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Tuesday 6 October 2009

The Kayani-Shehbaz meeting


The news that the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and the Punjab chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif, had a “secret” meeting has not so far been denied by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department. Reports claim that the PMLN leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, was also present in the meeting.

The PMLN says no such meeting took place. But that denial isn’t worth anything in view of the general lack of credibility of party statements. Given the endemic state of political instability in Pakistan, the news has spread across the borders and the entire world has started to speculate about the meaning and significance of the meeting.

Why should General Kayani feel the need to meet a PMLN leader at this point of time? If he wanted to comment on the political situation in the country, he could have used the channel of the media. There is the constitutional avenue too available to him through which he could have met the president and later allowed the ISPR to ensure that his point of view had been put across. It is also quite possible that General Kayani wanted to take the PMLN on board on the coming offensive in South Waziristan. He may have wanted to remove the army from the attacks that will ensue in the coming days on the PPP government’s support to it. (The Jama’at-e Islami is protesting on the roads; the JUIF from within the coalition is threatening to quit, and some FATA ministers have already resigned.) But in all these cases, he should have approached the government to convey his message.

It is public knowledge that he intervened discreetly during the Long March in favour of the reinstatement of the higher judiciary and prevented it from resulting in a severe security situation. So maybe the meeting was sought by the two PMLN leaders who wanted to convey something secret to him rather than the other way round.

But a “secret” meeting can’t be kept secret in these days of a vigilant media. Therefore any such meeting is only bound to arouse unduly rash speculation in some quarters and fill some others with apprehensions. Above all, by fuelling uncertainty, it will adversely impact the economic sector, forcing investors to postpone their projects till a “final decision about the political situation has been made”. Needless to say, the environment in which the meeting took place was most unsuitable for it. The PPP government is under attack on many fronts but above all it is being pilloried relentlessly by the media for having acquiesced in the harsh “conditionalities” included the American Kerry-Lugar legislation allowing aid to Pakistan. The speculation that General Kayani could have aired his unhappiness with the American aid “conditionalities” — some of which indirectly target the Pakistan Army — is one of the most lethal outcomes of the secret meeting. So more and more people are talking about “mid-term elections” to oust the PPP government before its tenure is over. The meeting, not firmly denied so far by the ISPR, has encouraged those who think that the PPP should be pushed into the wilderness again. The issue of the NRO, brought to the fore once again by the publication of the detailed judgement of the July 31 verdict of the Supreme Court, has also triggered hopes of getting rid of the government.

The fact that Mr Nawaz Sharif is not taking part in the Lahore by-election is also taken as a signal by some for an all-out attempt at the ouster. The official postponement of the deadline for an end to load-shedding in the country has its own destabilising fallout. The aftermath of the meeting is sure to strengthen elements that see their success in political instability. That the meeting was followed by a statement by Mr Shehbaz Sharif condemning the Kerry-Lugar conditionalities has further heated up the situation of political confrontation, amid uncanny, absurd and outrageous rumour-mongering that President Zardari might be scheming to kill Mr Nawaz Sharif!

The sad truth is that every time Gen Kayani makes an intervention like a discreet phone-call or a discreet meeting, the event no longer remains a secret and opens the floodgates of destabilising speculation.

General Kayani has won the gratitude of the nation for staying out of politics in Pakistan. That Pakistan’s politics is negative and based on prejudice rather than opinion, on revenge rather than justice, is true, without the army intervening. But whenever it has in the past it has minimised the chances of things ever getting to normal. The current phase is not ideal, despite the pledges made by politicians before the 2008 elections, but this is the very juncture where the army should let the politicians sort themselves out under the Constitution.

Whatever the reasons, given the situation all round, Gen Kayani erred in secretly meeting with Mr Shahbaz Sharif and Mr Nisar Ali Khan and fuelling unwanted speculation to destabilise the regime and country. And if he didn’t, the ISPR should come out with a robust denial and bury the unhealthy speculation. (Daily Times)

Kerry-Lugar Bill is an insult, Army tells US military

Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Kayani lodges protest with General McChrystal

By Kamran Khan

KARACHI: As anger mounts over the degrading language and observations in the Kerry-Lugar Bill on Pakistan’s military services and intelligence agencies, the Army conveyed its part of protest to the United States when Commander of International Forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal met Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani at the GHQ on Tuesday, informed officials said.

