Yesterday I came across blurb about the latest troubles of Malik Riaz of Bahria Town, one of the most corrupt people in Pakistan, and was not at all surprised that the guy representing him was none other than Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. Now I have written enough about Aitzaz to not be surprised by this. My only curiosity was to see what sort of “plea bargaining” he would be trying to do this time (Remember I have stated before that looking at the cases our most brilliant attorney has been involved in, you’ll find his only trick is plea bargaining, nothing more — look at “Aitzaz jumps in with his pig brothers” here where I talk about the Bank of Punjab case; also have a look at his brilliant work for his client in the submarine scam).
Reading about the SCBA elections, this bit gave me the giggles:
“Former president SCBA Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has kept himself at distance from the bar politics. He had gone abroad and would not return till the polling day. However, Hamid Khan’s group is claiming his support. Lahore has gained significant importance in the polls, as almost half of the eligible voters are registered here.”
Ah, so this is how Aitzaz was had played it — the usual double-crossing way. That Hamid Khan was so naive is something I had not expected. To think that Aitzaz was “keeping himself at a distance from bar politics” and supporting Hamid Khan’s group was foolish to the extreme. Aitzaz (behind the scenes) and his cronies (openly) were certainly working for Asma Jehangir (also see Past Heros, Now Zeros and Past Heros, Now Zeros – II). Aitzaz of course was found standing on Asma’s podium at LHC on election day — so much for keeping himself at a distance. Also supporting/canvassing for her were Musharraf’s PCO judges.
Babar Awan:
The role Babar Awan too must not be over-looked. He distributed hundreds of millions to the bars and even managed to snag Qazi Anwar in the week before the election (How could Qazi be so stupid to accept the check from him and appear in the press with Awan is beyond me. And to top it off, Qazi returning the check a couple of days later certainly didn’t help).
Federal Law Minister Babar Awan, a close aide of President Asif Zardari also spent election day in Lahore and is (rightly) believe that the minister had come there to make last-minute “arrangements” for Asma’s election.
Let’s not also forget the stunt Babar Awan pulled a couple of days before the election: His meeting Chaudhry Pervaiz of PML-Q which started a media frenzy on the last day before SCBA elections and hogged all air time away from the elections.
Another name that needs mentioning is the other crooked PPP lawyer group of Latif Khosa which too was working for her.
“Let me first commend you that you have managed to catch me when I am on the plane…um…Like Noon Meep Rashid said “Zaindagi say bhaag ker aaya houN main!” but zindagi has followed me here (in Spain)..”
Yes, Aitzaz! I believe you that our media is so good they can track and get hold of someone (who didn’t want to be found) IN A PLANE all the way over the skies in Spain (Curiously, why did he choose Spain to run to? Managing some legal matters for the other “Chaudhries of Gujrat” who have siphoned most of their monies there?)
Role of the Media:
The media certainly played a huge role in this victory for Asma. Of the tens of talk shows I watched, most featured only people from what I call the “Aitzaz Asma Zardari” group, pretending to be offering differing opinions but in fact going against the judiciary and the other group. I only saw three shows that featured the other group and that too in a very negative way. Two (including the one above) featured Qazi Anwar and one featured the other candidate Ahmed Owais (A hatchet job was performed on him by Kamran Shahid in Front Line, who had Owais on the phone and Asma in studio. Karman blatantly lied, attributing statements to Owais which he had never stated). In all such cases, the hosts seemed to be handed their talking points by the winning side.
After the election, we saw analysis like “The defeat of bigotry” to define Asma’s win. Huh? WTF?? The writer “is a lawyer and political commentator based in London”, Ayesha Khan is using another dirty trick played by Asma’s team and blaming the Hamid Khan group for it (“somebody” distributed pamphlets saying a vote for Asma was a vote for Qadyanis. Of course no one else was behind it but her team itself. At least it confirms her being a Qadyani, something I have heard about Aitzaz as well).
Asma Jahangir represents modern, progressive and forward-looking sections of Pakistani society across the globe. Her election to the office is bound to bring about a sea change in Pakistan’s perception around the world, as a state of strife struggling to counter the menace of Talibanisation of society.
Before the election, we also saw repeatedly items like:
People like Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood, Abid Hassan Minto, Muneer Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan and others stand above politics. (Source)
[And let’s not forget to add Ali Ahmed Kurd and Athar Minallah to this list and the shame-of-all-shames Justice Fakharuddin G. Ibrahim]
Of course these were total lies as all those named (except Aitzaz of course 😉 ) were openly supporting Asma and campaigning for her and stood shoulder to shoulder with her of election day…
Notes:
Well, at least some other big “champions of truth” stand exposed. Now I had already written about the others but never suspected Fakhuruddin G. Ibrahim and Abid Hassan Minto to be part of the cabal. So it is pretty safe to say that all the names we know, we know why we know them: they have been hand-picked to easily insert themselves into any ‘threat’ that appears on the horizon and hijack any such movement.
