Imran Farooq’s Murder: Altaf may not return to lead the ‘revolution’ – by Shiraz Paracha
The murder of Imran Farooq in London has provided the MQM boss Altaf Hussain a perfect excuse to say no to calls for his return to Pakistan and lead the ‘revolution’. He may not come back due to security fears. Last month, from his London control room, Altaf, now a British citizen, urged the people of Pakistan to stand up and bring the ‘revolution’ with the help of patriotic generals of the Pakistan Army.
Opponents as well as the supporters of Altaf wanted him to come and lead the ‘revolution’ but the death of Imran Farooq could be an opportunity for Altaf to control the ‘revolution’ in Pakistan by staying 4000 miles away. Perhaps we will not be able to observe Altaf Hussain on the streets leading the people from Karachi to Peshawar.
Leaders are not afraid, mafia bosses and law offenders are. Leaders remain among the people but mafia bosses hide, they fear death and run away from the law. Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto said: “I would prefer to die at the hands of the dictator rather than by the history”. He stood to his words. Politically Bhutto rules Pakistan 31 years after his judicial murder.
Benazir Bhutto was warned by friendly heads of states and governments not to return to Pakistan, but she did. A month before her assassination, she was targeted in Karachi where hundreds of her party workers had died. Despite vivid threats to her life she stayed in Pakistan. Benazir was aware of the dangers but she was not afraid of death. She wrote her will and informed her family and friends what could happen to her. She saw death and faced it as a leader.
Like Altaf Hussain and other top officials of the MQM, Imran Farooq, too, was named as the main accused in at least 60 cases of killings and violence. He allegedly led MQM-hit squads and was involved in gang wars.
Imran was Altaf’s right hand man for a long time but, apparently, in recent months both of them had disagreements and Altaf with his draconian powers forced Imran out of the MQM’s inner circles. Imran was fully aware of the working and operations of the MQM and thus was a possible threat to those who would like to run the MQM in a mafia style.
Top bosses of the MQM are supposed to be tight lipped about organizational secrets and deeds. Depressed and disgruntled Imran was a potential loose cannon. For the MQM it has been easy to deal with such characters in Pakistan but in London handling with a man of Imran’s status was not simple.
Imran was sidelined but he did not protest. Perhaps he was worried about the safety of his father and other family members in Karachi. Or, perhaps despite his disappointment with the leadership he remained a loyal MQM member. We may not know what was on Imran’s mind before his death, until his widow or one of his confidants speaks out.
A British newspaper reported that Altaf was hysterical when he heard the news of Imran Farooq’s murder. Images of sobbing Altaf flashed around the world. Altaf is famous for his mood swings and outbursts. He seems to be a man who is suffering from manic depression. However, he can hide his imperfections and intellectual confusions behind his mellow-dramatic, exaggerated and bizarre behavior, especially in public.
In 2000, when I lived in the UK, I had attended a gathering in London where Altaf had given a theatrical performance. During his one-hour long so-called speech he danced, he sang, he screamed and he cried. His behavior was embarrassing as he represented the people of Pakistan’s most educated urban areas. A member of the audience challenged one of the claims that Altaf had made. The MQM bouncers who were present on the occasion rounded the challenger, threatened him and the poor guy was forced out of the hall.
It is interesting to note that in August 2010, a senior official of the US embassy in Islamabad met Altaf Hussain in London. According to the news reports, the meeting lasted for three hours. It was around that time when Altaf shared his dream of the ‘revolution’ with Pakistanis and called patriotic generals to remove the corrupt politicians. His call for the military-led ‘revolution’ coincided with the arrival of hundreds and thousands of flood victims from the interior Sindh to Karachi and Hyderabad. Some commentators believed that migration prompted Altaf’s calls for the ‘revolution’.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had introduced laws under which certain kind of behavior and speeches were declared illegal in the UK. Many people, almost all Muslims, were deported from Britain and several were jailed under the new laws. One such person was Abu Hamza al-Masri, a Muslim cleric of Egyptian origin.
In February 2006, Abu Hamza was sent to jail for seven years for making fiery speeches critical of the British and American foreign policies. He was found guilty of inciting violence. Abu Hamza was convicted of 11 of 15 charges of using his influence as a spiritual leader of the Muslim community in North London to become, in the words of the prosecution, a recruiting sergeant for terrorism.
Abu Hamza was convicted of three out of four charges of using threatening words or behavior to stir up racial hatred. Prosecution lawyer David Perry said that the cleric used “the most dangerous weapons available – a great religion, Islam, his position as a civic leader and the power of words, his own words.”
From his London control room, the MQM boss, Altaf Hussain, every day gives speeches in which he indirectly attacks different ethnic groups of Pakistan. People are abducted, tortured and even killed in Karachi allegedly by the supporters of Altaf Hussain. Such supporters could well be under the influence of Altaf’s fiery telephonic speeches. But the British and American politicians and diplomats consult as well as advise Altaf Hussain.
Altaf is an MI6 as well as a CIA asset and a great actor as well.There is no doubt that the British and American politicians and diplomats consult as well as advise him.
You punjabis need some enemy to bash i.e is MQM.
Grow up to the realities we will never bow to U.
Nawaz sharif has lot of bussiness in England and he is popular leader of punjabis????
what a joke.
Where Altaf Hussain get money to afford in Edgeware Suburb of London? Why he never come to Pakistan and lead the Revoluation? Why he dismiss 4 times imran farooq and now crying like baby? 7 or 8 years he was licking boot of army (mushi time) why he never raise a commission of 1992 operation? MQM is a ethnic group of uneducated Lalo Gathi and new karachi. Educated Urdu speaking understand him , but they are silent of their saftey. I bet Mr. Faheem would you have dare to say somthing about ALTAF HUSSAIn inforant of 90?????? you can say anythig about Zaradari or nawaz in nawabshah or lahore , you never feel any safety issue. But i know who you are? a uneducated karachities. may be you pass with cheating as MQM did always in schools and colleges.Why he never marry to Shaeed Karkun widow rather than a Gobal Family. I hope you dont have any answer because you are living under indians masters.
http://bhuttowisdom.blogspot.com/2010/09/tonga-parties-enjoy-imaginations-by-m.html
faheem says: September 19, 2010 at 4:36 am You punjabis need some enemy to bash i.e is MQM.
========================
Dear Mr Faheem,
MQM is a National Party. Why do you bring Punjab in this? MQM is also in Punjab: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2A882TsTFQ
Credibility of Daily UMMAT!!!
Salahuddin murder case takes a dramatic turn DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 08 January 1999, Friday, 19 Ramzan 1419 http://www.karachipage.com/news/Jan_99/010899.html
KARACHI, Jan 7: The murder case of Maulana Salahuddin has taken a dramatic turn with the startling disclosures by his daughter that she suspects the involvement of her husband in the assassination of her father, who was editor of Takbeer. She called upon the government to reinvestigate the case.
She also pleaded for associating her husband, Rafiq Afghan, editor of an Urdu daily, with the inquiry and added that she had decided to seek separation from her husband.
Speaking to Dawn on Thursday, Saadia said she had sent a request to the interior minister a few days ago expressing her concern over the state of investigations conducted in the case. She said in her communication to the minister that the police had installed “fake” suspects.
The interior minister, Chaudhry Shujaat, when contacted by Dawn, said that now the case of Maulana Salahuddin, who was murdered outside his offices in 1994, could not be reinvestigated as a scrutiny committee comprising the personnel of the army’s judge advocate general branch, military intelligence, the ISI and the chief secretary had scrutinised the case and prepared it for its trial by a military court.
Terming the move by Saadia as a “belated one”, the interior minister said Rafiq Afghan could not be cited even as co-accused in the case according to the procedures being adopted in the scrutiny and disposal of cases.
In her letter to the federal minister, Saadia said, she had expressed her fears that Rafiq Afghan wanted to flee the country with their two-year-old son and, therefore, his name be put on the exit control list.
She said she had also written that Rafiq would be fleeing the country to either Iran or Afghanistan, alleging that he had in his possession an ID card with the fake name of Saleem, “and he must be having a passport with a fake name, as well.”
A few days later, Saadia said, she spoke to the interior minister who acknowledged the receipt of her letter, saying the government would definitely do something in this regard.
Saadia, who, according to her, has had estranged relations with her husband ever since “he kicked me out from his house in 1997″, said that her suspicions, which had now turned into a firm belief, were based on “convincing reasons”.
The woman claimed that the only witness and complainant in the murder case, the late Salahuddin’s driver, had been coerced by her husband to identify one of the two “fake” suspects in police custody, Saleem TT.
Later on, she said, the CIA police on their own brought the other “fake” suspect, Nadeem Mota, to the residence of the driver, Amjad Pervaiz, to force him to identify Nadeem as well as an assassin.
She said the management of Takbeer, headed by her, had taken a stand soon after the case was reopened following the imposition of governor’s rule and had detected numerous instances of foul play in the investigations carried out by the police.
She said Amjad Pervaiz volunteered to speak out the truth when he found that the magazine had already taken a stand on the issue and on the occasion of second fake identification he refused to oblige the police.
“I noticed a U-turn in the overall attitude of my husband soon after the reopening of the case as he who had ejected me from the house was now showing willingness to welcome me, which I refused,” said Saadia, who was married to Rafiq Afghan in 1988.
Only yesterday, she said, the witness (Amjad Pervaiz) was unofficially produced before the high-ranking police officials comprising, among others, the DIG of Karachi, at Takbeer’s offices. He told them that he was shown various photographs of suspect Saleem TT by Rafiq in the latter’s office “forcing” him to identify the suspect for police.
Saadia claimed that in the entire course of inquiries no one from Takbeer had been approached by the law enforcement agencies since the murder. She said that the driver was approached independently and the management had never been informed about it.
She said the situation suggested that the police wanted to save the real culprits involved in the conspiracy hatched to kill her father.
The kind of City hall politics that the MQM presides over in Karachi, though, make Chicago in the 1930s seem like a model of good governance. However, last week’s murder was not the first time that Mr Hussain’s actitivies in London have come under scrutiny. In 2007, he was accused of stirring up trouble when followers of the MQM allegedly opened fire on anti-government protesters, sparking clashes in which more than 40 people were killed.
Pakistan politician murder: have Karachi’s brutal politics reached London? Neighbours in Edgware thought Imran Farooq just worked in a pharmacy, but then he was murdered – victim of the brutal politics of Pakistan’s biggest city. By Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent, and Rob Crilly in Karachi Published: 7:57PM BST 18 Sep 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8011271/Pakistan-politician-murder-have-Karachis-brutal-politics-reached-London.html
Police at the scene in Green Lane in Edgware where Dr Imran Farooq was found with head injuries and stab wounds Photo: PA
As a man who was more than used to looking over his shoulder, Imran Farooq would no doubt have found the nondescript north London maisonette the perfect bolthole. Surrounded by quiet streets lined with apple trees, Green Court in Edgware was the very picture of suburban anonymity, the kind of place where neighbourliness typically means little more intrusive than the odd polite “hello”.
Late on Thursday afternoon, though, an area that could have been the setting for a sitcom like Terry and June became the centre of a rather grittier drama, as Mr Farooq was stabbed to death outside his home. Alerted by shouts and screams, neighbours saw him in a violent struggle with another man, who beat the 50-year-old Pakistani around the head and then knifed him repeatedly.
It was a brutal end for a man who – to his neighbours at least – seemed a respectable figure, working at a nearby pharmacy and living with his wife, Shumaila, and their two young sons Alishan, 5, and Wajdan, 3.
“None of us even knew there was a politician living here,” said Bhiru Malde, 60, a neighbour, as he stood near the police cordon yesterday, from where boiler-suited forensic experts from Scotland Yard could be seen conducting finger-tip searches of nearby gardens. “This is a very quiet area, but when I came back at 6pm there were police everywhere.”
The murder was, however, all too much in keeping with the other job Mr Farooq held down – as a leading figure in the London branch of Pakistan’s Muttahida Quami Movement, a party with a notorious reputation even in a country steeped in political violence.
The MQM’s headquarters in the capital lies just down the road on Edgware High Street, a drab, unassuming office block typical of the hundreds of bureaus maintained by foreign political parties with followings in London’s myriad diaspora communities. Yet in the case of the MQM, the “international secretariat”, which stands opposite a Lidl supermarket and a Turkish grocer, is no mere diplomatic outpost.
Instead, it is the very nerve centre from which the party directs its affairs in Pakistan, and in particular its stronghold in Karachi, the country’s largest city, which it effectively runs. Holding court in the office nearly every day is Mr Farooq’s boss and MQM’s leader, Altaf Hussain, a stocky, moustachioed firebrand who effectively acts as a one-man government in exile, barking orders to minions in Karachi via mobile phone and addressing huge street rallies via televised links ups to the Edgware Road. Such is his iron grip on his party 5,000 miles away that all key meetings are held on Greenwich Meantime, keeping his Karachi-based staff up late into the night.
The kind of City hall politics that the MQM presides over in Karachi, though, make Chicago in the 1930s seem like a model of good governance.
Thousands have died in political violence there over the last three decades, as the MQM has slugged it out with other factions for control of a metropolis of 18 million that includes the country’s main port and generates 50 per cent of Pakistan’s tax revenues.
Officials blamed the MQM for much of the violence, and in the early 1990s, both Mr Hussain and Dr Farooq found themselves on the run on charges of murder and kidnapping, following claims that the party was running networks of torture chambers around its strongholds. By the late 1990s, though, both men had managed to claim asylum in Britain, after telling the authorities that the charges against them were politically motivated.
It is in this murky world that Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command unit is now looking for clues to Dr Farooq’s murderer. While they have not ruled out the possibility that it was just a mugging gone wrong, the absence of any sign of robbery, and the eyewitness reports that his killer was a fellow Asian, indicate that it was politically motivated.
One theory is that enemies within his own party may have been responsible, another is that it was the work of the Pakistani Taliban, of which the MQM, as a secular party, is a prominent critic. Mr Hussain also recently angered the ruling Pakistan People’s Party of President Asif Ali Zardari, when, in yet another televised rant from London, he said the MQM was ready to lead a “French Revolution” to mop up the chaos left by the recent devastating floods.
Detectives have so far been wary of speculating on a motive, however, aware that the outcome of the case may be politically explosive.
His killing has already sparked riots in Karachi, a powder-keg city at the best of times, with his supporters torching cars and firing guns in the air: Pakistani security officials fear that if, or when, the finger of blame is pointed at one faction or another, Karachi may erupt into all-out bloodshed.
MQM supporters in London told The Sunday Telegraph that they were “shocked” at the murder, describing Dr Farooq as a “poet and philosopher” rather than a political gangster. “We are not aware of any threat against him,” said Mohammad Raza Haroon, a senior party official. “He was such a nice, gentle friendly person, and it is a huge loss. Senior members of the party have lived in Britain for many years and felt safe, even though many have been killed in Pakistan.”
Others however paint a rather different picture of both Dr Farooq and the movement he helped lead. The MQM has been a streetfighting force in the country’s politics ever since its formation in 1984, when Mr Hussain, who had previously worked as a taxi driver in Chicago, convened a party to represent the Muhajirs, Urdu-speaking Muslims who fled India after partition in 1947 and who had complained of ethnic discrimination from other Pakistanis.
Supporters say it has tried to shed its violent image of the 1990s, when it waged open warfare with its Pashtu-speaking rivals of the Awami National Party, and today it is proud of its record in improving life in the city’s sprawling slums, but it still works through protection rackets and thuggery, according to some.
“I hate the way they operate,” said one Karachi resident. “This is not the way of Islam but they say that it is the only way to get things done. They have a very slick operation.”
More serious allegations, though, were made in the early 1990s when the Pakistani army launched a crackdown against escalating violence in the region.
Military officials claimed they uncovered 23 torture chambers in MQM-run offices, schools and hospitals in Karachi, where electric drills would be used on political prisoners.
Gory photographs of blood splashed walls, chains hanging from ceilings and electrical torture implements were reproduced in Pakistani national newspapers, which reported that some of the chambers were allegedly kept as rape cells.
Dr Farooq and Mr Hussain – along with 150 party workers – were named in cases brought before a special anti-terrorist court in Karachi, accusing them of murder, kidnapping, robbery and violence against political opponents.
One victim, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party formerly run by the late Benazir Bhutto, told Amnesty International that he was abducted by four MQM members who then blindfolded him and beat him with leather whips and wooden sticks. “They hit me on the face and the chest, for many hours,” he said.
“Before they released me on the fifth day they drilled a hole in my leg, with an electric drill. I fainted.”
True, exaggeration and smears have always been part and parcel of Pakistani politics, but some believe the charges had a degree of substance. “The leadership always said they didn’t use violence – or at least only in self-defence – but it seems impossible that someone like Farooq didn’t know that his party had set up torture chambers,” said a political commentator, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
How British asylum officials concluded that such serious allegations were pure fabrication remains unclear.
According to one well placed Pakistani source, concerns that the two would be killed or tortured if returned to Pakistan may have over-ridden doubts about whether it was appropriate for them to remain in Britain.
Several of Mr Hussain’s relatives had also been murdered in the 1990s, lending credence to his claims of political persecution.
However, last week’s murder was not the first time that Mr Hussain’s actitivies in London have come under scrutiny. In 2007, he was accused of stirring up trouble when followers of the MQM allegedly opened fire on anti-government protesters, sparking clashes in which more than 40 people were killed.
British government officials said that because Mr Hussain had committed no crime on British soil, there was no reason to revoke his citizenship, a stance that drew bitter criticism at the time from Imran Khan, the former cricketer who now runs his own political party in Pakistan.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph last week, he said he had contacted both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown when they were prime ministers to accuse them of “double standards” by waging war on the Taliban and al Qaeda while sheltering MQM politicians accused of abuses.
“I tried to convince the British police that they had to probe this,” he said. “We cannot have someone living there as head of the party when we know the party is involved in violence. Scotland Yard already had a file. The only way they are able to control Karachi is by staying in London, far from the danger.”
Now, with blood being spilt in London rather than Pakistan, what was originally a relatively small Scotland Yard file on the party is likely to become much bigger. In coming days, detectives are expected to interview senior party officials in what is likely to be a complex, politically-charged and hugely costly investigation, the outcome of which could also affect British-Pakistani relations. “They have been asking us to fight the war on terror but at the same time giving these people passports,” said Mr Khan. “But as long as Britain was safe, it didn’t seem to matter.”
Additional reporting by Nick Meo in Edgware
Revolution with the Help of Honest Generals
On February 11, 1990, the army oversaw the messy business of exchange of 27 political workers captured by both the MQM and the PPP sides in tit-for-tat abductions. The exchange followed talks at the military headquarters at the instructions of Karachi Corps Commander Lt. General Asif Nawaz Janjua. There was General Asif Nawaz’s famous interview to the BBC, during which he dubbed the MQM as a terrorist organization. Whether this was true or not, it was no business of an army chief to pass this judgment. Subsequently, the army played a far from passive role in helping the dissidents of the MQM Haqiqi to take over the offices of the mainstream MQM.
Reference for the above “Honest Generals” and “Revolution”
REF: Chapter IX The Fourth Republic http://www.ghazali.net/book1/chapter_9.htm
Gen Asif Nawaz Gave Go Ahead for Anti-MQM Operation
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 http://www.daily.pk/gen-asif-nawaz-gave-go-ahead-for-anti-mqm-operation-9536/
faheem says: September 19, 2010 at 4:36 am You punjabis need some enemy to bash i.e is MQM.
