کالم کار - سید ولی شاہ آفریدی

کالم کار - سید ولی شاہ آفریدی 

This column was published in Daily Pakistan dated Feb 23, 2013

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Foreign periodicals | Fight against Dengue

MIT Tech. Review | Fight Against Dengue

In 2011-12 Lahore was stricken by the worst outbreak of Dengue fever. The govt of Punjab lead by Shahbaz Sharif adopted scientific and state of the art methods to eradicate the dengue epidemic. This article was published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (The #1 Engg. institute of world). Indeed its an honor for all Pakistanis.
This article can be accessed online at 

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506276/pakistan-uses-smartphone-data-to-head-off-dengue-outbreak/

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Interview

Interview | Mushahid Ullah Khan 

This interview was published in Weekly Nidai Millat dated 24-30January, 2013.

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Voice of PML (N) | (صداۓ مسلم لیگ (ن

Voice of PML (N) | (صداۓ مسلم لیگ (ن 

Originally published in Daily Jang, Lahore, dated Feb 18, 2013.

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Voice of PML (N) | (صداۓ مسلم لیگ (ن

Rebuffing baseless allegations of PTI

Hafeez Ullah Niazi is a well known bank defaulter of Pakistan and holds important position in PTI. He use to publish a column on and off in Daily Jung. Surprisingly his writing style is more a replica of "legendary" Haroon Rashid. Some people suspect that the columns published in daily jang by the name of bank defaulter are actually written by "legendary" Harron Rashid. May be that is the reason of twisted fake facts in his columns. Here we are presenting the rebuttal of two columns, one published on behalf of bank defaulter and second Mansoor Afaaq, both were published in daily jang. Apart from the below mentioned rebuttal, one more point i like to clear is that the Jail road underpass was not made in the governance of PMLN 

Published in Daily Jang dated Feb 24, 2013

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کالم کار - اسد اللہ غالب

کالم کار - اسد اللہ غالب

Asad Ullah Gahlib is among the most popular columnist in anti PMLN community for his consistent objection on the leadership and policies of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. All hail Shahbaz Sharif, for his work against eradicating Dengue is much appreciated even by the opponents of Pakistan Muslim league.
This column was published in Daily Express dated November 13, 2012.

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کالم کار - ملک منظور احمد

کالم کار - ملک منظور احمد 

This article was published in Daily The NEWS-Islamabad dated Feb. 20, 2013. The original article can be approached at the following link

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-160979-The-unsung-hero-of-Kargil

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The unsung hero of Kargil 

Malik Zahoor Ahmad
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 
From Print Edition

"Gentlemen! Thank you very much for gracing our Independence Day". That is how President Bill Clinton greeted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team at Blair House, the US Presidential Guest House, on July 4, 1999. Coming at the height of the Kargil crisis, the visit was critical. Just across the road from the White House, the almost 200 year-old Blair House has long been associated with events of monumental importance in world history.

The prime minister’s arrival in Washington was shrouded in mystery. The first reports of the visit came to the Pakistan Embassy not from our foreign office but the State Department. Everyone was caught unawares. Hurried meetings were called, confidential internal memos dug up, and briefs developed to be able to lay down all the necessary ground work for the emergency high-octane meeting. Nawaz Sharif arrived on July 3 at Andrews Airbase and was received by Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, and then taken for intense briefings.

It was evident at that time that Gen Musharraf’s unauthorised, illogical and non-strategic adventurism had pushed the situation to the precipice and a full-fledged war between two nuclear rivals was imminent. Musharraf’s claim that the prime minister had approved ‘Operation Badr’ (Kargil) is not true. The PM was briefed about the Kargil operation for the first time only around mid-May 1999 when a lot had already happened. Gen Majeed Malik, a military veteran and cabinet minister who attended the briefing, is reported to have strongly opposed the idea and bitterly criticised the operation calling it “silly and utterly illogical”.

