Former DG ISI My comments have been twisted

[Irfan Baloch]

The Quality of international Analysts about WoT

Just came across a factually wrong and flawed piece from some terrorism analyst website.

It quotes a formar COAS of Pakistan army claiming that Pakistan army was hiding Binladen with the full knowledge of the leadership.

1. The quoted General was never accepted the COAS by the army.
2. He was appointed by Nawaz sherif after forcefully retiring Mushaaraf while he was out of the country.
3. His position of of COAS which was controversial anyway lasted for only few hours when he was arrested along with the PM when army retaliated.
4. He quotes IB as harbouring Bin Laden and thus decides that Pakistan army was involved.
5. IB or intelligence bureau is a civilian setup and doesn’t come under army.
6. On one hand he blames a civilan intelligence agency of harbouring Bin laden with full knowledge of army and president and on other hand he quotes ISI and CIA together launching an operation on 1 may to track and kill OBL.
7. The biggest joke is that Nawaz Sherif was willing to cooperate with USA to “trackdown” Bin Laden in 1999. Whereas in fact during that time USA very well knew that OBL was in Afghanistan and was caught on UAV footage but the then US president Clinton had more “pressing” engagements with Monica Lewinski and that chance was lost.



The article is written by Arif Jamal and is an interesting read. I wonder if Ziauddin Butt is aware of what is being attributed to him. The article gives away its pro Nawaz side and seems to be a swipe at Musharraf and Pakistan army because Nawaz league now has emerged as a Taliban sympathiser and doesn’t loose any chance to criticise the army. Its funny how this article totally contradicts the Nawaz league approach who openly supports the Punjabi Taliban and sectarian terrorists by inviting them in the political rallies.

Articles like these are a continuation of shabby efforts to blame Pakistan for the disastrous results and failure of American war on Afghanistan.

in spite of denials by the Pakistani military, evidence is emerging that elements within the Pakistani military harbored Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former army chief General Pervez Musharraf and possibly current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Former Pakistani Army Chief General Ziauddin Butt (a.k.a. General Ziauddin Khawaja) revealed at a conference on Pakistani-U.S. relations in October 2011 that according to his knowledge the then former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan (2004 – 2008), Brigadier Ijaz Shah (Retd.), had kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad. In the same address, he revealed that the ISI had helped the CIA to track him down and kill on May 1.

the story falls on it face in the last line of the above paragraph. Ijaz shah (IB head) is accused mainly for handling OBL but the all powerfull ISI is not mentioned and balmed this time. the other blindlingly obvious contradiction is that Zia Uddin Butt was himself ISI chief before he was appointed as COAS for 6 hours by Nawaz Sherif. if we believe the contents of this laughable piece and an excuse for an article then we should be blaming IB not ISI for all the ills in the world.

enjoy the read and have your say.

 

[v9s]

This came up in my newsfeed today:

Former Pakistan Army Chief Reveals Intelligence Bureau Harbored Bin Laden in Abbottabad

In spite of denials by the Pakistani military, evidence is emerging that elements within the Pakistani military harbored Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former army chief General Pervez Musharraf and possibly current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Former Pakistani Army Chief General Ziauddin Butt (a.k.a. General Ziauddin Khawaja) revealed at a conference on Pakistani-U.S. relations in October 2011 that according to his knowledge the then former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan (2004 – 2008), Brigadier Ijaz Shah (Retd.), had kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad. In the same address, he revealed that the ISI had helped the CIA to track him down and kill on May 1. The revelation remained unreported for some time because some intelligence officers had asked journalists to refrain from publishing General Butt’s remarks. [1] No mention of the charges appeared until right-wing columnist Altaf Hassan Qureshi referred to them in an Urdu-language article that appeared on December 8. [2]

In a subsequent and revealing Urdu-language interview with TV channel Dawn News, General Butt repeated the allegation on December 11, saying he fully believed that “[Brigadier] Ijaz Shah had kept this man [Bin Laden in the Abbottabad compound] with the full knowledge of General Pervez Musharraf… Ijaz Shah was an all-powerful official in the government of General Musharraf.” [3] Asked whether General Kayani knew of this, he first said yes, but later reconsidered: “[Kayani] may have known – I do not know – he might not have known.” [4] The general’s remarks appeared to confirm investigations by this author in May 2011 that showed that the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden was captured and killed was being used by a Pakistani intelligence agency (see Terrorism Monitor, May 5). However, General Butt failed to explain why Bin Laden was not discovered even after Brigadier Shah and General Musharraf had left the government.

