Twitter's foray into geolocation just got a lot more serious with the company's acquisition of Mixer Labs, creators of GeoAPI.
GeoAPI allows developers to add geolocation features to their apps, and now it's going to help Twitter advance its location-based capabilities. This is good news for developers of third-party Twitter apps, too, because the new API will enable them to use location data in new ways.
Twitter is pretty vague about what improvements GeoAPI will bring to the table, but it's clear that they're pushing for users to geotag their tweets. I suspect that part of GeoAPI's role will be to make geotagging as easy as possible for Twitter's userbase to adopt. As Twitter's Ev Williams says in his blog post on the subject, "twittering "Earthquake!" alone is not as informative as "Earthquake!" coupled with your current location.
Twitter developers get new geolocation tools to play with, users get new features, and Twitter gets even more data that it can potentially analyze and sell. Meanwhile, the Mixer Labs team gets hired on at Twitter.
Sounds like a win-win-win-win situation to me.
Krento is a simple, good looking 3D application launcher for Windows
Looking for an easy-to-configure, uncomplicated launcher that looks good? Check out Krento.
Download and install the app, and it parks in your system tray. You can bring Krento up either by pressing windows + C or right-clicking the tray icon. You can also activate it by double-clicking the "pulsar" - the bullseye in the bottom right. To enable the pulsar, just right click the tray icon.
Adding your favorite apps is as easy as dragging shortcuts onto a block (which Krento refers to as stones). You can also create different application sets. Need only your graphic shortcuts? Load 'em up. Blogging? Create a specific set for any task and call it up when you need it.
To launch an app, just click the stone - or press alt + F# (to open Chrome, for example, I'd press alt + F6). Krento uses practically no memory or CPU, and it's also skinnable. It's even compatible with RocketDock skins.
Eyecandy with minimal impact? That's always welcome.
Download and install the app, and it parks in your system tray. You can bring Krento up either by pressing windows + C or right-clicking the tray icon. You can also activate it by double-clicking the "pulsar" - the bullseye in the bottom right. To enable the pulsar, just right click the tray icon.
Adding your favorite apps is as easy as dragging shortcuts onto a block (which Krento refers to as stones). You can also create different application sets. Need only your graphic shortcuts? Load 'em up. Blogging? Create a specific set for any task and call it up when you need it.
To launch an app, just click the stone - or press alt + F# (to open Chrome, for example, I'd press alt + F6). Krento uses practically no memory or CPU, and it's also skinnable. It's even compatible with RocketDock skins.
Eyecandy with minimal impact? That's always welcome.
Google Hot Searches USA
1. bobby mcferrin
2. britney murphy death photo
3. san diego earthquake
4. brett dennen
5. metrolink
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15. galewher.com facebook
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17. i wish it was christmas today
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19. brandon league
20. kyw 1060 school closings
2. britney murphy death photo
3. san diego earthquake
4. brett dennen
5. metrolink
6. kim peek
7. american jewelry and loan
8. john witherspoon
9. who won the sing off
10. boyz ii men
11. hakeem nicks injury
12. april macie
13. pierce county shooting
14. mmowned
15. galewher.com facebook
16. laryngitis
17. i wish it was christmas today
18. stepford wives
19. brandon league
20. kyw 1060 school closings
Google Top US Searches:
1. health care bill
2. murphy brittany
3. copenhagen accord
4. opec
5. clueless
6. eurostar
7. giants
8. 3 idiots
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10. redskins
Google Hot Searches:
1. bobby mcferrin
2. britney murphy death photo
3. san diego earthquake
4. brett dennen
5. metrolink
6. kim peek
7. american jewelry and loan
8. john witherspoon
9. who won the sing off
10. boyz ii men
1. health care bill
2. murphy brittany
3. copenhagen accord
4. opec
5. clueless
6. eurostar
7. giants
8. 3 idiots
9. winter solstice
10. redskins
Google Hot Searches:
1. bobby mcferrin
2. britney murphy death photo
3. san diego earthquake
4. brett dennen
5. metrolink
6. kim peek
7. american jewelry and loan
8. john witherspoon
9. who won the sing off
10. boyz ii men
Mediazed Clients List (Expected) Inside Pakistan - pkinside
A.F. Ferguson & Co, Abacus Consulting, AECO Private, Aeronautical Complex Kamra, Aga Khan University, Agriculture Research Institute Bhakkar, Pakistan Air Force PAF, Al Abbas Group, Al-Shaymaa U.A.E, AMAN Foundation, APL Logistics, Army Public College, ATCO Laboratories, Atlas Honda, Avicenna Medical College, Azhar Corporation, Bahria University, Bahria University Medical & Dental College, Bhpbilliton, BOC, BRAC, British Council, Broad Casting Corporation, Cabinet Secretariat, Cantonment Board Kharian, Cirin Pharmaceuticals, Cleaner Production Center Sialkot, COMSATS Institute of Technology, Construction Company, Council for Science & Technology, Council for Science & Technology, Dadex Eternit Ltd, Dalda Foods, Dawn Media Group, DESCON Engineering, Din Media Group, Divisional Public School & College Faisalabad, Doha Qatar, Dow University of Health Sciences, Eden Housing, Engineering Sector, Engro Polymer and Chemicals, Evacuee Trust Property Board, Excise & Taxation Department Punjab, Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology Faisalabad, Fauji Fertilizer Company, Fauji Foundation, Fazaia College of Education, Federal Public Service Commission, Finance Department Sindh, Fisheries Department Punjab, Frontier Works Organization, G.C University Faisalabad, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Technology GIK, Global Drilling Company, Greenstar, Haidri Beverages, Health Department Punjab, Higher Education Commission, Horticulture & Export, IBA, Information Technology Sector, Institute of Chartered Accountants ICA, Fashion Design, Public Finance Accountants, Trade & Development, INTERLOOP, Pakistan International Airline PIA, International Education Sector, Islamic Ideological Council, Kinnaird College for Women, Kohat Cement Company, Korea Plant Services & Engineering, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore Development Authority, Lahore High Court, Leather Field, LESCO, Liaquat National College & Hospital, Livestock & Dairy Development Department Punjab, Logistics and Supply Chain Professionals, Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co, MAKRO, Masood Homeopathic Hospital, Medecins Sans Frontiers, Media Organization, Meo Hospital, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Food & Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Housing & Works, Multan Medical & Dental College Multan, Multinational Pharmaceuticals Company, NADRA Islamabad, National Commission for Human Development, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, National Institute of Child Health, National Police Bureau, National Shipping Corporation, Pak Navy, NED University, Nespak, NIPPON Paints, NOVARTIS, NUST, Olympia Chemical Industries, OPF Girls College., Orient Energy Systems, PACE, Packages Solution Papers, Peoples Steel Mills, PEPCO, Petroleum Sector, Pharmaceutical Sector, Procter & Gamble, Property Alleviation Fund, PTCL, Punjab Emergency Service, Punjab Public Service Commission, QATAR Fertilizer Company, Rangers Public School & College, Royal Palm Golf & Country Club, Sanofi Aventis, School of Fashion Design, Science Foundation, Security Papers, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Shipyard & Engineering Works Ltd, Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates, Sindh Rural Support Organization, Sitara Chemical Industries, Sitara Energy Faisalabad, Skill Tech International, Skyways Services Islamabad, SMEDA, Social Welfare Organization, Pakistan Steel, SUPARCO, Super Asia, SWIFT Logistics, SZABIST Institute of Technology, TAPAL Tea, Tariq Glass Industries, Techlogix, TEVTA, Textile Industry, The Citizen Foundation, Pakistan Tobacco Company PTCL, Tufail Chemical Industries, Tyco Fire & Securities, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, University of Health Sciences, University of the Punjab, US AID, Usmani Associates, Varioline Intercool, Wapda, Wartsila, Water Treatment Service Engineers, Aga Khan University,Army Public School & College Multan,ASF Public School,ATCO,Atlas Power,Aziz Fatima Hospital Faisalabad,Bahria College Karsaze,Bahria Town Hospital,Business Development & Sales Executives Required,Cadet College Murree, Canadian Based Group,Cirin Pharmaceuticals, College of Accountancy & Finance,Communication & Works Department,COMSATS Institute of Technology,Dalda Foods, Dawn Media Group,DEL, Department of Auditor General of,DHL,District Public School Okara,EDEN Builders, Eden Housing, Eden Towers, Education Department Nankana Sahib,Education Foundation,Etimaad Engineering, Extension Services Academy AJK.,Foundation University,Four Brothers,Glaxosmithkilne,Grammar School,Gujranwala Food Industries,Haseeb Waqar Group of Companies,HESCO,High Tech Electric Engineering Service, Himont Pharmaceuticals, Hino Pak Motors,HITEC University,Information Technology Board,Institute of Space Technology,Islamia University Bahawalpur.,Islamic Banking Sector,Jamisto Industrial,JSI Research and Training Institute,K&NS Group,Kenwood,Magnacrete,Multination Oil & Gas Company,National Institute of Vacuum Science & Technology,National School of Public Policy,National Transmission & Dispatch Company,Nishat Group of Textile Industries,Pace Solutions,Pak China Investment Company,Pakistan Broad Casting Corporation,Pakistan Oil Fields,Pakistan Red Crescent Society,Pakistan Security Printing Corporation,Patel Hospital,Peshawar Garrison Service Club,Pharmaceuticals Company,Planning & Development Department,Prime Aluminium Industries, Puls Trading far East Ltd,Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad,SAMMI Daewoo Express,Sanofi Aventis, Save the Children,Service Industries,Shaheen Air International,Shamco Traders, Shifa International Hospital Ltd,Sindh Rural Support Organization,SIUT,Suffah Educational Complex Okara,Suzuki Motors,Systems, Tapal Energy,The Educators School System,Unicef,United Nations World Food Programme,University of Management & Technology,University of Management Sciences,USAID,Varioline Intercool,Vocational Training Council,Work Force Softwares
YouTube kills its video downloads program
Upon hearing that YouTube has decided to shut down its video downloads service for the time being, your first reaction might very well be "Wait, YouTube had a video download service?"
Indeed, it launched in February, and allowed content creators to post both free and paid downloads to YouTube. Apparently, YouTube hasn't quite figured out how to make this scheme profitable. Users who had uploaded to the service received an email saying that current downloads would still be available, but no new downloads can be posted.
Although the beta test of this feature seems to have ended in failure, the language of YouTube's email doesn't rule out some new incarnation of the download service in the future: "We have decided not to fully productize this, for now" (emphasis added). Meanwhile, YouTube is planning to charge for premium streaming content, which was apparently a more lucrative avenue than paid downloads.
Indeed, it launched in February, and allowed content creators to post both free and paid downloads to YouTube. Apparently, YouTube hasn't quite figured out how to make this scheme profitable. Users who had uploaded to the service received an email saying that current downloads would still be available, but no new downloads can be posted.
Although the beta test of this feature seems to have ended in failure, the language of YouTube's email doesn't rule out some new incarnation of the download service in the future: "We have decided not to fully productize this, for now" (emphasis added). Meanwhile, YouTube is planning to charge for premium streaming content, which was apparently a more lucrative avenue than paid downloads.
Millions of new Avast users will be offered Google Chrome
Where would you turn if you were looking for ways to capture new users for your web browser? And not necessarily savvy tech-types like Download Squad readers. I'm talking about average users, who might not know what Google Chrome is - or even what a web browser is, for that matter.
Here's a wacky idea. What not ask the developers of one of the most popular pieces of free software in the entire world to offer your browser whenever someone installs the latest version? That's exactly what Google has done -- shaking hands with Alwil Software, the makers of Avast.
Download.com alone has logged some 65 million downloads of Avast over the years, and it's available from other places as well. The bottom line is that Google now gets the benefit of a prominently displayed billboard that will be seen by several hundred thousand people every week, many of whom will likely opt-in and download Chrome.
On top of that, the opt-in screen says "Avast recommends." It's another subtle but brilliant move. After all, who knows what browser is going to keep you safe and secure better than a company developing antimalware products (again, in the eyes of the average user)?
Here's another wacky idea for you, Google. Maybe it's time to bump Firefox from the Google Pack and start pushing Chrome instead? Just a thought.
Here's a wacky idea. What not ask the developers of one of the most popular pieces of free software in the entire world to offer your browser whenever someone installs the latest version? That's exactly what Google has done -- shaking hands with Alwil Software, the makers of Avast.
Download.com alone has logged some 65 million downloads of Avast over the years, and it's available from other places as well. The bottom line is that Google now gets the benefit of a prominently displayed billboard that will be seen by several hundred thousand people every week, many of whom will likely opt-in and download Chrome.
On top of that, the opt-in screen says "Avast recommends." It's another subtle but brilliant move. After all, who knows what browser is going to keep you safe and secure better than a company developing antimalware products (again, in the eyes of the average user)?
Here's another wacky idea for you, Google. Maybe it's time to bump Firefox from the Google Pack and start pushing Chrome instead? Just a thought.
Favit by Favstar.fm brings the funniest tweets to your iPhone
Don't know where to look for the funniest material on Twitter? Favstar.fm keeps tracks of the most-favorited tweets on the site, and delivers them all in one place. And now they've got an iPhone app that's even better! It's called Favit and its extremely simple UI delivers the laughs directly to your face, with no clutter involved. It even filters out boring tech tweets and celebrities, making sure you only get the funny stuff.
Favit will show you a popular tweet, and the only decision you need to make is whether to give it a star or not. The tweets are all anonymized, unlike on Favstar.fm, which adds the extra element of trying to guess who wrote the joke in question. If you're curious, you can peek, but you have to favorite (or not) first, which removes bias. Favit is a good way to find funny people to follow, and it's also like having a constantly-updated joke book in your pocket. LOL!
Favit will show you a popular tweet, and the only decision you need to make is whether to give it a star or not. The tweets are all anonymized, unlike on Favstar.fm, which adds the extra element of trying to guess who wrote the joke in question. If you're curious, you can peek, but you have to favorite (or not) first, which removes bias. Favit is a good way to find funny people to follow, and it's also like having a constantly-updated joke book in your pocket. LOL!
No ID no worry, get loans and get them written off also
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: As if the generous writing off of loans worth Rs59.94billion during the General Pervez Musharraf reign wasn’t bad enough, now official documents show that hundreds of these borrowers were even given these loans with such casualness and deliberate neglect that not even the national identity cards of the borrowers were demanded by the banks, what to talk of other collateral and sureties.
The official record of these written off loans submitted to the National Assembly and available with The News revealed that in an unbelievable large number of cases the lending institutions, a bank and another (now defunct) financial entity, had issued huge loans to the individuals without even getting their National Identity Cards (NICs) as per prudential requirements.
The bank has not given any reason about how the loans were issued to these business parties and the individuals without getting their proper NICs as per requirements. One official has commented that this was not possible without the active collaboration of the bank officials as no bank could give loan to anyone without NICs.
The following cases reveal just another ugly aspect of this sordid plunder of national wealth where, barring a few genuine deserving cases, billions were siphoned away by hundreds of corrupt businessmen colluding with equally corrupt bankers. There were some genuine cases where loans were written off in accordance with the rules. In all cases listed below, none of the cited borrowers had been forced by the lending institutions to submit their ID cards, an otherwise basic requirement.
The ID cards of five directors of Ms Bawani Industries were missing. This loan was ultimately written off.
One foreign national Saral Dynamic Hardware Bobignv too managed to get a loan of Rs5.5million and later got his total outstanding Rs6.4million written off including the principal amount and Rs0.8million mark up. The loan was given in foreign currency to this foreign national.
The two banks wrote off billions of rupees during the Musharraf era and in one case, the defunct bank wrote off a loan of Rs137million outstanding against four individuals.
First Tawakal Modrab Karachi got Rs 628million written off while the borrowers—-Abdul Qadir Tawakal, Rafiq Tawakal,Ali Husasin Mooney and Abid Husain did not even bother submitting their NICs. Shahfa Corporation Lahore and its owners Saluddin Ahmed Sahaf, Wajiddin Mahmood Shaf also got Rs146million written off. Regnet Dyeing and Finishing Mills also got Rs 91million written including Rs50million principal loan. Fatima Foods Lahore also got Rs 80million written off with Rs 40million principal loan waived off. National Garments also got Rs 335million written off including Rs 140million principal amount. In Multan Mohib textile got Rs 1.17billion written off including principal amount of Rs546million. In Karachi Bawani Industries got Rs 70million written off including 11.3million principal amount. The names of the fathers of borrowers are not on official record of the bank who got this loan written off.
The papers show that even a London based n ex-employee of a bank, Abdul Haleem also got Rs 2.744million written off and now the bank says it did not have even the ID card of its own former employee available in record. His principal loan was Rs 2.7million which was written off.
Adamjee Industries also got Rs 48million written off including Rs168million principal amount. Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shereen Farooq, Zafar Sheikh, Mumtaz Saleem, Tahir Sehikh got Rs 168million loan and got the whole principal wavied off. They also got the mark up of Rs225million written off too. Master Rubber Tyer owners Fayyaz Malik and Farooq Malik got 52m written off.
Even an industrial unit Ms Metropolitan National Textile Karachi owned by Sikandar Ali Jatoi, Mazhar Ali Jatoi, Jamal Hassan, SM Masood was given the loan without any NICs. A sum of Rs190million outstanding the Jaoti family was also written off.
The papers showed that even, the owners of Daweeo Corporation -Kim Woo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke Neon, Chug Myuong Kul did not submit their Ids at the time of obtaining Rs10.8million loan. Interestingly, the same amount was later written off by the bank. They got principal amount written off in addition to Rs2.3million mark up payable against this loan.
Even Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi and their family members who got Rs37.987 loan written off never produced their national identity cards.
Hearts International Rawalpindi got Rs0.9million written off while the bank did not have the IDs of Dr Major Gen retired Zulifkar Ali Khan, Dr Abdus Qudus Khan, Mohammad Rafi, Shamim Ashraf Khan, Naheed Mashud Kiani, Rahat Azfa. Johoson and Philips also got Rs 64 million loan written off and there is no record of NICs of the borrowers-Bilal Ahmed Qureshi, Raja Ahmed Khan, Habibulah Baig, Rasid Y Chinoy, Abdul Rehman Khan, Syed Abdul Noor. Johnson and Philips again got another loan of Rs26million written off and once again the same borrowers did not give their NICs. Ahmed Chemical limited owners Aftab Khan, Jehan Ara Khan, Mahjabeen Ahmed, Sabiuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Iram Aftab, Aftab Ahmed Khan NICs are not available. They got Rs0.6million written off. Ksornos Corporation Lahore also got Rs 4.3million written off. Again NICs of Sh Abdul Hafeez, Sh Imran Hafeez, Sh Salman Hafeez, Sh Nauman Hafeez, Qari Khalid Mahmood, Shahbaz Murad and Zahida Hafeez are not available in the record. Zodesh Limited got Rs 40million written off. The borrowers Zoraia Lashari, Imrana Lashari, Ms Lubna Lashari and Hayat Khan did not give NICs.
GUJRAT: Mohammad Akram Rs 2.5m, Fazal Hussain Rs 0.6m, Malik Mohammad Akthar 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Nisa Enterprise Rs 0.5m (Islamabad).
