Curious Case of Imran Khan, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman & MKRF

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Tuesday broke his silence on reports of his plans to marry again in a series of tweets, accusing former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif of being behind the "vicious" campaign. Sharif denied the allegation and said he would not stoop so low. Pakistan’s political circles have been abuzz with speculation about the 65-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf marrying for a third time after an English daily reported on Saturday that he had married a woman who was his spiritual guide. The party issued a statement on Sunday that said Khan had only proposed marriage to Bushra Maneka, a divorcee and ‘pir’ (faith healer). Khan tweeted, "For 3 days I have been wondering have I looted a bank; or money laundered bns in nation's wealth; or ordered a model-town-like killing spree; or revealed state secrets to India? I have done none of these but discovered I have committed a bigger crime: wanting to get married." Reference: Imran Khan says Sharif behind ‘vicious’ campaign over his plans to marry again by Imtiaz Ahmad Jan 10, 2018 (Hindustan Times) Did Imran Khan secretly get married for 3rd time? Aides deny media report : Jan 06, 2018 (Hindustan Times)

In a series of tweets, the 65-year-old former cricket captain said that he was only concerned about “his children and the very conservative family of Bushra begum.” He alleged that the “vicious, gutter media campaign” was being led by NS [Nawaz Sharif] and MSR [Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman], adding that it did not bother him. Shakil-ur-Rahman is the founder of Geo Television Network. In another tweet, he told “NS & MSR” that their vicious campaign has only strengthened his resolve to fight them. (Hindustan Times Jan 09, 2018)

To start this good activity from home, Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation (MKRF) and Imran Khan took joint steps with the name of “Pukaar” to help the flood affectees. “Pukaar” is gathering on one platform the philanthropists and those who equally share grief of their countrymen. Telethon “Pukaar” will be presented on Geo TV with the collaboration of Imran Khan and Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation today (Sunday). The personalities who will be present in Telethon include Lollywood actress and director Reema Khan, renowned director Sayed Noor, model and actress Mahreen Raheel, actress and writer Bushra Ansari, Behroz Sabzwari, Javed Shaikh, singer Jawad Ahmed, SM Munir, Saba Pervez and Imran Khan. Noorul Hassan and Sahir Lodhi will host the telethon. Geo viewers could give donations for flood victims and talk to their favourite personalities in the telethon from 3pm to 8pm today (Sunday). A mega welfare initiative was launched by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation under the banner of “Pukaar” for the relief and rehabilitation of the 2005 earthquake victims. “Pukaar” is not only of the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation and Imran Khan, but it is “Pukaar” (call) of time, religion and humanity. REFERENCES: MKRF, Imran Khan, other celebrities in Geo telethon (The News August 22, 2010) MKRF, Imran Khan raise £105k for flood victims (The News October 13, 2010) MKRF, Imran send 2,000 bags of seeds to AJK flood victims (The News October 25, 2010) Geo glimpses for Eid (The News September 11, 2010) Pakistani delegates attending the seminar are National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani, ex-high commissioners to India Shahid Malik, Aziz Ahmad Khan, journalists Najam Sethi, Cyril Almeida, Ejaz Haider, retired naval officer Hasan M Ansari and Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shafqat Mahmood. Indian experts include ex-foreign secretary Shyam Saran, former high commissioner to Pakistan G Parthasarthy, ex-ambassador to the US Naresh Chandra, Vice Admiral (retd) B R Rao, journalist-academic Raja Mohan, academic Radha Kumar, Lt Gen (retd) B S Pawar and Srinath Raghavan of New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research. Reference: Two-day Aman Ki Asha strategic seminar begins today (The News December 2, 2012)

 Imran Khan and Mir Khalil ur Rahman Foundation MKRF

Imran Khan and Jang Group of Newspapers including its TV Channel Geo often scratch each others back and both of them deserve each other. People have short memory and their attention span is even more short like for example take this Memogate which was actually invented by the same Jang Group of Newspapers and its head-honchos Shaheen Sehbai and Mohammad Malick and Imran Khan conveniently used that worthless Jang Group's Cock and Bull story in his Lahore Rally in 2011 and yet both the Jang Group and Imran Khan have the audacity to badmouth each other for mudslinging and interfering in each others private lives  which is actually a hobby of Jang Group and Imran Khan both! Not only that but the Jang Group has the history of sabotaging every political government since early 70s, their Urdu columnists are particularly religious bigots, hate-mongers, ethnic bigots, rumor mongers and they were vicious from 2008 to 2013 when they were playing footsie with the Twice PCOed Fraud Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who with other Judges of the Supreme Court weakened Parliamentary System and interfered in executive branch of the state and became State itself and Imran Khan and his yahoo horde PTI were foot soldiers in Judiciary's War on the Parliament. 

Imran Khan, Mansoor Ijaz, Memogate, Husain Haqqani and Jang Group (Part 1)

Imran Khan blamed by Pakistan US envoy for links to army plot : Pakistan's embattled US ambassador has blamed legendary cricket captain-turned politician Imran Khan for linking him to an alleged plot to oust its powerful army and intelligence chiefs, according to a government source. Reference: (By Dean Nelson, South Asia Editor 21 Nov 2011 Telegraph) ------ Imran Khan while declaring any moving thing a traitor conveniently forgot what he unloaded against Pakistan Army and that too in front of US Congressional Delegation, "Quote" Noting that he was recently in Swat, he went on to accuse the Pakistan Army of extrajudicial killings, summary executions, and "sexual humiliation" of residents in some villages. Khan urged the USG to seek "alternative points of views" about what is happening in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and he recommended speaking with General Orakzai, former NWFP Govenor, for starters. Khan charged that the GOP is "blinded by dollars," and consequently lacks an accurate view of what is happening on the ground. He further claimed that the GOP "whips up the threat of the Taliban" in order to get more money from the U.S. He claimed last year's Swat operation, which he termed a "debacle," was one such exaggeration that was "stage managed" in order to gain U.S. funds; there was no imminent threat of militants marching on Islamabad, he said. Reference : CODEL LYNCH'S MEETING WITH PAKISTAN TEHREEK-E-INSAF (PTI) PARTY LEADER IMRAN KHAN Date:2010 February 6, 11:26 (Saturday) "Unquote"

WASHINGTON, Nov 3: A senior US official responsible for counter-terrorism on Tuesday directly accused Pakistan of supporting training of militant groups in Afghanistan as well as providing "material support" to some of the Kashmiri militants. "There are numerous Kashmiri separatist groups and sectarian groups involved in terrorism which use Pakistan as a base...We have repeatedly asked Islamabad to end support of terrorist training in Afghanistan," Michael Sheehan, State Department's coordinator for counter-terrorism, told a Senate Foreign Relations sub-committee. The sub-committee hearing was called and presided over by Senator Sam Brownback and the list of experts who testified included a former CIA officer in Pakistan Milt Bearden, president of Stimson Centre Michael Krepon, John Hopkins University Central Asia Institute chairman Dr Fredrick Starr and a Pakistani- American businessman and columnist Mansoor Ijaz. Mr Sheehan recently visited India to coordinate US-Indian responses to terrorist threats but when asked whether he would also visit Pakistan soon, he said: "Hopefully." "Pakistan has frequently acknowledged what it calls moral and diplomatic support for militants in Kashmir who employ violence and terrorism against Indian interests. We have continuing reports of Pakistani material support for some of these militants," Mr Sheehan said. He named several Pakistan-based militant Islamic groups including Lashkar Taiba, Harkatul Jehad Islami and Hizbul Mujahideen, which, he said, "operate freely in Pakistan and support terrorist attacks in Kashmir." Asked by Indian and Pakistani journalists after his hearing whether he found any change in the policy after the overthrow of the Nawaz government, Mr Sheehan said: "We are still waiting for their responses and it is too early to judge whether there is any change." When a correspondent pointed out whether it was "business as usual" with the military government, he crisply said "no" but added: "We hope to work with them on all these issues." REFERENCE: US says Pakistan raining militants Shaheen Sehbai DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending : 06 November 1999 Issue : 05/45 https://asianstudies.github.io/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/06nov99.html#ussa

 Imran Khan, Mansoor Ijaz, Memogate, Husain Haqqani and Jang Group (Part 2)

