‘Petition Mafia is Controlled by Raiwind’

By Umar Aziz Khan –

Interior Minister accuses PML-N of cavorting with terrorists, playing spoilsport in the judiciary row; predicts attempts to stop PPP winning polls will fail

One would be hard-pressed to find a pithy response from the country’s interior security czar. Part of this could be attributed to an inherent verbosity; the senator loves to hold forth and his penchant to do press in the first place is also unrivaled in the government.

And part of it could be attributed to the fact that he actually has a lot to say. In 2008, when he became the advisor to the PM on interior affairs, later to be elevated as a full federal minister, Rehman Malik was perhaps, the most wired politician to hold the all-important portfolio in the country’s history. This means he was already intimately acquainted with the country’s law and order administration apparatus, having done the rounds as Additional DG FIA earlier.

All others who held the slot had to have a learning curve, getting the hang of the place, not him. A close second would have been two-time chief minister Aftab Sherpao, whose experience as a provincial home minister would have come in handy.

“His closure of the cellular networks by around Eid time drew all the predictable flak. But, for a change, it also churned out a commodity the government is not exactly aflush with: applause. “It was a success. Yes, there was some negativity but overall, the step was successful,” Malik enthuses.”

Ironically, some of the country’s most unstable years, from a law and order standpoint, have been on Malik’s watch. These could be attributed to a host of factors, local and international, that have been festering for decades. As well the inability of the state, the PPP government included, to cope with these factors. Things however, seem to be improving. With the security situation at a nadir, even an Eid without an untoward incident is deemed a success.

“Yes, this Eid was peaceful, by the grace of Allah,” he said at his residence in Islamabad’s Ministers Enclave. “But so was the one before that. We’ve had a relatively peaceful Muharram as well. Three years that have, more or less, been without a major incident.”

His closure of the cellular networks by around Eid time drew all the predictable flak. But, for a change, it also churned out a commodity the government is not exactly aflush with: applause. “It was a success. Yes, there was some negativity but overall, the step was successful,” Malik enthuses.

“I have established an analytics wing at the Ministry of Interior,” he says with a hint of pride. “There, we analyzed all past records and try to make sense of the data that we have collected.”

“We had a 100 percent confirmation of the (terrorists’) plans to attack in Karachi and Lahore. Knowing full well that there was going to be terrorist action in these places and more, we decided to take the step.”

“Every time, we have our own strategy and they (the terrorists) have theirs,” he said, describing the macabre chess game between the state and the militants. The cell networks are an indispensible tool of communication for the miscreants; by cutting them off from one another, the government threw in a spanner in the works.

Despite their criticism, even long-running nemesis PML-N had requested for the networks to be closed down in the Punjab, he said. But spokesperson Pervez Rashid had denied this in the press.

“Should I show you the Punjab chief secretary’s official request letter,” dares Malik.

It is clear that the minister does not see eye-to-eye with the PML-N when it comes to the fight against terror. When asked about the League’s complacency, perhaps ambivalence, in the war-on-terror, he slaps down the query as being too “kind” tothem.

“Why don’t you say it clearly…“they (the PML-N) are affiliated with them’”?

“The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s understanding, their association, with them is known to all. (Well-known terrorist) Malik Ishaq’s brother had fielded his candidacy from Bhakkar against Shahbaz Sharif in the elections. Under which terms and conditions did he step down?”

“One of the conditions was Ishaq’s release. And all the security that the latter was given was provided by the Punjab government,” he said. “They give them money from the zakat fund. And they even allow him to speak at rallies, even though he is from a banned organization.”

And it’s not just with the LeJ that the minister alleges the League has a nexus with. “When we arrested (Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan supremo) Maulana Ludhianvi (when he arrived in the capital for a Difa-e-Pakistan Council rally), the court granted his bail. But later, the Commissioner informed me that he was still around and that the Punjab police was giving him protection.”

The federal government, says the minister, bit the bullet and arrested him after some mediation with all concerned.

“The Punjab CM has actually appealed to the Taliban at a public rally, ‘Your agenda and ours is the same; spare our province!’ What more evidence do you need (of their complicity)?”

“The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s understanding, their association, with them (PML-N) is known to all. (Well-known terrorist) Malik Ishaq’s brother had fielded his candidacy from Bhakkar against Shahbaz Sharif in the elections. Under which terms and conditions did he step down?”

Though he makes some valid points regarding terrorism, but trying to cite the N League as the root cause of the rift between the government and the judiciary as well may be a bit rich. The judicial crisis, he says, stems from a “petition mafia that is controlled by Raiwind.”

