By
LampPost
ISLAMABAD:
Last week turned out to be stormyl for the LampPost. In surprisingly
mild weather in the capital, heat inside the military drawing rooms
got intolerable. This newspaper had published the list of army land
grabbers and those named, and those still to be named, were fuming.
They thought taking over State lands was their right, legal and patriotic,
so why were they being painted as thieves.
But the
reaction outside these heated drawing rooms was one of shock and
disbelief. LampPost saw numerous Internet Groups circulating the
land grabbing story with gusto, as if it was the 
meat
they had been looking for to launch discussions on the role of everybody,
basically the army and its bad practices in the past. How many other
such lists existed? Where else this kind of land grabbing had been
going on? What is the number of Abadgars (Settlers) in Sindh and
are they all army or ex-army people? Why are lands given to anyone
who retires from the army irrespective of the fact whether he did
anything to earn it? There were questions in abundance and answers
were few.
But in
its search for new subjects, LampPost hit many milestones. Grapevine
has been talking about Musharraf's "Golfway" project conceived
and launched by an ex-ISI chief, held secret from the public for "national
security reasons". LampPost had used the title of "Golfway"
just to relate it to Nawaz Sharif's Motorway. But lo and behold. There
is a real connection between the Golf Course and the Motorway, the
new one, in which Musharraf Government is involved.
LampPost
has been told some close relatives of the top family have been given
the contracts for the Islamabad-Peshawar Section of the Motorway now
being built. And the same relatives have also got a lot to do with
the Golf Course in Lahore. The Planning Commission we are told had
serious objections to what was going on and it is all available in
writing. The Money Monastry over-ruled every objection, obviously
because the job of the top money guy depends on keeping the super
boss, and even his loved ones, happy. So "Golfway" turned
out to be the right name, which stinks. Details are, however, coming
in and will be revealed as and when fully available.
Keeping
people happy has been many people's real job. An intriguing story
was sent by a mole inside the Money Monastry
about how the boss wanted to keep every body happy, present rulers
and the past ones as well. PeePee strongman General Babar had once
ordered an enquiry against this Money Monastry high-up but he was
keeping someone higher-up more happier than Babar, so nothing happened.
And this client was being kept so "well provided" that the
well known Bibi once publicly asked this banker at the Karachi Airport:
"How is your p..mping going on".
It seems
the job she mentioned is still popular in the Money Monastry. One
clear evidence emerged last week when LampPost obtained some documents
in which Pak Government has asked the US Government to provide them
the "officially certified" copy of the US Senate Sub-Committee
testimony in which Citibank President had given details of Zardari's
dollar accounts in his bank. SA Tribune published it all in its first
issue of July 20. The interesting question the whole episode raises
is that the Money Monastry guru was fully involved in the US Senate
proceedings. His detailed statement was submitted before the Committee
as part of the evidence which is on record. He could not testify personally
as he had to rush home after the Mush coup. But he never told anyone
in the Mush Government about it for almost three years. He kept the
whole thing a secret from NAB. Islamabad's prosecutors of Bibi still,
almost three years later, don't have a certified copy of that testimony.
Some loyalties are to be questioned here, for sure.
Loyalty,
it appears is more important to the Mush Government than even reputation
and conduct. Had it not been so, there is no reason why his cabinet
continued to have a minister until now who was actually a bank defaulter
to the tune of Rs 25 million. Other defaulters have been vilified,
demonized and sent to jail. This Sindhi landlord was a key minister.
But his well kept secret came out when he wanted to file his nomination
papers and had to repay his loan to clear himself from disqualification.
At least the exchequer is richer by some more bucks.
But this
minister had many juicy stories attached to his name. One involved
a Parking Lot Scandal in the Parliamentary lodges in front of the
President's House. This landlord was caught inside a car with the
wife of an army colonel in the parking lot of the lodges by another
resident, an army major. The major was shocked when he saw the two.
The minister identified himself and was let go. The poor colonel's
wife came home ashamed.
