The Pakistan Army Chief on Wednesday (US local time) met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon…reports Asian Lite News
President of the Baloch Voice Association Munir Mengal has said that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir should be questioned in the US about enforced disappearances, military operations, extrajudicial killings and systematic abuse of rights in Balochistan.
He said Pakistan should be asked to end its occupation of Balochistan. “Pakistani Army Chief should be questioned in America about #enforceddisappearances , #militaryoperations, #extrajudicialkillings and systematic abuse of rights in #Balochistan. #Pakistan should be asked to end occupation of #Balochistan,” the Baloch Voice Association President wrote on ‘X’.
The Baloch Voice Association is an NGO registered in France. This comes as Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir is currently on a visit to the US. The Pakistan Army Chief on Wednesday (US local time) met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon.
A brief statement was issued by the Pentagon after the meeting, saying: “Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir at the Pentagon today, where the two officials discussed recent regional security developments and potential areas for bilateral defence cooperation.”
General Munir left Islamabad on Sunday, reached the US capital on Tuesday afternoon after spending two days in Britain. Details of his engagements in the UK have not been made public, as it was apparently a private visit, according to Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper. The army chief’s visit was also discussed at a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday, where a journalist reminded press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin would have his first face-to-face meeting with Pakistan’s new army chief and asked what the US defence chief was looking for in this meeting. “Will they be talking about the deportation of Afghans from Pakistan or potentially buying munitions to go to Ukraine?” the journalist asked. General Ryder replied, “I don’t have any meetings to read out from the podium. Certainly, as you know, when the secretary meets with foreign counterparts and leaders, we provide a readout. So if we have a readout to put out, we’ll certainly do that.”
Another journalist asked, “How would you assess US-Pakistan military relations at this point?” “Pakistan continues to be an important partner in the region. And so obviously, through Centcom, we continue to stay in close contact with them, particularly when it comes to issues like counter-terrorism,” General Ryder said, as per Dawn. As per Dawn, during his visit, General Munir is also expected to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. He may also meet senior members of the US House and the Senate. (ANI)
Apart from Khan, who is expected to face arrest sooner than later, the military is hunting for other key conspirators responsible for the attack, reports Atul Aneja
Bereft of options, Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan is desperately looking for outside support—from his overseas base of around 12,000 affluent Americans– and a dialogue with the military.
Within the country, his situation remains bleak. More so after Monday, the day when Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen. Asim Munir met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Highly placed sources told India Narrative that COAS Munir stressed that the ruling coalition of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) must not engage in dilly dallying tactics. Instead, they should focus on concrete measures to dock masterminds of the May 9 attacks.
Apparently, the Army Chief reinforced his position aired in a statement made after the June 4 formation commanders meeting that no mercy will be shown to the planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators involved in the May 9 attacks on key military installations including Jinnah House, the Lahore Corps commander’s residence. The army had made it plain that those who conceived the attacks would be tried under the Pakistan Army Act 1952 and the official Secrets Act. It has been clear from the subtext that the ex-Prime Minster Khan is in the primary list of suspects behind the May 9 rebellion, but he is not alone.
Unsurprisingly, soon after Gen. Munir met the Prime Minister Sharif, the Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution calling for the trial of the May 9 rioters—a clear move to impart legitimacy to the Army’s demand. It asserted that those who steered the attacks on military and state installations must be tried “without any delay” under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952. The stage has therefore been set for trials to proceed in military courts, where the higher civilian judiciary, generally empathetic to Khan and his ilk would be unable to play any role.
Gunning for Khan, the resolution said that “a political party and its chairman” broke the law and Constitution on May 9 and “orchestrated” attacks on military installations.
“The actions of this party and its chief caused damage, that cannot be compensated, to the state institutions and its evidence is present. Therefore, actions must be taken against them according to the law and Constitution without even a day’s delay,” it read.
It further said that “no human rights were violated in the inquiry against the rioters”. In an obvious reference to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek- e-Insaf (PTI) party, it added that “a political party was spreading propaganda and levelling fake accusation in this regard”. The wording is a riposte to accusations of human rights violations in Pakistan and abroad against the hybrid civil-military establishment.