Shahbaz promises Mansoor Ijaz full security in Lahore (The News January 27, 2012) Nawaz seeks fixation of memo case hearing after 20th (April 15, 2012 The News) Mansoor Ijaz says he will also expose ISI (The News January 29, 2012) Nawaz moves SC to place Haqqani on ECL (November 25, 2011 The News) A section of press reported last year that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been forcing the Mehran Bank authorities in the past to register a case against Hamid Asghar Kidwai for stealing documents regarding political bribes from 1990 to 1994. Despite playing at the heart of the Mehrangate, Kidwai got lucrative position during Musharraf’s regime when he remained High Commissioner and Permanent Representative of Pakistan at the United Nations Environment Programme in 2003-2004. Even after the restoration of democracy in 2008, Kidwai enjoyed the status of Roving Ambassador until Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani sacked him with two others from the same position on February 11, 2009. The Mehran Bank scandal also known as Mehrangate was a major political scandal in the history of Pakistan between 1990-1994 in which senior politicians and political parties were found to have been bribed by the Pakistan Army and intelligence officers, from ISI, to prevent the re-election and to destabilise the government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Initiated by the then army chief Mirza Aslam Beg with the alleged support of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, payments of up to Rs140 million were made by the then Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani and Corps of Engineers Engineer-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Javed Nasir via the owner of Mehran Bank Yunus Habib. Intelligence funds were deposited in Mehran Bank in 1992 propping up what was an insolvent bank as a favour for its owner’s help in loaning money to the Inter-Services Intelligence in 1990 that was used in the creation of the right wing alliance Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and bankrolling the campaigns of many opponents of the PPP. The scandal subsequently broke after the new ISI Director-General Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi decided to transfer the intelligence fund back to state-owned banks as per official rules. Reference: Mansoor Ijaz gets Kidwai’s surety to visit Pakistan (The News January 19, 2012) Timeline: From NRO to Memogate (Dawn January 16, 2012)

 PTI Leader Dr Babar Awan on Imran Khan, Sita White Affair and Illegitimate Love Child Tyrian

A U-S court has ruled that cricket star Imran Khan is the father of a five year child. The ruling came from a Los Angeles court after ex-girlfriend Sita White filed a lawsuit claiming Khan's paternity over her daughter Tyrian-Jade.White says Khan should apologise to the Pakistani people for misleading them during his election campaign that he had no children before he married Jemima Goldsmith. A Los Angeles court on Wednesday said Imran Khan wasn't playing cricket and added it was time he owned up to being the father of Tyrian-Jade White. The former Pakistani cricket star has denied fathering the five-year-old American girl with British heiress Sita White who now lives in L-A. But the court went with the daughter of Lord "Gordy" White - and gave Khan the official stamp of father. The ruling came after Khan failed to respond to a paternity suit and a request to take a bloodtest. Reference: A U-S court has ruled that cricket star Imran Khan is the father of a five year child. (Associated Press Archive Date: 08/13/1997)  It is official now: Babar Awan has quietly conceded before the Election Commission through the latest nomination papers for the Senate slot that he is neither a PhD doctor nor had acquired any education from Saudi Arabia, contrary to his past declarations in 2006. Not only he mentioned holding a doctorate degree earned from the fraudulent Monticello University of United States, in previous papers for Senate seat, he continued using the title ‘Dr’ with his name. Even his twitter identity is @DrBabarAwan, not amended to-date. But in latest nomination papers, he is Zaheerud Din Babar only, without the prefix ‘Dr’. 

His radical break from the past practice has gone unnoticed even by the PML-N, the main rival party that has not challenged this contradiction in his previous and present nomination papers. The Supreme Court that has directed him to produce educational credentials after suspending his legal practice license seems to have forced him to submit a statement of facts in the nomination paper. As for Babar’s case is concerned, he declared under oath in the 2006 nomination papers, a long list of his qualifications. Babar then disclosed that he did his Matric in Science in 1971 from Board of Sargodha; Intermediate in Humanities from Board of Sargodha in 1973; BA in Arts from the University of Punjab in 1975; Masters in Economics from the University of Punjab in 1978; DAL in Arabic Islamic Law from King Saud University, KSA in 1982; LLB from University of Karachi in 1986; and PhD in Criminal Law from the “Monty Cello University USA” in 1998 session. He also wrote his full name as “Dr. Zaheerud Din Babar Awan.”Awan, interestingly misspelled the fake Monticello university in his nomination papers as “Monty Cello” from where he affirmed to have done his doctorate degree. He claimed to have done his PhD in Criminal Law from “Monty Cello University USA” in 1998. Notwithstanding his declaration of PhD degree in 2006 paper, a photocopy was not submitted unlike other educational certificates annexed with the documents. His DAL from King Saud University was not shown either. Reference Babar Awan finally concedes he is no doctor from any university (The News February 18, 2012) PhD matters: Fake it if you can’t make it (The News by Umar Cheema March 1, 2016)

Confusion ensues when you mix religious rhetoric with politics & this is the case with Pakistani politicians since Jinnah to the present lot and Imran Khan is no exception , he tries to ride many boats at the same time e.g. he claims to be real heir of Jinnah and Iqbal, Sufi, Mullah, Secular, Liberal, Democrat, Patriot, Leftist, Progressive etc.etc and all this ends up in confusion. Yesterday, he participated in Finality of Prophet-hood Conference in Golra Punjab to strengthen his vote religious bank particularly the Barelvi votes in Punjab but browse his last 10 years interviews which he gave to the international media on Religious Extremism, Misuse of Blasphemy Law, Murder of Salmaan Taseer, Basic Human Rights for the Marginalized Communities in Pakistan, Religious Persecution in Pakistan, Terrorism and Taliban , and his every interview create more confusion and problem then solving the existing one (evident in the 3 video clips below). If Imran Khan wasn't enough, we also have the worst kind of time serves and opportunists i.e. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) whose center of attention is Punjab and Punjab alone and they are least bothered that their footsie with Mullahs will not only ruin Punjab but shake the very foundations of Pakistan because core of Religious Extremists is based in Punjab and so far no long term action is taken against them.       

Imran Khan, Taliban and PML-N (Part 1)

SSP leader who fixed bounty on Taseer given PML-N ticket (The News May 7, 2013) LeJ terror suspect contesting on PML-N ticket (The News May 6, 2013) 55 charged terrorists allowed to contest polls (The News April 24, 2013) CM Shahbaz wants Taliban to spare Punjab (The News March 15, 2010) Leading Faisalabad-based Deobandi scholar and IVLP alumnus Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX called on the Principal Officer on March 18 to discuss his concerns regarding what he termed as ""growing extremist activity"" in Punjab's second-largest city Faisalabad. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that in the last month he has observed a dramatic increase in propaganda activities from Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). He believed that this increase coincided with a number of visits to Faisalabad from activists both of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and a splinter group from the southern Punjab-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). XXXXXXXXXXXX believed that the activists were involved in recruiting for TTP militant operations in the FATA and NWFP through madrassas in southern Punjab and hoped to replicate that success in Faisalabad. XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that SSP leaders had long-standing ties with JeM, as both were Deobandi organizations that had collaborated in the past in anti-Shia and anti-India activities. XXXXXXXXXXXX shared with Principal Officer an Urdu-language sticker that he claimed he had confiscated from several of his madrassa students in Faisalabad. The sticker, which he stated was also being printed and distributed as a pamphlet, praised the implementation of Sharia law in Swat and exhorted Muslims to pursue the same sort of Sharia law in Faisalabad. It then recounted five steps that every Faisalabad based Muslim should take to begin the process of implementation in the district. The steps were: : (1) cease business and social activities at the five daily calls to prayer, (2) remove all sources of ""vulgarity"" such as televisions, cd players, and radios from their homes, (3) seek dispute resolution through local imams rather than the courts, (4) take Friday rather than Sunday as the weekly holiday, and (4) strictly enforce purdah for female family members. Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX shared that he had received reliable information that SSP leader Maulana Ludhianvi was on a fundraising trip to Tripoli sponsored by the Libyan government. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that Ludhianvi had made contact with Libyan officials in the guise of working against Iran and Shia agents in Pakistan. (Note: SSP was originally founded as a violent anti-Shia organization and has, in the past, received extensive foreign funding from a variety of Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia. End Note). According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, Ludhianvi was scheduled to return to Pakistan in ""a few days"" and was bringing with him a ""donation"" from the Libyan government valued at nearly 25 million Pakistani rupees (approximately $312,000) that XXXXXXXXXXXX was certain would be used to increase further SSP activities. Reference: 2009: Was Qaddafi funding Sipahe Sahaba? (Dawn May 25, 2011) Shahbaz and Nisar secretly meet Kayani (Dawn October 03, 2009)

 Imran Khan, Taliban and PML-N (Part 2)

