Benazir murder probe: Pak yet to act against indicted bigwigs

Islamabad, Apr.24 (ANI): It has been more than a week since the UN commission’s enquiry report over former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was published, but the Pakistan Government is yet to take any action against bigwigs held responsible for her murder.

The UN probe report indicted several top officials who served during General Pervez Musharraf’s regime, including the then Military Imtelligence Director General Nadim Ejaz, former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Ejaz Shah and also incumbent Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan, but barring some action on a few officials, there have hardly been any noticeable step initiated by the government against the big fish.

The government has put names of a bunch of ‘scapegoats’ in the Exit Control List (ECL), but is mum on acting against high notch officials and ministers.

Interestingly, influential officials named in the UN report appear assure of no action from the government against them. Former interior secretary Kamal Shah, who has been indicted for not providing fool-proof security to Bhutto during her election rally in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, is roaming free.

Shah, who is considered to be a regular visitor to the Presidency, is hoping for the prized slot of governor of the newly-named Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly the North West Frontier Province), The News reports.

But what can be described as an ultimate bluff to the UN, Malik, who was Bhutto’s chief security adviser and had ran away from the crime scene on December 27, 2007, the day Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack, he has been given special benefits of backdated retirement with full honours despite the that he has been already dismissed from the service. (ANI)

Pak suspends officials blamed in UN’s Bhutto assassination report

Islamabad, Apr 19(ANI): The Pakistan Government has suspended eight officials, including former City Police Officer (CPO) Saud Aziz, who were responsible for on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s security at her last rally in Rawalpindi.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed the suspension, saying the orders had come from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

“The action on the UN report has been started on the directives of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,” The Dawn quoted Babar, as saying.

The government has already initiated action against several serving and retired bureaucrats in connection with the Bhutto assassination case by placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The move follows after a UN report held officials directly or indirectly responsible for the assassination.

Pakistan People”s Party (PPP) insiders said the party has decided to take legal action against all government officials who failed to protect Bhutto.

The Interior Ministry has compiled a list of 13 senior government officers, which include former Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. (Retd) Hamid Gul, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig. (Retd) Ijaz Shah, former federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and a senior bureaucrat of Punjab Government Ashfaq Anwar. (ANI)

Action against Ex ISI, IB, police officials following UN report on Bhutto’s assassination

Islamabad, Apr 19(ANI): The Pakistan Government has initiated action against several serving as well as retired bureaucrats in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The dramatic move comes after the release of a report compiled by the UN commission, which held the officials directly or indirectly responsible for Bhutto’s assassination.

According to Pakistan People”s Party (PPP) insiders, the party has decided to take strong legal action against all government officials who failed to protect Bhutto.

The Interior Ministry has compiled a list of 13 senior government officers, which include former Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. (Retd) Hamid Gul, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig. (Retd) Ijaz Shah, former federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and a senior bureaucrat of Punjab Government Ashfaq Anwar, The Nation reports.

As many as six police officials, who were also serving during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf, have been put on the “duty suspension list”.

In addition to that, the Federal Government has suspended the contract agreement of former Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, who was working as Director General of Civil Defence.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said steps would be taken to bring back Musharraf, if he was found responsible for the tragic incident.

The PPP has held Musharraf for not providing adequate security cover to Bhutto despite having information about the impending threat to her life.

Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 after departing a PPP rally in Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008, where she was a leading opposition candidate. (ANI)

Pak suspends officials blamed in UN’s Bhutto assassination report

Islamabad, Apr 19(ANI): The Pakistan Government has suspended eight officials, including former City Police Officer (CPO) Saud Aziz, who were responsible for on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s security at her last rally in Rawalpindi.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed the suspension, saying the orders had come from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

“The action on the UN report has been started on the directives of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,” The Dawn quoted Babar, as saying.

The government has already initiated action against several serving and retired bureaucrats in connection with the Bhutto assassination case by placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The move follows after a UN report held officials directly or indirectly responsible for the assassination.

Pakistan People”s Party (PPP) insiders said the party has decided to take legal action against all government officials who failed to protect Bhutto.

The Interior Ministry has compiled a list of 13 senior government officers, which include former Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. (Retd) Hamid Gul, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig. (Retd) Ijaz Shah, former federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and a senior bureaucrat of Punjab Government Ashfaq Anwar. (ANI)

Action against Ex ISI, IB, police officials following UN report on Bhutto’s assassination

Islamabad, Apr 19(ANI): The Pakistan Government has initiated action against several serving as well as retired bureaucrats in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The dramatic move comes after the release of a report compiled by the UN commission, which held the officials directly or indirectly responsible for Bhutto’s assassination.

According to Pakistan People”s Party (PPP) insiders, the party has decided to take strong legal action against all government officials who failed to protect Bhutto.

The Interior Ministry has compiled a list of 13 senior government officers, which include former Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. (Retd) Hamid Gul, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig. (Retd) Ijaz Shah, former federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and a senior bureaucrat of Punjab Government Ashfaq Anwar, The Nation reports.

As many as six police officials, who were also serving during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf, have been put on the “duty suspension list”.

