March 31

shahbaz got restored- so plenty of response formulation on that one- was wth party leadership doing that till lunch and then white paper after that-

dinner at austrian ambassador – didnt get to eat- had to rush for work…talkshow.

i need to draft privilege motion against minister who made false claim that he will get one filtration plant installed in each uc- i am sorry that i will do it bec he is an old man- but he shld be sorrier he gave miscommitment against the people’s project on floor of house-

ary wth asma

back in offc on desk–long night/morning ahead.

to share wth u some of the emails i receive on my gmail account that drive me to work for real justice…

Dear marvi g
We r the employees of NPIW National program for the improvement of
water courses initiated by former president and our great hero general
PARVEZ MUSHARAF working since four years. Can u imagine that all the
people of pakistan specially sindhi r weeping after resignation of
musharaf sb bcz when ppp govt has come in rule the problems like
unemployment poverty  law and order situation r going worst instead of
going better. In this scenario u r the only hope for us for sindhi
employee of NPIW we have met all the ministers MPA MNA’S of PPP but
none of them aware abt these program i guess that they think that this
is former govt prog and it should be closed but their inefficiency in
under standing the development of agri sector has created discomfort
amongst all employees of NPIW. In such situation on behalf of all the
employee i personally request you to kindly try 2 solve our problem by
highlighting our problem of regularisation of contractual staff of
NPIW as well as other deptts: in the national assembly as well as on
other forums bcz now i think that u r only hope for us.
Waiting for ur positive response!
Engr: javed shaikh
Assistant director
NPIW KHAIRPUR

my response

relax- u r part of our white paper agnst govt- we will get u justice

 

reaction to Obama’s policy on Afpak

US foreign policy alignment

1.            Zero dignified response by govt to President Obama’s Pak-Afghan policy – not surprising since govt has in past one year not followed dignified policy with any state. Accepting the policy is tantamount to loosing sovereignty over our foreign policy choices. Govt should have raised following concerns with US which it hasn’t because its beholden to them.

2.            no consultations held with sections of Pak politicians and instead policy designed based on interaction with a nose diving govt whose stability is uncertain.

3.            Charge sheet preparing grounds for attack on Pak unacceptable – it claims Pak is already base for ALQ whilst Afghanistan has not fallen to them yet!

4.            Claim that ALQ and OBL/AAZ have moved to Pakistan. Massive claim which if the US is so certain about then a GPS location of these individuals should be demanded. Chargesheet that ALQ now no longer under Afghan territory but Pak very dangerous for Pak.

5.            Policy claims that there is Danger not just for American people from Pakistan but international community too. Pre attack FIR against Pakistan that if any attacks in EU, US, Africa, Asia, Pakistan will be to blame.

6.            No mention of the need for India cleaning its state terrorism for regional stability. Kashmir missing from text. Regional instability due to non resolution and human rights violations by India in Kashmir. Spectacular that regional policy of Afpak can be considered to be successful without including Afpakin. A clear indication of US strategic alliance with India encircling Pakistan.

7.            Dismantling of ALQ key goal. What about resolution of Kashmir and forcing India not to carry out state terrorism and human rights excesses inside its territory leading to regional instability.

8.            People of Pak’s wants are different to US needs. We don’t wish to be satellite states and our wants considered same. We wish to see resolution of core disputes so that prosperity can come to entire region.

9.            Pak is not the only one that needs to do more. Afghanistan needs to do more and US needs to do more over there.

10.        No blank checks should be accepted. Terms and conditions of check should insist India dealt with too, or else Pak will not fight US WOT. It becomes our War on extremism when our interests being safeguarded. Under current policy this is not the case.

11.        Assistance to Pak based on its democratic nature. Strange fruits of ‘democracy’ Pakistan is reaping now. Was stronger economically and on law&order front earlier!

12.        Is Indian troop acquiescence in Afghanistan part of US plan? Since this policy doesn’t mention this aspect, suspicions are high on this front.

13.        If new contact group is to be formed it needs to be made of Afpakin and should not be Indo centric which clearly it seems to be right now.

 

March 30

White paper and consultations on first draft wth leadership

PM called to tell me how he had taken my idea of honoring pak tribal who had saved chinese life and lost his life by giving him posthumous award – after my having ‘fought with him on floor of house’ –i took the opportunity to discuss other injustices like ogdcl engineers etc. PM is politically very gifted- he knows fully well that i am a nightmare oppo mna and yet to soften target he calls to pay complements on my work etc. Relax … the white paper is not going to be any less lethal because of this! it will have the truth however ugly it is. Like my aide said..its for Pak we are doing it- not for any other motive.

