A depleting rupee’s appeal by Senator A. Rehman Malik

The tragic story of Rupee in its own words

 

A national economic tragedy is in the making. Please listen to Pak Rupee voicing how it has been abused in the past by the mafia of this country and how it is misbalancing and destroying the political scene by empowering the incompetent and the corrupt lot.

Here is the tragic story of Rupee in its own words:

My name is ‘Rupee’ and I am as old as Pakistan. I was happy that I was born in then peaceful and glittering city Karachi. I proudly grew strong and started serving many of my owners with a strong economic backing as there was honesty and respect for me. I was used for the growth and prosperity of my people from all walks of life as I had emerged strongest in the region because of the honest ownership of mine. I was pushing the country towards prosperity as long as I was being treated with respect.

My misfortune started when I was abused and forced into corruption by my corrupt and greedy masters and their corruption destroyed my value in the world and within the country. I was forced into exchange from one corrupt hand to another who used me in their own ways and will.

I was badly misused to create wedges in society through ethnicity and sectarianism. The ethnic division resultantly broke the country into two and I lost half of Pakistan. The abuse through geed, kickbacks, bribery and stock exchange mafia gripped me tight and I eventually went in the custody of rich corrupt elite who came in power.

Pakistan did the worst thing by marrying me with IMF and Fund started controlling my actual worth and destroyed me by linking me with dollar.

This unwise linking with dollar destroyed me and the prosperity of a common man.

I wish, I was not married with IMF as I have lost my own face and my financial movements are now in the hands of IMF as it dictates my fall in connivance with its own people working inside the Pak system.

Pakistani mafias made money through skillfully designed criminal net to devalue me and I am being beaten at the national cost. It is enriching the mafias by many folds.

My beating to undermine my value is happening both at home and abroad and the government with weak muscles is letting me drown allowing my fast decline. The unprofessional and unfair treatment has now brought negative score of 177 to me. Many geopolitical conspiracies and anti-economic attacks from various sides are affecting me non-stop.

Look at how my stature has been reduced and devalued since 1947. One dollar against me: —

 

1947-57: PKR3.31 - 4.76

1957-67: PKR4.76 - 4.76

1977-87: PKR9.90 - 16.64

1987-97: PKR16.64 - 41.11

1997-2007: PKR41.11 - 60.73

2007-15: PKR60.73 - 102.76

2015-21: PKR102.76 - 176.95

If you look at the upward trend of my devaluation, the beginning era of my country’s establishment gave me a stagnant respect and value. But, when the country entered the millennial era, I started getting devalued so much so that the years onward 2015 became the worst period of my life as I was brutally disrespected and devalued.

I fell from grace onwards 2015, and then rough treatment started as my owner either did not have the ability to treat me well or they had been become corrupt and selfish that they neither cared for me nor for a common man. There is deep relationship between me and the common man whereas corrupt rich masses sell me off to dollars, and in this way they create a disconnection between me and them. The poor ones still keep me with their chest or in some safe corner of the house.

My financial custodians get me printed to buy dollars. Although, I am the backbone of the state, yet always under crushing attacks that have made me too weak to play in the international financial market.

My name ‘Rupee’ is very dear to everyone and if it goes down it brings down not only the system but endangers the security of Pakistan as well. I am depleting because of lethal cancer of IMF, wrong infusion of inflation and because of getting in the wrong hands in the name of treatment by incompetent doctors deployed to treat this financial cancer.

Despite timely warning of my depletion, no cure has been sought rather another import of tin food etc worth $6billion has added to my misery. If you do not treat this cancer then I am afraid the enemies of Pakistan will use my death as the death of Pakistan.

We are just inches away from national bankruptcy debacle. As Rupee and the icon of Pakistan, I appeal to everyone who matters in this country to save me from this cancerous zone of my value as 200 against 1 dollar coming forth.

