Thursday, October 25, 2012

Media Gate in Mehrangate Scandal of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Gen. Jehangir Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan army, said that to transform from a national security state to a social welfare state, Pakistan will have to increase the number of stakeholders in the power sharing arrangement by devolving powers to the lower levels as well as among institutions. He was the main speaker at a roundtable on “South Asian States turning into Security States and its Larger Implications” organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Wednesday. Gen. (Retd.) Karamat defined national security state as a state with inordinate resource allocation towards defense at the cost of social welfare, and said that India was gradually moving away from being a national security state on that account. Pakistan, on the other hand, according to Gen. (Retd.) Karamat, is still quite defense-oriented and, thus, rooted in the national security paradigm. He attributed Pakistan’s national security concerns to its history, unresolved border disputes with India, internal problems such as insurgencies, and the recent emergence of trans-border issues, such as terrorism. REFERENCE: Report: Roundtable on “South Asian States Turning into Security States and its Larger Implications” with Gen. (Retd.) Jehangir Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan army http://www.irs.org.pk/reports/Report_021512.pdf

Please note how Several noted and leading Top Pakistani Journalists present Villains and Criminals as Heroes in their Columns and TV Programs rather they go to extent to justify Murder.

General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 1 (GEO TV 4th Sep 2009)


General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 1 (GEO... by SalimJanMazari


2008: Jihad only way to liberate IHK: ex-generals * Claim there will be no solution to Kashmir issue while Musharraf is in power RAWALPINDI: Retired army generals said on Tuesday that jihad was the only way to liberate Kashmir. Addressing a seminar on Kashmir Solidarity Day at a local hotel, they said the faulty policies of President Pervez Musharraf over the past eight years had moved the Kashmir issue to the backburner. They said it would remain unresolved while he was in power. They showered praise on sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for dispensing justice to the masses and Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for turning the country into a nuclear state. They demanded that both men be released from detention promptly. General (r) Mirza Aslam Baig, General (r) Faiz Ali Chishti, General (r) Hameed Gul, General (r) Jamshaid Gulzar Kiyani, General (r) Asad Durrani, General (r) Sardar Anwar Khan, General (r) Abdul Qayyum and General (r) Ali Quli Khan and former bureaucrat Roedad Khan were prominent among the participants of the seminar, which was organised by the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society. The participants later rallied outside the hotel to show solidarity with the Kashmiris fighting Indian forces in the held valley for freedom. Former Steel Mills chief General (r) Abdul Qayyum claimed that Kashmir could only be liberated by waging jihad. REFERENCE: Jihad only way to liberate IHK: ex-generals * Claim there will be no solution to Kashmir issue while Musharraf is in power By Terence J Sigamony Wednesday, February 06, 2008 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C06%5Cstory_6-2-2008_pg7_41 ISLAMABAD: General (r) Mirza Aslam Baig, former chief of army staff, on Wednesday confirmed that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed used to run a militant camp in Rawalpindi. He told Daily Times that being the army chief, he had received information about the camp where militants used to receive training. “The abandoned camp still has the signboard of Freedom House,” he said.He said the camp was established during the rise of an armed struggle in Kashmir, but was closed down in 1991 when the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif found out about its existence. Asked to comment on the denials issued by the foreign office and Sheikh Rashid himself about the camp, the former army chief said: “I am telling you what I have in my knowledge.” Ex-generals, politicians confirm Sheikh Rashid ran militant camp By Shahzad Raza Thursday, June 16, 2005 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-6-2005_pg7_57 

General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 2 (GEO TV 4th Sep 2009)


General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 2 (GEO... by SalimJanMazari


Afaq says he, Altaf got money from Younus ISLAMABAD: Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s chairman Afaq Ahmed admitted on Monday that he had received Rs5 million from Younus Habib in 1993, long after he along with several other leaders had parted ways with the party led by Altaf Hussain. He claimed that Mr Hussain had also received Rs5 million from Mr Habib in his presence and that former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg was present on the occasion. Addressing a press conference, Mr Ahmed said he was presenting facts before the media so that it could highlight them without any fear. He accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of being involved in extortion and issuing threats to all segments of society in Karachi. “I have told this to the media in Karachi too but they do not have the courage to carry such things,” he said. Mr Afaq said Karachi was a part of the country but policymakers generally thought that negotiating with Mr Hussain was the only way to move ahead because of his influence in the city. He said it was imperative to clear the city of weapons for peace and tranquillity. “We will try to bring religious, nationalists and political groups to one platform for peace in Karachi.” In reply to a question, Mr Ahmed said that if new provinces were made on an ethnic grounds then it would be a never-ending process that might lead to disintegration of the country. REFERENCE: Afaq says he, Altaf got money from Younus A Reporter 20th March, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/03/20/afaq-says-he-altaf-got-money-from-younus/ الطاف حسین بھتہ لیتے ہیں: آفاق احمد آخری وقت اشاعت: پير 19 مارچ 2012 ,‭ 13:46 GMT 18:46 PST http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2012/03/120319_afaq_ahmed_tf.shtml 

General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 3 (GEO TV 4th Sep 2009)


General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg in Jirga - 3 (GEO... by SalimJanMazari


Hameed Gul admits he formed IJI Sunday, August 30, 2009 :  ISLAMABAD: Former chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul on Saturday disclosed that the PPP could have got landslide victory in 1988 elections, if the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) had not been formed. Talking to a private TV channel, he said: ìYes, we had such reports and apprehension of massive PPP victory.î Gul said they feared that the PPP was returning to power after the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I take the responsibility of forming the IJI, though it was not my idea,î Hameed Gul said. He said that even during Benazir Bhutto’s first visit to the ISI headquarters he told her about his role in forming the IJI. “We wanted the PPP opponents who had affiliation with the GHQ to unite them on one platform,” Gul said. He said ‘emergency’ was one of the options in 1988 after General Zia ul Haq’s plane crashed, but it was decided to go ahead with November 16 election despite request from opponents of the PPP to postpone it. He disclosed that even former Soviet Union sent a message to Pakistan that the 1988 elections could be sabotaged. Gul said: “This is for the first time I am disclosing that former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev sent his envoy with a message regarding apprehensions of sabotaging the 1988 election through foreign intervention.” He said he was not aware of the conditions to hand over power to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but said he was asked to brief her before she was handed over the power. “Benazir wanted a briefing from the Establishment so I was sent for this purpose and the meeting took place at her friend’s house in Karachi, which lasted over two hours, and I told her that the Afghan Jihad had not ended yet. There were two or three other things, which I briefed her and she said she understood the situation,” he said. He denied “Midnight Jackal” as intelligence plot and said it was Imtiaz’s personal plan. “No agency was involved but Imtiaz himself,” Gul said. The ex-ISI chief denied he ever sent a message to MQM chief Altaf Hussain to join IJI and rejected the allegation of former Intelligence Bureau director, Brig (retd) Imtiaz. “I never sent Imtiaz to Altaf with a message to join IJI but to express concern over allegations of collection of ìBhattaî by some elements,” he said. He predicted the victory of Afghans in Afghanistan and the US exit, but expressed concern over post-US Afghanistan situation and said a weak government was going to be set up there. “We failed to give up political system in Afghanistan after Soviet Union left and now I don’t see much will happen after the US exit, but Afghans will win,” he added. REFERENCE: Hameed Gul admits he formed IJI Sunday, August 30, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24196&Cat=13&dt=8/30/2009 REFERENCE: Pakistan's ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul's remarks Author: Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 http://www.arabnews.com/node/326561




2009 How a jilted Karachi woman saved Pak N-programme Rauf Klasra Thursday, May 28, 2009 : ISLAMABAD: As the nation celebrates the eleventh anniversary of Pakistan’s nuclear tests today (May 28), a shocking 30-year-old secret has been exposed. It reveals how a young woman college lecturer, feeling betrayed after a romance with a nuclear scientist of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP), had given a lead to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1978, which in turn had led to the dramatic arrest of 12 Pakistani scientists and engineers, planning to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear sites at the behest of a superpower. The startling spy ring was exposed by this female college lecturer of a Karachi Memon family to the then head of ISI Sindh Brig Imtiaz Ahmed (Operation Midnight Jackals fame), only because she wanted revenge from her lover for being unfaithful. The expose led to the arrest of Pakistani scientists who were later given death and life imprisonment sentences by the special tribunal set up by the then president General Ziaul Haq. Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed broke his silence of over 30 years to share this amazing operation with The News on the eve of the 11th annual celebration of Pakistan going nuclear. He said that while many people take credit for saving our nuclear programme, no one actually knows how an unsung jilted girl had actually ended up saving Pakistan’s nuclear project out of sheer vengeance. Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed served as director in charge Internal Security ISI for several years in Islamabad and later director general Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the first government of Nawaz Sharif. The then prime minister Benazir Bhutto had put him in jail for about three years on charges of being part of the operation to oust her in 1989 during her first government. Later, General Musharraf also put him in jail for four years till his acquittal by the Lahore High Court. He is the only spymaster of Pakistan who was jailed for eight years, after serving 15 years in the ISI and the IB. Read Complete Story: Reference: How a jilted Karachi woman saved Pak N-programme Rauf Klasra Thursday, May 28, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=22396&Cat=13&dt=5/28/2009


