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In a recent article, prominent Pakistani journalist Amir Mir warned that the killing of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was "unlikely to give Pakistan a reprieve" in its fight against the Islamic militants in Pakistan's tribal region.
Baitullah Mehsud, the Emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban), was reportedly killed in aU.S. drone attack on August 5, 2009. He had been responsible for uniting all militants in Pakistan, leading to the formation ofTTP in December 2007.
Amir Mir's article lists the top 10 militant commanders who could pose a threat to Pakistan in the near future, including British citizen Rashid Rauf, whose reported death in a U.S. missile remains unconfirmed by Pakistani and British security officials.
The article also mentions several militant organizations: Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), a non-Taliban group active mainly in the tribal district of Khyber Agency; Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM, or Movement for the Enforcement of Prophet Muhammad's Shari'a), led by Maulana Sufi Muhammad and his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah who leads the Taliban in Swat district; Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an Al-Qaeda affiliated organization based in the town of Jhang; Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), operating in India and Bangladesh; Jaish-e-Muhammad, an anti-India militant organization affiliated with Al-Qaeda; and others.
"Pakistan's Top 10 Most Wanted Terrorists Belong to Six Militant And Sectarian [Sunni/Shi'ite] Organizations Linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban"
"According to well-placed Interior Ministry sources in Islamabad, Pakistan's top 10 most wanted terrorists belong to six militant and sectarian [Sunni/Shi'ite] organizations linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Four of the 10 are affiliated with the TTP; two belong to the LeJ, while one each is associated with the TNSM, the JeM, the HuJI and the LeI. They include Maulana Fazlullah, the fugitive Emir of the Swat chapter of the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM); Hakimullah Mehsud; Qari Hussain Mehsud; Maulvi Faqeer Mohammad and Waliur Rehman of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); Matiur Rehman and Qari Zafar of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ); Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri of the Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI); Rashid Rauf of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM); and Mangal Bagh of the Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI)."
No. 1 - Maulana Fazlullah
"With Baitullah Mehsud already down, Maulana Fazlullah has become the No. 1 most wanted terrorist. He is the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Mohammed, the founder of TNSM. Born March 1, 1975, Fazlullah is widely known as Mullah Radio for using illegal FM channels to broadcast vituperative speeches, threatening people with dire consequences should they not adhere to shari'a and instigating the residents of Swat into taking part in jihad. He has been missing since April 2009, since the Pakistan Army launched a massive operation to dismantle his jihadi infrastructure following the collapse of ashari'a-for-peace agreement between Maulana Sufi Mohammed and the government. Though the Army has reclaimed Swat district, Maulana Fazlullah remains at large. He carries a reward of Rs 5 million on his head."
No. 2 - Hakimullah Mehsud
"A close confidant of Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud is the new Emir of the TTP. Born in 1980, he used to command TTP fighters in Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram tribal agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATAs). Hakimullah, also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud alias Gudu, has been leading operations against NATO's supply lines in Khyber and Peshawar. His forces have been behind raids that have led to the destruction of more than 600 NATO vehicles and shipping containers. He had taken credit for a series of suicide attacks and complex assaults in Lahore and Peshawar, including the March 2009 attack on the Manawan Police Training Academy in Lahore. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed following the death of Baitullah that Hakimullah too had died in a gun battle. But he is still alive."
No. 3 Qari Hussain Mehsud
"Another close aide of Baitullah, Qari Hussain Mehsud ranks No. 3. He is a key commander of the TTP in South Waziristan, and known as the Ustad-e-Fidayeen (the trainer of suicide bombers). He runs camps that train children to become suicide bombers. Children are indoctrinated to wage jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as shown in a video taken at one of his camps... which was released by him himself. The two major suicide hits claimed on the video were the March 11, 2008 suicide attack on the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) building in Lahore and the November 24, 2007 twin suicide attacks in Rawalpindi, in front of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters. The Pakistani military demolished Hussain's suicide nursery in January 2008 and claimed that he too had been killed. But he mocked the military barely a week later during a press conference, saying, 'I am alive, don't you see me?"'
No. 4 - Ilyas Kashmiri
"No. 4 in the most wanted list, Ilyas Kashmiri, the chief of the Azad Kashmir [free Kashmir or Pakistani Kashmir] chapter of Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist organization Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), is a veteran of the Kashmir jihad who spent several years in an Indian jail. He was arrested after the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on General Pervez Musharraf's presidential cavalcade in Rawalpindi, but released a few weeks later due to lack of evidence. He later shifted his base to the Waziristan region and joined hands with Baitullah Mehsud. He later established a training camp in the Razmak area of Waziristan and shifted most of his militants from his Kotli training camp in Pakistani Kashmir. He has been named in a charge-sheet filed by the Islamabad police for masterminding the November 2008 murder of Major General (retired) Amir Faisal Alvi, the former general officer commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Services Group (SSG)."
No. 5 - Rashid Rauf
"No. 5 on the most wanted list, Rashid Rauf is an alleged Al-Qaeda linked British national of Pakistani origin who is wanted by Pakistan and Britain for being a central figure in an August 2006 plot to blow up some U.S.-bound trans-Atlantic airplanes. A close relative of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Rashid has been accused of forming multiple cells, each comprising 12 terrorists, which had been dispatched in 2008 from Pakistani tribal areas to conduct a series of bomb attacks in the major cities of several European countries. Rashid was reportedly killed on November 22, 2008 after a missile fired from a CIA predator drone destroyed a mud bungalow in Alikhel village of North Waziristan. But it later transpired that he is alive and operating from the Waziristan region."
No. 6 - Mangal Bagh Afridi
"The No. 6 most wanted terrorist is Mangal Bagh Afridi, who is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Islam, an Islamic militant group operating in Khyber Agency which claims to be a reformist organization trying to promote virtue and prevent vice. Born in 1973 in the Bara Tehsil area of Khyber Agency, Mangal used to be a bus conductor, and now preaches extremism on his privately run FM radio stations. If he is to be believed, his Lashkar-e-Islam has 120,000 armed men who control most parts of Khyber Agency. Already declared a proclaimed offender, he left a trail of bloodshed, pillage and mayhem when his men attacked unarmed villagers in Sheikhan, near Peshawar, in early 2009 and killed dozens."
No. 7 - Matiur Rehman
"Born in 1977, Matiur Rehman, aka Samad Sial, chief operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, ranks No. 7. He is a Pakistani national, but identified as Al-Qaeda's planning director, wanted by both the FBI and FIA of Pakistan. Known as an extremely fine bomb-maker, he comes from Bahawalpur district of Pakistan's Punjab province and carries a bounty of 10 million Pakistani Rupees, as announced by the Pakistan government. He was linked with the August 2006 transatlantic plot to destroy U.S.-bound British aircraft. Suspected for his involvement in the September 2008 Marriot Hotel suicide bombing in Islamabad, Matiur Rehman is described as extremely dangerous because of his role as the liaison between Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani jihadi community."
No. 8 - Maulvi Faqir Mohammed
"Born in 1970 in the Bajaur Agency, a tribal district along the Afghan border, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed is a member of the Mohmand tribe and the deputy commander of the TTP. Formerly affiliated with the TNSM led by Maulana Sufi Mohammad, he is wanted due to contacts with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. Faqeer has publicly stated that he has close ties to Osama bin Laden deputy Dr. Ayman Zawahiri. After Baitullah's death, he first announced assuming temporary command of the TTP, but later declared that Hakimullah Mehsud has been selected as the leader of TTP. He is accused of orchestrating the November 8, 2006 suicide attack on an Army training center at Dargai in NWFP, which killed 45 recruits of the Punjab Regiment Centre."
No. 9 - Waliur Rehman
"Waliur Rehman, the commander of the South Waziristan chapter of the TTP, has emerged as a key jihadist figure after the death of Baitullah. Born in 1974, Waliur is a cleric who studied at a religious seminary in the town of Faisalabad - the Jamia Islamia Imdadia - before teaching for seven years at a madrassa in South Waziristan. He joined the Taliban movement in 2004 to become one of Baitullah's trusted aides, who used to look after the financial matters of the TTP. At one stage in his life, Waliur Rehman was associated with Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a ruling party in Pakistan, and pursued peaceful politics. Waliur Rehman was a main contender for Baitullah's job as the TTP head, and his selection as the TTP head for South Waziristan has made him the pivotal figure in the organization."
No. 10 - Qari Mohammad Zafar
"Qari Mohammad Zafar is largely believed to be the acting Emir of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and runs a suicide bombing squad in Pakistan. Presently operating from South Waziristan, Zafar was alleged to be the mastermind of the September 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing. Hailing from Karachi, he is reported to have become one of the members of Al-Qaeda's hard-line inner circle in Pakistan and enjoying the protection of the TTP. In 2007, Zafar escaped from the custody of Pakistani security services in Lahore. He is also wanted for questioning in connection with the March 2, 2006 car bomb attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi."
Friday, September 18, 2009 (The News) By By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The reported death of the Ameer of the Azad Kashmir chapter of the Harkatul Jehadul Islami (HUJI) Commander Ilyas Kashmiri in a US drone attack on September 7 has confirmed that the trouble-stricken Waziristan region has become the new battlefield for the Kashmiri militant groups, which are increasingly joining forces with the pro-Taliban elements to fight out the Nato troops from Afghanistan.
Ilyas Kashmiri was considered to be one of the most dangerous al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani commanders. No 4 on the Pakistani Ministry of Interior’s most-wanted list, Kashmiri was a veteran of the Kashmir Jihad who had spent several years in an Indian jail after being arrested from Jammu & Kashmir. While the Pakistan chapter of HUJI is led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, its Azad Kashmir chapter, which is autonomous, was headed by Ilyas Kashmiri. He was arrested by the Pakistani authorities after the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on General Musharraf’s presidential cavalcade in Rawalpindi, but released in February 2004 due to lack of evidence. However, according to the Pakistani militant circles, Kashmiri was released upon the intervention of the United Jehad Council (UJC).
