What Brings Success

Defeat may test you; it need not stop you.
If at first you don’t succeed, try another way.
For every obstacle there is a solution.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
The greatest mistake is giving up.
Wishing will not bring success; but planning, persistence and burning desire will.

State-Sponsored Sufism – The power to salve? Why are U.S. think tanks pushing for state-sponsored Islam in Pakistan?

Once certain ideas go mainstream, it often takes a pretty big flop to disprove them. The United States was supposed to be hailed as the liberator of Iraq, just as it was going to be easy to turn Afghanistan into a democracy. Well now, according to commentators from the BBC to the Economist to the Boston Globe, Sufism, being defined as Islam’s moderate or mystical side, is apparently just the thing we need to deal with violent Muslim extremists. Sufis are the best allies to the West, these authors say; support them, and countries as diverse as Pakistan and Somalia could turn around.

The Sufi theory has a lot of variations, but at its core, it’s pretty simple: Violent Muslim extremism, rather than having material and political bases, is caused by certain belligerent readings of Islam usually associated with Salafism, a movement that attempts to resurrect the Islam of the prophet Mohammed’s time, and Wahhabism, a similarly conservative branch. If Muslims can be indoctrinated with another, softer, interpretation of Islam, then the militants, insurgents, and guerrilla fighters will melt away.

Well, these pundits have gotten their wish. Pakistan just announced the creation of a seven-member Sufi Advisory Council (SAC) that is meant to combat the Taliban insurgency by spreading Sufi “thoughts and teachings.” The SAC’s predecessor was a Musharraf-era PR stunt called the National Sufi Council that was headed by a rather feudal Punjabi politician — the group did little more than print a few calendars and hold a musical gala in Lahore. It is not yet clear whether the seven-member SAC, which met for the first time June 9, will be independent of the country’s Council of Islamic Ideology, a body outlined in Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution that advises whether laws are consistent with sharia. But if the SAC does become an official organ, it will add yet another layer of religious governance to a country wracked by religious conflict.

The creation of the SAC is not good news. It signals an increase in the politicization of Islam in Pakistan — if a higher level is even possible. Now, even the pietist and welfare-oriented groups that have traditionally abstained from overindulging in government affairs will be tempted to become mouthpieces for corrupt political actors. For evidence, look no further than the SAC’s new head, a former minister from the regime of ultra-Wahhabi dictator Zia ul-Haq, whose promotion probably has nothing to do with mysticism and more to do with the fact that he has called for Sufi Mohammed of Swat to be tried on charges of mutiny. It is exactly the sort of politicization of religion that has led to so many problems in Pakistan since independence in 1947.

The usual response by supporters of the Sufi solution is that thanks to the extremists, Islam has already been politicized, and therefore propagandist measures promoting Sufism are the only way to fight back. But that’s precisely the problem: Propaganda is inherently discrediting. Besides, state-sponsored Sufism (which the SAC is) gets everything backward: In an environment where demagogues are using religion to conceal their true political and material ambitions, establishing another official, “preferred” theological ideology won’t roll back their influence. Minimizing the role of all religion in government would be a better idea. Only then could people begin to speak about rights and liberty.

The opposite is now happening in Pakistan, fomenting an ongoing religious civil war. The SAC will undoubtedly embolden extremists by giving them ideological motivation: They now have evidence to provide young recruits and foot soldiers that the “war” they are fighting is, in fact, about the integrity of Islam. Far from reducing extremists’ influence, the SAC is doing them a favor.

This is quite apparent in the types of cases — or rather, spats — that the Sufi Advisory Council will now adjudicate. Take for example a recent accusation by Syed Munawar Hassan, the head of the fundamentalist organization Jamat-e-Islami, that Sufi Mohammed, the man behind the recent imposition of sharia law in Swat, is “a little infidel.” Substance is hardly at the heart of this debate.

It’s not that Sufism in and of itself can’t help. In the private sphere, it is welcome, laudable, and indeed quite beautiful to behold. But the SAC did not spring out of an internal debate among religious scholars in Pakistan. It came instead from American think tanks — like Rand and Heritage Foundation — intent on exploiting sectarian divisions in various Muslim countries, because they insist on addressing the war on terror in religious terms.

