President General Pervez Musharraf’s (or for that matter Pakistan’s) D-Day has arrived. November 15 marks the end of the current Parliament’s five-year term. Also, Musharraf’s concurrent presidential mandate also expires Thursday, though he has extended it by calling the state of emergency that has cast Pakistan into a deep political crisis, reports Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer .
The gravity of the situation can be judged from the fact that on Wednesday a White House spokeswoman said Musharraf should relent “immediately.” Also, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is due in Islamabad on Friday.
“A caretaker administration will be charged with guiding Pakistan toward parliamentary elections to be held by Jan. 9. The vote is supposed to complete the restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan, eight years after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup.
“However, both opposition parties and Western governments say that the vote cannot be considered free and fair unless the general quickly lifts the emergency, which many in Pakistan are equating with martial law.
“A U.S. diplomat met with detained opposition leader Benazir Bhutto Thursday, while she and another rival of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf opened talks on forming an alliance against him. The political unrest worsened, leaving two children dead, officials said.
“Bryan Hunt, the U.S. consul general in Lahore, said he had told Bhutto of Washington’s wish for Musharraf to lift the state of emergency, quit as army chief and free opposition politicians and the media.
“Bhutto said she hopes to form a national unity government to replace President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ahead of elections, and is contacting other opposition parties to get them on board.”
Meanwhile the well-known Pakistani cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan, was facing up to 90 days of house arrest and possible terrorism charges last night after his attempt to launch a student protest movement against President Musharraf ended in chaos, reports The Times.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.