After being released, Kashmiri switched from the freedom struggle in Jammu Kashmir to the Taliban-led resistance against the Nato forces in Afghanistan and shifted his base to the Waziristan region to join hands with TTP. He had later established a training camp in the Razmak area of Waziristan and shifted most of his militants from his Kotli training camp in Azad Kashmir. In May 2009, Ilyas Kashmiri was accused of plotting the assassination of Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in collusion with al-Qaeda, largely because of the COAS’s lead role in the ongoing war against terrorism. General Kayani’s daily visits to a gymnasium were reportedly tracked by an al-Qaeda cell in Pakistan, and it was decided that he would be targeted by a suicide bomber as soon as he would step out of his car. However, the plan could not be materialised after being leaked out to the intelligence agencies.
Hardly two few weeks before Ilyas was accused of conspiring to target Kayani, he was named in a charge-sheet filed by the Islamabad police in the November 2008 gruesome murder of Major General (retd) Amir Faisal Alvi, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG).
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LAHORE: In a desperate bid to obstruct Asif Ali Zardari’s election as the President of Pakistan, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had gone to the extent of agreeing to join hands with the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) to field a joint presidential candidate. However, the plan could not get through despite several meetings between the leadership of the two Leagues, mainly due to Nawaz Sharif’s indecisiveness, says Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officer who had been close to Osama bin Laden and who himself claims to be a part of the “stop Zardari plan”.
Khalid Khawaja, a retired squadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force, who currently runs a non-government organisation with the name of Defence for Human Rights, has claimed in a recent interview that Nawaz Sharif had been seeing Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks and that he had arranged these meetings on the former prime minister’s request, who wanted to dislodge Benazir Bhutto from the power corridors with bin Laden’s financial backing. After he wrote a critical letter to President General Zia ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1977 till 1988, in which he labeled Zia as hypocrite, he was removed from the ISI and forced to retire from the Pakistan Air Force. Khawaja then went straight to Afghanistan in 1987 and fought against the Soviets occupation forces along side with Osama Bin Laden, thus developing a relationship of firm friendship and trust.
In an exclusive interview, Khawaja said that Nawaz Sharif had authorised him on the heels of the 2008 presidential election (during a meeting at the Punjab House in Islamabad) to hold talks with the president of the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his first cousin Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and to see if the two Muslim Leagues could reunite to field a joint presidential candidate of the opposition parties who could defeat Asif Zardari. According to Khawaja, he subsequently held lengthy parleys with Shujaat Hussain. “Although he was quite willing to reunite the two Leagues, his “reunion formula” was the withdrawal of the PML-N’s presidential candidate Justice (retd) Saeeduzamman Siddiqi in favour of the PML-Q’s candidate Syed Mushahid Hussain to pave the way for the grand merger. Shujaat was of the view that Mushahid is a veteran Leaguer and a former close associate of Nawaz Sharif and Mian Sahib should not have a problem in backing a Leaguer in the presidential election instead of a former judge, “especially if he was actually sincere in reuniting the Leagues for a greater cause”, Khawaja said.
Khalid Khawaja said that by the time he met with Shujaat Hussain, Nawaz Sharif had already tasked some senior party leaders, including Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and Ishaq Dar to hold “reunion talks” with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. “However, their meeting with Shujaat Hussain not only failed but proved simply disastrous and left him extremely annoyed. Shujaat was of the view that the PML-N leaders were stubborn and not sincere in reuniting the Muslim Leagues. They were also over confident and mistaken to believe that they will be able to clinch the support of Maulana Fazalur Rehman and Altaf Hussain, who were already hobnobbing with Asif Zardari. I subsequently held another meeting with Nawaz Sharif and sought his permission to see Shujaat once again. During my second meeting with him, Shujaat again expressed his willingness to join hands with Sharif. However, he kept insisting that the reunion formula should be a decent and honourable one as they were not dying to join hands with the PML-N. Eventually, Shujaat authorized myself and Ejazul Haq to take whatever decision we deemed was appropriate to pave the way for a swift merger of the two Leagues. Shujaat had actually agreed to withdraw his presidential candidate in PML-N’s favour, provided Mian Sahib agreed to visit his place to extend the reunion proposal. I immediately traveled to the Punjab House to finalise the merger deal with Nawaz Sharif. But he acted strangely and told me that he was about to leave for Lahore. As I insisted that it was time to take a decision on the merger issue, his party workers somehow came to know of the issue and started shouting slogans: ‘Mian Sahib won’t go, Mian Sahib won’t go’, thus fizzling out the PML reunion plan”, Khawaja said.
Asked about the PML-N leadership’s allegations that his attempts to link the former prime minister with Osama bin Laden were part of a grand conspiracy aimed at Nawaz Sharif’s character assassination, Khalid Khawaja regretted that it was actually the PML-N which has launched a vicious character assassination campaign to malign him by describing him a liar. “I warn Mian Nawaz Sharif tender an unconditional apology for having ordered my character assassination campaign despite knowing fully well that whatever I had stated about him and Osama bin Laden was truth and nothing but the truth. Otherwise, I have every right to approach the court of law against the PML-N leader and file a defamation suit against him for trying to damage my credibility. Many other Pakistani politicians like Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Samiul Haq, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Hameed Gul too had seen Osama in the past, but never refuted their meetings unlike Sharif. Even if Nawaz Sharif’s party refused to admit a contact between Osama and Nawaz, it will not change the facts which were witnessed by many people including Khayyam Qaisar (Nawaz Sharif’s personal staff officer) and myself”, Khawaja said.
He added: “Mian Sahib met Osama on at least five occasions and was desperately seeking his financial assistance to topple the government of Benazir Bhutto. Osama provided me with funds, which I handed over to Nawaz Sharif, then the chief minister of Punjab. Nawaz insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with the “Sheikh”, which I did in Saudi Arabia. The most historic was the meeting in the Green Palace Hotel in Medina between Nawaz Sharif, Osama and myself, where Osama had asked Nawaz to devote himself to jehad in Kashmir. Nawaz immediately said, “I love jehad.” Osama smiled, and then stood up from his chair and went to a nearby pillar and said. “Yes, you may love jehad, but your love for jehad is this much.” He then pointed to a small portion of the pillar. “Your love for children is this much,” he said, pointing to a larger portion of the pillar. “And your love for your parents is this much,” he continued, pointing towards the largest portion. “I agree that you love jehad, but this love is the smallest in proportion to your other affections in life. But these sorts of arguments were beyond Nawaz’ comprehension who kept asking me. “Manya key nai manya?” [Agreed or not?] He was looking for a grant of 500 million rupee. Though Osama gave a comparatively smaller amount, the landmark thing he secured for Nawaz was a meeting with the Saudi royal family, which gave him a lot of political support, and it remained till he was dislodged by General Musharraf. Now with these immortal accounts secured in my memory I see the denials in newspapers that Nawaz had nothing to do with Osama, and I think “how can people forget their mentors”, Khalid Khawaja concluded.
However, approached for comments, the PML-N spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said that Khalid Khawaja’s so-called revelations about Nawaz Sharif’s anti-Zardari efforts prior to the 2008 presidential elections as well as his meetings with Osama bin Laden were a mere pack of lies and motivated. “I would like to ask whether Khalid Khawaja is worth being tasked by a twice-elected prime minister to make efforts for the PML reunification. Even otherwise, a reunion with the PML-Q was totally out of question because Nawaz Sharif’s principled stance is known to even a lay man in the street - he would never join hands with those who had sided with a dictator like Musharraf. Therefore, any such move on Nawaz Sharif’s part was simply out of question.”
LAHORE: Former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui’s statement that the Inter Services Intelligence dished out millions of rupees to different politicians during President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s regime to manipulate the 1990 elections, followed by Asghar Khan’s demand that the present chief justice should re-open the said case which he had filed in 1996 to take it to its logical end, has dusted off an old controversy, which is set to blemish the democratic credentials of many leading politicians of the country.
Chief justice (retd) Siddiqui told a private TV channel that the ISI was an intelligence agency and it should not interfere in national politics, or be used against politicians. Seasoned politician Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan had gone one step ahead in asking Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to reopen the case he had filed with the apex court almost 13 years ago with a view to take the culprits to task. His case is pending with the Supreme Court of Pakistan following the November 1997 unceremonious exit of former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah from his office at the hands of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The case had originated on June 16, 1996 from a letter by Asghar Khan to the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah, asking him to take appropriate action on then interior minister Naseerullah Babar’s statement in the National Assembly. Babar had stated on the floor of the house: “The ISI collected some Rs 140 million from the Habib Bank Ltd and distributed among a number of politicians prior to the 1990 elections with a view to manipulate the results in favour of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.” Asghar Khan’s letter was subsequently converted into a constitutional petition (19 of 1996) by the chief justice under Article 184(3), envisaging the human rights jurisdiction of the apex court. According to the petitioner, Asghar Khan, he had sent the first letter with the sole purpose of exposing the role of the ISI in manoeuvring the election results and supporting its favourite politicians to fulfil political ends of the establishment. “You never know how many elections have been rigged and manoeuvred by the ISI in the past,” Asghar had stated in his letter to the CJ, adding the ISI moves since 1988 were actually aimed at defeating the PPP and, therefore, the matter be adjudged and action be taken against those found guilty.
The respondents in the said case were former Army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, ex-director-general of the ISI Directorate, and Younis Habib, ex-chief of ex-Mehran Bank Ltd, then confined to Central Jail, Karachi. However, the case could not be decided because of the premature dismissal of chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah. He was followed by CJPs Ajmal Mian, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, Irshad Hasan Khan, Bashir Jehangiri, Shaikh Riaz Ahmed, Nazim Hussain Siddiqui and now Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Yet, even after a lapse of 13 years, the Human Rights Petition No 19/96 remains shelved as none of the chief justices after Sajjad Shah had dared to invite the wrath of the mighty military and intelligence establishment by reopening the controversial case. In his written reply to the apex court and subsequently reported by the media, Aslam Beg had stated: “More serious damage has been caused to the reputation and the goodwill 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... That 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. That Asghar Khan has approached this august court with ulterior motives and his representation is based on mala fides.”