It is now clear that apart from Khan, who is expected to face arrest sooner than later, the military is hunting for other key conspirators responsible for the attack. India Narrative has learnt that the names include Murad Saeed, Hammad Azhar, Aslam Iqbal and Ahsan Niazi.
Saeed’s name featured in an FIR that listed PTI leaders involved in the attack on Jinnah House in Lahore’s Cantonment area. Saeed, Khan’s most trusted confidant is in hiding. It is speculated that he could be in Afghanistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Gilgit Baltistan.
Islamabad: Former prime minister of Pakistan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan virtually addresses people of the nation, on Monday, May 15, 2023.(Photo: IANS/Video Grab)
Aslam Iqbal a former provincial minister from Punjab has so far evaded arrest despite several raids. The Pakistani daily Dawn is reporting that the police has reportedly arrested his nephew on Wednesday. The ex-minister is also wanted in the May 9 Jinnah House attack.
Ahsan Niazi, Imran Khan’s nephew is also underground, and is believed to be in hiding in the Shaukat Khanam Hospital and residence of Dunya News owner Aamir Mehmood in Lahore.
With little room to run, Khan is virtually pleading for talks with Gen. Munir—a steep departure from his earlier “no dialogue” stance and cavalier approach to frontally attack the military top brass including the incumbent army chief, as well as Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Gen. Munir’s predecessor.
In fact, the ex-Prime Minister had derisively called Gen. Munir as “Is Aadmi (this man),” instead of his official title. Khan’s attacks on Gen. Bajwa were even sharper, holding the former COAS responsible of backstabbing him.
But serious about cutting a deal even after the May 9 events, Khan had earlier constituted a seven-member negotiating committee, which included PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former ministers Murad Saeed as well as Hammad Azhar. But the initiative is expected to remain still- born on account of desertions from the PTI camp, and the military’s decision to go for the jugular instead of a compromise.
After temples, Khalistanis target Indian consulate in Brisbane.
Khalistani Chief Panjwar, who was given a large amount of funds to resurrect Khalistani sentiments in India, had failed to do, which led to him being declared as an entity who had lost his use and hence become expendable….writes Abhinandan Mishra
A senior retired decorated Pakistan Army officer has confirmed how the Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was funding, supporting Khalistani armed groups in India and facilitating the entry of drugs and fake Indian currency notes into India.
On 6 May, hours after the absconding chief of Khalistani Commando Force, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was given a new identity under the name of Malik Sardar Singh by ISI, was gunned down in Lahore, Major (Retired) Aadil Farooq Raja on his much followed YouTube channel attacked the Pakistan military and the ISI for not being able to protect Panjwar.
As per Raja, who has long ties with the Army, going back three generations, Panjwar was killed in the heart of Lahore in what he claimed was an operation that was executed by the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
However, independent investigation done by The Sunday Guardian, indicates that Panjwar, who was given a large amount of funds to resurrect Khalistani sentiments in India, had failed to do, which led to him being declared as an entity who had lost his use and hence become expendable.
Informed sources told The Sunday Guardian that this money that Panjwar received had come through people suspected to have connections with the Chinese intelligence agency, Minister of State Security (MSS). However, his failure to do what he had committed led to his violent death. Panjwar was a key player in the “K2 project” of ISI and MSS. The K2 project refers to the joint coordination of ISI-MSS to spread disturbance in Kashmir and propagate Khalistani sentiments in Punjab.
Raja, in his “live” telecast, provided details that have not come out in the public domain until now. According to him, Panjwar was provided two gunmen as bodyguard who managed to kill one of the two assailants, while injuring the other. The assailants had come on a motorbike to carry out the attack even as the 50-year-old Panjwar was taking his routine morning walk outside his home at Sunflower Housing society of Lahore.
At least ten of Raja’s cousins are still serving in the Army and all his course mates are working in the position of lieutenant general and above and hence the pool from where he collects his information is quite large.