Imran defends KP govt's Rs300m grant for Darul Uloom Haqqania (Dawn June 22, 2016) Sami says alliance with PTI will block victory of ‘secular forces’ (Dawn December 07, 2017) PTI, JUI-S agree to prepare ‘joint strategy’ for elections (Dawn November 20, 2017) Mullah Omar is an angel-like human: Samiul Haq (Reuters Published: September 15, 2013) TTP does not want to enforce Shariah at gunpoint, says Imran (Dawn March 27, 2014) Imran Khan says Pakistan was 'humiliated' over Osama bin Laden, and his killing was 'cold-blooded murder' Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain, says Osama bin Laden's death was "cold-blooded murder" and argues that the West should pull its forces out of the region. (Telegraph by Peter Oborne in Islamabad 08 May 2011) Pak army rented out to US for $1.5 bn: Imran Khan (Indian Express Islamabad | Published: July 7, 2009)

 Imran Khan, Taliban and PML-N (Part 3)

Chaudhry Nisar admits his wife, children are US citizens (Dawn September 13, 2011) Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan assured the US in 2008 that he and his party were pro-American. According to a US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, “Saying that his wife and children in fact are American, Nisar did admit that he went to the US Embassy in London to renew his daughter’s passport because he wanted to avoid being seen at the US Embassy in Islamabad.” More telling, however, is Khan’s stance on US military action within Pakistan, and how the PML-N would act to remain “publicly credible”. Khan reportedly avoided saying that the PML-N opposed either air attacks or US ground action, contrary to its reaction over the May 2011 raid in Abbottabad by a US Navy SEALs team which killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Reference: WikiLeaks: Chaudhry Nisar did not want to be seen at the US embassy in Islamabad (By Saba Imtiaz Published: September 11, 2011 Express Tribune) Calling the drone strike that killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on Friday “an attack on regional peace by America,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Saturday said bilateral ties with the US will now be reviewed. Speaking to a press conference after concluding a high level meeting at the interior ministry, he vowed to raise the matter at international forums including the United Nations. The minister said that five permanent members of the UN Security Council will also be contacted on the issue. Reference: Pakistan to review US ties after ‘attack on peace,’ says Nisar (Dawn November 02, 2013) SC dismisses request to omit observations against Chaudhry Nisar from Quetta carnage report (Dawn Haseeb Bhatti January 16, 2018) Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Friday expressed ‘deep grief’ and concern over the execution of imprisoned political and religious leader Abdul Quader Molla of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Bangladesh. In a statement, he said executing Molla after a delay of 42 years to the events of 1971 was very unfortunate and tragic and some circles are declaring it a judicial murder. Molla became the first person to be hanged for his role in the country's bloody 1971 war of independence when he was sent to the gallows at a prison in the capital Dhaka late Thursday. REFERENCE: Jamaat leader’s hanging in Bangladesh ‘saddens’ Nisar (Dawn December 13, 2013)

Pati, Patni, Benazir Bhutto and article 62/63.

2012: Islamabad—The Naib Khateeb of Lal Masjid Maulana Aamir Siddique has confessed that he has no degree from any Wafaq Ul Madaris which is necessary for government job and a business tycoon of the country has given him a car as gift. While addressing a press conference along with Dr. Abid Rauf Oragzai and Mufti Ameer Zaib here at National Press Club on Saturday, he said that the apex court should implement its orders with regard to Lal Masjid, adding that no General or Judge has exception to criticism. He said that he is making efforts from the platform of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and he is also member of Milli Yakjehti Council. He demanded that a commission comprising Aitzaz Ahsan, Asma Jehangir, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Justice Tariq Mehmood should be constituted for investigations of the case against Malik Riaz Hussain and hearing of the Arsalan Iftikhar case should be conducted on the daily basis. He said that there are differences among his family members on filing the petition against the Chief Justice. It is likely that he should resign in next few days from the designation of Khateeb Lal Masjid, he said.—SANA REFERENCE: Amir Siddiq confesses receiving car from Malik Riaz Monday, October 15, 2012, Zeqad 27, 1433 http://pakobserver.net/201210/15/detailnews.asp?id=178104 Thursday, February 07, 2013, Rabi-Al-Awwal 25, 1434 A.H. http://jang.com.pk/jang/feb2013-daily/07-02-2013/u135681.htm

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. - No one shall be held guilty of any penal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offense was committed. --- PLAIN LANGUAGE VERSION: - You should be considered innocent until it can be proved that you are guilty. If you are accused of a crime, you should always have the right to defend yourself. Nobody has the right to condemn you and punish you for something you have not done. - Audi alteram partem. Hear the other side (i.e., Do not condemn a man unheard REFERENCES: Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/declaration/11.asp A COLLECTION OF LATIN MAXIMS and PHRASES THIRD EDITION JOHN N,COTTERELL http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924021688670/cu31924021688670_djvu.txt

Najam Sethi is a riddle wrapped up in an enigma never ceases to amaze. He is liberal anti-establishment, pro-establishment and pro-PPP, all at the same time. Kinda similar game is played by Altaf Hussain. - Najam's inclusion in Laghar Cabinet in 1996 (as pronounced by Zardari) after Tummandar dismissed his own (PPP second government) - What we have here that Alleged Awami Government is awarding Tamghas (Medals) to the likes of Najam Sethi - In good book of Zardari or not but he is absolutely in the good books of State Department and Rawalpindi. --- The president awarded renowned journalists Najam Sethi REFERENCE: President confers civil, military awards on outstanding individuals * Over 217 individuals given awards on Pakistan Day Thursday, March 24, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C24%5Cstory_24-3-2011_pg7_14 1996 Dawn Prime Ministers Adviser on Political Affairs and Accountability, Najam Sethi DAWN 26 December 1996 Cabinet split over recovery from defaulters http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1996/26Dc96.html#cabi The officials have said that Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Zardari took pains to avoid creating a documentary record of their role in hundreds of deals. How this was done was explained by Najam Sethi, a former Bhutto loyalist who became the editor of Pakistan's most popular political weekly, Friday Times, then was drafted to help oversee a corruption inquiry undertaken by the caretaker Government that ruled for three months after Ms. Bhutto's dismissal in 1996. Mr. Sethi said Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Zardari adopted a system under which they assigned favors by writing orders on yellow Post-It notes and attaching them to official files. After the deals were completed, Mr. Sethi said, the notes were removed, destroying all trace of involvement. REFERENCE: HOUSE OF GRAFT: Tracing the Bhutto Millions -- A special report.; Bhutto Clan Leaves Trail of Corruption By JOHN F. BURNS Published: January 09, 1998 http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/09/world/house-graft-tracing-bhutto-millions-special-report-bhutto-clan-leaves-trail.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Princess and the Playboy BBC 1996

 
Princess and the Playboy BBC 1996 by f1499110548

1996: Ladies and Gentlemen, The President! Posted on Thursday, October 3, 1996 in The Friday Times (Editorial)  - Those who used to say that the President, Farooq Leghari, is, and will always remain, a PPP “jiyala” who doesn’t have the guts to put the national interest above blind loyalty to Benazir Bhutto must get ready to eat humble pie. Mr Leghari has now publicly demonstrated that he means business and will not allow Ms Bhutto, or anyone else for that matter, to trample over the constitution and get away with the pre-meditated murder of state institutions and the public interest. Some background information is, however, necessary to put Mr Leghari’s recent “interventions” in perspective. Like many of her friends who have drifted away from her in disillusionment, Mr Leghari is known to have long urged Ms Bhutto to run a clean and efficient ship. He has publicly drawn attention to the menace of corruption and asked the government to make its economic and financial decision-making apparatus more transparent. The President has been worried about the state of the economy and he has continuously communicated his concerns to Ms Bhutto and her advisors. And, in a move applauded everywhere except perhaps in certain government circles last December, he used his discretionary powers to appoint General Jehangir Karamat, a soldier of impeccable credentials, as chief of army staff. In March this year, however, Mr Leghari found himself in an awkward position when Ms Bhutto took umbrage against the Supreme Court’s judgement ordering her government to fire 20 judges appointed by her earlier because they didn’t fulfill the court’s criteria for appointment. The President is thought to have advised the PM, in her own interests, to accept the decision instead of raging against the CJ unwisely. When Ms Bhutto spurned this advice, relations between Justice Shah and premier Bhutto deteriorated to such an extent that she flew into a rage and demanded that the President fire the CJ. Stunned by Ms Bhutto’s recklessness and troubled by the potentially far reaching consequences of such a move, President Leghari urged Ms Bhutto to cool down, meet with the CJ and sort out things amicably. In due course, he paved the way for a couple of meetings between Ms Bhutto and Justice Shah. But Ms Bhutto was still in no mood to relent. Soon thereafter, she filed a Presidential Reference before the SC challenging its judgment and followed this up by lodging a Review Petition as well. The Reference, which was rudely drafted, was duly returned by the SC because it hadn’t been shown to Mr Leghari or been signed by him. Appalled, Mr Leghari was at his wits end when Ms Bhutto decided upon another tack to undermine the judgment. Prodded by the government, justice Shafi Mohammadi (one of the 20 judges affected by the judgment) of the Federal Shariat Court, which lies exclusively in the President’s domain, launched an attack on the SC and the CJ. When the President’s attention was drawn by the CJ to this provocative act, he thought fit to privately advise the government to remove Justice Shafi from the FSC. When Ms Bhutto still refused to heed his advice, he was constrained to warn that he would take action under his discretionary powers and fire Justice Shafi from the FSC. An open conflict was averted only when Ms Bhutto saw the writing on the wall, removed Justice Shafi from the FSC and persuaded him to submit his resignation from the Sindh High Court.

