OrionHunter
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A day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had adopted a soft attitude towards the military leadership, the top spymaster came under intense scrutiny in the Supreme Court hearing a set of petitions in the memo case here on Tuesday.
“I called these petitions ‘benami’ (anonymous) because two of its respondents are the actual petitioners,” Advocate Asma Jehangir argued while alluding to Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha who are named as parties in the petitions.
Jehangir questioned a meeting between the ISI chief and Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz who had allegedly authored the controversial memo.
“Why did the spymaster investigate the matter at the back of an elected government, from where this authority came and who let him go. The ISI is not an investigating authority and if we go by their word each one of us in this courtroom is a traitor. The people of Balochistan are traitors, late Benazir Bhutto was a traitor, Wali Khan was a traitor; even one of the petitioners (Nawaz Sharif) faced the allegation of poisoning the former army chief,” the counsel said.
Referring to allegations of jeopardising and compromising the nuclear assets, Ms Jehangir emphasised that there was a misconception in the country as if the ownership of Pakistan’s strategic weapons was with the army alone. “The ownership is with the entire nation,” she stressed and recalled that it was a civilian leader who started the nuclear programme.
“If it is the property of the entire nation then each one of us has to own this, especially when there is a perception that it will likely be destroyed,” Justice Tariq Pervez said
Asma Jehangir blasts Pasha for meeting Mansoor Ijaz | Newspaper | DAWN.COM
_____________________________________________________________
There probably will be a lot of red faces in the ISI. Or is the ISI going to see red? This kind of an offensive against the Establishment is something new. Will it change the dynamics of the lopsided equation between the government and the Army/ISI which call the shots? Or will it be more of the same? Has the lame duck government started to show some spunk? Or is it a flash in the pan?
And the million dollar question: Who 'owns' and controls Pakistan's nuclear assets? The civilian dispensation or the Army?
It would be interesting to see how things unfold.
“I called these petitions ‘benami’ (anonymous) because two of its respondents are the actual petitioners,” Advocate Asma Jehangir argued while alluding to Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha who are named as parties in the petitions.
Jehangir questioned a meeting between the ISI chief and Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz who had allegedly authored the controversial memo.
“Why did the spymaster investigate the matter at the back of an elected government, from where this authority came and who let him go. The ISI is not an investigating authority and if we go by their word each one of us in this courtroom is a traitor. The people of Balochistan are traitors, late Benazir Bhutto was a traitor, Wali Khan was a traitor; even one of the petitioners (Nawaz Sharif) faced the allegation of poisoning the former army chief,” the counsel said.
Referring to allegations of jeopardising and compromising the nuclear assets, Ms Jehangir emphasised that there was a misconception in the country as if the ownership of Pakistan’s strategic weapons was with the army alone. “The ownership is with the entire nation,” she stressed and recalled that it was a civilian leader who started the nuclear programme.
“If it is the property of the entire nation then each one of us has to own this, especially when there is a perception that it will likely be destroyed,” Justice Tariq Pervez said
Asma Jehangir blasts Pasha for meeting Mansoor Ijaz | Newspaper | DAWN.COM
_____________________________________________________________
There probably will be a lot of red faces in the ISI. Or is the ISI going to see red? This kind of an offensive against the Establishment is something new. Will it change the dynamics of the lopsided equation between the government and the Army/ISI which call the shots? Or will it be more of the same? Has the lame duck government started to show some spunk? Or is it a flash in the pan?
And the million dollar question: Who 'owns' and controls Pakistan's nuclear assets? The civilian dispensation or the Army?
It would be interesting to see how things unfold.
? thanks you gave me a perfect phrase for her .