I want Pakistan to be prosperous. Halt my depletion. Otherwise, cancer of dollar will push me to point of no return. My value needs to be restored, stabilised and protected from IMF and its paid spin masters. There was a time when I was a mighty asset for this country. Now I am being reduced to irreversible depleting mode. I have written appeal on behalf of Rupee in time and I hope the government will take reforming steps and will pay attention to badly beaten Rupee and its value.

I may be just a piece of paper or a coin but people should not ignore, as I am the basic parameter to keep balance in the economy and society. If people respect me and not abuse my use then perhaps I am the only voiceless and lifeless kind of ingredient that strengthens the nations, people, governments and political parties. Unfortunately, the power driven from me is being misused consistently in terms of corruption and I am being used to create imbalance in power.

Political elite uses me to promote corruption but nobody can go to the parliament unless I am handed over to the political bosses closed in suitcases to win the seat for my timely boss. Political workers raise slogans about their leaders showing their might but it is in fact me who is mighty. My misuse has brought our Pakistan at the verge of destruction. It is high time to strengthen me if you want a strong Pakistan, as I am your tool of defence and sign of prosperity. The views expressed above solely mine and in the national interest and do not necessarily represent the views of my party.

The article was published in The News on December 6, 2021, link to the original article.. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/914492-a-depleting-rupee-s-appeal

Projecting Pakistan’s Narrative by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Pakistan came into being in 1947 as an independent and sovereign state — the result of unyielding endeavours by Muslims for a separate homeland under the two-nation theory. The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, had visualised running the country based on the notions of ‘Unity, Faith and Discipline.’ Unfortunately, with his demise, the ruling elite forgot his vision and started serving their self-interests. The successive governments failed to provide even the essential amenities to the citizens or bring peace and stability. Pakistan remained under pressure right from the first day of its Independence. We could not grow as a disciplined nation because we failed to implement the rule of law — a pivotal factor to take the country forward. There are scores of reasons, which contributed to the weakness of the state, and the governments, but some of those can be summarised as under:

1.     Lack of Education: The inequality and lack of education among the masses remain one key reason Pakistan failed to achieve its full potential and grow as a society. People with no access to education cannot contribute to the country’s development and are instead engaged in striving for survival on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, they have no say in the country’s governance and leave this task to the government — the minority elite — which has its interests to look after while in power in the majority of the cases.

2.     Corruption: Although corruption is a relative term, it is rampant in every segment of society. The bureaucracy and politicians remain hands in gloves in corruption — financial and moral. Wherever corruption is rooted deeply in society, it harms the economy and damages the fabric of society, thus making a country weak.

3.     Non-Democratic Norms: Since 1958, Pakistan experienced four Martial Law governments — from Gen. Ayub Khan to Gen. Pervez Musharraf. As a result, democratic institutions and attitudes could not be developed. Even the political government could not develop democratic institutions or inculcate democratic attitudes among politicians. The political governments always remained under the fear of their dismissal by the non-democratic forces. The vested interests were always ready to provide shoulders to these forces for their self-interests. Pakistan’s continued political instability made us a laughingstock in the international community.

4.     Failure to Ensure Rule of Law: The politicisation of the police and judicial activism has denied justice to the people. The police looked towards the signals of their masters while the judiciary partnered with the non-democratic forces. Both these institutions are equally responsible for the rule of law, but they have failed miserably. The result is that people have lost confidence in both these institutions, and some cases, they resort to violence to seek justice. There are also cases in which the judiciary releases culprits regardless of the overwhelming evidence against them. Lack of the rule of law in any country gives birth to simmering violence and even civil war. It is, therefore, high time for the government to ensure the rule of law in the country before it is too late.

