Plight Of The Left

The last week and a half was not the best time to be a liberal in Pakistan.

First, the so called capitulation of the Pakistan People’s Party Government to the religious right in the shape of that holiday. Really went down well that decision.

A more severe blow came as ANP stalwart and porn king Ghulam Bilour announced a $100,000 bounty for the filmmaker behind “Innocence of Muslims”. Not only that, he asked his “brothers” from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to help.

Raja Pervez Ashraf has since distanced the Pakistan government from Bilour’s statement and views, as have the ANP. Talk of Ghulam Bilour being disciplined by the government or party has quickly died down.

The usual “betrayal by the PPP” line has been picked up by many in the liberal press and on social media, regards to their latest so called appeasement of the religious right. Granted there’s some genuine anger, but it will subside by next weekend and liberals will return to “their” party.

Until next time. And the time after that, and so on and so forth. Never realizing that PPP is not “their” party and it hasn’t been for a long time. But hey, better denial than anger, right?

As much as everyone wants to forget, this is a party whose lawmaker believes they have a right to corruption and defended that right on TV. That’s their ideology: corruption. They genuinely believe that they have the right to loot and steal and make money in all imaginable and unimaginable ways. Co-Chairman of PPP and President of Pakistan Asif Zardari - of course - wrote the book on said ideology and the exploits of Prime Minister Gillani are well known now.

Is there anything liberal or leftist about those two? The son of a tribal chief and a “Gaddi Nasheen”. Or about Rehman Malik? Or Raja Pervez Ashraf?

Truth is PPP doesn’t resemble a leftist party at all. Mian Mithu cancels more than Raza Rabbani, shut up. It is an apolitical entity at best and a criminal empire at worst.

Meanwhile everyone in the “party” wants a piece of the pie, which happens to be Pakistan. The ministers, the MNAs and the MPAs, down to the “jiyalas”. While MNAs get ephedrine quotas, the Jiyalas are rewarded with governmental jobs and paid bundled salaries as per the reinstatement policy. This is their politics, this is how loyalties are bought and/or strengthened.

Add to it the cult status in Sindh and new voter hiring through Benazir Income Support Program and you have a robust machine that doesn’t need to care about the left, or the right. They can afford to just do nothing, and that’s actually what they do; nothing.

So whoever shouts the loudest at them, or whoever cuts a deal, gets what they want.

Therefore, this talk of a betrayal just sounds desperate.

Liberals are a non factor for the PPP. They are useful for painting a good picture in the press, and maybe in front of Washington. So the PPP uses them, gets the columns in, gets two wise old men on TV to sing their praises and then settles to the right of Jamaat-e-Islami on Friday.

Why do the liberals go back? Well, partly because many are deeply invested in the PPP, either financially or emotionally, and partly because seemingly there’s nowhere else to go.

ANP, although staunchly secular, is more a regional party and would never be able to press ahead liberal agendas nationally. The worry now is that ANP have not only fallen prey to the disease of corruption, they have also taken up arms in Karachi. And once you cross those lines, there’s not much reason for you to shy away from anything else.

That’s where Bilour’s statement came from. Expect more of the same from ANP in an election year with anti-Americanism rife in KPK.

So what do the liberals do? The worst thing possible, of course.

The advance guard of PPP propagandists has already set foot in the MQM camp. Apparently, Altaf Hussain is the new benchmark for progressive and secular ideals and must be championed for his bravery and other assorted bullshit.

Make no mistake - the MQM is one of the biggest most lethal terrorist organizations in the world. According to Wikileaks the US believes MQM have 10,000 active fighters and 25,000 reserves in their ranks and draw funding through an extortion racket which is one of the most effective and punishing in the world. Granted MQM does have a political wing but that hasn’t made the killing or extortion go away.

Needless to say, this is a death-trap. MQM has the blood of thousands on its hands, and as other ethnic groups in Karachi start to fight for a share of the spoils, represented by yours liberally PPP and ANP of course, the violence will only increase.

I know that the propagandists have to earn bread and have already killed their conscience. They know all of the above better than me, and are not in the slightest bit bothered. The rest of you lot need to realize that this will not work, and it is not working.

The liberal cause has only suffered in the hands of the PPP, ANP and MQM the last 5 years and space for the right has expanded. These are people who do not care about any law and they don’t care about human life, what to speak of an ideology.

Pakistan needs all the liberals and progressives it can get, but their continued indulgence with the PPP and now MQM renders them indefensible and takes away any moral authority. Calls for introspection are raised regularly by the left. They would do well to know charity begins at home.

