Ugly Role of Jang Group/Express News, Shah Mehmood Qureshi & Zain Qureshi.

A compulsive liar is defined as someone who lies out of habit. Lying is their normal and reflexive way of responding to questions. Compulsive liars bend the truth about everything, large and small. For a compulsive liar, telling the truth is very awkward and uncomfortable while lying feels right. Compulsive lying is usually thought to develop in early childhood, due to being placed in an environment where lying was necessary. For the most part, compulsive liars are not overly manipulative and cunning (unlike sociopaths), rather they simply lie out of habit - an automatic response which is hard to break and one that takes its toll on a relationship. 

Anjum Niaz (From The NEWS International.21/10/09) The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting. Since all the worthy columnists have exhausted the KLB, the new name for the Kerry-Lugar Bill, I have nothing remarkable to add to their sound and fury. Let’s instead turn to a small housekeeping matter like: is Foreign Minister Qureshi’s son working for Senator Kerry? Zain H Qureshi’s (ZHQ) business card is circulating the cyberspace these days. It says that he is a legislative fellow in Kerry’s Washington DC office. REFERENCE: The Boston Brahmin Anjum Niaz Wednesday, October 21, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=204217&Cat=9&dt=10/21/2009

ISLAMABAD: Several PPP leaders on Sunday assailed former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for issuing statements on the Raymond Davis issue after refusing to join the federal cabinet. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan linked the refusal of Shah Mehmood Qureshi to join the cabinet to the arrest warrants issued for former president Pervez Musharraf. Talking to a private TV channel, Firdous said Qureshi’s statements about US national Raymond Davis’s immunity would create a bad environment in the country. She said the statements could not give immunity to any individual as the case was already in the court. “Whatever verdict is given by the court about the case, the government will accept it,” she added. The minister said such issues could be debated in the party meetings, but not in the media. “Shah Mehmood Qureshi had not shown his concerns over Raymond Davis when he was a foreign minister. These kinds of remarks about Davis now are not in favour of the country,” she told the state-run TV channel. Firdous said the government would pursue the court proceedings, not the remarks of any individual. Separately, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians Secretary General Raja Pervez Ashraf said the tone and tenor of Shah Mehmood Qureshi indicated that another Leghari was in the making in the party. “But Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s fate will not be different from that of Leghari,” he added. Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said Qureshi wanted to save the former president from arrest. Talking to the media, Law Minister Babar Awan made a stunning statement, saying: “No former minister can make statements on the Raymond Davis issue and only government can do so”.  Asim Yasin adds: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani have decided to ask all the PPP leaders to abstain from making any conflicting statements on matters relating to former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi so as to avoid the impression of rift in the party. REFERENCE: PPP leaders lash out at Qureshi’s comments on Davis Monday, February 14, 2011 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3982&Cat=13&dt=2/14/2011

Since all the worthy columnists have exhausted the KLB, the new name for the Kerry-Lugar Bill, I have nothing remarkable to add to their sound and fury. Let’s instead turn to a small housekeeping matter like: is Foreign Minister Qureshi’s son working for Senator Kerry? Zain H Qureshi’s (ZHQ) business card is circulating the cyberspace these days. It says that he is a legislative fellow in Kerry’s Washington DC office. When I called up Kerry’s office and asked for Qureshi, the voice at the other end immediately said, “He does not work for us”. The woman appeared primed for such a question. She said she had received a similar query earlier that day. Incidentally the cell number on ZHQ’s call card has been disconnected; while the mail box belonging to “Zain Qureshi” was “full!” So, I couldn’t get to him.

