Monitoring Desk: The former First Lady of Pakistan Bushra Bibi has leveled a serious allegation against a brotherly Muslim country in her recent video message to her party workers.
In her video message, she claimed:
“When Imran Khan returned from Medina, General Bajwa got a call asking, “Who have you brought here? We want to abolish the Shariah system; you have brought in the contractors of Sharia.”
Her allegations referred alleged intervention of a brotherly Muslim country in Pakistani politics, direct contact of this country with the then Chief of Pakistan Army, and also claimed that this brotherly Muslim country is planning to abolish the Shariah system in the country.
Bushara Bibi who is very active in Pakistani politics nowadays was also addressing judges and lawyers, asking them to support his jailed husband. Her statements raised several questions that should be answered not only by the PTI leadership but also by the state of Pakistan why no action has been taken against her for inciting the public against the state as well as meddling in Pakistan’s foreign relations with a brotherly Muslim country?
Certain elements within the government in the Center claim that Bushar Bibi was hitting hard on Saudi Arabia at the behest of Goldsmiths because Saudi Arabia has taken a firm position against Israel over the Palestinian issue.
Another question that should be answered by the PTI leadership is how can she address the party when she has no appointment in the party.
Meanwhile, her statements of inciting violence and provoking the judiciary for political interest should be responded to by the government.
Monitoring Desk: The United States reopened its embassy in Kyiv after it had shut for the day due to what Washington called the “threat of a significant air attack”.
Kremlin called shutting and opening of the US Embassy a “media hype strategy of Washington”.
It may be mentioned that Ukraine attacked Russia with UK-made long-range missiles the day before yesterday and this move was followed by an announcement of Washington to shut down the US embassy in Kiev. The embassy was opened a day later. Russian media claimed shutting down of the US embassy for some hours after was actually a media hype creation tactic of Washington.
Monitoring Desk: Russian envoy to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said that the UN Security Council should bring peace, stability, and prosperity to the Middle East and that Russia would not allow the United States to silence the UNSC over the issue of the Gaza crisis.
According to TASS news Agency, Nebenzya said that Moscow will continue to call for an end to violence against Palestinians and will not allow the US to muzzle the UN Security Council as Washington seeks to support Israel’s operation in Gaza.
“We will continue to stand firmly for ending violence against the Palestinians. Without a shadow of a doubt, we will continue to expose the abuses and sanctimony with which the US is handling the situation. We will not allow the Americans to gag the entire council with their hands to encourage further continuation of Israel’s ruthless operation,” he said in a speech at the Security Council.
The emergent realities of global security are fundamentally transforming the frame of references and trajectorial approaches toward them. New security architecture based on new security arrangements, new economic framework, and new civilization initiative provides an ideological underpinning for the future of global security architecture. Economic security, border security, and civilizational security may be intertwined but are not a total sum proposition like the post-Cold War phenomenon. International security in the past at least from the advent of Western colonization has always translated into a game of chess in which the king plays the central role and all the moves are taken to protect him or follow his position. So considering the world a grand chessboard makes the global security framework a total sum game of winning and losing. This has for sure divided the world into either friends of the king or enemies of the king, hence weaponizing economy, culture, and border security to further advance neo-liberal exceptionalism. It would be unnecessary to be too clichéd to discuss the colonial and post-colonial narratology regarding the cultural, civilizational, and economic destruction of the colonized. Although still in practice and fully functional as operative tools. The philosophy of consolidation of power to one axis has pushed the world into an overwhelming security dilemma, be it border and economic security or security of culture and traditions.
