Remembering Shaheed Benazir Bhutto -- Leader of masses by Senator A. Rehman Malik

The sun will rise every morning of 27th December and life will continue but Bilawal, Bakhtawar, Aseefa, former president Zardari and we workers will never be able to see our leader ever. It was early morning of 17th October when Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was giving goodbye kisses to Bakhtawar and Aseefa in the outer lounge of her house in Dubai. She stood up and again hugged the kids and walked her usual elegant style and sat in car and I was seated on her left back seat. She opened her car window and kept on waving till moved on the left side of the road.

It was July 2007, when a Central Executive Committee meeting of PPP was held at my house in London where Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had decided to return back to Pakistan against all odds and that she would announce date for her return in September. Though everyone including the PPP leadership had warned her about the life threats and security issues, she remained firm about her decision without any fear.

Despite having a clear understanding of the serious risks she was going to face, she believed that General Musharraf was using the security issue as a ploy to threaten her in order to keep her out of Pakistan, as he feared that it would diminish his power raising the chances of her victory in elections.

Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto made announcement of her return on 14th September and it ultimately disturbed General Musharraf and his political colleagues who kept emphasising the life threats against her by extremist groups during election campaigns. They also made several offers to her in order to finalise a power-sharing agreement but she never agreed to any of these offers. Mr. Iqbal Z Ahmed along with a close trusted General came to her and offered her to be the chairperson of Senate, which she declined in my presence and few others.

It was followed by several discrete meetings in 2005 and 2006 in Dubai between Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, General Musharraf and his close associates but they never produced a concrete agreement leading to restoration of democracy in the country. Finally two one-on-one meetings between Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and General Musharraf were held on 24 January 2007 and 27 July 2007 in Abu Dhabi. These meetings were arranged by me and a few other advisers of Gen Pervez Musharraf we had direct contacts with General Musharraf’s team. They met again in August and September 2007 when Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto expressed about her major pressing concerns, which included free and fair elections and lifting of 3rd time ban on premiership.

Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto frustrated all efforts of General Musharraf to block her return to Pakistan and against all threats and security concerns landed at Karachi on 18th Oct 2007 from Dubai while her children stayed behind. She was moved to see the enormous crowd of people waiting at the airport to welcome her, which made her more stoppable. The crowd was so big that it even slowed the progress of her cavalcade to her destination at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was where she had intended to address the public.

The party in a meeting held in Dubai had decided for proper security of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and had also announced a committee consisting of MNA Shahban Mirani, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and a few other retired major generals to head the physical security of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The government proposed the name of AD Khawaja, the then SSP, to be approved by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but one of the highly influential PPP leader got the name changed from AD Khawaja to Major (R) Imtiaz Hussain, the then SSP, who had earlier served with Mohtarma as her physical security officer.

According to notification of Cabinet division, the total responsibility of security of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as former PM was of the government and the physical security was entrusted to SSP Major (R) Imtiaz Hussain. So the physical security, roadside security, close protection in all functions was the sole responsibly of the government not of any PPP leader including me.

The party organised the 18th Oct cavalcade where some additional security was provided by police besides the ‘Janisars’ of the party. Despite having extensive security measures, an explosion went off near Karsaz, Karachi close to the armoured truck in which she was riding followed by another much more powerful explosion. Prior to that an attempt was made where someone from the crowd tried to pass on a baby child rapped in heavy explosives to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but fortunately the baby child could not reach the hands of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The explosions killed 149 people while 402 were injured. It was a miracle that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto remained safe in this massive attack. I along with Raja Pervez Ashraf, Aitzaz Ahsan, Christina Lamb and many others were also present on the top of the truck fully exposed during the attack. My hairs were scorched and fire burned Raja Pervez Ashraf’s clothes. Though we were not hurt but we lost many workers who acted as human shields for their beloved leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

The police even refused to register the case after Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto attempted to lodge the complaint. The evidence was hosed away within one hour without securing the vital evidence and against the local and international laws. The case never advanced as the evidence was already destroyed through hosing off the crime scene. Surprisingly, the suspected mastermind of October 18 assassination attempt namely Qari Saifullah Akhtar, along with his two sons, and other suspects was arrested but released after few days claiming lack of evidence against them. He along with his sons subsequently fled to Afghanistan, where he had been running a training camp for al-Qaeda.

Under the PPP government, the dormant investigation of the case was activated but DSP Nawaz Ranjha of Karachi police who was entrusted to investigate the case was mysteriously killed when he was close to the arrest of the attackers.

