By Mariana Baabar
IN a revised edition of her autobiography, Benazir Bhutto's "Daughter of the
East", which has been released in bookshops in London this week, some
startling revelations have been made.
According to 'Outlook', which is carrying the entire new chapter, the
revised autobiography had not been published before, and the preface and
this chapter was specially written for the revised edition of the book, now
available on bookshelves.
"Revision of the old book was necessary because many momentous developments
had taken place in the life of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto during the last two
decades", Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for the PPP told The News.
'Daughter of the East' was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1988. The
revised edition has been issued by Simon & Schuster, who also published
Musharraf's autobiography last year. The new edition has a preface and a new
chapter, 'Prime Minister and Beyond', which contains sensational
revelations, providing an insight into the mindset of the Pakistani military
and the ISI.
Benazir records in detail her conversation with Pervez Musharraf in 1996
when she was prime minister in her second term, and Musharraf, director of
military operations as major-general: "I once again heard how Pakistan would
take Srinagar if only I gave the orders to do so. Musharraf concluded the
briefing with the words that a ceasefire would be in place and Pakistan
would be in control of Srinagar, the capital of Indian-held Kashmir. I asked
him, 'And what next?í He was surprised by my question, and said, 'Next we
will put the flag of Pakistan on the Srinagar Parliament'.
"'And what next?' I asked the general.
"'Next you will go to the United Nations and tell them that Srinagar is in
Pakistan's control'.
"'And what next?' I pushed on. I could see General Musharraf had not been
prepared for this grilling and was getting flustered. He said, 'And you will
tell them to change the map of the world taking into consideration the new
geographical realities'.
"'And do you know what the United Nations will tell me?' I looked General
Musharraf straight in the eye, as the army chief sat silently by and the
room grew still, and pointedly said, 'They will pass a Security Council
Resolution condemning us and demanding that we unilaterally withdraw from
Srinagar, and we will have got nothing for our efforts but humiliation and
isolation.' I then abruptly ended the meeting."
That was the second time an offer to conquer Kashmir was made.
Benazir writes she had earlier received "offers" for Pakistan to take over
Srinagar during her first term as prime minister from December 2, 1988 to
August 6, 1990. Then Indian prime minister VP Singh had told her that
Pakistan was arming and training terrorists in Kashmir, an accusation she
denied. "What I did not mention was the offer I received from the Afghan
Arabs and the Pakistan militant groups in 1990. Using the good offices of
the ISI, they informed me that 'one hundred thousand battle-hardened
mujahideen were willing to go into Kashmir to assist the Kashmiri freedom
movement and somehow were confident about defeating the much larger Indian
Army. Knowing that any such transnational support would hurt rather than
help the Kashmiri people, I vetoed the idea."
Then army chief General Aslam Beg had, she said, asked her to approve a new
policy. "He said that if Islamabad went on 'offensive defence', it could
capture Srinagar...General Beg told me, 'Prime Minister, you just give the
order and your men will take Srinagar and you will wear the crown of victory
and of glory.' I thought he had lost all sense of reality."
Benazir makes clear she never liked or respected Musharraf. When she was
prime minister, she writes, "I declined to make him (Musharraf) my military
secretary. We initially refused his promotion because of his suspected
though unproven links to the ethnic, often violent party known as the
Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM)."
Equally revealing in her account is what the ISI and the military believed
it can do, and presumably still does: they do not just want Kashmir, they
want Afghanistan as well. Benazir okayed an ISI proposal during the days of
the Najibullah regime in Afghanistan for the Pakistani military to take
Kabul alongside the mujahideen.
"When I insisted that we explore a peaceful, orderly transfer of power in
Kabul with Shevardnadze (then Soviet foreign minister), my intelligence
chief said, 'Prime Minister, will you deny your men and the Afghan
mujahideen the right to march victoriously into Kabul and pray in the Masjid
together after all the sacrifices they have made?' This emotional plea
worked...surely the Afghan parties and our military boys deserved to
validate their victory with a triumphal entry into Kabul, which I was
assured would take place within days."