The colonial mindset of exceptionalism combined with post-Bretton Woods financial institutions gave us almost eight decades of unending wars, sanctions, currency monopolies, compromised supply chains, and defamed cultures and traditions. The less than 30% privileged exceptional ideas are being forcefully replicated in the population adhering to thousands of years of civilizations, oral history, folk wisdom, and protection management. The Western century of enlightenment was considered the enlightenment for the entire global population putting aside the obvious fact that Western enlightenment was a geo-political phenomenon related to specific geography and political evolutionary processes rest of the world had its own spatio-temporal enlightenment acquired much earlier than the border west. The question here is not who got out of the darkness first and why, but rather, whether or not Western enlightenment and the Western ideals born out of it such as liberal democracy, world order, humanity, and freedom of expression have practically any constructive capability to make a better world for the greater good of humanity? The answer to that is No. These Western liberal ideas are fundamentally flawed in relevance to the claims of being universal. Such as western liberal democracy is a shady term to install an aligned regime in any non-Western country, the Western idea of humanity is relative to the Western understanding of who needs empathy and the Western model of the economy is a weapon to coerce national economies.
The three centuries of brutal self-oriented Western experiments from colonization to globalization have destroyed the ideational and material culture of the rest of the 70% population, having civilizations of thousands of years old. The oldest civilizations of human history are situated in regions that are in Latin America, the Middle East, Far East, Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia and these are the areas that have been subject to brutal wars and bloodshed by those who had history of less than 300 years. The aftermath in the form of a security dilemma begs to be resolved. The ancient collective wisdom and long-standing histories of the world civilization have joined together to reconstruct the new global security architect. Survival of living civilizations such as Cimmerians, Scythians, Chinese, Elamite, and Harappa and Indus Valley Civilization is based on the narrative of cohabitation instead of survival of the fittest therefore the collective wisdom of these regions is coexistence while Western collective thoughts believes in ‘purge and replace’. Thus Thucydides Trap is a historical fallacy misconstrued in the West as the justification to be in constant conflict with the emerging power. Thucydides has never advocated such an idea attributed to him he rather emphasized in his writings that politicians always have options.
From the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the SCO Summit in Islamabad, the Sochi Valdai Dialogue, and the Beijing Xiangshan Forum to the Margalla Dialogue Islamabad, all events of the year 2024 pivoted towards finding the solutions for coexistence instead of a ‘clash of civilizations’. All the geographic locations that have the ancestry of ancient civilizations have joined together to promote peace and a shared future. In all these events, statesmen, scholars, leading experts in finance and economies, militaries, border defense, think tanks, and security sat together and discussed the pressing topic of survival against the hegemonic forces. In all these settings, Security Cooperation, Global Prosperity and Stability, Multipolarity, Evolving International Order, Global South, World Peaceful Development, and International Mechanisms and Global Security Governance were major points of discussion for finding a ‘Right Way’ to get along with hegemonic Global North.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in the 21st annual Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi stated that Russia does not view Western civilization as an enemy, but he questioned the Western attempt to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. He also emphasized that the world is moving toward a multipolar order, which is being threatened by the “violent anarchy” fostered by the West in its efforts to maintain global dominance.
In Margalla Dialogue, COAS Gen Asim Munir also talked about coexistence while mentioning Indian extremist ideology that is a threat to synchronicity and stated that atrocities being inflicted by India in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and human genocide in Gaza and Lebanon were not serving humanity. He indicated that that Pakistan is of utmost importance for trade in Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East and it has always played a positive role in regional and global peace. By indicating this, Gen Asim Munir might have in his mind the great Silk Road that in the ancient world used to connect all civilizations of that era.
In Kazan, while addressing BRICS leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed a similar viewpoint and stated that peace and development face severe challenges and collective wisdom and strength provide a base for building a community with a shared future for mankind. Like Gen Asim Munir, President Xi talked about peace in the Middle East and a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip stopping the flames of war from spreading in Lebanon and ending the miserable suffering in Palestine and Lebanon.