Mohammad Saleem Rs0.7m,
QUETTA: Abdul Qadir Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alm Rs 0.4m, Haji Moula Dad Kalat Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m,
KARACHI: Babar Rafiq Rs0/6, Mosar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisaurz Zaman Rs 0.6m, Sajid Husain Rs 0.570m, Nasir Rafique Rs 0.531m, Badar Ahmed Rs0.596m, Mazhar Fared Rs 0.683m, Khalid Mahmood Rs 0.653m, Saeed Ahmed 0.61m, Jawad Textile Industries 1m, Masnoor Yousuf Rs0.536m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.595m, Amir Hashmi Rs0.5m, Sajid Ali Rs0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.579m, Tahir Ehtasham RS 0.6M, Mohammad Noman Bhatti Rs 0.54m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.522m, Anisuddin Rs 0.522m, Monbina Begum Rs0.639m, Miss Tabasum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Yousuf Rs 0.665m, Mant Lal Mault Rs 0.674m, Athar Maqbool Rs 0.7m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azaam Afridi Rs 0.633m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Abdul Qayyum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs0.825m, Syed Khurram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Hassan Shakeel Rs 0.825m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550m, Shafiq Ahmed RS 0.820M, Ali Hassan Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550M, Khawaja Moin Hasan Rs 0.666m, Raza Hasan Rs0.528m, Syed Afaq Moid Rs 0.679m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali Rs0.680m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs0.67m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnan Hassan Rs 0.820m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs0.5m, Mobina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.74m, Najma Akthar Rs0.825m, S Sharifuddin Rs 0.825m, Imtiaz Hussain Zaidi Rs 0.6m, Khalid Baig Rs 0.589m, Mohammad Awan RS 0.6M, Tariq Baloch Rs0.668m, Mohammad Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.614m, Ms Golden Paint industries Rs0.7m, Mohammad Arshad Shakeel Rs 1.441m, Altaf Hussain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.548m, Mashuddin Rs0.9m, Atizaudin Rs 1.5m, Wajihuddin Rs1.5m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.557m, FS Aizauddin Rs 0.5m, FS Azauddin Rs 0.58m, Mrs Rubina Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim RS 0.556M, Abdul Razakk Rs 0.5m, Akthar Hussain Rs 0.519m, Asif Soomro Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.539m, Sadiq Bano Rs 0.54m, Moizudin Rs 0.562m, Abdul Haq Rs0.5m, Mrs Kasuar Perveen Rs0.514m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.551m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.591, Rana Mohmmad Rs0.545m, Rukhsana Begum Rs0.504m, S. Rehan Shahid Rs0.560m. Hssan Khan Rs 0.503m, Kashan Ali Rs 0.624m, Saleem Medical Store Rs 1.5million, Ms Huma Electric Inds Nameem Ullsah Rs 1.4m, Ms Tariq Electric Inds Rs 3.2m, Ms New National Steel Inds Rs 2.5million, Ms Kashmir Industrial Corp Rs 1.1m,
Irfan Basharat Rs 2.1m, Jhangir Hadier Rs 6.5m, Mohammad Sadiq Rs 2.66m, Punjab Ceremaic owners Zahid Shkeel Rs 7.6million, Ms Gulberg Caters owned by Mohammad Aslam Rs0.9m.
ISLAMABAD: As if the generous writing off of loans worth Rs59.94billion during the General Pervez Musharraf reign wasn’t bad enough, now official documents show that hundreds of these borrowers were even given these loans with such casualness and deliberate neglect that not even the national identity cards of the borrowers were demanded by the banks, what to talk of other collateral and sureties.
The official record of these written off loans submitted to the National Assembly and available with The News revealed that in an unbelievable large number of cases the lending institutions, a bank and another (now defunct) financial entity, had issued huge loans to the individuals without even getting their National Identity Cards (NICs) as per prudential requirements.
The bank has not given any reason about how the loans were issued to these business parties and the individuals without getting their proper NICs as per requirements. One official has commented that this was not possible without the active collaboration of the bank officials as no bank could give loan to anyone without NICs.
The following cases reveal just another ugly aspect of this sordid plunder of national wealth where, barring a few genuine deserving cases, billions were siphoned away by hundreds of corrupt businessmen colluding with equally corrupt bankers. There were some genuine cases where loans were written off in accordance with the rules. In all cases listed below, none of the cited borrowers had been forced by the lending institutions to submit their ID cards, an otherwise basic requirement.
The ID cards of five directors of Ms Bawani Industries were missing. This loan was ultimately written off.
One foreign national Saral Dynamic Hardware Bobignv too managed to get a loan of Rs5.5million and later got his total outstanding Rs6.4million written off including the principal amount and Rs0.8million mark up. The loan was given in foreign currency to this foreign national.
The two banks wrote off billions of rupees during the Musharraf era and in one case, the defunct bank wrote off a loan of Rs137million outstanding against four individuals.
First Tawakal Modrab Karachi got Rs 628million written off while the borrowers—-Abdul Qadir Tawakal, Rafiq Tawakal,Ali Husasin Mooney and Abid Husain did not even bother submitting their NICs. Shahfa Corporation Lahore and its owners Saluddin Ahmed Sahaf, Wajiddin Mahmood Shaf also got Rs146million written off. Regnet Dyeing and Finishing Mills also got Rs 91million written including Rs50million principal loan. Fatima Foods Lahore also got Rs 80million written off with Rs 40million principal loan waived off. National Garments also got Rs 335million written off including Rs 140million principal amount. In Multan Mohib textile got Rs 1.17billion written off including principal amount of Rs546million. In Karachi Bawani Industries got Rs 70million written off including 11.3million principal amount. The names of the fathers of borrowers are not on official record of the bank who got this loan written off.
The papers show that even a London based n ex-employee of a bank, Abdul Haleem also got Rs 2.744million written off and now the bank says it did not have even the ID card of its own former employee available in record. His principal loan was Rs 2.7million which was written off.
Adamjee Industries also got Rs 48million written off including Rs168million principal amount. Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shereen Farooq, Zafar Sheikh, Mumtaz Saleem, Tahir Sehikh got Rs 168million loan and got the whole principal wavied off. They also got the mark up of Rs225million written off too. Master Rubber Tyer owners Fayyaz Malik and Farooq Malik got 52m written off.
Even an industrial unit Ms Metropolitan National Textile Karachi owned by Sikandar Ali Jatoi, Mazhar Ali Jatoi, Jamal Hassan, SM Masood was given the loan without any NICs. A sum of Rs190million outstanding the Jaoti family was also written off.
The papers showed that even, the owners of Daweeo Corporation -Kim Woo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke Neon, Chug Myuong Kul did not submit their Ids at the time of obtaining Rs10.8million loan. Interestingly, the same amount was later written off by the bank. They got principal amount written off in addition to Rs2.3million mark up payable against this loan.
Even Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi and their family members who got Rs37.987 loan written off never produced their national identity cards.
Hearts International Rawalpindi got Rs0.9million written off while the bank did not have the IDs of Dr Major Gen retired Zulifkar Ali Khan, Dr Abdus Qudus Khan, Mohammad Rafi, Shamim Ashraf Khan, Naheed Mashud Kiani, Rahat Azfa. Johoson and Philips also got Rs 64 million loan written off and there is no record of NICs of the borrowers-Bilal Ahmed Qureshi, Raja Ahmed Khan, Habibulah Baig, Rasid Y Chinoy, Abdul Rehman Khan, Syed Abdul Noor. Johnson and Philips again got another loan of Rs26million written off and once again the same borrowers did not give their NICs. Ahmed Chemical limited owners Aftab Khan, Jehan Ara Khan, Mahjabeen Ahmed, Sabiuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Iram Aftab, Aftab Ahmed Khan NICs are not available. They got Rs0.6million written off. Ksornos Corporation Lahore also got Rs 4.3million written off. Again NICs of Sh Abdul Hafeez, Sh Imran Hafeez, Sh Salman Hafeez, Sh Nauman Hafeez, Qari Khalid Mahmood, Shahbaz Murad and Zahida Hafeez are not available in the record. Zodesh Limited got Rs 40million written off. The borrowers Zoraia Lashari, Imrana Lashari, Ms Lubna Lashari and Hayat Khan did not give NICs.
GUJRAT: Mohammad Akram Rs 2.5m, Fazal Hussain Rs 0.6m, Malik Mohammad Akthar 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Nisa Enterprise Rs 0.5m (Islamabad).
Mohammad Saleem Rs0.7m,
QUETTA: Abdul Qadir Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alm Rs 0.4m, Haji Moula Dad Kalat Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m,
KARACHI: Babar Rafiq Rs0/6, Mosar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisaurz Zaman Rs 0.6m, Sajid Husain Rs 0.570m, Nasir Rafique Rs 0.531m, Badar Ahmed Rs0.596m, Mazhar Fared Rs 0.683m, Khalid Mahmood Rs 0.653m, Saeed Ahmed 0.61m, Jawad Textile Industries 1m, Masnoor Yousuf Rs0.536m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.595m, Amir Hashmi Rs0.5m, Sajid Ali Rs0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.579m, Tahir Ehtasham RS 0.6M, Mohammad Noman Bhatti Rs 0.54m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.522m, Anisuddin Rs 0.522m, Monbina Begum Rs0.639m, Miss Tabasum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Yousuf Rs 0.665m, Mant Lal Mault Rs 0.674m, Athar Maqbool Rs 0.7m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azaam Afridi Rs 0.633m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Abdul Qayyum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs0.825m, Syed Khurram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Hassan Shakeel Rs 0.825m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550m, Shafiq Ahmed RS 0.820M, Ali Hassan Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550M, Khawaja Moin Hasan Rs 0.666m, Raza Hasan Rs0.528m, Syed Afaq Moid Rs 0.679m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali Rs0.680m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs0.67m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnan Hassan Rs 0.820m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs0.5m, Mobina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.74m, Najma Akthar Rs0.825m, S Sharifuddin Rs 0.825m, Imtiaz Hussain Zaidi Rs 0.6m, Khalid Baig Rs 0.589m, Mohammad Awan RS 0.6M, Tariq Baloch Rs0.668m, Mohammad Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.614m, Ms Golden Paint industries Rs0.7m, Mohammad Arshad Shakeel Rs 1.441m, Altaf Hussain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.548m, Mashuddin Rs0.9m, Atizaudin Rs 1.5m, Wajihuddin Rs1.5m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.557m, FS Aizauddin Rs 0.5m, FS Azauddin Rs 0.58m, Mrs Rubina Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim RS 0.556M, Abdul Razakk Rs 0.5m, Akthar Hussain Rs 0.519m, Asif Soomro Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.539m, Sadiq Bano Rs 0.54m, Moizudin Rs 0.562m, Abdul Haq Rs0.5m, Mrs Kasuar Perveen Rs0.514m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.551m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.591, Rana Mohmmad Rs0.545m, Rukhsana Begum Rs0.504m, S. Rehan Shahid Rs0.560m. Hssan Khan Rs 0.503m, Kashan Ali Rs 0.624m, Saleem Medical Store Rs 1.5million, Ms Huma Electric Inds Nameem Ullsah Rs 1.4m, Ms Tariq Electric Inds Rs 3.2m, Ms New National Steel Inds Rs 2.5million, Ms Kashmir Industrial Corp Rs 1.1m,
Irfan Basharat Rs 2.1m, Jhangir Hadier Rs 6.5m, Mohammad Sadiq Rs 2.66m, Punjab Ceremaic owners Zahid Shkeel Rs 7.6million, Ms Gulberg Caters owned by Mohammad Aslam Rs0.9m.
Pakistan vs Afganistan - With the Eye of United States
Read Articles about Pakistan vs Afganistan - With the Eye of United States only on PKInside
US says al-Qaeda part of Quetta Shura
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: A US diplomat said here on Friday that some al-Qaeda figures were hiding in Balochistan as the so-called Quetta shura of Afghan Taliban also included members of the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist organisation.
E Candace Putnam, the US Consul General in Peshawar, said American intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda’s close links not only with the Afghan Taliban but increasingly also with the Pakistani Taliban. She felt all this was in the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities but they may not want to say it openly. “We have to assume that your government and security forces know this,” she told a select group of journalists at the heavily-guarded US consulate.
Putnam said al-Qaeda was working and integrating its activities with the Afghan Taliban, TTP, LeT, Jaish and other groups in the region.
PESHAWAR: A US diplomat said here on Friday that some al-Qaeda figures were hiding in Balochistan as the so-called Quetta shura of Afghan Taliban also included members of the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist organisation.
E Candace Putnam, the US Consul General in Peshawar, said American intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda’s close links not only with the Afghan Taliban but increasingly also with the Pakistani Taliban. She felt all this was in the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities but they may not want to say it openly. “We have to assume that your government and security forces know this,” she told a select group of journalists at the heavily-guarded US consulate.
Putnam said al-Qaeda was working and integrating its activities with the Afghan Taliban, TTP, LeT, Jaish and other groups in the region.
Will the govt make up its mind on NRO?
I will defend NRO in court, says Khawar
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: “I and my team will represent the federal government and defend the NRO in the apex court,” Shah Khawar told The News. When asked he said that he has no idea about hiring of some prominent private lawyers by the government in this case. “It is my and my team’s duty to speak for the government in courts.”
The attorney general said that he has so far received no instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari about the case. He would be meeting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on his return from Britain to know how to go about in the anti-NRO petitions in the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, when contacted, Minister of State for Law Afzal Sindhu said that the government would engage some legal minds, including retired judges, but added that a decision was yet to be taken about the names to be chosen for the purpose.
According to sources, the government plans to marshal a strong line-up of private leading lawyers to defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in the Supreme Court, which opens hearing on the petitions against the now lapsed law on Dec 7. This array will be apart from acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and a number of his deputies, who have already started preparations for the court fight. Other sources said that the government was not in a hurry to avail the services of private lawyers because it believed that no full-fledged hearing on the petitions against the NRO was expected to open on the very first day, Dec 7.
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: “I and my team will represent the federal government and defend the NRO in the apex court,” Shah Khawar told The News. When asked he said that he has no idea about hiring of some prominent private lawyers by the government in this case. “It is my and my team’s duty to speak for the government in courts.”
The attorney general said that he has so far received no instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari about the case. He would be meeting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on his return from Britain to know how to go about in the anti-NRO petitions in the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, when contacted, Minister of State for Law Afzal Sindhu said that the government would engage some legal minds, including retired judges, but added that a decision was yet to be taken about the names to be chosen for the purpose.
According to sources, the government plans to marshal a strong line-up of private leading lawyers to defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in the Supreme Court, which opens hearing on the petitions against the now lapsed law on Dec 7. This array will be apart from acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and a number of his deputies, who have already started preparations for the court fight. Other sources said that the government was not in a hurry to avail the services of private lawyers because it believed that no full-fledged hearing on the petitions against the NRO was expected to open on the very first day, Dec 7.
Guess who walked away with nation’s 100 bn rupees?
Chaudhrys, Saifullahs, Jatois, Legharis, Tawakals, Saigols,Jams, generals; some cases were genuine
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: In a country where over 40 per cent of the population is said to be languishing under the poverty line with families surviving on less than $2 a day, the shameful revelation of the filthy rich getting loans worth over Rs100 billion written-off owing to their formidable clout is shocking the nation. And this shameful list carries some of the biggest names of our power elite.
The names of Ch Shujaat and Ch Pervez Elahi were found among about 1,000 influential businessmen and Army men who got a total of Rs18 billion loans written-off from the government-owned banks during the first three years of the military government. The list was submitted in the NA when Zafarullah Jamali was the prime minister and Shaukat Aziz was the finance minister.
The first loan of Rs70 million was outstanding against the Punjab Sugar Mills and was written off by the National Bank of Pakistan along with the actual loan amount. The mill was owned by Chaudhry Shujaat Husssain, Chaudhry Mansoor Elahi, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chaudhry Gulzar Mohammad, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Chaudhry Sabhat Elahi, Mrs Qisara Elahi (wife of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi), Mrs Kasur Hussain (wife of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain), Mrs Khalida Begum (wife of Gulzar Muhammad).
The second loan of Rs15 million was written off by the UBL outstanding against Punjab Sugar Mills. The beneficiaries were once again Ch Manzoor Elahi, Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi, Wajahat Hussain, Shafaat Hussain, Gulzar Ahmed and Mrs Qaisra Elahi, Khalida Begum, and Kauser Hussain. The UBL once again wrote off another loan of Rs34.1 million outstanding against the Spaco Private Limited. The beneficiaries were the same — Ch Pervez Elahi, Shujaat Hussain, Manzoor Elahi, Wajahat Hussain, Sabahat Elahi, Mrs Kauser Hussain, Qaisra Elahi.
It may be added that these loans were written off after declaring their industrial establishments as “sick industry or on the pretext of bankruptcy.” Many of them denied having got their loans written-off.
The political sources claimed that Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif knew this troubling fact about the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Even Imran Khan had been showing the official documents of another bank, which had also written off loans to get the Chaudhrys disqualified from contesting the elections. But his desperate pleas were never entertained by the Election Commission of Pakistan courtesy the might and clout these cousins enjoyed during the early years of General Pervez Musharraf in power. The sources said, on the basis of their own knowledge about the Chaudhrys loan write off, the Sharif brothers were agitating the issue of loan write-off in the media with the public demand to put all the loan beneficiaries on trial after recovering the written-off amounts.
The mighty Chaudhrys of Gujrat — Ch Shujaat Hussain, Ch Pervez Elahi and their family members — reportedly got three different bank loans of Rs120 million written off from the National Bank and United Bank of Pakistan during their heady days of power. This has been revealed in the official record of the National Assembly library, which has now formally confirmed that several top politicians and their family members had quietly got several bank loans written off, which had been outstanding against their sugar and textile mills and other industrial units.
These bank loans were mainly written off by the state-run National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank Limited in the past. The official record available with The News, which was placed in the NA in the last one decade, revealed that a total of Rs30 billion loans were written off between 1985-2002, which had been outstanding against the top politicians and powerful industrial groups of the country. The list was compiled by the then caretaker government of 1993 led by Moin Qureshi.
In 2007, Auditor General of Pakistan revealed in its report that during the period 2002-2007, a sum of Rs54 billion was written off by Musharraf government. Thus, total figure had reached to Rs85 billions. But, now the recent official report to the NA during the question hour revealed that the total figure of written-off loans had finally crossed over Rs100 billion, after adding the loan amounts written off during two years of PPP government since 2008.
The official list of loan write-off beneficiaries of different periods since 1985 to 2002 revealed that former speaker Gohar Ayub Khan’s family and former Chief Minister Balochistan Jaam Yousuf, are also among other prominent politicians, who got the loans written off from the banks.
The three mighty business families of Pakistan are also among the beneficiaries of these loan write offs in the past. The former housing minister of General Pervez Musharraf -Abbas Sarfraz is also among the beneficiaries who got a massive loan against his sugar mill written off. Lt General Habibullah and Brig M Jan are among the list.
The Saifullah family of Lucky Marwat got four loans written off from different banks. The names of Anwar Saifullha Khan, Javed Saifullah, Hamayun Saifullah, Arbab Saddaullha Khan, Shah Jehan Khan, Nisar Khan are part of the list submitted in the NA in 1994 in response to a question by MNA Barjees Tahir. First, the Saifullah brothers got loans written off against their mill— Ms Kohat Textile Mills from the National Bank. The matriarch of the Saifullah family, Mrs Kalsoom Saifullah also got a loan of Rs12 million written off from NBP against Ms Frontier Towel Works, Kohat. Industrial bank also wrote off loan of Rs26 million of Javed Saifullah, Salim Saifullah, Hamayun Saifullah and others against Kohat Textile Mills. The MCB also wrote off loan against the Kohat Textile Mill. Jatoi family of Sindh also got a loan of Rs6.7 million written off from UBL. The beneficiary was Dr Ghafar Jatoi and his brothers. Leghari family also got Rs67 million loans written off from UBL. The beneficiaries included Jafar Khan Leghari, Jamil Ahmed Khan Leghari, Yousuf Khan Leghari, Tariq Khan Leghari, Atta Mohammad Leghari, etc.
Saigal group got the loan written off against Omaryar Limited, Lahore. The group got another loan of Rs4 million written off from the UBL.
A loan of Rs10.3 million was written off by Investment Corporation of Pakistan. Iqbal Z Ahmed, Mrs Saira Ahmed also got a loan of Rs5.5 million written off from United Bank of Pakistan. Another small loan of Rs1.4 million got written off from UBL against Hassan Ali and company. A loan of Rs18 million was also written off against Hashoo Holdings.