 Ms Bhutto has consistently refused to implement the SC’s judgment. Instead of firing (“de-notifying”) all the affected judges as demanded by the SC, she has evaded the issue by nudging some of them to submit their resignations to her government. Until some time ago, the President was wont to accept these resignations as “advised” by the prime minister. However, problems arose when the CJ formally wrote to the President objecting to this modus operandi on Ms Bhutto’s part and asked him to “intervene” and compel the government to abide by the SC’s decision in letter and in spirit. Instead of acting unilaterally, which might have fueled controversy, President Leghari passed on the CJ’s letter to the PM for information and comment. Similarly, the PM’s comments on the CJ’s letter were passed on to the CJ, including her extraordinary claim that “the judiciary was part of the government”. The President also wrote back to the CJ, with a copy to the PM, asking him to explain how and under what presidential powers the SC wanted the president to “intervene” in order to enforce its judgment. On the 21st of September, when it was clear that Ms Bhutto remained unmoved, the President finally sought to resolve the deadlock between the PM and the CJ by filing a formal Reference with the SC asking it to inform him of the scope of his constitutional powers to appoint or denotify judges. Having done so, he refused to entertain any further requests from the government to accept the resignations of any more judges until the matter was legally and constitutionally sorted out. President Leghari has also incurred the wrath of Ms Bhutto on the issue of corruption and how to combat it. For two years, the President has privately urged the PM to take concrete steps to make her government more transparent. But Ms Bhutto has, if anything, connived in making the problem more intractable and her government less defensible. Last year Imran Khan put corruption on the top of his agenda for reform. When the crowds roared their disapproval of corruption, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif was quick to co-opt the slogan and stand up in parliament to demand a judicial commission on accountability. Despite ringing denouncements of Surreygate, however, Ms Bhutto refused to accept the demand, forcing Mr Sharif to address his complaint to President Leghari. The President passed on Mr Sharif’s demand for an accountability commission to the PM. When she replied in an evasive manner, he duly passed on her views to Mr Sharif. When Mr Sharif persisted with his demand for a judicial commission, and the press supported this demand, the President thought fit to write a letter to both houses of parliament endorsing the demand and proposing enlargements in it. Ms Bhutto’s majordomo, Naseerullah Babar, then sought to belittle the President’s proposal by punching holes in it. President Farooq Leghari’s recent meeting with Mr Nawaz Sharif has come in the wake of these developments, even though the President has long said that the doors of Aiwan i Sadr are always open to the leader of the opposition. There is a background to this meeting also. Last year, channels of communication were opened between the camp of the opposition leader and the Aiwan i Sadr, mainly through the good offices of a Muslim League leader in Lahore who has worked closely with Mr Leghari in the past. The purpose of this contact was to affect a meeting between Mr Sharif and President Leghari so that the acrimony of the past, when Mr Leghari was in the PPP and Mr Sharif was prime minister, could be buried and a normal working relationship established between them in the larger national interest. The President was also keen to act as a bridge between Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto so that the two leaders could reduce their mutual hostilities in the interests of democracy. However, the meeting did not materialise earlier because Mr Sharif was not sufficiently persuaded of the President’s independence and neutrality even though he had long given up attacking the President in public. Following President Leghari’s public assertion of independence and authority recently, however, Mr Sharif had a change of heart and authorised a couple of lieutenants to arrange a meeting with the President. When Mr Leghari welcomed this opportunity to exchange views with Mr Sharif, a meeting was duly organised. In this meeting, Mr Sharif and Mr Leghari recapitulated their own perceptions of events since 1993 and their own roles therein. The President assured Mr Sharif of his neutrality and reiterated his commitment to democracy, rule of law and constitution. He explained that he had written to both houses of parliament asking them to find ways and means to combat corruption because it was bringing the political system into disrepute. When Mr Sharif presented a detailed critique of government and urged the President to exercise his powers under 58-2-B of the constitution to dismiss Ms Bhutto and order fresh elections, Mr Leghari noted the opposition leader’s concerns and told him that if and when he felt that such a course had become absolutely necessary in the national interest, he would not hesitate to exercise his constitutional duties. He also assured Mr Sharif that when the next elections are held he would guarantee an impartial caretaker administration as well as an independent election commission. President Leghari met with PM Bhutto two days later. The two leaders exchanged their respective points of view. Ms Bhutto wanted to know if Mr Leghari was interested in “sharing power” with her. No, said Mr Leghari, that was not the issue at all. He had taken certain steps in the larger interests of the country and these had been based on his given constitutional powers. Where there was some doubt about the scope of his powers, he had referred the matter to the SC for clarification. He told the PM to implement the SC’s decision as quickly as possible because it was unconstitutional to undermine it. He urged her to join hands with the opposition and set up a credible accountability commission against corruption. He drew her attention to the deteriorating law and order situation across the country and insisted that the government do something about it quickly. When Ms Bhutto wondered why he had not waited some time before sending his Reference to the SC the day after her brother Murtaza was murdered, he explained that matters of state could not be kept pending on account of personal predicaments. At any rate, he said, he had done so because he wanted to give her time to voluntarily implement the SC’s decision before the SC opened for its winter session in October and found to its anger and dismay that the PM was still dragging her feet on the issue. Following this meeting, the PPP has spread the word that all differences between the President and the PM have been sorted out and the government is stable once again. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many areas of conflict and tension abound. President Leghari has certainly nudged Ms Bhutto to implement the SC’s decision on 30th September because it was his constitutional duty to do so. Now comes the question of appointing new judges to the various High Courts of the country. If the SC says he has a particular role to play in this area, he will certainly play such a role, even if Ms Bhutto is opposed to it. the President sees corruption as a major threat to the working of the constitution and wants the government and opposition to agree to the establishment of a judicial commission to uproot the menace from the corridors of power. If this is not forthcoming, he may be expected to exercise his powers in the public interest and push this issue to its logical conclusion even if it upsets Ms Bhutto. He wants a perceptible and quick improvement in the law and order situation, especially in Punjab, and if Ms Bhutto cannot do something about it, he may be encouraged to take certain constitutional steps to do the needful. And so on. There is no doubt about it. President Farooq Leghari is determined to assert his constitutional authority to stop the erosion of state institutions at the hands of reckless, corrupt, squabbling politicians and bureaucrats who have brought parliamentary democracy into such disrepute. If Ms Bhutto continues to flout the law and the constitution, as she has done so provocatively in the last two years, she cannot expect any measure of sympathy from Mr Leghari. REFERENCE: Ladies and Gentlemen, The President! Posted on Thursday, October 3, 1996 in The Friday Times (Editorial) http://www.najamsethi.com/ladies-and-gentlemen-the-president/

2013: Not so long ago Imran enraged many liberals by calling them "fascists" and "scum" for labeling him "Taliban Khan" because he was not ready to criticize the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, let alone support military action against them. His position on the TTP is unchanged. But he now realizes he cannot afford to alienate the liberal constituency that needs to be nurtured in realizing his dream to reconstruct a democratic Pakistan with civil liberties and freedoms. Imran acknowledges the misuse of Islam for political purposes by generals and politicians alike. Therefore he doesn't support those sections of Constitutional Articles 62 and 63 that stipulate certain Islamic provisions for electoral qualification, like having to be a good, sagacious and practicing Muslim knowledgeable about Islamic teachings and precepts. He thinks that, apart from weighing corrupt practices, the election commission must not get involved in scrutinizing a candidate's personal life. This is as "liberal" and "realistic" a viewpoint as any to avoid arbitrariness or victimization. Most significantly, Imran's strong support for "democracy" ("our biggest fault lies in waylaying democracy from the day Pakistan was created") and opposition to conspiratorial schemes for delaying elections and setting up a technocratic caretaker set-up for a few years is timely. That is why, he says, despite his impulse to yield to popular pressure, he did not jump into the fray with Dr Tahir ul Qadri, and that is why he will not plan "long marches" that could destabilize the government and play into the hands of conspirators. REFERENCE: IK: work in Progress Editorial By Najam Sethi February 01-07, 2013 - Vol. XXIV, No. 51 http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130201&page=1

 Aapas Ki Baat (Gup-Shap with Imran Khan January 2013)