Aitzaz of course is a master of this and the more I find out about him, the uglier the picture gets. Here I would like to point out a couple of things that I have become aware of lately that leave no doubt about him being a “Sayan”:
Talking to some former school mates of his (Aitchison College, Lahore) I discovered that Aitzaz was ‘recruited’ way back in high school. I am told that back then Aitzaz was invited to every American Consulate function and they thought it was something odd though they could never put their finger on it.
And do you know that Aitzaz had pulled the “I-was-thrown-out-of-PPP-but-now-I-am-back-with-PPP” trick that he pulled during the lawyers movement to gain their trust once before? Well, he did, and there his victim was none other than Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto himself. It happened during the PNA Movement against ZAB in 1977 (When Bhutto claimed the Americans were behind it, he was 100% correct. Let’s remember here Kissinger’s warning — “We’ll make an example out of you!” — to him and the fact that a lot of foreigners descended on Pakistan under the cover of being “reporters” and dollars flowed freely — so much so in fact that in those days of strict currency restrictions where you could buy dollars only from the State Bank, dollars were available on the street at lower than the currency exchange rate). Using the excuse about some lawyers being shot, he abandoned ZAB at that most crucial of times. He of course falsely claims he was “thrown out” of the party. What exposes that lie is that right after the coup by Zia ul Haq, he managed to rejoin PPP as a central leader (if he was really thrown out by ZAB, why would the party accept him at that trying time?). We see the same script being followed just before the second Long March, where he had managed to loose favor with the lawyers and they were openly accusing him for siding with Zardari against the movement. There he pulled the “thrown out of CEC bit by Zardari” and managed to sabotage the movement by calling off the Long March before it got to Islamabad (remember he was NOT part of the lawyers leadership at the time but it was he who made and announced the decision to stop on their part. The fool who was the leader at the time — Ali Ahmed Kurd — managed to get himself stuck in the middle of nowhere — at the Balochistan/Sindh border — leaving Aitzaz to make the call. It must also not be forgotten how Aitzaz just managed to insert himself into the vehicle of Nawaz Sharif that day and how Kiyani also called him instead of the lawyers’ leadership). Kurd today of course stands in the pocket of Aitzaz.
The next chapter in this Aitzaz saga that must be remembered is his role in dismembering the Sikh resistance. Remember In July 1989, working as the Interior Minister under the Benazir Bhutto Government, Aitzaz Ahsan personally handed the complete list of Sikh activists who were working in league with Pakistani intelligence (so it couldn’t be with Pakistani intelligence’s ashirwat). Within weeks of his handing over the list the entire top Sikh brass that was working with Pakistan was eliminated, something from which the Sikh Seperatist Movement never recovered. So maybe when he gave that list of sikhs to India, he wasn’t following BB’s orders but those of the (common?) master, the US.
ISLAMABAD, June 14: The government is facing an estimated annual revenue loss of over Rs 30 billion on account of ‘grey telephony’ under which international calls are re-routed through local — often illegal — exchanges to avoid local taxes, mainly because of policies designed apparently to favour a sitting powerful minister.
… One of the leading beneficiaries of the grey traffic is Rodcom Europe, now being renamed as Hollywell Solutions. Rehman Malik, the sitting interior minister, is the chairman of London-based Rodcom Europe — a specialised VOIP (voice-over internet protocol) company established in 2001 “offering a limited number of high quality routes to a limited number of high quality customers”, according to the company website.
It says its early destinations were mainly to Europe and “Pakistan soon joined them when VOIP licences were first issued in 2003”. Rodcom’s activities in Pakistan, the website claimed, “have grown to a level where we are now one of the top five senders of Pakistan calls in Europe [So RM got this favor from Musharraf]
… Regardless of whether or not Rodcom is operating legally, Rehman Malik’s ownership of the company raises moral and ethical questions. “That a federal minister who oversees law enforcement agencies which are required to curb such illegal telephone calls, should own a company involved in this business is clearly a conflict of interest,” an observer said. [Another example of fox guarding the hen house]
…
What makes the conflict of interest issue more serious is the fact that the current government has not made a concerted effort to eliminate the grey traffic; instead circumstantial evidence suggests that official policies have encouraged such activity.
…
HOW GREY TRAFFIC RUNS: Grey traffic is defined as the use of illegal exchanges for making international calls, bypassing the legal routes and exchanges. These illegal exchanges include VOIP (Voice-Over Internet Protocol) that uses a computer; GSM (Global System for Mobile) gateways; WLL (wireless local loop) phones or mobile SIMs. This traffic may then be distributed onwards using WLL and mobile numbers.
Now you know WHY he is often caught secretly meeting Generals in the dead of night
ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee was told on Monday that the office of Chairman PAC Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was sitting on the inquiry report into the multibillion rupees scam in the National Logistic Cell (NLC) for the last several months.
