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| India-Pakistan | |
| Mystery grows over Gen Alvi's murder | |
| 2008-12-16 | |
| Pakistani newspapers gave prominent coverage on Monday to a British media report that a retired general gunned down in Islamabad last month planned to blow the whistle on fellow generals' dealings with the Taliban. An Urdu-language newspaper ran the story on its front page headlined: "Gen Alvi was against pacts with Taliban, Musharraf had sacked him". The reports in Pakistani dailies were based on a story published in Britain's Sunday Times, and written by Carey Schofield. Major General (r) Amir Faisal Alvi was shot dead along with his driver on the outskirts of the capital on November 19. Suspicion initially fell on militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but an investigation by police and intelligence agencies has yet to come up with hard evidence. "The investigation is going on but so far there has been no progress. We could not identify the murderers or the motive," said Sajid Kiyani, superintendent of police in Islamabad. Schofield says Alvi, who had commanded the elite Special Services Group, gave her a copy of a letter he had had sent to army chief General Ashfaq Kayani in which he named two generals whose conspiracy resulted in his premature retirement more than two years ago. Western and Pakistani analysts have long harboured suspicion that Pakistan has played a double game by supporting Taliban factions in the years since 2001, despite the heavy casualties suffered by its security forces fighting Taliban in the Tribal Areas.
In the letter, Alvi asked Kayani to open an inquiry into the reason for his retirement and disciplinary action against the generals who had plotted against him. He also asked for a military decoration and a post-retirement job that he believed would help restore his honour. The British journalist said Alvi gave her a copy of the letter four days before he was killed, and had asked her to publish it in the event of his death. She said Alvi expected to be killed, as he had not received any response to his letter. Alvi believed he had been forced out of the army because he had become openly critical of deals between Pakistani generals and the Taliban. There is no mention of support for the Taliban in the letter, just a veiled reference that the purpose of the plot against him "by these general officers was to hide their own involvement in a matter they knew I was privy to". Alvi wrote that he would "furnish all relevant proof/information" to an inquiry. Reuters made several attempts to reach a Pakistani military spokesman for comment on the Sunday Times reports. The Sunday Times report said Alvi mentioned a deal between a general and Baitullah Mehsud to stop attacks on the army. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Suspicion initially fell on militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but an investigation by police and intelligence agencies has yet to come up with hard evidence. "The investigation is going on but so far there has been no progress. We could not identify the murderers or the motive," said Sajid Kiyani, superintendent of police in Islamabad. Damn, I hate when that happens. It's almost like they...don't wanna know. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-12-16 10:58 |