Musharraf's luxury retirement pad

[Interceptor]

Revealed: Musharraf's luxury retirement pad


By Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich in Chak Shahzad

Monday, 18 August 2008


The pool has yet to be filled, the curtains yet to be hung. But the new tenant of 1-A Park Road is expected any day soon.


This luxurious home in the quiet suburbs of Islamabad, less than six weeks from completion, has been built by Pervez Musharraf as a retirement home for himself and his wife. What he had probably not expected when he commissioned the house four years ago was that he might need it as a bolt-hole should his opponents force him from office.

Amid mounting speculation as to whether Mr Musharraf will resign or fight impeachment charges, there has been much talk as to where the President will live. The most likely destinations floated to date include the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and even Britain. But yesterday it was reported that Mr Musharraf was insisting that should he stand down, he wishes to retire to his Mediterranean-style home set in five acres of land.

If he decides to stay, it will be no surprise to Hammad Husain, the architect commissioned by Mr Musharraf. Yesterday, standing on the driveway of the house in Chak Shahzad, Mr Husain outlined the details of the home that will include a fish-pond, a walking track and an extraordinary amount of barbed wire.

"Most of what you see is his input, along with mine," said Mr Husain, as a team of labourers slaved beneath the blistering sun. "He has gone into the detail, he has been part of it and comes here to look at things." Mr Husain, a family friend of the Musharrafs, said the President's wife, Sehba, had chosen the curtains and fittings for the house, estimated at £1.25m.

Mr Husain said Mr Musharraf had a taste for greenery and that every room in the house was designed to have a view of the surrounding countryside. The property has been designed to be energy efficient, and a shaded terrace will allow the former commando to enjoy an evening cigar and tumbler of whisky. Mr Husain said the design was understated, and drew a comparison with the tastes of the President's political enemies, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, who are trying to force him from office. Mr Sharif's taste was for ostentatious furniture, he said, while he gently mocked Mr Zardari's £4.5m country estate near Guildford. "This is no Surrey palace," he laughed. As the President confronts the end of his political career, the property at 1-A comes heavy with irony. Shortly before Mr Musharraf fired Pakistan's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry – a move that spectacularly backfired – Mr Chaudhry had initiated a legal challenge that claimed the land in Chak Shahzad was reserved for farming, not residential use. The matter remains unsettled.

So, how do the residents of Chak Shahzad feel about their new neighbour? "I think there will be no problem. It will be better for all of us," said Sheikh Ahsan, an building consultant who owns a farm nearby. "I think the security will get even better around here." Another, Mushtaq Ali, a labourer, added: "We are just poor people. What difference can it make to us?"

Mr Musharraf's fate remains unclear. He could decide to fight the impeachment charges or else choose to leave, with an "exit package" and immunity deal brokered for him by foreign diplomats, the army and his lawyers. Yesterday Pakistan's Information Minister, Sherry Rehman, said that a charge sheet against Mr Musharraf had been completed and would be passed to the coalition government's leadership for approval. The impeachment process should begin sometime this week, she added.

Mr Musharraf, meanwhile, continues to insist that he will stay and fight his corner. His lawyers say he is ready to appear before parliament to defend himself. Even with his pool and newly laid-out grounds awaiting him, his lawyers insist Mr Musharraf is not ready for gardening duty just yet.

Revealed: Musharraf's luxury retirement pad - Asia, World - The Independent

 

[JK!]

Hmm this raises a few questions.

Can anyone clarify as to what the earnings made by an army General are?

 

[Energon]

Hmm this raises a few questions.

Can anyone clarify as to what the earnings made by an army General are?

I highly doubt there are detailed accounts on earnings made by dictator generals. It would be unrealistic to expect as much. I'm sure that every dictator taking over an unstable state always keeps a plush retirement stash; it would be foolish not to do so.

 

[Xeric]

If an retired 'sarkari mulazim" can built a house costing more then Rs 10 million, Sir Mush was a General and moreover the President. Dont be so kiddish...well now i dont mean that a General earns in dollars (ofcourse if i'll tell his actual pay, it'll be more of an embarrassment rather then being and achievement) but still the facilities the Army gives even to a Major on retirement are guud enough. One example is the house from the Housing Directorate. (although i personally feels its nothing as compared to the services an officer gives during his service-not to mention his 'jawaani' which Army make use of in a special way.