 

March 29

birthday preps wth my son for his 12th bday this week

party leadership meeting

party senator’s son’s wedding

white paper work in progress – the 20 page document from last time we issued ‘100 day betrayal’ will not be repeated- it will be an executive summary of couple of pages- if i stary putting the details of all the issues it will go up to 100 pages atleast- this is not a joke- its a serious comment-

just got back from wedding/qawaali – yes i enjoy qawaali but tonight i wasnt in the mood wth my desk full- had to stay till leadership stayed- so i insisted they all listen to only two pieces and then i requested we all make a move which they were kind enough to  do!

 its 1255am monday and i have 12 hours exact to deliver my first draft to my leadership. since its going to be short crisp lethal and not hundreds of pages- which i have as background notes and which i will eventually load onto web- thats my aides hardwork- we will have to put full version on web eventually since i want full record and accountability for history’s sake-but for tomorw i have promised them short executive summary- enough for us to use in press conference and start debate in parliament i hope- thats a thought i shld submit adjournment motion on this subject -

anyway…bye for now.

 

March 28

white paper under construction

protested wth engineers outside parliament- police who was guarding us by putting a ring around us was v complimentary on my talkshws- i always find that to b a real compliment u cant get more grassroot than that and frankly by giving an oppo mna a complement doesnt get them anything for themselves- so its real-

parliament to hear az speech- we staged walk out with slogans against horse trading token walkout- we were all supposed to shout slogans disrupting his speech but in the end it was just me and senator leghari which is a pity- but anyway i did what we had decided in pre parliament parliamentary meeting.

speech was not really presidnetial since it had no vision mission strategy

interviews outside parliament on the same

ary wth asma and waqt wth wahid

party leadership meeting

 

Meeting of sub-committee – decisions of a 5 hour marathon

 

 

 

 

Press release of Sub-committee of environment on Indus delta ecology held at National Assembly, March 27, 2009 

Chair- MNA Marvi Memon

Members Tayyab Hussain, Yasmin Rehman

 

Karachi Sewerage

1. The S-111 project which is a mega project needs to be funded as per commitment of government by Sindh and federal on equal sharing basis. This needs to be included in the 2009-10 budget and needs to be phased out for 3 years. After 3 years the water being discharged into sea will be fully treated and sewerage of Karachi handled to a large extent. Sindh govt needs to release the pre-allocated Rs 100mm on an urgent basis.
2. Combined Effluent Treatment Plant project at 4 industrial locations of Karachi needs to be submitted as PC 1 soon so that federal government can fund at earliest. Toxic waste from industrial units will be fully handled through this mega project.
3. No NOC should be given to new industries without submission of toxic treatment plans. Pollution charge to be levied on each industry as per EPA regulation and committee apprised of such action.
4. EPA Karachi capacity to be enhanced and needs assessment study to be conducted and submitted to committee.
5. Committee to assist submit legislation on banning plastic bags and developing alternatives.
6. Revival of Pollution Control Board and evaluation of recommendations of past committee.
7. Cantonment and DHA to present their sewerage treatment plans to committee.

 

10 MAF release downstream Kotri methodology

1. 10 MAF is sacrosanct since its part of 1991 Accord and needs to be implemented as per directives of main standing committee of environment.
2. The destruction of 1.3mm acres and 126 dehs as per Board of Revenue figures needs re-survey and just compensation.
3. There should be no difference between Kotri barrage, WAPDA and IRSA escapage figures and Kotri should be taken as prime source.
4. Telemetry system needs fixing by WAPDA and committee needs to be given plan of how it will be fixed.
5. In the last 9 years 6 years have been below 10MAF. The deficiency needs to be made up for in future years.
6. International Panel of Experts report has not been presented for approval to provincial governments and thus 1991 accord allocation is final.
7. IPOE report in anycase did not suggest 8.6MAF downstream Kotri which is what IRSA and WAPDA had claimed to committee. When report of IPOE is read it amounts to 10.8 and 9.8MAF in dry and average years. IRSA and WAPDA were directed not to misquote numbers as they had done in earlier committee submissions as well as in this – since this reduced trust between provinces on key water issue.
8. 1991 accord to be followed in letter and spirit and as first priority existing canal requirements was to be fulfilled. Next 10MAF requirement and then if there was any balance supplies left allocations could be made for Rainee Katchi GTC and new dams and new projects.
9. When new dams would be built, the first priority would be to supply 10MAF downstream Kotri and to fulfill the same requirement for each year where 10MAF could not be met through dam.
10. A monitoring and benchmarking committee to be formed which would evaluate delta ecology for 1960, 1991 and 2009. Subsequently for every 5 years. IUCN, WWF and Environment dept could initiate this study.
11. holistic approach to water was required and a vision 2050 was required where water conversation and re=usage plan was sought.
12. Concept of restoration of River was to be studied by committee in detail.
13. the Technical committee report and the Parliamentary committee report were to be presented to parliament and their findings made public.
14. Climate change impact on 10MAF was to be evaluated and submitted to committee.
15. UN Convention on non irrigation usage was to be studied.