The report contains documentary evidence to confirm involvement of four generals of the Pakistan Army in the biggest scam in the history of the NLC. But, in the absence of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from the PAC meeting for a short period of time, some members wondered why only one copy of this explosive report was given to Chaudhry Nisar.
Three Lieutenant Generals and one Major General, who were named in the report, had served at top positions in the NLC in the past and have since retired from service. The inquiry was held to determine the role of these three generals, who despite orders of the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz not to put the NLC money into the volatile stock market, invested billions of rupees in the stock exchange and subsequently lost the taxpayers money.
A large number of powerful brokers of Karachi were given huge money from the NLC funds to make investment in the volatile exchange market and subsequently billions were lost. Even these generals had taken a commercial loan to make investment in these stocks.
…
Earlier, during the course of the PAC proceedings it emerged that Secretary Planning Division Ashraf Hayat had deliberately given only one copy of the report to PAC Chairman Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for “His Eyes Only”.
Ashraf Hayat, who appeared before the PAC, on Monday was asked why the report was not shared with other PAC members. He said the report had already been sent to the office of PAC Chairman Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. But this did not satisfy the members as usually 20 copies of any report are sent to the PAC members. But what surprised them most was that the report was never put on the PAC agenda. The PAC members asked the secretary to dispatch the inquiry report to all of them.
…
ISLAMABAD: The financially crippled Wapda would soon be poorer by another Rs3.2 billion as it is set to lose a legal battle in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and would have to pay the amount to the Japan Power Generation Limited (JPGL), the Public Accounts Committee was informed on Monday.
The PAC was further informed that foreign loans worth billions of rupees, including half a billion rupees loan for access to justice, remained unspent thanks to the lethargy of government organisations.
What to talk of others, even Wapda did not use Rs6 billion foreign loan given by a foreign lending agency and the amount was returned to the Economic Affairs Division. Managing Director, National Logistic Cell, Major General Junaid, who appeared before the PAC to defend the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan, spoke of a strong possibility of the Wapda losing its legal battle against the JPGL. He provided these details in a bid to satisfy the PAC members about pending recovery of Rs75 million payable by the same company to the NLC. He said the Japanese company had committed to repay NLC Rs75 million after winning the legal battle, which it is quite confident of winning.
Earlier, the Auditor General of Pakistan told the PAC that NLC had given a loan of Rs75 million to the JPGL. The NLC entered into a loan agreement with the JPGL on July 2, 2007 for the purpose of meeting existing liabilities. The loan was repayable by December 31, 2008 at 14 per cent mark-up rate. The company had already paid Rs13 million as interest to the NLC up to September 2008 in two installments. But, the AGP said, the JPGL had shown a net loss of Rs206 million in its accounts and in view of the poor financial position, the company might not repay the NLC the loan. The loan was sanctioned by former DG NLC, although he did not have any power to give loan to any foreign company. Interestingly, the NLC gave this loan to the Japanese company despite the fact that it itself had to make payment of Rs4.7billion to different banks and financial institutions….
…
NOTES: 1. What is interesting is “Japan Power Generation Limited (JPGL)” is NOT a “Japanese” company but a “Pakistani” one based in Lahore Cantt (HOW COULD RAUF KLASSRA MIS THAT??):
The Company’s activities include owning, operating and maintaining an oil-fired power station with a net contracted capacity of 120.5 megawatts (gross capacity of 135 megawatts). The Company is engaged in generating and supplying electric power to Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)
WHAT does that mean? It is MOST CERTAINLY another company owned by the guy running the LPG scam and the Rental Power Scam — the one-time Mush crony and today Zardari’s — Iqbal Z. Ahmad
P.S. Iqbal Z. Ahmed and his scams were also the topic of last night’s Islamabad Tonight. Guest was Khawaja Asif
2. Please DO note that the the government’s inability to utilize loans does NOT mean the loans don’t acquire interest. So the money is just sitting there racking up interest which we have to pay back. And if you thought our defense budget was high, consider this: The amount paid in interest payment on these loans is alone 150% of our defense budget!!!
3. So basically what NLC has done is to loan money to JPGL so they can sue WAPDA for billions. Of course WAPDA WILL lose as ICJ is desined that way (as is the WTO that you are so proud to belong to). More on that someday later as it is a HUGE can of worms…But I would like to give you an example of how WTO/ICJ works:
A few years back, an Italian company won a contract from the Government of Pakistan (GoP) for some development contract. They NEVER started work using the excuse that the “security situation in Pakistan was not good, leaving them unable to perform the said works”. AND they headed straight for ICJ suing GoP for the “profits they would have made had they done the work”. Again the argument was “Hey we want to do the work but we can’t but we are entitled to the profits we would have made from the project had we done it. And since it is GoP that is unable to provide us a safe environment to work in, it is GoP that is liable and must pay us the moneys we could have made.”
