Tweet
From International News, Karachi Pakistan
Hameed Gul tears up US charge-sheet
Monday, December 08, 2008
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul finds the US chargesheet against him as a mere pack of lies and has argued that it is
both fallacious and inaccurate, deviously designed to squelch his voice and to malign the ISI which he headed some 20 years
ago. In a rejoinder to the chargesheet that The News reported on Sunday while quoting a secret US document recently handed
over to the Government of Pakistan, the former ISI chief said the charge-sheet was devoid of substance and was based
entirely on conjunctures and generalities.
“It is so blatantly erroneous that even my address and passport numbers are
incorrect,” commented Gul, who is a known Islamist and never shied from his anti-American stance.
Willing to defend himself
before any independent commission or body, he strongly refuted the allegations that accuse him of sponsoring and supporting
al- Qaeda, Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and that he had been recruiting and training young men from Madrassas
from Pakistan to fight against the foreign forces in Afghanistan.
He said he was an ardent friend of Afghanistan. “I adore
the nation for their phenomenal courage, ferocious independence and a glorious history of resistance to aggression,” he
said. “Many leaders of the ruling alliance in Kabul are my close friends. I have always strived to forge unity among them.
The Afghan leadership across the internecine divide knows my position and respects me for it.” True to his reputation of
being outspoken critic of the US, Gul said he considered American and Nato forces as aggressors, who were in pursuit of a
vicious agenda for the region, especially Pakistan, and believes that the Afghan national resistance was fully justified.
It is strictly a moral and academic position which, he said, will continue to hold till the aggression is ended. Hameed Gul
said he had never provided any material or financial support to the resistance nor did have the wherewithal to do so.
Referring to another charge, he said, he had never met or communicated with Baitullah Mehsud or any other leaders of the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “This piece of disinformation is mischief to tarnish my image with the ISI and the armed
forces, who are engaged in fighting the TTP in Fata.” He, however, explained that on this issue he and his colleagues of
the Ex-Servicemen Society were unanimous that this was not our war and we should settle our internal disputes by dialogue.
Referring to the US charge that talks of his connection with Sirajuddin Haqqani, he said: “I have never seen or met
Sirajuddin Haqqani. But I knew his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was one of the eminent Mujahideen leaders during the
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and still regard him as a great freedom fighter.”
Responding to another charge, he said
there was absolutely no truth of his involvement in “spotting, assessing and recruiting young men from various Pakistani
Madrassas” to fight the occupation forces in Afghanistan. The former ISI chief said he had no knowledge of the training
camps nor did he have the time and means to indulge in such activities. He said scores of people, including national and
international media, visited him every day who would vouch for his aboveboard conduct.
“I am like an open book and intend
to remain so,” he said, adding any agency, public or private, could look into his activities in any manner of their
choosing.
“I will be more than willing to cooperate,” said the retired general, who has the knack of dealing with the
Western and US anti- Pakistan and anti-Muslim propagandists in a befitting manner. Gul admitted that he was a patron of
Ummah Tamir-e-Nau (UTN), an NGO created by some Pakistani businessmen to help revive the war-ravaged industry in
Afghanistan. He said it was a noble cause and, therefore, he lent his name to it merely to promote goodwill among the
Afghan people. After 9/11, the organisation was abolished and he had nothing to do with it thereafter.
Immediately after 9/11, he said he was quizzed about his connection with the UTN by a general of the ISI. He disclosed that he answered all
the queries and, what he thought, to the Americans’ satisfaction. He categorically said he had no direct knowledge about
the relocation of al-Qaeda members from Iraq to Afghanistan but he did give his assessment of its possibility to the
national and the international media.
“I have no contact with al-Qaeda. However, I did meet Osama bin Laden in Dec 1993 and
again in Nov 1994 when I went to Khartoum to attend the International People’s Conferences called by Dr Hassan Turabi. Both
these meetings were at the banquets and in full public view. I have already told the whole world about it several times.”
He said the report in question was a pack of lies which had become the hallmark of the Bush administration and was not
worthy of serious attention. Yet, he said, he would be prepared to present himself for examination before any international
commission set up inside Pakistan provided it was not under the US tutelage.
“Finally, I leave it to the people of Pakistan
to judge me in the light of my previous record and character. I wish my government would do its duty to protect innocent
citizens and institutions against malicious assaults from the dark impulse in the US policy towards Pakistan. If ever there
was a need to show resolve for the national honour, dignity and security, it is now,” he concluded.
