LampPost
ISLAMABAD:
Elections are round the corner activating all kinds of electoral
LampPosts. Some will watch in silence, others will see action of
all kinds, sloganeering, electioneering, rigging, huffing and puffing.
But a team of monitors from abroad, has already seen its own activities
monitored by hidden posts, or eyes and ears, so to say.
In
one of the two Islamabad multi-star hotels, this election monitoring
team discovered that spooks had planted bugs in their rooms. Already
not happy with the security arrangements, these monitors sent the
bugs to be examined to determine their range and what had they lost
in terms of secrecy.
When
an Islamabad LampPost asked these monitors about the bugging, their
media office strongly denied any incident.
This
Hotel is famous for spook activity. A former prime minister, Ghulam
Mustufa Jatoi had once found similar bugs in his room and invited
the entire Press corps to have a look. That was some years ago.
But the Hotel management is continuing with its cooperation with
the ears and eyes of the government.
Bugs
are not the only problem, faced by this hotel. Few months back a
Night Manager suddenly drowned in the swimming pool of the hotel,
with his clothes on. There was a massive cover up and his wife,
who tried to raise some noise, mysteriously committed suicide a
week later. A chemical examination report of the Night Manager’s
autopsy found he had been poisoned. Why and how was never revealed
but it appeared to all he had become a serious threat to some one
high and important, so much so that the poor guy and his young wife
had to be physically eliminated.
Whatever
the definition of the military regime’s accountability drive,
LampPost has learnt that the old ways are not going to change that
easily. Following our story about lands in Bahawalpur being sold
to army people at dirt cheap rates, with each applicant receiving
over 400 acres or more, now the news has trickled down that another
100 acres is being selected in Bahawalpur for the head of the Pakistan
sea going force, who is about to retire soon.
LampPost
has learnt that defence officials teams have been visiting Bahawalpur
to select these 100 acres while an offer had also been made to the
outgoing Chief to become Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tunisia,
an offer he is said to have rejected.
The
Chief wants to be Ambassador to France and his argument is that
his force has a lot to buy from France, like the Augusta submarines
his predecessor Admiral Mansoor ul Haq bought. That man got away
with millions, having paid back just $7 million and left alone to
enjoy the rest, whatever was left. Poor Asif Zardari has waited
for 7 years in jail to receive such a deal.
The
offer of giving the sea Chief just 100 acres as against 400 acres
plus to all others is a little confusing. But then Pakistan other
forces are always subservient to the men with the real guns and
in khakis.
A LampPost
in the cities just visited by the Big Mush (BM), Chicago, tell us
that the brother of BM has started his own “Track-IV”
diplomacy with India, through a friend known as Mishra, not the
one who is National Security Adviser to Indian PM Vajpayee.
This
brother is becoming important as are other members of the BM family.
Recently the son was heard talking about a solution of Kashmir which
he boasted would resolve the issue once and for all and his super
Dad will take the credit. Pray to God he does, LampPosts say.
Back
in the Homeland, the ministers who are now packing their bags as
after the elections new ones will have to move in their places,
are getting irritated because they have been left out of the equation,
while some others may be factored into the new cabinet.
One
of these is the man responsible for country’s trade, who had
his share of good deals, the Pakistan Steel Import Duty scam, the
car production scam, textile quotas scam and many others. For him
it has been business as usual, meaning as was usual in political
governments, Musharraf’s accountability drive notwithstanding.
On
a lighter note, LampPost can share a great laugh with readers in
Washington DC where a group of Pakistani correspondents, representing
homeland newspapers, were duped by one of their colleagues in a
typical “chamchagiri” (ball bearing) style. The laughable,
but also in a way sad, episode took place when a senior Pakistani
journalist was told by a Pakistan Embassy diplomat to “get
lost”. This hurt soul rallied other colleagues and all decided
to boycott the Embassy and the new Ambassador.
But
before the boycott could really threaten Pakistan’s envoy,
on the advice of a former lady who occupied his seat, the new ambassador
invited this senior journalist to lunch, alone. “Invite him
to lunch and he will be OK,” was the lady’s advice,
and surely it worked. The senior forgot his insult and while all
others were in a boycott mode, the senior had already forgotten
everything, without consulting the others. When they saw him back
in the Embassy, they felt, lets say, let down. But they should have
known better.
