Manmohan Singh and his new Pakistani counterpart Raja Parvez Ashraf have something more than their office in common. Both hail from the Potohar region of Pakistan that has always been the centre of power of this country by virtue of being home to the federal capital and, more importantly, the Army Headquarters.
A plateau area of north Punjab that borders ‘Azad Jammu & Kashmir’ and houses the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the region can lay claim to being the real font of power. The Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI Director-General Zaheer ul Islam are all from Potohar.
And, Potohar can claim to have produced not one but two Premiers as Dr. Singh hails from Gah in Chakwal district which was part of Rawalpindi.
Keywords: Raja Parvez Ashraf, Potohar region, Manmohan Singh
Most Indians will agree that journalistic freedom is not intended to let most inappropriate words being used in an article meant for public consumption - even if the phrase in question is mentioned within quotes. This slip betrays intended callousness, insensitivity and perhaps even mischief on the part of the editor and the reporter at a time when India and Pakistan are trying to avoid negetivity and focus on administering peace across the volatile border so that both nations can have a fighting chance of correcting the woes of their respective economies - rather than starting an arms race in aid of the ailing economies of the west through corruption ridden defence procurement and commission deals with their weapon manufacturing companies. India has already pledged USD 10B - that is enough. An apology from both the reporter and editor are in order as the offending phrase goes against the known and well established official stand of India in this regard over six decades.
Gandhi and Jinnah came from the same region
Advani, Bhutto,Zardari also.
does that matter? no! not at the present state of political and societal situation!
Chidambaram and Antony wraps the dhoti around their waist and wear simple white shirt! Manmohan and Zardari wear the Sherwani! they are just frills! their attitude counts not their birth place!
It is inappropriate for your reporter to call POK as 'Azad'. If you do not want to use the word 'occupied', you may use the word 'administered'.
Their similarities end there. Whereas Dr.Manmohan Singh is recognized for his
yeomen's services to his country Raja Pervez Ashraf in the capacity of Water and
Power minister gave back gloom and doom to his people. Whereas Dr.Singh as a
person comes clean of any monetary gains for himself the later earned himself the
title of Raja Rental. What a stark difference between two from the land of Potohar.
One is a rose the other a thorn.
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