Beg had stated in his written reply to the apex court: “That in early September [1990], Mr Younis Habib, then serving in the Habib Bank Ltd as Zonal Chief, had called on the answering respondent [Beg] and informed him that he was under instructions from the President’s [Ghulam Ishaq] Election Cell to make available a sum of Rs 140 million for supporting the elections of 1990.
“That in 1990 the National Assembly of Pakistan was dissolved and the government of Ms Benazir Bhutto was dismissed. A caretaker government was formed to hold elections within 90 days. The then president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, had formed an Election Cell directly under him managed by Roedad Khan/Ijlal Haider Zaidi. That later on, the answering respondent was informed by Director-General, ISI, that various accounts were opened and the amount of Rs 140 million was deposited in those accounts directly by Younis Habib. Director-General, Inter Services Intelligence, made arrangements to distribute these amounts amongst the politicians belonging to various political parties and persons as instructed by the Election Cell.”
The petition further stated: “That in 1975, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then prime minister, had created a Political Cell within the ISI organisation. As a result, the ISI was made responsible to the chief executive, i.e. the prime minister/president for all matters of national and political intelligence. The receipt of this amount by ISI from Younis Habib in 1990 was also under the directions of the Chief Executive. DG ISI also informed the answering respondent that funds so received were properly handled and the accounts were maintained and that Ghulam Ishaq was briefed by him on this matter.
“That during this period, in his meeting with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the answering respondent had informed him about the donations made by Younis Habib and its utilisation by DG ISI under the instructions of the PresidentÃs Political Cell. That the petitioner has made the following allegations : (a) actions of Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt-Gen Asad Durrani amounted to gross misconduct; (b) both have brought the armed forces of Pakistan into disrepute; (c) both have been guilty of undermining the discipline of the armed forces. That these allegations are false, based on mala fide, and unfounded. That DG had ISI acted within the limits of the ‘lawful command’ received from the President’s Election Cell. Definition of lawful command as interpreted by Pakistan Army Act Section 33 Note b(3) is: ‘A superior can give a command for the purpose of maintaining good order or suppressing a disturbance or for the execution of a military duty or regulation’, and Pakistan Army Act Section 33 Note b(11): ‘A civilian cannot give a ‘lawful command’ under this sub-section to a soldier employed under him; but it may well be the soldier’s duty as such to do the act indicated. That the actions of the respondent and Lt-Gen Asad Durrani did not amount to gross misconduct and the orders were carried out under a lawful command.”
Afterwards, a former ISI DG, Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, had conceded in an affidavit submitted to the FIA that his political cell received Rs 140m from Younis Habib for distribution among the anti-PPP politicians at the behest of Aslam Beg. (The News)
PML-N warns of long march if Musharraf ‘not fixed’
Saturday, August 29, 2009 Says ISI money matters can’t undermine Nawaz’s popularity; threatens protest if vilification against its leader doesn’t stop ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said on Friday it could go for a Long March to ensure former president Pervez Musharraf was punished.
Addressing a news conference, PML-N Secretary Information Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said that character assassination of the party chief Nawaz Sharif could in no way deter the PML-N’s struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution, parliament and Musharraf’s trial under Article 6.
He said: “We succeeded to get the deposed judges reinstated despite the fact that democracy had not yet strengthened its root in the country at that time. This time too, we would make firm efforts to get our constitutional demands fulfilled,” said the information secretary.
He said the issue of Karachi operation was being trumpeted by those who afraid of Nawaz’s increasing popularity, adding that if such malicious campaign was not stopped, the N-League reserved the right to protest in as well as outside the Parliament.
The party leader said the November 3, 2007 steps were not protected under the Constitution, so it was essential that the person who took such steps must be tried. Ahsan Iqbal said the matter of giving money to political leaders by the secret agency could not undermine Nawaz’s popularity and people elected him despite such maligning drive. He told the media that the military operation in Swat got appraisal from all circles and if this operation had been carried out by dictator, it could have never won such praise. (The News)
In the ring
Thursday, August 27, 2009 The hand of the so-called 'establishment', that shadowy entity comprising the army, the bureaucracy and the agencies among other forces, has long been a part of politics in Pakistan. The coming and going of governments, the downfall of individuals and all kinds of other events are attributed to it. But today, we apparently find this powerful entity locked in what appears to be an internal dilemma. According to a report in this newspaper and rumours that drift across Islamabad's leafy avenues, elements within the establishment are engaged in an all-out effort to discredit Nawaz Sharif, a man whose political career is said to have begun with the support of the same lobby. The purpose appears to be to save former president Musharraf from trial – and possibly by exposing or threatening to expose misdeeds from the past – pressurising Sharif to abandon the strident position he has taken on the issue. It has been alleged that key figures have attempted to use the media to advance their stance and that a Karachi-based political party is also being used for the same purpose.
The tussle is a fascinating one in many ways. The PML-N, which insists it will not back down, has for the first time come up directly against those with whom it is said, in the past, to have worked with hand in glove. The accounts also suggest that as many suspect, the army is indeed keen to save a former chief and by doing so keep intact the notion that the men who wear khaki cannot be touched and ride above the law of the land. There have been some suggestions that Nawaz Sharif may still have supporters in powerful places who are willing to back him against Musharraf – thus opening up a distinct divide.
As has happened before, such events also act to throw light on some of the more murky deeds in our history. Sadly these are many. The continued lack of access to information means that truths about corruption rackets or other equally dark deeds rarely surface unless somebody wants to throw back the dust covers and expose such goings-on, to serve their own purposes. As such, there is a possibility, as the power struggle hinged around Musharraf continues, that more facts may emerge from the past. These could help satisfy curiosity and give the public more information about leaders. The risk though of course is that accuracy will be lost amidst the effort to score points. It is impossible for the present to predict who the winner will be in the ongoing tussle. But what it does underscore is the powerful role the establishment still plays in our set-up and how difficult it indeed is to distance the military from events in the political sphere. (The News)
60 MQM men buried in Margalla hills in 1997: Shujaat
Thursday, August 27, 2009 ISLAMABAD: PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Husain has disclosed that at least 60 activists of the MQM were buried in the Margalla Hills of the Federal Capital in 1997.
Talking to a TV channel on Wednesday, he said the said activists, apprehended from Karachi, were shifted to Islamabad, where they were tortured to death and later buried in the Margalla Hills. No investigations of any sort were held regarding the killing of the detainees.”
Chaudhry Shujaat further disclosed: “I was Federal Interior Minister at that time, but Chairman Accountability Bureau Saif-ur-Rahman was more influential than me. The map, which the law-enforcement agencies exposed, has no reality.
Responding to a query, he elucidated that trial for the former dictator Pervez Musharraf would not be held. Shujaat said he was personally not in favour of presenting the resolution in the House. The incumbents, as at this juncture of time, should focus their attention to relieve the masses from prevailing energy and commodity crisis, instead of indulging in dead issues.
The PML chief said the political leadership of the country was taken into confidence in connection with the 1992 military operation in Karachi. The federal cabinet was also not briefed before the military operation in Karachi, he said.
The PML-Q leader expressed his anger that the issues of 1992 military operation and ‘Jinnahpur’ were being aired at this particular time to divert the attention of the masses from prevailing crisis.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the PML-N, Siddiq-ul-Farooq, while refuting the allegations levelled by Chaudhry Shujaat, emphasised that the PML-N chief had nothing to do with any sort of genocide during his both the tenures.
Farooq said Chaudhry Shujaat Husain was federal interior minister in 1997 and should have resigned from his office, if he had any moral courage, over the ëkilling of 60 activists of the MQM in the Federal Capital. (The News)
Chief politicians embezzle donation money in Ishaq era
KARACHI: According to the sworn undertaking of ISI’s former chief Lieutenant General (rtd) Asad Durrani, which he took before Supreme Court (SC) on July 24, 1994, that he was instructed in September 1990 by the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the former General Mirza Aslam Baig for provision of Logistic Support to embezzle money donated for election preparations from some Karachi traders and use the same donation money for Islami Jamhuri Ittehad (IJI) party.
Asad Durrani was told that the instructions to misappropriate donation money were backed by the then government of Pakistan, according to his affidavit statement before SC.
Subsequently, in pursuit of the instructions he received, he was forced to open some fake bank accounts in Karachi, Quetta and Rawalpindi while one donator from Karachi, by the name Younis Habib, deposited as much as 140 million rupees and the money from all accounts were transferred to other places according to the need for extension of logistic support to IJI party while the remaining money was transferred to a special fund, his sworn statement added.
His statement further added, Rs10 million were given to Mir Afzal in NWFP province, Rs3.5 million to Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Punjab, Rs5.6 million to Lieutenant General (rtd) Rafaqat for advertisement on media, Rs5 million to Jamat-e-Islami, Rs1 million to Begum Abida Hussain, Rs0.5 million to Altaf Hussain Qureshi and Mustafa Sadiq, Rs3.3 million to small groups, Rs5 million to Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in Sindh, Rs5 million to Jam Sadiq, Rs2.5 million to Muhammad Khan Junejo, Rs2 million to Pir Pagara, Rs0.3 million to Molana Salahuddin, Rs5.4 million to small parties, Rs1.5 million to Humayun Muree, the son-in-law of Bugti, Rs4 million to Jamali, Rs1 million to Kakar, Rs0.7 million to Jam Yousuf, Rs0.5 million Bazinjo and Rs1 million were given to Nadir Mengal. (The News)
It is pertinent to mention that the value in rupees of 12 grams of gold was Rs33 at the time when money was misappropriated while it stands at Rs29,000 today. (The News)
Nawaz Kush Campaign and Fauji Chooran - By Rashid Murad:
Some relevant comments: Source: pkpolitics
runaway said:
Now NS claiming that 92 operation was done without his permission. What the hell? He was the Prime Minister of PAKISTAN not PUNJAB.
