Adil Najam

Since the issue has been raised a number of times in our comments section, I was intrigued by a news agency report published in The Daily Times (16 October, 2006) stating: “Expenses on foreign visits by the two leaders were comparatively low until 2004, but such spending has seen a phenomenal increase since.”

… Musharraf and the three prime ministers who served under him made 61 official foreign visits. These visits had cost taxpayers more than a billion rupees by December 2004, and in the later part of fiscal year-2005-06, these visits cost almost the same sum that was spent between October 1999 and December 2004. Foreign Ministry sources said that Musharraf made 41 official visits and toured at least 71 countries between June 2000 and December 2004, costing taxpayers more than Rs 658 million. The three prime ministers went on 20 foreign visits between November 2002 and January 2005, touring 34 countries. Of the 20 visits, Aziz’s trips cost the exchequer almost Rs 352 million.

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Guest Post by S A J Shirazi

There must be a point at which the sky meets the earth.

Wandering in an expanse of the Punjab bordering Azad Kashmir, one can see ahead up to horizon through a blanket of dull light covering the green fields and occasional villages that are spread along the Dina – Mangla – Mirpur Road. Under the sun’s watchful gaze, the valley between Mangla and Mirpur is normally quilted in a hundred different hues of green.

The Mangla Dam reservoir, one of the baggiest earth filled reservoir in the world, which has a perimeter of 400 Kilometers, has turned into a place of interest and recreation, very restful and clean. A building situated on the lakeside serves as a historical backdrop.

My journey to Mirpur started from Mangla Water Sports Club where earlier the speedboat had been ferrying me (and a group of young students from Lahore) across the blue sheet of the artificial lake to its northern extremity. Here somewhere, before the construction of the Dam, the Poonch River coming down from the northeast met with the bigger Jhelum River coming straight down from the north.

Adil Najam

The two videos attached below – one of a student speaking at a student convention presided over by Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the second of an MNA speaking in the National Assembly during the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz – have recently been floating around over email on Pakistani lists.

[Thanks to Eidee Man for alerting us to this new version of the first video which includes Gen. Musharraf’s Response to the student’s speech. Even if you have seen the student’s speech already, the response is worth listening to.]