Lt-Gen Sami Anan will have the final say

ISLAMABAD: Air Marshal Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak has been the President of Jumhuriyah Misr al-Arabiyah for 30 years. At 82, the president has plans of gifting the presidency to Gamal Al Din Mohammed Hosni Sayed Mubarak, his younger son, as if the Arab Republic of Egypt is the president’s personal estate.
Martyrs are needed for incidents. Incidents are needed for revolutions. And, revolutions are needed for progress. Revolutions are about public discontent leading to breakdown of the established order. Revolutions are spontaneous with roots in areas that are disenfranchised both politically and economically. Revolutions begin outside the centres of power in areas where government writ is weak and then move towards the centre of power.
The uprising in Egypt began in Cairo, Hosni Mubarak’s centre of power, and then spread eastwards to Suez, northbound to Mansoura and westwards to Alexandria. Intriguingly, protesters in Cairo, Suez, Mansoura and Alexandria specifically targeted police stations and local chapters of the National Democratic Party. Interestingly, protesters were all without guns.
An uprising spurting from within the centre of power clearly indicates that a powerful faction from within the leadership is either guiding or managing the outbreak. It isn’t a revolution but a war of succession. In all probability, a powerful faction very close to the centre of power disagrees with Hosni Mubarak’s plans of gifting the presidency to Gamal and the entire upheaval is being stage managed to bring about the desired result.
The Egyptian theatre now has four key players — Lt Gen Sami Annan, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Army, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, Defence Minister, Air Marshal Ahmed Shafiq, Minister for Civil Aviation, and Lt Gen Omar Suleiman, the intelligence chief. Of the four, Lt Gen Annan commands 468,000 troops, Field Marshal Tantawi oversees 60,000 Republican Guards while Lt Gen Suleiman is rumoured to be ailing.
President Mubarak is playing out the last of his tricks. If protests continue even after the dissolution of the parliament, chances are Mubarak would be eased out. Lt Gen Sami Annan will have the last word and Air Marshal Ahmed Shafiq may be a good compromise candidate to replace Mubarak.

Israel urges world to curb criticism of Egypt's Mubarak

Israel urges world to curb criticism of Egypt's Mubarak - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Israel called on the United States and a number of European countries over the weekend to curb their criticism of President Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the region.

Jerusalem seeks to convince its allies that it is in the West's interest to maintain the stability of the Egyptian regime. The diplomatic measures came after statements in Western capitals implying that the United States and European Union supported Mubarak's ouster.

Israeli officials are keeping a low profile on the events in Egypt, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even ordering cabinet members to avoid commenting publicly on the issue.

Senior Israeli officials, however, said that on Saturday night the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to around a dozen key embassies in the United States, Canada, China, Russia and several European countries. The ambassadors were told to stress to their host countries the importance of Egypt's stability. In a special cable, they were told to get this word out as soon as possible.

EU foreign ministers are to discuss the situation in Egypt at a special session today in Brussels, after which they are expected to issue a statement echoing those issued in recent days by U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Obama called on Mubarak to take "concrete steps" toward democratic reforms and to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters, sentiments echoed in a statement Saturday night by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany.

"The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren't considering their genuine interests," one senior Israeli official said. "Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they're not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications."

Netanyahu announced at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that the security cabinet will convene Monday to discuss the situation in Egypt.

"The peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these relations will continue to exist," Netanyahu told his ministers. "We are closely monitoring events in Egypt and the region and are making efforts to preserve its security and stability."

The Foreign Ministry has called on Israelis currently in Egypt to consider returning home and for those planning to visit the country to reconsider. It is telling Israelis who have decided to remain in Egypt to obey government directives.

Civil versus Political Society

Raza Rumi

Several self-styled analysts on ‘civil society’ have articulated contrarian views about the kind of choices they face, particularly with respect to forging alliances with political parties and avoiding the vigilantism that is the preserve of the extremists. The lawyers’ movement is being repeatedly cited as reference point without much introspection. Save a few exceptions, one is yet to hear a forceful condemnation of Islamabad lawyers’ love for Qadri.
We are faced with a deeper challenge today: Surviving as a plural society against a sectarian tide getting out of control. This is why engaging with the ‘political society’ is all the more important. We know that moderate parties such as the PPP are reticent to mobilise the cadres against extremism. Hence, the need to pressurise them into taking action to re-establish state writ. Condemning the PPP, the MQM, and the ANP may be the easiest recourse for many analysts but the truth is that we cannot work in isolation. No agenda for change, unless mullahs and the unelected saviours articulate it, is possible without the support of political society and grassroots cadres of political workers.
Pakistan’s political society is admittedly polarised on the issue of extremism. The state and its proxies have indoctrinated millions in the recent decades. Yet, Pakistanis have instinctively rejected their brand of societal framework, governed in part by the dictates of modernity and economics. A large number of students in Pakistan’s major universities are women who are increasingly visible in the workforce. There is a wider constituency in Pakistan, which is integrating into a global information economy and disagrees with the opportunist mullahs. This trend is likely to be irreversible.
The pejorative use of the term ‘liberal’ is also problematic for it is something not rooted in our historical trajectories of socio-economic development. It has captured the phony discourse by its misuse. Thus we have witnessed the emergence of a disparaging term, ‘liberal fascist’. Instead of fighting on this false binary of liberal-vs-conservative, we may have to get back to the essential question of seeking tolerance in a society scarred by violence, marginalisation and sectarianism.
Within the civil society debates, monitoring hate speech has been termed as mirror vigilantism. Again, this is a spurious argument for the extremists are killing people and there is no space for incitement to violence under the laws of our land including the Islamic laws that have been blended into our legal system.
Therefore a new agenda has to emerge in this existential battle for Pakistan. There is no alternative for the miniscule cadre of ‘civil society’ activists to engage with political parties, labour groups, moderate ulema and other professional associations to rally around the agenda for moderation. Without the involvement of political workers, the vigils and rallies of concerned citizens will remain footnotes in the tragic history of Pakistan. In any case a civil society is meaningless if not engaged with the larger citizenry.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2011
The writer is consulting editor, The Friday Times

Jaag pakistan jaaag

DATE:3rd Feb, Thursday
TIME:2pm sharp,
VENUE: where the 3 Pakistani were killed by black water american agent(mazang chowk or qartaba chowk)
We will rally towards american consulate and protest against the american terrorism in PAKISTAN
JAAG PAKISTAN JAAAG

Doomsday of Seculars...

Journalist's Views about MQM & Karachi

اندھے، پاگل اور وحشی

اندھے، پاگل اور وحشی