5.     Fiscal Policies: Only a strong economy guarantees stability and prosperity of a country. Pakistan’s economy has never been as strong as it should have been. One of the reasons remains that the economy has been chiefly handled unprofessionally and on an ad-hoc basis. The weak economy has, thus, rendered the country vulnerable to international vested interests. The government is hostage to the IMF and the World Bank and the mercy of friendly nations for loans and grants. The country is being dictated to meet the demands of the IMF in terms of raising taxes and increasing prices of basic amenities in return for loans. How long would we survive under these conditions?  The IMF is controlling Pakistan like a colony.

6.     Accumulation of foreign debts: As stated above, Pakistan is under heavy foreign obligation due to the poor state of the economy. The pilferage of national resources has contributed to the accumulation of foreign debts. Corruption is one of the contributory factors that has weakened the economy, forcing the state to seek more and more foreign loans to keep the country afloat and repay the old loans and the interest.

These factors have derailed the country, and our unwise decisions made us vulnerable to the pressure of the international powers. The West successfully took advantage of our weaknesses and used those to serve their motives. Our needs have made us almost subservient to them, and our internal and external policies depend on these masters, who provide loans and aid. In such a situation, how can we make the other countries give weight to Pakistan’s narrative?

There is a long list of events showing how the anti-Pakistan strategy was chalked out and implemented by the foreign powers and their local stooges. It started with the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan, supporting the dictatorial regime of Ayub Khan, then handing over power to Yahya khan, breaking off East Pakistan, toppling the government and judicial killing of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, supporting the dictatorial regime of Gen Zia ul Haq, and lately the murder of Benazir. These are sequences of a well-planned anti-Pakistan strategy and the enemy has not yet finished its agenda. Now we are facing a hybrid war besides suffering in terms of economy and increased diplomatic isolation. We are the victims of an insurgency orchestrated by the international intelligence agencies.

The hostile intelligence operations have made Pakistan weaker day by day. The deliberate planting of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan during the Afghan-Soviet War was one of the strategies of the West, especially the United States, to turn Pakistan into the turf for sectarian warfare. Without realising the consequence, Pakistan again became a tool in the hands of the United States by joining the so-called US-led war on terror.  Who suffered the most because of this war? Pakistan!

Again Pakistan was used, and we did not realise the in-built conspiracies against the country. It was unfortunate that instead of becoming a nation of independent thoughts adopting the natural course to drag the government out of the crises, we started projecting the narrative of the United States instead. Throughout our participation in the ‘war on terror and even after the abrupt withdrawal of the US and allied forces from Afghanistan, we have been trying to convince the world community that Pakistan was the actual victim of the ‘War on Terror.’ But Pakistan was still doubted for its intentions, and no country accepted and appreciated our immense sacrifices in terms of human lives and the economic cost.

The question is why the world does not believe Pakistan and its narrative despite losing thousands of precious lives, hosting millions of Afghan refugees without any external assistance and having a negative impact on our economy? To me, there are numerous reasons for our failure to sell our narrative to the world, including:

1.     The United States designed the war on terror for its motives and not to bring peace in the region or in any way benefit Pakistan. The role of Pakistan was predetermined in terms of weakening and defaming the country by levelling allegations of supporting the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda.  The testimony of this is the statement of Ms Hillary Clinton before the US Congress.

2.     Pakistan failed to effectively and adequately frame its narrative to tell the world the real story and why it suffered despite standing with the United States during the war on terror. As part of its national interests, every country desires that its borders are secure and they have friendly neighbours. But unfortunately, Pakistan neither got secure borders nor friends in its neighbourhood. Why is Pakistan being denied its sovereign right to secure its borders?

3.     The lack of resources and professionalism within the Foreign Office is another factor that affected the narrative of Pakistan vis-à-vis the Taliban and Afghanistan and other issues. Their help, professionalism, and ability to effectively lobby for the interests of Pakistan have to be upgraded. They need to be given a clear vision and policy to defend the cause of Pakistan at the international level.