However, being undeterred of previous attempt on her life and continuously pouring in security threats, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto decided to keep on leading the election campaign. On 26th December 2017 we along with Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto reached at airport on way to Peshawar for addressing an election rally where she addressed huge crowd of people. She was quite happy to have such a successful public gathering at Peshawar. Unfortunately, we faced an unsuccessful and foiled murder attempt.

She was fond of chapel kebab and she asked me to arrange on way from Peshawar to Islamabad. I remember Ms Naheed Khan sitting her right while I was sitting on left. SMBB made bread role with chapel kebab herself and she gave me the first one and the other to Naheed Khan and took the last one. We could never think that she would be no more next evening.

On the dark evening of 27th December 2007, our nation was bereaved of the great loss of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at the hands of those who never wanted Pakistan to progress by a devoted leader like her.

On 27th December 2007, numbers of warnings concerning possible terrorist attack on the campaign event of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at Liaquat Bagh were issued by the Interior Ministry. The government was demanded of to take foolproof security measures against the threats yet it did not take any proper measures or issue specific instructions to the provincial authorities to ensure her protection. The federal government failed to execute the responsibility to protect her by not detailing full and comprehensive security as per the Blue Book.

Due to lack of security of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the terrorists finally managed to reach the close proximity of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and assassinated her through a suicide bomber while she was leaving from Liaquat Bagh after having addressed the public meeting. There is absolutely no doubt about who killed her, who conspired and executed the conspiracy and who facilitated their conspiracy. The police under the instructions of the government hosed off the scene after one hour and 20 minutes, which action helped destruction of vital evidence. After her martyrdom, a golden chapter of Pakistani politics was closed forever; however, none can put her legacy to death.

Following the assassination, the then Punjab government constituted a JIT comprised of police officers to probe the case of murder of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Although the JIT arrested five accused persons for being in knowledge of the conspiracy and for facilitating the execution of the conspiracy besides declaring number of other accused persons as proclaimed offenders yet it left so many questions unanswered. The JIT even did not fix any responsibility for non-provision of or lax of security to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on any government official including Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Just after 24 hours of the assassination, the then Director General of National Crisis Management Cell, under the orders of the federal government held a press conference to play out an alleged intercepted telephonic talk between Baitullah Mehsud and one Maulvi Sahib (later identified as Azizullah – a former student of Madrassa Haqqania -- exchanging congratulating comments and also to explaining the cause of death. This press conference was clearly aimed at influencing the on-going investigation by a JIT constituted by the then Punjab government.

The then federal government had invited a team of Scotland Yard police of UK with very limited scope of investigation. They were only tasked to find out the cause of death. Although, the team concluded that Mohtarma was not hit by any bullet, which caused her death but this conclusion was not in absolute term.

Ironically, the then Punjab government also constituted an Inquiry Committee, with limited mandate and pre-determined terms of reference, to probe into hosing off the crime scene. The Committee in its findings gave clean chit to the local administration including police officers responsible for washing away the crime scene.

At the request of the PPP government, UNO constituted a Commission of Inquiry to probe into Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and it concluded, inter alia, that the first JIT "lacked direction, was ineffective and endured lack of commitment to identify and bring all of the culprits to justice. This delay further hampered the gathering of evidence. Despite indications that there are links between the Karachi and Rawalpindi attacks, there has essentially been no communication between the investigators on those two cases”.

Consequent to the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry, the PPP government constituted another JIT comprising of officers from police, security agencies and FIA led by Khalid Qureshi of FIA for further investigation. During investigations, it was confirmed that the former JIT had not investigated those who were nominated by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a “declaration/email”, she wrote to Mark Siegel in 2007 before her assassination that included number of names, which is matter of record.

The second JIT fixed the responsibility on accused General Musharraf for not providing adequate security to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, DIG Police Saud Aziz and SSP Khurram Shahzad on account of washing the crime scene to destroy evidence and for not allowing the doctors to conduct post mortem of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. The JIT also established that the attack was planned, monitored and executed by former students of Madrassa Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak

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The second JIT also provided a complete report on the assassination and called it a "broad-based conspiracy" carried out by terrorists based in Waziristan, which was facilitated by Gen. Pervez Musharraf through non-provision of adequate and proper security protection to her.

The salient features of the said investigations are summarised as under:

1. The crime scene was washed away by the then administration within 1 hour and 20 minutes of the incident under the orders of CCPO Saud Aziz through SP Khurram Shahzad, which had negative effect on the collection of forensic evidence of the incident. The washing away of the crime scene of any such incident was nothing but to hamper with the investigation of the case. This act of the then administration was, therefore, clearly against the law. Both the police officers were, therefore, cited as accused persons and were challaned.

