Nadeem Afzal Gondal Chan’s brave stance against generals and judges
Cross-posted from Pakistan Blogzine
Related posts: On General Musharraf’s betrayal by General Kayani – by pejamistri
PML-N’s NRO with Musharraf and secret meetings with General Kayani
Critical analysts of Pakistani politics have always insisted that the restoration of CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry and his colleagues such as Khalil Ramday, Khawaja Sharif etc in 2009 was not possible without judges’ NRO (agreement) with Pakistan Army.
The army-judiciary NRO included the following clauses:
- Judges will not pursue the missing persons case (i.e., those illegally abducted by Pakistan’s ISI, MI etc);
- Judges will not intervene in Pakistan army’s kill & dump policy of the Baloch nationalists;
- Judges will take no action against the LeJ-SSP-TTP sectarian killers backed by the ISI who are routinely killing Shia Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims, Barelvi Muslims, Christians and other oppressed communities;
- Judges will routinely release key assets of Pakistan’s ISI (e.g., Hafiz Saeed, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, Malik Ishaq and other sectarian / jihadi terrorists);
- Judges will take no action against those responsible for 12 May 2007 massacre in Karachi;
- Judges will conduct a one-sided accountability of the democratic government, in particular that of President Zardari and other leaders of the PPP while providing maximum relief to right wing politicians (e.g. Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Hafiz Saeed, Maulana Abdul Aziz of Red Mosque);
- Judges will give statements and decisions to reinforce religious jihadism and fanaticism in Pakistan (e.g., by taking public stance against secularism, Hindu community, sexual orientation, women (releasing those who gang-raped Mukhtaran Mai), banning facebook, stopping President Zardari from pardoning a blasphemy accused Christian woman);
- Judges will take no action against General Musharraf and his colleagues (General Kayani, General Pasha and others) who played an active role in Musharraf’s first and second emergency (martial law);
- Judges will not pursue Asghar Khan’s long outstanding petition about political misuse of public funds by Pakistan army / ISI in forming IJI and rigging elections.
Lately, it is encouraging to see more and more voices agreeing with the above discourse (presented by LUBP, Pakistan Blogzine and other progressive forums).
For example, in a debate in the National Assembly yesterday (12 October 2011), politicians from both treasury and opposition benches criticized judges and generals holding them responsible for the current suffering of Pakistani nation.
Judges and generals criticised in NA
by Amir WasimSource: Dawn, 13 October 2011
ISLAMABAD: The anniversary of the Oct 12 military coup provided an opportunity to the ruling PPP and opposition PML-N to jointly condemn the 1999 military action in the National Assembly on Wednesday, but a debate on the issue soon
degenerated into mutual accusations with each side blaming the other for providing support to military dictators. It all started when PML-N members, while denouncing the overthrow of the party’s government by the then army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, reiterated their demand for initiating a treason case against the military dictator and accused the present rulers of providing protection to him under a clandestine deal.
MNAs Ahsan Iqbal, Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar and Khawaja Saad Rafique in their hard-hitting speeches on points of order not only assailed Gen Musharraf’s policies, but also lashed out at the PPP government for providing Gen Musharraf an honourable departure. They blamed Gen Musharraf for the crises the country faced today and demanded that he should be hanged.
But, PPP’s legislator from Sargodha Nadeem Afzal Gondal came up with an equally hard-hitting speech amid desk-thumping by treasury members in the presence of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. He said he would like to know why had the PML-N singled out Gen Musharraf and spared others, including the judges who had allowed a man in uniform to carry out changes in the Constitution. An angry Gondal said the PML-N should not claim the credit for the reinstatement of superior court judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who, according to him, had been reinstated because of the intervention of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and not because of the opposition’s long march. “Long march was just a drama and a farce. The judiciary was restored when the ISI wanted it,” Mr Gondal said. He also alleged that it was on ISI’s directives that the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took a stand and said ‘no’ to Gen Musharraf when the former president had asked him to resign on March 9, 2007. He asked the PML-N why was it not demanding action against the army generals who had been with Gen Musharraf in the past and were “nowadays playing golf in Punjab”.
Interestingly, the chief justice also came under criticism from the opposition when PML-N’s Muhammad Safdar questioned his inaction on the May 12, 2007, incident in which over 40 people had been killed in Karachi during the chief justice’s visit to the city. “If the CJ does not provide justice to families of those killed, then one should not expect justice from the CJ,” he said.
The PPP MNA was of the view that had the then PML-N government constituted a commission on Kargil, the nation would not have suffered the Oct 12 military coup. Mr Gondal said if the PML-N announced a long march against the army generals, then he himself would participate in it. He also accused the PML-N of having links with extremist groups, particularly the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.
