Archive for PPP

Zardari Got His Court Hearings Adjourned 256 Times on Medical Grounds

Every profession or job in the world requires a certain level of credibility, physical and mental fitness. 

President Zardari was formally diagnosed and treated for ‘dementia’ and mental health problems. He has got another tool (defence) up his sleeves ‘pleading insanity’ on the basis of his mental health. 

The Supreme Court of Pakistan and Parliament should implement the Constitution under which the mental capacity of the President and Commander in Chief with his ‘finger on the nuclear button’ must be fully functioning beyond reasonable doubt? 

According to reports unfortunately, President Zardari is apparently suffering from diabetes and dementia (shrinking of brain) which are both irreversible. His permanent grin is suggesting that, “I don’t suffer from insanity but enjoy every moment of it”. 

Someone said, ‘advantage of having a bad memory is that one can enjoy same joke many times’. 

As far as Mr Zardari’s reported self certified psychiatric problems are concerned, one should be sympathetic with him. He should not be discriminated due to his mental health problems and mental capacity. His lawyers should submit his full risk assessment and psychiatric review to the Election Commission as evidence to prove his full recovery from mental illness. Unfortunately ‘dementia’ (shirking of brain) is irreversible and full recovery is almost impossible. Now if he has submitted fake medical certificates in the British Courts ‘he’ has committed a criminal offence. If the mental health and psychological assessments are correct and no new assessments are presented, is he suitable for the Presidential role? 

According to media reports Zardari adjourned his court case hearings in Pakistan approximately 256 times mostly on medical grounds by presenting medical certificates. 

Keeping in view the above he is not fit to be a ‘cinema ticket clerk’ let alone President of a nuclear state and Commandant in Chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces? 

“His doctors have declared him medically fit to run for political office and free of any symptoms,” said Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Pakistani high commissioner in London reported The Financial Times. Perhaps the High Commissioner is unaware that entry and exit points in the mental health treatment are sometimes years apart depending on the illness especially ‘dementia’? As Financial Times published on 26th August 2008, Mr. Zardari submitted his medical and psychiatric reports/certificates to British High Court claiming incapacity to stand trial and inability to attend hearings. 

In March 2007, Stephen Reich, a New York state-based psychologist, diagnosed Mr Zardari with dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. He (Mr. Zardari) had difficulty focusing, concentrating and paying attention is persistently sad, chronically anxious and apprehensive. He (Mr Zardari) stated that he has had suicidal thoughts, but has not made any suicide gestures. Mr Reich re-examined Mr. Zardari in June 2007 and September 2007, each time reporting that he had made progress but still had problems that might make it impossible for him to testify in court”. Another diagnosis in March 2007 by Philip Saltiel, a New York City based psychiatrist said, ‘emotional and neurological problems suffered by Mr. Zardari because of medical treatment and imprisonment had resulted in “emotional instability” and “deficits in memory and concentration”. His risk assessments suggest, “I do not foresee any improvement in these issues for at least a year.”  (Financial Times).

Zardari’s position becomes more suspicious after the targeted killing of Khalid Shenshah Hussain, Benazir Bhutto’s personal security officer who was making ‘cutting throat signs on camera while Ms Bhutto was delivering her last speech few hours before the murder’ (See YouTube) and targeted killing of police inspector Haq Nawaz Sial, main witness of Murtaza Bhutto’s murder. On both occasions Asif Zardari was in power!  Khalid Shenshah was reportedly a US Citizen and Zardari’s prison mate! Why was he eliminated and what was he trying to tell? 

Who in their right state of mind would say and do things what Zardari and his team members are doing? According to US media reports on 10the May 2009, President Zardari reportedly said in Washington, ‘he never considered India as a threat and would move troops from Indian border to Afghan if necessary’

There was a clear conflict of interest when Zardari’s own government withdrew cases against him and others, not to mention the benefits from NRO amnesty? Did those acquittals serve true sense of justice? In actual fact he lost Swiss Case of money laundering either way. He should tell the people of Pakistan how he managed to build more than $2 billion Empire and from where he got $60 million to deposit in Swiss account? He and late Ms Bhutto have been denying for years to the world that they have nothing to do with Rockwood Estate ‘Surrey Palace’ but then one day his lawyer ‘Farooq Naik’ claimed ownership. 

When it comes to his academic qualifications first New York Times and then Dawn reported on 21st March 2008, “British officials responsible for maintaining record of all educational institutions in the country have failed to find any trace of the institution (London School of Economics and Business) in London from where Asif Ali Zardari is claimed to have received his graduation or equivalent qualification in 1976. In a written response PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said: “Mr Zardari studied business and economics in a school in London now called (the) London School of Economics and Business.” In a written response to questions about London School of Economics and Business, an Edubase official said: “In order to ascertain whether or not an institution exists, I conduct a search on three registers, Edubase, The Register of Education and Training Providers and the UK Register of Learning Providers. I have been unable to find evidence of this institution.”

So where and what is he graduated in? It is not an issue if he has graduated or not but why is he unable to prove the existence of institution he claimed to have been attending?

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8 Cases Against Zardari were Disposed of under the NRO

Eight cases against Asif Zardari were disposed of under the NRO.

The charges concerned kickbacks from SGS PSI company

Grant of licence to ARY Gold

Corruption in purchase of Ursus tractors under Awami Tractor Scheme

Award of pre-shipment contract to Cotecna

Assets beyond means

Kickbacks received from former Steel Mills chairman Sajjad Ahmed

Construction of a polo ground at the PM house 

Money laundering in SGS Swiss case

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Washington Post Says Zardari May Go

Pamela Constable’s has written an article titled ‘For Pakistani president, goodbye to goodwill’ in the Washington Post (November 16, 2009). She is suggesting that the US-Zardari romance seems to be over.

According to Pamela, “military officials are unhappy over Zardari’s compliant relationship with Washington – while the poor and working-class Pakistanis blame government for protracted shortage of gas, electricity and staple food. They also feel increasingly unprotected, as suicide bombing has killed more than 350 people in the last two months.”

However, Pamela shy away from mentioning the close relations Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and his interior minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan’s ambassador Haqqani has with the Jewish Lobby in the US.

