What exactly were the ex-servicemen doing while in service?

All the X-men
What exactly were the ex-servicemen doing while in service?
Shahzada Irfan Ahmed and Aziz Omar

Air Chief Marshal (R) Asghar Khan

Former Air Chief Martial Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Asghar Khan was the first politician to become famous for his remark in 1977 that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto should be hanged by Kohala Bridge near Rawalpindi.

Asghar Khan's critics, though relatively small in number, call him a power-hungry person who entered politics in 1968 after resigning as chairman PIA. At that point in time, a movement against Ayub Khan had started paving way for new leadership eager to make its mark in the national politics. He is also criticised for accepting a one-year extension in his service from Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

He is known for his hawkish stance vis-a-vis an accord with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, thereby limiting the scope of a political solution and paving the way for a martial law. In May 1977, he addressed a letter to the three services chiefs openly asking them to revolt against Bhutto. He had asked the addressed officers to differentiate between a lawful and an unlawful command and save Pakistan. This controversial letter is considered instrumental in encouraging Gen Ziaul-Haq, the then chief of army staff, to make a coup. Little wonder, Gen Ziaul-Haq offered him a slot in his cabinet after the imposition of martial law in 1977. To his credit he declined to accept this offer.

Lt Gen (R) Faiz Ali Chishti

The head of ex-servicemen society, Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, had a main role in the military coup of 1977. He was the Corps Commander of Rawalpindi at that time and had worked out the details of the coup. Interestingly, he declares the imposition of martial law by Gen Zia-ul-Haq was right but rejects the way he tried to handle things afterwards.

Chishti says he was against the awarding of death sentence to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It has been reported that towards the end of Bhutto's tenure, he sat in one of the cabinet meetings with his feet facing Bhutto. It was again Chishti who reportedly overlooked/interfered in all the local bodies' elections held from 1979 to 1985 on the behest of Gen Ziaul-Haq. It is believed that Chishti advised Gen. Zia a lot on different matters. He has also confessed that though he could easily remove Gen. Zia he submitted his resignation to him which he tore apart. Gen Chishti (retd) also held the portfolio of Labour and Manpower in Gen Zia's first cabinet formed after the imposition of martial law.

Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani

A former head of the ISI and now an active member of the ex-servicemen society, Durrani has confessed to having distributed millions of rupees among the politicians in the 1990 elections. During his career, he held the posts of Director General of the Military Intelligence (MI) and later the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). His role in the formation of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) is an open secret. PPP's former interior minister Lt-Gen Naseerullah Babar even announced on the floor of the National Assembly in 1996 that Durrani, then DG ISI, had distributed Rs 140 million among some politicians for this purpose. This amount, he said, had been withdrawn from Mehran Bank and given to Durrani by Mirza Aslam Beg to ensure that IJI was brought to power. Aslam Beg had submitted in the court that it had been routine for the ISI to support the favoured candidates in elections under the directives of successive chief executives. Durrani did not deny the allegations and submitted an affidavit listing the politicians to whom the money had been paid. The affidavit said: "It was in September 1990 that I had received instructions to provide 'logistic support' for disbursement of donations for the election campaign of the IJI."

Durrani has also enjoyed ambassadorial positions in Germany (1994 to 1997) and Saudi Arabia after the military coup of 1999. It was only after completing his term as ambassador during the Musharraf regime that Durrani started criticising Musharraf.

Lt Gen (R) Jamshed Gulzar Kayani

The outspoken Kayani was number two in the ISI at the time of coup led by Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 1999. Soon afterwards, he was appointed commander of the 10th corps. He has also held the crucial slot of Corps Commander, Rawalpindi. His recent claim to fame was his interview conducted by Geo TV in which he disclosed that lethal chemical weapons were used in the Lal Masjid operation. He also claimed that Mian Nawaz Sharif was kept in the dark over Kargil operation and he (Nawaz) went to the United States to save Pak Army's integrity. Kayani has demanded Musharraf's immediate resignation and inquiry into the above-mentioned incidents.

The presidential camp has condemned him for remaining silent in the past and levelling 'baseless' allegations after retiring from service with full benefits.

After retiring from military service in 2003-04, Kayani was appointed chairman of Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). Gen (retd) Kayani developed difference with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz over postings of senior officials. He had to vacate his FPSC post prematurely on March 30, 2006 after the government reduced his tenure by two-and-a-half years through a presidential ordinance. He challenged the ordinance in Lahore High Court (LHC) but the court rejected his petition.

