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India-Pakistan

Witness in Benazir case retracts statement

2015-07-08

[DAWN] Another key witness in Benazir murder case retracted his earlier statement during cross examination before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). Earlier, witnesses like former director general National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema and SSP Yasin Farooq had disowned the statements attributed to them by the prosecution. ATC Judge Rai Mohammad Ayub Marth commenced hearing in the Benazir murder case in Adiala Jail when a prosecution witness, retired SSP Maj Imtiaz -- a key security official of Ms Bhutto -- withdrew his earlier statement. Earlier, in a statement attributed to Maj Imtiaz it was claimed that Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... was killed due to inadequate security arrangements at Liaqat Bagh where former chairperson of Pakistain People's Party (PPP) had delivered his last speech. Major Imtiaz also alleged that the then city police officer Syed Saud Aziz and other high ups were not on duty when the attackers targeted Benazir. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... Imtiaz told the ATC on Monday that foolproof security cover was provided to Ms Bhutto outside Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007 the day she was killed in a gun-and-kaboom afte a public meeting. He said that all the coppers including the then CPO Aziz were also present on the scene to provide security to Benazir Bhutto. He added, "Had Benazir not appeared from sunroof of the vehicle, she might not have been killed," he said. After the cross-examining, the ATC special Judge Rai Mohammad Ayub Marth adjourned further proceedings till July 8, 2015.

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India-Pakistan

Material witness in Benazir murder case 'amends' his statement

2015-01-18

[DAWN] Retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, former director general of the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC), told a Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday that he had addressed a presser following the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... after discussing it with the spymasters and then secretary interior. This statement differs from the one the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced before the ATC on February 7, 2011, where the prosecution included Brig Cheema as a prime witness against former president retired General Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... , in connection with the Benazir murder case. As per Brig Cheemas previous statement, submitted by the FIA along with case challan, the former DG NCMC was quoted as saying that a day after Ms Bhuttos liquidation, on December 28, 2007, he held a presser on the advice of Gen Musharraf. In the FIAs version of Brig Cheema statement, he maintains that he held the presser, in compliance with Gen Musharrafs orders, to dispel the negativity against the regime, that prevailed in the aftermath of the liquidation. A news hound who attended the presser in question told Dawn that during the presser, Brig Cheema had said that the cause of Ms Bhuttos death was an injury to the head, sustained when her head hit the sunroof lever of her own vehicle. The second thing he disclosed during the presser was that Baitullah Mehsud, who was the leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain at the time, had claimed the responsibility for the attack in a video message. Brig Cheema had also shared the video where Mehsud had indirectly grabbed credit for the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto with members of the press corps. But on Friday, when the prosecution produced Brig Cheema as a witness before the ATC, he told the court that the decision to hold the presser was taken by then-interior secretary Kamal Shah. He said that before the presser, he was summoned to the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI), where he met the interior secretary and the heads of the ISI, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau. He told the court that the spymasters briefed them about their meeting with Gen Musharraf and handed him the video and instructed him to hold a presser to this effect. He also told the court that he also consulted then-interior minister retired Lt-Gen Hamid Nawaz before holding the presser.

