Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 26, 2006
Supplying the US with wanted al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists has turned out to be a profitable venture for Pakistan, earning it millions of dollars in bounty.
America's "staunch ally" in the war against terror, it would seem from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's memoir, In the Line of Fire, has been servicing the US as much out of fear of being "bombed back to the Stone Age" as for an undisclosed sum of CIA dollars.
"Since shortly after 9/11, when many members of al Qaeda fled Afghanistan and crossed the border into Pakistan, we have played cat and mouse with them," Musharraf writes in his book, published by Simon & Schuster, which was officially released in New York on Monday. A copy of the book is available with The Pioneer.
"The biggest of them all, Osama bin Laden, is still at large... but we have caught many, many others. Some are known to the world, some are not," he adds. He then goes into details: "We have captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. We have earned bounties totalling millions of dollars."
Just how many millions have been "earned" can be guessed from the fact that the CIA paid $ 5 million to lay its hands on a Palestinian, Zain-ul-Abideen, known by his nom de guerre Abu Zubaida. "He was the chief recruiter and trainer of al Qaeda operatives," Musharraf adds by way of introduction to the wanted man.
Using a disclosure that is clearly to his disadvantage vis-à-vis Islamists in Pakistan to prove his credentials as a reliable ally in the war against terror and disprove critics, especially in India, he mockingly writes: "Those who habitually accuse us of 'not doing enough'... should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid the Government of Pakistan."
If this disclosure is likely to inflame passions in the streets of Pakistan where Islamists are bound to seize upon it to show how Musharraf has been trading jihadis for American dollars, it is unlikely to make the US Administration happy as such payments to foreign Governments are banned by it.
The Times, London, has quoted a US Department of Justice official as saying, "We didn't know about this (paying millions of dollars). It should not happen. These bounty payments are for private individuals who help to trace terrorists on the FBI's most wanted list, not foreign Governments."
A CIA official, responding to Musharraf's stunning disclosure, has said, "Our relationships with international leaders is not something we are prepared to talk about."
Which has raised the question: Is the extremely lucrative "relationship" between the CIA and the Pakistan Government or between the American intelligence agency and an "international leader". Musharraf's book does not provide any answers.
India got bomb from AQ!
Will do whatever it takes to sell my book. That seems to be the motto of Gen Pervez Musharraf, whose memoir, In the Line of Fire, is an amazing compendium of incredible tales that leave the reader incredulous.
If Musharraf is to be believed, India's uranium enrichment programme owes its success to secrets supplied by Dr AQ Khan, the disgraced father of the 'Islamic Bomb' who ran a nuclear bazaar sprawling from North Korea to Libya via Saudi Arabia.
"There is little doubt that AQ was the central figure in the proliferation network, but he was assisted over the years by a number of money-seeking freelancers," Musharraf writes, "in manufacturing, procuring and distributing to countries like Iran and Libya materials and components related to centrifuge technology."
He quotes Khan to claim, "These people included nationals of Switzerland, Holland, Britain and Sri Lanka. Several of these individuals (were) based in Dubai...". At this point we en-counter Incredible Musharraf.
"Ironically, the network based in Dubai had employed several Indians, some of whom have since vanished," he writes, adding, "There is a strong probability that the Indian uranium enrichment programme may also have its roots in the Dubai-based network and could be a copy of the Pakistani centrifuge design."