Soon after completion of the question hour, PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal took the floor on a point of order and said that under the law, only the federal government could institute a treason case against a person. He said if the government could not do it then it should change the law so that the PML-N’s provincial government could take the step. He said if the PPP government would not lodge a treason case against Gen Musharraf, then it would amount to committing treason. Mr Iqbal claimed that the Musharraf regime had received $85 billion as result of the 9/11 incident, but that money was not spent on the country’s infrastructure. He said that Gen Musharraf used intelligence agencies for his personal interests and for creating the PML-Q.
PML-N MNA Capt (retd) Safdar, son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif, called for framing treason charges against all those who had supported Gen Musharraf and jointed his cabinet.
Khawaja Saad Rafiq asked rulers as well as the military leadership to tell the nation why a “criminal” had been allowed to leave the country and given a guard of honour. He said the military leadership should now realise that the people’s attitude had changed and they would not accept any military intervention in future. The PML-N lawmaker said it was Mr Sharif’s mistake to appoint Gen Musharraf as the army chief, ignoring the seniority list.
Aitzaz Ahsan ki tarikh gawah hai, kabhi is per aitebar na karna!
Asma Jahnagir ka election ho tau Spain bhaag jata hai.
Aitzaz Ahsan – Duniya Ki Tareekh Gawah Hai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om5n4ck-wnI
Apparently, COAS General Kayani telephoned Aitzaz Ahsan to contact Nawaz Sharif to call off the ‘artificial’ long march.
In other words, Aitzaz Ahsan played a key role in drafting an NRO between CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry and COAS General Kayani.
Nawaz Sharif and Gilani-Zardari were not more than mere Baratis.
Excellent articulation of the clauses of the (unwritten?) NRO.
Will Nawaz Sharif announce a long march against this NRO?
PPP MNA claims ISI got CJP reinstated in 2009
* Afzal Nadeem Gondal tells NA Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry refused to surrender to Gen Musharraf on behest of ISI
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Amidst calls from PML-N to register high treason case against former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, for subverting the constitution, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) outspoken MNA, Afzal Nadeem Gondal, on Wednesday, made a startling revelation in the Lower House of parliament that Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry refused to surrender to Musharraf on the behest of the ISI and the premier intelligence agency got the CJ reinstated in March 2009.
Taking part in the debate initiated by PML-N members on points of order to condemn the Oct 12, 1999, military takeover, Gondal fiercely criticised the PML-N leadership which, he said, had been agitating against the elected government. He declared that all the claims of restoring superior judiciary made by the PML-N were devoid of substance.
“The CJ refused to resign on March 9, 2007, as ISI had asked him to do so and was even restored when it allowed it,” Gondal disclosed. After consuming half of the legislative business, when acting speaker Faisal Karim Kundi allowed the PML-N members to speak on Oct 12, 1999’s military coup when their party’s government was toppled by Musharraf, the House witnessed tit-for-tat speeches by PML-N and PPP members against each other.
Responding to PML-N’s criticism of the PPP government for avoiding registering a high treason case against Musharraf, which PML-N members noted would be a national crime, Gondal came up with a strong response to allegations and even did not spare the superior judiciary which, he said, slapped on the face of the PML-N as the same people sitting in the judiciary allowed Musharraf to amend the constitution
Referring to PML-N’s protest camp outside parliament, Gondal questioned that how many camps they set up when the country was being ruled by the military dictator and said that they were protesting at a time when President Zardari had surrendered his authority to empower parliament.
He also called upon the PML-N to embark upon a long march against those generals who abetted Musharraf’s toppling of their government but were presently playing golf in Lahore. He accused the PML-N of entering into an alliance with a banned sectarian outfit, Sipah-e-Sahaba, and deplored that Malik Ishaq of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had been roaming freely in Punjab.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\13\story_13-10-2011_pg7_18
The new brass on the block
Wajahat S Khan
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The game is on. Not the brash politicking from Raiwind that promises to dismantle the Presidency. Not the unscrupulous ingenuity from the Presidency that has muzzled the MQM back into the fold. Not from the Supreme Court as it tries to throw its weight around in Karachi. And not from Kabul, or New Delhi either, where Hamid Karzai and Manmohan Singh have matured a strategic pact in half the time of a human pregnancy. No, those are all little games.
In Islamabad – correction, Rawalpindi – there is only one game in town. And it’s called the Promotion Game. Up for grabs are stars…preferably four, but three will work too. And if they’re made of brass, then the political alchemy for converting khaki cotton into the armour-plating of power becomes so much more easier.
