Red herring
Whenever there is a forest fire the usual modus operandi to control the main conflagration is to start small backfires. Scandals that affect vested interest are no different, the Ungodly will invariably pick out something that may not be central to the case but which would be sensational enough to excite the public interest almost to the exclusion of everything else. This is an old time-tested diversionary ploy to cloud over the main issues. The hottest scandal in the country today is Mehran-gate, the charmed life and financial liberties of Yunus Habib. Everyday that goes by sees some new startling disclosures, some facts are being selectively leaked to the media, others are being obtained by journalistic resourcefulness. While information remains sketchy about the entire spectrum of Mehran’s misdemeanours, a gradual mosaic of white collar crime seems to be taking shape. In keeping with his normal penchant to throw around the names of the influential and the mighty, Yunus Habib has sought to frighten his former patrons into supporting him to escape justice. The “Rs.14 crore Gen Beg donation” seems to be in this mould, being used as a bait to lure an impatient media, straining at the bit to satisfy the appetite of the masses for sensation, down a garden path away from real findings. Yunus Habib seems to have succeeded to an extent, however, a closer look will reveal that the Rs.14 giveaway crore is too pat, it can be too easily explained away. While they will always draw a certain amount of flak, red herrings must be credible to be effective.
Little knowledge is dangerous, blissful ignorance can be fatal. Not to be outdone, the government’s spin-masters in the shape of one “Musarrat” Babar has joined the fray but since Hussain Haqqani was abroad at the time, it was more of a “C Team” effort without the usual Haqqani finesse. To set the record straight, Rs.14 crore was not drawn out of Mehran Bank, this so-called “donation” was made in 1990 from the coffers of Habib Bank when Yunus Habib was Provincial Chief and Safdar Abbas Zaidi, now Chairman Pakistan Investment Board (PIB), was President Habib Bank. While one may well ask how come Safdar Zaidi was oblivious of the “donation” by his subordinate, we must also accept that during his Presidency Rs.600 crore belonging to Habib went into jeopardy due to financial shenanigans of Yunus Habib domestically and US$17 million (Rs.50 crore) was irretrievably lost due to foreign currency speculation under the supervision of another gentleman in New York. Through all this, we are led to believe that Safdar Zaidi has remained sphinx-like blissfully ignorant and thus innocent. Here is a man who commands tremendous loyalty from the power-that-be for some reason. By amazing coincidence (or confluence of interest) thereafter, Mr. Yunus Habib opened Mehran Bank and having been allowed to resign rather than being charged for his misdemeanours, he selected his “partner in resignation” as a key member of a galaxy of luminary SEVPs, among them Mohammad Ahsan, now Chairman Pakistan Banking Council and the two lucky sons of Safdar Zaidi. Incidentally an apartment constructed by the two real estate personal guarantors of most of the irretrievable credit advanced by Yunus Habib was “bought” by a son of Safdar Zaidi and immediately “rented” out to Habib Bank with considerable advance. About Rs.200 crore in Mehran Bank seems to be unaccounted for, some of it may even be as far away as Beverly Hills. When seen in that full context Rs.14 crore represents less than 2% of the total of Rs.650 crore disbursed by Yunus Habib as largesse to himself, his associates, friends, political parties, intelligence agencies, etc but seems to be certainly exciting more attention. Nobody can deny that there is certainly something amiss in the propriety of accepting Rs. 14 crore as a “donation” but the ramifications of that episode are quite removed from the financial plundering that one must focus on and which may lose sight of just because a former COAS has been involved in the mainstream. Furthermore, the friendship of the former COAS with Yunus Habib is well-known all over the country. By cleverly using the Office of the COAS an uproar has been created meant to steer the enquiry away from other possible disclosures.