==============================
[1992] May 19 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif meets Sindh CM Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Home Minister Chaudhry Shujaat, COAS General Asif Nawaz, Sindh Coprs Commander General Naseer Akhtar and other officials at GHQ Rawalpindi to decide on the modalities of Operation Clean-up in Sindh; operation to be carried out by the Rangers and Mehran Force with full backing by the Army
http://therepublicofrumi.com/chronicle/1992.htm
Ishaq Dar of PML-N visits MQM Headquarters Updated at: 2230 PST, Monday, September 20, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/1570.htm http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/20-09-2010/u46399.htm
KARACHI: A delegation of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), led by its Central Leader, Ishaq Dar visited the Headquarters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), at Azizabad here to condole the death of former convener of the MQM, Dr. Imran Farooq. Later, talking to media, Ishaq Dar said he along with other leaders of his party has visited the Headquarters of the MQM to express condolence on the death of Dr. Imran Farooq, on behalf of N-League Chief, Nawaz Sharif. He said Dr. Imran Farooq was a very decent person and incident of his assassination was very sorrowful. He also sympathized with the MQM’s leaders and workers, saying he and his party shared the grief of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, the bereaved family as well as leaders and activists of the MQM on the murder of Dr. Imran Farooq.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Convener MQM Rabita Committee, Dr. Farooq Sattar expressed gratitude to the delegation of N-League for visiting the head quarter of his party. He said the decision about the burial of Dr. Imran Farooq will be taken as soon as the body of the deceased arrives Pakistan. Ishaq Dar told questioner, he is representing Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and condoled death of Dr. Imran Farooq on the behalf of leaders of his party. He said ideologies and manifestoes of the parties can be different but it does not mean that the political entities cannot share their grief. MQM leaders, Waseem Aftab, Kanwer Khalid Younus and PML-N leaders, Saleem Zia and Nihal Hashmi were also present on the occasion.
Mr Paracha has made a brilliant analysis of MQM and its supremo.
I agree Mr Imran was a ‘loose cannon’.
It was pathetic to see Altaf wailing in front of TV cameras after the death of Imran Farooq. It is incomprehensible that he should cry for a man whom he disgraced and suspended form the politburo. I will not be surprised if Scotland Yard comes out with explanation of ‘inside job’.
MQM leaders are trying their best to make people believe that Taliban was responsible for killing Imran Farooq.
If Taliban had to kill why they would kill a person who had dissociated from MQM and was living in a recluse. He was hardly seen taking active part in the working of international secretariat.
MQM leaders are very nervous and they can not do any thing here in London. They are helpless.
The other blow to MQM is that the next of kin of Imran Farooq have been taken into safe custody by Met police. No one is able to communicate with her. This was very right step taken by Met police.
Where is father of Imran Farooq? This poor old man has been sidelined by thugs of MQM. Traditionally the condolences should be received by heirs but in this case condolences are received by Farooq Sattar. It is ridiculous.
Shaheen Sehbai:) Again: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Shawwal 11, 1431 A.H http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/21-09-2010/main2.htm http://ejang.jang.com.pk/9-21-2010/pic.asp?picname=910.gif and same Shaheen Sehbai’s Magazine when in Exile had filed this on MQM: Is the Army sincere with Altaf Bhai’s MQM? By Abdul Sattar Issue No 19, Nov 25-Dec 1, 2002 | ISSN:1684-2075 | http://antisystemic.org/satribune/www.satribune.com/archives/nov25_dec1_02/P1_mqmstory.htm
KARACHI: What is going on in Karachi’s No-Go Areas is a mystery known only to the secret agencies of General Pervez Musharraf. Apparently the Army is trying to appease Altaf Hussain’s MQM by hitting out at the MQM Haqiqi Group but in reality the agencies do not want to hurt their own creation.
This has led to a stand off between the new Government of Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali and Altaf Bhai who withdrew his candidate for a cabinet seat at the last minute. Attacks on Dr. Farooq Sattar while taking over an office in the No Go Area of Landhi further compounded the situation for the administration.
What has been going on is like a scene of a suspense thriller. After the vociferous demands of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain regarding elimination of these NGAs, President Musharraf gave a statement in favor of MQM and reportedly ordered abolition of all these areas.
But subsequent statements of his Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider and Information Minister Nisar Memon indicated that Pakistani agencies were still divided over the issue. Both these ministers said there were no NGAs in Karachi and it was a dispute between the two groups of MQM. Their statements gave the first clue that the most powerful agencies of the government were not in favour of abolishing the NGAs.
On November 18 Altaf Bhai decided to support the PML(Q) on the assurance that the government would abolish the NGAs. Next day government started the crackdown on the Haqiqi group. Its sector and unit offices were sealed and its leaders including Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan were besieged in the party head office Baitul Humza.
But Altaf Bhai got alerted when both Afaq, Amir and other leaders managed to escape, despite the heavy presence of the Rangers and police. They even held a telephonic press conference. On Nov 20 the activists of Mutahida reached Landhi along with Dr. Farooq Sattar, Nasreen Jalil, Abdul Qadir Lakhani and other leaders of the party and tried to take over the head office of the Haqiqi. They were attacked and the female activists of Haqiqi manhandled Nasreen Jalil. Altaf Bhai’s men managed to occupy only three units of Landhi and six others stayed under the control of Haqiqi who were heavily armed despite the presence of police and law enforcement agencies.
If one compares this operation with that launched against the Altaf Group on June19, 1992, it was clear that the agencies did not want to eliminate the Haqiqi Group. In 1992 when the operation against the Altaf Group started, activists of Haqiqi came along with Pakistan Army and the troops not only allowed Haqiqi activists to torture activists of Altaf Group but some of them were killed right in front of these troops.
Those killed included the brother of Haroon Siddiqi, a former Altaf Group MPA who was shot in Unit 83. The army arrested every one. But in the current operation the attitude of the police and Rangers was totally different.
When the Rangers besieged Baitul Hamza, Afaq Ahmed and other leaders of the party were inside it. The Rangers did not allow police to get near the Head office of the Haqiqi, thus deliberately delaying the arrest of Afaq.
Haqiqi leaders claimed that 300 of its workers had been arrested but not a single prominent leader was named. Most of those arrested were youngsters and students of Matric or 9th class. The Haqiqi Group had close relations with the agencies and an army picket had been established near their head office for a long time, manned by the Rangers. That is why the Rangers were reluctant to arrest leaders of the Group.
Most of the activists of Haqiqi were armed and present at Landhi No 6, 5,3,4 and 5.5 locations but the police did not try to disarm them. The activists of the Mutahida were also armed but not as heavily as that of Haqiqi. They were present at Babar markets and two other units in Landhi. In Malir, Shah Faisal, Lines Area and Liaqautabad the Haqiqi workers were heavily armed and Mutahida was to face a stiff resistance if they tried to penetrate. Police and Rangers were simply watching as silent spectators and doing nothing to disarm the group.
Basically the agencies wanted to convey a message to the government that if these areas were opened to Mutahida there would be serious bloodshed and on this pretext they might discontinue the operation against the NGAs.
On Nov 22 an activist of the Haqiqi was fired upon in 2 B Sector of Landhi. He died on the same day. Following his death tension gripped Landhi and the office of Mutahida at Korangi No1 was attacked leaving four people injured. This happened in the heavy presence of the Rangers and police.
On Nov 22 female activists of the Haqiqi demonstrated in front of the Governor House in Karachi. They were armed with sticks and injured some police officials and tried to capture an armored carrier vehicle of the police. They remained there for over 100 minutes shouting slogans against the government. Interestingly the police did not turn violent giving yet another signal that the operation against Haqiqi was not going to be severe.
On Nov 21 an evening Urdu newspaper in Karachi published a report quoting the agencies in which they feared that a bloodbath may occur as both groups of the MQM were amassing weapons and trying to prepare for pitched battles against each other. The same newspaper published a report about the formation of Mohajir National Front, to be led by ousted Secretary General Dr. Imran Farooq. This was interpreted as a psychological tactic of the agencies. It seems that they want to divide the Altaf Group into as many groups as possible, like the Jeay Sindh.
There are also conflicting views about the crackdown. Some people think that the government wanted the support of Altaf Group for Mr. Jamali and now that he has got through the new regime may not honor the secret deal reached between the establishment and Altaf Bhai.
Haqiqi chief Afaq Ahmed’s statement also bolstered this view as he said after the election of the PM, the situation would change. Another view is that the agencies would keep both the groups in the NGAs so that the presence of Rangers and interference of the federal government agencies could be justified.
Analysts believe if the government would use the Haqiqi against the Mutahida, Altaf Bhai will not completely cooperate with the PML(Q), thus threatening to bring down Mr. Jamali. Others believe the MQM wants the chief ministership of the Sindh and it seems firm in doing so.
Shaheen Sehbai:) Again: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Shawwal 11, 1431 A.H http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/21-09-2010/main2.htm http://ejang.jang.com.pk/9-21-2010/pic.asp?picname=910.gif and same Shaheen Sehbai’s Magazine when in Exile had filed this on MQM: Are the ‘No Go Areas’ a Recipe for Disaster in Sindh By Abdus Sattar Agha Issue No 17, Nov 11-17, 2002 | ISSN:1684-2075 | http://antisystemic.org/satribune/www.satribune.com/archives/nov11_17_02/P1_mqm.htm
LONDON: MQM Leader Altaf Hussain’s announcement to wage a war against the establishment has surprised many political observers but the real secret deal under way between the MQM and the Musharraf Government is to accommodate Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider in the Senate on an MQM ticket.
Mr Haider recently praised Altaf Hussain as a “very responsible leader” and the sudden attention being paid to the “No Go Areas” (NGAs) in Karachi has given rise to serious speculation that MQM was asking for its pound of flesh before it could consider any concession to the Musharraf regime.
Analysts understand why General Musharraf did not say any thing about the NGAs earlier during the three years of his rule. He was in the army when his fellow generals decided to form the rival group of the MQM and fully supported them. Late COAS General Asif Nawaz had even publicly stated that if there could be 11 Muslim Leagues, why could not there be two MQMs.
On 19 June 1992 the army brought the Haqiqi group to the urban areas of Karachi. Many
MPAs and MNAs of the Altaf group were forced to change their loyalty and all this happened at a time when the army was present in the city and a crackdown against Altaf group was going on. It means that Musharraf must have been aware of the fact that there were certain NGAs but he did nothing about them.
Even during the recent elections these areas were not abolished and Mutahida was denied entry into these areas. So, what has prompted Gen. Musharraf to give a statement in favor of
MQM now. Some believe a secret deal has been struck.
Analysts also believe that the MQM may again be used against the PPP if it comes into power.
As the influence of the party has been reduced in many parts of Karachi, it is essential that Altaf Hussain’s group is provided a launching base for any powerful agitation against the government.
According to another view point, MQM might be inducted into the new Sindh administration and for that it would have demanded entry into these NGAs.
Others say the former members of the MQM Coordination Committee did not effectively raise the issue of NGAs which made Mr Altaf Hussain very angry. They mainly focused on ministries and privileges which annoyed Mr Hussain who dissolved the Committee.
Yet another view is that Mr Hussain was exasperated over the defeat of the MQM in some areas and thought that he was not given accurate reports regarding the party position of those areas. MQM also no longer raises any popular slogan. It has already used the slogan of a separate province and provincial autonomy which became quite unpopular.
Thus the NGAs are being used as a new slogan, according to this school of thought. Activists of the party were dejected when the party lost seats of national and provincial assemblies from Landhi and it is said that many workers of the party were now sure that Haqiqi could never be expelled from these NGAs so this issue had to be raised to enhance their morale and keep them involved.
It is thought the workers of the NGAs are more active in the party than those of other areas and that is why it was important to demand MQM’s entry.
Another analysis suggests that the threat to the establishment regarding the abolition of NGAs has been given to divert the attention of the party workers from the internal contradictions and
differences of the party because on this issue the workers are more emotional than on any other issue. It is interesting to note that in past MQM has been a part of the government but it did not raise the issue of NGAs as vehemently as it is doing now.
If after Ramadan the NGAs were not abolished then it would be clear that the slogan of its
abolishment was raised to divert the attention of the people from the internal contradictions of the party. Mr Hussain has said that his party would abolish the NGAs itself if the establishment did not do so. This indicates that there could be bloodshed in the city and taking this as an excuse the establishment might resort to impose Governor’s Rule in the province where PPP would be in power.
It may be mentioned that the first government of Benazir was destabilized by MQM following the operation of the Pakka Qila in Hyderabad. When the second Benazir government dissolved, she was blamed for extra judicial killings, though Nasirullah Babar, the incharge of the crackdown on MQM, had admitted that MI and other agencies helped him conduct the operation. So it is clear that with whose consent the extra judicial killings were carried out. But these killings were cited as one of the reasons for the dissolution of her government.
If the MQM really tries to get the NGAs vacated, it may be a difficult task because most of
the die-hard MQM activists had either been killed in fake police encounters or jailed. In the last five years the party has also expelled many militants like Kala Shafiq of New Karachi and many others besides suspending workers like Javed Shahpuri of the Liaquatabad.
This, however does not mean that the MQM has no die hard activists. There are still many who are ready to obey Altaf Bhai. If the party tries to enter those areas, there will be great bloodshed which might pave the way for the army government to impose extra constitutional rule on the province or even the country on the one hand and start a crackdown against the party on the other.
Altaf Hussain‘s warning to those who were trying to create the forward block in the MQM indicates that there are severe differences within the party and the decision to dissolve the coordination committee has been delayed to see that how many people go with Dr. Imran
Farooq. This is also an attempt to stop them from doing so.
The dilemma is how to abolish the NGAs as they are protected by the agencies themselves. In the past all attempts to do so have failed. During Liaquat Jatoi’s government the activists of the MQM tried to enter these areas but they were resisted by the rival group while Police and Rangers remained either neutral or supported the rival Haqiqi group.
The agencies do not want to abolish the NGAs because they are afraid that if the city is given back to MQM, they will go beyond the control of the agencies. These agencies may also try to
play games with the MQM. They may ask Mutahida to let Haqiqi work in other parts of Karachi which would be impossible for MQM to accept. It is believed that during the recent elections this offer was made by the Haqiqi and the government which was turned down by Mutahida
Altaf Hussain has also asked the members of the Coordination Committee to sit at the Khurshid Memorial Hall (named after Mr Hussain’s mother) during his speech. It is thought that this announcement was made so that the loyal workers of Mr Hussain could keep an eye on the
activities of his members.
The hall has big rooms and is dominated by the APMSO and Labour division of the party who are very loyal to party chief. Altaf’s control on the party is still very firm and sources said that party activists were of the opinion that no body could take the place of the party chief.
Earlier Dr Imran Farooq was in direct contact with the sector in charges but now they are all in direct contact with the party chief or his loyalists.
General Janjua — the man behind 1992 operation Friday, September 04, 2009 By Amir Mir http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:JqXu8yBhRo4J:www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp%3Fid%3D196562+MQM+amir+mir&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
LAHORE: The decision to launch the infamous 1992 operation clean-up in Sindh was largely taken by the military establishment immediately after the retirement of General Mirza Aslam Beg as the Army chief and the elevation of the then chief of general staff General Asif Nawaz Janjua to his place in August 1991.
General Janjua had been the corps commander Karachi for three years from April 1988 to March 1991 before being elevated as chief of general staff in April 1991 for a brief period, only to be made the 10th chief of army staff three months later on August 16, 1991. And the operation clean-up was launched shortly afterwards.
A careful scanning of the Pakistani newspaper files between 1989 and 1992 show that a proposal to send in the Army to ‘clean up’ Sindh was first floated in 1989 when Ghulam Ishaq Khan was the president of the country, Benazir Bhutto the prime minister, General Aslam Beg the Army chief and Lt-Gen Asif Nawaz the corps commander Karachi. However, difference of opinion arose after Ghulam Ishaq and General Aslam Beg opposed the suggestion.
It was during his tenure as the corps commander Karachi that Asif Nawaz shot to prominence. Sindh at that time wilted under the most violent period in its history. Ethnic battles between Sindhis and Mohajirs were a routine affair and Asif Nawaz was often asked by the civil administration to deploy his troops to impose curfew and break the civil strife.
On one such occasion, Lt-Gen Asif Nawaz had to personally come forward as a guarantor between two ethnic extremist groups to ensure a safe swapping of the hostages from both sides, who otherwise would have been killed. Therefore, he had floated a proposal to the PPP government in 1989 for carrying out two separate operations in urban and rural areas of Sindh against extremist elements in the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Al-Zulfiqar Organisation as well as against criminals and dacoits who had been enjoying the protection of influential political personalities and landlords. However, Beg reportedly voiced his opposition to the proposal and simply dragged his feet by demanding Herculean powers from the federal government for the Army under Section 245 of the Constitution.
Even otherwise, there were elements in the Bhutto government who argued that a genuinely impartial military operation, cutting across party and ethnic lines, as envisioned by Asif Nawaz, would shake the foundations of the entire political edifice.
However, the ground work preceding the military operation in Sindh was eventually started in August 1991 soon after Aslam Begís retirement and Asif Nawazís elevation by Ishaq Khan. After taking Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif into confidence, the military high command had issued directives to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) to prepare secret reports on the activities of dacoits, criminals, terrorists as well as political elements patronising notorious elements in Sindh. A separate cell was formed within these agencies to focus on the activities of the Altaf-led MQM, but with precise directives that these reports should remain completely impartial and credible.
However, problems began to crop up when Prime Minister Sharif was informed by the intelligence agencies that some provincial ministers allied to his Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), President Ishaqís son-in-law Irfanullah Khan Marwat, several prominent Pirs of Sindh, then chief Minister of the province Jam Sadiq Ali and some key members of the PPP and the Altaf-led MQM were all involved in criminal activities. Subsequently, the leaderships of different political parties were informed of these intelligence reports and asked to purge their parties of such elements as early as possible. In response, the PPP high command publicly severed its links with Al-Zulfiqar while Altaf Hussain deemed it fit to expel Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan from the MQM.
However, Nawaz Sharif was advised by his close aides that so many politicians from Sindh have been named in the intelligence reports as criminals that if they were rounded up, the Jam Sadiq-led coalition government would simply collapse; the PPP would seize power in Sindh and the PML-led government in Islamabad would be plunged into a serious political crisis. Sharif was also warned that any action against criminal elements of the Altaf-led party by the Army could prove counter productive, despite the fact that intelligence reports had described the MQM as “a state within a state”.
Nonetheless, General Asif Nawaz Janjua was determined to move ahead with his plan of an operation clean-up in Sindh to cleanse the province of criminals. By that time, the infamous kidnapping and torture of Major Kaleemuddin by MQM henchmen had already taken place. In May 1992, a month before the operation was officially launched, the original plan was reviewed by the GHQ and it was decided that a direct clash between the Army and the MQM should be avoided.
Therefore, the MQM-Haqiqi was launched. But the intelligence move backfired and severely damaged the credibility of the Army. During a high-level troika meeting hardly two weeks before the operation clean-up, General Asif told Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that although many MQM, PML, PPP and Pagaro League members were on the criminal list, the Armyís first and foremost target would be dacoits in interior Sindh.
However, as soon as the operation was launched, Nawaz Sharif was taken by surprise as the Army opted to raid the Nine Zero headquarters of the MQM in Azizabad to arrest dozens of its activists and leaders who were wanted for their involvement in criminal and terrorist activities. By that time, while sensing the gravity of the situation, Altaf Hussain had already fled Karachi for London.
