M T BUTT IS TARIQ BUTT OF BANNED ANTI PAKISTAN ARMY SOUTH ASIA TRIBUNE FOUNDED BY SHAHEEN SEHBAI:

Editor South Asia Tribune placed on Exit Control List ECL Removed from NAB Web Site WASHINGTON DC, July 22, 2005 | ISSN: 1684-2057 | http://www.satribune.com
http://satribune.antisystemic.org/www.satribune.com/archives/200507/P1_ecl.htm

Musharraf Asks US to Silence His US-based Critics

By M T Butt

ISLAMABAD, July 22: The Editor of the South Asia Tribune, Shaheen Sehbai, the Washington-based journalist and critic of Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, has been placed by the Government of Pakistan on the infamous Exit Control List (ECL), which bans its citizens to leave the country.

The move comes as Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have made an informal request to the US authorities to “contain” some of the US-based Pakistani writers and journalists who criticize the Musharraf Government “because they are harming Pakistani efforts to fight the US war on terror.”

The ECL was up-dated on the web site of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on July 14, 2005 and interestingly mentioned the names of several sitting ministers of the Musharraf cabinet, including the Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao himself, who is basically incharge of maintaining and updating the ECL.

When newspapers broke the story of latest ECL nominees, Aftab Sherpao was so angry he ordered the NAB to remove the entire list from its web site and that was quickly done. By the evening of July 20, the ECL was no longer available to the public, as in the past.

In the developments on the other track, some of those critics Musharraf wants contained in the US include Washington-based scholar-diplomat Husain Haqqani (left), a former police officer and author of a recent book Boston-based Hassan Abbas (right), and a Wisconsin University Professor Dr. Tarique Niazi, who writes scathing articles in the South Asia Tribune.

A California-based businessman and intellectual Khawaja Ashraf (left), some American scholars including well-known Asia expert Steve Cohen (right) and probably Marvin Weinbaum of the Middle East Institute are also on the hit list.

The name of Shaheen Sehbai (left) was put on the ECL sometime in the recent past but it appeared in the ECL on the web site of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) when it was up-dated on July 14, 2005. Click to view ECL, saved before it was removed by NAB

It provides the name and Pakistan and US addresses of the SAT Editor as well as his passport number and places him in the company of some important politicians including even some current ministers of the Musharraf cabinet.

Among those on the ECL available on the web site of NAB are Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, PPPP Leader Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Government PML-Q leader Nasrullah Dareshak and many others in and out of the Government.

Of course the most prominent on the ECL are Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Shahbaz Sharif, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar, Rape Victim Mukhtaran Mai and even Public Accounts Committee Chairman Malik Allahyar of PML-Q and former NWFP Chief Minister Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi who recently traveled to a number of European countries as a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

Interestingly some of those who have left this world are still not allowed to leave Pakistan, according to the NAB list. These unfortunate ones include Mian Mohammed Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif, former minister Abdus Sattar Lalika and top terrorist Riaz Basra. A sick Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Asif Zardari’s father Hakim Ali Zardari also remain on the list.

Political observers, however, say the ECL has been turned into a joke by the military Government as it is being used totally and exclusively for persecution and harassment of political opponents of the regime while those who support the army are allowed to travel even though their names stay on the ECL.

The entire Sharif family was on ECL but was forced out of the country, these observers point out. Asif Zardari was permitted to leave without his name being struck off, at least from the NAB list on the web site. Mukhtaran Mai was permitted to leave the country under US and Western pressure but her name is still there.

Newspaper Dawn contacted Aftab Khan Sherpao, the Interior Minister under whose jurisdiction the ECL is compiled and updated, to seek an explanation as to how he himself and a fellow Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat were on the list. The interior minister responded: “Our names are not on the ECL.” Asked if he would direct the authorities to make corrections in the list, the minister replied in affirmative.

But Dawn quoted a NAB official saying that the Interior Minister’s name was put on the web site as cases were pending against him in courts. The official, requesting anonymity, said the interior minister’s name would be taken off only on the directives of a court of law.

Asked why the Kashmir affairs minister’s name was on ECL, the official said perhaps the concerned officials had not updated the list as court cases against the minister had been withdrawn.

About Mukhtaran Mai still featuring on the NAB web site, the official said the list was maintained by the interior ministry and the government might have put her name on ECL. The official said NAB got the names of only those people on ECL who had any corruption cases pending against them.