2009 The politics of Brigadier ‘Billa’ Tahir Hasan Khan Monday, August 31, 2009 : Brigadier (Retired) Imtiaz, also known as “Billa” is not new for the people of Sindh. He was Sindh ISI chief when political activist Nazeer Abbasi was murdered and a PIA plane was hijacked in early 80’s. The purpose of the murder of political activist Nazeer Abbasi was to warn political workers and the hijacking incident was to sabotage the MRD (Movement for Restoration of Democracy) action launched against Gen Zia-ul Haq. As a result of his work, Billa was promoted as brigadier in the army.. Predictably, his services were terminated in the first tenure of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Mian Nawaz Sharif who was the then chief minister of Punjab, however, appointed Billah as his security adviser and later made him IB chief when Sharif became prime minister in 1990. The disclosure of a secret visit of Imtiaz Billa in Sindh in 1992 was reported in this newspaper and I was very much under pressure when this was published. There was a warning for me not to publish such reports about the IB chief’s secret activities in Sindh. The purpose of the secret visit was to convince the MQM to withdraw its support to Jam Sadiq Ali, a nominee of then President Ghulan Ishaq Khan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not happy with Jam Sadiq and was in favour of Liaquat Jatoi, a finance minister in Jam Sadiq’s cabinet. Ironically, Jatoi was dismissed by Jam Sadiq after his activities were disclosed by the intelligence agencies to the CM. It was the cold war between President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which eventually led to the military operation in Sindh. Nawaz Sharif had the backing of Chief of Army Staff Gen Asif Nawaz who launched the operation. Kidnapping for ransom was at its peak at that time and the federal government blamed most of the sitting provincial ministers in Jam Sadiq’s cabinet who were said to provide shelter to dacoits and criminals. The military operation was seen as the only solution against dacoits. But the operation was diverted and re-launched against the MQM to crush the party. This changed the whole political culture of the Sindh and a politics of hate was generated in the province. Four democratic governments (two each by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto) were dismissed due to such operations and General Asif Nawaz and his team were held responsible for this damage. A number of youth were killed in the operation while the law and order situation remained very disturbed in this time. There was also a flight of capital from Sindh to Punjab. The role of the intelligence agencies is not new neither is it a secret. PPP’s founder chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 70s blamed the agencies for funding politicians in the election against him in Sindh and Punjab. Sindh was the main target of the intelligence agencies and the purpose of all plans and conspiracies was against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and the PPP. The state sponsored actors were behind the formation of Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) and then the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) against Bhutto and Benazir and huge funds were distributed among the politicians. Politics is still hostage in the hand of ‘State Sponsored Actors’. These actors have absolute power and funds. They were free to do whatever they want. There is no law and restriction for them and they openly and proudly boast of their crimes. There is no punishment for these characters from any quarter. The disclosures of Brig Imtiaz are not new. Perhaps Pakistan is the only country in the world where the “state sponsored actors’ always act against the popular political forces. Everybody knows the role of all dictators from General Ayub to General Pervez Musharraf and the victims who are popular political forces like the PPP, the MQM and the PML from Muhammad Khan Junejo to Nawaz Sharif. Conspiracies hatched by General Ayub, General Yahya, General Ziaul Haq, General Aslam Baig, General Asif Nawaz and General Pervez Musharraf against the elected and political leadership are neither secret nor new. The tactics of every dictator was different but they used the intelligence agencies (state sponsored actors) to damage the political leadership and system as well. A few newspapers published stories about these conspiracies in the past but the majority of the media has avoided to publish these facts because they were very much under pressure from these state sponsored actors. Now it is time for the electronic media and the disclosure of these state sponsored actors on TV channels is a surprising development, especially for students of political science and political observers. There must of some reason behind the activities and disclosures of state sponsored actors. Read Complete Story: Reference: The politics of Brigadier ‘Billa’ Tahir Hasan Khan Monday, August 31, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=195836&Cat=4&dt=8/31/2009


 


Brig Imtiaz defends agencies’ non-cooperation with UN mission Editor Reporting Sunday, April 25, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Former spymaster Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed has defended the purported decision of the Army leadership and intelligence agencies to keep themselves at a distance from the UN investigation team which had probed the circumstances leading to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, adding, however, they are not immune to domestic investigations if so required. Giving his reaction to the contents of the UN report in which it was stated that Pakistani intelligence agencies did not cooperate with the three-member inquiry commission, the former IB chief said to justify the decision of secret agencies not to cooperate with the UN commission, may not come as a surprise for many, keeping his own association with intelligence agencies at top positions for several long years — first in the ISI and then in the IB. Commenting on the contents of the report, Brig Imtiaz said it was neither an investigative nor fact finding document, and at best it was only a ‘collation’ effort of all the tangible or intangible events, tale telling narrations in circulation ever since the occurrence of the tragedy. He said this document in his estimation was a ‘cover-up’ of some core ‘actors’ (foreign and domestic) who come in the cross line of the circumstantial and ground evidence as well as regional scenario. Brig (retd) Imtiaz said the return of Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan was consequential to a tripartite understanding, if he may call it an agreement, between America, Pervez Musharraf and the late Benazir Bhutto. The NRO was also part of the same concession given to Benazir. He claimed this agreement carried political advantage for Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf. Brig (retd) Imtiaz said Benazir upon her return to Pakistan rightly grasped the ground realities and decided to put her complete political force behind the then ongoing historic movement for the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The former brigadier believed she showed the red rag both to America and Pervez Musharraf, who could no longer allow this fatal end to their game plan. In this perspective, Brig (retd) Imtiaz said authors of the UN report had no other option, but to divert this critical dimension of the assassination to beef up certain other inconsequential facts and to give a colouring to malign our ‘prime intelligence agencies’ who have been always their target on the basis of fabricated and groundless arguments. He said the provision of security umbrella to Benazir Bhutto, who had twice remained prime minister and enjoyed the prominence of national and international recognition, was the sole responsibility of Pervez Musharraf which in this case was amazingly not only invisible but rather seemed to facilitate the perpetrators of the crime. He asked why was the route of Benazir’s return changed in a surreptitious manner? The box type mobile security covers (four security vehicles) were not provided to her vehicle, no arrangements for emergent availability of ambulance vehicle were made. Autopsy constitutes a critical step in criminal investigation and it was the legal obligation of the senior police officer present on the site to give in writing to the medical authorities to go ahead with prompt autopsy irrespective of the absence of immediate response from Dubai. He said the disappearance of the important party personalities in Benazir’s follow-up vehicle from the site of the incident warrants precise answers. REFERENCE: Brig Imtiaz defends agencies’ non-cooperation with UN mission Editor Reporting Sunday, April 25, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=28488&Cat=13&dt=4/25/2010


2009 Brig Imtiaz’s arrest demanded for communist leader’s murder * Widow says her husnband ‘killed after torture’, has proof of Brigadier Imtiaz’s involvement:  The family and comrades of the late Communist Party leader Nazeer Abbasi, on Sunday demanded a retrial of Abbasi’s alleged killers and the arrest of Brigadier (Retd) Imtiaz Ahmed, former Director-General, Intelligence Bureau (IB), in the case. Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday, Abbasi’s widow Hameeda Ghanghro, Prof. Jamal Naqvi, and Kamal Warsi who were detained along with Nazeer Abbasi allegedly by the intelligence agencies during Gen. Zia’s rule, urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the case. Mrs Abbasi recalled that the case was reopened in 1994 during second tenure of the Benazir Bhutto government, and, during preliminary investigation, it was revealed that Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed had killed her husband. Nazeer Abbasi was detained and killed in August 1980. She said that the post-mortem examination report had confirmed that Nazeer Abbasi was killed because of extensive torture. She added that, after the overthrowing of the Benazir government, the case was put in cold storage. Prof. Jamal recalled that after the “murder” of Nazeer Abbasi, pictures of Nazeer and five others, including him, were published in newspapers to show that “we are alive.” He said that Abbasi’s photograph was published in the newspapers but the caption did not give his name. He said that when their pictures were taken, they were in state of unconsciousness because of torture. Kamal Warsi alleged that Brig. Imtiaz had himself interrogated him and his colleagues on assumptions that they were working on a “foreign agenda.” Hameeda Ghanghro (Mrs Abbasi) said that she had lodged an FIR of the case in August 1980 after eight days of her husband’s death and had nominated the then military ruler Gen. Ziaul Haq and the then Governor Sindh S.M.Abbasi. She claimed that Benazir Bhutto herself had informed her that Brig. Imtiaz was involved in the murder of her husband in 1990s and she had issued a statement on that occasion that Brig. Imtiaz should be nominated and arrested in the case. She said that the proceedings into the case had started on 17th August 1980 before a local court in the city but it was suddenly stopped. She urged the government to initiate an inquiry against Brig. Imtiaz on charges of killing her husband and spreading anarchy and undermining democracy in the country. She also urged the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice of the case. She urged the government to set up a commission to hold an inquiry into role of Brig. Imtiaz for undermining democracy in the country. REFERENCES: Custodial death of Nazeer Abbasi our correspondent Monday, August 31, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=195828&Cat=4&dt=8/31/2009 Brig Imtiaz’s arrest demanded for communist leader’s murder * Widow says her husnband ‘killed after torture’, has proof of Brigadier Imtiaz’s involvement By Amar Guriro Monday, August 31, 2009 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C08%5C31%5Cstory_31-8-2009_pg7_11


 


2009: Brig Imtiaz reveals CIA plots Ansar Abbasi Tuesday, September 01, 2009 ISLAMABAD: Former spymaster Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Ahmad, whose recent statements caused ripples in the country’s political arena, now talks of a much serious issue ñ Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He claims to have foiled two American CIA plots to sabotage the country’s nuclear programme. While serving for the ISI, he recalled, he had conducted the operation ‘Rising Sun’ in 1979 that successfully thwarted a CIA plot to target Pakistanís nuclear programme. The operation concluded with the arrest and conviction of a Pakistani CIA agent, declaration of a few undercover CIA agents and US diplomats as personae non gratae and their return. In the second case, Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz said, he, as the Intelligence Bureau chief, had discovered another CIA plot being operated through a third country mainly to hit the countryís nuclear programme. Talking to The News here on Monday, Brigadier Imtiaz said that in the late 70s, the CIA spotted one Rafiq Munshi, a graduate of Karachi University, and took him to the US to be trained on nuclear technicalities and intelligence skills. Later, he got appointed in Kanup Karachi as an engineer. It was in 1979 when he was launched back by the CIA with a mission to penetrate into the country’s nuclear network with two clear objectives. Firstly, to provide them (CIA) information about the nuclear programme’s development, security and protection measures for the nuclear installations and identification of nuclear scientists working on sensitive assignments. Secondly, he was assigned to create an opportunity, when given signal, for a technical sabotage of certain nuclear installations. Imtiaz said that Rafiq Munshi was provided substantial financial aid and was made to operate in close coordination with a few special CIA operators, who were undercover agents and working under diplomatic cover in the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulate in Karachi. Imtiaz said during those days he was posted in Karachi as a Lt-Colonel and the ISI chief in Sindh. After getting the clue of the plot and personally monitoring it for several months, he disclosed, he conducted the operation ‘Rising Sun’. 


