{"id":625,"date":"2008-08-11T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2008-08-11T07:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=625"},"modified":"2008-08-11T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2008-08-11T07:02:08","slug":"where%e2%80%99s-the-money-times-online-10-aug08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=625","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the money? – Times Online – 10 Aug.08"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Asif\"Pervez<\/a><\/p>\n

THE embattled president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has been dealt his latest and most serious blow with the accusation from the leader of the ruling party that he misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid given for supporting the war on terror.<\/p>\n

Asif Ali Zardari, who took over the Pakistan People\u2019s party (PPP) after his wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December last year, made the charge in an interview with The Sunday Times.<\/p>\n

He also detailed for the first time Musharraf\u2019s attempts to sabotage his government which, he says, forced him to take the drastic step of demanding his impeachment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur grand old Musharraf has not been passing on all the $1 billion [\u00a3520m] a year that the Americans have been giving for the armed forces,\u201d he claimed. \u201cThe army has been getting $250m-$300m reimbursement for what they do, but where\u2019s the rest?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey claim it\u2019s been going in budget support but that\u2019s not the answer. We\u2019re talking about $700m a year missing. The rest has been taken by \u2018Mush\u2019 for some scheme or other and we\u2019ve got to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged misappropriation will form a key part of the charge against Musharraf to be announced tomorrow when parliament is recalled to start impeachment proceedings.<\/p>\n

The move has sparked panic in Whitehall and Washington where the nuclear-armed Pakistan is increasingly seen as a far greater danger than Iraq or Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

In Pakistan, fear is mixed with widespread support among a public that cannot understand why Musharraf remains as president six months after elections in which his own party was dealt a humiliating defeat.<\/p>\n

Accusing Musharraf of mis-using funds is a rare pleasure for the 54-year-old Zardari, whose own name became a byword for corruption during his wife\u2019s first government in 1988-90. He spent 11 years in jail on charges for which he was never convicted.<\/p>\n

Zardari claims the American aid may have gone to fund rogue members of the military intelligence, the ISI, who were last week accused by Washington of assisting Taliban and jihadi groups rather than rooting them out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for the money,\u201d he said. \u201cI think he [Musharraf] has a slush fund being used for this and for some activity for the future.\u201d Zardari also accused the president of economic sabotage and fomenting conflict in Baluchistan and the tribal areas. \u201cThey laid so many mines for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey spent all the money so we would have to borrow; they didn\u2019t pass on the increased price of oil; nor added a single extra megawatt of power in the last 10 years. All these things were deliberately thought out so at the end of day they can turn round and tell the world, \u2018Look, democracy doesn\u2019t deliver\u2019, and step back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zardari was speaking from the house in Islamabad from where Bhutto set off for her last rally. Her assassination turned him from an ostracised figure, blamed by many for her double dismissal from office, to a grieving widower and the country\u2019s most powerful politician.<\/p>\n

The road outside is manned by police and his house is guarded by his own protection team of men in black. \u201cI know I\u2019m in danger,\u201d he said. \u201cWhoever killed her wants to kill me.\u201d Inside, the living room is dominated by a life-size picture of Bhutto from that day, garlanded with rose petals and hands raised as she addresses the crowds in Rawalpindi.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, as she popped up from the sunroof to wave, she was murdered.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s all around me, I live with her,\u201d Zardari said. \u201cI haven\u2019t touched one thing in her bedroom, her manuscript [of her last book] is lying on her side and I sleep on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gesturing at her last photograph, he said: \u201cI think she\u2019s looking at us now and saying, \u2018Now tell me, Asif, do you think it\u2019s easy?\u2019\u201d On the wall of the dining room is a framed copy of her handwritten will naming him as her successor. It is dated October 16, just two days before she returned to Pakistan after 8\u00bd years in exile.<\/p>\n

It left Zardari as kingmaker but, although the PPP emerged as the largest party, its lack of a majority forced it into a coalition with Bhutto\u2019s long-time rival Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Muslim League.<\/p>\n

Sharif\u2019s price for his support was the removal of Musharraf, who ousted him as prime minister in his 1999 coup. He also wanted restoration of the judges who were sacked when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last November.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday Sharif told Zardari that he would withdraw his support for the coalition unless the president was removed. The following night the impeachment plan was announced at a joint press conference. It follows criticism by the United States during the government\u2019s trip to Washington 10 days ago for failing to rein in the intelligence services still supporting the Taliban.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say we\u2019re responsible for the country, yes we are, but first get your role model out of the way, remove your most allied of allies,\u201d said Zardari. \u201cThey\u2019ve had Musharraf there 10 years, instead of bringing these issues up with him they are trying to bring them up with us today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime the impending impeachment battle has plunged Pakistan into further instability. Zardari said he had been left with no option after Musharraf refused to accept an honourable exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offer was on the table that you walk and you don\u2019t get prosecuted, but I\u2019ve had no returns so have had no choice but to go along with my partner\u2019s more aggressive stance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Musharraf has made it clear that he will fight any such effort. \u201cI\u2019m not afraid; I\u2019ve not learnt fear,\u201d he said in a speech. It is still unclear whether Zardari and Sharif can muster the two-thirds of both houses needed to unseat him. In the meantime, Musharraf still has the power to dissolve parliament.<\/p>\n

Zardari warned against such a move, saying: \u201cIf he does it, it will be his last verdict against the people, the people\u2019s mandate and against Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blood honour<\/p>\n

THE widower of Benazir Bhutto and their three children are preserving her bedroom in their Dubai home as a shrine and have pledged to give blood in her memory at every birthday and anniversary of her death.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bedroom in Dubai has been locked and I sleep in the next room because the children and I don\u2019t want to lose her scent in the room,\u201d said Asif Ali Zardari.<\/p>\n

Zardari wants to turn the house in Karachi he gave her as a wedding present into a museum in her memory. Bhutto left it in her will to their son Bilawal, so father and son are in negotiations.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benazir Bhutto’s widower is accusing President Musharraf of siphoning off millions from aid intended to support war on terror.<\/p>\n

\"Asif\"Pervez<\/a><\/p>\n

THE embattled president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has been dealt his latest and most serious blow with the accusation from the leader of the ruling party that he misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid given for supporting the war on terror.<\/p>\n

Mr 10% want to know where the money is…<\/font><\/em> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":3226,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ttSq-a5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}