The main charges mentioned against the high officials of the armed forces in the petition include amongst others:
- Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (retired) had received Rupees 180 million as kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters.
- Air Chief Marshal, Farooq Feroz Khan was suspected of receiving a five percent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 planes worth $271 million.
- In 1996, the army bought 1047 GS-90s jeeps, at a cost of $20,889 per unit. The market value of a jeep then was only $13,000. According to the then National Accountability Bureau (NAB) some senior army officers made Rs. 510 million on the deal.
- One hundred and eleven army men received 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts of Punjab province, at throwaway prices of Rs 47.50 per kanal (a kanal is about 600 Sq Yards), as against the actual price of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 (1US $=Rs. 56). Another 35,000 kanals were distributed among them as gifts.
- Six respondents got 400 kanals in Punjab while the former chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lt. Gen Mohammad Amjad was allotted a two-kanal plot on the Sarwar Road in Lahore for just Rs. 800,000 – payable in installments over 20 years. The market value of this plot was then Rs. 20 million. General Pervez Musharraf acquired a commercial plot worth Rs. 20 million at DHA in Lahore for just Rs. 100,000 (then UK£ 960) payable over 20 years. As mentioned in the report of Director General Defence Services, a loss of Rs. 5 Billion was incurred due to such allotments.
- The army awarded a contract for the purchase of 1000 Hino trucks at $ 40,000 per unit while the local Gandhara Industries (the Hino assembling company in Karachi Pakistan), had offered trucks of the same specification for US$ 25,000 a piece. In a purchase of 3000 Land Rover jeeps in 1995, Army officials allegedly received around Rs 2 Billion as kickbacks.
- The Army management at the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) raised the power tariff 13 times during the last three years (from 1999 to 2002) besides purchasing electric meters at Rs 1,050 a piece against the open market price of Rupees 456, causing a loss of Rupees 1.65 Billion to the national exchequer.
- In 1996, the Pakistan Navy spent Rupees 13 Million installing air-conditioners at the Islamabad Golf Club without any justification.
The same website reports some other major scams involving serving or ex members of the military junta which were as follows:
- General Jahangir Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff, took kickbacks of more than US$ 20 Million from a Ukrainian tank company for purchase of 300 Ukrainian tanks through a middleman named Col Mahmood, a brother corps officer of Karamat.
- According to Mr. Rauf Klasra, reporter of The News, many top military officers had their loans written off. This fortunate lot included five lieutenant generals, two major generals and a battalion of other senior uniformed beneficiaries, with some army managed institutions to boot.
- The army controlled institutions also got their share from the national plunder when the Army Welfare Trust (AWT) got a massive loan of Rs 14.49 Million written off from a state-owned financial entity, which is now defunct (hardly a surprising fate). Some of the cases were, however, genuine, as their loans were written off in accordance with the rules.
- According to the official list of loan write-off beneficiaries tabled in the National Assembly, Lt General (retired) Ali Kuli Khan and his father Lt General Habibullah Khan had their loans written off. The list shows that General Kuli Khan got two loans written off from the Allied Bank of Pakistan while he was still serving in the Army in the mid 90s. The first loan was of Rs 1.8 million and second was Rs. 1.6 million outstanding against Janana De Malucho Textile Mills Limited, Kohat owned by his father General (retired) Habibullah Khan. General Kuli was then one of the directors of the textile mills. After the death of General Habib, he became the chief executive of this textile unit. General Habib, too, was a beneficiary of this loan write off.
- Lt General (retired) K M Azhar, who later became active in politics, of Rex Breen Batteries got Rs 16 million written off by the Agriculture Development Bank.
- Lt General (retired) SA Burkey and Lt General (retired) Safdar Butt also figure amongst the happy generals benefiting from the state institutions generosity. Another prominent name on the list is that of Air Marshal (retired) A Rahim Khan.
- Air Marshal (retired) Viqar Azeem also got Rs 15 million written off from Pakistani Kuwait Investment Co. Lt General (retired) SA Burkey, Major General Zahid Ali Akbar, Brig MM Mahmood, Begum Omar Mahmood, Saeed Ahmedalso got loans written off.
- Gohar Ayub Khan, Mr. Raza Kuli Khan brother of General Ali Kuli Khan also got a loan of Rs 7.2 million written off against Rehana Woolen Mills. The loan was written off by the financial institution SAPICO.
- Major General (retired) M Mumtaz from Abbottabad, Lt Colonel (retired) Shaukat and Major (retd) Tajuddin Rs 1.2 million, Major General (retired) Ghaziuddn are also in the list. Major General (retired) G Umar also got Rs 8.5 millionwritten off from the Agriculture Development Bank.