The point here is that yes a General may acquire this much wealth(from pure means ofcourse)...dont forget to compare and IGP or some other bureaucrat of the same grade, and what about a civilian who gives his 40 years to a firm..dont he earns even more..??

Lastly, this 1.23 m pound thing is to be re-considered. The writer probably was dreaming at the time of his investigation.

 

[amna]

lala musharraf is brave to do such stuff right in front of the paindoos he steals from.

zardari has a lot to learn.

 

[Keysersoze]

hey I would like to know more about Zardari's $400 million dollar estate

 

[Interceptor]

The dream house that Musharraf built but may not live in

* The Times report says politicians, diplomats believe threat of prosecution and assassination has made it ‘extremely complicated’ for former president to stay in Pakistan

LONDON: General (r) Pervez Musharraf may never be able to live in the villa he has constructed on the outskirts of Islamabad, reports The Times.

According to the British daily, 1-A Park Road in Chak Shahzad, five miles outside the capital, looks, at first glance, like many other houses built by Pakistan’s tycoons on the outskirts of Islamabad: it has a swimming pool, a five-acre garden and a four-bedroom villa in Moroccan and Mediterranean style.

When he resigned as the president on Monday Musharraf and his wife, Sehba, had planned to move out of Army House, their home since 1998, and into the villa, which is worth an estimated £ 1 million.

Defiant in defeat, Mr Musharraf told friends, after playing tennis on Wednesday, that he planned to stay in Pakistan, the paper reports, adding that he even telephoned Hammad Husain, his architect, to discuss the work on the house.

Husain told the paper that he thinks that Musharraf is planning to live there as he has taken such a strong interest in the house whose construction began in 2004.

Threat: But, according to the newspaper, politicians and diplomats believe that the threat of prosecution and assassination has made it extremely complicated, if not impossible, for the former president to stay in Pakistan — let alone in his new house.

A senior Pakistani diplomat told The Times that Musharraf planned to go to Britain first, possibly within a few days, but not to settle there. He might also visit Saudi Arabia for the Umra pilgrimage, and could spend weeks travelling overseas before deciding where to settle, the diplomat added.

The architect says the house is simple and reflects Musharraf’s personality. “It’s not ostentatious. It’s very understated and anything but palatial.”

He said Musharraf wanted every room to have views on to the garden, which has a fish pond and an apple and citrus orchard. “He’s very into greenery, nature, trees, plants and flowers,” Husain said, adding. “We worked hard to incorporate all the details according to the lifestyle he wanted to pursue. The last time Musharraf visited the property was the night before he resigned, the architect said.

The report said that when Musharraf bought the empty plot in 2003 it was worth about Rs 30 million rupees (£ 230,000), based on land prices in the area at the time. Today the house and the garden are worth Rs 120-140 million, making it a good investment even if he has to sell it or rent it out, the paper concluded. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Interceptor]

hey I would like to know more about Zardari's $400 million dollar estate

Source please.

 

[Interceptor]

A new home for Musharraf

Sunday, August 17, 2008
Dr Farrukh Saleem

Brother Bush hasn’t been returning calls for the past three weeks. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is willing to offer safe custody but no more. The Mayor of Greater Istanbul is in no mood to attract Al Qaeda to Anatolia. In Islamabad, the five-foot-one-inch tall woman, the very face of American awe in this country, is trying to secure security for Uncle Sam’s most supple of nephews. An ex-high commissioner, Mark Lyall Grant, the grandson of Sir Lyall (Lyallpur was named after this lieutenant-governor of Punjab), is also trying to jump-start his long-lost colonial sway to get Musharraf legal immunity. Sadly, Chak Shahzad isn’t secure to secure a mortal with a thousand suicidal foes. Then, the chateau at the Chak Shahzad farm isn’t ready yet either.

The capital city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would be nice and cosy. Surely, Haqqani won’t travel 393 miles to be in the arrival lounge at the Logan International Airport but Bilal, Iram and their two kids would be. Hopefully, Bilal won’t have problems with the airport security as he did in San Francisco when security personnel thought Bilal had diaper bags lined with TNT. Bilal’s two-bedroom flat in Canton isn’t big enough to hold a Boston Tea Party but then the guest list has shrunk since the day Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry (de jure) was made dysfunctional. Barry Hoffman, consul general at Consulate General of Pakistan, won’t be attending either. Shaheen Sehbai may, however, be willing to celebrate.

