By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: While the pilferage of high explosives and detonators is risking the lives of the people, the authorities are showing a criminal neglect in checking the manufacture, distribution and use of these lethal mass killer products.
Documents reveal that the ISI found a blasting company in Qillah Saif Ullah a few months back being involved in the sale of high explosives to unauthorised persons. On the basis of the ISI ís report, the company’s license was canceled by the Ministry of Industries on the recommendation of the Interior Ministry. However, the Interior Ministry got back to the Ministry of Industries within 10 days and sought the revival of the license. The Industries Ministry revived the license, ignoring a three-page charge-sheet issued by the department of explosives against the same company. Minister for Industries Watto, however, expressed his unawareness about the case whereas the Interior Ministry spokesman was not available for comments.
Documents reveal that the ISI reported early this year that the blasting company from Qillah Saif Ullah was owned by a retired Subedar Major, who purchases explosives from the POF Wah Cantt and further supplies it to a notorious smuggler, who carries out illegal explosives business.
Sensing the gravity of the report and its possible implications, the Interior Ministry wrote to the Ministry of Industries on May 28 that the company was indulged in irregularities in explosives business and that the security aspects regarding storage/sale process of explosives as per the standard operating procedures were not being adhered and remained a source of concern.
In view of this, the Industries Ministry was requested to temporarily suspend the license of the company. While the Ministry of Industries processed the matter, the Interior Ministry, just within 10 days, wrote another letter, saying that in view of the submission made by the company’s owner before the Interior Ministry, it has no objection to the revival of the license.
Before the department of explosives could feel the heat of the powerful of the ministries of industries and interior, it issued a show-cause notice to the company along with a three page charge-sheet. Some of these charges include that 23 explosives vans were used for transportation of explosives in year 2007-2008 by the company but it had mentioned only eight on its paper; no entry of vehicle was available on the company’s stock registers in which explosives were transported to place of use against the standing instruction; the stock register showed receipt and use of explosive consignments on the same date, which was logically impossible, thus showing that the company had “made fake entries in the stock registers”; there was no entry of 20,000 detonators purchased by the company in July 2007 from Wah Nobel in the company’s record; another consignment of 20,000 detonators purchased in Sept 2007 was missing from the company’s record, meaning thereby that “this consignment did not reach at your magazine and misused anywhere”; another consignment of 20,000 detonators was delivered to the company in April 2008 but in this case too there was no reflection of this consignment in the company’s stock register etc.
Following this show-cause notice, the department of explosives canceled the company’s license on July 6 but within a few weeks time, following an appeal filed by the company’s owner to the Ministry of Industries and owing to the Interior Ministryís pressure, the license was revived though the authorities remain in dark where were the licensed explosives and detonators used/misused.
Sources said that the explosive department has received on Saturday two more FIRs of seizure of vehicles carrying explosives. The matter of concern remains that the suicide bombers and terrorists involved in subversive activities are in vast majority cases using locally manufactured high explosives and detonators.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Hersh claims US nuke team already in Islamabad
By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
ISLAMABAD: Pulitzer prize winning American journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed that an elite US special forces squad which operates covertly and includes terrorism and non-proliferation experts from the US intelligence community — the Pentagon, the FBI, and the DOE — is already present in Pakistan and could well be housed in the US embassy in Islamabad.
The startling disclosure was made in Hersh’s candid interview with Pakistan’s most popular TV channel Geo News’ widely viewed current affairs programme ‘Meray Mutabiq’, hosted by Dr Shahid Masood. The programme was aired on Saturday late evening.
Seymour Hersh said that the Americans had been constituting such crack teams for various purposes and the team in question here was to deal with any eventuality including any fear of takeover by Taliban or any other ‘development’ with regard to Pakistani nukes.
Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai taking part in the programme expressed the view that Musharraf’s remarks about President Asif Zardari, as attributed by Hersh, could not be casually ignored. He said it must be investigated why Musharraf accused Zardari of not being a patriot, because, according to Sehbai, Hersh had some inside information given to him in interviews with Musharraf and Zardari which he did not reveal in his report. But Sehbai said journalists always attribute information given to them by responsible people to “reliable sources” if these people ask them to refrain from quoting them directly.
Former Director General, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, Lt Gen Hamid Gul also participating in the programme, verified the credentials of Hersh and gave a detailed account of US presence in the sensitive areas in Pakistan. He opined that the US wanted to delegate the role of proxy super power of the region to India and for that Pakistan had to be denuclearised.
Former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan expressed his apprehensions about the alleged activities but he ruled out any possibility of the US team being in a position to gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
The programme (to be telecast again at 2:05pm today - Sunday), host Dr Shahid Masood had raised the question about the action that the team/squad could take in any eventuality. He referred to previous reports of Hersh which appeared in New Yorker magazine last week in which Hersh disclosed that after the US authorities received a report by their embassy in Islamabad indicating that a Pakistani nuclear component had gone astray, a highly classified US military and civil-emergency response team was put on alert. The team which operates clandestinely is reportedly under standing orders to deploy from Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland (Washington), within four hours of an alert.
When the report turned out to be a false alarm, the mission was aborted but by the time the team got the message, it was already in Dubai while on its way to Pakistan. Hersh quoted a consultant of the US Defence Department in his write-up and later he discussed the role of the US embassy in ‘Meray Mutabiq’ last week, which was hosted by Dr Shahid Masood and participated by Group Editor The News Shaheen Sehbai.
It was the maiden interview of the US investigative journalist in the wake of his thrilling write-up about the US plans towards Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the controversial observations of former President Musharraf regarding his successor. Seymour Hersh while standing by his report, pertaining to the comments offered by former President General (R) Pervez Musharraf about incumbent President Asif Zardari, has disclosed that the former president had given some harsher comments about his successor but in the ultimate scrutiny he allowed the remarks that he made part of his article.
