Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
Pakistan 2025 Programme to transform country into strong economy: Ahsan Iqbal
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
sothe honeymoon will end in 2025?
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
sothe honeymoon will end in 2025?
No it shows they will win elections till 2025 ;)
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
so far the way Punjab Prime Minister is working and flying to all over the world, it could be Punjab transforming to something, I hope he does not become ameerul-momineen of Punjab.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
From could to can?t - DAWN.COM
IT’S not really paralysis. It’s not quite suspended animation.
It’s not even fear or uncertainty. It’s just — nothing.
Nawaz was supposed to be the leader who could. Instead, he’s become the leader who can’t. What’s going on?
But before that — just how bad are things? Bad. Really bad.
Here’s how a typical meeting with the boss plays out: minister, courtier or supplicant lays out the lie of the land; Nawaz listens, then listens some more; minister, courtier or supplicant senses the boss doesn’t want to say anything, so he sketches out the options himself.
Nawaz keeps listening; minister, courtier or supplicant grows desperate as meeting draws to a close; Nawaz ends meeting with a polite thank you, saying nothing about what he’s decided or even if he’s decided or even just when he’ll decide; minister, courtier or supplicant leaves wondering what’s going on with the boss and what he’s supposed to do about the problem he went to the boss with.
Or a rumour spreads: Nisar’s head is on the chopping block because Nawaz has tired of him. No one is quite sure why, but the ones in the know know Nisar has fallen out of favour.
Except, nothing happens. Neither is Nisar reassured nor do the rumours die nor does Nisar get reined in. And he’s your point man and supposed go-to guy on internal security.
And that’s just a sample of the all kinds of messed up this government has already become. So what’s going on with Nawaz?
Forget the silliness about Nov 28 and Dec 12. The twin retirements of the chiefs matter, but it’s just a fig leaf. To understand why, flip the question around: what exactly could they block if Nawaz takes a policy decision? He’s got five years; they had only months, weeks and days.
Nor does the reality-is-just-sinking-in, things-are-worse-than-he-had-realised explanation work five months in. Yeah, things are bad, but if you’re prime minister a couple of weeks of high-level briefings and the contours of the problems are apparent enough. Get on with it.
It comes down to two explanations, one of which the N-League admits resignedly, the other that it still only dare whisper.
Nawaz is isolated. He hates his party, he has no bureaucrats, his inner circle has shrunk and, for some, there’s no Abbaji around this time. You can’t fix a country if there’s no one you really trust. Especially if you never were the sharpest pencil in the box to begin with.
The theory makes sense — to a degree. Isolation isn’t something you can’t break out of. And not everything about governance is automatically about trust — or the fear of being stabbed in the back or being screwed over.
So isolation isn’t enough of a theory on its own. But then there’s the other theory.
Has Nawaz given up?
Has he figured out that nothing can save Pakistan? That everything’s too broken for anything to be fixed? That all a pol can do is sit tight, hang on and hope for the best — that somewhere down the road, when the tumult and upheaval and brokenness resolve themselves somehow, recovery can be attempted?
The theory is less that Nawaz doesn’t know what to do and more that he’s figured out nothing can be done. Which, really, isn’t that surprising a realisation to anyone who’s been paying attention all these years. A declining state will eventually approach terminal state.
Now pair the theory of hopelessness with the theory of isolation — and you’re left with a whole lot of nothing. Which is precisely what we’re stuck with on the Nawaz front.
Which leaves the rest of us — you and me, the hapless lot stuck in the rear compartment of a train to nowhere — with a very simple question: can anything be done to jolt Nawaz into action?
Yes. But not by us. Just by events.
The problem with events though is that they rarely provide the right incentives for the right decisions — at least events of the Pakistani kind in the Pakistani milieu.
Take the economy.
Inflation, inflation, inflation. Punjab is already rumbling about it; that and electricity and the rupee. The N-League is worried, and for obvious reasons.
But then there’s Nawaz, always talking calmly about the economy and growth and making things better, seemingly living in another economy to the one the rest of Pakistan is struggling with.
Read between the lines and Nawaz’s approach on the economy comes down to this: forget trying to fix what’s already broken, just get more electricity to the people and wait for the trade dividend with India to explode.
Essentially, Nawaz is playing the long game — gambling that he’s got five years, so that gives him at least three to begin to produce results. Which is why he didn’t back Dar to take any tough decisions during the budget and hasn’t paid any attention to the IMF commitments.
