Yes, I am a hero!

ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in his statement in the Special Court on March 31 last said he was grateful to the court for giving him the opportunity to address it as he held this court in the highest esteem and was a strong believer in the supremacy of the law.
He said, “I also believe, with total conviction, that all individuals, high or low, are equal in the eyes of the law. All aspersions against me that I am opposed to appearing in the courts are baseless and malicious. For the information of this court, I have already appeared in courts in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad about 15 times in the last one year since my arrival in Pakistan. I have no such ego problems”.

He elaborated three reasons that had been hindering his appearance in the court.

They are:-

a. Security. The security threat is real. My concern is more the security of the people around me, those protecting me than myself. This has been as a result of my years of association with the Special Service Group which has taught me to care for the lives of my men foremost.

b. My Health. The Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) report is lucid and self explanatory. I do not have anything to add to it. All that I would, however, like to add for the information of the court is that my last attendance in this court on February 18 and even today is against medical advice. I had to render a signed certificate over ruling medical restraint at my own risk.

c. Legal Issues. I am sure that the court understands these issues better than me so I would not like to elaborate on them.

He said “Let me now come to the main issue. I am being charged under Article 6 for treason or more graphically for being “Ghadaar”. In other words I have done “Ghadaari” with Pakistan and the people of Pakistan.”

a. “I, who has commanded the Pakistan Army for 9 years, served in it for 43 years and gave my entire youth to this Army. Yet I am being called a Ghadaar”.

b. “I, who has fought two wars for this country and was prepared to shed my blood and life for upholding its honour yet I am being called a Ghadaar”.

c. “I, who was given a gallantry award for bravery in the face of enemy and who has spent days and nights in the mountains and snows of Siachen and Kargil with the troops even admired by Indian Generals. Yet, I am being called a ghadaar”.

d. ”I, who raised the country from a failed status to one of the next 11 (N 11) countries of the world, developed the country in every socio economic facet, gave pride and raised the standard of living of the people and also raised the stature of the country internationally am being called a ghadaar.

I do think now: Is this the return I get for showing love and unflinching loyalty to Pakistan?

If this not be the case then who really is a ghadaar?

a. Ghadaar is one who sells country’s secrets to the enemy.

b. Ghadaar is he who lays down arms or capitulates in front of the enemy. Having served in the Special Service Group for ten years and owned its motto “Ghazi Ya Shaheed” I would prefer death before the dishonor of surrender.

c. “The real ghadaar is also the one who loots and plunders national coffers to build his personal wealth, sucks the blood of the nation, gives joblessness, poverty and miseries to the people and takes Pakistan into a state of deprivation.

As far as I m concerned I can swear by the Almighty Allah and also in the name of my old mother and children and even one paisa of this state and the nation has been and is Haram for me. I would however, like to ask all those who governed this country from 2008 to date:-

a. In 2008 we left $17 billion in our foreign exchange reserve out of which $13 billion were State Bank reserves while today we have only $3 billion of State Bank.

b. In 2008 our foreign debt had been brought down to $37 billion while today its stands at over $70 billion – an increase of about $35 billion.

Where has this $45 billion gone in the last six years? This is the scale of the loot and plunder of the national exchequer. Yet all those who were and are sitting in the assemblies and running government are “Sadiq and Amin” except one person that is me. Where has Adl and Insaaf gone in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?

I have done everything for Pakistan and not taken anything from it.

a. Filled its coffers. Left foreign exchange reserve of $17 billion.

b. Brought down its debt from $40 billion to $37 billion in 2008 for the first time in the history of the country. In the decade before us debt was rising at $2 billion a year. Had we not turned the economy around our debt would have been $60 billion in 2008.

c. Broke away from the shackles of IMF, breaking the begging bowl culture.

d. Maintained the $ at around Rs60.

e. Gave rapid and phenomenal progress to the country in each and every socio economic element whether it be communication infrastructure, dams, canals, energy, agriculture, industry, telecom or IT.

f. We substantially enhanced the welfare and well being of the people bringing about unprecedented improvement in their poverty, employment generation, education and health facilities.

g. Kept inflation under control keeping prices of essential items well within reach of the common man.

h. Strengthened the defense of the country. All projects like Al-Khalid tank, JF 17 fighter planes, AWAC surveillance systems, Augusta submarine and modern frigates are all our proud achievements. So much so that even the nuclear and missile development, their security arrangement, their custodial control system were perfected by us.

