Please note: This post has been
shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Sunday, March 31, 2013
State Aristocracy’s Pakistan – 24
I
started collecting and sharing this information just because of my focus on how
the state aristocracy makes use of its capture of the state to further its
interests and loot; however, there is so much to it appearing daily in the
newspapers that to me it requires another blog fully devoted to the state
aristocracy’s appropriation of the citizens’ tax money and misuse of the public
authority.
PTA member’s appointment withdrawn under LHC
pressure
CDA chairman sacked for resisting choice plots to
baboos
Hence,
I think I should give only the links to such news items and of course from such
newspapers which I happen to see.
سندھ اسیمبلی: ارکان جاتے جاتے اپنے لیے
مراعات کا بل منظور کرا گئے۔ سپیکرز، وزیرِ اعلیٰ، معاونین، ارکان کی تنخواہوں،
الاؤنسز میں بھاری اضافہ ہوگا۔
[Roznama
Express, March 16, 2013]
-----
115
out of 167 Sindh MPs did not pay tax
[The
News, March 16, 2013]
-----
Key
appointment made on lucrative post
[The News, March 16, 2013]
-----
[The
News, March 16, 2013]
-----
Employees’
regularisation to affect fiscal management
[The
News, March 16, 2013]
-----
Last
minute loot: Where there is a bill, there is an increased pay
http://tribune.com.pk/story/521565/last-minute-loot-where-there-is-a-bill-there-is-an-increased-pay/
[The
Express Tribune, March 16, 2013]
-----
Transparency
takes on Punjab govt
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
70
new CNG licenses issued on last day
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
NAB
stops PQA from awarding contract to Bahria Town
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
CDA
chairmansacked for resisting choice plots to baboos
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
Govt
surrenders Pakistanis’ rights to British govt
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
70 new CNG licenses issued on last day
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
[The
News, March 17, 2013]
-----
پیپلز پارٹی ایف ـ بی ـ آر میں 600 ارب کا فراڈ چھوڑ گئی
[Roznama
Express, March 18, 2013]
-----
Tax
refund: Govt bequeaths Rs600b scam to caretakers
[The
Express Tribune, March 18, 2013]
-----
Out
with the new II: SC takes suo motu notice of CDA chief’s transfer
[The
Express Tribune, March 18, 2013]
-----
چیف جسٹس تاحیات مراعات کے بل پر سوو موٹو ایکشن لیں
[Roznama
Express, March 19, 2013]
-----
CCP
issues notices to power utilities
[The
News, March 19, 2013]
-----
Bilour
appointed member social sector in Planning Division
[The
News, March 19, 2013]
-----
Sidelined:
Accounts office no longer under AGP
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
Occupied
public land: SC raises ghost schools in Islamabad, Sindh
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
Last-minute
transfers: SC restrains govt from implementing orders
http://tribune.com.pk/story/522803/last-minute-transfers-sc-restrains-govt-from-implementing-orders/
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
‘Textile
industry defrauded exchequer of Rs500b’
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
CCP
issues notices to four power companies
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
Despite
ban: PM appoints scion of Bilour family to Planning Commission
[The
Express Tribune, March 19, 2013]
-----
Budget
paper: Extra billions given to army acknowledged
[The
Express Tribune, March 20, 2013]
-----
پاسپورٹ فراہمی میں تاخیر پر چیف جسٹس نوٹس لیں ـ ٹرانسپیرینسی
[Roznama
Express, March 21, 2013]
-----
دو لاکھ بجلی نادہندگان کے ذمے ایک کھرب، دو ارب روپے
[Roznama
Express, March 21, 2013]
-----
کچھ لوگوں نے 600 ارب کا ریفنڈ کرا
لیا ـ مانڈوی والا
[Roznama
Express, March 21, 2013]
-----
Govt
set to appoint 284 non-cadre officers in OMG
[The
News, March 21, 2013]
-----
Degrees
of 181 MPs remain unverified
[The
News, March 21, 2013]
-----
Rs50
billion fund to rig polls, SC told
[The
News, March 21, 2013]
-----
Rampant
corruption in TDAP irks rice exporters
[The
News, March 21, 2013]
-----
Appeal
to chief justice: TIP seeks action over delayed passport delivery
[The
Express Tribune, March 21, 2013]
-----
Eight-month
performance: Govt spends about Rs950b more than its income
[The
Express Tribune, March 21, 2013]
-----
Ashraf
selects squads for his lifetime security
[The
News, March 22, 2013]
-----
Cambridge
confirms Waqas has a fake A-Level certificate
[The
News, March 22, 2013]
-----
Dr
Asim’s appointment as president’s physician withdrawn
[The
News, March 22, 2013]
-----
FTO
terms less number of returns filing shameful for tax machinery
[The
News, March 22, 2013]
-----
Ledgers
and losses: Watchdog gets through only 1% of govt’s Rs3tr budget
[The
Express Tribune, March 22, 2013]
-----
Wait for the State Aristocracy's loot of Pakistan - 25
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Finished reading: Mazameen-e-Sharar, Jild Haftam
Please note: This post has been
shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Democracy or rule of law
So the time has come whence the citizens of Pakistan need to decide what they
want: democracy or rule of law.