But events wait for no man, even Nawaz. And so you already have the rumbling in Punjab — on inflation, on electricity, on the rupee — and the N-League having no idea what to do about any of it.
Which has forced them into doing what everyone else before them has done: give whatever handouts they can to whoever they can until there’s absolutely no room for any more handouts and then everyone is even more unhappy.
Which takes us back to the twin theories of despair and isolation.
Nothing can be done because everything’s too broken to be fixed and there’s no one Nawaz can rely on — with events working to further entrench those twin beliefs of Nawaz.
And therein lies the tale of the PM who went from being the leader who could to the leader who can’t in double-quick time.
The writer is a member of staff.
Twitter: @cyalm
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
Recently, I told someone (Zahni Ghulam of democracy and especially Shareef brothers) that as far as running the country is concerned 'Zardari tou Zardari, Nawaz is SubhanAllah'. I was told that give Nawaz and democracy some time … and that made me laugh.
I told him that the level government of Ganja has deteriorated situation of Pakistan in terms of governance, exchange rate, debt, poverty, joblessness, flight of capital, and inflation … that it would surprise me if even after 5 years PMLN would be able to bring enough recovery so that country gets at par with the level PPP left Pakistan few months ago. Most likely chance is that, as the things are going, Pakistanis would keep getting poorer and poorer but Ganja and his cronies would keep getting fatter and fatter in dollar terms, haram kee kamayee and corruption.
Just imagine, in 6 months PMLN government pushed rupee from below Rs 95 to a dollar in open market to above Rs 108 to a dollar … printed more money than PPP government did in 5 years, increased price of all fuels and day-to-day commodities, including foods, as much as 100 percent, increased national debt by several billion dollars, etc. Fact is that, Pakistanis seen nothing during this (as well as previous) government other than deprivation, hard time, high inflation, flight of capital, hunger, poverty, joblessness, depression, terrorism, and deteriorated mental health.
I think if such type of democracy survives in Pakistan for few more years then … ‘Pakistan ka khuda hafiz’.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
uss hakoomat ka kia hi kehne jis main 6 maah main hi sher se kutta behtar lagne laga ho 
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
Recently, I told someone (Zahni Ghulam of democracy and especially Shareef brothers) that as far as running the country is concerned 'Zardari tou Zardari, Nawaz is SubhanAllah'. I was told that give Nawaz and democracy some time … and that made me laugh.
I told him that the level government of Ganja has deteriorated situation of Pakistan in terms of governance, exchange rate, debt, poverty, joblessness, flight of capital, and inflation … that it would surprise me if after 5 years PMLN would give and recovery for Pakistan to bring the country at par with the level PPP left Pakistan few months ago. Most likely chance is that, as the things are going, Pakistanis would keep getting poorer and poorer but Ganja and his cronies would keep getting fatter and fatter in dollar terms with haram kee kamayee and corruption.
Just imagine, in 5 months PMLN government pushed rupee from below Rs 95 to a dollar in open market to above Rs 108 to a dollar … printed more money than PPP government did in 5 years, increased price of all fuels and day-to-day commodities, including foods, as much as 100 percent, increased national debt by several billion dollars, etc. Fact is that, Pakistanis seen nothing during this (as well as previous) government other than deprivation, hard time, high inflation, flight of capital, hunger, poverty, joblessness, depression, terrorism, and deteriorated mental health.
I think if such type of democracy survives in Pakistan for few more years then … ‘Pakistan ka khuda hafiz’.
Accountability is extremely difficult to impossible where 1) army still makes the key decisions over riding civilian government 2) Pakistanis as nation are disintegrated on key issues. Indians are more fragmented, polarized and hate each other more than Pakistanis do but when national issues are at stake, they become cohesive one nation and act above ethnicity, culture and religion.
It is an unfortunate fact that army and b-team of army JI and its cronies has made foundation of Pakistan brittle. It can collapse at any time, unless army really works under civilian government and be responsible for their actions.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
^^^Nice story.
Anyhow, looking at different periods of Pakistan, some under military rule and some under thieves, one can easily say that whenever there was military rule in Pakistan there was development, growth and progress, while whenever there was rule of thief civilians country deteriorated, economically gone backward, and disintegrated. Shows that army is good news for development, growth and progress in Pakistan … and whenever thief civilians get to power they bring bad news for Pakistan.
Now, if it is claimed that army rules behind the scene even when thief civilians get into power and rule on surface (in front) then it make me wonder what would happen to Pakistan if army had no hand and all was in the hands of thief civilians pretending as politicians. In this situation, there would have been no Pakistan left … Sorry, no Pakistanis with modest means would have left, as all would have died of joblessness, homelessness, diseases, hunger and deprivation.