Kargil done without his knowledege..92 operation done without his permission. Was Qarz Utaro Mulk Sanwar and Dollar Freeze also done without his knowledge…bhola !!
Gul said:
I totally disagree the ‘quaidabad’ issue is of headline importance. This was clarified way back in 92 soon after the accusation was made.
Brig. Imtiaz’s bringing it up yet again, at this time, is nothing but a typical red herring to distract from the genuine issue of MQM’s terrorism, and the inquiries it now faces. It is also being used to somehow weaken Nawaz Sharif, who appears unstoppable in gaining popularity. It suits, and has always suited, the establishment not let any one political party or leader become very strong. Keep them all weak, thereby keeping own hold on country.
There can be NO other purpose in bringing up such a non issue at this time, and sending all the talking heads spinning into this rat hole.
Amir Hameed said:
@Gul, Re: your post above, I tend to disagree with you. We need to highlight the role of intelligence agencies in weakening the political structure of this country. Hamid Gul has also issued a statement recently where he has indicated how the agencies were involved in forming IJI. The bottom line is that agencies need to stay out of the political structure, period.
Gul said:
@Amir Hameed
I agree with you a 100% on the need to struggle against agencies’ role in preventing Pakistan from ever acquiring a strong democratic dispensation.
Where I don’t agree is that this dead issue, a red herring, will do that. As I said, the fact that there never was such a map was very much contradicted and clarified very shortly after the claim was made. Beating this idiotic and long failed, long disproven claim, NOW, is meant to serve purposes entirely different form highlighting agencies’ role in the past or the present.
Amir Hameed said:
@sacheebat, …unless politicians or parties are involved in anti-Pakistan or other illegal activities…
That is fine but it is related to treason and not the political structure. Agencies’ role should be to protect the country, both from inside and outside threats, BUT not to interject their influence in the political structure.
@Gul, Re: this being a dead issue; Altaf Hussain’s speech in India should also be a dead issue because we all know that it DID happen but we beat this dead horse every single chance we get. In the context of Jinahpur, I do not see any reason why we should not discus a) who orchestrated it, meaning where did the orders come from? b) why was it done? c) What was the role of the-then government?
These are all legitimate questions and should not be put under the cover. People have the right to ask and to know the truth.
LAHORE: Pakistan has extradited 10 arrested terrorists belonging to the pro-independence Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) to China, an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed to The News on Friday.
The spokesman in Islamabad, confirming the extradition, said the ETIM militants had actually been arrested after they attacked Pakistani security forces in the tribal areas. Ten of the over two-dozen arrested Chinese were handed over to Beijing after it was established that they belonged to the ETIM, which Beijing describes as an armed secessionist group with bases in Xingjian-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the northwest of China, and in Pakistan.
The extradition of the Chinese militants came as a result of three agreements signed between Pakistan and China to curb militancy and extremism. During interrogations by the Pakistani authorities, most of the ETIM militants had refuted terrorism charges, saying they were members of a Chinese separatist movement founded by Turkish speaking ethnic majority of over eight million people whose traditional homeland lies in Xingjian Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest China.
According to interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the 10 Chinese militants, who had been arrested from the country’s tribal areas, were extradited following the Chinese President Hu Jintao’s request to Islamabad for taking stern action against the fugitive Chinese militants hiding in Pakistani tribal areas and running terrorist activities in China.
While using diplomatic channels to approach President Zardari, sources said, President Hu had expressed his concerns over the presence of the ETIM in the Pakistani tribal areas, saying they might threaten the security of over 5,000 Chinese nationals working on different development projects in Pakistan.
East Turkistan had maintained a measure of independence until early 1950s when Mao’s victorious rebel armies turned to the peripheries and began securing Chinese borders, capturing Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and East Turkistan. The native Uighurs resisted the Chinese occupation until the 1960s, but failed to win support from neighbouring Muslim states due to their fractured tribal nature.
Since the mid-1980s, however, an active pan-Islamic movement has been trying to cement the opposing groups together against the Chinese occupation of their homeland, pressing for an independent East Turkistan state. Yet Beijing, which views Xingjian as an invaluable asset due to its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves, is adopting all possible measures to quell the separatist movement.
The Chinese authorities had been blaming the Uighur separatists for sporadic bombings and shootouts in the past, causing an atmosphere of insecurity and fear in China. Due to intense Chinese lobbying against the ETIM, it was listed a terrorist organisation by the United States as well as the United Nations in 2002.
But a subsequent 2003 report by the Amnesty International had observed the evidence that formed the basis for the UN decision remains unclear. The report further said China continues to make little distinction between the Uighurs involved in peaceful or violent nationalist activities, branding them as ‘separatists’ or ëterrorists’.
According to some sources in Islamabad, the Chinese militants were extradited despite opposition by the Amnesty International. In March 2009, Tim Parritt, Deputy Director of the Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme, had observed that whatever these EMIT militants were accused of, the risks posed to them were extremely grave, if forcibly returned to China.
He had maintained that under the international law, states were obliged not to expel, return or extradite any person to a country where they risk torture or other ill-treatment. However, the Pakistani authorities insist that all those who had been extradited to Beijing were involved in terrorist activities both in China and in Pakistan and had also developed links with al-Qaeda network in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
They said the fact that the ETIM militants had extended their network of terrorist activities to Pakistan was evident from a threat they had conveyed to the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, saying they intended to kidnap Chinese diplomats and consular officers stationed in the Pakistani federal capital with a view to highlighting their cause.
The Chinese mission subsequently informed the Pakistani authorities in a letter that some members of the ETIM had already reached Islamabad and planned to kidnap their staffers from the federal capital.
The letter reportedly pointed out that terrorist groups located in Pakistan, including al-Qaeda, had been providing support to the ETIM activists for the likely kidnappings. Subsequent investigations had established that the anonymous threat was issued by none other than the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and that the would-be kidnappers had first travelled to Jalalabad in Afghanistan to finalise their plans. (The News, 6 June 2009)
LAHORE: Islamabad’s decision to sign a peace deal with the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi by enforcing the ‘Sharai Nizam-e-Adl Regulation’ in the Malakand division of the NWFP, primarily to bring back peace to the Swat valley, is a highly risky affair for both Maulana Sufi Mohammad and the government since both sides have put their credibility at stake and will have to prove in the coming days that they are capable of honouring their part of the treaty unlike the past.
It is not for the first time that the TNSM and the NWFP government have inked a peace deal to end fighting in exchange for implementation of Shariah or Islamic law in a large region of the Northwest Frontier Province. It was on April 20, 2008 that the NWFP coalition government signed a six-point accord with the TNSM led by Maulana Sufi Mohammad whose son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah alias Maulana Radio calls the shots in Swat. The then imprisoned TNSM Amir had promised to renounce militancy and suicide attacks, refrain from targeting the Army and the government installations and not to oppose female education and immunisation programme for children. In return, the government withdrew all pending cases against Sufi, commuted his remaining prison term of four years and set him free unconditionally.
Sufi’s release meant that the coalition government in the NWFP, comprising the Awami National Party, which champions Pashtun nationalism and secularism, and the Pakistan People’s Party, a left-of-centre secular party, wanted to use him as a partner in tackling militancy and extremism and bringing peace to Swat. However, in a strange move, almost a week after his release, Sufi disowned his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, saying he would not talk to him again for the sake of peace in Swat as he has shown disobedience to him. While there are those who believe it was a shrewd move on the part of Sufi who had already been freed and who wanted to carry on his old agenda of enforcing Shariah in the Malakand division, the NWFP government circles believed it was hard for Sufi to take back the initiative from his son-in-law who had already established himself as an unchallenged commander of the TNSM in Swat and strengthened his position by joining forces with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, led by the South Waziristan-based fugitive Commander Baitullah Mehsud.
Therefore, Sufi Mohammad deemed it fit to simply disown Maulana Fazlullah, thus failing to fulfil his part of the peace deal under which he was released. The Sufi’s inability to pursue his son-in-law prompted the NWFP government to pursue Fazlullah independently, only to strike yet another peace deal in Swat with him almost a month later — on May 21, 2008. It took the NWFP coalition government hardly three rounds of talks spread over 13 days to reach their peace accord for Swat. The 16-point handwritten accord in Urdu was described by analysts as a comprehensive document of give-and-take by the two sides. The TNSM leadership had renounced militancy in return for acceptance of their longstanding demand that Shariah be enforced in Swat and the rest of Malakand region. Fazlullah had promised not to challenge the writ of the state, refrain from attacking security forces and government installations and stop opposing girls’ education and immunisation of children. He denounced suicide bombings and agreed to disband his private militia — Shaheen Commando Force. Though it was not yet announced, a general amnesty for the Swati militants was to cover Fazlullah and his top lieutenants.
The NWFP government also gave in to the militants’ demand to retain control of the TNSM’s sprawling Madrassa complex in Fazlullah’s village, Mamdheray, and establish an Islamic university there, besides allowing them continued use of their FM radio. An 11-member joint committee of the provincial government officials, NWFP assembly members and militants’ representatives was formed to monitor and implement the accord, because of the worries that problems could arise with regard to the still undecided timeframe for eventual withdrawal of over 20,000 Army troops from Swat. However, the peace deal was unilaterally revoked by Maulana Fazlullah hardly a few weeks later under instructions from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Ameer Baitullah Mehsud who was furious over the ongoing military operation in the Waziristan region. Mehsud further asked the ruling coalition to step down immediately or else face an armed movement from the militants, as it had failed to honour its promises made with the Swat chapter of the TTP in the peace agreement.