[This article was completed on January 10, 2012.]
The verdict of the Supreme Court (Jan 10) re the implementation of its
own NRO judgment, in option 6 reads:
"The constitutional balance vis-à-vis trichotomy and separation of
powers between the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive is very
delicately poised and if in a given situation the Executive is bent upon
defying a final judicial verdict and is ready to go to any limit in such
defiance then instead of insisting upon the Executive to implement the judicial
verdict and thereby running the risk of bringing down the constitutional
structure itself this Court may exercise judicial restraint and leave the
matter to the better judgment of the people of the country or their
representatives in the Parliament to appropriately deal with the delinquent.
After all the ultimate ownership of the Constitution and of its organs,
institutions, mechanisms and processes rests with the people of the country and
there may be situations where the people themselves may be better suited to
force a recalcitrant to obey the Constitution. It may be advantageous to
reproduce here the relevant words of the Preamble to the Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973: "we, the people of Pakistan -- ----Do
hereby, through our representatives in the National Assembly, adopt, enact and
give to ourselves, this Constitution".
But the fact is that this time was around the corner, and lingering,
since the present populist "democratic" civil political government
took to power and started defying the pre-requisites of democracy the first and
the foremost of which is rule of law.
It is not new or unique that any political party basing its politics on
populism and claiming to be democratic does not resort to such tactics which
and the like of which Pakistan Peoples Party has been playing and using since
the day it won general elections in February 2008 - at least for this tenure of
it in the government.
Actually, populism is such a forceful instinct which never tolerates any
traditions, norms, principles, rules and laws to be putting hurdles in its
wayward and rowdy sojourn. Just like a populist political party, PPP has never been in a mood to be abiding by such
things, even the ones it itself made or promised to follow on its own. The
extraordinary example is the 1973 constitution, in the making of which it may
be given most of the credit, but it is the same party which defied it from the
very first. The crux of the problem is that populism never ever comes in line
with rules and laws, be it for a while.
Another trait of populism is it recognizes and respects no institutions,
constitutional or otherwise, but its own whimsical institutionalizations. The
same has been the case with the PPP
government vis-à-vis especially the Supreme Court, or higher courts in general,
Election Commission of Pakistan, Higher Education Commission, etc. They were
treated as obstacles in its way to the goals, good or bad, legal or illegal,
constitutional or unconstitutional, it wanted to achieve at any cost.
This is what is singularly characteristic of the populism: it behaves in
a manner as if it is itself, or it has embodied itself into the same rues and
laws, and the institutions which it is being made or forced to follow. The
behavior of both the present PPP
government and the party is no different. The statements and the actions and
the steps the president, the prime minister, and other ministers and high
officials appointed by them has been making and taking prove the same point
well.
Thus the day the PPP prime
minister, and then the president sworn in, rather well before that, it was
evident there is going to be a choice of "either, or" between
democracy and rule of law which finally has to be made by the institution which
the constitution empowers to protect itself.
The time to make this choice has come.
Viewed from the point of view of constitutionality, which most of the
observers and analysts conspicuously lack not only in such issues but almost in
all issues, it is not a situation of making a choice: either democracy or rule
of law. Who would say laws and the constitution need not be followed! Who would
say democracy means trampling of the rules, laws and the constitution? Who
would say democracy should flourish at the cost of the laws and the
constitution?
A democracy which ridicules and disobeys rules, laws and the constitution
is but a criminal democracy, like the one we have in Pakistan . Democracy strengthens,
and must strengthen the rule of law if it is democracy in any definition of the
word. Without rule of law, democracy is 'but great bands of brigands' as St. Augustine said about
a kingdom without justice.