Meanwhile, investigations conducted by this correspondent after going through the official record of the National Assembly Secretariat, where all these loan documents were placed from time to time since 1994, even Daewoo Corporation of Pakistan was one of the beneficiaries of such big loans written-off by the government banks. National Bank of Pakistan had written off a loan of Rs10 million against Daewoo. The loan was outstanding against Kim Waoo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke NEON, Chui Myoung Kul.
The list showed that Karachi-based businessmen have been treated with exceptional kindness by the National Bank of Pakistan. According to the list of such people whose loans and principal amounts were written-off during the last three years, National Bank of Pakistan wrote off billion of rupees from taxpayers’ accounts. Most of the written-off loans went to the textile and industrial giants of the country owned by mighty businessmen, politically influential, former bureaucrats and military officers.
The big industrialists like Adamjee Industries owned by Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shireen Farooq, Mumtaz Sheikh, Tahir Sheikh got Rs448 million written-off from the NBP. Mohib Textile owned by Asif Saigol also got Rs1.1 billion written-off in 2002.
The other big names included in the list are First Tawakkal Modaraba owned by Abdul Qadir Tawakkal, Mohammad Rafiq Tawakkal, Alif Husain Mooney, Abid Hussain Rs621 million written-off, National Frutctose Limited owned by Shairullah Durrani got Rs681 million written-off, Glamour Textile Mills owned by Iftikhar Ahmed Malik got Rs533 million written-off and others. Two foreign nationals also got the loans written-off.
Pakland Cement got Rs10 million written off, Cast N Link owned by Anwar Ahmed got Rs159 million written-off. Taha Spinning limited got Rs64 million written off.
Following is the list of mighty individuals and business tycoons whose loans were written-off in majority of cases along with principal amount from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
KARACHI: Zahid Fazal (Farah Enterprises) Rs09 m; White Bird Chick Limited Rs8.2 m, Advance Computer Technology Rs1.1 m, Hamid D Habib of Balochistan Glass Rs6 m, Latif Paul of TS Latisons Rs0.5 m, Anisure Rehman of Zeb Enterprises Rs1.9 m, Chaudhry Mohammad Younis of Ice Land Cold storage Rs16 m, Mohammad Saleheen of Naveed Farbics Rs0.7 m, Younis Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Sultan Rs0.5 m, Azhar Jamil of Sindh Industries Enterprises Rs0.2 m, Mushtaq Ahmed Rs0.5 m, Asghar Ali Rs05 m, Fida Mohamamd Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.5 m, Abdul Sattar Rs0.5 m, Lal Mohamamd Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Akbar Baloch Rs0.5 m, Ghulam Farooq Rs0.5 m, Amir Baksh Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Naseem Rs0.5 m, M Shoaib Rs0.5 m, Liaqat Ali Khan Rs0.514 m, Khaliq Farooqi Rs0.5 m, Irfan Rs0.572 m, Irfan Rs0.572 m, Sikandar Rs0.5 m, Asrar Hussain Sarbazi Rs0.56 m, Abdul Hameed Rs0.576 m, Mohammad Yaqoob Rs0.576 m, Shafqat Rehman Rs0.575 m, Shahbaz Aqeel Rs0.575 m, Abida Sultana Rs0.509 m, Mohammad Hanif Rs0.5 m, Tarranum Baig Rs0.5 m, Hidyatullah Farid Rs1.3 m, Pak Hardware and Paint Rs0.9 m, Mohammad Ali Rs0.5 m, Sh Mohammad Zahid Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Ayub Rs0.5 m, Nadeem Ahmed Rs0.5 m, Mushtaq Ahmed Rs0.517 m, Mushtaq Ishaq Rs0.5 m, Mir Mohammad Baloch Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Altaf Hussain Rs0.5 m, Abdul Khalil Rs0.5 m, Abdul Rahim Khatri Rs0.517 m, Imam Buksh Rs0.535m, Abdul Hameed Rs0.576 m, Wideyat Ali Rs0.5 m, Rizwan Hasan Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Sarwar Rs0.5 m, Maqbool Hussain Rs0.5 m, Ali Asghar Rs0.512 m, Shahnawz Rs0.524 m, Jawed Floor Mills of Rana Mohammad Siddiqui Rs20 m, Muhammad of Madina Food Industries Rs1.45 m, Syed Qmar Hai of Indus Poultry Farm Rs0.55 m, Mian Maqbool Ahmed of Alam Shuttle Industries Rs2.432 m, M Yousaf Khan of Progressive Industries Enterprises Rs0.7 m, Abdul Rashid of Aziz Company Rs0.5 m, Nasir Hussain Shah of Shah Cotton Factory Rs5.4 m, Hazoor Khan Chanido of Chandi Floor Mills Dadu Rs0.7 m, Pir Sarfrarz Ahmed of Nawab Shah Rs0.8 m, Munawar Hussain Rs0.722 m, Manzoor Hussain of Al Imran Hotel Ranipur Rs0.6 m, Arjandas of Arjandas Rice Rs1.05 m, Atta Mohamamd Marri of Mari Fish Farm Rs0.7 m, Atta Mohammad Mari Rs1.4m, S Zaheer Hussain Shah Rs0.9 m, Mst Ashraf Begum Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Idris Rs0.6 m, Sardar Taj Mohammad Rs0.8 m,Sh Saleem Ali of Capital Flour Mills, Murdikey Rs3 m, Mohamamd Afazal of Arshaq and Co, Lahore Rs0.9 m, Sanullah from Gujranwala Rs0.6 m, Hassan Ali Khan of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Sh Abdul Rehman Rs1.33 m, Lali Akbar of Abbas Trader, Kasur Rs0.8 m, Tariq Mir of Mir Iron Store, Lahore Rs0.5 m, Mustafa Ali Mir, Lahore Rs0.6 m, M Latif of Arshad Latif Indus Rs6.3 m, Mohammad Riaz of Riaz Furniture House Rs0.8 m, Mohammad Amin Khan of Makran Int Rs1.7 m, Haji Mohammad Ishaq of Tariq Industries Rs0.9 m, Mian Mohammad Sarwar of Al Ahmed Knitting Rs1.3 m, Mohammad Ahmed of M A S Stell Mills, Lahore Rs0.9 m, Mian Hamid Sarwar of Shishmahal Hosiery Rs0.9 m, Sh Mohammad Ashraf of Ashraf Ice Factory Rs0.9 m, Gulshan Begum W/o Zubaidullah Khan of Lahore Rs0.5m, Iftikhar Ali of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Khalid Bashir Khokar of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Arshad Javed Ghurki, Lahore Rs0.5 m, Arshad Javed Khurki, Javed Ghurki, Mhammad Khalid, Jamshed Asghar Ghurki, Sohail Asghar Ghurki, Mrs Rubina of Unique Trading, Lahore Rs0.891 m, Mohammad Iqbal of United Factory Rs0.5 m, Syed Izhar Hussain of Bhatti Brothers Sheikhupura Rs0.9 m, Abdul Rauf Qureshi of Rauf Corporation Lahore Rs0.6 m, Dr Abdul Rauf of Leatheron Lahore Rs0.7 m, Sabir Javed Lhr, Rs 1.2m, Azfar Manzoor Lahore Rs1m, Mrs Qaiser Manzoor Lahore Rs 1.2m, Mohammad Iqbal Javed of Mughal Technical Indus Lahore Rs 0.4m, Mohammad Ishaq Khan of Zahid Industries Lahore Rs 1.5m, Khalid Hatyat of Millat Corporation Rs 0.4m, Mohammad Azhar Leghiar, Dewan Aashiq Hussain, Umer Hayat Bosan, Shauakt Hayat Bosan, Niaz Ahmed, Muzaffar Hussain Bokhari, Mushtaq Shah and Nazar Abbas of Hayat Textile Mills Lahore Rs 110 million, Ghulam Mustafa Khan of Nashika Impex Lahore Rs 4.3m, Mian Tajamal Hussain, Mian Nusratuddin, Mrs Azra Tajamal, Mrs Laila Nusrat, Mrs Saeeda begum of Chenab textile Mills Lahore Rs 25m, Mian Abdur Rehman of Abdulur Rehman and Com Bhwalpur Rs 1.6m, Mian Ghulam Owais Owasi of Owais Industries Bhwalpur Rs 0.9m, Shad Ahmed of Shahzad Cotton Rahim Yar khan Rs 0.9m, Ch. Mohiuddin of Five Star Industries Okara Rs 0.7m, Mohammad Ehsan of Ehsan Soap factory Lahore Rs 09m, Sh. Abdul Jabbar of Feroze Oil and General Mills Okara Rs 0.6m, Sh. Mohammad Latif of Baba Farid Roller flour mill, Pakpattan Rs 0.6m, Shafiqe Ahmed of Mehran Cotton Multan Rs 1.m, Asad Zuabir of Jhangir Industries Multan Rs 0.5m, Riaz Ahmed of Riaz Textile Mills Multan Rs 0.6m, Ch Niaz Muhmmad Multan Rs 0.5m, Zulifkar Ali Industries Multan Rs 0.8m, Hamid Azmat Sheikh of Azmat Towellers Industries Multan Rs 2.4m, Mohammad Hussain of Rafay Textile Industries Burewala Rs 1.4m, Mohammad Ashgar of Asif Oil Mills Kehror Pacca Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Iqbal of Mashal Cotton Kehror Pacca Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Iqbal of Asif Irfan Cold storage Mianchannu Rs 1.4m, Mohammad Nazir of Mudhwal Enginnering Khushab Rs 4.7m, Farooq Saigal, Usman Siagal, Umer Saigal, Saleem Saigal of Kohirnoo textile Mills Liaquatbabad Rs 29m, Abdul Rehman of Gatth Foundary Workshop Faisalabad Rs 7.3billion, Ashraf Textile Rs0.7m, Mohammad Ashraf Rs 1.2m, Universal enterprises Faisalabad Rs 1.m, Javed Autos Sargodha Rs 1.0, Khursheed Ahmed Shad Faisalabad Rs0.66, Imran Saleem Ch. Gujrat Rs 0.737m, Jhangir Saleemullah Gujrat Rs 0.9m, Adnan Aziz Trader Gujrat Rs1.2m, Inayat Industries Gujrat Rs 1.2m, M. Rashid General Metal Works Gujrat Rs 0.8m, Safdar and Com Gujrat Rs 2.2m, Younis-National Weaving Fact, Gujrat Rs 1.2m, S. Mohammad Oil Mills Attock Rs 1.286m, Imran Shah and Bros Rwalpindi Rs 1.03m, Hazara Wodden Mills Rawalpindi Rs 1.133m, Lt. Col Rabnawaz of Nawaish Gypsum Jhelum Rs 0.6m, Food Department of NWFP Rs 3.434m, Begum Noor Jehan Mardan Peshawar Rs 6.8m, K. Mahmoodullah of MS LTCF, Islamabad Rs3m, Seth Dawood Group of MS Pakistan Paper corporation Charsada Rs 19 million, Seth Sahbir Hussain of MS Castle Industries Haripur Rs 12 million, Fateh Weeolen Industries Rs5million, Juma Khan Quetta Rs 4.6 m, Abdul Qayum Quetta Rs 0.5m, Ghazi Khan Quetta Rs 0.7m, Syed Abdul Rashid Quetta Rs 0.9m, Zahoor Ahmed Quetta Rs 0.7m, Zahoor Ahmed son of Haji Abdullah Samad Quetta Rs 0.74m, Ahmed Khan Quetta Rs 0.814m, Jhangir Khan Quetta Rs 06m, Mirza Mohammad Quetta Rs 0.5m, Mir Khuda Bux Muri, Mir Nawaz Marri, Mrs Elsa Mariie Benazir , Ms Kamal Faria Marri and Miss Anita Marri Rs 1.7m, Malick Abdullah Jan Quetta Rs 0.7m, Ashraf shoe company Mirpur, Kashmir, Rs 6.4m, Abdulleh Saleh Rs 123m Saudia Arabia, Amjad Malick Karachi Rs 2.2m, Abdul Wahab Karachi Rs 2.4m, Ghazala Haq and Amjad Malick Karachi Rs 6m, Mir Mehraullah Mengal Karachi Rs1.2 m.
Mohammad Sadiq of Chand Mills Karachi Rs 0.5m, MB Dhody Karachi Rs 3m, Sardar Mohammad of General Tractor Machinery Karachi Rs 3m, Noor Ali Group, Karachi got about Rs 3m written-off, Mohammad Hussain of Process Pakistan Rs 1.19m, Mohammad Sarfraz Paracha of East Asia Trading Karachi Rs 0.7m, Ghulam Ali Talpur Karachi Rs 0.6m, Lt-Col M . Jaffar Karachi Rs 2.7m, Noor Ali Hirani Karachi Rs 1.2m, Sun Publication Rs 1.3m, Tariq Jaffar Campher Pak Karachi Rs 10m, Mohammad Pervez, Col Akhlaq Ali Khan, Talibul Rasool, Abdul Jalil, Mohammad Yousaf Mirza of Allied Textile Mills Larkana Rs 296m, R Hasan Ali, Hyderabad Rs 0.9m, Mehboob Elahi of Sindh Tanneris Hyderabad Rs 4.89m, Haji and company Lahore Rs 0.9m, Syed Amjad Ali Gujranwala Rs 2.178m, Ch. Mohammad Anwar of Elegzender and co Rs 1.7m, Mohammad Younis of Younis Company Lahore Rs 8.4m, Sh Javed Iqbal and Brother LahoreRs 2.4m, Denn Autos Lahore Rs 1.8m, Begum Sherin Wahab, Abdul Qayum, Mumtaz Ahmed Abdul Jabbar, Mrs Sahiba Qayum of Sarhad Cresent Indsutries Rs 9.5m, Javed Zia, Mrs Kasur Javed, Salman Zai, Umer Javed, Miss Amber Javed nad Zafar Inami and Ghulam Rasool of Okara Textile Mills Rs 126million. And Fazal Elahi Malik, Teshin of Ally Hoisery Mills Lahore got Rs 0.7 million written-off.
In year 2000, the NBP wrote off many loans. In Peshawar Rs1 m of Mrs Aurangzeb of Ms Rahman Ice Factory was written-off.
FAISALABAD: Maryam Fatama weaving factory, Rs 4.5m, Ashfaq Hussain of Al Najaf Traders Faisalabad Rs 2.5m, Ch. Mohamamd Tufail of Rehan Cotton Primahal Rs 1.4m, Ms Sajja International F/abad Rs 0.5m.
MULTAN: Mohammad Hanif Rahm Yar Khan Rs1.0m, Mhamamd Aslam RYK Rs 0.9m, AJ Textile Industry RYK Rs6.9m, Madni electric traders Ahmedpureast Rs 0.666m, Ghulam Jaffar Jalwana Bhwalpur Rs 0.6m, Irfan Salman paper mills Sadiaqabad Rs 7.3m, Mian Tariq Gurmani and Suryia Iqbal Gurmani Thatta Gurmani Industries Kot Addu Rs1.5m, Al. Farooq Electronics Rs0.5m, Al Hasnaian Enterprises Rs 0.646m, Rizwan Textile Mills Rs0.6m, Mehboob Ahmed Rs 0.7m, Mohamamd Khalid Rs0.6m, Abul Sattar Rs 0.5m, Shahid Pervez Rs 0.7m, Al Azhar Textile Mills ( Mirza Azhar Beg nad Mrs Rafiqan Begum) Rs 6.4m, Barington Pharama of Pervez Iqbal Rs 1.9m, Jhandir Textile of Mohammad Akram Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Naeem of Four NS Fabrics Rs 1.3m, Mudasar Haider Chemica Rs1.5m, Sultan Wool Industries, Sahiwal Rs1.11m, Baby soap factory Kasoor Rs 2.7m, Mian AND Company Malsi Rs 0.7m Dhah Brothers weaving Vehari of Munir Khan, Sadia Shabnam, Raheem Baksh Rs 3.2m and Javed Cotton Industries Lodhran of Malik Usman, Malick Meraj Khalid and Mohammad Ajmal Rs 1.5m, and Mashallah Cotton factory Mailisi Rs 0.9m.
HYDERABAD: Sardian Paints Rs 2m, Al Amna Entp Rs 1m, MS Prince Rice Rs 1.3m, Niazi Ice Rs 1.44m, Associates Rs 0.766m, Jan Mohammad Rs 0.6m, Abdul Jabbar Rs 0.7m, Ali Gul Brohi Rs 1.1m, Abdul Majeed Rs 0.9m, MaliK Rice Mills Rs 2.7m, Intasia Entp Rs 43m, Expotex Limited Rs 49m, Excelisor industries Rs 5.1m, All Leather Limited Rs 1m, Mumtaz Mohammad Khan Zai Rs 0.772m, Sameer Garments Rs 0.8m, Rafiq Saigal, Afsar Khan, got two loans of Allied Paper Industries Karachi to the tune of Rs 35m written-off. Abdul Rashid Rs 0.5, Khan Ice Factory Rs 1m, Ashraf Traders Rs 0.7m, Anglo Universal Karachi Rs 0.7m, Gulf Food Industries Rs 0.8m, Makhdoom Traders Rs 0.5m, MA Footwear Rs 1.1m, Commodity Impex Rs 3m, Fetisal Grain Rs 1.2m, Aftab Garments Rs 0.6m, Citizen Process Rs 0.5m, Farm Products Rs 0.7m, Javed Iqbal Rs 0.6m, Masood Ahmed Qureshi Rs 1.14m, Moash Traders Rs 4m, Sabeena Enterprises Rs 8.9m.
LAHORE: Ms Jarral International Rs 1.8m, Ms Ghulam Hussain Rs 0.9m, Ehssan Machinery story Rs 0.5m, Tariq Mansoor Rs 0.8m, Zab Poly Proplyeine Products Rs 3.4m, Syed Waseem Ahmed Rs 0.55m, and M/S Wasjid Ali of Gulberg-II Rs 18m.
ISLAMABAD: Bashir Awan Rs 0.7m, Tariq Rehman Rs 0.7m, Amir Nawab Rs 0.9m, Azra Noreen Rs 2.2m, Nasir Fatima Rs 2.2m, Inamullah Saeed Rs 1.2m, M Safdar Rs 0.88m, Star Corporation Rs 2.735m, Mughal Ice Plant of Col Rafiq Baig Rs 1.3m, Shaheen Engineering Rs 2.2m, Fazal Electric Rs 0.7m, Malick Mohammad Akhtar Rs 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Amjad Gilani, Tariq Gilani and Khalid Gilani of Nisa Enterprises Rs 0.5m.
EX-MBL: They belong to Karachi. Al Rehman Services Rs 0.6m, Baba Manna Rs 1.m, Saeedudin Zubair Rs 0.6m, Trade Link of Manzoor Qaider Rs 1.2m, Bhai Hashim Rs 0.7m, IK Corporation Rs 0.7m, M Farooq Rs 0.6m, and Saleem Khan Rawalpindi Rs 0.7m.
QUETTA: Sonmiani Fish Rs 2.2m, Abdul Qadier Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alam Rs 0.5m, Hanid Moula Dad Rs 0.5m, Mohamamd Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Mohammand Hassan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m, Mazar Khan Rs 0.5m, Faiz Ahmed Rs0.7m, Abdul Mateen Rs 0.86m, Shin Gul Tareen Rs 0.6m, Abdul Qadir Rs0.6m, Mohamamd Zahir Rs0.77m.