By the time Nawaz Sharif touched down in Washington to defuse the situation, the entire world had descended on us in the Pakistan Embassy with Pakistan being criticised heavily, both in the print and the electronic media. In this backdrop, Nawaz Sharif battled his way up – pleading with the world to give diplomacy a chance.

The Americans are known for treating their holidays as sacrosanct and Independence Day is the veritable sanctum sanctorum. US functionaries were visibly ill at ease. Bringing President Clinton to the table to bail Pakistan out of the imbroglio on that day was not, therefore, business as usual. It was made possible in the face of the real and immediate danger of an all-out war. Saudi intervention on Nawaz Sharif’s SOS call made this possible. And the man who could work this miracle was Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.

Prince Bandar was the face of Saudi monarchy in Washington for 22 years, rubbing shoulders with five US presidents and ten secretaries of state. An inveterate networker, he was an ultimate Washington insider who could walk into the White House whenever he wished. His influence was so extensive that he was able to acquire AWACS surveillance aircraft for his country, despite bitter opposition from the Israeli lobby.

He staunchly supported the idea of forging close relations with Pakistan and China and believed that Pakistan was under-utilising its potential. He once asked former interim Prime Minister Moeen Qureshi: “I don’t understand why Pakistan is always afraid of Indian chicken”. He made China deliver intermediate range nuclear-warhead capable missiles despite strong opposition from CIA and the Department of State. During the Iran-Contra scandal, he bankrolled the whole affair. He pressured Col Qaddafi to deliver the suspects involved in the alleged bombing of PanAm Airline aircraft in 1988.

But the mother of all mysteries is how Mian Nawaz Sharif got hold of one of the most sought after men in the US at such a short notice. The strategy, nevertheless, worked and saved Pakistan and the region from war.

On July 4, 1999 the world media was sharply focused on what was going on inside the Blair House and keenly awaited gavel-to-gavel updates. No cameras were allowed inside the guest house; PTV and other media crew were forced to clear out. The prime minister – for obvious reasons – was interested in photo-ops with Clinton for political mileage. He asked me to ensure that the international media stayed on the scene despite the scorching heat.

Pakistani journalists Shaheen Sehbai and Mohammad Afzal Khan stood outside the guest house. I was more worried about the western media. Using my personal relationship with Andrea Koppel of CNN, I was able to persuade her to wait on one of the hottest days of the season.

The scene inside Blair House was intriguing, the pace painfully sluggish. The president’s aides including National Security Advisor Sandy Berger at one point sounded frustrated, unhappy to be in a firefight for an ally that apparently deserved no sympathy for being on the wrong side of global public opinion.

The US position was tough and arduous and its attending exasperation understandable. President Clinton seemed determined to help steer an erring ally out of harm’s way but also remained responsive to Indian outrage. Calming down the Indians was an uphill task. New Delhi was blowing hot and cold, the general public and the media were hysterically demanding a military response and the generals were impatiently waiting to teach Pakistan a lesson once and for all.

The Nawaz-Clinton talks went on late into the afternoon – down a bumpy path with a heavy traffic of faxes shuttling between Washington and New Delhi. The Indian acceptance of the ceasefire was an impossibility that came off under heavy pressure by President Clinton who had somehow developed a personal rapport with Nawaz Sharif.

Though apocryphal but the story goes that simplistic yet deeply sincere remarks by Nawaz Sharif for the US president in New York a couple of months earlier are said to have stayed with Clinton when he was going through the toughest patch in his political career in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Being articulate about such situations is difficult but those who know Nawaz Sharif can testify that he comes across as an honest, down to earth and convincing negotiator. During the talks, these qualities worked in Pakistan’s favour.

Sharif never doubted a military take over. While the agreement was being documented, his anxiety was also mounting: “They will get me Mr President,” he whispered. Clinton quipped: “Yours is a rogue army. Keep them under civilian oversight”. Nawaz retorted: “It is not the army. It is (a) few dirty eggs. They will meddle to cover up the Kargil debacle”. And three months later, the military struck. The coup was inevitable. The ‘Dirty Four’ were afraid of a Kargil investigation and a possible court martial. Washington accepted it as a ‘fait accompli’.

