Order and Anarchy

Ramadan Mubarak to all of you out there. May the holy month brings with it all the tidings and blessings that are there for this world to grab.

As with last year, this year too, a dedicated Ramadan blog is being activated (rather continued from last year) that will contain everything related to this holy month in pictures and in words, that will cover the Ramadan theme from around the world and that will share and mix an immense array of the beautiful universal Ramadan activities and rituals as carried out in different cultures.

I welcome you all to visit Ramadan Kareem and immerse yourselves in the amazing journey through the holy month as experienced by bloggers from a multitude of nationalities, cultures and backgrounds but sharing a unique and distinct urge to make out the most of the month’s beauties!!

We salute you, O Jinnah. But we also stand guilty and ashamed, on this 59th death anniversary of yours, for not fulfilling your beloved dream. We stand ashamed of not yet earning for ourselves that beautiful identity which you so lovingly cherished for us. So on this day we thank and salute you but still stand like ashamed orphans, o father, O Jinnah!! But don’t yet despair, o father, because your orphan child – this Pakistani nation – is still not devoid of the spirit and labour of love for the upkeep of your beautiful gift – this beautiful land of Pakistan.

Finally the moment has come and Nawaz Sharif has been reported by the media to have boarded his plane to Islamabad. However, Shahbaz Sharif has been dropped out at the last moment – a move quite understandable in view of the panic now prevailing in the government circles in Islamabad.

History is certainly repeating its filthy lesson. On October 12th, 1999 it was the then Army Chief who stood uncertain in much the same manner about his future while returning to Islamabad. This time around, it’s again the same duo. But one element is so contrasting – that it’s a whole new Pakistan now, upbeat with enthusiasm and expectations.

To stop history redefining itself, the Pakistani administration (under the direct poke of Gen. Musharraf, obviously) has run amok to restrain Nawaz from entering Pakistan again, in full contrast of the historic and clearly and categorically outlined verdict of the Hon’bl Supreme Court of Pakistan that Nawaz Sharif has all the right to return to his country unhindered.

News channels are constantly reporting that the area around the Islamabad airport has been converted into a high security zone and is being vacated of all vehicles except those belonging to the Civil Aviation Authority. This sanction has been imposed for a five kilometer radius area around the airport. Just this one action proves the extent of sleeplessness Nawaz’s return has been causing to Gen. Musharraf.

Various reports of unwarranted political arrests have also been shown of news media, alongwith reports of employment of every conceivable method to jeopardize the reception of Nawaz Sharif by his followers. This brings to my mind the various instances when Musharraf would never remain from stating that he stands for law. All lies. Anyways, what else can one expect from a person who has repeatedly broken promises with 160 million Pakistanis with impunity and without a shred of remorse.

The egoistic Musharraf constantly keeps believing that people are with him and will remain so. Afterall, if this had been so, then what the heck is he afraid of? Why each bit of the administration being used to put a check on the reception that a popular political leader expects to receive from his followers? Afterall, Nawaz is a human being and his followers who expect to give him a grand reception are ordinary human beings too and not part of some great foreign army wishing to invade Islamabad, that the administration is in so much of a panic.

Babar Ghauri, the MQM federal minister in Musharraf’s dispensation, on a visit to the KPT interchange in Karachi today remarked that dictatorship was the rule of the game during Nawaz’s stint as the Prime Minister of the country and that it was democracy under Musharraf. This comment flies back in the face of this idiot of a minister and the rest of the Musharraf gang; what’s happened today and is expected to happen tomorrow in Islamabad, alongwith numerous other instances (foremost being the May 12th massacre in Karachi), proves the dictatorial undertones of the Musharraf regime.

This is a defining moment in Pakistan’s history. It’s now upto us whether we grab the bus for the better of the country or not. Do we choose to remain in fear of the dictatorial gun or come out with a single loud voice to dump the military farce once and for all.

Lately the international financial scene has been hit by the news of the implication of a Pakistani banker, one Hafiz Muhemmed Zubair Naseem, in insider trading in US markets and profiting immensely from his scheme. He has been charged with 25 counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy for revealing details of deals on which Credit Suisse advised. And guess what?? He was not alone.

The SEC has charged Hafiz Naseem, an investment banker with Credit Suisse, with illegally divulging non – public information to a person believed to be a banker in Pakistan concerning the leveraged buyout of TXU Corp. by an investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group. Naseem misappropriated the information from his employer, Credit Suisse, which served as a financial advisor to TXU in connection with the buyout. The SEC has filed a complaint with the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging insider trading in TXU Call Options ahead of the TXU buyout. The Comission further charged Naseem of breach of duty in telephoning his colleague in Pakistan, another prominent banker, and divulging to him material but non – public information regarding the buyout. Naseem has also been alleged to have been tipped others concerning atleast eight additional merger deals worked upon by Credit Suisse since he joined in March 2006.

Well, the icing on the cake is yet to come. Dawn reports that the other banker in Pakistan indicated above is Ejaz Rahim, former Group Head of the Investment Banking Group at Faysal Bank. Ejaz Rahim has further confirmed that he is under investigation by the SEC. Both Naseem and Rahim have earlier worked together at American Express in Lahore (and both have been accused of illegal banking practices over there as well). Although Ejaz Rahim denies any wrongdoing on his part, he accepts making $5 million on a leveraged deal of 6,700 Call Options just three days before the buyout was announced; but he maintains that the deal was purely based on market analysis data provided to him by a London based energy sector analyst. At that time, the Call Options gave Rahim the right to buy TXU stock at prices between $57.50 and $60 by March 2007, through a brokerage account at UBS in London. And when the TXU deal was announced on Feb. 26, its stock shot up $7.91 from the day before, to $67.93. This way, Rahim was able to net $5 million, the SEC maintains.