The Pamela repeated the same old ‘democracy crap’, which has proved to be a sham after how Washington handled the democratic process in occupied Palestine, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, “Zardari’s deepening unpopularity has put Washington in a bind because of its avowed commitment to bolster democratic in Pakistan after a decade of military rule. If he is forced from power, either on old corruption charges or through a collapse of the ruling coalition, Washington might have to deal with new leaders who are less friendly and no better able to solve Pakistan’s problems.”

Pakistan’s all four military rulers (Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, Yahya Khan, and Pervez Musharraf) were supported and protected by Washington.

She, like Fareed Zakaria, and Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington (known as US ambassador in Washington), Husain Haqqani, is an ‘Islamophobe’.

Haqqani in his book ‘Pakistan Between Mosque and Military’, wrote: “From the point view of Islamists and their backers in ISI, Jihad is on hold but not yet over. Pakistan still have an agenda in Afghanistan and Kashmir.” I wonder why Haqqani forgot to mention India and Israel from his list? According to some government insiders, Haqqani is about to be replaced by princess Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, the former ambassador to Washington.

Fareed Zakria in an article for the Newsweek (May 2, 2009), titled ‘Change We Can’t Believe In’ had advised Washington: “If Washington hopes to change Pakistan’s world-view, it will have to take much tougher line with the military while supporting the country’s civilian leaders, whose vision of Pakistan’s national interests is broader and less paranoid, and envisioned more cooperation with its neighbors.”

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Zardari Receives $4.3 Million as Kickbacks for Buying 3 French Submarines in 1994

The French newspaper Liberation has accused President Zardari and military authorities of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to Pakistan Navy.

This is actually new regurgitation of an old story which was already contradicted by French President Mr Sarkozy on July 11 this year as ‘untrue’, ‘malicious’ and ‘mischievous’. 
 
According to the report in French daily Liberation, President Zardari is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 submarines deal.

In addition, investigators believe that the non-payment of the full amount of the agreed kickbacks may have led to the death of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in Karachi.

The newspaper says it has acquired documents that show that Mr Zardari allegedly received $4.3 million in kickbacks from the sale of three Agosta-90 submarines for 825 million euros (currently $1.237 billion).

The documents which were sent to the Pakistani National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by British authorities in April 2001 indicate that Mr Zardari received several large payments into his Swiss bank accounts from a Lebanese businessman, Abdulrahman Al-Assir, in 1994 and 1995.

The Liberation report quoted a former executive of the French naval company DCN as saying that French authorities had chosen Al-Assir to act as intermediary in the deal and he allegedly deposited a total of $1.3 million in Mr Zardari’s bank accounts between Aug 15 and Aug 30, 1994, one month before the submarine contract was signed, and then $1.2 million and $1.8 million one year later.

According to DCN employees who testified in the terror attack investigation, the kickbacks to Pakistan in the deal totalled 10 per cent of the purchase amount, with 6 per cent, or $49.5 million, going to the military and 4 per cent, or 33 million euros, being funnelled to political circles.

In 2001, Pakistani Navy’s former chief of staff Mansour-ul-Haq was arrested for his part in the deal and forced to repay $7 million, the daily says.

Legal proceedings against Mr Zardari were dropped in April 2008, several months before he was elected president. He was imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 on corruption charges unrelated to this affair.

The president, according to the report, is one of his country’s richest men, with a net worth estimated at $1.8 billion.

The ongoing investigation in Paris into the May 8, 2002, terrorist attack that killed 11 DCN employees in Karachi may shed new light on the submarine purchase.

The victims were in Karachi to complete work on the three submarines. According to French media, the magistrate looking into the bombing has rejected the theory that it was the work of Al Qaeda.

He is now considering the possibility that it was carried out by Pakistanis, either because only 85 per cent of the agreed kickbacks to politicians had been paid or because of negotiations carried out by French authorities to sell submarines to India.

In any case, some French parliamentarians are now demanding to be allowed to look into how the submarine contract with Pakistan was negotiated and executed.

Shahjee Home in Doha

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Qari Saifullah Akhtar

qari_saifullah_akhtar_20090907Belonging to Harkat-ul Jehad-ul Islami, he was arrested in 1995 for leading ‘Operation Khilafat’, aimed at toppling the Benazir regime and ushering in the Caliphate system. Releases in ’96, he went to Afghanistan where the Taliban’s Mullah Omar made him advisor on political affairs. After the US invasion, he fled Kandahar but was extradited from the UAE in August ’04 for plotting the twin suicide attacks on Gen Musharraf in December ’03. Was mysteriously set free weeks before Benazir returned to Pakistan in ’08. In a posthumous book, she named him as the main suspect in the assassination bid on her on October 18, ’07, in Karachi. Said to be in Waziristan now.

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Jokers in the Pack: PPP Spokespersons

_44322801_bentwopicPPP never but never deals with dictators. It was the figment of our imagination that ‘Bezamir’ had cut a deal with Musharraf in Abu Dhabi to make a come back in Pakistan politics from where he had kept her out, in return for electing him as her own president. Not possible, because PPP never deals with dictators. Or so we are told. 

It is also inconceivable that the Benazir deal with Musharraf could end up with a Zardari deal with Musharraf. Not possible, because PPP never deals with dictators. Or so we are told.

Clip_12A letter in the Nation of  Sep 14 titled ‘Jokers in the pack’ talks about PPP spokespersons on TV: You ask them a question about north, and they will tell you a story about south; you ask them east and the answer will be west. These people are so short of grey matter that they cannot speak a single sentence without including the name of ‘shaheed’ Zulfikar Bhutto or ‘shaheed’ Benazir Bhutto. 

The best of these court jesters in order of their performance are: Jehangir Badar,

Qamaruzzaman Khaira,

Fauzia Wahab,

Farzana Raja or Mardana Raja or Maharaja

Pervez Ashraf,

Babar Awan,

Manzoor Watto and the bulky lady doctor.

It appears they are being paid to sing eulogies of Zardari and nothing else. 

Had Hitler had the services of these people he would today be remembered as a great democrat who had given many sacrifices for democracy.

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Mother of all Bureaucracies in the Presidency

 Nation Sep 11:

A burgeoning bureaucracy has been established within the Presidency comprising President Zardaris Public, Personal, and Political Secretariats.

