What Robert Gates Didn’t Say – And US Media Hides – About Blackwater In Pakistan

Two Pakistani employees of an American defense contractor engaged by the US Embassy in Islamabad have been linked to two attacks on Pakistani military and the assassination of a Brigadier. If this is not alarming, then consider that US Ambassador Anne Patterson’s name has come up in an investigation where thousands of dollars were paid in bribes to Interior Ministry to smuggle illegal weapons into Pakistan. Not to mention how Washington is empowering India in Afghanistan at Pakistan’s cost. When Pakistan takes countermeasures, US officials like Mr. Gates and Mr. Holbrooke accuse Pakistan of ‘anti-Americanism’ and harassing US diplomats. Time for some straight talk.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted during an interview with a Pakistani TV station that Blackwater [now ‘Xe International’] and DynCorp are operating in Pakistan. Immediately after the statement, Pentagon tried to put a spin on his words.

But US meddling inside Pakistan –by posting private US defense contractors under diplomatic cover of the US embassy – is a reality for most Pakistanis. Some of these Americans have been caught disguised as Taliban right in the heart of Islamabad. Some Pakistanis were manhandled by some of these American militiamen on the streets of at least two Pakistani cities in recent months. Since Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan despite all the US direct and indirect misinformation, these US covert operators were arrested on several occasions.

The mainstream US media continues to keep the good American people and the world opinion in the dark about this. But this is probably one of the biggest untold stories in America’s war on terror. This is about United States trying to put boots on the ground inside Pakistan through the help of a pro-US government in Islamabad that shares [or at least key figures in it] the US objective of containing and limiting the ability of Pakistan’s military to influence the country’s foreign policy. This is about Pakistan wanting to keep an independent foreign policy versus Pakistan blindly serving US policy on Afghanistan, India and China.

Mr. Gates tried to put a gloss on this US covert meddling when he said, ‘Well, they’re [Blackwater and DynCorp] operating as individual companies here in Pakistan, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.’

Not true. The truth is that the issue is so serious that, according to Pakistani investigators, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson is a suspect in a case of bribes amounting to little over US $ 270,000 paid by DynCorp in 2009 to senior officials at the federal Interior Ministry in Pakistan. The money went in exchange for allowing illegal weapons into Pakistan to be used by private US defense contractors without informing the country’s security departments and intelligence agencies. Ms. Patterson personally lobbied Pakistani officials for this concession to DynCorp. She even wrote a letter to Pakistani officials, followed by a letter by her Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Gerald Feierstein, asking Pakistani Interior Ministry officials to issue permits for weapons to be used by DynCorp in the ‘entire territory of Pakistan.’ The US ambassador is directly linked to the probe, which has resulted in the arrest of a key aide to Pakistan’s Minister of State for the Interior. But the government of President Zardari will not dare allow Pakistani investigators to pursue US Ambassador’s role in the scandal.

A key question in the probe is how the US Embassy and DynCorp allowed the cargo of illegal weapons into Pakistan. According to one lead, a huge cache of weapons reached a Pakistani tribal leader on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, who in turn wrote to the Interior Ministry announcing he was ‘gifting’ the weapons to a Pakistani subcontractor of DynCorp.

Incidents like this and others raised alarm bells inside Pakistani security departments and the intelligence community. In effect, key figures in President Zardari’s government were found to have given approval for the entry of a large number of US citizens into Pakistan for ‘official US government business’ without explaining what that is. When Pakistani authorities tried to get to the bottom of how private US defense contractors ended up inside Pakistan in large numbers and what they were exactly doing here, US officials and media launched what appears to be a media trial of Pakistan, accusing the country of ‘harassing’ US diplomats and denying visas to them because of alleged anti-Americanism.

The unwillingness of the Zardari government to confront Washington and Pakistan’s generally weak media outreach skills allowed Washington to pain this as a case of anti-Americanism fueled by war on terror.

