An alleged Cyber Crime Bill is about to be tabled in the National Assembly for debate and subsequent passage to be implemented in Pakistan to “regulate” the Internet. No Objection! carry on because Pakistan does need a proper but friendly media/cyber regulation but that doesn’t mean a rise of the Fourth Reich or regulations closer to proverbial satellite communist states. The Government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League (N) is the epitome of an old and time tested principle: “we learn from history that we learn nothing from history”. Not very long ago, the government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif was facing a possible military-cum-political coup d'état threat from Imran Khan and his horde. In that occasion, it was the social media, the civil society and a few intellectuals (many of them work in NGOs, yes the ones that were sweepingly attacked by Ms Anusha Rahman, the IT Minister) who vociferously defended not only the supremacy of the Parliament but the very government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif, by ripping the narrative of Imran Khan apart on the social media. Let me remind Ms Anusha Rahman that the venom that she spat on NGOs is almost the same as the one prevalent amongst the several banned militant outfits in Pakistan. Ms Anusha Rahman, by attacking NGOs, is miserably trying to appease that very lobby of Right Wing Militants who were part and parcel of the Musharraf regime that overthrew Mr. Nawaz Sharif in 1999. Anti-Islamic NGOs Working On Bad Agenda: Hafiz Saeed Saturday, August 20, 2011
http://undertaker9.blogspot.com/2011/08/anti-islamic-ngos-working-on-bad-agenda.html Foreign NGOs weakening people's faith: Hafiz Saeed . May 02, 2004 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/02-May-2004/foreign-ngos-weakening-people-s-faith-hafiz-saeed
Cyber Crime Bill 2015 (Nasim Zehra@9:30 26 April 2015)
It is also worth remembering that similar curbs and strong arm tactics to gag the media during Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure, became one of the reasons behind his fall. Everybody still remembers how Mr. Mushahid Hussain and Mr. Saifur Rehman unleased fascism on the Pakistani press and prominent victims were Mr. Najam Sethi and Mr. Husain Haqqani. How conveniently the government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif has forgotten the way Mr. Siddiqal Faruq, Mr. Mushahidullah Khan, Mr. Pervez Rasheed, Mr. Javed Hashmi and Rana Sanaullah were treated by the General Pervez Musharraf regime between 1999 and 2007 and it was only the Media which came to the help of Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Yet the IT Minister had the audacity to declare the apprehensions of the civil society as hearsay, in a TV Show yesterday. Pakistan is a Third World country where law enforcement agencies act as a colonial force instead of people friendly force and when a country is exploding with religious and ethnic hate, such harsh and severe regulations would open the gate of mass persecution at the drop of the hat. For example, every Mullah interprets the “glory of Islam” as per the interpretation suited to him and declares anyone opposing his view as death-deserving and an apostate. War on Jang http://jang.com.pk/thenews/spedition/waronjang/
Cyber Crime Bill of Pakistan (Awaam 22nd April 2015)
Another absurdity which is added as an offence in the Bill: “attacking friendly countries”. Now please browse the internet and look for the statement of Mullahs of different schools of thought attacking several Middle Eastern/West Asian countries, and all these Middle Eastern Countries (Gulf States) have friendly relations with Pakistan. Is the government out of its mind or does it want to fill the prisons with all and sundry who raises his or her pen on any international issue related to foreign countries? Another joke was to add as an offence the critique on the “integrity, security or defence of Pakistan”. By the way, has anyone gone through the Wikileaks and even routine news after the War on Terror? Pakistan is a tough and rough country where law enforcers often overkill and that overkill has culminated in the present state of affairs in the country. Above all, what guarantee do the common, peaceful political commentators have in the presence of these proposed harsh laws in the hands of brute law enforcers (believe me, I have been one, once). Ms. Anusha Rahman’s response: The Fair Trial Bill!
Lastly, some of the journalists and Urdu newspapers are equally to be blamed for suggesting moral policing in Pakistan and one such journalist’s ugly reporting blocked the efforts to lift the ban from YouTube and that particular newsgroup & TV Channel raised hell when the same logic of moral policing was applied on them last year. Therefore it is requested that the Pakistani media, particularly the obnoxious rag Urdu media, either stand with the civil society or with the banned outfits. Or stop chanting cries for press freedom.
20 - On Saturday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority directed local Internet service providers to make YouTube accessible. But by the afternoon, Geo, a private television news network that wields immense influence, reported that anti-Islam and blasphemous material was still available on YouTube. The criticism was led by Ansar Abbasi, a right-leaning journalist who often speaks out on morality and religion. Yielding to the criticism, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf then ordered providers to again block access to the video-sharing site. The flip-flop drew an immediate rebuke from users and led to a flurry of jokes on Twitter about the government’s dithering and backtracking. Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban, for 3 Minutes By SALMAN MASOODDEC. 29, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/world/asia/youtube-ban-lifted-in-pakistan-for-3-minutes.html?_r=0
We Pakistanis are strange nation who perpetually suffer from memory loss and if that is not enough we praise General Pervez Musharraf, General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, Chief Justice Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry and last but not the least Dr A Q Khan in the same breath while compeltely forgetting that all these are quite an oxymoron to each other - Lets Refresh some memory - Kargil happened (May 1999) within three months of former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Lahore yatra, followed by the signing of the Lahore Declaration (February 1999) promising to put the bitterness of Partition behind and establish good neighbourly relations. Hijacking occurred (December 1999) as a kind of notice served on India by the newly-appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Pervez Musharraf. Another notice was served through a daring attack on the Indian Parliament (December 2001) to impress upon the Indians that despite Afghanistan, Rawalpindi was still India-centric. It was General (retd) Musharraf who had shown this insane jihad brigade in Pakistan how to play the spoiler whenever they saw the normalisation process entering a decisive phase. ISLAMABAD: Refusing to discuss Kargil out of historical perspective, former president Pervez Musharraf on Friday snubbed an Indian TV anchor, telling him 1971 war and Siachen needed to be discussed first. He rejected allegations that the Indian soldier was beheaded by Pak army with help from militants. A visibly aggressive Musharraf blamed India for deteriorating relations, saying that there has been no effort from India to maintain civilized relations. When grilled further about alleged Pakistan army’s nexus with militants, Musharraf said: “We are not mad people. Stop painting us as rogues when you yourself are not prepared to admit all the cruelty that you inflict on us. Let alone LoC, what is the logic behind kicking our singers out and sending back our hockey players?” The former President of Pakistan went on to add that India has always had an inclination to be hysterical about everything. “The politicians, media everyone in India have a tendency to be hysterical about everything,” he added. ---- 2013 The News - ISLAMABAD: Refusing to discuss Kargil out of historical perspective, former president Pervez Musharraf on Friday snubbed an Indian TV anchor, telling him 1971 war and Siachen needed to be discussed first. He rejected allegations that the Indian soldier was beheaded by Pak army with help from militants. A visibly aggressive Musharraf blamed India for deteriorating relations, saying that there has been no effort from India to maintain civilized relations.
When grilled further about alleged Pakistan army’s nexus with militants, Musharraf said: “We are not mad people. Stop painting us as rogues when you yourself are not prepared to admit all the cruelty that you inflict on us. Let alone LoC, what is the logic behind kicking our singers out and sending back our hockey players?”
The former President of Pakistan went on to add that India has always had an inclination to be hysterical about everything. “The politicians, media everyone in India have a tendency to be hysterical about everything,” he added. REFERENCES: Musharraf snubs Indian TV anchor January 19, 2013 - Updated 912 PKT http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-84427-Musharraf-snubs-Indian-TV-anchor Musharraf snubs Indian TV anchor January 19, 2013 - Updated 912 PKT http://www.geo.tv/GeoDetail.aspx?ID=84427 An ‘unpatriotic’ column By M ZiauddinPublished: January 23, 2013 http://tribune.com.pk/story/497617/an-unpatriotic-column/
September 26, 2006: WASHINGTON: President Pervez Musharraf launched his memoirs here on Monday revealing that before Kargil, India was about to attack Pakistan, Dr AQ Khan may have leaked Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to India - More disclosures include the two secret letters written by ailing nuclear scientist Dr A.Q. Khan, one to the Iranians and the other to his daughter in London asking her to reveal all Pakistani nuclear secrets through British journalists. To Iranians Dr Khan asked them not to reveal his name to the International Atomic Energy Agency and after this issue died down he would provide them with more technology.
But the most astounding statement about nuclear proliferation comes when Musharraf reveals that Dr AQ Khan’s Dubai base may have provided Pakistan’s centrifugal designs to the Indians. “There is little doubt that AQ Khan was the central figure in proliferation network but he was assisted over the years by a number of money seeking freelancers from other countries, mainly in Europe. These people, according to AQ Khan included nationals of Switzerland, Holland, Britain and Sri Lanka,” he writes.
“Ironically the network based in Dubai also employed several Indians some of whom have since vanished. There is a strong probability that the Indian Uranium enrichment programme may also have its roots in the Dubai-based network and could be a copy of the Pakistani centrifuge design,” he says. About Dr AQ Khan’s letters he said: “The letter to Iran was being carried by a business partner of AQ Khan in which Khan advised some of his friends in Iran not to mention his name under any circumstances to the IAEA. He also advised them to name dead people during investigations, just as he was naming dead people. He also promised Iran more help after this event passed. REFERENCES: ‘In the Line of Fire’ launched AQ Khan may have leaked N-designs to India: Musharraf Shaheen Sehbai Tuesday, September 26, 2006 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3261&Cat=13&dt=9/26/2006 ‘Dr Khan asked daughter to leak N-secrets’ By Anwar Iqbal September 26, 2006 Tuesday Ramazan 2, 1427 http://archives.dawn.com/2006/09/26/top1.htm IN THE LINE OF FIRE: AQ Khan was motivated by ego, money
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C09%5C26%5Cstory_26-9-2006_pg7_9
General Pervez Musharraf wanted Civil War in Sindh (BBC 2008)
2008 AS the army chief and the country`s self-styled chief executive, General Pervez Musharraf may have lacked legitimacy, but he rarely lacked charm and aplomb when appearing before the media. Over the years, particularly as the military ruler, he was seen as handling the toughest of questions with great panache, and on many occasions, with a smile. It was perhaps because of this that here and more so abroad the media often seemed to forget that he was a military ruler. But of late his personality seems to have undergone a transformation. He has taken to snapping at journalists at news conferences and is irritable and ready to explode at the slightest perceived provocation. But, as if this were not enough, the way he asked a gathering of his supporters to teach a lesson (do, teen tika do) to this newspaper`s London correspondent because he had asked him a tough question was a bit too much. The president, it appears, has journeyed from the sublime to the ridiculous. One runs into a dead-end in explaining how one question can trigger such anger, and can only speculate about the reasons. The first and foremost appears to be the widening gulf between how the president assesses his performance in office and how others see it, particularly in terms of his handling of militancy in the country. Although his advisers may tell him he may have weathered the storm over the judiciary, he may be unsure what the next parliament`s view on the issue will be. A greater issue could be how pressure is increasing on him to hold free and fair elections, even from allies who have stood solidly behind him through thick and thin over the past several years. For one who described his uniform as his second skin, retiring as the all-powerful army chief may have left him feeling vulnerable. But, regardless of the cause, one would advise the president to keep his cool, his composure. For such outbursts do not inspire confidence in his ability to steer the country out of the troubled waters it finds itself in today. REFERENCE: An unnecessary outburst http://archives.dawn.com/archives/31755
January 26th, 2008 Whatever you might think of President Pervez Musharraf, you have to admit he's a good performer. Whenever I have seen him deliver a speech or stage a press conference, I have been struck by his self confidence and easy, jocular manner. But very occasionally, the mask slips. I have just come from the Royal United Services Institute on Whitehall, where Musharraf was speaking earlier this afternoon. For almost the entire occasion, he was his usual charming self. Then a Pakistani journalist, Mohammed Ziauddin, asked a perfectly reasonable question about how a prominent suspected terrorist, Rashid Rauf, had somehow escaped the custody of Musharraf's security forces. As soon as Ziauddin, the Islamabad editor of Dawn, a Pakistani daily, rose to ask his question, Musharraf visibly bristled.
Instantly, his demeanour changed from being relaxed and confident to tense and hostile. Musharraf promptly accused Ziauddin of "casting aspersions" and "undermining our forces and your own country". In a brief but furious tirade, he questioned Ziauddin's patriotism and professionalism. This disgraceful response to an entirely reasonable query spoke volumes about Musharraf. He will question the patriotism of any Pakistani critic betraying his essential intolerance of dissent. I wonder whether Musharraf would have responded with such rage had a British journalist asked precisely the same question? I suspect he would have answered firmly but politely. Musharraf treats his fellow Pakistanis with contempt while oozing charm for the benefit of foreigners. REFERENCE: President Pervez Musharraf's many faces
By David Blair January 26th, 2008 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/3630811/President_Pervez_Musharrafs_many_faces/
2008: ISLAMABAD, Jan 28 Journalists of Rawalpindi and Islamabad took out a procession on Monday to protest President Pervez Musharraf`s remarks against a senior journalist at a function in London. The protesting journalists also held a march on the main road linking the Aabpara Chowk with Melody Market and raised slogans against the president for threatening senior journalist Mohammad Ziauddin. They urged the president to apologise to the journalist community. The call for the protest rally was given by the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ). Addressing the participants, RIUJ office-bearers and representatives of media organisations termed the president`s remarks an `insult` to the entire journalist community. They said that family members of Mr Ziauddin faced a serious threat after the remarks made by President Musharraf, adding that the government would be responsible for any harm caused to Mr Ziauddin or a member of his family. They also asked the British government to take necessary legal action under the British law because President Musharraf had threatened the journalist on its soil. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in a statement also demanded an apology from the president. “It is most unfortunate that a head of state has incited people to violence, and that too in a foreign country, against journalists,” the statement said. It said the PFUJ had been advocating tolerance in the society while the president was preaching intolerance and asking people to resort to violence. “Pakistani journalists do not need a certificate of patriotism from dictators or authoritarian rulers who have no respect for the constitution, judiciary and media,” it said. The Punjab Union of Journalists issued a statement on Monday criticising the remarks made by the president against Mr Ziauddin. REFERENCE: 2008: Dawn - Musharraf asked to apologise for threatening journalist By Our Staff Reporter http://archives.dawn.com/archives/143218 UK media baffled by President's response to Pak newsman http://www.paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=196621 Why Pervez Musharraf Can't Tolerate Questions About Rashid Rauf Monday, January 28, 2008 http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-pervez-musharraf-cant-tolerate.html
2012 LAHORE: After MQM, another ally of PPP — PML-Q — has announced its support for Dr Tahirul Qadri’s demands for an independent and honest caretaker set-up and electoral reforms. “We will support Dr Tahirul Qadri’s mission whether we remain in government or not,” declared PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain after meeting the patron-in-chief of Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran. He was accompanied by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Syed Mushahid Hussain. Briefing reporters on the meeting, Mr Hussain said: “After a discussion with Dr Qadri we believe that his mission is not against any individual, but against injustices and those who do not pay taxes.” If implemented, Dr Qadri’s proposals about electoral reforms and an independent and honest caretaker government would strengthen electoral and democratic systems, he said.