Of course the ICJ ruled in favor of the Italians and against the GoP which had to pay up (probably by taking another loan).
(Just wanted to get this out. If time allows, will make changes/additions) Past Heros, Now Zeros are busy exposing themselves further. That they have been bought is clear hearing their utterances against the Supreme Court and the Justices. They are busy appearing on every talk show speaking against the very same judges that they helped restore.
Kurd said that he believes in the apex court’s power of judicial review but, at the same time, he believes that the present judiciary could not review this 18th Amendment in the present circumstances.
Asked to elaborate the word ‘circumstances’, Kurd replied that he was a great supporter of the 18th Amendment and thus Supreme Court should not review this amendment. He said that at the time of the lawyers’ movement, top legal and constitutional minds were giving suggestions to Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry but now people around the Supreme Court were not ‘good’.
Views of Athar Minallah were harder. While talking to this correspondent, Athar said that he believes in the Constitution and according to Article 239 no amendment could be called into question before any court.
He said that only those people were supporting the judicial review and striking down of some clauses of the 18th Amendment who had been appearing before the court of Abdul Hameed Dogar.
Is Kurd calling himself “a great legal mind”? That is laughable! Is Minallah calling Ch Iftikhar “Dogar”? Amazing isn’t it? Not only do they have no argument, they have resorted to threatening the judges and on more than one occassion: See Aitzaz Threatens Supreme Courtand watch April 21, 2010’s Capital Talk (the threat made to Akram Sheikh) and Apr 18’s Meray Mutabiq (the threat he made to Hafiz Pirzada. Some of it was reported in The News here). Of course Kurd is also now using the “damadum mast kalandar” threat against the judges and like Aitzaz, saying that if the court rules against the bastardized clauses of the 18th amendment that destroy the basic structure of the constitution and make the party heads above the constitution and all politicians above the law, they will have the judgment overturned and the judges can “imagine” what will happen to them..
That they have no arguments was further brought forward by what Justice Tariq Mehmood had to say in last night’s Capital Talk. Watch it and observe his behavior as well. He is all jumpy, and even goes on to blame the media that this is a non issue and offers this “advise”:
People are not interested in it. You guys are destroying your ratings by talking about it. As soon as people hear 18th Amendment on a show, they flip the channel. If you want to be watched, don’t talk about the 18th amendment.
Notes:
Why have these lawyers sold out? Well Aitzaz was always a sellout and having the BoP fraud and theLPG scam — he is a big beneficiary of both — being in front of the SC certainly has added to his displeasure. Having his dictates to the CJ fail certainly added to his change of heart (Note: the people he is standing with today — Awan, Khosa, etc. were all his partners in the BoP scam)
Similarly Kurd was expecting his ‘recommendations’ of people to be appointed judges to be dictates and when that didn’t happen, he cried foul (proof that he was sold long ago can be seen from his protestations against the court’s ruling against the NRO). Having failed to gain financially that way, he has chosen to sell himself like a kanjri from Heera Mandi and do mujras for Zardari, Babar Awan, Farooq Naek, and Latif Khosa (Note: BTW, has anyone else noticed the new wardrobe of Kurd? Suddenly he is all dressed up in new fine threads).
Exactly what was it that Athar Minallah and Tariq Mehmood were demanding is still not clear but I will assume something similar or maybe they just plain sold out for a quota or too. But let thee be no doubt that they have been sold.
ISLAMABAD: The first documented $1 billion scam was laid before the federal cabinet last week which officially revealed that Pakistan lost one billion dollars after the top guns of the Petroleum Ministry ignored the lowest bid of the Fauji Foundation and the multinational energy firm, Vitol, for 3.5 million tons LNG contract worth $25 billion, and instead awarded it to the highest bidder, a French firm….
Of course all hell broke loose and instead of screaming “bloody murder” at those carrying out this scam, the lowlife parliamentarians of course screamed bloody murder at the messenger:
The information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira was more interested in summing the reporter of this story to appear before the committee to submit proofs to establish his case. But the most interesting thing observed in the NA proceeding on Monday where three federal ministers stood up to raise this issue was the fact that they all preferred to shoot the messenger, instead of daring to mention the names of former finance minister Shaukat Tarin and MD Fauji Foundation Lt General Rab Nawaz, who had actually smelt foul play in the multibillion dollar LNG deal. Information minister Kaira and agriculture minister Nazar Gondal were angry with the reporter who had filed this story. Kaira said the reporter should also be summoned and asked to produce evidence on the basis of which he filed the story. Gondal said the report was filed without any proper evidence and the committee should probe the issue.
But since the truth is out, one has to cover it up and that PM is doing the very same can be gleaned from the story from which the above bit is taken:
P.S. Speaking of PM, DON’T get too excited about car prices coming down. Sure Gilani warned car makers: “Cut prices or face imports”. This is just a shakedown — Gilani is doing what every previous government has done: Threaten the car makers with “allowing imports”, car makers’ cartel pays up, and things continue as usual i.e. no imports allowed and car makers continue to gouge the public with exorbitant prices for third-rate locally made cars.