2. The security provided by the then government/administration was inadequate and was not according to the Blue Book and SOP. The government did not provide the security to her as notified for two former prime minister namely Ch. Shujaat Hussain and Shaukat Aziz.

3. The security escort responsible for the safe journey of the motorcade of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto from residence to Liaquat Bagh and back was removed and shifted to another place before Mohtarma had finished her public address. It was established that the then CCPO Rawalpindi was responsible for removing the security escort to another place of duty, which was even not within the jurisdiction of Rawalpindi police.

4. The contingent plan in case of an emergency was not followed and the damaged vehicle of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was diverted to a hospital farther away from the incident scene rather than to nearby hospital. Even the ambulance and paramedical staff were not detailed in the security plan.

5. The then CCPO of Rawalpindi police did not allow the doctors to carry out the post-mortem of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and gave false statements in this connection.

6. The confessions of the accused persons were substantiated with independent forensic evidence to prove their criminal act in the court of law including the DNA of the joggers used by the terrorist/suicide bomber, recovered from the house of one of the accused persons.

7. Conspiracy was hatched at Room No. 96 of Madrassa Haqqania, Akora Khattak by the former students of the said Madrassa. One Nadir @ Qari Ismail, a former student of Madrassa Haqqania had brought suicide bomber to the Madrassa from then TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud and stayed in Room No. 96 of the hostel of the Madrassa overnight.

8. The JIT collected the original admission record with photographs, addresses & parentage from Madrassa of those students who conspired and then executed the conspiracy. These accused and their associates were based in Madrassa and residing in hostel in 2007. Their meeting and operation point remained Room No. 96 of the Madrassa hostel.

9. Accused Nasrullah had brought suicide bombers in Rawalpindi on 26th December 2007 on the instructions of Ibad-ur-Rehman, the planner and ex-students of the Madrassa Haqqania. Unfortunately both were, later on, found to have been killed in separate operations by the LEAs after JIT/FIA started chasing them.

10. Accused Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain, close relatives, had collected accused Nasrullah along with suicide bomber from Pir Wadahi bus stand and lodged them at the house of accused Rafaqat Hussain overnight. Both of them were also involved in taking Nasrullah and the suicide bomber to Liaquat Bagh on 27 December 2017. The subsequent DNA analysis on the joggers of the suicide bomber recovered from the house of Rafaqat Hussain confirmed the presence of the suicide bomber at his house.

11. Maulvi Sahib (Azizullah) to whom Baitullah Mehsud called (intercepted call) was also the former student of this Madrassa.

12. The JIT had also been able to trace seven absconders that included Baitullah Mehsud, Ibad-ur-Rehman @Usman @ Chattan, Abdullah @ Saddam (who along with Nadir @ Qari Ismail had brought suicide bomber from Baitullah Mehsud), Faiz Muhammad @ Kiskat, Nadir @ Qari Ismail, Ikramullah (2nd suicide bomber) and Nasrullah.

Unfortunately, when JIT/FIA started chasing these absconders, they were killed one by one mysteriously. There was only one and single drone attack in Khyber Agency which killed Ibad-ur-Rehman, who was tasked to coordinate and supervise the assassination plan.

Interestingly, a leader of TTP recently authored and published a book from Afghanistan in which he mentioned the name of Ikramullah as second suicide bomber who has currently risen to hierarchy of TTP and is residing in Afghanistan. I had made a written request to the federal government to take up his extradition to Pakistan with the Afghan government, for interrogation and to unearth further facts.

The JIT/FIA also fixed responsibility on the then President General (R) Pervez Musharraf for deliberately failing to provide adequate security to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto despite repeated reminders. He even threatened her of consequences if she did come to Pakistan before general elections. Mark Siegel, one of the witnesses, in his statement deposed that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had once received a threatening call from Gen. Pervez Musharraf from Pakistan while she was in his office. She disclosed to him that Gen. Pervez Musharraf had warned her that “her security depends on her cooperation with him”. He is also facing trial of the case.

Interestingly, the Taliban during their meetings with Afghan government in Qatar and in Murree through the courtesy of government of Pakistan, had demanded the release and deportation of accused Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain as one of their demands. It, therefore, clearly demonstrates their close association with the Taliban/al-Qaeda.