Here’s the backgrounder: General Ashfaq Kayani is set to retire (for a second time) in November 2013. That’s when his office will be available for occupancy. But till that moment arrives, like any bureaucracy – and the army is Pakistan’s biggest, even most politicised one – the ‘grooming’ and placement of his subordinates is key for the operational efficacy as well as internal dynamism of the institution he commands.
Kayani’s latest move – the promotion of four major generals to the rank of lieutenant general – is a critical indicator of what lies next for Pakistan’s most powerful institution. Who’s going to be Spook-in-Chief (DG-ISI)? Or the guy who keeps all the brass connected (chief of General Staff)? Who’s going to be GHQ’s record-keeper (military secretary)? Or the man who will fight with (or talk to) the Taliban (commander XI Corps)? Which general shall keep the Americans out of Quetta while ensuring Baloch separatists are suppressed (commander XII Corps)? What about the chap who watches the nukes (commander Strategic Forces), or the one who keeps India busy across the LoC (commander X Corps) while keeping his ‘Coup Brigade’ (the ‘111’) oiled and ready? And let’s never, ever forget the next probable for the COAS title.
So let’s war-game what Kayani is thinking. He’s got several immediate (operational/tactical) and a larger (strategic) responsibility pending for keeping his institution loyal and intact; keep fighting Pakistan’s multiple conflicts (which alphabetically and incompletely are: Afghanistan, Balochistan, CIA, drones, economy, Fata, floods, IAEA, India, Kashmir, Karachi) but keep the army reigning supreme. Ambitious as that goal may be, Kayani will need his house to be in order.
Thus, with the latest batch of promotions, the COAS has been conservative and not broken precedent. He has overlooked all the 2-stars from the Corps of Engineers who were due for promotion, preferring to supersede them instead. This decision has worked out politically too, as the leader of the seniority list, Maj-Gen Junaid Rehmat, the DG-NLC, has been the subject of the recent flak attack by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s Public Accounts Committee. Thus, Kayani has preferred to play it safe: Supporting Arms (like the Engineers, to which Rehmat belongs), are usually given less love at the highest levels, primarily to ensure the elitism of the Fighting Arms. It’s the way the Pak Army has always worked. So, Kayani has played by the rules.
But the resumes of his choice all reflect the political complications of the intra-GHQ chess-match. Vice Chief of General Staff, Maj-Gen (now Lt-Gen.) Nasser Janjua, a former director military operations, was a wise choice. As the most senior fighting-arm representative (from the Punjab Regiment), he was hailed a tactical genius as GOC of the 17th Infantry Division, Kharian (the formation operated in Swat District from the crucial phase of November 2007 to December 2008). Janjua is a thinking soldier, and earned his spurs long before the success of his well-crafted Operation Rah-e-Haq. He’s got the seniority along with all the right postings and battle honours. Kayani promoting him was simply the ‘right thing’ to do, as it covers the meritocratic angle.
However, Janjua has not been dispatched to a new posting yet. That means a coveted office will have to be emptied to accommodate him. Lt-Gen Asif Yasin Malik, who has been leading Peshawar’s XI Corps, might be shifted to GHQ as CGS, a position that incumbent Lt-Gen Waheed Arshad is expected to rotate out of soon, probably for a Corps posting that suits his Armour background. Janjua would be natural fit in Peshawar, and him getting Malik’s office will keep the Pentagon at bay as well, for he has been documented in Washington as a trailblazer in counterinsurgency operations.
Alternatively, Janjua could get ‘groomed’ for a possible 4-star role, which would require him to be operationally familiar with both sides of the border. Thus, his trajectory could replicate that of Lt-Gen Tariq Khan, who’s been appreciated internationally as a war-hero for his work with the Frontier Corps and the 14th Infantry Division. Since his performance in Fata, Khan has been moved east and awarded the India-centric I Corps in Mangla, one of Pakistan’s two “strike” formations. Expect him to be rotated back into GHQ as a Principal Staff Officer for his own run for COAS, as him getting two Corps commands would be rare, even unprecedented. But regardless of the job-matrix, keep your radar on for Malik, Arshad, Khan and Janjua. They’re all among the finalists who could get 4-stars stitched to their shoulders.
Gallantry, however, is not the only qualifier in this game.
