An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 17 No I dont take them personally - In fact I am extremely honoured...

I write fiction - it is all fabricated of course, I am sorry you dont like what I write, I will try to improve and write what you may want to read...! Though I dont promise.

On the personal front, what I write of course does evolve out of my personal experience and I yet again apologize for the same... Though if you are still interested in my personal self, then... I had established and managed the E-Tech Group of companies which included Hi-Tech Business Machines, Hinet Pak Pvt ltd(ISP) and Hilinks Pak Pvt ltd. The portal was called hilinks.com and the e-card was called the e-tech group e-card. The head office was in karachi with branch offices in Lahore and Islamabad.

Put my name in google or yahoo search and you will find articles on me by Ziauddin in dawn and Sarmad Bashir in the Nation. You will also find an open letter by me written to the President and the Chairman NAB asking them to make my case public... you may also find several years old interviews in magazines such as pakistan economics etc... and if you are still not sure about my identity... there is hardly anything I can do...

It is of course difficult as you know for a missing person to prove that he is missing and that he has been abducted by the state or for the honest to prove that he is not corrupt or for the nation to prove that they dont want musharraf or for the CJ to prove that he is not corrupt and for the lawyers to prove that the rule of law is being abused etc etc.. for all we know all they say may be hawai fires...

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 13 I have never been in politics. I have studied in an army institution and know the army well. I dont know about you, but I have done my share for the country. I spent eighteen years to form and set-up one of the largest IT and e-commerce organisation in Pakistan that employed 250 personnel and contributed towards bringing Pakistan onto the internet map. And by the way, Musharraf gave me a trophy for my contributions towards IT in Pakistan that included introducing the first international portal from Pakistan, setting up a fibre optic based ISP and conducting the first B2B and B2C transactions in the country with the help of the first ever internet based financial instrument in Pakistan... (Read the NAB Diaries on www.teeth.com.pk)

Five years ago my organisation was taken over by some powerful people with the help of the chairman NAB Munir Hafeez. When I fought for justice, I was harrassed and tortured. My name was put on the Exit Control List for three years. I lost all my business, my money, and finally my country and they only allowed me to leave once they thought I had no heartbeat left...( I was never charged for anything, never taken to a court and everything was done illegally)

Inspite of being married to a British national I never applied for a foreign nationality and instead gave my wife the Pakistani nationality.... and you say that I have an inferiority complex...

When we had no shelter or food inspite of having earned millions, and were being barbarically persecuted by this same army,my wife returned to the UK alongwith our daughters after eighteen years and they were given support by the british government...

I could not meet my wife and daughters for three years due to the restrictions on me but finally when they allowed me to leave - I was then given protection by the British government as well on humanitarian grounds...

Since then all efforts for justice have failed. Read my letter asking for justice addressed to the president or else requesting him to close down NAB which is being used for personal gains(letter asking for the chairman NAB to either make my case public or to resign on teeth.com.pk.)

As far as I am concerned these injustices have to be highlighted to atleast save other people from the same fate - and which is happening on a daily basis...

Alternately, if you think that the generals dont make money, that musharraf has not made money then I dont have much to say to you... and if you think that portraying the facts is wrong - then do me a favour... write to the President and the army about this... if they say I am a liar... then I will surrender to them, willingly go to a jail for discrediting the office of our President... now, is this fair...?

Whether the politicians indulge in corruption or the army is the same for me - in either case the vices have to be brought to notice... The difference between me and people like you is that my first loyality is to the common man and then to the offices of the President. In the same way, I respect the pakistan army... but not a corrupt individual who occupies the office by force and the corrupt generals who prey on the civilians and the army jawans...

I am not an enemy of Pakistan my friend - it is ignorant people like you who do not understand that the ultimate power should be the common man, the free media and the free judiciary... that this is the way...

Your comments are unjustified. Kennedy did not abduct his people, killed them, or ruled like a dictator... he headed a democracy... and please instead of quoting ayats - refrain from telling a proud pakistani who is trying to point out the injustices done to a great nation by mediocre self-serving men. Have the courage to prove that accusations are wrong instead of telling people to accept injustice...

And please spare the nation this nonsense about the people deserving this kind of leadership. Have you any idea about how decent and honest people are surviving in the country run by corrupt leaders who rule with the help of corrupt laws because that is the only way to control and loot the nation....