Ironically, despite taking the brunt of an imposed war on terror, we are being dubbed as bad boys, and India is being projected as good boys. On record, India has been engaged in orchestrating terrorist activities in Pakistan, which is now internationally known. The arrest of an Indian spy, Kulbhushan Yadav, further confirmed India’s involvement in fomenting terrorism in Pakistan.

Irrespective of what the United States and other western countries do to defame Pakistan, we must also look inwardly. We have severe political polarisation, and politicians have taken their disagreement to the level of personal enmity. This state of affairs is hindering us from devising a unanimous policy to counter the United States’ and other hostile countries’ blame game. We have not yet drawn any plan to convince the world about our sacrifice or our role in bringing peace to our neighbouring country. Failure to project Pakistan’s narrative to the world is a setback for our country, which was also used against us in the FATF. We have failed to assert our point-of-view in the world as a nuclear power state and get our due standing in the international community.

Our narrative about our antiterrorism efforts and the peaceful use of nuclear technology has not been effectively communicated to the world. For an optimistic projection of Pakistan’s image, we have to emerge as a self-relying nation.  To achieve our actual standing in the world community as a sovereign nation, we need effective, legitimate international lobbyists to promote Pakistan’s image.  Therefore, a budgetary provision under the title ‘Narrative Promotion Initiative’ (NPI) should be created to cater to this need.

Our present government should take some of the above-proposed initiatives in great national interest. Media, including the state media, must play its role by hosting programmes in English to project Pakistan’s positive and soft image globally. The world needs to know that our policies, laws, and actions are antiterrorism oriented. We are against money laundering and remain a peace-loving nation.

We should demand that the world treat us as a victim of terrorism and not as its supporter, given that our country is still fighting terrorism. The West must acknowledge Pakistan as one of the biggest victims of the American war on terror. This authentic, factual story needs to be shared with the world in the best possible manner.

The article was published by Narratives’  in its edition of December 2021. Link to the original article- https://narratives.com.pk/musings/projecting-pakistans-narrative/

Regional foul play in the making by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Afghan citizens are still suffering despite the withdrawal of the US Army, and a slow transition is worsening it further which is complicating the Afghan issue whereas Pakistan continues to be the victim of this conflict. We feel that Americans should have ended this conflict by resolving the issue of Afghanistan for good after the Doha agreement, but it seems that Americans have not yet finished this agenda as hostility is growing now with each passing day at the cost of peace of this region.

The Afghan money with the US is not being returned to Afghans despite being fully aware of the fact that the people there are starving. The starving Afghan public are suffering and they need humanitarian support.

The world has a question; why does the US not concentrate on clearing its own multi-trillion debt rather than spending trillions of dollars to become a party in others’ wars, sitting far off from the self-created battlefields?

These self-created battlefields in other countries must be put to an end as they have brought human loss both to host countries and American soldiers. 

Is it justified to fight and incite wars on foreign soil? It in fact brings misery to Americans who lose their loved ones in such wars, let alone the miseries faced by the hosts of such battlefields. As of now, the US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide with active combat deployments in Iraq and Syria and spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. Over the past 20 years alone, the US has spent $8 trillion on its so-called “global war on terror”, which accounts for $2.3 trillion in Afghanistan alone, $2.1 trillion was spent on the wars in Iraq and Syria, and $355 billion was attributed to other wars. The rest of the money includes in excess of $1 billion in interest payments for the huge amounts of money that the US borrowed to fund the wars. One can understand the loans taken for development but it is hard to understand countries fighting wars on borrowed money. Has any congressman or peace-loving US senator ever questioned the unique use of funding in wars?

Also, more than $2.2 billion has been allocated in obligations for veteran care over the next 30 years which means that, even after the US has left Afghanistan, it will continue to pay for the war for years to come. The US as a world power, should use its influence and might to help in resolving issues like Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Palestine, etc or issues with similar dimensions.

Afghanistan was occupied by NATO/American forces but is now free and hence the US should leave it alone now for Afghans to rebuild and secure the future of their new generations.

