DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 24 January 2000, Monday, 16 Shawwal 1420
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C-130 plane crash: Altaf demands fresh inquiry
Mustajab claims of abduction by intelligence agencies
Kidnapped PPL chief traceless
Private security guard killed in shootout with police
US computers for police
Nawaz linked to multi-million pound money laundering trust
C-130 plane crash: Altaf demands fresh inquiry
LONDON, Jan 23: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has reiterated his demand for holding a fresh inquiry into the C-130 plane crash in 1988 in which Gen Zia and 22 other high military officers were killed.

Mr Hussain, who is accusing the ISI for its involvement in the plane crash, said that Superintendent of Police Agha was on special duty (security) and he was responsible for all the arrangements of the plane. However, surprisingly, he was offloaded at the last minute by the ISI officials who had taken control of the security arrangements of the plane.

"It should also be investigated that why at the last moment Agha was offloaded from the plane?"

Referring to the criticism being made by certain quarters on his charges against the ISI, the MQM chief said if his critics felt that there were loopholes in these facts then it was their national duty to tell the present military government and the public of the true facts behind the plane crash otherwise important matters relating to national security and tragedies would fell in abyss.

Mr Hussain said he would soon reveal some important facts behind the 1971 tragedy of East Pakistan".

Mustajab claims of abduction by intelligence agencies

KARACHI: Maj (retd) Mustajab Hasan, in charge of PML (N) Media Cell, has alleged that the government agencies, by using criminals, kidnapped him but he succeeded in escaping from their custody and returned home on early Sunday morning.

Speaking at a hurriedly called press conference at Karachi Press Club, he said that he would lodge case against the government officials. The PML (N) leader said that he could identify the kidnappers and point out the place where he was kept in detention.

Mustajab said that he was kidnapped while returning home after attending the proceeding of party chief Nawaz Sharif at the ATC in Clifton. He said when he crossed the Clifton Bridge his car was surrounded by five cars and armed plainclothes men pushed him in a car and took him away. They threatened to kill him if he resisted, he added.

He claimed that two of the accused had introduced themselves in the ATC two days before as intelligence officers and one of them was called Shah Sahab. Mustajab said that he was blindfolded when the car reached Khalid Bin Walid Road and detained in an investigation centre and later he was shifted to a goth. However, he avoided disclosing about the criminals and the questions that they asked him.

He claimed that the criminals wanted to take him to Dadu to their chief but he escaped when they were pushing their car to get it started. He said being a former soldier he succeeded to dodge them and returned to Karachi on trucks. Party leaders Mamnoon Hussain, Capt Haleem Siddiqui, Ejaz Shaffi and others were also present at the press conference.

Kidnapped PPL chief traceless
KARACHI, Jan 23: There seems to be no headway in the efforts to recover the 53-year-old chief executive of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Syed Munsif Raza, who was kidnapped by gunmen along with his vehicle on Saturday.

Inquiries show that the police control had aired its message within two minutes of the kidnapping, but the law-enforcement agencies patrolling the city's thoroughfares could not detect the beige-coloured Cherokee jeep whose colour and other marks (registration numbers on either side of the vehicle in bold letters) had been made known to them on wireless.

Besides, an emergency message was communicated to the check points in the outskirts of Karachi and the routes leading to Balochistan and Punjab within 12 minutes of the kidnapping. Mr Raza's shopkeeper friend had rung up his (Raza's) family after he immediately made a phone call on "15" when the jeep was driven away by his two kidnappers along with Mr Raza from outside a cloth shop near Bilal mosque off Tipu Sultan Road at 7:10pm.

Inquiries also showed that neither the family nor the police or the Citizens-police Liaison Committee had received any call from Mr Raza or his kidnappers.

Sources in the home department and the police said there was a possibility that the PPL chief had been taken out of the city or the province by using the dirt roads away from the highways, adding that since the law-enforcement agencies did not possess any helicopter equipped with a night-vision finder to locate the vehicle, the search could not be geared in that direction.

The sources said during the tenure of Jam Sadiq Ali as chief minister the Sindh police had asked for a two-seater helicopter fitted with a night-vision equipment to effectively counter such a situation. In those days kidnappings had touched an all-time high. But, the sources added, the government instead purchased a 26-seater helicopter, which was fitted with all luxurious items, including a mini-bar. That helicopter was never used in any search operation since it was bought for Rs90million.

Speaking about the possible reasons behind the kidnapping, the sources said it seemed to be an act of carjacking because of the fact that Mr Raza's visit to his friend's shop off Tipu Sultan Road was an unscheduled one and he just happened to be there when the incident took place.

However, the sources said, his disappearance for over 24 hours had increased anxiety and given rise to doubts that it was either a case of kidnapping for ransom or a result of enmity. They based their arguments on the premise that the area of activity of the international company, which was awaiting privatization, was the entire country, including Balochistan and the interior of Sindh. They claimed that some influentials in the operation areas had been expressing their reservations on the company's operations on the lands which, according to them, belonged to them and they had not been getting any royalty.

