KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Husain said today it has been proved that no map of Jinnah Pur was recovered from any MQM office and the army operation was launched against his party under a false pretext.
He asked the then Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf to come forward and tell the nation why he opted to remain silent and played no role in stopping the military operation against MQM.
Addressing MQM party workers in different parts of the country simultaneously through a videoconference from London he said, “We want elimination of the feudal system from the country.”
He questioned as to what took both the ex military officials such a long time to tell the truth.
Altaf Husain said that the people of Punjab were kept in the dark for 18 long years.
“Who is responsible for killing over 15 thousand innocent activists of MQM?” he asked. However, he said: “I forgive the killings of my brother and nephew.”
He said he chose not to react keeping in view the stability and integrity of Pakistan. “I leave it up to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to form a commission to probe the martyrdom of MQM workers.”
The MQM leader said: “We never were, are or ever will be against Pakistan.”
Altaf Husain burst into tears while talking about the MQM activists who, he said, were killed in 1992 operation.
MQM leader’s live videoconference was simultaneously witnessed in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore besides 19 zones in Sindh.
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PM not taken into confidence on 1992 operation: Brig. Imtiaz
Updated at: 2300 PST, Monday, August 24, 2009
KARACHI: Former chief of IB Brig. (Retd.) Imtiaz Ahmed Monday termed the 1992 operation in Karachi as purely a military action and in this regard the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif was not taken into confidence.
Talking to Geo News, the former IB chief said: “The prime minister had no knowledge of any decision regarding the operation at that time.”
He said meetings were held after the then prime minister came to know about the operation. The prime minister held consultations with the then president and army chief, he added.
Brig. (Retd.) Imtiaz Ahmed said the military operation of 1992 in Karachi was being carried out under the then corps commander Karachi and the army chief.
He said he had no authority to interfere in any way in the operation.
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Military launched operation against MQM on its own: Ahsan Iqbal
Updated at: 2000 PST, Monday, August 24, 2009
LAHORE: Secretary Information Pakistan Muslim League-N Ahsan Iqbal Monday maintained that the army launched military operation against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1992 without taking the government into confidence.
Reacting to the statement of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, Ahsan Iqbal said the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had no role to play in initiating the military operation against MQM.
“MQM is creating all this hue and cry to avoid investigation into May 12 incidents in Karachi,” he said.
Ahsan Iqbal said it was General Asif Nawaz who gave the go ahead to the military operation against MQM and that no political consultation was undertaken in this regard.
MQM should direct its queries to Pakistan People’s Party’s Naseeullah Babar who was a minister at that time and now an ally of MQM itself.
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’فوج اب جناح پور کی فائل جلا ڈالے‘
ریاض سہیل
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی
’ان الزامات کی وجہ سے ایم کیو ایم اور اس کا فلسفہ پورے ملک میں نہیں پھل سکا‘
متحدہ قومی موومنٹ کے سربراہ الطاف حسین نے کہا کہ لیفٹیننٹ جنرل رٹائرڈ نصیر اختر اور برگیڈیئر امتیاز احمد کے بیانات کے بعد یہ ثابت ہوگیا ہے کہ ایم کیو ایم کے خلاف جناح پور بنانے کے الزام جھوٹے تھے، نواز شریف اب قوم کے سامنے آکر وضاحت پیش کریں۔
واضح رہے کہ گزشتہ روز انٹلی جنس بیورو کے سابق ڈائریکٹر جنرل برگیڈیئر امتیاز احمد نے ایک ٹی وی چینل کے پروگرام میں بتایا تھا کہ انیس سو بیانوے میں فوجی آپریشن کے دوران ایم کیو ایم کے دفتر سے جناح پور کے نقشے کی برآمدگی ڈرامہ تھا، اسی پروگرام میں اس وقت کراچی کے کور کمانڈر لیفٹیننٹ جنرل نصیر اختر نے کہا کہ وہ جناح پور کا نقشہ برآمد ہونے سے لاعلم تھے۔
ایم کیو ایم کے سربراہ الطاف حسین نے لندن سے پیر کی شام ٹیلیفون پر تقریر کرتے ہوئے الزام عاید کیا کہ برگیڈیئر آصف ہارون نے کچھ دستاویزات تیار کرکے اسے جناح پور کا نقشہ قرار دیا اور خاص طور پر پنجاب سے صحافیوں کو طلب کرکے انہیں بتایا گیا کہ ایم کیو ایم الگ ملک بنانا چاہتی ہے۔ ان کے مطابق تمام جماعتیں اس الزام کو لیکر ایم کیو ایم کی کردار کشی کرتی رہی، اس الزام کی آڑ میں آپریشن کے دوران ایم کیو ایم کے پندرہ ہزار کارکنوں کو بناکر ہلاک کیا گیا۔