It never happened, and soon the intelligence boys came back to her,
suggesting a joining of Pakistan and Afghanistan so that 'there will be no
borders between us'. Benazir writes: "I rejected the idea of a confederation
with Afghanistan.íThis will give the Indians an excuse to intervene in
Afghanistan. And without American, Saudi and Iranian support it will land us
in bigger trouble,' I replied."
But support and money was coming to madrassas and the ISI all through the
days of Ziaul Haq's dictatorship, Benazir writes.
"Fund-raising activities across the Muslim world were established where the
faithful would make contributions for education, health and food for the
poor and needy. The money went into the political madrassas that claimed
they were teaching and feeding the orphans from the refugee camps, but in
fact were proselytising hatred and terrorism.
International funds poured in but were diverted to the ISI headquarters."
Not unlike what the Indian government has been saying for years.
One exchange gives some idea of the power of the ISI in relation to the
Pakistan government. The ISI head, she says, proposed an intelligence corps
to ensure continuity, make sure that all senior appointments are screened
through the ISI so as to maintain security control to defend the ideological
frontiers of the country.
Benazir writes: "I was being asked to authorise and legitimise the creation
of 'a state within a state' that would manipulate every aspect of life in
Pakistan, including subsequent elections. I refused. However, after my
overthrow, the interim prime minister brought by the ISI, Ghulam Mustafa
Jatoi, put their scheme in place."
Fighting off the ISI also meant taking on Osama bin Laden.
"Although Osama bin Laden had not yet formed al-Qaeda in 1989, I first heard
his name when he funded a no-confidence bill to overthrow my first
government.. Though he had returned to Saudi Arabia following the withdrawal
of the Soviets in February 1989, he was called back to Pakistan when I
asserted authority over the ISI in May. Bin Laden was asked by the ISI, with
whom he had long and close relations, to help overthrow the democratic
government and install a theocratic rule in Pakistan." Osama, she said, paid
$10 million to buy off her political supporters.
"Around this time I received a report that a Saudi plane had landed in
Pakistan loaded with mango boxes. Since Saudi Arabia grows dates and not
mangoes, we were quite suspicious. The civilian intelligence found that the
boxes did not contain mangoes but rather money." One of the Saudi King's
advisers, she said, "identified the source of the money as Osama bin Laden"..
And then: "I went to the US Embassy and personally called President George
Bush (Sr). I told the president that the military hardliners who had
supported the mujahideen were attempting to bring down my government with
the help of extremists and that foreign money was pouring into Pakistan."
She writes elsewhere that she was often hesitant to use her own phone
because it was tapped by the ISI.
Benazir lost the elections in August 1990. "I believe that the age of the
terrorist war actually coincided with the conclusion of the Pakistani
elections in 1990 and the formation of the Nawaz regime." The ISI, she
writes, chose Ramzi Yusef, who planned the first attack on the World Trade
Centre in 1993, to assassinate her during her election campaign that year.
He failed, and "was extradited, on my order, to the United States". That was
after Benazir was elected prime minister for the second time that year, and
found herself, she says, taking on the extremists again.
"I really do think that there is at least some degree of causality that most
major terrorist attacks took place when the extremists did not have to deal
with a democratic Pakistani government...this includes both the 1993 and
2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Bombay blasts, the Indian
Parliament attack, the attack on the US embassies in Africa and the USS
Cole in Yemen." Her government was dismissed for the second time on November
4, 1996.
That, she said, brought in Nawaz Sharif. "Under Nawaz, the Taliban changed
colour and character. They killed Iranian diplomats and allowed Bin Laden,
in 1998, to declare war on the West from their (Afghanistan) soil." But
Nawaz's "marriage of convenience" with the military and ISI did not last
long. "They ostensibly fell out over fighting in the area known as Kargil,
both blaming the other for the misadventure."
Pakistan suffered heavy casualties, she said. "An army-connected friend
informed me that the dead bodies of soldiers were kept in frozen lockers and
released in small tranches to prevent the news spreading of the high
casualties inflicted during the conflict."