To be sure, R&AW has never claimed in the past or is unlikely to do in the near present, responsibility for any such operations that have taken place targeting proclaimed offenders and terrorists.
“His protection was the responsibility of ISI and the Army. This is a massive failure of Brigadier Rashid Naseer, who is heading ISI in Punjab, Director General of ISI Nadeem Anjum and Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir. The ISI and the Army should not have given refuge to the Khalistani commando chief if they could not protect him and they failed to protect him because either they are busy in doing politics or have backstabbed the Sikhs again,” Raja said.
According to Raja, the timing of the attack too has raised questions, as it came even as Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto was visiting India, whose mother he claimed (former PM Benazir Bhutto) shared with India the details of all the Khalistani operatives that were infiltrated by ISI in Punjab, India through marriages and other methods in December 1988.
Raja claimed that the said list was provided to Indian officials by Choudhary Aitzaz Ahsan, the 26th interior minister from December 1988 to August 1990 on the orders of Benazir.
Raja also mentioned the name of former ISI director, Shamsur Rahman Kallue who served as the agency’s ninth DG from May 1989-August 1990 as being a part of this whole Benazir Bhutto led plan, which he said was a part of the “peace initiative” that Bhutto wanted to execute with India.
Raja then went on to reveal how Panjwar came to Pakistan as the head of KCF in the 1990 and carried out many attacks in India. According to him, General Arun Kumar Vaidya, the former Chief of Indian Army, was killed by Panjwar and KCF in August 1986. Raja revealed that the Majha belt of Punjab was Panjwar’s stronghold and after the death of Vaidya, the KCF chief fled India and was given refuge in Pakistan.
Significantly, Raja mentioned about the present role that Panjwar was playing in distributing drugs in Pakistan.
“Panjwar had kept alive the KCF until now. He was the man behind ‘udta Punjab’ and he was sending the heroine to Punjab. He was the main link between handlers, drug peddlers in India and Pakistan. Panjwar used Radio Pakistan to propagate Khalistani propaganda in Pakistan and India. He was involved in drug distribution and Fake Indian Currency Trade (FICN) which was necessary as he had to raise funds to keep the issue of Khalistan alive,” Raja recalled.
According to him, multiple serving Pakistani Army generals were earning money through this oil, arms, drug and FICN smuggling.
The 1978 Peshawar born Major Aadil Farooq Raja is no ordinary Pakistani Army officer. Raja, who is based in London now, is a staunch supporter of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan and a known critic of the present Pakistani military establishment.
However, it is not his present, but his past that makes his claims credible.
He is a third-generation Army soldier. His grandfather Mohammad Akbar Khan served in the 1948, 1965 and 1971 wars with India. He became a prisoner of war (PoW) for four years before he was released by India. Khan, who had four sons, shifted to Canada after his release.
All his four sons later joined the Pakistani military. Two of his sons, including the father of Aadil Farooq Raja joined the Army. Of the remaining two, one son joined the Air Force, while the youngest son joined the Navy.
Raja’s maternal uncle too was in Armoured Corp, his grandfather was an officer of the Intelligence Bureau and was based in London.
Adil Raja himself joined the Pakistan Army in 1996 through the 99 long courses of the Pakistan Military Academy and passed out in August 1999. He started with the 18 Horse Regiment of the Armed Corp. He served during the Kargil War and then was posted at the Siachen Glacier. He also served with the 12 Frontier Force and then as wing commander in the Khyber Rifles. He faced four IED attacks and one suicide bomber attack.
He resigned in 2015 when he was posted in the SWAT region. He was given retirement on medical reasons and for post traumatic stress disorder. While in the Army, he completed his Masters in International Relations from the University of Peshawar.
After retiring, he started working with the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and PR wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces on 5th generation warfare and constituted a team that was actively engaged in hybrid war against Pakistan’s adversaries.
For three years, he served as the Spokesperson of the Pakistan Ex Servicemen Society from which he resigned on 19 April 2018. His house was then raided by the ISI on 21 April 2022 after which he shifted to London. The Sunday Guardian reached out to Raja for a response on his claims, but no response was received till the time the story went to print.