‘Conspiracy theories’ is another label that US officials and media have increasingly used recently as a cover to hide serious violations of diplomatic norms and sovereignty involving undercover private US operatives inside Pakistan. This is how the Wall Street Journal tried to delegitimize serious Pakistani concerns raised during Mr. Gates’ visit in a report filed from Islamabad whose opening line read as follows, “U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is overseeing wars with Sunni militants in Iraq and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, he’s facing a different foe: the pervasive conspiracy theories that fuel widespread anti-American feelings here.”

The truth is that there are no conspiracy theories but real events, reported and documented, that raise questions over US political, diplomtic, and covert meddling inside Pakistan. Here is a list:

1. NUCLEAR ESPIONAGE: In July 2009, four US ‘diplomats’ were arrested inside the maximum security perimeter around Pakistan’s premier nuclear facility at Kahuta. They failed to tell Pakistani investigators what they were doing there and how they managed to slip through the security checkpoints in the area. US Embassy intervened to rescue the four ‘diplomats’ after almost three hours in detention, citing diplomatic immunity. President Zardari’s government refused to let Pakistani security authorities press charges.

2. SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT: On Oct. 6, 2009, Pakistani police arrested two Dutch diplomats roaming the streets of Islamabad without a number plate carrying advanced weapons. Pakistani police were surprised when security personnel from the US Embassy reached the scene to rescue the Dutch. The Americans used their contacts within the Zardari government to get everyone released. Later, Pakistan Foreign Office summoned US and Dutch diplomats for a private meeting over the incident. But the Pakistani government refused to demand a public explanation from US and Dutch diplomats despite recommendations from police and security officials.

3. FACILITATING INDIAN ACTIVITIES: In this high profile case in May 2009, a US diplomat arranged a small meeting between an Indian diplomat and several senior Pakistani federal government officials at a private house. The invited Pakistanis worked in civilian positions, including one with access to Prime Minister’s Office. It appeared that the US diplomat was basically facilitating the Indian to meet senior officials who otherwise would be inaccessible for him. Pakistan Foreign Office took serious exception to the meeting, publicly reprimanded the Pakistani officials who attended the meeting but stopped short of seeking explanation from the US embassy. According to Pakistani investigators, for a US diplomat to indulge in facilitating possible espionage linked to an Indian diplomat was a matter of grave concern. It also fitted with the US policy of exercising tremendous pressure on the pro-US government in Islamabad to give concessions to India at the expense of Pakistani strategic interests.

4. COVERT US MILITIAS IN THE HEART OF PAKISTAN: In September 2009, undercover US agents were found to have recruited a total of 100 former elite Pakistani military commandos to create rapid-intervention teams for unknown purposes. A 100 more were under training at a secret facility camouflaged as a workshop on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital when it was raided by Pakistani police. It turned out that DynCorp was training the men. US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson brought DynCorp to Pakistan by telling Pakistani officials that the private defense contractor would provide security to embassy buildings. But she never explained why DynCorp was secretly raising private militias on Pakistani soil without informing the Pakistani government or military or the intelligence agencies. Some of those who were under training at the time of the raid said that DynCorp focused on recruiting retired officers who had links and contacts within the Pakistani military and could glean information from their sources. [See video and pictures]

5. PUSHY US DIPLOMATS: The US Embassy in Islamabad has made it its business to mount pressure on owners of Pakistani newspapers to curtail or expel columnists and commentators critical of US policy. Of special target are those who expose how US Embassy is meddling in Pakistani affairs and expanding the US footprint inside Pakistan. Last year, Ambassador Patterson sent a letter to one of the largest Pakistani media groups accusing a columnist of endangering American lives and succeeded in pushing her out. The US Embassy is also recruiting opinion makers within the Pakistani media, academia and military in order to promote the US agenda even at the cost of Pakistani interests, dismissing critics as ‘conspiracy theorists’ and accusing them of anti-Americanism. A senior Pakistani journalist Syed Talat Hussain exposed US activities in the following words, “Pro-American lobby in Pakistan is growing in direct proportion to the scaling up of suspicions about the US. The main task of this lobby is to reduce the complexity of the US’s objectives towards Pakistan to romantic levels of trust (…) A motley crew of former diplomats, retired generals, socialites, slick civil society begums, self-styled analysts, businessmen, journalists, and now also lawyers — they are the darlings of the US embassy staff. They are the instruments of positive outreach and public diplomacy that US diplomats are so keen to expand in Pakistan.”