 

 

LBOD environmental remedial measures

1. Based on committee recommendations sent earlier WAPDA has decided to start treatment plants for BOD. Committee will be given feasibilities on these soon.
2. Filtration plants for those taulkas destroyed due to LBOD faults was suggested as must. Committee to ask federal govt for an update.
3. WAPDA to respond on 4 studies which were required to be conducted on baseline survey of water table fluctuation unit due to seepage from Chotiari reservoir, survey of effluent pollution in LBOD, sea intrusion in Tidal link area, survey for providing fresh drinking water in tidal link area.
4. Based on committee’s earlier recommendations legal actions against sugar mills disposing untreated effluents direct into LBOD has been taken and committee will be apprised of the details.
5. Based on committee’s earlier recommendations WAPDA is working on the compensation due to LBOD affectees from 1999/2006 and would give details to committee soon.
6. One of the issues with LBOD was the length of KPOD and Tidal link which was unnatural and could not carry saline water. WAPDA has committed that this mistake would not be made in RBOD.
7. 30 lakes which have turned into sea ponds will be restored by a plan to be given jointly by all stakeholders.
8. The heritage sites of the area affected by LBOD would have an archeological plan given by relevant departments to committee. EIAs would be conducted by independent reputable firms unlike past practice.
9. Since feasibility of remodeling LBOD has been rejected by stakeholders the acceptable plan would be discussed soon with stakeholders.
10.  Divertion of spinal drain to DPOD and reparation of DPOD would be responded to in remodeling report of WAPDA.

11/12/18. Tidal link will be cut at -140 RD at shah samandar.

13. NDMA to report back on setting up of rescue centres, emergency SOPs considering this area has had natural calamities in the past.

14/15. SIDA has implemented area water boards to manage rain floods at LBOD in the future.

1. WAPDA to respond to whether the weir on DPOD has been redesigned to increase the flow of relatively safe effluent through DPOD to Shakoor Dhand.
2.  No need for pumping stations.

1. Based on LBOD disaster WAPDA to submit in detail the learnings for RBOD alignment?
2. Ways of stopping sea water intrusion into Thatta and Badin district. Detailed action plan to be submitted.

 21. Details of mangrove plantation along the coast of Thatta and Badin especially Jaati which could save the sea intrusion to be submitted by Forest in collaboration with UNDDP / WWF.

 

 

March 27

Wow what a day- I conducted my first cttee meeting as chairperson- I gave everyone ample opportunity to speak- was very respectful formal- and when the lies from bureacracy started which had caused so much mistrust between provinces i gave hell (politely but firmly) through facts and figures- inshala after yest i am convinced that they will not dare to give factual inaccuracies to this committee- we had the longest most focussed no-nonsense, no fozool talk session of 5! hours- it would have easily gone to 6 but i had to wrap up due to other commitments- i honestly got impression that even if cttee had no binding authority even recommendary, it was more than enough to move towards resolution by bureacracy- some of their cooperation was mind boggling- they actually were resolving those issues that had not been touched for years simply because they knew cttee meant business-i spoke for delta and i spoke for pakistan- i did not make this into provincial issue mess- and when i saw conversation going that route i brought it back on track- i realized the pwoer of parliamentary democracy today- big wow- my hardwork of so many months paid off truly- i was ably assisted by my aide who has put up with a lot of crazy hours for which i am grateful- and i was lucky to have wth me great member mnas who were onboard- we worked well as a team-

dinner wth GF and chinese ambasadr- very important conversation 

on way home whilst driving back, bunch of men with sticks, torches,  tried to stop my jeep- i drove through them and saved myself and my son- it was a narrow escape but i realized presence of mind critical for avoiding ambush- life is not safe – we have to improve it- its our job!

