e-Jafariya, a defunct organization, and President Zardari. Farooq said this meeting had exposed that PPP was patronizing Shia defunct organizations. (Jasarat)
2. Religious, political and educational leaders have reacted strongly to the deletion of poetry in praise of God, life history of Prophet’s companions, ideology of Pakistan and poetry of Dr. Allama Iqbal from the 10th standard syllabus. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, JuD chief of political affairs Prof. Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, teachers’ union in-charge Hafiz Talha Saeed, JuD’s Education wing chief Maulana Saifullah Khalid, Tehrik Hurmat-e-Rasool Convener Maulana Amir Hamza, Jamaat Ahle Hadees chief Hafiz Abdul Gaffar Ropari, United Students’ Front leader and Mohammadiya Students’ chief Engineer Mohammad Harris, Movement for Independence of Jammu and Kashmir Secretary General Hafiz Khalid Waleed, and other leaders said that for their selfish interests, the government should stop acting on foreign agenda and desist from destroying the character of the young generation. They alleged that the change in the education syllabus and systems was part of American globalization and the new American world order. Saeed said that America and its allies spend a lot for imposing their policies based on their ideologies on others. (Jinnah)
3.Al Rahmat Trust organized ‘camps’ at Dera Ghazi Khan, Topi Swabi, Tila Gung, Mardan division, Yar Hussain Swabi, various districts of Bahawalpur, tehsil Jand, Forward Kahuta and AJK. ‘Ghazwat-ul-Nabi Conference’ (battles fought by Prophet Muhammad conference) was held at various places. ‘Attaullah Khan Shahid Conference’ was held at the Mardan division in which 1500 people participated. 55 Ulema participated in these conferences and ‘Paigham-e-Shohda Conference’ (message of martyrs conference) was held at Forward Kahuta and AJK. (Al Qalam Weekly, 22 March to 28 March)
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. Caretaker PM Justice (Retd.) Khoso’s family is distributed in the 3 major political parties. Khoso’s elder son Mehran Khan Khoso had been elected to the Balochistan assembly on PPP ticket in 2008. His second son Amjad Khan Khoso, a lawyer, recently joined PTI. His closest relative, Zahoor Khoso, who was recently disqualified in the fake degree case, was initially associated with former PM Zafarullah Jamali in regional politics but later joined PML-N. (Ausaf, Daily Dharti)
2.In a Geo TV programme, Najam Sethi commented that President Zardari played his moves smartly. He said that Rawalpindi wanted some professional to be appointed as the caretaker PM and hence, he gave names of Hafiz Shaikh and Dr. Ishrat Hussain, who he knew will not be accepted by PML-N. Hence, he managed to please Rawalpindi in the same hand. (Jang, Awami Awaz)
3. Tanzim ul Madaris Ahle Sunnat Pakistan President Mufti Munibur Rehman and Chairman Sunni Ittehad Council Pir Syed Mahfooz Shah Mashhadi announced support to PML-N in the next elections. (Khabrain)
4. Musharraf has returned to Pakistan with the same guarantee with which he had left. Since Musharraf faces threat to his life from Taliban, the Bugti tribe and other extremist groups, he will be provided with full security that a former President of Pakistan and former Army chief is entitled to. He will enjoy respect from the Army and from his students, five of whom are top-ranking Army officers. It has also been revealed that PML-N will not demand his arrest and that there was no possibility of his arrest. (Jang)
5. Musharraf was upset with party workers for mismanagement at the Karachi airport. He has called a party workers’ meeting today and will remove inefficient party workers from their positions. Musharraf will go to Islamabad on March 28th and meet important personalities. His meeting with Corps Commander (Karachi) is expected within 2 days. (Roznama Duniya)
6. MQM wanted to organize a gathering on Musharraf’s return to Jinnah Ground and that after Musharraf’s refusal, MQM is unhappy. This was the reason why MQM did not send its activists to welcome Musharraf at the Karachi airport. (Ummat)
7. Ahl-e-Hadith Youth Force organized protests against Musharraf’s return to Pakistan. (Baad-e-Shimal)
8. In his article, Amjad Memon says that Musharraf’s return was surprising; he says when Musharraf announced his plans, there was no caretaker set up and PPP government was in office. But none of the PPP ministers and officials said anything against Musharraf’s return, apart from Raza Rabbani who had said that the government must arrest Musharraf upon his return, regardless of which government is in power. Memon says that even though Sindh has PPP-supported caretaker set up, the Sindh government had done nothing of the sort. He says that when serving PMs could be summoned before the SC, a retired General is nobody. He says that the PPP seems to have pardoned Musharraf under its ‘famous’ reconciliation policy, even though its supporters are angry at this stance of the higher ups in the party. (Awami Awaz)