Meanwhile, each and every corner of Pakistan would have got transferred to thief civilians acting as politicians. Even State bank, currency printing machine, Parliament houses, President and governor houses, All government (as well as private) buildings and lands, Courts, playgrounds, hospitals, schools, prisons, roads, jungles, deserts, hills, valleys, rivers, ravines, dams, … well, everything would have got transferred to these civilian thieves acting as politicians. Worse would be that every city and village of Pakistan would have names of Bhutto or Shareef attached. Name of Pakistan would get turned into Bhuttoistan or Shareefistan.
If any lucky Pakistani would have stayed alive then they would be workers and servants of these thief civilian politicians … or those in prison of these thief civilian politicians.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
^^^Nice story.
Anyhow, looking at different periods of Pakistan, some under military rule and some under thieves, one can easily say that whenever there was military rule in Pakistan there was development, growth and progress, while whenever there was rule of thief civilians country deteriorated, economically gone backward, and disintegrated. Shows that army is good news for development, growth and progress in Pakistan … and whenever thief civilians get to power they bring bad news for Pakistan.
A lot of that has to do with how foreign countries "reward" Pakistan under different guises, but when civilian governments take place different sanctions are used in punishments while on mountain peaks they shout they want democracy to prosper in Pakistan.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
A lot of that has to do with how foreign countries "reward" Pakistan under different guises, but when civilian governments take place different sanctions are used in punishments while on mountain peaks they shout they want democracy to prosper in Pakistan.
You are wrong, got misguided by propaganda of thief civilians pretending to be politicians, vested interest who loot and plunder with thieves in power, and their paid servants in media.
If you want to see true picture, do some research. Find aids (loans, grants) Pakistan received during various periods, and all would become clear. For instance ... aid and grant Pakistan got from 1999-2013 ... or during military rule (Musharraf period) and thieves rule (Zardari and Nawaz):
Pakistan under military:
Late 1999- early 2008 (8.3 years of Musharraf period) … Pakistan got funds mostly from USA, negligible from elsewhere (due to military rule, laws of many countries, especially European countries and Japan, restrict them from giving aid or grant).
Amount received (from USA and USA influenced world financial institutions):
Aid (subsidised loans and grants) ~ $4.5 billion
Re-imbursement to Pakistan from coalition support fund ~ $5 billion
Total of ~$ 9.5 billion (at most $10 billion) in 8.3 years (mostly from 2002-2008) … and out of that, loans and grants were less than $5 billion … rest is what Pakistan billed USA (nothing to do with aid … or loans and grants) and got as re-imbursement from coalition support fund.
Result: Pakistan external debt and liabilities did not increase from 1999 (~$40 billion) until early 2008 (still $40 billion) … Dollar reserves increased from less than $2 billion (including gold) in 1999 to over $16 billion dollars in early 2008. Rupee did not devalue … stayed ~Rs 60 to a dollar throughout from 2000 to early 2008.
Pakistan under thieves:
On the other hand, since 2008 (or in last 5.5 years), Pakistan got ~ £25 billion dollars from USA and USA influenced world financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, ADB, IB).
Aid (subsidised loans and grants) ~ $20 billion
Re-imbursement to Pakistan from coalition support fund ~ $6 billion
Apart of the above loans, grants and re-imbursement from USA and USA influenced world financial institutions, since 2008 (once thieves got into power) Pakistan also received many billions of dollars from European countries, Canada, Japan and Arab countries, some loans but mostly grants (many of these countries due to their own restriction on giving grants to military rule, did not gave a penny during Musharraf rule).
Result: Is that … due to loan alone … Pakistan external debt that was ~$40 billion in early 2008 (last days Musharraf in power) … increased to over $60 billion dollars today (At one time it went as high as $65 billion)… and on top of that … Pakistan dollar reserves that was standing at over $16 billion in early 2008 got reduced to less than $10 billion by 2013 … also rupee got devalued from ~Rs 60 to a dollar in early 2008 to Rs 108 to a dollar today … due to flight of capital, excessive printing and borrowing money domestically hence creating hyper inflation, pressure due to dollar payments and increased external debt.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
If you want to know exact figures, all what Pakistan got in dollars from USA for various reasons, year by year?