Wives
do often drive people crazy but one cabinet minister is worried about
his wife's health so much that in a meeting of the Economic Committee,
which was discussing the sugar situation in the country, he argued
that sugar production should not be raised because "people of
Pakistan were getting diabetic including my wife.". The guy,
an ex-ISI boss, was apparently worried that more sugar production
may not turn him into an ex-husband. His arguments, however, gave
a moment for all to laugh amidst the otherwise dull discussions.
Talking
of ex-ISI chaps, a pattern is emerging that the ISI virus does more
bad things to Generals than good. We had a big story in the Pakistani
media that another ex-ISI chief had bolted the country with some
Rs 3 billion (over $50 million) after running a government controlled
organization which had large tracts of land available to offer to
others. Later he appeared in Lahore saying he hadnot gone anywhere
but an enquiry was confirmed against him. Keeping a list of ex-ISI
bosses' wrongdoings is getting difficult. We know that one ex-ISI
is working fiercely on the "Golfway" project of Rs 25
billion in Lahore. He has already got Pakistan into redesigning
all its railway station platforms. Another ISI chief is known to
have formed a political alliance against un-wanted politicians back
in early 90s. He was never ashamed of it. Another ex-ISI vetoed
a multi-billion dollars Saudi investment offer, smelling a rat.
Yet another organized the Jehadis and was shunted out under yankee
pressure. The present bosses are busy cobbling together another
King's Party. There is only one ex-ISI chief who is not named in
any scandal so far, the one appointed by the lady prime minister.
But he never had any powers and ISI was side-lined in his days.
Back
in Islamabad, the city was host to an Indian celebrity, Arunadhita
Roy, the prize winning author. Even ex-ISI guys were there to listen
to her and get their pictures taken with her. The cake was taken by
a Foreign Office top guy. This bearded man who speaks a lot publicly
for his office, used the "good offices" of an Indian newspaper
Editor, to go to Ms Roy's room and ask her for an autograph on her
book. Obviously he could not have done this at her public event. Formally
the Foreign Office remained as dumb and silent as a LampPost on her
visit. We LampPosts are required only to listen and not speak out.
Moving
to UK, what I saw in the Commonwealth Games was stunning. All top
managers of our sports contingent were army guys, who had nothing
to do with sports as such. So where are the sports celebrities and
what are they doing? The man in charge of the delegation was a Lt.
General, an Air Marshal was Deputy Chief D'Mission and in charge of
Squash. A Colonel looked after Swimming, said to be a man with no
wisdom tooth. A Pakistani back-stroke swimmer disappeared to seek
asylum in UK and when this colonel was asked, he accused the reporter
of making anti Pakistani comments and then remarked: "So what
if the boy ran away!"
The medal
was, however taken by the Pakistani shooting team, comprising all
army men. Now these army guys are supposed to be great marksmen and
sharp-shooters but ours missed all their targets by yards, making
a pathetic example of themselves. And they were supposed to be the
best shooters in the army. So what will be the performance level of
the others. How are they going to shoot the Indians? By the way the
Indian shooters won many medals and were the 3rd best shooting team
among the Commonwealth countries. Some commentary on our army's shooting
training. But are they required or supposed to shoot the enemy? They
are now officially involved in politics.
On politics
in UK, LampPost heard the story of a psychologically devastating defection
from the Musharraf camp to the camp of the Lady in waiting, Bibi.
It seemed the Prez was jolted when he learnt that his evening pal
and informal adviser in chief a General Zaidi had sought a ticket
to contest the upcoming election on the ticket of Bibi. Gen Zee always
had a soft corner for Bibi and had even tried to patch up their differences,
but in vain. Finally he jumped the ship and joined the party with
many P's.
LampPost
has now learnt that even the best known political adviser of the Prez,
a civilian named TA, was persuading the generals to reach some understanding
with Bibi because her victory in October would put the uniformed men
in an awkward corner.
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