General Butt was the first head of the Strategic Plans Division of the Pakistan army and the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) under Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1990 to 1993, and again from 1997 to 1999. Sharif promoted General Ziauddin Butt to COAS after forcibly retiring General Pervez Musharraf on October 12, 1999, but the army’s top brass revolted against the decision and arrested both Prime Minister Sharif and General Butt while installing Musharraf as the nation’s new chief executive, a post he kept as a chief U.S. ally until resigning in 2008 in the face of an impending impeachment procedure.

Brigadier Shah has been known or is alleged to have been involved in several high profile cases of terrorism. The Brigadier was heading the ISI bureau in Lahore when General Musharraf overthrew Prime Minister Sharif in October 1999. Later, General Musharraf appointed Shah as Home Secretary in Punjab. As an ISI officer he was also the handler for Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was involved in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. [5] Omar Saeed Sheikh surrendered to Brigadier Shah who hid him for several weeks before turning him over to authorities. In February 2004, Musharraf appointed Shah as the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau, a post he kept until March 2008 (Daily Times [Lahore] February 26, 2004; Dawn [Karachi] March 18, 2008). The late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto accused Brigadier Shah, among others, of hatching a conspiracy to assassinate her (The Friday Times [Lahore], February 18-24).

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani top military brass had serious differences on several issues. One of the most serious of these concerned Pakistan’s relations with Osama bin Laden. However, the disastrous1999 Kargil conflict in Kashmir overshadowed all of these. General Butt says that Prime Minister Sharif had decided to cooperate with the United States and track down Bin Laden in 1999. [6] According to a senior adviser to the Prime Minister, the general staff ousted Sharif to scuttle the “get-Osama” plan, among other reasons: “The evidence is that the military regime abandoned that plan.” [7] General Butt corroborates this. In his latest interview, he says that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had constituted a special task force of 90 American-trained commandos to track down Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If the Sharif government had continued on this course, this force would likely have caught Bin Laden by December 2001, but the plan was aborted by Ziauddin Butt’s successor as ISI general director, Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed. [8]

Arif Jamal is an independent security and terrorism expert and author of “Shadow War – The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir.”

Notes:

1. Author’s telephone interview with an Islamabad journalist who requested anonymity, November 16, 2011.

2. Altaf Hassan Qureshi, “Resetting Pak-U.S. relations” (in Urdu), Jang [Rawalpindi], December 8, 2011. Available at Jang Multimedia

3. See “Government – Army - America on Dawn News – 11the Dec 2011 part 2,” Government - Army - America on Dawn News - 11th Dec 2011 p2 - YouTube

4. Ibid

5. Author’s interview with a security officer who requested anonymity, Islamabad, May 2000.

6. “Government – Army - America on Dawn News –December 11, 2011, part 1,” Government - Army - America on Dawn News - 11th Dec 2011 p1 - YouTube.

7. Author’s interview with a former government minister who requested anonymity, Rawalpindi, February 2006.

8. “Government – Army - America on Dawn News –December 11, 2011, part 1,” Government - Army - America on Dawn News - 11th Dec 2011 p1 - YouTube.

Source:

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no...d]=381&cHash=a8759d79b220b664cd6e99bbfcb95a7a

First of all, I'm not sure how credible the ex-Gen Zia Butt is...other generals didn't approve of his appointment as COAS, and he was eventually kicked out of the army in 1999. His hatred of Musharraf is well known.

Assuming that even after being kicked out of the army, he somehow found out that Musharraf was harboring Osama, why'd he wait till 2011 to make it public?

Discuss.

 

[Major Sam]

May be zardari is promoting him to play a trump card against army and pressurize them

 

[T90TankGuy]

so who works for who?

 

[lem34]

Butt has an axe to grind with our high command he was going to be made chief so nawaz could control pa through a puppet. PA did not buy into him.