Almost nine months later, the NWFP government has inked yet another peace agreement with Sufi who has once again promised to extend his support to bring back peace to Swat by prevailing upon his son-in-law to lay down arms before the military operation in the valley could come to an end. As per the peace deal, Sufi will be at the forefront of establishing a new political administration in Swat. He will pave public opinion for a new local administration, to be established in Swat, by holding public gatherings throughout the district. Nevertheless, there are those in the political circles who are sceptical about Sufi’s ability to neutralize Fazlullah and his lethal militant network despite reports that Baitullah Mehsud has already severed all contacts with Maulana Fazlullah for not toeing his line recently. At the same time, it remains to be seen how much political support and clout Sufi and his TNSM still retain in Swat and in the rest of Malakand region following his 2001 misadventure when he had taken thousands of his young followers to fight out the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan which had invaded Kabul in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. (The News)
Background of Sufi Muhammad and TNSM:
Peace deal to legitimise TNSM
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 By By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The Pakistan government’s decision to sign a peace agreement with Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the Ameer of the defunct Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, who is well known for his constant defiance and innate inclination to challenge the writ of the state, has clearly revived the lost glory of this terrorist of the past besides legitimising his TNSM, which was banned by the Musharraf regime on Jan 12, 2002 for its involvement in anti-state terrorist activities.
Generally referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, primarily to distinguish it from the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar, the Sufi-led TNSM or the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws is a militant organisation which had fast emerged in the Malakand Division of the NWFP and in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a private army to reckon with. Known as a pro-Taliban Jihadi organisation, the TNSM had been founded by the Sufi way back in 1989 after discarding the umbrella of the Jamaat-e-Islami. While quitting the Jamaat, Sufi Mohammad had issued a decree, declaring that the religious political parties and electoral politics were unlawful and contrary to the Islamic principles. “There is no room for vote in Islam and the concept of democracy, which some religio-political parties are demanding, is wrong,” he added.
Ideologically, the TNSM Ameer is dedicated to transform Pakistan into a Taliban style Islamic state. The motto of his organisation is 'Shariah ya Shahadat' (Islamic laws or martyrdom) which rejects all political and religio-political parties for they follow Western style of democracy and openly condones the use of force in Jihad. The members of the group are identified by their shoulder-length hair and camouflage vests over traditional Shalwar Kameez, being the trade mark of Sufi Mohammad, which has become their identity and are now referred to as the black turbans.
In the words of Sufi: “Those opposing the imposition of Shariah in Pakistan are Wajibul Qatal (worthy of death). The TNSM rejects democracy as un-Islamic: “We want immediate enforcement of Islamic judicial system in totality: judicial, political, economic, Jihad fei sabilallah (holy war in the name of Allah), education and health. In my opinion the life of the faithful will automatically be moulded according to the Islamic system when the Islamic judicial system is enforced,” Sufi had declared in November 2001 shortly before being jailed in Pakistan on terrorism charges.
Almost six years later, on May 16, 2008, as Sufi was released by the government following a peace deal, he had reiterated his stance that he was struggling for the enforcement of the Islamic laws that ensure harmony and justice in the Pakistani society. On February 17, 2009, almost nine months later, the government finally conceded to his persistent demand for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adal Regulation in seven districts of the Malakand division and Kohistan district of the Hazara division by abolishing all “un-Islamic” laws besides putting the security forces engaged in the military operation in Swat in reactive mode. In return, Sufi has reached Swat with a promise to convince his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah and his fighters to lay down arms for the sake of peace.
Sufi Mohammad first rose to prominence in 1994 when he had staged a sit-in in Malakand by blocking the Mingora-Peshawar road for seven days, cutting off the Swat valley from the rest of Pakistan, demanding the enforcement of the Islamic laws. Subsequently, armed clashes between the law enforcing agencies and the TNSM activists took place at different places. A sitting member of the NWFP Assembly, Badiuzaman Khan, was taken hostage by the TNSM supporters and eventually killed. The law enforcement agencies thus moved in to crush the insurgents who clashed with the administration and effectively brought the whole administrative structure of Swat to a standstill by seizing control of the government buildings and the Saidu Sharif airport.
The uprising followed the February 12, 1994, Supreme Court verdict declaring the PATA Regulation that governed the Provincially-Administered Tribal Areas of Malakand as unconstitutional. The void created by the SC judgment led to the demand for the Shariah enforcement. Over three dozen people, including 12 security force personnel, were killed in a week of fighting before the government was able to re-establish its writ, but only after signing a peace agreement with Sufi to enforce the Shariah in Malakand. However, the deal could not be implemented, thus prompting fresh violence. Peace was only restored after another deal that served as a clear victory for the TNSM as Sufi Mohammad handed himself over to the military and the federal government agreed to enforce the Shariah in Malakand. Sufi remained in the government custody for a short period of time.
By November 1994, senior government functionaries reportedly sent Sufi official letters addressed to “Honorable Maulana Sufi Mohammad bin Hasan Mahmud” updating him about the government directives to enforce the Shariah law and requesting his cooperation. Immediate official instructions were then issued to establish religious courts. Sufi’s followers meanwhile started driving on the wrong side of the road claiming to defy the traffic rules introduced by Britain a century ago. Men were also told to grow beards. In short, Talibanisation began to take place while the political leadership failed to contain it and to put an end to the problem at its outset. Already a conservative area, Malakand suffered in the process with the TNSM extremists openly pursuing their agenda.
By that time, the Taliban movement led by Mullah Omar had already surfaced in Afghanistan after capturing Kandahar. As the Taliban and the TNSM had the same religious vision and ideals, Sufi Mohammad used to enjoy cordial relations with the Taliban rulers who funded him in a big way to make him extend the TNSM organisational set-up in other parts of the NWFP and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. On September 6, 1998, the TNSM threatened to attack American property and to abduct American citizens in Pakistan unless Washington apologised for the August 1998 missile strikes in Afghanistan, targeting Osama’s training camps. The TNSM organised a protest procession in Mingora on September 20, 2001 where the speakers called for raising a voluntary army in order to extend support to the Taliban militia against the impending US strikes.
The Taliban rule in Afghanistan at that time actually provided the TNSM with an instant reference to argue and justify their rigid social policies. When the US-led Allied forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, Sufi exhorted his followers to join the Taliban in Afghanistan in their armed struggle against the US-led allied forces. He had self-admittedly led over 10,000 Pakistani youngsters to fight the US-led Allied forces in Afghanistan in November 2001. Reportedly armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers, missiles, anti-aircraft guns, hand grenades and swords, thousands of the TNSM cadres led by Sufi crossed the Pak-Afghan border. Thousands of the youngsters he had taken to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the US invasion were killed by the Northern Alliance troops and hundreds others were trapped by various Afghan warlords, who literally sold them back to their relatives in Pakistan for huge sums of money.
When a majority of his soldiers had been either killed or captured, he returned home only to be arrested by government forces. He was ultimately convicted on April 24, 2002, along with his 30 companions, to ten years of imprisonment for inciting people to go to Afghanistan and for violating state restrictions. He was then sent to a Dera Ismail Khan jail. Interestingly, he had refused to contest his case in the court of law, saying he does not believe in the existing courts and laws which were un-Islamic to him. In the aftermath of his Jihadi misadventure and the subsequent loss of lives, Sufi Mohammad lost much of his support in the Malakand division. A majority of his supporters went underground after the TNSM was banned on January 12, 2002 by the Musharraf regime along with four other Jihadi and sectarian organisations.
The TNSM had become almost dormant till the October 8, 2005 devastating earthquake struck the region, thus making the followers of Sufi capitalise on the great human tragedy and use it to revive their organisation. Since the volunteers of the TNSM were in the forefront of the humanitarian relief work, especially in the devastated areas of the NWFP, the popularity of the group once again shot up. In the process of helping out the quake-affected people, the TNSM re-established its stronghold in Malakand, Swat and Bajaur like other banned Jihadi groups and started mobilising its activists. However, contrary to many other banned militant organisations that deemed it fit to resurface under new identities by renaming themselves, the TNSM leadership decided not to abandon its previous identity.
Since the TNSM volunteers were in the forefront of the humanitarian relief work, especially in the devastated areas of the NWFP, the popularity of the Jihadi group once again shot up. In the process of helping out the quake affected people, the TNSM, now led by Maulana Fazalullah, re-established its stronghold in the Malakand and Swat areas of the NWFP and in the Bajaur area of Fata like other banned Jihadi groups and started mobilising its activists. Almost a year later, in the early hours of October 31, 2006, 82 people were killed in a missile attack on a religious Madrassa located at Chenagai village in the Bajaur Agency. The strike also killed Maulana Liaquat, the younger brother of Fazlullah, who used to run the seminary as a key leader of the TNSM. A few hours after the missile attack, Maulana Faqir Mohammed announced to avenge the killings of the innocent Madrassa students by carrying out suicide bombings against the Pakistani troops.
A week later, 45 Army recruits undergoing training at Punjab Regimental Centre training school at Dargai, 100 kilometres north of Peshawar, were killed and dozens injured on the morning of November 8, 2006, when a suicide bomber ran towards them and blew himself up. The TNSM had subsequently claimed the attack. Since then, there had been a significant resurgence in the activities of the TNSM, mostly targeting the country’s security forces, eventually prompting the newly-elected NWFP government to sign a peace agreement with Sufi on April 20, 2008 and release him from jail after six years of imprisonment. Almost nine months later, the government has signed yet another deal with Sufi Mohammad. However, only time will tell whether the deal signed by the government with the terrorists of the past to ensure peace in Swat bears fruit and actually brings the much-needed peace to the valley.
LAHORE: The Pakistani authorities have busted a clandestine assassination plot being hatched by the jailed killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to kill the former Pakistani dictator President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
Highly placed interior ministry sources have disclosed that the assassination plot was unearthed after General (retd) Musharraf received a threatening phone call on his personal cellular phone in the second week of November, saying ’I am after you, get ready to die’. Subsequent investigations by Pakistani authorities revealed that the threatening phone call was made by someone from the Central Jail, Hyderabad. Being an apparent suspect, Sheikh Omar was placed under observation before it transpired that he was the one to have threatened the former strongman. The authorities further came to know that a plot had been hatched by Sheikh Omar to physically eliminate General (retd) Musharraf with the help of some Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants with whom he had been in touch on phone since long.