Thus, it's no question of making a choice between democracy or rule of
law, but following the rule of law. If the rule of law is saved, democracy will
be saved, but if the rule of law is sacrificed, democracy will transform itself
into a rule of persons intoxicated with populism!
©
The Blogger
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Kaalay Sheeshon Wali Gaariyan Aur Gora Qanoon
Please note: This post has been
shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Finished reading: A History of Freedom of Thought
Finished
reading today (March 27), A History of Freedom of Thought, by J. B. Bury, M.A.,
F.B.A.
This
272 page book was first published by Henry Holt and Company, London in 1913.
As
I read a lot, it is difficult, for want of time, to prepare a summary of the
theme and insights the book contains. However, I may mention whether the book I
read is worth reading and why.
This
history of the freedom of thought ought to be considered an essential reading.
It narrates all the stages freedom of thought has undergone, and tries to
explicate the layers of this absolutely indispensable category of human
condition.
Given its subject-matter, I
wonder will this ever be translated into Urdu!
Have
a look at the Contents of the book:
I -
Introductory
II
- Reason Free (Greece and Rome)
III
- Reason in Prison (The Middle Ages)
IV
- Prospect of Deliverance (The Renaissance and the Reformation)
V -
Religious Toleration
VI
- The Growth of Rationalism (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries)
VII
- The Progress of Rationalism (Nineteenth Century)
VIII
- The Justification of Liberty of Thought
- Bibliography
- Index
254
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
How they use the citizens’ tax money to promote their personal-political interests!
Here
are certain advertisements published in various newspapers:
[The Express Tribune, December 11, 2012]
[روزنامہ ایکسپریس لاہور، 8 مارچ، 2013]
[The Express Tribune, The News, March 14, 2013]
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
[The News, March 15, 2013]
[The Express Tribune, March 15, 2013]
[The Express Tribune, The News, March 16, 2013]
[The Express Tribune, March 18, 2013]
[روزنامہ ایکسپریس لاہور، مارچ 18، 2013]
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wizarat-e-Uzma Ke Tamannaee
Please note: This post has been
shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Monday, March 25, 2013
State Aristocracy’s Pakistan – 23
I
started collecting and sharing this information just because of my focus on how
the state aristocracy makes use of its capture of the state to further its
interests and loot; however, there is so much to it appearing daily in the
newspapers that to me it requires another blog fully devoted to the state
aristocracy’s appropriation of the citizens’ tax money and misuse of the public
authority.
Hence, I think I should give only the links to such news items and of course from such newspapers which I happen to see.
[Roznama Express, March 9, 2013]
The sorry state of health of a medical regulator
[The News, March 10, 2013]
Govt commits contempt of court by reappointing Awan in PTA
[The News, March 10, 2013]
Herculean task: Only the influential can get a passport in Pakistan
[The Express Tribune, March 10, 2013]
PM’s Ajmer yatra: Cost of trip borne by taxpayers?
[The Express Tribune, March 10, 2013]
180 MNAs had declared no income tax in 2008
[The News, March 12, 2013]
Billions doled out to political elite but problems emerge
[The News, March 12, 2013]
Awan under consideration for IT secretary slot
[The Express Tribune, March 12, 2013]
[Roznama Express, March 13, 2013]
[Roznama Express, March 13, 2013]
NAB chief’s rush to grab costly plot hits snags
[The News, March 13, 2013]
202 Punjab MPAs are declared tax-evaders
[The News, March 13, 2013]
Accountability Attaches being rushed to key capitals
[The News, March 13, 2013]
Punjab government unwilling to unveil Gojra inquiry report
[The News, March 13, 2013]
Abducted dam workers: WAPDA accused of backing out from recovery efforts
[The Express Tribune, March 13, 2013]
Personal edification at the state expense, by Tariq Fatemi
[The Express Tribune, March 13, 2013]
90 out of 125 KP MPs paid zero income tax
[The News, March 14, 2013]
Raja allots more plots to officers of PM House
[The News, March 14, 2013]
102 Grade-22 officers to get plots
[The News, March 14, 2013]
Appointment of 15 press attaches under consideration
[The News, March 14, 2013]
Newly appointed acting chairman Nepra refuses to take charge
[The News, March 14, 2013]
The dole-outs, by Dr. Farrukh Saleem
[The News, March 14, 2013]
Rift: PM advised not to separate audit, account
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
Pakistani exports: Government to spend Rs26b to promote trade
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
Numbered days: Govt hastens to give permanent jobs to contractual workers
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
Nepotism and cronyism: Press Information Department gave out hundreds of jobs illegally
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
ECC refuses gas supply to Engro at discounted price
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
Government treats: Malik to enjoy a lifetime of perks
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
Balochistan floods: Massive corruption detected in relief funds
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
[Roznama Express, March 15, 2013]
Balochistan MPs dislike income tax; over 78pc did not pay
[The News, March 15, 2013]
State lost Rs18 trillion in five years, says TIP
[The News, March 15, 2013]
Posting of 44 diplomats: SHC against violation of rules
[The News, March 15, 2013]
PM okays posting of 15 media diplomats to key capitals
[The News, March 15, 2013]
Finance ministry adviser gets extension
[The News, March 15, 2013]
Govt rushes top PTA appointments to beat deadline
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
Wait for the State Aristocracy's loo of Pakistan - 24
Hence, I think I should give only the links to such news items and of course from such newspapers which I happen to see.