She sees Musharraf continuing the support to terrorism, though he's been
trying to convince the international community that "he was the only
obstacle in the way of a fundamentalist take-over of nuclear armed
Pakistan", Benazir writes. "Tragically, there are still some that once again
have bought into this charade." She adds, "The militant cells, meantime, are
intact."
Finally, Benazir writes: "So as I prepare to return to an uncertain future
in Pakistan in 2007, I fully understand the stakes not only for myself, and
my country, but the entire world. I realise I can be arrested...I can be
gunned down on the airport tarmac when I land." But return she will, she
says. "I do what I have to do, and am determined to fulfil my pledge to the
people of Pakistan to stand by them in their democratic
aspirations...Democracy in Pakistan is not just important for Pakistanis, it
is important for the entire world."
Emailed by Khan Zia
Dec 11, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Pakistan police: 5 Americans have al-Qaida link
Regional police chief Javed Islam said the men wanted to join militants in Pakistan's tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and said they met with a banned military organization, Jaish-e-Mohammed in Hyderabad, and with representatives of a related group, Jamat-ud-Dawa, in Lahore.
Another law enforcement official, Usman Anwar, the local police chief in the eastern city of Sargodha, told The Associated Press that the five are "directly connected" to the al-Qaida terrorist network.
"They are proudly saying they are here for jihad" or holy war, Anwar said.
A key break in the case came not from federal agents or spies, but parents worried their sons may have made a terrible decision.
The families, based in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area, were particularly concerned after watching what is described as a disturbing farewell video from the young men, showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
"One person appeared in that video and they made references to the ongoing conflict in the world and that young Muslims have to do something," said Nihad Awad, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The video has not been made public.
After the disappearance of the five men in late November, their families, members of the local Muslim community, sought help from CAIR, which put them in touch with the FBI and got them a lawyer.
The men range in age from 19 to 25. One, Ramy Zamzam, is a dental student at Howard University. Pakistani police officer Tahir Gujjar identified the others under arrest as Eman Yasir, Waqar Hasan, Umer Farooq and Khalid Farooq.
They were arrested Wednesday at a house in Sargodha linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Pakistani officers said. Islam said investigators are sharing their findings with FBI officials now in Sargodha.
On the heels of charges against a Chicago man accused of plotting international terrorism, the case is another worrisome sign that Americans can be recruited within the United States to enlist in terrorist networks.
President Barack Obama declined to talk specifically about the case Thursday, but said, "We have to constantly be mindful that some of these twisted ideologies are available over the Internet."
Obama, in Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, also praised "the extraordinary contributions of the Muslim-American community, and how they have been woven into the fabric of our nation in a seamless fashion."
A Virginia Muslim leader said the five men did not seem to have become militant before they left the U.S.
"From all of our interviews, there was no sign they were outwardly radicalized," said Imam Johari Abdul-Malik.
Pakistan has many militant groups based in its territory and the U.S. has been pressing the government to crack down on extremism. Al-Qaida and Taliban militants are believed to be hiding in lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border.
In Washington, a spokeswoman for the FBI's local office said agents have been trying to help find the men.
"We are working with Pakistan authorities to determine their identities and the nature of their business there if indeed these are the students who had gone missing," said the spokeswoman, Katherine Schweit.
According to officials at CAIR, the five left the country at the end of November without telling their families.
After the young men left, at least one phoned his family still claiming to be in the United States, but the caller ID information suggested they were overseas.
A Howard University spokesman confirmed Zamzam was a student there but declined further comment.
Samirah Ali, president of Howard University's Muslim Student Association, said the FBI contacted her last week about Zamzam, and told her he had been missing for a week. Ali said she's known Zamzam for three years and never suspected he would be involved in radical activities.
"He's a very nice guy, very cordial, very friendly," Ali said.
One of Zamzam's younger brothers, interviewed at the family's Alexandria, Va., apartment, said Zamzam has a 4.0 grade-point average.