On the other hand, Kashmir is under illegal occupation of the Indian Army which is committing unhindered brutalities against oppressed Kashmiris without fear and has never allowed human rights bodies in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir. Will the US ever use its influence in the UN to end the miseries of Kashmiris? The US may convince and help India withdraw its forces from Kashmir and allow them to have the right to self determination; it will bring immediate peace in the region.

The American congress should consider imposing a ban on the US Army for fighting on the land of any other country. It will rather become a source of destruction like Hiroshima and Vietnam if America continued its new tactics of war and kept striking drones on other countries.

It is time for the US to calculate its losses and gains as to what has it achieved till now from these wars except taking dead bodies of its own soldiers. What is the outcome of wars in the long run? Nothing but destruction, indeed. Apart from the huge financial losses, about 7,000 US service members have died in the post-9/11 conflicts to date. That total includes 2,324 military personnel who died from 2001 to 2021 in Afghanistan, America’s longest war and 4,598 died in Iraq during two phases: the 2003 to 2011 operation, which started in the name of the US’ effort to oust then-leader Saddam Hussein and disarm the country of so-called weapons of mass destruction, and from 2014 to the present, in which the US is battling self created enemies.

No one likes an alien army in their country—will the US ever allow the armies of Afghanistan or Iraq to take control of the streets of Washington? The world has a right to ask US President Joe Biden; would you even allow your allied forces or Afghan forces to enter the streets of New York forcefully? Would you be there to welcome them? Obviously not—ask Pakistan which has lost 60,000 innocent people and your war on terror has destroyed our economy. The American surveys show that most of the immigrants are from those countries where the US forcefully engineered wars.

Pakistan assisted US soldiers in Afghanistan and previously fought with the Soviet Union which derailed not only our economy but we also had to face Jihadists imported by the US that turned out to be terrorists in the form of Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups like the TTP. We are now smelling another sponsored war with Daish and TTP. We are watching some foul play in this region which need to be tackled for the sake of peace in this region.

The region will get into more trouble if the world fails to recognise the Taliban government, otherwise Afghanistan will become once again a hub of international terrorists giving excuse to another war on terror to strike against this upcoming hub of terrorists.

 Let the world adopt an easy and quick solution by bringing the Afghan Taliban to the mainstream by recognising their government subject to some conditions within the charter of the UN. Pakistan does not deserve another foul game as it’s the people that have already suffered heavily from the earlier American war on terror. Looking at the media reports regarding the use of Pakistani space against the Afghan Taliban by US is another clandestine way of turning the Afghan Taliban against Pakistan and the ultimate use of 80,000 terrorists parked in Nooristan belonging to TTP, Al Qaeda and Daish which are the real potential threats for Pakistan in the near future. The US needs to play a reconciliatory role to finish hostility in this region to avert another serious conflict.

The article was published in The Nation on December 3, 2021, Link to the original article... https://nation.com.pk/03-Dec-2021/regional-foul-play-in-the-making

ICJ illegal trial vs Pak sovereignty by Senator A. Rehman Malik

International Court of Justice (ICJ) operates under the UN to decide cases of contentious issues between the States on application by one of the parties. It, however, can neither deal with a dispute on its own initiative nor it is permitted under its Statute to investigate and rule on acts of sovereign States as it chooses. The States involved in the dispute ‘must consent to the Court’s considering the dispute in question’.

ICJ has violated sheer violation of its own rules to give relief to India which remained unchallenged by our legal team. Why ?I have examined the matter related to the case of Kulbushan Yadav which was purely a proven crime of espionage against Pakistan, hence, ICJ had no legal jurisdiction to take up this matter.

It was a failure on part of our legal team and foreign office in protecting the sovereign rights of Pakistan. The two nations can go to ICJ with only signed and mutual consent on any matter.Pakistan neither gave consent nor it opposed its trial and it is stated in judgement that Pakistan did not raise their right of objection as stated below in my detailed analysis.