6. HARASSING PAKISTANIS: Private US security contractors, or militiamen, have been involved in at least three incidents registered by the Pakistani police where armed Americans physically assaulted unarmed ordinary Pakistanis in public places. In one case, the nephew of a senior member of President Zardari’s own government was manhandled and locked up in the toilet of a gas station by men described as armed military-looking civilian Americans.

7. RESISTING POLICE CHECKS: In at least five incidents, US ‘diplomats’ disguised as Taliban, complete with beards and Pashto language skills, were stopped at several police checkpoints in Islamabad and Peshawar. In some cases, these American ‘diplomats’ tried to speed through police barriers. In one recent case, this resulted in a brief police chase, where a Pakistani officer dragged the US ‘diplomats’ back to the police picket and forced the Americans to apologize to Pakistani police officers. Again, no charges were pressed because these private US agents carried diplomatic passports.

8. ENGINEEING DOMESTIC POLITICS: As recently as December 2009, US ambassador in Islamabad was found meeting senior Pakistani politicians at private homes of mutual friends in unannounced meetings restricted to 3 to 4 persons. The ambassador asked her guests to publicly support the embattled pro-US President Zardari. US diplomats in Islamabad and officials in Washington have been blatantly interfering in Pakistani politics. In addition to helping form the incumbent coalition government in Islamabad, made up of pro-US parties, US officials have been busy trying to save both Mr. Zardari and his key political adviser and ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani. US officials in Washington have been briefing sympathetic US journalists about this. In one case, columnist Trudy Rubin had this to say while discussing Pakistan in an article published last month: “Here is the first piece of good news: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari seems to have weathered a campaign by opponents, including the military, to force him out of office. Zardari has deep flaws, but his ouster would have hampered efforts to fight the jihadis. So would the removal, now averted, of Pakistan’s effective ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, whom the Pakistani military had unfairly blamed for conditions that Congress imposed on aid to Pakistan.”

9. BRIBES AND ILLEGAL WEAPONS: This case is stunning because of the direct involvement of US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson in lobbying for DynCorp. The company ended up bribing Interior Ministry officials to smuggle banned weapons into Pakistan and then went on to raise private militias and hire retired Pakistani military officers to run rapid deployment teams and possibly even spy on the Pakistani military.

10. DEMONIZATION OF PAKISTAN: Since 2007, US officials and US media has systematically demonized Pakistan worldwide, creating false alarm over Pakistan’s strategic arsenal. US officials and media have also pushed to bracket Pakistan along with Iraq and Afghanistan in order to justify a possible military intervention. When Pakistan resisted US meddling recently, US media again went on rampage, accusing Pakistan of ‘anti-Americanism’ and harassment of US diplomats. Additionally, there has been a marked increase of lectures and studies by US think-tanks inviting unknown separatist individuals and groups to speak and fan ethnic separatism inside Pakistan and theorize on the breakup of the country.

11. ABETTING TERROR INSIDE PAKISTAN: The suspicions about why DynCorp was secretly raising private militias inside the federal Pakistani capital almost turned real when a suspect in the attack on the Pakistani military headquarters in October 2009 was allegedly found to have been recruited by DynCorp. In a second case, another suspected DynCorp recruit was found involved in assassinating a senior Pakistani military officer as he drove to work. In other words, two Pakistani employees of a US defense contractor engaged by the US embassy have been linked to two terrorist attacks on the Pakistani military. Add to this that Pakistan’s military and intelligence are a favorite punching bag for the United States and its allies, like India and Britain, and the picture of what the US is doing in Pakistan becomes even more disturbing.