As pressure mounted on Nawaz Sharif by the component parties of the IJI, he decided to give a clear cut message to the Army by travelling to London to meet Altaf Hussain on June 19, 1992 when the operation clean-up was at its peak in Karachi and Hyderabad.
And his move explicitly meant to distance himself from the operation clean-up of the Pakistan Army that was being directed against one of his important coalition partners in Sindh — the Altaf-led MQM.
The real cause of MQM-PML hostility Thursday, September 03, 2009 By Amir Mir http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:K2HgKiLeBw8J:www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp%3Fid%3D196296+MQM+amir+mir&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
LAHORE: The present animosity between the Altaf-led MQM and the Sharif-led PML has more to do with the October 1998 murder of former Sindh governor Hakim Mohammad Said and the subsequent imposition of the Governorís Rule in the province by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, rather than the 1992 operation clean-up, following which the two parties had mended fences and joined hands to form coalition governments in Sindh and at the federal level.
The MQM is swinging between the PML and the PPP since the restoration of democracy in Pakistan in 1988, by joining almost every ruling coalition in Sindh. Having joined hands with then prime minister Benazir Bhutto after the 1988 elections, the MQM walked out of the PPP-led coalition in Sindh and at the centre in 1989. After the 1990 elections, the MQM teamed up with the Sharif-led PML, but left the coalition in 1992. After the dismissal of the second Benazir government in November 1996 and the subsequent holding of the 1997 general elections, Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain had again joined forces against their common rival PPP.
On February 21, 1997, the MQM leadership signed a power sharing accord with new prime minister Nawaz Sharif and joined the coalition government at the federal level and in Sindh. As per the accord, Nawaz Sharif had agreed to hold a judicial probe into the deaths of ìhundreds of MQM workers in police custody or fake encounters besides granting compensation to the families of the deceasedî. Interestingly, the PML-MQM did not mention the 1992 military operation, for which the MQM now blames the PML.
The first major development that followed the PML-MQM reunion was the Sindh High Courtís February 1997 decision to acquit Altaf Hussain and his 18 co-accused in the kidnapping and torture case of Major Kaleemuddin of the Field Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Pakistan Army. The acquittal only became possible after Advocate General Sindh Shaukat Zuberi had submitted before the court that numerous omissions and contradictions had been made during the trial and that he would not support the convictions of the accused by a special court for suppression of terrorist activities.
On April 1, 1997, the PML-MQM coalition government in Sindh announced the formation of a compensation committee to pay compensation to the members of the affected families and their legal heirs ìwho had suffered during the period October 1993 to November 1997î. Once again, there was no mention of the year 1992 when the infamous operation clean up was launched by the Pakistan Army in Sindh. This was despite the fact that the operation clean-up had started in the rural areas of Sindh on May 23, 1992 and in the urban areas of the province on June 19, 1992. The operation had cost the government over Rs 4 billion since 45,000 military and para-military troops of the Corps V were deployed in Sindh to assist the civil administration in restoring peace.
As a follow up to the PML-MQM power sharing accord of February 21, 1997, the Sharif government subsequently paid a hefty amount of Rs 500 million from the federal kitty as compensation to the families of 711 MQM activists who had either been killed or left disabled. However, the London-based MQM leadership now claims that around 15,000 MQM workers and supporters had lost their lives in the aftermath of the 1992 operation clean up. Interestingly, the MQM workers were not the only ones to have been compensated by the then Sharif government.
A sum of Rs 200 million was also distributed as compensation money amongst 634 bereaved families of the Army, Rangers and the Police Jawans who had lost their lives between May 1992 and April 1998 in ìanti-terrorist operationsî carried out in Sindh.
To the amazement of many, the families of those killed (MQM-A workers) and those who had been blamed for their deaths (law enforcement agencies) were paid an equal compensation amount of Rs 300,000 each by the Sharif government. While the widows and other dependents of the army, rangers and police Jawans were given compensation money because they had lost their lives ìfighting terrorismî, the family members of the MQM-A workers were compensated for their ìextra-judicial killings by the law enforcement agencies.î But the most astonishing aspect of the whole episode was that the army had claimed a head money reward of Rs 5 million from the Sindh government for killing 368 desperados during the 1992 operation clean-up, including several MQM-A activists whose families had to be paid compensation money eventually.
The PML-MQM coalition went smooth afterwards for almost a year, before some serious differences erupted between the two partners, making the MQM to quit the federal and Sindh governments in August 1998. Yet on September 20, 1998, the MQM resumed support to the PML government at federal level and in Sindh, but without joining the cabinets.
However, their alliance came to an abrupt end following the October 17, 1998 murder of the former Sindh governor Hakim Mohammad Said, who was allegedly assassinated by MQM activists in Karachi. The main accused in the murder case was Zulfiqar Haider, a serving MPA of the MQM from the Sindh Assembly.
On October 28, 1998, ten days after the murder and having received the initial inquiry report from the authorities, Nawaz Sharif accused the MQM legislator and seven other party activists of involvement in the Hakim Said murder and set a three-day deadline for Altaf Hussain to handover the killers, including the MPA, failing which he threatened to call-off the PML-MQM alliance.
On October 31, 1998, following the MQM leadershipís refusal to meet the deadline, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif imposed federal rule in Sindh, which was followed by a massive crackdown by the security agencies against the MQM, which led to a fresh round of hostilities between the two political parties whose leadership is at daggers drawn against each other even today.
MQM Shifts Blame for 1992 Operation From Military to Nawaz Sharif By Amir Mir The News, Daily Jang September 02, 2009 http://www.haqeeqat.org/2009/09/02/mqm-shifts-blame-for-1992-operation-from-military-to-nawaz-sharif/
– Also, see the Urdu Edition (You’d miss that on jang.com.pk, once again bias Jang has removed content)
LAHORE: The much trumpeted 1992 operation clean-up in Sindh had actually been launched against the backdrop of the infamous ‘Major Kaleem kidnapping case’, when a serving Army major was abducted and tortured, allegedly by a group of activists belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (which was then known as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement).
While the MQM leadership has recently blamed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for the 1992 operation and asked him to apologise for the atrocities committed during his tenure, it remains a fact that the MQM high command had held at that time the military leadership responsible for the action, saying it actually wanted to avenge the honour of Major Kaleemuddin.
As a matter of fact, Major Kaleemuddin of the Field Investigation Unit (FIU) of the Army had been tasked to restore peace in the trouble-stricken Landhi area of Karachi. He was abducted on June 20, 1991, along with a few subordinates, while in civvies ñ the night when the MQM-Haqiqi led by Afaq Ahmed made an abortive attempt to take over Landhi offices of the Altaf-led MQM, called Muhajir Khel. This led to a bloody gun battle between the two MQM factions, killing many from both sides.
However, the Haqiqi group was forced to flee after the Altaf group unleashed all its fire power in the gun battle. A few hours after the abortive attempt by the Haqiqi group, Major Kaleemuddin was abducted from the Landhi area by armed activists of the MQM, who allegedly took him to a torture cell and subjected him to ‘mistreatment’. The Major Kaleemuddin kidnapping case is still described by many in the establishment as the bedrock of the subsequent military operations carried out against the MQM under the Sharif and the Bhutto governments. Altaf Hussain and several other MQM leaders and workers were subsequently accused of being involved in the kidnapping episode and named in the FIR registered on June 24, 1991. Altaf left Pakistan in December 1992.
But there are different versions of what exactly happened to Major Kaleemuddin. Some of the MQM leaders had claimed after the incident that the abductors were under the impression that MQM-Haqiqi leaders Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan – had returned to the port city at the behest of the agencies and that the major was present in Landhi to supervise the establishment-sponsored operation against them. During the court trial, many of the accused had claimed that since the major was in plain clothes, he was mistaken by them for a Haqiqi activist and subsequently roughed up. But as soon he had revealed his identity, the major was allowed to go.
However, according to the prosecution, Major Kaleemuddin, along with three other Army officers, was patrolling the Landhi area in an Army jeep when 20 armed youths took them hostage after seizing their weapons. The Army men were taken to a place called Muhajir Khel in Landhi where they were allegedly tortured and kept for seven hours and rescued when the police reached the place. The accused charged with kidnapping the Army officers and torturing them included Altaf Hussain, Saleem Shahzad, Dr Imran Farooq, Safdar Baqri, Nadeem Ayubi, Ayub Shah, Aftab Ahmed, Ismail alias Sitara, Ashraf Zaidi, Sajid Azad, Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi, Haji Jalal Asghar Chacha, Rehan Zaidi and Mohammad Yousuf.
Whatever the truth might be, the then-Army high command’s keen interest in the prosecution of the accused gave an impression as if the traditional martial pride of the Khakis – that nobody gets away with bashing up an Army officer ñ was at work. Gen Asif Nawaz had been the Corps Commander Karachi at that time who got promoted as the Army Chief in August 1991, right before the start of the military operation.
A special court for suppression of terrorist activities (STA), led by Justice Rafiq Awan, began hearing of the Kaleemuddin kidnapping case in March 1993 and delivered judgment on June 9, 1994. The court had convicted Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi and Haji Jalal and sentenced them to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 20,000 each under the Pakistan Penal Code, the Hudood Ordinance. All other accused, including Altaf Hussain, were declared absconders and sentenced to 27 years jail and a fine of Rs 30,000 each in absentia.
Almost three years later, following the 1997 general elections and the subsequent decision by Altaf Hussain to join hands with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, all the convicted MQM leaders and activists challenged afresh their conviction and sentences before the Sindh High Court. Their appeal was heard by a division bench, which found the case as one ‘of almost no legal evidence’. Relying on the provisions of the Suppression of Terrorist Activities Act, 1976, the bench upheld on trial in absentia as well as the right of the absentee accused to file an appeal. Dealing with evidence, the bench observed that the eyewitnesses’ account did not inspire confidence and the evidence of the complainant was, in particular, full of contradictions.
The bench, comprising Justice Nizam Hussain Siddiqui and Justice Abdul Hameed, noted that it is difficult to believe, a group of 15 or 20 boys could disarm four trained soldiers. Therefore, all the accused were acquitted and three convicts serving their term were ordered to be released immediately. But it is interesting to point out that after AQ Halepota, one of the counsels for the MQM leaders, concluded his arguments before the court, the then-advocate-general Sindh Shaukat Zuberi submitted that numerous omissions and contradictions had been made during the trial of Major Kaleemuddin’s kidnapping and torture case and that he would not support the convictions of the accused by the STA court. The verdict came hardly a week after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif had travelled to London to meet Altaf Hussain.
To recall, the MQM and the PML-N had been coalition partners at that time, before finally falling apart following the assassination of Hakim Mohammad Saeed in Karachi. Major Kaleemuddin had subsequently challenged the acquittal of the MQM leaders and activists by the Sindh High Court. But the petition was dismissed as withdrawn by the apex court on August 13, 2007, mainly due to non-prosecution, as neither the petitioner nor his counsel had turned up. Also, see the Urdu Edition: http://www.haqeeqat.org/2009/09/02/mqm-shifts-blame-for-1992-operation-from-military-to-nawaz-sharif/#urdu
Establishment — the main target in current fiasco W
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:4qKfD-agHsMJ:www.thenews.com.pk/print3.asp%3Fid%3D24254+Jinnahpur&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
ISLAMABAD: No matter who has authored the script of the ongoing Brig Imtiaz tamasha, engulfing the political arena, the establishment that includes the military-led intelligence agencies and the Pakistan Army have emerged as the main villains, presumably as the authors of the fiasco wanted.
Nawaz Sharif and his party are uncomfortable; demand for Musharraf’s trial has been sidetracked at least for the time being; the MQM gets into a position where it believes that its stand is vindicated but the Jinnahpur controversy also created an opportunity for its opponents for a much open criticism of the party and its policies; the issues like the scrapping of 17th Amendment have now become more complex with the two leading parties setting up for a political confrontation after the PML-N finds the Presidency behind the current smear campaign against its top leadership; however, President Asif Zardari is least affected by this recently started political wrangling. It rather has favoured him by temporarily silencing the guns that were targeting him and the government from all around for their alleged misrule, on charges of corruption, the sugar scandal and the reported ruining of the state institutions.
The PML-N, which is badly hurt by the revelations about the alleged provision of Rs3.5 million to its party chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, is pointing its finger at the president to have been the architect of the get-Nawaz campaign. However, the Presidency has strongly refuted these charges but different presidential aides are issuing the kind of statements that apparently show the presidency is getting amused with the situation.
However, what is interesting is the unanimity between all these warring political forces showing their abhorrence over the role of the establishment in country’s politics. But in a strange dichotomy except the PML-N, the other two major warring political forces — the PPP and the MQM — are not interested in proceeding against Gen (retd) Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.
As one scans through the debates that took place in different talk shows of various private television channels after the recent emergence of the Jinnahpur controversy, the establishment is found to be the target of all.
The MQM, which had been the most trusted supporter of Gen Musharraf during his nine years rule, says that its Quaid Altaf Hussain is not returning to Pakistan because of the establishment. The PPP, too, said that the military operators and intelligences agencies have not been adhering to the command of the civilian governments whereas the PML-N is of the view that it has repeatedly found the establishment and Army chiefs overstretching their mandate.
While appearing as a guest in one of the talk shows, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said it has been a harsh reality in Pakistan that policy decisions on some specific security and international issues have not been taken with the consultation or consent of the civilian government. He quoted the Kargil issue as one example and urged upon the need of rationalising the power structure in such a manner that no step could be taken against the wishes of the democratic government.
He said the PML-N differed with former Army chief Gen (retd) Aslam Beg after he issued a statement on the Gulf war that did not match the government’s policy. He said similarly Gen (retd) Asif Nawaz exceeded from the mandate he was given before launching the military operation against criminals, dacoits and anti-social elements in Sindh in 1992. Another Army Chief Gen (retd) Jehangir Karamat, he said, was removed because of his statement on the setting up of National Security Council. He said the PML-N government differed with Gen (retd) Musharraf on the Kargil issue. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif was of the view that the military-led intelligence agencies have been extremely powerful and instrumental in the making and breaking of the government. On the issue of the military operation in Karachi and the target killings there, Khwaja Asif said the agencies were mainly responsible for that. He said in both the 1992-93 and 1995-96 operations in Karachi, these were the military intelligence agencies that had played the important role.
Interestingly, it was Khwaja Asif, who admitted that had the agencies not been so powerful MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain would have now been in Pakistan. Khwaja Asif said Altaf Hussain’s apprehensions towards the intelligences agencies, are barring him to come back and lead his party, which according to the N-leader would serve the political culture better.
Khwaja Asif also pointed out that the present situation in the tribal areas, Balochistan, Northern Areas and in Southern Punjab is also the outcome of what the agencies did during the last 20-22 years. The PML-N leaders have been distancing itself from the 1992 military operation against the MQM and insisted that it was the Army which had overstepped. In return, the MQM leaders, too, were mainly complaining to the PML-N and its leader Nawaz Sharif over his silence and the failure to stop the 1992 military operation against the MQM. MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi endorsed Khwaja’s views and said Hakim Saeed was killed by the agencies but the MQM was blamed for his murder. He lamented that the MQM workers were killed in an extra-judicial manner; military courts were created to try Muttahida workers, who were punished illegally and in violation of the Constitution through summary trials by these courts.
Rizvi said in the 1992 operation what he called the Haqiqi terrorists were riding in military jeeps during the Army’s operation against the MQM. “It was all planted,” he said, and lamented the then-prime minister could not do anything to stop the operation.
Wasim Akhtar, another MQM leader, said in one the private channel that it’s a pity that the largest political parties of the country are today still dependent on Army and America. Dr Nadeem Ahsan of the MQM said MQM workers do not want Altaf Hussain to come back. He said the MQM Chief’s life is facing threats from the enemies of Pakistan. When asked to name these enemies, he pointed to both internal and external forces. When further probed, Dr Nadeem Ahsan initially named the Taliban and later said, “There are some other forces too. You can also name establishment.” When asked if the MQM fears from the establishment, he said, “Yes”.
PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, too, in a talkshow talked of the political influence of the ISI which, according to her, grew after the agencies exposure in the Afghan war against former Soviet Union. Wahab, who is generally considered as her master’s (President) voice, said during the Afghan war the ISI became very resourceful and developed new technologies, which the agencies has to use somewhere to prove its worth. Referring to the history and also finding it true in the present day Pakistan, she said one thing is clear that in Pakistan democracy never got strengthened and the civilian authority has never been maintained. She said in her view there does not exist any central authority. Fauzia Wahab also added the 1992 operation is the reflection of the fact that the military operators at that time were not ready to concede the supremacy of the civilian leadership.
She, however, believed the military interventions can’t be stopped by hanging a dictator but by improving the performance of parliament and through the vision and greater assertion of the political leadership.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan, another PPP leader, blamed the establishment for the PPP government’s “mistake” to launch operation in Karachi against the MQM in 1995-96.
Brig Imtiaz trying to avert Musharraf trial: Beg Monday, September 07, 2009 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:xd9ezHzsht4J:www.thenews.com.pk/print3.asp%3Fid%3D24363+Jinnahpur&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
RAWALPINDI: Former chief of Army Staff Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg has said that recent disclosures made by Brig (retd) Imtiaz were aimed at averting the anticipated trial of former president Pervez Musharraf.
Talking to Salim Safi, in the Geo programme ‘Jirga’, he said the murder of former president Gen Zia-ul-Haq was an act of sabotage and not an accident. He said that the IJI was formed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the then caretaker government.
Beg claimed that the MQM was established to counter Sindhi nationalism but set aside the charges of delivery of brief cases containing cash. There was a lot of unrest in Sindh after the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the MQM was created and reinforced as a counter force, he explained.
He said Asif Ali Zardari, the MQM and Brig Imtiaz were the beneficiaries of the NRO. Answering a question with regard to the recent Brig Imtiaz’s disclosure if it was conspiracy against the Army, he rejected the notion and said that it was a political discourse that had erupted as part of the democratic system.
When asked whether there was any role of the Army in Nawaz Sharif’s long march, he said: “You know where COAS Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was on that night.” He sent a message to Nawaz informing that all his demands had been fulfilled either from the Aiwan-e-Sadr or from the Prime Minister’s House.
He was of the view that there had been an understanding, not pressure, over the restoration of the judges but the conflict was avoided that raised the political status of Nawaz Sharif although the government didn’t like it. “The latest bickering is its natural reaction because every government tries to cut the opposition to size,” he said. However he clarified that it never intended to reduce its size.
Aslam Beg refused to accept that the Army would not allow its former chief to be made accountable or produced in a court of law. In this connection, he said he himself was made accountable and twice called by the Supreme Court.
When asked whether the armed forced would accept the trial of Pervez Musharrf, he said there was no difference of perception between the general public and the troops. When asked as to who was behind the disclosures of Brig Imtiaz, he maintained that there were many under currents. Besides Imtiaz, there was the government itself and also the MQM. Combined together they would exert such a pressure that Nawaz and his supporters dared not press for the trial of the former president.
Beg was asked to clarify Jinnahpur and accusations of the MQM’s involvement in anti-state activities. He asked why it was being raised now. They had been allies of Musharraf, Nawaz and the PPP.
Beg refused to accept the PPP as a security risk. He also saw a lot of differences in the objectives to form the IJI and the MMA. Aslam Beg also saw himself poles apart to Musharraf. Comparing himself to Musharraf, he said soon after the Bahawalpur crash he had decided to transfer power to whom it owed.