- Lt General (retired) Safdar Butt, Major General (retired) Abdullah Malik, Brig (retired) M M Mahmood, Col (retired) M Zafar Khan, Mohammad Afzal Khan, Mrs Hamida Farhat also got benefits from the UBL. General (retired) Abdullah had resigned after the military coup of General Zia and had opposed the military take over of July 1977.
The list also names:
- Brigadier (retired) M A Baig and Qamar Ahmad, BA Siddiqi, Zubair Rashid, Mohammad Sadiq Baig, Riazur Rehman, Mrs Mamomnna Khatoon, Mrs Mehr Riaz, Mr Taufiq Ahmed Rs 1.09 million (UBL).
- Lt-Colonel (retired) Ch M Anis Ahmed, Colonel Atta ullah, Shahid Atta, Mst Qamar un Nisa Rs 2.6 million
- Irfan Rice Mills of Colonel (retired) Nazar Hussain Rs 1.6 million
- Mehr Textile Mills, Chakwal, Colonel Mohammad Ayub Khan, Ch Nisar Ali Khan, Ch Asad Ali Khan, Mrs Sultana Zakia, Mohammad Nawaz, Ch Ghulam Ali Khan. Major General (retired) Khadim H. Raja, Air Marshal (retired) A Rahim Khan, Mrs Sattar Azim Khan also got loan written off.
- Mohammad Textile Mills Limited of Air Commodore (retired) Amanullah got a loan of Rs. 95 million written off from the United Bank Limited (UBL).
- Air Vice Marshal (retired) Ata Elahi Sheikh of the National Fructose Limited also got Rs 43 million written off.
- Sairani Cotton Ginning Factory owners Capt (retired) Shahraz Latif and his business partners Shahnaz Latif, Ch Mohammad Ashraf also got loan written off.
- Air Marshal (retired) A Rashid Sheikh, Air vice Marshal (retired) S Moinur Rab, Group Captain (retired) Mohammad Ismal Khan, Salman Rashid of Sky Rooms Limited got Rs 8.4 million loan written off.
- Brigadier (retired) SM Bakar Naqvi, Mian Ahmed Rabbani, Pervez Iftikar Khan, Abdul Aziz, NM Khanzada and Major (retired) Afzalul Haq also among the beneficiaries.
- Colonel (retired) M Yaqoob of Aswan Tentage and Canvas got a huge loan of Rs 276 million written off from Bankers Equity. His other business partners were Colonel (retired) M. Yaqoob, Mohamamd Afzal Chugtai, Mohammad Siddiqi, Haji Ghulam Sabir and Idris Ahmed Butt.
- Farook Pulp of Mjaor Nasim A Farooqi, Naeem A Farooqi, Pervez Farooqi, Munir Ahmed Khan and Saleem Farooqi got loan of Rs 2.1 million loan written off.
- Captain (retired) Shaukat of Locus Enterprises got Rs 8.8 million written off. His business partners were Wiqar Abbas, Khalid Khan, Colonel (retired) M Sadiq Khan, Nabil Hasan, Masoud Abbasi and Abdul Razak.
- Raja Iftikar Kiani of Ms Alliance Textile Mills, Jhelum got a wavier of Rupees 16 million from the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB).
- Lieutenant-Colonel, who owned the Meditex Intl got Rs 6.322 million written off from the HBL. His business partner was Col (retired) Bashir Ahmed.
- Commander Abdul Latif also got Rs 10 million written off. Shangrila Macropole Inn, Lahore got Rs 4.3 loan written off.
- Brigadier (retired) Mohammad Aslam Khan and Co got Rs 4.3 million written off.
- Feroz Sons Textile Mills Mirpur owners Colonel (retired) Munir Hussain, Nasim Farms’s and Major General (retired) Qazi Nasim Majeed are also among the beneficiaries.
- Colonel (retired) Saleem of Special Iron and Steel Mills Limited, Lt General (retired) Habibullah Khan, Brigadier (retired) M Jan Hahang M Khandawala, Raza Kuli Khan, Colonel (retired) M Sharif Khan, Begum Tehmina Habibullah, M I Khurram, M Nazir Khan and IA Khurram are also among the beneficiaries.
- Major (retired) Mohamamd Anwar, S Aijaz Ali Shah, S Amjad Ali Shah, S Ghulam Qadir, S Aftab Ali Shah, S Ali Gohar Shah, S. Amin Shah also on the list. Lt-Col (retired) M Jaffar, JH Dinshaw Rs 7.2 million, Chemphar Pakistan Limited of Brigadier (retired) Shareef Rahat, Captain (retired) AM Murad and Major (retired) Tariq Baig are also among the beneficiaries.
Source: http://pkpolitics.com/
It is now a challenge for all the civil society and media proponents of a crusade against corruption to urge the judiciary to take notice of the corruption of the generals and take the cases of corruption for regular hearing which have been pending since 2003.