“All the petitioners were financed by the PML-N. Some were even filed directly by the party. Take the memo petition, for instance. If an intelligence agency has some alleged proof of a supposed conspiracy, what business is it of the PML-N to get involved? We could have also gone to the court — still can — and ask the honourable court as to how the Punjab government is running on a stay order. But we choose not to.”

The irony, he said, is that the PML-N presents itself as a party that epitomizes the respect of the judiciary. “We saw the immense respect they gave (Justice Sajjad Ali) Shah Saheb. We all saw it on TV. The people still remember that. Today, we’re being sermonized by them on the respect of the judiciary.”

He also brings up the notorious Malik Qayyum tape scandal, where the Lahore High Court judge was caught taking instructions from the then PML-N government to pursue their case against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari.

“I was the one who made those tapes public. And, libel laws being tough abroad, we had to do our home-work for about a month. We even had to call some of the parties involved only to take voice samples to enable forensic analysis. The rest is history.”

Though he won’t reveal the specific advice he gave the government on the issue of the PM writing the now-infamous letter to the Swiss authorities, he does hold forth on his analysis of the legality of the issue.

“The letter has already been written, but not by the prime minister. But nowhere does any law, any stipulation, say that such a letter has to be written by him specifically. Nowhere is there a law that says that even his approval needs to be sought before such a letter is sent.”

“Former chairman NAB Naveed Ahsan was, in fact, instructed by a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court to write this letter. He did write this letter to the attorney general of Switzerland. And the latter did say the issue was time-barred; that no action can be taken now,” he explained emphatically.

No matter what the outcome of the stand-off with the judiciary is, the government does seem set to complete its term on the treasury benches.

An excited Malik also asks for his next prediction to be noted.

“When few gave the Senate elections any real chance of even being held, l had predicted no-one would be able to stop the PPP from winning it. Now, I’m predicting again, we will win the next elections, with our allies, as well.”

He disagrees with the idea that the PPP would have to countenance, for the first time in its history, the absence of a seasoned ‘Bhutto’ at the helm and parries a question about pitching the inexperienced Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as the face of the party for emotional appeal.

Even if his party doesn’t make it, he’ll still have one hell of a tale to tell. He reveals it is in the works, and a slew of foreign publishers have made a pitch for it.

“I’m a sitting minister so I won’t say I’ll write that book anytime soon. But trust me; there are many secrets I’ve kept aside specially for it.”

Catch and release?

As one high-profile apprehended terrorist after the other is being let off by the courts, Rehman Malik does have a tricky issue on his hands: how to ensure the courts don’t acquit terrorists nabbed so painstakingly by the agencies. Since the enforcement of law is, technically speaking, a provincial subject, it is actually this policy issue that the Federal Interior Ministry can really be in its element.

“We have to make an evidence-based claim against an accused terrorist. The evidence we have today isn’t even admissible in the court of law. Modern intelligence is all about electronic surveillance. The law clearly needs to be updated. I’ve been trying to get a bill through the parliament for three years now. The Anti-Terror Act needs to be amended. So does the Evidence Act,” he explains.

But certain issues transcend the letter of the law itself. “Yes, there have been cases where the judges themselves have been intimidated by the terrorists. There have been reports of terrorists, while in the court, carrying signs bearing the addresses of the schools where the judge’s children study.”

“We need to start witness protection programmes. And programmes also for protecting judges. Some here have even suggested we follow the Italian model of the judiciary when they were hearing the cases against the Sicilian mob (the judges were made to wear masks). We’re not going to go to that extreme but ensure better protection.”

The night of the judges

For what it is worth, the interior minister gives his side of the story.

“At around seven in the morning on the day of the Long March, the American ambassador calls me. Washington is concerned, she said, that you are going to arrest Nawaz Sharif.

“I haven’t yet but I will retain him for his own safety, I told her, as we have information about a possible assassination attempt on him. A possible way out would be for him to fly in on a chopper and fly back. He refused.

“Close to when they were in Muridke, I retained him. Now — and I was in this very room where you are interviewing me right now — I thought since we are going to restore the judges anyway — we were planning to do it after Justice Dogar retired — why not actually do it and take credit for it?

“So I called the PM and President and suggested we restore the judges. Since the President was going to do it anyway, he accepted my request and the prime minister went on to announce the decision to restore the deposed judiciary.

“All claims that the judges were restored because of the Long March are false.”

However, when he is pushed to respond to the popular ‘legend’ that it was in effect (Army chief) General Kayani who called Aitzaz Ahsan — then leading the lawyers caravan — to convey the decision (about the restoration of judges), Malik says it happened only after the President took the army chief onboard after inviting him to the Presidency.”

Panel: Umar Aziz Khan, Irfan Bukhari and Kamran Rehmat