Ali Malik's blog

Ever since Zahir Shah's dethroning led to a cycle of chaos in Afghanistan, no issue, not even 9/11, had the potential of impacting Pakistan more than what is happening in our West in the Middle East. A movement has spread from Iran to Morocco, shaking the very foundations of the order that has dominated the region for past century. The print and electronic media that blabbers day in day out on every non-issue has completely blacked out one of the most critical debates that should be taking place in Pakistan. The think tanks, pseudo intellectuals, and retired bureaucrats and generals are mum. And yet what is happening around has most far reaching consequences for Pakistan and calls for an open debate on a broad based policy formulation vis-a-vis the Mid-Eastern crisis. This piece is an attempt to discuss the guidelines of a comprehensive Middle East policy.  Whether what is happening in Middle East is a consequence of CIA conspiracy, as is alleged by Saudis, Iranians and others...

The pace of events in Middle East has caught many by surprise. It seems a matter of months if not weeks before the existing order in the Middle East will pave way for a new order. What shape will the new order assume is uncertain for now. However, theocracy or elected governments on sectarian lines are two very probable outcomes. Just when because of its strong political parties, Pakistan does not face the direct threat of Middle East style revolts, the ripples of the above-mentioned eventualities have dire consequences for Pakistan. We are already too late into foreseeing what could happen in the world around us and have paid a heavy price for being blinded. Yet again, the changes that are going to happen in our west are likely to be costly unless we take the necessary measures to control the damage. If there has even been a reason for Pakistani establishment to push for a secular, liberal democratic Pakistan, it is now. Asian Middle East is the only region in the Muslim world with Sh...

This piece is dedicated to Governor Taseer. A man who had the conviction in his belief and fought for it till the very end. A brave man whom, in the words of Shakespeare, the death took with pride. It is a death that should be mourned for the bravery and courage of the dead, and for the loss of  multi-faceted life full of positive energy that has been lost. My knowledge of Governor Taseer was of third person. In fact, I was not a fan of him when he became Governor and yet in few weeks, he made me his fan. His candidness, confidence, quick wit and analytical mindset coupled with his popular politics made him a trend-setter in the politics of Punjab which has been marred by pseudo, scripted, thoughtlessly conservative and tunnel-visioned politicians for most part. That he was a successful entrepreneur and business tycoon, a dedicated political worker, a successful political administrator (whom his opponents feared), and had a social circle spanning from cart-food owners to the ...

The events of Tunisia have stirred the whole world and have raised questions about the future of Tunisia, the Arab world, and the developing world's bastions of stability in the cyclical boom of 90s and early 2000s. As the events keep unfolding in Tunisia, the world awaits answers to four key questions. What Happened? Whether what happened was a consequence of something deep rooted or was it a knee-jerk reaction is yet to be seen. Arab world, rewinding back 4-5 decades or so, has a tendency for knee-jerk revolutions without any unifying agenda or leadership. Whether what happened this time was a repeat of 60s or is it a more aware revolution with a defined set of compatible and workable ideals is yet to be seen. Another perspective on events, and with significant credibility, is that the Army in Tunisia realizing that the anger on streets is getting out of hand decided to make Bin Ali the scapegoat. If this is true then the success of the revolution in achieving its objective...

A picture says it all!

Born and raised in a society of impulsive/emotional (and often wrong) responses, I, too, have this tendency to respond impulsive and this reflects in some of my posts on this blog too. When Benazir Bhutto got killed, my response was of anger and grief. I wanted to write so much on it here, driven by that anger and grief. But somehow something within me stopped me from writing immediately. I didn't realize it then what it was. My piece on that came good four days after the assassination and it was not driven by the impulsive emotion and had the impact of the reality seeped in well. When I heard the news of the assassination of Governor Taseer (may his spirit be in peace), my response was of anger, of grief, and of shock. And yet something, from within, stopped me from writing impulsively on this too. My inner voice says it is maturity. Similarity between Governor's death and BB's death doesn't end here. In case of BB, same anchors on national media tried to justify suici...

Winners of Asian Games Women Cricket - Team PAKISTAN!

The more I think about the idea of charter of Pakistan, the more I get struck by the absurdity of it. I think even Sharif himself is not sure what he means by Charter of Pakistan. If he means changes in constitutional structure, I believe that already is a settled matter in 18th amendment. May be there is some more room for issues pertaining to provincial autonomy and civil service reforms, but the forum for that is parliament. We are not living in Charter of democracy times any more and the country has a functional parliament that could pull something like 18th amendment unanimously and provides ample room to Mian Sahab to raise his concerns and seek consensus. As far as the 25 year planning of economy etc goes, it is an absurdity to even think about it. We are way pass the raw-Keynesian economic times, where the central planners used to decide the direction of the economy. It is a near consensus that the best role for government is to monitor and control the free flowing economy thr...