—Khalid Hasnain ---- 2012 KARACHI: APML chief Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday congratulated Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, head of Tehreek-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran for such a successful big public gathering in Lahore. In a statement issued here from central information secretariat, he said that APML and Tahir-ul-Qadri has same agenda of patriotism. He said that APML is working for the supremacy of constitution, rule of law and stability of the country while, Tahir-ul-Qadri ahs also same agenda. He said that APML has supported Tahir-ul-Qadri in his endeavor of ending heredity politics in country, implementation of supremacy of constitution, rule of law and stability of the country and the property of nation. Pervez Musharraf said that he was very happy when he saw only national flags in the big crowd of Tahir-ul-Qadri which is the mark of national unity. ------ 2012: ISLAMABAD: Qadri has supported our agenda: Imran Expressing his thoughts on the Tehrik Minhaj-ul-Quran rally in Lahore, Imran said his party believed in electoral reforms. He added that his party’s agenda was to hold tax evaders accountable and ensure that justice prevails. "Qadri sb also said that there was a covert and quiet understanding between the leadership of the PPP and PML-N and both the parties were pursuing the same agenda. This has been a long standing stance of the PTI," he added. He said that Tehreeke Minhajul Quran leader had also endorsed the PTI s stand that people of Pakistan were suffering due to the PPP and the PML-N rule and were fed up with these looters of exchequer. Imran Khan said that holding of general elections on time was the only way to get rid of this corrupt coterie. He said that the PTI believed that elections were the only instrument to defeat the corrupt politicians which were plundering the national wealth. He said that he had visited many parts of the country during his mass contact drive and believed that the people of Pakistan were fed up with the status quo and elections would bring about a change in the country to get the country back on development track. REFERENCES: PML-Q backs Qadri’s demands http://dawn.com/2013/01/01/pml-q-backs-qadris-demands/ Musharraf greets Qadri on successful rally Last Updated On 26 December,2012 About 1 week ago http://dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/Pakistan/150999-Musharraf-greets-Qadri-on-successful-rally- Qadri has supported our agenda: Imran Last Updated On 24 December,2012 About 1 week ago http://dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/Pakistan/150481-Qadri-has-supported-our-agenda-Imran
Dr Tahirul Qadri with Manzoor Wattoo and Nawaz Sharif
2002: Dr Tahirul Qadri was one of those who supported the sham referendum of a US Backed Military Dictator General Pervez Musharraf: The government has its own line-up. The supporters include the PML (Quaid-e-Azam), a breakaway faction of the PML(N), Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaaf, former president Farooq Leghari's Millat Party, Tahirul Qadri's Pakistan Awami Tehreek, the breakaway faction of the PPP in the NWFP, headed by jailed former chief minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao and former federal minister, Omar Asghar Khan's National Democratic Party. Besides these, the Awami National Party and the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) have extended their silent support to the general by not taking a decision on the issue and leaving it to their workers. Another stratum of political support for the general comes from mayors and councillors in the local government put in place by the regime through its devolution plan. Even those mayors and councillors who are members of the opposition parties like the PPP, the PML(N) and the JI, find it hard, given the local government structures, to oppose the general or try to sabotage his plans from within. REFERENCES: The referendum’s cosmetic, Musharraf’s win is assured By EJAZ HAIDER Apr 28, 2002 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/all-that-matters/The-referendums-cosmetic-Musharrafs-win-is-assured/articleshow/8186387.cms?intenttarget=no BBC - Dr Tahirul Qadri Supported Pervez Musharraf Referendum http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1933623.stm DAWN Dr Tahirul Qadri Supported Pervez Musharraf Referendum http://archives.dawn.com/2002/04/04/top3.htm 2002 Dr Tahirul Qadri Pervez Musharraf Referendum http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-86710970/pakistan-muslim-league-q.html Arab News Tahirul Qadri Pervez Musharraf Referendum http://www.arabnews.com/node/219839#.UONdoQows68.twitter Pro General Pervez Musharraf Dr Tahirul Qadri http://archives.dawn.com/2002/03/22/top10.htm 2002 Tahirul Qadri said his party would “support” Pervez Musharraf referendum http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020323/world.htm#3 General Pervez Musharraf Spent Money on Dr Tahirul Qadri for Referendum - Decision on referendum funding reserved by Staff Report Thursday, May 09, 2002 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-5-2002_pg7_11
2008: The man, who rigged 2002 polls, spills the beans ISLAMABAD: The main wheeler and dealer of the ISI during the 2002 elections, the then Maj-Gen Ehtesham Zamir, now retired, has come out of the closet and admitted his guilt of manipulating the 2002 elections, and has directly blamed Gen Musharraf for ordering so. Talking to The News, the head of the ISI’s political cell in 2002, admitted manipulating the last elections at the behest of President Musharraf and termed the defeat of the King’s party, the PML-Q, this time “a reaction of the unnatural dispensation (installed in 2002).” Zamir said the ISI together with the NAB was instrumental in pressing the lawmakers to join the pro-Musharraf camp to form the government to support his stay in power. Looking down back into the memory lane and recalling his blunders which, he admitted, had pushed the country back instead of taking it forward, Zamir feels ashamed of his role and conduct. Massively embarrassed because he was the one who negotiated, coerced and did all the dirty work, the retired Maj-Gen said he was not in a position to become a preacher now when his own past was tainted. He said the country would not have faced such regression had the political management was not carried out by the ISI in 2002. But he also put some responsibility of the political disaster on the PML-Q as well. The former No: 2 of the ISI called for the closure of political cell in the agency, confessing that it was part of the problem due to its involvement in forging unnatural alliances, contrary to public wishes. Zamir’s blaming Musharraf for creating this unnatural alliance rings true as another former top associate of Musharraf, Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani has already disclosed that majority of the corps commanders, in several meetings, had opposed Musharraf’s decision of patronising the leadership of the King’s party.
“We had urged Musharraf many times during the corps commanders meeting that the PML-Q leadership was the most condemned and castigated personalities. They are the worst politicians who remained involved in co-operative scandals and writing off loans. But Musharraf never heard our advice,” Kiyani said while recalling discussions in their high profile meetings. He said one of their colleagues, who was an accountability chief at that time, had sought permission many times for proceeding against the King’s party top leaders but was always denied.
Kiyani asked Musharraf to quit, the sooner the better, as otherwise the country would be in a serious trouble. Ma-Gen (retd) Ehtesham Zamir termed the 2008 elections ‘fairer than 2002’. He said the reason behind their fairness is that there was relatively less interference of intelligence agencies this time as compared to the last time. But he stopped short of saying that there was zero interference in the 2008 polls. “You are quite right,” he said when asked to confirm about heavy penetration of ISI into political affairs during the 2002 elections. But he said he did not do it on his own but on the directives issued by the government. Asked who directed him from the government side and if there was somebody else, not President Musharraf, he said: “Obviously on the directives of President Musharraf.”
Asked if he then never felt that he was committing a crime by manipulating political business at the cost of public wishes, he said: “Who should I have told except myself. Could I have asked Musharraf about this? I was a serving officer and I did what I was told to do. I never felt this need during the service to question anyone senior to me,” he said and added that he could not defend his acts now. “It was for this reason that I have never tried to preach others what I did not practice. But I am of the view that the ISI’s political cell should be closed for good by revoking executive orders issued in 1975,” he said. Responding to a question regarding corruption cases that were used as pressure tactics on lawmakers, he said: “Yes! This tool was used, not only by the ISI. The NAB was also involved in this exercise.” Former corps commander of Rawalpindi, Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani said majority of corps commanders had continued opposing Musharraf’s alliance with top leadership of the PML-Q. “Not just in one meeting, we opposed his alignment with these corrupt politicians in many meetings but who cared. Now Musharraf has been disgraced everywhere, thanks to his political cronies.” REFERENCE: The man, who rigged 2002 polls, spills the beans Umar Cheema Sunday, February 24, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=13159&Cat=13&dt=2/27/2008 Ansar Abbasi on MQM and Dr Tahirul Qadri Thursday, January 03, 2013, Safar 20, 1434 A.H. http://jang.com.pk/jang/jan2013-daily/03-01-2013/col14.htm
2006: Party to re-elect Musharraf: Pervaiz : LAHORE, March 23: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi says the PML will re-elect Gen Musharraf president-in-uniform to ensure the continuity of his policies which saved the country from default and being tagged as a terrorist state. Addressing a workers convention here on Thursday, he said the PML wanted the country to continue to progress under the leadership of Gen Musharraf. He said no matter whether somebody liked the idea or not, the PML would choose President Musharraf for another term.