These officials said that General Kayani told General McChrystal that like the Pakistani people, the military and intelligence services were furious at the observations made on Pakistan’s security establishment in the Kerry-Lugar Bill. Kayani also protested over the controversial statements made by some US officials in recent days.

“General McChrystal returned from the GHQ with an unambiguous message that the terms set in the Kerry-Lugar Bill on the national security interests of Pakistan are insulting and are unacceptable in their present formulation,” according to an official familiar with the content of the meeting.

Informed official sources said that the Army’s strong reaction to the Kerry-Lugar Bill was shared in detail with the government when General Kayani met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday.

In a related development, also on Tuesday, Gilani asked Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to convey Pakistan’s reservations in his meetings with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama’s Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and key members of the US Congress.

While Tuesday’s meeting with General McChrystal provided General Kayani with an opportunity to convey the Army’s serious objection to the controversial sections of the bill in detail, he had lodged an initial protest during his meeting with General McChrystal in Kabul, where he had gone last week toattend the tripartite military conference.

The Kerry-Lugar Bill and its impact on national security interests of Pakistan will be a key subject of discussion when the corps commanders and principal staff officers of the Army meet under General Kayani on Wednesday.

While the nation’s response is currently focused at the controversial content of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, the government is also concerned about a growing unregulated arrival and stay of American citizens in Pakistan.

Concerns grew when Pakistanís security agencies recorded various cases of illegal acquisition of weapons by security firms connected with the US Embassy in Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani, sources said, has already ordered a complete record with specific details and pre-clearance of US citizens entering Pakistan on US government business. (The News)

13 comments:

Aamir said...

An email from a senior official of the US Congress underlined a growing reaction in the United States to Pakistan’s response.

“Feel free to let the Pakistan military know that the current Senate foreign operations appropriations bill contains, thanks to the obstructionist attitude of the Pakistani military, exactly zero dollar in foreign military funding for Pakistan,” the official wrote.

“If Gen Kayani wants to deprive Pakistani children of schools, roads and clinics, he better be prepared to forgo P-3s and F-16s too. The people he is counting on to provide them are precisely the people he is doing his best to alienate.”

US does not intend to encroach on Pakistan’s sovereignty: Qureshi By Our Correspondent Thursday, 08 Oct, 2009 | 04:31 AM PST

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/us-does-not-intend-to-encroach-on-pakistans-sovereignty-qureshi-809

Aamir said...

Military’s Establishment “concerns” over Kerry-Luger Bill is not about Country’s Sovereignty but Power Politics!!!

Aid Package From U.S. Jolts Army in Pakistan By JANE PERLEZ and ISMAIL KHAN Published: October 7, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/asia/08pstan.html

The section of the legislation that has outraged the army says the secretary of state must report to Congress every six months on whether the government is exercising “effective civilian control over the military.”

The secretary must assess the extent to which the civilian government has oversight over the military chain of command, promotion of generals and the military budgets, provisions that even Pakistani politicians have taken strong exception to as meddling in Pakistan’s business.

Aamir said...

امریکی امداد: پہلے کشکول فوج کے پاس تھا

احمد رضا

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچ

Thursday, 8 October, 2009, 21:58 GMT 02:58 PST


امریکہ نے جنرل پرویز مشرف کی فوجی حکومت کو مجموعی طور

پر گیارہ ارب ڈالر دیے

آئیے ذرا تاریخ پر نظر ڈالیں:

امریکہ نے پاکستان کی امداد کے لیے پہلا معاہدہ 1954ء میں کیا تھا جس کے تحت پاکستان نے اگلے دس سالوں کے دوران تین ارب بیس کروڑ ڈالر امریکی امداد حاصل کی۔ امداد کا بڑا حصہ ملک کے پہلے فوجی حکمران جنرل ایوب خان کے دور میں ملا۔