The reason for referring lookouts of President Putin, President XI, and Gen Asim Munir is to display that representatives of the oldest civilizations of the world believe in coexistence, upholding peace, striving for common security, strengthening global security governance, and exploring solutions to address both symptoms and roots of hotspot issues. On the other hand, the countries having a living history of fewer than 300 years belonging to Global North are full of warmongers who are blind to see bleeding humanity in Indian Occupied Kashmir, Gaza, and Lebanon, and pushed Ukraine into Europe in unending war. One can justify their acts by stating that Western economies are built on the concept of a ‘war economy’ that is a transformation of the colonial economy. However, the exceptional rise of the Chinese economy in the last thirty years that trades peace and connectivity against wars has confirmed that the ‘war economy’ strategy is not as effective as it was in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 21st century brought new realities and is standing against and protectionism of Western hegemonic design. Additionally, the rise of today’s Russians from the ashes of the Soviet Union is another reason to believe that prosperity is possible without selling a ‘war economy’ although the West again sold a war economy to Ukraine to dent Russian rise.
In the first two decades of the 21st century, it has been proven that the Global South emerged to play an active and leading role in the global economic governance reform, and making development the core of international economic and trade agenda. Pakistan being the most important link of the Global South since the inception of the 21st century is under attack (war on terror—terrorism in Pakistan, digital terrorism, economic terrorism against Pakistan, etc) because the warmongers understand that a stable Pakistan would surely help the rise of Global South therefore this strategically important country is the target of warmongers. Understanding the situation, COAS Gen Asim Munir is trying hard to make Pakistan a destination of peace and prosperity while connecting economic powerhouses of the Global South under the umbrella of the SIFC initiative.
To my understanding SIFC is just not an investment platform rather it is launched to link global economic interests with Pakistan so that all emerging global powers would help Pakistan come out of the sluggish situation that Pakistan is facing today. A prosperous and resilient Pakistan is not in favor of Pakistan only rather it is a must for the goals set by Global South to be achieved before 2030 and we need exchanges among civilizations, enhanced communication and dialogue, and support for each other in taking the path to transformation suited to our respective national conditions.
In the end, I would like to share what President XI believes in. At the Kazan Summit, he talked about the power of old civilizations and added that his Global Civilization Initiative is for the purpose of building a garden of world civilizations in which we can share and admire the beauty of each civilization. To achieve this target, all toads to Sochi, Kazan, Beijing, and Shanghai go through Islamabad.
Monitoring Desk: 12 more men in uniform embraced martyrdom for the motherland in Pakistan, said Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan Army.
On 19 November 2024, Khwarij (the official name of TTP terrorists) attempted to attack a Joint Check Post in the general area of MaliKhel in Bannu District.
In the ensuing fire exchange, six khwarij were sent to hell. The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted by its own troops, which forced the khwarij to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the post.
The suicide blast led to the collapse of a portion of the perimeter wall and damaged the adjoining infrastructure, resulting in the Shahadat of twelve brave sons of soil including ten Soldiers of the security forces and two soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their sorrow over the incident and said that the Pakistan Army is offering sacrifices for the betterment of Pakistan.
Sanitization operation is being conducted in the area and the perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice. Security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our resolve.
It may be mentioned that on the night of 15/16 November 2024, terrorists attempted to attack a security forces’ post in the general area Shah-e-Mardan of Kalat District and Army troops fought gallantly as a result of which six terrorists were sent to hell, while four terrorists were injured. However, during an intense exchange of fire, seven brave sons of the soil, having fought gallantly, embraced shahadat. Sanitization operations are being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area.
Security forces of Pakistan, in step with the nation, remain determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging the peace, stability, and progress of Balochistan, and such sacrifices of our soldiers further strengthen our resolve.
As we age, our minds and mental health become more important. We should try to maintain and improve them. Education is a perfect way to do that. Learning is not only beneficial for our minds but also keeps our bodies healthy. Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal development. It helps us achieve satisfaction and personal fulfillment.
Learning new skills will help you to keep your prospects of life up to date. It gives you insight into recent advancements and changes. It will keep you stimulated and give you the ability to handle different challenges. Keeping your mind stimulated and keeping a cycle of information makes your mind happy. As a result, your mindset becomes satisfied as compared to the bitterness that comes with old age. The result is you become happy. Lifelong learning can be in any way. It can be taking classes or courses. It can be working or a new job in a different field that requires preparation for meetings and work. We can learn from new colleagues. Learning helps us to improve our mental health. You may think learning new things can increase our stress levels. However, there are different forms of stress-free learning. Learning in your way at your own pace is important. You can reflect on what you have learned. It is not a typical university student learning to pass an exam. It is real learning just for the sake of improving your knowledge and mental capacity. This type of learning boosts your well-being. It improves your quality of life. There are many great and fun ways of learning without the hassles of tests and exams. Many studies have shown that people engaged in learning reported feeling better about themselves in general and have had more hope in their lifelong goals and general aspirations. We can learn how to cook new recipes, fix broken things at home, and learn a new hobby like painting or writing.
Why lifelong learning makes us happy in the long term because we as a human have a natural drive to explore new things and ideas. We want to improve our quality of life by learning new things. If we don’t learn new essential skills it hinders us internally. We feel incapable and then become bitter about life. We can learn what makes us humans. We have a natural curiosity about things. As a child, we learn to ride a bike and as an adult, we learn to cook new dishes. Both of them are very enjoyable experiences for us. Personal fulfillment comes if we learn with our natural interest, curiosity, and motivation. We are not learning for someone else but just for ourselves. This learning should be voluntary, self-taught, and often informal and usually does not require any cost.
Lifelong learning renews our self-motivation. Sometimes we are stuck in mundane tasks of daily life and do not know what inspires us. Then suddenly reading a book gives you a different motivation. You feel good and younger. You re-ignite your interests and goals. Suddenly you feel that your boredom is gone and you start living with a purpose. And you never know where your actual interests can lead you by focusing on them. It will improve your personal and professional development. Everyone who learned computer and internet skills although they have never used it in their earlier life, feel more confident and has excess to more knowledge. If you are busy acquiring knowledge you are developing other skills also. They can be interpersonal, problem-solving, or critical-thinking skills. They in turn help you in personal and professional development. This will make you feel good and improve your confidence. Seeking new information is also a fun way to engage with others. As a result, you feel happy and socially connected. It prevents isolation in old age. Avoiding isolation is generally good for mental health in old age. It will give you increased satisfaction and a sense of purpose.
One most important benefits of lifelong learning is that it keeps your brain active, healthy, and young. It does not only make you capable but it helps in preventing and minimizing the cognitive decline in old age. If loss of brain function is avoided you can spend your golden years living independently, having control over your life, and making your own decisions. Learning stimulates the brain leading to the development of new neural pathways. It improves your memory and delays the development of dementia. It strengthens cognitive reserve by challenging the brain to recall and apply new information. That is why the brain is protected against degeneration. In old age, it is very important to have cognition. Otherwise, you may live longer, but your quality of life is worse. So aging healthily requires lifelong learning. It is as simple as if you do physical activity your muscles get strong and they do not decline easily. If you use your brain it is going to improve and does not degenerate easily. Being physically active also has a beneficial effect on the brain. If you want to learn you should better learn in a diversified manner. Diversity means it should be recreational learning, self-directed learning, and formal classroom learning.
To begin the journey of lifelong learning at any age first, you have to recognize what are your interests. Then you can see what you can learn. You can make a list and become proactive in the learning process. You can formulate your learning goals and commit.
I believe that lifelong learning is a beautiful thing. Out of all the things which are important for our well-being I enjoy it most. Learning in a stress-free environment just for the sake of learning is important for our growth as a person. If you stop learning and adapting to new things after a certain age. Your soul becomes rotten. To be alive fully and keep our brain active we should not let curiosity inside us die till the last breath.
The author Dr. Attia Anwar is a consultant family physician with a postgraduate degree from the Royal College of GP UK. She is a strong advocate of health and well-being and wants patient participation in decision-making regarding health.
Ideas 2024, the global exhibition of defense equipment, will begin today at the Karachi Expo Center on November 19, in which Pakistan’s commitment to “weapons for peace” will be highlighted.