After investigation, FIA/JIT submitted first report in the court on 25.05.2010 for trial of the accused persons. The accused persons besides threatening the prosecutors and the witnesses resorted to delaying tactics. During trial Special Public Prosecutor Ch Zulfiqar Ali was killed while on his way to the court. The investigation carried out in his murder case revealed that the assassin had close contacts with Khalid Sheikh, the mastermind of first terrorist attack on World Trade Centre in 1993, who also happens to be maternal uncle of Yousaf Ramzi. Apart from the delaying tactics, five judges of the Anti-Terrorism Court were posted and transferred, further causing delay in dispensation of justice for which the heir of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto – President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa - had been waiting for years.

The Anti Terrorism Court finally announced its judgement on 31.08.2017 – after over seven years – whereby the court acquitted all the terrorists by ignoring and discarding the whole irrefutable forensic evidence against them. It, however, convicted and sentenced both the police officers. This judgement was, in fact, grave injustice to the justice and the heirs of our great leader.

The murder was a deep and well-thought plan against Pakistan. ‘The Daughter of East” returned to her homeland with the hope to make it prosperous and peaceful but the enemies killed the hopes of Pakistanis by eliminating her. Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa had been waiting for justice against the injustice to them for years but despite confessions of the accused duly substantiated through forensic evidence, the learned judge of the court acquitted the terrorists.

People repeatedly ask questions as to why the murderers have not been arrested without appreciating that all the culprits involved had not only been identified but also arrested. They were put to trial but unfortunately, the court chose to acquit all the terrorists who were directly involved in the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto by ignoring the whole evidence against them. The court, however, convicted and sentenced two police officers who are again on bail consequent to their appeal in the High Court. The trial against former president Gen. Pervez Musharraf is still pending in the court.

Where is the justice for the beloved children of SMBB and instead of justice to her beloved son he has been served notice based on historic issues related to the period when he was two year old.

It is for all times a big question, which will continue to haunt the judicial system that has miserably failed to provide justice against the injustice to Bhutto family.

I wish that Supreme Court had taken notice of the failure of the judicial system to provide justice to Bilawal and his sisters for the murder of his mother and grandfather. He is facing the injustices and political challenges with courage but one can see tears in his eyes whenever he has to mention the memories of his mother.

My sister, my leader and leader of masses Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto - we all miss you.

Your mission is being well carried forward by BBZ and honestly we see your wisdom in his action and he has already emerged as top leader and speeches has shaken the corridors of powers and inimical political groups.

PPP Zindabad & Pakistan Paendabad.

The Article has been Published in ‘’The News’’ on December 27^th, 2018

The Link to Article is: Shaheed Benazir Bhutto – leader of Masses by Senator A. Rehman Malik

Overseas Pakistanis – victims of discriminatory treatment by Senator A. Rehman Malik

There is no doubt Overseas Pakistanis are our great assets and are our ambassadors. They have lot of heartfelt grievances with their homeland governments, which make tall claims for them but do not fulfil their commitments whereas every incoming government expects overseas Pakistanis to send more and more foreign remittances.

I decided to write for them in depth after my recent visit to Geneva where I met number of Pakistanis residing over there. I am saddened to state that apart from the despair of leaving their home, family and country for the sake of better future and opportunities, they have to go through multiple other issues in their host countries.

In addition to the miseries they encounter, their issues are never addressed. The people I met there posed a number of demands from Pakistani Government, which include, protection of their families and valuables, legal rights to contest elections in Pakistan, permission for contribution in improvement of the governance, improvement in attitude of our diplomatic missions as well as the provision of easy banking conditions and easy passing through the airports on their return.

Pakistan being a populous country has seen its labour force moving towards other countries of the world to find employment opportunities in order to support their families back at home. The total estimated number of Pakistani overseas workers and their families is around 9 million today. Over the past 70 years, migration of Pakistani workers to other countries has been largely for seeking better employment opportunities, benefits for individuals and their families. Unfavourable socio-economic conditions and unstable political environment have been push factors for increasing number of Pakistanis to move to other countries like Europe, America, East Asia and Gulf States.

Gulf States have become a principle destination for Pakistani migrants today after the 1970’s oil boom that opened a great avenue for the migrants. A vast majority of around 4 million Pakistanis is residing in Gulf only. The second largest community of around 1.5 million is living in Europe as well as the people of Pakistani origin born abroad. In Europe, around 1.17 million are residing in UK with 12,891 in Ireland, 215,560 in Canada and 61,913 in Australia. People living in the USA are numbered as 509,163. These figures are officially available but I feel the number is much bigger as there is no authentic system in place to tabulate the exact statistical data for overseas Pakistanis.

