Pakistan’s disgraced General settles his scores with Army and ISI through anti-Pakistan media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Islamabad : Pakistan | Mar 23, 2014 at 3:08 AM PDT

 

 

 

By

 

 

 

 H.Saqib

 

 

 

Editor Selection: Ali Syed

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Pakistan’s disgraced general, Lt General Zia-ud-Din Butt, who had conspired with Nawaz Sharif in October, 1999 to launch a coup against the then army chief General Musharraf when the latter was travelling from Sri Lanka to Pakistan, is settling his score with Pakistan Army these days. He has suddenly become a credible source for every Western journalist who wants to pour scorn on Pakistan Army and ISI, Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency. The latest scoop carried by New York Times quotes him to prove that Pakistan Army and ISI were well aware of presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad where he was allegedly killed by US Navy Seals on May 1, 2011.

According to a reports published in The News International, Zia-ud-din had alleged several times during the last 36 months that Osama had been kept in Abbottabad by the Pakistani establishment. Even the latest report in New York Times, which has created a stir in the military and intelligence circles, mentions Zia-ud-din stating that Musharraf had been responsible for hiding Osama in Abbottabad. The NYT has published excerpts from a book authored by a British journalist Carlotta Gall, claiming that the former ISI chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, knew of Osama’s presence in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

The disgraced Butt was chief of ISI in 1999 working under prime minister Sharif where he earned latter’s confidence being his clansman, a Lahori of Kashmiri background like Sharif himself. Coming from the engineering corpse of the Army, and not qualified to lead the troops, he was appointed army chief in a dubious manner; when the serving chief was away and his plane was being hijacked on Sharif’s orders. The army resisted the move and launched a counter coup to save the institution from disunity. He was dismissed, disgraced and stripped of the military honors. He remained mum for almost ten years and was emboldened again when Sharif was to become the prime minister.

His latest diatribe against the institution, he once served and conspired to hijack, is perceived as nothing but an attempt to settle his scores.

H Saqib is based in Rāwalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, and is a Reporter for Allvoices.

 

 

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