برگیڈیئر آصف ہارون نے کچھ دستاویزات تیار کرکے اسے جناح پور کا نقشہ قرار دیا اور خاص طور پر پنجاب سے صحافیوں کو طلب کرکے انہیں بتایا گیا کہ ایم کیو ایم الگ ملک بنانا چاہتی ہے۔
الطاف حسین
انہوں نے سابق فوجی افسران سے سوال کیا کہ انہوں نے سچ کہنے میں اتنی دیر کیوں کردی، اور یہ کہ ان الزامات کی وجہ سے ایم کیو ایم اور اس کا فلسفہ پورے ملک میں نہیں پھل سکا۔ الطاف حسین نے پاکستان فوج ، آئی ایس آئی اور ایم آئی کے سربراہان سے اپیل کی کہ ان اقراری بیانات کے اب ان الزامات کی فائیلوں کو جلا ڈالیں اور کھلے دل سے ایم کیو ایم کو ایک محب وطن جماعت کی حیثت سے گلے لگائیں۔
انہوں نے سابق وزیر اعظم اور مسلم لیگ ن کے قائد میاں نواز شریف سے کہا کہ وہ ٹی وی پر آکر بتائیں کہ وزیر اعظم کی حیثیت سے انہوں نے اس فوجی آپریشن کو کیوں نہیں روکا۔ الطاف حسین نے سپریم کورٹ کے چیف جسٹس افتخار محمد چودھری سے مخاطب ہوکر کہا کہ اس صورتحال کے بعد ’ریکنسیلیشن کمیشن‘ قائم کیا جائے یا نہیں اس کا فیصلہ وہ خود کریں۔
ایم کیو ایم کے سربراہ نے بارہ مئی دو ہزار سات کو ہونے والی ہنگامہ آرائی کا حوالا دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ اس روز کراچی میں جو کھیل کھیلا گیا اس کا الزام بھی ایم کیو ایم پر عائد کیا گیا، ’میں خدا اور رسول کی قسم کھاکر کھتا ہوں کہ وہ بھی خفیہ ہاتھوں کی سازش تھی، جو کنٹینر لگائے گئے تھے وہ رکارڈ پر موجود ہے کہ کس کے کہنے پر لگائے گئے تھے‘۔
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Ex-ISI officials come out with new versions on MQM operation
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer Major (r) Nadeem Dar claimed on Wednesday he had recovered maps of Jinnahpur from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) headquarters, a private TV channel reported. Meanwhile, former ISI director general Lt Gen Asad Durrani told another private channel then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had ordered an end to the military operation against the MQM to deny political mileage to the Pakistan People’s Party.
Dar told the channel he had personally recovered the Jinnahpur maps from Nine-Zero during the 1992 military operation in Karachi. This contradicts claims by Brigadier (r) Imtiaz, who had claimed that he had informed then premier Nawaz Sharif there were no maps of Jinnahpur. Separately, Durrani told a channel the government was informed about every step of the military operation against the MQM. He claimed the MQM-Haqiqi had also supported the military in the operation. He alleged the 1992 military operation had been launched for ulterior motives and Jinnahpur had been used as a scapegoat.
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MQM shifts blame for 1992 operation from military to Nawaz
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
News Analysis
By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The much trumpeted 1992 operation clean-up in Sindh had actually been launched against the backdrop of the infamous ‘Major Kaleem kidnapping case’, when a serving Army major was abducted and tortured, allegedly by a group of activists belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (which was then known as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement).
While the MQM leadership has recently blamed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for the 1992 operation and asked him to apologise for the atrocities committed during his tenure, it remains a fact that the MQM high command had held at that time the military leadership responsible for the action, saying it actually wanted to avenge the honour of Major Kaleemuddin.
As a matter of fact, Major Kaleemuddin of the Field Investigation Unit (FIU) of the Army had been tasked to restore peace in the trouble-stricken Landhi area of Karachi. He was abducted on June 20, 1991, along with a few subordinates, while in civvies ñ the night when the MQM-Haqiqi led by Afaq Ahmed made an abortive attempt to take over Landhi offices of the Altaf-led MQM, called Muhajir Khel. This led to a bloody gun battle between the two MQM factions, killing many from both sides.
However, the Haqiqi group was forced to flee after the Altaf group unleashed all its fire power in the gun battle. A few hours after the abortive attempt by the Haqiqi group, Major Kaleemuddin was abducted from the Landhi area by armed activists of the MQM, who allegedly took him to a torture cell and subjected him to ‘mistreatment’. The Major Kaleemuddin kidnapping case is still described by many in the establishment as the bedrock of the subsequent military operations carried out against the MQM under the Sharif and the Bhutto governments. Altaf Hussain and several other MQM leaders and workers were subsequently accused of being involved in the kidnapping episode and named in the FIR registered on June 24, 1991. Altaf left Pakistan in December 1992.