Politically, America would prefer not to muddy her pure democratic soil by hosting an ex-military dictator. But, if no one else is willing to take in Uncle Sam’s one-time favourite cuddle, Boston or Houston may have to host his exile.

Living on the coast of the Red Sea would be safe, sound and secure. After all, Saudi Arabia has hosted the exiles of a dozen Muslim oppressors. But, Jeddah’s Saroor Palace is haunted by the spirit of you know who. Then there is the climate issue; Jeddah is very hot in winter and extremely hot in summer. Then there is the lifestyle issue; the wahabi state may just be too restrictive, too conservative for the ‘enlightened’ Musharrafs.

Living right next to the Bosphorus Strait would be fun as well as festive. How exciting, Istanbul is the only major city in the whole wide world which is on two continents. Musharraf speaks the language and has childhood memories. Istanbul has a Mediterranean climate and lifestyle won’t be an issue. Istanbul has night life, live concerts, rave parties, jazz, cocktails, fandango and the whole lot. Musharraf can tell the Chaudhrys and friends — the three that are left — to ‘meet him where the continents meet’. But, Tayyip Erdogan is a chicken; too afraid that Musharraf’s presence might attract too many suicidal Islamists — dreaming of restoring the Caliphate — back to the final seat of the Islamic Caliphate. How about Izmir, right next to the Aegean Sea?

Could Nahr wali Haveli become a contending host as well? After all, Musharraf was born there in the midst of Kacha Saad Ullah Mohallah in Delhi. And, someone intelligent has now said that Musharraf has more voters in India than in Pakistan.

Then there’s London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Paris. How about Karachi, the one-time city of lights? Musharraf has a fully-carpeted bungalow there — currently available for rent — with a 100 KVA generator (that can run at least 20 air conditioners). But, Karachi has a large Pashtun population and securing the bungalow would be a major challenge. Then there’s Bahawalpur? Everyone knows that Musharraf was the chief of the army staff, the chief executive and the president — all rolled in one. But, Musharraf continues to be the numberdar of Chak 13 BC not too far from Bahawalpur. Then again, Bahawalpur is where Jaish-e-Mohammad is. All right, he is neither the chief of the army staff nor the chief executive and only three citizens of Pakistan want Musharraf to continue as the president — but don’t forget, he’s still the numberdar of Chak 13 BC.

P.S. Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington certainly cannot smuggle Aafia Siddiqui out of the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC). Looks like he is doing the best that can be done for a citizen of Pakistan who is in pre-trial detention.

A new home for Musharraf

 

[Interceptor]

Musharraf left in the dark over £1m home

By Jeremy Page and Zhalid Hussain
Thursday August 21 2008

NUMBER 1A Park Road looks like many other houses built by Pakistan's plutocrats on the outskirts of Islamabad: it has a swimming pool, a five-acre garden and a four-bedroom villa in a Moroccan and Mediterranean style.

Only the shiny new razor wire on the 8ft perimeter wall hints at what sets it apart from the rest of the posh Chak Shahzad neighbourhood, five miles outside the capital.
This is the house that Pervez Musharraf built.

When he resigned as President on Monday Mr Musharraf and his wife, Sehba, planned to move out of Army House, their home since 1998, and into the villa, worth an estimated £1m (€1.25m). After nine years in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world it was supposed to be Mr Musharraf's retirement home.

Defiant in defeat, Mr Musharraf has told friends he plans to stay in Pakistan.

However politicians and diplomats believe the threat of prosecution and assassination will make it impossible for him to stay in Pakistan. One senior Pakistani diplomat said Mr Musharraf may go to Britain and Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks before eventually deciding where to settle.

Potential refuges include America, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Yesterday Hammad Husain the architect overseeing building work on the property said it reflected the president's personality. "It's not ostentatious. It's very understated and anything but palatial."

He said that Mr Musharraf (65) had been inspired after a trip to Morocco. The former President also wanted every room to have views on to the garden.

He said the president had taken a close personal interest in its design. However with Pakistan's future riddled with uncertainty, one thing looked assured yesterday -- that Mr Musharraf and his wife will never be able to live in their dream home. (© The Times, London)

- Jeremy Page and Zhalid Hussain

Musharraf left in the dark over £1m home - Middle East, World News - Independent.ie

 

[Keysersoze]

Source please.