General Hamid Gul disclosed in his talk with Dr Shahid Masood that former president General Pervez Musharraf allowed the US planes to land in Pakistan to pick Osama bin Laden about whom they had an inkling that he was present in a remote village of Balochistan. He said that when Hersh visited him to verify the veracity of the information, “I requested him to publish the story and he obliged. I was of the opinion that the Americans want to get in Pakistan under the pretext of the story that had yet to appear and it could open the way for future US incursions,” the General added.
ISLAMABAD: Pulitzer prize winning American journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed that an elite US special forces squad which operates covertly and includes terrorism and non-proliferation experts from the US intelligence community — the Pentagon, the FBI, and the DOE — is already present in Pakistan and could well be housed in the US embassy in Islamabad.
The startling disclosure was made in Hersh’s candid interview with Pakistan’s most popular TV channel Geo News’ widely viewed current affairs programme ‘Meray Mutabiq’, hosted by Dr Shahid Masood. The programme was aired on Saturday late evening.
Seymour Hersh said that the Americans had been constituting such crack teams for various purposes and the team in question here was to deal with any eventuality including any fear of takeover by Taliban or any other ‘development’ with regard to Pakistani nukes.
Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai taking part in the programme expressed the view that Musharraf’s remarks about President Asif Zardari, as attributed by Hersh, could not be casually ignored. He said it must be investigated why Musharraf accused Zardari of not being a patriot, because, according to Sehbai, Hersh had some inside information given to him in interviews with Musharraf and Zardari which he did not reveal in his report. But Sehbai said journalists always attribute information given to them by responsible people to “reliable sources” if these people ask them to refrain from quoting them directly.
Former Director General, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, Lt Gen Hamid Gul also participating in the programme, verified the credentials of Hersh and gave a detailed account of US presence in the sensitive areas in Pakistan. He opined that the US wanted to delegate the role of proxy super power of the region to India and for that Pakistan had to be denuclearised.
Former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan expressed his apprehensions about the alleged activities but he ruled out any possibility of the US team being in a position to gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
The programme (to be telecast again at 2:05pm today - Sunday), host Dr Shahid Masood had raised the question about the action that the team/squad could take in any eventuality. He referred to previous reports of Hersh which appeared in New Yorker magazine last week in which Hersh disclosed that after the US authorities received a report by their embassy in Islamabad indicating that a Pakistani nuclear component had gone astray, a highly classified US military and civil-emergency response team was put on alert. The team which operates clandestinely is reportedly under standing orders to deploy from Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland (Washington), within four hours of an alert.
When the report turned out to be a false alarm, the mission was aborted but by the time the team got the message, it was already in Dubai while on its way to Pakistan. Hersh quoted a consultant of the US Defence Department in his write-up and later he discussed the role of the US embassy in ‘Meray Mutabiq’ last week, which was hosted by Dr Shahid Masood and participated by Group Editor The News Shaheen Sehbai.
It was the maiden interview of the US investigative journalist in the wake of his thrilling write-up about the US plans towards Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the controversial observations of former President Musharraf regarding his successor. Seymour Hersh while standing by his report, pertaining to the comments offered by former President General (R) Pervez Musharraf about incumbent President Asif Zardari, has disclosed that the former president had given some harsher comments about his successor but in the ultimate scrutiny he allowed the remarks that he made part of his article.
General Hamid Gul disclosed in his talk with Dr Shahid Masood that former president General Pervez Musharraf allowed the US planes to land in Pakistan to pick Osama bin Laden about whom they had an inkling that he was present in a remote village of Balochistan. He said that when Hersh visited him to verify the veracity of the information, “I requested him to publish the story and he obliged. I was of the opinion that the Americans want to get in Pakistan under the pretext of the story that had yet to appear and it could open the way for future US incursions,” the General added.
Friday, November 13, 2009
SC says NRO validation must by parliament, or else...
Zardari, others to face trials
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it absolutely essential for the government to get the NRO and all other ordinances revalidated from parliament within the time given by the court, to prevent all the cases, including those against President Asif Ali Zardari, from being revived automatically.
In the detailed judgment of its July 31 short order issued by the SC, all corruption and criminal cases in which benefit was given under the NRO after February 5, 2008, the date the NRO legally expired, would stand automatically reopened if parliament fails to validate the NRO retrospectively. Simply speaking it means that the benefits were given when the NRO was no longer in existence.
The apex court did not agree with the perception that the benefits drawn from the NRO are past and closed transactions.It instead judged: “Under Article 89 of the Constitution, an ordinance issued by the president if not so laid before the National Assembly, or both Houses of Parliament, stands repealed on expiration of four months from its promulgation.”
Under this judgment, the NRO stands invalid since February 5, 2008, when it completed its 120-day constitutional life. The NRO was enforced on Oct 6, 2007, and within 120 days had to be passed by parliament as a bill or re-issued as an ordinance, which it was not.
Much to the worry of the ruling elite particularly President Zardari, all their corruption and criminal cases were quashed because of the NRO after February 5, when as per the Supreme Court’s judgment, the NRO did not exist. President Zardari’s acquittal from all cases happened during March-April 2008. (See list)
“Only such rights, privileges, obligations, or liabilities would lawfully be protected as were acquired, accrued or incurred under the said Ordinances during the period of four months or three months, as the case may be, from their promulgation, whether before or after November 3, 2007, and not thereafter, until such ordinances were enacted as acts by Parliament with retrospective effect,” the Supreme Court ruled.