The loan written-off during year 2001:
KARACHI: Amed Trading Rs 2.9m, Farna Ice Rs 1.2m, Mohamamd Yasin Rs 1m, Shaffaf Ice Factory Rs 2.5m, Anwar Iqbal Rs 1.1m, Engineering Products Rs 1.5m, Indus Oil Expellers Rs 3m, Poshak International Rs 0.8m, Eastern Garments Rs 21m, Asif Owais Rs 0.6m, Nazir Ahmed Rs 0.8m, Mohammad Khursheed Khan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 1m, General Traders Rs 10m, Quality Builders Rs 1.5m, Karachi Water Proofing Rs 0.9m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.6m, Hukum Khan Rs 0.8m, Syed Raziddin Rs 0.5m, MS Tehseen Rs 0.5m, Yousaf Cheema Rs 0.7m, Jamil Rs 1.3m, Shabbir Ahmed Junami, Tasveer Ahmed Jumani, Taheree Ahmed Jumani, Azshraf Kahton, Salla Jumani, Shaukat Memon and Ms Shereen Jumani of Annud Textile Mills got a massive loan of Rs 279m written-off.
Abid Hassan Rs 0.5m, Haq Nawaz Dahri Rs 0.5m, Shah Nawaz Khan Rs 0.5m, Fizza Nazim Rs 0.8m, Mohammad Hayat Rs 0.5m, Nadeem Ahmed Rs 0.7m, FB Burki Ice Factory Rs 1.4m, Karachi Transport Corporation Rs 79m, Babar Rafiq Rs 0.6m, Nisar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisruzzman Rs 0.6m, Sajjad Hussain Rs 0.5m, Nasir Rafiq Rs 0.5m, Badar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Manzar Farreed Rs 0.6m, Khalid Mehmood Rs 0.6m, Saeed Ahmed Rs 0.6m, Jawaid Textile Industries Rs 0.9m, Mansoor Yousaf Rs 0.5m, Mohammed Ismail Rs 0.5m, Aamir Hashmi Rs 0.551m, Sajid Ali Rs 0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.5m, Tahir Ehtasham Rs 0.6m, Mohamamd Noman Bhatti Rs 0.5m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.5m, Anissudin Rs 0.6m, Mobina Begum Rs 0.6m, Miss Tabassum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohaamd Yousaf Rs 0.6m, Mant Lal Maulal Rs 0.67m, Athar Batool Rs 0.78m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azam Afraid Rs 0.6m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Syed Khaliluddin Rs 0.575m, Abdul Qayum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs 0.825m, Syed Khuram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Saad Ahmed Rs 0.6m, Hasan Shakeel Rs 0.8m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Rs 0.55m, Shafiq Ahmed Rs 0.8m, Khwajamoinul HasanRs0.666m, Raza Hassan Rs 0.5m, Syed Afaq Rs0.6m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali, Rs0.6M, Mohammad Aslam Rs 0.6m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs 0.6m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.66m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnanul HassaN Rs 0.8m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Monbina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.7m, Najam Akthar Rs 0.8m, S Sharafifuddin Rs 0.8m and Imtiaz Hussain Zaid Rs 0.6m.
Khalid Beg Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Aman Rs 0.6m, Tariq Baloch Rs 0.666m, Mohamamd Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.6m, Ms Golden Plant Ind Rs 0.7m, S Ali Ahmed Zaidi Rs 0.7m, Siddiqi Rs 1.1m, Ms Pakistan Rs 1.4m, Ms Metropolitan Rs 190m,
Altaf Husain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mashiuddin Rs 0.9m, Aitzazuddin Rs 1.55m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.55m, FS Aizuddin Rs 0.5m, FS Ayazuddin Rs 1.6m, Mrs Shaim Fatima Rs 0.6m, Iqbal Shakoor Rs 0.6m, Mujeebuddin Rs 0.5m, Mrs Meharur Nisa Rs.7m, Anwar Raza Khan Rs 0.7m, Anwar Raza Khan Rs 0.7m, Mohmmad Jamil Rs 0.9m, Sardar Shakeel Rs 0.6m, Rashid Ali Rs 0.6m, Mohmmad Hanif Rs 0.8m, Abdul Shakoor Rs 0.6m, Adnan Husain Rs0.7m, Ahsan Anjum Rs 0.66m. Fareed Gul Rs 0.6m, Khuda Bux Rs 0.5m, M Faisal Rs 0.7m, Basir Alam Rs 0.6m, M Waseem Rs 0.65m, Mrs Rubena Rs 0.665m, Shahbaz Aqeel Rs 0.659m, Sharjeel Qaider Rs 0.5m, Tahir Anjum Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim Rs 0.5m, Abdul Razak Rs 0.5m, Akhtar Hussain Rs 0.5m, Asif Sormoo Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.5m, Sadia Bano Rs 0.5m, Moizuddin Rs 0.5m, Adul Haq Rs 0.54m, Mrs Kasur Perveen Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.55m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.5m, Rana Mohamamd Rs 0.545m, Rukhsan Begum Rs 0.5m, Rehan Shahid Rs 0.5m, Tahir Raza Rs 0.5m, Ashifaq Ahmed Rs 0.5m.
Year 2002: Following tycoons got their loans written-off in 2002.
Agri Autos Inds, Haleema Majeed Sons, Amie Investment, Sultan Textile Mills, Century Weaving, Husasin Towels, Durrani Associations, Nasir Khan, Muhammad Zafeef, Mohammad Usman, Ali Bux, Malick Munsif Khan, Mohammad Usman, Nabi Bux Baloch, Nisar Fatima, Akhar Bhugi Assoicates, Irfan Basharat, Samco Industries, Saeed Hasan, RN Stell products, Punjab Ceremic, Mahbub Ashraf, Gulberg Caterers, Samanabad enterprises, Azhar company, Sindhu Marbal company, Shabirruddin, Mohammad Husain, Rashid Sons, Rehman Oil Mills, Abu Bakar cold storage and oil factory.
BHAWALPUR: Shafi Oil mills, Ahmed Industries, Goheer Oil mills,
MULTAN: Union Straw paper board, jail traders, Omar Hardware, Khan Brothers cotton, Ali Intp, NK Medicot private limited, Al Munir textile private limited and Sadiqabad textile mills. Sinopak. (The list is still incomplete because of space constraints)
A few of those who got loans written off were genuine cases as they suffered sick industry or bankruptcy. Their loans were written off according to rules and prevalent law. Some of the beneficiaries, however, submitted bogus claims and the banks did not follow rules and regulations in writing off their loans.
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: In a country where over 40 per cent of the population is said to be languishing under the poverty line with families surviving on less than $2 a day, the shameful revelation of the filthy rich getting loans worth over Rs100 billion written-off owing to their formidable clout is shocking the nation. And this shameful list carries some of the biggest names of our power elite.
The names of Ch Shujaat and Ch Pervez Elahi were found among about 1,000 influential businessmen and Army men who got a total of Rs18 billion loans written-off from the government-owned banks during the first three years of the military government. The list was submitted in the NA when Zafarullah Jamali was the prime minister and Shaukat Aziz was the finance minister.
The first loan of Rs70 million was outstanding against the Punjab Sugar Mills and was written off by the National Bank of Pakistan along with the actual loan amount. The mill was owned by Chaudhry Shujaat Husssain, Chaudhry Mansoor Elahi, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chaudhry Gulzar Mohammad, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Chaudhry Sabhat Elahi, Mrs Qisara Elahi (wife of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi), Mrs Kasur Hussain (wife of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain), Mrs Khalida Begum (wife of Gulzar Muhammad).
The second loan of Rs15 million was written off by the UBL outstanding against Punjab Sugar Mills. The beneficiaries were once again Ch Manzoor Elahi, Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi, Wajahat Hussain, Shafaat Hussain, Gulzar Ahmed and Mrs Qaisra Elahi, Khalida Begum, and Kauser Hussain. The UBL once again wrote off another loan of Rs34.1 million outstanding against the Spaco Private Limited. The beneficiaries were the same — Ch Pervez Elahi, Shujaat Hussain, Manzoor Elahi, Wajahat Hussain, Sabahat Elahi, Mrs Kauser Hussain, Qaisra Elahi.
It may be added that these loans were written off after declaring their industrial establishments as “sick industry or on the pretext of bankruptcy.” Many of them denied having got their loans written-off.
The political sources claimed that Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif knew this troubling fact about the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Even Imran Khan had been showing the official documents of another bank, which had also written off loans to get the Chaudhrys disqualified from contesting the elections. But his desperate pleas were never entertained by the Election Commission of Pakistan courtesy the might and clout these cousins enjoyed during the early years of General Pervez Musharraf in power. The sources said, on the basis of their own knowledge about the Chaudhrys loan write off, the Sharif brothers were agitating the issue of loan write-off in the media with the public demand to put all the loan beneficiaries on trial after recovering the written-off amounts.
The mighty Chaudhrys of Gujrat — Ch Shujaat Hussain, Ch Pervez Elahi and their family members — reportedly got three different bank loans of Rs120 million written off from the National Bank and United Bank of Pakistan during their heady days of power. This has been revealed in the official record of the National Assembly library, which has now formally confirmed that several top politicians and their family members had quietly got several bank loans written off, which had been outstanding against their sugar and textile mills and other industrial units.
These bank loans were mainly written off by the state-run National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank Limited in the past. The official record available with The News, which was placed in the NA in the last one decade, revealed that a total of Rs30 billion loans were written off between 1985-2002, which had been outstanding against the top politicians and powerful industrial groups of the country. The list was compiled by the then caretaker government of 1993 led by Moin Qureshi.
In 2007, Auditor General of Pakistan revealed in its report that during the period 2002-2007, a sum of Rs54 billion was written off by Musharraf government. Thus, total figure had reached to Rs85 billions. But, now the recent official report to the NA during the question hour revealed that the total figure of written-off loans had finally crossed over Rs100 billion, after adding the loan amounts written off during two years of PPP government since 2008.
The official list of loan write-off beneficiaries of different periods since 1985 to 2002 revealed that former speaker Gohar Ayub Khan’s family and former Chief Minister Balochistan Jaam Yousuf, are also among other prominent politicians, who got the loans written off from the banks.
The three mighty business families of Pakistan are also among the beneficiaries of these loan write offs in the past. The former housing minister of General Pervez Musharraf -Abbas Sarfraz is also among the beneficiaries who got a massive loan against his sugar mill written off. Lt General Habibullah and Brig M Jan are among the list.
The Saifullah family of Lucky Marwat got four loans written off from different banks. The names of Anwar Saifullha Khan, Javed Saifullah, Hamayun Saifullah, Arbab Saddaullha Khan, Shah Jehan Khan, Nisar Khan are part of the list submitted in the NA in 1994 in response to a question by MNA Barjees Tahir. First, the Saifullah brothers got loans written off against their mill— Ms Kohat Textile Mills from the National Bank. The matriarch of the Saifullah family, Mrs Kalsoom Saifullah also got a loan of Rs12 million written off from NBP against Ms Frontier Towel Works, Kohat. Industrial bank also wrote off loan of Rs26 million of Javed Saifullah, Salim Saifullah, Hamayun Saifullah and others against Kohat Textile Mills. The MCB also wrote off loan against the Kohat Textile Mill. Jatoi family of Sindh also got a loan of Rs6.7 million written off from UBL. The beneficiary was Dr Ghafar Jatoi and his brothers. Leghari family also got Rs67 million loans written off from UBL. The beneficiaries included Jafar Khan Leghari, Jamil Ahmed Khan Leghari, Yousuf Khan Leghari, Tariq Khan Leghari, Atta Mohammad Leghari, etc.
Saigal group got the loan written off against Omaryar Limited, Lahore. The group got another loan of Rs4 million written off from the UBL.
A loan of Rs10.3 million was written off by Investment Corporation of Pakistan. Iqbal Z Ahmed, Mrs Saira Ahmed also got a loan of Rs5.5 million written off from United Bank of Pakistan. Another small loan of Rs1.4 million got written off from UBL against Hassan Ali and company. A loan of Rs18 million was also written off against Hashoo Holdings.
Meanwhile, investigations conducted by this correspondent after going through the official record of the National Assembly Secretariat, where all these loan documents were placed from time to time since 1994, even Daewoo Corporation of Pakistan was one of the beneficiaries of such big loans written-off by the government banks. National Bank of Pakistan had written off a loan of Rs10 million against Daewoo. The loan was outstanding against Kim Waoo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke NEON, Chui Myoung Kul.
The list showed that Karachi-based businessmen have been treated with exceptional kindness by the National Bank of Pakistan. According to the list of such people whose loans and principal amounts were written-off during the last three years, National Bank of Pakistan wrote off billion of rupees from taxpayers’ accounts. Most of the written-off loans went to the textile and industrial giants of the country owned by mighty businessmen, politically influential, former bureaucrats and military officers.
The big industrialists like Adamjee Industries owned by Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shireen Farooq, Mumtaz Sheikh, Tahir Sheikh got Rs448 million written-off from the NBP. Mohib Textile owned by Asif Saigol also got Rs1.1 billion written-off in 2002.
The other big names included in the list are First Tawakkal Modaraba owned by Abdul Qadir Tawakkal, Mohammad Rafiq Tawakkal, Alif Husain Mooney, Abid Hussain Rs621 million written-off, National Frutctose Limited owned by Shairullah Durrani got Rs681 million written-off, Glamour Textile Mills owned by Iftikhar Ahmed Malik got Rs533 million written-off and others. Two foreign nationals also got the loans written-off.
Pakland Cement got Rs10 million written off, Cast N Link owned by Anwar Ahmed got Rs159 million written-off. Taha Spinning limited got Rs64 million written off.
Following is the list of mighty individuals and business tycoons whose loans were written-off in majority of cases along with principal amount from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
KARACHI: Zahid Fazal (Farah Enterprises) Rs09 m; White Bird Chick Limited Rs8.2 m, Advance Computer Technology Rs1.1 m, Hamid D Habib of Balochistan Glass Rs6 m, Latif Paul of TS Latisons Rs0.5 m, Anisure Rehman of Zeb Enterprises Rs1.9 m, Chaudhry Mohammad Younis of Ice Land Cold storage Rs16 m, Mohammad Saleheen of Naveed Farbics Rs0.7 m, Younis Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Sultan Rs0.5 m, Azhar Jamil of Sindh Industries Enterprises Rs0.2 m, Mushtaq Ahmed Rs0.5 m, Asghar Ali Rs05 m, Fida Mohamamd Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.5 m, Abdul Sattar Rs0.5 m, Lal Mohamamd Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Akbar Baloch Rs0.5 m, Ghulam Farooq Rs0.5 m, Amir Baksh Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Naseem Rs0.5 m, M Shoaib Rs0.5 m, Liaqat Ali Khan Rs0.514 m, Khaliq Farooqi Rs0.5 m, Irfan Rs0.572 m, Irfan Rs0.572 m, Sikandar Rs0.5 m, Asrar Hussain Sarbazi Rs0.56 m, Abdul Hameed Rs0.576 m, Mohammad Yaqoob Rs0.576 m, Shafqat Rehman Rs0.575 m, Shahbaz Aqeel Rs0.575 m, Abida Sultana Rs0.509 m, Mohammad Hanif Rs0.5 m, Tarranum Baig Rs0.5 m, Hidyatullah Farid Rs1.3 m, Pak Hardware and Paint Rs0.9 m, Mohammad Ali Rs0.5 m, Sh Mohammad Zahid Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Ayub Rs0.5 m, Nadeem Ahmed Rs0.5 m, Mushtaq Ahmed Rs0.517 m, Mushtaq Ishaq Rs0.5 m, Mir Mohammad Baloch Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Altaf Hussain Rs0.5 m, Abdul Khalil Rs0.5 m, Abdul Rahim Khatri Rs0.517 m, Imam Buksh Rs0.535m, Abdul Hameed Rs0.576 m, Wideyat Ali Rs0.5 m, Rizwan Hasan Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Sarwar Rs0.5 m, Maqbool Hussain Rs0.5 m, Ali Asghar Rs0.512 m, Shahnawz Rs0.524 m, Jawed Floor Mills of Rana Mohammad Siddiqui Rs20 m, Muhammad of Madina Food Industries Rs1.45 m, Syed Qmar Hai of Indus Poultry Farm Rs0.55 m, Mian Maqbool Ahmed of Alam Shuttle Industries Rs2.432 m, M Yousaf Khan of Progressive Industries Enterprises Rs0.7 m, Abdul Rashid of Aziz Company Rs0.5 m, Nasir Hussain Shah of Shah Cotton Factory Rs5.4 m, Hazoor Khan Chanido of Chandi Floor Mills Dadu Rs0.7 m, Pir Sarfrarz Ahmed of Nawab Shah Rs0.8 m, Munawar Hussain Rs0.722 m, Manzoor Hussain of Al Imran Hotel Ranipur Rs0.6 m, Arjandas of Arjandas Rice Rs1.05 m, Atta Mohamamd Marri of Mari Fish Farm Rs0.7 m, Atta Mohammad Mari Rs1.4m, S Zaheer Hussain Shah Rs0.9 m, Mst Ashraf Begum Rs0.5 m, Mohammad Idris Rs0.6 m, Sardar Taj Mohammad Rs0.8 m,Sh Saleem Ali of Capital Flour Mills, Murdikey Rs3 m, Mohamamd Afazal of Arshaq and Co, Lahore Rs0.9 m, Sanullah from Gujranwala Rs0.6 m, Hassan Ali Khan of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Sh Abdul Rehman Rs1.33 m, Lali Akbar of Abbas Trader, Kasur Rs0.8 m, Tariq Mir of Mir Iron Store, Lahore Rs0.5 m, Mustafa Ali Mir, Lahore Rs0.6 m, M Latif of Arshad Latif Indus Rs6.3 m, Mohammad Riaz of Riaz Furniture House Rs0.8 m, Mohammad Amin Khan of Makran Int Rs1.7 m, Haji Mohammad Ishaq of Tariq Industries Rs0.9 m, Mian Mohammad Sarwar of Al Ahmed Knitting Rs1.3 m, Mohammad Ahmed of M A S Stell Mills, Lahore Rs0.9 m, Mian Hamid Sarwar of Shishmahal Hosiery Rs0.9 m, Sh Mohammad Ashraf of Ashraf Ice Factory Rs0.9 m, Gulshan Begum W/o Zubaidullah Khan of Lahore Rs0.5m, Iftikhar Ali of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Khalid Bashir Khokar of Lahore Rs0.5 m, Arshad Javed Ghurki, Lahore Rs0.5 m, Arshad Javed Khurki, Javed Ghurki, Mhammad Khalid, Jamshed Asghar Ghurki, Sohail Asghar Ghurki, Mrs Rubina of Unique Trading, Lahore Rs0.891 m, Mohammad Iqbal of United Factory Rs0.5 m, Syed Izhar Hussain of Bhatti Brothers Sheikhupura Rs0.9 m, Abdul Rauf Qureshi of Rauf Corporation Lahore Rs0.6 m, Dr Abdul Rauf of Leatheron Lahore Rs0.7 m, Sabir Javed Lhr, Rs 1.2m, Azfar Manzoor Lahore Rs1m, Mrs Qaiser Manzoor Lahore Rs 1.2m, Mohammad Iqbal Javed of Mughal Technical Indus Lahore Rs 0.4m, Mohammad Ishaq Khan of Zahid Industries Lahore Rs 1.5m, Khalid Hatyat of Millat Corporation Rs 0.4m, Mohammad Azhar Leghiar, Dewan Aashiq Hussain, Umer Hayat Bosan, Shauakt Hayat Bosan, Niaz Ahmed, Muzaffar Hussain Bokhari, Mushtaq Shah and Nazar Abbas of Hayat Textile Mills Lahore Rs 110 million, Ghulam Mustafa Khan of Nashika Impex Lahore Rs 4.3m, Mian Tajamal Hussain, Mian Nusratuddin, Mrs Azra Tajamal, Mrs Laila Nusrat, Mrs Saeeda begum of Chenab textile Mills Lahore Rs 25m, Mian Abdur Rehman of Abdulur Rehman and Com Bhwalpur Rs 1.6m, Mian Ghulam Owais Owasi of Owais Industries Bhwalpur Rs 0.9m, Shad Ahmed of Shahzad Cotton Rahim Yar khan Rs 0.9m, Ch. Mohiuddin of Five Star Industries Okara Rs 0.7m, Mohammad Ehsan of Ehsan Soap factory Lahore Rs 09m, Sh. Abdul Jabbar of Feroze Oil and General Mills Okara Rs 0.6m, Sh. Mohammad Latif of Baba Farid Roller flour mill, Pakpattan Rs 0.6m, Shafiqe Ahmed of Mehran Cotton Multan Rs 1.m, Asad Zuabir of Jhangir Industries Multan Rs 0.5m, Riaz Ahmed of Riaz Textile Mills Multan Rs 0.6m, Ch Niaz Muhmmad Multan Rs 0.5m, Zulifkar Ali Industries Multan Rs 0.8m, Hamid Azmat Sheikh of Azmat Towellers Industries Multan Rs 2.4m, Mohammad Hussain of Rafay Textile Industries Burewala Rs 1.4m, Mohammad Ashgar of Asif Oil Mills Kehror Pacca Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Iqbal of Mashal Cotton Kehror Pacca Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Iqbal of Asif Irfan Cold storage Mianchannu Rs 1.4m, Mohammad Nazir of Mudhwal Enginnering Khushab Rs 4.7m, Farooq Saigal, Usman Siagal, Umer Saigal, Saleem Saigal of Kohirnoo textile Mills Liaquatbabad Rs 29m, Abdul Rehman of Gatth Foundary Workshop Faisalabad Rs 7.3billion, Ashraf Textile Rs0.7m, Mohammad Ashraf Rs 1.2m, Universal enterprises Faisalabad Rs 1.m, Javed Autos Sargodha Rs 1.0, Khursheed Ahmed Shad Faisalabad Rs0.66, Imran Saleem Ch. Gujrat Rs 0.737m, Jhangir Saleemullah Gujrat Rs 0.9m, Adnan Aziz Trader Gujrat Rs1.2m, Inayat Industries Gujrat Rs 1.2m, M. Rashid General Metal Works Gujrat Rs 0.8m, Safdar and Com Gujrat Rs 2.2m, Younis-National Weaving Fact, Gujrat Rs 1.2m, S. Mohammad Oil Mills Attock Rs 1.286m, Imran Shah and Bros Rwalpindi Rs 1.03m, Hazara Wodden Mills Rawalpindi Rs 1.133m, Lt. Col Rabnawaz of Nawaish Gypsum Jhelum Rs 0.6m, Food Department of NWFP Rs 3.434m, Begum Noor Jehan Mardan Peshawar Rs 6.8m, K. Mahmoodullah of MS LTCF, Islamabad Rs3m, Seth Dawood Group of MS Pakistan Paper corporation Charsada Rs 19 million, Seth Sahbir Hussain of MS Castle Industries Haripur Rs 12 million, Fateh Weeolen Industries Rs5million, Juma Khan Quetta Rs 4.6 m, Abdul Qayum Quetta Rs 0.5m, Ghazi Khan Quetta Rs 0.7m, Syed Abdul Rashid Quetta Rs 0.9m, Zahoor Ahmed Quetta Rs 0.7m, Zahoor Ahmed son of Haji Abdullah Samad Quetta Rs 0.74m, Ahmed Khan Quetta Rs 0.814m, Jhangir Khan Quetta Rs 06m, Mirza Mohammad Quetta Rs 0.5m, Mir Khuda Bux Muri, Mir Nawaz Marri, Mrs Elsa Mariie Benazir , Ms Kamal Faria Marri and Miss Anita Marri Rs 1.7m, Malick Abdullah Jan Quetta Rs 0.7m, Ashraf shoe company Mirpur, Kashmir, Rs 6.4m, Abdulleh Saleh Rs 123m Saudia Arabia, Amjad Malick Karachi Rs 2.2m, Abdul Wahab Karachi Rs 2.4m, Ghazala Haq and Amjad Malick Karachi Rs 6m, Mir Mehraullah Mengal Karachi Rs1.2 m.