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India-Pakistan

ISI's top secret letter unfolds new dimension of BB murder case

2011-12-27

[Dawn] Exactly six years after the brutal liquidation of Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , a letter of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), country's top intelligence outfit, has revealed that the Orcs and similar vermin groups related to al Qaeda have had their plan to assassinate Benazir Bhutto six days earlier then 27th of December 2007 the day when Miss Bhutto was assassinated, copy of the letter available to Dawn.com disclosed this here on Monday. The five lines short letter with the subject of , " al Qaeda Threat," is addressed to Kamal Shah, the then Secretary of Interior Ministry by Brigadier Abdul Basit Rana. The letter reads as, "It has reliably been reported that a few beturbanned goon groups related to al Qaeda have made some plan to assassinate Mrs.Benzir Bhutto and her adviser Mr Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on 21 December 2007.The exact plan of execution not known." The letter is delivered to the Secretary Interior on December 10th, 2007, almost seventeen days before the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto. The copy of the letter shows that Kamal Shah immediately wrote a short note on the letter saying, "this is a threat with specific date, we should sensitize them," Kamal Shah has further directed Brigadier (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema, the then Director General of Ministry's National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) directing him to speak. The third note which is not readable properly mentions as, "I have informed MrMalik by fax,' by some Joint Secretary or Brigadier (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema. In this letter the specific Intelligence was provided by Brigadier Abdul Basit Rana of ISI, who according to this correspondent is yet not appeared before any investigation committee including the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Joint Investigation Team (JIT) headed by a grade 20 police officer Khalid Qureshi and the UN Commission on Benazir Bhutto. "Since this was a top secret information provided by the agency and agencies do not give the access to the origin of the information so neither Brigadier Abdul Basit Rana was interviewed by UN Commission nor by anyone else," confirmed Ch Azhar advocate, the prosecutor of the Benazir Bhutto murder case in Rawalpindi's Anti Terrorist Court. It has already come on the public record that the then Security Adviser of Benazir Bhutto, Mr Rehman Malik soon after receiving the "threat information" from Brigadier (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema, had written a three page detailed letter to Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah on 12th December 2007. In the said letter he had requested for enhancement of Benazir Bhutto's security. An expert, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, say that the examination of Brigadier Abdul Basit Rana and further analysis of the information provided by him can further unfold the missing links of on going investigation of Benazir Bhutto murder case.

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India-Pakistan

Officials named in UN report suspended

2010-04-20

[Dawn] Four days after the release of the UN Commission's report on Benazir Bhutto's assassination, the federal government went into action and suspended eight officials, including former City Police Officer (CPO) Saud Aziz, who were responsible for former prime minister's security at the venue of her last public meeting. Their names were also included on the Exit Control List (ECL). These officials have been suspended and the contract of Director-General of Civil Defence Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema has been cancelled. Brig Cheema, as the spokesman for the interior ministry, was the first government official to state that Ms Bhutto had died because of injuries she sustained when she hit the lever of the escape hatch of the vehicle she was travelling in. He was serving as DG National Crisis Management Cell (MCMC), a department of the interior ministry, at that time. However, on Sunday there was no official word about the fate of the PPP leaders identified by the UN report for having provided 'insufficient' security cover to Ms Bhutto. These PPP leaders include high-profile government functionaries such as Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza. Aware perhaps of the fingers being pointed at him, Mr Mirza claimed on Sunday that he and Rehman Malik were under investigation and that he had volunteered himself for it. However, there has been no confirmation of this from the interior minister. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed the suspension of the eight officials and said the orders had come from the prime minister. "The action on the UN report has been started on the directives of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani." He added that the officials' names had been placed on the ECL. Those who have been suspended include former Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz; former District Coordination Officer (DCO) Rawalpindi Irfan Elahi; Former Inspector General Police, Rawalpindi, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed; Superintendent Police Ashfaq Anwar; SP Operations Yaseen Farooq and Khurram Shahzad. The suspended officers are expected to be presented before the second Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which is investigating the murder of Ms Bhutto, in a couple of days. They are expected to testify before the JIT. Sources within the PPP say an FIR would also be registered against former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the suspended officials and some PPP leaders who had been made responsible for her security by the party. The decision to take action in the light of the UN report was taken by the PPP Core Committee meeting held on Saturday. The meeting was chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari. Some PPP leaders are willing to confirm this. For instance, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has promised action against all those responsible for Ms Bhutto's death. "Action will be taken against all those who have been identified in the UN report including those who were in the black Mercedes," he told a private television channel. The UN Commission's report says that the black Mercedes was part of the security detail as the back-up vehicle. This Mercedes was supposed to follow the vehicle of Ms Bhutto as she left Liaquat Bagh. However, the report concludes that the Mercedes left ahead of Ms Bhutto and it exited the venue a few minutes before the shooting and the blast took place, which claimed the lives of the PPP chairperson and some party workers. According to dissident PPP leader Senator Safdar Abbasi, who was in Ms Bhutto's vehicle, Mr Rehman Malik, Law Minister Babar Awan and Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar were in the black Mercedes. However, these are not the only PPP leaders who have been thrust into the limelight by the UN report. The commission's findings also mention that Ms Bhutto's then security advisor Zulfiqar Mirza and others had formed a security force --Janisaraan-i-Benazir Bhutto -- comprising 5,000 volunteers who were supposed to form a human shield around her at public meetings. But, it appears, that this force was missing from Liaquat Bagh at the time of her killing. Some security analysts believe that the UN Commission' report has provided enough lead to initiate criminal investigations to catch the planners, abettors, financiers and killers. Sources close to Saud Aziz say that he is ready to face justice and that he is confident that he can fight his case at any forum. According to the sources, he is claiming that he has not received any such orders. Mr Aziz is also reported to have questioned why no action had been taken against Musharraf, who had been directly held responsible by the UN commission for the then government's neglect of Ms Bhutto's security.