The chief minister’s speech set the tone, and most of the speakers who addressed after him, including the prime minister, praised the leadership qualities of the president and said he was the leader of the PML. Pervaiz Elahi said it was because of the policies and strategies of the president and the prime minister that the country was able to spend billions of rupees on education and health. He said President Musharraf was more tolerant in his attitude compared to the so-called democratic leaders of the past. Without naming anyone but leaving no doubt that he was referring to the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the chief minister said he had dismissed the opposition parties’ governments of Balochistan and the NWFP within six months of their installation. In comparison, he said, Gen Musharraf had been tolerating the MMA government for the past three years despite a difference of opinion. He said a strong PML had always been in the interest of the country. He recalled that when the PML got weaker a leader, an obvious reference to Mr Bhutto, got an opportunity to disintegrate the country. The nation would never forgive such a leadership, he said. He recalled the role of the Muslim League in the creation of Pakistan. He was all praise for the Sindh Assembly which was the first legislature to adopt a resolution in favour of Pakistan. Similarly, he said, Balochistan also decided to go with Pakistan. The NWFP took a decision for accession to Pakistan through a referendum. He said the PML was working well in the provinces at present. He believed that the country would make progress under the leadership of President Musharraf. A resolution moved by him lauded the services of those who had laid their lives for Pakistan. REFERENCE: Party to re-elect Musharraf: Pervaiz By Our Staff Reporter March 24, 2006 Friday Safar 23, 1427 http://www.dawn.com/news/184588/party-to-re-elect-musharraf-pervaiz Hamid Mir on MQM and Altaf Hussain Jang Dated 3 Jan 2013 http://jang.com.pk/jang/jan2013-daily/03-01-2013/col4.htm
Dr Thairul Qadri Revolution via Fascism & Dual Nationality - 1
2008: TMQ activists besiege Aaj TV offices in Islamabad Saturday, November 08, 2008 LAHORE: Activists of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) besieged Aaj TV offices in Islamabad on Friday against the alleged use of ‘indecent words’ against their chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in one of its programmes. According to the TV channel, over 150 TMQ activists besieged the TV offices to protest the use of ‘improper language’ against Qadri by Mushtaq Minhas and Nusrat Javed - hosts of the show Bolta Pakistan. They carried placards rebuking the show and shouted slogans against the hosts. They also demanded an apology from the TV channel’s administration. The channel said they continued to receive threats and indecent mobile phone text messages throughout the day. Aaj TV Executive Director Talat Hussain said the TMQ should have talked to the channel’s administration if any of its programmes had hurt its feelings instead of surrounding the building. Host Nusrat Javed said that he would not succumb to the ‘hooliganism’ of TMQ activists and knew how to deal with such ‘dramas’. daily times monitor . REFERENCE: TMQ activists besiege Aaj TV offices in Islamabad Saturday, November 08, 2008 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C11%5C08%5Cstory_8-11-2008_pg7_59
Dr Thairul Qadri Revolution via Fascism & Dual Nationality - 2
2004: Musharraf's uniform a secondary issue: Altaf By Bureau Report 08 September 2004 , Sept 7: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that whether President Gen Pervez Musharraf remains in uniform or decides to doff it is a secondary issue because every government in Pakistan has sought protection of the military uniform. Speaking at the Peshawar Press Club's 'Meet the Press' programme here on Tuesday, he said the issue of uniform would be there as long as a people's government was not established in the country. Every ruler in the past had sought the help of the 'uniform' and compromised on principles, he added. He said that former prime ministers, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, had formed their governments with the help of the 'uniform'. The Jamaat-i-Islami supported Gen Ziaul Haq, who also was in uniform, for 11 long years, but now JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was opposing a president in uniform to hoodwink the nation. Mr Hussain demanded that the NWFP be renamed because the present name did not reflect the identity, culture and psyche of its people who had been demanding the change of name since the inception of Pakistan. He was of the opinion that if the NWFP was not renamed as Pukhtoonkhwa or Pukhtoonistan or whatever its people wanted, they (the people of the province) might resort to other means to have a name of their choice. The MQM chief said the federation of Pakistan must give equal rights to all its federating units. Use of brute force, he added, would not keep the country intact. Paying rich tribute to late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, he said that Bacha Khan was a genuine leader who had given a sense of freedom and independence to his people and launched a protracted but non-violent struggle against foreign rule. He said the name NWFP was a remnant of the colonial era and, therefore, must be changed. If the rulers were reluctant to rename the NWFP, they should change the names of other provinces, he added. Referring to 9/11, he said this single event had brought about profound changes in geo-politics. "Friends have become foes and foes have turned friends." In Pakistan, the rulers abandoned the Taliban and the Jihadi groups and joined hands with the United States and its other allies to protect Pakistan's interests in this part of the world. He said his party had joined the government in order to eradicate the decade-old backwardness and poverty and to steer the country out of a crisis which was posing a threat to its existence. The MQM was the only political party, Mr Hussain said, which represented the middle-class of Pakistan and it had survived many operations since its formation in 1984. He denied that the MQM had any plan for carving out a Jinnahpur out of Pakistan or that it was a separatist organization which wanted to dismember the country. He said that the forefathers of the people in the MQM had sacrificed their lives for Pakistan. "Our people are residents of the province of Sindh and this is now their only identity," he added. REFERENCE: Musharraf's uniform a secondary issue: Altaf By Bureau Report 08 September 2004 Wednesday 22 Rajab 1425 http://www.dawn.com/news/369907/musharraf-s-uniform-a-secondary-issue-altaf Irfan Siddiqui on MQM and Dr Tahirul Qadri Daily Jang Dated 3 Jan 2013 http://jang.com.pk/jang/jan2013-daily/03-01-2013/col1.htm
2006: President will stay in uniform: Elahi Friday, March 24, 2006 LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi told the Pakistan Day rally that Gen Musharraf would remain army chief and be elected president again. “The uniform issue is not the personal issue of the president but it is a question of Pakistan’s future. Continuity of the president’s policies is necessary for the better future and economic stability of the country,” Elahi said. staff report ---- LAHORE: In his address to the Pakistan Day rally, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz vowed that the PML will remain united and contest the 2007 elections under the leadership of President Musharraf. Aziz faced slogans of “cheeni cheeni (sugar)” when he came to speak. “Sugar is available at utility stores at Rs 27.50 per kg. We’ll provide more items in the utility stores,” he said in response. staff report REFERENCES: President will stay in uniform: Elahi Friday, March 24, 2006 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C24%5Cstory_24-3-2006_pg1_4 PML will be united for polls: Aziz Friday, March 24, 2006 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C24%5Cstory_24-3-2006_pg1_2
2007: * Railways minister says govt has enough votes to elect Musharraf * Sher Afgan says Musharraf may doff uniform to seal deal with BB Staff Report LAHORE: President General Pervez Musharraf will seek re-election from the current parliament in uniform, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Monday. “The government has enough votes to re-elect President Musharraf from the existing assemblies,” Ahmed told a press conference at Pakistan Railways Headquarters here. He added that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would support the president’s re-election. He said the government does not want any major party to quit from the parliament during the presidential elections, but added that if the opposition does opt to resign, “one of the major political parties will not do so”. Asked about the PPP’s reservations regarding the president’s uniform, he said “All matters are settled, and the uniform is no big problem. However, the president has a programme to doff it and will himself take the decision in this regard according to the Constitution.” About the recent meeting between Gen Musharraf and PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, the minister said that it was the start of a final round of negotiations between the government and PPP. “It was not the first meeting between Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf. The semi-final of the negotiations was also played at the same place as the final round of negotiations,” he added. Ahmed said August would be a month of key political decisions, while Pakistab;s emerging political scenario would be decided in the period between August 15 and September 15. The presidential elections would be held between September 10 and October 10, before the general elections. He said politician were trying to seek the help of the Supreme Court, so a free judiciary and strong media had an “important role” in the current situation.
