Integrity Score 240
No Records Found
No Records Found
Global Terror Infrastructure and Implications for India continues...
General Zia suddenly changed his programme to travel via Iran and Iraq. In the process of shifting his baggage, one of the lamps broke spreading heroin at New York Airport. Apparently, the customs official checked all the lamps which were filled with heroin and seized them. What action followed no one seems to know even today.
The situation, however, did not change when Benazir Bhutto in late 1980s came to power. She exposed General Zia because it suited her political agenda, but her husband Zardari is well known for his criminal connections and her government was dismissed on corruption charges. In so far as Benazir’s Peoples Party (PPP) is concerned, during personal interaction of Indian investigating officials with Pakistani prisoners under NDPS Act languishing in Jammu Central Jail, they were told that the PPP members were directly involved in the drugs trade. The prisoner himself was a cousin of PPP’s Lahore President. Lahore is one of the centres for narcotic drugs trade in Pakistan.
Another equally important drug dealer, Malik Waris Khan Afridi, was appointed by Benazir as Minister of state for Tribal Affairs. He was elected on a PPP ticket from Khyber Agency (N-33, Tribal Areas VII) in 1988. His commitment to PPP was so strong that he tried to save her government by bribing members against the no-confidence motion tabled by Nawaz Sharif in 1989. After the fall of the Benazir Government he was convicted for smuggling of opium and hashish from Khyber Agency. Ms Bhutto’s money launderer, Ms Farida Atairllah, is also connected to a very important Indian political family, and has stayed in their official accommodation. She was also the guest of honour in a very private but celebrated wedding in the family.
Nor was Benazir’s rival untainted by such charges. Hazi Iqbal Beg, a Pakistani drug dealer, was a Lahore-based landlord and owner of innumerable businesses.
to be continued..