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India-Pakistan

Individuals also involved in suicide bombings, says Cheema

2008-03-12

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday that besides militant organisations, individuals had also planned and carried out suicide bombings. He was talking to reporters during a weekly briefing. He said the government had freed convicted Indian spy Kashmir Singh on humanitarian grounds and expected reciprocal response from India. He denied reports that the Interior Ministry had barred Caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney from accompanying Singh to India. He said the Foreign Office would take up with the Indian External Affairs Ministry a Pakistani citizen’s killing in an Indian jail. He said the security forces had relaxed the curfew in Swat valley last week and held seven terrorists including two militant commanders. A terrorist was held for beheading of a mobile phone company’s employee, he added.

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India-Pakistan

'No proof of foreign hand yet'

2008-03-12

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday that it was incorrect to speculate foreign involvement in the two suicide attacks in Lahore without proof. To a question at a weekly briefing, he said: “We cannot blame any country until we have solid evidence. Its not only a national problem but an international one.” He said provinces had been told to enhance security in the wake of the attacks. “Additional measures are being taken to beef up security at public places, government installations and likely targets of terrorist elements.”

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India-Pakistan

Twin suicide blasts kill 24 in Pakistan's Lahore

2008-03-11

LAHORE, Pakistan (Rooters) - Two suicide car bombers struck in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing 24 people and wounding scores, most of them in an attack on a government security office, police and officials said. More than 500 people have been killed in Pakistan this year in militant-related violence, including a campaign of suicide bombings. Quagmire! One bomb went off near the entrance of the city-centre Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), badly damaging the multi-storey office and nearby buildings. The agency focuses on illegal immigration and people smuggling. "It is now more obvious that the terrorists are targeting the law enforcement apparatus of the state," city police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told reporters. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said the bomber at the FIA building killed 21 people, 12 of them agency staff. At about the same time, a second suicide bomber in a car struck in a mainly residential neighborhood of the eastern city, about 10 km (six miles) away, killing three people including two children, he said. In all, 170 people were wounded, he said. "We're going through a very crucial phase of transition," Cheema told a news conference, referring to the new government. "Perhaps one answer could be that the terrorists are trying to put maximum pressure on the government that is in the making," he said. Police said the second car bomb blew up after it was stopped at the gate of an advertising agency office, near the Lahore home of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. "Unfortunately our enemy is nameless, faceless," Cheema said, adding that bombers worked in small groups or even alone. Musharraf condemned the blasts. "Acts of terrorism cannot deter the government's resolve to fight the scourge with full force," the state news agency quoted him as saying.

