By
M Malkham
ISLAMABAD:
If one man is to be named for General Pervez Musharraf’s political
success, or failure, he would have to be his Principal Secretary,
civil servant from Gujrat, dumb looking but sharp political shooter,
Tariq Aziz.
This
personal friend of the Pakistani dictator, the Pakistan Government
bureaucrat, is more loyal to his clan and his village toughies,
the Choudhries of Gujrat, than anyone else. Aziz is behind all decisions
in Pakistan, whether political or relating to official working on
the civil side.
Aziz, who joined
the Civil Service (Income Tax) in 1967, remained a low profile officer
till the time he was posted as Secretary In charge Anti-Narcotics
Force (ANF) in the last government of Nawaz Sharif, with his buddy
Choudhry Shujaat Hussain being Nawaz’s Interior Minister.
ANF falls under the administrative control of Interior Minister.
The
Gujrat Chouhdris are famous for patronizing civil servants so that
they could use them at the 'proper time'. The investment of Shujaat
Hussain has paid off big time under Musharraf. Although being equal
partners of all the good, the bad and the ugly of the Nawaz regime,
these Choudhries have remained immune from any accountability, thanks
to Tariq Aziz. They have not only been saved from NAB, they have
been given an important role in current Pakistani politics laced
with pushing favourites forward.
Tariq
Aziz, son of a Sessions Judge, who belonged to a farming family
of Bhalwal in Sargodha, had never thought he would enjoy such an
immensely powerful role in his life, which began as a college fellow
of “Peji”, then his friend Pervez Musharraf. Peji once
campaigned for Tariq Aziz for elections of the Lahore Foreman Christian
College Students Union. They remained friends eversince as Peji
went into the Army and Aziz joined the Civil Service.
When Musharraf
took over in 1999, he immediately called in Aziz to be his confidant.
He was given super-secret tasks such as negotiating the exile deal
with the Sharifs at their Raiwind Estate on behalf of Pervez Musharraf.
Even Musharraf's ISI and Corps Commander, Lahore were not aware
of these negotiations between Mian Sharif and Tariq Aziz.
This
was Aziz’s first political activity noticed by the high-ups
of the military government. Being a close associate of shrewd politicians
like the Choudhries, Aziz saw grave flaws in
Musharraf's referndum plan. He advised his boss not to undertake
that exercise. Aziz was right as his advice was ignored and Musharraf
suffered a serious set back, with his grip on government weakening.
Aziz
keeps both sides of the political spectrum in his area politics
happy. While he was a great pal of the Choudhries, he did not ignore
their opponents, the PPP band of Ahmed Mukhtar, a former Commerce
Minister of Benazir Bhutto and his brother, Ahmed Saeed, now Managing
Director of PIA. Aziz obliged Saeed by giving him the PIA posting,
though this guy ran a shoe factory. Another favour Aziz got was
the release from prison of Ahmad Mukhtar after a deal. To keep both
these sides happy, now he has managed to separate the political
constituencies of his rival political friends, so they donot clash
in politics and make difficult demands from Aziz.
Another
common friend of Aziz and Pervez Musharraf is Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa,
who has been posted for the second time as Chief Secretary of the
largest province of Punjab, ostensibly to pave the way for a victory
of the King’s Party, the PML(Q). Aziz has made Randhawa so
powerful, a retired general and Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool,
seems powerless.
Aziz
visits Lahore every week-end and spends at least two days to ensure
that the maximum number of politicians join the PML (Q). Interestingly
the venue of these meetings is the official residence of Chief Secretary
or office of former Chief Minister at 7-Club Road. Messages have
been given to all District Nazims to behave and extend full 'cooperation'
to PML(Q) candidates. Punjab is the only province where Chief Election
Commissioner's orders not to transfer government officers have been
blatantly ignored, again thanks to Aziz and his influence in the
Musharraf’s court.
In
fact exactly two days after the CEC's order not to transfer senior
official, Punjab government transferred 12 Superintendents of Police
and all these postings were made on the recommendations of the chosen
would-be Chief Minister, a pal of Aziz, the junior Choudhry of Gujrat,
Pervaiz Elahi.
Randhawa
also secured PML(Q) ticket for national assembly for his daughter
and a provincial assembly ticket for his brother.
The
growing influence of Aziz is irking the military commanders. They
have been quietly complaining to Musharraf, though in whispers.
But Musharraf surprised them all in one of the Corps Commanders
meetings when he openly asked them why they were whispering against
Aziz. No body explained. Floor was then given to Tariq Aziz and
he explained: "I am loyal to Musharraf and will live in the
office till the time he (Musharraf) is here. I do not care for any
body or anything else."
Aziz is a friend of friends, as noted above. But he is not ignoring
his relatives. His cousin, Dr Ashfaqur Rehman in Toba Tek Singh,
has been given a provincial assembly ticket of the King’s
Party and to watch the interests of his cousin, his constituency
has been modified twice.
At one stage Aziz and ISI were heading in opposite directions in
handling politics of Pakistan. ISI was promoting the anti-Chaudhri
group but Aziz finally won.
But there is one area where Aziz has failed, althoughnot completely.
Despite having all the powers Aziz is powerless before his only
son, who has turned into a religious fanatic and has been actively
taking part in activities of disbanned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT).
Yet
his influential position worked for him when he requested the senior
leadership of LT not to send his son to the Indian-Held Kashmir
for Jihad. His request was accepted and his son was deprived of
martyrdom.
Will
he ever forgive his father for this denial is not known.
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