About distribution of money amongst political parties, he said it was an old practice. It began in 1975 when Bhutto awarded this assignment to the ISI. “It flows both ways. ISI pulls the treasury and opposition members alike and both are the beneficiaries. Eight or nine parties were the beneficiaries, even the election cell and the media management had benefited through it. Details in this regard were available in the Supreme Court proceedings and also in my statement the other day carried by The News. Going through these sources every one can get himself enlightened as on whose behest the money came. How the distribution took place. Who was the beneficiaries. What my role was. And whether I was involved in it or not,” he asked
Beg denied of having accepted several conditions during the first tenure of Benazir Bhutto. “There were only requests not conditions. These were three points that I had repeated time and again. Number one, leave the Army to me and there shall be no problem. Secondly Ghulam Ishaq may be considered for the presidency again because he carried experience and links with our atomic programme. Thirdly, never tease Zia’s family because he had executed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,” he said. Beg was happy that Benazir had honoured his requests.
The former Army chief said the Bahawalpur C-130 crash involved internal and external hands. The culprits of Bahawalpur incident and Benazir murder case were the same. He stressed to constitute a commission to probe the two cases. At least a criminal investigation must be conducted.
To the accusation from Humayun Akhtar that his father was forced by Brig Imtiaz to board the C-130 on the fatal day, he said: “I had no concern with that claim but fact remained that a couple of days earlier Akhtar Abdul Rahman himself had shown interest to me to go on the Bahawalpur trip.
When asked to explain why the inquiry into the Bahawalpur crash was not accomplished, he said during my tenure in office four inquiries had been completed. It pertained to the Army, MI, ISI, IB and inter services and joint services.
Establishment — the main target in current fiasco Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Politicians point finger at Army, ISI for debacles; all except the president are losers By Ansar Abbasi http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:sgYFvywTWVEJ:www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp%3FId%3D24254+Jinnahpur+ansar+abbasi&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
ISLAMABAD: No matter who has authored the script of the ongoing Brig Imtiaz tamasha, engulfing the political arena, the establishment that includes the military-led intelligence agencies and the Pakistan Army have emerged as the main villains, presumably as the authors of the fiasco wanted.
Nawaz Sharif and his party are uncomfortable; demand for Musharraf’s trial has been sidetracked at least for the time being; the MQM gets into a position where it believes that its stand is vindicated but the Jinnahpur controversy also created an opportunity for its opponents for a much open criticism of the party and its policies; the issues like the scrapping of 17th Amendment have now become more complex with the two leading parties setting up for a political confrontation after the PML-N finds the Presidency behind the current smear campaign against its top leadership; however, President Asif Zardari is least affected by this recently started political wrangling. It rather has favoured him by temporarily silencing the guns that were targeting him and the government from all around for their alleged misrule, on charges of corruption, the sugar scandal and the reported ruining of the state institutions.
The PML-N, which is badly hurt by the revelations about the alleged provision of Rs3.5 million to its party chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, is pointing its finger at the president to have been the architect of the get-Nawaz campaign. However, the Presidency has strongly refuted these charges but different presidential aides are issuing the kind of statements that apparently show the presidency is getting amused with the situation.
However, what is interesting is the unanimity between all these warring political forces showing their abhorrence over the role of the establishment in country’s politics. But in a strange dichotomy except the PML-N, the other two major warring political forces — the PPP and the MQM — are not interested in proceeding against Gen (retd) Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.
As one scans through the debates that took place in different talk shows of various private television channels after the recent emergence of the Jinnahpur controversy, the establishment is found to be the target of all.
The MQM, which had been the most trusted supporter of Gen Musharraf during his nine years rule, says that its Quaid Altaf Hussain is not returning to Pakistan because of the establishment. The PPP, too, said that the military operators and intelligences agencies have not been adhering to the command of the civilian governments whereas the PML-N is of the view that it has repeatedly found the establishment and Army chiefs overstretching their mandate.
While appearing as a guest in one of the talk shows, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said it has been a harsh reality in Pakistan that policy decisions on some specific security and international issues have not been taken with the consultation or consent of the civilian government. He quoted the Kargil issue as one example and urged upon the need of rationalising the power structure in such a manner that no step could be taken against the wishes of the democratic government.
He said the PML-N differed with former Army chief Gen (retd) Aslam Beg after he issued a statement on the Gulf war that did not match the government’s policy. He said similarly Gen (retd) Asif Nawaz exceeded from the mandate he was given before launching the military operation against criminals, dacoits and anti-social elements in Sindh in 1992. Another Army Chief Gen (retd) Jehangir Karamat, he said, was removed because of his statement on the setting up of National Security Council. He said the PML-N government differed with Gen (retd) Musharraf on the Kargil issue. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif was of the view that the military-led intelligence agencies have been extremely powerful and instrumental in the making and breaking of the government. On the issue of the military operation in Karachi and the target killings there, Khwaja Asif said the agencies were mainly responsible for that. He said in both the 1992-93 and 1995-96 operations in Karachi, these were the military intelligence agencies that had played the important role.
Interestingly, it was Khwaja Asif, who admitted that had the agencies not been so powerful MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain would have now been in Pakistan. Khwaja Asif said Altaf Hussain’s apprehensions towards the intelligences agencies, are barring him to come back and lead his party, which according to the N-leader would serve the political culture better.
Khwaja Asif also pointed out that the present situation in the tribal areas, Balochistan, Northern Areas and in Southern Punjab is also the outcome of what the agencies did during the last 20-22 years. The PML-N leaders have been distancing itself from the 1992 military operation against the MQM and insisted that it was the Army which had overstepped. In return, the MQM leaders, too, were mainly complaining to the PML-N and its leader Nawaz Sharif over his silence and the failure to stop the 1992 military operation against the MQM. MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi endorsed Khwaja’s views and said Hakim Saeed was killed by the agencies but the MQM was blamed for his murder. He lamented that the MQM workers were killed in an extra-judicial manner; military courts were created to try Muttahida workers, who were punished illegally and in violation of the Constitution through summary trials by these courts.
Rizvi said in the 1992 operation what he called the Haqiqi terrorists were riding in military jeeps during the Army’s operation against the MQM. “It was all planted,” he said, and lamented the then-prime minister could not do anything to stop the operation.
Wasim Akhtar, another MQM leader, said in one the private channel that it’s a pity that the largest political parties of the country are today still dependent on Army and America. Dr Nadeem Ahsan of the MQM said MQM workers do not want Altaf Hussain to come back. He said the MQM Chief’s life is facing threats from the enemies of Pakistan. When asked to name these enemies, he pointed to both internal and external forces. When further probed, Dr Nadeem Ahsan initially named the Taliban and later said, “There are some other forces too. You can also name establishment.” When asked if the MQM fears from the establishment, he said, “Yes”.
PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, too, in a talkshow talked of the political influence of the ISI which, according to her, grew after the agencies exposure in the Afghan war against former Soviet Union. Wahab, who is generally considered as her master’s (President) voice, said during the Afghan war the ISI became very resourceful and developed new technologies, which the agencies has to use somewhere to prove its worth. Referring to the history and also finding it true in the present day Pakistan, she said one thing is clear that in Pakistan democracy never got strengthened and the civilian authority has never been maintained. She said in her view there does not exist any central authority. Fauzia Wahab also added the 1992 operation is the reflection of the fact that the military operators at that time were not ready to concede the supremacy of the civilian leadership.
She, however, believed the military interventions can’t be stopped by hanging a dictator but by improving the performance of parliament and through the vision and greater assertion of the political leadership.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan, another PPP leader, blamed the establishment for the PPP government’s “mistake” to launch operation in Karachi against the MQM in 1995-96.
Brouhaha on Jinnahpur conspiracy Thu, 2010-01-07 02:51 — editor Asif Haroon Raja http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/01/07/brouhaha-jinnahpur-conspiracy
Law and order situation in urban and rural Sindh that was deteriorating for some years because of rural-urban ethnic divide worsened in 1992 and writ of Sindh government got seriously compromised. Terrorists, extortionists and thugs mostly affiliated with MQM had made the security situation in Karachi explosive. Dacoits in interior Sindh patronized by waderas, patharidars (front men of Sindhi feudal lords) and some sitting ministers had paralysed road movement.
Operation Cleanup was launched against dacoits in interior Sindh against dacoits on 20 May 1992. It came under tremendous pressure at the very outset as a result of fall out of an unfortunate incident in village Tando Bahawal in interior Sindh in which one Major Arshad in league with local landlord who had personal feud with another group killed 9 villagers under the plea that they were dacoits. Although the officer was tried and hanged to death but it had its negative impact on the army. This together with death of two Sindhi Patharidars in the custody of law enforcement agencies and release of firebrand APMSO leader Shahood Hashmi put the army image in the dock.
When propaganda snipes against the Army became pungent and its image started getting affected, the ISPR was asked to check the downslide. When the then DG ISPR Maj Gen Jahangir Nasrullah retracted from undertaking this onerous job and dragged his feet, Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua nominated me as Army Spokesman and deputed me to proceed to Karachi on attachment with HQ 5 Corps to handle the media. I was performing the duties of Director of a sensitive directorate in early 1990s in GHQ. In a very short time I had revolutionized this dormant organization and earned appreciation from all and sundry including the COAS.
I was required to build rapport with rural-urban Press and win their confidence, put an end to speculative sensationalism by media and build up image of army. Despite having no past experience and devoid of any where-withal, I conducted series of Press briefings most befittingly in the charged atmosphere of Sindh and received generous praises from all quarters. Having filled the communication gap and developed a rapport with the Press mafia, the image of the Army ascended sky high. 47 countries gave live coverage of my press briefings on progress of operations in rural-urban Sindh in a very positive manner. I used to receive tens of applications from people of interior Sindh and Karachi daily asking me to redress their grievances.
A team of Rawalpindi journalists arranged by DG ISPR were given a sponsored tour of interior Sindh and Karachi in mid July 1992. Although primary purpose was to provide them first hand knowledge about progress of Operation Cleanup particularly in interior Sindh, however, in actuality the left out ISPR wanted to demonstrate its activity. The journalists spent two nights in Panu Aqil where they were given comprehensive briefing and tour to Katcha Area by GOC 16 Division Maj Gen Salim Arshad. Their next stop was in Hyderabad where they were briefed by GOC 18 Division Maj Gen Lehrasab Khan. They were taken to Katcho Area as well. The journalists were brought to Karachi on the evening of 16 July since they were to be given on 17th by GOC 5 Corps Reserve Maj Gen Salim Malik. Lt Gen Naseer Akhtar, Corps Commander 5 Corps instructed me to take on questions of the visiting journalists after the briefing by Maj Gen Salim Malik on behalf of Corps.
Maj Gen Salim gave out comprehensive briefing and question/answer session in his HQ at Malir Cantt on 17 July 1992, in which he highlighted the pathetic law and order situation of Karachi that had prevailed prior to 19 June and that Karachi had been made into a state within a state. He apprised them of the progress made with regard to recovery of arms and discovery of torture cells and curtailment of practice of car snatching, robberies and extortion and concluding that writ of government had been restored to a large extent. He then invited questions from the journalists.
It looked quite out of place for me to come on the rostrum and conduct another session of question/answer. Some journalists pointed this anomaly to me in a sarcastic tone. It was during brief question/answer session that a slimy question on Jinnahpur was asked by one of the journalist. He said, “There are some reports that MQM had plans to establish ‘Urdu Desh’ or ‘Jinnahpur’. Is there any truth in these reports published by a section of press? I replied, “We had also read such reports in the newspapers. Some posters showing sketch of Jinnahpur or Urdu Desh along with some other material were recovered by intelligence agencies from a unit office of the MQM in Kotri”. He further asked if I could elaborate as to whom all could be behind it. I said that I know as much as you know but some elements within MQM might have been toying with the idea.
What I said was magnified and distorted and flashed as headlines in the next day’s newspapers. Each newspaper gave out twisted presentation to what I had said. Headings of each newspaper of 18 July 1992 differed from each other. Sidelining the briefing of Gen Malik, question/answer session conducted by me was given prominence. They picked up and covered the story in their own way and suiting their pre-dispositions.
The media in its motivated errand put such words into my mouth which were never uttered by me in the manner as projected. A bland answer to a question was sensationalized out of all proportions. I had never said that Jinnahpur would be a separate country. I did not utter the word Hong Kong, acting as a model for Jinnahpur. I did not refer to MQM as a political party, which was pursuing the idea of secession or working for the establishment of an independent state. I did not say that the army intelligence had confirmed reports on MQM’s pursuits for Jinnahpur.
I will narrate reporting of some of the newspapers of 18 July 1992:- Jang said: Altaf Hussain planned to make Karachi as a separate state on the model of Hong Kong. The News chanted, ‘MQM planned a separate homeland’. The Muslim hymned, ‘MQM was out to dismember the country’. The Watan chimed, ‘MQM had plans for establishment of Urdu Desh’. Evening Special Karachi screamed, ‘The proof of MQM complicity in conspiring to create Jinnahpur or Urdu Desh found’. While some newspapers reported Jinnahpur out of geographic limits of Pakistan, others elected to create it within the territorial frontiers of Pakistan.
No newspaper said that a map of Jinnahpur was presented.
A rejoinder/clarification was jointly prepared by me, Lt Col Arshad Alwi, PRO Lt Col (now retired Brig) Saulat Raza, ex Director ISPR Brig ® T.M. Siddiqui and got formally approved from the VCGS, CGS as well as the A/DG ISPR Brig Iqbal. The same was not cleared from the Corps Commander 5 Corps since he had left for Rawalpindi to attend funeral of Lt Gen Burki on 19th morning. The rejoinder was handed over to the PRO Maj Chishti (now retired Lt Col) on AN 18 July 1992 for publication in the newspapers. However, to my utter surprise I found that the same had not been published in the following day’s newspapers since Gen Naseer Akhtar forbade Maj Chishti to do so.
When Chishti informed Gen Naseer on the evening of 18 July that the clarification was being given to the Press after getting necessary clearance from the VCGS, CGS and ISPR, he retorted back angrily that he had obtained the blessing of the COAS and that whatever already published in the newspaper on Jinnahpur would stay in the same form. He warned him that many heads would roll if any kind of clarification was published in the Press.
The rejoinder was killed at 1 a.m. at night of 18/19 July. The PRO without intimating to me rescinded it. Had this clarification been printed, the whole matter would have come to rest and this would not have turned into a chronic controversy. The rejoinder got accidentally published in Observer Lahore of 19 July 1992 much to the annoyance and chagrin of many.
Since I was to return to Rawalpindi on completion of my duty on the afternoon of 19 July, as such I could not even hold a Press briefing to straighten the record. The Press was at liberty to fabricate the story in true yellow journalistic spirit and kept on playing with it without a breather.
PPP leading the opposition in collusion with a section of media exploited the issue to the hilt. From 18 July 1992 onward, yellow journalism kicked up unwarranted polemics by design. The insinuations did not stop there but proposed a toast to the army which was full of muck and moist for the army image as it suggested an unholy alliance between the vested interests and the Army. The Press guns remained trained on me and my name lugged into the gunk. Absence of clarification ostensibly was being regarded, quite contrary to the truth, that whatever the tabloids had printed was correct.
The ‘Nation’ of 21 July 1992 reported Commander 5 Corps having presented a map of Jinnahpur and his revelation of MQM’s secession plan to create a separate Urdu Desh/Jinnahpur during the 20 July 1992 Corps Commander Conference at Rawalpindi. In actuality, he had showed the said map to the then PM Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan during their visit to GHQ on 20 July for their information since the two were upset over the publication of news item of 18 July and did not want this issue to come to light. Political will of the leadership had by then sapped as was evident from the meeting of Nawaz Sharif with Altaf Hussain in London who was in self-exile.
The Jang Lahore newspaper carried a news item along with a map of Jinnahpur on 11 October 1992. It said documentary evidence in the form of Jinnahpur plan hatched by the MQM, comprising Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin and areas of upper Sindh, had been presented to the government by the army.
The Opposition pressed for a debate on Jinnahpur. Dawn of 15 October 1992 reported about two separate adjournment motions moved by the PDA and Jamaat-e-Islami to discuss the conspiracy. Chaudhri Nisar Ali stated on 17 October that Jinnahpur plot did not exist. ANP leader Ajmal Khattak also reiterated that there was no truth that MQM planned to create Jinnahpur state.
The print media remained ablaze with Jinnahpur controversy especially after members of National Assembly went berserk on 18 October 1992 and indulged in obnoxious altercation flouting the norms of the sacred House.
The promethean fire for the Press countenance had been borrowed from the misdemeanor of Opposition members and certain members of Treasury in the House. The fiery exchange of words were got expunged by the Speaker of the Assembly.
The News of 19 October 1992 reported that the Opposition leader late Benazir raised the newspaper clippings of 18 July and said as to why no action had so far been taken on Jinnahpur after the conspiracy had been revealed by Brig Asif Haroon and why the government was covering it up unless it was party to the plot. The then interior minister Chaudhri Shujaat had to take cover behind my lone rejoinder published in Pakistan Observer on 19 July 1992 saying it had been rebutted. He added that Jinnahpur conspiracy was a figment of imagination of PDA. Farooq Leghari refuted it and sought inquest by high powered commission. (Dawn – October 21, 1992). Asif Zardari too demanded action against plotters of Jinnahpur.
Now that the heat came directly on the army, the ISPR issued an abrupt denial on 19 October rather than the already published clarification (Observer Lahore, 19 July 1992), as a consequence to the Jang news item. The ISPR note said,
“The Army denies having said anything related to Jinnahpur”. This shoddy denial gave heart to the MQM leaders and they started to make me responsible for everything connected with Operation Cleanup. I was vilified for being the brainchild behind the creation of MQM Haqiqui, torture cells and the Jinnahpur map. Ever since, this issue keeps cropping up in the newspapers.
Dr. Imran Farooq, a self-exiled leader of the MQM, addressed an open letter to Gen Pervez Musharraf on 6 November 1999. He was asked to investigate the shameless allegation made by Brig Asif Haroon in his Press briefing in Karachi in 1992 that the MQM was involved in creating Jinnahpur (Separate State). I was accused of inviting a team of handpicked journalists from Punjab to Karachi and presenting a self-made map of Jinnahpur to them. I was also accused of having this news item published in all the national newspapers and that the fake and self-made map of Jinnahpur was provided to the newspapers for publication.
In his book titled “Establishment Ki Seh Jehti Hikmat Amli’, June 2000, the MQM Party leader Altaf Hussain accused me of fabricating Jinnahpur conspiracy and making a false Jinnahpur map at the behest of GHQ. The MQM Head Office opened a web site on my name to implicate me on the above stated aspects. A video clip of Altaf Hussain address in London shows him waving a poster asserting that I had fabricated the Jinnahpur map. He mentioned my name in almost every telephonic address he made from London or any interview he gave to a visiting journalist from Pakistan. Last interview was given to Najam Sethi in July which was telecast on Dunya channel. In his telephonic address on August 24, 2009, he again mentioned my name.
As regards my sources of reply to the question on Jinnahpur, it was based on information I gathered from GOC 18 Division Maj Gen Lehrasab Khan who later became Corps Commander 5 Corps in 1994. During my visit to Hyderabad on 24 June 1992 for my Press briefing he informed me that law enforcing agencies had recovered Jinnahpur maps with some documents in a raid on unit office of MQM at Kotri. He looked visibly disturbed while giving me the news. I procured a copy of this map and related documents from HQ 5 Corps on the afternoon of 18 July 1992, that is, a day after Maj Gen Salim Malik’s Press briefing for my record on advice of Maj Gen Jamshed Malik. The sponsor of the map was Faruqul Hassan Jillani, an MQM unit office in-charge at Kotri.
