Shame on You, Minister Javed Ashraf
Qazi
Special
SAT Report
ISLAMABAD/LONDON:
Siddiq-ul-Farooq, Spokesman and Media Affairs Incharge of Nawaz
Sharif’s PML-N in Islamabad, was taught a lesson in typical
ISI style on Oct 29, one day after former ISI Chief and current
Railways Minister, General Javed Ashraf Qazi, publicly threatened
to sort “this guy out.”
Farooq
was kidnapped, roughed up, beaten with belts, punched and kicked
and taken away to a village 30 miles from Islamabad and amid threats
of being killed, abandoned after his wallet, money and watch were
stolen by army men.
He
told the South Asia Tribune the attack was ordered by
Railways Minister of General Musharraf’s Government, Lt.
General Javed Ashraf Qazi, against whom Farooq had filed a reference
with the National Accountability Bureau, accusing Qazi of corruption
in Railways to the tune of Rs 5 billion in award of contracts
and Railways projects.
Qazi
reacted fiercely to the charges and told the ARY Gold TV channel
he will “sort this guy out.” The next day Farooq was
picked up and given a sound beating for accusing a former ISI
chief of corruption.
Then
BBC Urdu Service in London interviewed General Qazi and asked
him about Farooq’s charges. What Qazi said was shameful
and pathetic, unbecoming of any person with even a modicum of
decency. He spoke like a typical Lahori hoodlum, a mafia chief,
accusing Farooq of being “a liar, a dog and a Mr. Nobody
wandering on the streets.”
His
interview was a shame for the entire nation, specially the Pakistan
Army, as it revealed not only the caliber of a retired general,
it exposed Qazi as a man who had not been to any civilized institution
where he would have learnt some manners of public speech, specially
when millions of people were listening to him on a popular radio
station. Click here to hear the Qazi Interview
with BBC Urdu Service
In
hitting out at Farooq, Qazi, a sitting cabinet member and a retired
General, should have displayed some manners and civil behaviour.
Instead of showing to the world that Farooq was a bad guy, his
interview proved that he was the rogue, drunk with power and using
such language on international radio which no one would even think
about using in public for any human being.
Javed
Qazi is the same person who has been involved in the Rs 25 billion
Golf Course Project near Lahore, details of which have been kept
a secret from the Pakistani people and the nation “in the
supreme national security interest.”
He
is also the same person who accommodated the infamous father-in-law
of General Pervez Musharraf’s son Bilal in the Peshawar-Rawalpindi
Motorway project in which project owner himself admitted that
the father in law had been given a 2 per cent commission.
In
his interview Qazi was asked whether he ever thought of resigning,
as it the custom, when charges were leveled against him. “I
am not a mad man to resign when any dog barks at me. If we start
resigning then no body will be left in the cabinet,” was
his arrogant answer.
Qazi
once again threatened to fix Farooq after the Accountability Bureau
completes an enquiry into the charges and exonerates him. “Then
we will fix him,” he said on BBC.
When
told that Farooq had lodged a Police Report (FIR) against him,
he scoffed at the idea in a scornful way saying: “Koi FIR,
Shef IR Nahin Hui” as if he controlled the legal and Police
system and was sure that no one could dare to lodge a report against
him.
Qazi
also said the charges were made against him because he had applied
for a Senate ticket and people were scared that he would win the
Senate election.
Political
analysts were wondering about the quality of the proceedings of
the next Senate with people like Javed Ashraf Qazi occupying key
positions in it under the General Musharraf’s supervision.
