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November 6th, 2007

Pakistan: All Martial and No Law

Omer Alvie · 07:32 · South Asia

lingua → pt · bn

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a martial law. President Musharraf can call it what he likes, Emergency or Amer-Jensee (as he pronounced in his speech on television) but in all intents and purposes it is martial law. The legality of enforcing such an emergency is more than questionable and the official reason (war on terror) is laughable to say the least. Musharraf could have claimed “aliens are attacking” and it would have been more credible.

Minos' Mine Kampf presents his analysis of the situation in his inimitable fashion.

Well, the kid gloves are finally off. The smiley mask, too, is slowly being dissolved by the vitriol oozing out of dilated facial pores. Dear Leader San, sans Chaplinesque mustache, stands before us in all his pint-sized totalitarian glory. A strongman-the-laaltein (trans.lantern) for our weird and wonderful times. A Sodomise-’em Hussein in the making. Der Führer Redux in khaki, whom we should face with right arms raised in reverent salutes, chanting Sieg Heil (or else crawl back into our little foxholes and go back to sleep).

In order to address the threat of religious extremism and terrorism, the government cracked down on the judges, lawyers, the media and human rights activists, while the religious extremists and suspected terrorists I suppose let out a collective “phew!” and went about their business.

Pak Affairs explains the reasons for “Martial Law – Lite“

Musharraf caught in the middle of this has been trying to strike a balance by appeasing its people and at the same time keeping NATO and US off the limits from entering Pakistani territory. It’s tough to be in Musharraf’s shoes at this point where he is trying to hold the country’s dignity in place and yet not agitate a wounded bear, the US.

The Chief Justice and most of the Supreme Court and high court judges were removed and their replacements were sworn in under the banner of “out with old and in with the new” and the subsequent protests resulted in the arrests of many lawyers. There's a complete blackout on all private Pakistani news channels and it has also been reported that the government has tried to restrict the publication of a supplement on the emergency situation by the Jung newspaper. By the way, Musharraf still believes in press freedom as he claimed in his speech. I guess he was talking about the freedom to get censored by the government.

Silsila-e-Mah-o-Saal asks an important question of supporters of Musharraf, while Windmills presents a fable that is worthy of publication as an opinion piece in a broadsheet newspaper in Pakistan.

There were rumours yesterday about President Musharraf being placed under house arrest by a faction of the army who were displeased with his abuse of authority. This rumour resulted in the Karachi stock exchange taking a massive hit. But Freedom and Democracy highlights an interesting video clip from GEO News that discusses the latest Supreme court order that warns Core commanders and servicemen from taking part in unconstitutional activities. Perhaps there was something to this rumour after all. (Although the news clip is in Urdu, the order itself is read out in English).

Baithak presents an update on the media's reaction to the emergency.

The anchor persons are saying that the people are angry (at the imposition of Emergency.) But from what we see here, across the channels, the media hosts appear angrier.

Procrastination presents a detailed review of Musharaf's address to the nation. (The post includes excerpts from the speech including the video of the speech.)

You’ll notice the “I” in Musharraf’s speech, i.e. “I did this, I did that” and his conflation of him and Pakistan and how everything he has done and is doing is for Pakistan. That is of course the staple of such speeches, I still remember Zia’s speeches.

Metroblogging Lahore presents a summary of Press views on the situation, while Metroblogging Islamabad highlights the link to the Dawn News channel live web cast.

Well, that's it for the current round up on views from the Pakistani blogosphere. I'm off to Karachi (Pakistan) for a short visit. It is short because my wife has placed Martial Law (more appropriately Marital Law) on my trip. She qualifies the reason as War on Terror. Hey, if Musharraf can use that excuse, why can't she!

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October 19th, 2007

Pakistan: In the wake of the attacks

Omer Alvie · 20:52 · South Asia

lingua → bn · de · mg · zht · zhs

On her return from an eight year self imposed exile, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was welcomed to Karachi with a procession of thousands of her supporters, and two successful suicide bombers. The attack resulted in 136 dead, hundreds more injured and a public that was left in utter shock, obviously due to the nature and scale of the attack.

The initial responses from all Pakistani politicians was the same until the following morning, when the blame for the attack ricocheted in every direction hitting everyone from Musharaf, to the intelligence agencies, to the MQM leader Altaf Hussain, and then finally hitting Al Qaeda and the Taliban (according to Benazir).

Needless to say, the public have their own opinion about who is ultimately responsible.