 

March 26

DELTA-Crazy workload considering I dont have a secretariat reporting to me for this committee in actual affect-technically i can use the main standing cttee staff services but since quality of work is not up to our mark then its better to do it yourself and not complain– notes/ background papers/ invite confirmations/ issue lists- all my responsibility and my aide- but i have noticed one thing in life- God only gives you as much you can manage- and so there should be no cribbing- its an honour to be chairing this sub-committee and even if i am not doing the vip role of a chairperson (sit smile and be magnamimous!) and infact am doing the intellectual paper work etc myself-its for a purpose- to get justice for indus delta ecology- 

tomorrrow is a huge day- its my first meeting in chair- i have called experts from all over- inshalla we will win for Pakistan…i am excited- and yes I am pressured too- my father was chairman of the parliamentary water committee and yes he did some fine honest intellectual work for Pak which is well documented even if not implemented by my own govt- I feel I must take process forward and not backward-

so when they say that i am from a political family- remember the pressures that we feel- initially we have a stamp saying ” she is only there because of her father-she has no brains herself” we have to work extra hard to prove that we deserve to be where we are because we can do the job right and well with sincerity and effectively -

 

March 25

We cant progresss inPak with the current mindsets in our bureacracy- i have just had a hot talk with assembly staff who have not sent invites out yet for Friday meeting! I rest my case- so much fixing to do in terms of systems-

Foreign policy- SCO ddiscussion wth Imtiaz dr Riffat n ever baig on hum tv

IT cttee meeting on electronic crime ordinance- anusha from pmln and myself were the main blockers of this anti human rights legislation which duplicates pak penal code and is trying to create pak into a police state by giving fia the powers- we did what we cld to block it from going ahead in original form- the amount of legal work we have done (anusha basically- me in supporting role) i dont think anyone has in this cttee- for every line of the bill we had an issue- an alternative- a recommendation- in the end after 5 sessions i think chairman got fed up and passed it into a sub cttee of which we are NOT members- justice fakhrunisa and another mna are members- we will wait for their detailed report- but we will not give up-

i have been told by my party leadership that they need me to finish the white paper on govt one year by sunday! i will start saturday and finish sunday! crazy workload but then this is my job so i cannot crib about it.

i am now sitting on delta work- i have decided to lock myself into my offc till this is done- no other work till friday!!

 

March 24

I am often asked by media shows whether I have dreams for Pak and I do.. I give them swiftly because I have thought about how I want my country to be- I am an artist- I paint watercolours etc- so for me dreaming about my country is like painting a painting… i know what i want my country to look like in terms of nuts bolts- — i also would like to share my key motto that drives me through tough times- i always have targets- its my citibank training- i always need to have a strategy and i always try and measure and do a swot analysis- thats how i am trained! so anyway coming back to my motto, ..this is a secret i have shared only with the great teams i have made and worked with during the course of my professional career– and now i am sharing it with all of you- my motto is— “dreams are for real”… DRFR ( this motto was born in mid 2003)

My dream for Pakistan is for it to be a “just, developed, industrialized, agriculturalized giant nation-state”.

and my plan to get there is a sign off on a vision 2030 document…

Anyway, coming down to why I am sharing this with you at 8am this morning…first thing in the morning on my desk.. because last night I had a nightmare… i had in effect a bad dream that woke me up, shook me up, and made me cry. Yes i as a politician also cry and I am not ashamed of having emotions… I remember as a young girl being told ‘crying is a sign of weakness’ and i used to retort back..’crying is a healthy sign that i am not emotionally dead’…

now the nightmare- i cant believe i am sharing this with you, but since this relates to my work and this diary is all about my work so here goes….

i was in midst of civil war scene- with terrorists burning vehicles- pouring acid on me – men women children running around the streets aimlessly trying to save themselves- tankers burning- it was chaos – when i woke up i could feel acid burns on me- my son who is going to turn 12 soon consoled me in the morning… “mama you are my hero, and you are a hero for pakistan too-if you have had a bad dream, get back in the dream and fix it- thats your job as mna.” well … brave deep thoughts for a young boy who is normally terrified of my anti taliban statements and hates the exposures i take talking about justice …

so … my dream is actually a reflection of what i am seeing on a daily basis in Pakistan- something i scream myself hoarse discussing on talkshows/ in assembly/ in jalsas… but the bottomline is.. i can either just keep seeing the burning around me or i need to push govt to resolving– that is the idea- but to tell you the truth –we have failed to make govt fix it… most politicians are so caught up with musical power chairs that few have the time to fix things– that was my point about national govt  where opposition would be parliament, media, judiciary, civil society, and everyone would spend more time governing, resolving, serving people rather than ruling vs pulling rulers down.