 Imran Khan fathered illegitimate child, rules California court : A Los Angeles court ruled that cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan was the legal father of a four-year-old illegitimate southern California girl. "Imran Khan is the father of the child," superior court commissioner Anthony Jones said on August 13, after a brief hearing. Khan, who had refused to co-operate by taking a blood test for the genetic determination of paternity, did not show up for the proceedings. His attorneys also failed to appear, so a default judgement was entered. Khan led Pakistan to a World Cup triumph in 1992. Earlier this year, he failed in his bid to become prime minister of Pakistan. "We believe the complaint, as originally filed, was ill-motivated," said Khan's New York attorney, Bernard Clair. "We believe the mother may have been the unwitting tool of my client's opponents." Sita White, who lives in Beverly Hills, had a relationship with Khan in 1987-88 and, when they met again in Los Angeles on October 2, 1991, she told him she wanted to have his baby, her attorney Gloria Allred said. "We did not request child support," Allred said. "We hope that, one day, he will open his heart to his little daughter and give her the love, respect and support every little girl deserves. "White got pregnant and Khan told her he hoped it was a boy. When he learnt the baby would be a girl, Khan expressed disappointment and said the child would not be able to play cricket. He urged White to have an abortion, but she refused," Allred said. Tyrian Jade was born on June 15, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Since her birth, Khan has neither seen nor spoken to the child although he and White have spoken periodically during that period," said Allred. "He never paid any child support." During his quest to become prime minister, Khan denied having fathered an illegitimate child, which could have made him ineligible to become prime minister. "He categorically denies the paternity of this child," Clair said. "We think to use the child as a pawn in such a publicity circus demonstrates, to us at least, that the mother has other reasons for pursuing paternity." Khan, 42, said he dated and frequented night clubs during his days as a cricketer and, before that, as a student at Oxford University. But, since retiring from sports in 1992, he said he has transformed himself into a devout Muslim.He even vowed to marry a woman who observed purdah (life behind the veil). But, in 1995, he married British heiress Jemima Goldsmith. His political opponents have attacked Jemima, the daughter of the late English billionaire, Sir James Goldsmith, for her Jewish heritage. Khan says, though his wife's ancestors were Jewish, she was Protestant and had converted to Islam to marry him. REFERENCE: Imran Khan fathered illegitimate child, rules California court http://www.rediff.com/news/aug/14imran.htm

apas - 28th jan 2013 by Malik_Jee
imran khan in najam sethi show - 30th January 2013 by shozib

1997  Main Claim: Mother of an alleged child. Stop Press: Election trail, alleged love child, court case and virgin father: a juicier pre-election package could hardly be spin-doctored. Sita White, 35, has filed a paternity suit against cricketer, prime minister wannabe, and definitely-not-playboy Imran Khan. Sita, daughter of late billionaire Lord White of Hull, says blood tests will prove that Khan is the father of her four-year-old daughter Tyrian. Brunette Tyrian looks rather like ... Imran Khan if he were four and female. Ms White's court deposition has been quoted as saying: "She further alleges that Mr Khan's response, upon learning it was a girl, was of regret and distress ... allegedly asserting that the child would 'not be able to play cricket'." Imran's main opponent in the Pakistani elections has called for Khan's nomination to be thrown out. "I have never been involved in any affair of any sort with the lady," observes Imran. What a to-do. Family Values: Imran galloped back to the hustings shortly after the birth of his real child, Sulaiman. Luckily for all concerned, Sulaiman is a boy. Sulaiman was born to Imran's wife, Jemima Goldsmith, coincidentally also an heiress, who was prettily pregnant in flowing Eastern-style garments, and is now a glowing mother. "I would be less than truthful if I said there aren't sacrifices that need to be made," she says of living with such a busy man. "He could just manage to spend two days with his first child." Mother Love: Mothers of alleged love children often speak out - for the sake of the child, of course. Thus the alleged offspring of wayward priests, politicians and bestselling novelists litter our press. Little Tyrian is good company (even Mitterrand had a love daughter, Mazarine). Past Perfect: The Koran doesn't look too kindly on sex outside marriage. Fathering infants out of wedlock comes in for special condemnation. Sita White once described Imran as a "tiger roaming the jungle for tigresses". However, the cricketing hero is now campaigning to be president of Pakistan. Hence, he didn't have affairs with: German MTV presenter Kristiane Backer; artist Emma Sergeant; Lord Linley's ex, Susannah Constantine, or Lady Liza Campbell. Some of his good friends have been pictured in the London Evening Standard under the caption: "The girls Imran Khan did not sleep with." Fame Prospects: Sita, married to actor and model Alan Marshall, 31, may pop up from time to time in the society pages or law courts. Her alleged ex, Imran Khan, will be famous forever (it's in the eyes: dark, focused, impenetrable.) Sita is neither a great beauty nor a socialite, she will not hire Max Clifford, not ski with Prince Charles, so 1997 will probably see her 15 minutes. Next! REFERENCE: WHY ARE THEY FAMOUS? NO 22: SITA WHITE SUNDAY 12 JANUARY 1997 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/why-are-they-famous-no-22-sita-white-1282755.html

Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times, was freed from captivity on 2nd June, more than three weeks after he was brutally abducted from his home at about 2.45 am on Saturday 8th May by a civilian agency of the government. The trials and tribulations of TFT’s editor, its publisher Jugnu Mohsin, their colleagues and the paper itself, bear noting, if only for the record. TFT readers and friends should also know that the ordeal of the paper and its editor and publisher is by no means over. The Attorney General has formally told the Supreme Court that the government retains the right to proceed with “fresh cases” against Mr Sethi. Official efforts have therefore been swiftly launched to cripple TFT financially. Mr Sethi has also been put on the Exit Control List which bars him from traveling abroad. Most alarmingly, senior officials sympathetic to Mr Sethi have advised him to severely restrict his movements even in his hometown of Lahore. This is how it all began. It is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Relations between Nawaz Sharif and Najam Sethi were severely strained in late 1992 when TFT became critical of Mr Sharif’s policies, carried articles alleging wrongdoing by the Sharif family and launched the satirical column titled “Ittefaqnama” on the back page. The then DG-IB Brig Imtiaz Billa and DIG Police Rana Maqbool in Punjab were accordingly deputed to “teach Sethi a lesson”. While both gentlemen went about their assignment assiduously, Mr Sethi and Ms Mohsin survived the threats and income tax notices because Mr Sharif fell from grace in early 1993. In due course, Rana Maqbool apologised to Mr Sethi (“I had no choice”….”I was only doing a job”…) while Mr Sharif unexpectedly arrived at Mr Sethi’s front door one day in 1994 saying “I have come to apologise….I had no idea of what my people did to you”. In due course, with everything forgiven and forgotten, Mr Sharif began to cultivate Mr Sethi through the good offices of a mutual friend-associate. REFERENCE: Truth will out Posted on Friday, June 11, 1999 in The Friday Times (Editorial) http://www.najamsethi.com/truth-will-out-3/

Jugnu Mohsin in Bayad e Benazir Bhutto (GEO TV 24th Jan 2013)
Jugnu Mohsin in Bayad e Benazir Bhutto (GEO TV... by SalimJanMazari