The Supreme Court did not discuss the NRO in isolation but set the same principle for all ordinances that were covered under Musharraf’s PCO, now declared unconstitutional. In case parliament validates the NRO retrospectively (with effect from February 5, 2008) as per the judgment of the apex court, the Supreme Court also made it clear in the same judgment: “Needless to say that any validation whether with retrospective effect or otherwise, shall always be subject to judicial review on the well recognized principles of ultra vires, non-conformity with the Constitution or violation of the Fundamental Rights, or on any other available ground.”
It is relevant to mention here that the NRO soon after its promulgation in October 2007 was challenged in the Supreme Court, which has yet to hear the petitions questioning the very validity of the controversial ordinance.
In para 186 of the detailed judgment, the SC said, “Proclamation of Emergency and PCO No 1 of 2007 having been declared unconstitutional and void ab initio and the validity purportedly conferred on all such Ordinances by means of Article 270AAA and by the judgment in Tikka Iqbal Muhammad Khan’s case also having been shorn, such ordinances would cease to be permanent laws with the result that the life of such ordinances would be limited to the period specified in Article 89 and 128 of the Constitution, viz., four months and three months respectively from the date of their promulgation. Under Article 89 of the Constitution, an ordinance issued by the president, if not so laid before the National Assembly, or both Houses of Parliament, stands repealed on expiration of four months from its promulgation. Similarly, under Article 128 of the Constitution, an ordinance issued by the governor, if not so laid before the concerned provincial assembly, stands repealed on expiration of three months from its promulgation.”
In its para 187, the detailed judgment said, “It may be noted that such ordinances were continued in force throughout under a wrong notion that they had become permanent laws. Thus, the fact remains that on the touchstone of the provisions of Articles 89 and 128 read with Article 264 of the Constitution and Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, only such rights, privileges, obligations, or liabilities would lawfully be protected as were acquired, accrued or incurred under the said ordinances during the period of four months or three months, as the case may be, from their promulgation, whether before or after November 3, 2007, and not thereafter, until such ordinances were enacted as acts by Parliament or the concerned provincial assembly with retrospective effect.”
According to the details gathered by The News, President Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal from all the corruption and criminal cases happened between March 6, 2008, to May 20, 2008. The likes of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Suleman Faruqi, Zulfikar Mirza, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Usman Farooqi, M B Abbasi and many others also benefited after the ordinance lapsed.
Americans see a change in the air in Pakistan
By Dr Shahid Masood
WASHINGTON: Americans see a change fast, but smoothly, coming in Pakistan in the wake of loss of credibility of the man at the helm, following some domestic legal developments.
After meeting top political and defence decision-makers here in the US capital, where I was invited by the National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day seminar on the anniversary of 9/11, I was told in unambiguous terms that a change in Pakistan was inevitable for US policy interests, although Washington does not intend to disrupt the system.
Several important Pakistani political players have also been conveyed the same message by the US political and defence establishment, including the MQM and recently the ANP, whose chief is travelling with President Asif Zardari in New York.
The main problem being faced by the US administration, which it may never admit publicly, is that the present set-up with Asif Ali Zardari as the de facto ruler, has no credibility at home and no ability to deliver on the promises he makes, either on the military side or on the war on terror or on governance issues.
“Zardari has also abandoned the idea of political consensus which he had started to follow in the early days after the February elections,” one official said on background. “He appears to be non-serious in government and lives in perpetual fear and insecurity, preferring to stay out of the country.”
The US side thinks that they had made a sensible move by pushing an alliance between late Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf as this team would have provided all the ingredients of a stable and cooperative Pakistan to Washington. She would have provided the political support while Musharraf would have used his military muscle against the terrorists and extremists in a stable environment.
They say Zardari has failed to provide that environment, rather he has involved himself in day-to-day business and administrative matters while his political coalition and parliament have been left looking like dumb and dummies.
Many officials say Zardari has been asking the US administration to bail him out on too many issues and too many occasions. He has sought the US help to tame the Army, keep his alliance partners, especially the opposition of Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N in check, directly or through the Saudis on sensitive issues like Musharraf’s or cutting his own constitutional powers.
All these demands are way beyond the capacity of any US administration to deliver while Zardari has almost left everything to us to handle, an agitated official said. “If we have to handle everything, his own credibility within the country will sink and has sunk to the lowest low.”
Other officials I met were even blunter. They say the US abhors corruption, kickbacks and commissions anywhere in the world as a matter of policy.
Another official said the US would keep track of the parties or persons involved and money transaction in the Pakistan’s rental power venture. There are still no roadmaps or any modality work sheets in Washington on how a change in Pakistan would occur, but the US capital is keeping its fingers crossed as to what comes out of the NRO case pending with the Supreme Court.
The impression gathered from the words of these top Americans is that the US would not intervene if the apex court starts hearing the case. The view is that if the NRO was discussed and details of who benefited, who made what deals and how serious crimes were committed and then whitewashed, start to be revealed in the SC, the moral authority of the NRO beneficiaries would erode fatally. In this scenario, the NRO beneficiaries may themselves throw in the towel seeking a safe exit.
In several informed US and Pakistani circles I moved in for several days in Washington, the same scenario was repeated, often exactly in the same tone and sequence.
A Pakistani, who knows a lot about developments in Pakistan and the US scene, said that apart from this purely legal and domestic scene, there were four possible ways through which Zardari could exit. These ways were repeated by others who had nothing to do at all with the previous source. They are: one, impeachment; two, voluntary resignation in the wake loss of credibility; three, ‘natural’ or man-made elimination of the president, and, four, an Army coup. The impeachment and coup scenarios are considered non-starter and impossibility.
US and some Pakistani circles said that a resignation after enough dirt is thrown in the public domain when the NRO case details begin to unfold is a favourite way out, as it would not, being an outcome of the legal process, disrupt the system.
