Rubber stamps; made in parliament by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

September 15, 2020 was another unforgettable day in the parliamentary history of Pakistan when a joint session was summoned to pass FATF’s dictated legislation. The joint session was actually forced in by FATF and we as a nation are turned to be helpless to say ‘no’ to the directions of FATF duly engineered by India and the USA. Let us discuss who brought the great idea of terrorism in Pakistan; the nation knows that first, it was a result of our own blunder by jumping into the war of USA with the USSR via Afghanistan. How the USSR was dragged into this war is part of the record of international spy agencies. The major suffering from this war was experienced by none but Pakistan and Afghanistan. We continue to suffer post 9/11 and facts remain that we have been suffering in the hands of America nonstop but we still do not realise and every time we are ready to suffer furthermore in their hand. The origin of money laundering started when cash dollars were distributed among the Mujahedeen dollars which were transported in US planes as the said war started with the USA funding.

The USA had been forcing us to do more but we did only which our sovereignty allowed us and we rejected to provide the data of our Pakistanis and it was me in the capacity of Interior Minister who declined to sign a MoU requested to me by General (R) Durrani followed by a pressing request by their Home Ministry. Now when I see all the sections of laws now have been made on the directions of FATF, in fact these are exactly the same demands which were made earlier made by the USA administration starting from Senator John Kerry to Secretary Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, we have now been forced through the forum of FATF to agree to their terms. The Americans know that money laundering originated from the USA as worldwide business deals go through New York which is the main transfer hub of money transfers in dollars.

In my article “Attacking Pakistan’s Economy via FATF” dated October 21, 2019, I had expressed “I wish the government had informed the world that money laundering was not done by Pakistan but by those counties who created and supported the Jihadi organisations for their ulterior motives to keep the peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan disturbed. The creation and funding of Jihadi outfits came from the USA and also support from the wealthy Saudis and other business tycoons from the Middle East.” I had also mentioned in the same article “FATF is a joint effort of USA and India to undermine Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate terrorism and stabilise its economy. Pakistan should have demanded testimony from Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton in Congress regarding who had launched these Jehadis. They had already made this frank confession which goes in favour of Pakistan & how they were funded & trained. The record of this confession by Hillary is, in fact, the right defence for Pakistan and it is strange to note that the government failed to put forth these important hard facts.”

Pakistan is the only country that has made so many changes in its law linking it with international interference and its benefit will go more to our enemy countries as the USA and other G- 7 countries will have the right to ask for secret information about Pakistan where our complete privacy will be compromised. The laws are not endorsed and are allowed to be passed by the FATF administration but our parliament did it. I happened to be part of this parliament and feel equally responsible but the collective response has made it happen. I fully endorse that the parliament has been made a rubber stamp and both Shahbaz Sharif and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari know who were absent from their parties from the house. Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has rightly termed this Parliament as rubber stamp but it is now up to the political leadership how they take out the blame of rubber stamp from the parliament. If this continues people are bound to lose their confidence in the Parliament. The fact is that the speaker remained confused, the opposition was less aggressive and it was overall a poor show. Reportedly the absence were marked from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the National Party, two from the Awami National Party (ANP), from the Baloch National Party-Mengal and Baloch National Party Awami missed the joint session of Parliament. I noticed that some closest aides of both the top leadership of these parties were missing in the house. If all of these opposition members were present then there was no question of the defeat of the opposition. In the given situation the saga of the rubber stamp has also been contributed by the members of these parties.