 In November 1996, Benazir Bhutto was eased out of office by President Farooq Leghari, and Mr Sethi was inducted into the caretaker cabinet entrusted with the job of initiating accountability and holding elections. Mr Sethi, however, ran afoul of Mr Sharif when he proposed disqualification laws relating to bank loan defaulters which would have hurt the Muslim League more than the PPP and especially diminished the prospects of many top PML leaders from contesting the elections. Mr Sharif formally protested to Mr Leghari and the law was amended. Mr Sethi was among two or three members of the cabinet who vigourously opposed the amendment but were overruled. Mr Sharif therefore had occasion to record a minor “personal grudge” against Mr Sethi. Fortunately, however, this incident was soon forgotten in the flush of Mr Sharif’s stunning victory at the polls soon thereafter. Mr Sharif and Mr Sethi retained a measure of mutual warmth after the former became prime minister in February 1997. Indeed, on at least two occasions, once over a one-on-one breakfast meeting in March and again over another one-on-one lunch in April 1997 at the PM House in Islamabad, Mr Sharif asked Mr Sethi to give up journalism and join his team at the “highest level”. But Mr Sethi politely declined, arguing that he could better demonstrate his “friendship” for Mr Sharif by remaining out of the political fray and commenting on Mr Sharif’s policies and conduct objectively from the sidelines of independent journalism. This was exactly what Mr Sethi had said to Ms Bhutto in 1994 when she too had hinted at “rewarding” Mr Sethi for his “outstanding services to the cause to democracy” (read: “cause of the opposition”). But Mr Sethi’s budding personal relationship with Mr Sharif was fated to flounder on the rock of intellectual and moral incompatibility in much the same manner in which his warm relationship with Ms Bhutto had come to be severed in 1995. The Friday Times had been a crusading voice against corruption and stood for good governance since it was founded in 1989. It did not spare Ms Bhutto or Mr Sharif in their first misguided tenures but gave them both the benefit of the doubt at the beginning of their second terms. Then, when each began to go seriously astray, TFT lashed out at them, in the process derailing the personal relations between Mr Sethi and the two prime ministers respectively. At no stage, incidentally, from 1989 to 1999, were any favours asked of the two PMs, although both offered state largesse and were visibly surprised when it was promptly refused. Mr Sethi’s relationship with Mr Sharif began to sour in May 1997 when TFT wrote editorials against Mr Sharif’s attempt to undermine the judiciary, in particular the March 1996 decisions in the famous Judges Case. TFT then went on to support Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah’s endeavours to strengthen the supreme court against the executive. And when the battle royale between Justice Shah/President Leghari and Mr Sharif erupted with full force in October 1997, TFT made no bones about opposing Mr Sharif’s attempts to become all powerful. Indeed, TFT was so outspoken that Mr Sharif was led by conspiracy-minded advisers into believing that Mr Sethi might have actually “conspired” with President Leghari into trying to overthrow his regime. Nothing was further from the truth. But Mr Sharif believed otherwise and was stung into vengeful spite by Mr Sethi’s alleged “betrayal”. Later in 1998, when Sethi and Sharif were totally estranged, Shahbaz Sharif was to comment that Nawaz Sharif could not bring himself to “forgive” Najam Sethi because he had expected Sethi to side with him instead of Leghari, whereupon Mr Sethi had remarked that the choice for him had never been between Leghari and Benazir or Leghari and Sharif but between right and wrong, between the rule of law and the law of the jungle, between good and bad governance and between accountability and corruption. Relations between TFT and the Sharif government went from bad to worse in 1998. TFT was appalled by the choice of Mr Rafiq Tarar as president of Pakistan. TFT was opposed to the misguided economic policies of the finance ministry presided over by Mr Sartaj Aziz. TFT was aghast at the one-sided “accountability” of the PPP and IPPs orchestrated by Senator Saif ur Rehman. TFT was alarmed at the nationalist backlash engineered by the unilateral announcement of the Kalabagh Dam by Mr Sharif. TFT was terrified of the proposed 15th amendment bill aimed at making Mr Sharif all-powerful. And TFT didn’t mince its words and opinions when it lambasted the Nawaz Sharif government for abject failure on the most important issues of the day. Matters came to a head in April 1999 when TFT commented on the conviction of Benazir Bhutto for corruption in an editorial titled: “Set a thief to catch a thief”. The editorial argued that Ms Bhutto had been rightly adjudged guilty of corruption but ended with the hope that “if one-sided accountability had been rejected by some today, even-handed accountability would be demanded by many tomorrow”. This was correctly interpreted in Islamabad as a fervent hope for the accountability of Mr Sharif one day. Therefore it did not endear Mr Sethi to either Mr Sharif or Senator Saif ur Rehman. This editorial was followed by one titled “Personal Vs public interest” in which it was argued that the Sharifs and Senator Saif ur Rehman were setting ruinous legal and financial precedents for the country by refusing to pay back their accumulated defaults on the plea that “interest was un-Islamic”, or that their defaults had been “engineered”, or that foreign courts had no jurisdictions over loans contracted abroad. The same issue of TFT carried a story on the inside pages titled “Saif in the soup” describing the Senator’s attempt in the Lahore High Court to avoid payments of Rs 930 million demanded by United Bank Ltd. It is understood that both Mr Sharif and Mr Rehman were outraged at this “personal” affront by TFT. REFERENCE: Truth will out Posted on Friday, June 11, 1999 in The Friday Times (Editorial) http://www.najamsethi.com/truth-will-out-3/

 Then came the proverbial straw which broke the camel’s back. A BBC team investigating allegations of money laundering by members of the Sharif family arrived in Pakistan and set about interviewing people. Among those interviewed was TFT’s editor Najam Sethi and Mr Sharif’s estranged cousin Yusuf Aziz. The IB reported the BBC team’s movements and contacts to the authorities in Islamabad and concluded that Mr Sethi had probably arranged for the BBC to contact Mr Aziz via a local journalist named MAK Lodhi. Alarmed, the government picked up Mr Lodhi and shook him up. Lodhi is said by officials to have pointed the finger at Sethi in order to save his skin. The dye was cast. Islamabad is favourably inclined towards conspiracy theories. The one at hand suggested a “dark plot by Najam Sethi, in cahoots with the BBC, to discredit and undermine the Sharif family and government”. Or so alleged Senator Saif ur Rahman on April 30th to Jugnu Mohsin on the phone while Mr Sethi was away in New Delhi delivering a lecture on “Indo-Pak relations in the new millennium”. It was time to teach Sethi a lesson as well as send a strong message to the small independent press that its days were also numbered, like that of Jang and the big groups earlier. The rest, as they say, is history. Mr Sethi’s speech in New Delhi was painted as “anti-Pakistan” by paid hacks and lackeys of the government and provided the perfect excuse to punish Mr Sethi for his anti-government views. The bad news is that Mr Sethi’s fundamental rights were trampled upon with unmitigated glee by an authoritarian regime in full flow. He could have choked to death on the night he was abducted and beaten up. Certain sections of the press took great pleasure from Mr Sethi’s acute discomfort, partly out of personal jealously and partly due to government pressure or vested financial interests. The Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi behaved abominably in pursuit of an appointment to Washington. And many unsuspecting but well intentioned patriotic Pakistanis were led into believing the government-sponsored falsehood in the government-controlled press that Mr Sethi had committed sedition and deserved to be punished. The good news is that the Pakistani army, ISI and Supreme Court were not prepared to lend their shoulders to such outlandish allegations against Mr Sethi. Many sections of the domestic press discerned the truth and sided with Mr Sethi. To a man, the political opposition supported the cause of Mr Sethi. The international community woke up to the demand for press freedom and human rights and castigated the government of Pakistan for detaining Mr Sethi. In the end, most Pakistanis cast their lot with Mr Sethi instead of his detractors.

The best news is that by making Najam Sethi an international cause celebre the government has unwittingly strengthened the cause of press freedom and human rights in Pakistan. But the saga of Najam Sethi, TFT, press freedom and democracy may not yet be over. The first trumped-up income tax notices were issued to Jugnu Mohsin, Najam Sethi, TFT and Vanguard Books Pvt Ltd on 19th May, over a week after Mr Sethi was detained. The second lot was slapped on 3rd June, a day after Mr Sethi was set free before the Supreme Court. The third installment was delivered on 8th June. Jugnu Mohsin’s bank accounts have been frozen and all monies illegally transferred to the income tax department. The settled income tax accounts of Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin from 1994-95 to 1995-96 have been reopened for scrutiny and additional demands. The properties of both Jugnu Mohsin and Najam Sethi were “attached” for auction by the tax department on 7th June without giving them a chance to file their rejoinders. The accounts of Vanguard Books Pvt Ltd for 1994-95 have been reopened also. Exorbitant, illegal and false claims are being made by the IT department under pressure from Islamabad. The idea is clearly to cripple TFT financially and force it to close down. All this is totally unnecessary and counter-productive. It gives Mr Sharif a bad name. And it paints Pakistan in unflattering colours before its friends abroad. The repression of TFT’s editor must stop. Wiser council must prevail. The personal hostility of Mr Sharif or Senator Saif against Najam Sethi should not be taken to such absurd limits where it begins to encroach upon the interests of the government and country at a time when both need all the friends and assistance they can muster at home and abroad. REFERENCE: Truth will out Posted on Friday, June 11, 1999 in The Friday Times (Editorial) http://www.najamsethi.com/truth-will-out-3/

Ansar Abbasi & Vulgarity on GEO TV of Jang Group.