Anyway… I have a long day ahead of me- delta work- discrimination on bb income forms for gb- i have just had talk with legislators from gb who have said farzana raja came to distribite forms and unlike how they were distributed for rest of country- ie equally between all parliamentarians irrespective of party affiliation- in northern area- as election ploy about 30,000 have been handed over to ppp workers and 20,000 to assembly members- i had predicted this due to what my mnas had told me and i had thankfully warned pm in a letter – the pm took notice of it and has asked her ministry for an explanation- despite that she went ahead and did this discriminatory act- its almost like the centre feels they can do what they want against all norms in gb-

how many issues do i need to champion- do all of you relaize how exhaustive it is- 

anyway talk to all of you later- i want to do solid work for friday meeting – prep work and i have my hands full otday with an IT cttee meeting on ptcl performance too- and then i need to help my son with  a project on keeping our rivers lakes clean- considering its my pet subject i better be a good mom and help him well!

adjournment motion submitted with party leadership approval on sir creek…

 

I beg to move that the business of the House do now adjourn to discuss an Adjournment motion of urgent public importance of recent occurrence namely: Pakistan’s position on Sir Creek dispute with India, and strategy for resolving this dispute as per its official position.

The IT cttee meeting…meeting started with chairman and members taking strong exception to president ptcl not showing up to meeting without giving committee any notice- highly non serious attitude condemned- then tehre was no presentation on slide format- when asked why excuses made- hard copy of presentation needed to be circulated which was not- tehse examples are important since parliament has to assert or else it doesnt get taken seriously by certain orgs. anyway right at the beginning it was learnt that 26% shares gave ptcl management control as per recent decision taken by shaukat tarin in ccop meeting- this is very serious for all 23 future privatizations-

then after 1hour we moved to the presentation which appeared as hard copy- they wanted to skip first page where expansions of technical nature were written- we didnt let them – we asked line by linefirstly the optic fibre cable systemexpansion details were sought – they had given no details- they will present in nxt meeting

nxt the billing which was a main concern was questioned as to why billing was not being sent as full bills- when i asked the cost of teh saving they didnt know except 12 mm pages would be saved every month- when i asked total cost in terms of manpower etc- they were cluless- they will provide- in meantime they declared they had started a survey asking customers whether full billing was needed or not- they were cluless as to cost of survey- imagines surveying 4 mm customers and not having cost methodlogy – so unprofessional- then one of their directors tried to get cheeky as to why the cttee needed to know such details- thats it- he got a lecture on legislative oversight over executive- it was v painful for them- when they made a statement that saving cost wasnt a concern it was something else- that got us more wired us to what that something else which tehy were not declaring was- anyway then came entreprise resource planning system- which they werent willing to explain- ofcourse i asked cost of MIS system benefits etc- which they didnt have- nxt was IMEWE- CVV3/CVV4 and now I V by oct nov – $45mm was spent on it- i wanted to know exacts as to whether there would be any service guarantees security etc.

nxt was dense wavelngth division multiplex expansion- they were asked to give the cost of this expanision and benefits- the list is long but on pak internet network i asked future expansion plans- exact internet expansion during 199-2007– then 2007-8 and then 2008-9…i asked if tehre were any customer loyalty programs since sign ups had not expanded as per earlier estimates- we also discussed house rent allowance for ptcl employees and vacancies- the last 2 points were anothe rMNA’s contribution… anyway next time they will take this ctttee seriously and we will ensure improvement in tehir productivity- legislature can only be strong if we exert ourselves and not shy back- it was quite a grlling- i wld have hated to be on other side of my questioning-

PJ Mir talkshow – fwd bloc leader on same show- imagine the kind of politics we are stuck in-

Dinner wth GF and family- what a delight as usual…