I was asked many times whether a coup is a possibility in the current situation and I always said no, but the question kept surfacing again and again.
This is probably because there was some loose talk of a shuffle in the military hierarchy by President Zardari in which Army chief General Kayani was to be replaced by some other pliant general who could ensure continuity and stability for the Zardari regime.
This scenario was shot down in Washington instantly as an impossibility, since it had information that the Pakistan Army considered a coup or intervention as a total no-go area and could have brought back another October 12, 1999 type of situation. It is so also because of the fact that Gen Kayani has established, through words and deeds, that he is all for democracy.
With all these scenarios being discussed, the growing feeling is that not much time is left for the current status quo and it will lead to a period of political turmoil in Pakistan if President Zardari continues with his ways any longer.
The sudden emergence of a top MQM delegation in Washington for talks with the policy makers, officials and think tanks of Washington has also raised many questions as the official Pakistani diplomatic channels were totally cut off and I gather that this was done at the insistence of the US side more than the MQM leadership.
Not even a courtesy meeting between Governor Ishratul Ebad and Ambassador Husain Haqqani was held until four days after the arrival of the MQM delegation and meetings with top strategists, including Bruce Riedel, John Negroponte, Richard Boucher, and current State Department officials, including Richard Holbrooke.
A similar exercise has now been planned with the ANP chief while he will be here in the presidential entourage.
What happened in these meetings is known only to the MQM leaders and the US side but the tone and tenor of MQM in the coming weeks and days will give the first hints of whether the course of the PPP-MQM alliance is changing in stormy waters in the middle of the sea. How the ANP reacts is also to be seen but already Asfandyar Wali is said to be very happy with the praise for his party’s governance in the NWFP by US officials as well as the promises to give them direct financial aid. With the MQM and the ANP almost on board, I will be eagerly waiting for the first signs of the new US strategy unfolding in the days and weeks to come.
WASHINGTON: Americans see a change fast, but smoothly, coming in Pakistan in the wake of loss of credibility of the man at the helm, following some domestic legal developments.
After meeting top political and defence decision-makers here in the US capital, where I was invited by the National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day seminar on the anniversary of 9/11, I was told in unambiguous terms that a change in Pakistan was inevitable for US policy interests, although Washington does not intend to disrupt the system.
Several important Pakistani political players have also been conveyed the same message by the US political and defence establishment, including the MQM and recently the ANP, whose chief is travelling with President Asif Zardari in New York.
The main problem being faced by the US administration, which it may never admit publicly, is that the present set-up with Asif Ali Zardari as the de facto ruler, has no credibility at home and no ability to deliver on the promises he makes, either on the military side or on the war on terror or on governance issues.
“Zardari has also abandoned the idea of political consensus which he had started to follow in the early days after the February elections,” one official said on background. “He appears to be non-serious in government and lives in perpetual fear and insecurity, preferring to stay out of the country.”
The US side thinks that they had made a sensible move by pushing an alliance between late Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf as this team would have provided all the ingredients of a stable and cooperative Pakistan to Washington. She would have provided the political support while Musharraf would have used his military muscle against the terrorists and extremists in a stable environment.
They say Zardari has failed to provide that environment, rather he has involved himself in day-to-day business and administrative matters while his political coalition and parliament have been left looking like dumb and dummies.
Many officials say Zardari has been asking the US administration to bail him out on too many issues and too many occasions. He has sought the US help to tame the Army, keep his alliance partners, especially the opposition of Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N in check, directly or through the Saudis on sensitive issues like Musharraf’s or cutting his own constitutional powers.
All these demands are way beyond the capacity of any US administration to deliver while Zardari has almost left everything to us to handle, an agitated official said. “If we have to handle everything, his own credibility within the country will sink and has sunk to the lowest low.”
Other officials I met were even blunter. They say the US abhors corruption, kickbacks and commissions anywhere in the world as a matter of policy.
Another official said the US would keep track of the parties or persons involved and money transaction in the Pakistan’s rental power venture. There are still no roadmaps or any modality work sheets in Washington on how a change in Pakistan would occur, but the US capital is keeping its fingers crossed as to what comes out of the NRO case pending with the Supreme Court.
The impression gathered from the words of these top Americans is that the US would not intervene if the apex court starts hearing the case. The view is that if the NRO was discussed and details of who benefited, who made what deals and how serious crimes were committed and then whitewashed, start to be revealed in the SC, the moral authority of the NRO beneficiaries would erode fatally. In this scenario, the NRO beneficiaries may themselves throw in the towel seeking a safe exit.
In several informed US and Pakistani circles I moved in for several days in Washington, the same scenario was repeated, often exactly in the same tone and sequence.
A Pakistani, who knows a lot about developments in Pakistan and the US scene, said that apart from this purely legal and domestic scene, there were four possible ways through which Zardari could exit. These ways were repeated by others who had nothing to do at all with the previous source. They are: one, impeachment; two, voluntary resignation in the wake loss of credibility; three, ‘natural’ or man-made elimination of the president, and, four, an Army coup. The impeachment and coup scenarios are considered non-starter and impossibility.
US and some Pakistani circles said that a resignation after enough dirt is thrown in the public domain when the NRO case details begin to unfold is a favourite way out, as it would not, being an outcome of the legal process, disrupt the system.
I was asked many times whether a coup is a possibility in the current situation and I always said no, but the question kept surfacing again and again.
This is probably because there was some loose talk of a shuffle in the military hierarchy by President Zardari in which Army chief General Kayani was to be replaced by some other pliant general who could ensure continuity and stability for the Zardari regime.