No consensus on definition of ‘obscenity’ for TV our correspondent Tuesday, August 28, 2012 ISLAMABAD: Experts and politicians on Monday appeared sharply divided on how to define the parameters of ‘obscenity’ for the media content. But majority of them agreed once a code of ethics was thrashed out it should be adhered to in letter and spirit. The growing trend of re-enactment and dramatisation of crimes on almost all television channels under the garb of investigative journalism was castigated and some experts wondered why the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) was not taking enough measures to halting it. It was noted with deep concern that under the pretext of entertainment news, indecency and vulgarity was being aired by the media outlets. Pemra held a consultative session here at its headquarters, which took strong exception to the absence of TV owners’ representatives and cable operators, and billed it as non-seriousness on their part as they were (direct) stakeholders with regard to reflection of viewers. Former Amir of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti of JI, Oriya Maqbool Jan, Lt Gen (R) Qayyum and senior journalist Ansar Abbasi pointed out that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and the Constitution clearly envisaged that there could be nothing against the Quran, Sunnah and Shariah. Qazi during his presentation referred to the relevant Surahs of the Quran and some explicit clauses of Indecent Advertisement Act of 1963, which interpreted vulgarity, were also cited in this connection. They specifically criticised news channels for spreading vulgarity in the guise of entertainment news. He strongly objected to showing vulgar (mujra) dances and songs in every headline. Qazi, Ansar and Mehanti unanimously recommended referring the matter to the Council of Islamic Ideology and parliament to define the terms obscenity and vulgarity. Besides, they called for immediate closure of all illegal channels. These experts were of the view that ‘any content, which was unacceptable while viewing with the family, was obscene’ and urged measures to halt the airing of such content.They also recommended formation of a committee to screen out unwanted content from TV advertisements as well as regulating the rating of TV channels. These experts noted that TV ads contained stuff that could in no way be telecast for public viewing. REFERENCE: No consensus on definition of ‘obscenity’ for TV our correspondent Tuesday, August 28, 2012 http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-128675-No-consensus-on-definition-of-obscenity-for-TV Ansar Abbasi Fatwa and Qazi Hussain Ahmed Petition n Supreme Court Daily Jang 2 July 2012 

Bushra Ansari hot in Red Saree Belly visible and dances as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uiWHXvTEi8

Faahisha (Harlot): Imran Khan, Ansar Abbasi and Jamat-e-Islami. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2012/07/faahisha-harlot-imran-khan-ansar-abbasi.html

Javed Jabbar, Dr Mehdi Hassan, Muhammad Ziauddin, Mazhar Abbas, Kamran Khawaja and representatives of Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS), United Producers Association and Pemra officials were present on the occasion. The Chairman Pemra briefed participants about various terminologies, connotations and expressions used to define obscenity in different countries. Javed Jabbar and Dr Mehdi Hassan on the other hand defended that the media was not all about vulgarity. There might be 10 percent of total content objectionable but the rest of media in Pakistan was doing fine. They said that technological advancements and cultural dynamism could not be enslaved in a rigid canvas. Cultural ethos varied from passage of time. Javed Jabbar opposed involving the Council of Islamic Ideology in defining obscenity. He said that it was a perplexed matter and would be difficult to evolve consensus thereon. Dr Mehdi Hassan said that if something was undesirable to watch, you have the option to switch over to any other channel or completely switch off your TV. It would be wrong to hamper technological advancements instead of grooming and training our offspring. “We absolve ourselves of the responsibility by not teaching them good or bad and then shed our responsibility by putting iron curtains on media,” he said. Dr Mehdi Hassan further said that obscenity could not be confined only to ill dressed models on TV channels but to him child labour, injustice to minorities, social imbalance, poverty, hunger and disloyal politicians were also obscene. Why the custodians of morality do not account for these issues? Ziauddin, the veteran journalist, strongly endorsed view point of Javed Jabbar and Dr. Mehdi Hassan. He, however, proposed appointing an ombudsman for every media institution to ensure accountability. Ms Sameena Ahmed, TV artist and producer, from United Producers Association and Aly Mustansir from Pakistan Advertisers Society said that vulgarity was a relative term and could not be invoked by a select group of people. These experts proposed taking input from entire society on the issue. They were of the view that they reflected public aspirations in their programmes/advertisements and a thorough research was conducted before launching any content. They denied that the advertisements and dramas produced by them contravened Islamic values. They however, agreed to comply with the code if it is unanimously accepted and adopted. Mazhar Abbas, a senior journalist, disagreed to the proposal of censoring media by blaming it for vulgarity. He suggested formulating an independent commission with no involvement of stakeholder in order to deal with the media violation issues. The participants, however, unanimously agreed and suggested Pemra to invoke its laws across the board and desired zero tolerance for violation of Pemra laws particularly the illegal channels and illegal content. The Chairman Pemra thanked participants for sparing valuable time for this consensual and national cause and ensured that all possible measures would be taken within the ambit of Pemra laws to curb violations. The next meeting on the subject was proposed in the mid of September whereby the owners of TV channels and cable operators would also be involved in this constructive consultation process. A senior Pemra official told The News that in mid-September, another consultative session would be held with the representatives of TV channels and cable operators. REFERENCE: No consensus on definition of ‘obscenity’ for TV our correspondent Tuesday, August 28, 2012 http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-128675-No-consensus-on-definition-of-obscenity-for-TV  Sub Say Bara Masala by Nusrat Javed Daily Express 30 Aug 2012

Karina Kapoor Kay Sath Pakistan Tv Par Taang Utha Kay Geo! Geo Bahi Geo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71EA8_GRXmk

Islam Doesn't Allow Women To Become TV Host, Guest and Newscaster http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/02/islam-doesnt-allow-women-to-become-tv.html

Letter to Ansar Abbasi on vulgarity Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:31 by Farooq Sulehria Isn’t it strange that you consider vulgarity on Geo TV to be Haram [unIslamic] and immoral. However, the income you pocket every month from this vulgarity is Halal and moral - Dear Mr. Ansar Abbasi, When I recently heard about your latest crusade against vulgarity and obscenity, planned in connivance with our puritan Chief Qazi, I could not help laughing aloud. By moving the Supreme Court against obscenity and vulgarity on television channels, you have indeed exposed the bankruptcy of the Moral Brigade’s policing of women’s bodies. Not that I don’t find Pakistani TV channels vulgar and obscene. I become uneasy when girls are paraded half naked by multinationals to sell toothpaste, shampoo, mobile sets, underwear etc. However, I do not consider it my business to suggest or try to mandate what women should or should not wear. I oppose dress codes imposed under any pretext. But this is not the place or occasion to engage in this debate.

I also find the talk shows that you regularly appear on, where everybody is shouting at each other, extremely vulgar.

I find the news segments on Pakistani TV channels very vulgar. These segments are crude, banal and trifling. They completely trivialize the public narratives.

I find soap operas, the unreal “reality” shows, and the cooking shows to be very vulgar attempts to promote consumerism in a society where 40 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Alims online, ex pop singers posing as televangelists and born-again cricketing Muslims are among the most vulgar things on mini screens. Incidentally, they are generously accommodated on Geo TV.

For years you have been working with the Jang Group, the country’s largest media house. Jang-owned Geo TV is the largest channel in the country. According to a Viewpoint study on ad expenditures, Geo garners the lion’s share (According to a Viewpoint source even the present PPP government has made Jang Group the largest beneficiary of government advertisements.)

My dear Ansar Abbasi, we both know very well that your wages are paid out of Jang Group’s income, income derived from these vulgar and obscene ads in which half-naked girls engage in objectionable dialogues and flaunt such objectionable gestures that you cannot watch them with your family.

Isn’t it strange that you consider vulgarity on Geo TV to be Haram [unIslamic] and immoral. However, the income you pocket every month from this vulgarity is Halal and moral. You remind me of a pimp who considers prostitutes to be sinners and immoral but unscrupulously pockets the income from pimping. In all honesty it is not your contradictions that I find ridiculous. It is your hypocrisy that I find disgusting. You claim that you find it difficult to watch vulgar Pakistani TV channels with your family. I wonder who you were with when you watched the Swat video. Were you alone or were others alongside you?

I watched it alone. When I saw a helpless girl pinned to ground and mercilessly flogged by a bearded brute, I felt ashamed for being man. I found that Swat video more vulgar than any pornography.

