Here is the latest…Pakistan’s exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who recently made an abortive attempt to gain entry into his own country, is likely to be in Pakistan next month to stir the electoral pot along with another former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia barely four hours after he returned to Pakistan on September 10.
The government of Saudi Arabia (Sharif’s country of exile) has given its approval to former premier Sharif to go back to Pakistan (again) and modalities are being worked out for his return in November, a senior leader of his PML-Nawaz party said on Friday, reports The Indian Express.
“ ‘Saudi Arabia has already told Nawaz Sharif that he can go back to his country whenever he likes. We are working out the modalities so that he can return in November,’ said PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.
“Hashmi’s assertion came a day after President Pervez Musharraf told a meeting of top leaders of the ruling PML-Q and its allies that Sharif would not return to Pakistan from exile before the general election, which is due by mid-January.”
Meanwhile Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan on Oct. 18 from an eight-year exile, went out to pay her respects to her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first popularly elected leader who was overthrown by the military and hanged in 1979. During her 45-minute visit, she said prayers and sprinkled flower petals on his tomb and that of other ancestors there. For more click here…
“Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto visited her ancestral village Saturday, her first trip outside Pakistan’s biggest city since an assassination attempt against her killed 143 people earlier this month. Throngs of supporters ran toward Bhutto’s convoy, kicking up clouds of dust, as she arrived in the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh after a 60-mile road trip from the airport in the southern city of Sukkur, where she flew from Karachi.”
The Edmonton Sun has a related article on the subject…
It is obvious that General Musharraf would vehemently oppose Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan. But if Saudi Arabia and the US administration support Sharif’s homecoming, the Pakistani President can do precious little to change the course of events. Sharif’s participation in the forthcoming elections, if it happens, would add credibility to the electoral process in that country.
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.