As Sheikh Omar’s death cell was thoroughly searched, three mobile phones, six batteries, 18 SIMS of almost every cellular company and chargers were recovered from his possession. Further scanning of his telephone records revealed that he had been making calls all over Pakistan to his former jehadi associates as well as his relatives in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. Interestingly, however, his mobile phone records revealed that besides having revived his contacts to the outer world, Omar had also been in touch with Attaur Rehman alias Naeem Bokhari, a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operative who had been arrested by the Karachi police on June 5, 2007 in connection with the January 2002 Daniel Pearl murder. The barracks of Naeem Bokhari, who is being kept at the Central Jail Sukkur, were searched, the authorities recovered one mobile phone and three SIMS which he had been using to stay in touch with Omar and a few other LeJ associates in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
During subsequent interrogations, Naeem Bukhari is learnt to have revealed that the LeJ operatives had already been directed by Sheikh Omar to target Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi, preferably by using a suicide bomber driving an explosive laden car. The LeJ militants had thus been monitoring Musharraf’s movements with a view to either target him while he is traveling between his Army House residence in Rawalpindi and his Chak Shehzad farm house on the 1-A Park Road in the quiet suburbs of Islamabad or to blow up the bridge on Drig Road during his next Karachi visit at the precise moment when his convoy would reach there while coming from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport to the Shahrah-e-Faisal. It was after the unearthing of the assassination plot that Musharraf decided to leave for London on November 22, 2008 for a short trip – for the first time since quitting as president in August 2008. Although he has already returned home, Musharraf is still occupying the Army House due to the very security concerns.
Following the recovery of mobile phones and SIMS from Sheikh Omar, the Sindh Home Department took serious action and suspended [on December 1, 2008] the Superintendent of the Central Jail Hyderabad Abdul Majeed Siddiqui, his deputy superintendent Gul Mohammad Sheikh and four other jail officials on charges of showing criminal negligence. According to Inspector General Prisons Sindh, both had been suspended by the home department on complaints of corruption and maladministration. The IG prisons said there were complaints of serious nature against them such as providing cellular phones and other banned facilities to the prisoners, corruption and mal-administration and an inquiry officer has already been appointed to probe these charges.
Interestingly, Musharraf, in his book "In the Line of Fire" had stated that Omar was originally recruited by British intelligence agency, MI6, while studying at the London School of Economics. He alleges Omar was sent to the Balkans by MI6 to engage in jehadi operations. Musharraf later went on to state: "At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent". Sheikh Omar happens to be a British citizen of Pakistani descent who had first served five years in prison in Delhi in the 1990s in connection with the 1994 abduction of three British travelers. But he was released in the first week of 2000 along with the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and eventually provided a safe passage to Pakistan by the Taliban regime, after India was forced to accept the demands of the hijackers of Indian Airliner IC-814.
Two years later, on February 12, 2002, Omar surrendered himself to Brigadier (retd) Ejaz Hussain Shah, his former handler in the ISI, after being accused of abducting Daniel Pearl. At his initial court appearance in April 2002, Omar had almost confessed to his crime by stating: "I don’t want to defend myself. I did this…. Rightly or wrongly, I had my reasons. I think our country shouldn’t be catering to American needs". As a matter of fact, it is five and a half years now since an anti terrorism court in Karachi had sentenced to death, Omar, a graduate of the London School of Economics turned jehadi for the Pearl murder.
It was on July 15, 2003 that Omar and his three accomplices were awarded life imprisonment by Justice Ali Ashraf Shah in a heavily fortified makeshift court, which was set up in a bunker underneath a prison inside the Hyderabad Jail. No journalist was ever allowed to attend the court proceedings and the venue had to change three times because of bombing threats and security concerns. The trial judge was also changed thrice. Forensic scientists initially refused to attend the exhumation of the court for fear they would be killed. Police personnel who are known to confront all kinds of savage criminals behaved like lambs in front of the Islamic warrior and police officers were intimidated by him in the court of law in front of the judge.
As soon as the July 15, 2003 verdict was announced, Omar, who has already been declared a dangerous prisoner and confined to an isolation death cell, reacted defiantly, saying that he would retaliate against the authorities for arranging the sentence. In a message read out by his lawyer outside the court room, Sheikh Omar said: "We shall see who will die first. Either I or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me". Almost six months later, in December 2003, General Musharraf survived two separate assassinations attempts in Rawalpindi. The authorities suspect that Sheikh Omar has links with the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up to assassinate Musharraf and the attempts owed to the death penalty awarded to Omar.
As things stand, the anti terrorism court’s death penalty verdict has not yet been implemented and Sheikh Omar continues to avoid being sent to the gallows due to repeated adjournments of his appeal against conviction, which is pending with Sindh High Court for years now. Reports emanating from the Hyderabad Central Jail say the guards stationed outside Omar’s death cell are rotated almost daily because he has the ability to influence anyone he meets. As a matter of fact, Omar had actually managed to convert the first four police constables deployed outside his cell, with all of them growing beards within days after they were assigned to guard his ward. The jail authorities say if the guards outside his cell are not rotated every day, Omar is fully capable of converting the entire jail staff. He is presently reading books on history, particularly on World War-I and II, the Cold War and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
amir.mir1969@gmail.com
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Prison plot Friday, December 19, 2008 The extraordinary tale of how Omar Sheikh, the man sentenced to death in 2003 for the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, from his cell in Hyderabad Jail, plotted the assassination of former president Pervez Musharraf is, to say the least, hair-raising. According to the story, broken by this newspaper, Sheikh planned the killing using militants linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a defunct militant group based in Punjab. He was able to hold detailed discussions with these militants over his cell phone and was also in touch with Ataur Rehman, another person held in the Daniel Pearl case, who is currently detained at Sukkur Jail. A search of Sheikh's jail cell, after an investigation began into threatening calls to Musharraf from Hyderabad Jail, led to the discovery of no less than 18 different SIM cards, several mobile phones and chargers. Similar communication devices were found from the cell of Ataur Rehman. Even from jail, these convicts seem able to plan further acts of violence. Evidence is emerging that Omar Sheikh may indeed have also played a part in other crimes.
The real question that arises is how he has been able to acquire so much freedom to operate at will from within jail and engage in criminal activity that involved high-profile assassinations. It seems obvious that some members of the jail staff at least have assisted him. Such leeway to a man sentenced to a solitary cell cannot otherwise be explained. The superintendent of Hyderabad Jail has now been suspended, but this seems to be a case of acting too late. Previously too, in the months following his detention, stories had surfaced about Omar Sheikh conducting meetings in prison to win over members of staff and other inmates to his cause. He is reported to have been remarkably successful in this. There were also previous accounts of his success in maintaining contacts with the outside world. The dangers are obviously immense. A full investigation needs to be made into how a prisoner has been able to act with such freedom and to flout all rules of detention. The connivance of people in key places seems obvious. The key is to avoid a repetition. It is clear the highly educated Omar Sheikh remains one of the most dangerous men on our soil. It is also rumoured that it is his links in high places that have enabled him so far to escape the gallows. He must now be prevented from taking more lives by continuing to lead militant operations even from behind jail bars. (The News, 19 Dec 2008)
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Who killed Gen Alvi? By Amir Mir Thursday, November 20, 2008 (The News)
LAHORE: The authorities investigating the murder of Maj-Gen (retd) Amir Faisal Alvi, former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Services Group (SSG), by two unidentified gunmen in Rawalpindi do not rule out the possibility of involvement of some pro-Taliban militants in the assassination.
Once considered close to former president Pervez Musharraf, Maj-Gen Faisal Alvi was the first General Officer Commanding of the elite Special Services Group, and had also commanded the elite group as a brigadier. The first Pakistani major-general to have captained the Armed Forces Skydiving Team (AFST), Alvi was forcibly retired from the Army on disciplinary grounds ‘for conduct unbecoming’ by Gen Musharraf in August 2005.
The authorities suspect the involvement of a sectarian organisation (Sipah-e-Sahaba/Lashkar-e-Jhangavi) linked to Taliban and the al-Qaeda in the murder, as Maj-Gen Alvi had been involved in several major military operations conducted by the SSG commandos in the restive Waziristan region.
The authorities believe the murder has symbolic significance as Alvi used to be a high-profile officer of the Special Services Group — an independent commando division of the Pakistan Army, which had carried out the high-profile Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad against the fanatic Ghazi brothers and their followers.
Although retired in 2005, Alvi was still considered a soft target by the militants wanting to get even with the SSG commandos, whether serving or retired. The SSG is the same elite unit of the Army to which Musharraf belonged, and which was specially trained by the US Special Forces for carrying out covert operations and counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in Pakistan, especially in the Pak-Afghan tribal belt.
Though Maj-Gen Faisal Alvi was not involved in the Lal Masjid operation, he had supervised “Operation Mountain Lion”, which was carried out by American and British troops in the Pak-Afghan tribal belt.
The operations on the Pakistani side of the border were carried out with the help of the Special Services Group commandos in a bid to track down fugitive al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. In one such military operation carried out in Angoor Adda area of Waziristan in October 2003, a special SSG unit led by Faisal Alvi had killed 12 suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda militants and arrested 14 others.
At a subsequent media briefing, Faisal Alvi had stated: “Our guys are trying to flush out the militants. We are having problems actually flushing them out, because they are putting on very strong resistance. Some of those arrested appeared to be from Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime. Most of the guys we have encountered so far are foreigners (hailing from) different nationalities. You see those guys sitting under the tree, those prisoners we have taken, they are all foreigners and we have four dead foreigners lying here. The dead and most of the prisoners appeared to be Arab nationals”.
“A large cache of arms and basic surveillance equipment was also seized from the rebel compounds,” Alvi, who was the commander of the operation, said while showing weapons to reporters and giving details.
“You see a machine gun, you see AK-47s, you see a rocket launcher, you see anti-tank mines, you see explosives, you see grenades. All have been recovered from one house. There is a great possibility that these people could have been involved in the attacks across the border on the coalition forces and have launched those attacks,” he had stated.