The strength of this collection of Presidential staffers is unprecedented and is even larger than General Musharraf’s staff even though the latter was also wearing the COAS hat as well.

Asif_Ali_Zardari_and_Daphne_DAF_033Apart from the Presidents personal staff and an array of political advisors and assistants, over half a dozen top level civil servants working in the Presidents Public Secretariat under Secretary General Salman Faruqi indicate that there is in reality a parallel bureaucracy in the Presidency.

According to the list of senior level staff under Salman Faruqi,

Malik Asif Hayat, a retired secretary of the Police Services, has been rehired on contract basis as Secretary to the President.-         

Seven Additional Secretaries in their respective areas of responsibility include:

Zaid Usman (Administration) looking after Presidents Contingent Grant, General Petitions, President Estate and Transport, Auditor General of Pakistan, Social Welfare And Special Education Division, Bait-ul-Mal, Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA), National Accountability Bureau, Religious Affairs Division, Council of Islamic Ideology, Minorities Affairs Division, Zakat and Ushar Division, Sports, Pakistan Cricket Board, Federal Ombudsman, and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Abdul Shafiq (AS Coordination) looks after Presidents programmes, Presidents Travels, Attorney General, Supreme Court, Prime Ministers Secretariat, Prime Ministers Inspection Commission, the National Commission for Government Reforms, National Disaster Management Authority, National Assembly, and Senate Secretariats, Law and Justice Division, Federal Services Tribunal, Parliamentary Affairs Division, Election Commission, Cabinet Division, Intelligence Bureau, Establishment Division, Federal Public Service Commission, and Federal Land Commission.

M Shahzad Arbab (AS Establishment) takes care of State and Frontier Regions, IDPs, Federal Divisions for Commerce, Industries, Special Initiative, Investment, Planning and Development, Economic Affairs, Textile, Ministry of Information, Local Government and Rural Development, Finance, Statistics, Revenue Division (FBR) besides State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, PTV and Radio Pakistan.

Muhammad Ishaq Lashari (AS HD) is responsible for Divisions including Culture, Environment, Education, HEC, Food and Agriculture, Health, Overseas Pakistani, Livestock and Dairy, Population Welfare, Women Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs, Housing and Works, Human Rights, Labour and Manpower, besides the Presidents website, NCHD and NRB.

 Zafar Qadir (AS Infra) takes care of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and Pakistan Telecom Authority and Divisions including Ports and Shipping, Postal Service, Railways, IT and Telecom, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Scientific and Technology, Privatization, and Water and Power,

Hassan Javed (AS FA) is responsible for Special Committee on Kashmir and National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Justice Retired Ali Nawaz Chohan (Consultant Legal Affairs), appeals and cases of Mohtasib, and Federal Tax Ombudsman, Cases referred for legal advice, mercy petitions, and stay of execution.

No wonder the parliament has noting to do. Here we a have the mother of all presidential systems.

Khurshid Anwer

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An Analysis of MQM’s Altaf Hussain in 1995

By JONATHAN FORD

LONDON, 13 July 1995 (The Independent) – A terrorist and
mass-murderer is at large in the north London suburb of Mill Hill,
according to Pakistan’s PM, Benazir Bhutto. She refers to him publicly as a “cowardly rat”, and her government has asked Interpol to issue warrants for his arrest and return to Pakistan, where he faces more than 100 criminal charges, ranging from arson to murder and torture.

But Altaf Hussain, the leader of MQM, is unlikely to be going anywhere in the near future. Since 1992, when he fled Pakistan, he has directed the day-to-day decision-making of his party from London, secure in the knowledge that as there is no extradition
treaty between Britain and Pakistan, he is unlikely to be deported to
face his critics back home. He was not deported from UK to Pakistan
and the UK citizenship wasgranted to him.

Most commentators say that the MQM, the party he founded 11 years ago to champion the interests of Pakistan’s Mohajirs – Urdu-speaking migrants from India – has brought parts of southern Pakistan close to civil war, threatening the disintegration of the Muslim homeland carved so bloodily out of British-India in 1947.

Hussain set up the MQM to protest against the discrimination suffered by the 20 million Mohajirs who represent 50 percent of the population of the southern province of Sind. The party demanded better housing, more access to education and greater representation in local and federal government. Many MQM activists say it still stands for these things, but what started out as a civil rights campaign has turned into a bloody tribal war between Mohajirs and the largely Sindhi government security forces.

In Karachi, the main battlefield, more than 1,000 people have died so far in 1995 – more than 400 of them in the past six weeks of intense fighting. The MQM is now talking about a separate province for Karachi, and some say that Hussain favours a separate state for the Mohajirs. Alluding to the traumatic dismemberment of the country in 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh from the then East Pakistan, he recently warned Ms. Bhutto: “Don’t push the Mohajirs to the wall. Or 1971 will be repeated.”

This is not an idle threat. For despite years of futile fighting (the
violence in Karachi has been going on, sporadically, since 1988) and
all the accusations of torture, murder and racketeering levelled
against him, Hussain remains fanatically popular among Pakistan’s
Mohajirs. “His hold over these people is extraordinary,” says one
journalist. “If he ordered them to jump off a cliff, they would
probably do it.”

A quiet street of Thirties semi-detached houses seems an unlikely
location for the headquarters of a protagonist in this high-stakes
poker game, but this is where Hussain lives. Hussain’s home is
slightly tattier than his neighbours’, with peeling window frames and
black plastic sheeting over the ground-floor windows. According to one of the volunteers who helps to run the office, this is not a security
measure, but has been done to allow the drawing room to be used as a makeshift film studio. “So many people are coming to film Mr. Altaf
Hussain at the moment”, he sighs happily.

Inside the house there is strong evidence of a personality cult.
Posters showing Hussain’s grinning face abound and party workers talk about him in hushed tones. “To us, Mr. Altaf Hussain is like the new Gandhi,” whispered one, as I waited for my audience with the leader.

Altaf Hussain is in fact a plump, bespectacled man, neatly dressed in
a blue blazer and flannel trousers. When I ask if he models himself on
the great independence leader, he laughs: “I don’t really have a model
of anyone in mind. But I share his belief in non-violence. I think
that as we approach the 21st century, it should be possible for people
to achieve rights peacefully.” He pauses, removes his spectacles, and
fixes me with a portentous look: “When my people come to me and say, ‘Altaf bhai, shall we take up weapons?’ I always say that
non-violence is the best weapon.”