After a number of phone calls to Senator Kerry’s office, I finally found out from one of Kerry’s male staffers that ZHQ did indeed work for Kerry but had now left. Why has ZHQ gone into hiding? Did he do something wrong? Yes. And the Foreign Office finds itself between a rock and a hard place. How can it condone its boss’s act of getting his son a job with Kerry when the KLB talks were at a critical stage? Even if fate smiles upon ZHQ because he’s the favoured son of our foreign minister and the doors of the high and mighty in Washington open up for him, we have the right to know whenever the son’s job compromises his dad’s position. More importantly if it is in direct conflict with Pakistan’s interests. Would you not call this a conflict of interest? Should the foreign minister resign? And if Zardari cannot afford to let him go, then the FM must seek a public apology. The Boston Brahmin, Senator Kerry is complicit in this act. Boston Brahmins are New England’s aristocracy like the Makhdooms of Multan, i.e. Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his tribe. These guys claim to fame is blue-blooded ancestry, wealth, influence and the right to rule. He said the following during his 2004 presidential campaign: “There’s a great passage in the Bible that says, ‘What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.’ And I think everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith . That’s why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith.” Senator Kerry must practice what he preaches. Would he have given ZHQ the time of the day had the young man not been the son of Pakistan’s foreign minister? Why do the good folks fighting Pakistan’s case in Washington DC become the usual suspects? In Musharraf’s time it was Dr Nasim Ashraf. One wondered whether the Maryland-based millionaire doctor’s heart bled for Pakistan or for Musharraf or for himself. Today, Ambassador Husain Haqqani is under fire from certain Pakistani quarters who accuse him of working for Washington and not Islamabad. Haqqani is hitting back via email messages to anyone wondering what’s cooking in Washington. Yours truly is one of the unlucky recipients. Surely our ambassador must have known that his boss’s son was working for Kerry. Good counselling from Haqqani to Qureshi would perhaps have saved the latter the embarrassment he is facing today?

Another glaring example of how the Democrats are enticing the Pakistani leaders is the recent banner headline: “Zardari far ahead in popularity.” According to Democracy International, an affiliate of the Democratic Party of America, Zardari is ahead of Nawaz Sharif in the popularity contest. To anyone with an iota of intelligence, the timing of this screamer is suspect. What has Zardari achieved in recent days for “51 per cent” of Pakistanis to suddenly fall in love with him? His jiyalas, one fears, would declare October 1, the day the survey was announced, as the President’s Day – the day of the great revelation. Declaring it a public holiday perhaps? And when the polls go against the sitting president, these foreign busybodies are kicked out of Pakistan. Gen Musharraf asked IRI (the International Republican Institute), an affiliate of the Republican Party to wind up their office in Pakistan and leave when he got bad ratings from them. Not sure if indeed it was IRI that offended Musharraf, I called up their office in Washington. “What is your column about?” asked Lisa (I couldn’t catch her last name) from the press section. I told her politely that it was not possible for me to provide her details of my column. “If you can’t tell me what your column is about then I can’t help you,” she replied sternly. This is just a small example of how Masonic these polling outfits are. They think they have the writ to go around Pakistan poking their noses into our affairs, but when it comes to asking a simple question like if Musharraf asked them to wind up their office in 2008, they get so cagey.

