The Bhutto dossier: ‘secret service was diverting US aid for fighting militants to rig the election

[deminks]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3116090.ece

On the day she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto was due to meet two senior American politicians to show them a confidential report alleging that Pakistan’s intelligence service was using US money to rig parliamentary elections, officials in her party said yesterday.

The report was compiled by the former Prime Minister’s own contacts within the security services and alleged that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was running the election operation from a safe house in the capital, Islamabad, they said. The operation’s aim was to undermine Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and to ensure victory for the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party, which supports President Musharraf, in the elections scheduled for January 8.

Patrick Kennedy, a Democratic congressman for Rhode Island, and Arlen Specter, a Republican member of the Senate sub-committe on foreign operations, have confirmed that they were planning to have dinner with Ms Bhutto on Thursday evening but were not available for comment yesterday.

Sarfraz Ali Lashari, a senior PPP official who works in its election monitoring cell, told The Times that he had helped to compile a 200-page report on the Government’s efforts to rig the poll, which Ms Bhutto planned to give to the Americans and to the press the day she was killed.

(end snip)

Ruh, roh.

[fenriswolf]

1. kinda bites the bullet when america is trying to spread

democracy when really we are propping up facist theocratic societies.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

2. Recommended.

Those who assert, "it's a dangerous world" are those who are DANGERS to this world.

[Stephanie]

3. Wow. They were using US funds to rig the election.

Now where did they get that idea?

Asif Ali Zardari, Ms Bhutto’s widower and the new co-chairman of the PPP, confirmed the existence of the report, its basic contents and Ms Bhutto’s plans to meet the US lawmakers last Thursday. Asked if such a report was in his possession, he said: “Something to that effect.” Asked if Ms Bhutto was planning to share its contents with the American legislators, he said: “I am not in a position to make an answer to that.” Asked if the report contained evidence that the ISI was using US funds to rig the elections, he said: “Possibly so.” He declined to give further details, but said the confidential report could have been one of several motives for killing Ms Bhutto, who died after a suicide-bomb and gun attack on an election rally near Islamabad. “It was a general combination of all of these things. The fact that she’s on the ground exposing everybody, I guess, would have been one reason. There are many views and many reasons one can think of for her assassination.”

[malaise]

4. How dare Mushie do what

Bushie perfected. Start building that mausoleum Mushie- your days are numbered.

K & R

[malaise]

5. Specter did meet with the new Army Chief though

Mushie's replacement in a bit.

[deminks]

6. Kick, at least we know partially why Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter was there.

[Usrename]

11. OK, that comment should creep everybody out.

:scared:

[Alexander]

13. Not only there, but with a Kennedy, no less.

Snarlin' Arlen has no shame.

[starroute]

7. Keep an eye on Ejaz Shah

Ejaz Shah is mentioned near the end of the article cited in the OP:

“It would be unwise to do anything that would annoy Musharraf. and the international stakeholders. Everything could collapse if the Army comes to know that there is something substantial against them. It’s dangerous to name people in Pakistan.” Pakistani media reports have alleged the existence of an ISI safe house used to rig the elections and identified Ijaz Hussain Shah, a retired general who heads the civilian Intelligence Bureau, as one of those involved.

I also saw Ejaz Shah prominently mentioned in something I googled up yesterday that was written by a former Indian official about the October attempt on Bhutto's life:

http://www.indiaabroad.com/news/2007/oct/19raman.htm

Reliable sources say one or two suicide bombers were involved. The bullet-proof vehicle by which she was being taken by her supporters was protected by two cordons of security guards. The inner cordon consisted of security guards engaged by her Pakistan People's Party parliamentarians to protect her. Many of them were former policemen and ex-servicemen enjoying her and her party's confidence. The outer cordon consisted of officers of the Sindh police and plainclothes security officers of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau, which is now headed by Brig Ejaz Shah, a former officer of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, who is a close personal friend of Gen Pervez Musharraf and Gen (retd) Mohammad Aziz, a Kashmiri officer belonging to the Sudan tribe who orchestrated the overthrow of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in October 1999.

Shah is also a close personal friend of many Punjabi leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid e Azam), which is opposed to Benazir's return. . . .

Brig Ejaz Shah has been strongly criticised by Benazir and her supporters for the security failure and they have demanded his removal and arrest. When he was in the ISI, he used to be the handling officer of Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar, the amir of the Taliban. After Musharraf seized power in October 1999, he had Shah posted as the home secretary of Punjab. It was to him that Omar Sheikh, who orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, surrendered because Omar Sheikh knew him before and was confident that Ejaz Shah would see that he was not tortured.