This scenario was shot down in Washington instantly as an impossibility, since it had information that the Pakistan Army considered a coup or intervention as a total no-go area and could have brought back another October 12, 1999 type of situation. It is so also because of the fact that Gen Kayani has established, through words and deeds, that he is all for democracy.
With all these scenarios being discussed, the growing feeling is that not much time is left for the current status quo and it will lead to a period of political turmoil in Pakistan if President Zardari continues with his ways any longer.
The sudden emergence of a top MQM delegation in Washington for talks with the policy makers, officials and think tanks of Washington has also raised many questions as the official Pakistani diplomatic channels were totally cut off and I gather that this was done at the insistence of the US side more than the MQM leadership.
Not even a courtesy meeting between Governor Ishratul Ebad and Ambassador Husain Haqqani was held until four days after the arrival of the MQM delegation and meetings with top strategists, including Bruce Riedel, John Negroponte, Richard Boucher, and current State Department officials, including Richard Holbrooke.
A similar exercise has now been planned with the ANP chief while he will be here in the presidential entourage.
What happened in these meetings is known only to the MQM leaders and the US side but the tone and tenor of MQM in the coming weeks and days will give the first hints of whether the course of the PPP-MQM alliance is changing in stormy waters in the middle of the sea. How the ANP reacts is also to be seen but already Asfandyar Wali is said to be very happy with the praise for his party’s governance in the NWFP by US officials as well as the promises to give them direct financial aid. With the MQM and the ANP almost on board, I will be eagerly waiting for the first signs of the new US strategy unfolding in the days and weeks to come.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Zardari’s message to Nawaz has defeat written all over
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Cornered and extremely vulnerable President Asif Ali Zardari has conveyed to his political rival Nawaz Sharif that he has learnt from his past mistakes and would now like to achieve what the political forces would have achieved many months back.
Though Nawaz Sharif may have agreed to meet President Zardari, the fact is that he has completely lost faith in the PPP co-chairperson and the country’s head of the state. “He lacks seriousness,” was Sharif’s immediate reaction when told what the president had conveyed to him.
A credible PML-N source confided to The News that a PML-N senator was on Thursday told by a senior PPP leader to convey it to Nawaz Sharif that the president is fully prepared to immediately proceed on the pending issues like undoing of the 17th Amendment and the implementation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD).
The PML-N senator was told that the president has learnt the lesson from his past mistakes and is now willing to closely work with Nawaz Sharif to attain the common objectives as agreed in the CoD. The PPP leader, who besides being the member of parliament, is also a senior officer-bearer of the party, told the PML-N senator to assure Nawaz Sharif that now the president really means to do what should have been done soon after the February 2008 elections.
The source said that on Friday Zardari’s indirect message was conveyed to Mian Nawaz Sharif who, nevertheless, remained unimpressed. Instead, the source said, the PML-N Quaid’s immediate response was that Zardari is a non-serious person and is not trustworthy.
The PML-N Quaid and other party leaders remain deeply suspicious of President Zardari, who reneged on public commitments time and again during the last 16 months.
The PML-N senator, who was asked to deliver the president’s message to Nawaz Sharif, confided to this correspondent on condition of not being named that his suspicion is that President Zardari is now wooing the PML-N and its Quaid to strike a deal on the issue of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). But the senator was confident that his party would not compromise on the NRO issue and would oppose it tooth and nail both within parliament and outside.
President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are scheduled to meet on October 26 after a gap almost a hundred days. They last met in mid-July at Jati Umra but their talks did not achieve any thing worthwhile.
The restoration of independent judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, re-opening of the NRO issue, the Pakistan Army’s serious reservations over the Presidency-endorsed Kerry-Lugar Act, and the president’s waning popularity have weakened Zardari’s position.
President Zardari is in dire need of political support to consolidate his position but the PML-N is not prepared to trust him any more unless he immediately moves to get the 17th Amendment undone. Promises, commitments and assurances would not work this time, a party source said, adding “We would not let him (President Zardari) use us yet again”.
ISLAMABAD: Cornered and extremely vulnerable President Asif Ali Zardari has conveyed to his political rival Nawaz Sharif that he has learnt from his past mistakes and would now like to achieve what the political forces would have achieved many months back.
Though Nawaz Sharif may have agreed to meet President Zardari, the fact is that he has completely lost faith in the PPP co-chairperson and the country’s head of the state. “He lacks seriousness,” was Sharif’s immediate reaction when told what the president had conveyed to him.
A credible PML-N source confided to The News that a PML-N senator was on Thursday told by a senior PPP leader to convey it to Nawaz Sharif that the president is fully prepared to immediately proceed on the pending issues like undoing of the 17th Amendment and the implementation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD).
The PML-N senator was told that the president has learnt the lesson from his past mistakes and is now willing to closely work with Nawaz Sharif to attain the common objectives as agreed in the CoD. The PPP leader, who besides being the member of parliament, is also a senior officer-bearer of the party, told the PML-N senator to assure Nawaz Sharif that now the president really means to do what should have been done soon after the February 2008 elections.
The source said that on Friday Zardari’s indirect message was conveyed to Mian Nawaz Sharif who, nevertheless, remained unimpressed. Instead, the source said, the PML-N Quaid’s immediate response was that Zardari is a non-serious person and is not trustworthy.
The PML-N Quaid and other party leaders remain deeply suspicious of President Zardari, who reneged on public commitments time and again during the last 16 months.
The PML-N senator, who was asked to deliver the president’s message to Nawaz Sharif, confided to this correspondent on condition of not being named that his suspicion is that President Zardari is now wooing the PML-N and its Quaid to strike a deal on the issue of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). But the senator was confident that his party would not compromise on the NRO issue and would oppose it tooth and nail both within parliament and outside.