He said that the operation was conducted in a very secret manner and it was only between him and the then DG ISI Maj General Riaz Muhammad Khan as to what was going on against the countryís nuclear programme. “I fell impelled to pay greatest tributes to the then DG ISI Maj General Riaz Muhammad Khan, who not only encouraged me but also gave me complete authority to fearlessly conduct the operation,” Imtiaz said, adding that the operation that consumed 8-10 months finally ended up successfully with the arrest of Rafiq Munshi from Karachi while the undercover CIA agents were returned to Washington after being declared as personae non gratae. According to Imtiaz, he was later summoned by the then ruler General Ziaul Haq, whom he briefed on the operation ‘Rising Sun’ and its outcome. “After hearing all the details, General Ziaul Haq immediately went to another room to talk to the US president. And what I assessed from his body language as soon as he returned after making the telephone call was a clear message that Zia had lodged a forceful protest with the Americans over its plot against Pakistan’s nuclear programme.” Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz said that he was decorated with Sitar-i-Rasalat for foiling the CIA plot. However, he said, Rafique Munshi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was released during Benazir Bhutto’s first government and got closely associated with the Pakistan People’s Party. Talking about the second CIA plot targeting Pakistanís nuclear programme that he had successfully foiled, he said that he did it during his stint as DG Intelligence Bureau in Nawaz Sharifís first tenure and at a time when tension between the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and PM Nawaz Sharif was at its peak. Sharing the details of the plot, he said that he got a clue about an individual, who was in contact with an Islamabad-based ambassador of a European country, which was operating for the CIA as a third country. “I personally got in contact with the individual and made a concerted effort to motivate him to work in the national interest instead of becoming an agent of the countryís enemies.” Imtiaz said that he had succeeded in persuading the individual, who later agreed to work for Pakistan as a double agent and for the same reason, the ex-DG IB said, he was duty bound not to disclose his identity. The retired brigadier said that through briefing and debriefings of the same individual, who was nick-named as “Star”, he came to know about the details of the plot that was being hatched against Pakistan by the CIA. Imtiaz disclosed that “Star” was taken to the US where he had received instructions as how he was supposed to operate. Heavily financed, “Star” when came back told the IB chief in his debriefing that he was assigned multiple tasks but the topmost assignment was to find out complete details of the deficiency in the security system of Pakistanís nuclear programme, the exact location of strategic arsenals and the nature of their security arrangements and weaknesses. “Star”, he said, was also asked to create a favourable lobby in the corridors of power to seek policy decisions on the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspiration of Washington. Imtiaz said that “Star” was also asked to fuel regionalism with focus on the activation of the demand for the creation of a Seraiki province. In this regard, Imtiaz said, “Star” was to create an NGO based in Islamabad and having branches in Bahawalpur and Sindh. Imtiaz said that one more assignment given to “Star” by the CIA was to weaken the extreme emotional attachment of the common Pakistanis with Islamic values. He said that his interaction with “Star” continued and the latter was successfully working as a double agent for Pakistan till the dismissal of the Nawaz Sharif government, which also led to his immediate resignation. Imtiaz said that on the basis of his each and every interaction with “Star”, he used to make his hand written notes all of which were saved in the safe of the DG IB. Later, what happened to those notes, Brigadier Imtiaz does not know. He, however, said that “Star” later left Pakistan and got settled in a foreign country. “Star”, according to Imtiaz, had offered his cooperation on the condition that he would never be handed over to any other IB operator. REFERENCE: Brig Imtiaz reveals CIA plots Ansar Abbasi Tuesday, September 01, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24241&Cat=13&dt=9/1/2009 Hamid Gul: I am being demonized by Jews Author: Azhar Masood | Arab News Monday 27 July 2009 http://www.arabnews.com/node/326516



 2009: Only bean-spilling spooks can tell why By Zaffar Abbas 2009 ISLAMABAD, Aug 31 Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed, or others like him who served in the security services over the past three decades, may alone know the real reason for re-igniting the controversies regarding their role in the making and breaking of political parties, alliances and governments, and of institutionalising corruption in the country`s politics. It is unclear whether this was his intention but the retired brigadier, known as Imtiaz `Billa (the cat)` in the army circles of yesteryear, has done one great service to this nation. Through his confessions, which he proudly describes as `revelations`, he has revived memories of some of the worst transgressions of the law and violations of norms of decent conduct and human rights by the intelligence agencies. Particularly during the dreaded rule of the dictator Gen Ziaul Haq during the late `70s and early `80s. As these revelations jog one`s memory, one is propelled back in time to the period when Imtiaz Billa`s name had become synonymous with dirty, horrible, tactics in dealing with Zia`s political opponents. During this period, arrests, torture and even death in custody of political opponents dubbed Indian or Soviet agents, had become the order of the day. As the re-emergence of the debate takes some of us down the memory lane, an unforgettable reference comes to mind when `Imtiaz Billa` came to be known among the communist and other left-wing activists as `butcher`. Tasked by Gen Zia to eliminate anyone or everyone who had even tenuous links with the otherwise tiny communist movement, Billa and his men took upon themselves the task of hunting down those associated with groups viewed as pro-Soviet. Basking in the glory of having earned the support of the United States because of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, Gen Zia wanted to pursue his own agenda of Islamisation by neutralising all who may have represented socialist or secular ideals. Noted journalist Sohail Sangi, one such victim of the security services, recalls that in those days Imtiaz Billa was either posted in Karachi or, as an ISI colonel, was supervising the anti-communist operation in Karachi and elsewhere in Sindh province. It was during these days in August 1980 that a group of left-wing activists approached a few journalists at the press club in Karachi to seek their help in highlighting the news of death in custody of communist student leader Nazir Abbasi. Abbasi had died during torture as attempts were made to extract information from eight prominent members of the defunct Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP). The news had come out once his body was handed over to his relatives for burial, but the newspapers were unable to publish the reason for his death because of strict censorship. As Professor Jamal Naqvi, one of the arrested communist leaders, later mentioned in his testimony during the famous `Jam Saqi trial`, it was Nazir Abbasi`s death that saved the rest of the detainees from further torture, as they were soon shifted from a military interrogation cell to a Karachi prison. Even during the military trial the actual case that the intelligence agency had framed against Jam Saqi and his comrades was not about their involvement in promoting Soviet communism in the country but of working for the Indian intelligence to topple Gen Zia`s military regime. Prof Naqvi, Jam Saqi and also others like Sohail Sangi, Jabbar Khattak, Kamal Warsi and Shabbir Sher are around to testify to the horrors of that dark period. Then there were many other cases against nationalist leaders like Rasul Bux Palijo or communist activists like lmdad Chandio and scores of others that were all fabricated so that those charged could be kept away from mainstream politics.

 Hijacking case

 The ISI`s political cell under Gen Zia had acquired a much bigger role with the hijacking of a PIA plane by the so-called Al Zulfiqar in 1981. This incident gave a new lease of life to Gen Zia, as he used it to his advantage to allow the intelligence to round up thousands of political activists in the country – perhaps the biggest crackdown since the mass arrest of political activists to coincide with Mr Bhutto`s hanging. Also, Brig Imtiaz Billa is once again trying to make a big thing of the so-called conspiracy hatched by Ghulam Mustafa Khar to topple Gen Zia`s regime. At one point, noted lawyer and activist Raza Kazim was also implicated in the case, and so were a number of junior officers. In this case too they were accused of having links with RAW. None of them ever denied having worked to remove Gen Zia, but for `Billa` and others the easiest thing was to link them to India to justify their military trial.

 `American agent`

 Perhaps the most bizarre of such incidents was the arrest of a trade union leader in Karachi, Rafiq Safi Munshi on the charge of being an American agent. A few months ago Imtiaz Billa `disclosed` in a newspaper interview how he trapped an `American agent` who was passing on nuclear secrets in Karachi to his `handlers` at the US consulate. Many may differ with the Rafiq Safi`s style of politics, but the fact is that he was associated with the PPP, and was a prominent leader of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation`s (KESC) trade Union, and was not working at Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kannup) as the retired brigadier had portrayed. Even otherwise, what has Kannup plant got to do with Pakistan`s nuclear weapons programme? But in the martial law period the arrest of any opponent of the military junta was justified, and branding them as Indian or Soviet, or in one case, even American, agent kosher.

 Special courts

 What helped the junta more was a blanket news censorship and holding of trial in summary and special military courts, whose verdicts were often written before the start of the case proceedings. It will be quite interesting to find out that in many cases the only crime of such left-wing activists, including many professors of Quaid-i-Azam University, was secretly publishing anti-Zia literature. The role of the military intelligence services in former East Pakistan is often described as the worst as in those days hundreds disappeared and popular opinion was suppressed by arresting and trying Awami League leaders as foreign agents. But a close study of Gen Zia`s days, and the powers that were given to people like `Billa`, or the entire ISI under first Generals Ghulam Jilani and then Akhtar Abdur Rehman and finally Lt-Gen Hameed Gul, may show how blatantly they violated the law and human rights.

