Fire Maj. Gen. Ghayur Mehmood

Army ISI has to come clean: Maj. Gen. Ghayur Mehmood should be Court Marshalled. Image via Wikipedia

It was disgusting to see Maj. Gen. Ghayur Mehmood espouse the position that is anathema to Pakistani interests, contrary to Islamabad’s policy, belies the facts, and goes against the grain of the wishes of thepeople of Pakistan.  Major-General Ghayur Mehmood, General Officer Commanding of the 7 Division, was addressing the media at Miranshah, a major town of the North Waziristan tribal region. The General misstated the facts and said:

“Most of the targets are hardcore militants,” said Maj. Gen. Ghayur Mehmood.

His statement is wrong, dead wrong.

General Mehmood doesn’t know the facts if he says that that most of those killed in the aerial attacks by CIA-operated pilot-less planes in north-west Pakistan were “hardcore al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists.” Gneral Mehmood needs some education and training–and not the one he got in Langley.

The General’s strange statement that “The number of innocent people being killed is relatively low.” should be condemned at the highest levels and he should be taken to task. Just labeling it as a “personal assessment’ is not good enough. Foreign Minister Qureshi had to give up his job for confronting allies and friends. Major General Mehmood should be stripped of his stars and put in jail for “approving” the attack on civilians in Pakistan, for tolerating the violation of Pakistani sovereignty–and justifying illegal murders.

Pakistanis have never supported the drone attacks. The PPP government has been, saying that the unilateral drone strikes on Pakistani territory has led to civilian deaths, which cause public anger and actually help the militants to find new recruits among the families of the victims.

Lack of action by General Kayani against  General Mahmood  will give credence to the Sethi point of view that the Army and the ISI is allowing the drone bombings in connivance with the Americans. If is absolutely true that the drones used to take off from American bases. There are satellite pictures available to the most casual researcher. The Pakistani Army has to come clean on that.

Americans Senators and General have publicly stated that the PPP government at the highest levels has approved the Drone Bombings. WikiLeaks has divulged the absolute arrogance of President Zardari when he said that didn’t care for “Collateral Damage”. During his visit of Pakistan in January, U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden did not agree with the impression that the US was violating Pakistan’s sovereignty by conducting drone attacks. Most Pakistanis dispute the US reasoning. The New York Times said the controversial drone strikes are seen as a major reason for the rise of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

‘Till March 8th te Army, the ISI and the PPP government had kept the facade alive. Before General Mehmood’s statement Pakistani officials had only acknowledged U.S. drone strikes in private while publicly condemning them and calling for them to stop.  Now it is out in the open.

According to the incorrect information of the General, he thinks that since 2007, there have been 164 drone strikes. According to CNN there have been been 205 U.S. drone strikes since 2008. The New America Foundation (NAE) contradicts the “Facts” present by this General. The NAE tallies 226 drone strikes since 2004. According to the CIA position parroted by General Mehmood 964 people have been killed. Other estimates go to five times that number on the number killed. Then there are tens of thousands of the injured. What about the suffering of the families, the widows, the orphans, and those left without shelter. The New America Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank, reports that most of the militants killed by the unmanned aerial strikes were low-level fighters. Human rights groups, and NGOs  inside and outside Pakistan have condemned the drone strikes, saying they’ve killed hundreds of civilians.

“Myths and rumours about US predator strikes and the casualty figures are many,” Mehmood said, according to Dawn, “but it’s a reality that many of those being killed in these strikes are hardcore elements, a sizable number of them foreigners.”

General Mehmood is wrong.

General Mehmood’s cavalier attitude about the drones displays a corrupted mindset that does not belong in the armed forces. In the understatement of the year he said.”Definitely, they have social and political repercussions and our law enforcement agencies have to face the fallout”. Who does the General think he is? Obviously intellect is not one of his strong points. If he is in the pocket of the CIA, then perhaps he should take a job in a US Think Tanks and join his other freind in Washington Ambassador Haqqani. Surely General Mahmood does not deserve the uniform of the army of Pakistan which has sworn to the protect and defend the borders of Pakistan against foreign and domestic enemies.

Local Pakistani media has published copious reports where it is shown that the drone have caused damage to the civilians.

It goes beyond that.

An Army General should know how to spell the word “sovereignty”. If General Mehmood doesn’t know the meaning of the word, he does not belong in the army.

There is a deeper issue. The drones are one part of this three dimensional problem. The Army and the ISI has to own up to its failures and take deep rooted correctve actions.

General Mehmood’s statement has already created a schism between the top brass of the Army Gneral Mehmood. Sensitive to the wishes of the people of Pakistan, the Army has back-tracked, but hasn’t done enough. Most Pakistanis don’t like the wink-wink-nod-nod policy employed by the ISI and the Army and Mr. Zardari’s regime, where it publicly condemns the bombings and privately approves it. If the wink-win-nod-non policy exists, it has to be buried in the dust bin of history. The ISI has to own up to its incompetence in not following folks who were hurriedly handed out Pakistanis visas by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. Why were the 500 or so “spies” not followed properly. How could they romp around Pakistan without the ISIs eagle eye  on them? What stopped the ISI from doing a follow-up and in depth background check on these individuals. Why did the ISI have a epiphany moment when “Raymond Davis” actually committed murder. Why was he not targeted for intense surveillance for months. Does the ISI not know about the safe houses in Lahore. Ordinary citizens know where these thugs live. Why did the ISI allow them to run amok. There has been a shake-up at the ISI, where inefficiency has been sidelined. The knife neds to go deeper and eliminate incompetence.

Why has the ISI not submitted deep and profound background checks on all the Xe types that are present in Pakistan?

If General Pasha and General Kayani cannot answer these questions, the Senate and National Assembly should hold closed door and pubic hearings on these issues. If General Pasha is still allowing the drones to commit murder on Pakistani soil, then General Pasha should not get an extension.

Already the first signs of a tidal wave of criticism of General Mehmood are beginning to affect the Pakistani Army. The New York Times is reporting that Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, in an interview, has repudiated the General’s remarks as a “personal assessment” that had been given without proper context. General Abbas  said the army supported the government’s policy that the drone strikes “do more harm than good.”

This is a step in the right direction. The General Mehmood thinking should be publicly repudiated and sidelined.

The Information Minister of Pakistan Ms. Wahab had to lose her job over her “personal” assessment which went contrary to Pakistani policy. The General should also be relieved of his command and asked to go home. There should be no double standards. As of March 9th, General Mehmood has lost the respect of the 7th Division, and he has lost the trust of the Pakistanis people. He should not be wearing the Pakistan Army Uniform.

General Kayani enjoys popular support in Pakistan and the Army. Lack of strict action by  General Kayani against General Mehmood will reduce his stature among the people of Pakistan. General Kayani should look within his ranks and eliminate support for drone bombings.