Source: The News
PML-N stalwart Ch Nisar Ali Khan is in two minds as he cannot decide which ministry he should head at this critical moment of his political life.
The choice is between his favourite and the most lucrative petroleum ministry, for the third time, or become the defence minister of Pakistan to take sadistic pleasure of teasing his old friend General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, whom he recommended as the Army chief in 1998, but who put him under house arrest for three years.
What should have been a credit to Nisar has instantly become a disadvantage in the eyes of Nawaz Sharif, when his old uniformed friend after staging the coup, had put all of them in a dungeon at the Attock Fort but looked after his benefactor Nisar Ali Khan by allowing him to stay at his house for three years.
The question as to who should head the defence ministry has dramatically become important as the politician who would sit in that chair would automatically become the boss of the Army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani and two other services chiefs, in addition to his regular contact with the GHQ and other important matters related to the military.
President Musharraf has been very keen in the last eight years of his rule to only allow a loyalist of his own choice to head the defence ministry like his classmate Rao Sikandar. But as the fortunes have turned, someone who does not like him might occupy the critical position.
Background interviews with political sources established the fact that the unusual presence of Nisar in the Defence Ministry, who is fond of the company of the uniformed men because of his family’s military background, might greatly upset the present greatly weakened occupant of the presidency.
Nisar, along with Shahbaz Sharif, had always been dealing with military men, particularly General Pervez Musharraf during the second government of Nawaz Sharif. Now his heavy presence in the Defence Ministry might administratively make him the boss of the new Army chief and for understandable reasons, this interaction with the new Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani may not be appreciated in the presidential camp.
The Nawaz camp is thinking to tease Musharraf by bringing in Nisar as the defence minister, as they all believe that a shrewd politician like him could easily handle the military because of his past experience of dealing with them.
The Defence Ministry has always been very dear to Nisar family, as during the last government of Nawaz, his elder brother Iftikhar Ali Khan was the defence secretary as Nawaz wanted a very close and trusted man to deal with the military affairs.
In the past, Nisar, a permanent member of Nawaz’s kitchen cabinet, used to pick the most lucrative Ministry of Petroleum. He headed this profitable ministry twice which deals with multi-million dollar contracts of gas and petrol exploration and has its own importance in the economy.
Once again, he chose the petroleum ministry when he met the negotiating team of PPP. But, now reports are coming that he may pick the defence ministry.
Earlier, when the then Army chief Gen Jahangir Karamat was shown the door, Nisar had secretly arranged a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf to elevate him as the Army chief.
Nisar never hid his own role in the elevation of Musharraf as the Army chief.
Nisar was put under house arrest unlike Nawaz, Shahbaz, Kh Asif, Ishaq Dar, Javed Hashmi, Siddiqul Farooq and many others. He remained under house arrest till his release in 2002. This soft approach of Musharraf created doubts in the mind of Nawaz as both had stopped talking to each other.
But, once he was released from house arrest, he visited Jeddah to remove the doubts in the minds of the Sharifs. Once again, Nisar has assumed the role of distribution of ministries among his fellow MNAs as he used to do before October 12, 1999.
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1 Abdul Basit Khawaja // Mar 30, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Letter to Pakistan Chief of Army Staff
General Pervaiz Ashfaque Kayani,
Abdul Basit Khawaja
Campaign to Restore Democracy to Pakistan
General Kiyani Sahib,
Every citizen of Pakistan who wants to chose the path majorly of Jinnah’s Ideologies would applaud your February 13th decision to recall all military officers from Pakistan’s civil departments. Pakistan’s bourgeoning civil society will be strengthened through this brave reversal of your predecessor’s heavy-handed and dictatorial imposition of the military in civilian affairs. Our men in uniform were pledged to defend Pakistan’s citizens and its Constitution. Instead, President Pervaiz Musharraf’s domestic policy had forced them to make the unnatural choice between doing their job and defending their country or deferring to their chief’s decision to hold civil society and the Constitution hostage at the barrel of a gun.