It is my open challenge that the socio economic development of Pakistan in our 8 years would far surpass any other period in the history of Pakistan. As far as Balochistan is concern I again challenge that the all round development and progress in our 8 years would weigh heavier than the development in the entire remaining 50 years of Pakistan.

Inspite of all this I am being tried for Ghadaari. My sin is that I gave strength and development to Pakistan and welfare, pride and well being to its masses.

My lordship there is one more identification of a real Ghadaar. One who hinders, creates obstacles in the way of the socio economic growth of the country is also a Ghadaar. This exactly was the situation that we faced in 2007.

Lastly, my Lordship the 3 November 2007 action was based on the prime minister and cabinet’s advice and after consultation/consensus of all stake holders as given in the Promulgation Order. There was no abrogation or subversion of the Constitution.

I would like to thank the court and also the prosecution for the very patient hearing, He concluded.

I am a hero

 

ISLAMABAD: I am a hero, no matter what I do. No law, no Constitution, no institution, nothing matters to me because I am the national interest and whatever I say or do, I do in Pakistan’s interest, whether others agree or not.
I can do Kargil without even informing the prime minister. For this if the prime minister dares to challenge me, I can remove him through a military coup because I am more important than anyone or anything else. The Constitution does not matter to me. I have the power to use the muscle of my organisation to do whatever I think is right.

I can use the army, I can use the ISI, I can use any other organisation, including the NAB, police, etc, to make a political party of my own. I don’t bother if it is a violation of the Constitution and law or the misuse of the institutions but still I do it because it serves my interest and keep in mind my interest is the interest of Pakistan.

I can take a U-turn on the Afghan issue on a single phone call. I can join the US war on terror and offer everything, including my armed forces, my air bases, my intelligence and whatever Washington demands.

No matter what the Quran says and what the teachings of the Holy Prophet (SAW) are, I can facilitate the US and Nato forces to bombard Afghanistan and kill hundreds of thousands of Muslims, including women and children. I am the hero so I could even push the Pakistan

Army into the US war, forgetting even the slogan of “Jehad Fi Sabilillah”.

I can sell out Dr Afia Siddiqi to the US for dollars. I can sell Pakistanis and other Muslims to the US because Washington wants them.The Constitution and the law may not allow this but I am beyond any law, I am beyond all constitutional limits because I am a hero.

I can allow the CIA and the FBI to recruit their agents in Pakistan. I can allow a free hand to the Americans and its agents like Raymond Davis here. I can allow the CIA drones to do spying for the interest of the US. I don’t even mind if the drones become lethal and fire missiles on Pakistanis inside the Pakistani territory. I have the right to compromise the sovereignty of the country because I am a hero.

Killing of Pakistanis by the US drones does not matter to me. I am also right and could not be questioned even if I make the army a target of terrorists by owning the killings of innocent persons by the US drones as killings by Pak forces. Still I am a hero and no one should dare point a finger at me.

I can get the army commandos do the Lal Mosque operation without even consulting the Military Operations Directorate of the GHQ. I can get the mosque demolished and a large number of Madrassa students killed but nobody should question me because I am a hero.

I can get the people killed without any trial or charge sheet, I can make them go missing, I can target Nawab Akbar Bugti and bury him in his cave. I can put Balochistan in flames, I can do the same in the tribal areas and in Karachi, I can do even May 12 but I am beyond any accountability, because I am a hero.

I can suspend the chief justice. I can even send the whole judiciary packing if it dares to challenge me or any of my officers. I can get the Supreme Court and High Court judges arrested, I can even confine the judges’ families and their schoolgoing children to their homes.

To save my own office, I can impose another Martial Law because it is in the national interest. For my own interest is the national interest, I could quash the corruption cases of those alleged by even myself earlier to have looted billions and billions of national wealth. I can also clean the slates of hundreds of those facing serious criminal charges for the sake of my own political survival.

Whether I am in office or retired, I stay as a hero forever. You may consider me an individual but I am an institution.Therefore, if you would ever point a finger at me even as an individual, it would be taken as an attack on the institution. I am General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and I am a hero.

‘Main Tera Hero’ review: Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero

 

Main Tera Hero movie review: Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero.