Agencies add: Gen Musharraf may hang up his army uniform to pave the way for a pact with Bhutto, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi said on Monday. Musharraf and Bhutto held secret talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday on a pre-election power-sharing deal, but reached no agreement on two key issues, Niazi told AFP. The sticking points were the issue of Musharraf’s dual role as president and head of the army and a bar that prevents Bhutto having a third term as premier, he said. “The two met in Abu Dhabi on Friday to hammer out a political understanding so that moderate forces can join hands to defeat extremists in the coming general elections,” Niazi said. Niazi said he believed that Musharraf “would be willing to shed his uniform if he has the PPP and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League behind him”. He said that if the two agreed on a deal, the constitution could be amended to allow prime ministers to serve a third term. “An alliance between Bhutto and Musharraf is a necessity in the prevailing situation, it is also the desire of the international community, particularly the United States and Britain,” Niazi said. Speaking to a private television channel, Niazi said that the Constitution did not need to be amended to allow the president’s re-election in uniform, APP reported. The minister said that 17th amendment to the Constitution removed all restrictions on the president, including on his military uniform, until November 15, 2007. Since the presidential election is to be held between September 15 and October 16, Gen Musharraf can contest it in his uniform, he said. But if the election is delayed beyond November, the situation will be different, he added. REFERENCE: Present assemblies will elect president in uniform: Rashid Tuesday, July 31, 2007 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C07%5C31%5Cstory_31-7-2007_pg1_1
In a television programme aired recently, former chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and an important leader of Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) General (retd) Hamid Gul cast doubts over the authenticity of a picture run by the website of The Express Tribune. The picture in question was that of Malik Ishaq, commander of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), who was shown to be in attendance at the DPC meeting in Multan – a meeting also attended and addressed by General Gul. During a talk show on Aaj TV, host Wajahat S Khan showed Gul the picture on The Express Tribune’s website as evidence of Ishaq’s attendance – in response to which the retired general alleged that the photo had been doctored. When he was further challenged by the show’s host, Gul resorted to questioning the reporter of the story. The Express Tribune takes strong exception to General Gul’s allegations and contends that the picture is authentic. It was taken by our photographer, who was assigned to cover the gathering. In fact, the picture was also run by other newspapers. If Gul has the slightest doubt regarding the authenticity of the photograph, we ask him to take the matter to court. Express Media Group Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2012. REFERENCE: Notice: A note to Hamid Gul Published: February 16, 2012 http://tribune.com.pk/story/337252/notice-a-note-to-hamid-gul/ Difa-e-Pakistan: Malik Ishaq out to 'defend' Pakistan http://tribune.com.pk/multimedia/slideshows/329282/
Malik Ishaq attended Multan rally: Jamaatud Dawa
LAHORE: Chief of banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Malik Ishaq was in attendance at the Difa-e-Pakistan Council rally in Multan, a spokesperson for the council’s member organisation Jamaatud Dawa has said. “General (retd) Hamid Gul was wrong in denying Ishaq’s presence at the rally. He was present on stage,” said Yahya Mujahid, a spokesperson for Islamic chairty, which is blacklisted by the United Nations for its alleged ties to LeJ but not by the Pakistan government. Gul, in an interview with Express News television channel, had categorically denied that Ishaq was present at the rally. “It was DPC’s unanimous decision that Ishaq will not address the rally,” Mujahid told The Express Tribune on Friday. “It’s a simple rule that whoever addresses the people from stage at a DPC rally cannot be a member of a banned militant outfit.” Mujahid was attending an emergency protest, called by the JuD outside their main mosque Jamia Qudsia in Lahore under the DPC’s banner, against resumption of Nato supply routes and trade talks with India. The council has also called a meeting of heads of member parties on February 19 in Islamabad.
Apology to media
He also apologised for statements made against the media at the council’s Karachi rally. “The statements should be condemned in the strongest terms. I, as a representative of JuD, have written letters of apology to media organisations.”
Funding
The spokesperson said that the DPC is an organised platform. “Funding [for the organisation] is provided by member parties while host parties for different rallies fund events in their own cities,” he explained. For instance, he said, JuD hosted the Lahore rally, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat organised the one in Multan, Sheikh Rasheed hosted the Rawalpindi event and Jamat-e-Islami hosted the Karachi rally. “The nationwide networks of all member parties provide support in organisational procedures.”
In defence of Hafiz Saeed
Amir Hamza, a senior leader of the JuD, said that the reason the US is against JuD chief Hafiz Saeed is because he speaks out about human rights violations by US allied forces in the region. He also blamed former president Pervez Musharraf for joining hands with the US in the ‘war on terror’ and the Balochistan crisis. CORRECTION: Former president Pervez Musharraf’s name was erroneously written as Pervez Sharif. The error is regretted. REFERENCE: Malik Ishaq attended Multan rally: Jamaatud Dawa By Rabia Mehmood Published: February 17, 2012 http://tribune.com.pk/story/337998/malik-ishaq-attended-multan-rally-jamaatud-dawa/
Gen (R) Hamid Gul & Death Threats to Wajahat S. Khan - 1 (Bolta Pakistan 14-2-12)
Now, we come to the second generation of officers who were in key decision-making positions during 80s. Former Director General (DG) of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General (Retd) Hameed Gul’s anti-American rhetoric in post-retirement phase makes headlines off and on in national news media. It is interesting that when he was DGISI, US ambassador attended the meetings of Afghan Cell of Benazir government. In fact the major decision of Jalalabad offensive in 1989 was made in one of those fateful meetings. To date there has been no evidence (no statement by any other participants of those meetings or by General Hameed Gul himself) that Mr. Gul made any objection to the presence of US ambassador in these meetings, which had wide ranging impact on national security. It is probable that Mr. Gul was at that time a top contender for the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) race, therefore he didn’t wanted to be on the wrong side of the civil government. When he was sacked, then he found the gospel truth that US was not sincere. Another example is of former Chief of Afghan Cell of ISI, Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Yusuf. For five long years, he was a major participant in a joint CIA-ISI venture of unprecedented scale in Afghanistan. During this time period, he worked with several different level US officials and visited CIA headquarters in Langley. In his post-retirement memoirs, he tried his best to distance himself from the Americans. His statements like, ‘Relations between the CIA and ourselves were always strained’, ‘I resorted to trying to avoid contact with the local CIA staff’, ‘I never visited the US embassy’ and vehement denial of any direct contact between CIA and Mujahideen shows his uncomfortability of being seen as close with the Americans.5 Pakistan’s former foreign minister Agha Shahi in a conversation with Robert Wirsing said that in 1981 during negotiations with US, he gave a talk to a group of Pakistani generals on the objectives of Pakistan’s policy toward US. He stressed the importance of non-alignment and avoidance of over dependence on superpowers. Few days later one of the generals who attended Shahi’s briefing met him and told him that Americans should be given bases in return for the aid.6 The officer would not dare to make that statement public in view of the prevailing sentiments of the public. The hawkish generals of Zia reassured US about the full Pakistani support. John Reagan, the CIA station chief in Islamabad stated, “Their attitude was that Agha Shahi was doing his own thing, that we needn’t be concerned about it”.7 General Zia and DGISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman had very cordial relations with CIA director William Casey. To offset that uncomfortable closeness with Americans, Zia and Akhtar were portrayed as holy warriors of Islam and modern day Saladins. According to one close associate of Akhtar, ‘They (Casey and Akhtar) worked together in harmony, and in an atmosphere of mutual trust’.8 The most interesting remarks about the death of CIA Director, William Casey were made by Brigadier Yusuf. He states that, “It was a great blow to the Jehad when Casey died”.9 He did not elaborate whether by this definition one should count Casey as Shaheed (warrior who dies in battle in the cause of Islam). It will quite be amusing for Americans to know that one of their former CIA director is actually a martyr of Islam. In fifty-five years, we have come full circle, and in 2002, a retired Major General laments about the US and gives a long list of grievances. He states, “Discarding General Ziaul Haq when no more needed must never be forgotten. The treatment meted out to Pakistan after the victory in Afghanistan in late eighties cannot be forgiven ... It can be safely presumed that before mobilizing its armed forces on the borders of Pakistan, the US has (take it for sure) given a nod to India... Remember the visit of Mrs. Indira Gandhi to the USA and getting a silent approval from there before attacking East Pakistan in 1971. And the Pakistanis kept waiting for the seventh fleet to come to our rescue... They have already done a great damage to Pakistan by imposing an anti-Pakistan government in Afghanistan”.10 Very limited knowledge, paranoia, disregard of the facts, total lack of perception and extreme simplicity is quite evident from the statement and not a very good sign of the intellectual level of senior officers at highest decision making process. REFERENCE: Tale of a love affair that never was: United States-Pakistan Defence Relations Columnist Hamid Hussain analyses an ON and OFF affair. http://www.defencejournal.com/2002/june/loveaffair.htm
General Hamid Gul supported Pervez Musharraf on 12 Oct 1999