Mohammad Sadiq of Chand Mills Karachi Rs 0.5m, MB Dhody Karachi Rs 3m, Sardar Mohammad of General Tractor Machinery Karachi Rs 3m, Noor Ali Group, Karachi got about Rs 3m written-off, Mohammad Hussain of Process Pakistan Rs 1.19m, Mohammad Sarfraz Paracha of East Asia Trading Karachi Rs 0.7m, Ghulam Ali Talpur Karachi Rs 0.6m, Lt-Col M . Jaffar Karachi Rs 2.7m, Noor Ali Hirani Karachi Rs 1.2m, Sun Publication Rs 1.3m, Tariq Jaffar Campher Pak Karachi Rs 10m, Mohammad Pervez, Col Akhlaq Ali Khan, Talibul Rasool, Abdul Jalil, Mohammad Yousaf Mirza of Allied Textile Mills Larkana Rs 296m, R Hasan Ali, Hyderabad Rs 0.9m, Mehboob Elahi of Sindh Tanneris Hyderabad Rs 4.89m, Haji and company Lahore Rs 0.9m, Syed Amjad Ali Gujranwala Rs 2.178m, Ch. Mohammad Anwar of Elegzender and co Rs 1.7m, Mohammad Younis of Younis Company Lahore Rs 8.4m, Sh Javed Iqbal and Brother LahoreRs 2.4m, Denn Autos Lahore Rs 1.8m, Begum Sherin Wahab, Abdul Qayum, Mumtaz Ahmed Abdul Jabbar, Mrs Sahiba Qayum of Sarhad Cresent Indsutries Rs 9.5m, Javed Zia, Mrs Kasur Javed, Salman Zai, Umer Javed, Miss Amber Javed nad Zafar Inami and Ghulam Rasool of Okara Textile Mills Rs 126million. And Fazal Elahi Malik, Teshin of Ally Hoisery Mills Lahore got Rs 0.7 million written-off.
In year 2000, the NBP wrote off many loans. In Peshawar Rs1 m of Mrs Aurangzeb of Ms Rahman Ice Factory was written-off.
FAISALABAD: Maryam Fatama weaving factory, Rs 4.5m, Ashfaq Hussain of Al Najaf Traders Faisalabad Rs 2.5m, Ch. Mohamamd Tufail of Rehan Cotton Primahal Rs 1.4m, Ms Sajja International F/abad Rs 0.5m.
MULTAN: Mohammad Hanif Rahm Yar Khan Rs1.0m, Mhamamd Aslam RYK Rs 0.9m, AJ Textile Industry RYK Rs6.9m, Madni electric traders Ahmedpureast Rs 0.666m, Ghulam Jaffar Jalwana Bhwalpur Rs 0.6m, Irfan Salman paper mills Sadiaqabad Rs 7.3m, Mian Tariq Gurmani and Suryia Iqbal Gurmani Thatta Gurmani Industries Kot Addu Rs1.5m, Al. Farooq Electronics Rs0.5m, Al Hasnaian Enterprises Rs 0.646m, Rizwan Textile Mills Rs0.6m, Mehboob Ahmed Rs 0.7m, Mohamamd Khalid Rs0.6m, Abul Sattar Rs 0.5m, Shahid Pervez Rs 0.7m, Al Azhar Textile Mills ( Mirza Azhar Beg nad Mrs Rafiqan Begum) Rs 6.4m, Barington Pharama of Pervez Iqbal Rs 1.9m, Jhandir Textile of Mohammad Akram Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Naeem of Four NS Fabrics Rs 1.3m, Mudasar Haider Chemica Rs1.5m, Sultan Wool Industries, Sahiwal Rs1.11m, Baby soap factory Kasoor Rs 2.7m, Mian AND Company Malsi Rs 0.7m Dhah Brothers weaving Vehari of Munir Khan, Sadia Shabnam, Raheem Baksh Rs 3.2m and Javed Cotton Industries Lodhran of Malik Usman, Malick Meraj Khalid and Mohammad Ajmal Rs 1.5m, and Mashallah Cotton factory Mailisi Rs 0.9m.
HYDERABAD: Sardian Paints Rs 2m, Al Amna Entp Rs 1m, MS Prince Rice Rs 1.3m, Niazi Ice Rs 1.44m, Associates Rs 0.766m, Jan Mohammad Rs 0.6m, Abdul Jabbar Rs 0.7m, Ali Gul Brohi Rs 1.1m, Abdul Majeed Rs 0.9m, MaliK Rice Mills Rs 2.7m, Intasia Entp Rs 43m, Expotex Limited Rs 49m, Excelisor industries Rs 5.1m, All Leather Limited Rs 1m, Mumtaz Mohammad Khan Zai Rs 0.772m, Sameer Garments Rs 0.8m, Rafiq Saigal, Afsar Khan, got two loans of Allied Paper Industries Karachi to the tune of Rs 35m written-off. Abdul Rashid Rs 0.5, Khan Ice Factory Rs 1m, Ashraf Traders Rs 0.7m, Anglo Universal Karachi Rs 0.7m, Gulf Food Industries Rs 0.8m, Makhdoom Traders Rs 0.5m, MA Footwear Rs 1.1m, Commodity Impex Rs 3m, Fetisal Grain Rs 1.2m, Aftab Garments Rs 0.6m, Citizen Process Rs 0.5m, Farm Products Rs 0.7m, Javed Iqbal Rs 0.6m, Masood Ahmed Qureshi Rs 1.14m, Moash Traders Rs 4m, Sabeena Enterprises Rs 8.9m.
LAHORE: Ms Jarral International Rs 1.8m, Ms Ghulam Hussain Rs 0.9m, Ehssan Machinery story Rs 0.5m, Tariq Mansoor Rs 0.8m, Zab Poly Proplyeine Products Rs 3.4m, Syed Waseem Ahmed Rs 0.55m, and M/S Wasjid Ali of Gulberg-II Rs 18m.
ISLAMABAD: Bashir Awan Rs 0.7m, Tariq Rehman Rs 0.7m, Amir Nawab Rs 0.9m, Azra Noreen Rs 2.2m, Nasir Fatima Rs 2.2m, Inamullah Saeed Rs 1.2m, M Safdar Rs 0.88m, Star Corporation Rs 2.735m, Mughal Ice Plant of Col Rafiq Baig Rs 1.3m, Shaheen Engineering Rs 2.2m, Fazal Electric Rs 0.7m, Malick Mohammad Akhtar Rs 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Amjad Gilani, Tariq Gilani and Khalid Gilani of Nisa Enterprises Rs 0.5m.
EX-MBL: They belong to Karachi. Al Rehman Services Rs 0.6m, Baba Manna Rs 1.m, Saeedudin Zubair Rs 0.6m, Trade Link of Manzoor Qaider Rs 1.2m, Bhai Hashim Rs 0.7m, IK Corporation Rs 0.7m, M Farooq Rs 0.6m, and Saleem Khan Rawalpindi Rs 0.7m.
QUETTA: Sonmiani Fish Rs 2.2m, Abdul Qadier Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alam Rs 0.5m, Hanid Moula Dad Rs 0.5m, Mohamamd Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Mohammand Hassan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m, Mazar Khan Rs 0.5m, Faiz Ahmed Rs0.7m, Abdul Mateen Rs 0.86m, Shin Gul Tareen Rs 0.6m, Abdul Qadir Rs0.6m, Mohamamd Zahir Rs0.77m.
The loan written-off during year 2001:
KARACHI: Amed Trading Rs 2.9m, Farna Ice Rs 1.2m, Mohamamd Yasin Rs 1m, Shaffaf Ice Factory Rs 2.5m, Anwar Iqbal Rs 1.1m, Engineering Products Rs 1.5m, Indus Oil Expellers Rs 3m, Poshak International Rs 0.8m, Eastern Garments Rs 21m, Asif Owais Rs 0.6m, Nazir Ahmed Rs 0.8m, Mohammad Khursheed Khan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 1m, General Traders Rs 10m, Quality Builders Rs 1.5m, Karachi Water Proofing Rs 0.9m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.6m, Hukum Khan Rs 0.8m, Syed Raziddin Rs 0.5m, MS Tehseen Rs 0.5m, Yousaf Cheema Rs 0.7m, Jamil Rs 1.3m, Shabbir Ahmed Junami, Tasveer Ahmed Jumani, Taheree Ahmed Jumani, Azshraf Kahton, Salla Jumani, Shaukat Memon and Ms Shereen Jumani of Annud Textile Mills got a massive loan of Rs 279m written-off.
Abid Hassan Rs 0.5m, Haq Nawaz Dahri Rs 0.5m, Shah Nawaz Khan Rs 0.5m, Fizza Nazim Rs 0.8m, Mohammad Hayat Rs 0.5m, Nadeem Ahmed Rs 0.7m, FB Burki Ice Factory Rs 1.4m, Karachi Transport Corporation Rs 79m, Babar Rafiq Rs 0.6m, Nisar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisruzzman Rs 0.6m, Sajjad Hussain Rs 0.5m, Nasir Rafiq Rs 0.5m, Badar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Manzar Farreed Rs 0.6m, Khalid Mehmood Rs 0.6m, Saeed Ahmed Rs 0.6m, Jawaid Textile Industries Rs 0.9m, Mansoor Yousaf Rs 0.5m, Mohammed Ismail Rs 0.5m, Aamir Hashmi Rs 0.551m, Sajid Ali Rs 0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.5m, Tahir Ehtasham Rs 0.6m, Mohamamd Noman Bhatti Rs 0.5m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.5m, Anissudin Rs 0.6m, Mobina Begum Rs 0.6m, Miss Tabassum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohaamd Yousaf Rs 0.6m, Mant Lal Maulal Rs 0.67m, Athar Batool Rs 0.78m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azam Afraid Rs 0.6m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Syed Khaliluddin Rs 0.575m, Abdul Qayum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs 0.825m, Syed Khuram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Saad Ahmed Rs 0.6m, Hasan Shakeel Rs 0.8m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Rs 0.55m, Shafiq Ahmed Rs 0.8m, Khwajamoinul HasanRs0.666m, Raza Hassan Rs 0.5m, Syed Afaq Rs0.6m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali, Rs0.6M, Mohammad Aslam Rs 0.6m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs 0.6m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.66m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnanul HassaN Rs 0.8m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Monbina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.7m, Najam Akthar Rs 0.8m, S Sharafifuddin Rs 0.8m and Imtiaz Hussain Zaid Rs 0.6m.
Khalid Beg Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Aman Rs 0.6m, Tariq Baloch Rs 0.666m, Mohamamd Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.6m, Ms Golden Plant Ind Rs 0.7m, S Ali Ahmed Zaidi Rs 0.7m, Siddiqi Rs 1.1m, Ms Pakistan Rs 1.4m, Ms Metropolitan Rs 190m,
Altaf Husain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mashiuddin Rs 0.9m, Aitzazuddin Rs 1.55m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.55m, FS Aizuddin Rs 0.5m, FS Ayazuddin Rs 1.6m, Mrs Shaim Fatima Rs 0.6m, Iqbal Shakoor Rs 0.6m, Mujeebuddin Rs 0.5m, Mrs Meharur Nisa Rs.7m, Anwar Raza Khan Rs 0.7m, Anwar Raza Khan Rs 0.7m, Mohmmad Jamil Rs 0.9m, Sardar Shakeel Rs 0.6m, Rashid Ali Rs 0.6m, Mohmmad Hanif Rs 0.8m, Abdul Shakoor Rs 0.6m, Adnan Husain Rs0.7m, Ahsan Anjum Rs 0.66m. Fareed Gul Rs 0.6m, Khuda Bux Rs 0.5m, M Faisal Rs 0.7m, Basir Alam Rs 0.6m, M Waseem Rs 0.65m, Mrs Rubena Rs 0.665m, Shahbaz Aqeel Rs 0.659m, Sharjeel Qaider Rs 0.5m, Tahir Anjum Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim Rs 0.5m, Abdul Razak Rs 0.5m, Akhtar Hussain Rs 0.5m, Asif Sormoo Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.5m, Sadia Bano Rs 0.5m, Moizuddin Rs 0.5m, Adul Haq Rs 0.54m, Mrs Kasur Perveen Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.55m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.5m, Rana Mohamamd Rs 0.545m, Rukhsan Begum Rs 0.5m, Rehan Shahid Rs 0.5m, Tahir Raza Rs 0.5m, Ashifaq Ahmed Rs 0.5m.
Year 2002: Following tycoons got their loans written-off in 2002.
Agri Autos Inds, Haleema Majeed Sons, Amie Investment, Sultan Textile Mills, Century Weaving, Husasin Towels, Durrani Associations, Nasir Khan, Muhammad Zafeef, Mohammad Usman, Ali Bux, Malick Munsif Khan, Mohammad Usman, Nabi Bux Baloch, Nisar Fatima, Akhar Bhugi Assoicates, Irfan Basharat, Samco Industries, Saeed Hasan, RN Stell products, Punjab Ceremic, Mahbub Ashraf, Gulberg Caterers, Samanabad enterprises, Azhar company, Sindhu Marbal company, Shabirruddin, Mohammad Husain, Rashid Sons, Rehman Oil Mills, Abu Bakar cold storage and oil factory.
BHAWALPUR: Shafi Oil mills, Ahmed Industries, Goheer Oil mills,
MULTAN: Union Straw paper board, jail traders, Omar Hardware, Khan Brothers cotton, Ali Intp, NK Medicot private limited, Al Munir textile private limited and Sadiqabad textile mills. Sinopak. (The list is still incomplete because of space constraints)
A few of those who got loans written off were genuine cases as they suffered sick industry or bankruptcy. Their loans were written off according to rules and prevalent law. Some of the beneficiaries, however, submitted bogus claims and the banks did not follow rules and regulations in writing off their loans.
Pakistan, US differ on strikes in Fata: Hillary
By Sami Abraham
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has admitted that there were differences between Pakistan and the United States over the use of force against some of what she called pro-al-Qaeda militant organisations in the Pak-Afghan border areas known as Fata.
In a testimony along with US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee here on Thursday, Secretary Clinton said, “We are making the argument before our Pakistani civil and military counterparts that success in Swat and Waziristan is not enough to achieve the objective of completely destroying al-Qaeda, “But,” she added, “the argument will take some time as Pakistan is a sovereign country, which believes that India is their real enemy.”
She was responding to a question if Pakistanis believed that al-Qaeda was useful in stopping the Indian influence in Afghanistan and if US was able to persuade Pakistanis to change this approach.
Secretary Clinton said that there was a great deal of mistrust between the United States and Pakistan because Pakistanis believed that the Americans betrayed and abandoned them in Eighties after Washington walked away when Russians withdrew from the region.
Secretary Clinton said that there was an opportunity for those who were willing to renounce al-Qaeda because it was her understanding that there were a lot of people within the Taliban who did not share the ideology of al-Qaeda.
In response to a question, she also hinted that in future the US might have to deal with some of the hardliner Taliban who might not be in agreement with the United States on a number of issues but willing to act peacefully within the law. Secretary Clinton said that the mission in Afghanistan was never provided with adequate resources because the US mission was shifted to Iraq and Afghan President Karzai had told her that he was confused about this war because the Bush Administration officials had talked about not killing Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar.
US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said that situation in Afghanistan was more dangerous than it was 18 months ago because now Pakistani Taliban were deeply involved with al-Qaeda and posing a clear threat to the Pakistani government.
Secretary Gates said that al-Qaeda was connected with Lashkar-e-Taiba and providing assistance to attack Indians to create instability in the region. He said, “All the terrorists who have been arrested from different parts of the world lead us to the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan.” He said that July 2011 would be the beginning of the process of withdrawal of the US but cautioned that it would be gradual and conditions based. He said the US was trying to give a message to the friends, allies and Afghan people that President Obama was committed only to success and the US would not repeat the mistakes of the past by abandoning the region but, he added, at the same time the US military would not be there forever to protect the Afghan people.” Afghans should get ready to take the responsibility to protect themselves,” he added.
Admiral Mullen, on this occasion said that the United States needed to have a sustained partnership approach with Pakistan despite the complexities. He said a stable Afghanistan was also important for future of Pakistan.