In addition to that, the Federal Government has suspended the contract agreement of former Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, who was working as Director General of Civil Defence.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said steps would be taken to bring back Musharraf, if he was found responsible for the tragic incident.

The PPP has held Musharraf for not providing adequate security cover to Bhutto despite having information about the impending threat to her life.

Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 after departing a PPP rally in Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008, where she was a leading opposition candidate. (ANI)

Taliban back to terror business from new stronghold near Mardan-Swat Highway

Islamabad, Sep.16 (ANI): The Taliban’s threat has still not subsided in the Swat and Malakand Divisions as the security forces have found that the extremists have created a new stronghold in the region and are planning strikes from there.

According to senior officials, the Taliban, after being forced to retreat following the military operation, have shifted their base to the rough terrains between Batkhela and Jalala on the Mardan-Swat Highway and trying to regroup.

“It is from here that they are building their arms arsenals, training camps, logistics and propaganda centres,” officials said.

Over 200 people in the region have received handwritten and typed death threats in the past fortnight which proves that the Taliban is alive and kicking here.

“We are aware of how you assist security agencies and act against Islam. You are going to face the wrath of God,” one of the letter stated.

One of such threat mail has also been received by former North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Minister, Kamal Shah, who said the extremists have taken refuge in Shergarh, Batkhela, Chakdara, Iroshah, Shakh Number Panch, Jabban Road, Palai Sherkhanai, Sakhakot, Jalala and other villages on the Highway and are waiting to strike.

Security officials said they are aware of the development and the threat mails being sent by the Taliban. They said steps are being taken to thwart any untoward incident and block the supplies of arms and ammunition to the extremists.

“We are on their heels and are making all efforts to block arms and ammunition supplies to them from the channels developed by Taliban through Mohmand Agency, the adjoining areas of Malakand like Palai Sherkhani and Jabban Iroshah Road,” The News quoted a senior official, as saying. (ANI)

Gilani’s massive bureaucracy reshuffle reeks of nepotism, say Pak civil servants

Islamabad, Sep. 5 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has revamped the top bureaucratic posts, replacing over a dozen federal secretaries in several ministries with over 50 civil servants, a move being called by many civil servants as reeking of nepotism and favouritism.

In what is being touted as the single largest grade-22 promotion in many years, secretaries of interior, information, industries, privatisation commission, labour, and special secretary of finance are among those who have been replaced with the newly promoted officers.

Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, who was already on extension has been replaces with civil servant Qamar Zaman while Information Secretary Ashfaq Gondal has been told that his contract would not be renewed, The Dawn reports.

According to an official announcement, Gilani had ordered promotion and posting of 51 grade-21 officials to the next grade on the recommendation of the Central Selection Board.

Thirty-five of them belong to the DMG and OMG, seven are from police service (PSP), four from Audit and Accounts and five from the Foreign Service.

The announcement sent a wave of shock and surprise in the federal bureaucracy, with many senior officers describing the decision as-ill-conceived, laced with nepotism and outright favouritism.ne replacement that has raised many eyebrows is of Khalid Mirza, who was regarded as a highly competent and fearlessly independent head of the Competitive Commission of Pakistan.

The paper cited documents showing that Mirza’s contract as head of an autonomous body was till July 2010 and he could have been only removed on charges of corruption. (ANI)

Video of Taliban flogging girl a fake: Investigators

Islamabad, April 19 (IANS) The video footage of a girl being flogged by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s restive Swat valley is a fake, a five-member team of investigators has said in its final report.

Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said: ‘It (the probe team) has completed its investigation and handed over a report to me.’

The report said the video footage was ‘false and fake’ and no such incident had taken place, Shah was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

Shah was speaking at a press conference Friday at the Commissioner’s House in Saidu Sharif in Swat district.

He said the probe team, headed by the Malakand deputy inspector general of police, had been formed after the Supreme Court chief took a suo motu notice of the incident.

The report would be submitted before an eight-member bench of the Supreme Court during the next hearing, he said, adding the team had recorded statements of ‘both the girl and the man who were allegedly flogged and they had disowned the video tape’.

The dangers of imposing Sharia laws in Pakistan’s restive Swat Valley were brought into sharp focus earlier this month with the airing of a two-minute video showing the 17-year-old screaming, burqa-clad girl being whipped by Taliban fighters for coming ‘out of her house with another guy who was not her husband’.

The grainy video, shot on a mobile phone, showed the girl face down on the ground. Two men held her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whipped her repeatedly, London’s Guardian newspaper had reported.

The newspaper said it received the video through Samar Minallah, a Pashtun documentary maker.

After 34 lashes the punishment stopped and the wailing girl was led into a stone building.

The NWFP government ceded authority to the Taliban under a peace deal, giving the militants a free hand to impose their puritan Islamic rule on the around 600,000 people of Swat and its neighbouring districts.

The peace accord signed with pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Sufi Mohammad includes measures to establish Islamic courts, a ban on music, expulsion of prostitutes and pimps from the area, closure of businesses during prayer times, and a campaign against what they call obscenity.

Pakistan terms India’s response to 30 questions as irrelevant’ and ‘away from target’

Islamabad, Mar.18 (ANI): As expected, Pakistan has termed the Indian response to its thirty questions on the Mumbai terror attack as ‘irrelevant’ and ‘away from the target’.