اس معاہدے کے تحت امریکی فوج نے راولپنڈی میں واقع پاکستان فوج کے ہیڈ کوارٹرز میں اپنا فوجی امدادی مشاورتی گروپ قائم کرکے فوج کے لیے ملٹری اسسٹینس پروگرام (میپ) شروع کیا تھا۔ امریکہ کے اس پروگرام میں پاکستان کی فوج کے یونٹوں کو میپ اور نان میپ یونٹوں میں تقسیم کیا گیا تھا۔

نان میپ یونٹ وہ تھے جو کشمیر اور مشرقی پاکستان (موجودہ بنگلہ دیش) میں تعینات تھے۔ 1954ء کے معاہدے کے تحت امریکہ نے صرف میپ یونٹوں کی امداد کرنا تھی اور اس کا مقصد ان یونٹوں کی جدید خطوط پر تربیت کرنا بتایا گیا تھا۔

اسی معاہدے کا ایک اور اہم پہلو یہ تھا کہ اسکے بعد جنرل ایوب خان نے امریکہ کو پاکستان میں اپنا پہلا خفیہ فوجی اڈہ قائم کرنے کی اجازت دی تھی۔ پشاور میں قائم اس فوجی اڈے کے ذریعے امریکی حکام حریف ملک سوویت یونین کی دفاعی تنصیبات کی خفیہ نگرانی کرتے تھے اور اس مقصد کے لیے مشہور امریکی یو ٹو طیارے استعمال ہوتے تھے۔

Aamir said...

Be prepared for another Kargil??????

Shaheen Sehbai, Ansar Abbasi and Ahmed Quraishi – 2

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/01/shaheen-sehbai-ansar-abbasi-and-ahmed_16.html

Aamir said...

“effective civilian control over the military.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/asia/08pstan.html

Were there any reservation from the so-called Defenders of our Ideological Boundaries [like in the news above] on these VISITS????it imposes strong checks on the country’s security matrix. [Army top brass to scrutinise US aid bill By Baqir Sajjad Syed Wednesday, 07 Oct, 2009 | 07:09 AM PST]

civilian involvement in strategic guidance and planning, and military involvement in civil administration”. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/us-does-not-intend-to-encroach-on-pakistans-sovereignty-qureshi-809
=======================

Is it called Effective Civilian Control???
CJ says chiefs of MI, ISI asked him to quit: Affidavit on March 9 camp office event By Iftikhar A. Khan

May 30, 2007 Wednesday Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1428

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/30/top1.htm

The ‘other persons’ entered the room
Immediately. They were: Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz, the Directors General
of Military Intelligence (MI), Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB), Chief of Staff (COS) and another official. All officials (except the IB chief and the COS) were in uniform.

Aamir said...

Aitzaz confirms meeting Kayani, firm on democracy Thursday, July 30, 2009

By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=23575

ISLAMABAD: Top lawyers’ movement leader and senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has confirmed his meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani while declaring that he is firm on democracy.

When contacted by The News, Aitzaz said that when the Army chief spoke to him on March 16, he invited him for a cup of tea. Aitzaz said he accepted the invitation but could not meet him till 10 days ago. Aitzaz said, “It was purely a private meeting.”

When asked whether the Supreme Court case and Army’s possible political role were discussed, Aitzaz said that he was neither Sharifuddin Pirzada nor Malik Qayyum. He said he would never encourage, facilitate or advise any political role for the Army.

“It was, however, a pleasant meeting and Army’s successes in Swat and FATA were discussed,” Aitzaz said. When pressed further, he said that golf also came under discussion. Aitzaz said he was committed to the democratic system. “The case in the Supreme Court was neither discussed nor has he any role to play in the proceedings or decision of the case,” he added.

He said that he had a long-standing commitment to the democratic system and an independent judiciary. When asked if there were likely to be any further meetings between the two, Aitzaz said that they may play golf together in future but no politics would be discussed.

Aamir said...

Enjoy the picture below [click the link] and it must be saved it for hanging in Military Academy Kakul

Military’s Establishment “concerns” over Kerry-Luger Bill is not about Country’s Sovereignty but Power Politics!!!