ٹپی سے 8 پولیس موبائلز اور 50 اہل کاروں کے پیسے لے کر خزانے میں جمع کرائے جائیں: چیف جسٹس
سپریم کورٹ
[Roznama Express, March 9, 2013]
-----
The sorry state of health of a medical regulator
[The News, March 10, 2013]
-----
Govt commits contempt of court by reappointing Awan in PTA
[The News, March 10, 2013]
-----
Herculean task: Only the influential can get a passport in Pakistan
[The Express Tribune, March 10, 2013]
-----
PM’s Ajmer yatra: Cost of trip borne by taxpayers?
[The Express Tribune, March 10, 2013]
-----
180 MNAs had declared no income tax in 2008
[The News, March 12, 2013]
-----
Billions doled out to political elite but problems emerge
[The News, March 12, 2013]
-----
Awan under consideration for IT secretary slot
[The Express Tribune, March 12, 2013]
-----
گیس چوری کا الزام، سابق ایم ـ این ـ اے مہدی بھٹی کے خلاف مقدمہ درج
[Roznama Express, March 13, 2013]
-----
وزیرِ اعظم نے خزانے سے بغیر اعتراض فنڈز نکالنے کی منظوری دے دی
[Roznama Express, March 13, 2013]
-----
NAB chief’s rush to grab costly plot hits snags
[The News, March 13, 2013]
-----
202 Punjab MPAs are declared tax-evaders
[The News, March 13, 2013]
-----
Accountability Attaches being rushed to key capitals
[The News, March 13, 2013]
-----
Punjab government unwilling to unveil Gojra inquiry report
[The News, March 13, 2013]
-----
Abducted dam workers: WAPDA accused of backing out from recovery efforts
[The Express Tribune, March 13, 2013]
-----
Personal edification at the state expense, by Tariq Fatemi
[The Express Tribune, March 13, 2013]
-----
90 out of 125 KP MPs paid zero income tax
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
Raja allots more plots to officers of PM House
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
102 Grade-22 officers to get plots
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
Appointment of 15 press attaches under consideration
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
Newly appointed acting chairman Nepra refuses to take charge
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
The dole-outs, by Dr. Farrukh Saleem
[The News, March 14, 2013]
-----
Rift: PM advised not to separate audit, account
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
Pakistani exports: Government to spend Rs26b to promote trade
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
Numbered days: Govt hastens to give permanent jobs to contractual workers
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
Nepotism and cronyism: Press Information Department gave out hundreds of jobs illegally
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
ECC refuses gas supply to Engro at discounted price
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
Government treats: Malik to enjoy a lifetime of perks
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
Balochistan floods: Massive corruption detected in relief funds
[The Express Tribune, March 14, 2013]
-----
سابق وزرائے داخلہ کے لیے تاحیات مراعات کا نوٹیفیکیشن اجرا کے فوراً
بعد واپس
[Roznama Express, March 15, 2013]
-----
Balochistan MPs dislike income tax; over 78pc did not pay
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
State lost Rs18 trillion in five years, says TIP
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
Posting of 44 diplomats: SHC against violation of rules
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
PM okays posting of 15 media diplomats to key capitals
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
Finance ministry adviser gets extension
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
Govt rushes top PTA appointments to beat deadline
[The News, March 15, 2013]
-----
Wait for the State Aristocracy's loo of Pakistan - 24
Rules as moral signposts
Recently I participated
in the 2nd Annual Conference (Islam and the Institutions of a Free
Society) of the Istanbul Network for Liberty, which was held in Islamabad from
28th February to 2nd March.