Attack on the shrine of Baba Farid in Pak Pattan is another attack of the barbaric gang of global terrorists on peace loving Pakistanis. Unlike Ali Hajveri and Abdullah Shah Ghazi, who too emphasized on the virtues of tolerance and integrated societies, Farid is different in one aspect and that is his poetry. A poetry which talks of retrospective self-analysis, harmony, peace, and tolerance. For his remarkable works of poetry, this 13th century poet and mystic is revered by poets, intellectuals, mystics, and people of faiths and ethnicities in South Asia and Persia. His works of poetry talk of common human beliefs of independent thought process, equality of human resource, equity in social governance, and denouncing of violence and intolerance. bhumi rangavali is one such work talking of peace, non-violence and harmony. Farīdā bhumi rangāvalī manjhi visūlā bāg Fareed, this world is beautiful, but there is a thorny garden within it. Farīdā jo taīN mārani mukīāN tinhāN na mārē ghum...

Tomorrow Supreme Court will give judgment on 18th amendment case. I sincerely hope that my apprehensions and fears turn out to be unfounded, but it seems that the Supreme Court will stab the democracy and parliament with her judgment. It most likely will strike down some key parts of 18th amendment, specially the ones pertaining to the appointment of judges of the the superior judiciary. In this the Supreme Court will strike down the principle of sovereignty of the parliament. It will be striking down a legislation that has been unanimously approved by both houses of the parliament and has the support of all electable political forces in the country. Not only that, the Supreme Court will do it despite the clear guide lines provided in the constitution, which it claims to uphold, as is given in 239 (6) : " (6) For the removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that there is no limitation whatever on the power of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) to amend any of the provis...

Nawaz Sharif has come out fully exposed. There is not even an iota of doubt now as to who is behind the current political turmoil. Unlike the few previous turmoils, where he did not let himself be fully exposed, he has come out with gloves off. It in a way is good, for now, on the table where every power player was upping the antes, now the time for show is here. I am not surprised at Nawaz's rush to the show. Circumstances and political events taking place in last two months made this move more and more inevitable. The political space in which he is operating is getting more and more squeezed and so his act had to be one of desperation. First, even if his supporters would deny it and even if the political pundits on idiot box would portray otherwise, Nawaz's mandate in 2008 elections was partly engineered. Lot of his candidates were given a favorable push in areas of north and central Punjab (only two areas in the whole country where he has political presence) at the expense...

Mansehra, Sargodha, Gujranwala and now Bahawalpur, if I were PML-N or their supporter, I would be going back to the drawing board and reviewing where one erred.   The myth of even a Punjab-dominating (or 13 districts only party) is busting in the midst of electoral politics.   One can keep denying it behind fake Gallup (Ijaz Gillani) surveys or the media steroids that lifted PML-N all along but it is about time that PML-N leadership and its leaders try analyzing what went wrong. Before we delve into the troubles of PML-N and their cure, let us first analyze the political landscape. First and foremost, for all the media and right-wing propaganda, PPP is still strong and getting stronger. They won a seat in Bahawalpur with a huge margin of 26000 votes just when the Islamabadi media pundits prophesized their demise in the floods. The constituency is in South Punjab, an area affected worse by floods and the constituency itself is 50-60 miles from some of the flood affected areas. ...

As I have started getting firsthand accounts of devastation of flood in the province of Sindh, my concern is growing. The concern is not limited to the floods alone but the political and social implications of the floods and their aftermath too. Before I delve further into the issues that trouble me, I will like to highlight a fact that contributed to worsening of the flood situation in country’s south, a fact completely ignored in the coverage of the floods. Between 10 th and 16 th of the lunar calendar, due to the rise of sea (sea tides), the Arabian Sea does not accept any water from River Indus. In fact, the sea water gets pushed about 30 miles inside the Indus Delta. So if the floods were not disbursed during these days and were let downstream, Karachi was at risk of a very heavy flooding. To save this, the water had to be disbursed more in upstream. With this explanation, let me move to the issue at hand, and a grave one. First and foremost, the demolition of dykes and levees h...

Pakistani media and country's right-wing is ripe with stories about poor aid response and poor donor response. It is about time things be put in perspective. For nothing has the potential of hurting rehabilitation more than this smear campaign. First, as I have dealt with it earlier, the issue of poor response. The disaster is way bigger than the earthquake of 2005 or any other disaster known in human history. A lot of areas needing rescue and relief are still flooded and are hard to access. The disaster is spread across 1/5th of the country or an area of appox. 160,000 sq. km. No state would be equipped to deal with any disaster of such magnitude. Our state, with its limited resources, is trying her best to do what it could. We must thank our Western allies and particularly United States for their help and any help in this regard should be welcome (including Indian). The floods are not over and there still are many important installations and populated cities/towns that need...

The dry spell of almost 10 years ended with torrential outpour that led to the worst flooding in the recent history. On the eve of Independence Day, 15 million people are left affected by one of the worst floods in human history. On the eve of Independence Day, the words of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, said in Chittagong on Pakistan Day of 1948 elaborate the best, the struggle and resolve of this land and its inhabitants: "The Story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties." This is what we have been and this is what we will always be - the survivors in the midst of all odds.  I wished my piece here, in the midst of this tragedy, on the eve of nation's 63rd Independence Day, did not talk of divisions, but divisions I have to be talked about. For the existential threat that this country of ours is facing, is trying to turn this tragedy to its advantage. F...