Interestingly enough, another early advocate of this approach was none other than Benazir Bhutto. Despite having a Shiite heritage, she became a member of a traditionally Sufi — and Sunni — Pakistani organization called Minhaj ul-Quran (check out this YouTube video of her meeting with Minhaj leaders, in which she doesn’t have enough cash on her to cover the fees).

I believe that her reasons for joining Minhaj were part of a larger plan — laid out in her book, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West — to use religious forces to her political advantage. After all, that impulse is precisely what led Bhutto to give the stamp of approval to the Taliban in the mid-1990s — and led her father to declare Islam the state religion of Pakistan in 1973. Today is no different. As Ayesha Siddiqa, a leading Pakistani commentator, has presciently noted, beginning a “faith war” between Sufi and Salafi in Pakistan would simply drive more youth toward fundamentalism.

In short, after years of bemoaning official Saudi sponsorship of Wahhabism, and condemning official Iranian sponsorship of milleniarian Islam, we are now being asked to celebrate a state-sponsored brand of Islam in Pakistan. We are asked to believe this is “different” from those other cases solely because it’s a version of the religion that looks benign. But not only is this unprincipled — it is going to backfire, leaving Sufism discredited and more religious resentment among the numerous peaceful Salafis in the world.

Written By:Ali Eteraz

Readers may form their own opinion.

Worship none but One God – Christianity and Islam

The Ten Commandments / The Fateha
Qur’an 17:23. Also 2:163,255; 3:2,6,18,62; 4:87; 5:73; 6:102,106; 7:59,65,73,85,158; 9:31,129; 10;90; 11:14,40,61,84; 13:30; 16:02; 18:110; 20:8,14,98; 21:25,87; 23:23,32,116; 27:26; 28:38,70; 28:88; 35:3; 37:035; 38:65; 39:6; 40:3,62,65; 44:8; 47:19; 64:13; 73:9
Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him

Exodus 20:3 – You shall have no other gods before me.

Qur’an 22:12 – They call on such deities, besides Allah, as can neither hurt nor profit them: that is straying far indeed (from the Way)!

Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Qur’an 7:180 And Allah’s are the best names, therefore call on Him thereby, and leave alone those who violate the sanctity of His names; they shall be requited for what they did.

Exodus 20:7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Qur’an 16:124 The Sabbath was only made (strict) for those who disagreed (as to its observance); But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment, as to their differences.

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Qur’an 17:23 Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour.

Exodus 20:12 Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Qur’an 17:23 Nor take life which Allah has made sacred.

Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder.

Qur’an 17:32 Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).

Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.

Qur’an 2:188 And do not eat up unjustly the property of each other among yourselves nor convey their cases to the authorities for devouring unlawfully some portion of the property of the people knowingly

Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal.

Qur’an 2:42 And cover not truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know (what it is).

Exodus 20:16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.

Qur’an 4:32 And in no wise covet those things in which Allah Hath bestowed His gifts more freely on some of you than on others

Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

ہمارے دفاتر کا ماحول

حسرت موہانی صاحب نے کم از کم چھ سات دہائیاں قبل کہا تھا

خِرد کا نام جنُوں رکھ دیا ۔ جنُوں کا خِرد
جو چاہے آپ کا حسن کرشمہ ساز کرے

مندرجہ ذيل پر کلِک کر کے یا اسے براؤزر میں لکھ کر پڑھيئے دلچسپ آپ بيتی “سرکاری تابعداری يا غداری”

http://www.theajmals.com/blog/2009/06/21/

Health Tips

Drink plenty of water.

Make habit of reading useful books.

Must do some physical work daily
Try a 10-30 minutes walk every day and, while you walk, give rest to your mind.

If tired of continuous working close your eyes for 5 minute and give complete rest to your brain
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

Sleep daily for not more than 8 and not less than 6.

Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and less that is manufactured in plants (factories).

مندرجہ ذيل ربط پر کلِک کر کے یا اسے براؤزر میں لکھ کر پڑھيئے دلچسپ آپ بيتی “سرکاری تابعداری يا غداری”

http://www.theajmals.com/blog/2009/06/21/

In Napoleon’s footsteps

History has dealt the Islamic world a terrible hand. From the 13th century onward, the defining moments in the world of Islam were the Mongol invasions and the imperialist intrusion of the west and the advent of colonial dependency. It is significant how little the western approach to the Muslim world has changed during this period. The modus operandi is the same. Praise Islam as the religion of peace and love but carry war and destruction to weak and defenceless Muslim countries if they refuse to toe the line. Praise the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but unleash the hounds of war against his followers, bomb innocent men, women and children, occupy their lands, change their government by force of arms and replace it with client regimes.

The new president of the United States, Barack Obama, unites within himself American and African Muslim heritages. On the day that Obama became president-elect, his paternal grandmother, Habiba Akuma Obama held a cerebration in her village. In his Cairo speech, Obama vowed to bridge the rift with Muslims, imploring Americans and the Islamic world to drop their suspicions of one another and forge new alliances. His overture to the Islamic world reminds me of Napoleon Bonaparte. Before embarking on his Egyptian expedition, he presented himself to the Islamic world as its greatest champion and a great admirer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). On June 22, 1798, he set out to conquer Egypt, a country he described “as the first theatre of civilisation in the universe”.

“Soldiers”, Bonaparte proclaimed, “You are going to undertake a conquest, the effect of which, upon commerce and civilisation, will be incalculable. The eyes of mankind are fixed upon you. The Mameluke Beys, who tyrannise over the unhappy inhabitants of the banks of the Nile, will no longer exist in a few days after our arrival. The people among whom you are going to live, are Mahometans: the first article of their faith is, ‘there is no other god but God and Mahomet is his Prophet. Do not contradict them. Treat their Muftis and their Imams with respect”.

After establishing his headquarters at Alexandria, Bonaparte issued the following proclamation in Arabic:

“In the name of God, gracious and merciful. There is no god but God; he has no son nor associate in his kingdom. Inhabitants of Egypt! When the Beys tell you the French are come to destroy your religion, believe them not: it is an absolute falsehood. Answer these deceivers, that they are only come to rescue the rights of the poor from the hands of their tyrants, and that the French adore the Supreme Being, and honour the Prophet and his Holy Quran.

“All men are equal in the eyes of God: understanding, ingenuity, and science, alone make a difference between them. As the Beys do not posses any of these qualities, they cannot be worthy to govern the country. Yet they are the only possessors of extensive tracts of lands, beautiful female slaves, excellent horses, and magnificent places! Have they, then, received an exclusive privilege from the Almighty? If so, let them produce it. But the Supreme Being, who is just and merciful towards all mankind, wills, that, in future, none of the inhabitants in Egypt shall be prevented from attaining to the first employments, and the highest honours. The administration, which shall be conducted by persons of intelligence, talents, and foresight, will be productive of happiness and security.

“The French are true Mussulmen! Not long since they marched to Rome, and overthrew the throne of the Pope who excited the Christians against the professors of the Mahometan religion. Our friendship shall be extended to those of the inhabitants of Egypt who shall join us, as also to those who shall remain in their dwellings, and observe a strict neutrality; and, when they have seen our conduct with their own eyes, hasten to submit to us; but the dreadful punishment of death awaits those who shall take up arms for the Beys, and against us: for them their shall be no deliverance, nor shall any trace of them remain”.

Accompanied by his staff and the members of the National Institute, attended also by a powerful guard, and conducted by several Muftis and Imams, Bonaparte commenced the following interesting conversation with Suluman, Ibrahim, and Mahumed, the chief Muftis.

Buonaparte: “Glory to Allah! There is no other god but God, Mahomet is his Prophet, and I am his friend”!

Suluman: “The salutation of peace to the envoy of God! Salutation to thee, also, invincible warrior, favourite of Mahomet”!

Buonaparte: “Mufti, I thank thee: the divine Quran is the delight of my soul, and the object of my contemplation. I love the Prophet, and I hope, ere long, to see and honour his tomb in the Holy City; but my mission is first to exterminate the Mamelukes”.

Ibrahim: “May the angels of victory sweep the dust from thy path, and cover thee with their wings! The Mameluke has merited death”.

Buonaparte: “He has been smitten and delivered over to the black angels, Monkir and Quakir. God, on whom all things depend, has ordained that his dominions shall be destroyed”.

Suluman: “He has extended the hand of rapine over the land, the harvest and the horses, of Egypt”.

Buonaparte: “And over the most beautiful slaves, thrice holy Mufti! Allah has withered his hand: if Egypt be his portion, let him shew the lease which God has given him of it; but God is just and merciful to his people”.

Ibrahim: “Oh! most valiant among the children of Issa! (Jesus Christ) Allah has caused thee to follow the exterminating angel to deliver his land of Egypt”.