The court, on application by the government of India, took cognizance of the alleged violations of Article 36 Vienna Convention 1963 by Pakistan by denying consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy arrested from Balochistan and made a judicial confession for sabotage activities. Briefly, India contended that:

1.     Allegedly Pakistan failed to inform Mr. Jadhav of his rights under Article 36, paragraph 1(b) of Vienna Convention.

2.     Allegedly Pakistan failed to inform India, without delay, of arrest and detention of Mr. Jadhav.

3.     Allegedly Pakistan failed to provide consular access, thus breach its obligations under Article 36 of the convention.

The court assumed its jurisdiction to adjudicate the application of India against Pakistan under Article I of Optional Protocol to Vienna Convention on Consular Relations concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes. It concluded that it had compulsory jurisdiction under the said Article.

Pakistan on the other hand contended that the provisions of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention do not apply to the person arrested on espionage charges, whereas we should have boycotted the proceedings and should have gone to UN and filed a complaint against illegal proceeding in violation of ICJ’s own law.

Although Article 36 VCCR does not expressly state that the right to access consular assistance can be refused where a national is accused of espionage, nevertheless, Pakistan justified its decision to refuse consular access to Mr Jadhav on three grounds:

1.     Pakistan argued that Article 36 VCCR was never intended to apply to spies. Hence, and contrary to what Pakistan had claimed, the failure of the drafters to build an espionage exception into Article 36 does, in fact,indicate that they intended for the protection afforded by this provision to be available to all individuals, including spies.

2.     Pakistan maintained that customary international law permits states to refuse to nationals the right to access consular assistance in the event that they are accused of spying. Pakistan’s central claim was that, because the Preamble to the VCCR affirms that ‘rules of customary international law continue to govern matters not expressly regulated by the provisions of the present Convention’, this agreement does not cover in to all matters pertaining to consular relations.

3.     The 2008 Agreement on Consular Access between Pakistan and India prevails over the VCCR, which allows states to deny consular access where it is necessary to maintain national security yet the ICJ rejected all three of Pakistan’s arguments.

It was the argument of Pakistan that the Agreement of 2008 was meant for case to case basis that this agreement was signed keeping in view the spirit of the Vienna Convention. However, India did not agree to the argument of Pakistan and the court, unfortunately, sided with India and ruled that the agreement of 2008 does not overrule Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.

The court held Pakistan guilty of breach of Vienna Convention by majority votes (by 15 to 1) and ordered as under:

147. To conclude, the Court finds that Pakistan is under an obligation to provide, by means of its own choosing, effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav, so as to ensure that full weight is given to the effect of the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, taking account of paragraphs 139, 145 and 146 of this Judgment.

While delivering the judgment, the court, however, observed that Pakistan never raised objection to the jurisdiction of the court under Article I of Optional Protocol to Vienna Convention on Consular Relations concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes. This observation of the court needs to be thoroughly investigated to find out why and by whom it was chosen not to challenge the jurisdiction of the court under the said article. And the public has the right to know about these legal mishaps

Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani law enforcement agencies from Saravan, Balochistan. After his arrest, the agent admitted to being an ex-Indian Naval officer and working in Balochistan at the behest of RAW. He admitted having carried out several terrorist activities inside Pakistan. At the time of his arrest, he was holding an Indian passport in the name of Hussain Mubarak Patel, with a valid Iranian visa. He, however, identified himself as Kulbhushan Jadhav, an ex-Indian Naval officer, working for RAW. Kulbhushan confessed that he was hired by RAW in 2013 as the head of operations in Balochistan and Karachi and was assigned the tasks of killing Pakistanis, funding Baloch insurgents, planting bombs and destroying sensitive installations in Balochistan.

It is interesting to mention that Kulbhushan’s father Sudhir Jadhav has not denied the allegations leveled against his son.

