:salam:
Ladies and gentlemen, we are into the 6th edition of **Unplugged With Guppies **and have kakaballi as our guest. **kakaballi **is a senior member of GS and is a keen observer of politics.
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Unplugged With kakaballi
** 1: What is your name?**
Name’s Balli, Kaka Balli, 007.
**2: Where do you hail from and where do you reside? Do you have dual nationality?
**Pakistan. Roaming around East Asia at the moment. No dual Nationality.
**3: What is your educational and professional background?
**Degree Degree hoti hai…
**4: What is your political orientation?
**Ideally, I would like to see a centrist government in Pakistan. The country was established with religion as a political factor and a lot of people in the country are still very conservative to easily digest liberal left ideas.
The situation where we have taken the country to, however, demands, for a few years at least an authoritarian left government with no tolerance for corruption or violence. This would remain a fantasy though, since it would require military to give up a lot of powers.
**5: Which political party do you support and why? Please explain the reasons in case if you do not support any party.
**I have specific views about major political parties of Pakistan.
PPP => now a political mafia where everyone dreams of getting ahead through whatever means and rewarded for dedication to the mafia. Typically, in the mafia, the street workers carry out orders from the bosses because of the possible massive incentives attached to promotion. The bosses flaunt their wealth shamelessly so as to keep the workers motivated and willing to accept any job desired by the elite in the hierarchy. Analogous to the mafia, they don’t have any obligation to adhere to any kind of principles. The party purports to represent the ‘people of Pakistan’, but taken together, the PPP MNAs and MPAs from Sindh alone would possibly own half of the agricultural land in the province.
MQM => Take PPP, add organization and crime, subtract wadaira saeen and you have MQM.
PML(N) => Some smart people, some sincere workers, some people with integrity, some businessmen with good ideas and a lot of opportunists. Unfortunately suffers from lack of a dynamic, strong leadership. The current leadership has surrounded itself with all-praising opportunists who keep the corruption machine going as well. With ‘N’ in the name, I don’t think the situation is going to improve in near future. The way they acted when they had 2/3[SUP]rd[/SUP] majority, when they talked to Zardari after 2008 elections and now, it seems they really need strong leadership which is able to take bold decisions and not continuously trying to save itself from its own shadows.
PTI => Right intentions, wrong directions. People are flocking to PTI more because of disgust from the above mentioned parties rather than political acumen or ability of this party. I might appear to support PTI and IK on these forums but I only detest unreasonable criticism being flaunted at this party all the time. Where were you guys when the party was struggling, free from wadairas and establishment touts, a punching bag for ‘analysts’ and target of ridicule from the most corrupt politicians of the country? Now that the party is following the traditions of ‘common practice’ of Pakistani politics, everyone’s coming on with ‘ahhhs and ‘ooohhhs’. I believe the slogans of ‘change’ are politically motivated and don’t have much substance, but find me a party which adheres to its slogans?
So, yes, wrong directions but nobody noticed till it took that path.
**6: Have you ever read complete manifesto of your party? Does it matter to you at all?
**This question motivated me to read PPP manifesto for 2008 elections, which says, “We Promise to ensure that energy shortages are eliminated” and “…Now Pakistan needs another 8000 MWs by 2010 to meet the energy requirements of the people. This will be met by utilising coal, solar, hydro and wind power….”.
Enough, I guess for political parties in Pakistan and their manifestos.
7: Do you believe that your party has a good team to run the country and tackle issues like governance, corruption, loadshedding, security?
No single party has that. PPP has some very good people from legal profession, PML(N) has some very good economics, business and finance people, MQM has some good administrators. Ideally, they should let go of egos and appoint appropriate persons for the job, regardless of the party affiliations.
**8: Has your party ever been in power in the Centre or in provinces? If yes, how did it perform?
**I don’t really have a party affiliation but for me, the best government so far has been Shahbaz Sharif’s first tenure as CM Punjab in 90s.
**9: Major achievement and major failure of the present government?
**Achievement: Comparatively improved political stability through some very shrewd maneuvering.
Failure: Could write a book about it.
**10: How different the upcoming general elections could be from the 2008 general elections?
**No idea. Things change so dramatically in this country. Political parties do not represent any specific ideals or principles on which they might not be willing to negotiate and therefore anything and everything seems possible.
Last election was primarily between pro-Mush and anti-Mush forces which obviously is no more the case.
**11: In your opinion, what are the top-most plus and top-most minus points of your party?
**I guess I have already detailed some points regarding all major parties above.
**12: What do you think of presidential form of government?
**I would support it only if the president is in control of armed forces and elected through a system similar to what we already have.
**13: Your take on judicial activism?
**It is healthy for our society but it should be bottom up, rather than top down as it is in Pakistan. Lower courts should actively engage citizens in curbing crime in the country. Unfortunately, lower courts are themselves as corrupt as our society at large.
**14: Do you think Army is still active in politics as we speak?
**Of course and it has had negative consequences for the country.
**15: How should Pakistan act on American demands on Haqqani Network and military operations in North Waziristan?
**Ask them for evidence and intelligence and tell them Pakistani forces would act AFTER approval from Defense Committee of the parliament.
**16: How do you see the reopening of Nato supply routes?
**Marta kya na kerta.
**17: Do you think that some key ministries should be managed only by technocrats, or it must be an elected representative of people to head any department?
**Yes, indeed. There is a reason why Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was imported by PPP. Elected representatives are primarily law makers and some of them might have required specialist skills for specific ministries but they cannot be arbitrarily assigned ministries. Raja rental and Bilour sahib are recent disastrous examples.
**18: To govern a vast country of over 180 million, the bigger the cabinet, the better?
**No. The federal government should have primary control over Finance, Defense, National Economic and Education System Planning, External Relations and Internal Security. Other areas of governance should be devolved to district and provincial levels.
**19: Who is your favourite politician outside your favourite political party?
**Manmohan Singh. 
**20: What is your favorite current affairs show (national or international)?
**Colbert Report.
Don’t really have much time to watch TV shows, except snippets from youtube sometimes.
END
Thank you kakaballi for your time 
[note]Members are welcome to pose further questions to kakaballi or debate any part of his interview. Please follow interview etiquettes while you interact with the interviewee. Thank you.[/note]
With at least 50 percent advertising on TV related to telecom companies and foreign investment in only telecom, banking and energy sectors should raise eyebrows. Why we get foreign investment only in sectors that are ‘regulated’ by government and not in sectors where foreign investors would have to ‘compete’ with local businesses.