If a day’s mayhem in Islamabad shook your confidence in the Pakistan People’s Party while four years of slaughter in Karachi did not, you need to take a hard look in the mirror.

Please stop prioritizing ideology over humanity. It is time to start over.

AnchorGate Observations

This was so much awesomeness. Malik Riaz – Mubasher Luqman – Mehar Bokhari.

Video 1 & Video 2

For anyone that is yet to see the videos or for the overly cool people who don’t want to see it, here are some things that stood out.

1) Television Anchors are idiots. I mean look at them. They are just IDIOTS.

2) Mubasher Luqman is something else, and not in a good way. He is a perpetually angry, annoying, whining, brat of a man-child. Walking out on the interview? *Insert 8 year old comparison joke here*

3) Luqman’s behaviour deserves another mention. Even when seated, he was a complete ass. He spent his time smoking, texting, being the least bit interested and taunting everyone in range.

4) Malik Riaz: "Aapke miy'an ke saath kab karun " - Mehar Bukhari replies: "Pehle mere saath tou akele ker lein" Malik Riaz: "Karunga na je”. .. Umm..

5) Mehar Bokhari was pretty incredulous in her own right. She kept telling Mubasher Luqman to be professional while re-planning their planted interview. Professional journalism at its best.

6) Mehar Bokhari: “Lagay ga ke planted hai. Jokay ye hai”

7) The jealousy between Luqman and Mehar was awesome, btw.

8) All the money in the world and Malik Riaz can’t eat “roti, chawal or meetha.” - Sucker.

There’s a bunch of non-TV media people on twitter laughing at all this, trying hard to give the impression that they don’t do it. I read your biased articles based on selective history every day, so shut the fuck up.

The fact that media people do planted interviews shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen a Nawaz Sharif interview. The fact that Malik Riaz throws money around? Duh.

So what exactly came out of AnchorGate were the bits and pieces of information were flying around.

Arsalan is guilty, Arsalan was trapped nonsense aside, this interview should settle the “Who is behind this?” question now.

Although all biased and unbiased sane people should have known once Hussain Haqqani’s Memogate lawyer took up Malik Riaz’s case, Nusrat Javed’s bashing of the Chief Justice a day ago MUST have removed all doubt. Still, ardent jackasses are a norm in Pakistan and I hope they understand what the Prime Minister’s son called Mubashar Luqman for, DURING the show.

A number of people were calling in/texting. Maryam Nawaz wanted Hamza Shahbaz’s name cleared, what with him being a scandal magnet since beating his wife and all. Mehar Bokhari wanted her own name cleared, Luqman wasn’t that fussed about it. Some high up told the anchors that Malik Riaz was not to be interrupted.

If Luqman and Bokhari let slip any clear mention of them having received money from Riaz I didn’t catch it. Mubasher though was pretty clear about Hamid Mir receiving a Villa from Malik Riaz, which the latter never denied.

That’s also an interesting matter. On social media I have noticed how journos regularly chastise Luqman for showing his biases. He doesn’t really hide them and picked a fight with Mehar Bokhari over mentioning Moonis Elahi, the scion of Q-League.

Hamid Mir though is a journalist’s journalist. He might be corrupt and yet he doesn’t over play his hand. Malik Riaz, when asked why Mir had turned against him despite the Villa gifted, didn’t want to elaborate. Mir is too shrewd, he is dishonest even when being dishonest, so you can’t pin him. Riaz notwithstanding, the real money in the media comes from another Lahore based businessman. Mir knows not to angry the brothers and he is set.

The most amazing thing in the leaked video though was the man himself; Malik Riaz. He is exceptionally clever, a genius. Even off air, he would not spill anything he didn’t want to spill. He was calculated in his responses, he was calm and he played the two anchors with such ridiculous ease.

Riaz is a picture of humility isn’t he? That’s his trick. He doesn’t mind that at all, he doesn’t only throw money at you; he makes you feel so important. Everyone, Mehar, Luqman and even Abdul Qadir Gillani were dealt with in such a candid, humble manner; as if they were his family, the closest people to him.

It was telling that although Mir had taken his money and turned on him, that Malik wouldn’t spill the beans on the former even off the air. Even when Mariam Nawaz sent the message, claiming Riaz had offered Hamza a car which was rejected, Riaz didn’t protest. You could see he had something to say about it. The woman in the background, I hear it was his daughter, did say something about it, but the wily old Malik Riaz dismissed her complaints.

He was aware of the cameras.

This is a man who does not burn his bridges and he has burned one with CJ.

P.S. Videos keep popping up with Malik Riaz involved.