Buonaparte: “Has not Mahomet said, that every man who adores God, and performs good works whatever maybe his religion, shall be saved”?

Suluman, Muhamed, Ibrahim (inclining themselves): “He has said so”.

Ibrahim: “Glory to Allah and his Prophet! Who have sent thee into the midst of us to rekindle the faith of the weak, and to open to the faithful the gates of the seventh heaven”?

Buonaparte: “You have spoken my wishes, most zealous Muftis! Be faithful to Allah, the sovereign ruler of the seven marvellous heavens, and to Mahomet, his vizir, who traversed all the celestial mansions in a single night. Be the friends of the Francs, and Allah, Mahomet, and Francs, will reward you”.

Ibrahim: “May the Prophet himself cause thee to sit at his left-hand, on the day of the resurrection, after the third sound of the trumpet”.

Buonaparte: “The hour of political resurrection has arrived for all who groan under oppression. Muftis, Imams, Mullahs, Dervises, and Kalenders! Instruct the people of Egypt, encourage them to join us in our labours, to complete the destruction of Beys and Mamelukes: favour the commerce of the Francs in your country and their endeavours to arrive at the ancient Land of Brama. Let them have storehouses in your ports”.

Suluman (inclining himself): “Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the Mullahs. We place faith in thy words: we shall serve thy cause, and God hears us”.

Buonaparte: “God is great, and his works are marvellous: the salutation of peace be upon you, Thrice Holy Muftis!”

The snake, it is said, covers its prey with saliva before devouring it. Before launching the attack on Afghanistan, President Bush visited the Islamic Centre in Washington DC and addressing the gathering quoted from the Holy Quran: “In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil. For that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule”!

Obama’s speech was impressive, but he delivered it in a country where an aging dictator is passing power to his son, where the country is crumbling to dust because of repression and stagnation. So words are not enough. What is needed is action, not just fine rhetoric. The Islamic world would judge Obama not by his intentions, not by his words, but by his deeds.

By Roedad Khan, a former federal secretary.
Published in “The News” on Saturday, June 13, 2009

Hazards of New Computer

I had a Pentium III, 533 MHz with transfer bus 133 MP and 512 MB RAM

On May 30, 2009, I changed over to Pentium IV 200 GHz 2 GB, 200 GHz RAM

All sounded good till I tried to work on it. I kept on struggling with it for about a week and was not only able to publish a post but was exhausted.

Thanks God, ultimately the computer gave in and I came out to be a winner.

Lies, media spins and the US targeting nukes

To learn firsthand how reality loses its relevancy in the media-spin age has been an experience which explains why so many news reports eventually reveal themselves as having not an iota of reality about them. For me the reports on the APC called by Prime Minister Gilani were an interesting study on how what really happened can be totally lost sight of if the government can offer a fast spin and has compliant listeners in the media. Not that that helps the government’s cause in the long run since it creates more distrust and makes it difficult for the government to replay the exercise the next time round. As someone who was present throughout the deliberations ? which clearly did not seem to be off the record as may have been understood at the time ? the final outcome reflected the non-consensus on the military operation with the leaders divided over the timing, the use of the option itself except as a last resort and so on. However, since the die had already been cast, all that most leaders could do was not to rubber-stamp this decision of the government ? and that included the PML-N. So it was surprising to find one newspaper declaring that once the PML-N had endorsed the military operation all opposition voices were silenced! Nothing could have been farther from the truth and if the resolution had simply been the starting point of understanding what really happened in the APC, the truth would have been visible only too clearly. In any case, the APC itself was a welcome move because it allowed the government to put its case forward and also to hear different viewpoints, including the strong consensus that Balochistan was continuing to be neglected at great peril. This column is not intended to repeat the APC proceedings which have been covered extensively, one way or another, in the media already.

Nor is it the intent to clarify one’s position that doubting the efficacy of a military operation, especially one taking place in a political policy void as the present one ? since the APC meeting did reveal the lack of a political strategy that would follow when the military operation ended (that in itself is presently open-ended) ? does not mean supporting the criminals and militants being targeted by the state.

Far from it. In fact, the fear is that military operations can create a severe backlash and more space for the militants as has been the case in our past. The East Pakistan and Balochistan military operations (1973 and 2006) were also presented as re-establishing the writ of the state and all forms of tales of violence filled the media but in the end the results flowing from these operations were costly and negative ? with a civil-military divide that haunts us even today and is played upon by all our external detractors when they seek to undermine the institution of the military.