Hamid Gul, a retired general, accuses Mr Sharif of having presided over an administration which had failed to deliver the goods. "Sharif turned out to be a great destroyer of national institutions," he told the BBC. "Look at what he did to the judiciary. "He stripped them of power, put a set of judges against the chief justice, did the same to the press. "He gagged the parliament and finally he wanted to do the same to the army." REFERENCE: World: South Asia Pakistan's coup: Why the army acted Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Published at 23:20 GMT 00:20 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/473297.stm
Difa-e-Pakistan/JUD Death Threat to Pakistani Media (Capital Talk - 13th Feb 2012)
ISLAMABAD: Saturday afternoons in Islamabad are clinically boring. The industrial/agricultural elite of Parliament has packed off for the weekend and anybody who wears stars is off golfing or playing polo. As even the Twitter feed is slow, the news day is thus a stretch. Meanwhile, news TV viewing, even the rerun of one’s own show, is a painful but relevant exercise, especially when it is compounded by threats that promise beheading, bestiality, torture and other such comforts of wrath. According to the records, I got the first call at 1312 hours on Saturday, a few minutes into the repeat broadcast of my new show. It needs to be stated for the record that the show was a passionate debate between that old warhorse, Lt. Gen. Hameed Gul, and myself. Though ‘Saddam Gul’, as Robert Oakley once called him, and I have faced off several times on television, this encounter was less about him and more about his new gig with the good folks of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council. I started off fairly quickly, teasing Gul why he and his DPC buddies were so angry all the time. Gul just laughed it off. Then we got cracking about the DPC’s ‘pressure group’ tactics, and how they had nothing constructive to contribute to the critical governance issues the country is being held hostage by. Still, that toughened spy chief brushed it aside. Then came the issue of the ‘outlaw groups’, and how the Malik Ishaqs and the Hafiz Saeeds of the world are displayed and paraded around at the DPC’s rallies, and how such displays cause jitters everywhere, and how those jitters end up giving this poor, broken country a bad name. For the first time in the interview, around 10 minutes in, Gul struggled, outright rejecting the claim that Malik Ishaq was at the Multan rally. As we tend to do in our show, evidence was promptly presented. A screen shot of The Express Tribune, with Ishaq in living colour at the Multan stage, was displayed on our monitor, and Gul struggled some more. Doing what he does best, Gul upped the ante, claiming that the Tribune’s pics were doctored. I challenged him, defending the Tribune’s reporting standards. He counter-challenged, and said it was not the paper, rather the reporter who was lying. I rebutted, and hence we moved on. Around this part of the show’s broadcast, the call came. He didn’t say hello. He knew my name and my address. He kept it short, and told me exactly what he would do to my body parts when he was done detaching them. He then hung up. That was caller one. But that was just the bad cop routine. The good cops, several of them, came knocking with a flurry of text messages. One of them started off by asking why I was siding with India. My reply was that I was not siding with any collective, and in fact had brought up the disturbing statistic of India’s arms expenditures with Gul, asking the former ISI chief what he and the DPC were doing besides screaming murder about matching the $100 billion dollars that the Indians plan on weapons procurement spending over the next decade. He pinged back after a few minutes, concentrating his grammar on the imaginings between my mother and some animals. The other good cops started in similar vein, one of them asking me whether I had learnt my English in America. Seeing where this could lead to, I didn’t respond. That action further lit up my afternoon, as references to pre-Islamic debauchery, disasters and disease continued to flash on my phone. No names were offered, but when my address and location was confirmed, again and again, I pressed the panic button. The cavalry that came to help was the Aaj TV administration as well as contacts in Pakistan’s premier intelligence agencies. Within an hour, we had located the origin of the calls: All of them were from Lahore. And yes, we even had the addresses down. By now, panic had given way to anger. Evidently, this was a planned and coordinated assault, ranging between Badian, Rajababad and Model Town. I reached out to Gen Gul, and after several hours, he finally reverted, admitting that he too had heard from “some people” who were “angry” at him about granting me this interview. He said all was well between us, and that he was sorry about what had happened. He said he didn’t know who was threatening me, but nor could he help call them off. Meanwhile, contacts in the intelligence community had another explanation: they said that people belonging to “such organizations” are “excessively emotional”, and that the real operators “never warn” before they strike. Still, the fact that my address and numbers were so quickly available to my would-be executioners wasn’t taken as a “credible threat”. You’re a famous man, I was told. Everybody knows your information. Don’t worry. All will be well. And that’s when it all made sense. Pakistan is Chaos Country. Nobody is in charge any more. In the battles for our soul – for freedom, for journalism, for jihad, for governance and law – all the combatants are right, and everybody else wrong. The intel officials and my television bosses thought it would be better to know more and do less, for giving the relevant groups’ actions public coverage would only serve their purpose. But when I was advised to “move for the night” and asked if I could “handle a weapon” by some very important, powerful people, I realised that in spirit, maybe the DPC’s message, if not the DPC’s (or its supporters’) tactics is right: We should do what it takes to survive. At a primal, human level, I secretly wished that I hadn’t “made enemies” by taking on Gen Gul. At a professional level, I was pleased and even proud. Personally, I was scared and then angry. But as a Pakistani, I broke down a little this weekend. And all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men, despite their power and potential, couldn’t put my family and me together again. Truth led to lies. Lies led to video-tape. Video-tape led to jihad. And then nobody, even the jihadis themselves, could do anything more to help. The writer is host of the show Ikhtilaf, on Aaj TV. Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2012. REFERENCE: Journalism under threat: Jihad, lies and video tape By Wajahat S Khan Published: February 14, 2012 http://tribune.com.pk/story/336144/journalism-under-threat-jihad-lies-and-video-tape/
Ring Piston of Flirting Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed (JUD/LT/Difa-e-Pakistan)
KARACHI - Just as the mention of a book by Osama bin Laden can send it hurtling up the best-seller list, so the name of the al-Qaeda leader can be manipulated by jihadis to serve their cause. Sales of Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by former US State Department employee William Blum rocketed from obscurity to the top 20 on Amazon's top-seller list after bin Laden praised it in a video aired on Al-Jazeera television network this month. Similarly, the banned Pakistan-based jihadi group Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT), or Jamaatut Dawa as it is now known, unashamedly exploits bin Laden's name to gain popularity among the masses, even though the group has very strained ties with al-Qaeda, while denouncing him to win support from mentors. "Osama is a hero" is the motto the LeT spreads in Punjabi to draw in fresh recruits for its jihad in Indian-administered Kashmir, where it concentrates its activities. "Osama is a deviant" is the Arabic phrase the LeT uses to solicit patronage and funds from Saudi Arabia, where Saudi-born bin Laden rejects the current leadership. The LeT, whose name means Soldiers of the Pure, is uniquely focused. On the one hand it operates against Indian rule in Kashmir, on the other it bans its members from joining the jihad in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area (against the Pakistani army) and from taking part in the Taliban-led Afghan resistance. The LeT has been blamed for a number of attacks beyond Kashmir, the most recent being in the technology hub, Bangalore. In 2000, it carried out audacious armed attacks inside the Red Fort in Delhi. The LeT apparently does not want to dilute its goal, described in a pamphlet titled "Why Are We Waging Jihad?" as the restoration of Islamic rule in India, by waging jihad anywhere else.
Ratting on al-Qaeda
Soon after September 11, 2001, a top al-Qaeda operator, Abu Zubaida, came to Pakistan and handed over a sum of money to Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, then chief of the LeT and now head of the Jamaatut Dawam, into which the LeT evolved after being banned, along with other Islamic groups, in January 2002 under US pressure. According to sources in the LeT, the amount of money was US$100,000, which was to be used to take care of Arab jihadis and their families displaced from Afghanistan by the US-led invasion of 2001. The LeT was the only organization in Pakistan the Arabs from Afghanistan would deal with. There were a number of reasons for this, apart from both having Salafi backgrounds, the most important being ties established during the Afghan resistance against the Soviets in the 1980s. So the LeT organized temporary housing for many Arab families after the fall of Kabul and Kandahar. The next step was to arrange forged travel documents and air tickets. But Hafiz, and the money, were not forthcoming. Abu Zubaida, who was living in a safe house of the LeT in Faisalabad, traveled to Lahore to speak to Hafiz, who complained he did not have enough money to help the Arabs. Abu Zubaida was incensed, and returned to his safe house. A few days later the house was raided and he was arrested. These events are part of jihadi folklore. However, what is new is added by a source who left the Pakistani army to join the LeT, with which he soon became disillusioned and left for Africa to become a businessman. "Abu Jabran was the chief bodyguard of Abu Zubaida. He was also arrested along with Abu Zubaida. The logical conclusion is that he should be in Camp X-Ray," the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the source said. "But he is serving as the personal adviser to the No 1 man in the Laskar-e-Toiba, Zakiur Rehman," the commander-in-chief of the LeT in Indian-administered Kashmir. Asia Times Online inquiries indicate that Abu Jabran was freed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation eight days after being arrested with Abu Zubaida. As soon as he was released, he was elevated as adviser to Zakiur Rehman. Abu Jabran is known in the internal circles of the LeT as Janab Jabran Chaca.