Of course we already knew. We also remember it was this genius Hafeez Sheikh who was the Minister for Privatization when this rape was allowed. But do note that the current Minister for Privatisation Waqar Ahmed (a most-corrupt individual himself, not surprisingly, so well-qualified for the position heholds) covers up for Hafeez Sheikh with a balatant lie:
The agreement for the sale of 26 per cent PTCL shares with the UAE-based Etisalat was finalised and transaction was made without taking the Privatisation Commission Board into confidence.
Hey, mabe Mr Gilani can ask Hafeez Sheikh to look into this as well! And maybe Hina Rabbani Khan can assist 😛
(Right now I hear CJ is in a meeting with PM Gilani, with a picture of Benazir sitting between them. Though Gilani had invited CJ, I am surprised the CJ has obliged him. This is UNPRECEDENTED! Of course nothing good can come of it.)
No Shame!
Aitzaz says “CJ, let’s go meet Zardari!” and CJ says “Oh yes, Master!” People curse but…
Aitzaz says “CJ, let’s go meet Holbrooke!” and CJ says “Oh yes, Master!” People curse but…
Aitzaz says “CJ, let’s go meet Gilani!” and CJ says “Oh yes, Master!” People are cursing but…
Shame on you, CJ. Shame on you and the whole judiciary!
And see how Aitzaz managed to get a seat right next to CJ (Shouldn’t Justice Ramday have been there??). He also managed to hold a press conference afterwards calling Gilani’s visit ‘khush-aain” and how it “reduces the tention” and how “tasadum” has been avoided (all of which the media is lapping up and repeating without end). Aitzaz also informs us there will be “good news” at 3:00 pm tomorrow. Of course he won’t tell us but we already know and how Aitzaz-guided spin will go. I predict withdrawl of the presidential notification with both sides claiming victory and BOTH sides claiming constitution has been protected while in actuality one will be covering up their unconstitutional act that deserved application of Article 6, while the other will be abetting the same.
…“However, now when the Zardari-led government has violated the constitution, the lawyers leader who were made heroes by the people of the Pakistan sided with the presidency of Asif Ali Zardari and did not participate in Monday’s historic boycott by the lawyers,” a senior lawyer said.
He added: “These former leaders did not know that they became heroes because of their stance in support of the independent judiciary and because of the people. If they continue to oppose the lawyers’ struggle, not only the public but the new generation of lawyers will not forgive them”.
He said in the garb of saving the democracy, the former lawyers’ leaders are siding with worst ever dictatorship in civil dress. On the other hand four top leaders – Aitzaz Ahsan, Athar Minallah, Justice (R) Tariq Mehmood and Ali Ahmad Kurd – have their own views on the issues.
Despite absence of these leaders, Hamid Khan, Rasheed A Rizvi, Latif Afridi, Mehmoodul Hassan and present president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Anwar, who are also the leaders of the historic lawyers’ movement in last three years, actively participated in Monday’s lawyers strike by keeping all the interests aside.
Justice (R) Tariq Mehmood was of the view that if the lawyers would have announced staging of protest in front of the Prime Minister House or the Presidency he would have been part of this protest but he is against boycott of the courts. “Now, there is an independent judiciary, so why we are boycotting the courts?”
Justice Tariq gave his reason for not participating in Monday’s lawyers’ protest. When asked that why he did not give this suggestion to the present leadership of the lawyers’ movement, he said whenever he expressed his views to this new leadership they simply listen to it and ignore it.
Ali Ahmad Kurd, when approached by this correspondent was of the view that he will not disclose the reasons for not participating in lawyers’ protest right now and will make his disclosures after three days.
Athar Minallah also said he would record his reasons later, while Aitzaz Ahsan did not respond to many calls and messages sent to him. Aitzaz was also specifically sent some questions, which also remained unanswered….”
The other day I was watching the interview of former President Farooq Leghari. His answer to the question about the Mehran Bank scandal really made me laugh out loud and I went “We got another one!”
What he claimed was that the most of land involved in the deal was not his but his wife’s and his mother’s. That alone proves he is lying because both his wife and his mother are from NWFP and though his mother might have inherited some farmland from his father, his wife certainly had none in the area — remember we are talking Southern Punjab — and if she did, it was put in her name by no one but Farooq Leghari himself for purposes other than giving her ownership of it.
I went “We got another one!” because hiding behind there wives to try and coverup ones own corruption seems to be the order of the day. Let’s see, recently we had Aitzaz (“LPG quota is not mine but my wife’s”), PM Gilani (“I have no money, no house, and the $550 Million loan was taken out by my wife”), both Shahbaz and Nawaz also appear to be penniless living off of loans from their wives and kids. Zardari of course need not be mentioned….