The 4-day exhibition will continue till November 22. The exhibition will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
The newest Tank Haider and Drone Shahpar will also be unveiled at the Pakistan Pavilion, while an Air Show at Nishan Pakistan Seaview will also be part of the exhibition on the last day, which will be organized for foreign dignitaries and the people of Karachi.
The main benefit of Ideas 2024 is that it increases Pakistan’s defense exports, which further strengthens the country’s economy.
In the 12th edition of the Defense Exhibition IDEAS, exhibitors from around the world will present their defense products and equipment; for the first time, Ukraine, Italy, and Iran will participate in the IDEAS exhibition
532 exhibitors and 350 foreign delegates from 38 countries will participate while 30 international speakers will address seminars related to defense industries.
15 international pavilions have also been set up in the exhibition. 52 thousand trade visitors will visit the exhibition. In Ideas, Pakistan showcases indigenously developed all-round war weapons.
In addition to the JF-17 Thunder designed for air combat, Mushaq, Super Mushaq and K-8 aircraft for training fighter pilots are also on display.
Pakistan has played an important role in maintaining the stability and balance of global peace and hosting ideas is a testament to our commitment to encourage technological development and exchange in the region.
Since its inception in the year 2000, the event has become an important step in defense diplomacy and a consistently large gathering of national and global defense industry.
IDEAS is now recognized worldwide, the Defense Exhibition promotes the exchange of modern technology in Pakistan and beyond. The IDEAS Exhibition, which has been running successfully for 25 years, is being held in Karachi from November 19 to November 22 this year. Keeping in view the interest of the public, a Karachi show will be organized for the citizens on November 21 in Seaview Nishan Pakistan.
Since its inception in the year 2000, the event has become a recognized and consistently large gathering of the national and global defense industry.
IDEAS is now globally recognized, and the latest technology in defense exhibition promotes knowledge exchange in Pakistan and beyond.
The first International Defense Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) was launched in the year 2000 and since then It has been held on a regular basis.
Karachi has once again been chosen to host the country’s largest defense exhibition and the 12th IDEAS is being held from November 19 to 22, becoming the largest defense equipment exhibition forum in the region.
The International Defense Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) was started for the first time in 2000 and since then it has been held on a regular basis.
IDEAS brings together local and foreign companies and dealers related to the arms industry to showcase their products and services.
There is an opportunity to highlight. Not only this, but there are also opportunities to discuss joint ventures, outsourcing and cooperation related to defense production.
IDEAS 2024 is being held at a time when new blocs are emerging in the world at the political, trade, and defense levels. This is the reason why defense spending is increasing rapidly in the world. America, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia are prominent among the increasing countries.
According to SIPRI, since last year, the expenses in the defense sector have increased once again in the world, the main reason of which is the mutual mistrust of the nations.
The situation is that the defense expenditure is increasing at the rate of 6.1% of the global GDP annually and 2.2% of the world’s total production is being spent on defense. Currently, America is not engaged in war anywhere in the world, but despite this.
The US military spent 801 billion dollars, or 3.5% of the US GDP, on defense alone. Most of the US spending is on defense research.
Experts say that the United States is working on new war technology. Russia is currently at war with Ukraine and because of this, its defense costs have increased, but the preparation of this war has reduced its budget to 65 billion 900 million increased to the dollar, which is 2.9 percent of the Russian GDP. In the continent of Asia, the defense spending of several countries has increased, with China at the top.
China has been pursuing a 5-year defense program since its establishment and is currently in the 14th plan, which will be completed in 2025.
Japan has increased its defense budget by 7 billion dollars to 54 billion dollars. The main reason for this increase is China because Japan is afraid of China’s emerging hegemony in the seas. Along with this, Australia’s military budget has also become 31 billion 80 million dollars.
Australia is getting eight nuclear submarines worth $128 billion from the United States to compete with China. The biggest defense spender in Central and Western Europe is Germany, which has spent $56 billion in 2021. Qatar’s defense spending has also increased, exceeding $11 billion. In terms of defense expenditure in the world, India ranks third with 76 billion 600 million dollars.