Hussain was born in Karachi in 1953, the son of an Indian-Muslim who had been the station master in Agra under the Raj, and who fled to Pakistan at the time of partition. He grew up in a comfortable middle-class household, something he now downplays, preferring to describe himself as Pakistan’s first lower-middle-class politician. It is part of his political appeal that he is not a member of the aristocratic
feudal elite that dominates Pakistani politics. “What is this fascist
Benazir Bhutto who claims to speak for the Pakistani people?” he asks
rhetorically at one point. “She is a feudal landlord who treats the
peasants on her family estate like slaves, and yet she claims to be a
modern democrat. Only I speak for the downtrodden masses of Pakistan.”

According to Hussain, it was in the Seventies that he became aware of
the grievances of the Mohajir people, or nation, as he calls them. It
was under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government between 1971 and 1977 that these became open and acrimonious. Bhutto’s PPP government depended on its power base in Sind province, where the native Sindhis had long resented the presence of Mohajirs, who, being well educated and industrious, had come to dominate the economic
life of Sind’s two main cities, Karachi and Hyderabad. Hussain says
Bhutto, a Sindhi himself, blatantly discriminated against Mohajirs.
Urdu was banned as an official language and quotas were imposed
restricting Mohajirs’ access to education and government jobs.

Hussain became a victim of this discrimination when he was denied
entry to Karachi University to read pharmacy, despite having the
necessary qualifications. “When I found other Mohajirs who had been
refused places, I asked them: ‘Are you ready to struggle for your
rights?’” This led to the creation in 1978 of the All-Pakistan Mohajir
Students’ Organisation [APMSO], forerunner of the MQM. By all
accounts, the APMSO attracted little support from Mohajir students and was banned in 1981 after violent clashes with other student
organisations. Hussain went away to lick his wounds and rebuild his
political movement. Out of this emerged the MQM in 1984.

If the APMSO was a failure, the MQM has been, electorally at least, a
spectacular success. Ever since it first contested local elections in
1987 on Hussain’s 18-point programme to redress Mohajir grievances, it has dominated politics in Hyderabad and Karachi, where Hussain is the acknowledged “uncrowned king.”

MQM rule in Karachi has been something of a mixed blessing, however. While it ended some of the more blatant examples of discrimination against Mohajirs, such as the restrictive quotas in education and government employment, one businessman – a Mohajir – says: “The years of MQM rule from 1987-1992 did this city no favours. You can’t say Karachi was well governed: public services continued to decay. There was a massive increase in violence, with the ruling party engaging in street gun battles with its political opponents.”

Since 1992, when the army moved in to quell the street violence,
Karachi has been directly ruled from Islamabad. The restoration of
locally elected municipal government is one of the party’s main
demands.

Hussain rolls his eyes when I mention alleged MQM violence and
extortion and gives what is obviously a standard rebuttal: “This talk
of violence is all government propaganda. I give you my guarantee that no violent act has ever been carried out by MQM people under my orders.” As to extortion: “It is not the policy of the MQM.”

One of the striking things about Hussain is his intemperate language,
which sits ill with his claims to be a moderate political leader.
Although he claims to preach restraint, he harps with lurid relish on
the atrocities committed against the Mohajirs. But he sees no link
between his fiery oratory and the violence. When I ask if he doesn’t
feel he should tone down his apocalyptic talk given the combustible
atmosphere in Karachi, he shrugs: “If there is war, it will be the
government’s responsibility.”

That the government bears some responsibility for the current crisis
is not in doubt. Since Benazir Bhutto returned to power in 1993, the
historic enmity between the PPP and the Mohajirs has given it a
sharper edge, and the security forces have murdered, tortured and
intimidated at least as much as their Mohajir opponents. During this
period Ms. Bhutto has ostentatiously refused to have any contact with the MQM on the grounds that it is a “terrorist party”.

Now, in a sudden volte face, the government is offering negotiations,
scheduled to take place in the capital, Islamabad. One might expect
this to be the occasion for celebration in the MQM camp, but in Mill
Hill, Hussain remains as obdurate in his hostility to Ms. Bhutto as
ever. “We are not going to Islamabad to negotiate”, he says. “Only if
the government will concede our demands, which are reasonable and
within the constitution, is there a way forward.”

There has been a long-running debate in Pakistan about whether Altaf
Hussain represents the coming of age of truly democratic Pakistani
politics, in which the feudal elite has no place, or whether he is a
throwback to the old-style unprincipled and demagogic South Asian
leader, a sort of Nehru de nos jours. I left Mill Hill inclining
towards the latter interpretation, and with the feeling that his self-
imposed exile in London has hardened Hussain’s naturally authoritarian temperament. He enjoys playing the distant god, issuing instructions by telephone and fax to his acolytes. Given his largely unprintable views about Benazir Bhutto, he seems
likely to remain the uncrowned king of Karachi for some time to come.

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Chief Justice, & Not the PPP, is the Champion of the Poor

Instead of PPP giving relief to the poor, the Chief Justice is trying to help them.
 
Since March 2008, PPP has not done any thing other than establishing a Benazir Fund, to change the direction of economic policies which were followed by Musharraf.
 
Whats the point of having democracy when no benefits occur to the deprived classes. Why should people wait for democratic governments?
 
What PPP could have done since coming to power:
 
–PPP with the help of ANP and MQM should have implemented the 1977 Land Reform passed by the Parliament.
 
–All taxes taken indirectly from people like the PDL, 17% Excise duty on electricity, gas and telephone, Rs 25 Custom plus other taxes on edible oil  and other such items could have been withdrawn to give immediate relief to the people.

To cover the loss in income, salaries and benefits of all government employees may have been reduced.They have increased 400% during the last 4 years and thus at even at half they will up 200% or 50% annually. While the poor have been crushed with more than 60% inflation during the same period.
 
–To tax the rich, 40% Inheritance Tax could have been imposed and Wealth Tax revived at 2% above Rs 4 crore.
 
–Besides the whole Tax collection system may be tendered out. I estimate that it will be taken up at Rs 4 trillion against current collection of Rs 1.1 trillion.
 