I can make your life east … so go to this site and check the able after page 24.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41856.pdf
Check table 2 … that is after page 24:
[TABLE]
Year
Aid, grant and re-imbursement
From coalition support fund
2002 - 2006
$8.394 billion dollars
2007
$1.703 billion dollars
Total during military rule
(~8.5 years)
Since funds are normally released late in the year for past year … I have not included what Pakistan received for 2008 as whatever Pakistan received for year 2008 came when thieves were in power.
$10.097 billion dollars
2008
$2.043 billion dollars
2009
$3.040 billion dollars
2010
$4.504 billion dollars
2011
$3.581 billion dollars
2012
$2.604 billion dollars
2013 (more than $1.6 billion dollars for year 2013 is held but has already started reaching Pakistan)
$0.063 billion dollars
Soon to release more than $1.6 billion dollars
(http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/19/politics/u-s-pakistan-aid/)
Total during thieves in power (~5.5 years)
$17.435 billion dollars plus
2014 committed
$1.163 billion dollars
(This amount do not include reimbursement from CSF)
Apart from above figures (during rule of thieves), USA nod gave Pakistan in aid over $10 billion dollars subsidised loan through IMF. Further (during thieves in power), Pakistan got several billion dollars from WB, ADB and IB (all because USA gave a nod).
Reasons America gave funds to Pakistan directly … what is given in above table (excluding what Pakistan got from IMF, WB, ADB, IB):
1: Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2006 (P.L. 109-163, global train and equip; Pentagon budget)
2: Counter narcotics Funds (Pentagon budget)
3: Coalition Support Funds (Pentagon budget)
4: Child Survival and Health (Global Health and Child Survival, or GHCS, from FY2010)
5: Development Assistance
6: Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance
7: Economic Support Funds; FC: Section 1206 of the NDAA for FY2008 (P.L. 110-181, Pakistan Frontier Corp train and equip; Pentagon budget); FMF: Foreign Military Financing
8: Human Rights and Democracy Funds
9: International Disaster Assistance (Pakistani earthquake and internally displaced persons relief);
10: International Military Education and Training;
11: International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (includes border security); MRA: Migration and Refugee Assistance
12: Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining, and Related (the majority allocated for Pakistan is for anti-terrorism assistance)
13: Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund/Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (Pentagon budget through FY2010, State Department thereafter)
Most aid for any country comes in the form of subsidised loan. Hence, a sign of aid to poor countries (like Pakistan) with bad governance is increase in their dollar debt. Most of the time, a poor country take loan so that they can pay or service their previous loan. During Musharraf military rule, Pakistan kept servicing external (as well as domestic) debt using current income, plus reduced servicing cost by amortizing expensive debts and replacing it with cheaper debts. This resulted in keeping external debt constant and modest increase in domestic debt.
Zardari government kept borrowing to service old debts, plus also used borrowed dollars to finance current account deficits, looting, and Ayeashi … causing external (as well as domestic) debt to increase substantially. Nawaz government is doing same, borrowing dollars (plus borrowing rupees and also printing rupees) to service external (and domestic) debt, looting and Ayeashi … only difference between Zardari and Nawaz is that, what Zardari did in 5 years, Nawaz want to do that in 6 months.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
Sure 
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
^^^Nice story.
You are expert in that not me. Pakistan has suffered a lot under military rules. There may be development during dictatorships but they only proved temporary, short-termed and did not benefit the people of Pakistan.Taking over by dictatorships is not the solution. Let civilian work under constitution and let army should take dictation from civilians rather than otherwise. Let civilian government take the full responsibility and liable to full accountability then. Your corrupt model of government has proven failed and what Pakistan today is not on account of corrupt politicians but because of corrupt absolute model you are supporting here.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
You are expert in that not me. Pakistan has suffered a lot under military rules. There may be development during dictatorships but they only proved temporary, short-termed and did not benefit the people of Pakistan.Taking over by dictatorships is not the solution. Let civilian work under constitution and let army should take dictation from civilians rather than otherwise. Let civilian government take the full responsibility and liable to full accountability then. Your corrupt model of government has proven failed and what Pakistan today is not on account of corrupt politicians but because of corrupt absolute model you are supporting here.
What? ... Many unemployed useless Pakistanis got job in media and now earning a good living. Chaukidar, Thelaywala, Masdoor, Massi, etc ... who were struggling before Musharraf period, got nice job as well as mobile and motorcycle. Most Pakistanis were happy then but now crying. Many who I know got scholarship to do Phd in USA, UK, Europe, Australia, etc ... and they are happy for the opportunity they got during Musharraf time. Unfortunately, I know someone whose scholarship got stopped midway once Musharraf gone, and he is upset with PPP and curse Zardari.