Lt Gen (R) Hameed Gul

The former head of ISI, Lt Gen (retd) Hameed Gul played prime role in Afghan War against the former Soviet Union. A die-hard supporter of mujahideen, he is often held responsible by many for the spread of heroine and klashnikov culture in the country. Hameed Gul is also blamed for planning the disastrous Jalalabad operation in 1989 in which mujahideen suffered a major loss. The defeat was imminent as mujahideen did not have the capacity to capture a major city.

Gul also boasts of having organised the IJI against the PPP and spearheading 'Operation Jackal,' a plot by the ISI to topple Benazir Bhutto's government in 1990. Gen (retd) Gul had great liking for Nawaz Sharif for being the head of the political organisation engineered by the ISI. On the other hand, he was one of the persons who were accused by Benazir Bhutto of conspiring to kill her after she returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007. Gen (retd) served a legal notice on Bhutto for falsely levelling allegation against him.

It is said that for his liking for Nawaz Sharif, Gen Asif Nawaz developed differences with him and appointed him DG, Heavy Industries Taxila in 1991. Gul refused to take the assignment after which he was retired from the army.

Senior columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee criticises Gul for taking too much benefits from the army. He has especially talked about his transport business, making ample use of his army connections for the purpose.

These days, Gul speaks vehemently against American policies. But it is said that it was during his tenure as DG ISI that the US ambassador was allowed to attend the meetings of Afghan Cell of Benazir government. The very decision to launch Jalalabad offensive in 1989 is also said to have been made in one such meetings.

Gen (R) Aslam Beg

Some people are never directly in the spotlight but are just skirting the edges whilst influencing events. Mirza Aslam Beg, a retired army general and former Chief, is just one such figure. Having remained a controversial since his taking command of the Pakistan army upon Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's death in a plane crash in August 1988, Beg has never laid out all his cards on the table.

A petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan was filed involving General Aslam Beg in the misappropriation of Rs 140 million of public funds in the so called Mehran bank scandal. These funds were purportedly used for buying out 'for-sale' politicians through the then director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in order to manipulate the 1990 general elections so as to bring about the defeat of Pakistan Peoples Party. Interestingly, Aslam Beg was dismissed as the army chief just three month short of his retirement by the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan apparently to counter the political aspirations of the former.

The retired general Beg attempted to revamp his politically ambitious image by founding a policy think-tank just five days after his dismissal as army chief. Naming it The Foundation for Research on International Environment, National Development and Security (FRIENDS), Aslam Beg his used its platform to establish himself as a political and military analyst.

He has authored several articles in which he has asserted his views regarding the emerging power dynamic in the South and Middle East whilst maintaining that eventually peace is the only solution to the regional tension. Of late, the retired general Beg has come down hard on the trend of military dictators usurping power and has aligned himself with a group of several retired army generals who are asking for the immediate stepping down of President Musharraf.

Source: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2008-weekly/nos-15-06-2008
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Prisoners of a jihadi past and our hall of shame

Prisoners of a jihadi past

By Syed Irfan Ashraf & Faizullah Jan
Tuesday, 24 Feb, 2009

Yeh fasl-i-gul keh jise nafroton ne seencha hay/ Agar phalee to shararon kay phool lai gee/ Na phal sakee to nai fasl-i-gul kay aane tak/ Zameer-i-arz may ik zehr ghol jai gee

— Sahir Ludhianvi

(This crop that has been sown with hatred/ If it grows, it will bloom flowers of fire/ If it fails to grow, till the sowing of a new crop/ It will make the heart of the soil poisonous.)


OVER a dozen militant groups of diverse geographical backgrounds are united in their aim to bring down state and society in Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the impression one gets from the corridors of power is that the wielders of authority have been completely nonplussed.

Distressingly, the issue is oversimplified as the theory is propagated of the involvement of a foreign hand in fomenting militancy in Pakistan. Does this oversimplification serve any purpose?

When President Asif Ali Zardari talked to an American television channel some time ago, he probably did not know how close he was to the truth about the insurgency in large swathes of the country. But still he fell short of completing the picture of the monster that has been eating into the vitals of Pakistan. “We have weaknesses and they [the Taliban] are taking advantage of that weakness,” Zardari told CBS in an interview. What are the weaknesses? How and who reared them in our backyard while the whole state apparatus looked the other way? These questions demand clear answers; mere half-confessions will lead us nowhere.