Islamic militancy is a foreign policy tool of the US and Pakistani establishments By Yousuf Nazar http://www.yousufnazar.com/?p=777

Admiral Mike Mullen (first from left), the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Pervez Kayani (third from the left) and next to him, the ISI Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha (then Major. Gen. and Director General Military Operations) aboard the US naval carrier Abraham Lincoln in Indian Ocean; in a secret meeting on August 26, 2008. Pasha was promoted to the rank of Lt. Gen. and appointed as the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence on Sept.

Aamir said...

It is this establishment I speak about, it is this establishment that can do anything to follow, dog-like, its various godfathers’ bidding.

Which immediately takes us to a rather disconcerting happening just the other day, a happening that was inappropriate at the very least, and at its worst, direct interference in the country’s politics by the Chief of Army Staff.

And that was the statement by the COAS as reported in the press: “Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced on Thursday his institution’s complete support for the elected government and the democratic process. However, he called for avoiding schism between various pillars of the state and dispelled a perception that the army was distancing itself from the president.”

While it is good and proper that the army will completely support the elected government, was it not absolutely inappropriate for him to call for “avoiding schism between various pillars of the state” and for saying that “the army was not distancing itself from the president”.

May one ask what happens if the elected representatives of the people were to impeach Musharraf? Or if the resurrected judiciary were to rule that Musharraf’s election was illegal and unconstitutional? What about the ‘schism’ then? When the COAS speaks about the ‘pillars of state’ does he consider that the person of Musharraf is one such ‘pillar’ in spite of the fact that he was ‘elected’ president under Emergency rule, an act Musharraf himself said was unconstitutional? What was the point in saying anything at all?

No sirs, it is high time that you went back to your training areas and firing ranges and exercise grounds and became the professional army you were before the Commando’s loving ministrations. And, indeed, to the Year of the Soldier after so many Decades of the General. And please keep your noses out of politics; I assure you we bloody civilians can manage the country’s affairs better than 22 Commandos put together.

Well-deserved comeuppance By Kamran Shafi

March 11, 2008

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/kamran/20081103.htm

Aamir said...

بِل پر ’ہر کسی کو‘ تحفظات ہیں

وسعت اللہ خان
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، دہلی

Thursday, 8 October, 2009, 14:57 GMT 19:57 PST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/10/091008_lugar_analysis.shtml

حیرت نہ ہوگی اگر سرکاری محکمے اور پاکستان انسٹی ٹیوٹ آف میڈیکل سائنسز کا سٹاف بھی کیری لوگر بل پر اپنے تحفظات میڈیا کو جاری کردے۔

جنرل ڈگلس میک آرتھر کا شمار بیسویں صدی کے عظیم جرنیلوں میں ہوتا ہے۔انہوں نے دوسری عالمی جنگ میں جاپانیوں سے ہتھیار ڈلوائے اور جنگِ کوریا میں کیمونسٹ شمالی کوریا کے خلاف اقوامِ متحدہ کے دستوں کی کمان کی۔

جنرل میک آرتھر کو بھی احساس تھا کہ وہ ایک عام امریکی کے ہیرو ہیں۔چنانچہ انہوں نے صدر ہیری ٹرومین کی کوریائی جنگ کی حکمتِ عملی پر اپنی ناپسندیدگی کا برملا اظہار شروع کردیا۔جنرل میک آرتھر جنگِ کوریا میں چینی کیمونسٹوں کی مداخلت روکنے کے لیے چینی ساحل کی ناکہ بندی اور چین پر ایٹم بم گرانے کے خواہاں تھے۔لیکن ٹرومین انتظامیہ کی کوشش تھی کہ جنگ صرف جزیرہ نما کوریا تک ہی محدود رہے۔

جنرل میک آرتھر نے امریکی ایوانِ نمائندگان کے اقلیتی لیڈر جو مارٹن کو خط لکھ کر ٹرومین انتظامیہ کی کوریا پالیسی پر تنقید کی اور ازخود چین کو الٹی میٹم دے دیا کہ یا تو وہ کوریا سے اپنے فوجی دستے نکال لے یا پھر امریکی حملے کے لیے تیار رہے۔

میک آرتھر کے الٹی میٹم سے وائٹ ہاؤس کی جنگ بندی کی کوششوں کو شدید دھچکا پہنچا۔چنانچہ صدر ٹرومین نے خارجہ پالیسی سے متعلق صدارتی اختیارات میں مداخلت اور سرکاری معاملات میں فوج کی پیشہ ورانہ غیر جانبداری کی روائیت توڑنے کی پاداش میں جنرل میک آرتھر کو کوریا کمان سے سبکدوش کردیا۔ یوں امریکی فوجی ہیرو کے کیریر کا اختتام ہوگیا۔

Aamir said...