However, time will eventually expose the realities. After all, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, some of us had pointed out that the US had intentions of undermining the Pakistani state in order to target its nuclear assets. In order to accomplish this end, the US would increase the instability in Pakistan from within. There are those who even today insist that since we cannot threaten the US directly with our nukes, why would they want to take them out or control them. That is too simplistic. After all, that logic should also apply to Iran, yet the US is targeting its nuclear programme. The fact is that as a Muslim country, our nuclear weapons cause discomfiture in the west and Israel plays on this. Recall the words attributed to the first leader of the Israeli state, Ben Gurion: “The world Zionist movement should not be neglectful of the dangers of Pakistan to it. And Pakistan now should be its first target, for this ideological state is a threat to our existence… this lover of the Arabs is more dangerous to us than the Arabs themselves”. (Jewish Chronicle August 1967)

Let us not forget the continuing relevancy of the US-Israel linkage. Now US designs are overt ? from the US media raising questions about our nukes, ever since the US succeeded in shifting the centre of gravity of the war from Afghanistan to Pakistan to the US officials raising the bogey of threats to our nuclear command and control.

We have seen Obama’s pronouncements on this count becoming more direct with his latest statement where he declared that as commander-in-chief he had to keep all options open in terms of our nuclear assets. The choice of the C-in-C designation rather than president is significant, as the US would eventually use a military option in this regard ? given how our constantly tried and tested friend China would be an impediment to a UNSC resolution perhaps. The parts of the game plan seem to be in place now and well-orchestrated moves are being made.

The first was the appointment of the new US army chief in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, a Special Ops man along with a US media leak that Pakistan had already agreed to hand over its enriched uranium ? a technology we acquired with great cost, not the least the cost to the person of A Q Khan ? to the US. President Zardari then makes a unilateral and authoritarian decision that Pakistan will not make any more nuclear weapons ? despite the fact that to keep the nuclear deterrence viable weapons have to be improved and added to ? and revelations in the Pakistani media abound over how damaging budgetary cuts have been made in our nuclear and missile R&D programmes (something that was highlighted months earlier in these columns). Another crucial part of the game plan to take over our nukes was the declaration that US counterinsurgency trainers will move into two locations in Balochistan to ‘train’ our army ? despite General Kayani’s welcome declaration that we do not need training. So who is allowing US trainers access into sensitive military areas in Balochistan? If the Pakistan army says it does not need these trainers ? and the US record on counterinsurgency is dismal in any case ? who is forcing them on us and why?

Eric Margolis did an interesting analysis on the US stirring “a hornet’s nest in Pakistan”, on May18, where he declared that “Pakistan finally bowed to Washington’s angry demands last week by unleashing its military against rebellious Pashtun tribesmen of North-West Frontier Province ? collectively mislabelled ‘Taliban’ in the west.” He expressed the fear that “the real danger is in the US acting like an enraged mastodon (an extinct mammal), trampling Pakistan under foot, and forcing Islamabad’s military to make war on its own people. Pakistan could end up like US-occupied Iraq, split into three parts and helpless.” Of course, such a situation can only come to pass if our leadership plays along and dupes this otherwise vibrant nation into losing its strategic assets. Is that what is happening?

This week commenced with three important moves: first there was the already cited Obama statement. Alongside we had President Zardari’s declaration that the Swat operation was simply part of a larger war ? which means that instability will be heightened in Pakistan with an increasing exodus of people and more suspicions of militants moving with the innocent. This will bring more rationalisations from the US about the threat to our nukes. The third move was the interior minister’s declaration that the Taliban are “eyeing our nuclear weapons” ? a statement he denied having made, but given the proclivity for untruths that I have witnessed firsthand now it is hard to believe the half-hearted ‘clarification’ in some of the media. This will make the US work overtime like nothing else even though it makes no sense for militants to acquire these weapons which are difficult to handle and are not needed in counterinsurgency. (Incidentally, extremists in Israel, India under the BJP and the US under Christian fundamentalist Bush have all had their finger on the nuclear button.) Why would Rehman Malik give such statements when our concerned quarters have already declared that our command and control is safe?