Some circles say that a small but well-entrenched part of the Pakistani establishment still looks upon the Mujahideen and their Taliban successors as Pakistan’s protectors. Consciously or subconsciously, they defend them as a strategic asset. These elements are remnants of the legacy of their Afghan war mentors — the very people who dreamt of gaining strategic depth in Afghanistan through a leadership like the Taliban’s to counter perceived Indian hegemony in the region and defend the western border against danger.

Former federal minister Sheikh Rashid on a visit to Peshawar last year admitted that he would not object to the Taliban if they brought with them a viable system of governance. Prisoners of their own jihadi past, many retired civil servants and military officials enjoyed a monopoly over security issues and are now constantly being invited to talk shows and seminars to impose their analysis in which their support for the militants’ standpoint is implicit.

A sordid tale to illustrate this point follows. During a heated debate on the Fata situation at the Area Study Centre of the University of Peshawar, former ISI head Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, after being cornered by discussants, suddenly said: “Leave all this discussion, let me ask the audience whether they want the Taliban to win or the US? Just raise your hand.” His words created a ruckus with many taken aback.

The root of the problem lies in the past when a network of intelligence agencies was set up to indoctrinate young and old alike during the days of the Afghan jihad. Lured by Saudi riyals, Kuwaiti dinars and US dollars, jihadists were brought in from all corners of the world to be trained physically and psychologically. Political leaders of religious parties prospered through contacts with state and non-state elements. Rubbing shoulders with mighty generals, jihad for them became an enterprise. Hence small evils were assembled to raise a jihadi industry aimed at the larger evil, the USSR.

Little did elements in the Pakistani establishment realise that while their efforts could win them the Afghan war, the frenzy of jihad would be directed elsewhere once the struggle against the Soviet Union was over. Pakistan’s civil and military establishment had opened ‘industries of indoctrination’ to produce jihadis at a mass level in order to achieve what it saw as strategic depth in Afghanistan. However, when the jihad in Afghanistan was nearing its end, many in the civil and military establishment had become more jihadist than the products of their policy. A new twist was given to the philosophy of ‘charity begins at home’ as jihadis and their ideologues turned on Pakistan whose government in their view was too pro-US and civil society too western in its outlook.

Today, the USSR does not exist anymore but jihadi elements have permeated the state apparatus and society in Pakistan to such an extent that they are now an integral part of them. A spirited jihadi school of thought has a strong influence on every sphere of life including the media and mainstream political parties. As the late Benazir Bhutto said, society has been “de-intellectualised”, with dissenting voices being silenced and the more outspoken being chased away.

It is also in this situation that indoctrination and education have become entangled. There appears to be no difference between students of universities and madressahs. Both churn out militancy-minded individuals. It is difficult to tell the mentor from the protégé because the process of indoctrination affects not only the target group but also the indoctrinators.

This complication is further weakening the resolve of anti-militant forces. In primitive societies,
warriors would never be allowed to interact with civil society without going through a series of rituals at a distance from the population. The wisdom in this was that they had shed blood and their war frenzy needed to be toned down lest they went berserk and behaved violently in their own settlements.

Today, Pakistan is suffering from the same malaise. Jihad became the profession and identity of the warriors of the Afghan jihad, but at the end of the day they were expected to shed their identity and become normal citizens. Just like detoxified drug addicts, these jihadis need to go through a process of reformation and reorientation.

There is an obvious need for a paradigm shift at the strategy level to quell the insurgency, especially in the light of the understanding that it is not a war against militants but a protracted crusade against militancy. Militants can eventually be eliminated through military means, but right now the state requires fighting a mindset that is weakening it from within. Only then can it wage a successful war against militancy. (Dawn)

Also read:

ISI and Our Corrupt Generals - An Analysis

The evidence of ISI's involvement in Pakistani politics. Asghar Khan's petition in the Supreme Court. By Ardeshir Cowasjee.

Partners in crime: Ex-Servicemen’s Association (the new face of ISI sponsored thugs): By Amir Mir

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A perspective on Ex-Servicemen’s Association: Rauf Klasra

Hamid Gul, Asad Durrani, Aslam Beg are the real saviours of this nation. Really?


Read related posts on Ex-Servicemen's Association and their "services" to Pakistan:

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/search/label/Ex-Servicemen%27s%20Association
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Meeting of ex-servicemen: the Mullah Military Alliance repackaged and renamed?