Damage to al-Qaeda
Since al-Qaeda was structured on vertical lines at the time of the arrest of Abu Zubaida (it is now set up horizontally), his apprehension was followed by the capture of a number of al-Qaeda operatives, including Yasir al-Jazeri, who was chief of financial matters. And they all blamed it on Hafiz for his initial betrayal. According to a Guantanamo returnee, many inmates include loud qanoots (in essence bad prayers) against Hafiz, calling for his death.
Double-faced
After September 11, the LeT was in a bind. It wanted to recruit fresh blood, but this was impossible without invoking bin Laden's name. And it wanted to retain its pro-establishment ties without upsetting its mentors in Islamabad and Riyadh. On the death of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz last year, the Jamaatut Dawa published an article on its website in praise of the Saudi king. And since Saudi rulers were demanding that their friends denounce bin Laden, Hafiz did so. Last year, for instance, he wrote an article in an Arabic magazine in which he described bin Laden and al-Qaeda as khwarij (away from mainstream Islam, or those extremists who do not make a distinction between a minor and a major sin and deal with sinners as infidels). Hafiz chose Arabic so as not to upset his members still enamored with al-Qaeda and the concept of worldwide jihad. At the same time, the LeT - or Jamaatut Dawa to be precise - is teaching a distorted version of Islam. Many Koranic verses concerning jihad have been deleted from the books its members use, with emphasis placed on following the ameer (chief). The aim is to prevent members joining the fighters in South and North Waziristan and Afghanistan, where the pull grows stronger by the day. Asia Times Online contacts claim that in the past few months hundreds of people have broken their ties with the LeT and headed for Waziristan, which is once again a powerful hub of the Afghan resistance movement. The battle for the hearts and minds of potential jihadis is truly on, with twisted ideologies and contradictory, tortuous positions a part of the process, with a little help from the Osama bin Laden brand name. REFERENCE: Taking Osama's name in vain By Syed Saleem Shahzad South Asia Jan 27, 2006 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HA27Df02.html
"LIE" with General (R) Hamid Gul on AAJ TV - 1 (Ikhtilaf 10th February 2012)
WASHINGTON: A United States federal judge said on Thursday that the admission by a Pakistani imam that he had lied repeatedly to obtain a green card could lead to his deportation. Under a tentative deal disclosed at a hearing in which Imam Muhammad Masood changed his plea to guilty, the former prayer leader of the Islamic Centre of New England, would be spared imprisonment, but he would have to serve three years on probation and pay a $1,000 fine. US District Judge Douglas P Woodlock said that he would decide at Masood’s sentencing on May 22 whether to accept the agreement or hand down a different punishment for five federal crimes of making false statements and committing fraud in an immigration application. “Regardless of the sentence, Masood’s guilty plea could lead to the expulsion of the 49-year-old imam, the judge said. Before Masood was indicted last August, he faced civil immigration charges, including overstaying his visa,” reported the Boston Globe. Masood is the brother of Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. He has said that he has nothing to do with his brother, nor does he share his outlook on religion and politics. Masood came to the United States in 1987 under a special visa for exchange students and enrolled at Vanderbilt University, transferring to Boston University the following year. He became the imam of the Sharon mosque around 1998. In December 2002, Masood admitted, he falsely told authorities in an application for permanent legal residency that he returned to Pakistan from 1991 to 1993 after ending his studies. Immigrants with the kind of visa Masood had are required to return to their country for two years before they can seek a green card. Masood faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on three of the federal charges and a maximum of five years in prison on the other two charges. The plea deal calls for the dismissal of four other federal charges. REFERENCE: Pakistani imam may be deported * US judge says Muhammad Masood lied to obtain Green Card By Khalid Hasan Saturday, March 01, 2008 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C01%5Cstory_1-3-2008_pg7_17
"LIE" with General (R) Hamid Gul on AAJ TV - 2 (Ikhtilaf 10th February 2012)
LAHORE: Chief operational commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, arrested on December 10 by the Pakistani authorities in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, is furious at the Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) leadership’s decision to publicly disown him in his hour of trial instead of trying to bail him out. According to circles close to the Pakistani authorities, involved in grilling Lakhvi to ascertain whether the LT is actually involved in the Mumbai mayhem, the commander is extremely hurt by a recent statement from a JuD spokesman that both the arrested Lashkar leaders Zakiur Rehman and Zarar Shah never had any link with either Hafiz Mohammad Saeed or the JuD. In a bid to shield Saeed, JuD spokesman Abdullah Muntazir told the Times of India on January 9, 2008: “In any case, Lakhvi and Zarar, the two men India is talking about, were never associated with the JuD, which has always been into charity work only.” It had been conveyed by Hafiz Saeed himself in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes, the spokesman said, adding there were elements in the Pakistan government that wanted to target religious organisations. Circles close to Hafiz Saeed say there was nothing new in the JuD spokesman’s stance as its leadership had repeatedly denied any link with them. But a former LT office-bearer — now a part of the JuD — confirmed on condition of anonymity that Lakhvi was extremely upset over the U-turn taken by his former close associates and complains they had abandoned him at a time when he desperately needed their backing. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, alias Abu Waheed Irshad Ahmad, comes from the Okara district of the Punjab province. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Mumbai attacker caught alive by the Indian authorities, belongs to the same area. Born on December 30, 1960 to the lower middle class family of Hafiz Azizur Rehman in Chak No. 18 of Rinala Khurd in Okara, Lakhvi is considered to be a close associate of Hafiz Saeed and has been named by Ajmal Kasab as his trainer as well as the planner of the Mumbai carnage. While Pakistan has already turned down an Indian demand for Lakhvi’s extradition despite American pressure, the JuD has deemed it fit to disown him. In 1988, Abu Abdur Rahman Sareehi, a Saudi national and allegedly a close associate of Osama bin Laden, founded in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar an organisation which recruited Afghan youths and Pakistanis from the Bajaur Agency to fight Soviet occupation troops in the Central Asian country. Sareehi, the brother-in-law of Zaki Lakhvi, is believed to have contributed a hefty amount of Rs10 million to the construction of the Muridke headquarters of the Lashkar-i-Taiba, called the Markaz Daawa Wal Irshad, way back in 1988. The organisation flourished in Kunar and Bajaur areas as thousands of youths from Pakistan belonging to the Deobandi Salafi school of thought instantly joined its camps set up in Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktia, both of which had a sizable number of Ahle Hadith (Wahabi) followers of Islam, besides hundreds of Saudis and Afghans. International media reports say Zaki Lakhvi was one of the main trainers at the Kunar camp of anti-Soviet militants. As the Lashkar had joined the Afghan jihad at a time it was winding down, the group did not play a major part in the fight against the Soviet forces, which pulled out in 1989. However, the participation of the Lashkar cadres in the Afghan jihad helped its leaders, particularly Hafiz Saeed and Zaki Lakhvi, win the trust of the Pakistani establishment. The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, beginning in 1989, came at an appropriate time to provide an active battleground for the Lashkar fighters when its leadership was made to divert its attention from Afghanistan and devote itself to the jihad in Kashmir, where it gained fame. As Lakhvi was subsequently made the supreme commander of the military operations in Jammu and Kashmir, his prime responsibility was to identify young men and indoctrinate them in jihad. In an April 1999 interview to an English daily from Muzzaffarabad, Lakhvi said: “We are extending our Mujahideen networks across India and preparing the Muslims of India against India. When they are ready, it will be the start of the break-up of India.” A few months later, at the three-day annual congregation of the LT held at its Muridke headquarters, 30 kilometres from Lahore, Lakhvi justified the launching of fidayeen missions in Jammu and Kashmir. He continued: “Following Pakistani withdrawal from the Kargil heights and the Nawaz-Clinton statement in Washington, it was important to boost the morale of the Kashmiri people... These fidayeen missions have been initiated to teach India a lesson as they were celebrating Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil. And let me tell you very clearly that our next target would be New Delhi.” Incidentally, the Indian parliament was attacked later on December 13, 2001. Subsequently, the US State Department declared the Lashkar a terrorist outfit, followed by a similar decision by the Musharraf regime. The LT later renamed itself as Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) in a bid to separate its military actions in Kashmir from its religious undertakings in Pakistan. While stepping down as the Lashkar ameer at a press conference in Lahore on December 23, 2001, Hafiz Saeed appointed Maulana Abdul Wahid Kashmiri as his successor. But Lakhvi was retained as the supreme operational commander of the LT. However, differences soon erupted between Saeed and Lakhvi over distribution of the organisation’s assets, prompting the latter to revolt against Saeed and launch his own splinter group with the name of Khairun Naas (KuN). Their animosity grew to the extent that some of the Zaki-led rebel group members — largely consisting of LT fighters — reportedly took oath to assassinate Hafiz Saeed. According to Saeed’s aides, he first came under fire from Zaki when he