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Aslam Beg's assertion
[Dawn]  AN army chief disowning the actions of his subordinate/s in the line of duty is an extraordinary phenomenon. In an application to the Supreme Court, which had asked him to clarify his role in what came to be known as Mehrangate, Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg...occasionally incoherent retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army, succeeding the creepy General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter said he had "knowledge" of the affair but was not involved in the disbursement of money to certain politicians to manipulate the 1990 elections. More astonishingly, the former army chief said he had no control over the ISI. He may be technically correct as officially the latter is under the prime minister, but the reality in Pakistain, as he knows, is different. An army's various formations are answerable to its chief. Were different units to operate on their own, the army would turn into a political party rather than be a fighting force. No army can operate in war and peace without the intelligence agencies serving as its eyes and ears. Thus for Mr Beg to attempt to dissociate himself from the ISI defies common sense and brings ridicule to the office of the chief of staff of one of the world's largest standing armies. Years before Assad Durrani, a retired ISI chief, submitted his affidavit to the SC, giving details of the money gifted to some politicians with a view to creating a pro-army, pro-Ghulam Ishaq Khan alliance, Mr Beg had gone public with his disclosure about the money illegally obtained from the now defunct Mehran Bank and given to some of Pakistain's most corrupt politicians to help create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad to undermine Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... 's electoral chances.  Hamid GulThe nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... , another retired ISI chief, also admitted that the establishment led by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan wanted to create "a balance of power" in politics by propping up an anti-PPP alliance. We now leave it to the court to decipher Mr Beg's rigmarole when he says he "only instructed" Mr Durrani to "maintain" accounts. The court must now also rule on the relationship between the army and ISI chiefs. Can an army chief be exonerated from the doings of its intelligence arm -- in military affairs or the dirty world of politics? Posted by: Fred 2012-05-12 |
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