The Pakistani blogosphere naturally reacted instantly to this horrific terrorist attack. All Things Pakistan presented an appropriate reaction to the event; The Pakistani Spectator concludes that the attack will generate further support for the PPP; and Ali Eteraz describes the scene of the crime and the resulting reaction to the attack.

Tears of the moon, writes an angered response on the political scene in Pakistan,

First of, we all know we are blessed with the most conscientious of leaders… Leaders? Let me rephrase that… We have been blessed with politicians deigned to rule us with all their gracious, sloth like selves encased in gilded cages and bullet proof enclosures. They are for the ‘awam’ while they stand behind hordes of people from the awam to keep them safe from the awam. Oxymoron, is it? But just the term, moron should suffice here!

An interesting point brought up by Dr. Shahid Masood (a political commentator on the ARY channel) was that he was personally informed by Benazir Bhutto that she had sent a letter to Pervez Musharaf, prior to her traveling to Pakistan, listing out the names of three (political) personalities who should be investigated as possible suspects, in case she was killed in an attack upon her arrival to Pakistan. She naturally kept the names confidential. (Just thought I'd throw this in there to stir the pot a bit)

Zindagi holds the mayor Karachi responsible for the lapse of security, while the Glasshouse who held an optimistic view of Benazir's arrival back to Pakistan wrote an addendum to his post (following the attack) highlighting some interesting initial responses to the event.

Senior PPP party members were quick to blame the regime's secret agencies for carrying out these blasts. A successful return for Benazir Bhutto does threaten the Musharraf regime, so these accusations do have a logical basis, particularly when these agencies are known for carrying out such incidents.

Desicritcs presented some intriguing facts about who could be responsible for the attack, as does the Counterterrorism blog. And finally, Beyond the Punchline lays partial blame of the high body count on Benazir herself.

Just to let you all know, I am also returning to Karachi after an 8 month self-exile (work related), sometime in the first week of November. Don't worry, I don't have a welcome procession planned for my arrival.

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October 11th, 2007

Pakistan: Blog-o-detention

Omer Alvie · 06:13 · South Asia

lingua → bn · mg

I must begin this post by extending my sincere apologies to the readers of GV for my disappearance of the GV radar for the past several months.. Unfortunately, for me I do not have valid excuse for this prolonged absence except to tell you the truth. I was abducted by aliens. No, not the extraterrestrial kind but illegal kind and it turned out to be only a few degrees worse than watching Fox News. They demanded ransom but my family refused to pay. Months went by and my family even stopped answering their phone calls. Just last week I was released after a final negotiation effort in which the abductors agreed to pay a million dollars (in 20 easy installments) to my family just so they could get rid of me. They, apparently, had had enough.

Now to the business of highlighting some interesting posts from the Pakistani bloggers, Sabahat, who happens to be one of my favourite bloggers, writes about the voice of the confused and the politically unsavvy.

Musharraf may not exactly be as charismatic as Bhutto but in his initial days he too captured a lot of people's imagination and as the foregone conclusion to today's elections was announced i was hit with a strong sense of dejavu. Shades of not Bhutto but Zia-ul-Haq's sham referendum and Musharraf's own a few years back. What kind of ‘election' is this that took place today? Another 5 years for Musharraf? What exactly do I feel about it.

Anwaar Hussain, pens another impeccable piece, this time he give us a detailed insight into that notorious US government contractor, Blackwater USA.

Blackwater is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department’s three private security contractors deployed in Iraq. At least 90% of its revenue comes from government contracts, two-thirds of which are no-bid contracts. The cost for each Blackwater guard, a foot soldier, in Iraq is estimated to be around $445,000 per year, more than twice that of a U.S. General’s salary with 26 years of service.

Windmill of my mind has posted some interesting interviews with several (Karachi) bloggers discussing the flaws and dangers of the proposed CyberCrime Bill.

During my recent captivity, courtesy the illegal aliens, I passed my time in solitary confinement by launching yet another site, with my blogger friend Awab and my brother (who doesn't blog for religious reasons or so he says). The site is called Quinge, and it has exclusive podcast interviews with some very prominent personalities, such as Dr. Arma Barlas, Professor Ziauddin Sardar, Musicians Sajid and Zeeshan and more. You will get to hear discussion on religion (Islam), politics, art and music in a way that you have not heard it before, especially in the mainstream media. In addition we've got some original essays and short stories that are exclusive to quinge.com. I hope you all will take the time to check this site out.