According to a data released by the State Bank of Pakistan in 2017, overseas Pakistanis sent remittances amounting to Rs. 2137 billion ($20 Billion). The remittances from USA and European countries as per 2018 are divided as $228.20 million from UK, $255.78 million from USA, $3.98 million from Ireland, $22.41 million from Australia and $16.07 million from Canada.

Labour migrants are the ones that are highly skilled and active professionals leaving the country on work visas. Malaysia, China, UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are recorded to be the top destinations for labour migrants from Pakistan. Most of them are employed in transport, production or equipment sector mainly.

Dual nationality issue: Out of many issues being encountered by overseas Pakistanis, there is an important issue of not being able to take part in any government activities while holding dual nationality. Pakistanis who have dual citizenship are not allowed to run for public office, sit in the assemblies, contest elections or join the Pakistani military. If they wish to hold a public office they must renounce the citizenship they are holding of some other country. It has been strongly opposed by the overseas Pakistanis as it is viewed as an unjust law for them. According to them, it would damage Pakistan economically, socially and culturally, as it is unfair that a member of Pakistan’s national assembly’s patriotism is suspected for holding dual nationality.

Marriage issues: Another major problem that overseas Pakistanis are facing is the issuance of NICOP. National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) is a registration document issued to eligible citizen of Pakistan who lives or has residence abroad. I granted the POC facility in my capacity as Interior Minister to every Pakistani living abroad. Any citizen of Pakistan could apply for NICOP and travel to Pakistan without requiring a visa in case of dual nationality; they can open a bank account in Pakistan and also have the right to buy and sell property in Pakistan.

But adding to the miseries of overseas Pakistanis for last two years, Interior Ministry has decided to ban issuance of the relevant Pakistani identity document POC or the NICOP. Over 3,500 foreign nationals married to Pakistanis were pushed between a rock and a hard place as their foreign spouses hold moveable or immoveable properties in Pakistan and bank accounts, and above all they had lost all the rights Pakistan guaranteed to them under the POC.

Now since March 2018, NADRA has again started issuing POCs to foreigners married to Pakistanis. Those who would now be applying for the first time will be given to them only if they have been married to their Pakistani spouses for last five years. What an unfair condition? I have taken notice of this injustice and I will ensure that this condition of five years is waived off.

Remittances: Foreign remittances play a vital role in Pakistan’s GDP growth as it ranked among the top remittance receiving countries of the world. In 2017, Pakistan received $17.9 billion remittances whereas it was $19.8 billion reaching a 2nd time high in 2016. But it is sad to note that despite being the biggest contributors in country’s GDP, the remitters/overseas Pakistanis get nothing good in return. Instead of focusing on negotiating better conditions for exported Pakistani workers or making good remittance saving plans for the ones who send back money to their families and communities, government procures development aid packages that can pad their pockets.

Exploitation or abuse in host country: Unfortunately, many of the overseas Pakistani workers experience various forms of abuses or exploitation prior to their departure and/or in the destination country, such as physical or sexual abuse, exhorted migration fees and non-placement (after paying the fees). In the destination country they may not receive their salary, have their documents withheld or their contracts being under unfair terms and conditions or they may have to endure pathetic living conditions. Only a few victims of them seek justice. Filing a complaint, either in Pakistan or in the host country can be formidably challenging. Even when they successfully register a complaint, some are left with an unresolved case or an unfavourable outcome. Neither the embassy nor the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan offers a helping hand if such kind of situation occurs making the lives of overseas individuals miserable.

Other than that, a person traveling overseas for employment has no official support. There are a record fourteen different checks from entering an airport in Pakistan till you are seated in your airplane seat.

Right to vote: Overseas Pakistanis, despite several court instructions since decades and many false promises still have no right to vote in general elections unless they travel all the way to their respective constituencies. This is an ultimate example of injustice to overseas workers who work day and night to send money back to their homeland.

As per the Citizenship Act 1951, the Government of Pakistan has dual nationality agreement with 19 countries including United Kingdom and the United States of America meaning thereby that holding nationality by any Pakistani national residing in those 19 countries was legal and in accordance with the laws of Pakistan. However, according to the Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution read with Section 14 of Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, any person holding dual citizenship is disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a Member of Majlis-e-Shoora(Parliament). This law has numbers of flaws, which need to be corrected. The flaws include the clash within legislative provisions. I think that this law needs to be revisited.