But there are different versions of what exactly happened to Major Kaleemuddin. Some of the MQM leaders had claimed after the incident that the abductors were under the impression that MQM-Haqiqi leaders ñ Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan - had returned to the port city at the behest of the agencies and that the major was present in Landhi to supervise the establishment-sponsored operation against them. During the court trial, many of the accused had claimed that since the major was in plain clothes, he was mistaken by them for a Haqiqi activist and subsequently roughed up. But as soon he had revealed his identity, the major was allowed to go.
However, according to the prosecution, Major Kaleemuddin, along with three other Army officers, was patrolling the Landhi area in an Army jeep when 20 armed youths took them hostage after seizing their weapons. The Army men were taken to a place called Muhajir Khel in Landhi where they were allegedly tortured and kept for seven hours and rescued when the police reached the place. The accused charged with kidnapping the Army officers and torturing them included Altaf Hussain, Saleem Shahzad, Dr Imran Farooq, Safdar Baqri, Nadeem Ayubi, Ayub Shah, Aftab Ahmed, Ismail alias Sitara, Ashraf Zaidi, Sajid Azad, Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi, Haji Jalal Asghar Chacha, Rehan Zaidi and Mohammad Yousuf.
Whatever the truth might be, the then-Army high command’s keen interest in the prosecution of the accused gave an impression as if the traditional martial pride of the Khakis - that nobody gets away with bashing up an Army officer ñ was at work. Gen Asif Nawaz had been the Corps Commander Karachi at that time who got promoted as the Army Chief in August 1991, right before the start of the military operation.
A special court for suppression of terrorist activities (STA), led by Justice Rafiq Awan, began hearing of the Kaleemuddin kidnapping case in March 1993 and delivered judgment on June 9, 1994. The court had convicted Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi and Haji Jalal and sentenced them to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 20,000 each under the Pakistan Penal Code, the Hudood Ordinance. All other accused, including Altaf Hussain, were declared absconders and sentenced to 27 years jail and a fine of Rs 30,000 each in absentia.
Almost three years later, following the 1997 general elections and the subsequent decision by Altaf Hussain to join hands with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, all the convicted MQM leaders and activists challenged afresh their conviction and sentences before the Sindh High Court. Their appeal was heard by a division bench, which found the case as one ‘of almost no legal evidence’. Relying on the provisions of the Suppression of Terrorist Activities Act, 1976, the bench upheld on trial in absentia as well as the right of the absentee accused to file an appeal. Dealing with evidence, the bench observed that the eyewitnesses’ account did not inspire confidence and the evidence of the complainant was, in particular, full of contradictions.
The bench, comprising Justice Nizam Hussain Siddiqui and Justice Abdul Hameed, noted that it is difficult to believe, a group of 15 or 20 boys could disarm four trained soldiers. Therefore, all the accused were acquitted and three convicts serving their term were ordered to be released immediately. But it is interesting to point out that after AQ Halepota, one of the counsels for the MQM leaders, concluded his arguments before the court, the then-advocate-general Sindh Shaukat Zuberi submitted that numerous omissions and contradictions had been made during the trial of Major Kaleemuddin’s kidnapping and torture case and that he would not support the convictions of the accused by the STA court. The verdict came hardly a week after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif had travelled to London to meet Altaf Hussain.
To recall, the MQM and the PML-N had been coalition partners at that time, before finally falling apart following the assassination of Hakim Mohammad Saeed in Karachi. Major Kaleemuddin had subsequently challenged the acquittal of the MQM leaders and activists by the Sindh High Court. But the petition was dismissed as withdrawn by the apex court on August 13, 2007, mainly due to non-prosecution, as neither the petitioner nor his counsel had turned up.
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Establishment — the main target in current fiasco
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Politicians point finger at Army, ISI for debacles; all except the president are losers
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: No matter who has authored the script of the ongoing Brig Imtiaz tamasha, engulfing the political arena, the establishment that includes the military-led intelligence agencies and the Pakistan Army have emerged as the main villains, presumably as the authors of the fiasco wanted.
Nawaz Sharif and his party are uncomfortable; demand for Musharraf’s trial has been sidetracked at least for the time being; the MQM gets into a position where it believes that its stand is vindicated but the Jinnahpur controversy also created an opportunity for its opponents for a much open criticism of the party and its policies; the issues like the scrapping of 17th Amendment have now become more complex with the two leading parties setting up for a political confrontation after the PML-N finds the Presidency behind the current smear campaign against its top leadership; however, President Asif Zardari is least affected by this recently started political wrangling. It rather has favoured him by temporarily silencing the guns that were targeting him and the government from all around for their alleged misrule, on charges of corruption, the sugar scandal and the reported ruining of the state institutions.