 Probe commission

 Now that Brig (retd) Imtiaz has himself decided to spill the beans, perhaps, as many believe, to defame a few more politicians, there are some quarters who argue that democracy will be served better if the politicians collectively demand a high-powered commission to probe into the role of the intelligence services in the country`s politics, particularly during the days of Gen Ziaul Haq and beyond. Politicians may or may not have taken money from the ISI or Intelligence Bureau. But if a former ISI chief, Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, accepts he distributed money among a large number of politicians, and if Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Gul boasts of forming an anti-Benazir Bhutto opposition alliance, or if Brig (retd) Imtiaz goes on television to accuse Ghulam Mustafa Khar of taking Rs5 million for his election campaign, then there are enough grounds to initiate proceedings against them and others for subverting the democratic process in the country. Perhaps, the best person to head the commission would be Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, as he is the one who had approached the Supreme Court to expose the role of the ISI in the country`s politics. And if the present Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani is to be believed about having disbanded ISI`s political wing, it will be fair to assume he will have no objection in a public discussion about the intelligence agencies` dubious political role in the past. At a time when the military is battling forces of religious extremism and militancy, the irony won`t be lost on the leadership that under a different regime it was their own colleagues who tried to crush those representing more tolerant political thought. REFERENCE: Only bean-spilling spooks can tell why By Zaffar Abbas 2009 http://archives.dawn.com/archives/37099

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Benazir Bhutto: A Threat to National Security.


Benazir’s loyalty to country was doubtful: Ex-MI official October 21, 2012 ISLAMABAD - The decision to block Benazir Bhutto’s return to power after the dismissal of her government in 1990 had been taken by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan who regarded her as ‘not loyal’ to the country because of the information he had received from intelligence and other sources, says a former head of the Sindh chapter of the Military Intelligence, who had distributed funds to the Sindhi politicians under instructions from his then boss. Brig Hamid Saeed, in an interview to Matiullah Jan of Waqt News on Saturday evening, said then president had received information from the MI, the ISI and several other sources. The brigadier said in the light of information he was conveying from Sindh to his boss, he would endorse the decision taken against Benazir Bhutto. The brigadier had also submitted his statement to the Supreme Court but it had not made part of it public on the pretext that the information was ‘classified’. The brigadier said he had declassified the report, but the court still preferred not to make it public. Asked why Benazir Bhutto was regarded as a security threat, Brig Hamid Saeed said she was opposed to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and had also appointed al-Zulfikar terrorists in state institutions like PIA, Railways and Customs. He also recalled that the army had brought Benazir Bhutto to power, but she urged it not to cross the ‘red line’ on nuclear programme. He said there was also more evidence against Benazir, because of which it was decided at the highest level that her further stay in power was not in the country’s interest. Corruption and violation of the Constitution were some other factors which were a consideration for the decision, he said. REFERENCE: Benazir’s loyalty to country was doubtful: Ex-MI official October 21, 2012 http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/21-Oct-2012/benazir-s-loyalty-to-country-was-doubtful-ex-mi-official 

TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 1


TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 1 by SalimJanMazari


2004:  Pakistan lays down the agenda for the US By Seema Sirohi Dec 25, 2004  Meanwhile, what surprised some was Karamat's dismissive tone about the A Q Khan affair, which he labeled a "proliferation episode" while denying any government complicity in it. "There was no government sanction, approval, or any kind of government connection with what went on," he said flatly. But Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, in his 11-page confession reported in the US press in February, named Karamat, former chief of army staff General (retired) Mirza Aslam Beg and President General Pervez Musharraf as the men on top who were aware of what was going on. As the chief of army staff from 1996-98, Karamat was directly responsible for the safety and security of the nuclear program. But Karamat declined to elaborate how something so big could happen on his watch, saying that too much had already been written about the Khan affair. Karamat's main objective in the speech appeared to be to move the debate in Washington from Pakistan's past to Pakistan's future and Washington's commitment. He said Pakistanis are worried that they will never be let off the hook, because the past is always being dredged up to color policy. REFERENCE: South Asia Pakistan lays down the agenda for the US By Seema Sirohi Dec 25, 2004 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FL25Df01.html


TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 2



TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 2 by SalimJanMazari



NOTE: On August 9, 1990, another one of the country’s short-lived experiments with democracy came to an end. While “The Empire Strikes Back” published in the August 1990 issue of the Herald describes the events that took place on the day of Benazir Bhutto’s ouster, “The Invisible War (See Herald Monthly Issue of January 2008, page 87), printed in the same issue, provides an analysis of the factors that led to the sacking of her government. [Courtesy Monthly Herald Pakistan January 2008, page 84-85-86] The Invisible War by Abbas Nasir [Monthly Herald January 2008] 


Was there a covert war raging between a sophisticated intelligence agency and the PPP government? And did the crisis in the Gulf have anything to do with Ms Bhutto’s ouster from office? After the dust begins to settle over the dissolution of the assemblies, it becomes clear that Benazir Bhutto’s ouster was directly linked to the fact that the army’s patience with her government had run out. Differences between the two had fuelled much media speculations for the entire duration of the PPP’s 20 month tenure. Issues as diverse as Sindh, Kashmir, postings, corruption, and Afghanistan had caused much tension between the ruling party and the military establishment. But the differences were more deep-rooted than a mere disagreement on some issues. It was clear, from the very outset, that the army had very reluctantly allowed Ms Bhutto to take office, and motivated every move and mistake she made during her 20 – Month Rule. 

The distrust between the Prime Minister and the army has never been too far below the surface and dates back to the period when Ms Bhutto’s father, the executed Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was in power. According to one analyst, “The defence establishment would have never allowed Benazir to come to power, had it not been for the pressure exerted by the US. Reluctantly, the army bowed to this pressure – probably because Washington controlled its purse strings” The attitude of the military towards the PPP and its leader was clearly evident during the run-up to the elections in 1988. One unreported incident from that period perfectly reflects this deep distrust. Knowledgeable sources maintain that a high official of the intelligence set-up came to Karachi just before polls, and convened a meeting of all the candidates contesting from the Lyari constituency, where Ms Bhutto was a candidate. “We can beat her if all of you agree to withdraw and put-up a single candidate against her, “he was quoted as suggesting to them. But such was the foresight of this hotshot that not only did most of the candidates not agree to withdraw, but the PPP leader subsequently won from the area with a margin of votes that six times that of the votes won by all her opponents put together. Another official of the same agency has been credited with the formation of IJI and sources say, he was largely responsible for masterminding the anti-PPP campaign in Punjab, which was to work with devastating effect both before and after elections.

However, on coming to power, Ms Bhutto secured one of the few concessions from the military establishment when she successfully pushed for the removal from the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate of its then Director General Major General Hamid Gul and his Assistant Director General (Internal Security) Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmad. But the removal of Hamid Gul had sting in its tail. Ms Bhutto was not chastened by the fact that the military had forced her to allow the promotion of the ISI strongman, or his posting to the strategically important corps in Multan. Following the appointment as DG of a Benazir nominee, Lt. General (Retd) Shamsur Rehman Kallue, the powers of the Political Cell of the ISI, working in the guise of the Internal Security (IS), were drastically curtailed. However a serving Major General, Khalid Latif Mughal was posted to run the Afghanistan and Kashmir policies. Mughal, formally, and Hamid Gul informally, continued to have a major say in both these spheres. While the Prime Minister was willing, perhaps, to allow the army a free hand in handling the Afghanistan and Kashmir policies as a price to keep herself in power, her government appeared to have relaxed because the army’s earlier meddling in domestic politics through the ISI had been curtailed. But a couple of transfers and postings were hardly enough to ensure a pliant military high command. And a determined army was hardly something that the inept Benazir Administration could tame quite easily. Although the political cell at the ISI was closed down, the army launched a two-pronged offensive primarily through the media, which to the credit of the PPP government, remained free all through the party’s short, but eventful, tenure in office. 