The proposed 21st Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan would have allowed dual citizens to hold public office and contest elections, but the amendment could never be passed when presented by PPP during PML-N’s tenure. I hope that the present government with its new advisor for Overseas Pakistanis will get this right to the overseas Pakistanis.

In case of reservations the government may not consider them for ministerial slots but at least give them the confidence as being the members of the parliament and provincial assemblies. Out of total 10 million overseas Pakistanis, hardly 5 per cent would have political ambitions in Pakistan and the rest may not even be interested in politics.

It is the high time that the government and the Apex court re-visit their approaches to overseas Pakistanis/dual nationals, in the larger interests of the country.

Now the government threw another bombshell for the overseas Pakistanis to register their phones on arrival at the airport, which I, as member of the Parliament, have rejected it and I will fight to have this unfair treatment finished.

In the end I would like to say that we have done a great injustice with Pakistanis-working or living abroad by naming them as “Overseas Pakistani”. In other words we have divided Pakistanis into two factions as Overseas Pakistanis and local Pakistanis where as there is no provision in the constitution for Overseas Pakistanis. A Pakistani is a Pakistani whether he is local or abroad.

Those who went to work abroad under compulsion we have discriminated them as overseas Pakistani and deprived them of many fundamental rights.

When they return home they are treated differently and this unique discrimination has been done by none other than our own State itself. I hope the government will revisit some constitutional anomalies in this connection.

The Article has been Published in ‘’The Nation’’ on December 25^th, 2018

The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/25-Dec-2018/637747

Plight of Pak rupee by Senator A. Rehman Malik

Pak economy has become a source of major worry for every Pakistani as the worsening economy is directly & indirectly affecting every faction of the society.

It is surprising to note that our economy came under discussions by the various world leaders on international forums. The speaker of National Assembly of Argentina in recent IPU GENEVA showed his sympathies and concerns & was worried as to how Pakistan will get out of this economic mess. It is unfortunate that our worst growing economic conditions are creating negative perception all over the world.

It has become a political trend that every government changes previous policies and such inconsistent economic steps dent the confidence of both local and foreign investors. It is unfortunate for the nation that the financial institutions like stock markets and State Bank have been heavily politicised resultantly compromising their actions.

The instability in the whole political, social and financial systems contributes as the main cause of putting our economy in the doldrums where corruption also plays a major negative role in the economic growth. Accountability institutions have become subservient to the will of the government in power and cross the thin line from accountability to political victimisation. Hence these have listed its deterrent effects. I as former top law enforcer and subsequent as interior minister will not be hesitant to say that the top appointments like DG FIA/, Chairman NAB, Prosecutor NAB, Governor State Bank, Chairman FPSC and all four provincial chief justices and Chief Justice of Pakistan must be vetted and approved by the Parliament. It is also imperative that the constitutional protection to the civil servants may be restored enabling them to do their jobs on merit and not to the will of their political masters.

The role of constitutional portfolios and bureaucracy are the real forces to push the country to stability and economic growth. The basic setback is the growing overload of debts on our economy. Our economy is drowning because even the new government itself is the biggest critic of its own economy paying less importance to put it on the right track. You cannot expect the economy to improve when you are constantly spreading a negative image of it.

The loss of control and lack of ability to set the economy on right track has shocked the public in terms of sudden unprecedented depreciation in our currency. This third time steep decline in value of its rupee has further hit our economy. This latest slide of Rupee overnight has shaken the people and they were even shocked to hear that their Prime Minister was claiming that he was not aware of this decline of which he came to know through television. As former interior minister it is hard for me to believe this claim unless it is presumed that the financial system and intelligence system of the governments have been collapsed and failed to inform such big negative development to the chief executive of the country and Finance Minister including the President of Pakistan.

The Nation needs to know who gave this shot of unprecedented devaluation of rupees and what was the check & balance on such authority that was playing with the fate of nation without fear.

There is another question which needs to be responded by the government if this sharp slide of Rupee was a secret understanding between IMF & Government, whereas apparently one can assess that it looks to be a part of the deal with IMF to devalue Pak Rupees but is being kept away from the eyes of public. If that is so then IMF has won and common man of Pakistan has lost to the world economy controller as IMF would further use its influence and we will see further devaluation of Rupee and more increases in prices of essential-items.

These uncontrolled economic jolts have shaken the stock market and the investors are losing confidence whereas the government still has not set a clear direction to put the economy on the right track. The nation would like to know as to how the government will block the further slide of Rupee in coming days.