President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are scheduled to meet on October 26 after a gap almost a hundred days. They last met in mid-July at Jati Umra but their talks did not achieve any thing worthwhile.
The restoration of independent judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, re-opening of the NRO issue, the Pakistan Army’s serious reservations over the Presidency-endorsed Kerry-Lugar Act, and the president’s waning popularity have weakened Zardari’s position.
President Zardari is in dire need of political support to consolidate his position but the PML-N is not prepared to trust him any more unless he immediately moves to get the 17th Amendment undone. Promises, commitments and assurances would not work this time, a party source said, adding “We would not let him (President Zardari) use us yet again”.
Justice Iftikhar rejects plot in capital’s posh area
PCO judges, bureaucrats benefited from policy made by Musharraf
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has rejected the government’s offer of allotment of a residential plot worth Rs30 million in Islamabad, it is learnt.
GM Sikandar, former housing and works secretary and presently member of the federal services tribunal, told The News on Friday that in line with the government’s policy the housing ministry had issued an offer letter to the chief justice of Pakistan for the allotment of a 600 sq yard residential plot in I-8 Sector of Islamabad on August 10 this year but the same day the government had to cancel the allotment after Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry refused to accept it.
The housing ministry that had taken the initiative apparently to please the chief justice was given a dressing down and had to undo everything within hours.Sikandar confirmed that the ministry had also sought the list of other Supreme Court judges, who were to be provided the second residential plot in Islamabad in line with the official policy.
By surrendering his right protected under the stated government policy, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry seems to have subtly rejected the plot politics of Pakistan, which enables a select few influential groups to get the lion’s share in state resources, leaving nothing for the poor and the needy.
Interestingly it was soon after the November 3, 2007 PCO of General Musharraf that the then ruling junta made the new policy whereby the judges of the Supreme Court were entitled to get two residential plots in Islamabad as was allowed to the federal secretaries and BS-22 officers of the federal government.
The immediate beneficiaries of the policy were all the five judges of the Supreme Court, who had taken oath under the PCO including Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice (retd) Nawaz Abbasi, Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice (retd) Javed Buttar and Justice (retd) Saeed Ashad. All these PCO judges were given additional residential plots within a few weeks of the November 3 episode.
Sources in the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) said that these PCO judges were even taken to D-12 sector to select the plots of their choice for their services to the dictator of the day.
A few weeks before November 3, 2007 the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken suo moto notice of the government’s decision to allot two residential plots to federal secretaries in Islamabad. While issuing notices to all concerned, Justice Iftikhar had questioned how the government could distribute the state land to a select group like sweets. But before he could decide the case, Musharraf imposed his unconstitutional PCO following which the PCO judges took no time to dismiss the suo moto notice. Consequently, they too got the additional plots.
It could be anybody’s guess as to what was the motive behind the present government’s initiative to offer on its own a residential plot to Justice Iftikhar in the posh sector whereas all others were given plots in D-12 where the value of a plot is around Rs7 million.
Justice Iftikhar’s response even surprised the mandarins of the housing ministry and the FGEHF. The housing ministry documents show that on August 10, 2009, the ministry approached Registrar Supreme Court Dr Faqir Hussain with a provisional offer letter for the allotment of plot in I-8 sector to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. But within no time, the housing ministry got a response from the Registrar’s office, directing it to immediately withdraw the offer letter as the chief justice was not interested in the plot no matter what the government policy said.
The housing ministry immediately, the same day, got back to the Registrar informing him that the offer letter had been withdrawn as per direction of the Supreme Court. The ministry also submitted, “It is humbly clarified that the offer was made in pursuance of the package approved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for BS-22 officers and the honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to remove the discrimination. Any embarrassment caused in this respect is deeply regretted.”
It might be a coincidence but the housing ministry issued the offer letter to the chief justice at a time when the Supreme Court is already seized with the suo moto case involving highly controversial allotments made by the present government through the FGEHF to a select class of bureaucrats, journalists and others.
The Supreme Court, which had referred the case to the government for an inquiry into these controversial allotments, has already been informed that most of these allotments, including those to government officials and journalists, were made in violation of the policy and in a non-transparent manner.
A senior housing ministry source said that the inquiry report also showed how a superior judiciary’s dismissal order of a writ petition seeking allotment of plots was used as a justification to make allotment of residential plots.
It should be mentioned here that in line with the government’s policy three of the Supreme Court judges who had re-joined the Supreme Court by accepting the Naek formula of re-appointment were also allotted plots in the D-12 sector last year.
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has rejected the government’s offer of allotment of a residential plot worth Rs30 million in Islamabad, it is learnt.
GM Sikandar, former housing and works secretary and presently member of the federal services tribunal, told The News on Friday that in line with the government’s policy the housing ministry had issued an offer letter to the chief justice of Pakistan for the allotment of a 600 sq yard residential plot in I-8 Sector of Islamabad on August 10 this year but the same day the government had to cancel the allotment after Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry refused to accept it.
The housing ministry that had taken the initiative apparently to please the chief justice was given a dressing down and had to undo everything within hours.Sikandar confirmed that the ministry had also sought the list of other Supreme Court judges, who were to be provided the second residential plot in Islamabad in line with the official policy.
By surrendering his right protected under the stated government policy, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry seems to have subtly rejected the plot politics of Pakistan, which enables a select few influential groups to get the lion’s share in state resources, leaving nothing for the poor and the needy.
Interestingly it was soon after the November 3, 2007 PCO of General Musharraf that the then ruling junta made the new policy whereby the judges of the Supreme Court were entitled to get two residential plots in Islamabad as was allowed to the federal secretaries and BS-22 officers of the federal government.