Movie Review: Main Tera Hero

Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Arunoday Singh, Ileana D’Cruz, Nargis Fakhri, Rajpal Yadav, Anupam Kher, Saurabh Shukla, Evelyn Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Shakti Kapoor

Director : David Dhawan

 

A beefy cop besotted by a college girl goes about spouting knock knock jokes. Taking a cue from him, I’ll start with one of mine. Knock knock. Who’s there? Err, me. Me who? Me trying to hoot, that’s who.

I did manage to find a few laughs in ‘Main Tera Hero’, David Dhawan’s showcase created solely for his son Varun, but it was hard work. Because this is David precariously close to making my eyes glaze over, with long stretches of flatness, and forced laughter.

The film may be a Telugu remake, but the template is very Dhawan, with the usual mix of buffoons and goons and mistaken identities playing ‘I spy’ in a Bangkok hotel masquerading as a home.

Layabout Seenu (Varun Dhawan) reaches Bengaluru with the single aim of earning a college degree. Instead, he starts chasing the pretty Sunaina (Ileana D’ Cruz), who is being menaced by a tall, burly policeman (Arunoday Singh). A rival for Seenu’s affections pops up, in the shape of the curvy, lippy Ayesha (Nargis Fakhri), and things get complicated.

That heroes will float around Bollywood colleges without hefting a single book is a very old story: nary a one is to be seen here, nor a classroom. That they will leap from one idiocy to another is equally old. There was a time when Dhawan’s brand of idiocy was sublime. The good Govinda fronted for him, David used his superlative editing skills to keep up a rat-a-tat-pace, and we all happily rolled down the aisles. But it’s been a while since Dhawan hit his stride.

‘Main Tera Hero’ is not as ghastly as a few recent Dhawans have been, but only because it takes itself not at all seriously, and becomes as silly as it should be for some of the second half . The rest of it has its share of the usual unsightly and tasteless gags about women and protruding body parts and the mandatory fat guy in a wheelchair.

“Purani haveli ke paas chikni chameli” is equal to “oh, this old guy with that babe”.  Clap, clap. Here’s another: “ek popat ki do maina” (one parrot, two `mainas’). And a whole series of lines about ‘bajaana’ : either you can tamp down all standards and go hyuk-hyuk at this sort of thing, or you can just sit there and wonder if anything can get worse.

Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero: he fights, dances, and tries to be funny, topping it all up with a man-boob-mobile-nipple moment. But he is no light-on-his feet, beautifully-timed Govinda.  The effort shows. The flimsily-clad Ileana D’Cruz

For Kajol, Ranbir Kapoor is hero No. 1

 

Actress Kajol, who has given several hit films in company of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, thinks Ranbir Kapoor scores higher than her long-time good and also Aamir Khan in terms of acting capabilities.

In an upcoming episode of popular TV chat show 'Koffee with Karan', the host, filmmaker Karan Johar, asks Kajol to rank - talent and acting ability wise - Shah Rukh, Salman Khan, Aamir, Ranbir and Hrithik in order of preference.
The 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' actress was quick to crown Ranbir, the junior-most among them, as No 1, though the two have not yet shared screen space.
"On the top I would say Ranbir...I think he is fantastic. On second position Shah Rukh and Aamir are on par with each other...there is no up or down in that. Then we come to Salman and so on."
To another question, Kajol said she would like to ask the Bollywood badshah about his frankness in airing his views. "Why are you so candid all the time? Don't you know people like to hear nice...pretty lies once in a while."
From her cousin-actress Rani Mukherji, Kajol wants to know when is the "Bunty Aur Babli" star getting married, a query she would pose to producer-director Aditya Chopra too.
Reports of Rani-Aditya marriage had been doing the round since quite sometime.
The 39-year-old "Fanaa" star yearns to spend more time with actor-husband Ajay Devgn. "I don't get enough time with him. I would really like to take him out for a romantic date."
Kajol, who dominated Bollywood in 1990s along with Madhuri Dixit, said she is extremely choosy about doing films.
"It (the script) has to be good. I don't want to work with someone who is not going to bring out the best in me. I don't want to work with somebody who is going to depend on me to do the 90 per cent of the work."
In the episode to be aired on March 16 on Star World, the bubbly and outspoken actress will be seen with her director-cousin Ayan Mukherji.