......... The mystery of Maj-Gen Alavi’s murder
Our Special Correspondent (Dawn) Monday, 15 Dec, 2008 | 09:13 AM PST |
Major-General Faisal Alavi had threatened to expose Pakistani generals who had made deals with Taliban militants. — File
LONDON: Major-General Faisal Alavi, the brother-in-law of V. S. Naipaul, the British novelist and Nobel laureate, was murdered last month after threatening to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants. James Arbuthnot, chairman of the defence select committee, and Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff, were among those who expressed support this weekend for British help to be offered in the murder investigation.
Carey Schofield, author of a forthcoming book, Inside the Pakistan Army, has revealed in a report (UK may help find Pakistani general’s killers) in Sunday Times that Alavi, a former head of Pakistan’s special forces, whose sister Nadira is Lady Naipaul, named two generals in a letter to the head of the army. He warned that he would 'furnish all relevant proof.'
The report carries a scanned copy of the confidential letter to Army Chief General Parvez Ashfaq Kayani with names of the generals crossed out with a black marker. Schofield claims that aware that he was risking his life, 'Alavi gave a copy of the letter to me and asked me to publish it if he was killed. Soon afterwards he told me that he had received no reply.'
'It hasn’t worked,' he said. 'They’ll shoot me.' Four days later, he was driving through Islamabad when his car was halted by another vehicle. At least two gunmen opened fire from either side, shooting him eight times. His driver was also killed.
This weekend, as demands grew for a full investigation into Alavi’s November 18 murder, Lady Naipaul described her brother as 'a soldier to his toes.' She said: 'He was an honourable man and the world was a better place when he was in it.' It was in Talkingfish, his favourite Islamabad restaurant, that the general handed me his letter two months ago. 'Read this,' he said.
Alavi had been his usual flamboyant self until that moment, smoking half a dozen cigarettes as he rattled off jokes and gossip and fielded calls on two mobile phones. Three years earlier this feted general, who was highly regarded by the SAS, had been mysteriously sacked as head of its Pakistani equivalent, the Special Services Group, for 'conduct unbecoming.' The letter, addressed to General Ashfaq Kayani, chief of the army staff, was a final attempt to have his honour restored.
Alavi believed he had been forced out because he was openly critical of deals that senior generals had done with the Taliban. He disparaged them for their failure to fight the war on terror wholeheartedly and for allowing Taliban forces based in Pakistan to operate with impunity against British and other Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Alavi, who had dual British and Pakistani nationality, named the generals he accused. He told Gen Kayani that the men had cooked up a 'mischievous and deceitful plot' to have him sacked because they knew he would expose them.
'The entire purpose of this plot by these general officers was to hide their own involvement in a matter they knew I was privy to,' he wrote. He wanted an inquiry, at which 'I will furnish all relevant proof/information, which is readily available with me.'
'I folded up the letter and handed it back to him. Don’t send it,' I said. He replied that he had known I would talk him out of it so he had sent it already. 'But', he added, 'I want you to keep this and publish it if anything happens to me.' 'I told him he was a fool to have sent the letter: it would force his enemies into a corner.' He said he had to act and could not leave it any longer: he wanted justice and his honour restored. 'And you know what? I [don’t] give a damn what they do to me now. They did their worst three years ago.'
Schofield writes: 'We agreed soon afterwards that it would be prudent for him to avoid mountain roads and driving late at night. He knew the letter might prove to be his death warrant.'
'Four days after I last saw him, I was in South Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan, to see a unit from the Punjab Regiment. It was early evening when I returned to divisional headquarters and switched on the television. It took me a moment to absorb the horror of the breaking news running across the screen: 'Retired Major-General Faisal Alavi and driver shot dead on way to work.''
The reports blamed militants, although the gunmen used 9mm pistols, a standard army issue, and the killings were far more clinical than a normal militant attack. The scene at the army graveyard in Rawalpindi a few days after that was grim. Soldiers had come from all over the country to bury the general with military honours. Their grief was palpable. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Gen Kayani and most of the country’s military leadership.
Friends and family members were taken aback to be told by serving and retired officers alike that 'this was not the militants; this was the army.' A great many people believed the general had been murdered to shut him up.
'I first met Alavi in April 2005 at the Pakistan special forces’ mountain home at Cherat, in the North West Frontier Province, while working on a book about the Pakistani army. He told me he had been born British in Kenya, and that his older brother had fought against the Mau Mau. His affection for Britain was touching and his patriotism striking.'
'In August 2005, he was visiting Hereford, the home of the SAS, keen to revive the SSG’s relationship with British special forces and deeply unhappy about the way some elements of Pakistan’s army were behaving.'
'He told me how one general had done an astonishing deal with Baitullah Mehsud, the 35-year-old Taliban leader, now seen by many analysts as an even greater terrorist threat than Osama bin Laden.'
Mehsud, the main suspect in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto late last year, is also believed to have been behind a plot to bomb transport networks in several European countries, including Britain, which came to light earlier this year when 14 alleged conspirators were arrested in Barcelona.
Yet, according to Alavi, a senior Pakistani general came to an arrangement with Mehsud 'whereby – in return for a large sum of money – Mehsud’s 3,000 armed fighters would not attack the army.'
The two senior generals named in Alavi’s letter to Gen Kayani were in effect complicit in giving the militants free rein in return for refraining from attacks on the Pakistani army, he said. At Hereford, Alavi was brutally frank about the situation, said the commanding officer of the SAS at that time.
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UK may help find Pakistani general’s killers Carey Schofield
From The Sunday Times December 14, 2008
The brother-in-law of VS Naipaul, the British novelist and Nobel laureate, was murdered last month after threatening to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants.
Major-General Faisal Alavi, a former head of Pakistan’s special forces, whose sister Nadira is Lady Naipaul, named two generals in a letter to the head of the army. He warned that he would “furnish all relevant proof”.
Aware that he was risking his life, he gave a copy to me and asked me to publish it if he was killed. Soon afterwards he told me that he had received no reply.
“It hasn’t worked,” he said. “They’ll shoot me.”
Four days later, he was driving through Islamabad when his car was halted by another vehicle. At least two gunmen opened fire from either side, shooting him eight times. His driver was also killed.
This weekend, as demands grew for a full investigation into Alavi’s murder on November 18, Lady Naipaul described her brother as “a soldier to his toes”. She said: “He was an honourable man and the world was a better place when he was in it.”
It was in Talkingfish, his favourite Islamabad restaurant, that the general handed me his letter two months ago. “Read this,” he said.
Alavi had been his usual flamboyant self until that moment, smoking half a dozen cigarettes as he rattled off jokes and gossip and fielded calls on two mobile phones.
Three years earlier this feted general, who was highly regarded by the SAS, had been mysteriously sacked as head of its Pakistani equivalent, the Special Services Group, for “conduct unbecoming”. The letter, addressed to General Ashfaq Kayani, the chief of army staff, was a final attempt to have his honour restored.
Alavi believed he had been forced out because he was openly critical of deals that senior generals had done with the Taliban. He disparaged them for their failure to fight the war on terror wholeheartedly and for allowing Taliban forces based in Pakistan to operate with impunity against British and other Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Alavi, who had dual British and Pakistani nationality, named the generals he accused. He told Kayani that the men had cooked up a “mischievous and deceitful plot” to have him sacked because they knew he would expose them.
“The entire purpose of this plot by these general officers was to hide their own involvement in a matter they knew I was privy to,” he wrote. He wanted an inquiry, at which “I will furnish all relevant proof/ information, which is readily available with me”.
I folded up the letter and handed it back to him. “Don’t send it,” I said. He replied that he had known I would talk him out of it so he had sent it already. “But”, he added, “I want you to keep this and publish it if anything happens to me.”
I told him he was a fool to have sent the letter: it would force his enemies into a corner. He said he had to act and could not leave it any longer: “I want justice. And I want my honour restored. And you know what? I [don’t] give a damn what they do to me now. They did their worst three years ago.”
We agreed soon afterwards that it would be prudent for him to avoid mountain roads and driving late at night. He knew the letter might prove to be his death warrant.
Four days after I last saw him, I was in South Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan, to see a unit from the Punjab Regiment. It was early evening when I returned to divisional headquarters and switched on the television. It took me a moment to absorb the horror of the breaking news running across the screen: “Retired Major General Faisal Alavi and driver shot dead on way to work.”
The reports blamed militants, although the gunmen used 9mm pistols, a standard army issue, and the killings were far more clinical than a normal militant attack.
The scene at the army graveyard in Rawalpindi a few days after that was grim. Soldiers had come from all over the country to bury the general with military honours. Their grief was palpable. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Kayani and most of the country’s military leadership.
Friends and family members were taken aback to be told by serving and retired officers alike that “this was not the militants; this was the army”. A great many people believed the general had been murdered to shut him up.
I first met Alavi in April 2005 at the Pakistan special forces’ mountain home at Cherat, in the North West Frontier Province, while working on a book about the Pakistani army.
He told me he had been born British in Kenya, and that his older brother had fought against the Mau Mau. His affection for Britain was touching and his patriotism striking.
In August 2005 he was visiting Hereford, the home of the SAS, keen to revive the SSG’s relationship with British special forces and deeply unhappy about the way some elements of Pakistan’s army were behaving.
He told me how one general had done an astonishing deal with Baitullah Mehsud, the 35-year-old Taliban leader, now seen by many analysts as an even greater terrorist threat than Osama Bin Laden.
Mehsud, the main suspect in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto late last year, is also believed to have been behind a plot to bomb transport networks in several European countries including Britain, which came to light earlier this year when 14 alleged conspirators were arrested in Barcelona.
Yet, according to Alavi, a senior Pakistani general came to an arrangement with Mehsud “whereby – in return for a large sum of money – Mehsud’s 3,000 armed fighters would not attack the army”.