–To make Army self financed, all Army barracks and offices in Urban Areas may be auctioned out and all installations shifted to remote areas. I estimate it will bring in Rs 50 trillion.
 
–Out which, Rs 10 trillion should be enough to make state of the art defence facilities while Rs 40 trillion  invested at 10% should bring in Rs 400 billion annually for running expenditure of the army.
 
Tarique Khan Javed
President,
Overseas Pakistani Investors Forum (OPIF)
0300-923-2476
www.tariquekj.com

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Operation Blue Tulsi: Destroying Pakistan’s Nuclear Assets

PPP government was dismissed in 1996 because Rehman Malik, DG FIA and Asif Zardari had promised Indians and Israelis access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. 

In 1994-95 Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA, and under the auspices of Asif Zardari, collecting information about Pakistan’s nuclear installations. Malik offered the Indians direct access to Kashmiri and Afghan fighters he would capture.

 In July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad were cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats.

In the late eighties, two junior intelligence officers one Pakistani other Indian faced each other on opposite sides of the law. The Pakistani intelligence officer had caught the Indian agent on Pakistani soil with incriminating evidence. Indian agent knew his life had come to an end. However, everything has a price. And his freedom was worth a little less than half a million rupees. A few days later the Indian agent was sitting back at home, free as a bird. And life went on for several more years until the fateful year of 1994 when the two old “chaps” met again. This time officially. The Indian agent had climbed the ladder to an important post in the government. At this side of the border the junior Pakistani agent, against all odds had become one of the top bosses at Federal Investigation Agency. Of course, this was the infamous Rehman Malik.

The Indian side wanted Pakistani Government’s help in reducing cross-border terrorism. But Rehman Malik offered a lot more than mere reduction in “cross-border”. He had been appointed as Additional Director FIA and yielded immense power through the country. Additionally he had become the right-hand-man of Asif  Zardari, stashing his looted money all over the world. He offered them direct access to the jihadists which he would capture. Somewhere along the line Israel also became a party to the deal and soon Mossad agents were carrying out investigations of the captured (ISI backed) jihadists on Pakistani soil. There were millions to be made from the deal and of course Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA and under the auspices of Asif Ali Zardari. ISI, Pakistan Military and top brass quietly kept a close watch. Although painful but capture of a few foot soldiers was bearable in the bigger national interest.

By 1995 in a little over a year the Benazir Bhutto government had expelled 2000 Arab mujahidin of the Afghan-Soviet War and imprisoned number of Pakistani mujahidin.

Secondly and more significantly, Benazir Bhutto on her official visit to US in April 1995 met in secret with an Israeli delegation. On her return she faced stiff resistance from a block of military and civilian bureaucracy which had generated great suspicions of her dealings with India and Israel. Just four months later she thwarted a coup attempt against her headed by Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi. Director General of Military Intelligence Major General Ali Kuli Khan tipped-off General Abdul Waheed Kakar who immediately ordered Chief of General Staff Lt. General Jehangir Karamat to suppress the coup. A total of 36 army officers and 20 civilians were arrested from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Then in November 1995 Egyptian Embassy blast occurred. Al-Qaeda was quick to claim it. Although the real reasons of the handlers of bombers remain hidden to this day, but in the next few days a silent but significant event happened. General Abdul Waheed Kakar who was given an extension in his tenure he refused it and Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was appointed as the Army Chief by the then President Farooq Leghari on December 18, 1995. Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was the senior most general at the time, therefore the least controversial within the military. The other three generals who were in the position to become COAS were Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, Lt Gen Naseer Akhtar, and Lt Gen Mohammad Tariq. Lt. Gen. Ghulam Muhammad Malik had already retired in October 1995.

Maj Gen Naseem Rana was heading the ISI at the time, taken his charge in October 1995. Lt Gen Shujat Ali Khan was heading the ISI’s Internal Wing.

In the backdrop of these events in Pakistan, in March 1995 Israel’s Air Force chief had visited India with an entourage that included key Mossad officials. It was at this point that in a meeting Pakistan’s nuclear program was discussed. A year later Indian nuclear and missile program head, Abdul Kalam had a “top secret” visit of Israel in June 1996. It was “top secret” because no one knew about it. As it turned out, everyone knew about it even before he left India. All the much publicized secrecy and visit of such a top level official achieved the aim and nearly nobody bothered with the entourage which included a manager from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – Alok Tiwari. The “top secret” meetings between Abdul Kalam and his Israeli counterparts were related to purchase of UAVs. However, in every single one of those “top secret” meetings Alok Tiwari was missing.

Just a few days later, after coming back to India Tiwari accompanied Air Chief Marshal S. K. Sareen to Israel in Israel in July 1996. In fact this was his third trip. He had also visited Israel in April 1996 along with India’s first Defence Attaché to Israel.

First Wave

In late July 1996 MQM organized a province wide strike. Simultaneously a large bomb exploded at Lahore airport and a second at Faisalabad railway station. On 14th August 1996 12 SSP activists were gunned down during an Independence Rally by unidentified gunmen. By end August Punjab had been engulfed in sectarian violence, Shias and Sunnis were being gunned down in broad daylight. The political and security situation worsened by the murder of Murtaza Bhutto and reinstatement of Manzoor Wattoo as Chief Minister of Punjab. The country seemed in a political and economic turmoil with violence erupting throughout the country. At the same time, out of blue Ataullah Mengal returned from his self-imposed exile.

While everyone was busy with the current crisis a team of agents working directly under Rehman Malik were gathering information on Kahuta and A.Q. Khan. Beginning November 1996 ISI saw an increase in Indian troops movement, which finally sent alarm bells ringing through the echelons of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Suddenly, all the pieces fell in place and Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik’s shenanigans seemed a lot deeper than mere money grabbing tactics. By fourth of November a thick load of evidence had been gathered on Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik working with the consent of Asif Zardari towards gathering information on the progress of Pakistan’s nuclear program.

On November 5, 1996, Farooq Leghari dissolved Benazir Bhutto’s government. At the other side of the border, this caused the immediate visit of Israeli naval chief Vice-Admiral Alex Tal to India. Back at home, Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik were imprisoned on undisclosed charges.

