The peon with the right potions
By Usman Manzoor, ISLAMABAD: June 30, 2009
The peon of Senate of Pakistan who was caught red-handed in a vehicle of a lady senator by the police for carrying imported liquor has been suspended from service by the senator denying any knowledge of the matter.
According to details one Muhammad Ishaq, a peon of Senate, was caught carrying 24 bottles of imported liquor in the official car of Senator Ms Gulshan Saeed last week and an FIR was lodged against the peon of the Upper House. Senator Gulshan Saeed while talking to The News said that her name was repeatedly being mentioned by media while everyone knew that she had no link with the whole episode. She said her driver on his way back to the parliament lodges gave a lift to Muhammad Ishaq a peon of the senate who was carrying a bag.
On a picket when police stopped the car for a routine check the liquor was recovered. She said that Muhammad Ishaq had apologised from her in front of the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad that he was carrying the liquor for Senator Mir Hasil khan Bezinjo and Senator Dr Abdul Malik. She said, “The circumstances of Balochistan were so critical that no one was ready to talk against the Baloch senators and the Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Muhammad Jamali had also requested me to forgive the Baloch senators.”
The lady senator said that she had told the Deputy Chairman Senate that her dignity was being challenged and she would leave no stone unturned to prove her innocence. She said that to her comprehension it was a conspiracy to defame her. While the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad when contacted said that the case was sub judice therefore he could offer no comment. However he confirmed his meeting with Senator Gulshan Saeed at the parliament House and said that he could not reveal anything else.
Mir Hasil Khan Bezinjo while talking to The News said that it was neither Gulshan Saeed’s mistake nor he was involved in the case. He said that Muhammad Ishaq had remained his peon in 1997 when he was MNA. He said that the peon tried to get released from police custody by taking his name whereas at the time he was in Lahore.
He said that Gulshan Saeed was worried about her name being taken every time the news item was being published. “I have told the lady senator that because the liquor was caught from her vehicle therefore on every hearing her name would be taken”, said the senator from Balochistan adding: “The peon, Muhammad Ishaq had bought that liquor for his guests from Karachi and now has been suspended by the Chairman Senate.”
When asked that the lady Senator was blaming him for the episode because the peon caught red-handed had also named him while apologizing from the lady Senator, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that his scheduled could be checked as he straight away went to a talk show after landing in Islamabad and that he was in Lahore when the incident took place.
Senator Dr Abdul Malik could not be contacted despite several attempts. A source close to Dr Abdul Malik, however, ruled out any role of the senator in the episode. Police at Kohsar Police station say that imported liquor was caught from Muhammad Ishaq from a car bearing number GD-313. “Muhammad Ishaq was released on bail by one Mazhar Hussain who happens to be his relative while the car was released the next day when the lady senator had gone o the court for superdari”, said the duty officer of the police station while revealing the facts of the incident. He said that Muhammad Ishaq was showing himself as the driver of Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo.
Aslam Jinnah’s claim of beingQuaid’s family disputed By Amar Guriro, KARACHI: June 30, 2009 Liaquat Merchant, who is the grandson of Maryam Bai, one of Quaid-e-Azam’ s sisters, has said that Aslam Jinnah, who claims to be the great grandson of the founder of Pakistan, is not from the Jinnah family. “He might belong to Nathoo Poonja’s family, who is Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s father’s brother, but he does not directly belong to Quaid’s family and I say this firmly on the basis of my personal knowledge,” said Merchant.
Just a day ago, the federal government announced that Aslam Jinnah would be given a house, car and Rs 50,000 monthly. “I do not object to the government giving him (Aslam Jinnah) anything, but he must stop introducing himself as Quiad-e-Azam’ s family member,” he further said.
In an exclusive interview with this scribe, when he was asked about his reaction to the government’s decision, he reiterated that he has no objection at all. “All I am concerned with is the fact that Aslam Jinnah is not from Quiad-e-Azam’ s family and nothing else,” he said, adding that if Aslam Jinnah wants to meet him, he would certainly meet Aslam.
He said that he was recently invited to present Jinnah’s Anthology, which has been published recently. Answering a question, he said that he was not invited for official programmes, especially those held to honour the Father of the Nation while adding that if given a choice he would love to attend the programmes. “It is not important to take flowers to Quaid’s mausoleum, but in fact it is more important to follow the teachings, principles and guidelines that Muhammad Ali Jinnah has left for our guidance,” said Merchant.
Talking about the family tree, Merchant said that Quaid's father was Jina Poonja and his (Quaid's) uncles were Walji Poonja and Nathoo Poonja. “Only Walji Poonja’s son is alive and lives in Khaaradar,” he said. Talking about Quaid's sisters, Merchant said that Jinnah had four sisters, including Rehmat bai, Mariam bai, Ahmed Shirinbai and Fatima Jinnah.