Got the extra zero in there only $40 million!
Hey interceptor guess you can't see past all the B******T you peddle so here something for you to think about.

From a larger article.

Citibank ran into further private-banking trouble in Pakistan. In 1995, according to a New York Times story last January that quoted Pakistani government investigators and documents, Citibank's private bank opened several accounts for Asif Ali Zardari, husband of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Zardari's accounts were officially held through an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands. It was through his account at Citibank's private bank in Geneva that some $40 million flowed, according to the Times. (Pakistan's then President Farooq Leghari in 1996 dismissed Bhutto from office on charges of corruption and misrule, which she denies, saying, "I have no ill-gotten money.")

Zardari, now held on murder and corruption charges, also denies any wrongdoing and describes the accusations against him as politically motivated. Citibank closed Zardari's account after it was informed of criminal prosecutions. The bank is cooperating with Pakistani officials in the investigation.

Just Hide Me The Money - TIME


Corruption shadow casts Bhutto in a different light




That one shouldn't speak ill of the dead is conventional wisdom but conventional wisdom usually turns out to be an oxymoron. And so the dead Benazir Bhutto is now the "former prime minister of Pakistan" rather than "the fugitive facing corruption investigations in Spain, Britain and Switzerland" that she was a fortnight ago.

Corruption aside, Bhutto showed a remarkably cavalier disregard for the lives of even her own supporters. Guns of any make, either genuine or cheap local rip-offs, are freely available in Pakistan. The use of bombs has also become more widespread.

So when Bhutto arrived back in Pakistan in October, rather than being whisked by helicopter amid tight security from the airport to wherever she needed to be, she had her party organisers bus in 200,000 people to the route from the airport so the world's television cameras could record her glorious return. The route was lengthened to heighten the drama of the procession.

It all served to give those with murderous intent greater opportunity. Bhutto was safe inside her bombproof vehicle. But outside, almost 140 of her supporters were blown to bits by two bombs and another 450 injured. Bhutto directed the blame to anyone but herself.

This recklessness extended to herself last week when, having been provided with a bulletproof car, she stood up through its sunroof on leaving a political rally - with predictable results. But martyrdom is a wonderful way to launder one's reputation. If saintliness is what you're after, then it's certainly a good career move - you can emerge a saviour unhindered by the practicalities of having to deliver, leaving your supporters to wistfully imagine what might have been.

Except that Bhutto was twice put to the test. Twice she was prime minister of Pakistan, twice she was shown to be a poor administrator and twice her government was removed for corruption.

Bhutto did have her plusses. She was a democrat. But politics in most of Asia is about power: getting it and keeping it. Rarely is it about policy. Bhutto liked democracy because it was the only means by which she could get into power. Her family was not a military family so a coup was out of the question.

And although from the province of Sindh, she clearly sought to represent and govern all Pakistan - her interest was in transcending ethnic and regional divides. She was a Pakistani above all, something few politicians in Pakistan actually are, or are seen to be.

The trouble is, she was most probably corrupt and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, definitely was. Bhutto made him a minister during her second term as prime minister. But once she was out of office, he was arrested on charges of organising the murder of Bhutto's brother, Murtaza, blackmail, the murder of a judge and his son, and corruption, for which he was jailed. He has always maintained that the charges were politically motivated, which undoubtedly they were. But the motivations of one's accusers do not change the facts of one's crimes.

A 1998 New York Times report claimed that Pakistani investigators had evidence that Zardari offered a contract to Dassault, a French aircraft maker, to replace the Pakistani Air Force's fighter jets, in exchange for a 5% commission to be paid to a Swiss corporation he controlled.

The same report also said Zardari had organised for a Dubai company to have the exclusive licence to import gold into Pakistan, for which he received more than $10 million in "fees". Other allegations relate to the purchase of 7000 tractors from a Polish company, for which the Bhuttos were allegedly paid a commission.

In 2003, a Swiss magistrate convicted Zardari and Bhutto, in their absence, of money laundering. They had accepted $US15 million in bribes from Swiss companies SGS and Cotecna to do customs inspections on goods imported into Pakistan. The couple had the Swiss companies pay 6% of the value of their contracts into Bomer Finance Inc and Nassam Overseas, two British Virgin Islands-registered companies with which they were linked. The two were sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to return almost $US12 million to the Government of Pakistan.