Finally, I'd like to highlight my own recent blog post, which I should warn, should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 18. It has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America.

That's me done for this post. I hope to return again with another post in the future but without such a prolonged break. Neha's made sure of that as she has just promised to ship 2 cans of solid ‘whoop-ass' for me in case I procrastinate again.

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May 15th, 2007

Pakistan: Blog-o-furious

Omer Alvie · 12:54 · South Asia

Procrastination be damned (for now), as the situation in Pakistan gets progressively worse, I feel the desperate need to highlight the views of Pakistani bloggers because I think it is imperative that GV readers be updated on what is going on in my homeland, and the bloggers are providing the most honest and accurate views on the events that unfolded last Saturday. I personally suffered several migraines and internal hemorrhages watching the proceedings on television. Pre-planned, well orchestrated, political motivated riots and murders took place in Karachi on the 12th of May. The guilty parties labeled these events as ‘unfortunate' and claimed themselves as victims. It's like kneeing someone repeatedly in the groin and then claiming yourself that you can no longer have children.

Chowrangi marked it as a black day in the history of Karachi with the following post:

It is very unfortunate to observe ruling party of the country having good time and celebrating in their rally in Islamabad, while people were getting killed in Karachi. All TV channels showed armed goons moving freely around the city, attacking each other and damaging public property while police and rangers did nothing practical.

To say that the Musharaf government is unpopular would be a colossal understatement. It is positively despised in most quarters but the ‘General' is in serious denial of that fact. The desperate attempt by the government to orchestrate mass rallies to present itself as ‘popular' is probably the sorriest attempt at PR that one can witness. We (Pakistanis) have seen way too many of these in recent times to fall for this same old ploy.

Teeth Maestro has been very tenacious in commenting on the events that took place. His latest post, not only details his own impassioned opinion but also presents a first-hand account of what a doctor saw on that fateful day. Incidentally, this account was received as a comment on one of Teeth Meastro's post on Karachi Metroblogs.

I rode with my ambulance drivers, was in the hastily set up emergency room in our lobby, attended multiple gunshot wounds victims etc. but nothing struck down my soul more than what 9 fully armed workers of MQM alongwith 2 sector office bearers did. They tried to drag out the wounded and dying body of a Sunni Tehrik worker (we later learnt he was sunni tehrik) for presumably finishing him off.

Red, White and Black writes about the carnage, turmoil and anguish of that day.

The events of the past two days have been harrowing. Most of us have been glued to television screens following the horrific scenes of gun-battles on the streets of Karachi. The violence that ensued on Saturday was expected by many quarters. What was not expected was the manner in which the law-enforcement authorities absconded responsibility of maintaining law and order in the city. 34 died on May 12.

Crow's Nest has a detailed account of what happened that day. He even describes the attack on the media (AAJ TV channel) for airing the truth about the actual culprits.

Finally, I highlight a precise summary of 12th May from one of my favourite blogs, Silsila-e-Mah-o-Saal. I present this because her opinions closely mirror my own on what happened that day and also because I think she is a rather an eloquent writer.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programs … until I return with my next post.

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May 7th, 2007

Pakistan: Blog-o-comments

Omer Alvie · 17:25 · South Asia

Like phoenix rising from the ashes, I return renewed, refreshed and rejuvenated into a new, enthused blogger self. Actually, that is a slight exaggeration, it is more like panic rising from a crisis, I return depleted, drained and depressed added to my existing procrastinating blogger self. Not wanting to disappoint my legion of admirers from around the world (it could happen!), I write this insightful post not just to highlight the riches from the Pakistani blogosphere but to give something back to my fans that have given me so much (anonymous insults, veiled threats and colourfully worded hate mails) over the years.

In this post, I shall be revealing my successful techniques and etiquette for commenting on blogs. But before I get into that, Glass House details the recent blatant censorship incident in Pakistan.

Confronted by the sight of thousands of Punjabis hailing the arrival of the Chief Justice apparently proved to be too much for the Establishment – Aaj, both channels of ARY and all three channels of Geo suddenly disappeared off our screens.

On reading a uniquely enjoyable and well written blog post, it is imperative that one must shower the author with praise in order to encourage the blogger to remain committed to producing excellent content. For female bloggers (between the ages of 20 to 40), I prefer to comment thus, “I love you and I think we should start a family, immediately!” For all other bloggers, I comment, “Oh, c'mon, you can do better than that!”

Teeth Maestro, puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of MQM for the TV censorship.