‘Jinnahpur’ phoenix kept raging in the newspapers for quite sometime. Late Benazir Bhutto mentioned it several times including seminar on Sindh in early July 1992. MQM Haqiqi leader Aamir Khan, in his Press conference published in Weekly Taqbeer 2 July 1992 and his interview published in Akhbar-e-Jahan Afaq Ahmed stated that reason for his group to part with Altaf group was that they had plans to divide Sindh and disintegrate Pakistan. Jinnahpur maps had been displayed in Hyderabad in past also.
I explained the whole episode to the then COAS through a detailed minute sheet. I also attached newspaper clippings of 18 July 1992 to highlight the visible slant in their reporting. I mentioned that the matter was grossly sensationalized; I was not given a chance to render a rejoinder to the mis-reported news item; it was purposely allowed to stay as it was and to fester and create foul odor. I strongly recommended that a comprehensive clarification must be issued so that the future exploitation of the issue is deterred for good. However, the then CGS Lt Gen Farrakh Khan did not agree with my contention saying that the (ill-conceived) denial by the ISPR was good enough. The COAS concurred to his suggestion. I again raised this issue with Gen Jahangir Karamat and later apprised my course mate VCOAS Gen Muhammad Yusaf. My last letter on the subject was addressed to Gen Pervez Musharraf dated 7 April 2001. None bothered to reply me. Gen Musharraf distanced himself from me and denied me job throughout his stay in power. I was hounded out of MQM dominated KRL where I was employed as Director Education. Jinnahpur controversy had also come in my way of promotion.
17 years have lapsed but the controversy has not died down. It was intentionally kept alive by Altaf Hussain and other MQM leaders. While the Army was absolved by the MQM, I was made the target of MQM. The story was twisted that I had fabricated Jinnahpur map and especially invited journalists from Punjab to Karachi and handed them the map along with some documents during my Press briefing on 17 July 1992 stating that MQM was all set to create a separate state of Jinnahpur. Taking full advantage of the 19 October ISPR denial, MQM leaders have continuously shed tears of innocence and held me responsible for branding them as traitors. A perception was created that downfall of MQM Altaf Group on 19 June was masterminded by me. MQM went to the extent of spreading news that MQM Haqiqi was sponsored by me and I had invented torture cells in Karachi to defame the party. I was put on the hit list of MQM.
Debate on Jinnahpur controversy and some other dead issues was suddenly triggered by Brig ® Imtiaz having a notorious past with certain defined political motives. He claimed that there was no truth in Jinnahpur map and it was a mere drama to defame MQM. Lt Gen ® Naseer Akhtar claimed on Aaj TV on 23 August 2009 that he knew nothing about Jinnahpur map. Lt Gen ® Asad Durrani who was serving as IGT&E in GHQ in 1992 reiterated his stance. Their contention is not based on truth since other than my source; three senior army officers and one major have now disclosed that maps had been discovered from MQM unit offices in Karachi and Nine Zero.
Based on the certificates of not guilty issued by Brig Imtiaz and Lt Gen Naseer, Altaf Hussain made a telephonic address to the emotion packed gathering of his followers on 24 August 2009. He shed copious tears asserting that their innocence has finally been proven but at the cost of extreme rigors and loss of over 15000 innocent workers of MQM. He and other MQM leaders took a new stance that presentation of fabricated map and describing MQM as anti-state became the basis of Operation Cleanup in urban Sindh. They forgot that while the operation commenced on 19 June 1992, controversy of Jinnahpur map cropped up on 18 July.
On the stance taken by PML-N that Operation Cleanup in urban Sindh had been initiated by the Army without taking Nawaz Sharif into confidence, Altaf Hussain countered as to why he did not stop the operation which resulted in killing of over 15000 activists of MQM at the hands of security forces. The bogus claim was made as an afterthought to portray MQM victim of oppression, to malign PML-N leadership and gain sympathy of people of Pakistan.
In their bid to clear the party of the charge of Jinnahpur, they appear to have inadvertently landed in more trouble. Maj retired Nadeem Dar revealed on Geo Talk Show of Hamid Mir on 24 August 2009 that he was serving in Rangers in Karachi in 1992 and had raided MQM Headquarters Nine Zero and recovered over 1000 copies of Jinnahpur map and dubbed Lt Gen Naseer a liar and corrupt and Brig Naseer as ill-reputed. Maj Gen retired Safdar Ali Khan; former DG Rangers disclosed on Geo TV on 30 August that it is a fact that thousands of Jinnahpur maps had been recovered from MQM offices in 1992 operation.
He added that Pakistan flag had been burned in Hyderabad in 1987 by MQM activists during the public address of Altaf Hussain. Lt Gen ® Amjad Shouab, whose troops had taken part in Operation Cleanup, reiterated that he was in knowledge that Jinnahpur maps had been recovered in Karachi in 1992. Brig ® Saulat Raza, ex ISPR confirmed in a talk show on Geo TV on 31 August that maps, flags and documents were recovered form an MQM unit office in Karachi on 19 June 1992.
Nusrat Mirza, a journalist by profession, who was heading Mahajir Rabata Committee in early 1990s, revealed in Geo TV talk show on 3 September, t hat formation of Jinnahpur state was a tactical plan of MQM. He said that Altaf Hussain had announced in a meeting in his presence that if operation was launched against MQM, they would seek outside assistance. He confirmed existence of torture cells. MQM senior leader Haider Abbas Rizvi was part of the talk show.
Besides Jinnahpur, several other old cases have been brought to fore to muddy the political climate. Saner elements saw through a motivated game plan with certain ulterior motives. Real issues were sidelined and dead issues dug up and air given to non-issues. PML-N felt it was a PPP-MQM conspiracy masterminded by Presidency to pull down rapidly rising popularity of PML-N, scuttle move of PML-N to put Gen Musharraf on trial, thwart minus one formula, put judiciary on the defensive while dealing with 12 May 2007 bloodbath in Karachi, divert attention of masses from their incompetence, mega corruption scandals and to smokescreen the arrival of US Marines and Blackwater elements. Others feel it was an attempt to foil efforts of judiciary to open up 12 May 2007 cases.
Whatever the significance of said map, the fact of the matter is that it made no impact on the political standing of MQM. Maps have never been made into an issue by any ruling regime or the Army. MQM has remained in power in coalition with both PML-N and PPP both in Sindh and in the centre in all the successive governments. It is in good books of USA and UK and is now all set to turn into a national party and hopes that by 2015 it will become the leading part. But for May 2007 debacle, MQM would have captured few seats from Punjab in 2008 elections. It has already made political inroads in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Altaf Hussain besides raising his voice against Jagirdars, dynastic politics and decayed feudal system of governance has also expressed his support for the cause of Kashmiris saying that the issue must be resolved at the earliest. He has however yet to define the terms on which he seeks a solution.
– Asian Tribune
faheem says: September 19, 2010 at 4:36 am You punjabis need some enemy to bash i.e is MQM.
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Karachi being made Punjab’s colony: Farooq DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 08 January 1999, Friday, 19 Ramzan 1419 http://www.karachipage.com/news/Jan_99/010899.html
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s parliamentary party leader, Dr Farooq Sattar, has claimed that various officials of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) are being deputed in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) “under a planned conspiracy to make Karachi a colony of the Punjab.” In a statement issued on Thursday, he said that “the MQM will never allow Karachi to become a colony of Punjab despite all odds and hurdles.” He claimed that just after the imposition of Governor’s rule in Sindh, various officials of Punjab were being deputed to different organisations like KDA and KMC, “which is not hidden from anyone.” “This indicates that the only aim of the government is to impose Punjab’s policy as it wants to capture Karachi instead of restoring peace in the city,” he added.
Swinging Pendulum of Kamran Khan and PML – N
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Shawwal 11, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/21-09-2010/main3.htm
Way back in 90s the same “Kamran Khan with his Swinging Pendulum” NRO/Jang Group: Kamran Khan, Nawaz Sharif & Ethnic Hatred. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/01/nrojang-group-kamran-khan-nawaz-sharif.html
I wonder why our Esteemed Journalist Kamran Khan used to suffer from acute Inferiority Complex to name his feature as if its a section of US Central Intelligence Agency, he should have been proud of just quoting the story as Special Report. What the hell is News Intelligence Unit? There must be a difference between Special Branch Report and Newspaper Stories.
“People who live in glass houses should not throw stones” reminds us that we should be careful how we treat other people (with our words and actions) because we can all be easily hurt. People “throw stones” at other people to try to hurt them, and one way that people try to hurt other people is by saying bad things about them. If you lived in a “glass house” it would be very easy for other people to hurt you by throwing stones at you. “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones” means that we should not say insulting things to other people because they could easily do the same thing to us. Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged! and Let He Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone.
Defending himself against the allegations of the federal minister for labour and manpower, Kamran Khan, the host of the Geo programme ‘Aaj Kamran Kay Sath’, said that they have been exposing corruption in the regime of Pervez Musharraf and an appreciation letter of Benazir Bhutto on his investigative reports is an asset for him. Kamran Khan said that during the dictatorial regime and a decade before that when there was democracy in the country, they were doing the same. Addressing Khurshid Shah, he said that in view of the importance of his investigative reports, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had addressed a press conference in a five-star hotel of Karachi to highlight the reports that were quoted in arguments against the cases that were instituted against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Zardari in Pakistan as well as abroad. REFERENCE: Anti-corruption reports to appear at all costs: Kamran Khan Thursday, August 13, 2009
Now read the same Mr Kamran Khan was more than jubilant when Farooq Laghari [President of Pakistan from 1993 – 1997] sacked Late. Benazir Bhutto’s second government on trumped-up charges and analyze the report above filed by Mr. Kamran Khan in 2009 in The News International and read as to what Mr Kamran Khan had filed on The Washington Post Thursday, November 7, 1996.
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KARACHI, PAKISTAN, NOV. 5 (TUESDAY) — Pakistani President Farooq Leghari dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto early today and dissolved the National Assembly in a decree he said was mandated by corruption, political violence and financial mismanagement by Bhutto’s government. The president’s action, while legal under the constitution, was backed up by army troops who surrounded Bhutto’s house in Islamabad, the capital, as well as the parliament and radio and television stations in major cities. The country’s airports were closed. Bhutto, 43, who was elected prime minister in 1993, was reported to be in her residence but not under formal detention. The decree, which marked the second time that Bhutto has been dismissed from the prime minister’s office on charges of corruption, delivered a new blow to Pakistan’s faltering democracy. Under relentless pressure from the military, no elected Pakistani prime minister has finished a full term in office, and Bhutto’s predecessor, Nawaz Sharif, was forced to resign. Bhutto’s dismissal came amid a bitter political struggle with the Supreme Court, which recently thwarted her attempt to appoint political loyalists as judges by ruling that judicial appointments are the prerogative of the president. Bhutto also was haunted by charges that she and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, had collected bribes and kickbacks on government contracts and transferred the millions of dollars into foreign bank accounts and property holdings. Well-placed officials said that in August, the army had warned Leghari about growing unrest in its ranks and had provided him with evidence about corruption involving Zardari. An official said Zardari and about 20 other party members had been arrested. Bhutto denied the charges against her and as recently as Sunday vowed to complete her five-year term, saying, “We cannot imagine {Leghari} using his powers to dismiss the government.” This morning her spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said Bhutto had received a letter from the president at her home in Islamabad and would comment later in the day. Bhutto’s first stint in office, which began when she was appointed prime minister in 1988, lasted just two years and was, like the term that was ended today, marked by allegations of corruption. Her husband and father were accused of orchestrating improper deals involving government-owned land, and she was faulted for clashes with military leaders and for inaction in the face of civil strife in her home state, Sindh. REFERENCE: Bhutto Out as Premier in Pakistan President Charges Corruption, Dissolves National Assembly By Kamran Khan Special to The Washington Post Thursday, November 7, 1996
And the same Kamran Khan in 2009!!!
As per an “Allegedly Famous Investigative GEO TV Program” Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath –24 th November 2009 , Mr. Kamran Khan, Senior Correspondent for GEO TV/THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL & Daily Jang, continuously insisted while discussing NRO with Wajid Shamsul Hasan [Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom] that corruption cases registered against Asif Ali Zardari for were genuine and Senator Saifur Rehman [Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz – & Former Undeclared Adivosr to General Musharraf] really and genuinely worked hard on these cases. What a shame for The Jang Group of Newspapers which was ruthlessly persecuted by the same Senator Saifur Rehman during 1999 and more shameful is this that the same Kamran Khan and Jang Group of Newspaper had filed stories after stories against Senator Saifur Rehman’s Corruption and Violation of Rules and Law regarding Press Freedom. REFERENCE: REFERENCE: Conspiracy: Kamran Khan, Farooq Laghari, Sajjad Mir, Saifur Rehman & Media Trial of PPP.
Former Senator Saifur Rehman [PML – Nawaz] during 1996-1997, in connivance with the then President Farooq Ahmed Khan Laghari, Kamran Khan [The News International] and Sajjad Mir [the then Editor of Daily Nawa-e-Waqt and nowadays a TV Anchor in Pakistani Private TV Channel NEWSONE AND TVONE] had a conducted detailed Media Trial of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari [while their cases were pending in the Court of Law]. The most funny thing is that Mr Sajjad Mir played the part of TV Anchor on Pakistan Televison Network and his guest was Kamran Khan revealing the detail of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. REFERENCE: Conspiracy: Kamran Khan, Farooq Laghari, Sajjad Mir, Saifur Rehman & Media Trial of PPP.
Tragically Mr Kamran Khan has played this “Game” with every Democratically Elected Government even at the cost of Ethnic Hatred. This Ethnic Card of Punjab used against the government of Mr Nawaz Sharif and his government during his second tenure [1997 – 1999]
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KARACHI: Less than four dozen individuals from Central Punjab, who had either lived or served in Lahore in the past 15 years, are currently holding the country’s 41 most important official assignments — a situation that is bound to aggravate the prevailing sense of deprivation not only in the three smaller provinces but also in Southern Punjab, according to an investigation by the News Intelligence Unit (NIU). The situation took a delicate turn late on Monday night when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stunned the federal cabinet by announcing that he had decided to nominate the former Supreme Court judge and a known Sharif family friend, Mr Justice (retd) Rafiq Ahmed Tarar, as the president of Pakistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took the decision to appoint a Central Punjabi president against strong recommendations from his cabinet members, parliamentary party members and even his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, urging him to pick a presidential candidate from smaller provinces, the sources said. The NIU investigation found that before Senator Tarar’s nomination as the president, at least 41 individuals — mostly with permanent residences in Lahore — were holding almost all of the, what an independent observer labelled as, “make-or-break appointments” in the country. The NIU study showed that though all of these appointments were not made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but under his nine-month-old administration the domination and influence of Central Punjabis over the government departments multiplied manifold. With the election of Justice Rafiq Tarar as the president of Pakistan by the end of this month, the country would have a Lahore-based president, prime minister and chairman Senate. Although Justice Tarar hails from Wazirabad near Lahore, he has lived most of his life in Lahore and is believed to be a personal friend and constitutional and legal adviser to the Sharif family. Both Nawaz Sharif and Wasim Sajjad have lived their personal and professional lives in Lahore, where their families are permanently settled.
Seniority, merit and professionalism may have been the criterion, but the fact remains that all three present services chiefs incidentally have Central Punjab background. The present Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Fasih Bukhari, and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P Q Mehdi had been appointed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while Chief of Army Staff General Jehangir Karamat was selected by President Farooq Ahmed Leghari. The present government handed dual charge of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee to Gen Karamat. When Nawaz assumed the charge of the prime minister in February this year, each and every member of his personal team at the Prime Minister’s Office had a Central Punjab, particularly Lahore, background. He appointed seasoned civil servant and a scion of a known Lahore family, A K Z Sherdil, as his principal secretary. Because of his Lahore background, Sherdil was personally known to Saifur Rahman Khan, who had initially suggested his name to the prime minister. Even before Sherdil’s appointment, Nawaz had decided to appoint another former civil servant, Anwer Zahid, as his special assistant. The Lahore-based Anwer Zahid was the principal secretary to the prime minister during Nawaz’s first tenure. Closest in Nawaz Sharif’s personal team at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat was, and still is, Saifur Rahman Khan — the chief of Ehtesab Cell. Saifur Rahman like Sherdil and Anwer Zahid, cherished his Lahore background. “The prime minister feels very comfortable with Sherdil, Zahid and Saif. They speak his mind and the language,” noted an informed official. The prime minister not only favoured the individuals with Lahore background for top positions of his office, he invited the people with similar background even for mid-level posts in his personal setup. He appointed Rauf Chaudhry and Khayyam Qaiser as his personal staff officers and Qamaruzzaman as his personal secretary. These three personal staff members, like other senior aides in the Prime Minister’s Office, have strong Central Punjab background. They not only manage the prime minister’s days and weeks, but also serve as his eyes and ears.
Similarly, his Press Secretary Siddiqul Farooq has always lived and worked in Lahore and Central Punjab with no work experience in smaller provinces. The prime minister appointed another old Lahore hand and a former Ittefaq Group employee, Major General Sikander Hayat, as chief of the Prime Minister’s Monitoring and Evaluation Cell. He appointed Colonel (retd) Mushtaq Taher Kheli, an individual of similar background, as his political secretary. With the accountability placed at the top of his priority list, Nawaz Sharif decided to operate through his most-trusted Lahore aides. While Senator Saifur Rahman was placed at the driving seat, Nawaz decided to continue with Justice (retd) Ghulam Mujaddid Mirza, another famous Lahorite, as the chief Ehtesab commissioner. He appointed another Central Punjab PML leader Mumtaz Ahmed Tarrar as the chief of Ehtesab Council. Not surprisingly, officials and politicians wanted or arrested in corruption cases from Punjab escaped the net laid by the much-dreaded Ehtesab Cell, while those arrested from Sindh faced a totally different situation. For instance, under extremely intriguing condition a corruption case registered against former RECP chairman Kabir Sheikh, a Lahore-based official, was hurriedly withdrawn. Under identical circumstances, the corruption charges against former petroleum secretary Capt Naseer Ahmed had been withdrawn.
While appointing the federal cabinet, Nawaz Sharif, once more, preferred his trusted Lahore and Central Punjab associates for important cabinet assignments such as commerce. Senior official sources conceded in their background interviews that because of his extreme closeness with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar’s influence reaches frequently the decision-making levels in the Ministry of Finance. Because of his Lahore and Model Town connections, Ishaq Dar has emerged as the prime minister’s most trusted aide in the federal cabinet. Dar’s closeness with the prime minister can be gauged by the fact that it was he and Saifur Rahman who had negotiated and finalised the power-sharing agreement with the MQM. No PML member from Sindh was included in the team that had negotiated with the MQM after the change of government in February this year. Other Central Punjab PML parliamentarians who received important cabinet slots included Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (Petroleum), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (Interior), Mushahid Hussain (Information), Shaikh Rashid Ahmed (Labour and Culture), Begum Abida Hussain (Population Welfare), Raja Nadir Pervaiz (Water and Power), and Khalid Anwar (Law). Surprisingly, the entire national security team that is reporting to the prime minister on important security matters also has the similar Central Punjab background.