Second Wave

In February 1997, Indian Defence Secretary T. K. Banerji led a high level defence delegation to Israel to discuss the “exchange of technology” between two countries. Other than the official purpose the most important topic was Pakistan’s nuclear program. By the end of the visit the two countries had decided to do “whatever” it takes to neutralize the threat.

In March next year the BJP won Indian elections and one of the immediate policies adopted was to tackle Pakistan’s nuclear issue by any means possible. With such enthusiastic approach the government even decided to take the most extreme measures if needed. In the next two months the official and diplomatic delegations between India and Israel came to a halt, however, there was a sudden rise in non-diplomatic delegations between the two countries. The last official visit was of Gen. Prakash Malik to Israel in March 1998, who was also the first serving Indian Chief of Army Staff to visit Israel since normalization. In April 1998 two out-of-the ordinary incidents happened. Air India announced its discontinuation of Tel Aviv flight on 1 April 1998 and early April the Confederation of Indian Industry announced an unplanned “Study Mission” to Israel. This was the prelude to the second wave which officially started on 11th May 1998 when India exploded its nuclear bombs.

Night of 27-28 May

Pakistan resisted testing its nuclear bombs for nearly two weeks until 27th May 1998. On 27 May 1998 in a top level meeting Lt. Gen. Naseem Rana, (DG ISIP briefed the PM Nawaz Sharif and army chief of the increasing intelligence reports of possible Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear installations. However, the panic this created was nothing compared to the next two meetings.

The first report pertained to the sighting of an unidentified F-16 aircraft at the periphery of Pakistan’s airspace on 27th May. Knowing India did not have F-16, the obvious suggestion was presence of Israeli Air Force in the area (especially with the reports of Indian COAS visiting Israel just a month ago).

And the second report coming just before 1am on 28th May recorded unusual movements of Indian aircrafts just across the border which suggested India was preparing for preventive airstrikes against Pakistan. The obvious response of nuclear tests on 28th May.

The tests confirmed once and for all that Pakistan has nuclear capability.

Deduction

It seemed probable that BJP Government had decided to fire its nuclear bombs to force Pakistan into test firing its – if it has any. After a delay of two weeks, doubts had started rising in nearly every analytical discourse that Pakistan did not have the nuclear capability otherwise it would have responded. This was the golden opportunity to take out Pakistan/Pakistan’s nuclear installations before that Pakistan got the capability. The important visit of Indian COAS to Israel in March – in the light of proceeding events – could only be regarding Israel’s support for the planned attack. Whatever, the reasons and aims, the end result was establishment of Pakistan as a nuclear state, which completely changed the Great Nuclear Game.

Third Wave

Pakistan’s test firing of nuclear bombs was a shock for the rest of the world. No one expected, in the first place for Pakistan to have the capability and secondly to fire them if it had. For India and Israel, who were two top most interested parties in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets, this meant a complete overhaul of their strategy.

A year later Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra came to meet Barak in September 1999 and this time he was accompanied with a familiar face – Alok Tiwari. Within a year, Alok Tiwari and another security analyst finalized a document based on their discussion the preceding year.

In June 2000 L. K. Advani visited Israel in which new deals related to Mossad and Shabak espionage and cooperation with RAW are finalized and as a result Israel was allowed to establish its own network to operate from India.

By July 2000 a heavy deployment of Israeli agents in Indian Occupied Kashmir was reported. Near the end of 2000 Israel’s top intelligence officers were reported to have visited India and discussed amongst other issues, Kashmir and Pakistan’s nuclear assets. By the end of the visit the top spies of the two country had agreed to cooperate on the operation detailed inside the thick volume titled: “Operation Blue Tulsi”.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Preparation

Preparation for the mega Operation Blue Tulsi began fervently in early 2001. By mid 2001 eyebrows were being raised over RAW and Mossad’s cooperation and in July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad are cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats. In addition, bombs would be exploded in trains, railway stations, bridges, bus stations, cinemas, hotels and mosques of rival Islamic sects to incite sectarianism.

At the same time the Balouchistan Liberation Army rose out of dead like a second incarnation and Balach Marri a Moscow graduate declares himself as the leader of BLA. Within weeks in Balochistan numerous training camps sprouted with each camp reported to be training up to a 100 militants. Intelligence of RAW, Mossad and CIA agents operating in Balochistan started coming in.

In mid 2001 reports appeared that Special Operations Division of Mossad, also known as Metsada, specializing in assassinations and sabotage have been based in India since May 2001 to train RAW operatives and Mossad and Shin Bet or Shabak were operating a number of teams in Indian Held Kashmir and were also operating a delicate spy network from Indian soil. In July 2001 RAW increased its budget for Indian consulates in Afghanistan by nearly 10 times.

Within days after Sep 11, a story was leaked into press that Pakistan is dismantling and spreading its nuclear assets to safer places implying that it would be much more difficult to pinpoint them and much more easier for extremists to get hold of. These news stories were shortly followed by another piece on 28 October 2001 which stated that Pentagon was looking into plans to dispatch an elite unit into the Pakistan to disarm its nuclear arsenal. The special unit which was trained to slip into foreign countries to ferret out and disarm nuclear weapons and operated under Pentagon control with CIA assistance and would be getting special help from Israel’s Sayeret Matkal also known as Unit 262.

In December 2001 Indian PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while addressing the parliament said, “the question was not whether there should be or should not be a war, the question was under what circumstances there will be war … and whether there will be a war.”

In December 2001 Benazir Bhutto while visiting India said in her interviews, “President, Musharraf, as an army general, had planned the Kargil invasion in Jammu and Kashmir while I was the PM.” Later she also said, “Pakistan army as an institution had brought back Osama bin Laden”.

This rhetoric of Benazir Bhutto was perfectly in line with the agreement signed by US and India in 2002. Late in 2002 US and India signed an agreement on cooperation in disarming Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the two player offensive team of Operation Blue Tulsi found a third partner in the form of CIA. As a result of this deal Abdullah Mehsud was freed from Guantanamo Bay and returned to Pakistan with millions in cash.

Benazir Bhutto’s statements in India were the major reason Musharraf’s declaration of Benazir Bhutto as a “security risk” during a chat with Pakistan’s leading editors and correspondents in April 2002. Pakistani security agencies already had a great deal of intelligence regarding Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and Rehman Malik’s involvement with Mossad and India in 1995-96 and their collaboration against Pakistan’s nuclear assets.