I love lyari expressway. When in Karachi, it reduces my travelling time by 45 minutes going towards Kemari. Unfortunately Musharraf gone before expressway got completed other way round (coming from Kemari), hence when returning, I had to go through congested Karachi roads, that waste my time and is harmful to health too. I am really disappointed that work on lyari expressway once stopped several years ago, has not started yet, completing the return half, even though most of the return half was also got completed during Musharraf time and little work need to get done (Samajh may nahi aata kay yea choor politicians are such a big thugs).
Well... I can give you 100s of example that has made lives of many poor better during Musharraf time, and is everlasting. Anyhow, once thieves pretending to be politicians, came to power, many lost, still many who benefitted due to Musharraf governance, for them the benefit is lasting, though due to thieves in power, life of many deteriorated.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
Here comes Showbaz Sharif
He wants to take a look at prices in his personal helicopter
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
thand mahol…
Sharif: Yet to deliver on his promises | Arab News
Exepectations that top-level changes in the military and judicial hierarchies will help curb corruption and improve overall governance have begun to slowly vanish, as it seems that the civilian administration led by Nawaz Sharif is having a field day in the changed scenario.
The Nawaz-led government appears to be following the path of its predecessors. Not only, the government is reluctant on opening graft cases against former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his cohorts, it is almost backing out on its promises made during election campaigns regarding introduction of reforms in the administration etc.
Despite tall claims of adopting austerity measures, we don’t see any signs of slashing expenditures and any change in the lavish lifestyles of those at the helm, as official protocols and security costs remain the same. The economy, which is in tatters since 2008, shows no signs of recovering and there seem little efforts to help improve the situation.
The other day Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar claimed in a television interview that the countries foreign exchange reserves — precarious at the moment — would be “boosted” in three to four months and the rupee-dollar parity, currently at Rs110, would be brought down to Rs98. In the current scenario, it can hardly be called an achievement. Most economists remain skeptical over these claims.
It is true that Sharif has inherited a host of problems, each more complicated than the other. He is faced with huge internal issues like inflation, terrorism and flight of capital from the country. Unfortunately, he has met with failures on almost all these fronts. Without improving the internal situation, the country cannot attract foreign investments.
Taking cues from past experiences and Pakistan’s checkered history, Sharif discarded the principle of choosing the senior-most general to lead the army. Gen. Raheel Sharif has been given preference mainly for two reasons. He was in-charge of training and evaluation of army before being made the new chief of staff, and secondly, he was also recommended for the post by former President Rafiq Tarrar (Sharif had served as his military secretary) and also by the former Balochi General Abdul Qadir, now a minister in the government.
Former army chief Kayani had reportedly favored Gen. Arshad Mahmood for the post but his advice fell on deaf ears. Since Field Marshall Ayub Khan’s era, mostly handpicked generals have been made the army chiefs. Gen. Musa Khan, Yahya, Gul Hasan, Ziaul Haq, Asif Nawaz, Waheed Kakar, Musharraf, and even Kayani, had all superseded their seniors. Gen. Jahangir Karamat remains an exception. Benazir Bhutto had appointed him the army chief in 1995 purely on merit and seniority basis. Sharif, however, forced him out for making a speech that did not go down well the PML-N leader during in second term in the office.
Gen. Haroon Aslam, in this case, was ignored, and had to resign. Sharif also appeared to be scared of commandoes. Musharraf, despite being his handpicked army chief, overthrew his government. This is why a person from different background has been appointed as the army chief.
Gen. Sharif looks a downright professional soldier but whether he will remain so in future, has yet to be seen. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary is set to retire on Dec.11. Justice Tasadduq Jilani may not be that aggressive as his predecessor That will provide a much-needed relief to the prime minister, because the age-old practice of a troika ruling the country, will now banish, and Sharif will now be in total control of the situation. But the premier has the tendency to be dictatorial at times, which may create difficulty for him in the long run. Unless budgetary constraints are applied, and those involved in corruption are held accountable, Sharif or any other ruler will continue to be in trouble. Sharif will have to work much harder and find quick solutions to the problems afflicting the country. The job is not easy and may ultimately reflect on him, sooner than anticipated.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon ...
Now you can legally launder your money aka never ending honeymoon for crooks and friends of sharifs. Raiwind version of NRO.
Re: No time for a Honeymoon …
Honeymoon over
Protest mode: The honeymoon is over, Imran tells government – The Express Tribune