Asked if the NAB had the legal power to place a person’s name on ECL or publish it on its web site, NAB spokesperson Nasir Jamal said there must be some provision but he would have to check the exact position with the legal department on Wednesday.

As this ECL joke continues, a more sinister move by the Musharraf Government is getting more attention in Washington. According to sources the ISI and Military Intelligence (MI) have given several names to the US intelligence agencies and other authorities to “contain” some of the critics of the Musharraf Government who are based on US as they are “harming Pakistani efforts to fight the war on terror by attacking General Musharraf.”

The name of South Asia Tribune Editor Shaheen Sehbai also figures prominently on this list of US-based trouble-makers.

Sources in Islamabad said by asking the US authorities to “contain” these writers and intellectuals, the Pakistan Army wishes that some of these Pakistanis should be handed over to Islamabad while the US citizens be asked by the Washington Establishment to tone down their attacks on General Musharraf in the name of serving US National Security interests.

The US reaction to this request is not yet known but experts say it would be wishful thinking on the part of the Pakistani Generals to believe that any US Government would link “political dissent” and “criticism of General Musharraf” to the war on terror and forcibly silence or expatriate these critics.

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NOTE: SHAHEEN SEHBAI MADE A DEAL WITH MUSHARRAF AND RETURNED DURING MUSHARRAF’S MARTIAL LAW

The General in a Hurry Now Buying German Spy Planes for Millions By M T Butt WASHINGTON DC, Aug 24, 2005 | ISSN: 1684-2057 | http://www.satribune.com http://satribune.antisystemic.org/www.satribune.com/archives/200508/P1_butt.htm

ISLAMABAD, August 24: After failing to push through a dubious $85 million deal for night vision equipment for tanks from a French company in late June, as the deal was exposed in time by the South Asia Tribune, the same ambitious top Pakistan Army General is now bull-dozing another $27 million deal to rush purchase German surveillance spy aircraft, bypassing all Army rules and regulations. But again, patriotic but angry, officers of the Army in the General Head Quarters in Rawalpindi are determined not to let him get his way. Click to See previous stories: Part-I | Musharraf’s Call saves $37M

They have again released all the details of this new deal to the South Asia Tribune, hoping that General Pervez Musharraf will again intervene and stop this budding Admiral Mansurul Haq of the Pakistan Army, as he did in the last case.

The General in a hurry to purchase anything, no matter how rotten or below standard or high priced, is the Chief of General Staff, Lt. General Tariq Majeed whose last bid to buy French night vision equipment from Thales was foiled at the last moment by a telephone call from General Musharraf, saving the Army an extra $37 million.

Now his eyes are on German UAV unmanned spy aircraft, LUNA, and he has ordered that at least 4 or 5 of these planes be purchased immediately for an amount exceeding $27 million.

According to details sent to the South Asia Tribune by GHQ officers not happy with the deal, the hasty selection of the LUNA UAV system has been done by the CGS in complete isolation without inviting any competitive international bids from other prospective UAV manufacturers in the world.

“This is a direct contravention and violation of the government procurement rules and regulations,” an Email received from the GHQ officers revealed.

The LUNA UAV system was also hurriedly tested in Pakistan without extending any invitation to other prospective international manufacturers by the W&E Directorate. The requirement of comparative trials for such high end projects was completely by-passed to select a ‘preferred’ but inferior UAV system which was only dear and near to the heart of the CGS,” the Email said. There are cheaper and better Tactical Military UAV systems available worldwide.

The angry officers believe the CGS, Lt. Gen Tariq Majeed, is continuing to flaunt internal procedures and processes and is acting like a civilian business owner in the way he is taking vital operational decisions.

The scheduled purchase of LUNA, the UAV manufactured by EMT of Germany, is generating anger and frustration in the officers. They say LUNA UAV is a very small model plane. It is primarily used for very close area monitoring and does not even qualify to be a tactical military UAV system.

However, last year and all of a sudden, CGS Gen. Tariq Majeed ordered his juniors to immediately start evaluating and eventually purchase the system for Pakistan Army.

“It is quite unprecedented and against the normal code of ethics that a serving General categorically orders to purchase a specific system without first having it go through the standard laid-down procedures of merit, selection, tests and trials,” an officer’s message said.

Almost simultaneously, as if he had an intuition, the Operations Director of the seller company, Target Consultations Services, Mr. Salim Khan, who represents EMT of Germany in Pakistan, sent a brief proposal to W&E Directorate in the General Head Quarters (GHQ) on August 23, 2004 (TCS Letter No. TCS/WNE/012).