These points explain how ill-motivated the US complaints about delaying visas and alleged anti-Americanism in Pakistan are. This is what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Gates are loath to share with the American people and the world public opinion.

Petition filed for protection of Asif Ali Zardari

A petition has been filed in Lahore Registry of Supreme Court requesting constitutional indemnity to the presidential office.

Petitioner Barrister Zafarullah of Watan Party in his petition stated that the judiciary could not act against the president due to the constitutional protection to the office.

The petitioner argues that under Article 242 of the constitution the president could not be summoned to any court of the law as he is the head of the state.

The three stooges around the president

Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The question everyone in the country and abroad is asking after President Asif Ali Zardariís defiant Naudero speech on Sunday is who are his close advisers who have pushed him into this state of mind. At least three close associates have been identified as those poisoning the top man against the Pakistan Army and the superior judiciary.

They are also said to be encouraging him to play the disastrous Sindh card. Sources confided to The News that two doctors, one from the interior Sindh and the other from Karachi, and a PIA pilot, hailing from Sindh, are the three characters, who have been heard by different sources while telling President Asif Ali Zardari that the Pakistan Army is all out against him and would target him anytime.

This group of three, the sources said, usually surrounds the president and keeps on poisoning him with the kind of ‘threats’ that do not exist in reality. However, it makes the president fearful of his fate and leaves him with no option but to say strange things publicly like that no one would force him to quit and that he could be removed from the Presidency in an ambulance.

Some journalists too have been approached by the president, sharing his serious fears about the Pakistan Army. President Zardari has been made mistrustful to the extent allegedly by this group of three that he does not hesitate to tell people even on phone that the Army is coming to target him (Zardari).

Presidency spokesman Farhatullah Babar when approached denied this and categorically said: ‘This is absolutely wrong.’ He said that he never saw or heard anyone to have been saying any such thing to the president. ‘I completely deny this’, he said, adding this is all rumour mongering and propagated by those, who are against the Presidency.

When asked to identify such elements, he said: ‘I would not like to pre-judge.’ Babar said one of the doctors, blamed to be the member of ‘a gang of three’, did not visit the Presidency for the last 15 days and is not the kind of soul that could do what is associated with him. About the other doctors, who is a permanent resident of the Presidency, Babar said he was also never heard of talking such things.

Babar, however, did not say anything about the PIA employee. Sources, however, said the president is told that besides the Army, the superior judiciary is also against him. The government reluctance to follow the Supreme Courtís judgment on the NRO in letter and spirit is also said to be the consequence of the unfounded fears that the judiciary has made up its mind to remove Asif Ali Zardari from the presidency.

A military source said the top military command is also concerned over the unsubstantiated and baseless apprehensions that suggest that the Army intents to remove the president. The source said there is a dire need to remove such misconceptions and help build a better understanding between different state institutions.

Although President Zardari has never publicly supported the Sindh Card, it is discussed in the Presidency quite often than seldom. The provocative statements issued by Dr Zulfikar Mirza, Raja Riaz and other PPP leaders are said to be part of a strategy to pre-empt the fear-based future happening.

The Sindh Card came into play after the Supreme Courtís judgment on the NRO. However, looking at the facts of the case, there seems no rationale of using the Sindh Card vis a vis the apex court.

It is, however, generally believed that the conspiracy mantra of the Presidency is an effort to divert the people’s attention from the the serious implications of the SC’s judgment that has left the President really worried as the reopening of Swiss cases would possibly lead to his political death.

No matter what the president and his associates say, there is hardly any one to believe this, as judiciary is performing in a wonderful manner whereas the military has shown no sign of disapproval to the democratic system rather has been fully supporting so far. Many see President Zardari and his style of governance as the major threat to the system.