Do not disrespect a hardworking nation...and dont tell me not to point out wrong... instead prove that I am wrong - that what I write is wrong... this article clearly points out that musharraf has no respect for democracy, judiciary or media as well as other institutions.

Not persuing democracy since the current politicians are corrupt sounds like stupidity to me. A defeatist attitude. Now that we have a civilian government and a much more mature nation - we will hold the politicians accountable as well God willing..

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 13 Friend, the job may yet not be finished... it is perhaps just a step in the right direction. The ultimate power must reside in the people one day and there should be public accountability... the hope is that this is a new world and a new nation - the people resistance has asserted itself... if the institutions develop... the judiciary, the media etc... it will be difficult for anyone to misbehave with utter disregard to decency...

Today, the army officers, the politicins, the state machinery including the ISI and FIA even are subdued and have started worrying about the common man...

There may not be any quick fixes - and our expectations of immediate miracles and turn arounds although the players are yet unchanged is also a bit unrealistic... nonetheless it is a new road, a new process of evolution - and our only hope is that this time it is built on the correct premises and which is of course better than to nourish an army dictatorship...

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 10 No comments

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 8 I agree with what you say - but we can only hope... hope that the politicians have somewhat learnt their lessons and that the nation has matured - and then after all, the world has also changed a bit in the last eight years - it is now a new scenario...which requires another effort... at least now, we have some semblence of a nation asserting itself by standing beside a free judiciary and a free media - institutions that can hopefully put in place some public accountability...

And you may agree that it is a step in the right direction as against an expedient way out and which is to settle for a wrong road map which may never leed in the right direction...

I assume that you live in the states - and you know that institutions are more important than individuals - that institutions should not revolve around individuals and that it should be the other way around...

During my ordeal which has been going around for years - it was by default that I had to have a close look at my environment and about things that I had not earlier bothered about... and I begged and pleaded for justice with at least 15 generals and scores of high level army officers... some of them had been friends earlier... and what I discovered was amazing...there are only personal interests and financial gains that they are after, accompanied by a common characteristic of arrogance and even cruelty and which of course is based on a self-righteous stand - a stand which has a kosher cover, namely: Patriotism...

They believe that they are indispensible for the international community because of our geo-political position but what is alarming is their outright contempt for civilians - and this is a thinking by default which has taken so much root that it cannot be erased easily...

However, and this was the second most important conclusion for me, that they are so unaware of the world developments and so entrenched in their last century SOP's that they do not have the vision or even the desire to build up systems that can control corruption - they only hope to do so by force,torture and imprisionment and that too only if it serves their purpose... but of course they can only do even this after the fact since they do not have the capability to introduce systems that can deter before the fact... and this is why they have never been able to introduce civilized controls and checks in the shape of laws and systems... in other words they do not have the capability of putting in place civilian institutions since their knowledge is confined to army set-ups only... and consequently, they do not have any concept of human rights, free judiciary and media, a free economy etc... and this is where the greatest threat lies...

Additionally, you see an independent judiciary can one day even bring the army officers under its jurisdiction and they may lose their immunity vis a vis the common man - human rights of the common man can also perhaps one day initiate a challenge to the disbursement of 70% of the national wealth with the help of the judiciary and the media... and the human rights of a common soldier who is so inhumanly treated and given pittance as compensation can maybe throw even the army into chaos and so on and so forth...

No matter how you see it - the army losses if civilied institutions are put in place...it is a zero sum game. Henceforth, although they do not deny the importance of such institutions - they cannot commit suicide by implementing them...

In fact, the above institutions are exactly what this decadent set-up is taught to supress under the guise of sincerity, patriotism, corruption or whatever - and which is incidently also a good slogan to make huge personal money... and then after all, the alternate of the corrupt politicians aside, the rhetoric of progress that cannot be substantiated aside - what has this regime actually done for the common man...

Now tell me friend... how can there ever be any nation building without institution building... the only correct thing for us to do is to work for a system of public accountability - even if our politicians are corrupt - this does not mean we should forsake the correct path...and settle for what is outrightly wrong...

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 6 Well,you have caught me in the act... no more hawai fires by me I assure you... how did you find out so quickly and so decisively... you are amazing...