He said, however, no amount of troops or no amount of resources would be able to win the war against terrorists if it was not coupled with the better governance.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has admitted that there were differences between Pakistan and the United States over the use of force against some of what she called pro-al-Qaeda militant organisations in the Pak-Afghan border areas known as Fata.
In a testimony along with US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee here on Thursday, Secretary Clinton said, “We are making the argument before our Pakistani civil and military counterparts that success in Swat and Waziristan is not enough to achieve the objective of completely destroying al-Qaeda, “But,” she added, “the argument will take some time as Pakistan is a sovereign country, which believes that India is their real enemy.”
She was responding to a question if Pakistanis believed that al-Qaeda was useful in stopping the Indian influence in Afghanistan and if US was able to persuade Pakistanis to change this approach.
Secretary Clinton said that there was a great deal of mistrust between the United States and Pakistan because Pakistanis believed that the Americans betrayed and abandoned them in Eighties after Washington walked away when Russians withdrew from the region.
Secretary Clinton said that there was an opportunity for those who were willing to renounce al-Qaeda because it was her understanding that there were a lot of people within the Taliban who did not share the ideology of al-Qaeda.
In response to a question, she also hinted that in future the US might have to deal with some of the hardliner Taliban who might not be in agreement with the United States on a number of issues but willing to act peacefully within the law. Secretary Clinton said that the mission in Afghanistan was never provided with adequate resources because the US mission was shifted to Iraq and Afghan President Karzai had told her that he was confused about this war because the Bush Administration officials had talked about not killing Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar.
US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said that situation in Afghanistan was more dangerous than it was 18 months ago because now Pakistani Taliban were deeply involved with al-Qaeda and posing a clear threat to the Pakistani government.
Secretary Gates said that al-Qaeda was connected with Lashkar-e-Taiba and providing assistance to attack Indians to create instability in the region. He said, “All the terrorists who have been arrested from different parts of the world lead us to the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan.” He said that July 2011 would be the beginning of the process of withdrawal of the US but cautioned that it would be gradual and conditions based. He said the US was trying to give a message to the friends, allies and Afghan people that President Obama was committed only to success and the US would not repeat the mistakes of the past by abandoning the region but, he added, at the same time the US military would not be there forever to protect the Afghan people.” Afghans should get ready to take the responsibility to protect themselves,” he added.
Admiral Mullen, on this occasion said that the United States needed to have a sustained partnership approach with Pakistan despite the complexities. He said a stable Afghanistan was also important for future of Pakistan.
He said, however, no amount of troops or no amount of resources would be able to win the war against terrorists if it was not coupled with the better governance.
Obama links Afghan success to Pakistan
By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday night sent focussed messages to Islamabad as he announced the expected surge of 30,000 US troops into Afghanistan but also set a deadline of July 2011 for beginning a pullout, leaving Americans and the world more confused than ever before about US AfPak policy and goals.
Caught between a divided Democratic Party not ready to support more troops and a Republican majority not ready for a pullout strategy, Obama in his West Point, New York, speech tried to please every one but sent clear messages for Pakistan and Afghanistan that the days of “blank cheques” were over and US would multiply its covert presence and operations inside Pakistan, despite the Pakistani backlash and resentment.
Reaction to Obama’s speech was mixed and confused and many senators and congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, announced they will resist funding for the troops surge in Congress, which analysts said may force Obama to cross party lines to seek votes, ignoring his own party dissidents.
For Pakistan Obama was specific and almost threatening. “This is the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by al-Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat,” he said.
“In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. This danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region,” he continued making a direct accusation that Pakistan was failing to stop cross border terrorists from crossing over into Afghanistan.
In another direct and categorical statement about US concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear capacity, Obama said: “The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.”
He announced a three point strategy of which the third dealt with Pakistan. “We will act with the full recognition that our success in Afghanistan is inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan,” he said. “We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border.”
“In the past, there have been those in Pakistan who have argued that the struggle against extremism is not their fight, and that Pakistan is better off doing little or seeking accommodation with those who use violence. But in recent years, as innocents have been killed from Karachi to Islamabad, it has become clear that it is the Pakistani people who are the most endangered by extremism. Public opinion has turned. The Pakistani Army has waged an offensive in Swat and South Waziristan. And there is no doubt that the United States and Pakistan share a common enemy.
Marking a shift from the old US policy he said: “In the past, we too often defined our relationship with Pakistan narrowly. Those days are over. Moving forward, we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests, mutual respect, and mutual trust. We will strengthen Pakistanís capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear. America is also providing substantial resources to support Pakistanís democracy and development. We are the largest international supporter for those Pakistanis displaced by the fighting. And going forward, the Pakistani people must know: America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistanís security and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent, so that the great potential of its people can be unleashed.”
Shortly after his speech the influential New York Times reported that quietly, “Mr Obama has authorised an expansion of the war in Pakistan as well - if only he can get a weak, divided, suspicious Pakistani government to agree to the terms...But the Pakistanis, suspicious of Mr Obama’s intentions and his staying power, have not yet agreed.”
The newspaper said in recent months, in addition to providing White House officials with classified assessments about Afghanistan, the CIA delivered a plan for widening the campaign of strikes against militants by drone aircraft in Pakistan, sending additional spies there and securing a White House commitment to bulk up the CIA’s budget for operations inside the country.
The expanded operations could include drone strikes in the southern province of Balochistan, where senior Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding, officials said. It is from there that they direct many of the attacks on American troops, attacks that are likely to increase as more Americans pour into Afghanistan, it said.
“The president endorsed an intensification of the campaign against Al Qaeda and its violent allies, including even more operations targeting terrorismís safe havens,” said one American official. “More people, more places, more operations.” That was the message delivered in recent weeks to Pakistani officials by Gen James L Jones, the national security adviser,” the NYT reported.
It said what was making matters worse, was that the president, Asif Ali Zardari, is often at odds with the nation’s powerful military and intelligence establishment.
“The question about Mr Obama’s Pakistan strategy is whether the new commitment of troops and resources can ultimately make America safer at a time of an evolving terrorist threat. Mr Obama insisted that was his central focus.”
ìThis is the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by Al Qaeda,” he said to the cadets at West Point. Many times in the speech he returned to the Pakistani nuclear threat.
The newspaper observed that Obama’s decision to raise the nuclear spectre was notable because a succession of American officials has publicly stated recently that the Pakistani arsenal is secure. In private, however, they have commissioned new intelligence studies on how vulnerable Pakistani warheads and laboratories would be if insurgents made greater inroads, with one official saying recently, “It is the scenario we spend the most time thinking about.”
In other reaction countrywide, the opinion was clearly divided. The Washington Post, in a story hours after the speech, analysed it in these words: “Would you buy a used war from this man? Americans might be seeing their bright, young president in a dark, new light this morning after watching his televised speech Tuesday night centring on escalation of the war in Afghanistan.”
It said Obama adopted the risky approach of both calling for a sizable troop surge — bigger in terms of percentage than the Iraq surge ordered by then-president George W Bush — and outlining an exit strategy in the same speech. That was a clear acknowledgment of the fragile state of public opinion after eight years of conflict in Afghanistan, as well as the political divisions.
Obama’s political standing depends on the military’s ability to successfully implement the new strategy and on his own ability to maintain public confidence through what is likely to be a period of partisan debate and rising US casualties. Democrats worry privately that the escalation, even with talk of an endgame, will demoralise their liberal base and dampen turnout in next year’s elections.
On Capitol Hill, they will face a major fight over funding the war. In the House, as many as half of Democrats may oppose the administration’s request for money to support the surge, forcing Obama to rely on a big block of Republican votes to get the legislation through the House and Senate.
Reactions on Tuesday night illustrated the challenging environment for the president. Liberal Democrats expressed opposition to any escalation, while Democratic leaders signalled their reservations by saying they will take time to study the plan. Republicans applauded the troop increase but almost uniformly warned about sending mixed messages with talk of leaving.
Others in the US had sharper comments. A blogger, John Aravosis from Washington DC, said on America Blog: “I don’t think the speech really changes anything, as Chris Matthews just said on TV, the right is still going to hate him, and the left is still going to be ticked that we’re sending more troops. And the proof, in the end, will be whether things turn around in Afghanistan, or whether the next three years are a continuation of the bad news from a country that’s costing us good soldiers and good money.”
Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University who worked in the Bush White House analysing public opinion on Iraq, said as Obama begins his effort to sell the new strategy, he is in a far stronger position politically than Bush was when he announced the surge policy in January 2007. But Feaver said mixed signals during the decision-making process forced Obama “to do a sharp pivot back” toward escalation, complicating his task of rallying public opinion.
Democrat congressman Ted Poe, from Humble, Texas, reacted: “No nation in history has ever told the enemy their battle plans, except tonight the United States has chosen to announce an arbitrary end to our commitment in defeating terrorism. Laying out our military tactics for our enemies is not only unwise, but poses a significant threat to the security of our country and the lives of the men and women on the battlefield. This new strategy contradicts our commitment to victory in Afghanistan and reaffirms our enemy’s belief that America will lose its will to win.”
On a liberal blog the comment was: “As expected, it was an admirable speech regardless of the questionable content, but, then, we’ve come to expect such lofty rhetorical flights from Obama. The tone was serious, which it had to be, and, on the whole, the president made his case effectively, I thought. But do we buy the case? I do not.”
ìI donít think he will have changed many minds,î said Rep Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, a vocal opponent of the Iraq war. Obama ìgives a great speech,î Woolsey said, but there was ìno news in it.î
Contending that there is no military solution to the Afghanistan situation, Woolsey said, ìWe need a surge of civilians, not combat troopsî to provide humanitarian and economic assistance to the impoverished and long-embattled nation.
The New York Times said making the Pakistan plan even more complex was Mr Obama’s effort to reconcile two seemingly contradictory messages on Tuesday evening. He had to convince the Pakistanis that he was not planning to leave the region — as the United States did 20 years ago, after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan — while reassuring American citizens that after an 18-month build-up, he would begin to head for the exits. The United States, he said, simply could not afford an open-ended war. Unlike President Bush, he suggested, he would not set “goals that are beyond what we can achieve at a reasonable cost, and what we need to achieve to secure our interests.”
Called upon afterward by CBS News anchor Katie Couric, veteran correspondent Bob Schieffer said the speech might prove to be “the defining moment of the Obama presidency” — all while a militaristic rallying cry may have seemed atypical and out of character. Schieffer also noted that Obama “always” makes a “very eloquent” presentation, so that was no surprise.
It was the night Obama “took command of the Afghan war,” Schieffer said. The correspondent added that even if the troop escalation is a smart move, announcing in advance an 18-month time frame — after which the servicemen and women will come home — could be folly. “I just don’t understand the logic of how that works,” Schieffer said.
On NBC, Sen John McCain made a similar point to anchor Brian Williams. “I do support it,” he said of the troop surge. But McCain also said that Obama is “sending the wrong signal” when announcing “that we are leaving on an arbitrary date.”
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday night sent focussed messages to Islamabad as he announced the expected surge of 30,000 US troops into Afghanistan but also set a deadline of July 2011 for beginning a pullout, leaving Americans and the world more confused than ever before about US AfPak policy and goals.
Caught between a divided Democratic Party not ready to support more troops and a Republican majority not ready for a pullout strategy, Obama in his West Point, New York, speech tried to please every one but sent clear messages for Pakistan and Afghanistan that the days of “blank cheques” were over and US would multiply its covert presence and operations inside Pakistan, despite the Pakistani backlash and resentment.
Reaction to Obama’s speech was mixed and confused and many senators and congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, announced they will resist funding for the troops surge in Congress, which analysts said may force Obama to cross party lines to seek votes, ignoring his own party dissidents.
For Pakistan Obama was specific and almost threatening. “This is the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by al-Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat,” he said.
“In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. This danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region,” he continued making a direct accusation that Pakistan was failing to stop cross border terrorists from crossing over into Afghanistan.
In another direct and categorical statement about US concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear capacity, Obama said: “The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.”
He announced a three point strategy of which the third dealt with Pakistan. “We will act with the full recognition that our success in Afghanistan is inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan,” he said. “We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border.”
“In the past, there have been those in Pakistan who have argued that the struggle against extremism is not their fight, and that Pakistan is better off doing little or seeking accommodation with those who use violence. But in recent years, as innocents have been killed from Karachi to Islamabad, it has become clear that it is the Pakistani people who are the most endangered by extremism. Public opinion has turned. The Pakistani Army has waged an offensive in Swat and South Waziristan. And there is no doubt that the United States and Pakistan share a common enemy.
Marking a shift from the old US policy he said: “In the past, we too often defined our relationship with Pakistan narrowly. Those days are over. Moving forward, we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests, mutual respect, and mutual trust. We will strengthen Pakistanís capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear. America is also providing substantial resources to support Pakistanís democracy and development. We are the largest international supporter for those Pakistanis displaced by the fighting. And going forward, the Pakistani people must know: America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistanís security and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent, so that the great potential of its people can be unleashed.”
Shortly after his speech the influential New York Times reported that quietly, “Mr Obama has authorised an expansion of the war in Pakistan as well - if only he can get a weak, divided, suspicious Pakistani government to agree to the terms...But the Pakistanis, suspicious of Mr Obama’s intentions and his staying power, have not yet agreed.”
The newspaper said in recent months, in addition to providing White House officials with classified assessments about Afghanistan, the CIA delivered a plan for widening the campaign of strikes against militants by drone aircraft in Pakistan, sending additional spies there and securing a White House commitment to bulk up the CIA’s budget for operations inside the country.
The expanded operations could include drone strikes in the southern province of Balochistan, where senior Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding, officials said. It is from there that they direct many of the attacks on American troops, attacks that are likely to increase as more Americans pour into Afghanistan, it said.
“The president endorsed an intensification of the campaign against Al Qaeda and its violent allies, including even more operations targeting terrorismís safe havens,” said one American official. “More people, more places, more operations.” That was the message delivered in recent weeks to Pakistani officials by Gen James L Jones, the national security adviser,” the NYT reported.
It said what was making matters worse, was that the president, Asif Ali Zardari, is often at odds with the nation’s powerful military and intelligence establishment.
“The question about Mr Obama’s Pakistan strategy is whether the new commitment of troops and resources can ultimately make America safer at a time of an evolving terrorist threat. Mr Obama insisted that was his central focus.”
ìThis is the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by Al Qaeda,” he said to the cadets at West Point. Many times in the speech he returned to the Pakistani nuclear threat.
The newspaper observed that Obama’s decision to raise the nuclear spectre was notable because a succession of American officials has publicly stated recently that the Pakistani arsenal is secure. In private, however, they have commissioned new intelligence studies on how vulnerable Pakistani warheads and laboratories would be if insurgents made greater inroads, with one official saying recently, “It is the scenario we spend the most time thinking about.”
In other reaction countrywide, the opinion was clearly divided. The Washington Post, in a story hours after the speech, analysed it in these words: “Would you buy a used war from this man? Americans might be seeing their bright, young president in a dark, new light this morning after watching his televised speech Tuesday night centring on escalation of the war in Afghanistan.”
It said Obama adopted the risky approach of both calling for a sizable troop surge — bigger in terms of percentage than the Iraq surge ordered by then-president George W Bush — and outlining an exit strategy in the same speech. That was a clear acknowledgment of the fragile state of public opinion after eight years of conflict in Afghanistan, as well as the political divisions.
Obama’s political standing depends on the military’s ability to successfully implement the new strategy and on his own ability to maintain public confidence through what is likely to be a period of partisan debate and rising US casualties. Democrats worry privately that the escalation, even with talk of an endgame, will demoralise their liberal base and dampen turnout in next year’s elections.
On Capitol Hill, they will face a major fight over funding the war. In the House, as many as half of Democrats may oppose the administration’s request for money to support the surge, forcing Obama to rely on a big block of Republican votes to get the legislation through the House and Senate.
Reactions on Tuesday night illustrated the challenging environment for the president. Liberal Democrats expressed opposition to any escalation, while Democratic leaders signalled their reservations by saying they will take time to study the plan. Republicans applauded the troop increase but almost uniformly warned about sending mixed messages with talk of leaving.
Others in the US had sharper comments. A blogger, John Aravosis from Washington DC, said on America Blog: “I don’t think the speech really changes anything, as Chris Matthews just said on TV, the right is still going to hate him, and the left is still going to be ticked that we’re sending more troops. And the proof, in the end, will be whether things turn around in Afghanistan, or whether the next three years are a continuation of the bad news from a country that’s costing us good soldiers and good money.”
Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University who worked in the Bush White House analysing public opinion on Iraq, said as Obama begins his effort to sell the new strategy, he is in a far stronger position politically than Bush was when he announced the surge policy in January 2007. But Feaver said mixed signals during the decision-making process forced Obama “to do a sharp pivot back” toward escalation, complicating his task of rallying public opinion.
Democrat congressman Ted Poe, from Humble, Texas, reacted: “No nation in history has ever told the enemy their battle plans, except tonight the United States has chosen to announce an arbitrary end to our commitment in defeating terrorism. Laying out our military tactics for our enemies is not only unwise, but poses a significant threat to the security of our country and the lives of the men and women on the battlefield. This new strategy contradicts our commitment to victory in Afghanistan and reaffirms our enemy’s belief that America will lose its will to win.”
On a liberal blog the comment was: “As expected, it was an admirable speech regardless of the questionable content, but, then, we’ve come to expect such lofty rhetorical flights from Obama. The tone was serious, which it had to be, and, on the whole, the president made his case effectively, I thought. But do we buy the case? I do not.”
ìI donít think he will have changed many minds,î said Rep Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, a vocal opponent of the Iraq war. Obama ìgives a great speech,î Woolsey said, but there was ìno news in it.î
Contending that there is no military solution to the Afghanistan situation, Woolsey said, ìWe need a surge of civilians, not combat troopsî to provide humanitarian and economic assistance to the impoverished and long-embattled nation.
The New York Times said making the Pakistan plan even more complex was Mr Obama’s effort to reconcile two seemingly contradictory messages on Tuesday evening. He had to convince the Pakistanis that he was not planning to leave the region — as the United States did 20 years ago, after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan — while reassuring American citizens that after an 18-month build-up, he would begin to head for the exits. The United States, he said, simply could not afford an open-ended war. Unlike President Bush, he suggested, he would not set “goals that are beyond what we can achieve at a reasonable cost, and what we need to achieve to secure our interests.”
Called upon afterward by CBS News anchor Katie Couric, veteran correspondent Bob Schieffer said the speech might prove to be “the defining moment of the Obama presidency” — all while a militaristic rallying cry may have seemed atypical and out of character. Schieffer also noted that Obama “always” makes a “very eloquent” presentation, so that was no surprise.
It was the night Obama “took command of the Afghan war,” Schieffer said. The correspondent added that even if the troop escalation is a smart move, announcing in advance an 18-month time frame — after which the servicemen and women will come home — could be folly. “I just don’t understand the logic of how that works,” Schieffer said.
On NBC, Sen John McCain made a similar point to anchor Brian Williams. “I do support it,” he said of the troop surge. But McCain also said that Obama is “sending the wrong signal” when announcing “that we are leaving on an arbitrary date.”
United State envoy says all in Pakistan on board
By Mohammad Malick
ISLAMABAD: ‘Oh! come on, that’s a ridiculous suggestion...’ was what her expression clearly stated, but what US ambassador Anne Patterson actually said, responding to a query, was that she felt rather “surprised” by some statements flowing out of the presidency and the prime minister’s office, suggesting neither had been taken into confidence during the preparation of the new regional strategy announced by President Obama. On the contrary, she insisted all power centres in Pakistan, including the president, the prime minister and the military had been constantly engaged by the top functionaries of the American power dispensation.
She pointed out to the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and repeated visits by top American generals, including Mullen, McChrystal, the CIA director, national security adviser, etc. “Only a few days back Gen McChrystal had a six-hour session with Gen Kayani as well wherein he explained a lot of things in exhaustive detail,” she added.