The present director generals of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) shared this common background. Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed and Major General (retd) Enayat Niazi had been appointed as the IB director general and the FIA director general, respectively by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while Lt Gen Nasim Rana had been appointed as the ISI director general by the Benazir Bhutto government. Smaller provinces were completely ignored over Central Punjab when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to appoint members of his party as heads of various government and public sector organisations. He appointed 37-year-old Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi, MNA from Murree, as the PIAC chairman and picked Khawaja Asif to head the Privatisation Commission. Similarly, Humayun Akhter Khan, the MNA from his home town Lahore, was appointed as the chief of Board of Investment (BoI). When it came to the appointment of the attorney general of Pakistan, the prime minister once again preferred a candidate from Lahore. Sources said that before his appointment as the Attorney General, Chaudhry Muhammad Farooq had long served the Sharif family in their business and family matters.
While selecting the team of bureaucrats for his government, the prime minister apparently decided not to disturb the officials with Lahore or Central Punjab background, notwithstanding the fact that they had been appointed by President Farooq Leghari during the caretaker set-up. In a policy decision, the prime minister decided to continue with Dr Muhammad Yaqub as the governor of State Bank of Pakistan, absolving him of his responsibility in the collapse of banking and DFI sector in Pakistan in the past four years. Similarly, he also decided to continue with Chaudhry Moeen Afzal as the secretary of finance and Hafizullah Ishaq as the chairman Board of Revenue — both gentlemen had a Central Punjab background. The prime minister also appeared comfortable with Afzal Kahut as the establishment secretary and Mian Tayyab Hussain as the cabinet secretary.
The Central Punjab criteria apparently played a significant role as he appointed secretaries to some of the important ministries, for example he selected Mian Iqbal Fareed as the secretary commerce, Mehar Jivan Khan as the interior secretary and Gulfaraz Ahmed as the secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum. The Central Punjab may not exactly be the reason behind the appointment of Lt Gen (retd) Chaudhry Iftikhar Ali Khan as the secretary defence, but it may be the first time that no one from a smaller province is attached to any significant position in the entire Ministry of Defence. Like in Justice (retd) Rafiq Tarar’s case, most observers do not dispute the fact that many of the Central Punjab bureaucrats or politicians given important tasks in the government by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enjoy good reputation, but they do not believe that the smaller provinces cannot offer individuals with similar reputation and competence. These observers felt that to give a truly national look to his government, particularly after the election of Justice Tarrar as the president, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would have to go an extra-mile to neutralise the impression of his being the Central Punjab government. REFERENCE:Central Punjab holds 41 key posts – Disparity may deepen deprivation in smaller provinces – News Intelligence Unit By Kamran Khan The NEWS International, Karachi December 17, 1997
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KARACHI: The government appeared locked in a difficult situation over the Najam Sethi case on Thursday as its intelligence agencies failed to produce any evidence that may even remotely establish Najam Sethi`s links with Indian secret services. The News Intelligence Unit (NIU) understands that confusion and anxiety in top government circles over the Najam Sethi case was growing rapidly as the General Headquarters (GHQ) independently determined that there was no reason to constitute a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) to try the detained journalist under the Army Act. Sources said the government had approached the GHQ to order Najam Sethi`s court martial under the Army Act. Army`s Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch has already prepared its response to the government`s position taken before a Lahore High Court judge on Wednesday. In the past, on a very few occasions civilians directly involved in espionage activities had been court-martialled under the Army Act that almost exclusively governs the activities of army or ex-army personnel.
Sources told the NIU that the government`s apparent failure in building a solid anti-state case against Najam Sethi and Army`s decision not to lock horn with the Press might soon result in Sethi`s sudden release from the official captivity. There was a perception in the government circles that a final decision on Sethi`s case would be taken on the prime minister`s return from Singapore at the weekend. Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, a noted lawyer and former federal law minister, told the NIU that if tried under the Army Act by an FGCM, Najam Sethi would be the first Pakistani journalist to face court martial under an elected civilian government. For its part, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that had questioned Sethi for at least four days at one of its safe houses in Islamabad has concluded and reported both to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf that its interrogation with Najam Sethi has not confirmed any connection between the detained journalist and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) or any other Indian official or agencies. From their records also the intelligence agencies have not been able to dig anything that may help confirm the government`s projected image of an Indian agent for Najam Sethi, according to reliable security sources. Ranking officials told the NIU the ISI was brought into the picture in the Najam Sethi case through an executive verbal order on Sunday when the ISI high command was ordered to take Sethi`s custody from the Intelligence Bureau and have him interrogated to probe his alleged ties with the Indian security establishment.
Sources said a joint team of IB and Lahore police had first arrested Sethi from his residence where he was severely beaten before being bundled into an IB vehicle. The Lahore operation, the sources said, was supervised by a senior Lahore-based IB official. In the recent months it was the IB that was repeatedly cited for chasing journalists; tapping their phones; placing threatening calls; raiding their residences and offices and abducting journalists. The organisation played an identical role under the PPP government, when the journalists were routinely targeted. Sources said soon after receiving Najam Sethi from the IB, the ISI high command noted, with some degree of surprise, that the agency`s name was extensively publicised in numerous government`s statements. Like all intelligence agencies, the ISI also hates to get mentioned in the media.
The ISI got into the focus of the Sethi controversy as two statements from an unidentified government spokesman, another two statements from the interior and parliamentary affairs ministries and a statement from the governor of Punjab identified ISI as the agency that was grilling The Friday Times editor. “The situation rang a bell at the GHQ when the COAS was told that the situation might pitch the entire journalist community and international opinion against the Army as the ISI is mainly run by the active service army officers,“ said an official who added the situation warranted some urgent measures as the Army did not want to be a party in the case. Though the ISI has dealt extensively with the activities of journalists in Pakistan and abroad but rarely before it had received such a limelight. The ISI works under the Ministry of Defence and it takes orders directly from the prime minister. A former ISI official said the agency`s role regarding journalists largely covers the national security angle, and it has never obliged the successive political governments over their orders that relate to the media.
Background interviews with informed officials and ruling PML politicians by the NIU to find out the actual reasons behind this latest crackdown on the journalists have provided an interesting answer. Informed sources said in recent months Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been led to believe by a few of his “closest associates“ that in order to settle scores with his administration over the Hubco/Kapco issue, the British security establishment had launched a secret drive to destabilise his government. Britain`s National Power has large stakes in Hubco and Kapco power generation projects. Both projects were the main Ehtesab Bureau targets for its probe into IPPs with Chairman Ehtesab Bureau Senator Saifur Rehman Khan claiming that the British sponsors of those projects paid at least $ 400 million to Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari in kickbacks and commission, a charge often rejected by both companies.
These sources said that the prime minister had also been warned that if the “conspiracy and its perpetrators“ were not crushed on a war-footing, it might lead to an overthrow of his government. Without producing any solid evidence, Nawaz Sharif had also been told that the stories in the British print media against corruption in his government were part of the same conspiracy and the coming BBC documentary would serve as a major leap in bringing his government into international disrepute. Conspiracy theorists in the government had also impressed upon the prime minister that a decree passed by the London High Court against his family for the payment of $32 million to Al-Towfeek Investment Limited was also linked to the same British plot, and a dramatic action against his family interests in London was expected soon. The London High Court had passed an ex-parte decision against the Sharif family in March last when they refused to contest the Al-Towfeek case in London challenging the jurisdiction of London High Court. Prime Minister`s family has also been advised against visiting Britain in the near future. Those who had floated the weird conspiracy theory thought that any BBC documentary on the alleged corrupt practices of the rulers would be part of the same British plot so it was decided to confront all those who had assisted in any form the BBC news crew. Najam Sethi made a strategic blunder when the delivered a hard-hitting anti-establishment speech in Delhi, only a few days after participating in the BBC documentary on Nawaz Sharif.
Officials acknowledged that Najam Sethi`s statement before a select Indian audience in Delhi had generated an uneasy feeling in the country`s top military echelon as they received extremely negative reports on his speech through their own representatives at the Pakistan embassy in India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had received a similar report from Ambassador Ashraf Kazi. “What do you expect from services chiefs if they are told that a responsible Pakistani had spit venom against his own country on Indian soil,“ observed an official who thought that The Friday Times editor “definitely crossed line in Delhi and provided an ideal hit-back opportunity to his antagonists in the country“. Talking to the NIU Fakhruddin G Ibrahim and other senior lawyers expressed deep surprise over the government`s statement before the Lahore High Court on Wednesday wherein it was stated that Najam Sethi had been taken into custody under section 123-A of Pakistan Penal Code “for condemning the creation of the state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty“ and the Army had decided to take cognizance of his speech under the Army Act.
The federal Law ministry in its opinion to the government had thought that in his speech at the India International Centre in Delhi on April 30 last Najam Sethi made remarks that violated section 123-A of PPC. What surprised the legal community in the country was the government`s decision to push for his court martial and not to try him in normal courts under normal laws. Even the best of government loyalists in their private conversations conceded that Sethi was being punished for The Friday Times` extremely adversarial editorial stance against the government. “It hurts most when a close friend turns into a foe,“ said a close associate of the prime minister who recalled several anecdotes to establish that both Najam and his wife Jugnu once had fairly close relationship with the Sharifs. During the caretaker administration of Malik Meraj Khalid, The Friday Times and Najam Sethi who had joined the caretaker set-up as an adviser with the status of the minister consistently demanded a bi-partisan accountability before the elections — a position that might have irked the PML leadership. Picked by former president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari to become a member of his interim government, Najam and The Friday Times have always remained close to the former president. REFERENCE: Case against Sethi hits a dead end Army not ready to lock horns with Press News Intelligence Unit By Kamran Khan [AS QUOTED IN Chowk: Law Liberties Justice: The Dark Tower by Shandana Minhas May 10, 1999
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ISLAMABAD: Within half an hour of his surreptitious climb to the post of the Chief of Army Staff on Tuesday afternoon, the former Inter-Services Intelligence chief, General Khawaja Ziauddin knew that the Army he was supposed to lead was not prepared to accept his command. The News Intelligence Unit (NIU) has gathered that all of Ziauddin`s phone calls to the Corps Commanders and the Chief of General Staff — placed from the Prime Minister`s House in Islamabad on Tuesday — drew a blank, a reaction that almost instantly drew down the curtains on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif`s second term in office. Debriefing sessions with detained aides of the Nawaz Sharif administration by security officials here have disclosed that the former ISI chief-led operation to stage an in-house coup in the Army was driven by his personal ambitions ignoring the actual situation on the ground. “Even a layman in Pakistan is aware that any operation of this sort can never be completed without the active support of the troops and commanders posted in the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi,“ an Army official commented. “It was foolish of the former prime minister not to be aware that his nominee for the Army chief didn`t have the key support of the 10 Corps and more specifically the 111 brigade,“ he added. It has now become clear that Lt. Gen. Ziauddin was the architect of the secret operation that envisioned the official announcement of his promotion to the post of COAS once Gen Pervez Musharraf boarded PIA Flight PK 805 in Colombo for a journey that severed his contact with the GHQ for a good 200 minutes. It was also Lt. Gen. Ziauddin who, along with the former principal secretary Saeed Mehdi, had suggested to Nawaz Sharif that General Pervez Musharraf`s plane must not be allowed to land at Karachi so that he could be arrested at any other less busy airports in Sindh.
Sources said that Ziauddin had assured Sharif that he would gain the full command of the Army much before the landing of General Pervez Musharraf`s plane at Karachi airport, a dream that suddenly transformed itself into Sharif and Ziauddin`s worst nightmare. Officials here believe that because of his family and, more particularly, his father`s old ties with Khawaja Ziauddin`s family, Sharif always wanted to appoint him to the coveted post of the COAS, but he couldn`t do that since he had ignored a senior-most three star general as General Jehangir Karamat`s replacement. Several close aides to Sharif had often conceded in the past that Gen Kuli Khan Khattak was ignored because Sharif was not comfortable with a Pathan general.
Ziauddin, an officer from the Army`s Corps of Engineers, was one course junior to Gen. Ali Kuli Khan and Gen. Pervez Musharraf at the Pakistan Military Academy, but even before Karamat`s dramatic exit from the Army, Ziauddin had told his friends about the likelihood of his replacing Gen. Jehangir Karamat. Sources said that General Karamat had posted him as the Corps Commander, Gujranwala in response to a personal request from Sharif, who wanted to give him a fair chance at the time of Karamat`s retirement. Those who had close access to Sharif always contended that his decision to appoint Gen Musharraf was a stopgap arrangement between Gen. Karamat`s abrupt resignation and Ziauddin`s eventual appointment as the COAS. Ziauddin`s appointment as the ISI chief, minutes after Musharraf`s posting as the COAS, spoke volumes of Sharif`s bent of mind at the time. With the knowledge that doubts deliberately created about Musharraf`s tenure as the COAS would further deteriorate worsening relations between the Army and the former prime minister, Ziauddin using his position as the ISI chief nonetheless invented an intriguing conspiracy theory on the Kargil crisis and helped fuel misinformation that the Army leadership got Sharif trapped by launching the Kargil operation.
During the Kargil crisis, Gen. Ziauddin`s exclusive briefing to the former prime minister almost always contradicted the GHQ`s version. “He was responsible for planting the seeds of intrigue on the Kargil issue in Sharif`s mind,“ according to a reliable official source. In his rash drive to convince Sharif that Musharraf`s removal as the COAS would ease tension with the Army, Ziauddin is believed to have also encouraged the former Intelligence Bureau chief Colonel (retd) Iqbal Niazi, to invent a variety of Army-backed threatening scenarios for Sharif, who apparently had an unlimited appetite for stories that painted a highly negative picture of Musharraf and the corps commanders considered close to the COAS. Khawaja Ziauddin`s desperation to please Nawaz Sharif became evident on the first day of his appointment as the ISI chief when he readily confirmed a police-doctored version about the culprits allegedly involved in the ghastly murder of Hakim Mohammad Said. On Ziauddin`s report, submitted without any independent verification, Sharif got an excuse to knock out the democratic set-up in Sindh, an act that later emerged as part of a well-engineered plot to make way for the installation of an exclusive PML-run unelected administration in Sindh. An independent Army probe later discovered that the Sindh Police`s version of the Hakim Said case, with a stamp of ISI confirmation from Gen. Ziauddin, was nothing but “a pack of lies.“ Neither Sharif nor Ziauddin, however, ever acknowledged the blunder.
In another desperate attempt to please the former prime minister, Ziauddin ordered the illegal detention of Najam Sethi, the editor Friday Times, for more than two weeks. Despite the Army`s blunt refusal to initiate sedition or treason charges against Sethi, Ziauddin obliged Sharif and Saifur Rahman by keeping Sethi locked up for about 20 days. Sethi had been handed to Ziauddin`s ISI after being abducted by IB goons from his Lahore residence. Sources said Ziauddin agreed to hold Sethi in illegal detention in response to a single phone call from Saifur Rahman, who later also made Sharif speak to him on the subject. Reliable sources said that Ziauddin was also behind severe criticism of the Kargil crisis by at least two corps commanders, who later met Sharif in Ziauddin`s presence. These meetings were never reported to the COAS, who later reacted by removing both corps commanders from their posts. For Sharif, sources said, Ziauddin`s mission was to divide the corps commanders on ethnic and professional lines and to create an anti-Musharraf lobby amongst the corps commanders. “Since his appointment as the DG ISI, Ziauddin was playing a dangerous game that pitched his boss against the Army,“ observed a senior official. “His operation ultimately turned out to be hara kari (suicide).“ REFERENCE: Ambitious Ziauddin steered Nawaz to political disaster News Intelligence Unit By Kamran Khan [AS QUOTED IN Fears of a Military Coup in Pakistan Chowk P Room October 12, 1999
“UNQUOTE”
MQM causes ripples in lower house DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 09 January 1999, Saturday, 20 Ramzan 1419 http://www.karachipage.com/news/Jan_99/010999.html
ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: Kunwar Khalid Yunus, MQM MNA from Karachi, caused ripples in the National Assembly on Friday when, rising on a point of order, he informed the House that the daughter of the slain journalist Mohammad Salahuddin has named her estranged husband Rafiq Afghan as being involved in the murder of her father.
Chaudhry Amir Hussain, who was in the chair at the time when the MQM MNA was agitating the point, wanted to know from Mr Yunus under which rule was he raising the issue, but when the latter insisted that he be heard, the chairman allowed him to say his piece.
Referring to reports appearing in Friday’s newspapers, Mr Yunus said since his (Salahuddin) own daughter, Saadia Salahuddin, had requested the reopening of the murder case of her father, the government should not only heed the request but also put the name of Rafiq Afghan on the ECL.
He also insisted that since the daughter herself had named her husband as a suspect in the murder of her father, the MQM should no more be held responsible for the killing and should be officially absolved of the crime.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who was also present in the House at the time when Kunwar Khalid Yunus was agitating his point of order, preferred not to respond.
During his life time the late editor of the Urdu weekly Takbir was highly critical of the MQM and its leadership.
Therefore, the Muttahida leadership was the prime suspect in the murder.
Later the driver of late Salahuddin, who was present on the scene of the murder, reportedly identified a person known to be an MQM activist as one of the murderers.
Saadia had married Rafiq Afghan who was then a member of the Takbir staff during the lifetime of her father. Afghan succeeded the late Salahuddin as the editor of the weekly but soon the couple separated.
Salahuddin’s murder: Govt propaganda exposed: Altaf
DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 09 January 1999, Saturday, 20 Ramzan 1419 http://www.karachipage.com/news/Jan_99/010999.html
LONDON, Jan 8: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain said on Friday that the claim of the daughter of the assassinated Takbeer editor Maulana Salahuddin that her husband was involved in the killing of her father had exposed the government’s baseless propaganda regarding MQM’s alleged involvement in the murder.
In a press statement issued from the MQM’s international secretariat, Mr Hussain said the government had held a media trial of the MQM after the murder and accused his organization of the killing.
Referring to the statement of Saadia Anjum (daughter of Salahuddin), he recalled how the government had accused his party and its workers of murdering the Takbeer editor and how hundreds of MQM workers had been arrested and tortured in the crackdown against his party activists after the killing.
Mr Hussain asked President Rafiq Tarar, Army Chief Pervez Musharraf and Chief Justice Ajmal Mian to provide justice to the daughter of Maulana Salahuddin. He said despite Saadia’s statement accusing her husband of involvement in the killing of her father, the interior minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former ISI chief General Hameed Gul, the DIG of Karachi and several other government officials were trying to absolve the culprit and conspiring to implicate some MQM workers.
The assassination of Imran Farooq Rahimullah Yusufzai Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Shawwal 11, 1431 A.H.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/21-09-2010/opinion/5864.htm
According to media reports, the Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command unit is investigating Dr Imran Farooq’s murder from different angles including a mugging that went wrong to a politically-motivated crime in view of eyewitness accounts that the man who stabbed him to death appeared to be Asian. A report even mentioned that the Pakistani Taliban could be involved in the murder, though the militants would likely target Altaf Hussain if they could because everybody knows who controls the MQM. Internal party rifts were also mentioned in media reports from London as an aspect that would be probed by the police to find clues to the murder. On his part, Dr Imran Farooq in the early years after his escape from Pakistan continued to voice concern that Pakistani intelligence agents could harm him. In fact, many MQM supporters would want this aspect also to be probed. Altaf Hussain has refused to return to Pakistan because he cannot feel safe in Karachi where some of his close relatives and many party colleagues were murdered. Dr Imran Farooq’s murder would effectively close the chapter of Altaf Hussain’s return to Pakistan.