The following paper was
read in its 1st Session: Sociological, Philosophical and Legal Considerations
of Shariah: The Rule of Law in Islam, on 1st March. The Session was
chaired by Dr. Khalid Masood.
Rules as moral
signposts – a brief sojourn in the realm of philosophy of religion
The initial and original
inspiration the entity of religion resorts to take advantage of, and exudes is
moral.
The spirit religions
imbibe is ultimately moralistic.
That gives them an aura
of appeal irresistible to their audience.
However, with time,
spread, reach, following, politicking, and the unexpected encounters on the
road, they start losing that moral exuberance.
So much so that a day
comes when there remains no trace of that moral purity.
The skeleton survives
the soul! The house is empty now!
In the words of a French
critic: religion is like pointing out into a direction while standing on a
mound. But what happens people settle at that mound – forgetting, and in a
sense deviating from the direction.
That tries to say the
same thing: that is, the entity of religion ossifies into its letter, and the
spirit evaporates.
Simply put: religion
consists of four elements:
- Metaphysics (Beliefs)
- Ethics (Morality)
- Rituals (Acts of
worship)
- Social Dicta
(Commandments relating to the social life)
As for Metaphysics, it
is always in flux. In other words, no Metaphysics, be it secular or
non-secular, can claim finality. That’s not characteristic of religious
metaphysics only.
With the growth of
critical scientific knowledge, beliefs / propositions about the universe and
the things in it, including man, undergo alterations. And usually at a point of
time most of them become redundant.
In consequence, the
entity of religion is left without a metaphysics.
Likewise, all the
rituals or the acts of worship are prone to be formalized.
With increasing distance
of time and space from the event of its origination, the acts of worship go
dried of their substantive content.
The stalk deprives
itself of its fiber.
The element of Social
Dicta is one which changes in a manner not detectible over the shorter periods.
But it does change, moment to moment, under the burden of the logic of life.
That is, over time and
on the span of geography, it adopts as well as adapts to the spatial
attractions, eases, and requirements.
In short, Social Dicta
of a religion keeps a good number of its identities intact, nominally or in
semblance.
Thus, it’s the cloak of
a religion that continues to survive, and is considered as the sole inspiration
by its adherents.
With the secular and
non-spiritual progress of a religion, i.e. on the stage of real politick; the
first victim which is left behind is Morality.
The old and the first
ally is abandoned first.
That is, in its forward
march on a worldly road, what a religion leaves behind – meets it head on on
the next step.
Thus, it’s morality
which challenges a religion most crucially and fatally.
It’s morality which
challenges a religion to effect a moral regeneration of it.
That means ultimate submission
to universal moral rules.
That, among other
things, requires for the entity of religion to come down on the ground to a
meeting of open rational debate.
An overview of the above
contentions lends support to the proposition: the moral worth is the real
essence of a religion!
In case, an entity of
religion keeps it moral worth alive within its body, it may live long;
otherwise, it’s already stagnating.
From this proposition,
it follows that in times when religiosity dominates, morality recedes.
Actually, as in other
worlds, in the world of ideas and its systems, every entity ages, and with it
loses its aboriginal vigor.
The entity of religion
also, while sliding on the historical path, loses its initial and original moral
vigor, gradually or in jerks. This is born out by historical observation.
Hence, it’s the moral
fiber, the moral spirit, which enlivens the entity of religion.
That amounts to saying
that since the entity of religion derives its inspiration from moral rules and
it is this inspiration of it that lends it credence, so while growing it ought
to remain true to morality, its conjoined partner.
In another sense, it may
be worded thus: the entity of religion ought to give vitally due weight to its
moral heart through every thick and thin.
No doubt that presumes
that the rules which enjoy and exhibit moral standing be regarded as signposts
for humanity – signposts guiding the world of ideas and its systems lest they
should be misled.
In the cases of
other-worldly, non-secular entities of thought, when they are put into a form
intelligible and practicable for various communities of human beings, that
exercise ought to be mindful of the immense value of these signposts.
In conclusion, the
notion of rules as moral signposts pleads for a moral regeneration of the
entity of religion.
That means back to
basics! That means back to the moral nature of rules!
[This paper was
completed on January 30, 2013]
©
The Blogger
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
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