Proposed Agenda for Supreme Court: Corrupt Generals!

The main charges mentioned against the high officials of the armed forces in the petition include amongst others: 

1. Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (retired) had received Rupees 180 million as kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters. 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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. 
5. 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. 
6. 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. 
7. 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. 
8. 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: 

1. 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. 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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. 
5. 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. 
6. 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. 
7. 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. 
8. 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. 
9. 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. 
10. 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:

1. 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). 
2. Lt-Colonel (retired) Ch M Anis Ahmed, Colonel Atta ullah, Shahid Atta, Mst Qamar un Nisa Rs 2.6 million
3. Irfan Rice Mills of Colonel (retired) Nazar Hussain Rs 1.6 million
4. 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.
5. Mohammad Textile Mills Limited of Air Commodore (retired) Amanullah got a loan of Rs. 95 million  written off from the United Bank Limited (UBL). 
6. Air Vice Marshal (retired) Ata Elahi Sheikh of the National Fructose Limited also got Rs 43 million written off. 
7. Sairani Cotton Ginning Factory owners Capt (retired) Shahraz Latif and his business partners Shahnaz Latif, Ch Mohammad Ashraf also got loan written off.
8. 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.
9. Brigadier (retired) SM Bakar Naqvi, Mian Ahmed Rabbani, Pervez Iftikar Khan, Abdul Aziz, NM Khanzada and Major (retired) Afzalul Haq also among the beneficiaries. 
10. 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.
11. 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. 
12. 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.
13. Raja Iftikar Kiani of Ms Alliance Textile Mills, Jhelum got a wavier of Rupees 16 million from the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB).
14. 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.
15. Commander Abdul Latif also got Rs 10 million written off. Shangrila Macropole Inn, Lahore got Rs 4.3 loan written off.
16. Brigadier (retired) Mohammad Aslam Khan and Co got Rs 4.3 million written off.
17. 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. 
18. 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. 
19. 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. 

From the Forgotten Archives: Question Mark for Judiciary, Army & Media

This article was posted on the website of The South Asia Tribune (Issue No 54, August 10-16, 2003). SAT was a web news portal run and edited by Mr Shaheen Sehbai, now Group Editor of the Jang Group, who was at daggers drawn with Musharraf led army at that point in time. So fierce were his writings that he had to flee the country and take refuge in USA. Many suspect, that he did it to get green card for him and family. Once he got the much wanted green cards, threat to his life suddenly ended and he came back during same Musharraf regime and joined ARY TV. 

This strange turn of events aside, Mr. Sehbai ran this web portal for quite some time and shut it down just before returning to Pakistan. South Asia Tribune gave space to many right wing journalists who have been traditionally pro-establishment, pro-army and anti India. The news character SAT displayed on web coincided with first and third variable, i.e., pro-establishment and anti-India, but strangely enough, like all other traditional proponents of army, (e.g., Shirin Mazari, Naseem Zehra, Roedad Khan, Hameed Gul, etc) Mr Sehbai also followed the same course. 

On SAT's masthead, it was claimed that its a web Newspaper for investigative reporting. Probably that was the reason why an extreme right wing reporter Ansar Abbasi was groomed by it and used to be given quite a handsome space. Many former army officers including Mr A. H. Amin, the author of the following post, were also among those who came up with many "investigative" reports in those days, religiously being posted on SAT. The interesting thing was, majority of these "investigative" reports did not mention verifiable source or authentic references / citations. 

Although following story does not tell us anything about basic information like who filed the petition, who're the judges, it carries host of un-verified information about strongest most institution of Pakistan - the Army. Please be reminded, this was 2003 and Musharraf was all there without any potential and overt challenge from civil society, establishment, political sphere, judiciary and army itself. 

My question from Mr Nawaz Sharif and an independence judiciary is, will they call for an inquiry into this? Will the petition (if there's any) be taken up afresh? And if the charges are false, will Mr Sehbai and / or the author be tried for spreading false propaganda against the armed forces? 

People want to know sires, will you please answer?

 

By A.H. Amin

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court in Pakistan is facing a legal and a practical dilemma: What to do with the petition which charge sheets the Pakistan Armed forces and lists details of massive kickbacks and corruption done by Generals, Air Marshals and Admirals.

The petition has been filed by a lawyer in public interest but its contents are so explosive, the High Court Judges cannot touch it. The LHC, under tremendous pressure of the Army regime, is almost helpless in even admitting or hearing the petition, let alone give a verdict against the Army.

The main charges mentioned in the petition include:

- Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (retired) had received Rs180 million as kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters

- Air Chief Marshal, Farooq Feroz Khan was suspected of receiving a five per cent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 planes worth $271 million

- In 1996, the Army bought 1,047 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 National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s main accountability organization, some senior Army officers made Rs. 510 million in the deal.

- One hundred and eleven Army men got 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan districts at throwaway prices, paying Rs. 47.50 per kanal (1/8th of a acre) as against the actual price of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 (1US$=Rs. 56). Another 35,000 kanals were distributed among them.

- Six respondents got 400 kanals in the Punjab while former NAB chairman 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 Rs. 20 million.

- General Pervez Musharraf acquired a commercial plot worth Rs 20 million at DHA in Lahore for just Rs. 100,000, payable in 20 years. "As mentioned in the report of defense services director-general, a loss of Rs 5 billion was incurred due to such allotments."

