By Wasiq Ali
A massive furore has been created over the supposed presence of Blackwater in Pakistan by the likes of Ahmed Quraishi and Shireen Mazari and websites like Pakistan Spectator, Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz, Pak Alert and articles like ‘American NGO Covers for Blackwater in Pakistan’ or ‘Expel Blackwater and US Marines from Pakistan.’
Who is funding these people? Why are they driving this paranoia? And above all who is benefiting by this?
By Wasiq Ali
The Washington Post of September 25, 2009 carries a news story about the rising anti-Americanism in Pakistan titled Anti-U.S. Wave Imperiling Efforts in Pakistan, Officials Say
As the story points out – “A new wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan has slowed the arrival of hundreds of U.S. civilian and military officials charged with implementing assistance programs, undermined cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and put American lives at risk, according to officials from both countries.”
Those who have leaked the story have deliberately chosen to do so at a time when the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) summit is going on.
This article appeared in PakistanWithoutTerrorism on September 18, 2009
By Yahya Hussainy
English essayist and poet Samuel Johnson once said, Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel. By that well-known definition what should one think of the fact that ever since the civilian government came to power in Pakistan there has been a rise in the number of Pseudo-Patriots and Conspiracy Theorists?
This post appeared on RealPakNationalists on September 14, 2009
Ahmed Quraishi who is a Taliban and Jihadist apologist and once took pride in calling himself the Master of “Immaculate Deception” has now openly called on his Jihadist/Conspiracy Theorist/Taliban sympathizing right-wing nuts to harm or kill Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ahmed Quraishi’s instigation comes in a post titled ‘Husain Haqqani to ISI: Let Blackwater In.’
The conspiracy brigade of the yesteryears is back at their games by
spinning stories on what they did and how they did it. Brigadier
(retired) Imtiaz wholse name once rang terror for the political
workers today is claiming that he had a sudden awakening of the
conscientious and that he wants to share with the people of Pakistan
some details of his past.
By Wasiq Ali
This article appeared in The News on August 20, 2009
Opinion polls are new to Pakistan but they have been around for decades in the West. Even then, they are seen for what they are – a snapshot in time of how people feel. Opinion polls are not a substitute for elections and no one in any developed democracy demands that the result of an election be reversed simply because of opinion polls. Unfortunately, some elements full of hatred against the current elected government and particularly President Asif Zardari, are trying to do just that based on recent opinion polls. It is important, therefore, to discuss polling and its relationship with democracy in Pakistan.
This article appeared in The News on August 18, 2009
The usual America-bashers in Pakistan are going hysterical over the planned expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad instead of seeing it as a symbol of the US commitment to remain engaged with the country. If these people are to be believed, there is something sinister about the expansion of the US embassy.
This article was posted on Demo Pakistan on August 16, 2009
Gossip circles of the power centers of Pakistan are ripe with the buzz of a “minus-one” formula aimed at removing President Asif Ali Zardari from country’s political map. This might be a wishful desire on part of the regressive circles that have dominated this nation for decades and are responsible for most of its miseries in economic and geo-political realm. From where I see, there is no reason to remove Mr. Zardari. More so, despite the wishes of many to get rid of the widower of Benazir Bhutto, there is no way he could be removed from the presidency or political scene. And if at all, the vultures succeed in removing him, the repercussions for the nation and our social order will be nothing short of a fiasco.
These are the comments I posted on an article written by Canada-based Pakistani writer Tarek Fatah. This article was published on Averroes Press on August 12, 2009
I wish people would read Mr. Fatah’s piece in the light it was written and look self-critically at themselves. What we forget in our passion is that chauvinists do not have horns which helps us identify them. Most chauvinists do not even know they are chauvinists.
By Wasiq Ali
August 7, 2009
The recently released report of Transparency International has been much talk about. It is once again an instrument to malign the incumbent government. The report highlighted public perception (repeat perception) that corruption had gone down in Punjab while it increased ‘manifold’ in NWFP, Balochistan and Sindh.