After Pearl's murder, there were many allegations regarding Shah's role. Musharraf tried to protect him by sending him as the ambassador to Australia or Indonesia. Both the countries reportedly refused to accept him. Musharraf then made him the DG of IB and he saw to it that the death sentence against Omar Sheikh for his role in the Pearl case was not executed. The courts have been repeatedly postponing hearings on the appeal filed by Omar Sheikh against the death sentence.

[mirrera]

8. People please reccomend!

Crazy the things that get 50 recs and Pakistan is the hub to everything.

[IndyOp]

9. I encourage everyone to read the entire article - it is very enlightening...

One more snippet -

Asked if the report contained evidence that the ISI was using US funds to rig the elections, he (Asif Ali Zardari, Ms Bhutto’s widower and the new co-chairman of the PPP) said: “Possibly so.” He declined to give further details, but said the confidential report could have been one of several motives for killing Ms Bhutto, who died after a suicide-bomb and gun attack on an election rally near Islamabad. “It was a general combination of all of these things. The fact that she’s on the ground exposing everybody, I guess, would have been one reason. There are many views and many reasons one can think of for her assassination.”

:(


And reader comments are very interesting, too...

The shooting style does not belong to Al-queeda nor Q leauge. This was President his ISI (army) with the help of USA. The dossier report would not be a surprised for America because they must be aware of what was going on there and all is actually back by them or we can say that is planned and supervised by them. BB is actually dodged by USA with the help of Musharraf. Rahat , Karachi, Pakistan

I wish the USA tax dollars, would stay in the USA and be used for her citizens.....I'm sick of our money going to these countries! Bobc, usa, usa

bobc - keep your money. we are sick of your country's interference in THESE countries. THESE countries have more at american hands than the US ever will at the hands of militants. So keep your money and - just keep your hands off other countries. Irvin, London, UK

Starry eyed western media and press will never understand, the doubled faced conniving Benazir and her party. They will go to any extremes to malign everyone to meet their crooked agenda. Benazir and her party had push Pakistan so deep into corruption and sleaze that it will take generation to put the things right. Khalid Mian, Manchester, UK

[leftofthedial]

10. by the bushco definition, any opposition party IS terrorist

so that makes sense

[MadMaddie]

12. Condi Rice set up Mrs. Bhutto...no one wants to say it so I will

There was a report on the news today that mentioned that US officials warned Mrs. Bhutto about possible threats on her life but those suggestions on how to protect herself went unheeded.....ah Classic * tactic...blame the victim....

The US set her up to go back to Pakistan..and then failed to protect her...plain and simple. And now they are trying to cover their tracks.

Condi has blood on her hands....

[AntiFascist]

14. Doesn't Condi also have an enabling relationship with AQ Khan?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qadeer_Khan

On February 5, 2004, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, announced that he had pardoned Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is widely seen as a national hero.<1>

[MadMaddie]

22. yep

[Beetwasher]

15. Hmmm, There's Also Trillions Missing From The US Budget, Totally Unaccounted For

I wonder whose elections are being rigged w/ THAT money?

[BrightKnight]

16. n/t

[lonestarnot]

17. MSM is reporting 160 pages report. Wonder if someone stole 40 pages.

[IndyOp]

18. CNN: Blitzer Claims he has Bhutto's Dossier on Election Fraud...US Voting Machines mentioned...

CNN: Blitzer Claims he has Bhutto's Dossier on Election Fraud...US Voting Machines mentioned...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2568159&mesg_id=2568159

You just cannot make this shit up.

[boston bean]

19. Someone please queue the photoshop of bush and mush with the bubbles

saying something like,

why do you kill your enemies to win elections

and mush says

because we don't have those fancy vote rigging machines like you do.

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. George must be appalled. To think people could pull stunts like that.

Angels weep. And I'm sure George is right up there with them. To paraphrase the lament of Bud Crandall*, Rahway, NJ, machinist and father of three, I'm sure that's not the kind of world George would have wanted to bring HIS kids up in!

* See The Onion's political treatise entitled, Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity.

[tom_paine]

21. The other shoe drops...always nice to have confirmation of something we already know

The London Times, a conservative British publicantion (in Britain, conservative is not synonymous with totalitarianism and lying authoritarian propaganda) which is more trustworthy than all of Imperial Amerikan MSM and Cable TV Infoganda combined.

Bushies and other totalitarian scum are so predictable.

Once again, another AMAZING stroke of luck for the Bushies that this woman died when she did.

What say you Coincidence Theorists? Just another fortitutous coincidence for the Bushies and their Vassal, the latest in a series of hundreds?

Just a coincidence that the coin flips a thousand times heads in a row, eh?

:silly: