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By M T Butt
ISLAMABAD, February 26: After declaring his Army Captain not guilty of the gruesome doctor?Ts rape in Sui, General Musharraf is now planning a commando operation against Baloch tribal leader Sardar Akbar Khan Bugti and there are reports he may hire the services of United Nation?Ts top gun in Iraq, Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi , for the mission.
The scion of a prominent Pashtun family from Balochistan, Qazi (left) is related to the other well known Baloch Sardar, Khair Buksh Marri, and Musharraf?Ts strategists are thinking of appointing Qazi as the new Governor of Balochistan, recalling him from Baghdad where he is receiving a hefty $300K per month pay check.
But without dismissing or suspending the provincial parliament and imposing Governor?Ts rule, Qazi may not be equipped with enough powers and analysts are thus not ruling out the possibility of the Army wrapping up the façade of democracy, at least in Balochistan as a starter.
Qazi was plucked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from his assignment as Pakistan?Ts Ambassador to the US in Washington for the top UN job in Iraq last year and he has been quietly trying to get an handle on the situation, of course while staying away in the more safer environs of Jordan. But the developing situation in his home country may provide him some relief.
Well connected journalist of Islamabad, Nusrat Javeed of ?~The News’ reported on Friday about Musharraf’s latest plan to handle Balochistan through the top Pakistani diplomat, now in Iraq.
?oOur praetorian masters have already begun thinking of taking some damage-control initiatives for Balochistan on their own. Their priority number one for the moment is to isolate Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. He must appear like a ?olonely warlord?, enjoying no support from any political party or group, both from within and outside Balochistan,? Nusrat wrote.
?oThere also is an attempt to approach Marri, the hardened but stubborn nationalist, for negotiating a reasonable agreement with Islamabad.? The Generals believe that the super diplomat from Marri?Ts province, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, might deliver on this count, if appointed Governor of Balochistan.
How they may compensate Qazi for his loss of a three million dollar per annum job is not yet clear but as Governor he may enjoy more political clout as a powerful agent of the Center with a suspended provincial assembly. He may also have a lot more money at his disposal to spend.
Musharraf and his spokesmen have been denying that any such drastic action, like imposition of Governor?Ts Rule, was in the offing but these denials carry no credibility and are seen by analysts as no more than deception plans signifying nothing. Yet inside the corridors of powers serious discussions are going on and even pro-Musharraf analysts are now urging quick action on Balochistan lest it may get out of hand.
Nusrat Javeed is not a pro-Musharraf analyst but he reported on Friday that all discussion on the doctor’s rape case was stifled by the Speaker of the National Assembly, just one day after Musharraf declared that Captain Hammad, the main accused of the rape, was not guilty but others who may be found gilty, should be hanged for the crime.
Musharraf told journalists the accusations against the officer were baseless and the man was not involved, but said the perpetrators would be brought to justice. It was a rare case of the Army Chief and the country?Ts president declaring an accused not guilty even before an investigation had been carried out and despite the fact that attempts by the local police to dig into the case were ruthlessly stonewalled by the Army.
The raped doctor has also been speaking to the media lately and in one interview said she had no hope of seeing her attacker put behind the bars and she was now determined to leave the country for fear of her own safety. "I am not expecting anything from the justice system," she said from a safe house in the southern city of Karachi, where she is staying with her husband.
While Musharraf hurried to pronounce judgment in favor of his Army Captain, many questions were still unanswered such as why had the Captain, who was supposed to be in charge of security at the PPL Gas plant where the rape occurred, had not been questioned and not pulled up for dereliction of his basic duty --- to protect those living in the area.
Analysts say even if the charge of committing the rape was legally difficult to prove, as evidence had been destroyed and tempered with after the crime, it was still the responsibility of Captain Hammad, as chief of security, to not only prevent such crimes but also to investigate them and nab the criminals. Instead he disappeared from the scene, though he kept on claiming that he was innocent. How can he explain such conduct?
In another development, doctors in the United States, who know the family of the raped lady, have been telling the media that there was an incident in the recent past in which Captain Hammad had tried to lure the same lady doctor to his home and she had refused to oblige. The officer felt insulted and was furious.
According to these doctors who are campaigning for justice for their aggrieved colleague, Captain Hammad recently called the lady doctor and asked her to come to his house because ?ohis wife was sick and wanted a medical check up.? The doctor told him she would not do that and he should bring his wife to her clinic or the hospital.
These doctors say it was actually a trap set by Captain Hammad as he wanted to establish that the lady doctor had herself walked into his house and she had not been forced into any sexual relationship. But the trap did not work and the Captain was thus waiting to take his revenge.
Whatever the facts of the case, the conduct of the PPL management in obstructing the course of law and the over enthusiasm of the Army authorities in trying to hush up the case, raise questions which neither General Musharraf nor the other spokesmen have answered.
The situation in Balochistan in the meantime has gone from bad to worse and now analysts are calling the Balochistan crisis as the litmus test for General Musharraf.
Pro-Musharraf writer and analyst Nasim Zehra wrote this recently: ?oMusharraf justified back tracking on his commitment to vacate the COAS post because he believed that resolving Pakistan?Ts key chronic problems require that he command the army, the other State institutions and also the parliamentary system. With all three in his control Musharraf has the complete institutional authority over the Central and the provincial institutions currently operational in Balochistan. Even the opposition parties like the PPP and MMA have not tried to generate any significant political pressure one the government over Balochistan.
?oThe President decides the fate of the parliamentary Committee?Ts report. The onus therefore of taking immediate steps to turn around the anti-Center political tide around in Balochistan, rests squarely on the President?Ts shoulders? In preventing Balochistan?Ts slide into anarchy speedy action is required."
If this speedy action is to nominate Ashraf Jehangir Qazi as the new Governor of Balochistan, it would be a step in the reverse direction, most analysts agree.
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