PPL sources, however, said the company had been involved in oil and gas exploration in 11 places of the country. The company, which has among its shareholders the World Bank, has recently brought out its annual report which amply shows its performance and the amount it has paid in royalty to the government.

The sources said the PPL had not been facing any problem on the royalty issue from any quarter, adding Mr Raza had been associated with the company for 22 years and had taken over as the CE in 1997.

Private security guard killed in shootout with police

KARACHI: A private security guard was killed and a police constable was injured in a shootout in Defence Police limits on Sunday.

Bandits barged into house No B-18/ 2 of Shazad Saleem in Defence Phase II in Defence Police limits while the occupants were away. When Shahzad and his family returned home, their security guard, Naqad Khan, informed them about the presence of some armed men in the house. Shahzad immediately rushed to the Defence Police Station and reported the incident and the mobile vans of Defence Police reached the spot moments after the bandits had escaped.

Unaware of the fact that the bandits had left, two Constables jumped inside the bungalow to catch them and this resulted in confusion as the security guard, Naqad Khan, thinking of the return of the bandits fired at them. As a result, Constable Nawaz Ali sustained bullet wounds. The police returned the fire and killed Naqad on the spot.

Later his body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for autopsy. According to police, the deceased security guard was a bandit and he was in plane clothes when the shootout took place.

BODY FOUND: A bullet-riddled-body of 25-year-old Muhammad Naseem was found at Shahinshahi Road in Kalakot Police area. His body was shifted to Civil Hospital for postmortem.

According to police, the deceased on Saturday went to attend a wedding ceremony and in the morning the area people found his body. They maintained that unidentified people first kidnapped him and after killing him threw his body in their police limit.

HOLD-UPS: Three armed men barged into house A/33 of Allah Mari at Shanti Nagar in Aziz Bhatti Police limits and started looting Rs 180,000, jewellery and other valuables from the house. When Allah Mari offered resistance they opened fire on him and fled with the booty after leaving him injured.

Three bandits barged into the residence of Fazal at Landhi Main Market in Sukkun Police jurisdiction and started looting Rs 18,000, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from the house. When Fazal offered resistance the bandits opened fire on him and fled with the booty after leaving him injured.

Bandits looted cash, jewellery and other valuables from Amir's house in Nazimabad; cash, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from a house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal; and cash, jewellery and other valuables from a house in Ferozabad.

VEHICLES TAKEN AWAY: Armed men took away four cars, one jeep and five motorcycles while police claimed that they recovered four cars and four motorcycles from the metropolis.

US computers for police

KARACHI: US Ambassador in Pakistan William B Milam will hand over seven computers to Inspector General Sindh Police Aftab Nabi at Central Police Head Office on Monday. An announcement by the US Consulate said on Sunday that these computers are being donated by the US Consulate Karachi to augment police administration in the province.

Nawaz linked to multi-million pound money laundering trust

LONDON: Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been linked to a Britain-based trust fund worth millions of pounds, created for "money laundering" and set to facing at least 16 separate cases in coming weeks, The Observer reported on Sunday.

A report in the British newspaper claimed that former Pakistani finance minister Ishaq Dar, who was also a very close associate of Nawaz Sharif, has already given the government investigators "extensive details of how the Sharif's money was transferred out of Pakistan".

The paper claimed to have obtained documents showing that the fund, registered with a firm of lawyers in Britain, was run by an American agent hired to represent six companies owned by the Sharif family. Nawaz Sharif was a director and shareholder in at least one of the companies, the newspaper claimed.

"A report drawn by investigators for Pakistan's military and civilian intelligence agencies -- with help from the Federal Investigation Agency -- says the trust is part of simplest and easiest case of money laundering (against the Sharif)," the paper said.

The Observer went on to say: "The report alleges that, while his family's firms owed millions of pounds to the Pakistan exchequer and commercial creditors, the former prime minister was involved in a scheme to gain further multi-million pounds loans using the money in the British trust as collateral. The new loans were then used to get further finance from Pakistan
banks." The report said several such operations were carried out, each involving instalments of more than £6 million. The investigators have built up to 16 separate cases of corruption to be registered against Nawaz Sharif in the coming weeks.

The paper said Ishaq Dar, who was deeply implicated in another money laundering operation involving bank accounts opened in London in the names of British Pakistan family living in south-east England, is believed to have revealed the existence of properties in Vietnam, Kenya and a second investment trust in the United States. It is thought that the US trust received money from the one created in Britain, the paper said.

The report claimed that none of the family's overseas assets was declared on electoral or government returns. "Sources close to the investigation have disclosed that Sharifs, who have extensive property in Britain including four Park Lane apartments, have also hired public relations firms in London and New York," the newspaper report said.

The Observer also described the way Sharifs' trial for alleged hijacking of a plane is proceeding. "Sharif's trial is due to start (in) a week on Wednesday. Preliminary hearings have provided a spectacle of farce, histrionics and incompetence. Though prosecution lawyers say proceedings will be over within four or five weeks, many believe the trial may last more than a year," the paper said. Our Lahore correspondent adds: The Sharif family, when contacted, denied the report, saying that the family was never involved in money laundering.

© DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2000
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