Agents of ISI, perpetrators of violence and mischief in Pakistan and neighboring countries, exploiters of religion, are conspiring once again against the democratic people of Pakistan.

Look at their names:

Hamid Gul, Aslam Beg, Roedad Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Samiul Haq, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, Ghous Ali Shah, Ahsan Iqbal etc.

Look at their faces:



They want to make a foot ball of the lawyers movement?



Ex-servicemen, politicians analyse security issues

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association and politicians on Sunday held the ‘Defence of Pakistan Conference’ at a local hotel and discussed the security challenges confronting Pakistan.

The participants unanimously demanded that the United States stop drone attacks in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, and that the Pakistani government should prefer dialogue to a military operation in Swat. Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt General (r) Hameed Gul, former army chief General (r) Aslam Baig, former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, Justice (r) Wajihuddin, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Samiul Haq, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal, Tehreek-e-Istaqlal’s Syed Ghous Ali Shah, and others attended the conference.

The speakers urged the government to reinstate the sacked judges including sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. They urged the government to devise a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute in line with the United Nation resolution. The speakers emphasised the stability of the government to overcome the security challenges. They also urged the government to trace the missing persons immediately. They also highlighted the importance of parliament's supremacy. imran asghar (Daily Times)
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New demands of Ex-Servicemen's Association: An analysis - By Nazir Naji

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Partners in crime: Ex-Servicemen’s Association (the new face of ISI sponsored thugs)

Partners in crime

Amir Mir

Hardly a fortnight after Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani directed the officers of the Pakistan Army through an official letter not to indulge in politics and pay heed to their professional responsibilities, a group of prominent ex-servicemen – retired military officers including high profile retired generals, air marshals and admirals – have come down hard on President Musharraf for unnecessarily dragging the army into politics and have asked him to immediately resign as the head of the state and hand over power to the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Since assuming the command of the 600,000-strong Pakistan Army from General Musharraf in December 2007, the 55-year-old career officer General Kayani has kept a relatively low profile, although he seems to be trying to keep the military out of politics, unlike his predecessor, Musharraf. The Pakistan Army, in the very first decade after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, became a politicised army – the power behind the throne in national politics and thus soon seized political control. Thereafter, the army intervened frequently to seize political power and imposed military rule for protracted periods; the military coups of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan were followed by a pro-jihad Zia regime that lasted for 12 long years and an anti-jihad Musharraf regime. Therefore, having tasted political power, the Pakistan Army had ceased to be apolitical.

However, the unusual directive by the new chief of a highly politicised army has been widely welcomed as it represents the overwhelming public sentiment that the army should go back to the barracks permanently by withdrawing itself from the national political arena for the good of the country. The directive shows that the new army chief wants to systematically reverse some of the most significant policies of his predecessor, who had to take off his uniform in December 2007 under intense international pressure. Two months down the road since assuming the command of the army, General Kayani has issued two key directives: prohibiting army officers from meeting with politicians and ordering all those officers who hold posts in civilian agencies on deputation to resign from those positions.

Hardly a couple of weeks after General Kayani issued these directives, a group of retired military officers, formed an organisation of ex-servicemen, welcomed the initiative taken by the new army chief to depoliticise the army and urged their colleague, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, to hand over power to the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. These developments reflect increasingly strong challenges Musharraf faces after taking off his uniform. The group of retired military men, including former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, former ISI chief Lieutenant General (retd) Hamid Gul, former Air Chief Marshall (retd) Asghar Khan, a former Corps Commander Rawalpindi Lieutenant General (retd) Ali Quli Khan, a former Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti and many others asked Musharraf on January 31 in Islamabad to resign in the supreme national of the country.

An open letter signed by more than 100 retired military officers – all members of the All Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society, an organisation working for the welfare of retired military personnel, stated that all the four state pillars have suffered at the hands of Pervez Musharraf during his eight year rule, be it the judiciary, the executive, the media or the legislature and, therefore, he should quit the presidency in the supreme national interest. “Musharraf should step down and hand over power to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is still the constitutional head of the Pakistani judiciary,” said Air Marshall (retd) Asghar Khan while talking to newsmen at the gathering of the ex-servicemen. Speaking on the occasion, General (retd) Aslam Beg, who headed the military from 1988 to 1991, said Musharraf had tarnished the image of the armed forces and called on all ex-servicemen to help restore it. “We should work together to strengthen democracy by trying to remove the only impediment in its way – Pervez Musharraf.”