He said that Nasli Wadia, the son of Quaid’s daughter Dina Wadia still lives in Mumbai with his two sons Jay Wadia and Ness Wadia. Merchant, 68, is the grandchild of Quaid's sister Mariam Bai and his last name comes from the fact that his father, Habib Hussain, was a businessman in Mumbai. Merchant was also awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his outstanding public services for the education and health sectors in the country during Pervez Musharraf’s regime. Merchant is a reputed lawyer in Karachi and his daughter Fouzia and son Akbar, are also lawyers, which is now sort of a family profession. His other daughter, Faiza, is a teacher. As a young lawyer, Merchant first visited Karachi in 1964 and met Fatima Jinnah while she was living in Mohatta Palace. She insisted that he migrate from India. He returned to India but moved to Karachi in December 1967 after getting married in October and since than he is practicing law in Karachi. Today he runs Liaquat Merchant Associates, one of the most respected law firms in the country, in addition to being the administrator of Quaid-e-Azam’ s estate established under the Aligarh Education Trust, Jinnah Foundation and tending to several other charities. He said that till date Aligarh Education Trust has provided educational scholarships to 5,000 students in 15 different fields including law, architecture, civil engineering, dairy farming and so on.
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- "Michael Jordan Pakistan faces a growing insurgency.The Peshawar blast that hit humanitarian aid workers proves how the Taliban's reach is extending beyond the Swat valley 
Until this week, Peshawar's Pearl Continental hotel was a rare island of air-conditioned calm in an increasingly dangerous country, for foreigners and local elites only of course. Its bombing this week is a crude but effective reminder that the Taliban is not a spent force. Peshawar, the restless capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, has had many visitors over the past several years. A key outpost on the long trading route that links south with central Asia, for centuries it has been famed as an enchanted if sleepy backwater where anything from liquor to the latest computers could be purchased for a price. That character has changed these past few years. This week's massive bomb blast at the city's premier hotel affirmed Peshawar's transformation into one of the key battlegrounds in the war against the Taliban. Whether the attack was aimed directly at aid agencies delivering humanitarian goods to the families displaced by the war in the NWFP is unclear. But the murder of three UN Food Programme employees along with eight others has for the moment stalled international efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the vast numbers made homeless by this war. The attack on the Peshawar Pearl Continental may have had an added meaning for the United States. The US was on the cusp of completing a deal for its purchase as part of a massive expansion of its Peshawar consulate, a key base for the co-ordination of American intelligence in this region. The consulate expansion was part of the $1bn (£607m) project that will see its missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan expanded ever further. Just as the Islamabad Marriott appeared to be targeted in last September's massive bomb blast because it was frequented by foreign diplomats and American intelligence operatives, the Peshawar Pearl Continental was often frequented by American embassy and intelligence staff and, possibly, their local operatives. The hotel was also frequented by American officials in the 1980s, only in those days they were co-ordinating efforts to arm the most radical, Islamist militants they could muster to fight the godless communists in Afghanistan. Already there is an almost total disconnect between Pakistanis and the several hundreds of Americans and other foreign government workers living in Peshawar and other parts of Pakistan. One rarely meets foreigners in any part of Pakistan these days. The latest string of bombings will exacerbate that disconnect. In Peshawar, ordinary citizens are increasingly avoiding the markets and bazaars for fear of being the next victims of a bomb attack. As one mother in the University Town district told me last week, her son's appointment with the dentist was cut short because the police had received threats that a car laden with explosives was parked around the corner. The dental practice happened to be located close to an office of the Awami National Party, a secular Pashtun nationalist political party currently in government in the NWFP. Thankfully, on that occasion, there was no blast. But many are wondering when their luck will run out. Spare a thought for those who have already faced the worst of fates. The millions made homeless by the conflict were already struggling under the sweltering heat with only minimal access to water, food and electricity. Many, although far from all, were totally reliant on humanitarian aid from UN-coordinated international relief efforts. The UN's decision to pull out of those efforts owing to the security situation leaves these communities in unimaginably worse conditions than before. Compounding this hell, the numbers of displaced are expected to rise. Under immense pressure from the United States, the Pakistan army has expanded its operations in the NWFP to include Orakzai and the Waziristan tribal agencies and Bannu, along the border with Afghanistan but well to the south of the Swat valley. Although largely cleared of Taliban control, operations continue in the Swat valley where pockets of insurgents remain. The simple truth is that it is unclear how deeply the Taliban and those sympathetic to its cause – to establish an Islamic state along rigid, literal interpretations of scripture as in Afghanistan under the Taliban – have infiltrated deeper into Pakistan. For years now it has been an open secret that the Afghan Taliban, who with a few exceptions has chosen not to get embroiled in the conflict within Pakistan, has run safe houses in northern Balochistan. Many of its and the Pakistani Taliban's footsoldiers are recruited from the large pool of poor young men of southern Punjab's Seraiki belt, particularly among the Waraich clan that the Mughals and British considered one of the great "martial races" of the subcontinent. In short, the latent potential of a broader Taliban insurgency in Pakistan remains strong. As it remains in the international spotlight, Pakistan is in the unenviable position of having to prove that it is capable of defeating the Taliban while, at the same time, ensuring it does not splinter the broad network of largely NWFP-based Taliban militants into the rest of the country. It is the stuff of a general's worst nightmares. |
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