Seymour Hersh, in a conversation with this scribe recently from the UAE, hinted that compromises by our political leadership had already been made on the nuclear programme. But the US also knows that as long as the Pakistan army remains a strong, cohesive organisation, our nukes cannot be accessed. That is why we need to ensure that this institution does not fall prey to US machinations, including getting bogged down in internal military operations that suffer the same fallout as has happened in all earlier operations in our history. How much more do we need to go through before our leaders see that the threat from the US is equally grave as that from the militants?

By: Shireen M Mazari Published in The News

پڑھيئے ایک دلچسپ اور معلومات کا حامل بلاگ ” میں کیا ہوں ” پر کلِک کر کہ یا مندرجہ ذیل یو آر ایل براؤزر میں لکھ کر

http://www.theajmals.com/blog

Christianity and Islam – God

The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6: 9-13

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The Fateha Qur’an 1:1-7

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful. King of the Day of Reckoning. Thee only do we worship and of Thee only do we ask aid.

Guide us unto the right path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, not the path of those who are the objects of Thy wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.

پڑھیئے ایک دلچسپ اور معلومات کا حامل بلاگ ” میں کیا ہوں ” پر کلِک کر کہ یا مندرجہ ذیل یو آر ایل براؤزر میں لکھ کر

http://www.theajmals.com/blog

Betrayed Love Revenge Saved Pakistan Nuclear Facility

Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed served as director in charge Internal Security ISI for several years in Islamabad and later director general Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the first government of Nawaz Sharif. The then prime minister Benazir Bhutto had put him in jail for about three years on charges of being part of the operation to oust her in 1989 during her first government. Later, General Musharraf also put him in jail for four years till his acquittal by the Lahore High Court. He is the only spymaster of Pakistan who was jailed for eight years, after serving 15 years in the ISI and the IB.

Brig Imtiaz recalled that as a lieutenant colonel he was posted as chief ISI Sindh in 1978. One day he received a telephone call from the sister of A K Brohi, who was a psychologist in Karachi informing him that she was treating a female young patient who was suffering from a disease called “secret concealment” wherein a patient could not be cured unless he or she shared the secret with someone. The psychologist confessed to Brig Imtiaz that she had failed to make the girl reveal the secret and thought may be he could help her. He then went to meet the woman at the clinic. She was very beautiful and had done her Masters in English Literature from Karachi University and was teaching at a local college.

After some initial talk, the woman finally told him that she was carrying a very dangerous secret with her but made it clear that she would not share it even if she was killed. She told him that she knew very well that the intelligence people were not trustworthy, as they usually use the people and then don’t care what had happened to them. Brig Imtiaz told her that if she was not ready to trust him, then he was ready to arrange her meetings with the then DG ISI General Riaz Mohammad but, she refused. Brig Imtiaz did not lose heart and told her that he could arrange her meeting with General K M Arif who was then chief of staff to Gen Zia, and she refused again. As a last resort Brig Imtiaz offered to take her to meet President General Zia ul Haq to share the secret which had made her life a living hell, but, the woman did not agree as she feared she might be killed.

According to Brig Imtiaz, he could have easily picked her up and kept her in a safe house for a few days in isolation to make her reveal the secret but he did not adopt this traditional style of the intelligence officers. One day, while on his way to Clifton and driving by the consulate of a superpower, he saw a red Mazda car bearing a private number plate going inside at a very fast speed but he never really gave it another thought. Later, when he was sitting with the man in Clifton whom he had gone to meet, all of a sudden, his mind started working and he thought of the same red Mazda car and how it was allowed inside the consulate within a few seconds. He immediately ordered his men to stay vigilant outside the consulate and keep a tab on the car when it came out. But the red Mazda did not come out of the consulate building till late at night. Next morning, he went to his office and took out the Karachi metropolitan map and divided it into eight sectors. He gave motorcycles and cars to his ISI people with the directions to keep on roaming in these eight sectors all the time and note the registration numbers of all such red Mazda cars which were very few in those days. This exercise continued for a month but there was no big success.

He kept on checking the registration numbers of red Mazda cars. One day, he got a red Mazda number which was rented out to someone from a Tariq Road showroom. One Rafique Munshi had rented that car. He had also given his address to the showroom. He was living in Garden East in MPA hostel in a suite. When the credentials of Rafique Munshi were checked, Brig Imtiaz came to know that he was working in the KANUPP. The brigadier was immediately reminded of the female lecturer and went to meet the Memon lady. He again called the sister of Dr A K Brohi and requested her to arrange a meeting with her patient.