The immediate beneficiaries of the policy were all the five judges of the Supreme Court, who had taken oath under the PCO including Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice (retd) Nawaz Abbasi, Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice (retd) Javed Buttar and Justice (retd) Saeed Ashad. All these PCO judges were given additional residential plots within a few weeks of the November 3 episode.
Sources in the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) said that these PCO judges were even taken to D-12 sector to select the plots of their choice for their services to the dictator of the day.
A few weeks before November 3, 2007 the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken suo moto notice of the government’s decision to allot two residential plots to federal secretaries in Islamabad. While issuing notices to all concerned, Justice Iftikhar had questioned how the government could distribute the state land to a select group like sweets. But before he could decide the case, Musharraf imposed his unconstitutional PCO following which the PCO judges took no time to dismiss the suo moto notice. Consequently, they too got the additional plots.
It could be anybody’s guess as to what was the motive behind the present government’s initiative to offer on its own a residential plot to Justice Iftikhar in the posh sector whereas all others were given plots in D-12 where the value of a plot is around Rs7 million.
Justice Iftikhar’s response even surprised the mandarins of the housing ministry and the FGEHF. The housing ministry documents show that on August 10, 2009, the ministry approached Registrar Supreme Court Dr Faqir Hussain with a provisional offer letter for the allotment of plot in I-8 sector to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. But within no time, the housing ministry got a response from the Registrar’s office, directing it to immediately withdraw the offer letter as the chief justice was not interested in the plot no matter what the government policy said.
The housing ministry immediately, the same day, got back to the Registrar informing him that the offer letter had been withdrawn as per direction of the Supreme Court. The ministry also submitted, “It is humbly clarified that the offer was made in pursuance of the package approved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for BS-22 officers and the honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to remove the discrimination. Any embarrassment caused in this respect is deeply regretted.”
It might be a coincidence but the housing ministry issued the offer letter to the chief justice at a time when the Supreme Court is already seized with the suo moto case involving highly controversial allotments made by the present government through the FGEHF to a select class of bureaucrats, journalists and others.
The Supreme Court, which had referred the case to the government for an inquiry into these controversial allotments, has already been informed that most of these allotments, including those to government officials and journalists, were made in violation of the policy and in a non-transparent manner.
A senior housing ministry source said that the inquiry report also showed how a superior judiciary’s dismissal order of a writ petition seeking allotment of plots was used as a justification to make allotment of residential plots.
It should be mentioned here that in line with the government’s policy three of the Supreme Court judges who had re-joined the Supreme Court by accepting the Naek formula of re-appointment were also allotted plots in the D-12 sector last year.
People’s Party pushing favourites in cushy jobs
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: After some highly controversial appointments of exiled friends on lucrative positions, the PPP-led coalition government is now pushing favourites and party loyalists for important jobs.
This is being done in such a hurry that in some cases, private recommendation letters on the PPP letterheads are also being forwarded, along with federal ministers’ directives, to different government agencies. Such party letters today make part of official files.
These appointments are being made in addition to those being processed through the Task Force on Recruitment, which is seen as the latest version of the previously ill reputed Peoples Placement Bureau.
The Task Force, as reported earlier, is headed by two political appointees and close associates of Asif Ali Zardari, one of them enjoying the status of a federal minister. It primarily deals with BS-1 to BS-16 appointments in the government departments.
Official documents, including directives issued by some of the federal ministers, available with The News, show it is yet another crude method of appointment, proving that favouritism instead of merit and the rule of law was being followed.
In one case, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, who is also acting as the health minister, has recommended the appointment of a PPP supporter in London as adviser, special assistant or consultant to the health minister or “against any suitable post falling under the health ministry”.
On a PPP letterhead, one Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, deputy coordinator Peoples Business Forum, writes to the information minister on May 20: “Dear Ms Sherry Rehman: Dr Mukhtar Bhutto, a diehard PPP supporter, had close contacts with Shaheed Benazir Bhutto in London. Our Quaid also helped him in his medical studies in the UK. Dr Mukhtar Bhutto was a great support to me in my election campaign. I am forwarding his letter of request with his CV for your kind consideration for any suitable position with the request to kindly do the needful.”
The attached CV of the PPP supporter, which too is now part of official record, says: “I am a strong devotee of my beloved mother like the Pakistan People’s Party...” He sees the information minister as a “Roshan Meenar” for the party workers and hopes that he would not be disappointed and given the opportunity “to serve Pakistan and Pakistani, subsequently our Pakistan People’s Party”.
Following the receipt of the above recommendation, the information minister’s office formally referred the case to the secretary health under the signatures of Rao Tehsin Ali Khan, Director General, to information minister.
The recommendation letter of Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig and the CV of Dr Mukhtar Bhutto were also attached with the request formally referred to the secretary health. The letter issued by Sherry Rehman’s office on June 5 said: “Enclosed please find an application of Dr Mukhtar Bhutto, recommended by Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Deputy Coordinator, People’s Business Forum, requesting for appointment as Adviser/Special Assistant/Consultant to the Ministry of Health or any suitable alternative in the said Ministry....”
Since the health ministry could not appoint adviser, special assistant or consultant on its own and without the approval of the prime minister, it forwarded the minister’s directive, along with attached recommendation letter and the CV to all programme managers and project coordinators, leading health projects under the health ministry, with the request that they should indicate the position as per qualification of the PPP supporter for his appointment.
In yet another case, a PPP MNA Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi approached the health minister with a request that a serving income additional commissioner Dr Malik Muhammad Khan Awan should be appointed in any of the leading health ministry programmes.