Bhutto appealed against the conviction on the basis that she had no knowledge of the payments despite having been shown to be a beneficiary of at least one of the BVI companies. The case is still under appeal. But why did Bhutto imagine she could be prime minister of a country of 160 million people if she could not even manage her husband? Either she was corrupt or incompetent, but probably both.

In 2004, Zardari admitted owning a £4.35 million estate in Surrey, England - that included a 20-room mansion - that the Pakistani authorities allege was probably bought with the proceeds of corruption in 1995. A British judge concurred.

In 2005, the Independent Inquiry Commission, led by former US Federal Reserve head Paul Volcker, named Petroline FZC among the companies to have breached UN sanctions by making illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's regime so it could trade in Iraqi oil. Documents suggest that Bhutto chaired the company. They might be fake but the company is connected to her associates. Spanish authorities are investigating the affairs of the company, which received $US2 million in illegal payments.

Anti-corruption officials with Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau claimed to have identified $US1.5 billion in the names of Zardari and Bhutto's mother - who has Alzheimer's disease - in Swiss bank accounts. And so, in 2006, Interpol issued a request for the arrest of Bhutto and her husband on corruption charges, on behalf of the Pakistani Government.

Did Pakistan really need a third Bhutto-Zardari prime ministership? Undoubtedly there will now be the movie and perhaps an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (Don't Cry for me Pakistan). But at the end of the day, a thief in lipstick is still a thief.

Corruption shadow casts Bhutto in a different light | theage.com.au



Got plenty more for ya here......tell me interceptor how many convictions and $millions before you stop with the crap?

 

[Interceptor]

Thanks for pasting the blog stories love them, but what do you get from this every time pointing at Zardari he has got this he has got that, he has house in Dubai in London, Zardari in particular when he wasn't even married to Benazir he was a born Billionaire, the Bhutto family was born Billionaire no hiding neither was it, its just people with little minds carrying on bashing about their wealth. Wtf when did musharraf turn millionaire suddenly we all know he claimed he was a "middle class" bullshit he is, nobody takes that crap now, well he has his protocols for now why doesn't he ask the GOP to give him accommodation which they will, he is corrupt general he took advantage of this country he earned a lot and gave share to others, look at the Chief Minister house in Punjab left by Parvez Elhi, the CJP did good thing he took notice of Musharraf colony.

 

[Interceptor]

Got plenty more for ya here......tell me interceptor how many convictions and before you stop with the crap?

Wauw I must really influence you. Do I really have that kind of effect on you, you must really get pissed when watching Pakistani media take Musharraf apart, I merely come here to debate, whose getting personal here.

 

[Keysersoze]

Thanks for pasting the blog stories love them, but what do you get from this every time pointing at Zardari he has got this he has got that, he has house in Dubai in London, Zardari in particular when he wasn't even married to Benazir he was a born Billionaire, the Bhutto family was born Billionaire no hiding neither was it, its just people with little minds carrying on bashing about their wealth. Wtf when did musharraf turn millionaire suddenly we all know he claimed he was a "middle class" bullshit he is, nobody takes that crap now, well he has his protocols for now why doesn't he ask the GOP to give him accommodation which they will, he is corrupt general he took advantage of this country he earned a lot and gave share to others, look at the Chief Minister house in Punjab left by Parvez Elhi, the CJP did good thing he took notice of Musharraf colony.

A million excuses yet no one believes ya.

 

[Keysersoze]

Wauw I must really influence you. Do I really have that kind of effect on you, you must really get pissed when watching Pakistani media take Musharraf apart, I merely come here to debate, whose getting personal here.

Not really I just have a low tolerance for B********* and frankly I had little time for it even when your ilk were nothing. People like you look after themselves first and the country second. Lahori pa jee was another example of this.(he's a nawaz lick spittle) hence my contempt.

I gave you PPP fools two chances and you failed miserably. (much like the cretin NAWAZ) Ever wonder why no one complained when Musharaf took over? Pakistan desperatly needs to get rid of the dumb feudal system and have a widespread and free education system so that the people can go forth into democracy with their eyes wide open. And not be flanneled by the likes of you
Oh and BTW TIME magazine is not a blog. Nor is the AGE newspaper......or the Swiss courts....or the High courts of the UK.