An Ex-Army Major
Blasts the Corrupt Generals
Pakistan's Looters and Plunderers:
Politicians or Generals?
By
Major A.H. Amin
IN
AN answer to a question General Musharraf stated that Nawaz Sharif
and Benazir Bhutto were plunderers and thus have no right to rule
Pakistan. If this line of supreme piety and catholic chastity
is to be followed no one can rule Pakistan whether it is Nawaz,
Benazir or any soldier unconstitutional president including Musharraf.
Musharraf
could have given one credit to the alleged plunderer Nawaz Sharif
, which is that he promoted Musharraf out of turn, and over the
heads of many competent officers, to head the Army. Musharraf
is a beneficiary of Nawaz’s corrupt acts.
A
dispassionate glance at Pakistan’s history proves that this
country has been looted or plundered by both soldiers and civilians.
It is another thing that soldiers got away with the crime because
they had guns in hand while politicians were penalized because
they did not have coercive military power or because they committed
the crime of appointing army chiefs who overthrew them.
The
vast bulk of corruption in this country was committed in the Ayub
and Zia eras because it was in these two periods when phenomenal
doses of foreign aid came to this country. Thus the 21 families
of the Ayub era. This is a reference to the families who, thanks
to President Ayub’s patronage, rose from little or nothing
to become among the richest in Pakistan. These included sons and
grandsons of Risaldar Majors of Hodsons Horse and sons and grandsons
of Assistant Political Agents (In both cases, the ranks are humble).
I know many sons and grandsons of Risaldar Majors but none became
a billionaire unless he was one part of the Ayub regime.
Take
Afghanistan in 1980s. As per a respectable estimate only 15 to
25 % of the cross border Afghan aid ever reached the Afghans,
the rest was skimmed off by Pakistani and some Afghan middleman
from the ISI and other agencies. Thus so many beverage and textile
factories belong to the sons of generals, including the present
minister of commerce.
The
Americans gave 250 Stinger launchers and about 1,000 Stinger Missiles
to Pakistan’s ISI under the silent soldier whose son is
a silent industrialist. These were state of the art weapons against
Soviet gun ships and air power. All evidence now proves that these
Stingers had limited impact on the war in Afghanistan but a decisive
role on Pakistani military juntas generals.
That
these missiles were sold by the silent arms merchants was proved
once one of these very Stingers sent to Pakistan missed a US Helicopter
in the Persian Gulf on 8th October 1987. This led to a US probe
into finding crooks and plunderers who sold these Stingers and
it failed because the crooks and plunderers blew the Ojhri Camp
Depot in 1988, in what was surely one of the greatest ammunition
depot explosions in history. Another casualty of these crooks
and plunderers was Pakistani Premier Junejo who had reduced generals
to Suzuki cars [an economy compact, quite a step down compared
to the Mercedes’ favored by the South Asian elite] and wanted
to sack the silent soldier General Akhtar Abdur Rehman.
The
list is endless. Who sold the Intercontinental Hotel to Hashwani
for next to nothing, less than a simple house? Who was that general
who bought Mercedes Trucks for NLC? Or was Saeed Qadir a blackguard
civil servant like Salman Faruqui?
Volume
wise the greatest scams of Pakistan were committed in defense
deals. Only one man was taken to task i.e. naval chief Mansur,
but this man too was dismissed by Nawaz Sharif long before Musharraf
came to power. Another major defence scam was the Ukrainian tank
deal involving ex army chief Karamat but this was conveniently
ignored by Musharraf as the general is from the generals trade
union !
Now
to the present regime. Although it is too early to finalize any
conclusions but there is no doubt that many scams would be known
when this regime too is assigned to the dustbin of history. In
1999 in an open bidding for Coastal Highway a Pakistani civilian
firm SK & B got the contract since it was the lowest bidder.
The military firm FWO was the seventh highest bidder and was nowhere
near SK & B. As soon as this military government came into
power it cancelled SK & B’s contract and gave the contract
to FWO asking it to itself change the design and lower its rates.
The FWO failed to complete the project in time and has sub-contracted
Ormara-Pasni Section at lower rates than it is being paid, to
two civilian firms. ! Why couldn’t civilians be given the
contract in the first place. Another glaring scam is the Pindi
Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway given to a civilian firm with the
condition that this firm would raise the financing itself and
was given Da
It
is of interest to note that this firm is the same one who has
been given Railway Golf Course Lahore on lease under very dubious
circumstances.
Who
allowed MacDonald’s to occupy billion dollar land reclaimed
by DHA initially for commercial bidding? Who allowed MacDonald’s
to make a restaurant in the parking lot in Karachi? These are
only the tip of the iceberg.
The
list of scams is indeed long. Where does the buying of Boeing
777 fit in? With Hidayatullah Khaishgi a close relative of Musharraf
on PIA's board of directors, is there no dead rat in this 5 Billion
USD purchase? Look at the contradictions. Back in 1980s an army
captain was dismissed from service on false allegations for taking
a government issue bulb home and all is clean in a multi billion
dollar deal!
What
about sudden inflating of land rates at Gwadar with a known land
mafia man Shiekhani developing schemes? With Gwadar land bought
by senior military officials for 30,000/- a Kanal where a Kanal
now is selling for 2 Million! [A Kanal is an eighth of an acre,
so land sold to the public for $250,000 an acre was sold to the
military for $4000 an acre.] We don’t know whether Gwadar
would ever become a Dubai or not but it sure is a Dubai for all
military men who own lands on the coastal Highway and in the Sanghar
Housing Scheme.
The
list is long and time is on the side of the hypocrites. It is
alarming to see men who spend their lives in sycophancy with military
seniors to get good Annual Confidential Reports finally picking
up the mantle of cleaning Pakistan. Those who were just four years
ago pleasing Shahbaz Sharif or Mr X on Farmhouse " X "
now are persecuting their benefactors and not allowing them to
live in this country.
They
have made life a never ending self deception, an ironic play which
would even make Shakespeare turn in his grave.