Sadly, the epicentre of our knowledge is the received wisdom from such dodgy polls conducted by Democracy International and the International Republican Institute (IRI). Hey, where’s Gallup Pakistan? Have we become so incompetent or doped that we can’t even conduct popularity polls in our own country and must therefore rely on America? We are the opium-eaters. We swallow whatever comes from Washington. While the Democrats tell us that Pakistanis love Zardari because of KLB, the Republicans via their polling affiliate the IRI sing a different tune. Their August polls conclude that “Pakistanis continue to hold onto the opinion that conditions in the country are problematic and President Zardari is perceived as being responsible.” If this does not sound confusing enough to an ordinary Pakistani trying to work out the popularity ratings of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have another go. According to September 9 report in the Christian Science Monitor, “Zardari’s popularity sags – will it undermine Pakistan’s fight with Taliban?” Here’s another twister from the Los Angeles Times. The headline reads: “Zardari at fault for low rating?” This gem was published on August 31. “Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is aware that his popularity has sunk to new lows at a time when his arch rival Nawaz Sharif — who heads the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) — is boasting high popularity, a media report said. He is widely viewed in Pakistani society not as a helmsman, but a bystander. It’s an image that is largely of Zardari’s own making, say analysts who contend that he has failed to forge any kind of connection with the Pakistani public.Last but not the least is the recent poll by the Pew Research Centre, a Washington-based institute, which says that “less than a third of Pakistanis have a favourable opinion of Mr Zardari. The president was widely reviled after being accused of demanding kickbacks while he served in Benazir Bhutto’s Cabinet in the late 1980s and again starting in 1993.” Give us a break! If by now we don’t get it that the US is using these polls as a weapon for manipulation of third world dictators (Gen Musharraf) and corrupt rulers then Pakistan, I’m afraid to say, is going down the tube fast. Conflict of interest, eh? Here’s yet one more example. Do you know how many Pakistani parliamentarians and cabinet ministers hold foreign nationalities, including our president? REFERENCE: The Boston Brahmin October 22, 2009 Anjum Niaz | The News https://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/the-boston-brahmin/Anjum Niaz (From The NEWS International.21/10/09)

ISLAMABAD: “My heart is broken. I have gone and pleaded with the leadership. I have asked please, please tell me why I am not being given the portfolio of the foreign minister? I have asked them what is my mistake? I need to know. I am not above scrutiny, but what wrong did I commit?” a broken-hearted and extremely depressed Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in conversation with The News on Sunday. Qureshi was absolutely devastated by comments coming from Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan that he wants to save Pervez Musharraf and that he is a personal friend of Musharraf. Firdous Ashiq Awan had said Shah Mehmood Qureshi had refused to take the ministry due to issuance of Musharraf’s arrest warrants.

“I cannot believe this. It is extremely sad that this is coming from someone who was recently with the (Pakistan) Muslim League (Quaid). In fact, let the records speak for themselves. When Musharraf was in power during the time of the referendum, from the PPP platform as a Nazim I refused to cooperate and release even a single penny from the local government. In fact, I resigned when Musharraf was at the height of his power,” Qureshi recalled. He insisted that the advice he received from his legal team and other senior officials at the Foreign Office was that Raymond Davis did not enjoy unlimited immunity under the law. “How could I when the official record did not certify Davis? How could he be handed over to the Americans?” he asked. Shah Mehmood Qureshi also refuted reports that he did not attend the last meetings of the US Congressional delegation who had demanded from the leadership the release of Davis. “This is not correct. I was there and I told them that they are mishandling the issue. All this is a matter of record,” Qureshi told The News.

He says he ‘delivered’ Pakistan’s foreign policy and is proud of it. “Yes, in these three years I delivered. The results are before us. The Indo-Pak talks have resumed, we started the Strategic Dialogue with the US, with Afghanistan our relations have improved greatly and we are on the same page,” says the former foreign minister. Two things had happened during Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s time in the Foreign Office. He allowed his foreign secretary Salman Bashir to go to the GHQ for a briefing before the Pak-US strategic dialogue and COAS General Kayani visited the Foreign Office. When criticised during a press conference, and pointing to the black tie that Bashir was wearing (just a coincidence) Shah Mehmood Qureshi had replied: “The foreign secretary had visited the GHQ for a briefing because the civil and military leadership is on the same page”. To Kayani’s stepping on to his turf, he had coolly replied, “Can you remember the last time a serving COAS visited the Foreign Office under a democratic government?” Game, set and match to Shah Mehmood Qureshi! “Shah Mehmood, I can see that the crowds in the front are from the Punjab. Congratulations! You have done a tremendous job,” Benazir Bhutto commented while turning towards Shah Mehmood Qureshi on 18 October, 2007 as she waved with glee atop a truck in Karachi. “Since the PPP Punjab chapter workers had to take an early start to reach Karachi, they found themselves right in front where Benazir spotted them right away,” Qureshi had told The News at the time. History has frozen that moment, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi proudly displayed the photograph in the Foreign Minister’s Office for three years. It is one of the most beautiful photographs of the most photographed woman politician in the world. Benazir had decided that she would give the Punjab chief ministership to Shah Mehmood, but the bullets in Rawalpindi spoke their own language. Asif Ali Zardari’s long mourning period ensured that the PML-N could move quickly to fill the vacuum, and Benazir’s dream of retaining the Punjab for the first time remained just that. Whenever we went in for interviews, a special request was made by this writer to the photographer and cameraman to include it in the background while snapping the minister. Some time before he died, PPP’s oldest stalwart Naseerullah Khan Babar, took a trip down the memory lane and recalled his life and time with the PPP before his party’s betrayal by signing the NRO. He asked about those in the cabinet and I replied that I had no interest and no contact with the cabinet, but because of my work, I interact and have been following only Shah Mehmood. “This politician is an asset to the party and will go far. He can win over anyone, even his staunchest opponent with his demeanour. I cannot see many around Zardari who are not corrupt. But Qureshi, he is the cleanest of the lot and manages to steer clear from personalised politics and attacking other politicians,” said Babar. REFERENCE: Qureshi gives lie to Firdous’ claim By Mariana Baabar Monday, February 14, 2011 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3985&Cat=13&dt=2/14/2011

And the same Marian Baabar in 2008 on the same Shah Mehmood Qureshi

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ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has detached himself from the little known Balusa Group, a Track II initiative involving well known Pakistanis and Indians, funded by an American, Shirin Taherkheli. A spokesman at the Foreign Office when asked said that since Qureshi had taken charge as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, he no longer remained connected to the Balusa Group. Another prominent Pakistani, Major General (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani, who will take charge as the National Security Adviser, has also been part of Balusa, but it is not known whether he would still be part of this initiative after he took over as ambassador to the United States and now after his new charge in Islamabad.

Maj. Gen [R] Mahmud Ali Durrani, PK US Ties & Security Breach - Part 1

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjnaHmTwDk8
Maj. Gen [R] Mahmud Ali Durrani, PK US Ties & Security Breach - Part 2

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DMPhKT6Xo&feature=related

Some of the others are Syed Babar Ali, General Farrakh Khan, Shaharyar Khan and Toufiq Siddiqi. On the Indian side, some of the members are General Satish Nambiar, Kuldip Nayar, Raja Mohan, Bharat Bhushan and Salman Haidar. A former RAW official is also part of this group. Toufiq Siddiqi is an environmentalist and energy expert based in Hawaii and Shirin Tahirkheli, his sister, with support from the United Nations Development Programme and the Rockefeller Foundation, brought together a group of Indian and Pakistani generals, politicians, bureaucrats and others to discuss ways to bring "sense and direction" to the India-Pakistan relationship. This loose gathering that came to be known as the Balusa Group, is named after two adjacent villages in the Pakistani Punjab.

Maj. Gen [R] Mahmud Ali Durrani, PK US Ties & Security Breach - Part 3

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK-AZYKc9gE&feature=related

In a July-August 2005 interview with the Nepalese magazine Himal, Durrani was asked how he got involved in lobbying for transnational natural gas pipelines in the Central and South Asian region. He replied, "Shirin Tahirkheli (now in-charge at the State Department for the UN reform effort) is really the 'mother hen' of all this. I was still in service when I told her of wanting to retire and devote my life to promoting India-Pakistan peace. Within two years, she and her brother Toufiq (Siddiqi) had organised a group of Pakistanis and Indians to discuss energy cooperation. I attended the first meeting with the backing of the Pakistan military. There was a feeling that we needed peace. There was even an ex-RAW chief in our group."