Musharraf has brought loss to our country and nothing else. The proclamations by his aides regarding economic prosperity, peace, low poverty levels and on war on terror illustrates a false image in the minds of the people.According to a corruption watchdog survey I saw on a website, Pakistani public opinion perceived the first and second terms of Musharraf’s administration as respectively more corrupt than the first and second terms of previous administrations led by Bhutto and Sharif, respectively. Musharaf’s government has cost taxpayer’s money hundreds of millions of rupees in order to hire a team of aristocratic lawyers to represent him in the courts. For instance, regarding the privatization of Pakistan Steel, whose worth is around Rupees 600 billion was being sold out for a mere Rupees 20.6 billions, the government had spent Rupees 90 million , with Sharifudin Pirzada-a prominent lawyer- alone hoarding 6.6 million rupees as fees. Another example from several more, Musharraf appointed Shaukat Aziz as finance minister during his tenure as the Chief Executive. World powers supported Pakistan financially rescheduling debt to reward Pakistan due to the support it gave in the war on terror which helped in saving hundreds millions of dollars, in addition Musharaf was able to secure new loans. Result - foreign exchange reserves increased exceeding $16 billion in 2006, but at the same time foreign debt hit an all time high topping $40 billion.The portrayals from his side are so bogus so that he can create an illusion to put his trial and accountability on the back burner. To lead one needs to be honest i.e. not to break their undertakings. Late 2003, Musharraf made a deal with the religious party MMA agreeing to resign from the army by 31 Dec 2004. With that party’s support, pro-Musharraf members were able to gather the two-thirds majority required to pass the controversial17th Amendment, which legalized Musharraf’s 1999 coup and many of his decrees. In late 2004, Musharraf went back on his promise and Musharraf’s legislators in the Parliament passed a bill allowing him to keep both offices.According to the following articles from the constitution mentioned here, Musharaf should be charged for treason and fire-starting corruption to the country.According to Article 6 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan:-
“Any person or persons who commit the act of mutiny against the parliament, judiciary and/or the elected members and officials of parliament is/are guilty of committing the highest treason. This person or persons committing such an act must be charged and prosecuted in the court of law and sentenced to death if found guilty”
Article 243.1 of the constitution of Pakistan states that ‘The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces’ and when a person is commissioned as a member of the Armed Forces, takes the following oath
“I ——, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan and uphold the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which embodies the will of the people, that I will not engage myself in any political activities whatsoever and that I will honestly and faithfully serve Pakistan Army (or Navy or Air Force) as required by and under the law”
Such a person should not be supported by your institution as he is a de-stabliser to our solidity. Additionally, he should face the court for his actions because it will create an example for Generals, Ministers power and stake holders not to indulge in corruption. If the voting was in the favor of the ‘Kings Party’, Pakistan would have been thrown back into the times of ‘Pharaoh’ where the people of Musa (A.S) were harshly treated as slaves. A quote of Lao Tzu strikes a chord in my mind, “Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it,” this quote shows the true picture into the minds of the people of Pakistan of what Musharaf is doing to the country.
We hope that you will perform your duties assigned in the constitution and not indulge in the political arena of this country like your forerunner and your ‘ancestors in the military’ .
However, the work to restore democratic political participation in Pakistan has only begun. A majority of Pakistan’s judiciary was dismissed on November 3rd when President Musharraf imposed martial law in the guise of “emergency.” On November 13th, Pakistan’s Supreme Court was due to hear the cases of 485 victims of enforced disappearance over the past six years. Many of these had returned with horror stories from detainment centers around the world, including the one in Guantanamo Bay.
Cases of enforced disappearance are not unique to Pakistan. This problem has been created through a global regime of inter-state paranoia, government’s defiance of key principles of the Rule of Law, cash-payments made to mercenary kidnappers, intelligence forces that are held accountable to neither the judiciary nor the executive, and covert foreign operations that flout state-sovereignty and government’s accountability to its own people. The agents abduct people in broad day light and scuttle them across the globe to hold them without charge in unspeakable places: Guantanamo, Bagram, Kandahar, Adiala, Attock, Mianwali, Military confinements that’s the most my mind could gather, must be a dozen more.
Consequently, the campaign to restore missing persons to their families is a global effort. Thanks to the courage of members of the international media in continuing day-by-day coverage the social and political upheavals in Pakistan, the partners and supporters, who are Pakistanis, are demonstrably poised to seize this historic opportunity to help the vibrant, multi-ethnic fabric of Pakistani civil society secure for itself the hues of democratic participation, pluralism, and peace for all its citizens.
We, the people of Pakistan, demand the release of all those who have been abducted and detained without charge by the military and the intelligence agencies under your command. The families of victims of enforced disappearances are demanding that the COAS’s office issue a list of the names and charges of all Pakistanis held under extrajudicial detainment on account of actions taken by the army and intelligence forces under his command.
Hopefully, we the people of Pakistan are worried about the above
Respectfully,
The People of Pakistan
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