In January 2002 under orders from L. K. Advani RAW and other intelligence agencies submited a detailed report on military options for solving Kashmir issue and in case of a full-fledged war, for neutralizing Pakistan’s nuclear assets. One major outcome of the report was creation of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in March 2002 with the authority to conduct external operations supported by a huge budget.

Also, a Lawyers’ Struggle surfaced in October 2003 under the leadership of Hamid Ali Khan (now drowned under the infamous Lawyers’ Movement). The first prominent protest of the “struggle” was held on 15 October 2003 in which the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Hamid Ali Khan said, “Musharraf’s very presence within the army and holding of other important offices and Shaikh Riaz Ahmad’s continuation as chief justice after his retirement are undoubtedly illegal and unconstitutional… Let’s think collectively, move forward collectively and act collectively to outs usurper generals and judges (who had collaborated with Musharraf including Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. However, like a B-grade movie twist, four years later Iftikhar Chaudry becomes the hero to these same lawyers who wanted to oust him. Like a script from past, this protest had followed a “Long March”. And the “struggle” then moved to other cities one by one asking Musharraf, Riaz Ahamad and among others Iftikhar Chaudhry’s removal from office. At this point along with Hamid Ali Khan, Kazim Khan was at the forefront. Lacking the charisma and cunning of their successors, assassination of a leader, and shortage of “unlimited” billions of rupees their names and their Lawyers’ Struggles has been confined to the dusty pages of history with their names ascribed against the words, “traitors”.

Also, there is no evidence to support that assassination attempts on Pervez Musharraf were somehow related to the timing of the Lawyers’ Struggle.

By mid 2004 the government had ample evidence that BLA and some Baloch leaders were conspiring against the government, aided by foreign countries.

On 13th August 2004 the Chief Minister of Baluchistan, Jam Muhammad Yousaf is quoted by The Herald (Sep 2004-Karachi): “Indian secret services (RAW) are maintaining 40 terrorist camps all over the Baluch territory”. While this was happening on ground, there was talk of “Peace Talks” everywhere in the air. And Jan Muhammad Jamali had become a laughing stock of the media for his suggestion of foreign agents operating in Balochistan, which despite the ground facts forcefully opposed such thoughts.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Start

1st January 2005 was the starting date. The local agents got the signal and the operation started with the ominous rape of a female doctor in Sui on 2nd January 2005. As expected the incident created headlines all round and culprits not being found created a much supported backlash. This was shortly followed by rocketing of gas installation at Sui on 7th January which put a hole in Pakistan’s gas supply for nearly a week.

2005 was a busy year with Baloch terrorists continuously creating havoc in Balochistan and adjacent areas and ended with assassination attempts on Musharraf in December. After President Musharraf escapes a rocket attack on his life in December 2005 and the Inspector General Frontier Corps survives an assassination attempt, Navtej Sarna, the Indian External Affairs Ministry’s spokesman said, “The Government of India has been watching with concern the spiralling violence in Balochistan and the heavy military action, including use of helicopter gun-ships and jet fighters by the Government of Pakistan to quell it… We hope the Government of Pakistan will exercise restraint and take recourse to peaceful discussions to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan”.
The Indian Government had realized that the two assassination attempts would surely result in backfire on the Indian assets in Balochistan, which it needed to safeguard for its final aim, especially Akbar Bugti. Just as suspected, the Government of Pakistan intensifies its operation against Baloch militants.

And in April 2006 Government of Balochistan is setup with its offices in Jerusalem under Azaad Khan Baloch. In a laughingly stupid mistake, Azaad Khan Baloch who is representing Balochis of Pakistan decided to spell his name according to Hindi transliteration with double “a” in Az”aa”d, rather than a single “a” as used in Pakistan, i.e. Azad. Or more probable, “Azad Khan Baloch” is not a Pakistani.

Meanwhile in Balochistan the government operation against Akbar Bugti intensified who took shelter in the rugged mountain range and coordinated the activities of his militants from there. Ultimately the military found him and during the process of capture Akbar Bugti died because of cave-roof collapse on 26 August 2006.

Starting March 2007, every incident occurring in the country was tied to the aim of ousting Musharraf, including the much profitable Lawyers’ Movement. Intelligence agencies were having a field-day bringing in pile after pile of reports proving involvement of CIA, RAW, Mossad and MI6 towards Musharraf’s ouster. True to some extent but unlike analyzed, ouster of Musharraf was just one milestone towards the main goal, which every agency completely missed. Thus, all their efforts went into controlling the situation to secure Musharraf, while in the backdrop, silently the wheels kept turning. While Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan were burning Swat was sitting quietly, unnoticed and out of radar. Within a period of few months, the numbers of “Pakistani Taliban” in Swat surged and just as well their ammunition, latest military equipment a country like Pakistan would dream of. A portion of this ended up in the ill-fated Lal Masjid. While intelligence and military were busy keeping Musharraf’s seat safe in Pakistan, a new political game started in UAE.

Rehman Malik enthusiastically started pursuing the goal of National Reconciliation Ordinance. He became instrumental in the final deal between Benazir Bhutto, US and Pervez Musharraf and NRO. Since Benazir Bhutto did not have much to lose without NRO she was never  interested in it. That was the reason two options were thrown at Musharraf, i.e. either eliminating the two term condition or NRO. Rehman Malik on the other hand was vehemently pursuing NRO, as of the three (Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto and Rehman Malik) the Government of Pakistan only had clear evidence against Rehman Malik and it was enough to put him in jail for life (i.e. involvement in espionage and working with Mossad and RAW). However, at that point no one knew the real motivations of Rehman Malik other than that he was working to get the path clear for Benazir’s return. Amazingly, FBI also was putting its weight behind NRO rather than eliminating the two term condition. While, if US had really wanted Benazir Bhutto as PM, logic dictates that they would want the two term condition eliminated to assure her easy succession to the premiership. It needs to be noted here that Rehman Malik had also tried to do a similar deal in 2005, which never materialized. This time it did.