The two senior generals named in Alavi’s letter to Kayani were in effect complicit in giving the militants free rein in return for refraining from attacks on the Pakistani army, he said. At Hereford, Alavi was brutally frank about the situation, said the commanding officer of the SAS at that time.
“Alavi was a straight-talking soldier and some pretty robust conversations took place in the mess,” he said. “He wanted kit, skills and training from the UK. But he was asked, pretty bluntly, why the Pakistani army should be given all this help if nothing came of it in terms of getting the Al-Qaeda leadership.”
Alavi’s response was typically candid, the SAS commander said: “He knew that Pakistan was not pulling its weight in the war on terror.”
It seemed to Alavi that, with the SAS on his side, he might win the battle, but he was about to lose everything. His enemies were weaving a Byzantine plot, using an affair with a divorced Pakistani woman to discredit him.
Challenged on the issue, Alavi made a remark considered disrespectful to General Pervez Musharraf, then the president. His enemies playeda recording of it to Musharraf and Alavi was instantly sacked.
His efforts to clear his name began with a request that he be awarded the Crescent of Excellence, a medal he would have been given had he not been dismissed. Only after this was denied did he write the letter that appears to many to have sealed his fate.
It was an action that the SAS chief understands: “Every soldier, in the moment before death, craves to be recognised. It seems reasonable to me that he staked everything on his honour. The idea that it is better to be dead than dishonoured does run deep in soldiers.”
Alavi’s loyalty to Musharraf never faltered. Until his dying day he wanted his old boss to understand that. He also trusted Kayani implicitly, believing him to be a straight and honourable officer.
If investigations eventually prove that Alavi was murdered at the behest of those he feared within the military, it may prove a fatal blow to the integrity of the army he loved.
Britain and the United States need to know where Pakistan stands. Will its army and intelligence agencies ever be dependable partners in the war against men such as Mehsud?
James Arbuthnot, chairman of the defence select committee, and Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff, were among those who expressed support this weekend for British help to be offered in the murder investigation.
Inside the Pakistan Army by Carey Schofield will be published next year by Soap Box Books.
Some Comments:
Masud, Sheffield, UK says:
One of the thing western countries have to do is to stop giving military aid to pakistan. We need more humanitarian aid, education, infrastructure etc with string attached to it that never used by military. US has to stop doing business of arm dealing. Clear nexus between military and militants.
M N Beg, Lahore, Pakistan says:
I have no doubt in the truth of this story.The Sunday Times should also disclose the name of two generals. I also feel nothing will succeed against militants in Pakistan unless army is on fully board. President Zaradi is himself at the mercey of the Army. General Mushraf fooled the West for 8 long years.
Ghost of TK Says: December 16th, 2008
Quaid-e-Azam’s grandson is a huge industrialist in India. His daughter left him and had the worst and most dysfunctional of relationships with him. All of the leadership that ‘made’ Pakistan were the elites that all you people whine about (nawabzadaz, secularist jinnah, Pir, Khan, Waderos, Bhuttos who were some hindu raja’s prime ministers blah blah blah)
Pakistan is a chooN-chooN ka murabba and so many things which are/were covered up for one reason or another. Why do you think they numb your brains with 10 years of “moot-Ala Pakistan” ??? So you stop thinking about these inconsistencies.
60 years of playing whores to world powers, fighting their wars, ripping the flesh off the bones of our motherland in the name of Islam. Destroying Pakistan in the name of Islam, “because it was made in the name of Islam”.
Usurpation of democratic rule from civilian masters to a clique of foreign boot lickers.
traitors amongst us?
Cultural, democratic and economic exploitation and ill-treatment of bengali’s,
traitors amongst us?
creation of shams & badr and rape of countless Bengalis by PAK Army
traitors amongst us?
Deliberate creation of madrassah system to fight the soviets starting in Ayub’s era (with the arab petrodollars)
traitors amongst us?
Dismemberment of Pakistan at the hands of those who are still at it.
traitors amongst us?
Hanging and near hangings of elected prime ministers.
traitors amongst us?
A militant Islamic takeover of our higher education institutions and their subsequent total paralysis.
traitors amongst us?
Being America’s condoms in fighting “their Jihads”
traitors amongst us?
Systemetic destruction and subversion of Educational institutions by our masters (the West)
traitors amongst us?
61 years of “Pay no attention to the wizard behind the curtain kids. And STFU!”
traitors amongst us?
It is too late to worry about traitors amongs us. The problem is the idiots amongst us. Fix the Idiot:Traitor ratio, and no “traitor” can touch your nation.
“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND THEY IS US!”
Democrat2007 Says: December 16th, 2008
@Ghost Of TK
“It is too late to worry about traitors amongs us. The problem is the idiots amongst us. Fix the Idiot:Traitor ratio, and no “traitor” can touch your nation.”
You can’t reform the idiots and traitors. What we really lack is an adequate supply of the third group, those who are neither traitors nor idiots. To create that group, we need to have an alternative vision instead of spending most of our time reacting to traitors and idiots.
FahadAfridi Says: December 16th, 2008
The traitors among us are the ISI and army generals who make deals with taliban so they can kill more pakhtuns. Everyone knows Alavi was killed by the army.
dara Says: December 16th, 2008
Are we sick? are we human?
what’s wrong with us, i don’t know and don’t want to know about Gen Alvi but question stands he was killed? we are trying to justify killing? no matter if it is Gen or common man in streets.
even bigger question is if most of people on this forum believe that that Gen was traitor then we need to bring a fundamental change to our army? i personally think he was killed by either a terrorist group or may be personal reasons.
jihadies in our military and their sponsors in society have been committing suicide and bringing our country to an end.
FahadAfridi Says: December 16th, 2008
Pakistani generals and ISI are playing double game with the world to collect money from everyone while both fighting and supporting the taliban jihadis. We can double cross India and even the US and probably get away with it, but one day we will double cross the wrong country and pay dearly for it.
If you ever back stab China, that will be the end of Pakistan. Unlike other countries, China doesn’t take BS from anyone.
aza Says: December 16th, 2008
...I am the proud daughter of Maj General(R)Faisal Alavi ! i have my facts right ! do u ? A retired senior officer is killed in such a brutal way and the only thing u ppl can come up with is how he looked and how he had links with Britain ? yes he was born in Kenya because his parents were settled there but he came to Pakistan when he was 12 yrs old and he loved it ! and his passion for his country grew and he joined the forces to serve his country. how convenient is it to call a person traitorwithout knowing anything. he gave 35 yrs of his life to the forces ! and this is wat we can up with.. a thankless nation !
Rafi Says: December 16th, 2008
What is the definition of traitor? ‘A person who collaborate with enemy to harm his own people’.
Blowing a wistle against wrong-doing of fellow army generals doesn’t fall into the catogary of traitor. It is rather an honourable gesture by telling the truth. Pakistan will get hurt by short sighted people (plenty in the country) rather than outside forces.
Mutazalzaluzzaman Tarar Says: December 16th, 2008
I’m not a blind pro-army supporter and I am most certainly not a Musharraf supporter. But I think it is in very bad taste to insult a man who was murdered most brutally regardless of what he is accused of now. Additionally, his daughter is reading the board and all these incredibly hurtful and painful things said about her father. Can we at least tone down our conspiracy theories at least while she is here?
I think we should give Gen Alavi the benefit of the doubt. The case against him is hardly proven. And in fact, if what he wrote was true, then I am with him. Why are our retired jarnails aka mercenaries for hire doing deals with the Taliban? If Americans and the Brits are not our friends, then the Taliban are most certainly not our friends either.
Aza, I have my problems with the Pak army’s role over the years as an institution but my condolences are with you. We all love our country as did your father I am sure. Please don’t take what you read here to heart. Everyone on this board means well. It’s just that we’ve gotten very paranoid over the years. May God bless your father and our beloved country.
Ghost of TK says:
I’m a Proud Pakistani. My objective is to make the case for reform in the system of government and to advocate democratic values which have NO place for army/isi interference in our national politiacl life.
I understand ISI is our first line of defense, and for it to stay that way, it is the duty of all concerned citizens to convince anyone/everyone that they can that it is INDEED in the interest of Pakistan that our Military and our intelligence agencies focus on their jobs and not on power politics within the state.
False patriotism is also to be exposed. I speak harshly against THE ACTIONS of our pillars of state, but I do not condone their dissolution. They should do their job and I will be with them in the trenches fighting for Pakistan. But the moment they start doing sh!t like interfering in politics, It is my patriotic duty to stop this excess.
It is our duty as citizens to keep the various organs of state accountable and within their boundries. Mindless and false patriotism (support ISI in any case despite whatever it does) does not help Pakistan! Actually it hurts Pakistan and it has hurt Pakistan by stopping all constructive criticism for the betterment of our nation in the name of “patriotism”.
Would a sane and honourable person “support” their father even if they knew he was raping their sister? There are similar limits to “Patriotism” which has also been described as “the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
Read more...
A tribute to Pakistani soliders fighting the terrorists of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Sipah-e-Sahaba
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
Ghalib
The rose, with its redolent petals The water lily, with its robe of virgin white These have surely come to us in transmigration Of but a few of those Endowed with sublime beauty and grace. Some embrace death to sprout again But most, forever, in dust remain.
Links to Free Talkshows / Videos on Pakistan Politics
(Only) When love teaches the etiquette of self-knowledge, Are the Imperial Mysteries revealed to the slaves! Whether it be Attar or Rumi, Razi or Ghazali, Nothing comes to hand without supplication in the early dawn Do not lose hope in them, 0' wise guide! Even though the wayfarers are slow-moving, They are not without zeal (to reach the goal)! (Iqbal)
KARACHI: According to the sworn undertaking of ISI’s former chief Lieutenant General (rtd) Asad Durrani, which he took before Supreme Court (SC) on July 24, 1994, that he was instructed in September 1990 by the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the former General Mirza Aslam Baig for provision of Logistic Support to embezzle money donated for election preparations from some Karachi traders and use the same donation money for Islami Jamhuri Ittehad (IJI) party.