We are in critical terms with IMF as it is continuing to impose tough conditions to bail us out. The foremost usual conditions, being pressed by the IMF, are the devaluation of our currency, increase in electricity price and increase in gas tariffs and substantive increase in taxes. Unfortunately it looks like that the recent decline of value of rupee was one of the conditions of the IMF, which it has agreed in secret.

The Government has put the blindfolds and by allowing the free float of the Rupee it has apparently pre-qualified the country to sign an agreement with the IMF. Parliament is blacken out totally about this agreement and any such secret agreement will fire back in coming months which will further embarrass the govt.

We have jumped into liberalisation and privatisation that may result into massive decline in investments, GDP growth, massive unemployment, massive increase in poverty, and horrendous increase in crimes and finally the political crises, which might bring the serious problems for the present government. A shaky and weaker government cannot be decisive and will be unable to take solid steps to re-energise the continuously falling economy.

We are expected to hit the record high of rupees against 1 dollar if the Government kept on working at this pace. The current rate of 140 rupees has already jolted the whole nation so much that they are in huge panic and this irresponsible approach is going to further damage the national economy

The State bank is likely to start excessive money printing, which will lead to further devaluation of the currency and it will further lead to more inflation and this growing inflation will further price hike and common man will come under unbearable pressure of price hike. Devaluation of Rupee will force the government to protect the local trade, balance of payments deficit, repayment for local and foreign borrowings and it will be difficult to maintain the foreign exchange reserve intact. Currently, the foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan stand at $16.95 billion which is continuously declining due to uncontrolled Hundi / hawala.

Let us hope the govt intelligently plays some role and concentrate to increase its exports and cut the imported products. Let us hope that the government announces foreign debt retirement programme to get rid of huge external debt of over $99 billion and it is going to be added up with the next instalment from IMF. We have yet another liability in terms of Sukuk bonds to the tune of $7.3 billion. These above factors are attributing towards more inflation and the present inflation rate of 6.50% is likely to go up further building pressure on the ever-growing volatile company.

The growth rate is reported as 5.8% and we need to grow upward by boosting our agriculture sector and pay more attention development infrastructure. Agriculture contributes at present about 24 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pakistan, which should be enhanced by increasing industrial production.

Our textile sector is almost finished and our major production of grey cloth is declined in the international market and our major export earning production has lost its space in Europe.

Our economy needs high potency of steroid in terms of strong revival factors to be inducted by increasing our exports and cut down the import drastically. The government needs to control the upward trend of inflation and work to increase the growth rate. Further increase in debt will further bring irreversible dents in the economy.

Once again advocate for the adoption of Turkish model of Economy.

The Article has been Published in ‘’The Nation’’ on December 17^th, 2018

The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/17-Dec-2018/plight-of-pak-rupee

Cyber security for banks and national institutions by Senator A. Rehman Malik

Cyber security is a vast topic, which is gaining more attention as the growing cyber-crime trend is worrisome.

The vulnerability of cyber systems is increasing and in my previous article on cyber security published on 19th of November 2018, I had tried to summarise the description, types, and vulnerability and landmark cyber incidents of the world. I received lot of messages appreciating the article from the readers but at the same time they demanded also that I should come up with some more information and proposals to secure the confidentiality of the clients, banks as well as the commercial and national institutions.

This article is the follow-up of the said previous article in which I am going to further illustrate how damaging it is to the individuals and the state along with the potential threats and proposed ways to deal with the issues.

Cyber security issues and banking frauds being universal are taking a toll on digital privacy and financial matters of the common individuals of the state as well as the bank account holders and regulators of different banks. Despite taking a number of protective security measures yet the frauds have not stopped. The criminals always find new ways to outsmart the security protective layers by new fraud smart techniques

It is essential to comprehend distinction between three separate issues relevant to the cyber security phenomenon that are commonly being faced by the people in our country:

a. Card skimming: it basically happens when a customer hands over their card for billing after shopping or dinning is swiped at some restaurant instead of giving cash. The card is then swiped at a POS machine and card information from the Magnetic stripe is stolen. This is happening worldwide, more often in few countries than the others. As we travel abroad, the card information can be stolen in any country by any dealer.

b. Fraudulently impersonating client’s identity through different cyber cons like Phishing (fake websites), smishing (sending messages to attract clients to visit scam websites) and Vishing (calling clients pretending to be someone concerned enough to provide them with financial assistance and extracting their confidential data through this.

c. Hacking – This happens when hackers break in to banking systems and get access to customer’s data by hacking their accounts. This is what exactly happened to banks in Pakistan a few weeks ago when a number of people became victim of hacking and lost their data and information.