"He's a good guy," the brother said, identifying himself only by a nickname, "Zam." "He's a normal Joe."
___
Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo in Washington; Asif Shahzad, Zaran Khan and Munir Ahmad in Islamabad; and Nafeesa Syeed in Alexandria, Va., contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091210/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_pakistan_us_arrests_probeQuaid-e-Azam on Pakistan
'The Story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties.'
-Jinnah, founder of Pakistan
-Jinnah, founder of Pakistan
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Jihadist Strategic Dilemm
By George Friedman | December 7, 2009
With U.S. President Barack Obama’s announcement of his strategy in Afghanistan, the U.S.-jihadist war has entered a new phase. With its allies, the United States has decided to increase its focus on the Afghan war while continuing to withdraw from Iraq. Along with focusing on Afghanistan, it follows that there will be increased Western attention on Pakistan. Meanwhile, the question of what to do with Iran remains open, and is in turn linked to U.S.-Israeli relations. The region from the Mediterranean to the Hindu Kush remains in a war or near-war status. In a fundamental sense, U.S. strategy has not shifted under Obama: The United States remains in a spoiling-attack state.
As we have discussed, the primary U.S. interest in this region is twofold. The first aspect is to prevent the organization of further major terrorist attacks on the United States. The second is to prevent al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups from taking control of any significant countries. Read more »
www.STRATFOR.com.Police: Attack on Pakistan intel office kills 12
Police: Attack on Pakistan intel office kills 12
By KHALID TANVEER, Associated Press Writer Khalid Tanveer, Associated Press Writer 12 mins ago
MULTAN, Pakistan – A team of militants launched a gun, rocket and suicide attack on an intelligence office in central Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 12 people in a strike that showed the insurgents can hit deep in the heart of the country.
The raid in Multan signaled the relentless determination of militants, despite being pressured by a major army offensive in one of their Afghan border havens. It came a day after twin bombings at a market in the eastern city of Lahore killed 49.
Tuesday's blast ripped the facades off of several buildings in a part of the town largely reserved for government and security agencies. Also damaged was the apparent target of the blast, a building housing an office of Pakistan's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.
Senior police officer Agha Yusuf said at least three militants in a car carried out the attack. One of them first fired a rocket and an automatic weapon at a police checkpoint. Then the men drove the car to the intelligence agency and detonated it.
He said security force members were among the 12 dead.
The attack came as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited nearby Afghanistan, where he said Washington was ready to work more closely with Pakistan to fight the militants.
"The more they get attacked internally ... the more open they may be to additional help from us. But we are prepared to expand that relationship at any pace they are prepared to accept," he said.
The U.S. has waged its own campaign of missile strikes against insurgent targets in the border region. The latest suspected airstrike destroyed a car carrying three people in a village near Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan. The identities of the three dead were not immediately known, said two intelligence officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Most militant attacks in recent weeks have been directed at security forces, though several have targeted crowded public spaces such as markets, apparently to create public anger and increase pressure on the government to call a halt to the South Waziristan offensive. At least 400 people have been killed since October.
The Taliban generally claim responsibility for attacks on security officers, but not those that kill civilians, though they — or affiliated extremist groups — are suspected in all the strikes.
Late Monday, twin blasts and a resulting fire ripped through the Moon Market, a center in the eastern city of Lahore that is popular with women and sells clothing, shoes and cosmetics. Lahore police chief Pervaiz Lathore said Tuesday the death toll in the blasts reached 49, with more than 100 people wounded.
Authorities initially said both bombs at the market were believed to be remote-controlled, but they later said a suicide bomber was suspected to have detonated at least one of them.
Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber killed 10 people outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Lahore is Pakistan's second-largest city. It has been hit several times by militants over the past year, including an attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and several strikes against security installations.
By attacking Lahore and Multan, militants are bringing their war to the heart of Pakistan. Both are cities in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, and one far from the northwest regions where al-Qaida and the Taliban have more easily proliferated.
