Backbenches!!! What is it all About
While sitting at the back-benches in the classrooms, we enjoyed a lot. We reveled our favorite food and other delicacies. We read our favorite Imran Series, Suspense and Jasoosi digests. Our parents have prohibited bringing these interesting books to home, and we have to pay the rent of Rs.2 per day.
We were apt in anything except in studies and this mutual inability has brought us together, to survive and not to compete each other.
Our dismal performance have brought us disgrace and scolding at home, but it was not a big price for all the fun and privileges, we had on the backbenches.
Apni tou jaise Taise Kat Hi Gai But!!!!
When it came to real life, we saw and hear people discussing their favorite hobby of discussing Politics, and a little curiosity of the topic bought to our knowledge that BACKBENCHERS are here too in the Parliaments.
It is a breed of politicians who were sent to the Assemblies by their BIRADAIES, but have nothing to d with the parliamentary proceedings, They came here for the previliges, fascilities and their share of developmental funds.
Hence they are similar to us, a little more insights reveled that we as a nation are backbenchers in the political setup, even the class characterized as politicians are with us, as the state, its pursuit of imaginary goals have left a little room for politics and we are here for the FUN only!!!!
Front Benches are appropriated to those with the Arms in the political system, Institutions as well as political parties i.e People of Karachi are on the receiving side where politicians are on the backbenches in their own parties.
A response to Ejaz Haider: Blatant lies and partial facts on Balochistan – by Sheen Alif
Ejaz Haider, as a political analyst wrote about him, “Ejaz Haider is just defending what he has always believed in. He is a former cadet and would have done quite well had he stayed on. He is actually part of the great Strategic Plans Division (SPD) network. They love his intellectual monologue and he loves lecturing them.
But, the monologue and lecturing is not restrained only to the said department. He often comes out with Op-Ed and articles in newspapers, weekly magazines. He comes with selective responses on various issues as he wrote an Op-ed, The great non-debate!, while responding to Fasi Zaka and George Fulton on their pieces about Sialkot mob killing and another Op-ed, How about (super) models! while responding to Ayesha Siddiqa’s piece on Hate India mindset.
He recently has written two articles on Balochistan, Immediate action needed in Balochistan and Lies and half-truths on Balochistan.
A friend of mine asked Malik Siraj Akbar, editor of the recently blocked online newspaper, The Baloch Hal about the blocking and Ejaz Haider Op-eds, he replied, “Its very unfortunate that all sources to Balochistan are blocked for the rest of the country and the world. I have no complaints from Ejaz Haider as he flies to Quetta in a military helicopter. Ejaz Haider served in the Pakistan Army for two years and took a course at PMA (this is what he has confirmed on his facebook page. ” Read more…
I am writing this post after reading a recent article by Declan Walsh, the Guardian correspondent in Pakistan.In his article, Walsh talks about the ethnic divide in Karachi, but it seems his analysis is plaqued with the same ethno-focus ignoring other factors which is evident in Pakistani media.
In fact ethnic divide is a smoke screen obscuring various conflicting interests in Karachi. Cowasjee wrote an interesting series of articles in daily Dawn with the title similar to “We are owners of Karachi and we can sell it.”
As we say in Urdu, “Iss Hammam Mey sab Nangey Hein”, all the parties are involved in this dirty game of grabbing the expensive commercial lands in the most preferred residential areas of Karachi. For example, North Nazimabad, Gulshan as well as the newly discovered areas of interest adjacent to the Northern Bypass, Baldia, Orangi and Gadap Town near the Balochistan border.
The divide in Karachi is not only vertical. It is horizontal too on the basis of sectarian affiliations. As the area mostly hit in the recent spate of sectarian killing, i.e mostly Shias, are Rizwia Society. Nazimabad, Sakhi Hasan, Nagan Chowrangi and New Karachi. And all these areas are mostly of our Urdu speaking or Mohajir community.
These sectarian killers in these areas appear on motorbikes, do their job, and disappear in minutes.
The banned outfits may find their recruits and devoted members in Katchi Abadis (slums), but their offices are located in posh residential or commercial areas.
For example, Sipah-e-Sahaba’s (code names: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or Ahle-Sunnat wal Jamaat) has its headquarters in in Nagan Chowrangi; Hakatul-Mujahideen’s (HuM) headquarter and recruiting office for the state sponsored Afghan jihad is in Haroonabad, Mustafa Masjid near the factory of Altaf Shakoor of Pasban. Jaish-e-Muhammad’s (JeM) office is in Hyderi, Batha Masjid, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) office is in near Gulshan Chowrangi, Yaqoobia Masjid.
So ignoring these factors and keeping them outside the bloodiest game provides a partial picture of what is happening in Karachi.
Another factor which is not much highlighted is the underworld wars, as most prominent figures of the underworld as Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, Shoaib Khan, Khalid Shahenshah and Haji Ibraheem aka Bhulu were involved in running their rackets, businesses, gangs and were residing in Karachi.
Three of the main characters, i.e., Khalid Shahenshah, Shoaib Khan and Bhulu in Karachi were killed and replaced by others from the same city though not came to prominence yet.
Like other analysts and reporters, Declan Walsh has based his report on perception and word of mouth, not on facts. He said the PPP stronghold is in Sindhi and Balochi communities, but he forgot to mention that PPP has its popularity and vote bank in almost all ethnicities as Mohajirs, Biharis, Pashtuns, Punjabis, Hindko speaking are PPP supporters and voters as the PPP MNA Qadir Patel and MPAs Nadim Bhutto, and Akhtar Jadoon, a Pashtun, won from Baldia/Kimari constituencies having majority of other ethnic groups rather than Sindhis/Balochis.
While reporters such as Walsh have their main sources of information in the MQM and other political parties, they may also care to visit the PPP offices, instead of relying on the information provided by the so called Aman Committees, the MQM wallahs and their pseudo-liberal agents.