Near the end of 2007, intelligence and military were convinced that a conspiracy had been hatched in the country with the sole aim of removing Musharraf from power. Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, simultaneous rioting throughout the country, terrorist activities occurring in every province had considerable similarities to the Bush Administration backed Color Revolutions. In order to keep Musharraf in power the government kept giving into one demand after the other. As a result Rehman Malik becomes head of Interior Ministry, Yusuf Raza Gilani becomes the PM and sweeping changes are made in the security and intelligence community. Still, the government saw the war finally over when in one move Gilani puts ISI under Interior Minister on 27 July 2008. Until that time ISI and top brass had thought all Rehman Malik wanted was to get-rid of extremist elements from ISI and Pakistan’s establishment.

It was the end of July 2008 when the alarm bells started ringing again in the high echelons. Intelligence machinery went into extra high gear and millions later it came back with the name: Operation Blue Tulsi.

Operation Blue Tulsi: the Revelation

The Establishment, only now realized the full extent of the operation which they had been witnessing since the beginning of 2000. More worryingly, the current operation had eerily similar modus operandi to the 1995-96 debacle – which left the country tethering onto its nuclear assets – just that this time it was vastly more sophisticated and greater in size. In matter of hours the priorities changed. Keeping Musharraf in power suddenly paled in comparison to the real threat.

In 1995-96 India came up with a plan to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear facilities before that Pakistan developed a nuclear capability. The plan was prepared by a RAW agent Alok Tiwari (who has recently been compromised). At that time Mossad was already active in Pakistan and once it heard about the project for elimination of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities jumped in by first streamlining the project further and then using its assets in Pakistan. Somewhere in early 1996 the operation was given go-ahead. At that point FIA Director General Ghulam Asghar and his ADG Rehman Malik in a deal with India and Israel were hunting down Pakistan based Kashmiri and Arab militants. These two proved to be the front line in the operation and when contacted by Indian agents fully agreed to supply all the necessary information regarding Kahuta and A. Q. Khan’s operations. Towards mid 96 demonstrations and chaos erupted throughout the country. The aim was to destabilize the country enough that when the two confirmed Pakistan did not have any nuclear capabilities India would go-ahead with all out assault. General Jehangir Karamat who was already weary of the two chaps and Asif Zardari’s complicity took immediate action and Benazir Bhutto’s government was dissolved. The duo of Asghar and Malik and Zardari had already come into military’s radar the year before when they tried to lure General Abdul Wahed Kakar.

Then five years later, Alok Tiwari submited an updated version of his older report. Israel was again consulted and this time L. K. Advani vehemently pursued it. Towards the end of 2000 a delegation of top Mossad brass visited India and the combined operation titled: Operation Blue Tulsi was finalized and put into operation which had only one aim:

Destroy Pakistan’s nuclear assets followed by its Balkanization.

Approach

Resurrect Baloch insurgency. Pakistan was fine with it, as it had 30 years of experience with it, starting with the Afghan-Soviet War.

Buy officials in military, bureaucracy, politics and law. ISI was fine with it, as it had 60 years of experience in dealing with traitors.

Plant agents in top positions in Taliban, FATA and NWFP. A shocker for everyone.

Taliban were the foster child of ISI and the agency had no contingency for enemy agents in top positions. The best option they came up with was to buy back the agents with more money and as a result they were deceived time and again and again. Top on the list, Baitullah Mehsud. The twenty million dollars he got in suitcases was one of the stupidest moves in the world espionage history and ISI top brass to this day are vengefully pursuing him.

Milestones

Friendly political government. Asif Zardari in place, Aslam Raisani in Balochistan (though first choice Akbar Bugti unfortunately dead, MQM’s omnipresence in Sindh, Fazlur Rehman and ANP in NWFP)

Friendly judiciay. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Munir A. Malik, Atizaz Ahsan

Friendly Civil Society. Ansar Burney, Asma Jehangir

Unrest in NWFP and immediate threat of Taliban taking control of Islamabad. Back in 2002 US had agreed with India that if ever Pakistan seemed to destabilize or falling into the hands of extremists, it would help India in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities. The situation they agreed upon is well defined by the Pakistani media’s current theme song of “Taliban are coming to Islamabad”

Immediate Countermeasures

By August 2008 the operation was too deep rooted and it was clear if attention was diverted towards saving Musharraf there was more than a probability of loosing nuclear capability in near future. With Musharraf gone, ISI estimated a window of opportunity of 18 to 20 months before either Taliban or Asif Zardari with his shenanigans destabilized Pakistan. In the greater interest Musharraf decided to step down peacefully.

Operation Blue Tulsi: In Operation

Musharraf stepped down and Asif Ali Zardari took over, but by then the order had been sent and the agents in Swat Valley and FATA who had been preparing for the day for the last eight years launched an all out assault on the military with a single aim of destabilizing Pakistan.

In the eventful month of December 2007 Baitullah Mehsud had already announced officially the formation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Although right after the victory of PPP Baitullah Mehsud has negotiated peace with the government which led to the great debacle of US$ 20 million by August 2008 he was again involved with the military in a full on battle. ISI and military by this time had realized the foremost importance of ridding the Taliban off foreign agents and assets by any means and costs.

At one end Pakistan military still is trying to safeguard its own assets while tracing out and eliminating foreign agents, while at the other end US is trying its best to safeguard its prime asset of Baitullah Meshud who had taken over after the death of Abullah Mehsud. Until  recently, there had been not a single drone attack on Baitullah Mehsud, while ISI aligned Taliban had been bombed repeatedly, as a result of which many have turned their backs against Pakistan. Only in the recent months four drone attacks on Baitullah Mehsud’s territory have been reported.

Operation Blue Tulsi and Future

Currently the entire country is gripped by the ongoing operations of military against the Taliban. Media which once championed itself as the sympathizers of the Taliban and were chanting “Taliban are coming to Islamabad” have suddenly changed their tunes, especially after being declared by the Taliban as kafirs and thus “killable”.

The economy is in doldrums and corruption is rampantly high but the top brass knows Pakistan is first and for Pakistan nuclear assets come first. Thus, until the country is cleansed of all the foreign agents in FATA and Taliban, the military and intelligence has only one goal, to stop Operation Blue Tulsi at this stage, making sure it never goes into Phase TWO – attacking and destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets because extremist elements have destabilized Pakistan. 

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