Anything he says about Mushy and co must be treated with caution

 

[PakShah]

According to this blog the jamestown website is blocked in Pakistan.
Pakistan Army Chief Reveals Intelligence Bureau Harbored Bin Laden in Abbottabad by Arif Jamal | Ibrahim Sajid Malick Blog


Maybe the jamestown website is just a western propaganda website.

 

[Sugarcane]

It's Crap - He just wanted some revenge.

 

[JonAsad]

The wars of the Army Chiefs-
Mushi ousted Ziauddin by a coup-

Ziauddin now on revenge spree- Shame on such Generals tbh-

i mean who cares- for Ziauddin- Musharraf could be the master mind behind 9/11-

 

[Meengla]

First of all, I'm not sure how credible the ex-Gen Zia Butt is...other generals didn't approve of his appointment as COAS, and he was eventually kicked out of the army in 1999. His hatred of Musharraf is well known.

Assuming that even after being kicked out of the army, he somehow found out that Musharraf was harboring Osama, why'd he wait till 2011 to make it public?

Discuss.

Nawaz Sharif and his henchmen like General Butt have nothing but utmost hatred for anything related to General Musharraf because of the 1999 coup and subsequent humiliation of NS. They are so blinded by the hatred that they can say and so almost anything to frame Musharraf.
Anyway, these are some very serious charges and must be investigated. If indeed some military/civilian officials were sheltering OBL--something very unlikely, IMO--they heads MUST roll. If these are the rantings of a vindictive General Butt then he and his sponsors (if any) must be made to answer.

 

[graphican]

He is using his "I think".. and "Gen. Kyani would be aware".. nonsence crap when he says ISI head cannot leave country without PM's consent while there are 100s who say DG ISI doesn't need to take permission to defend his country and its national intersts or take actions in the same direction.

Give this guy's words importance as one of the opinions.. nothing more than that. He is not giving reasons or proofs on anything.

 

[OrionHunter]

We keep hearing the statement, "elements within the Pakistani military/ISI." For a disciplined force like the PA having a proper reporting and command structure, it is not possible that there exist 'sections' within the Army/ISI that have a different agenda of their own. How can this happen? How can this be permitted? Is there an army within an army? Now that's not possible.

Therefore this oft repeated statement of 'certain elements within the Pakistan Army' is nothing but poppycock. Period!

 

[rai_kamal]

May be zardari is promoting him to play a trump card against army and pressurize them

Which kind of thinking is that, whatever bad happens it's because of zardari and whatever good happen than its coz of PA..
Man its a very bad disease, called "PARTIALISM"..
Always think from both the side, always zardari should not be at fault, no doubt he is corrupt but atleast he can't play this kind of game..

 

[TARIQ BN ZIYAAD]

Assalam alaikum

jamal ismail , aljazereh reporter from islam abad on different times alleged nawaz sahreef was cooperating with u.s to get osama dute to which in 1999 he was told to leave pak within 3 days but for his good luck musharraf took over ( since it has been many years but if i remember it rightly in his report he mentioned a u.s plane is on ground to get osama). so until this point i think zia is right. rest of it, he has to provide solid proof or it is just to get even with musharraf and its partners.

so sad these generals r making us feel shame.

TARIQ

 

[F.O.X]

I dont even knows His Name , So how can i trust his Useless & baseless Propaganda.

 

[Windjammer]

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani top military brass had serious differences on several issues. One of the most serious of these concerned Pakistan’s relations with Osama bin Laden. However, the disastrous1999 Kargil conflict in Kashmir overshadowed all of these. General Butt says that Prime Minister Sharif had decided to cooperate with the United States and track down Bin Laden in 1999. [6] According to a senior adviser to the Prime Minister, the general staff ousted Sharif to scuttle the “get-Osama” plan, among other reasons: “The evidence is that the military regime abandoned that plan.” [7] General Butt corroborates this. In his latest interview, he says that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had constituted a special task force of 90 American-trained commandos to track down Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If the Sharif government had continued on this course, this force would likely have caught Bin Laden by December 2001, but the plan was aborted by Ziauddin Butt’s successor as ISI general director, Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed.

LoL at the title....former army chief. !!!.....how long did he held the post for. ???

The fact is he was a Nawaz Sharif crony and was meant to look after his interests and the quoted lines from the article prove to that effect, howeverr Mr Butt got his butt kicked out for professional misconduct.