Barring those superseded, the newly promoted Lt-Gen Tariq Gilani has been quickly accommodated. Unlike the pending office for Janjua, Gilani’s immediate appointment is an example of Kayani’s ‘continuity’ doctrine. Also at display is the COAS’s ‘safe hands’ approach, for Gilani was stationed as the GOC of the 22nd Division in Sargodha, where he was also responsible for the 47th Artillery Brigade (an original among the few reputedly nuclear-capable formations). Thus, Gilani has been kept ‘within the system’ and placed in charge of the Army Strategic Forces Command: Yes, the nukes – at least some of the land-based delivery systems. In effect, this Gunner (he’s from the relevant Fighting Arm, Artillery) was already in the ‘asset management’ business for the army. His immediate appointment and its announcement is a signal to all: the bombs (some of them, for sure) are in safe, familiar, even academic hands.
But remember that the ASFC is not regarded as a top-tier posting. Gilani will probably not press the red button when things go ballistic, though he will have some of the coordinates to shoot his birds at. Also, his political CV is, internationally, very acceptable, for he is a graduate of US Army War College (where he extensively researched Pak-American military ties) and served as commandant of the Armed Forces War College in Islamabad.
But there is a personal angle to the appointment of Pakistan’s new nuke commander: he is a schoolmate, if not a school-chum, of Kayani himself (both are graduates of Military College Jhelum). However, in case someone shouts nepotism, the COAS can keep those charges down to a minimum, primarily because Gilani does have the credentials.
Kayani’s next two choices have institutional patronage written all over them. Both are ‘young’ major-generals, (from the second batch of 2008) compared to the other two, but both promotions have incredibly different backgrounds.
Artilleryman Lt-Gen Ijaz Chaudhry just served as DG-Rangers in Sindh, where he essentially delivered the message of the army to the civilians: without being granted adequate powers, his forces will just stay put. Just like he made his 14th Infantry Division settle back down in Okara after the hell that was Operation Zalzala, Chaudhry ably secured the operational aim of Karachi’s V Corps think-tank: keep mum, till they beg you to return.
Temporarily sidelined by the chief justice of Pakistan for the Sarfaraz Shah killing scandal, Chaudhry waited in the bullpen till his comeback was easily spun as an ‘at your service’ move when things really went south in the city by the sea. Promoting him is a message in simple soduku from the army to all and sundry: that despite a political showdown with a major branch of government, you can still get 3 stars. Just follow your damn orders.
Also interesting to note is that versus Janjua and Gilani, Chaudhry has made it so far because he carries the ‘Made-by-Kayani’ brand, as the decision for his promotion to 2-star rank was made in 2008, when the first selection board was chaired by a then newly appointment, chain-smoking COAS. To have come this far, despite the complications in Karachi, Chaudhry has probably cost Kayani a few cartons of well-filtered cigarettes. Interestingly, his promotion has not been simultaneously announced with a posting; that means Rawalpindi’s Biggest Gun is still thinking hard about placement. Expect to hear more about Chaudhry, the not-so-lone Ranger.
But the appointment of Lt-Gen Naveed Zaman, currently Chief Instructor B-Division at the National Defence University, requires particular attention. Zaman’s brother-in-law, Brigadier Moeenuddin Ahmad, was killed by assailants in October 2009, who ambushed him along with his driver and guard in Islamabad, attacking their jeep with automatic weapons in broad daylight. A probable cause was that Maj-Gen Zaman was holding a key operational position in Waziristan then, for as GOC of the historic 7th Infantry Division, he was in the midst of launching the critical Operation Rah-e-Nijat that very same month.
If that connection caused the killing, then Zaman’s service and plight didn’t go unnoticed. As an alumnus of Cadet College Hassan Abdal, he enjoys the company of a strong old-boys network in the recent and current GHQ and the JCSC Secretariat: Lt-Gen. Khalid Shameem Wynne (CJCSC), Lt-Gen Masood Aslam (former commander XI Corps), Lt-Gen Shujaat Zamir Dar (just retired POF chairman) and the man who till recently pushed all the files in the right direction, Lt-Gen Mohsin Kamal (MS and former commander X Corps); All those Abdalian connections, along with the COAS who had personally promoted him to 2-stars, helped ensure that Zaman be honoured with a safer but respectable ‘desk-job’ as commandant of the NDU.
As he is a ‘consensus candidate’, representing the fraternity of the army, the announcement of Zaman’s immediate appointment as MS indicates that future selection boards, though chaired by Kayani, will make promotions that carry the distributed weight of the round-table of Pakistan’s khaki knights. So, sizing up Pakistan’s new brass on the block, the COAS’s office politics show that he is increasingly going to make future decisions in a way outgoing generals tend to – or are forced to: as first, among equals.
The writer is a former Shorenstein Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a broadcast/online journalist. Email: wajahat [email protected]
http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=72291&Cat=9&dt=10/13/2011
Nadeem Afzal Gondal said this on the national assembly floor in December 2010:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/96281/benazir-bhuttos-assassination-ppp-lawmaker-points-finger-at-security-establishment/
“Those who prepared mujahideen for the sake of American dollars and then nurtured another generation of terrorists for more dollars are behind her (Bhutto) murder,”
Nadeem Afzal is an honest and committed Jiyala. He speaks the truth, always!
Former information minister Sherry Rehman, PML-Q’s Sheikh Waqas Akram and PPP’s Nadeem Afzal Chan severely criticised the Punjab government for allowing the banned groups to carry out their activities. They said the groups were not only influencing by-elections but also using various occasions, including the Kashmir Solidarity Day, to promote their nefarious designs.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/19-resurgence-of-terror-groups-in-punjab-alarms-na-420-hh-06
Qazi Anwar under fire in NA By Asim Yasin Tuesday, March 30, 2010
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28072
ISLAMABAD: The statement of President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Anwar in which he labelled the parliamentarians as “smugglers” made the legislators protest strongly against these remarks in the National Assembly and urged the House to move a joint privilege motion against these remarks. Raising the issue on a point of order on Monday, PML-Q legislator Waqas Akram Sheikh contended that the SCBA president had declared all the parliamentarians “thieves and smugglers” without any evidence and thus insulted parliament that is a supreme body. He proposed for a joint privilege motion of the House against such remarks so that no body could level charges against parliamentarians without any evidence.PML-N legislator Khawaja Saad Rafiq declared the SCBA president as an unbalanced person, who should not be taken seriously yet he opposed any motion against him.
But PPP legislator Nadeem Afzal Gondal, who supported Sheikh Waqas Akram’s view of presenting the joint privilege motion against the SCBA president’s remarks, at the same expressed the desire that some anchor persons and a section of the media should also be included in it.
The PAC meeting presided over by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was attended by Khwaja Asif, Sardar Bahadur Khan Sehar, Nadeem Afzal Chann, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Zahid Hamid, Riyaz Pirzada, Yasmin Rehman and others to discuss the audit report of NLC. Secretary planning division Ashraf Hayat appeared before the committee along with the top guns of NLC to explain their department’s position before the committee.
The committee was informed that the loan to JPGL was sanctioned by DG NLC Maj-Gen Khalid Zaheer, although he did not have any powers to approve such a loan for any private company from the accounts of NLC.
Khan was unable to digest the shocking news that two army officers doled out a loan from NLC accounts when the orgnisation itself had borrowed Rs4.7billion from banks. He said the NLC had gone bankrupt but hastened to correct himself by saying that actually it had hit rock bottom as bankruptcy was a small word. “But we should not blame the army as an institution for such kind of scams by the uniformed men,” he remarked, adding that “we should treat them as acts of some individuals”.
When the PAC members asked whether any guarantees were sought from the JPGL at the time of sanctioning the loan, it was disclosed that not even personal guarantees were sought.
When MNA Nadeem Afzal Chann asked the secretary planning to tell the committee where those army generals were now serving after landing the NLC into financial difficulties, he was informed that both were enjoying retired life. Sardar Ayaz proposed that the loan should not be written off as the defunct company might one day be revived and the NLC might get its loan back from its borrowers.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/28073
A must watch speech by MNA Afzal Nadeem in the National Assembly in Jan 2009:
Watch from 1:45 onwards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HCMm4xH30I
Excellent speech. Thank you for forwarding Abdul Nishapuri
Chan seeks rightsizing in military’s top brass
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/24-Feb-2011/Chan-seeks-rightsizing-in-militarys-top-brass
Baselss propaanda material…. bunch of traiters …. nothing this sort of ever happened i.e. N.R.O of Judges… fake baseless without proof post,…
no one believe this shit… these r just traiters spreading hate against our army & isi… dont waste your time here…. do sum research and think for yourself… use ur brain who is telling u the truth…
And here is the proof….
” Now these snakes openly admit their crimes of changing the maps of the Muslim world. This is happening in daylight… Now the dark reality is staring us in the face. Every Muslim land is being divided through Khawarij, Takfiri gangs formed/funded by CIA/Raw/Mossad !
Respect your army which is fighting these Khawarij otherwise, your country would also become like Iraq ….
http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/20/former-cia-chief-iraq-doesnt-exist/#ixzz35PCd7h00
This article is very appealing to thinking people like me. It’s not only thought-provoking, it draws you in from the beginning. This is well-written content. The views here are also appealing to me. Thank you.