Author: Wilson John
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 29, 2007
Gen Pervez Musharraf's successor as Army chief,
Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, is a former boss of ISI, has patrons in Washington,
DC, knows politicians who matter in Pakistan and meets other criteria set
by the Americans
Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, a Punjabi officer
from the famed Baloch Regiment, an experienced India hand, with marked US
leanings, on Wednesday took over from Gen Pervez Musharraf as Pakistan Army's
14th Chief of Army Staff. The chain-smoking, reclusive General is the first
DG, ISI, to head that country's Army.
Gen Kiyani's appointment as the Chief of Army Staff does have Washington's
consent. He is certainly not part of Gen Musharraf's inner coterie. His appointment
could be seen as part of the US grand-strategy to install a democratic set-up
in Pakistan with President Musharraf as the civilian head of state and an
elected Prime Minister.
Gen Kiyani has undergone three courses in
the US, including one at the US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort
Leavenworth. He is known to the top brass in Pentagon -- a clear reference
to which was made by a US State Department spokesperson who said that senior
officers at Pentagon and the CIA have had "some long-term interaction"
with Gen Kiyani and "was comfortable with him". Interestingly, he
had met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last November.
Gen Kiyani is no less political than his predecessor.
He has been active in politics for quite sometime. In October 1999, for instance,
he was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) at Murree. The GOC, Murree, acts
more like a Viceroy of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and is known to take an active
interest in managing the political affairs of this federally administered
area.
As DG, ISI, he was part of Gen Musharraf's
'A' team, led by National Security Council Secretary Tariq Aziz, negotiating
with Ms Benazir Bhutto for a political deal. He was Gen Musharraf's only aide
during the hush-hush meeting with Ms Bhutto in Abu Dhabi on July 27. He was
the Deputy Military ADC to Ms Bhutto and had been in touch with her even during
her self-exile in London.
Gen Kiyani's familiarity with other Punjab-based
political parties -- Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and Pakistan Muslim League
(Nawaz) -- cannot be discounted either. He was involved in opening negotiations
with Mr Nawaz Sharif's brother, Mr Shahbaz Sharif, in August this year.
Pakistan Muslim League (Q) chairman Chaudhary
Shujaat Hussain has also been in touch with Gen Kiyani. According to The News
(October 2), "the Chaudharys have been dealing with Gen Kiyani for quite
sometime and they are maintaining irritant-free working relations with him."
It is interesting to note that an officer,
who is supposedly apolitical, chose to invite PML(Q) leaders and other political
leaders to his iftar party in Islamabad, just one day before Gen Musharraf
submitted his nomination papers for the second presidential term.
Lt Gen Kiyni hails from one of the largest
and most powerful clans from Gujar Khan in the Pothohar belt of Punjab, a
traditional recruitment ground for men and officers even during the British
times. Punjab accounts for about 60 per cent of the recruitments to Pakistan's
Army.
As DG ISI (October 2004-October 2007), Gen
Kiyani played an important role in unravelling the London terrorist plot in
2006. It was an ISI tip-off that led the British and the US police to foil
the plot. Gen Kiyani, it is reported, worked in tandem with Western intelligence
agencies for the follow-up investigations.
As the ISI chief, he was deeply involved in
keeping a tab on the growing presence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal
areas and NWFP. Gen Kiyani is credited with the arrest of a top Al Qaeda operative,
Abu Faraz al-Libbi, and hunting down Amjad Farooqui, one of the key suspects
in the assassination attempts on Gen Musharraf.
On the flip side, it was during his tenure
as the DG ISI that Waziristan and neighbouring areas witnessed increased 'Taliban-isation'.
No less significant was his agreeing to release Harkat-ul Mujahideen chief
Fazlur Rehman Khalil (December 2004) and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami chief Qari
Saifullah Akhtar (May 2007), two of the Afghan jihad veterans who were instrumental
in reorganising terrorist strategies and operations on behalf of the ISI and
the Army.
In September 2006, more than 2,600 suspected
terrorists were released by Pakistan. It is also reported that many of the
junior ISI officials, retired in the purge carried out by Ehsan ul Haq after
September 11, 2001, have returned to the fold as contractual employees to
aid the Taliban.
These men operate mainly from the ISI office
in Chitral (Northern Areas), which supports terrorists launching attacks on
the US, and Afghan forces in Kunar and Nuristan. Gen Kiyani as the head of
ISI was certainly aware of these developments and allowed such backdoor support
to the Taliban as part of Pakistan's overall policy.
Pakistan's Chiefs of Army Staff
* Gen Sir Frank Messervy (August 15, 1947
-- February 10, 1948)
* Gen Sir Douglas David Gracey (February 11,
1948 -- January 16, 1951)
* Field Marshal Ayub Khan (January 16, 1951
-- October 26, 1958)
* Gen Musa Khan (October 27, 1958 -- June
17, 1966)
* Gen Yahya Khan (June 18, 1966 -- December
20, 1971)
* Gen Gul Hassan (December 20, 1971 -- March
3, 1972)
* Gen Tikka Khan (March 3, 1972 -- March 1,
1976)
* Gen Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (April 1, 1976 --
August 17, 1988)
* Gen Mirza Aslam Beg (August 17, 1988 --
August 16, 1991)
* Gen Asif Nawaz (August 16, 1991 -- January
8, 1993)
* Gen Wahid Kakar (January 8, 1993 -- December
1, 1996)
* Gen Jehangir Karamat (December 1, 1996 --
October 6, 1998)
* Gen Pervez Musharraf (October 7, 1998 --
November 28, 2007)
* Gen Ashfaz Parvez Kiyani (November 28, 2007
-- present)