The SEC does not only stop here on the TXU deal, but further adds that other investors similarly benefitted. From January 29th to February 20th, Seema and Sunil Seghal, who are believed to be British citizens, bought several hundred TXU call option contracts, which expired in March and April 2007. Together, they made more $271,600 in profits. In late February, Francisco Javier Garcia, believed to be a resident of Switzerland, bought similar TXU securities through Fimat Banque Frankfurt based on inside information; he reaped trading profits of more than $150,500. The SEC has sued them all.

Dawn further reports that these two are just a peek into the dark world of insider trading. A number of additional Pakistani bankers, whose names haven’t been released as yet because of they being “big guns”, are also involved and are now worried about their skin as the powerful SEC pursues the case further. Dawn comments:

The banking fraternity is up in arms as this has dealt quite a blow to the reputation of the industry in the international banking arena. It is feared that the recent influx of investment by foreign banks will suffer a setback because of the fraud.

No doubt it’s got to reflect badly particularly on Pakistani bankers, who are famous for their skills and acumen, and on the Pakistani banking industry in general. However, one more unintended fallout of this saga has been that western audiences have come in motion to implicate the religion of Islam in all this. Blogs have been discussing this and accusing Eastern societies and the religion of Islam in particular for being responsible. It couldn’t have gotten worse than this. Well, all such Islamophobic and rascist remarks and sentiments aside, as they are the by – product of the larger ill – will that runs across the globe at this moment in time, one thing is certain that internationally, Pakistani reputation hasn’t been helped at all by this incident.

However, as further impact of this incident takes hold, we can expect to get more details and certainly more names. Pakistani authorities should also step ahead and take action. But, to think that any strong action will be taken here in Pakistan is naive at best as insider trading is supposed to be the rule of the game to make big bucks. And it’s not just here in Pakistan. Every market must be having big fish ready to plunge into this illegality to make the big buck, and it’s true for US markets also. However, this time the powerful SEC got wind of this activity and now it will not spare a dime in processing all the relevant insider trading regulations to take offenders to task.

Pakistan, though, is another story. They never catch the big fish over here and history is replete with examples of the big culprits being let free. So for those additional Pakistani bankers who now fear that the SEC will get them, the SEC will sure do its best to get them but they can rest assured that they wouldn’t be safer anywhere else than in Pakistan.

The Central Ruet – Hilal (Moon Sighting) Committee is to be convened today at Saudi Tower in Islamabad for the purpose of moon sighting and deciding upon the incidence of Eid. A couple of members of zonal committees’ members will also take part in the deliberations. However, as always, the Zonal Committee in Peshawar announced yesterday (Sunday) that Eid in NWFP will be celebrated today (Monday). Thus, the good guardians of the faith in that province led the subjects to celebrate Eid today and I saw news footage on TV of Eid prayers being offered at Charsadda Road.

Well, what should I say except for wishing a very happy Eid? I don’t know why this country can’t go together. Although there’s a Central committe, I fail to understand why everyone (read pathan brothers) feels the need to flaunt the writ, more so when the central committee is a government mandated body

They say that in today’s world, information is everything. They say that information gives privileges and information leads to control. It may well be true, but given the consequences, is such a twisted role of information desirable? I doubt.

The role of information is indeed immense but as the world is turning out nowadays, information is being used and manipulated to twist reality and affect and mould perceptions. Effectively, information is being used to take away the freedom of thought from the citizens of the world. The sickening ideal is that if you control the way people see and feel reality, you infact control reality. Never has this been truer than it is in today’s world. There are a number of instances where interest groups have sought to influence public opinion to their favour. And leading from the front are governments that find it in their interest to make the masses to believe in a certain manner.

A belief that has developed recently is that as nations advance and as interests become more and more varied the corresponding advancements in technology has led governments to seek new ways to exert control. Thus, we see that battlefields have changed quite a bit. Now, apart from territorial wars, wars are also being fought for ideas, beliefs and ideologies. Thus, the mind has emerged as a vast battlefield. The result has been that information is presented in such a fashion that, at times, it states a totally different form of reality. It’s as if people are made to believe that the artificial reality is the ‘real reality’ (remember the movie The Matrix?). It’s like when you keep bombarding people with a set of accounts regarding the artificial reality and somehow keep their attention too, they may at last surrender to the information onslaught and start believing in what you tell them without any questions. In my view, in such cases, our collective intelligence comes to questions. I wonder how easy it is for an interest group to mock our senses and perceptions. These guys are initially always in a minority but they ultimately become able to win over the minds of people and their ideas become the ideas of the majority.

There is truth in this world and there is lie. If one somehow remains sane enough to hold onto the truth, that person should counter the prevalent propaganda and show the people the real reality. It may sound utopian, but freedom of thought amounts to be one of the basic rights of man. Truth should be defended and kept separate from a lie. People have the right to distinguish between white and black. They have to know that white is light and black is dark, because that is the truth.

Today, on this very auspicious day, I want to wish my dear country and all the fellow country men and women a very happy Independence Day.

Happy birthday, Pakistan, my love…..many many happy returns of the day. May you always remain happy and prosperous….we all love you, dear. It’s only because of you that we get our identity as a proud Pakistani nation…..may you always and always prosper and continue to show us our way on the path of the principles laid down for us by your founding fathers; may you continue to always light up our hearts with hope; and may we become able to realise our strengths and fulfill our individual duties towards you, dear Pakistan. Once again, a very happy birthday to you!!