Unfortunately, even when in the wave of public outrage, the Taliban began to disown the video [while your comrade in arms Orya Maqbool Jan declared it a fake ) you had the gall to appear on Geo to declare that condemning the Swat video was an insult to Sharia. In your view, flogging the Swat girl was in line with divine teachings and the flogging Taliban only did their Quranic duty. What I find even more hypocritical about Media Mujahideen like you is your betrayal of your class. It is not a coincidence that all the Media Mujahideen enjoy great rapport with media owners. They draw good salaries and benefit from many perks. On the other hand I have never seen Media Mujahideen struggling for the Wage Board Award. In recent years media workers have lost their hard won rights. Is it not extremely vulgar that a desperate Khabrain worker, a couple of years ago, committed suicide because his wages had not been paid for months? Days before Eid, a woman journalist in Lahore committed suicide for the same reason. Hundreds of workers have been laid off by all the major and minor media houses in recent months. Is it not extremely vulgar that while these media barons continue to lay off workers in the name of lost profits they manage to come up with enough capital to start new media ventures? While all this vulgarity has been happening right before your eyes, you have been looking the other way. In my view, poverty is the worst form of vulgarity. In the words of Sahir Luhianvi, Muflisi his e litafat mita daity hay [poverty ends decency.] In my humble view child labour, feudalism, capitalist exploitation, child abuse [so widespread at madrassas], honour killings, forced conversions, discrimination against religious minorities, domestic violence, hefty military budgets, foreign debt, puritan violence, Hazara killings, Lashkar e Toiba’s jihad, environmental pollution, nuclear waste from your Islamic bomb, in fact the entire system you so vigorously defend, is extremely vulgar. The most vulgar aspect of all of this is Chief Qazi himself. Instead of playing the moral cop flaunting his rosary in front of press cameras, he should have resigned the day his son Arsalan Iftikhar was caught committing vulgarity. REFERENCE: Letter to Ansar Abbasi on vulgarity Thursday, 23 August 2012 20:31 by Farooq Sulehria AUGUST 24, 2012 ONLINE ISSUE NO. 115 http://www.viewpointonline.net/letter-to-ansar-abbasi-on-vulgarity.html

Shazia Manzoor - Ballay Ballay (Dolly Ki Aayegi Baraat)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5pTkFzGP4I

Jang Group/Geo TV Promote "KUFR (Disbelief) and Bida'at (Innovation) but LECTURES. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/07/jang-groupgeo-tv-promote-kufr-disbelief.html

Ansar Abbasi once again finds himself at the center of controversy, this time not because of what he wrote in an article published by The News or Daily Jang but because of what he wrote in an article not published by his employer. This latest incident has resulted in that unique situation where conservatives demand an end to censorship and liberals demand more of Abbasi’s writing. But is there really a controversy here? Or is it another storm in a tea cup? Ironically, in the article that was supposedly censored, Ansar Abbasi complains at great length about cable operators and media owners showing ‘Indian culture’ which is, according to Abbasi, filled with vulgarity and nudity. He goes on to complain that nobody is doing anything about it. For example, censoring it. So here we have a situation in which a writer who is demanding greater censorship is now complaining that he has been censored? Some might term that as blatant hypocrisy, but such a label is unwarranted. After all, Abbasi was never censored. Why do I say Ansar Abbasi was not censored? For the same reason that I – and everyone else – knows what he wrote. It was published on the website of Saach.TV. http://www.saach.tv/2012/08/13/ansar-abbassis-unpublished-article/ This should not be difficult to understand. If Saach TV published the article, it wasn’t censored. Now, some will respond that it was censored by Jang, where Abbasi is employed and where the piece was originally filed. But this raises an important question: Are media groups obligated to publish any foolish thing that they are given? What if Ansar Abbasi’s piece had not been anti-India but had been about how Krishna came to him in a dream and now he has converted to Hindu and that he calls on all Muslims to abandon their faith. Would it be censorship if Jang chose not to publish it? Media groups like Jang are private businesses, and with the growth of private media groups, there is competition between them for an audience. The Nation is not obligated to publish pieces by Marvi Sirmed, and Dawn TV is not obligated to broadcast a show hosted by Zaid Hamid. Freedom of the press means that a media group has the right to report whatever it wants, but it also means the same media group has the right not to publish what it doesn’t want. In this case, Ansar Abbasi submitted a piece to Jang and for whatever reason the editors there chose not to publish it. Maybe they thought it was embarrassingly stupid. Maybe they just didn’t have space for it. Does that mean that Abbasi’s pro-censorship article went unread? Obviously not. Another media group, Saach TV chose to publish it and now it is widely available. PEMRA has not issued any order to destroy all copies, and Army is not storming media offices or placing Abbasi under arrest. In short, nothing has been censored at all. Article 19 grants every citizen the right to freedom of speech and expression and protects freedom of the press. Article 19A grants every citizen the right to access information in all matters of public importance. Nowhere, however, does the Constitution grant every citizen the fundamental right to be published in a newspaper. Ansar Abbasi has the right to write whatever he wants. And Jang has the right to decide whether or not they believe his writing is worth publishing. That’s not censorship, it’s editing. REFERENCES: Freedom of Speech and Censorship of Ansar Abbasi http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2012/08/13/freedom-of-speech-and-censorship-of-ansar-abbasi/ Ansar Abbasi’s unpublished article August 13, 2012 http://www.saach.tv/2012/08/13/ansar-abbassis-unpublished-article/

10th Lux Style Awards Pt 2 8 2011 - Main Event - Pt 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTqynWbZxWg

Business Recorder/AAJ TV "Justifies" Salman Taseer's Murder and Support Martial Law. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/01/business-recorderaaj-tv-justifies.html

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has converted the letters of Justice (R) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Muhammad Hussain Mehnati against obscenity and vulgarity on the media into a petition and issued notices to chairmen PTA and Pemra and has fixed it for hearing on July 27, 2012. The petition is marked 104/2012 and the case will be heard in the open court on Friday. The SC order issued on Wednesday titled “Regarding control of obscene and other objectionable material carried in the media” reads: “Take notice that three separate letters were received from Justice (R) Wajihuddin Ahmad, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, ex-Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Muhammad Hussain Mehnati, Ameer Jamat-e-Islami Karachi on the subject cited above and on placing all these letters before the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan. His lordship was pleased to call reports from chairman PTA and Chairman Pemra. After perusal of the said reports, the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan was pleased to pass the following order; ‘Treat this matter as petition under article 184(3). Put up in court. Notice to attorney general, chairman Pemra and to petitioners be issued for 27.07.2012.’ “Take further notice that the matter has been registered as the Constitutional petition No 104/2012 and is fixed for hearing on 27.07.2012 in Court House Islamabad.”The major issues regarding obscenity highlighted in the petition involve airing of illegal Indian channels through cable network, obscene and vulgar dramas on Pakistani channels, immoral advertisements on TV channels, illegal CD channels distributed by cable networks in connivance with Pemra, and in particular the entertainment segments in the news bulletins on Pakistani news channels. REFERENCE: SC takes suo moto notice of obscenity in media Ahmad Noorani Thursday, July 26, 2012 http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-16359-SC-takes-suo-moto-notice-of-obscenity-in-media Qazi Hussain Ahmed Daily Jang 10 August 2012http://e.jang.com.pk/pic.asp?npic=08-10-2012/Karachi/images/11_07.gif Friday, August 10, 2012, Ramazan ul Mubarak 21, 1433 A.H. http://jang.com.pk/jang/aug2012-daily/10-08-2012/col2.htm

Imran Khan's Illegitimate Girl Child & Corruption Reference (Bolta Pakistan 2007)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQjxpc3vePI

Adultery of Imran Khan is also Vulgarity and Obscenity

MQM vs Imran Khan and Sita White Illegitimate Child Tyrian Jade http://www.scribd.com/doc/102551755/MQM-vs-Imran-Khan-and-Sita-White-Illegitimate-Child-Tyrian-Jade
MQM vs Imran Khan and Sita White Illegitimate Child Tyrian Jade

Following complaints from the two respected public figures, the Human Rights Cell of the apex court, following CJ’s direction, had sought views from chairman Pemra and chairman PTA, both of whom have given routine bureaucratic responses without any concrete assurance that the menace would be effectively checked and controlled. Chairman Pemra in his response to the Supreme Court wrote: “The local market is flooded with smuggled and pirated CDs, DVDs, decoders, dishes and cards, which are proliferating obscenity through broadcast media and distribution service. On its part, Pemra took action against distribution and sale of illegal decoders and seized the equipment of Zee TV package. This action was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the court was pleased to suspend the seizure. Consequent to which Pemra had to return the equipment. Nevertheless, Pemra has not stopped its efforts in this regard. It may kindly be appreciated that Pemra cannot fully eradicate this menace and it will only be possible with coordinated efforts of all other relevant agencies as well.” It is important to mention here that whenever the Supreme Court takes up the issue of obscenity and vulgarity some objectionable Indian TV channels are closed for a few days but they stage a comeback. Even on Wednesday when the Supreme Court issued this latest order and fixed the case for Friday, sources told The News that Indian TV channels were closed in some big cities. Sources say a huge amount of money is involved in allowing illegal CD channels, distribution of illegal Indian TV channels and in many other similar illegal acts. REFERENCE: SC takes suo moto notice of obscenity in media Ahmad Noorani Thursday, July 26, 2012 http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-16359-SC-takes-suo-moto-notice-of-obscenity-in-media Qazi Hussain Ahmed Daily Jang 10 August 2012http://e.jang.com.pk/pic.asp?npic=08-10-2012/Karachi/images/11_07.gif Friday, August 10, 2012, Ramazan ul Mubarak 21, 1433 A.H. http://jang.com.pk/jang/aug2012-daily/10-08-2012/col2.htm