The ambassador made these remarks over a breakfast meeting with a group of newspaper editors, ostensibly to discuss the much-awaited Obama speech made a couple of hours earlier but the candid exchange of views ended up being more of a Q&A session with the ambassador ably assisted by her Deputy Chief of Mission Gerald Feierstein and Brigadier General Nagata, while other key officials of the US embassy also enjoyed the typical American breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs and sausages (Halal of course).
Elaborating on these interactive parlays she insisted serious and exhaustive discussions had been held between Pakistani and American leadership during the strategy review process and that both sides “shared similar goals”. Ambassador Patterson reasoned that it was inconceivable that a process aimed at stabilising Pakistan and Afghanistan would be done without consulting the two. Why then would the presidency and the prime minister say that they weren’t involved, she was asked? She simply responded with a meaningful smile and a slight shrug of shoulders.
When asked about the feared destabilising effects of new troop deployment in the border areas of Afghan Helmand province in particular, Brig Nagata, claimed a couple of Pakistani generals had even been given a helicopter ride over possible new troop deployment areas to show that it did not pose the much-touted threat. The brigadier’s assertion was also a tacit implication of the US administration having shared the contours of the new strategy, Pakistani government’s denials notwithstanding, in fair detail with the Pakistani civil and military leadership.
When asked about the underlying reason for President Obama making a seemingly unwarranted reference to Pakistan’s nuclear assets with a couched reference to al-Qaeda eyeing them for its own usage, she hastened to add it would be incorrect to assume that Obama had indicated any dissatisfaction with the safety and security protocol of the nuclear programme. To paraphrase what she said, Pakistan’s nuclear assets were as safe as those of the United States and that Obama had only talked of al-Qaeda’s intent to get its hands on weapons of mass destruction.
She added, however, that she had herself viewed highly credible intelligence that claimed that a cell within the al-Qaeda was trying to get hold of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. When asked if it were the same intelligence sources that had also wrongly claimed WMDs in Iraq, Feierstein chimed in by pointing out it would be wrong to draw a parallel between the two, as Pakistan had a declared nuclear programme and al-Qaeda was an established terrorist reality and, therefore, the feared scenario was a very real threat. When the ambassador was pressed on this issue of why Obama had to then flagged this issue if US did not have any real or perceived fears as claimed by her, Feierstein again interjected by arguing that hypothetically there was no security-fail proof system anywhere, including the US itself, and that all Obama wanted to highlight was a real threat by a real enemy which needed to be carefully guarded against and nothing more should be read into his remarks.
Ambassador Patterson stuck to her guns, insisting there was unquestionable intelligence about the presence of top al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan. The US envoy was at pains to convince that there would not be any ‘power vacuum’ in Afghanistan in view of the 18-month start of withdrawal window given in President Obama’s speech. When asked about any particular mechanism evolved by the US administration to engage good Taliban as per this revised strategy, she said the US was “very enthusiastic” about the Jirga process and fully favoured the strategy of notable Pashtuns engaging the “good Taliban” through the Jirga process and expressed that hope that the same would be taking place on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. However, she along with Brig Nagata made it abundantly clear that it would not be a role taken on directly by the United States. Ambassador Paterson said in Afghanistan it would be up to the Karzai government to talk to the right Taliban and to the Pakistani govt on this side. When asked who gets to decide who are the good Taliban as in the past there have been clear differences of opinion on this precise issue between US authorities and Pakistani military establishment, the ambassador responded by saying she saw no such complications as according to her “there was now a convergence of views and priorities between the two”. Easier said than done ambassador, is all one can say.
According to Brig Nagata, the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen McChrystal was only directly involved to the extent of engaging low rank Taliban fighters, etc., who may have joined in due to poverty and joblessness. “individual, low-level Taliban fighters”, as he put it. He would also have us believe that McChrystal’s men would be able to identify, talk to and decommission such rankers while cutting their way around the influence of the power lords, binding tribal affinities, etc. The likely outcome is anybody’s guess.
On the matter of Indian involvement in fomenting trouble in Balochistan, she said so far the Pakistani government had not shared any specific evidence in this regards with the US and went on to state that if any credible evidence were to be shared then the US would definitely take action, without elaborating what that action could be.
Replying to the inevitable question of presence of operatives of defence contractor firms like Blackwater, etc., Ambassador Paterson termed Blackwater presence claim “utter nonsense”. She said the US had not employed services of any defence contractor firm for counterinsurgency and military operations within Pakistan. When asked about the possibility of her being kept out of the loop by her own government, she retorted, “No. This is not possible. I would not be left out of the loop in any such event.” She said the firm DynCorp was only being used as maintenance service providers in Quetta and elsewhere.
ISLAMABAD: ‘Oh! come on, that’s a ridiculous suggestion...’ was what her expression clearly stated, but what US ambassador Anne Patterson actually said, responding to a query, was that she felt rather “surprised” by some statements flowing out of the presidency and the prime minister’s office, suggesting neither had been taken into confidence during the preparation of the new regional strategy announced by President Obama. On the contrary, she insisted all power centres in Pakistan, including the president, the prime minister and the military had been constantly engaged by the top functionaries of the American power dispensation.
She pointed out to the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and repeated visits by top American generals, including Mullen, McChrystal, the CIA director, national security adviser, etc. “Only a few days back Gen McChrystal had a six-hour session with Gen Kayani as well wherein he explained a lot of things in exhaustive detail,” she added.
The ambassador made these remarks over a breakfast meeting with a group of newspaper editors, ostensibly to discuss the much-awaited Obama speech made a couple of hours earlier but the candid exchange of views ended up being more of a Q&A session with the ambassador ably assisted by her Deputy Chief of Mission Gerald Feierstein and Brigadier General Nagata, while other key officials of the US embassy also enjoyed the typical American breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs and sausages (Halal of course).
Elaborating on these interactive parlays she insisted serious and exhaustive discussions had been held between Pakistani and American leadership during the strategy review process and that both sides “shared similar goals”. Ambassador Patterson reasoned that it was inconceivable that a process aimed at stabilising Pakistan and Afghanistan would be done without consulting the two. Why then would the presidency and the prime minister say that they weren’t involved, she was asked? She simply responded with a meaningful smile and a slight shrug of shoulders.
When asked about the feared destabilising effects of new troop deployment in the border areas of Afghan Helmand province in particular, Brig Nagata, claimed a couple of Pakistani generals had even been given a helicopter ride over possible new troop deployment areas to show that it did not pose the much-touted threat. The brigadier’s assertion was also a tacit implication of the US administration having shared the contours of the new strategy, Pakistani government’s denials notwithstanding, in fair detail with the Pakistani civil and military leadership.
When asked about the underlying reason for President Obama making a seemingly unwarranted reference to Pakistan’s nuclear assets with a couched reference to al-Qaeda eyeing them for its own usage, she hastened to add it would be incorrect to assume that Obama had indicated any dissatisfaction with the safety and security protocol of the nuclear programme. To paraphrase what she said, Pakistan’s nuclear assets were as safe as those of the United States and that Obama had only talked of al-Qaeda’s intent to get its hands on weapons of mass destruction.
She added, however, that she had herself viewed highly credible intelligence that claimed that a cell within the al-Qaeda was trying to get hold of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. When asked if it were the same intelligence sources that had also wrongly claimed WMDs in Iraq, Feierstein chimed in by pointing out it would be wrong to draw a parallel between the two, as Pakistan had a declared nuclear programme and al-Qaeda was an established terrorist reality and, therefore, the feared scenario was a very real threat. When the ambassador was pressed on this issue of why Obama had to then flagged this issue if US did not have any real or perceived fears as claimed by her, Feierstein again interjected by arguing that hypothetically there was no security-fail proof system anywhere, including the US itself, and that all Obama wanted to highlight was a real threat by a real enemy which needed to be carefully guarded against and nothing more should be read into his remarks.
Ambassador Patterson stuck to her guns, insisting there was unquestionable intelligence about the presence of top al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan. The US envoy was at pains to convince that there would not be any ‘power vacuum’ in Afghanistan in view of the 18-month start of withdrawal window given in President Obama’s speech. When asked about any particular mechanism evolved by the US administration to engage good Taliban as per this revised strategy, she said the US was “very enthusiastic” about the Jirga process and fully favoured the strategy of notable Pashtuns engaging the “good Taliban” through the Jirga process and expressed that hope that the same would be taking place on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. However, she along with Brig Nagata made it abundantly clear that it would not be a role taken on directly by the United States. Ambassador Paterson said in Afghanistan it would be up to the Karzai government to talk to the right Taliban and to the Pakistani govt on this side. When asked who gets to decide who are the good Taliban as in the past there have been clear differences of opinion on this precise issue between US authorities and Pakistani military establishment, the ambassador responded by saying she saw no such complications as according to her “there was now a convergence of views and priorities between the two”. Easier said than done ambassador, is all one can say.
According to Brig Nagata, the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen McChrystal was only directly involved to the extent of engaging low rank Taliban fighters, etc., who may have joined in due to poverty and joblessness. “individual, low-level Taliban fighters”, as he put it. He would also have us believe that McChrystal’s men would be able to identify, talk to and decommission such rankers while cutting their way around the influence of the power lords, binding tribal affinities, etc. The likely outcome is anybody’s guess.
On the matter of Indian involvement in fomenting trouble in Balochistan, she said so far the Pakistani government had not shared any specific evidence in this regards with the US and went on to state that if any credible evidence were to be shared then the US would definitely take action, without elaborating what that action could be.
Replying to the inevitable question of presence of operatives of defence contractor firms like Blackwater, etc., Ambassador Paterson termed Blackwater presence claim “utter nonsense”. She said the US had not employed services of any defence contractor firm for counterinsurgency and military operations within Pakistan. When asked about the possibility of her being kept out of the loop by her own government, she retorted, “No. This is not possible. I would not be left out of the loop in any such event.” She said the firm DynCorp was only being used as maintenance service providers in Quetta and elsewhere.
Was it an attempt on CJ’s life?
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Was it an attempt on the life of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry or a mere goof-up by the Islamabad traffic police?
Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain says that what had happened to the chief justice and his family on Monday night was something “highly unusual” that needs to be thoroughly investigated.
However, lawyers’ leader and former spokesman for the chief justice during his days of unconstitutional depositions Athar Minallah smelled a rat. He believed that the people’s chief justice was making certain strong circles uncomfortable and added that the facts of the event did not lead to the conclusion that it was just an accident.
“The people’s chief justice obviously makes strong circles uncomfortable,” Athar Minallah said without explaining which “strong circles” he was referring to but added: “The facts (of the incident) do not lead to the conclusion that it was just an accident.”
Talking to The News, he said: “There seems to be more to it that ought to be investigated thoroughly.”
When approached, SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam said the incident is being thoroughly investigated and all the necessary details about the traffic police officials involved in the incident are being gathered. Without offering any comment whether it was a mere accident as a result of the police goof up or a conspiracy to target the chief justice, he said a joint investigation team has been constituted by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday to probe the matter.
Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi Muhammad Aslam Tareen, when contacted, said: “Nothing could be ruled out.” He was surprised that how a traffic police inspector could block the VIP route when already the Islamabad police were duly informed about the arrival of the chief justice.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his family members narrowly escaped what could have been a serious accident when an Islamabad traffic police vehicle suddenly was found blocking the way of the VIP motorcade.
As a result, over six vehicles, including five those in the motorcade, collided with each other, some even overturned. A daughter of the chief justice got minor injury while Justice Iftikhar and other members of his family remained secure.
When the motorcade entered the capital from the toll plaza near the Golra interchange it found an Islamabad traffic police vehicle parked horizontally in the middle of the road. According to one version, after the pilot vehicle of the motorcade had passed, the interrupting police vehicle was parked horizontally. The other version is that the pilot vehicle had avoided collision and so did the CJ’s car while the other vehicles could not spot the police vehicle and smashed into it. However, the fact remains that the police vehicle was blocking the VIP route.
Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain, when contacted, sounded worried about the accident but he was cautious in his response. He said that the police need to tell if it was an accident apparently on account of the negligence of the traffic police or something else.
He, however, said: “This is something highly unusual.” Dr Faqir, who was not willing to pre-judge the event, said the matter has to be thoroughly investigated to get to the truth.
After his restoration and for the kind of cases he is taking up and judgment handing down, the life of Justice Iftikhar is believed to be under threat from certain powerful quarters. Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had made many enemies from amongst the powerful elite of the country before Nov 3, 2007 by siding with the poor and downtrodden of the country and got deposed by Musharraf, is still making more enemies from the powerful elite. The Supreme Court’s decision to knock down the NRO has shocked many, whereas he has also taken up innumerable cases of corruption, loot and plunder of state’s wealth by a selected few.
Besides taking up the Bank of Punjab issue that involved Rs9 billion and exposed several powerful, the chief justice also took suo moto notice of the sale of the state-land in Karachi and Sindh on throwaway prices. The present Supreme Court had also cleansed the superior judiciary from over 100 PCO judges and others appointed on Dogar’s recommendations after Nov 3, 2007.
Some “top” lawyers of the country, who had multiplied their fortunes during the Dogar tenure, are also upset because of the corruption allegations levelled against them by some accused or petitioners.
Our correspondent adds: The office of the Attorney General for Pakistan on Tuesday directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad to thoroughly investigate the accident of motorcade of the chief justice of Pakistan and submit a report in this regard.
The motorcade of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry met an accident near the Islamabad motorway the other day.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was on his way to Islamabad from Lahore via motorway and the accident took place when his motorcade was hit by another vehicle coming from the opposite side immediately after leaving the Islamabad motorway, due to which vehicles of the caravan collided with each other - however fortunately, the chief justice and his family members did not sustain any injuries.
After the incident, Acting Attorney General for Pakistan Shah Khawar met Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and enquired about the whole incident.
“I have directed IGP Islamabad Syed Kaleem Imam to thoroughly investigate the matter, identifying the person whose negligence caused the incident to take place,” Shah Khawar told The News.
He said he has directed the IGP to evolve a new security plan after consultation with the chief justice of Pakistan and his office staff to avoid any untoward incident in future.
The acting attorney general directed the IGP to award stern punishment to the people held responsible for the incident and further directed to submit a progress report of the enquiry
Meanwhile, it was learnt that an investigation committee has been set up after the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) motorcade met an accident. Two traffic policemen have reportedly been arrested, an in-charge inspector suspended and show-cause notice to the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) concerned has been issued. The injured were shifted to various hospitals and provided medical treatment.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry visited PIMS and Polyclinic hospitals and enquired after the health of his staff members injured in the accident.
ISLAMABAD: Was it an attempt on the life of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry or a mere goof-up by the Islamabad traffic police?
Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain says that what had happened to the chief justice and his family on Monday night was something “highly unusual” that needs to be thoroughly investigated.
However, lawyers’ leader and former spokesman for the chief justice during his days of unconstitutional depositions Athar Minallah smelled a rat. He believed that the people’s chief justice was making certain strong circles uncomfortable and added that the facts of the event did not lead to the conclusion that it was just an accident.
“The people’s chief justice obviously makes strong circles uncomfortable,” Athar Minallah said without explaining which “strong circles” he was referring to but added: “The facts (of the incident) do not lead to the conclusion that it was just an accident.”
Talking to The News, he said: “There seems to be more to it that ought to be investigated thoroughly.”
When approached, SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam said the incident is being thoroughly investigated and all the necessary details about the traffic police officials involved in the incident are being gathered. Without offering any comment whether it was a mere accident as a result of the police goof up or a conspiracy to target the chief justice, he said a joint investigation team has been constituted by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday to probe the matter.
Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi Muhammad Aslam Tareen, when contacted, said: “Nothing could be ruled out.” He was surprised that how a traffic police inspector could block the VIP route when already the Islamabad police were duly informed about the arrival of the chief justice.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his family members narrowly escaped what could have been a serious accident when an Islamabad traffic police vehicle suddenly was found blocking the way of the VIP motorcade.
As a result, over six vehicles, including five those in the motorcade, collided with each other, some even overturned. A daughter of the chief justice got minor injury while Justice Iftikhar and other members of his family remained secure.
When the motorcade entered the capital from the toll plaza near the Golra interchange it found an Islamabad traffic police vehicle parked horizontally in the middle of the road. According to one version, after the pilot vehicle of the motorcade had passed, the interrupting police vehicle was parked horizontally. The other version is that the pilot vehicle had avoided collision and so did the CJ’s car while the other vehicles could not spot the police vehicle and smashed into it. However, the fact remains that the police vehicle was blocking the VIP route.
Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain, when contacted, sounded worried about the accident but he was cautious in his response. He said that the police need to tell if it was an accident apparently on account of the negligence of the traffic police or something else.
He, however, said: “This is something highly unusual.” Dr Faqir, who was not willing to pre-judge the event, said the matter has to be thoroughly investigated to get to the truth.
After his restoration and for the kind of cases he is taking up and judgment handing down, the life of Justice Iftikhar is believed to be under threat from certain powerful quarters. Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had made many enemies from amongst the powerful elite of the country before Nov 3, 2007 by siding with the poor and downtrodden of the country and got deposed by Musharraf, is still making more enemies from the powerful elite. The Supreme Court’s decision to knock down the NRO has shocked many, whereas he has also taken up innumerable cases of corruption, loot and plunder of state’s wealth by a selected few.
Besides taking up the Bank of Punjab issue that involved Rs9 billion and exposed several powerful, the chief justice also took suo moto notice of the sale of the state-land in Karachi and Sindh on throwaway prices. The present Supreme Court had also cleansed the superior judiciary from over 100 PCO judges and others appointed on Dogar’s recommendations after Nov 3, 2007.
Some “top” lawyers of the country, who had multiplied their fortunes during the Dogar tenure, are also upset because of the corruption allegations levelled against them by some accused or petitioners.
Our correspondent adds: The office of the Attorney General for Pakistan on Tuesday directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad to thoroughly investigate the accident of motorcade of the chief justice of Pakistan and submit a report in this regard.
The motorcade of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry met an accident near the Islamabad motorway the other day.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was on his way to Islamabad from Lahore via motorway and the accident took place when his motorcade was hit by another vehicle coming from the opposite side immediately after leaving the Islamabad motorway, due to which vehicles of the caravan collided with each other - however fortunately, the chief justice and his family members did not sustain any injuries.
After the incident, Acting Attorney General for Pakistan Shah Khawar met Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and enquired about the whole incident.
“I have directed IGP Islamabad Syed Kaleem Imam to thoroughly investigate the matter, identifying the person whose negligence caused the incident to take place,” Shah Khawar told The News.
He said he has directed the IGP to evolve a new security plan after consultation with the chief justice of Pakistan and his office staff to avoid any untoward incident in future.
The acting attorney general directed the IGP to award stern punishment to the people held responsible for the incident and further directed to submit a progress report of the enquiry
Meanwhile, it was learnt that an investigation committee has been set up after the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) motorcade met an accident. Two traffic policemen have reportedly been arrested, an in-charge inspector suspended and show-cause notice to the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) concerned has been issued. The injured were shifted to various hospitals and provided medical treatment.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry visited PIMS and Polyclinic hospitals and enquired after the health of his staff members injured in the accident.
Germany tells Pakistan
By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir & Asim Yasin
BERLIN: Germany has advised Pakistan to improve its governance for the sake of boosting its economy. The restoration of the superior judiciary has been helping in strengthening institutions in Pakistan.
The piece of advice came from the leading European nation here on Tuesday in a news conference jointly addressed by visiting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel after their bilateral talks in the German Chancellery.
The advice by the chancellor to improve the governance and comments on Pakistan’s judiciary were conspicuous since Germany has been supporting Pakistan in different spheres for various endeavours.
Both Pakistan and Germany announced to maintain their strategic political dialogue for further cooperation in the economic, energy, investment and technology transfer.