The PML-N, which is badly hurt by the revelations about the alleged provision of Rs3.5 million to its party chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, is pointing its finger at the president to have been the architect of the get-Nawaz campaign. However, the Presidency has strongly refuted these charges but different presidential aides are issuing the kind of statements that apparently show the presidency is getting amused with the situation.
However, what is interesting is the unanimity between all these warring political forces showing their abhorrence over the role of the establishment in country’s politics. But in a strange dichotomy except the PML-N, the other two major warring political forces — the PPP and the MQM — are not interested in proceeding against Gen (retd) Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.
As one scans through the debates that took place in different talk shows of various private television channels after the recent emergence of the Jinnahpur controversy, the establishment is found to be the target of all.
The MQM, which had been the most trusted supporter of Gen Musharraf during his nine years rule, says that its Quaid Altaf Hussain is not returning to Pakistan because of the establishment. The PPP, too, said that the military operators and intelligences agencies have not been adhering to the command of the civilian governments whereas the PML-N is of the view that it has repeatedly found the establishment and Army chiefs overstretching their mandate.
While appearing as a guest in one of the talk shows, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said it has been a harsh reality in Pakistan that policy decisions on some specific security and international issues have not been taken with the consultation or consent of the civilian government. He quoted the Kargil issue as one example and urged upon the need of rationalising the power structure in such a manner that no step could be taken against the wishes of the democratic government.
He said the PML-N differed with former Army chief Gen (retd) Aslam Beg after he issued a statement on the Gulf war that did not match the government’s policy. He said similarly Gen (retd) Asif Nawaz exceeded from the mandate he was given before launching the military operation against criminals, dacoits and anti-social elements in Sindh in 1992. Another Army Chief Gen (retd) Jehangir Karamat, he said, was removed because of his statement on the setting up of National Security Council. He said the PML-N government differed with Gen (retd) Musharraf on the Kargil issue. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif was of the view that the military-led intelligence agencies have been extremely powerful and instrumental in the making and breaking of the government. On the issue of the military operation in Karachi and the target killings there, Khwaja Asif said the agencies were mainly responsible for that. He said in both the 1992-93 and 1995-96 operations in Karachi, these were the military intelligence agencies that had played the important role.
Interestingly, it was Khwaja Asif, who admitted that had the agencies not been so powerful MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain would have now been in Pakistan. Khwaja Asif said Altaf Hussain’s apprehensions towards the intelligences agencies, are barring him to come back and lead his party, which according to the N-leader would serve the political culture better.
Khwaja Asif also pointed out that the present situation in the tribal areas, Balochistan, Northern Areas and in Southern Punjab is also the outcome of what the agencies did during the last 20-22 years. The PML-N leaders have been distancing itself from the 1992 military operation against the MQM and insisted that it was the Army which had overstepped. In return, the MQM leaders, too, were mainly complaining to the PML-N and its leader Nawaz Sharif over his silence and the failure to stop the 1992 military operation against the MQM. MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi endorsed Khwaja’s views and said Hakim Saeed was killed by the agencies but the MQM was blamed for his murder. He lamented that the MQM workers were killed in an extra-judicial manner; military courts were created to try Muttahida workers, who were punished illegally and in violation of the Constitution through summary trials by these courts.
Rizvi said in the 1992 operation what he called the Haqiqi terrorists were riding in military jeeps during the Army’s operation against the MQM. “It was all planted,” he said, and lamented the then-prime minister could not do anything to stop the operation.
Wasim Akhtar, another MQM leader, said in one the private channel that it’s a pity that the largest political parties of the country are today still dependent on Army and America. Dr Nadeem Ahsan of the MQM said MQM workers do not want Altaf Hussain to come back. He said the MQM Chief’s life is facing threats from the enemies of Pakistan. When asked to name these enemies, he pointed to both internal and external forces. When further probed, Dr Nadeem Ahsan initially named the Taliban and later said, “There are some other forces too. You can also name establishment.” When asked if the MQM fears from the establishment, he said, “Yes”.
PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, too, in a talkshow talked of the political influence of the ISI which, according to her, grew after the agencies exposure in the Afghan war against former Soviet Union. Wahab, who is generally considered as her master’s (President) voice, said during the Afghan war the ISI became very resourceful and developed new technologies, which the agencies has to use somewhere to prove its worth. Referring to the history and also finding it true in the present day Pakistan, she said one thing is clear that in Pakistan democracy never got strengthened and the civilian authority has never been maintained. She said in her view there does not exist any central authority. Fauzia Wahab also added the 1992 operation is the reflection of the fact that the military operators at that time were not ready to concede the supremacy of the civilian leadership.
She, however, believed the military interventions can’t be stopped by hanging a dictator but by improving the performance of parliament and through the vision and greater assertion of the political leadership.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan, another PPP leader, blamed the establishment for the PPP government’s “mistake” to launch operation in Karachi against the MQM in 1995-96.
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