Hameed Gul tears up US charge-sheet
Monday, December 08, 2008
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul finds the US chargesheet against him as a mere pack of lies and has argued that it is
both fallacious and inaccurate, deviously designed to squelch his voice and to malign the ISI which he headed some 20 years
ago. In a rejoinder to the chargesheet that The News reported on Sunday while quoting a secret US document recently handed
over to the Government of Pakistan, the former ISI chief said the charge-sheet was devoid of substance and was based
entirely on conjunctures and generalities.
“It is so blatantly erroneous that even my address and passport numbers are
incorrect,” commented Gul, who is a known Islamist and never shied from his anti-American stance.
Willing to defend himself
before any independent commission or body, he strongly refuted the allegations that accuse him of sponsoring and supporting
al- Qaeda, Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and that he had been recruiting and training young men from Madrassas
from Pakistan to fight against the foreign forces in Afghanistan.
He said he was an ardent friend of Afghanistan. “I adore
the nation for their phenomenal courage, ferocious independence and a glorious history of resistance to aggression,” he
said. “Many leaders of the ruling alliance in Kabul are my close friends. I have always strived to forge unity among them.
The Afghan leadership across the internecine divide knows my position and respects me for it.” True to his reputation of
being outspoken critic of the US, Gul said he considered American and Nato forces as aggressors, who were in pursuit of a
vicious agenda for the region, especially Pakistan, and believes that the Afghan national resistance was fully justified.
It is strictly a moral and academic position which, he said, will continue to hold till the aggression is ended. Hameed Gul
said he had never provided any material or financial support to the resistance nor did have the wherewithal to do so.
Referring to another charge, he said, he had never met or communicated with Baitullah Mehsud or any other leaders of the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “This piece of disinformation is mischief to tarnish my image with the ISI and the armed
forces, who are engaged in fighting the TTP in Fata.” He, however, explained that on this issue he and his colleagues of
the Ex-Servicemen Society were unanimous that this was not our war and we should settle our internal disputes by dialogue.
Referring to the US charge that talks of his connection with Sirajuddin Haqqani, he said: “I have never seen or met
Sirajuddin Haqqani. But I knew his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was one of the eminent Mujahideen leaders during the
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and still regard him as a great freedom fighter.”
Responding to another charge, he said
there was absolutely no truth of his involvement in “spotting, assessing and recruiting young men from various Pakistani
Madrassas” to fight the occupation forces in Afghanistan. The former ISI chief said he had no knowledge of the training
camps nor did he have the time and means to indulge in such activities. He said scores of people, including national and
international media, visited him every day who would vouch for his aboveboard conduct.
“I am like an open book and intend
to remain so,” he said, adding any agency, public or private, could look into his activities in any manner of their
choosing.
“I will be more than willing to cooperate,” said the retired general, who has the knack of dealing with the
Western and US anti- Pakistan and anti-Muslim propagandists in a befitting manner. Gul admitted that he was a patron of
Ummah Tamir-e-Nau (UTN), an NGO created by some Pakistani businessmen to help revive the war-ravaged industry in
Afghanistan. He said it was a noble cause and, therefore, he lent his name to it merely to promote goodwill among the
Afghan people. After 9/11, the organisation was abolished and he had nothing to do with it thereafter.
Immediately after 9/11, he said he was quizzed about his connection with the UTN by a general of the ISI. He disclosed that he answered all
the queries and, what he thought, to the Americans’ satisfaction. He categorically said he had no direct knowledge about
the relocation of al-Qaeda members from Iraq to Afghanistan but he did give his assessment of its possibility to the
national and the international media.
“I have no contact with al-Qaeda. However, I did meet Osama bin Laden in Dec 1993 and
again in Nov 1994 when I went to Khartoum to attend the International People’s Conferences called by Dr Hassan Turabi. Both
these meetings were at the banquets and in full public view. I have already told the whole world about it several times.”
He said the report in question was a pack of lies which had become the hallmark of the Bush administration and was not
worthy of serious attention. Yet, he said, he would be prepared to present himself for examination before any international
commission set up inside Pakistan provided it was not under the US tutelage.
“Finally, I leave it to the people of Pakistan
to judge me in the light of my previous record and character. I wish my government would do its duty to protect innocent
citizens and institutions against malicious assaults from the dark impulse in the US policy towards Pakistan. If ever there
was a need to show resolve for the national honour, dignity and security, it is now,” he concluded.
Comment