For posts that one considers ‘average', it is considered good blog manners to comment on the content and give constructive feedback to the blogger to improve his/her writing skills. I choose to be subtle when commenting on such posts; “Try a photoblog next time, Shakespeare!”

Fountainhead expertly pens his latest piece on the situation in the Middle East.

Unless pulled back, the world is now at the very brink of entering one grizzly global battle. The battle ground is the Middle East. And the two chief adversaries in this upcoming battle are the Muslims and the Western forces marshaled by the Zionist Jews.

Raza Rumi delves into Pakistan's past to highlight Kafka-esque moments in the country's history.

On occasion, one encounters a blog post that is so below par that it results in headache and nausea even upon a brief perusal. For such posts, it is still proper etiquette to point out the shortcomings to the blogger in a polite, appropriate manner. I prefer, “You are dumber than an opossum's IQ. Perhaps you should consider giving up blogging and take up a career at Fox News.”

Finally, I'd like to highlight my recent post about a Pakistani play that was banned by the government. After reading this post, the only appropriate comment you should post is, “Wow! That was such an insightful and interesting article that I'd like to immediately wire transfer large sums of money to your personal bank account.”

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March 9th, 2007

Pakistan: Blog-o-hiding

Omer Alvie · 03:07 · South Asia

I'm writing this post from the confines of my newly acquired underground bunker. The reason for opting for a subterrestrial crib is not because I am paranoid about an impending Middle East conflict turning nuclear (although that is a pretty good reason) but because my blog popularity has soared for measly fan following of two to a colossal following of 3 and half. The half represents a three-legged Dachshund fascinated with my sad attempts at political satire. With such a large group of fanatical admirers of my blog, I have decided to go into hiding in my new secret grotto, so that I shall not be inundated with requests for autographs.

Today's round-up includes an interesting mix of Pakistani blog posts, which includes the written word, podcast and video commentary. We'll start of with the latest hit piece from the Fountainhead detailing the fall of the Roaming Empire.

Nothing can be sadder than the fact that a country that welcomed to its bosom victims of the abuse of other powers for centuries, finally became the greatest abuser of power itself. And in so doing, wrote its own epitaph.

The Glasshouse remains optimistic faced with the seriousness of the US-Iran conflict.

These days I often come across people who seem apprehensive about the possibility of war between the US and Iran. Your Blogger, being a habitual optimist, likes to believe that what we are witnessing is no more than another example of the Bush Administration’s predilection for sabre-rattling.

I have to tell you that my new cavernous residence is rather palatial. It includes an underground lake, two huge power generators, a computer with 24-hour internet access and 2 years supply of spam and Twinkies to address my special dietary needs.

Suspectpaki, one of my oldest blogger friends, unfortunately due to ill health cannot currently do much writing for his blog due to problems with his eyesight. He has opted to do a podcast instead, providing an off-the-cuff rant which (more…)

1 comment · »»

February 1st, 2007

Pakistan: Blog-o-vacation

Omer Alvie · 11:46 · South Asia

I'm back! …or didn't anyone notice I was gone? Anyway, as I was not able to attend the Global Voices summit in Delhi (as I am still waiting for the approval for my Indian visa after three months), I consoled myself with a trip to my homeland, Kingdom of Lesotho. No, just kidding, I was off on a well-deserved vacation (if I may so myself, as no else would) to Pakistan. My days there were much prized perusing the wares of what the cities of Lahore and Karachi have to offer. Even had the opportunity to meet a lot of the Pakistani bloggers whose blogs I frequent and highlight in my post here at GV. But before I get into that, let me call your attention to the recent post by Teeth Maestro, who also happens to be the co-founder of the Don't Block The Blog campaign, in which he details a new solution to by-passing the blanket blogspot ban still in force in Pakistan.

Having some problem surfing to blogspot websites with pkblogs I had resolved to try and find another solution, I went on a prowl for good solution after a massive hunt I came up with the idea of setting up a secure SSH tunnel in combination with FoxyProxy Plug-in on FireFox.

During this vacation, I had the opportunity to visit some of my favourite places, in Lahore, including the Lahore Museum. If you ever get the chance to visit Lahore, this place is a must see or else the authorities will not allow you to leave the city (or that should be the policy for all visiting tourists, if I had anything to do with it). The best part is for 10 Rupees they allow you to photograph inside the museum. I went ape, and took (more…)

4 comments · »»

November 21st, 2006

Pakistan: Blog-o-success

Omer Alvie · 05:46 · South Asia

As part of my extremely philanthropic nature, (which not only parallels but also surpasses the likes of George Soros, Warran Buffet and Bill Gates some say) I have decided to share with you a colossal secret, hidden for years by the high order of the Cyber Templar. Risking life and several much treasured bodily appendages, I reveal the secret of ‘How to write a decent blog post'.

