Singh vs Zardari

Chief Executive of India

Title: Prime Minister
Name: Dr Manmohan Singh

EDUCATION /Qualification:
1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University , Chandigarh,
1954; Wright’s Prize for distinguished performance at St John’s College,Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge ,
1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India’s export competitiveness

Working Experience [Teaching]
Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,Universit y of Delhi , 1969-71;
Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant

Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS] :
1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna

Working Experience [Government Positions]:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: – Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;
– Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;
– Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD
– November 1976 – April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs);
– Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission
April 1980 – September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 – January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15 , 1985 – July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 – November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10 , 1990 – March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 – June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 – May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 – December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee
2004: Prime Minister of India

BOOKS:
India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University , 1964;
also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan , 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994

Chief Executive of Pakistan

Title: President of Pakistan
Name: Asif Ali Zardari

EDUCATION /Qualification:
High School from Cadet College Petaro
Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School . But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.

Working Experience:
Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi . Some accuse Mr Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.
Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.
1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan . An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and a British civil cases.

Working Experience [Politics]:
1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister
1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife’s second term as the Prime Minister
Un till 1999: Senator
30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan . Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chiefe Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.

Working Experience [Other]:
Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in
- Several murders – most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife
- Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money
- Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan’s wealth

BOOKS:
None on record

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan
Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail
Told the US VP Candidate that she is “gorgeous” and said : “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you”. When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : ” If he insists, I might hug you”. This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waiving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.

How the LeT conceals its training programme

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images], which was responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks [Images], goes to extreme lengths to conceal the identity of terrorists while carrying out an attack in India, according to Intelligence Bureau sources.

The interrogation conducted on Ajmal Kasab [Images], Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin have helped the IB piece together details of the things the LeT does to ensure that the identity of the terrorists is concealed at all times.

An IB source told rediff.com that extreme caution is taken while training terrorists and the levels of security are such that none of the security agencies are able to get a wind of what is happening.

The fidayeens are trained in an area which is at least 20 kilometres away from a populated area. Moreover there should be no army camp or a police station anywhere in a 30-km radius.

While earmarking the area, the LeT ensures that there is enough land to train at least 50 men in shooting and physical training. Apart from this the LeT also ensures that there is a medical facility close by.

The LeT takes a lot of precaution in ensuring that the location is kept a secret. Only the top commander and his second in command apart from the trainers are aware of the location. What is interesting is that once the training programme is completed then the place is not used for at least another year and all traces of the camp are immediately wiped out.

Further the LeT also ensures that the area has several exit points. Once training for the day is complete no one is allowed to hang on there and all trainees return to base camp.

The trainees too are strictly vetted before being admitted. Also care is taken to ensure that the trainees don’t know each other. This is done to ensure that there is no bonding between them.

Swim suits are for swimming competitions

The attack on a group of women in a Mangalore pub, allegedly carried out by members of the Shri Ram Sena, has sent shockwaves across the country. The ‘moral’ brigade allegedly assaulted and molested the women, claiming that their actions were against Indian culture.

Pramila Nesargi, senior advocate and former chairperson of the the Karnataka State Women’s Commission, terms the attacks as ‘horrific’, but feels that the issue is being blown out of proportion. In an interview with rediff.com’ sVicky Nanjappa, Nesargi stated that the law should be allowed to take its course in this case.

You are attached to the Bharatiya Janata Party and you are saying that this issue is being blown out of proportion. Why are you turning this into a political issue?

Who is making this issue a political one? When Renuka Chaudhary (Union women and child welfare minister) made a statement on the attack, it was treated as the gospel truth. When we try to make our point, you allege that we are defending the BJP.

An unfortunate incident has taken place and we condemn it. The government is doing its duty and several arrests have taken place. However, I would like to add that such incidents have taken place many times across the country, and the Congress has chosen not to react.

Where was Renuka Chowdhury when the Aarushi case took place? Why wasn’t she vocal at that time? What about the time when thousands of Sikhs were massacred after Indira Gandhi’s [Images] assassination? Did she say anything at that time?

Why do you feel that this issue is being blown out of its proportion?

The Congress is using this incident as a tool to tarnish the BJP’s image. I think that this entire case has been framed. How did the media turn up at the spot during this incident? Someone called up the media and informed them about it.

You seem to be justifying this ‘moral policing’.

No. In the legal framework, there is no place for moral policing. I firmly believe that the right to life of these girls has been affected by this incident. Right to life and right to earn a livelihood are enshrined in our Constitution.

The right to privacy has been recognised by the Supreme Court of India. A woman has the right to do whatever she likes and no person has a right to question that.

But you led the protests against the Miss World contest when it was held in Bangalore? Wasn’t that against the right to life, profession and privacy of the participants?

That was a completely different issue. Our protests were based on the principle that a woman’s body is not available for sale. The women taking part in the Miss World contest were selling their bodies.

Why should women come out in public and display themselves in swimsuits? Swimsuits are meant for swimming competitions and not for display in beauty pageants.

Those girls in the Mangalore pub were not wearing swimsuits. But the Shri Ram Sena made an issue about the kind of clothes they were wearing.

The issue is not about the clothes those girls were wearing. I have heard complaints against the character of girls who frequent these pubs. But I can’t confirm such reports.

Do you think the Shri Ram Sena had the right to target these women?

No. Their action was shameful. No person has the right to assault a woman. In Karnataka, we follow the life of Basavanna, who had said during the 12th century — ‘who is anyone to correct the public? We must correct and protect ourselves.’

As a women’s rights activist, do you think that women will be safer if pubs are shut down in Karnataka?

Shutting down pubs is not the answer to this issue. Girls should be taught better values and their safety should be ensured. If the Shri Ram Sena is demanding the closure of all pubs, then they are speaking rubbish.

Let law enforcement agencies keep a check on the kind of activities that take place in these pubs. If these agencies find something illegal going on, they should act against it. I would like to reiterate that nobody has the right to act as a moral police.