In Clear
Conflict of Interest her NGO got millions of dollars
Will
the Real Zobaida Jalal Please Stand Up and Explain
By
Hasan Jan
QUETTA:
Another “clean” minister of General Pervez Musharraf
has now revealed her true colors and it has now been confirmed
that this “simple looking Balochi doll” used her position
as Minister to get a USAID grant of millions of dollars for her
own NGO in her province.
Projected
as General Musharraf’s favorite for the prime minister’s
slot, the real Mrs Zobaida Jalal is not what her public relations
image has been made out to be, in the media, among the elite and
even to top US White House circles.
Zobaida
Jalal has added her name to the list of not so clean members of
General Musharraf’s cabinet by getting her NGO, 'Mand Trust'
several million dollars out of a total USAID allocation of $60
million. This she did in a very clever and calculated manner,
using one of her friends and an Education Ministry Adviser to
sit on the Board of USAID to disburse the millions which had come
from Washington.
This
friend, Ms B. Jamil, acted on her behalf and ensured that Jalal’s
NGO got the money, although Jalal was supposed to be supervising
the fund and was not supposed to apply for the money for her own
NGO. It was a clear case of conflict of interest.
She
created an aura of simple grandeur around her, posing that General
Musharraf had great confidence in her and was going to make her
the next Prime Minister. It is believed that even when she left
the Education Ministry to contest the elections, her minions made
sure that the US money got transferred to her NGO.
Jalal
used everybody, even some of her closest friends and colleagues.
She was introduced to officials in the US White House, including
First Lady Laura Bush, as an “educated, simple progressive”
lady from rural and forlorn Balochistan Province which excited
Mrs. Bush enough to grant her an audience. Laura Bush saw her
on that basis and not because she was a Minister in Musharraf’s
cabinet.
But
when Jalal returned to Islamabad, she presented her meeting with
Mrs. Bush as a personal endorsement of the White House for her
to run for the top job of Prime Minister. “I have so many
projects running that the Americans want me to stay as the minister,”
she told everybody.
With
that marketing tool, she convinced the powers that matter that
her election to the new Parliament must be ensured, come what
may, although she was not even in a physical condition to campaign,
having just given birth to a baby. The ever obliging ‘managers’
of the elections could not have been more efficient. She returned
to the NA without any hassle, defeating many popular candidates
though she never went door to door to ask for votes. The angels
came to her help.
While
her brief public life has been well camouflaged under carefully
prepared image building packages, her private life has many ethical
questions which need to be answered.
She
came close to the generals and their wives who thought she was
a sweet little sensation in a Balochi dress. Meanwhile education
became fashionable and Jalal had the awakening to get her own
NGO going.
When
USAID sent in $60 million, her NGO ‘Mand’ was quietly
approved for a hefty grant as her own Ministry’s adviser
and friend was sitting in the Board, appointed by her.
Zobaida
assured her staff and many donors, that she has been promised
by the President to return as the Prime Minister and so she has
left her henchperson at the Ministry to watch her interests.
Her
private secretary a retired Colonel went with her on leave from
the ministry in anticipation of her return as the Prime minister.
On her return as an MNA she is using the Education Ministry cars
and staff, which are supposedly “crimes” in the eyes
of General Musharraf as many former ministers are serving long
jail sentences for exactly such a misuse of cars and phones.