But before I get into that, let me first address the main purpose of this post, which is to highlight the interesting articles from the Pakistani blogs. Fountainhead pens another brilliant piece teaching President Bush to say please.

Now that a thumping smack has been delivered by American voters to the backside of the Empire building hallucinations of your sponsors, leaving you presidential future effectively bowdlerized, you are well advised to start learning to say ‘please’ to lessen the pain of the remaining two years.

In order to write a decent blog post, an initial prerequisite must be met. Get yourself a blog as this is absolutely essential for writing a successful blog post. You can procure an economical (free) blog at any corner cyber grocery story. Having procured a blog, you now need to write something worth reading. This isn't easy let me tell you. I've tried for ages but it hasn't worked for me yet, but maybe you'll get lucky.

Windmill presents an enlightened view on the passing of the recent Women's Protection Bill. Sabizak also addresses the same topic but with a very logical and positive take.

That this has been passed by people who in their personal and ideological lives could not care less for the suffering of women, (would in fact and do perpetuate their subjugation in their own influence spheres in its worst possible forms), is ironic, but to some Machiavellian corner of my heart, quite satisfying.

Finally, in order to write a successful (more…)

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October 14th, 2006

Pakistan: Blog-o-leader

Omer Alvie · 13:13 · South Asia

With the advent of citizen journalism and the unrelenting popularity of blogs as the main source of honest opinion and news, it won't be long before the world leaders jump on the bandwagon, as President Ahmadinejad has already done, and launch their own blogs to further ensure their own popularity and provide us with an opportunity to laugh out loud uncontrollably as an alternative to the comedy of Fox News.

Let me now, return back to reality for a few moments, and present to you a small collection of very interesting links to some remarkable posts from the Pakistani blogosphere.Fountainhead posts an impeccable piece which also made it to the pages of Baltimore Chronicle. Suspect Paki writes an angered post on the recent report on the new estimate of the Iraqi death toll.

And people around the world, especially the western world, will happily eat their dinners tonight, oblivious, silent, compliant, not even fully aware that they’re alive, but satisfied that Muslims are dead. Yes. White people happy at the death of brown people. Don’t act surprised. Don’t look shocked. It’s been the way for centuries.

PakCast interviews Ambreen Ali on the one year anniversary of the devastating Pakistan Earthquake.

One year later and with a harsh winter beginning, she says, too little has been done and too many are still living in makeshift housing.

In my reciprocal response to this coming trend of Head Of State becoming a blogger, I as blogger have decided to become a Head Of State. For this reason, I would like to announce my candidacy as the next President of Pakistan. I think I already possess the necessary credentials, as I just recently bought myself an ex-army general's uniform with (more…)

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September 28th, 2006

Pakistan: Blog-o-addiction

Omer Alvie · 14:54 · South Asia

Hi, my name is Omer and I am net-o-holic. I've been addicted to the net for the last 8 years and now I must admit I need help. My addiction started out as casual browsing of a few news sites, and has since then progressed to a daily 20 hour fix of what can only be classified as compulsion for the most trivial minutia of current events. The problem has been compounded by my fixation for the real heavy stuff; celebrity web sites.

Recently, I hit bottom, when I found my self reviewing the official Paris Hilton web site. The experience was traumatic; my IQ dropped to single digits in just a matter of minutes and my wife slapped me silly trying to bring me out of the resulting coma. It is because of this experience that I've had to go cold turkey on the internet the last few weeks, which is why you haven't seen a post from me for a while now.

Through the aid of several net therapists and the Al Gore Net Addiction clinic, I have recovered enough to bring you this recent update of the Pakistan blogosphere. I hope you appreciate the courage it took for me to bring you this information for your perusal.

ATP provides an important Pakistan cricket update; Kokaine writes about Musharaf's appearance on the Jon Stewart Show; PakCast discusses Pope's remarks and Musharaf's visit to the US; Suspect Paki showcases the video Ludicrous Diversions about the London bombings; Saad is an impeccable Pakistani photographer based in Singapore and his portfolio is worth seeing; Windmill details the religion war; and finally, I address the 9-11 conspiracy theories. (more…)