Essence of the Matter
ReplyDeleteA.H Amin
August 2002
Nation , Lahore
Since the article is long i am just reproducing concluding paragraphs:--
In the worst Machiavellian phrase in todays Pakistan dominated by the soldiers self propagated image as one who NABs the corrupt what is it all other than a simple proof of Machiavellis dictum " Assume a virtue,Prince,if you have it not ! Honesty and Spartan living are not virtues in todays Pakistan ! Machiavelli was not wrong when he said " men are easily corrupted and let themselves become of the opposite nature,no matter how good they are and well taught". We are condemned to rigged elections,manipulation of like minded lotahs and palace intrigues ! We are condemned to long term insecurity simply because some individuals are not secure with a strong and stable political system for this country ! This is our tragedy from which we can only be rescued albeit ironically by unforeseen air crashes or war !
Since the Pakistani military has had the best of all in most of Pakistan's history we will confine this discussion to the military's role ! A study of history proves that while the Roman Republic was great the citizens were poor or lived a Spartan living ! While the first four Muslim caliphs practised austerity the Muslim Kingdom touched Central Asia at one extreme and Egypt at the other ! Now compare Pakistan ! Three of the four of Pakistan's military rulers till to date were from humble background less Yahya Khan whose father was from the Indian Police Service ! All three less Yahya Khan departed richer than they were when they took over while the Pakistani state successively became poorer with their departure ! Compare Ayub Zia's or any of todays three or four star generals assets with what they had at the time of passing out from the miltary academy whether it was the Sandhurst or OTS Dera Dun or Kakul ! As per Feldman a reliable authority Ayubs studies in college were financed by Nawab Kalabagh ! Major General Tajammul states that in 1950 the then major general Ayub had just one green suit ! Zia of 1960s is remembered by Gul Hassan as a meek obsequeous soldier , a man unfit to be an officer of the Pakistan Army in words of his immediate senior Major General Nawazish !
ReplyDeleteWhy these man acted the way they did ! Was it because of ideology or self interest ? From necessity or from choice ? Mustafa Kemal had saved Turkey from disintegration , a direct consequence of the Treaty of Sevres ! Degaulle was a military hero of France ! What were our military rulers ! Ayub destroyed the Constitution of 1956 , a direct consequence of which was the separation of East Pakistan within fifteen years ! General Zia destroyed the Second Constitution of Pakistan simply because he feared a prime minister who could threaten his personal authority !
We had one who came to wipe out corruption and institutionalised corruption in the Pakistani society through route permits and industrial permits ! We had one who attempted to undo what his soldier predecessor had been doing for eleven years in order to perpetuate his rule and presided over this country's partition in 1971 ! We had one who wanted to hold hands with God Almighty in his dishonesties and in the process introduced extremism in this country's politics ! He came with a Morris Minor and today his sons are in Land Cruisers ! We have one who professes to be a liberal and is strengthening the police and faces the most serious religious threat in Pakistan's history ! All were motivated by self interest ! All three came poorer and left the country poorer if not economically then politically !
What is the conclusion ! All military rulers acted out of self preservation ! They had no ideology ! Less Yahya all started from the lower middle class or middle class and ended as business tycoons ! They destroyed constitutions , promiscuously destroyed the political system by introducing test tube babies in politics who they later condemned as corrupt and defective ! They destroyed Pakistan's constitution transforming the office of prime minister from that of a potent statesman and respectable political chief executive to that of a glorified eunuch ! All to preserve one man's head ! All to ensure personal power !When they acted out of choice it was for self preservation , when they acted out of choice it was for self advancement ! In a nutshell Pakistan's political history is a story of soldiers of humble origins motivated by intense ambition and rising to the highest political office ! Entering the stage with one green suit and departing the stage leaving a dynasty with phenomenal riches whether it was Zia or Ayub or todays Crore Commanders ! While admirals guilty of worst sort of bribery are allowed to go scot free politicians against whom one single charge even one tenth of Mansoorul Haq is not proved are rotting in Jails since last five years !
ReplyDeleteOur memories are short , we have been brought up doctored through propaganda,through censured press and are made to believe that our present rulers are honest while their predessors were dishonest ! Alas we have reached a stage when no one seriously reads the newspapers any more ! The self proclaimed Messiahs of this nation administered so many injections of falsehood and distortion to it that today that the average man has lost all political awareness ! He is well meaning and motivated but no longer has faith in the state or in those who lead him ! Inflation and depression has reduced him to a robot !
From those who day and night praise this regime motivated by a large number of reasons of self interest one may ask this question ! Has human nature changed ! Is personal interest not the ideology of todays military government ! If submarines were bought in the past are not Boeing 777 being purchased today ! If there was a polo ground constructed in the past what about many hundred acres leased to a foreign company for a commercial golf course today ! Defaulters who cannot enter Dubai are heading banks in Pakistan ! If all was divided in between cousins and inlaws yesterday , is not the same happening today !