After the October coup, those of us in the Embassy in Washington were in the dark knowing nothing about what was going on in Islamabad. There was intense media pressure - asking us to comment on what was happening back home. Ambassador Tariq Fatemi asked me to go to CNN without any brief and face the music, where I made an off-the-cuff comment: “Its not a coup, the president is still there, the constitution is intact, things are just being rearranged.” What else could I say?

Clinton always stood by Nawaz Sharif. On his few hours’ trip to Islamabad later, he refused to shake hands with Musharraf, and instead met President Tarar. But 9/11 changed the course and character of the history of the world, our region in particular.

Gen Musharraf had the last laugh. In order to stay in power he hacked everything – faked the referendum, rigged the elections, pushed us into a war we never deserved, destroyed district administrations, packed the superior judiciary with cronies and finally left behind an NRO-tainted accidental leadership. Nawaz Sharif arranged an honourable exit from Kargil but missed the gallows by inches. Gen Shahid Aziz deserves respect for telling the truth – which is always in short supply in our country. If we still have a few good men in the army, they just need to wake up and come out with the truth.

The writer is a former information minister at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC. Till recently he was chairman of the Pak-Afghan-US Trilateral Dialogue on Agriculture.

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کالم کار - خواجہ جاوید احمد

کالم کار - خواجہ جاوید احمد 

یہ رپورٹ ہفت روزہ اخبار جہاں میں  بتاریخ ٣٠ جولائی سن ٢٠١٢ کو  چھپی تھی

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کالم کار - عبدا لقادر حسن

 کالم کار - عبدالقادر حسن 

Abdul Qadir Hassan is a seasoned and well known columnist of Pakistan. He has an extensive journalism experience of over 35 years. In the presented column he talks about the efforts of PMLN lead govt. in eradicating Dengue. Published in Daily Express dated November 13, 2012

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کالم کار - الطاف حسن قریشی

کالم کار - الطاف حسن قریشی 

Altaf Hassan Qureshi is a seasoned and an old columnist of Pakistan. He is the founder and editor in chief of famous Urdu Digest and founding member of PAKISTAN INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS (PAINA). Mr. Qureshi has witnessed the Pakistani politics since its birth and has keen observation on the emerging of various renowned politicians. In this column he is unveiling some secrets on the issue of participation of PMLN in general elections 2008.

This column is dated 01 November, 2012 and was published in Daily Jang.

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Arches of History | Episode 11

ARCHES OF HISTORY | EPISODE 11

Pakistan Muslim league is the largest rightest party of Pakistan and has been twice in power corridors in 90s. We have effectively played the role of opposition during 93-96 and from 1999-2008 in provincial and 1999-2013 in federal government. Under the visionary leadership of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif PMLN government has always tried to facilitate people by sharing their moments of rejoice and grief. This action is our practice in all conditions weather or not we are in govt. In the near past, Mian Nawaz Sharif was the first leader who visited the families of NLI soldiers who embraced martyrdom in Giyari sector of Siachin. To show solidarity with the minorities residing in Pakistan, he was the only leader who met the displaced Sikh families from SWAT during Taliban control. We as a party consider it our job to reach those who are helplessly fighting the turbulent life. The young followers of our party are less aware of  humanitarian work by our party in particular because such archives are not generally available on internet and needs a rigorous search in libraries. For all i am presenting here some very rare photographs. This will certainly help in fortifying the bonds with our party and leadership while visualizing the leadership at trial.

Nawaz Sharif in Bajor :

In 1991, earth quack jolted areas in Bajor. Being the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif visited the place the very next day to order immediate emergency response and to express the solidarity with the people living there.

Nawaz Sharif in Harnai :

On March 1, 1997  a devastating earthquake brought destruction in district Harnai, Baluchistan. Nawaz Sharif being the PM went there the very next day to share the grief of those people. 