In a meeting chaired by the Interior Advisor Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, FIA Director General Tariq Khosa and other senior officials expressed their dissatisfaction over New Delhi’s response.

The Pakistan Interior Ministry has handed over the report to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further examination and necessary legal action, The Daily Times reports.

The Indian dossier included the description of the terrorists killed, telephonic conversation between the terrorists and their handlers and fingerprints of all terrorists. (ANI)

Pak goes into denial again, says Indian Navy responsible for 26/11

Karachi/Islamabad, Feb.27 (ANI): Going into denial mode once again, Pakistan on Friday squarely laid the blame for the terror attacks on Mumbai on November 26, 2008 at the doorstep of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

Addressing a press conference here, Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Noman Bashir, categorically ruled out laying the blame for the terror strikes on the Pakistan Navy or the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), and added that the ten terrorists, including lone survivor Ajmal Amir Kasab, did not use the sea route from Pakistan to India to carry out their mission.

Admiral Bashir said: “There is no possibility of the sea route used by the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks. We have consistent surveillance on maritime border.”

He claimed that the 26/11 is an indication of the failure of the Indian Navy.

Admiral Bashir’s statement was a clear contradiction of the statement issued by the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, who had said that the sea route was used by the terrorists to enter Mumbai from Karachi.

Pakistan, on Thursday had demanded reply to its 30 queries, within 30 days, regarding the Mumbai terror attacks which it tabled before New Delhi following acceptance of its involvement in the 26/11.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s Advisor on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik had asked India to respond by mid-March so that the accused taken into custody could be interrogated during the remand period.

“The court can give maximum 30 days remand of the accused to FIA, therefore it is very necessary that India must give the reply the earliest,” Malik had said.

Talking to media persons after holding a meeting with Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Director General (DG) Tariq Khosa, and other top officials, Malik said Islamabad is investigating the incident sincerely and is fully committed to bringing the perpetrators to book.

He said India’s response was necessary for further proceedings.IA DG Tariq Khosa informed that the Anti-Terrorism Court has granted remand to the accused persons till March 12.

Pakistan has asked India for several documents including the mobile phone number which Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai terrorist, was using during the three day cease, and logs of terrorists’ and perpetrators’ cell phone interceptions .

It also demanded DNA samples and ‘clear’ photographs of the ten terrorists killed during the operation. (ANI)

Now, Pakistan sets 30 day deadline for India to reply on its Mumbai dossier

Islamabad, Feb.26 (ANI): Pakistan has now demanded that India reply to its 30 queries, within 30 days, regarding the Mumbai terror attacks which it tabled before New Delhi following acceptance of its involvement in the 26/11.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s Advisor on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik has asked India to respond by mid-March so that the accused taken into custody could be interrogated during the remand period.

“The court can give maximum 30 days remand of the accused to FIA, therefore it is very necessary that India must give the reply the earliest,” The Dawn quoted Malik, as saying.

Talking to media persons after holding a meeting with Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Director General (DG) Tariq Khosa, and other top officials, Malik said Islamabad is investigating the incident sincerely and is fully committed to bringing the perpetrators to book.

He said India’s response was necessary for further proceedings.

FIA DG Tariq Khosa informed that the Anti-Terrorism Court has granted remand to the accused persons till March 12.

Pakistan has asked India for several documents including the mobile phone number which Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai terrorist, was using during the three day cease, and logs of terrorists’ and perpetrators’ cell phone interceptions .

It also demanded DNA samples and ‘clear’ photographs of the ten terrorists killed during the operation. (ANI)

Pak’s JuD clampdown result of incessant India, international pressure

London, Jan 16 (ANI): The Pakistan Government announced that it had widened its crackdown on banned terror organization Lashkar-e-Toiba’s frontal outfit, Jammat-ud-Daawa, under consistent pressure from India and West to act more decisively against the groups operating from its soil.

Bowing to weeks of international pressure, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said that the number of people arrested had risen to 71 as a further 124 people had been placed under surveillance, The Independent reported.

The suspects in question are members of JuD, a charity affiliated to LeT, the Pakistan-based militant group blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks.

Earlier, Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry chief, told reporters in Islamabad that authorities had moved to shut down 20 offices, 87 schools, two libraries, seven religious schools and six websites linked to JuD, a group now proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations Security Council.

Malik added that the crackdown included over a dozen JuD-operated relief camps, erected in the wake of 2005 Kashmir earthquake but alleged to be used for training militants.

Earlier, speaking at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on Pakistan yesterday to show “zero tolerance” toward militants based in the country.

The best solution to terrorist threat in the long term, Miliband said, was cooperation, adding that he would call on Pakistan to take urgent action to dismantle the militant networks that exist on its soil. It must display “zero tolerance,” he warned.

Miliband will arrive in Islamabad today for talks with Pakistani leadership as part of an ongoing bid to ease simmering tensions between the two neighbours.

Although the threat of war has receded, Delhi and Islamabad remain locked in a near-daily exchange of diplomatic crossfire, the paper said. (ANI)