“We will continue to support Pakistan in the war against terror and will do every thing for the development of Pakistan,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the joint press conference after her meeting with Prime Minister Gilani.
“We have decided to upgrade and devise a roadmap for cooperation between the two countries,” said Prime Minister Gilani.
Gilani and Merkel discussed enhanced defence cooperation in areas of training, defence procurement and production during their meeting on Tuesday.
The defence cooperation between the two countries was put on a freeze following the nuclear tests by Pakistan and India in 1998.
In the press conference, Merkel said Germany had offered the assistance in the field of the education that will help to curtail the menace of terrorism. She said Germany was helping Pakistan in the framework of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP).
She said investment protection treaty between the two countries would lay the solid foundation for further cooperation between the two countries. She said under the FoDP, Germany has tried to stabilize economic situation of Pakistan, helping the IMF to support the country and hoped this is indeed in interest of Pakistan.
Gilani said Germany being one of the largest economies of the European Union can assist Pakistan for greater access to its goods to the European markets.
Asked about the German future policy regarding Afghanistan, Merkel said Germany would make its point on troops increase in Afghanistan following the Afghanistan conference on Afghanistan on Jan 28.
When asked about the trade facilities to Pakistan under the GSP for market access in European Union, she said: “The government will show constructive attitude and encourage the EU to promote these matters. The strategic importance of Pakistan is seen by all and other members of the EU are understood to have seen its importance.”
While in an opening statement, Gilani said, “In the battle for hearts and minds, in the quest to give our people, the hope of a better tomorrow, greater trade remains a strategic imperative.”
The prime minister appreciated the German chancellor for her country’s support to the FoDP with pledging $155 million at the Tokyo Donors Conference.
He informed the German chancellor about the success of the counter-terrorism operations in South Waziristan and said now the government’s priority was relief and rehabilitation of the returnees in affected areas and reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure and property.
He said Pakistan looks forward to German assistance to share the burden for the reconstruction of areas affected by terrorism, extremism and militancy.
Both leaders also exchanged views on overall security situation in this region, with particular reference to Afghanistan.
He said being Afghanistan’s immediate neighbour, Pakistan must be onboard to ensure sustainability of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Merkel said because of Germany’s own interest in Afghanistan, it desires improvement in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “We wish to strengthen relations between the two,” she added.
Meanwhile, the German government declined to give an outright undertaking to Pakistan regarding immediate removal of laws coming in the way of provision of defence equipment to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had extensive talks with the German leaders including its president, chancellor, president of the German Parliament and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee here in the German capital and impressed upon the need to remove all restrictions on supplies for Pakistan’s defence requirements.
The German chancellor expressed her inability in the wake of the restrictions imposed by the successive administrations. She was sympathetic to Pakistan’s request in this regard.
In the meantime, Pakistan and Germany have agreed to set up strategic dialogue of the two countries. The dialogue would be on the echelon of the foreign ministers and it would cater various aspects of the bilateral ties.
BERLIN: Germany has advised Pakistan to improve its governance for the sake of boosting its economy. The restoration of the superior judiciary has been helping in strengthening institutions in Pakistan.
The piece of advice came from the leading European nation here on Tuesday in a news conference jointly addressed by visiting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel after their bilateral talks in the German Chancellery.
The advice by the chancellor to improve the governance and comments on Pakistan’s judiciary were conspicuous since Germany has been supporting Pakistan in different spheres for various endeavours.
Both Pakistan and Germany announced to maintain their strategic political dialogue for further cooperation in the economic, energy, investment and technology transfer.
“We will continue to support Pakistan in the war against terror and will do every thing for the development of Pakistan,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the joint press conference after her meeting with Prime Minister Gilani.
“We have decided to upgrade and devise a roadmap for cooperation between the two countries,” said Prime Minister Gilani.
Gilani and Merkel discussed enhanced defence cooperation in areas of training, defence procurement and production during their meeting on Tuesday.
The defence cooperation between the two countries was put on a freeze following the nuclear tests by Pakistan and India in 1998.
In the press conference, Merkel said Germany had offered the assistance in the field of the education that will help to curtail the menace of terrorism. She said Germany was helping Pakistan in the framework of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP).
She said investment protection treaty between the two countries would lay the solid foundation for further cooperation between the two countries. She said under the FoDP, Germany has tried to stabilize economic situation of Pakistan, helping the IMF to support the country and hoped this is indeed in interest of Pakistan.
Gilani said Germany being one of the largest economies of the European Union can assist Pakistan for greater access to its goods to the European markets.
Asked about the German future policy regarding Afghanistan, Merkel said Germany would make its point on troops increase in Afghanistan following the Afghanistan conference on Afghanistan on Jan 28.
When asked about the trade facilities to Pakistan under the GSP for market access in European Union, she said: “The government will show constructive attitude and encourage the EU to promote these matters. The strategic importance of Pakistan is seen by all and other members of the EU are understood to have seen its importance.”
While in an opening statement, Gilani said, “In the battle for hearts and minds, in the quest to give our people, the hope of a better tomorrow, greater trade remains a strategic imperative.”
The prime minister appreciated the German chancellor for her country’s support to the FoDP with pledging $155 million at the Tokyo Donors Conference.
He informed the German chancellor about the success of the counter-terrorism operations in South Waziristan and said now the government’s priority was relief and rehabilitation of the returnees in affected areas and reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure and property.
He said Pakistan looks forward to German assistance to share the burden for the reconstruction of areas affected by terrorism, extremism and militancy.
Both leaders also exchanged views on overall security situation in this region, with particular reference to Afghanistan.
He said being Afghanistan’s immediate neighbour, Pakistan must be onboard to ensure sustainability of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Merkel said because of Germany’s own interest in Afghanistan, it desires improvement in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “We wish to strengthen relations between the two,” she added.
Meanwhile, the German government declined to give an outright undertaking to Pakistan regarding immediate removal of laws coming in the way of provision of defence equipment to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had extensive talks with the German leaders including its president, chancellor, president of the German Parliament and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee here in the German capital and impressed upon the need to remove all restrictions on supplies for Pakistan’s defence requirements.
The German chancellor expressed her inability in the wake of the restrictions imposed by the successive administrations. She was sympathetic to Pakistan’s request in this regard.
In the meantime, Pakistan and Germany have agreed to set up strategic dialogue of the two countries. The dialogue would be on the echelon of the foreign ministers and it would cater various aspects of the bilateral ties.
Most of Rs100bn loans written off in Musharraf era
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Industrialists, military men and politicians have got loans of over Rs100 billion written off from banks since 1985, the National Assembly Secretariat record has revealed.
A big chunk of loans was written off during the regime of former President Pervez Musharraf.
The beneficiaries also included politicians-cum-industrialists and a group of the print media that later joined the electronic media.
A few of those who got loans written off were genuine cases as they suffered from sick industries or bankruptcy. Their loans were written off according to rules and the prevalent law. Some of the beneficiaries, however, submitted bogus claims and the banks did not follow rules and regulations in writing off their loans.
The official record available with The News which was placed in the NA in the past showed that a mind-boggling sum of Rs30 billion in loans was written off between 1985-2002, benefiting the top politicians, military men and powerful industrial groups of the country. The list was compiled by the then caretaker government of Moin Qureshi in 1993.
In 2007, the auditor general of Pakistan had revealed in a report that during the period 2002-2007, loans worth Rs54 billion were written off by the Musharraf government. Thus, total figure had reached Rs85 billion. But, now the recent official report presented before the NA revealed that the total figure of written off loans had finally crossed Rs100 billion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan’s announcement about the loan write-off on Tuesday was followed by the demand of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to recover the written off loans from politicians, might land many in big trouble.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had also taken suo moto notice in October 2007 after this correspondent had published a story in The News quoting the auditor general of Pakistan report that loans worth Rs54 billion were written off during the last five years. The issue is still pending before the court.
Likewise, the NA Public Accounts Committee headed by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has also taken serious note of the loan write-off and its report is yet to be tabled for further deliberation.
As many as 1,000 influential businessmen and Army men had a total of Rs18 billion loans written off by the government-owned banks during the first three years of the military government. The list was submitted in the NA when Zafarullah Jamali was the prime minister and Shaukat Aziz his finance minister.
The loan write-off scam was partially reported in the media in the early days of Musharraf but was finjavascript:void(0)ally swept under the carpet.
It may be added that these loans were written off after declaring these industrial units as “sick industry or on the pretext of bankruptcy”. Many of the beneficiaries denied having their loans written-off.
ISLAMABAD: Industrialists, military men and politicians have got loans of over Rs100 billion written off from banks since 1985, the National Assembly Secretariat record has revealed.
A big chunk of loans was written off during the regime of former President Pervez Musharraf.
The beneficiaries also included politicians-cum-industrialists and a group of the print media that later joined the electronic media.
A few of those who got loans written off were genuine cases as they suffered from sick industries or bankruptcy. Their loans were written off according to rules and the prevalent law. Some of the beneficiaries, however, submitted bogus claims and the banks did not follow rules and regulations in writing off their loans.
The official record available with The News which was placed in the NA in the past showed that a mind-boggling sum of Rs30 billion in loans was written off between 1985-2002, benefiting the top politicians, military men and powerful industrial groups of the country. The list was compiled by the then caretaker government of Moin Qureshi in 1993.
In 2007, the auditor general of Pakistan had revealed in a report that during the period 2002-2007, loans worth Rs54 billion were written off by the Musharraf government. Thus, total figure had reached Rs85 billion. But, now the recent official report presented before the NA revealed that the total figure of written off loans had finally crossed Rs100 billion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan’s announcement about the loan write-off on Tuesday was followed by the demand of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to recover the written off loans from politicians, might land many in big trouble.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had also taken suo moto notice in October 2007 after this correspondent had published a story in The News quoting the auditor general of Pakistan report that loans worth Rs54 billion were written off during the last five years. The issue is still pending before the court.
Likewise, the NA Public Accounts Committee headed by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has also taken serious note of the loan write-off and its report is yet to be tabled for further deliberation.
As many as 1,000 influential businessmen and Army men had a total of Rs18 billion loans written off by the government-owned banks during the first three years of the military government. The list was submitted in the NA when Zafarullah Jamali was the prime minister and Shaukat Aziz his finance minister.
The loan write-off scam was partially reported in the media in the early days of Musharraf but was finjavascript:void(0)ally swept under the carpet.
It may be added that these loans were written off after declaring these industrial units as “sick industry or on the pretext of bankruptcy”. Many of the beneficiaries denied having their loans written-off.
No forward movement
By Ayesha Siddiqa:
On Wednesday, the Pakistan government formally charged the seven key suspects believed to be involved in last year’s Mumbai terror attacks.
This decision, which came on the eve of the first anniversary of the attacks, is a positive gesture from Islamabad and one which will probably help break the current logjam between India and Pakistan. The Indian government had linked the resumption of talks and the composite dialogue with forward movement in this regard.
The decision also comes in the wake of expanding allegations regarding Pakistan’s linkage with the Mumbai terror plot. Reportedly new evidence has been found in the David Headley case, in which a Chicago-based US citizen of Pakistani origin was found by the FBI to be involved in the planning of the Mumbai attacks. Headley and five other Pakistanis have been arrested abroad for their links with the attack and Lashkar-i-Taiba. There were two other Pakistanis resident in Italy who were also caught for providing funding for the Mumbai terror plot.
The discovery of new information and Islamabad’s decision might provide some temporary consolation to the relatives of the victims, but it would also make them highly suspicious of any peace initiative between the two neighbours. The indictment of the seven suspects could help move bilateral relations further but it may not necessarily put relations completely back on track. There are many in India who will probably continue to be suspicious of Pakistan’s intent to move forward in the case.
For Manmohan Singh’s government this is really a catch-22 situation because while the indictment breaks the logjam, New Delhi would also have to decide whether or not to support and have faith in the Pakistani judicial system, especially when the case is legally and politically complex. The hearings, which are being held in camera, could take a long time to conclude. The defence lawyers would probably also try to challenge the legality of the indictment on the grounds that the seven people were being charged for a crime that did not take place on Pakistani soil.
There is precedence regarding cases which were thrown out on this particular technicality. There is also probability of the proceedings slowing down due to the issue of the defence counsel’s physical access to the only surviving gunman — Ajmal Kasab. One is not sure if India will muster enough confidence in Pakistan to extradite this key witness.
But what is beyond doubt is the fact that the case will probably drag on for a while. The faith the two states may or may not develop in each other regarding the legal processing of this case will also determine the quality of bilateral relations. Not to forget that there are a sufficient number of actors on both sides of the divide who will target their own government for the perceived ‘giving in’ to the rival.
There is certainly a noticeable gap between what the Pakistani state is willing to do to appease New Delhi and how society perceives the cooperation in the case. A popular perception held and propagated by many in the media is that 26/11 is perhaps as much a conspiracy as 9/11. While there are many who continue to remind others of a supposed list of 3,000 Jews who they say had not turned up for work on the day of the attack on the World Trade Centre, similar suspicions are cast on the Mumbai tragedy.
The disappearance of the Kasab family from Faridkot soon after it was discovered by the media only helps support the argument that the Kasab family does not actually exist. What’s important is not that Islamabad’s lie was exposed but that the disappearance would help erase the memory of the discovery from the minds of ordinary Pakistanis.
However, as the two states engage in a battle of wits and patiently await the fate of the legal battle, it is important that they use the opportunity to explore the future of bilateral links, especially from the perspective of evaluating the capacity of the two states and societies to bear such acts of violence. The question that we must ask ourselves is what could happen if there was another attack of the scale of Mumbai. More importantly, could the region afford another tragic incident?
The average Indian is probably not impressed with the argument that Pakistan is itself a victim of terrorism. New Delhi has dealt with a series of attacks on its soil, especially the two significant attacks: the first on the Indian parliament in 2001 followed by Mumbai in 2008. Although the link with Pakistan is not conclusively proven and many in Pakistan would like to believe the argument that most of the evidence is not presentable in a court of law, the average Indian is not bothered about the legal status.
Therefore, political pressure on New Delhi to respond ‘in the same coin’ if such terror attacks are repeated in the future will mount. Surely the region was saved from a greater crisis due to the nuclear deterrent and American assistance or diplomatic intervention.
However, the aforementioned recipe might not work, or maybe it will. Unfortunately, due to a reduction in people-to-people contacts the general public in Pakistan does not appreciate the deep sense of hurt across the border. While both states choose to deal with this controversy with the help of the media — which means that what one has seen was more of jingoism than a real assessment of the situation — there is a need for a serious review by the media and opinion-makers to objectively assess the region’s ability to deal with a similar crisis in the future.
There are even suggestions that the two states must open additional channels of communication at the level of the heads of intelligence. After all, why beat about the bush and not have those talk who are accused of pursuing a proxy war as a continued option? In fact, the head of the ISI reportedly sent a signal to the Indian government for direct talks.
This is not to suggest that opening this channel is a recipe for setting things right in the short term. It is essentially another layer of CBMs meant to avoid an escalation of tension while proxies are maintained as an option. The more important issue, however, is regarding the transparency of this additional dialogue.
Needless to say, there is too much at stake for both states to continue with proxies or not find a permanent method to resolve dicey issues.
The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.
ayesha.ibd@gmail.com
On Wednesday, the Pakistan government formally charged the seven key suspects believed to be involved in last year’s Mumbai terror attacks.
This decision, which came on the eve of the first anniversary of the attacks, is a positive gesture from Islamabad and one which will probably help break the current logjam between India and Pakistan. The Indian government had linked the resumption of talks and the composite dialogue with forward movement in this regard.
The decision also comes in the wake of expanding allegations regarding Pakistan’s linkage with the Mumbai terror plot. Reportedly new evidence has been found in the David Headley case, in which a Chicago-based US citizen of Pakistani origin was found by the FBI to be involved in the planning of the Mumbai attacks. Headley and five other Pakistanis have been arrested abroad for their links with the attack and Lashkar-i-Taiba. There were two other Pakistanis resident in Italy who were also caught for providing funding for the Mumbai terror plot.
The discovery of new information and Islamabad’s decision might provide some temporary consolation to the relatives of the victims, but it would also make them highly suspicious of any peace initiative between the two neighbours. The indictment of the seven suspects could help move bilateral relations further but it may not necessarily put relations completely back on track. There are many in India who will probably continue to be suspicious of Pakistan’s intent to move forward in the case.
For Manmohan Singh’s government this is really a catch-22 situation because while the indictment breaks the logjam, New Delhi would also have to decide whether or not to support and have faith in the Pakistani judicial system, especially when the case is legally and politically complex. The hearings, which are being held in camera, could take a long time to conclude. The defence lawyers would probably also try to challenge the legality of the indictment on the grounds that the seven people were being charged for a crime that did not take place on Pakistani soil.
There is precedence regarding cases which were thrown out on this particular technicality. There is also probability of the proceedings slowing down due to the issue of the defence counsel’s physical access to the only surviving gunman — Ajmal Kasab. One is not sure if India will muster enough confidence in Pakistan to extradite this key witness.
But what is beyond doubt is the fact that the case will probably drag on for a while. The faith the two states may or may not develop in each other regarding the legal processing of this case will also determine the quality of bilateral relations. Not to forget that there are a sufficient number of actors on both sides of the divide who will target their own government for the perceived ‘giving in’ to the rival.
There is certainly a noticeable gap between what the Pakistani state is willing to do to appease New Delhi and how society perceives the cooperation in the case. A popular perception held and propagated by many in the media is that 26/11 is perhaps as much a conspiracy as 9/11. While there are many who continue to remind others of a supposed list of 3,000 Jews who they say had not turned up for work on the day of the attack on the World Trade Centre, similar suspicions are cast on the Mumbai tragedy.
The disappearance of the Kasab family from Faridkot soon after it was discovered by the media only helps support the argument that the Kasab family does not actually exist. What’s important is not that Islamabad’s lie was exposed but that the disappearance would help erase the memory of the discovery from the minds of ordinary Pakistanis.
However, as the two states engage in a battle of wits and patiently await the fate of the legal battle, it is important that they use the opportunity to explore the future of bilateral links, especially from the perspective of evaluating the capacity of the two states and societies to bear such acts of violence. The question that we must ask ourselves is what could happen if there was another attack of the scale of Mumbai. More importantly, could the region afford another tragic incident?
The average Indian is probably not impressed with the argument that Pakistan is itself a victim of terrorism. New Delhi has dealt with a series of attacks on its soil, especially the two significant attacks: the first on the Indian parliament in 2001 followed by Mumbai in 2008. Although the link with Pakistan is not conclusively proven and many in Pakistan would like to believe the argument that most of the evidence is not presentable in a court of law, the average Indian is not bothered about the legal status.
Therefore, political pressure on New Delhi to respond ‘in the same coin’ if such terror attacks are repeated in the future will mount. Surely the region was saved from a greater crisis due to the nuclear deterrent and American assistance or diplomatic intervention.
However, the aforementioned recipe might not work, or maybe it will. Unfortunately, due to a reduction in people-to-people contacts the general public in Pakistan does not appreciate the deep sense of hurt across the border. While both states choose to deal with this controversy with the help of the media — which means that what one has seen was more of jingoism than a real assessment of the situation — there is a need for a serious review by the media and opinion-makers to objectively assess the region’s ability to deal with a similar crisis in the future.
There are even suggestions that the two states must open additional channels of communication at the level of the heads of intelligence. After all, why beat about the bush and not have those talk who are accused of pursuing a proxy war as a continued option? In fact, the head of the ISI reportedly sent a signal to the Indian government for direct talks.
This is not to suggest that opening this channel is a recipe for setting things right in the short term. It is essentially another layer of CBMs meant to avoid an escalation of tension while proxies are maintained as an option. The more important issue, however, is regarding the transparency of this additional dialogue.
Needless to say, there is too much at stake for both states to continue with proxies or not find a permanent method to resolve dicey issues.
The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.
ayesha.ibd@gmail.com
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