Its defense expenditure has increased by 33%. It is important to review this analysis of the increase in defense expenditure because if the defense expenditure is increasing rapidly in the world and every country is concerned about its own defense.
In this case, the defense exhibition ideas provide an opportunity to the countries of the region to see how they can get quality defense products at a very low cost without depending on the Western countries. This exhibition is considered to be the most important in defense diplomacy.
Ideas exhibition is a big and important opportunity for defense diplomacy. The exhibition also provides an opportunity to highlight Pakistan as a modern, developed, and peaceful co-existence state before the international community.
Artificial intelligence technology in the defense sector is a key change in the defense sector. Ministers, senior officials of the Ministry of Defense, institutions related to defense technology, people related to the teaching of this field, researchers, and defense analysts are participating in the seminar.
IDEAS was held for the first time in the year 2000 and since then the participation of domestic and foreign defense industry companies has been increasing in each exhibition.
The number of companies involved in the first Ideas was a little more than 100. Africa, America, Asian countries, Central Asian countries, Europe, and Middle Eastern countries actively participate in this exhibition.
Delegates participating in Ideas are prepared at the local level of the Pakistan Navy. Equipment is inspected at the Pakistan Navy Dockyard and Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works, where submarines are also manufactured in addition to small and medium-sized ships.
Apart from this, modern OPVs, missile boats, minesweepers, frigates, multipurpose warships, and other weapons are also manufactured, repaired, and maintained here.
Here the Western countries can also benefit from the facility of repair and upgrading at low cost. Many countries are interested in the indigenously developed Al-Khalid tank for the bad forces in Pakistan.
It should be remembered that it is considered the main battle tank as well as among the modern tanks of the world. For light warfare, apart from large weapons such as Al-Zarar, and armored Saad, the weapon system developed in POF, small arms, Ammunition, missiles, and missile refueling facilities will also be on display.
Re-life refers to making a missile reusable. Over time, the batteries and other equipment in the missile become unusable, which can be replaced to make the missile reusable, thus avoiding the need to replace the entire missile.
In the defense sector it is not enough to have weapons, but for this, enthusiasm, passion, discipline within the forces as well as proper handling of these weapons are most important. The land, naval, and air warfare training centers established by the Pakistan Armed Forces are considered to be among the best in the region. This is the reason why military officers of many friendly countries have reached the highest positions in their respective armed forces after being trained in Pakistan.
Pakistan Military Academy is the most famous for training bad forces in Pakistan. The training of senior officers of the armed forces is done in the Command and Staff College, Quetta. Apart from this, the National Defense University has been established for strategic training. A training center is established in Risalpur for the training of pilots, officers, and airmen of the Pakistan Air Force, while centers like PNS Himalaya, Navy War College, and Marine Diving Center are established in this century.
It also faces fighting within cities. This battle is completely different and difficult from the traditional war. Pakistan has achieved success in the war against terrorism in a short period of time and Pakistan is the only country in the history of the world which has eliminated internal disturbances. But the lesson learned from this war is that along with the external enemy, the preparation should be complete against the internal enemy as well.
DND Report Islamabad, Pakistan: More members of the US Congress have demanded that their government play its role in the issue of Imran Khan’s imprisonment to release him from jail who calls himself the leader of Pakistan and the Muslim world.
Political analysts believe that behind all this adventure is not only lobbying worth millions of dollars but also the powerful Jewish lobby, working under the patronage of Imran Khan’s ex-in-law “the House Goldsmiths”.
The systematic targeting of Pakistan’s defense installations during the events of May 9, 2023, and the negative propaganda against the important pillars of the Pakistani state were enough to prove that all this was not just a coincidence. Still, they were part of a systematic global and regional conspiracy. Government circles claim that billions of rupees were invested in social media to inject hate among youth against the state. Nevertheless, the question arises as to why countries like the US, UK, Canada, India, and Israel are worried about a Pakistani leader in jail who has been calling himself the leader of the Islamic world. Are these countries supporters of Pakistan and Islam or are they apprehensive about Pakistan? It is imperative to find an answer to this.
