* Says Musharraf promised to release him for abandoning planned TV station in 2006
* RSF says Mengal’s ‘shocking and damning account’ should prompt immediate probe
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: Baloch businessman Munir Mengal, who was arrested for launching a Baloch satellite TV station and was held for 22 months by Military Intelligence and the police, has said the federal government tried to bribe him for abandoning the project.
He said this in an interview with world media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in France where he was granted political asylum.
Mengal told RSF that, while held incommunicado, he was taken to see then-president General (r) Pervez Musharraf, who asked him to abandon his TV station project in return for his release.
Meeting with Musharraf: “On the evening of October 26, 2006, when I had been held incommunicado for six months, I was taken to the Saddar barracks near Karachi,” Mengal said.
“Pervez Musharraf was waiting for me in a room with General Azeem and Major-General Bajwa. After apologising for the way I had been treated, the president asked me, in English, to give up my TV station project.
“He promised to release me if I pulled out of the media domain. He also offered me a copy of his book so that I could appreciate his commitment to Pakistan. After refusing his deal, I was taken back to my cell and was tortured by MI agents again.”
Mengal also claimed that Musharraf aide Tariq Aziz offered him a political job and money in return for abandoning the planned TV station, called Baloch Voice.
Mengal was arrested after landing at Karachi international airport on April 4, 2006. A military officer in civilian dress confiscated his passport and took him to a military detention centre. “I was physically and psychologically tortured in the Malir barracks by Colonel Muhamad Raza and majors Nadim and Atta,” he said.
“After not letting me sleep for 72 hours, they stepped up their questioning… Then they threw me in a small underground cell. I spent several months blindfolded and handcuffed... I still have back pain from the kicks I received.”
Mengal said he was also interrogated in June or July 2006 by Iranian agents, who wanted to know about what he had done to promote the cause of the Baloch, the inhabitants of a mountainous region that includes parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The intelligence services released him on August 4, 2007, after he had been held incommunicado for more than 16 months. A public campaign and court decisions in his favour forced the military to smuggle Mengal out of Sindh province.
RSF plea: “Munir Mengal’s shocking and damning account should prompt Pakistan’s civilian authorities to open an immediate investigation into the case,” RSF said. “It is inconceivable that those responsible for this political abduction should be allowed to go unpunished,” it added.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20081212story_12-12-2008_pg7_13 |