Maj. Gen [R] Mahmud Ali Durrani, PK US Ties & Security Breach - Part 4

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnMjMI01Riw&feature=related

However, DG Institute of Strategic Studies, Dr Shirin Mazari, is skeptical about the Balusa group and says, "The Americans have increased their intrusive activities on all fronts. We have had rising Predator and missile attacks from across the international Pakistan-Afghanistan border even as US-linked/supported personnel continue to occupy positions in the corridors of power. The Balusa Group members funded through an American, Shirin Taherkheli, are a key US investment in Pakistan's power echelons that continue to pay dividends for the US, and this is only one of the many influence-generating channels."

Maj. Gen [R] Mahmud Ali Durrani, PK US Ties & Security Breach - Part 5

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmTlAMCG9SY&feature=related

Dr Ayesha Siddiqua, an independent strategic and political analyst, who seldom agrees with Mazari, recently noted that "The PPP selected Washington's dream team to run foreign relations and national security. One is not sure that appointing Durrani as the National Security Adviser will do the job. The appointment (of Durrani) is in consideration of the general's close ties with the US Pentagon. Not to mention the fact that Durrani owes his intellectual growth to Shirin Tahirkheli, a Bush administration adviser and former senior official of the UN National Security Council". REFERENCE: Pakistan: FM Qureshi quits American-funded Balusa Group By Mariana Baabar Monday, 07 April 2008 16:11 http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/multimedia/books/2428-pakistan-fm-qureshi-quits-american-funded-balusa-group http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=105094&Cat=2&dt=4/6/2008

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13 February, 2011 (Express)

http://www.javed-chaudhry.com/tag/shah-mehmood-qureshi/

And the same Express

Visiting Card of Zain Qureshi… working Under John Kerry.. You can see the Six Pointers David Star of Jews too in the Logo! is he Freemasonry too! http://www.ibitians.com/2009/10/21/zain-qureshi-son-pakistani-foreign-shah-mahmood-qureshi-employee-senator-john-kerry/

Islamabad—The debate on the controversial John Kerry-Lugar Bill has taken a new critical turn after lawyer Ahmad Raza Kasuri revealed in a private television talk show that son of the foreign minister is on staff of Senator John Kerry in Washington, working as Legislative Fellow. Foreign Minister’s son Mr. Zain H. Qureshi’s assignment is clearly linked with John Kerry’s legislature work. Against this backdrop, foreign minister’s vociferous defence of John Kerry-Lugar Bill tends to lose all lustre. Political observers in the federal capital point out that the foreign minister might have been aware of the John Kerry-Lugar Bill’s formative stages through Mr. Zain H Qureshi. If that was the case the analysts have reason to ask as to what was the rationale of foreign minister’s rushing to Washington to seek “ clarification” or in-depth briefing from the horse’s mouth. If all this was Act One of a melodrama, Act Two was rushing back to Islamabad with John Kerry’s assurance. Based on that was foreign minister’s rhetorical statement in the parliament. The analysts say, supporters of the Bill are trying to weave a tale which at best can be termed as cow-and-bull story. They point to the posture of our ‘His Excellency’ in Washington, our ambassador Hussain Haqqani who sounds more like John Kerry’s spokesman than Pakistan’s envoy. Whatever the shades and shadows, the debate over the John Kerry-Lugar Bill will enter decisive phase very soon with foreign ministry cutting a sorry figure with embarrassment writ large on the faces of those trying to defend the Bill in the forefront”, one analyst observed. REFERENCE: Kureshi-Sons-V.-Card - Foreign Minister’s Son lobbying against Pakistan October 20, 2009 http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/foreign-ministers-son-lobbying-against-pakistan/#more-6782

TAIL-PIECE

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We all heard about the recent meeting between CJ and Holbrooke that made no sense.

Well here is a meaningless @ss-covering being provided by none other than Ansar Abbasi:

Holbrooke-Iftikhar meeting approved by FO

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The meeting of US Special Envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke with Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was held following advice of the foreign office to the Supreme Court’s registrar.

'Medal of Freedom' or Slavery??