decided to launch JuD and separated the LT infrastructure from the Jamaat. Lakhvi, being the chief operational commander of the LT, disapproved of the decision, saying it was meant to put the JuD in control of all the funds collected locally and abroad. He was of the view that as heavy donations were being collected in the name of the Kashmir jihad from all over Pakistan as well as abroad, the JuD leadership had no right to the money because it was only a preaching organisation. Sources close to Lakhvi revealed many of the dissident aides to Saeed were basically annoyed at his second marriage with a fallen mujahid’s 28-year-old widow. Saeed was 58 at the time of his marriage and had justified his act by saying the wedding was only meant to provide shelter to the widow of the fighter, who had lost his life in Jammu and Kashmir and had left behind two kids. However, a year later, Saeed and Lakhvi were made to mend fences and the two were the best of friends at the time of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. But Zaki Lakhvi had already moved the LT headquarters from Muridke to Muzaffarabad by then. In July 2006, the Indian authorities alleged that Azam Cheema, a LT operative accused of being the ring leader in the 2006 bombing of the Mumbai rail network [that killed over 200 people] was trained and sent to the Indian port city by Lakhvi. The Mumbai police commissioner then claimed that an arrested militant, Abu Anas, has confessed to being the bodyguard of Lakhvi. In May 2008, the US Treasury Department announced freezing the assets of four LT leaders including Lakhvi. In October, 2007, Lakhvi’s 20-year-old son Mohammad Qasim was reportedly killed in an encounter with the security forces at the Gamaroo village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora area. In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, the Indian authorities alleged Zaki Lakhvi, usually based in Muzaffarabad, had moved to Karachi in August 2008, the port city from where LT militants set off, so he could direct operations. The sole survivor of the Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Kasab, apparently told police Lakhvi had helped indoctrinate all the attackers. On December 3, 2008, India finally named him as one of four major planners behind the Mumbai terror attacks. And that he had allegedly offered to pay the Kasab family Rs150,000 for his participation in the assaults. On December 7, 2008, the Pakistani security forces arrested Lakhvi after raiding the JuD headquarters in Muzaffarabad. The Indian dossier handed over to Pakistan on January 5 includes transcription of intercepted telephonic conversation between the Mumbai attackers and Lakhvi. However, circles close to the arrested LT chief operational commander reject the Indian dossier as a pack of lies and insist Lakhvi has nothing to do with the Mumbai strikes. REFERENCE: LeT commander furious at JuD chief Amir Mir Thursday, January 15, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=19630&Cat=13&dt=1/16/2009
"LIE" with General (R) Hamid Gul on AAJ TV - 3 (Ikhtilaf 10th February 2012)
Why the Pakistani Military used to Support Taliban, Several Sectarian Outfits and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba before 911? And while the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stand officially disbanded, their most militant son and leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, an accused in several cases of sectarian killing, contested elections from jail - albeit as an independent candidate - won his seat, and was released on bail shortly thereafter. Musharraf rewrote election rules to disqualify former Prime Ministers Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and threatened to toss them in jail if they returned from abroad, which badly undermined both Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Musharraf has plainly given the religious groups more free rein in the campaign than he has allowed the two big parties that were his main rivals. In Jhang city, in Punjab province, Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of an outlawed extremist group called Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to numerous sectarian killings, is being allowed to run as an independent despite election laws that disqualify any candidate who has criminal charges pending, or even those who did not earn a college degree. "It makes no sense that Benazir can't run in the election," says one Islamabad-based diplomat, "and this nasty guy can."
Pakistan’s chief spy Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad “was in the US when the attacks occurred.” He arrived in the US on the 4th of September, a full week before the attacks. He had meetings at the State Department “after” the attacks on the WTC. But he also had “a regular visit of consultations” with his US counterparts at the CIA and the Pentagon during the week prior to September 11. REFERENCE: Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush Administration? The Role of Pakistan’s Military Intelligence (ISI) in the September 11 Attacks by Michel Chossudovsky Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), Montréal Posted at globalresearch.ca 2 November 2001 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO111A.html
In the afternoon, Mahmood was invited to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, where he told George Tenet, the CIA director, that in his view Mullah Omar, the Taliban chief, was a religious man with humanitarian instincts and not a man of violence! This was a bit difficult for the CIA officials to digest and rightly so as the Taliban’s track record, especially in the realm of human rights, was no secret. General Mahmood was told politely but firmly that Mullah Omar and the Taliban would have to face US Military might if Osama Bin Laden along with other Al-Qaeda leaders were not handed over without delay. To send the message across clearly, Richard Armitage held a second meeting with Mahmood the same day, informing him that he would soon be handed specific American demands, to which Mahmood reiterated that Pakistan would cooperate. {Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York}, p 32. {Pakistan: Eye of the Storm by Owen Bennett Jones, published by New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002}, p. 2.
General Mahmood on September 13, 2001, was handed a formal list of the US demands by Mr. Armitage and was asked to convey these to Musharraf and was also duly informed, for the sake of emphasis, that these were “not negotiable.” Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, and the assisstant secretary of state, Christina Rocca, had drafted the list in the shape of a “non-paper”. It categorically asked Pakistan:
Stop Al-Qaeda operatives coming from Afghanistan to Pakistan, intercept arms shipments through Pakistan, and end ALL logistical support for Osama Bin Laden.
Give blanket overflight and landing rights to US aircraft.
Give the US access to Pakistani Naval and Air Bases and to the border areas betweeen Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Turn over all the intelligence and immigration information.
Condemn the September 11 attacks and curb all domestic expressions of support for terrorism.
Cut off all shipments of fuel to the Talibans, and stop Pakistani volunteers from going into Afghanistan to join the Taliban. Note that, should the evidence strongly implicate Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda Network in Afghanistan, and should the Taliban continue to harbour him and his accomplices, Pakistan will break diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime, end support for the Taliban, and assist the US in the aforementioned ways to destroy Osama and his network.
Having gone through the list, Mahmood declared that he was quite clear on the subject and that “he knew how the President thought, and the President would accept these points.” {Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York}, p 58-59. Interview: Richard Armitage, “Campaign Against Terror,” PBS (Frontline), April 19, 2002}
Mahmood then faxed the document to Musharraf. While the latter was going through it and in the process of weighing the pros and cons of each demand, his aide de camp that Colin Powell was on the line. Musharraf liked and respected Powell, and the conversation was not going to be a problem. He told him that he understood and appreciated the US position, but he would respond to the US demands after having discussed these with his associates. Powell was far too polite to remind him that he in fact was the government, but did inform him that his General in Washington had already assured them that these demands would be acceptable to the government of Pakistan. {Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism : Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror by Hassan Abbas, published by An East Gate Book , M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York. London, England.}. NOTES/REFERENCES - Pakistan: Eye of the Storm by Owen Bennett Jones, published by New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. Interview: Richard Armitage, “Campaign Against Terror,” PBS (Frontline), April 19, 2002; last accessed June 2, 2003, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/campaign/interviews/armitage.htm Bush at War by Bob Woodward, published by Simon & Schuster, 2002, New York. Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism : Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror by Hassan Abbas, published by An East Gate Book , M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York. London, England
"LIE" with General (R) Hamid Gul on AAJ TV - 4 (Ikhtilaf 10th February 2012)
“… as the doctors in Karachi continue their protest against the targeted killings of their colleagues, the failure of the government to be moved into action is shocking. … Thirty-two people have been killed in sectarian incidents in the country since the beginning of the year, of whom seven were doctors. What comes as a matter of shock and dismay is the weak response of the government to a ghastly situation … Its half-hearted statements condemning the killings do not reflect serious official concern. This also confirms the insensitivity of the military government to the sentiments and security needs of the people. The distressing message conveyed by the government’s inaction is that it is unable, or worse still, unwilling to act …” Editorial in the Karachi newspaper Dawn, 16 March 2002. PAKISTAN: No protection against targeted killings http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA33/030/2002/en/571b9b61-d7a7-11dd-b024-21932cd2170d/asa330302002en.pdf