’بتایا تھا وزیراعظم کو موقع نہیں ملے گا‘
علی سلمان

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، لاہور

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/10/091009_nazir_naji_iv_zs.shtml

نذیر ناجی بغاوت کے وقت وزیراعظم کے تقریر نویس تھے
پاکستان کے معروف کالم نگار نذیرناجی نے کہا ہے کہ بارہ نومبر سنہ انیس سو ننانوے کو پاکستان کے وزیراعظم میاں نواز شریف اپنی تقریر میں چیف آف آرمی سٹاف پرویز مشرف کو بھارت سے امن عمل کو تباہ کرنے کی چارج شیٹ جاری کرنے والے تھے لیکن انہیں قوم سے خطاب سے قبل ہی گرفتار کرلیا گیا۔

نذیر ناجی ان افراد میں شامل ہیں جنہیں بارہ اکتوبر سنہ ننانوے کو فوجی بغاوت کے بعد وزیر اعظم ہاؤس سے گرفتار کیا گیا اور انہیں پوچھ گچھ کے طویل عمل سےگذرنا پڑا۔

Aamir said...

فوجی بغاوت کی یاد: تصاویر

بارہ اکتوبر کی یاد

Wednesday, 7 october, 2009, 13:37 GMT 18:37 PST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/india/2009/10/091012_pic_coup_12oct_zs.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/indepth/cluster_coup_10yrs_pk_zs.shtml

Aamir said...

Some 6 years ago Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan {Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Sharif} in an interview with Dr. Shahid Masood for his program Views on News on ARY ONE said that after illegally toppling the elected government of Mian Nawaz Sharif on 12 Oct 1999’s Military Mutiny, General Mehmood Ahmed {The Former ISI Chief} took Nawaz Sharif {the elected Prime Minister of 150 Million Pakistanis} to Army Barracks where he was forced to sign some papers which Nawaz didn’t and naturally Nawaz and his family sealed their fate. That happened with Nawaz Sharif once before when during 1993’s political crisis when Nawaz Sharif in his live speech had said without taking the name of the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan {actually Army} that he {Nawaz} will not take dictation and later on the Invisible Hands succeeded in getting resignation from Nawaz Sharif. In a meeting where both Nawaz and Ghulam Ishaq Khan were present with several Army Generals, Nawaz tried to leave the room when a General stopped him using a very Fancy Army Stick and forced that stick on Nawaz’s shoulder and made him sit down.

{Reference: Agenciyon Ki Hukoomat by Late. Azher Suhail published by Jang Publishers Pakistan}.

Far worse thing happened with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s dead body who was murdered by General Zia, Judiciary and USA. On the orders of General Ziaul Haq an army officer checked the Private Parts of Bhutto’s Body to make sure that Bhutto was really a Muslim [Colonel Retd. Rafi Interview in Newspaper and on GEO TV too in 2008] and they made it sure.

Soiled Hands: The Pakistan Army’s Repression of the Punjab Farmers …

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/pakistan0704/

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/pakistan0704/pakistan0704.pdf

Aamir said...

Our Rommels and Guderians are not about to alight from their top of the line BMWs and Mercedes and climb into Suzuki Mehrans.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/14-kamran-shafi-bullying-the-bloody-civilians-zj-01

I give below verbatim (parenthesis mine) an exact copy, but slightly abbreviated, of a Top Secret but now declassified (vide NND 959417 14/1/93) letter written by Gen Mohammad Ayub Khan, C-in-C of the Pakistan Army, to Admiral Arthur Radford, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon [sic], Washington D.C. (Please read at http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/ayubkhan27sept1955.htm)

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