During the meeting, he suddenly asked the lady whether she knew Rafique Munshi. As he uttered the name, she started weeping. It took her a while to regain her composure but then she started sharing the secret which she was not ready to share earlier. She admitted that she and Rafique Munshi had met at Karachi University. Both had a serious love affair and he had promised to marry her. She said that they had also developed an illicit sexual relationship. But then he suddenly disappeared from Karachi. After four years, he suddenly resurfaced in Karachi and was a totally changed man. Before going into hiding, he was a poor guy, but now he was loaded with dollars and leading a luxurious life. She also saw the photograph of a very beautiful foreign girl in his wallet. She then admitted to the brigadier that she was still dating Rafique Munshi but felt betrayed and cheated as she believed he had spoiled her life. She told Brig Imtiaz that she was thinking to take revenge from him but then she could not dare because it might have also harmed her.

Then the secret broke. The woman told him that one day, when Rafique Munshi left for his office, he left his safe open. She looked at the half-open safe and could not resist the temptation to check its contents. She was startled to see piles of dollars inside along with some official secret files. These papers were related to Pakistan’s nuclear sites and installations. This information was enough for Brig Imtiaz to proceed further as he understood the nature of the secret the woman was carrying with her for so many months and becoming sick in the process. He asked her to help him get a key to Rafique Munshi’s suite so that he could himself inspect the stuff. She provided him duplicate key. With the help of a 70-year-old key-making expert, Brig Imtiaz managed to open the foreign made safe and made copies of documents which were primarily questions and the answers related to Pakistan’s nuclear sites and the people working there.

Obviously Engineer Rafique Munshi was working for the secret agency of a superpower which used to provide him questions and he used to give them the replies to those questions related to the nuclear programme. This was the same man who was seen taking his red Mazda car inside the foreign consulate. Brig Imtiaz did not touch the dollars and kept putting the documents back after making copies. He now wanted to capture the whole gang, as he came to know through the papers that the agents of this secret agency of the superpower were also present in Kahuta and other important installations where the nuclear programme was being executed.

Rafique Munshi was playing the role of an agent between the foreign secret agency and Pakistani scientists working at those installations. After a labour of ten months and armed with necessary information, the matter was then brought to the notice of DG ISI Riaz Mohammad.

In the meantime, Brig Imtiaz came to know through those secret communications through papers that Rafique Munshi was to meet a foreign secret agent at Hawkes Bay Karachi to hand over some documents. He decided to arrest them red handed. He only took his driver along. When the two were exchanging documents, he tried to arrest them and to his surprise, the agent shot at him but missed. However he, along with his driver, overpowered them and shifted them to a safe house.

Soon they had the names of 12 other officers at Kahuta and other places who were part of this plan to sabotage the nuclear sites. According to the plot, these nuclear scientists and engineers working on the payroll of a secret agency, were to develop huge technical sabotage of the programme to an extent that it could not have been repaired or fixed for some years to come. They all were arrested from various places in the light of information given by Brig Imtiaz.

It was revealed that actually the foreign secret agency had deputed five handlers from Washington to deal with the nuclear programme of Pakistan. These five foreign handlers included two girls, one of whom’s photos was seen by the heartbroken girlfriend of Rafique Munshi which made her jealous and she decided to take revenge.

Brig Imtiaz was immediately called to Islamabad to give a briefing to General Ziaul Haq. The five handlers were immediately told to leave Pakistan and General Zia was said to have called the president of this superpower to register a protest that how his country’s secret agency had tried to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Zia was said to have expressed extreme displeasure over this espionage of nuclear programme. The president of that superpower (USA) was said to have requested Zia not to make it a public issue as it might tarnish his country’s image and Zia obliged him.

A special tribunal was set up to try all those Pakistani scientists and engineers on high treasons charges. The ringleader Rafique Munshi was sentenced to death while others were awarded life sentences by the court. One fine morning, much to his shock, Brig Imtiaz learned that President Zia had commuted the death penalty of Rafique Munshi on the recommendation of a top Sindhi leader in exchange for his political support to the Zia regime.

The woman had managed to take her revenge from her lover while Brig Imtiaz was happy to unearth such a big conspiracy for which he was later decorated with a Tamgha-e-Basalat by the president of Pakistan for his services to the nation.

Coutesy: The News