Vacancy at the Presidency

From Dawn:

The health ministry on Saturday barred a pathologist from performing his duties at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in the face of his steadfast desire to run for the country’s president.

Dr Anwarul Haq, whose application to the Election Commission for contesting the presidential election caused a stir in higher echelons, has also been asked to explain his position. “A notice has been served on Dr Haq seeking clarification,” Federal Secretary for Health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari told Dawn.

The secretary said after listening to the pathologist, action would be taken against him as the law prevented government servants from taking part in elections and making political comments. Earlier this week, Dr Anwarul Haq submitted an application to the Election Commission, stating that he wanted to contest the upcoming presidential polls.

He sought the commission’s help and called for issuance of a candidature form.

In his application, Dr Haq argued that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was also a government servant and if he could participate in the election why couldn’t he. The Election Commission forwarded the application to the Federal Ministry of Health, which directed acting Pims Executive Director Ghazala Mehmood to take action against the doctor.

The hospital administration asked Dr Haq to withdraw his application and also retract it in the press, but he refused.

Ouch.

If the soul is saved

all is saved

If the soul is lost

all is lost.

 

[From a sign at the St. Patrick's Cathedral in Karachi]

UFO Alert

This letter was published in The News today:

For the past so many days, an aircraft has been flying very high over the Saidu Sharif and Mingora area of Swat. It flies all day long but does not appear to have PAF markings, so it may be fair to assume that it may be of foreign origin. I wonder if the ministry of defence is aware of this plane flying around in Swat. If not then I take pride in informing them through this letter to the press. On the other hand, if the government knows of this aircraft, then we would like to know as to what it is doing over Pakistani territory.

Miangul Aurangzeb
Former governor of Balochistan and NWFP
Saidu Sharif, Swat

Wanted: Help for the Soul.

The uncertainty in the air is going to be the end of us all. I see furrowed bros and an increase in the sale of painkillers everywhere. Surprises are nice, uncertainty is not. Our country’s future now lies in the hands of a judge and a military dictator. Our city’s future, in particular, depends on our insensitive rulers, who seem to get a perverse satisfaction out of Karachiites being stuck in traffic for hours on end, or navigating roads that resemble safari treks more than paved pieces of land. Civil liberties and human rights are a far away dream.

Last week, as I saw images of people celebrating 60 years of being Pakistani, all I wanted to do was ask them this: what on earth are you celebrating?

Can’t this all be a nightmare? Because this state of affairs is far too wretched to be true.

The Embarrassing Republican Uncle

From the Guardian:

George Bush likes his sleep. While campaigning for the presidency in 2000 his prize possession was a feather pillow. On the night that Saddam Hussein was executed he went to bed at 9pm with strict orders not to be woken. When the then CIA director, George Tenet, tried to alert him to news of the first night’s bombing of Iraq he was sent away. “He is the type of person who sleeps at 9.30pm after watching the domestic news,” Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah told Okaz, a Saudi newspaper.

But one can’t help wondering if Karl Rove’s resignation might not disturb his slumber for his remaining months in the White House. Rove, Bush’s consigliere for the past 30 years, left last week in much the same manner as he had stayed: misleading the public. He told the nation that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Maybe he should have checked with his family first. His only son leaves for college in just a few days.

Read the rest of the op-ed here

Unnatural Polarisation.

From today’s Dawn:

The United States has been in touch with all political parties in Pakistan as part of its efforts to form a “moderate political centre” in the country to take on religious extremists, says the US State Department.

Is this not interference in our domestic affairs, to use government-speak? Zaffar Abbas analyzes the situation here