I have been trying to get away with this for so long - but you have caught on at once... I guess it had to come to an end...

However, do find some time to read The NAB Diaries on www.teeth.com.pk and several other bloggs including the PPP,TI, and peoples resistance sites, alongwith an open letter to the chairman NAB to either refute the accusation or resign and also articles on this in Dawn and the Nation covered by independent senior journalists...( you will have to put my name in a search engine)

All of the above were also sent to and received by the President, the Chairman NAB, the CJ of Pakistan and the High Commissioner in the UK.

I respect your sentiments - but your realities and my realities are perhaps different - you and your familly did not go through the illegal persecution personally...and mine is but only a small example... tell the families of the missing and the murdered how good Mush is...tell them your opinion...

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 3 Thanks for the offer - but I dont have the level to take on such an important responsibility - though I am sure there are people out there who qualify - and lets hope they get the job...

Well, I have been forced into this role to be honest, of criticizing...
Earlier, I had established and managed a multi-million dollar IT group of companies in Pakistan over a period of eighteen years which was taken over by some friends of a corrupt NAB Chairman... this was inspite the fact that Mush had recognized my contribution towards IT in Pakistan...

And when no appeal for justice is entertained if it is against an army general and you are forced into exile - then believe me my friend, it makes you think, and during the process you become privy to facts that you would rather live without if you had a choice...

Dictatorship, Human Rights, free judiciary and free press - are not matters that I have invented - though, I am qualified enough to read and learn about such important issues and then criticize with the hope that what happened to me would not happen to others...

You will agree that by not criticizing, by going silent, with reference to the destruction of recognized laws and institutions is no solution either...

An Unnecessary Interview with History Re: # 1 Well, He didnt help, now did he... we had great hopes from him - but in eight years he only took us back further...

Musharraf’s Days are Numbered I dont think he will lose his life... I think he will be sent to a mental institution...

Surplus Majors and Jerk Chicken Re: # 1

Thank you very much Naqshbandi - you are kind, generous and gracious...

Over a period of time, I have started to realize that all the world is conspiring aginst Pakistanis in general and me in particular. Therefore, tell me why it is not likely, that the girl at the till might be working for the ISI - she did mention that she knew Brigadier Cheema well,and as you can well imagine she has to have a very close bond with him, otherwise who would want to acknowledge any affinity with the bloke...it would need tremendous courage and self-sacrifice.

This is not to say that the ISI is well spoken by any means but then they do have a carrot and stick policy which they feel is the ultimate approach towards human kind - the world having stopped since then... and hence my suspicion...

Cheers.

Saatchi, Musharraf and Britney Spears If you think I am trying to make people laugh... then you are wrong...

Your revulsion is misplaced...

Saatchi, Musharraf and Britney Spears Well comparitively at least...

Enlightened Mediocrity Re: # 11

Thank you indeed SaimaShah. Bless you and everyone else...

Enlightened Mediocrity Re: # 6 Dear sachapaki, you are absolutely right. Two days ago a Bangladeshi poet read a poem at the AGM of Exile Ink in london. It was heart rending. It was about an army raping and killing its own people. I did not know where to look. I talked to him afterwards. He can barely talk. Even his poems are read by someone else. When he was fourteen he was shot during a protest. A bullet went right through his throat - he was flown to the UK and he survived. Once out of the hospital, he lived on the streets since his familly was in Bangladesh. Now in his forties, he is being recognized as an exceptional poet.

Enlightened Mediocrity Re: # 5 Thank you Ambeekhatee, Reading the response from Tigram, I thought I will never write again, no never, not even on gun point... but since your support I have recovered and changed my mind once again - the story of my life... thank you...

After all, it is a crucial time, everyone should do his/her bit in their own way... these writtings are all that I can do...any encouragement feels so great.

I think we are at a cross-road from where either we will emerge as a civilized country finally or lose even what we have left... we must all do our bit to make the world understand that the common pakistani is normal like anyone else although we have been depicted otherwise since the last eight years by our own leader - it was, of course, a zero-sum game. His gain was our loss...

My Teenage Years in Lahore What a beautiful piece of writting.... aays shehr lahore wich keeney booyee teh kineeyian barreeyan ney...

Amer Nazir