The proposal was evaluated on accelerated priority under orders of the CGS and was hurriedly called in for test and trials.

Not surprisingly, during these tests which were held in the last week of February 2005 at three different locations in Pakistan, the Military Intelligence Directorate raised serious concerns on the viability of the UAV as the type of equipment it had used was being manufactured commercially off-the-shelf and hence anyone with the same equipment could easily and literally ‘hijack’ the subject UAV system.

The MI Directorate, being the user, opined in its written report: ”It is finally concluded that incorporation of Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) products available to any customer may have serious implications on the survivability of the UAV.”

The Technical Directorate of GHQ, ITD Directorate, in collaboration with IE&I also pointed out serious deficiencies in the subject UAV system compared with the official and approved General Staff Requirement (GSR) of the GHQ for Tactical UAV systems.

The ITD Directorate in its report said that the subject UAV system had no ECM capabilities, was open to enemy jamming and was unable to detect enemy objects from the required flying height.

The ITD in its original report recommended that the UAV should first incorporate all the missing parameters and then it should be tested again in Pakistan to confirm the changes before any decisions are taken.

Instead of following the established Army rules and regulations and to reject the system because it did not follow the official Staff Requirement, an impatient General Majeed chose otherwise.

The angry officers revealed: “He ordered to have the Tactical UAV GSR changed in order to accommodate the shortcomings of the LUNA UAV system. Mysteriously, the ITD Report’s original conclusions were also changed when the report reached the office of ITD Director General, Major General Mohammed Asaad.”

Bulldozing all the technical objections and procedural elements, the CGS is now very keen to have an inferior UAV system inducted into the Army which essentially no one but the CGS wants.

The CGS has also instructed the Military Operations and Military Intelligence Directorate to arrange the funds for over US$27 million to buy 4 to 5 LUNA UAV Systems in FY 2005-06 under the Army Future Development Program (AFDP) Fund – 2019.

In an In-House Discussions (IHD) meeting held at the GHQ on 27 July 2005, attended by the CGS and all the concerned Director Generals, including the MI, MO and ITD, the CGS surprised everyone by announcing the decision and instructed the W&E Directorate to buy 4 LUNA UAV systems this year.

The irony is that in the same meeting the CGS also emphasized that the ultimate reliance of the Army should always remain on ‘indigenously’ developed UAVs.

To cover up his hasty purchase, the CGS also instructed that ‘after’ the induction of the LUNA UAV system he had ordered, all other (and better) UAV system induction from the international market should be ‘limited’, perhaps to keep out the competition in future for the long term contract of his favorite system.

One message received by the South Asia Tribune says: “This has caused serious concern in the ranks of the GHQ and officers who rightly think that rules are being played with in order to buy a toy which will eventually be of no use for them as Pakistani companies are developing much better UAV systems in Pakistan.”

“But for the sake of their job, pay and pension they cannot defy the orders of the CGS. The most amazing part of this story is the conduct unbecoming of the CGS, Lt. Gen Tariq Majeed who is literally acting as the paid and employed agent for the German company, EMT.”

“Army procurement procedures, as have been laid down over many years of experience, are designed for a reason to provide the best equipment at the best price to Pakistan Defense forces, however, when people like the CGS come along and exploit the procedures by virtue of their position they severely damage the reputation of an otherwise high character institution,” the officers maintain.

Experts say Pakistan Army has its own indigenous UAV development program for the last 8 years in which they are making three types of Tactical UAV Systems. These UAVs include, Hud-Hud and two others manufactured by Integrated Defense Services (ex-PMO).

One local private company SATUMA, based in the Kahuta Triangle in Islamabad, is also manufacturing UAV systems which are being used and deployed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). All locally made UAV’s are 60-70 per cent cheaper than what is being doled out for this inferior system from Germany.

Some experts think in international systems, LUNA is not even considered to be a military system and is not used in the theater of war because of its inferior technology. The international market is full of better UAV systems that are more suited to military roles.

In its on-going evaluation, however, the GHQ is also considering the French, American and a German Tactical Military UAV systems although none of which have been called for in-country trials. The French UAV system was shown to the ex-VCGS and now Corps Commander Karachi, during an all expense paid trip to France in June 2004.