I think accountability has to start from within the parties and all those members owe an explanation who remained absent except who were genuinely sick. Their absence amounted to ditching their respective parties. I am sure the respective leadership will ask them about their embarrassing absence from the house as it is even worse than floor crossing as it amounts to clever cheating of their respective parties. In fact, it will not be wrong to stay that parliament having the honour of receiving the “rubber stamp” is the production of the parliament itself. It is unfortunate that as long as the money is there to buy and sell a vote this practice will not stop. The political parties have a great chance to weed out those who ditched their parties for the reasons best known to them. At least this is an opportunity for their respective leaders to punish them even if they are from the close circle. We do have members who think that they are the “aqil kul” but many times I have seen them embarrassing their parties for quoting wrong references. This is the time for the leadership at all levels to stand on the basic principle of democracy and loyalties. The first count in the joint house appeared to be doubtful and that was the time to demand the division of votes and I did demand in high pitch but one of the senior leaders of PMLN opposed me there and I kept on insisting. The sense prevailed during half the session to walk out but our real complaint about the division of vote was rejected undemocratically and unconstitutionally by the speaker. This is Pakistan Parliament which will continue with the same distrust and internal clever cheating. Parliament owes an explanation to the nation and action against the temporary missing parliamentarians. Let there be a parliamentary inquiry to know what excuses come out to justify their absence from the Joint House. I have written this with a heavy heart what I saw or felt and hence no one should take it personally. Let us see how many show cause notices are issued to those who were absent. I am sorry for writing this blunt piece. I may not opt to be in parliament in the next term but this article will remind many to remain truthful and faithful to their parties as flu and fevers should not stop performing their national duty. Let us hope that there will be no rubber stamp “made in Parliament” in the future.

The article was published in The Nation on September 19, 2020 and link to the article is https://nation.com.pk/19-Sep-2020/rubber-stamps-made-in-parliament

Quick renewal of Pak-Saudi ties by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Saudi Arabia has always acted as an elder brother by standing with Pakistan during the most difficult crises. It was HRH King Faysal bin Saud who sent spare parts for fighter jets and stood openly with Pakistan during the Indo-Pak war in 1965. There were many difficult moments where Saudi Arabia’s help cannot be forgotten as it remained as an all-weather friend with us. I recall those fond old memories which I experienced every time I went to Saudi Arabia and was received at the steps of the plane by the then HRH Crown Prince Mohummad Bin Naif, and every time my meeting with His excellency King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz used to last for hours and the discussion was mostly on South Asia and the Middle East. I remember how carefully and amicably the Saudi team handled the negotiations with Iran which were led by me on the initiative of President Asif Ali Zardari. They always expressed great thoughts for the people of Pakistan and Saudi authorities always have a special place for Pakistan. It will not be wrong to say that the relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia has always been close and friendly. Pakistan, considered one of the strongest military states, has assumed the role of a guardian of host to the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, and the destination of Muslim pilgrims from across the world; Saudi Arabia, against any external or internal threat to the holy places.

Saudi Arabia has remained as the strongest supporter of Pakistan in the matter of Kashmir in the past; we need to examine and see what went wrong that Saudi Arabia decided to invest billions of dollars in India rather than in Pakistan. Both the countries have enjoyed sound political, diplomatic, military, and economic relations until recent times and a sudden change in the attitude of Saudi Arabia needs to be properly looked into and we must work out to identify and redress the misunderstanding through mutual discussions. HRH King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud played a key dignitary role in holding the first-ever All Muslim Ummah conference in Pakistan which was initiated by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s relationship have touched new heights under the strong leadership of HRH King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. In 2018, on the request of Pakistan, he gave Pakistan $3 billion in aid and loans, of which $1.5 billion was deposited in Pakistan’s central bank. Further, a loan worth up to $3 billion was also given in deferred payments for oil imports to help stave off our current account crisis, while Saudi Arabia negotiated a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund. During the same year, Saudi Arabia under HRH King Salman, announced plans to establish an oil refinery at Gwadar, with a proposed capacity of 500,000 barrels per day by investing $30 billion. In 2019, it paid $20 billion to finance developmental projects in Pakistan. HRH Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has also been taking keen interest in bringing new reforms to the Kingdom that includes economic reforms as well as strengthening relationships with other Muslim states.

As an honour to Pakistan, HRH King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz had also appointed our former COAS Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi-led, Islamic Military Alliance in 2017 which shows the strength of the relationship regardless of which party has been in power in Pakistan as both Nawaz and Peoples party had always respected the role of Saudi Arabia in the Islamic world.

It should also be noted that Imran Khan, upon becoming the Prime Minister had requested the HRH Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to release hundreds of Pakistanis prisoners as an honour to his visit to Pakistan which was instantly agreed upon by his excellency. Why have we annoyed the kingdom with our undiplomatic approach? I also believe that the PM stance and his remarks about Yemen should be mentioned in some context as he criticized the role of the coalition in Yemen while Saudi Arabia had always stood beside Pakistan.

