Rumors abound of Musharraf's imminent departure

Islamabad and indeed all of Pakistan is abuzz with rumors of Musharraf's imminent departure from the country on a "safe passage" deal with the PPP government. There have been late-night clandestine meetings, the commander of the crack 111 brigade - which provides security to Musharraf - has been changed, and maybe most importantly Nawaz is loudly claiming that he and Zardari have come to an agreement to push Musharraf out.

Wonder where he will end up? I know that the most obvious - and long-standing - guess is Turkey, but my money is on the United States.

Saudi Arabia in a nutshell

Things that make you go "humm"

Black Flag Week March 9-15

Now that the long march has been called off - under pressure from the PPP - Aitzaz has announced a different plan. This time it's a week-long schedule of activities, under the rubric of a "Black Flag Week." The idea is to plaster the place with black flags. I have to say that Aitzaz is a clever man because if we can pull this idea off, the visual impact will be stunning. It will also be interesting because all the party flags are still fresh from the elections, so the juxtaposition with the black flags might be very interesting indeed.

Of course in Karachi this will all be difficult to pull off - because of the MQM. This fascist party has held the city hostage for years now, and they remain probably the most loyal allies of Musharraf. As a result, Karachi has been a laggard in the pro-democracy movement, even though it's the largest city and it SHOULD lead the country in this regard. Nevertheless, let's hope that next week is an exception and Karachi performs with flying colors.

Musharraf on his way out?

Things have gotten very interesting since the election on Feb. 18th. The good news is that some sane parties won, namely the PPP, PML-N, and ANP. The bad news is that these said parties are trying their best to forget about the judiciary and the lawyers' movement that put them in power in the first place. Of course they're political parties, and they will grasp for power above all else. But what is especially frustrating is that in this case, doing the right thing also means extending their hold on power - and saying a big fat 'fuck you' to Musharraf at the same time.

In March 2007, I had predicted that Musharraf would be gone within a year. Well, we're coming up on March 9, the anniversary of the Chief Justice's sacking, and it might not happen that soon, but Musharraf doesn't have much longer to stay in the Army House that he's been squatting in and thereby refusing to let Kayani occupy it. Word is that he's already trying to make deals for a 'safe exit.' What should happen is that the bastard gets tried for treason and humanitarian crimes. Let's see. The next couple of weeks will be very interesting.

So THAT'S why he lost

This has got to be the best excuse for losing an election. From Leader (Karachi):

CANDIDATE BLAMES 'LOTA' FOR LOSING ELECTION

A candidate in the elections from NA constituency 79, Chaudhry Mohammed Naveed Iqbal from Samundri Tehsil in Faisalabad who lost in the elections, has said that he was defeated because his election symbol was a 'lota.'

He has urged upon the Pakistan Election Commission to remove the election symbol of 'Lota' from the list of election symbols that are given to the political parties and independents in the general elections. This is the first time that a defeated candidate has blamed his election symbol for his defeat. 'Lota' is used in day-to-day conversation in Pakistan to refer to turncoats.

Those dumb Arab governments

This picture was taken in Abu Dhabi airport - incidentally, a truly awful airport - while browsing the MSN website. I was trying to read a very innocuous article, something about relationships, you know the kind of silly article that is pure fluff but nevertheless catches your attention with a provocative title. And it has been a long flight, and I wanted to be entertained. So despite the fact that I knew better, I clicked on it, and instead of loading up on my computer in its glorious silliness, I was confronted with... this.

The warning reads: "We apologize the site you have been attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates."

It's truly absurd that governments censor what their citizens can see. But what's really ridiculous about this particular experience is the kind of content that the UAE government was censoring, I had just finished reading the New York Times, BBC News, and Dawn, and had no problems at all. So the idiots in Abu Dhabi don't realize that all sorts of bad press coverage about worker revolts and mistreatment of labor and lack of development planning are being consumed happily by their population. But yes, they're being prevented from reading about anything of a romantic nature. Way to go, UAE. I have always believed that the dumbest government officials are Pakistani, but I think you UAE folks have us beat.

So far, so good

There was peace and calm yesterday on 9th Muharram. Some processions were smaller than they usually are, but for the most part, everything was "normal" - if it can be considered normal to have Muharram processions with heavy police and army presence, and with virtual curfew imposed in many cities (Karachi included). One can only hope that this peace continues into today, Ashura (10th Muharram). We desperately need at least one major event to go off peacefully in Pakistan, for our sanity if nothing else.

By the way, the entire country is in the grip of a cold wave. It snowed in Islamabad today, and while Karachi is warm during the day, it becomes very cold at night. That fabulous weather I praised a few weeks ago is no more.

Bomb blast in Peshawar

There was a bomb blast in Peshawar last night at a Shia imambargah. Approximately 12 people have died. This follows a bomb blast in Karachi on Monday night in which approximately 40 people died. These are all part of the "expected" violence that is supposed to accompany Muharram. And it's ridiculous and absurd that we have become not only accustomed to this violence but have actually come to expect it. Actually, in some ways, we're all relieved these blasts haven't been worse.

Pakistan has become the new Iraq.

Dude, leave already

Note: This is snark, not an actual letter