The essence of a good deal is ”Comparative Trials” and competition between various suppliers. The spirit of competition and procedure dictates that in case the Army needs to select a UAV it must invite at least three suppliers and have a comparison test and trials in Pakistan. The equipment which gives the best result during trials and also the best price at the end of the day should be selected.

Unfortunately, none of these aspects have been followed in the German case thereby violating the laid procedures of procurement.

Tariq Butt Double Game:

Brig Niaz: the man playing the informal go-between Tuesday, January 15, 2008 By Tariq Butt http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=12308

ISLAMABAD: Brig (retd) Niaz, a friend of President Pervez Musharraf, had more than once facilitated return of some female members of the Sharif family to Pakistan in the past to attend to family affairs.

He had no acquaintance with the Sharif family until he was approached by a common friend a few years ago, seeking his help in facilitating travel of female members of the Sharif family to Pakistan through his good offices with President Pervez Musharraf to attend marriages of their relatives. Sharifs were then in Jeddah.

“I was groomed in an environment that doesn’t allow being discourteous with anybody expressing his desire to meet him,” the former brigadier had told this correspondent before Nawaz made an abortive attempt to return to Pakistan on Sept 10 last year.

Niaz met the Sharifs in London where he had primarily gone for treatment. The soldier had sought that since he was an apolitical person he should be spared from being embroiled in any controversy. He did not agree to a record chat, but consented to tell the story about his contacts with Sharifs and how relations between Musharraf and him built up.

Before his failed attempt to return to Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif was thrashing Musharraf in his live news conferences in London. At that point, one clearly noticed that Niaz was greatly distressed by Sharifs’ diatribe against Musharraf. But he was helpless and felt embarrassed. His last encounter with Sharifs in London had turned out to be a futile exercise when he failed to convince Nawaz Sharif to delay his return to Pakistan for some time.

However, when the common friend had urged Niaz to talk to the president, he was quick to say yes. He had met Musharraf and secured the requisite go-ahead for Sharifs to attend marriages in their family.

The six feet-plus tall former brigadier, originally hailing from Chakwal, one of the main recruiting areas of the Pakistan Army, faced no difficulty in obtaining the president’s consent for Sharifs to come back, saying that female members should not suffer for the faults of their male elders.

During his meetings with Sharifs, Niaz had been urging them to show restraint towards the president, realising the grave situation in Pakistan. But the two brothers had never practically did that and kept on with their rhetoric.

Niaz again hit the headlines last week when Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif met him at his Islamabad residence. This was basically meant to thank and show respect to the former brigadier for facilitating the Sharif family at the most difficult time for a private affair.

“This was basically a courtesy call from Shahbaz, who was meeting people that had come to their rescue during their time in exile,” a PML-N leader told The News. “Like Niaz’s previous encounters with Sharifs, this one, too, failed to moderate them. Niaz, however, did stress that Sharifs should lower their temperament,” he said.

When one had met Niaz, the judicial crisis was at its peak and Musharraf had been pushed to the wall. The former brigadier was extremely distraught over the point where Musharraf had gone because of the immense public pressure. He was also displeased with what a set of judges of the Supreme Court and his detractors were doing against the president. Particularly, Sharifs unhealthy role in the whole situation disturbed him a lot. He gave the impression as if his mission miserably failed.

Cigar-smoking Niaz did not know Musharraf at all till a former colonel, who was his and the president’s friend, arranged a meeting between them. This is how the two became friends. Niaz was penniless when he had to leave the Army in 1977 for his refusal to fire at protesters during the limited martial law in Lahore. He was extremely worried about how he and his children, including a blind daughter, would make both ends meet. He had no home, no other resources to fall back on.

It was the then Chief of the Army Staff Mirza Aslam Beg who, knowing Niaz since long, enquired after his plight and came to know about his condition. He pushed him to involve himself in defence purchases. Niaz was reluctant, saying he has no experience in the field and did not know complexities of the business.

Finally, he agreed and earned kudos. He later bought the present sprawling house in Islamabad. Wherever he went in army offices for business purpose, he found officers, who had been his students in the Army when he was an instructor. It turned out to be an easy sailing for him all around.

Niaz, around 80, has been seriously ill for the past few years. He was suffering from memory loss and other brain problems that also resulted in significant weight loss. He has to give up some of his old habits, including cigarette smoking, but sought permission from doctors to smoke cigar, which was less injurious. He visits Britain off and one for treatment.