Card skimming and fraudulent embezzlement of customer’s identity have been the principal issues being faced by Pakistanis for years. In case of hacking as well, there have been numerous groups that have been busted by the law enforcement organisations of our country for pretending to be government officials and requesting data from customers. Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 out of 25 million Bank account holders have fallen prey to hackers across the industry.

I, in the capacity of being Chairman Senate Standing Committee of Interior took notice of the stolen bank data and directions were issued to FIA for detailed inquiry as well as asked for a comprehensive report by the Governor of State Bank.

It should have been made mandatory through an Act of the Parliament for the implementation of IT administration including digital security, Card information insurance including becoming EMV and enabling Chip & PIN for cards as well as guidelines for internet and mobile banking. There are regulations but there is no enactment with enabling provision for legal action making it a cognizable offence.

All across the country, different banks are still in process of implementing the cyber security and EMV compliance because of required investment and very limited skilled resources in the country and once law is in place and banks will be under strict compliance only then we can expect the desired results.

The “Dark Web” takes false benefit of the hype made in the market and after that drift, loads of fake information is made available to be purchased to cash in on the hype. The dark web basically is a term referring to websites and networks that are heavily encrypted and “hidden” from the average internet user. Dark web has earned a reputation mainly as a sort of immense black market, associated with drugs, guns, porn, hacking, and conspiracies. It requires something special to be able to access it, specific proxy software or authentication to gain access like (TOR). These pages require additional sub-network like Freenet, I2P or TOR.

The other issue is that dark web already has the cards information from all the major global banks that is gathered by them through skimming and this skimming is done through hacking and with connivance of some banking staff. The banks and credit service providers are also hit by credit fraud and both the banks and credit card servers have failed to protect their clients completely.

It is unfortunate Pakistani Banks have so far failed to provide PIN coded cards locally or abroad to protect the card holders against any cyber-attack. This is why a Pakistani credit card holder has to sign instead of using PIN code as being used by all other International banks.

I am of firm opinion that, in consultation with international and local banking experts, the following measures are needed to be taken to deal with the current cyber issues and future potential dangers which are likely to encounter the national cyber security:

a. Efforts are required by the banks to brief the clients against the potential types of cyber-attacks/threats by the fraudsters.

b. Regulators may have to guarantee either through above suggested law or strict SOP that in case there is a confirmed hacking / stolen data, immediate action be taken by the banks to execute the cyber security and IT governance and follow certain rules as under:

1. Banks are required to urgently replace non-compliant cards/ Manila cards with Chip and PIN for complete security of the cards. I suppose that if the banks do not comply with the orders of State Bank then State bank should suspend the banking license of the respective bank. This matter relates to the security, hence the Government needs to have the compliance through the Ministry of Finance as this is the only way to ensure that Chip & PIN cards are issued.

2. The non-compliant POS machines should be withdrawn quickly from the Market and POS machines be replaced by Chip and PIN cards.

3. All ATM machines must be customised to only accept Chip and PIN enabled cards for banking service.

4. Banks must follow global standards like PCI, DSS and State Bank should ensure the compliance of international banking standards.

5. The establishment of data collection and protection is a major task and it needs effective governance through a proper structure in the banks and its compliance should be ensured through an Act of Parliament.

6. Banks are required to have normal vulnerability and penetration risks audit to be done on regular basis through professional testing by the IT experts and the State Bank should have annual audit to ensure the compliance.

7. A profile based monitoring is required to be introduced and a constant monitoring by experts need to be done enabling the said teams to identify and block suspicious transactions. Basically IT based banking has to be monitored and controlled through technical IT hardware and software.

Our banking system is vulnerable and it stands exposed as soft target by the hackers or other cyber-crime experts. Similarly we need to bring our all the institutions together on the subject of cyber security and one cyber security law should cover the whole cyber fiasco.

The new act of parliament in addition to banking sector should also give cyber protection to the following institution as well:Airline travel data; NADRA data base; passport and immigration; data of all three defence forces; police and special branches; respective inland provincial / Federal revenue record; all ministerial record of respective ministry; all judicial proceedings / judicial websites; all State web sites; and future E- filing.

In addition to Cyber security enactment, there should be additional enactments for data protection to ensure the privacy of people.

We also need to create a special penal of trained judges to deal with cases related to Cyber security and the judges must have complete knowledge of Cyber world, Vulnerabilities and cautions.

The Article has been Published in ‘’The Nation’’ on December 07^th, 2018

The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/07-Dec-2018/cyber-security-for-banks-and-national-institutions