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India-Pakistan

Baitullah Mehsud paid out $7000 for Bhutto assasination

2008-02-18

Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud paid out more than $7,000, including money to purchase suicide jackets, for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the chief Pakistani investigator said Sunday. Four suspects in custody said Mehsud also planned the December 27 attack, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed told reporters. Mehsud, who has ties to al Qaeda, remains at large. Majeed said two of the four men in custody last week confessed before a Pakistani judge that they had participated in the plot. Many others who helped plan the attack "have yet to be arrested," Majeed said. A day after Bhutto's death, Pakistan's government announced that Mehsud was behind the attack. The CIA later reached the same conclusion. But two recent nationwide polls in Pakistan found a majority of Pakistanis believe President Pervez Musharraf's government had a role in her killing. Majeed said Sunday that he announced the details about Mehsud's connection to the attack because Pakistan could formally charge him at a later date. Two of the suspects told a judge on Wednesday that they provided the suicide bomber with a house, transportation, a pistol and the suicide jacket he allegedly used in the attack that killed the opposition leader and nearly two dozen others, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said. Both were at the Rawalpindi park when Bhutto was assassinated, according to Majeed. He said the bomber was motivated to carry out the attack because his friend was killed after Pakistani security forces stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad last year to rout Islamic extremists holed up inside.

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India-Pakistan

Bomb kills 37 on last day of Pakistan vote campaign

2008-02-16

ISLAMABAD (Rooters) - A suicide car bomb outside a Pakistani election candidate's office killed 37 people in the violent northwest on Saturday, the last day of campaigning for an election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule. Separately, police in the south of the country said they had foiled another attack planned for polling day on Monday. Campaigning for the elections to a new parliament and provincial assemblies has been overshadowed by security fears, especially since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27. Opposition politicians have also complained of vote rigging. The poll could spell trouble for President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who stepped down as army chief in November, if voters elect a parliament hostile to him. Saturday's bomb attack in the town of Parachinar, in the Kurram region on the Afghan border, occurred as supporters of a candidate backed by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party were going into his office after a rally, witnesses said. "We have rechecked and found that 37 people were killed and over 90 wounded," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema. He said it was a suicide car bomb. The northwest has been hit by a surge of violence since July and while some attacks have taken place in all major cities there are fears of more. Police in the southern city of Hyderabad said they had arrested three suspected suicide bombers believed to be planning attacks on polling stations and seized 10 kg (22 lb) of explosives and a suicide bomb jacket. The violence in what has been one of the country's bloodiest election campaigns has unnerved politicians and voters, and turnout on Monday could be low despite the deployment of more than 80,000 troops. Pakistanis are also concerned about rising prices and shortages of basic commodities such as flour, and ever more frequent power cuts. Many are disillusioned with politicians. "It'll be very difficult to change this country," said Mohammad Abbas, who works in a rice shop in Sabboki town in Punjab province. "Whatever the politicians do they do for themselves, not for change." Campaigning ends at midnight. Sunday is a cooling-off day. + background on elections at link.