Pakistani investigators claimed that the arrested Indian spy was running a terrorist financing and training network that used to operate from Chabahar in Iran, Makran in Pakistan, and adjoining districts of Afghanistan. His task was to initiate a series of subversive activities on the Makran coast where not only Chinese are working on Gwadar port, but also Pakistan Navy and Air Force have multiple facilities.

He also confirmed Daesh’s existence in Pakistan and that it is RAW that supports Daesh in Karachi to carry out terrorist activities there. He also revealed about the terrorist activities he carried out himself in Pakistan which include the Mehran Base Attack, murder of Mr. Aslam. He had admitted that he was planning to attack Gwadar Hotel in Gwadar to target Chinese workers. His plan was to target CPEC and Gwadar port directly, and he was supposed to infiltrate 30 to 40 RAW agents in Pakistan. He also wanted to reignite the dying insurgency in Balochistan.

Pakistan military court had sentenced Jadhav to death by hanging in April 2017 on espionage and terrorism charges under Army Act 1952. No date, however, was set for his execution. The delay in his execution by hanging had provided an opportunity to India to invoke the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The judgment of ICJ has not only negatively affected the sovereignty of the state but also weakened the deterrence of punishment to spies working against the interest of the state. Pakistan had been directed to stay the execution until the outcome of the review of the case by Pakistan.

Surprisingly, there was only one ad hoc judge from Pakistan on a bench of 15 judges. The judgment clearly demonstrates a tilt of the court towards the arguments advanced by India and rejected every argument of Pakistan. The court did not accept Pakistan’s stand that the mutual agreement between Pakistan and India in 2008, which deals with consular access, was reflective of the spirit of the Vienna Convention. The question of consular access, under the agreement, to those arrested on espionage charges was clearly separated from those arrested on ordinary charges. The court, however, ruled, by accepting the argument of India, that this agreement does not overrule Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.

In fact, the basic trial of this case was against the law and it was like predetermination to give relief to India. Pakistan has amended the law giving the right of appeal to Kulbhushan Yadav, but that does not qualify him to get himself exonerated. The law and punishment for a spy/person accused of espionage is still intact and let us see if he is hanged for his crimes against innocent Pakistanis or not. I expect that law will come into force to create deterrence and deliver a strong message that there is no mercy for those who are involved in acts of espionage against our people.

The article was published in the News on November 30, 2021. Link to the original article. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/912873-icj-illegal-trial-vs-pak-sovereignty

 

Youm-i-Tasees; gains and losses by PPP by Sen Rehman Malik

 

Today we are celebrating the 54th founding day of the Pakistan People’s Party as on November 30, 1967, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto founded PPP to work for the suppressed and working classes of the country and to create political awareness among the masses. The first convention was held on November 30, 1967, at the house of Dr Mubashir Hassan in Lahore which was attended by JA Rahim, Dr Mubashir Hassan, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Rafi Raza, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Hayat Sherpao, Sheikh Rashid and among others, the legendary Miraj Muhammad Khan.

PPP is the only political party of the country which exhibits its strength in all four provinces and the northern areas, and offers equal opportunity regardless of class, region, sect, religion and gender. PPP has always been absolutely committed to and will continue to struggle for a society based on social justice, rule of law and human dignity. PPP is the symbol of the federation and started its politics based on federalism. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a leader with great political wisdom, as a born reformist with the ability to convince and lead the nation with his charismatic personality.

Almost all of the towering political figures of PPP were from Punjab, like the late JA Rahim, the founding secretary-general and the author of PPP’s ‘Basic Document,’ Dr Mubashir Hasan, Sheikh Rasheed (Bab-e-Socialism), Khursheed Hasan Mir, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Malik Meraj Khalid, Sh Rafiq Ahmad or those from the late 70s and 80s generation like Aitzaz Ahsan, the late Jehangir Badr, Dr Ghulam Hussain, Mukhtar Rana and many others. It is noticeable that ZA Bhutto gave more attention to Punjab as it is the largest province and had to be on his side.

Apart from the above mentioned close aides of ZAB, there were many other senior leaders of PPP and close aides of ZAB including Hafeez Pirzada, Sattar Gabol, Qasim Patel, Pyar Ali Allana, Jam Sadiq, Hafeez Cheema, Habib Ullah, and Mustafa Jatoi who switched their loyalties, siding with the military and left Bibi’s leading resistance movement against the hanging of her father. The Zia regime terrorised PPP workers and leaders and hence the mid-level leadership went into hiding.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (Pinky in her father’s words) decided to struggle to save her father but she was locked and her voice was suppressed behind the high walls of Sukkur jail and sometimes house arrests. She fulfilled her promise with her father in jail and emerged as the PM twice. I have had the honour to serve as Director FIA in her first government and Additional DG and DG in her second tenure and then assisted her in exile in her struggle against the dictatorship. PPP is the only political party in Pakistan that has the grassroots support and probably the highest number of diehards. It is also the only major political party that has a successor for party leadership—Bilawal Bhutto. It has a young leadership that can change the future of the party as well as the state.

PPP has a strong bond with the rural populace of Sindh and a few pockets in urban centres. The legacy of Bhutto still stands strong today and PPP has been successfully cashing in on it. The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is another project that won them accolades among the poor masses. The party has a presence in all provinces that if wisely used, by introducing more young leadership, can make them aggressively reach out to masses in other provinces, who would be willing to give more chances to PPP as opposed to any other party.

Some negative elements are pushing the party backward and the areas and provinces where the party once had a strong foothold are losing their strength. The major negative element that has been seen in the party is that they have unchecked propaganda against the party leadership. PPP did not perform actively in its five-year-long regime and took things for granted, which made them lose their hold in their strong support base.

The PPP still has a long way to go, especially in the absence of leaders like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto or his daughter Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and other towering political figures in Punjab like the ones mentioned above. We do not have a leader with stature in Punjab. Historically, PPP was ousted from Punjab through a conspiracy hatched by the establishment through players like the late General Ghulam Jilani under the instruction of Gen Zia. Although PPP always won a good number of seats in both the National and Punjab assemblies from 1988 to 2008, it could not get the top slot after 1977. The PPP finally vanished from Punjab after the 2013 elections and even lost its stronghold in South Punjab. Thus, in the 2013 elections, the PPP thought that the PTI would damage the PML-N but on the contrary, it hurt the PPP and let us not ignore the support by alien factors and a business tycoon.

We need a dedicated, experienced and mature leadership to make proper political moves, though presently everyone is doing their best and let us hope we will navigate the party out of the crisis and manage to form our government in Punjab and the centre.

Interestingly all the three mainstream political parties i.e. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were formed in Punjab’s capital Lahore. The latter, being the oldest among the three, had not won a single seat from the heart of Punjab since long—we need to revisit to rebuild ourselves.

Let me conclude that President Asif Ali Zardari with his core group and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari may have to spend more time in Punjab at the district and tehsil levels with the workers to reenergise the party in Punjab, KP and Balochistan by getting the angry workers back. It is encouraging to see that mid-level and senior leadership cadres along with their workers are joining PPP to strengthen the party. We have to adopt the policies of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to create great confidence among our workers. We need to give a highly attractive agenda for the youth and we must have proper programmes for the unemployed including initiating some schemes of self-employment. We may start from the government of Sindh some doable self-employment projects to be replicated across the country on regaining power.

I would like to congratulate all workers on this day and hope we all will work for the party to make it the real party of ZA Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto party by strengthening Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The Article was published in The Nation on November 30th, 2021 on PPP 54th Founding Day. Link to the original article-- https://nation.com.pk/30-Nov-2021/youm-i-tasees-gains-and-losses-by-ppp