While on one hand, Brigadier Riazullah, an articulate and charming officer, moved into the barracks outside the GHQ which houses the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, another officer, known for his competence and pleasant demeanor, occupied an office inside the walls of the GHQ. This was the Director General of the Military Intelligence, Major General Asad Durrani. Brigadier Riazullah’s task was to execute General Aslam Beg’s policy of “glasnost” – to wash from the minds of the public, through the media, the negative image of the armed forces had acquired, following the more than a decade long period of Martial Law. The new face of the army was much in evidence when it launched its biggest ever maneuvers – Zarb-e-Momin – in the winter of 1989-90. As a result of an unprecedented media blitz, the “professional soldier” image that the army was beaming out began to sink into public mind slowly but, surely. Side by side with the rehabilitation of its image, the army (with ammunition provided by the antics of the PPP government itself) set about destroying the populist aura of the PPP and succeeded in making corruption the most talked about subject in the country. The army was aided in this endeavor, of course, by the blundering Johnny-come- latelies who came to represent the public face of the PPP. It is clear that a great deal of homework was done, in gathering as well as fabricating evidence against prominent PPP members and the Prime Minister’s husband. Mush of this information and disinformation was handed over mainly to the right-wing journalists belonging to some key papers and periodicals, who saw themselves as the natural allies of the army, having enjoyed close ties with the Zia Regime. At least three people were assigned to feed corruption stories to the foreign media. The DG, MI also adopted an increasingly high-profile role. Although traditionally the DG, MI is hardly someone, given the sensitivity of his assignment, to come before newsmen, the balding Durrani is understood to have personally briefed more than one journalist about the lack of sincerity on the part of the PPP in handling the Sindh situation. This same officer reportedly maintained contact with dissident PPP members of parliament and dictated strategy to them. Similarly, in Karachi, where the MI had grown to many hundreds-strong since the early 80s, Brigadier Jamil and a couple of other officers personally briefed a select band of newsmen time and again, offering them “evidence” of corrupt and criminal activities of the government. While in Hyderabad these stories were leaked by a Colonel Ayub, in Lahore the main channel of contact with the media was a top aide to fromer Chief Minister, Nawaz Sharif, who coordinated closely with a group of Pro-Estbalishment Right Wing Journalists planted in different papers and periodicals. And this was not all. There was something more deep-rooted going on, as an interview with at least one Corps Commander revealed. The gentleman insisted on blaming a PPP minister for planting stories against him although this was not the case as independent investigations subsequently revealed. To this day, however, it is not clear who was briefing the Corps Commander on the “enemy-like” attitude of PPP ministers. The urgency of the army’s desire to see Benazir removed is clear from an article by a journalist, reputed to have very close ties with the army bosses. The report, published soon after the fall of the Bhutto government, alleged that while Ms Bhutto was an opposition leader, her mail used to leave the country courtesy the diplomatic pouch of the Indian mission. The journalist proceeded, without naming sources, to question the patriotism of the elected prime minister. But despite this deep rooted prejudice, the army tolerated Benazir Bhutto for 20 months. What then was the catalyst to her being pushed out of the office in a “constitutional coup”? Knowledgeable quarters point towards two factors that may have served as the proverbial straw that broke the Camel’s back. The first of these was the Alam Jan Mehsud incident. Lt General Mahsud, the Corps Commander at Lahore enjoyed the reputation of being a top class professional soldier. His excellent strategy during the course of Zarb-e-Momin, defence experts say, earned him the reputation of “Pakistan’s Rommel”. The Prime Minister reportedly conveyed her desire to the GHQ to grant Mahsud an extension, and post him as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff – an act that military establishment viewed as direct interference in the army affairs. What they suspected was that Ms. Bhutto was placing a well known dove in a strategic position as a potential successor to the present COAS. 

The army’s response was swift. A replacement, Lt General Ashraf, was rushed to Lahore and, the day after, Mahsud’s photograph was carried by various newspapers, receiving the Corps Shield as a farewell gift. Within days, Mahsud had left for a month long holiday to the tribal areas Waziristan, to spend time in his home village. Knowledgeable quarters say it was in the wake of the Mahsud incident, that a Corps Commander tried to convey to the government that the army was planning to move against it. He reportedly said that the military leadership complained to the President that Ms Bhutto was attempting to foment “divisions” in the rank of the army. The army, which has prided itself on its discipline and the unity in its ranks even during the imposition of Martial Law, couldn’t possibly be expected to tolerate what it perceived to be an attempt to divide it. The other important factor that could have acted as a catalyst was the tilt in the balance of relations between the Pakistan Army and the US administration. Ironically, Ms Bhutto has alwayslooked towards the US as a staunch ally. While it is true that the US administration had much to do with the restoration of democracy in Pakistan – as well as the nomination of Ms. Bhutto as prime minister after her party emerged as the largest single party in the elections – it is equally true her party emerged as the largest single party in the elections – it is equally true that the US strategic interest vis a vis Gulf, are far more crucial to it then romantic notions of third world democracy. Well informed sources in Islamabad say that on a number of occasions in the past, Washington had told the army that any attempt to brush aside democracy would be met with a stiff reaction, including a cut off in aid – particularly now that the Soviets had vacated Afghanistan. Given Pakistan’s tension with India, the defence establishment was hardly likely to jeopardize relations with its key hardware supplier. However, with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the threat of an onward march into Saudi Arabia, the US apparently needed the support of the Pakistan Army. In fact, US Ambassador Robert Oakley told a meeting at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, just two days after Benazir’s ouster, that Saudi Arabia had requested troops from Pakistan. Although the once again retained Foreign Minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, as well as an army spokesman, denied having received any such request, the US envoy has neither retracted nor clarified his earlier statement. 

Although there has been no report yet of Pakistani troops being sent to Saudi Arabia, eyewitnesses say that they recently saw at least a couple of giant US Air force transport (C-141) aircraft taking off from a Pakistan Air Force Base. To further confirm American acquiescence in recent events in Pakistan, there was highly significant meeting between the three services chiefs, Bob Oakley and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman of the latter’s headquarters in Chaklala, Rawalpindi. This meeting took place on the weekend preceding the dissolution of the assemblies. In it, sources say, the issue was discussed threadbare, after which admiral Sirohey quietly left for Multan on a routine inspection tour. The State Department’s quick reaction is hardly attributable to any efficiency at Foggy Bottom. It is clear that prior information was available to them – the denial to the contrary of a USIS official in Islamabad notwithstanding. One thing, however, is clear. The haze of disinformation is still as thick as any fog. But keeping in view the well-oiled machinery that the army has at its disposal, its main political rival, the PPP appears to have been knocked out and has little chance of staging a quick or easy comeback. But whether the army comes out in the open or prefers operate through remote control, only the course of events in the next few months will tell. [Courtesy Monthly Herald Pakistan January 2008, page 87-88-89]


TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 3



TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 3 by SalimJanMazari



The Empire Strikes Back by Abbas Nasir [Monthly Herald January 2008] August 6, 1655 hours… a group of army officers-whose men have already thrown a ring around the Prime Minister’s Secretariat – enter the multistory white building and advise all the staff to leave and not to return until further orders… A similar scene is being enacted at most other key buildings and installations in Islamabad as battle ready troops jump out of their gun-mounted trucks to surround the radio and television stations, the Directorate of Intelligence Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency, important ministries and, of course, the erstwhile Sindh House – the official residence of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Jawans and officers of the FF Regiment, and contingents from a battalion of the Special Services Group take up positions near the parliament building as the president prepares to address a press conference that has just been announced. The high-profile army presence in the Federal Capital leaves a little doubt in any mind that President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s announcement has the solid backing of the country’s powerful defence forces.. By this time, everybody in Islamabad, with the exception, perhaps, of the Pakistan’s People’s Party government has a fair idea of what is happening. The turbulent 20-month honeymoon between PPP and the establishment is all but over. A little after five, the President administers the last rites at a press conference at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. The Empire – which allowed the PPP to take office following polls in November 1988 – has finally decided to strike back. After reading from a lengthy charge sheet, President Ishaq quotes a number of constitutional clauses and then announces the dissolution of the national assembly and the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto’s government. Unlike the speech of the late General Ziaul Haq on May 29 1988 – in which he announced the dismissal of Junejo’s Government – Ishaq steps doesn’t surprise anyone. The action comes on the heels of a multitude of corruption scandals, the government’s abject failure in arresting the Sindh situation, reports of serious differences with the army, as well as acrimonious confrontation between the Centre and the Provinces of Punjab and Balochistan. Shortly afterwards, the nominated Caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustaf Jatoi takes oath of office, fulfilling a long-standing ambition, and four ministers are sworn in simultaneously. There are two surprise inclusions in the cabinet – Rafi Raza, a man known in the past primarily as an aide to Zoulfikar Ali Bhutto, and for his strong US Connections. Raza has returned following a long absence in the political wilderness. The second surprise is the inclusion of the controversial Ghulam Mustafa Khar, on whom the establishment is reported to have a stack of files as high as the Margalla Hills. The two other ministers – Illahi Bux Soomro, who was a minister in the Martial Law period but was pushed out into the cold after having lost in the 1988 elections, Senator Sartaj Aziz, also a minister in the Zia period – are both known Zia loyalists. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg, comes out with the quote of the moment when mobbed by journalists following the oath taking ceremony. “We are not involved in politics. 

We have never been involved in politics. We will never be involved in politics.” Within a matter of hours, Sindh Governor Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim refuses Ishaq’s request to dissolve the provincial assembly and is replaced by Mahmoud A. Haroon , former interior minister in General Zia’s Martial Law government, who then signs the dissolution order. Jam Sadiq Ali, until days earlier a staunch Benazir Bhutto supporter, is sworn in as caretaker chief minister of the troubled province. Frontier Governor, Amir Gulistan Janjua, meanwhile sends the Sherpao government and the legislature packing, and Mir Afzal Khan, an industrial tycoon and a former Z.A. Bhutto government minister, takes over as the caretaker chief executive. For the opposition-led provincial governments, a more dignified and, perhaps cosmetic exit if facilitated. In the Punjab, Mian Nawaz Sharif is not sacked and give time to advise dissolution to the new governor, Mian Muhammad Azhar, the Lahore mayor and a close relative of the Punjab strongman himself, who replaces General (Retired) Tikka Khan. Meanwhile a close associate of Nawaz Sharif, Ghulam Haider Wyne, takes oath of office as caretaker Chief Minister of the most populous province of the country. Mir Humayun Khan Marri, the son-in-law of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti replaces him as Chief Minister after the latter sends advice to the Governor, General (Retired) Muhammad Musa, to dissolve the Balochistan assembly. Meanwhile, in the Federal Capital itself, correspondents who rush to file their dispatches, find all telex, fax and international dialing lines out of order. The lines are not restored till 2230 hours. In effect, Islamabad is cut off from the rest of the world until the new order is safely put into place. Benazir Bhutto gives her reaction at a press conference at 1930 hours. She says she has been ousted in a “Constitutional Coup”, but informs journalist that President Ishaq’s hand was forced. Asked who forced the president to dismiss her government, she responds, “I leave that to your imagination.” After the press conference, a PTV crew that has covered the vent, hands over the video to an army officer at the gate of Sindh House. Inside Sindh House itself, the STD lines are cut off and restored about seven times and the T&T authorities inform an aide to Ms. Bhutto that they are only following orders. As the just-ousted Prime Minister sits down to dinner, some party people, mainly former ministers, drop in. She picks up the phone, tells her ADC to send in more food, then laughs at his response and puts the phone down. Benazir Bhutto turns round and apologizes to her guests for not being able to lay out a proper dinner for them. The kitchen staff – as well as the crockery – have been summoned out of Sindh House. Even the next day, lunch is eaten out of boxes ordered from a caterer. While the troops clear out of Sindh House and the TV and Radio Stations the next morning, the PM Secretariat, as well as the DIB and FIA offices are visited by a steady stream of army men – some in plainclothes – for several more days. Hundreds of files are taken away from the premises, no doubt to reappear as a damning indictment of the fallen government. Meanwhile, Major (Retd.) Masud Sharif, the Joint Director of the IB, and later, six of his staffers, are reportedly arrested and taken to an unknown destination for interrogation. Two days after his nomination as Caretaker Prime Minister, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi addresses a press conference and lays a great deal of emphasis on the accountability of the previous government. The forthcoming elections, that are barely 77 days away, are played down somewhat, fuelling much speculation and reviving bitter memories of the past. The same day, in Karachi, Benazir Bhutto finally explodes at a press conference and charges that the Military Intelligence (MI) was responsible for her ouster. She goes to the extent of alleging that the draft of the President’s speech was prepared by the JAG (Judge Advocate General) branch of the Pakistan Army at the GHQ. Either naively, or reflecting her own political compulsions, she absolves the Chief of Army Staff and the Corps Commanders of any blame, thus distancing them from the MI and JAG Branch, and perhaps leaving the door ajar for any future compromises. Those in control now also seem to be in a hurry to acquire more and more bargaining chips. Significantly half a dozen persons reputed to be very close to Asif Zardari, are picked up in pre-dawn raids. As their interrogation begins, there are reports of deals and offer of immunity from prosecution. Events take a mysterious turn, as Begum Nusrat Bhutto leaves the country in a departure that is still unexplained. In the wake of the ouster of Benazir, numerous theories are being floated in the Federal Capital, with conspiracy theorists in hot demand. From deals between the PPP and the army, culminating in the exit of the Bhuttos from the Pakistani political scene, to a grand design by the army to completely discredit civilian politicians through appointments like those of caretaker set-up – all kinds of scenarios are being discussed and debated in Islamabad. Democracy in Pakistan, it is clear, has entered a critical new phase.



TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 4


 
TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 4 by SalimJanMazari


2008: Benazir’s killing result of global plot: ex-generals Sunday, January 13, 2008  ISLAMABAD: Former Army chief Mirza Aslam Beg on Saturday said that he had some solid information with him endorsing the reports that Benazir Bhutto became the victim of an international plot authored by the Americans. Talking to The News here on Saturday, Beg showed his reluctance to share this information with the media but offered himself to an independent commission comprising respected retired judges of the Supreme Court as demanded by the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM). The former Army chief said that the PPP former chairperson was assassinated for deviating from what the Americans wanted her to do. "I have a lot of information on the basis of which I conclude that Benazir Bhutto became the victim of a US conspiracy," the former chief of army staff said, adding that he would not appear before any commission made by the present regime or comprising judges of the existing superior judiciary. Beg said that Ms Bhutto had come to Pakistan, ending her self-exile in October 2007, with a clear US agenda but later distanced her from the same, which became the reason for her assassination. Beg said that he had with him the details like as to what had happened in the background, what the Americans wanted to achieve, how Benazir Bhutto became the stumbling block and whom did she contact. While the US embassy in Islamabad has already termed the reports connecting Washington to an international conspiracy behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination as "completely outrageous and unfounded", Beg is the second high profile retired general to have offered himself for testimony before an independent commission to endorse that the US is behind Benazir's killing. Former ISI Chief Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul has already offered him for testimony. Gul too insisted that Ms Bhutto was made a scapegoat by the international players conspiring against Pakistan. Gul, who was one of four persons nominated by Ms Bhutto in her October 2007 letter sent to the president in case she was killed, confirmed to this correspondent the other day that he got an indirect message from Ms Bhutto before her death in which the slain chairperson of PPP had conveyed to him that she was under pressure to include his name in this list. As reported by The News on Friday, similar indirect contacts were established by Benazir with Baitullah Mahsud and Dr A Q Khan. General Gul told this correspondent on Saturday that after consulting Benazir's messengers, he would make their names public. According to Gul, Ms Bhutto had changed the script of the influential world capitals and for this very crime she was assassinated. Lt General (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kayani, former deputy chief of ISI, who was amongst the then serving generals who had voiced their opposition to the post-9/11 Islamabad's war on terror policy, also shared the similar view that Benazir's killing was part of an international conspiracy executed with the active connivance of local players to create such a situation in Pakistan that suits those hell-bent to de-nuclearise the country. Among the retired generals, Lt Gen (retd) Talat Masood, at least, has a different view. Talking to The News on Saturday, Masood termed the reports about the international plot behind Benazir's killing as getting into "conspiracy syndrome" and said that unstable Pakistan did not suit the US or the world. "This is irrational approach," Masood said adding, "instead of getting into such things our emphasis should be on investigation." About those involving international players in Benazir's assassination, he said, "It is unbecoming on part of educated class to get involved into such conspiracies. REFERENCE: Benazir’s killing result of global plot: ex-generals Sunday, January 13, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=90960&Cat=6&dt=1/13/2008


TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 5



TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 5 by SalimJanMazari


Hamid Gul: I am being demonized by Jews Author: Azhar Masood | Arab News Monday 27 July 2009 ISLAMABAD: Former Chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul said the Jews have played a role in the campaign initiated by Brig. Imtiaz Billa to demonize him. Speaking over the current controversy that his outfit gave clearance to former military dictator Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to fly to Bahawalpur in Air Force One, Gul told Arab News during an exclusive interview in Rawalpindi Friday that Billa is working with “my foes, who are indirectly the Jews” to blame him for the 1988 crash of Zia-ul-Haq’s plane, which also clamed the lives of US Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold L. Raphel and Brig. Gen. Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group at the US Embassy in Islamabad. Billa had spoken recently on TV implying that Gul played a role in the crash. “Musharraf placed me under house arrest,” said Gul. “Now my foes have selected Imtiaz to carry on my character assassination . . . It’s total rubbish that I cleared the flight of Air Force One. The PAF has its own complete intelligence which deals with the matter.” He also rejected claims that he played a role in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto or that he’s a Taleban operative. REFERENCE: Hamid Gul: I am being demonized by Jews Author: Azhar Masood | Arab News Monday 27 July 2009 http://www.arabnews.com/node/326516


TalkBack with Wajahat Khan and Mirza Aslam Baig - 6



TalkBack with Wajahat Khan & Mirza Aslam Baig - 6 by SalimJanMazari


Pakistan's ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul's remarks Author: Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former chief of intelligence Brig. Imtiaz Ahmed (Ret.) has strongly rebuffed the allegations of being the CIA and Israeli agent, which was leveled by Hamid Gul in his interview with Arab News on Sunday. In a statement, Brig. Ahmed said that Hamid Gul is a “compulsive liar.” He alleged the statement made by Gul reflects his “intellectual and mental bankruptcy” and “innate shallowness.” “Those who know Gul inside out would bear me out, as they know that Gul is the embodiment of opportunism,” he added. “The history of my 17-year career in intelligence is testimony to the fact that I have always fought against the CIA, the Mossad, the RAW (India’s intelligence service), the KGB and other hostile intelligence outfits, at the risk to my life, to defend the sovereignty of my country.” Imtiaz vowed to uncover the misdeeds and dreadful professional failure of Gul in the near future. “Gul has forgotten that he begged for a higher position from many rulers including Pervez Musharraf in the past. I also remind Gul about his dirty role played in the past to create serious misgivings between the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Farooq Leghari, who was then the president.” REFERENCE: Pakistan's ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul's remarks Author: Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 http://www.arabnews.com/node/326561

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

PPP, Mehran Bank Scandal & Memory Loss


2002: We never learn from history By Ardeshir Cowasjee 21 July 2002: After lunch, Nawaz brought up the subject of how Aslam Beg early in 1991 had sought a meeting with him (then prime minister) to which he brought Major-General Asad Durrani, chief of the ISI. They told him that funds for vital on-going covert operations (not identified by Nawaz) were drying up, how they had a foolproof plan to generate money by dealing in drugs. They asked for his permission to associate themselves with the drug trade, assuring him of full secrecy and no chance of any trail leading back to them. Nawaz remarked that on hearing this he felt the roof had caved in on him. He told them he could have nothing to do with such a plan and refused to give his approval. The Washington Post had just broken Kamran's story and when I asked why it had not broken earlier, he told me how they check and recheck, and that in the meantime, he had been busy with the Mehrangate affair on which, between May and August, he had filed seven stories. We must again ask: was Nawaz capable of saying what he did? Yes. Did Kamran invent the whole thing? Not likely. Is The Washington Post a responsible paper with credibility? Yes. Everybody who is anyone in Washington reads it over breakfast. Has it ever made mistakes? Yes. What is so earth-shattering about using drugs to make money? Drugs have been trafficked and used for covert operations for ages, by warlords, statesmen, chieftans and generals, used to gain territory, to buy or to harm the enemy. Remember how the staid Victorians of the British empire used opium to China's detriment. Remember the Americans and how they traded drugs in Vietnam, and the Iran-Contra affair. Can we believe Aslam Beg? Judging by his behaviour and record, no. Are we expected to believe Asad Durrani, a clever professional spook? Of course not. REFERENCE: We never learn from history By Ardeshir Cowasjee 21 July 2002 Sunday 10 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1423 http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/20020721.htm