9. In his article, Manzoor Kalaro says that there was open interference of countries like the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and UAE in Pakistan’s internal affairs, as these nations imposed their likes and dislikes on Pakistan. He says its in these countries that Pakistani leaders take shelter until the anger of Pakistani public against them is controlled. Kalaro says Pakistanis wonder why Pakistani politicians allowed this to happen. He claims that Dubai had now become another Islamabad where crucial decisions concerning Pakistan were being taken these days; he claims this is the reason why whenever there was hectic political activity in the country, politicians flew down either to Saudi Arabia or Dubai. He says that the purpose for Saudi visit is always given to be ‘Umra’ and that this had become routine these days. Kalaro says Musharraf’s return had brought back memories of Benazir Bhutto, her assassination, the lack of progress in the investigation of her assassination case. He says it was interesting that Musharraf chose to land in Karachi while leaders like Altaf Hussain were demanding provision of tight security for him. He wonders at the pre arrest bail given to him and also at Zardari remaining cool on the issue of Musharraf’s arrest. (Ibrat)
10. In his article, Sohail Sangi commends Musharraf for being the first General bold enough to return to Pakistan. He questions if Musharraf will be able to revive his political image, in the light of the fact that political parties like MQM, and PML-Q were will PPP now; religious groups were with Nawaz Sharif and even Irbab Rahim, once Musharraf’s aide, was in Lahore, waiting for an alliance with PML-N. He says that Musharraf has been trying to present himself before the Pakistani electorate as an alternative to PPP and PML-N and the media was helping him through all the coverage of him. He says political observers are of the view that the establishment had advised Musharraf not to return due to security concerns. Sangi claims that Musharraf used the clout of UAE and Saudi Arabia for his return. He says that if anything went wrong, the caretaker government will be blamed. Sangi claims there are rumours of a foreign element getting assurance from the judiciary that it will be soft on Musharraf. Musharraf’s return may not be good for PML-N. Sangi says both Imran Khan and Musharraf have high hopes of support from the same quarters, but Khan is being viewed as a supporter of Taliban. He says that much has been said about the speculated connections between Musharraf and Tahir ul Qadri; he claims that only Qadri could stand together with Musharraf politically due to similarities. (Kawish)
Anjum Rashid in his analysis refers to the Imran Khan rally on March 23rd and says that the huge attendance by his enthusiastic party workers indicates that his party will snatch Nawaz Sharif votes and break the PPP vote bank. In his analysis, even Shabbir Shah writes that Imran Khan poses as a big threat to Nawaz Sharif. (Jang)
11. Vice Chief of Khaksar Tehrik of Pakistan, Engineer Mohammad Nissar Khan and divisional chief Mohammad Saeed Dar said that the caretaker PM should form cabinet comprising experts from various fields and people known for their impartiality, instead of politicians. This will help strengthen people’s confidence in the government’s resolve to have fair elections. (Jinnah)
12. Jasarat editorially said Musharraf will now understand how difficult it is to run a political struggle. (Jasarat Edit)
13. Ummat editorial says Musharraf has a real threat from those whose family members he martyred or handed over to the US. Edit writes that people didn’t want Musharraf to die in any incident and become a martyr. It says that they wanted him to face the judiciary as he is accused of killings of thousands of people. (Ummat Edit)
ECONOMY-WATER- ENERGY
1. Shortage of water would reach 31% by 2015. (Baad-e-Shimal)
SINDH
1. ANP’s Sindh unit said that the new delimitations done in Karachi were against SC orders. ECP looked helpless in maintaining law and order in Karachi. Election exercise was meaningless in view of no-go areas and other hurdles across Karachi. (Kawish)
2.Former Sindh CM has denied the sale of an inch of Sindh, apart from the 2 islands of Karachi. He said there will be no compromise on Sindh’s resources. He said if there was any partnership offer from the federal government, the proposal could be considered. (Ibrat)
3. Police and Rangers detained 2 TTP terrorists from Karachi. (Ausaf)
POK/ G-B NEWS
1.Baad-e-Shimal says that the Ministry of Water and Electricity has promised the people of Gilgit that load shedding would end in April but it seems like the requisite water quantity was not yet available and hence, living in dark was still their destiny. Edit says that the Gilgit-Baltistan government had made 4500 employees in the Power Department permanent; hence, there should be no problem in the proper distribution of electricity. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)
2.PML-N (Gilgit-Baltistan) Chief Hafiz-ur-Rahman said that a national jirga should be formed for the rights of Pashtun citizens in the region. (Baad-e-Shimal)
3.Bang-e-Sahar criticized the formation of new districts and divisions in Gilgit-Baltistan and says that the Mehdi Shah government was taking wrong decisions and wasting public money for political benefits. (Bang-e-Sahar Edit)
4. Baad-e-Shimal has welcomed the formation of new districts and divisions but said these new entities should properly function. Allappointments should be made on merit basis. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)