Recently columnist Haroon Rashid(HR) wrote an article on the games played by Aitzaz Ahsan(AA), confirming what has appeared on this blog (e.g. see here and here) and, as expected, Aitzaz was quick to respond to what he called “accusations” — I call them statements of facts — by HR. But in trying to clear his name by further telling lies, AA has only managed to confirm what HR and I have stated.
Below are the so-called “accusations” by HR and the lies offered by AA as “clarifications”.
“Accusation” #1:
There really was no accusation here. HR stated AA had refused to defend Zardari using the excuse that he had to earn a living (“work with sweat and blood”) to pay for his kids’ school fees. Of course AA was lying as every one knows his kids are not in school (I think they are enjoying high-paying jobs overseas thanks to Aitzaz’s connections) and even if they were in school, Aitzaz has himself accepted he makes millions a month so he hardly has to worry about school fees for his kids. And AA suggesting he would not be paid by Zardari for his services was ridiculous indeed and I do believe Zardari was willing to pay him enough to “take care of all his expenses for a hundred years.” AA certainly might not have wanted to take his fee in cash for appearances sake but we know he would have taken it in favors which would have been a lot more lucrative and we do have the as precedence
him receiving an LPG quota,
him defending CJ resulting him in upping his fee up to rs 20 Million per case.
“Clarification” #1:
Aitzaz right away starts off with the greatest of fabrications. He quotes HR but the quote is 100% fabricated. AA says HR has stated:
“I demanded fee from Mr. Zardari to fight his case and apparently refused to help him further.”
Huh? Where did HR say that? What HR stated is right above. Can you find HR saying anything close to what AA claims HR said — and that too with a supposedly direct quote? Well, I certainly can’t. HR CERTAINLY DID NOT SAY THAT! Are we to assume a “brilliant lawyer” is so stupid as to not being able to copy one sentence? Most likely AA is doing this intentionally to twist things.
But starting with this lie (“HR said I demanded fees”), AA goes into this long rant about all the occasions he had not charged fees from his corrupt PPP buddies for defending them in court and doesn’t shy away from having helped them get away with it. Hello! That is not HR “accused” you of and at least have the decency/sense not to make up quotes to suit your purpose.
“Accusation” #2:
HR talks about the recent details that have come out about the LPG scandal in which consumers were bilked an extra 220 Billion. He tells us about 20-ton-a-day quota that AA enjoys. HR does say AA got the quota not because he is “a friend” of the LPG Mafia Don Iqbal Z Ahmed but because of Benazir Bhutto’s looking after her lap dogs.
“Clarication” #2:
What is interesting is that AA comes back not disagreeing with HR about the other people that got the LPG quota (and confirms his own 20-ton a day one) and even suggests they were improper as each of them faced some sort of an “Accountability Bureau” but — this is so funny — he says only his was on the up-and-up and he repeats the lie that his wife got it from his “friend” Iqbal Z Ahmed. He claims his his wife getting the LPG windfall was proper because:
He never was accused before, and
Musharraf never canceled it.
My! Is that the best defense you can offer, Mr. Brilliant Lawyer who charges Rs 2 crore per case? Amazing what bull you have been getting away with! Your first defense is now out the door as you have — belatedly but finally — been accused and the second defense just confirms the next accusation that you in fact were playing every side but the lawyers (the only side you were supposed to be playing). Also managing to secure such a lucrative deal (netting AA anywhere between Rs 3 million to Rs 38 million per month) admittedly due to nepotism — and not qualification — itself speaks volumes!
“Accusation” #3:
HR talks about the lawyers movement and does say AA pulled a fast one on the lawyers by calling off the “dharna” on his own, leading some young ones to tears by being stabbed in the back by their very leader (HR was being kind here — I have accused AA of not only that but a similar role in the second Long March. Remember at this time AA was NOT among the leaders of the Lawyers movement but managed to insert himself into Nawaz’s vehicle and again managed to halt the Long March in Gujranwala as preplanned (unless you are ready to believe Nawaz is a genius to have predicted it days ahead))
“Clarification” #3:
AA puts up a false claim that some “All Pakistan Lawyers Representaives” organization (is there one?) was “undecided” on dharna in May 2008 (first Long March) but had decided to do so in Jan 2009 (second Long March). Well Mr Aitzaz, if the lawyers were “undecided” in May 2008 as you yourself say, then who gave you the right to decide it for them? And if they had decided in it’s favor in Jan 2009, then again why did you announce it’s cancellation??