Irrespective of the impression that was being created, Punjab was the most irrelevant in the NRO case. Not only that two petitioners – Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Roedad Khan — who had challenged the NRO were from Frontier. Dr Mubashir Hasan lives in Lahore, he is not Punjabi but an Urdu speaking.

It is worth mentioning here that the 17-member bench of the Supreme Court that decided the fate of the NRO included the representation from all provinces with three honourable judges from Sindh. The bench also included three honourable judges from Balochistan, four from the NWFP and seven from the Punjab and all of the judges with consensus held the NRO void ab initio. During the proceedings of the petitions against the NRO, the judges made it clear that the court was not hearing the cases against any particular personality.

Moreover the lawyers who argued the most against the NRO, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, also hailed from Sindh and is considered more Sindhi than Asif Ali Zardari. The counsel who represented the federation, Kamal Azfar also did not defend the NRO before the Supreme Court. Kamal Azfar is also from Sindh. Advocate General, Sindh Yousaf Leghari, who is also from Sindh, was given opportunity to explain the position of his province in the apex court but he did not defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

Additionally, the three-member bench constituted by the Supreme Court to hear the appeals of NAB cases and the ex-beneficiaries of the NRO does not include any judge from the Punjab. It is led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is from Balochistan, and include Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Anwar Zaheer, both of whom are from Sindh.

An open declaration of war by Zardari, now what?

Shaheen Sehbai

NAUDERO: Hearing President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday was a painful experience. All, including the diehard PPP jiyalas, were stunned. Their co-chairman had just declared war on every institution, without telling them who were the enemies, what they were doing and why. It was aptly described by a journalist on Facebook as Zardari’s farewell address.

It was an outburst of a beleaguered man who could not hold it any further, yet it was not impromptu. He thundered, made sarcastic digs, portrayed himself as the biggest victim (although just one year ago he was the biggest beneficiary, politically and financially), positioned himself as the ultimate fighter and launched the pre-emptive first strike after weeks and months of thinking. His words were very calculated and measured, prepared by speechwriters and advisers.

Unfortunately his words confirmed many conspiracy theories, which until now were considered and attacked as mere media speculation and uneducated guesses of some antagonists. For instance, he confirmed that there was a serious ongoing confrontation between him and the Pakistan Army and all attempts by the Generals to resolve the situation had failed. The recent meetings of top Generals with Zardari, PM Gilani and others can now be seen in this context. These meetings, it is now obvious, did not produce any positive outcome.

He also confirmed that his survival was at stake and it was the most important challenge he faced because he did not talk about any other burning political issue, the NRO, the SC judgment, the 17th amendment etc. included.

He confirmed that in his tunnel view, democracy meant Zardari and if he was nabbed through the judicial or legal process, democracy in Pakistan would be derailed. He confirmed that he was scared of the process now inching towards its logical end and it was in his best strategic interest to politicise the fight, energise his cadres, rally Sindhis as if there was a conspiracy to throw Sindh out of Pakistan and take the fight to the GHQ before the soldiers were asked by the courts to intervene.

He confirmed that there actually was a much bigger conspiracy against him and the entire strategy of targeting four media men, Geo and The News journalists including me, was nothing but a lame excuse to find scapegoats. When the leader could not hold his guns, he burst out and now all those who have been blaming the media, day in and day out, look no better than stupid buffoons.

He confirmed that he was about to be cornered not by the barrel of a gun but through the legal and judicial process, which he had successfully subverted for years during his incarceration. He never let any court give a verdict and when the Swiss court had reached that point, the NRO was signed. He now knows that the only option left is to go on an offensive. Obviously he has no defence.

But the key question is now that the president has declared war, what would the other players do? It was just 72 hours ago that Prime Minister Gilani had told dozens of media persons that there was no conspiracy against democracy going on and had even promised to admonish his cabinet ministers who were indulging in media bashing. Mr Gilani now looks like a man lost in the maze. A similar message was given by the Opposition elder Mian Nawaz Sharif 24 hours ago.

