Aaina Saaf Profile picture
Feb 13 13 tweets 4 min read
PILDAT claims to be an independent and non-partisan org on democracy in🇵🇰.

Is PILDAT really independent? Or non-partisan?
And who is Mamoon Bilal and how does he fit into PILDAT?

A thread. Image
PILDAT's CEO & president Ahmed Bilal Mehboob is courted as the main expert on elections & democracy writing in columns in Dawn, seminars in thinkfest and seminars. He is a persistent PMLN tout who writes strategically for them. Image
Want to argue for IK’s disqualification?

Want to argue against EVM?

Want to argue to against overseas vote?

Bring out Ahmed Bilal Mehboob.

Basically, he plays the same role in think tank – op-ed circles what Raja Sikander plays in EC.
I already wrote how PILDAT writes shoddy and biased reports

And that is non fully independent as it is has received over $500 million dollars along with its co-director getting NED fellowships in the US.

Now let’s look at their Senior Program Manager Mamoon who is always at every PILDAT event giving out momentos at meeting and meeting govt. officers. Image
Mr Mamoon has been working for PILDAT for a decade.
He took a break for two years and worked for PITB under Umar Saif where his role was program manager. Image
Seems like a hard working ‘non-partisan manager chap’. The only problem is the senior manager of PILDAT who runs many of its programs is not non-partisan at all.

He in fact is a full-time PMLN activist.
He is also not very pleasant, neutral, or professional. For the senior manager of such a great non-partisan organisation, this looks strange don't you think? Image
When PTI completed its 2 years, Mamoon's DP has a black mark marking black day but the interesting part is still missing. Image
When the Sharifs hold a jalsa, he is in a super mood but the interesting part is still missing. Image
The more interesting bit about Mamoon is that he is the son of Ahmed Bilal Mehboob!

Just like Hamza Sharif is the son of Shahbaz Sharif,

See? Nepotism really rules at PILDAT. Image
So the parting question is that is PILDAT's main manager neutral, independent, and non-partisan?

Or is PILDAT really the neutral and independent organisation in whom the country entrusts opinions on the state of democracy?

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More from @AainaSaaf

Feb 16
What kind of connections do Mosharraf Zaidi’s company Tabadlab have with Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), a lobbying firm with close links to US power apparatus. A thread. ImageImage
Tabadlab claim they are "satisfactorily servicing " ASG.

What is ASG? It is Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm based in DC. It was created through the merger of Madeline Albright’s group and Stonebridge International, a defense contractor lobbying group. Image
Remember Albright? Yes, the one who was the flagbearer of an interventionist US and lobbied hard for Iraq War. After a million ppl had died, she justified the deaths.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 4
Pakistan authorities banned Wikipedia.

What events led to the ban?

A long thread 🧵 on the reasons why Wiki was banned.

Who Kon Thaa?
Some facts first.
The ban came in place on 4th Feb
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
There was already news of the website being degraded on 1st Feb.
techcrunch.com/2023/02/01/pak…
Read 23 tweets
Feb 3
@csmonitor states that the US National Prayer Breakfast featuring Biden has *no international guests. *
This begs the question which prayer breakfast did Bilawal attend? It's most likely the more controversial version led by a shady evangelical org.

christianpost.com/news/national-…
It turns out that there are two versions of the event after a split. One is a more 'respectable official version' attended by Biden.

The 2nd event is highly controversial, and run by a secret religious group.
slate.com/news-and-polit…
Since the more respectable event featuring Biden does not host international visitors, BBZ is most likely attending the controversial event that is led by secret evangelical group.

Thanks to @faisal_parla for first raising the question.
Read 7 tweets
Jan 30
On Aug 14 '22, the 🇵🇰 national awards were announced. Among the awardees, one was writer Shama Khalid (post-humous) and another was Faisal Naseer.

What were the connections between the two?

How did Shama Khalid shape Faisal's career?

A long thread.🧵
Here's the Dawn article on the awards. Among the many awards, two are to these ppl.

Hilal-i-Shujaat goes to Faisal Naseer

Sitar-i-Imtiaz goes to late Shama Khalid

dawn.com/news/1704970
Let's first look at Shama Khalid. She was the deputy controller Radio Pakistan and lecturer at Fatima Jinnah University. She wrote eight books and passed away in 2021. Here's a link to some of her writings.
shamakhalidkaiafsany.weebly.com
Read 17 tweets
Jan 29
Fascinated by Dawn's latest patronising editorial
It is a word soup:

IK:
brazen
highly problematic
losing grip on reality
tactic to stay in headline
narrative in head

Zardari:
frequently vilified
wiliness
he lost his spouse

dawn.com/news/1734191
Knowing that IK had named the military leadership and has been unable to submit an FIR for the previous attempt. Dawn's editor suggests that IK should get in touch with the state authorities.
@abbasz55: how do you sign off on this? A cartoon making a joke of the previous attempt. Are the bullets that hit his leg also figment of his imagination??
Read 5 tweets
Jan 28
For those people who are laughing off allegations that Asif Zardari has paid off to murder Imran Khan, please remember that this is not the first charge against him of planned murder with national or global ramifications.

A short thread. 🧵 Image
The most prominent charge is the murder of Murtaza Bhutto in September 1996.

geo.tv/latest/441443-…
Zardari was blamed by many of the Bhuttos for the murder of Murtaza Bhutto.

In her book, Fatima Bhutto writes about how Zardari broke the news to her on the phone. Image
Read 10 tweets

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