- The Army awarded a contract for the purchase of 1,000 Hino trucks at $40,000 per unit while the local Gandhara Industries had offered trucks of the same specification for $25,000 a piece. In the purchase of 3,000 Land Rover jeeps in 1995, Army officials allegedly received around Rs. 2 billion as kickbacks.

- The Army management at WAPDA raised the power tariff 13 times during the last three years besides purchasing electric meters at Rs. 1,050 a piece against the open market price of Rs. 456, causing a loss of Rs 1.65 billion to the national exchequer.

- A former military regime sold the Pak-Saudi Fertilizers for Rs. 7 billion and earned a Rs 2 billion commission on the deal.

- In 1996, the Pakistan Navy spent Rs. 13 million on installing air-conditioners at the Islamabad Golf Club without any justification.

Apart from this petition some other major scams involving serving or ex members of the military junta are as follows:

- Ex Army chief General Jahangir Karamat took kickbacks of more than US$ 20 Million from Ukrainian tank company for purchase of 300 Ukrainian tanks for Pakistan Army through a middleman named as Colonel Mahmood , a brother tank corps officer of Karamat . Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent the present chief of the WAPDA Major General Zulfiqar, then serving in ISI, to Ukraine and Azerbaijan to investigate the scam.

- General Zulfiqar compiled a complete report of the transaction and the bribes given. But the Army tried to buy him out by rewarding him with the post of WAPDA Chairman and promoting him to the rank of a three star General. The then Army Chief, General Jahangir Karamat was forced to resign, based on the threat that if he did not, he would be charged for corruption.

- Many road contracts were given to a firm Hasnain Construction company without any public tenders by the recently removed Railways and Communication minister General Qazi. The company, owned by a relative of General Pervez Musharraf’s son, was also awarded the lease of a lucrative real estate in Lahore for construction of a Golf Course under frontmanship of Palm Country Golf Club, Singapore. The relative of General Musharraf admitted publicly that he was working for a commission to use his contacts and influence for the company.

- Prime commercial land developed in Defence Housing Authority Karachi was leased at dirt heap rates to McDonalds operated by Amin Lakhani by the then Corps Commander, Karachi Lt. General Afzal Janjua.

- The Army’s coercive organ NAB struck various under the table deals with various individuals accused of high profile economic crimes in addition to arm twisting NAB defaulters, into joining the present government. These include the present Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and at least one fourth of all elected legislators.

Where does the military virtue of a defense outfit stand in these circumstances? Is 2003 not a year fit to publish its obituary? Our military virtue died, trampled below the treacherous wheels of overpriced military trucks and overpriced Chinese aircraft and defective Atlantique planes that crash in our waters because of dubious maintenance.

Yes all this has served one important development purpose. Sons of ex-subedars, ex-clerks and ex-assistant political agents have done well, climbing from relatively simple life styles to grand luxuries propelled by phenomenal assets. All came to clean the Augean stables and all departed richer. The only exception was General Yahya Khan who whatever his drawbacks at least did not have the mind of a petty shop keeper.

Clausewitz, the great philosopher of war described “Military Virtue” of an Army as the corporate spirit which forms the bond between bravery, enthusiasm and espirit de corps. Clausewitz further defined military virtue as a quality which drives an Army in a similar way as genius makes a military commander illustrious.

Military virtue in words of Clausewitz could be generated in two ways, i.e. by a succession of military campaigns and victories or by military training activity carried to the highest pitch. The more a general demanded of his troops in terms of dedicated military activity in peace, the surer he would be that his demands in war would be properly answered. In short military virtue is the fuel that is supposed to drive an Army in war.

With the above premise in mind and keeping in view our present history it can be safely concluded that military virtue of thePakistan Army as an institution witnessed erosion from 1958 once the party started that made sons of Risaldar majors and Assistant Political Agents progress into industrial tycoons. It was a joy ride. Men who had one green suit to wear, in the words of General Tajammul, became the tycoons of Pakistan. It was the beginning of prosperity for few and the beginning of the end of military virtue of a previously Spartan and clean military machine.

The second military junta of Pakistan was led by the only Army chief not from humble background and this ensured that the Pakistan Army was kept away from cheap consumerism and avaricious lust for real estate.

The second great dinner party started in 1979 when thanks to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a heaven-sent opportunity arrived in shape of US military aid for the third military junta of Pakistan. Stingers were flown in by the big daddy for the obedient son and these were sold in the open market by silent soldiers. Thus new business empires were created. The Zia junta as a whole did roaring business and the result is that at least four major tycoons of Pakistan today including present commerce minister have direct links with the Zia junta.

Where does building 90 acres of a welfare colony known as Creek City with the cheapest shack for Rs. 6 million fit in? Did the military junta begin the occupation for such sublime purposes in 1958 or 1999? Where does developing 62 acres of land in prime commercial real estate in Islamabad fit in? Is this the business of a Navy that was miserably shut up in a mouse hole in Karachi Port in 1971 War? True that kickback may have been taken, but at least Admiral Mansur bought a good submarine for the Navy. But for whose welfare is the Navy undertaking a project 1500 kilometers from the nearest sea?

What began as an idealistic journey ends with the shady deals around creeks in Karachi which the Navy failed to defend in 1971 and a military junta which wants to rule this country for eternity.

And in this messy situation, the subservient Lahore High Court has been asked to sit on judgment with the sprawling mountains of charges, some even admitted publicly by the Army. God help the poor Mr. Justices of the superior court.

The writer is a retired Pakistan Army Officer and a Defence Analyst who has written a number of books on defence and security matters.