Will the Naudero attack stop the judges from proceeding on the path that they had chosen to restore credibility of the judicial system? Will the civil society and the establishment stop supporting the judges who were restored after a major upheaval in the country? Will the media now back off because the thunderous threats of gouging out the eyes, amputating the hands and breaking heads have now been officially authorised by the head of state?

Will the huge banners in Islamabad and Rawalpindi blaming some media men, including me, now be spread all over the country? Will Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira now start looking physically for journalists to beat them up after slandering them on every channel that he could get on?

These questions will wait answers but Zardari has taken the entire debate to a whole new level – a battle for survival with the establishment, precisely the Pakistan Army led by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. After all, against whom was the specific mention of tenure posts directed at if not the army chief?

The best response to this paranoid offensive would be for all others to ignore the rants and quietly and firmly continue the cleansing process, which has been started by the judiciary and take it to its logical end.

What should not be done is interference in the affairs of the institutions, including the presidency, but every one should be very careful and watch against misuse of any powers by any institution.

The situation also increases the responsibility of the other political parties and the seniors of the PPP to behave in a mature manner and take steps, which are needed to keep the democratic system going.

Mian Nawaz Sharif should quickly call a meeting of all political parties to consider the situation and evolve a political response. He should ask specific questions from Mr Zardari and PM Gilani about the conspiracies mentioned in the Naudero speech and make them public before the nation. A clash between the PPP and GHQ will have serious consequences for the entire political system, which must be avoided.

The Supreme Court should quickly release the detailed judgment of the NRO case so that the excuse of the government, a waiting game, to implement the SC judgment is no longer there and either action is taken or denied, with matching consequences.

The prime minister should immediately invite four other key men in the country – President Zardari, General Kayani, Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhry and Mian Nawaz Sharif – for a session to thrash out issues, informally and privately.

If someone there adopts a stubborn and arrogant attitude, it would become clear who is threatening the system. There is no threat to democracy as such but democracy should not mean protecting thieves, plunderers and looters. Convicting them through due process of law would strengthen all institutions, which is badly needed. No threats or warnings should be taken seriously as they are mere shrieks of cornered people.

Can Mr. Zardari survive the challenge?

Saleem Shehzad
Asia Times

The PPPP government has been given a deadline of December to clip the wings of the president and some of his ministers. What will happen if Mr. Zardari doesn’t accept the dedline and continues to fight the establishment, the parliament, the Supreme Court and Civil Society in Pakistan? That is the $1 million question. For now Mr. Gilani and Mr. Zardari seem to have come out swinging.

President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to go for direct public contact in order to restore his damaged image resulting from resurrection of corruption allegations against him after the demise of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

“The President is already in Karachi as part of the first leg of his public contact drive,” Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed when contacted by TheNation. “His visit to the Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi was also an expression of his resolve to go for direct public contact.”
According to the spokesman, the President would stay in Karachi for a few more days and would inaugurate developmental projects in interior Sindh. The President would also address a gathering at Naudero in connection with the second death anniversary of his late spouse Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27.
To a question, the spokesman said, it was yet to be decided whether the President would address these gatherings in person or through satellite communication. After returning from Karachi, the President would address a party workers’ meeting in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was also not final whether or not the President would go to Kashmir in person or not. “If he decides to visit Kashmir in person, he would be gracing certain inauguration ceremonies there as well,” the spokesman added.
Asked about the President’s prospective visits to other provinces especially, Balochistan and NWFP, the Spokesman said, “I have shared with you what has, so far, been finalised.”
If Saleem Shehzad is correct, the end game is in sight. However even after announcing that he would eliminate the 17th amendment, Mr. Zardai has not done so.

Trouble in Islamabad

Apart from whatever steps the Pakistani army takes to suppress the militants, the pro-American coalition in Islamabad is losing its grip. The situation is developing into a struggle between the civilian government on the one side and the Supreme Court and the military establishment on the other side. The sole beneficiary of this is likely to be al-Qaeda, as the state will lose its focus in the war against that group. The loser will be the United States.

The Supreme Court last week struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) signed in 2007 by then-president Pervez Musharraf following a Washington and London-brokered deal between former premier Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf.

Under the NRO, all corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband, now President Asif Ali Zardari, were dropped, enabling them to return to Pakistan from exile. In addition, about 8,000 politicians, political workers and bureaucrats accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murder and terrorism were granted an amnesty. Many of these people now hold senior positions, including cabinet posts, and they face court proceedings. The president cannot be tried while in office.

The names of these people were placed on the Exit Control List on the orders of the court. As a result, Minister Defense Chaudhary Ahmad Mukhtar was stopped from going to China to negotiate a defense deal. Minister of the Interior Rehman Malik, on whose orders the Exit Control List is constituted, is also named on it. The court also ordered the resumption of a court case in Switzerland for the recovery of state money allegedly swindled by Zardari and Benazir Bhutto.

According to sources close to the military establishment, a four-point agenda has been presented to Zardari for him to ride out the storm:
Cancelation of the 17th constitutional amendment, at the latest by December 31, under which the president is empowered to dissolve the National Assembly and appoint the chiefs of the armed forces.
Removal of all corrupt-tainted ministers from the cabinet.

Implementation of good governance, which means no interference in the functions of national institutions so that they can work fairly and freely.

The national government should include representatives of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group, the main opposition party. Zardari has not responded well to this program, and he is bent on challenging the court’s ruling on the NRO. Will Mr. Zardari’s wings be clipped next week, or will be resurrect himself? We will find out in a week or so.

President Asif Ali Zardari left for Dubai on Friday morning but surprisingly also took Interior Minister Rehman Malik with him, who, until recently, was said to be on the ECL. It is not yet officially known if his name has been removed from the list.

Officially, it was claimed that the purpose of President Zardariís visit to Dubai was to meet his children there. However, sources said Bilawal and Bakhtawar had already reached Pakistan. Bilawal has come from London while Bakhtawar arrived from Dubai. Only Assefa is in Dubai and insiders claim that President Zardari will return on Sunday, along with his younger daughter.

Authorities claimed that it was a scheduled visit of President Zardari but it was purely private in nature and Rehman Malik joined the president at the last minute. After the Supreme Court verdict on the NRO, this is the first foreign visit of the president and Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The names of all those people who had taken advantage of the NRO were included in the Exit Control List (ECL) on the instruction of the superior judiciary.

The authorities stopped Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar after the Supreme Court verdict and President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani took a serious notice of this step and suspended the interior secretary and some other officials.

Zardari is protected by virtue of his official position and his name was not included in the ECL. Officials confirmed that President Zardari would return on Sunday directly to Larkana, where he will address a public meeting on the second death anniversary of late Benazir Bhutto. There will be no big gathering in Larkana this year because of Muharram and the party has decided that the death anniversary will be observed in every district.Pakistan Observer

Zardari foreign bank accounts details presented in SC

Acting Attorney General Shah Khaver presented National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) report regarding Swiss banks accounts to the Supreme Court
(SC), Geo News reported Tuesday.

According to the NAB reports,
there are at least six foreign bank accounts maintained by President
Asif Ali Zardari and Benazir Bhutto. There are at least 13,113,000
dollars in these foreign bank accounts.

There are at least 46,343,353 dollars in the accounts of 5 companies owned by President Zardari and a company of Benazir Bhutto.

The
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) also presented to the apex court
all the record from Geneva court in connection with the Swiss cases.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s counsel Ashtar Ausaf supported the arguments put forward by Abdul Hafeez in the court.

Acting
AG said this is not an opportune time for allowing any upheaval to take
place. On this, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said stemming the crimes
do not pave the way for any upheaval.

On being asked, the Acting
AG said the bank accounts have been unfrozen and now the accountholders
are managing them. The court asked him as to who ordered to this effect.

When
Attorney General demurred at President Zaridari’s sentence, the CJ
asked him to deny the report if has objection on it, adding he said in
his remarks that Attorney General has not hitherto denied the report
regarding President Zardari’s sentence.

‘We have no problems
with anyone or any president; we are here to guard the national
interests,’ he continued adding it remains to be seen whether national
interests were protected in Swiss court or not.

The national money should be safeguarded, he added.

The
CJ said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is worthy of
appreciation on his statement regarding his statement on compliance
with the court verdict on the NRO.

He voiced his resolve to defend the democracy in the country at all cost.

The NRO stayed un-endorsed by the parliament, it means there is ‘something’ in the Ordinance, he remarked.

The
court ordered former Attorney General Malik Qayyum to appear before the
court to uncover the name of the authorities on whose orders the cases
were taken back.

Later on, on appearing before the court, Malik
Qayyum said President Asif Ali Zardari submitted an appeal to repeal
all NRO cases in February 2008 and the court abolished all the cases
the next month.

The consultations regarding the repeal of the
Swiss cases were held with former President Gen (rtd) Pervez Musharraf
and the Law Minister, adding on the directives from Musharraf, he wrote
a letter to the Swiss court to this effect.

The court queried
Federation’s counsel Kamal Azfar regarding his contentious argument on
dangers posed to democracy by US CIA and GHQ. Kamal responded by saying
this is his own opinion without any authority enjoining in this regard.

Kamal
Azfar said the GHQ had been destabilizing the democracy in past;
however, he knows the present Army Chief; he is a gentleman.

It
should be noted here that Kamal Azfar told a full court yesterday the
democratic system was under threat from the CIA and the GHQ.

A
17-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, is hearing identical constitutional petitions,
challenging the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

It
should be mentioned here that the Federation yesterday expressed
apprehensions before the Supreme Court that the democratic system was
under threat from the CIA and the GHQ, while the court’s decision might
put democracy under threat as well.

Justice Javed Iqbal remarked
that NAB spent Rs200 million on the cases and then took them back.The
17-member bench hearing the petitions comprises of Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar
Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian
Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, Justice
Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed,
Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui,
Justice S Khawja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif
Hussain, Justice Rahmat Husain Jafferi, Justice Tariq Parvez and
Justice Ghulam Rabbani. (Last updated at 1310 PST Via The News)

chrome 205 noshadow Google Chrome Now Available for Mac OS X Snow Leopard PakPoint.comGoogle Chrome for Mac is now available. This Google Chrome bet

The NAB on Tuesday submitted in the Supreme Court the list of the NRO beneficiaries, which showed President Asif Ali Zardari possessing assets worth $1.5 billion (Rs 120 billion) abroad and worth Rs 24.14 billion in the country.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s lawyer withdraws appeal in assets reference

ISLAMABAD: The lawyer of President Asif Zardari has withdraw appeal in assets reference filed in 1990’s after which Supreme Court (SC) has wind up the case.

A three member bench of Supreme Court headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza hears the case.

The last hearing of these cases was conducted in 2004 whereas assets reference has already abolished under NRO. Abu Bakar Zardari, the lawyer of President Zardari today filed a plea in the court for the withdrawal of appeal as the case has already abolished. The court has then wind up the case.

President deputes NCA powers to PM

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has deputed the powers of Chairman National Command Authority to the Prime Minister, Geo News reported Friday.

Today, President Zardari issued at least 28 ordinances.

According to spokesman of President House, the powers of Chairman National Command Authority have been transferred through the promulgation of National Command Authority Ordinance 2009.

Now, the Premier would chair the Authority.

According to President House spokesman, President Zardari re-issued at least 28 ordinances and all the ordinances were issued on the advice of the PM and owing to their non-passage before the deadline of November 28.