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India-Pakistan

Give us Dadullah, take Tariq: Taliban

2008-02-13

Local Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the abduction of Pakistani Ambassador to Kabul Tariq Azizuddin and said they would release him in return for Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, Online news agency quoted Geo television as saying. Tariq Azizuddin had gone missing on his way from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing on Monday when he lost contact with authorities in the Khyber Agency. Mansoor Dadullah was arrested in Quetta on Monday. Geo quoted the bureau chief of an Arab television channel as saying that the local Taliban had asked tribal elders to convey their message to the Pakistani government. “We have heard this news on TV channels,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters after a weekly press briefing at his office. “However, we have not received any formal information to this effect.” During the briefing, Cheema had said the government did not know who had kidnapped Azizuddin or what had happened to him. Asked if the government would trade Dadullah for Azizuddin, Cheema said, “I cannot say anything.” Vehicle found: Political administration officials said they had received reports that Azizuddin’s vehicle had been found in Taghyan area of Landi Kotal, after a daylong search operation by tribal police (Khasadars) and Levies. The Foreign Office did not confirm the report. “He is still missing and search is underway for his recovery,” Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told Daily Times. He did not comment on why the ambassador had not asked the political administration for security officials to escort him. Or on why he didn't fly. Not informed: An official said the Foreign Office usually informed the political administration through the FATA secretariat or the Home Department when embassy officials travelled to Afghanistan on the Peshawar-Torkham route. “But no such information was conveyed to the political administration in this case,” he said. He said the Landi Kotal assistant political agent had complained to the authorities three months ago that Tariq Azizuddin used to travel on the route without escort and without informing the political administration. A television channel quoted its sources in President’s House as saying that President Pervez Musharraf had expressed anger at the envoy’s disappearance and had directed the interior ministry to find him immediately. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday that he hoped for Azizuddin’s quick rescue from “terrorists”, AFP said. “May God make it happen that our brother and neighbouring country, Pakistan, is able to rescue him from the abductors, the terrorists,” Karzai said. A search operation led by the Khyber Agency political agent began on Tuesday morning. Tribal elders were part of the operation. Officials said the envoy had not gone ahead of the Ali Masjid area, notorious for kidnappings of travellers on the route.

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India-Pakistan

Police search for Pakistan envoy

2008-02-13

Pakistani authorities were searching tonight for their country's Ambassador to Afghanistan and two nuclear officials who appear to have been kidnapped separately in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan. Police were also interrogating Mullah Mansour Dadullah, a top Taleban commander who was captured in the northwest yesterday, amid reports that Islamist militants had offered to swap him for the Ambassador. The envoy is one of the most senior government officials to have been kidnapped in Pakistan's tribal areas. The apparent abductions highlight the security risks in nuclear-armed Pakistan as it prepares for parliamentary elections on Monday that are being seen as a test of President Pervez Musharraf's popularity and commitment to democracy. Pakistan's Army is locked in a conflict with Taleban and al-Qaeda militants based in northwestern Pakistan whom President Musharraf blames for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December. Tariq Azizuddin, the Pakistani Ambassador to Kabul, was driving there with his driver and a bodyguard yesterday when they disappeared in Pakistan's lawless Khyber tribal district, local officials said. Pakistan's Embassy in Kabul said that it last had contact with Mr Azizuddin yesterday morning as he was travelling into Khyber district - long a hotbed of bandits and smugglers - from the northwestern city of Peshawar. “Our law enforcement and other agencies in Khyber are carrying out a search operation,” said Javed Iqbal Cheema, the Interior Ministry spokesman. “We hope we should be able to trace and recover him soon.” Police also confirmed that two technicians from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission had been abducted at about the same time by masked men near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province. The technicians were on their way to do a routine geological survey in the area when they were kidnapped along with their driver and five local people, who have now been released, local police said. Pakistani officials declined to say if Mr Azizuddin had been kidnapped, but Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, said that he was sure that the envoy had been abducted. “May God make it happen that our brother and neighbouring country, Pakistan, is able to rescue him from the abductors, the terrorists,” Mr Karzai said during a conference on education in Kabul. “I hope he is safe and I hope he will be released soon.” It was not immediately clear, however, whether the alleged abductors were Islamist militants or members of a criminal gang simply out to make money.

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India-Pakistan

Top Taliban commander (Mulla Mansour Dadullah) captured in S.W. Pakistan

2008-02-11

Pakistani security forces arrested a top Taliban commander near the Afghan border on Monday, the Pakistani government confirmed. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said Mulla Mansour Dadullah and five others were arrested when security officials raided a house in Zhob district in Baluchistan, about 420 kilometers southwest of Islamabad. Dadullah took control of Taliban forces in turbulent Helmand province in southern Afghanistan after his brother, Mullah Dadullah, was killed by British forces in May last year. Cheema confirmed that Dadullah was injured in the operation and has been hospitalized. Earlier reports had said that Dadullah had died while being flown to a hospital.

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