Another question is why PTI is pursuing a policy of exerting global pressure on Pakistan to get the release of Imran Khan by using Western statesmen, lobby firms, and media houses. Certain circles in the federal government claim Goldsmith’s daughter and ex-wife of PTI founder Jemima Khan has been overseeing this campaign herself through her team and the Jewish lobby. In such a situation, it is natural to ask why she is investing so much in such a big campaign when she is just an ex-wife of Imran Khan. This whole situation further strengthens the impression that not only was the marriage with Jemima Goldsmith a well-planned project, (as mentioned by Hakeem Saeed in his book published in the 1990s) but also her being active after the divorce is a conspiracy of the Jewish lobby and part of anti-Pakistan activities.
It is also strange that this party kept calling the fall of Imran Khan’s government a conspiracy of America, but now, moving in the opposite direction, it is also openly seeking help from the same America and its allies. It is not just a coincidence that while PTI announced a protest on November 24, on the one hand, an attempt was made to put pressure on the US Congress members through letters written to US President Biden for the release of Imran Khan.
The bitter truth is that PTI has not only been badly entangled but also exposed and its rebellious style of politics has once again pitted this party against the state. Time will tell what the outcome of this whole situation will be, but it is quite clear that the Pakistani state will not be intimidated by such tactics and will stick to its principled stand that this is an internal matter of Pakistan and no one will be allowed to interfere.
It is perceived that PTI wanted to mend its relations with military leadership but GHQ is not ready to get involved in political activities and is giving shut-up calls to whosoever approaches GHQ for mercy.
However, PTI, as usual, has launched an excellent campaign to spread confusion among the masses that suggests the November 24 call for protest is ‘planned with the help of the establishment’ and former First Lady Bushra Bibi and KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur are in contact with the establishment and ‘November 24 call is just face-saving and let the workers busy’. Such a campaign from the PTI would help the party to survive leaving the impression that Khan is still acceptable to the Establishment and both are in contact—the PTI and the Establishment. The reality however is otherwise. PTI has lost street power to manipulate the circumstances and the Establishment knows that on November 24, except for a few thousand people, no one will come out of Peshawar. The last several calls of PTI had been a failure as in all the previous meetings, processions, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and protests, the participation and performance of the party’s workers had been less than expected.
Earlier, when a call for protest was given in Islamabad, only a handful of miscreants appeared in the streets and attacked the police and security forces, during which a policeman was also martyred by these miscreants. Everyone saw that CM KPK Ali Amin Gandapur suddenly disappeared from the scene from Burhan Interchange crossed all the barriers reached D-Chowk and then went to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House and then remained missing from there for 30 hours. On the other hand, the workers kept waiting for him and Ali Amin Gandapur secretly reached back to Peshawar.
The second tier of PTI’s leadership is not contented with this protest call but only wants to make an attendance for political survival this time too everyone will see that these leaders will come, make an attendance, and like in the past, they will leave by getting confused and trapping the workers. Political analysts say that the enthusiasm that is required for any protest or movement is no longer present in the PTI and the leaders also thought Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur have backdoor contacts with the establishment, which is why Sher Afzal Marwat and Shah Mehmood Qureshi are expressing reservations about the protest. A day ago, Sher Afzal Marwat expressed that the workers would not come out to protest on the advice of the wife and sisters of the founder of PTI. Political analysts also say that the statement of Imran Khan that Bushra Bibi is not entering politics has been proven completely wrong because she is now leading the party from the front. Meanwhile, Bushra Bibi’s audio address to party officials and leaders has surfaced that shows that she is portraying the November 24 protest as a Jihad and a test of the bravery of the Pashtun people. This audio indicates that she will run the party in the future on the dynamics of ethnicity and religion. She said:
I have brought the message of the founder PTI,
Khan’s message is for all presidents, general secretaries, MNAs and MPAs,