As a party that evolved from a students’ organisation, the MQM developed into a force that was often accused of involvement in violence with and against rival political and ethnic groups. It was more often identified with political violence than getting credit for its grassroots support among the people of the middle class. The turf battles between the mainstream MQM and the Haqiqi group of Afaq Ahmad and Amir Khan and the MQM’s ethnic warfare with the Pakhtuns, Punjabis and Sindhis reinforced its image as a party that employed strongarm methods to retain its control of Karachi. The murder of Dr Imran Farooq and, before him, the deaths of other party stalwarts such as Azeem Tariq, S M Tariq and Haji Jalal, could be seen as manifestations of the violence that has continued to haunt and, at times, define the MQM.
Swinging Pendulum of Kamran Khan and PML – N Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Shawwal 11, 1431 A.H http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/21-09-2010/main3.htm
World: South Asia Analysis: Nawaz Sharif gets tough Saturday, November 21, 1998 Published at 17:22 GMT By Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/219098.stm
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s move to use the army and set up military courts in Karachi to combat crime and terrorism has drawn mixed reactions.
Most of the opposition politicians including Benazir Bhutto and the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) leader, Altaf Hussain, have condemned the move, and have described it as an attempt to undermine democracy.
But the action has been welcomed by several government politicians who believe this is the only way to solve Karachi’s chronic law and order problem.
Karachi has been the Achilles heel of successive Pakistani Governments.
Whether the state of extreme lawlessness is ignored, or whether action is taken, there is always an outcry.
Sharif: Hopes constitution will solve the crisis
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is facing the same dilemma.
His latest decision to call on the army for help and to set up special military courts to try alleged terrorists and criminals is a controversial but bold move.
It also shows his growing frustration in trying to find a solution to what has largely been described as a politically-motivated crime situation.
Mr Sharif is confident that once a system of speedy military justice is put into place, with cases completed in less than 10 days, the situation is bound to improve.
To some extent this is true.
Past experience not encouraging
From the army’s point of view the biggest flaw in the 1992 military crackdown in Karachi was that it was never given the power to prosecute the alleged culprits.
Thousands of people were arrested during the operation but most of them were later released by the civilian courts.
A similar situation was faced by Benazir Bhutto’s government in 1995 when her interior minister, Naseerullah Babar, used the police and paramilitary Rangers against the alleged terrorists.
This time, however, fewer cases were sent to the civilian courts.
Instead, the authorities allegedly indulged in large-scale “extra-judicial” killings of those arrested for such crimes.
On both occasions, the action provided a brief respite from violence.
But soon Karachi again plunged into widespread cases of sniper shootings and politically motivated murders.
Benazir Bhutto: Among those criticising military courts
Now another serious attempt is being made to wipe out crime and terrorism in the city.
For the first time Article 245 of the constitution has been invoked to give extraordinary powers to the army to deal with the Karachi situation.
It may be said that with such powers to arrest and prosecute criminals the army would have no excuse for failure.
But because of the complications of the unique Karachi situation many political observers have already raised doubts about the success of this latest move.
Karachi’s wave of violence is now in its 14th year. Thousands of people have died.
A thin dividing line
But what has made the restoration of peace almost impossible is the fact that here a very thin line divides crime from politics.
Clearing up after a police raid
So whenever there is an action against the alleged militants, one or the other political groups – from the mainstream MQM to its Haqiqi faction – comes to their rescue by accusing the authorities of victimisation.
Mr Sharif believes that if some of the culprits are given jail terms through this system of military justice, things will improve in Karachi.
But the real task before the authorities is to round up the armed militants – most of whom have already gone into hiding.
Prosecution in military courts will come later.
Although the military command has learnt from past experience in Karachi, many analysts believe the army are still not trained to combat urban terrorism, and may find it extremely hard to catch armed men belonging to the various militant groups.
In such a situation any wrong move, like arresting the innocent supporters of any group or relatives of the accused – something not uncommon in Pakistan – may have a serious backlash.
Many critics of the present move say that had Prime Minister Sharif taken all the political parties into his confidence before taking this extreme action, they would have given him much needed political support. And his task may have become much easier.
PML-N responsible for crime against humanity Posted by Ahmed Hashmi August 24, 2009 By Ahmed Hashmi
http://changepk.com/2009/08/24/pml-n-responsible-for-crime-against-humanity/
Adolf Hitler will always be known in the history of mankind as being the most racial and barbaric dictator on the basis of ethnic and religious affiliations. The world soon realized the agenda of Nazi German forces – two days after invasion of Poland (on September 3rd 1939), resulting in formation of allies between United Kingdom and France, declaring war on Nazi Germany.
In the year 1992, the same story was repeated here in our country Pakistan, with different set of personalities involved and on different racial/political grounds.
Yesterday night ex Director General of Intelligence Bureau (IB – which is classed as the top civilian intelligence setup of our country), Brigadier (R) Imtiaz appeared on a talk show named “Sawal Yeh Hai” (the question is that) hosted by Dr. Danish, on ARY OneWorld TV channel unleashing so far un-told history.
I am not sure if Brig (R) Imtiaz himself committed crime by revealing intelligence operations from the sad history of this country, but ones eye’s cant stop tears after listening to what has been done on this part of the planet back in early 90s.
The other guest in the program was Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) who is termed as the deputy parliamentary leader of the party as well.
Revealing a lot of yet untold details from the history along with an operation by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to unearth plans of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA of USA) trying to plant technicians in the nuclear installations of the country.
The Khar Legacy
One of the stories he tell is that Ghulam Mustafa Khar was staying in London in self-exile staying in the apartment of Seth Abid, where he was approached by Joshi, a senior officer of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India, creating a joint plan that when there will be Corps Commander conference going on in the Rawalpindi, Pakistan, they will explode the building with explosives, killing all the senior military leadership of Pakistan. According to Birg (R) Imtiaz, Mustafa Khar was the central role player of the plan and RAW was cooperating with him, and he even met with Indra Ghandi, the then Prime Minister of India – who formally approved the operation. On the other hand Seth Abid met General Zia and informed him that Mustafa Khar have some dirty plans against the country.
He says that Seth Abid was then planted as the Pakistani agent and used to communicate with Mustafa Khar from the ISI office – answering to a question if this is a true-tale, Brig (R) Imtiaz also revealed that all the conversations of the plan between Seth Abid and Mustafa Khar are still on record and are saved at Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at this time. Then he tells how the plan was busted with the help of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents. When Mustafa Khar was phoned on the program by the host, he clearly rejected the allegations and asked that another program should be hosted and he be invited to take his views rather than on phone, to which Dr. Danish agreed.
Mass murders in 1992 Operation
After seeking a confirmation that he have experience of more than 11 years of service in Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Dr. Danish asked Brig (R) Imtiaz about another conspiracy of 1992 Operation against the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), when Lt Gen Naseer Akhtar was Corps Commander of 10 Corps (Karachi) and Lt. Gen Asif Janjua was the Chief of Army Staff.
The then Prime Minsiter, Nawaz Sharif was not sought any permission about this operation says Brig (R) Imtiaz, and says that the operation was started without the permission of Mr. Nawaz Sharif. He confirms that this is definite that when this operation began, MQM raised her voice against the operation & the international community shown concern over this operation, Mr Nawaz Sharif called on Lt Gen Asif Janjua, the then Chief of Army staff, to discuss the issue to which the then Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif instructed to continue the operation!
Dr. Danish then questions the political innocence of Mr. Nawaz Sharif, as he is famous for his deliberate ignorance including the Kargil war, as why he did not ask this operation to be stopped which was started and continued in his government.
Dr. Danish then takes Lt. Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar on phone and questions him that if he did seek permission from the then Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif to conduct the operation to kill 15000 workers of MQM to which he confirmed that the permission was sought in proper chain of command and Mr. Nawaz Sharif was present in the Pano Aqil Cantonment during all the conferences where the 1992 Operation was discussed along with Chief Of Army Staff and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan – and gave permission to conduct this genocide!
Then he asks ex-corps commander about the Jinnahpur map discovered from Karachi, to which he said that this was very disappointing, there were never any of such map discovered, and it was withdrawn just after two days and he declines twice on the phone line that even while being Corps Commander of Karachi, he was completely unaware of the Jinnahpur map – this to be noted here that Lt Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar is known as responsible and mastermind of the 1992 Karachi operation.
Coming back to Brig (R) Imtiaz, Dr. Danish questions that according to the ex-corps commander, Lt Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar – the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen (R) Asif Janjua was completely in loop of the operation – Brig (R) Imtiaz once again decline that prime minister Nawaz Shareef was completely unaware of the illegal operation against MQM, but agreed that he ordered to continue operation.
Then he comes back to Jinnahpur saga and asks Brig (R) Imtiaz that being the then DG Intelligence Bureau to tell that from which office of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) the so called map of Jinnahpur was discovered? Answering to which he says that I investigated this whole issue for seven days and at the end concluded that this Jinnahpur map was a complete drama and conspiracy against Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and there were absolutely no maps discovered from the offices of MQM.
Brig (R) Imtiaz asks that Lt. Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar was the Corps Commander of the 10 Corp during that time then how this is possible that he was completely unaware of the Jinnahpur map? How this become possible that those maps were published? Who passed it to the press resulting in the headlines of all the newspapers on the next day? Including the headline of the JANG newspaper published in the London. This is bloody nonsense.
Breaking in tears, Haider Abbas Rizvi says that this is a big day of his life, it reminds him of his 15000 party workers killed in this operation, the way his party and the leader Altaf Hussain was accused of being agents of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW – INDIA). The way the patriotism of his party was challenged. He also requests Brig (R) Imtiaz to please swear upon Allah to tell everyone about those torture cells of MQM were ever existed?
Haider Abbas Rizvi says that during the operation, women workers of MQM, including mothers and sisters were rotten under horses by Police and the Army during the operation, he thanked Lt. Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar of telling and accepting the truth today after 17 years.
Dr. Danish when asking another question, Haider Rizvi insisted Dr. Danish to please ask Brig (R) Imtiaz if those torture cell of MQM ever existed to which Dr. Danish said that as this is now clear that Jinnahpur map was a propaganda against MQM and was fake, it is needless to question that MQM operated any torture cell anywhere.
Finally, In My Opinion
In my humble opinion, this is one of the biggest blunder in the history of our beloved country that a political party was convicted of false crimes and an illegal operation was raged on them resulting in the deaths of 15000 workers, including infants, children and women.
Out of whole of this episode of the Dr. Danish’s talk show, one thing we can easily conclude that this operation was started or at least continued with the will of the then Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N, Nawaz Group) – which is indeed a symbol of shame for everyone being citizen of this country.
Those who have lived in the city of Karachi during 1992-1999 are well aware of how this operation was conducted, how members of an specific political party (MQM) was killed under the blame of claiming of a separate state, which is all now termed as false.
Since now this fact is revealed and the 1992 operation unearthed, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his party PML-N, proud owner of sugar mills, flour mills, rice mills, members of the elite class, the lions of the Punjab, should be ashamed of conducting such serious crimes and mass murder and in my humble opinion must be tried in the international criminal court under sections of crimes against humanity.
Now I ask where is Mr. Chief Justice, Justice Chaudhary Iftikhar Hussain? I hope he have seen the yesterday’s episode of Dr. Danish’s program or at least have read the newspapers? Will he take suo-moto action now? Or his sou-moto actions are only bound to be for one of those blessed ones where there is a vested interest.
By the way, 15000 (or lets say 1500?) illegal murders is not a joke! We need to take some serious actions against those responsible now – in order to avoid any genocide in future in our country, and in my humble opinion the list starts with 1. PML-N Leader Mr. Nawaz Sharif, 2. The then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen (R) Asif Janjua, 3. The then Coprs Commander of 10 Core (Karachi), Lt. Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar, and so on.
Let us have a Change! Sipah-e-Sahaba gets Zulfiqar Mirza’s welcome in Karachi by Ahmed HashmiSeptember 21, 2010 http://changepk.com/2010/09/21/sipah-e-sahaba-gets-zulfiqar-mirzas-welcome-in-karachi/
Record of criminal cases withdrawn under NRO goes ‘missing’
By Tahir Siddiqui Thursday, 10 Jun, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/record-of-criminal-cases-withdrawn-under-nro-goes-missing-060
KARACHI, June 9: The Sindh home department has washed its hands of the material and record of the criminal cases withdrawn under the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) saying that the files and summaries are no longer available.
Well-placed sources told Dawn that the home secretary informed Sindh Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan through a letter on June 4 that his office could not produce the details of implementation of the criminal cases revived after the NRO was repealed on Dec 16, 2009 by the Supreme Court.
On May 21, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry had ordered the home secretary to provide a list of all criminal cases abolished under the NRO in Sindh. The order was issued following a meeting that was also attended by Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court Sarmad Jalal Osmany. The prosecutor general and the member inspection team of the SHC were also present.
The meeting had discussed the progress of the implementation of the criminal cases revived after the NRO was repealed and the prosecutor general had assured the court that a complete report on the progress of all such cases would be provided as soon as possible.
However, the sources said, the home secretary through his letter categorically stated that no material evidence — ie files, applications, orders abd approved summaries of the criminal cases withdrawn under the controversial ordinance — was available with the home department.
They said that only 32 files submitted by retired Justice Roshan Essani to the home department and a few summaries were submitted to the prosecutor general office for the perusal of the apex court.
The sources said that the few summaries available in the home department apparently did not bear any clear orders of the competent authority.
They said that the home department suggested to the prosecutor general that the officials posted at that time, including then home secretary retired Brigadier Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, then Advocate General Khawaja Naveed, then prosecutor general Rana Shamim Ahmed and the section officer concerned might be summoned on ‘court’s notice’ to explain the whereabouts of the record pertaining to the withdrawal of the cases under the NRO.
The sources said that the home department also suggested that the then adviser on home affairs, Waseem Akhtar, could also be asked to assist the court “as the whole working about these cases was done while he was the home affair advisor”.
“This office is handicapped to produce before the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan anything beyond what is being submitted,” the home secretary’s letter said.
According to a statement of Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, as many as 3,576 cases were withdrawn under the NRO in Sindh, among them, are included corruption and criminal cases.
The NRO beneficiaries include politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and capitalists.
The controversial ordinance was promulgated by retired General Pervez Musharraf in order to grant amnesty to all those against whom ‘politically-motivated’ cases were registered between Jan 1, 1986 and Oct 12, 1999.
According to official sources, over 3,500 criminal cases were registered only against different leaders and activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah.
These cases were withdrawn as part of the reconciliation policy for which a review board was formed under the supervision of retired Justice Ghous Mohammad. The members of the board had included Law Secretary Ghulam Nabi Shah and the then AG Khwaja Naveed Ahmed.
According to an official list, the highest number of cases were withdrawn against MQM chief Altaf Hussain — ie 72, including 31 on murder and 11 on attempt to murder charges.
Dr Farooq Sattar, the MQM’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, occupied the second slot. A total of 23 cases were withdrawn against him, including five murder and four attempt to murder cases.
The third biggest beneficiary appeared to be provincial minister Shoaib Bukhari of the MQM against whom 21 cases were withdrawn, including 16 on murder and attempt to murder charges.
Pakistan: Imran Farooq murder linked to rows within MQM party Politician may have been about to endorse or join new party set up by General Pervez Musharraf, source claims
Pakistan: Imran Farooq murder linked to rows within MQM party Politician may have been about to endorse or join new party set up by General Pervez Musharraf, source claims Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 September 2010 20.28 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/26/pakistan-imran-farooq-murder-mqm
Imran Farooq was a senior figure within Pakistan’s Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party. Photograph: AP
The Scotland Yard investigation into the murder in London of the leading Pakistani politician Dr Imran Farooq has been told that rows within his own party may have led to his assassination.
Farooq, 50, was stabbed to death earlier this monthduring an attack in which he was also beaten near his home in Edgware, north London. Farooq was a senior figure in Pakistan’s MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) party, and was in exile in London at the time of his death. The murder is being investigated by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism branch because of the political dimension to the killing.
Sources say intelligence suggests his death was linked to rows within the MQM.
Farooq, once prominent in MQM, had taken a back seat. A senior Pakistani source said he may have been about to endorse or join a new party set up by Pakistan’s former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf. The source said of the motive: “It lies within the MQM. Dr Farooq was probably going to join Musharraf.”He is vowing to leave his own London exile and return home to launch a fresh bid for power. His new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, will launch its programme in London later this week.
Asked by the Sunday Telegraph about his reaction to Farooq’s murder, Musharraf said: “It is terrible that such an assassination could happen in a place like London.”
Farooq, who was married with two young sons, claimed UK asylum in 1999 alongside Altaf Hussain, the MQM’s leader. Hussain, who also lives in exile in London, has said “enemies of the MQM” killed Farooq and they will try to kill him. Pakistan’s media reported him as saying on Friday: “Now the enemies of the movement are after my life, but I want to tell them I am not afraid of anyone, whether it’s a superpower like the United States or its Nato allies or their Pakistani agents … I fear the Almighty Allah and will never bow down before the conspirators even if they get my British citizenship rescinded.”
Police in London are still hunting an attacker who, one witness said, appeared to be an Asian man. Analysts say the MQM has longstanding rivalries with ethnic Pashtun and Sindhi parties in Karachi. The MQM has also been riven by occasional internecine violence.
Before entering the UK, Farooq spent seven years on the run in Pakistan from criminal charges while the MQM was engaged in a violent battle for control of Karachi. He remained a key party figure. While MQM leader Hussain is protected by private guards and rarely appears in public following death threats, colleagues said Farooq never believed he was at risk and had played a smaller role in the party since the birth of his sons, now aged five and three.
Farooq was attacked on his way home from his job at a chemist’s shop. He was found near his home after neighbours witnessed what they believed was a fight. Paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
MQM party officials in the party’s stronghold of Karachi declared a 10-day period of mourning. Previous political killings have triggered riots and deadly clashes between rival factions. Police are keeping an open mind as to the identity of Farooq’s killer and their investigation continues.
Altaf accuses foreign powers of plotting to eliminate him
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque Monday, 27 Sep, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/altaf-accuses-foreign-powers-of-plotting-to-eliminate-him-790
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that ‘international powers’ had in the past tried to eliminate the MQM through the Pakistani establishment, but now they were trying to get rid of him.
In an open letter to party workers, which was also released to the media on Sunday, Mr Hussain said that ‘international powers’ could eliminate him anytime and they (MQM workers) should be mentally prepared for such an eventuality.
He said that he had given a philosophy and ideology for struggle against generals, feudal lords and chieftains who assumed “power through unfair means”.
He said it was not only the aristocracy which benefited from the mediaeval system, but international powers also used it to their advantage.
“International powers used the Pakistani establishment which includes the army, ISI and other powerful agencies to eliminate the MQM. When these forces failed to achieve their objective through conspiracies and barbarity and by slaying thousands of MQM workers, international powers are now trying to eliminate Altaf Hussain,” he said in the letter.
Mr Hussain said the murder of Dr Imran Farooq was a link in the chain and news analysis and columns published in the international press gave a clear indication about which party and personality were being targeted.
He referred to the BBC programme “Hard Talk” in which the host asked coordination committee member Mohammad Anwar why the MQM leader (Mr Hussain) had not been removed.
“This has implications for the situation… what was the purpose of this question?”
Mr Hussain said he did not have strength to withstand the might of powers and, therefore, workers should be mentally prepared for any eventuality because of “these powers can eliminate Altaf Hussain anytime”.
“If I am assassinated, it would be your duty to carry forward the mission, and objectives and to disseminate my ideology and teachings by sacrificing your personal interests and remaining united,” he said.
The release of the letter was followed by an MQM statement condemning the nefarious plan to eliminate its chief.
It called upon the British government to provide adequate security to the MQM leader in London.
This was the crux of a meeting of the MQM coordination committee held simultaneously in Karachi and London on Sunday, said the statement.
It said that after the assassination of Dr Farooq, a conspiracy was hatched to malign the MQM and its leader Mr Hussain, triggering concern among MQM supporters and workers worldwide.
“The coordination committee reposed full confidence in the leadership of Mr Hussain and resolved that they would remain committed and continue their struggle under him.”
قتل اندرونی اختلافات کا نتیجہ: گارڈین
آخری وقت اشاعت: پير 27 ستمبر 2010 , 11:44 GMT 16:44 PST
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/world/2010/09/100927_guardian_imran_farooq.shtml
اس واقعے کے سیاسی محرکات کی وجہ سے سکاٹ لینڈ یارڈ کی انسدادِ دہشت گردی برانچ اس کی تحقیقات کر رہی ہے۔
برطانوی اخبار گارڈین میں چھپنے والے ایک مضمون میں دعویٰ کیا گیا ہے کہ لندن میں سکاٹ لینڈ یارڈ کی تحقیقات کے دوران پولیس کو بتایا گیا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق کے قتل کا تعلق متحدہ قومی موومنٹ کے اندرونی اختلافات کا نتیجہ ہو سکتا ہے۔
ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق کو اس ماہ کے شروع میں شمالی لندن کے علاقے مِل ہِل میں چاقو کے وار کر کے ہلاک کر دیا گیا تھا۔ وہ ایک کیمسٹ شاپ پر کام کرتے تھے جہاں سے وہ واپس گھر جا رہے تھے۔ انہیں ان کے پڑوسیوں نے گھر کے پاس زخمی حالت میں زمین پر پڑے ہوئے دیکھا۔ جس کے بعد طبی عملے کو بلایا گیا جس نے ان کے ہلاک ہو جانے کی تصدیق کی۔
اس واقعے کے سیاسی محرکات کی وجہ سے برطانوی پولیس یعنی سکاٹ لینڈ یارڈ کی انسدادِ دہشت گردی برانچ اس کی تحقیقات کر رہی ہے۔
اخبار گارڈین نے پاکستان کے ایک سینیئر ذریعے کا حوالہ دیتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق جنرل پرویز مشرف کی جماعت کی حمایت یا اس میں شمولیت اختیار کرنے والے تھے۔
جنرل مشرف نے ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق کے قتل پر اپنا رد عمل دیتے ہوئے کہا تھا کہ یہ بات انتہائی افسوسناک ہے کہ اس طرح کا واقعہ لندن جیسی جگہ پر ہوا۔
اخبار نے پاکستان کی ایک سینیئر شخصیت کا حوالہ دیتے ہوئے لکھا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق کے قتل کی وجہ ایم کیو ایم کے اندر ہی موجود ہے۔ ’وہ شاید مشرف کی پارٹی میں شامل ہو رہے تھے‘۔
اخبار کے مطابق اس سینیئر شخصیت کا کہنا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق اپنی جلا وطنی ختم کر کے لندن سے واپس پاکستان جا کر سیاست شروع کرنے کا ارادہ رکھتے تھے۔ ان کی ممکنہ نئی سیاسی جماعت آل پاکستان مسلم لیگ اس ہفتے لندن میں اپنے سیاسی پروگرام کا اجرا کر رہی ہے۔
ایم کیو ایم کے قائد الطاف حسین کہہ چکے ہیں کہ ڈاکٹر عمران فاروق کو پارٹی کے دشمنوں نے قتل کیا ہے اور اب یہ دشمن ان کی جان کے درپے ہیں۔
دوسری جانب لندن میں پولیس ابھی تک قاتل کا سراغ لگانے کی کوشش کر رہی ہے جس کے بارے میں ایک عینی شاہد کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ کوئی ایشیائی شخص تھا۔
Foreign Power Working against MQM? US Ambassador visits Nine Zero Updated at: 1805 PST, Monday, September 27, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/1912.htm
KARACHI: US Ambassador Anne Patterson on Monday paid a farewell visit to the headquarters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Nine Zero and expressed condolence on the demise of former convener Rabita Committee Dr Imram Farooq. She was accompanied by US Consul General in Karachi William Martin. She was received by the deputy convener MQM Rabita Committee Dr Farooq Sattar.
Later, talking to media Dr Farooq Sattar said that MQM leadership expressed concerns over the conviction of Pakistani scientist Dr Afia Siddiqui by US court.
The party also sought US support and influence in seeking security for MQM leader Altaf Hussain in London, he added. Dr Sattar said that US Ambassador expressed condolences over the assassination of Dr Imran Farooq in London.
MQM says USA [USA is a Foreign Power] should use its “Influence” to solve Late. Imran Farooq’s Murder Case whereas in the above news NEWS – MQM says that Foreign Powers are hell bent to destroy MQM – which Foreign Power? Monday, September 27, 2010, Shawwal 17, 1431 A.H http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/27-09-2010/u47224.htm
Saleem Shahzad expelled from MQM Rabita Committee Saturday, February 14, 2009 [The News and Jang] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:daTZSTmCaXgJ:www.thenews.com.pk/print3.asp%3Fid%3D20309+aleem+Shahzad+expelled+from+MQM+Rabita+Committee&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has expelled Saleem Shahzad from its Rabita Committee on account of his personal and secret activities and contacts. Besides, MQM activists have been asked not to contact another Rabita Committee member, Muhammad Anwar, on any issue.
According to a press release issued by the MQM on Friday, anyone found contacting Saleem Shahzad would be expelled from the party. Similarly, the MQM activists have been directed instead of contacting Muhammad Anwar they may contact the Rabita Committee in Karachi or the party’s international secretariat. The party took the decision on the basis of Anwar’s suspicious activities and his disinterest in the affairs of the party, the statement said.
Meanwhile, MQM’s senior member and in-charge of its Labour Division Anees Ahmed Khan, advocate, has voluntarily resigned from the basic membership of the MQM, the statement said.
Another MQM statement said on the grounds of serious violation of organisational discipline and involvement in activities outside the organisation, the Rabita Committee had suspended the following activists of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) for an indefinite period: Ejaz Qureshi and Mohsin Shahab (University of Karachi unit); and Mohsin Ahsanul Haq (NED unit). When contacted, MQM spokesman Faisal Sabazwari offered no comments, saying: “Whatever the MQM has to say in this regard, it has stated in the press release.”
Saleem Shahzad expelled from MQM By Our Staff Reporter
February 14, 2009 http://www.dawn.com/2009/02/14/nat3.htm
KARACHI, Feb 13: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement expelled on Friday its senior leader Syed Saleem Shahzad from the party for his alleged ‘mysterious’ activities.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the party’s coordination committee. A statement issued from the MQM’s London secretariat said any party member found in contact with Mr Shahzad would lose his membership.
A former MNA and London-based MQM leader, Anis Ahmed Advocate, resigned from the party and stated that in future he would have nothing to do with the views and actions of the MQM, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the MQM directed its workers not to contact Mohammad Anwar, another senior London-based member of the coordination committee.
BBC Hard Talk : MQM Muhammad Anwar Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq36z52CwDk
BBC Hard Talk : Part 2 MQM Muhammad Anwar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXF0gCNEidU
Altaf accuses foreign powers of plotting to eliminate him
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque Monday, 27 Sep, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/altaf-accuses-foreign-powers-of-plotting-to-eliminate-him-790
Mr Hussain said the murder of Dr Imran Farooq was a link in the chain and news analysis and columns published in the international press gave a clear indication about which party and personality were being targeted. He referred to the BBC programme “Hard Talk” in which the host asked coordination committee member Mohammad Anwar why the MQM leader (Mr Hussain) had not been removed.
“This has implications for the situation… what was the purpose of this question?”
Imran Farooq murder: the bloody past of the MQM – The party of Imran Farooq, who has been assassinated in London, has a dark reputation that it has never left behind Declan Walsh in Islamabad guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 September 2010 14.34 BST Article history http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/17/imran-farooq-assassination-mqm-pakistan
Altaf Hussain, the London-based head of MQM, is comforted as he prays for his murdered right-hand man Imran Farooq. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
It is one of the great enigmas of Pakistani politics. For over 18 years the affairs of Karachi, the country’s largest city and thrumming economic hub, have been run from a shabby office block more than 4,000 miles away in a suburb of north London.
The man at the heart of this unusual situation is Altaf Hussain, a barrel-shaped man with a caterpillar moustache and a vigorous oratorical style who inspires both reverence and fear in the sprawling south Asian city he effectively runs by remote control.
Hussain is the undisputed tsar of the mohajirs, the descendents of Muslim migrants who flooded into Pakistan during the tumult of partition from India in 1947, and who today form Karachi’s largest ethnic group.
A firebrand of student politics, Hussain galvanized the mohajirs into a potent political force in 1984, when he formed the Mohajir Qaumi Movement – now known as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM. The party swept elections in the city in 1987 and 1988 but quickly developed a reputation for violence.
At early rallies Hussain surrounded himself with gunmen and urged supporters to “sell your VCRs and buy kalashnikovs”; violence later erupted between the MQM and ethnic Sindhi rivals and, later, against the army, which deployed troops to Karachi in the early 1990s.
It was during the tumult of this time that Hussain and his right-hand man, Imran Farooq, who has just been killed in London, fled the city, in the wake of a slew of police accusations of involvement in racketeering and killing.
Both men vigorously denied the charges, insisting that they were politically motivated and took refuge in London to set up a base for the MQM in Edgware, a quiet suburb in the north of the city.
Since then, Hussain has run the party from exile with a tight grip. In Pakistan the party is officially led by Farooq Sattar, a mild-mannered former mayor of Karachi, but most decisions of significance are taken by Hussain.
His trademark feature is a pair of coffee-tinted Aviator shades and he speaks in a sometimes maniacal style. But few of his supporters, many of whom are women, can see him: Hussain has pioneered the “telephone rally” in Pakistan, addressing tens of thousands of people crowded into Karachi streets around a loudspeaker linked up to a telephone.
Under Sattar, the party has tried hard to shake its association with violence in recent years. It won control of Karachi city council during Pervez Musharraf’s rule in 2005, and has won praise for the construction of highways, water schemes and other city amenities. Business leaders in particular have praised its management of an often chaotic city.
But the dark reputation has not entirely gone away. In May 2007 armed MQM supporters held the city hostage during a day of political violence, triggered by Musharraf who is himself a mohajir, that saw more than 40 people killed.
Last month, Raza Haider, a senior MQM official, was gunned down as he said his prayers, triggering a ferocious wave of tit-for-tat killings involving the MQM and rivals in ethnic Pashtun parties and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, whose Karachi factions are also armed.
The MQM has also been split by rivalries within the mohajir community that have seen periodic blood-letting, both within the MQM and with a breakaway faction known as MQM-Haqiqi, which was fostered in the 1990s by Pakistan intelligence as a means of breaking Hussain’s stranglehold on power in Karachi.
Now, with the gruesome killing of Farooq, a senior if largely colourless figure, the bloodshed appears to have spread from Pakistan to the streets of north London.
MQM a political group or gang of terrorists, asks intel report Wednesday, September 29, 2010 http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20109\29\story_29-9-2010_pg7_21
* Fact sheet says party destructive instrument in Altaf Hussain’s hands
* Govt obligated to explain who turned Karachi into exclusive property
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Is the MQM a political group or a gang of terrorists, questions a joint investigation report prepared by intelligence and security agencies of the country into the targeted killings and lawlessness in Karachi.
The report framed by the ISI, Interior Ministry, IB, Sindh Police, Special Branch and Pakistan Rangers in May 2009 was formally presented to the Senate chairman on Tuesday by ANP Information Secretary Zahid Khan.
“Who are these deserting rats, what do they want, how do they treat places like Kashmir, Pakistan and Karachi, why do they kill, why do they promise to send dead bodies, whom do they serve by heightening linguistic feelings, why do they target transformers and leave people to roast in heat, why do they burn transport facilities, why do they target security personnel, why do they torture people and pump bullets into public servants,” questions the 64-page report.
“Why did their (MQM) bullets take lives of SHOs Bahadur Ali and Imdad Khatian, DSP Bashir Ahmed Noorani, five relatives of DSP Nisar Khawaja, DSP Tanoli, SDM Muhammad Nawaz Khushk, journalist Muhammad Salahuddin, Azim Ahmed Tariq, Zohair Akram Nadeem, Pir Pagaro’s son-in-law Salim Malik, KESC Chairman Malik Shahid Hamid? And how a renowned scholar, chairman of the Hamdard Foundation and ex-Sindh governor Hakim Muhammad Saeed was killed,” the report further asks.
“It is a destructive instrument in the hands of its highly whimsical supremo, the one and only Altaf Hussain,” says the fact sheet on the MQM.
Exclusive property: The report said the government was obligated to explain who had turned Karachi, its citizens, its hospitals, parks, roads and avenues, storage houses, police stations and assembly houses into exclusive property; who were the people who never started a single development project in Karachi but did every thing to destroy the Karachi Municipal Corporation by controlling it during 1987-92 and the provincial government during 1990-92.
The report also mentions terrorism in Karachi on “Hitler’s footsteps”, “anti-state and anti-media activities of the MQM”, “its Indian connection” and the economical damage due to the party’s forced strikes. “But all this will require a review of the thoughts propagated by Hitler 65 years ago and the resemblance that Altaf has with the Nazi leader,” it added.
“The party’s first major action against political rivals came in the Pakistan Steel Mills in 1990 when a number of its men were kidnapped. They were taken to torture cells in Landhi and Korangi. Since then torture and murder of army officers, navy functionaries and a whole range of other people has become a routine,” said the report.
It added that the government has repeatedly asked the MQM to close its training camps in India and call back Javed Langhra and others to the country. “Altaf and his party responded that levelling such allegations against the party was not only a crime but also a violation of the security of the country,” the report added.
MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil was unavailable for comment when Daily Times tried to contact him.
Bhit Shah address: Altaf warns govt against sending ISI chief to US court December 26, 2010 http://tribune.com.pk/story/94735/altaf-asks-supporters-if-mqm-should-quit-coalition/
MQM HATES ISI http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:76sYEwgh0i8J:www.mqm.org/English-News/Feb-2002/letter_kofiannan_260202.htm+MQM+Convenor+Dr+Imran+Farooq%27s+letter+to+UN+Secretary+General+Mr+Kofi+Annan&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk&client=firefox-a
26 February 2002
Mr Kofi Annan
Secretary General
The United Nations
U N Plaza, New York 10017
USA
Dear Secretary-General
RE: ISI IS BEHIND THE MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL
I hope that you are in good health and spirit. I know that you are one of the busiest person in the world and, therefore, I will try and keep this letter short, as much as possible which is about the subject mentioned above.
After the horrific terrorist acts against the United States of America on 11th September 2001, the United Nations, United States of America and the entire sovereign nations, peace loving political leaders including Mr Altaf Hussain, Founder and Leader of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), the third largest political party in Pakistan and the second largest in the province of Sindh, strongly condemned the cowardly acts of terrorism in the United States of America. MQM held the biggest rally on 26th. September 2001 in Karachi (port city of Pakistan) to demonstrate its solidarity that it stands shoulder to shoulder with the international community against all sorts of terrorists’ acts and terrorism throughout the world. MQM also offered its unconditional support to the international community against all sorts of terrorism.
As you would know that one of the journalists of the Wall Street Journal, Mr Daniel Pearl was kidnapped on 23rd January 2002 in Karachi. The kidnappers put certain demands for the release of Mr Daniel Pearl. The present Military Government of Pakistan and its high officials were assuring the entire world that the Authorities and police will recover Mr Daniel Pearl alive within two or three days but failed.
Pakistan’s interior minister on Friday predicted a “major breakthrough” and more arrests within 48 hours in the search for Daniel Pearl. The official rejected a claim from Pearl’s self-confessed kidnapper that the Wall Street Journal reporter is dead.
Los Angeles Times, Breakthrough Expected in Kidnap Case, Pakistan Says, February 16, 2002
No one has explained why Sheikh Omar was held in ISI custody for a week before civilian authorities were informed of his arrest. Two former ISI officers have been questioned about Pearl’s murder.
The Observer, Vicious Web of Intrigue that Trapped Daniel Pearl, February 24, 2002
Mr Daniel Pearl was decapitated ruthlessly. What plans had been made by the ISI in collusion with Ahmed Omar Sheikh while he was in its custody only God knows! The Interior Minister of Pakistan and even President General Pervez Musharraf were not aware of this plan.
Not only in Pakistan but also throughout the world, the educated and politically aware people know that the ISI is above all the institutions and even above the law in Pakistan. ISI is a State within a State. ISI is not answerable to the Presidents, Prime Ministers or anyone else.
‘They are a state within a state… ‘The ISI is the only institution powerful enough to
dare to disobey the President.’
The Guardian, Torture, treachery and spies – cover war in Afghanistan, November 4, 2001
The ISI is responsible for harbouring the terrorists’ not only in Pakistan but also throughout the world under the pretext of “Jihad”. The ISI is not at all happy with the decisions taken by the present Government for eradicating religious fanatics, as they are its own creation.
The ISI and only the ISI is behind this barbaric killing of Mr Daniel Pearl because the ISI wanted to give the message to the USA that by supporting the present Government the USA will not be able to achieve its goals and the United States of America must deal with the ISI and not with anybody else; and if the United States of America would continue to support the present Government then they have to face and see many more barbaric acts.
From early on in the Pearl investigation, ISI involvement was evident.
The Observer, Vicious Web of Intrigue that Trapped Daniel Pearl, February 24, 2002
Dear Secretary-General,
The ISI has become a monster and until and unless the ISI is disbanded or dismantled, my apprehensions are that the ISI will continue to form, fertilise, harbour, train and provide financial support to create more and more religious fanatical groups like Jesh-e-Mohammad and others.
The intelligence agency’s past actions indicate that its interests – or, at a minimum, those of former agency officials – have often dovetailed with the interests of Mr. Pearl’s kidnappers, as reflected in their original demands. New disclosures of links between Mr. Sheikh and two recently dismissed agency officials only intensify suspicions about its role in this case.
The New York Times, Death of Reporter Puts Focus on Pakistan’s Intelligence Unit, February 25, 2002
Dear Secretary-General,
I request you to convey my apprehensions to the International Community including the United States of America and its allies and to use your good office to ask the Government of Pakistan to dismantle the ISI. I would also request you that for the dismantling of the ISI, full support and active involvement of the United Nations, USA and the International Community would be required otherwise the present Government or any other Government in Pakistan would not be able to dismantle the ISI.
I also request you that if the United Nations Organisations and international community seriously and sincerely want to see the entire world free from any source of terrorism, they must take serious and practical steps and actions for completely wiping out the ISI otherwise, it would be too late for the world’s sorrow and tears. The killings of innocent people would be the fate of the world.
Thank you for giving me your precious time.
Yours truly,
Dr Imran Farooq
Convenor
The MQM chief Altaf hussain should be interrogated for murder of Dr Imrann Farooq. I am sure it will definitely help in tracing the culprits
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