A few days later, on February 5, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, a large number of the former military officers staged a demonstration near the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi to protest against President Pervez Musharraf’s policies and asked him to resign. The unprecedented protest rally was held a day after the Monday suicide bombing close to the GHQ, which killed 11 people, including some military personnel. Newspaper reports say the participants of the demonstration chanted full-throat slogans like ‘Go Musharraf go’, ‘No Musharraf no’, ‘We want a commission on Kargil’, ‘Musharraf must resign’, etc., while marching towards the GHQ. The retired generals vowed that they would continue their protest until President Musharraf quits power.

However, on his part, however, Musharraf has rejected the demand, describing it a call from “disenchanted job seeking retired generals who had been kicked out by him”. Federal Information Minister Nisar Memon too rejected the resignation demand by the ex-servicemen, saying the ex-servicemen should remain within their limits, otherwise action could be taken against them. Interestingly, the leading lights of the ex-servicemen’s organisation had themselves been amongst those responsible for dragging the army into politics. To begin with, Asghar Khan enjoys the distinction of having written a letter to General Ziaul Haq in 1977, literally inviting him to stage a military coup against Bhutto, which he eventually did. Faiz Ali Chishti became the deputy Martial Law Administrator when Zia had imposed Martial Law. Mirza Aslam Beg had been involved in manipulating the 1990 elections by distributing a hefty amount of Rs 140 million amongst a group of anti-PPP politicians through the then ISI chief and a part of the ex-servicemen society, Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani and last but not the least Hameed Gul enjoys the distinction of having founded the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) in 1990.

Interestingly, however, Asghar Khan, Aslam Beg, Faiz Chishti and many others present at the gathering of the retired officers, when reminded of their meddling with politics while being in uniform and asked if they wanted to apologise to the nation for their own, they simply refused. Except for retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, none other retired khaki personnel showed the moral courage by making an admission of guilt. Gul not only admitted the wrongdoings he had committed as a spy chief, he also submitted a formal apology to the nation and said he was ready for any punishment. “I am ready for a trial or even hanging,” Gul told the gathering in open door proceedings. His words, however, failed to move the other architects and backers of martial law who were sitting on the stage.

While refusing to show remorse for their past conduct, Asghar Khan, who was presiding over the meeting, got annoyed when asked about his “dirty past” and asked to apologise. “These were individual acts of power hungry generals and they are the ones who should be asked to apologise,” he responded. He did not respond when a journalist questioned the moral authority of the retired generals to preach others when they did not feel embarrassed on the wrongdoings of their past. Khan refused to take questions on self-accountability when reminded that he himself was among the strong supporters of Zia’s martial law and the person sitting next to him, Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, was Commander 10 Corps when Zia had taken over and later collaborated with him in all his acts. Questioners also mentioned General (retd) Aslam Beg under whose stint as the army chief the Mehran Bank scandal took place and the then president had nominated his successor three months before Beg’s retirement as a pre-emptive measure keeping in view his political ambitions.

Interestingly, Asghar Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistan in June 1996, accusing the ISI of manipulating the 1990 general election results in favour of the IJI. And those made respondents in the case were Mirza Aslam Beg and Asad Durrani, ex-Director-General of ISI Directorate, both sitting on stage with Asghar Khan and making fiery speeches against the army’s indulgence in politics. In his written reply submitted with the Supreme Court, General (retd) Aslam Beg had stated: “More serious damage has been caused to the reputation and the good will of the Armed Forces by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan in bringing the petition before this Honourable Court and raising an issue before the apex Court, which of course would receive great publicity and would cause greater damage by scandalisation in the media...dragging the ex-service chief to the courts on a letter may be detrimental to the prestige, honour and dignity of the institution he has once represented…Asghar Khan has approached this august court with ulterior motives and his representation is based on obvious malafides…”

However, despite repeated reminders about their past intervention in national politics, neither Asghar Khan showed the grace to confess any wrongdoing nor did Aslam Beg, Asad Durrani and Faiz Chishti. Speaking on his own behalf and the three others, Asghar, who had demanded of Zia during the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) movement in 1977 that Bhutto should be toppled and hanged publicly at the Sihala Bridge, said: “Whatever has happened in the past has happened and the media should stop browbeating the past.”