Aitzaz follows this crap with some silly excuses for him acted that way. He says it was too hot in June (is that a revelation or is June always hot?) and the guys in black coats (lawyers) would have suffered (Oh, and they did not suffer during the Long March when the sun was out but would have suffered more say at 3 in the morning?). Next he says he cancelled it because he was afraid some lawyers would have attacked the parliament and would have been arrested and no one would have bailed them out (Oh, so the lawyers were so helpless and alone?). Next he adds he did it for the women and kids who were present who would have suffered (Oh thanks AA for being so caring — we know women have no sense to make that decision for themselves or their kids). But AA is not done yet. Then he adds that anyone not supporting his decision were in fact agents of the forces wanting to do away with democracy (ignore the fact that Mush the dictator was sitting in the presidency) and those who wanted to spill blood and guts — another pathetic ‘excuse’.
Accusation #4:
HR talks about the time AA took CJ to meet Zardari under the pretense “to offer condolence for the death of Benazir Bhutto”. Of course it was a senseless move and a lot of fingers were pointed at CJ and HR rightly wonders if the real purpose behind it was AA trying to raise his rate.
“Clarification” #4:
AA goes into another rant against being called greedy and opportunist and gives us a list of qurbanis (how could a jiyala not shout qurbani when he has no legs to stand on — in fact you know he has trying to divert from the issue at hand) he gave like “I turned down the PMship”, blah, blah, blah.
But in all of that rant, he, of course, makes no mention of his rate having skyrocketed (his opportunism already proven by the BoP and the LPG affairs alone).
So what do you think? I score it 4-0 in favor of Haroon Rashid.
…Mr Asif said that those who had benefited from Mr Ahmad’s “benevolence” included former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former chairman of NAB Gen (retd) Munir Hafeez, federal Minister for Investment Senator Gulzar Ahmad, former interior ministers Gen (retd) Moeenuddin and Aftab Sherpao, former governor of Punjab Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool, NBP President Syed Ali Raza and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.
These people, he said, got gas companies registered in the names of their relatives and they earned millions of rupees from the LPG quota given by the JJVL.[Aitzaz had it in the name of his wife, Bushra Aitzaz, another prominent lawyer. Aitzaz’s monthly take for doing nothing? Rs 3 Million!]
[UPDATE: This might be more in light of this news item:” LPG marketers earn Rs 220bn illegally“. Seeing that their were some 20 or so ‘stakeholders’, on average each is making 10 billion plus]
Others beneficiaries included Captain (retd) Bisharat and Brigadier (retd) Siraj, friends of Gen Pervez Musharraf; Gen (retd) Tariq Majeed; Humayun Farid, diplomat; Gen (retd) Rehmat Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Cement; Rizwan Punjwani, head of NBP Credit, Karachi; Ishtiaq Asif of NBP, Karachi; and Jamal Akbar Ansari, a friend of Iqbal Ahmad.
“By all means it was bribe which Mr Ahmad used to get favours from people in power,” Mr Asif said. Members of the PAC representing PPP, PML-Q, and PML-N supported the contention that the LPG quota had been misused.
Accepting the fact that massive irregularities had been committed in the past, Secretary Petroleum Mahmood Salim Mahmood said the LPG sector needed a thorough scrutiny, especially its price fixing mechanism. Since the JJVL had a monopoly in the market it was doing business at its own terms, the secretary argued….
Two main points I want to add:
1. Remember this happened during the time Aitzaz was ‘leading’ the Lawyers’ Movement, supposedly against Mush (and then against Zardari). The mere fact that he did not loose this ‘little benefit’ on both occasions speaks volumes about whose side he was really on. Special attention must be paid to the fact that ALL LPG-quota holders are FRIENDS OF MUSHARRAF!!!
Artificial shortage for natural gas is being created so that ordinary consumers could be bilked.
The openly-stated plan certainly is to make it at least at par with petrol so no one buys it for their transportation/generator use i.e. ordinary consumers.
So much for “free judiciary”! Appears the Bank of Punjab Scam is all set to be swept under the rug along with other such scams not even getting a mention.
Today we hear NAB is all set to “plea-bargain” with the suspects (Haris Steel) and give them a “clean chit”:
ISLAMABAD: All is set for the culprits of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) Rs 9 billion fraud, the biggest scandal of the country’s banking history, to negotiate a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and get a clean chit…”
That this is happening is really no surprise. Remember the guys heading NAB are the very same ones appointed by Musharraf under who’s watchful eye, this and other such scams were perpetrated. Continue reading ‘BoP Scam — The Fix Is On Again’
Remember back in 2002, an attack outside Sheraton Hotel on French Engineers’ bus (killing 11)? Of course it was blamed on the big bad wolf (Al Qaida). Of course that practice continues to this day.
Well, the truth finally came out earlier this year that that story was anything but true. No it was NOT Al Qaida but some officials pissed because they did not get the full payment of the bribe money they expected, so they decided to teach the French a lesson:
Recently Bank of Punjab (BoP) scam that I talked about in ‘Aitzaz Exposed – Part II‘ (read it to get some background of the scam) has been back in the news as the Supreme Court has been actively perusing it. But what I found most curious is the fact that although it was a Rs 13 billion scam, ALL (but one) news stories have been referring to as only a Rs 9 Billion scam.