Despite the fact that inviting such political interference into service matters by a serving bureaucrat tantamounts to misconduct under the Estacode — the book of law, rules, policies, etc, governing civil bureaucracy — still Sherry Rehman’s Director General Rao Tehsin Ali Khan wrote to the secretary health: “Enclosed please find a self-explanatory request of Dr Malik Muhammd Khan Awan, Additional Commissioner, Legal-I, Large Taxpayer Unit, Lahore, on the subject above (Requisition of services of Dr Malik Muhammad Khan Awan from Federal Board of Revenue to Ministry of Health) noted above. The minister has desired that a report may please be sent to this office for the issuance of orders of the minister.”
The health ministry in this case too, referred the minister’s directive, along with the taxman’s application, to all programme managers and project coordinators under it to indicate the vacant position as per Awan’s qualification for onward submission of a report to the health minister (read information minister).
Sherry Rehman, when contacted, denied that she had issued any such directive to any government department. When asked that the directives were issued by her office under the signatures of her DG, she expressed her ignorance, saying, “Not that I know of.”
The information minister said that MNAs and others, including journalists, bring job requests to her but she never compromises on merit and seeks appointments only through the Placement Bureau (she probably meant Task Force on Recruitment).
While there are reports of several other ministers involved in similar practices, Sherry Rehman’s case is interesting for the reason that she is one of the foreign qualified ministers, who during her journalistic carrier, has been reflecting on the issue of merit, good governance and the rule of law.
ISLAMABAD: After some highly controversial appointments of exiled friends on lucrative positions, the PPP-led coalition government is now pushing favourites and party loyalists for important jobs.
This is being done in such a hurry that in some cases, private recommendation letters on the PPP letterheads are also being forwarded, along with federal ministers’ directives, to different government agencies. Such party letters today make part of official files.
These appointments are being made in addition to those being processed through the Task Force on Recruitment, which is seen as the latest version of the previously ill reputed Peoples Placement Bureau.
The Task Force, as reported earlier, is headed by two political appointees and close associates of Asif Ali Zardari, one of them enjoying the status of a federal minister. It primarily deals with BS-1 to BS-16 appointments in the government departments.
Official documents, including directives issued by some of the federal ministers, available with The News, show it is yet another crude method of appointment, proving that favouritism instead of merit and the rule of law was being followed.
In one case, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, who is also acting as the health minister, has recommended the appointment of a PPP supporter in London as adviser, special assistant or consultant to the health minister or “against any suitable post falling under the health ministry”.
On a PPP letterhead, one Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, deputy coordinator Peoples Business Forum, writes to the information minister on May 20: “Dear Ms Sherry Rehman: Dr Mukhtar Bhutto, a diehard PPP supporter, had close contacts with Shaheed Benazir Bhutto in London. Our Quaid also helped him in his medical studies in the UK. Dr Mukhtar Bhutto was a great support to me in my election campaign. I am forwarding his letter of request with his CV for your kind consideration for any suitable position with the request to kindly do the needful.”
The attached CV of the PPP supporter, which too is now part of official record, says: “I am a strong devotee of my beloved mother like the Pakistan People’s Party...” He sees the information minister as a “Roshan Meenar” for the party workers and hopes that he would not be disappointed and given the opportunity “to serve Pakistan and Pakistani, subsequently our Pakistan People’s Party”.
Following the receipt of the above recommendation, the information minister’s office formally referred the case to the secretary health under the signatures of Rao Tehsin Ali Khan, Director General, to information minister.
The recommendation letter of Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig and the CV of Dr Mukhtar Bhutto were also attached with the request formally referred to the secretary health. The letter issued by Sherry Rehman’s office on June 5 said: “Enclosed please find an application of Dr Mukhtar Bhutto, recommended by Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Deputy Coordinator, People’s Business Forum, requesting for appointment as Adviser/Special Assistant/Consultant to the Ministry of Health or any suitable alternative in the said Ministry....”
Since the health ministry could not appoint adviser, special assistant or consultant on its own and without the approval of the prime minister, it forwarded the minister’s directive, along with attached recommendation letter and the CV to all programme managers and project coordinators, leading health projects under the health ministry, with the request that they should indicate the position as per qualification of the PPP supporter for his appointment.
In yet another case, a PPP MNA Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi approached the health minister with a request that a serving income additional commissioner Dr Malik Muhammad Khan Awan should be appointed in any of the leading health ministry programmes.
Despite the fact that inviting such political interference into service matters by a serving bureaucrat tantamounts to misconduct under the Estacode — the book of law, rules, policies, etc, governing civil bureaucracy — still Sherry Rehman’s Director General Rao Tehsin Ali Khan wrote to the secretary health: “Enclosed please find a self-explanatory request of Dr Malik Muhammd Khan Awan, Additional Commissioner, Legal-I, Large Taxpayer Unit, Lahore, on the subject above (Requisition of services of Dr Malik Muhammad Khan Awan from Federal Board of Revenue to Ministry of Health) noted above. The minister has desired that a report may please be sent to this office for the issuance of orders of the minister.”
The health ministry in this case too, referred the minister’s directive, along with the taxman’s application, to all programme managers and project coordinators under it to indicate the vacant position as per Awan’s qualification for onward submission of a report to the health minister (read information minister).
Sherry Rehman, when contacted, denied that she had issued any such directive to any government department. When asked that the directives were issued by her office under the signatures of her DG, she expressed her ignorance, saying, “Not that I know of.”
The information minister said that MNAs and others, including journalists, bring job requests to her but she never compromises on merit and seeks appointments only through the Placement Bureau (she probably meant Task Force on Recruitment).
While there are reports of several other ministers involved in similar practices, Sherry Rehman’s case is interesting for the reason that she is one of the foreign qualified ministers, who during her journalistic carrier, has been reflecting on the issue of merit, good governance and the rule of law.
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