Peshawar has been a more frequent target. The northwestern city lies on the main road into the lawless tribal belt. Of all the attacks since the start of October, the deadliest occurred in Peshawar, where at least 112 people were killed in a bombing at another market.
The rise in militant attacks comes amid growing political turbulence, especially regarding the future of President Asif Ali Zardari, a pro-U.S. leader hugely unpopular here.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court continued examining the legality of an amnesty protecting him and 8,000 other officials from graft prosecution. The amnesty expired last month, and judges must rule on whether to reopen corruption cases against them.
Although Zardari has immunity from prosecution as president, some experts say the court could now take up cases challenging his eligibility to run for office.
___
Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Mir Ali, Babar Dagar in Lahore, Munir Ahmad in Islamabad and Anne Flaherty in Kabul contributed to this report.
By KHALID TANVEER, Associated Press Writer Khalid Tanveer, Associated Press Writer 12 mins ago
MULTAN, Pakistan – A team of militants launched a gun, rocket and suicide attack on an intelligence office in central Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 12 people in a strike that showed the insurgents can hit deep in the heart of the country.
The raid in Multan signaled the relentless determination of militants, despite being pressured by a major army offensive in one of their Afghan border havens. It came a day after twin bombings at a market in the eastern city of Lahore killed 49.
Tuesday's blast ripped the facades off of several buildings in a part of the town largely reserved for government and security agencies. Also damaged was the apparent target of the blast, a building housing an office of Pakistan's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.
Senior police officer Agha Yusuf said at least three militants in a car carried out the attack. One of them first fired a rocket and an automatic weapon at a police checkpoint. Then the men drove the car to the intelligence agency and detonated it.
He said security force members were among the 12 dead.
The attack came as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited nearby Afghanistan, where he said Washington was ready to work more closely with Pakistan to fight the militants.
"The more they get attacked internally ... the more open they may be to additional help from us. But we are prepared to expand that relationship at any pace they are prepared to accept," he said.
The U.S. has waged its own campaign of missile strikes against insurgent targets in the border region. The latest suspected airstrike destroyed a car carrying three people in a village near Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan. The identities of the three dead were not immediately known, said two intelligence officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Most militant attacks in recent weeks have been directed at security forces, though several have targeted crowded public spaces such as markets, apparently to create public anger and increase pressure on the government to call a halt to the South Waziristan offensive. At least 400 people have been killed since October.
The Taliban generally claim responsibility for attacks on security officers, but not those that kill civilians, though they — or affiliated extremist groups — are suspected in all the strikes.
Late Monday, twin blasts and a resulting fire ripped through the Moon Market, a center in the eastern city of Lahore that is popular with women and sells clothing, shoes and cosmetics. Lahore police chief Pervaiz Lathore said Tuesday the death toll in the blasts reached 49, with more than 100 people wounded.
Authorities initially said both bombs at the market were believed to be remote-controlled, but they later said a suicide bomber was suspected to have detonated at least one of them.
Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber killed 10 people outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Lahore is Pakistan's second-largest city. It has been hit several times by militants over the past year, including an attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and several strikes against security installations.
By attacking Lahore and Multan, militants are bringing their war to the heart of Pakistan. Both are cities in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, and one far from the northwest regions where al-Qaida and the Taliban have more easily proliferated.
Peshawar has been a more frequent target. The northwestern city lies on the main road into the lawless tribal belt. Of all the attacks since the start of October, the deadliest occurred in Peshawar, where at least 112 people were killed in a bombing at another market.
The rise in militant attacks comes amid growing political turbulence, especially regarding the future of President Asif Ali Zardari, a pro-U.S. leader hugely unpopular here.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court continued examining the legality of an amnesty protecting him and 8,000 other officials from graft prosecution. The amnesty expired last month, and judges must rule on whether to reopen corruption cases against them.
Although Zardari has immunity from prosecution as president, some experts say the court could now take up cases challenging his eligibility to run for office.
___
Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Mir Ali, Babar Dagar in Lahore, Munir Ahmad in Islamabad and Anne Flaherty in Kabul contributed to this report.
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