Recently it was reported by the papers that Aitzaz Ahsan had met secretly with General Kiyani. The news of this odd meeting certainly caused “stir in political circles already agog with wild guessing game about future of present setup.”
Upon discovery — and ten days later — Aitzaz the snake offered the lamest of excuses followed by the usual empty political cliches. He claimed it was a “purely a private meeting” and that it was in response to the request by Kiyani — and get this — that Kiyani made “when the army chief spoke to him on March 16 during the long march when it had reached Gujranwala on way to Islamabad. Aitzaz claims Kiyani invited him “for a cup of tea” back then which he accepted and only now had the time to go through with it i.e. after more than four months. The story continues:
When asked whether the Supreme Court case and army’s possible political role were discussed during the meeting with Gen. Kayani, Aitzaz said that he was neither Sharifuddin Pirzada nor Malik Qayyum. He said he would never encourage, facilitate or advise any political role for the army.
“It was, however, a pleasant meeting and army’s successes in Swat and FATA were discussed,” Aitzaz said. When pressed further, he said that golf also came under discussion. Aitzaz said he was committed to the democratic system. “The case in the Supreme Court was neither discussed nor he has any role to play in the proceedings or decision of the case,” he added.He said that he had a commitment to the democratic system and an independent judiciary. When asked if there were likely to be any further meetings between the two, Aitzaz said that they may play golf together in future but no politics would be discussed.
Now you be the judge if Aitzaz is telling the truth. Also keep in mind the timing of this meeting. It happens at the time when an important case is currently taken up by the Supreme Court relating to Nov 3, 2007 in which Kiyani WAS fully involved. So Tariq Butt and other’s are right to ask:
LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Hamesh Khan, the sacked chairman of the Bank of Punjab (BoP), and five former general managers of the bank on massive fraud charges, sources in the bureau told Daily Times on Sunday.
Haroon Aziz, Khalid Qayyum, Amir Mumtaz, Muhammad Hussain and Amir Ifitkhar have been named as the five arrested former BoP general managers, the sources said.
According to Geo TV, an internal audit of the BoP disclosed a fraud worth Rs 13 billion during the previous government’s tenure. It said the case was referred to the State Bank of Pakistan, which sent it to NAB for further investigations.
The channel added that NAB sources had confirmed the fraud, saying that the BoP administration had issued heavy loans against ordinary property.
It has been learnt that Hamesh’s arrest came after Sharjeel Masood, a senior BoP officer and right hand man of Hamesh, informed authorities of the latter’s activities. The sources said the officials had been under NAB detention since Thursday. They added that former Punjab Secretary Salman Siddique and the former Finance secretary would also be investigated in the case.
I have always maintained that while Zardari was the ‘Snake‘, Aitzaz was ‘Aasteen ka Saanp’ and not to be trusted. Of course I have been proven right over and over again. The first proof for me was his calling off the first Long March unilaterally. Of course some lawyers understood they had been had and demanded he pick a side: Zardari or the Lawyers Movement and when Aitzaz picked Zardari, that should have removed any doubts about his double dealing. But alas! The lawyers continued to be played like a fiddle and were foolish enough to involve him in the second UNSUCCESSFUL (Do we have Nov 2 judiciary? Hell NO!) Long March. See how he slyly managed to get Kurd stuck in middle of no where on the Sindh=Baluchistan border, Munir Malik stuck in Karachi, Justice Tariq stuck in Lahore and Imran Khan blundering by reaching Islamabad — a place both Aitzaz and Sharif brothers knew the march would never reach (Remember, days earlier Nawaz had already announced the justices would be restored before they reached Gujaranwala — the fix was in). Continue reading ‘Aitzaz Exposed – Part I’
Recently it was reported by the papers that Aitzaz Ahsan had met secretly with General Kiyani. The news of this odd meeting certainly caused “stir in political circles already agog with wild guessing game about future of present setup.”
I have always maintained that while Zardari was the ‘Snake‘, Aitzaz was ‘Aasteen ka Saanp’ and not to be trusted. Of course I have been proven right over and over again. The first proof for me was his calling off the first Long March unilaterally. Of course some lawyers understood they had been had and demanded he pick a side: Zardari or the Lawyers Movement and when Aitzaz picked Zardari, that should have removed any doubts about his double dealing. But alas! The lawyers continued to be played like a fiddle and were foolish enough to involve him in the second UNSUCCESSFUL (Do we have Nov 2 judiciary? Hell NO!) Long March. See how he slyly managed to get Kurd stuck in middle of no where on the Sindh=Baluchistan border, Munir Malik stuck in Karachi, Justice Tariq stuck in Lahore and Imran Khan blundering by reaching Islamabad — a place both Aitzaz and Sharif brothers knew the march would never reach (Remember, days earlier Nawaz had already announced the justices would be restored before they reached Gujaranwala — the fix was in).
F*ck Politics 
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