While the meeting led to many tongues wagging, with some drawing their own conclusions and raising questions that in cases stretch out to the limits of conspiracy theories, it was neither a one-on-one meeting between the two nor anything bypassing the government’s foreign ministry.
Foreign Ministry sources as well as the registrar office of the Supreme Court confirmed to The News after the Supreme Court registrar received a request from the US embassy for Holbrooke’s desire to call on the chief justice of Pakistan, the matter was referred to the Foreign Ministry for advice.

The Foreign Ministry in its advice said the chief justice in his convenience could meet the visiting US special envoy and his delegation.The Foreign Ministry also deputed its two senior officials to be part of the Justice Iftikhar-Holbrooke meeting which, besides these foreign office officials, was also attended by Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain from the Pakistani side. Holbrooke was assisted by the US ambassador and members of his delegation.

Sources said Holbrooke told Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that the purpose of his call was to pay a courtesy visit to the top judge of the country, who led a successful judicial movement in Pakistan.

Holbrooke, a foreign ministry source said, also disclosed to the chief justice US Secretary Hillary Clinton, who herself was a prominent lawyer, wanted him to meet Chief Justice Iftikhar during his visit to Pakistan. Holbrooke said he had come to the chief justice to pay his respect to the man, whom he had once watched on the television screen waving to the people after his release from house arrest last year.

Holbrooke said he has also been reading a lot about the efforts at ensuring speedy justice in Pakistan. During the meeting, Holbrooke also inquired about the judicial system of Pakistan, relationship between the judiciary and executive, the application of Islamic and common laws, etc.

The chief justice informed Holbrooke about the salient features of the recently-implemented National Judicial Policy and said the country’s judiciary is today independent. He also emphasised the need of separation of the judiciary from the executive and said the independent posture of the judiciary is a must.

Justice Iftikhar said the judiciary’s foremost effort is to end the backlog of cases and ensure quick justice for which the recently implemented National Judicial Policy is the first major step. The chief justice was also of the view that an independent judiciary is imperative for good governance, economic growth and development of the society.

Foreign Office sources said nothing regarding any particular case pending before the Supreme Court, including that of the missing persons or the NRO, came under discussion in the meeting.

That’s the best they have come up with so now you know there is more to the story.

First of all Mr. Abbasi, you yourself state “the meeting led to many tongues wagging” (BTW: I think what you meant was “the meeting led to many jaws dropping”) so you you know it was for a valid reason — the meeting was totally inappropriate. So of course you cannot blame people for raising questions and it is dishonest of you to try and dismiss it as “conspiracy theories.”

Second, you state it was not a one-on-one meeting. That is not the issue. The issue is why was there a meeting at all? Of course you don’t answer it which shows you have no answer. Someone said “cj is not pakistan ambassador or foreign minister. he is a judge and it does not become him to discuss a sub-judice matter with a foreigner that too somebody he believes is a party to the case,” and I agree. Of course the writer is referring to earlier reports that the missing persons case was on the table. In fact it was the Registrar of the Supreme Court himself who stated:

‘Matters relating to judicial reforms as per national judicial policy and the whole judicial structure of Pakistan were discussed‘

(Remember this is a statement by the same Registrar — which we are now supposed to ignore — who “approved” this meeting — an excuse we are supposed to accept. (Does any one know if it is the the Registrar who holds so much sway as to who the CJ is supposed to meet and who to ignore??? I don’t think so!!!)

So stating now that no such thing happened is A BOLD-FACED LIE and Ansar is being a party to spreading this lie.; I also agree with Teeth Maestro when he states: “for matters of dignity and norms the Chief Justice should not have met a political official of the US Government, which has been responsible for kidnappings and ‘externments’ from Pakistan to say the least.” REFERENCE: Shame on CJ and Shame on Ansar Abbasi Published June 9, 2009 Articles http://fkpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/shame-on-cj-and-shame-on-ansar-abbasi/