“Musarrat” Babar has taken issue with me over the suggestion that since the “Rs.14 crore Gen Beg donation” was handed over to the ISI, it comes under the ambit of “national security considerations” and should not be speculated upon by the media. While agreeing that putting a lid on anything would seem to negate the thrust of the “Not the whole truth” article, I still maintain that what is being bandied about is a deliberate effort to divert attention from other disclosures, and one daresays some of it may well pertain to the former COAS. I stand by my assertion that it is not in the national interest to expose either our Armed Forces or our intelligence agencies to public scrutiny and/or enquiry. Already it has led to debilitating speculation of the worst kind. The whole episode pertaining to the “Rs.14 crore Gen Beg donation” should be handled by an in-camera enquiry that having investigated the matter in depth must lay bare the facts before a designated NA forum. Since Gen Beg retired as a four star general, a panel of outstanding retired four star officers (or comparable general officer rank) with tremendous integrity like Gen Sharif, Gen Iqbal, Air Chief Marshal Jamal, Air Marshal Ayaz, etc could sift through the facts and ask the relevant questions. Rs. 14 crore is a lot of money to cart around in cash, Companies doing Cash-in-Transit services confirm that even the largest denominations would fit 20 (or more) standard suitcases. Gen Beg has stated (and nobody has yet denied it) that Rs.14 crore came in instalments to the ISI in September and October 1990. Out of this ISI spent Rs.6 crore for election purposes, the remaining Rs.8 crore remained in Special Funds of ISI. If any money went into a personal account or anywhere where it can be deemed to be criminally motivated, that should be traceable to Gen Beg’s detriment if it has so happened. One repeats that the propriety and legality certainly is open to question but supposedly this money was moved from Habib Bank to the designated accounts by bank transfer (or by cheque) and, therefore, one can put a trace on it to trace out the beneficiaries. At the time that this transaction took place, Maj Gen (later Lt Gen) Asad Durrani was the Head of ISI with Col Mir Akbar his immediate junior. While Asad Durrani was normally taken to be one of the moving spirits in the downfall of the last Bhutto regime, in a convoluted logic he has since been rewarded with the Ambassadorship to Bonn, out of sight and perhaps out of media mind. One of the first acts of Gen Asif Nawaz as COAS was to order then DGMI, Maj Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, to immediately move Brig Hamid Saeed who was the MI representative in Karachi out of Karachi and out of the MI, out of sight and preferably out of the way. People in sensitive places may find it embarrassing to bring an honest, upright and credible individual like Brig Hamid Saeed out of the closet where he has been consigned. This is not the first time an officer has been punished for doing his job only too well. Since (and now) there is nothing to suggest that during his tenure in Karachi Brig Hamid Saeed did anything that was not in keeping with direct instructions given to him by his superiors, why not ask Brig Hamid Saeed some pertinent questions? To keep matters quiet, it may well be that the whole chain down to Col Mir Akbar will be “suitably” rewarded. Though there is severe doubt about the morality of such “donations”, the fact of taking the money was wrong as much as the use to which it is supposed to have been put. Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi took over as DGMI from Asad Durrani (who remained head of both MI and ISI for some time after Ms Bhutto’s fall in early Aug 90) in Aug 90 and after the death of the late COAS Gen Asif Nawaz in 1993 (and the removal of PM Nawaz Sharif a few months later), he took over as DG ISI in May 1993. As the serving DG ISI, the Rs.14 crore should be eminently traceable by him. However, since we cannot have the DG ISI subjected to public inquisition, discretion in the matter is called for. From his confidential testimony to a selected panel, there should not be any problem in tracing out the entire jigsaw puzzle to everyone’s satisfaction.
What is of great concern is that because of the machinations of certain influential people, the “Rs. 14 crore Gen Beg donation” is being selectively targeted to malign the reputation of the Armed Forces and by inference its hierarchy. While one is not surprised at the use of this potent red herring by Yunus Habib to divert the investigators from real findings, the actions of diverse interest to focus on this issue to the exclusion of everything else seems to be suspect. Nobody in his right mind would suggest that Gen Beg should escape retribution if he is found guilty of any wrongdoing but in this case Yunus Habib seems to have powerful accomplices who are using the Gen Beg donation issue as a smoke screen to avoid other more sensitive disclosures, a multi-dimensional effort by diverse parties acutely sensitive to the fact that more findings may emerge to their discomfort.
The power of office has its own dynamics. “Musarrat” Babar, whose diatribe seems more like the stuff usually churned out by Hussain Haqqani’s esteemed Deputy, Farhat Ullah Babar (coincidence of name perhaps), has been very careful in keeping the name of Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, the present DG ISI, out of the episode despite the fact that the General’s service more or less brackets the period under review and he more than anyone else is in a position today to be able to nail down the last Rupee of the Rs.14 crore. Discretion may be the better part of valour in keeping clear of incumbent heads of intelligence agencies but since “Pseudonym” Babar is keen to remove the veil selectively from our clandestine agencies, why does he (or she) not request the present DG ISI to resolve the mystery of the missing Rs. 14 crore? Why is it necessary to tar and feather the Armed Forces by default in a deliberate smear campaign? Or is that part of a greater game plan to discredit the Defence Services and its present hierarchy?
Certainly journalistic ethics demand that “Musarrat” should not quote out of context for the purposes of disinformation. Those of us who are privileged to know Gen Babar (as removed from “Musarrat” Babar) for over 30 years, know him as an honest, upright man though somewhat of a gullible person. A good professional soldier, he is very visibly uncomfortable in the hurly burly of politics. One of the redeeming features of Mr Bhutto (and later Ms Bhutto) is that father and daughter managed to obtain (and hang onto) the loyalties of people like Gen Babar and Imtiaz, two of the most respected army officers of their time. If Gen Imtiaz’s career had not been sidetracked by politics, he would have made a tremendous COAS. For many of us the loyalty of such persons has been enough reason to re-think our own evaluation of the Bhuttos. The credibility of Gen Babar must not be undercut by making him party to cover-up of the magnitude that is presently being stage-managed for Mehran Bank. He is too fine a person to be consigned to this quagmire. Above all, use of the Armed Forces as a favourite whipping boy for all seasons must be avoided.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment