Loud Thinking

Posts Tagged ‘My Views’

Mr. Prime Minister why so much hullabaloo over a 2400CC car for the AG when COO PCB is using a 3600CC vehicle (specially imported from Japan) vs his entitlement of 1800CC car?

PM looking to ‘reward’ AG with shiny new Mercedes

By Malik Asad
Published about 8 hours ago

The Mercedes-Benz E250 will be the third ‘expensive’ car the PM has approved since May of this year — File Photo
ISLAMABAD: Amid the burgeoning political crisis and an economic downturn, the prime minister has made another ‘exception’ that is bound to raise many eyebrows. PM Nawaz Sharif has approved the purchase of a 2400cc Mercedes-Benz car for the attorney general (AG) of Pakistan.

Salman Aslam Butt, who is the current AG, is considered a personal favourite of Mr Sharif’s, as he represented the PM and his family members in several cases between 2012 and 2013. The Sharifs have been cleared in most of these cases.

According to documents obtained from the finance ministry, the AG – who is the principal law officer of the country – is entitled to a vehicle “as admissible to a judge of the Supreme Court”. Except for the chief justice of Pakistan, all judges of the apex court are allotted 1800cc cars.

While the AG maintains that 2400cc cars have been used by his predecessors, two former AGs told Dawn that they had only used 1800cc Honda cars while in office.

AG is entitled to only a 1800cc vehicle, same as a judge of the Supreme Court
The Mercedes-Benz E250 will be the third ‘expensive’ car the PM has approved since May of this year. The earlier purchase of two BMW 760Li High Security sedans cost the national exchequer over Rs224 million.

According to information available with Dawn, Jangu Khan Rajput, the AG’s secretary, wrote to Mr Javaid Aslam, the secretary to the prime minister, on August 4 regarding the provision of a 2400cc vehicle for Mr Butt. Under normal circumstances, the AG office routes such requests through the law ministry.

The very next day, on August 5, the prime minister approved the purchase of a 2400cc vehicle for the AG.

On August 18, the AG’s secretary conveyed the prime minister’s approval to the law ministry and asked the ministry to release Rs13 million as a “technical supplementary grant … for the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz E250 sedan car”.

The law ministry reportedly sent the request back to the prime minister with the observations that, “the entitlement of a vehicle for the attorney general of Pakistan is as admissible to a judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan which is 1800cc, while the prime minister has approved a vehicle of 2400cc.”

The ministry proposed two courses of action: firstly; the prime minister could approve an 1800cc car for the AG, or, secondly; he could enhance the AG’s vehicle entitlement from 1800cc to 2400cc “with clear instructions as to whether the 2400cc car is to be an E250 Mercedes or any other cheaper local/foreign brand.”

On August 22, according to documents available with Dawn, the PM “approved the proposal … with the direction that a 2400cc car may be purchased as per the prescribed rules.”

Subsequently, the law ministry forwarded this matter to the Finance Division and requested it “to take further necessary action in the matter as per laid down rules/regulations/procedures.”

The Finance Division, on September 19, suggested that “if the Law Division considered (it) necessary to obtain certain clarifications, the case may be taken up with the Cabinet Division.”

Sources in the Finance Division told Dawn that the federal government has already provided the AG with an 1800cc Honda car and there seemed no need for the purchase of a new Mercedes-Benz specifically for the law officer’s use.

Sources said that judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts, and even the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, use 1800cc cars for official purposes.

Talking to Dawn, AG Salman Aslam Butt said that the purchase of a 2400cc car was not unprecedented, as his predecessors, namely Chaudhry Farooq, Aziz A. Munshi and Makhdoom Ali Khan had also been using 2400cc cars.

Mr Butt also told Dawn that this vehicle would be used for official purposes only and that he had his own private car for personal use.

However, former AGs Makhdoom Ali Khan and Irfan Qadir told Dawn they had only used 1800cc Honda cars while in office. However, Mr Qadir said that as the highest law officer in the land, the AG could ask for a 2400cc car.

Mr Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the car he had used while in office – between 2001 and 2007 – was an old Honda Civic, purchased in 1994.

Published in Dawn, September 25th , 2014

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

— Vivian Greene

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go… ”

—Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991)
Writer, Cartoonist, Animator

Student chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’ during Ahsan Iqbal’s speech, expelled from university

The student who chanted “Go Nawaz Go” during Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal’s speech at Preston University, has reportedly been expelled.

According to a Roznama Express news report, the incident took place when Iqbal was speaking at the book launching ceremony for Dr Azizur Rehman Bughio’s new tome “The True Face of Islam” at Preston Unversity.

As the student started to chant anti-Nawaz slogans, the university’s registrar, Dr AW Baloch, stood on the stage and forced the protester out of the room.

The planning and development minister asked whether if this was the political education being imparted to students that they raise such slogans during a literary event.

“Is this what youngsters are learning from these sit-ins?”
Iqbal added that youth were the country’s valuable assets, and he had asked the university’s administration to explain to the student about improving his behaviour.

However, sources say the student has been expelled from the university for his sloganeering.

Pakistan – Problems & Solutions..!

Even after passing of over six decades, Pakistan is still standing at a dead end. The reason being that almost more than 95% population is totally disconnected with the concept of the nation hood, which means “the state or quality of having a status as a separate and independent nation”. Alienation of such a huge population from the main life stream of Pakistan, is virtually a fatal disease.

However, the fact which is more dangerous and perilous is that we have turned ourselves into a more fragmented society than our forefathers could have ever imagined. The schism (division or disunion), is so intense that if immediate corrective steps are not taken, God forbid, this country may even see, more turbulent times.

And from this divided society, the hydra (Greek myth a monster with nine heads,each of which, when struck off, was replaced by two new ones) of sectarian violence is massively shaking the foundations of Pakistan.