 Rigging Pakistan's Election DAWN News 6th Jan 2008 - 1

Rigging Pakistan's Election DAWN News 6th Jan... by SalimJanMazari


ISLAMABAD: Lauding the landmark Supreme Court judgment of declaring the 1990 elections as “rigged”, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday vowed to bring the culprits behind the conspiracy to justice, DawnNews reported. Speaking during a press conference in Islamabad, Ashraf declared the day of the ‘historic’ verdict as a “day of democratic triumph.” The Supreme Court, earlier today, ordered legal proceedings against a former head of intelligence and former army chief over allegations that politicians were bankrolled to stop the current ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from winning the 1990 election. It was a landmark ruling from the apex court 16 years after Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan filed a case, accusing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of doling out money to a group of politicians in the 1990s. Prime Minister Ashraf said the people who accepted money to rig the elections must apologize to the nation. “It will be up to the masses whether they want to forgive the culprits or not,” he added. The establishment had robbed the public mandate 22 years ago, said the premier. “History, by bringing the truth to surface, has dignified the PPP in front of the nation and has put some serious questions to the rivals,” he added. The PM vowed to get every penny of the nation back from the culprits by obeying the ruling of the apex court. The prime minister disregarded the impression that a ‘political cell’ was still operating from the Presidency. He vowed to conduct free and transparent probe into the matter and said the results will be made public. REFERENCE: Ashraf vows to bring culprits of rigging 1990 election to justice 19th October, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/10/19/ashraf-vows-to-bring-culprits-of-rigging-1990-election-to-justice/
Dawn News on Operation Midnight Jackal (2009) by SalimJanMazari






Who is behind the ‘get Nawaz’ campaign? Ansar Abbasi Wednesday, August 26, 2009: ISLAMABAD: The fact that Nawaz Sharif was once the establishment’s blue-eyed boy and that the creation of the IJI was the ISI’s work are well known and undeniable, but the general perception is that today he is being targeted to save Musharraf’s skin. It is premature to say who is behind this ‘get Nawaz’ campaign to deter him from seeking Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 of the Constitution. Though the immediate suspect for many is the invisible, military-led establishment, there are indications of involvement of some key government players in this blame-game. Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz, whose recent statements have created ripples and upset the PML-N and its chief, however, denied that he has been playing into the hands of the establishment or the government. He insists that he just had the urge to share with the nation past secrets, irrespective of who benefits and who is damaged politically because of his revelations. Talking to this correspondent, Brig Imtiaz said that he is not part of any plan to save Musharraf from trial. “Instead, I am a strong advocate of holding Musharraf accountable for his crimes against Pakistan,” the former ISI spy of ‘midnight jackals’ fame and ex-director general of the Intelligence Bureau said. Regarding the ‘midnight jackal’ operation, which was meant to manoeuvre a no-confidence against the Benazir Bhutto government, he said that he was once called by the then Army chief General Aslam Beg, who desired in-house change of the government arguing that the Army was facing problems from the government vis-a-vis the country’s nuclear programme and the Afghan policy. But the PML-N leader and party’s spokesman Pervez Rashid is confident that Brigadier Imtiaz is playing someone’s dirty game. Rashid said that Brig Imtiaz’s interviews and MQM Altaf Hussain’s statements are part of the strategy to malign Nawaz Sharif and prevent him from pursuing Musharraf’s trial. He said that there are many elements who fear that if Musharraf is tried for his unconstitutional actions, then they too would face the music for their part in the misdoings. So they have launched this anti-Nawaz campaign. He, however, expressed the resolve of his party to continue pressing for upholding the rule of law for which Musharraf’s trial is necesary. Imtiaz claims that he still has liking for Nawaz Sharif but it is not possible for him to withhold the truth anymore. He denied that he had approached different television channels for interview. He also denied that he has recently met Rehman Malik, the interior minister. But Dr Shahid Masood of Geo’s ‘Meray Mutabik’ told this correspondent that the Brigadier approached him for an appearance in his programme. Pervez Rashid endorsed Dr Shahid Masood’s view and said that Brigadier Imtiaz contacted different television channels, which in his view is a clear indication of a well thought out strategy to malign the PML-N top leader. Meanwhile, a London-based source confided to this correspondent that a key Pakistani diplomat from Washington recently visited London to meet Musharraf. It is believed that certain players in the government are in close liaison with the ousted dictator and want to defeat the bid to try Musharraf on high treason charges. The source said that a British national of Pakistani origin, who runs spices business in London, is financing pro-Musharraf campaign and is even organising Musharraf’s meetings with different media persons to oppose the demand for his trial. Recently he organised Musharraf’s meeting with some pro-Musharraf media anchorpersons at the residence of a Pakistani dentist there. REFERENCE: Who is behind the ‘get Nawaz’ campaign? Ansar Abbasi Wednesday, August 26, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24096&Cat=13&dt=8/26/2009





Establishment — the main target in current fiasco Ansar Abbasi Wednesday, September 02, 2009 : ISLAMABAD: No matter who has authored the script of the ongoing Brig Imtiaz tamasha, engulfing the political arena, the establishment that includes the military-led intelligence agencies and the Pakistan Army have emerged as the main villains, presumably as the authors of the fiasco wanted. Nawaz Sharif and his party are uncomfortable; demand for Musharraf’s trial has been sidetracked at least for the time being; the MQM gets into a position where it believes that its stand is vindicated but the Jinnahpur controversy also created an opportunity for its opponents for a much open criticism of the party and its policies; the issues like the scrapping of 17th Amendment have now become more complex with the two leading parties setting up for a political confrontation after the PML-N finds the Presidency behind the current smear campaign against its top leadership; however, President Asif Zardari is least affected by this recently started political wrangling. It rather has favoured him by temporarily silencing the guns that were targeting him and the government from all around for their alleged misrule, on charges of corruption, the sugar scandal and the reported ruining of the state institutions. The PML-N, which is badly hurt by the revelations about the alleged provision of Rs3.5 million to its party chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, is pointing its finger at the president to have been the architect of the get-Nawaz campaign. However, the Presidency has strongly refuted these charges but different presidential aides are issuing the kind of statements that apparently show the presidency is getting amused with the situation. However, what is interesting is the unanimity between all these warring political forces showing their abhorrence over the role of the establishment in country’s politics. But in a strange dichotomy except the PML-N, the other two major warring political forces — the PPP and the MQM — are not interested in proceeding against Gen (retd) Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution. As one scans through the debates that took place in different talk shows of various private television channels after the recent emergence of the Jinnahpur controversy, the establishment is found to be the target of all. The MQM, which had been the most trusted supporter of Gen Musharraf during his nine years rule, says that its Quaid Altaf Hussain is not returning to Pakistan because of the establishment. The PPP, too, said that the military operators and intelligences agencies have not been adhering to the command of the civilian governments whereas the PML-N is of the view that it has repeatedly found the establishment and Army chiefs overstretching their mandate. While appearing as a guest in one of the talk shows, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said it has been a harsh reality in Pakistan that policy decisions on some specific security and international issues have not been taken with the consultation or consent of the civilian government. He quoted the Kargil issue as one example and urged upon the need of rationalising the power structure in such a manner that no step could be taken against the wishes of the democratic government. He said the PML-N differed with former Army chief Gen (retd) Aslam Beg after he issued a statement on the Gulf war that did not match the government’s policy. He said similarly Gen (retd) Asif Nawaz exceeded from the mandate he was given before launching the military operation against criminals, dacoits and anti-social elements in Sindh in 1992. Another Army Chief Gen (retd) Jehangir Karamat, he said, was removed because of his statement on the setting up of National Security Council. He said the PML-N government differed with Gen (retd) Musharraf on the Kargil issue. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif was of the view that the military-led intelligence agencies have been extremely powerful and instrumental in the making and breaking of the government. On the issue of the military operation in Karachi and the target killings there, Khwaja Asif said the agencies were mainly responsible for that. He said in both the 1992-93 and 1995-96 operations in Karachi, these were the military intelligence agencies that had played the important role. Interestingly, it was Khwaja Asif, who admitted that had the agencies not been so powerful MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain would have now been in Pakistan. 

Khwaja Asif said Altaf Hussain’s apprehensions towards the intelligences agencies, are barring him to come back and lead his party, which according to the N-leader would serve the political culture better. Khwaja Asif also pointed out that the present situation in the tribal areas, Balochistan, Northern Areas and in Southern Punjab is also the outcome of what the agencies did during the last 20-22 years. The PML-N leaders have been distancing itself from the 1992 military operation against the MQM and insisted that it was the Army which had overstepped. In return, the MQM leaders, too, were mainly complaining to the PML-N and its leader Nawaz Sharif over his silence and the failure to stop the 1992 military operation against the MQM. MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi endorsed Khwaja’s views and said Hakim Saeed was killed by the agencies but the MQM was blamed for his murder. He lamented that the MQM workers were killed in an extra-judicial manner; military courts were created to try Muttahida workers, who were punished illegally and in violation of the Constitution through summary trials by these courts. Rizvi said in the 1992 operation what he called the Haqiqi terrorists were riding in military jeeps during the Army’s operation against the MQM. “It was all planted,” he said, and lamented the then-prime minister could not do anything to stop the operation. Wasim Akhtar, another MQM leader, said in one the private channel that it’s a pity that the largest political parties of the country are today still dependent on Army and America. Dr Nadeem Ahsan of the MQM said MQM workers do not want Altaf Hussain to come back. He said the MQM Chief’s life is facing threats from the enemies of Pakistan. When asked to name these enemies, he pointed to both internal and external forces. When further probed, Dr Nadeem Ahsan initially named the Taliban and later said, “There are some other forces too. You can also name establishment.” When asked if the MQM fears from the establishment, he said, “Yes”. PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, too, in a talkshow talked of the political influence of the ISI which, according to her, grew after the agencies exposure in the Afghan war against former Soviet Union. Wahab, who is generally considered as her master’s (President) voice, said during the Afghan war the ISI became very resourceful and developed new technologies, which the agencies has to use somewhere to prove its worth. Referring to the history and also finding it true in the present day Pakistan, she said one thing is clear that in Pakistan democracy never got strengthened and the civilian authority has never been maintained. She said in her view there does not exist any central authority. Fauzia Wahab also added the 1992 operation is the reflection of the fact that the military operators at that time were not ready to concede the supremacy of the civilian leadership. She, however, believed the military interventions can’t be stopped by hanging a dictator but by improving the performance of parliament and through the vision and greater assertion of the political leadership. Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan, another PPP leader, blamed the establishment for the PPP government’s “mistake” to launch operation in Karachi against the MQM in 1995-96. REFERENCE: Establishment — the main target in current fiasco Ansar Abbasi Wednesday, September 02, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24254&Cat=13&dt=9%2F2%2F2009