 During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, Pakistan extended its military support to Saudi Arabia to protect the Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia by sending its troops.

In fact, the relationship started deteriorating when Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, the then-chief of staff of the Pakistani army openly expressed support against the official policy of the then government by extending support to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq which was a highly unbecoming move that annoyed Saudi leadership.

The wheel of time brought this investigation into my lap when I was director FIA and I was asked to look into the matter as to why Gen Aslam Baig announced the support to Sadam Hussain annoying the then govt so I investigated it thoroughly and submitted a report to Gen Babar, the then Interior Minister. This report revolves around a black briefcase which was recovered from a top businessman.

I also interrogated Mr. Younas Habib, the leading accused of the Mehran Bank scandal and a business tycoon but I will leave the details for some other time. I however also briefed then PM Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto about some leads to New York found from the said black briefcase of a businessman.

Saudi Arabia was the only country that promised on the day of the nuclear test to supply free oil of 50,000 barrels per day to help Pakistan deal with likely economic sanctions by the US. Saudi Arabia was the first one to come in response to the 2005 earthquake in Azad Jammu Kashmir and Northern areas of Pakistan. The then King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz had announced an emergency aid package worth 133 million dollars for Pakistan and other crucial support.

Nawaz Sharif had best of the best relations with Saudi Arabia and so the country went out of the way to get him out of jail under General Pervez Musharraf’s regime and then moments came when Saudi Prince Muqrin came with a special letter from King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz addressed to Nawaz Sharif to spare the life of General Pervez Musharraf and not to register a case against him during the PPP & PML N coalition govt. Why Saudi Arabia had to request Nawaz Sharif is a long historic part of our history which will be written in the form of a book with surprising facts. The fact remains that there had been great interest in Pakistan by Saudi Arabia and this sudden change in the attitude of Saudi Arabia needs to be analysed.

Saudi Arabia is the largest source of petroleum for Pakistan. In 2018, on the request of Pakistan, it gave Pakistan $3 billion in aid and loans, of which $1.5 billion was deposited in Pakistan’s central bank. “Lately, Saudi Arabia had announced to end the loan and oil supply deal with Pakistan along with forcing Pakistan to repay $1 billion loans after the aggressive statement by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that Saudi Arabia led the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was not doing enough to pressure India on the Kashmir issue. He in his statement had warned the Saudi-led Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that if it didn’t convene a meeting of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss Indian aggression towards Jammu and Kashmir as well as the revocation of Article 370 by India on August 5 last year, Pakistan would move to call a meeting of Islamic countries that would stand by it on the Kashmir issue.” The sudden undiplomatic expression by Shah Mehmood Qureshi has cost us heavily resulting in the breakdown of our relations with Saudi Arabia. This statement was obviously not liked by Saudi authorities, hence, they forced Pakistan to return $1 billion. This recent unfriendly situation arose because an undiplomatic statement of FM needs to be examined at depth should be rectified. The nation needs to know if this statement was delivered on his own or it has the input of the senior leaders of his party or duly cleared by the PTI cabinet. If he had given this statement on his own, then he owes an explanation to the nation and if this statement was given under the directions of the PM then PM needs to come to the Parliament to give his explanation. I am left with no other option except to raise in the house on point of order and will continue my efforts unless I get the inside response. The govt should be open in stating as to why our relationship with Saudi Arabia have gone bad? Why it is being kept hidden even from the parliament? It is unfortunate that Saudi-Pak relations were dented twice by two Pakistani individuals at positions of authority for their unwarranted and undiplomatic statements annoying Saudi authorities. This statement has created odd relations between the two friendly countries and it is the right of the public to know about the real background as now, unfortunately, we have gone to the lower end of a friendship and we need to improve it by using all our resources. We should not lose our great friend Saudi Arabia like this and let us hope that Pakistan tries the mediation of UAE or Egypt to clear the misunderstandings with Saudi Arabia without wasting any further time. We have no option except to restore our relations with Saudi Arabia and my sources say that a western country will play its role to get it sorted through the leaders who matter on both sides.

Note: The article was published in The Nation on September 1, 2020 and the link to the article... https://nation.com.pk/01-Sep-2020/quick-renewal-of-pak-saudi-ties