The writing on the wall is clear for all to read. The decadence of Pakistani society in every sphere of life, is abysmal, to say the least.

Hardly, any day passes without reports of suicides committed by the poor, due to the economic hardships. Children did not not die in dozens, but in scores, due to the measles outbreak and; strangely enough, no soul moved and not even a single person was held accountable.

Recently, hundreds of hundreds kids, women and men died in Thar area, just due to diseases and malnutrition, but our ministers and public representatives made sure to enjoy their feasts, right in the middle of the starving population of Thar. These beasts are more callous, than the Changez Khan.

To top it all, the worsening conditions of law and order, excluding the war on terror connected problems, with particular reference to the sectarian violence, is a matter of highest alarm, which deserves top priority tackling, not only by the government and its law enforcing agencies, but by the civil society, as a whole.

In view of the foregoing, maybe, we have one last chance to stem the rot, to unite the people and to give them a prescription, to rise again and re-build the nation from the ashes; because, for the overwhelming majority, a time is coming that the masses, may well be forced to think that: no life no nation.

The current frame work, under which the country is being run will not take Pakistan any forward, even if it is allowed to continue as such, for another 100 years. All small and big nations in our region and the world have overtaken us, in the basic fields of health, education, justice, law and order and food security.

It is high time that all stakeholders in Pakistan must wake up, as the nation is moving fast towards destruction; and business as usual, can do no good for Pakistan; our survival is directly linked with the existence of our nationhood, whose essence is vast vanishing in the thin air.

Pakistan needs a turnaround; for which the basic need is our adaptation and readiness for the CHANGE, not in cosmetic but real sense. We need a complete change from one era to another, like the one witnessed during the past 4-5 decades by China, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia. And the secret of their rapid success was keeping the self interest and politics subservient to the national interest.

Hence, for all Pakistanis, failure is not an option, but success is also not automatically guaranteed. In this regard, I would like to suggest that we formulate a new social contract, for the common people (95% of the country’s population) of Pakistan, who always pays 100 percent bills and taxes; and never defaults on their bank loans.

Let us make a new Pakistan, which is redesigned to practically cater to the needs of the exploited masses.

In this connection, we must know that the biggest ailment of Pakistan and its governance is the order of the CENTRALISATION, which started from the concept of the ONE UNIT. Still, geographically and population wise, these four provinces are so huge and un-manageable that for all purposes and intent, they are still ONE UNIT, for the general masses.

We have to realise that the very survival and interest of Pakistan is far more supreme than the political interests of some large and small political parties of Pakistan.

All crime centers can be easily located, controlled and eliminated, if the administrative units are minuscule. I wonder ever in their life time, a CM or an IG has visited Minchinabad or Maroot, the farthest areas of the province of Punjab. In fact, in these type of areas, the SHO, is the IG for the local population.

If we have to put the politics of vested interests before the national interest, then forget about the survival of the country.

What we have to and we must do, is to first determine the national interest and then keep it supreme over all other considerations.

In my opinion now a time has come for taking the following decisions IMMEDIATELY:

– To create easily governable (at least for the next 50 years) administrative units or provinces. In this regard, there should be no discrimination or injustice with any province and ethnic or linguistic group; and each division of the country should be converted into a province. Moreover, in order to remove any semblance of ethnicity or linguistic bias, these provinces should be named like the NA seats; and mentioned as PK1, PK2, PK3 and so on.

This will also work as a panacea (an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties), for the eradication of linguistic, sectarian and any other type of frictions and doubts, about the hegemony of one class of the people, over the other.

In fact, it will work wonders in the speedy development and unity of Pakistan; and kill instantly, any secessionist, linguistic, or sectarian activities, currently prevailing in some parts of the country.

– Moreover, the current election system is so flawed that any Tom Dick and Harry can easily manipulate it to defeat the basic purpose of the democracy. So, if the basic electoral process is retarded, how can it give birth to genuine representatives of the authentic democracy?

Changes must be also be made in our constitution, to make it a presidential form of a democratic set up, where the whole country directly votes for the president.
However, before voting, the candidates of all political parties for the presidential post, must notify (in advance) a list of their MPAs, MNAs and Senators, who will be automatically considered elected, according to the percentage of votes cast, in favour of all the candidates, for the top post of the country.

– The decision for Pakistan’s charter of development for building dams and mega projects for the next 50 years should also be finalised, on which, later on, no politics should be allowed for any political party.

In other words, all the registered political parties must decide now, where they would like to see Pakistan, in each and every field of the life, after 50 years. This plan should be further divided into ten five years plans.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity. ”

—Gilda Radner (1946-1989)
American Comedian, Actress

“In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story.”

— Walter Cronkite

Show You’ve Changed Even If Your Role Hasn’t

If you’ve been in the same role for a while, looking for a new job can be tough. But even if your resume doesn’t reflect it, you can show that you’ve grown in your career. First, seek new training opportunities and informational interviews to bring your industry knowledge up to date. Explain to recruiters how your role has changed, even though your title hasn’t. Share what you’ve learned from handling projects over the long term. Recount any new skills you’ve learned on the job. Highlight key moments when you pushed back or took control. Make the most of recent successes. And present your situation as a conscious choice: “I wanted to stay in the role to see how I could develop it.” Have an answer for when someone asks you: “Why haven’t you moved on earlier?” Maybe you wanted to see a project through, or maybe you’re loyal to your team. Whatever you do, just don’t blame the economy.

Adapted from “ How to Explain a Career That Looks Stalled” by John Lees.

“I like physics, but I love cartoons.”

— Stephen Hawking

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ”

—Mark Twain (1835-1910)
[Samuel Clemens] Humorist, Essayist, Novelist