Tomorrow no one should say that Khan’s message did not reach us,
His message has been conveyed to everyone,
Each MPA will bring 5,000 and MNAs 10,000 separate convoys,
Tomorrow no one will say that I have been arrested,
The arrest process will start now,
You people will have to decide on a strategy to save yourself from arrest,
All officials should prepare their alternatives,
If someone is arrested, then that person should lead the convoy
Later it will not be heard that he was arrested, shelling was done,
Tomorrow no one should say that he was arrested and shillings were done,
The teams that have been formed should also collect the names of alternative options,
Khan has said that all officials should take pictures and videos of the interior of the vehicles,
The videos will be shared with us,
In case of an internet shutdown Official videos should be arranged for a motorcycle to deliver to the national and foreign media,
Those who do not have proof of the videos will not be given a ticket next time,
This is not just Khan’s freedom war, it is our country’s freedom war,
He who is honest and proud will be loyal to Khan and the country,
This country belongs only to God and this war is only for Khan and the country,
We must keep the international media with us,
We have to save ourselves and our workers from arrest and reach our destination,
November 24 is a test of your loyalty to Khan and the country,
Pakhtuns are a proud and jihadi nation,
He who is honest and proud will be Khan’s partner,
Whenever there is a grouping, Mir Jaffir, and Mir Sadiq start raising their heads,
Lahore, Pakistan: Exhibiting the colors of Punjab while hosting over 100 international delegates from all over the world, the Second International Punjabi Conference started here on Monday.
The Conference will be addressed by 100 Punjabi personalities from various fields, including scholars, politicians, actors, singers, poets, and social activists from Pakistan, USA, Canada, India, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE. The agenda of the Conference also includes name of Sunaini Sharma who is the granddaughter of Surinder Kaur and the daughter of Dolly Guleria. Sunaini had several opportunities to sing “Mavan te dhiya ral biathya ni maye” along with her mother and grandmother globally and she has dedicated herself to preserving the tradition of a particular genre of Punjabi singing that was undoubtedly introduced by the Kaur Sisters over 80 years ago.
Khalid Ahmed (21.12.1943-17.11.2024) is “no more”, this is how I got the sad news of his death today. He was my editor at the Frontier Post Lahore and I had learned from him how to be an editorial writer.
He started his career with Pakistan Times, and Viewpoints and worked as an editor in The Nation, The Frontier Post, The Daily Times, South Asian Journal, and The Friday Times. He also worked with the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) for peace in the subcontinent and was one of the leading lights of Track-2 Diplomacy and ran South Asia Media School for two years.
A liberal intellectual par excellence and a man of ‘Words’ and humble manners, he has left behind an unfulfilled agenda of a secular-liberal republic and enlightenment. Khalid Ahmed was the epitome of a liberal-democratic vision and was a consistent pedagogue of enlightenment. I have met top editors in South Asia, but no one compared his scholarship and knowledge.
Nobody else in Pakistan has reviewed as many books as Khalid Ahmad has. His passion for the roots of words and their interconnections across languages was remarkable. He was crazed to look into the depths and mysteries of words and their epistemological connections. On the editorial board, we used to raise issues and have unending debates, with Khalid always enriching the discourse with his encyclopedic knowledge.
He graduated from Government College Lahore and went for higher studies at Moscow State University. He taught English Literature at the Government College Lahore. Then joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan after undertaking a CSS (competitive exam). He worked as a consular Pakistan embassy in Moscow. Married to Dr Dure, he has left behind a son.
Khalid was a prolific writer and wrote thousands of editorials and articles. He authored almost half a dozen books, including ‘Word for Words’, ‘Pakistan Behind the Ideological Mask’ (Facts about Great Men We Don’t want to Know), Sectarian War: Pakistan’s Sunni-Shia Violence, Comparison of ANN Approach and Analytical Approaches and MicroLED devices and systems.
His main focus was on separating the state from religion and liberal values. He thoroughly analyzed sectarianism, terrorism, and religious fanaticism.
He was a dear friend indeed from whom I learned a lot and had differed with him on his Neo-liberalism. He always remained in the company of progressive writers and never deviated from his liberal beliefs.
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