The culture of Open Kutchehries

It was Mian Nawaz Sharif who introduced the culture of Khuli Kuchehries in Pakistan, the prime aim was to have a direct contact with the people of Pakistan. Below are some of the rare photographs from 1990s.

June 03, 1991

September 15,1997

It was not only Khuli Kuchehries but Mian Nawaz Sharif took actions on the reports published in local Pakistani newspapers. He used to visit the affected families who were victim of injustice. A glimpse of such activities is shown below.

Even before being the PM he visited the victims of Hyderabad Operation 

July 26,1998

Feb 23,1999

The present state of politics in Pakistan, where mud slinging and to vilify the opponent is a common practice and where the people use to criticize PMLN for approaching the people on their doorsteps is a kittenish approach. Our leaders have been doing all this when there was no concept of FaceBook and Twitter. It was 90s even in 80s when most of the revolutionist were actually pampered by their mothers. The leadership of PMLN is actually a group of WORKERS where all the workers are Working, Organized, Resourceful, Knowoing, Effective and Respectful. 

Earlier in the series:

Episode 1: Arches of History | Interview of Sartaj Aziz

Episode 2: Arches of History | Episode 2

Episode 3: Arches of History | Episode 3
Episode 4: Arches of History | Interview of Khawaja Saad Rafiq

Episode 5: Arches of history Episode 5 | PMLN was there

Episode 6: Arches of history Episode 6 | PMLN was there

Episode 7: Arches of history | Episode 7 

Episode 8: Arches of history | Interview of Rafiq Tarar

Episode 9: Arches of history | Interview of Zaeem Qadri

Episode 10: Arches of history | Interview of Peer Sabir Shah

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Better Pakistan | Agricultural Policy (II)

Better Pakistan | Agricultural Reforms (II)

Earlier: Agricultural reforms of PMLN (I)

Pakistan is among the very few countries of the world that are blessed with four seasons, roaring rivers, fertile land and abundance of water resources. The land of Punjab and Sindh is famous for agriculture and forms the basis of Agri Based Economy (ABE). Pakistan unfortunately despite having rich agricultural perspective always face crisis that is related to agricultural mismanagement  The widening gap of supply and demand of various food commodities is a shame for a country which has more than 60% of its population related directly to the agriculture. The pseudo intellectuals of the Bosses never realized the problems of the poor people of Pakistan and never tried seriously for the policy making. Pakistan Muslim League (N) has been in gift for two times and has done extensive work in the field of agriculture. This blog post will cover the work of PMLN in this domain.

PM speech on April 04,1997

In our earlier blog post we presented some of the incentives given to the farmer community. Those incentives were the main catalyst behind the boost in  agriculture sector growth. It was a valid point raised by the PM Nawaz Sharif that why our government is reluctant to pay our own farmers the international price of wheat. In 1997 the very first year of the second term as PM, the government announced 1997 as a year of wheat. Several more incentives were also given that lead to the historic moment when for the first time in our history Pakistan was able to balance the demand and supply chain of wheat from its own resources.

This blog post is divided in several sections. Firstly, the most important aspect is discussed i.e. legislation, for setting up research and farmer facilitating centers. Then the research work of the Agri scientists is discussed. The R & D work is followed by govt. incentives and a newspaper report about the progress in agricultural sector.

Legislation:

In the year 1997 under the visionary leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif and the dynamic captaincy of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the provincial assembly of Punjab passed a bill for the establishment of the Punjab Agricultural Research Board on October 24,1997 No.PAP-Legis-2(8)/97/116. The prime aim of establishing this authority was to facilitate research in all domains of agriculture including crops and plants. It also covers the arenas of livestock & dairy development, poultry, fisheries, forestry, wildlife, ecology, range management, agricultural engineering, water Management, irrigation and such other activities and subjects as the Government may declare as “agricultural research”.