Brig Imtiaz reveals CIA plots Ansar Abbasi Tuesday, September 01, 2009 : ISLAMABAD: Former spymaster Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Ahmad, whose recent statements caused ripples in the country’s political arena, now talks of a much serious issue ñ Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He claims to have foiled two American CIA plots to sabotage the country’s nuclear programme. While serving for the ISI, he recalled, he had conducted the operation ‘Rising Sun’ in 1979 that successfully thwarted a CIA plot to target Pakistanís nuclear programme. The operation concluded with the arrest and conviction of a Pakistani CIA agent, declaration of a few undercover CIA agents and US diplomats as personae non gratae and their return. In the second case, Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz said, he, as the Intelligence Bureau chief, had discovered another CIA plot being operated through a third country mainly to hit the countryís nuclear programme. Talking to The News here on Monday, Brigadier Imtiaz said that in the late 70s, the CIA spotted one Rafiq Munshi, a graduate of Karachi University, and took him to the US to be trained on nuclear technicalities and intelligence skills. Later, he got appointed in Kanup Karachi as an engineer. It was in 1979 when he was launched back by the CIA with a mission to penetrate into the country’s nuclear network with two clear objectives. Firstly, to provide them (CIA) information about the nuclear programme’s development, security and protection measures for the nuclear installations and identification of nuclear scientists working on sensitive assignments. Secondly, he was assigned to create an opportunity, when given signal, for a technical sabotage of certain nuclear installations. Imtiaz said that Rafiq Munshi was provided substantial financial aid and was made to operate in close coordination with a few special CIA operators, who were undercover agents and working under diplomatic cover in the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulate in Karachi. Imtiaz said during those days he was posted in Karachi as a Lt-Colonel and the ISI chief in Sindh. 


After getting the clue of the plot and personally monitoring it for several months, he disclosed, he conducted the operation ‘Rising Sun’. He said that the operation was conducted in a very secret manner and it was only between him and the then DG ISI Maj General Riaz Muhammad Khan as to what was going on against the countryís nuclear programme. “I fell impelled to pay greatest tributes to the then DG ISI Maj General Riaz Muhammad Khan, who not only encouraged me but also gave me complete authority to fearlessly conduct the operation,” Imtiaz said, adding that the operation that consumed 8-10 months finally ended up successfully with the arrest of Rafiq Munshi from Karachi while the undercover CIA agents were returned to Washington after being declared as personae non gratae. According to Imtiaz, he was later summoned by the then ruler General Ziaul Haq, whom he briefed on the operation ‘Rising Sun’ and its outcome. “After hearing all the details, General Ziaul Haq immediately went to another room to talk to the US president. And what I assessed from his body language as soon as he returned after making the telephone call was a clear message that Zia had lodged a forceful protest with the Americans over its plot against Pakistan’s nuclear programme.” Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz said that he was decorated with Sitar-i-Rasalat for foiling the CIA plot. However, he said, Rafique Munshi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was released during Benazir Bhutto’s first government and got closely associated with the Pakistan People’s Party. Talking about the second CIA plot targeting Pakistanís nuclear programme that he had successfully foiled, he said that he did it during his stint as DG Intelligence Bureau in Nawaz Sharifís first tenure and at a time when tension between the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and PM Nawaz Sharif was at its peak. Sharing the details of the plot, he said that he got a clue about an individual, who was in contact with an Islamabad-based ambassador of a European country, which was operating for the CIA as a third country. “I personally got in contact with the individual and made a concerted effort to motivate him to work in the national interest instead of becoming an agent of the countryís enemies.” Imtiaz said that he had succeeded in persuading the individual, who later agreed to work for Pakistan as a double agent and for the same reason, the ex-DG IB said, he was duty bound not to disclose his identity. The retired brigadier said that through briefing and debriefings of the same individual, who was nick-named as “Star”, he came to know about the details of the plot that was being hatched against Pakistan by the CIA. Imtiaz disclosed that “Star” was taken to the US where he had received instructions as how he was supposed to operate. Heavily financed, “Star” when came back told the IB chief in his debriefing that he was assigned multiple tasks but the topmost assignment was to find out complete details of the deficiency in the security system of Pakistanís nuclear programme, the exact location of strategic arsenals and the nature of their security arrangements and weaknesses. “Star”, he said, was also asked to create a favourable lobby in the corridors of power to seek policy decisions on the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspiration of Washington. Imtiaz said that “Star” was also asked to fuel regionalism with focus on the activation of the demand for the creation of a Seraiki province. In this regard, Imtiaz said, “Star” was to create an NGO based in Islamabad and having branches in Bahawalpur and Sindh. Imtiaz said that one more assignment given to “Star” by the CIA was to weaken the extreme emotional attachment of the common Pakistanis with Islamic values. He said that his interaction with “Star” continued and the latter was successfully working as a double agent for Pakistan till the dismissal of the Nawaz Sharif government, which also led to his immediate resignation. Imtiaz said that on the basis of his each and every interaction with “Star”, he used to make his hand written notes all of which were saved in the safe of the DG IB. Later, what happened to those notes, Brigadier Imtiaz does not know. He, however, said that “Star” later left Pakistan and got settled in a foreign country. “Star”, according to Imtiaz, had offered his cooperation on the condition that he would never be handed over to any other IB operator. REFERENCE: Brig Imtiaz reveals CIA plots Ansar Abbasi Tuesday, September 01, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24241&Cat=13&dt=9/1/2009



PPP never fail to mention Mehran Bank Scandal and IJI BUT Benazir Bhutto - PPP had also used Filthy and Blood riddled Money of Mehran Bank to topple the then PML-N Government of Pir Sabir Shah through PPP leader Major (Rted) Aftab Sherpao (later became Musharraf Loyalist) 

 1994 - However, the PPP was able to form its government in the Sindh province only, where it had an absolute majority. In the Punjab, the PPP was forced to align with the Pakistan Muslim League (Junejo Group) to form a government, in which the leader of the minor coalition party, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, (leading only 16 MPAs out of 240) was the Chief Minister. In Baluchistan, Nawab Zulfikar Ali Magsi formed a coalition government since no political party got majority seats. In the North West Frontier Province, Pir Sabir Shah of the PML/N, with the support of the Awami National Party, formed a coalition government. In a bid to get hold of the provincial governments, the center first successfully tried to topple the government of Sabir Shah in the NWFP through political maneuvering and horse-trading. Eqbal Ahmed gives a graphic account of the overthrow of the NWFP government through undemocratic means on February 27, 1994: "Independent MPAs -- popularly known as Lotas -- were being kept sequestered in Islamabad's WAPDA House by the party in power. They had defected from the NWFP coalition obviously in return for the greater favors from those in power at the Center. Other MPAs from NWFP in the federal government's hands were also held in the capital. When the day arrived for them to drag democracy into the filth of their ambitions, the government ferried them from Islamabad to Peshawar in three helicopters, reportedly belonging to the Cabinet Division. The Federal Minister of Interior received them at Peshawar's Army Stadium. They were guarded and escorted by hundreds of battle-ready soldiers. Later, when Day One's dismal business was done, they were flown back to Islamabad away from their home province and their constituencies.[28] One and a half year later, in September 1995, the Central government decided to replace Wattoo with a PPP man but despite all the maneuvering and horse-trading, it failed to achieve the goal. Although, Wattoo was sacked by the President but the PPP was forced to accept Sardar Arif Nakai of the PML/J as a compromise candidate for the Chief Ministership since the PML/J chief, Hamid Nasir Chatha, refused to accept a PPP nominee. In both cases the central government relied on a presidential proclamation of emergency, under article 234 of the constitution, to sort out its opponents in the provinces. Means other than democratic were used to dispose of political opponents in the NWFP and troublesome allies in the Punjab. Benazir, for all her western education and secular background, had to make concessions to Islamic populism and never more so than at the present time, when things were going badly in Kashmir, Karachi is terrorized by rival gangs and ethnic tensions are rising.[29] It is a strange contradiction of the Pakistani society that while on the one hand, it does not return a purely clerics-led religious political party, such as the Jamaat-i-Islami to power, on the other, it cannot disregard the emotive appeal of religion. In recent elections, the Jamaat lost on all but three seats and was virtually eliminated from Punjab which was otherwise regarded as its strongest base. Yet, at the first opportunity after coming to power Benazir felt the need to appoint Maulana Kausar Niazi, as chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, who announced that within a matter of months, all laws would be brought in consonance with Quran and Shariah. The PPP cooperated with Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam, headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman. The Maulana, while announcing his party's decision to work closely with the PPP, nevertheless, expressed the view that he regarded the fact of a government being headed by a woman as "un-Islamic". Pragmatically, however, his party decided to cooperate with the government and reconcile itself to the fact that the head of the government happened to be a woman. REFERENCE: ISLAMIC PAKISTAN: ILLUSIONS & REALITY Sattar Ghazal http://ghazali.net/book1/Chapter9a/page_3.html