However, one is constrained to ask if these khakis were unaware of the spirit of the oath they had taken while joining the army, which explicitly prohibits them from indulging in politics: “I, with a sincere heart and God as my witness do solemnly swear that I will be faithful to the State of Pakistan and protect the Constitution of Pakistan, which reflects the wishes of the people of Pakistan. Further, I will not indulge in any political activity and will perform my duties in the armed forces with full faith and honesty. I will go where and howsoever I am ordered to by land, air or sea and that I will obey all lawful orders given to me by my superiors without regard to any dangers and threats to my personal safety. May God be my protector and witness! Amen.”

The writer is the former editor of weekly Independent, now affiliated with foreign media.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/Previuos.aspx?dtlid=143450&src=Amir%20Mir&date=08/02/2008
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Fallout of Karsaz FIR: If you want to try Hamid Gul, reopen Asghar Khan's petition against ISI in the Supreme Court

New Karsaz FIR

IT is intriguing that a new First Information Report about the bomb attack on Benazir Bhutto’s procession should have been registered a full one year after the Oct 18 crime that killed some 140 innocent people in Karachi. Those named in the new FIR are two former spy chiefs — former ISI boss Gen (retd) Hameed Gul and former Intelligence Bureau head Ijaz Shah — besides former Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi. In a statement made a day after the Karsaz blast, Bhutto said that prior to her return to Pakistan she had written a letter to President Pervez Musharraf, naming the three persons who she suspected wanted to kill her and eliminate the top PPP leadership. The big question is why the authorities waited for 12 months to discover new suspects and why these three names were not included in the previous FIR. One obvious answer could be that the previous government wasn’t being helpful and that Pervaiz Elahi used his influence as chief minister to block investigations. That still wouldn’t fully answer the question, because the PPP-led government has been in power now for nearly seven months and could have moved the investigating agencies immediately after it came to power.

The security agencies have made no startling disclosures over the last 12 months. Maybe, one could argue, the authorities were working quietly and did not wish to go public with whatever progress they had made. That said, the investigating agencies’ competence does not arouse much confidence. While the vehicle that was bombed at Karsaz was secured, the immediate surroundings were quickly cleaned of everything that may have served as evidence — a stupefying phenomenon that was seen again after the Liaquat Bagh tragedy when Bhutto finally fell victim to her assassins. Contrast this with the investigation into the Lockerbie crash where the police gathered every bit of metal and scrap spread over a radius of several miles and finally found the clue. Here the police cleaned up or hosed down the crime scenes in Karachi and Rawalpindi, destroying evidence either deliberately or out of sheer negligence.

The intelligence agencies’ perverse role in politics for decades need not be repeated here, nor do we have to emphasise the three suspects’ hostility to the PPP, especially the Bhutto family. But that still does not point to their culpability. A year has gone by, and investigations into both the Oct 18 blast in Karachi and into the murder of Benazir Bhutto two months later in Rawalpindi have made little or no progress. All we can hope is that the registration of a fresh FIR should prompt the government sleuths to shake off their sloth and investigate the crime in a manner that should show no trace of politicisation or bias. (Dawn)

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Fallout of Karsaz FIR

On the first anniversary of the terrorist attack made on the procession of the PPP leader Ms Benazir Bhutto in the Karsaz area of Karachi, an FIR has been lodged on the basis of a letter written by her naming three persons who could be involved in her assassination. They were two ex-ISI army officers, Mr Ijaz Shah and Mr Hamid Gul, and one ex-chief minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. Mr Gul has already said that he would not give himself up to the police but will appear before a commission if it is set up. An FIR of murder, however, requires the arrest of the accused.

The political scene is too divided for the sort of justice the PPP wants. The retired army officers’ organisation calling itself Ex-Servicemen’s Association [a sub-division of ISI?] is already growling, threatening to bring “25 lakh ex-servicemen on the roads against the PPP government”. They repeat Mr Gul’s accusation that it is being done on orders from Washington, covering him with the nimbus he has always craved as an anti-American hero. In Punjab, the arrest of the ex-chief minister, who is a member of the National Assembly now, will be possible only after the current PMLN chief minister, Mr Shehbaz Sharif, has given the go ahead to his police. In sum, the move made through the FIR in Karachi will pit elements within the army against the PPP while starting an inter-party spat between the PPP and the PMLQ, indirectly empowering the opposition inside the parliament against the sitting government. Those stupid people who advised this action are no friends of Mr Zardari.(Daily Times)
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War maniacs: Hamid Gul, Imran Khan, Qazi, and their supporters, why don't you relocate to FATA? Leave Pakistan alone. By Nazir Naji

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