New Research Institutes 

Following The guidelines of the Agriculture Department, Government of Punjab, the Research centers produced a lot of new seed varieties specifically targeting the potential farming areas of Pakistan. New research centers were established by the govt. of Punjab. The Biotechnology Research Institute was established in December, 1987 under the guidance of then CM Punjab Mian Nawaz Sharif. Similarly, for better crop production the  Soil & Water Conservation Research Institute was established in 1989 by the provincial Government of Punjab to develop technology for controlling soil erosion and conservation of moisture for sustainable and profitable crop production. Another institute of research is Post Harvest Research Centre (PHRC) which was established during 1989-90 with the assistance of Asian Development Bank and United Nations Development Program (ADB/UNDP). For uplifting regional agricultural research Arid Zone Research Institute, Bhakkar was established in 1991. This center is contributing its services in arid zone districts of Bhakkar, Mianwali, Khushab, Layyah and Muzaffargarh. The Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) was established during 1991-92 as a result of re-organization of the water related research programs being executed at the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad. In 1998, a new cotton acid delinting plant was  established under the control of the Punjab Seed Corporation.

Research outcomes

In 1990, the sugarcane research institute developed a new kind of sugar cane Known as BF-162 [Ref: sugar-cane Research institute]. The same year a new variety of potato SIALKOT SUFAID was introduced. This variety is presently not used in cultivation because of the availability of more productive varieties. Two new varieties of pees named SMARINA ZARD and CLIMAX IMPROVED were also introduced. A new type of radish 40-DAYS was launched. Here, It is also worth mentioning that only available variety of onion PHULKARA(PUNJAB) was also introduced in 1990. In 1991 NAGINA, a new breed of tomato was introduced to the Pakistani farmers. The very next year PAKIT was introduced as another productive type of tomato. In 1992 MINO a new type of radish was open by the vegetable research institute. In the same year a new form of Brinjil named NIRALA was released. Coriander type Dilpazeer was released also in 1992. The only variety of spinach developed by vegetable research institute is DESI PALAK. It was formulated in 1992. [Ref: Vegetable research institute].  Other then the above mentioned vegetable crops following seeds are currently in use by the local farmers. These seeds include the following [Ref: Wheat Research Institute]

Besides the scientific work by the govt institutes and establishing new research centers, it was evident that the  support on ground level is a must call of time. Farmers, being the direct target of all the activity, were given direct incentives and for the first time the subsidy on electricity was given.  Not only in 1997, but in 1999, federal govt. approves further cut in of power rates for agriculture and industrial sector.The various other incentives for the farmers of Pakistan have already been discussed in the first part of the Agricultural policy blog post.

                              

As a side note the above mentioned work may have no worth if it failed to show significant impact on Agri economy. The encouragement of local farmers aided with the scientific progress proved that the steps of government were in the right direction. According to our archives, the growth rate of Agri sector was satisfactory. According to a website about Exports of Pakistan, following were the salient effects of the agricultural policy of PMLN.

• The average growth was 4.6% per annum that jumped to 5.9% in 1998. 
• Of the total export earnings of Rs 387.2 billion in 1998 - 99, the earnings from export of rice and cotton alone amounted to Rs 26.3 billion or 7 percent of the total exports. 
• Only during the year 1999-2000 Pakistan outclass the wheat demand thus achieved self reliance. 
• 21.1 Million Tons of wheat were produced in 1999-2000. 
• Production of rice during 1999 - 2000 was 5156 thousand tonnes.

A very interesting information is available on the website of Punjab Seed Corporation. That information is a clear cut indication of our farmers friendly policies and shows the progress of increased production of crops. 

We as a party never claimed to be the perfect of all. We believe that the performance indices during our times indicates a positive change in our society. We sailed through the tough times when the west was against us because of Nuclear tests and we did all work based on our own resources. This is what we call smashing the begging bowl.  The performance of present govt. of PMLN in Punjab will be discussed later on.

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