QK Archives: Taj Building in Nowshera is a case of weak and seriously flawed heritage legislation in NWFP

Taj Building in Nowshera is a case of weak and seriously flawed heritage legislation in NWFP 

By Dr Ali Jan 

First published 30th March 2008 by Footloose The News on Sunday 

 Taj Building is an architectural jewel on the main Grand Trunk Road in Nowshera, NWFP. Built in 1920s, this imposing structure has endured the ravages of time despite lack of any concerted attempts in the past to preserve it. The facade of the three-storey building is highly decorated with floral and vine patterns in intricate stucco. The sweeping round arches and numerous embellished columns represent a charming architectural blend of Roman, Gothic and Oriental. An arched gateway on the side of the building with beautiful jharoka-styled (elevated window balcony) features leads into the main compound. The wooden balconies at the back are also very attractive. The building was constructed by Khan Bahadur Taj Muhammad Khan OBE MLC of Badrashi Village, Nowshera. He was a famous colonial-era contractor and landlord whose father KB Abdul Hamid Khan had been in the service of the British Empire as well. He was a wealthy man and was particularly fond of racehorses. He used to travel extensively in India and had built several grand mansions for his own comfort. The present National Defence College building in New Delhi, India was also his personal mansion. (See: National Defence College, New Delhi, India) 

Besides this he had also built a residence in Lahore ('Rose Palace') which was recently pulled down. His other garden palace at Village Badrashi in Nowshera spreads over several acres. Khan Bahadur sahib's son Taj ul Mulk who is a businessman by profession was previously settled in Lahore. He got the custody of the Taj Building and has recently moved to Nowshera. In his absence a court case with the shopkeepers lingered on for many decades which was finally decided in his favour a couple of years ago. The present owner is a soft-spoken gentleman and a genial host. His ancestral mansion in Nowshera is a living museum containing a range of artifacts such as Persian carpets, furniture, cutlery, arms, animal trophy-heads and so on. Mr Taj ul Mulk has a huge collection of old photos as well. A signed framed photo of the family of the famous Field Marshall 'Alexander of Tunis' who had once been a brigade commander of the Nowshera Garrison in 1925 stands on a mantelpiece. He possesses several testimonials by other important British military and civil administrators given to his ancestors. The house is maintained in its original form. It reflects the fine taste of the owner and his commendable esteem for an inheritance which he is determined to preserve. He realises that protecting the Taj Building is also essential as it is national heritage and also a living monument to his father and grandfather. 

However, he has apprehensions that once the government officially declares it as a 'protected heritage monument' then he might not have the liberty to make alterations in the building like he wishes whilst preserving the facade. Moreover, he fears that even if the government gets it notified it will not be able to sanction enough amount for its conservation which the building deserves. According to his estimate it requires at least five million rupees (which he can personally afford in his own capacity), whereas the government is willing to sanction only a limited sum from its 'modest' fund. He reiterates that the building is his bread and butter and therefore he would like to benefit from it commercially whilst preserving it. Presently, the building's facade is marred by unattractive advertisement billboards and electricity wires. The wooden windows are in a dilapidated state and in many places the ornate stucco work has crumbled. Fortunately, there is no structural damage to the building hence it shouldn't be impossible to restore it back to its original form once the badly needed restoration work begins. 

The building stands on prime commercial land which is worth a hefty sum in the market. The lower storey is occupied by several shops and a bank. In addition, a movie theatre is also being run inside. The building mafia in connivance with the concerned authorities are the biggest threat to this country's heritage. Generally speaking, enforcement of heritage legislation is weak and in case of NWFP it is seriously flawed. The Taj building is a case in point. The Taj Building was notified on Sep 26, 2007 by the NWFP Directorate Archaeology under the so-called Antiquities Act 1997. It was done so as per the directive of former governor Lt Gen (R) Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai -- a thorough gentleman and a real 'Frontiersman' administrator who took pride in our history and therefore believed in preserving heritage. For the record, it is one out of only two buildings (built monuments, as opposed to archaeological sites) notified by the NWFP Archaeology Department in the entire province! Sethi house in Peshawar is the other. Previously, the building was notified as a protected monument under Federal Antiquities Act of 1975. However, it was de-notified by a special order of the DG Federal Archaeology within a short span. Many argue that it was inherently a wrong precedent with chances of potential misuse, but in this case it was done after receiving firm assurances by the owner to preserve it. 

 In general, the ongoing federal-provincial tussle over ownership of heritage places in NWFP has created needless bureaucratic confusion and not done any good to the cause of heritage preservation. In the last decade, many important buildings have been demolished and ancient sites have been robbed of their wealth or fallen pray to gross neglect. The source of the conflict is a farcical Provincial Antiquity Act 1997 which is a duplicate copy of the Federal Antiquity Act 1975. Although, there have been attempts at reconciliation in the past between the centre and the province but this matter has remained inconclusive. Even though, archaeology is on the concurrent list and both federal and provincial governments retain the right to enact legislation for promotion and preservation of archaeology, but under the Constitution of Pakistan repugnant or conflicting laws by provinces have slender legal basis. Law experts argue that if any parallel law exists, the Federal law will prevail and provincial law shall be deemed to have been amended to that extent. The only way to resolve this impasse conclusively is that the provincial act must be entirely withdrawn and repealed. It can be achieved if personal egos of individuals are set aside in the interest of saving the historic wealth of the province. A new provincial act or ordinance must be introduced from scratch. It ought to be tailored to the specific needs of NWFP and keeping in view its unique cultural and archaeological wealth. There is hardly any reason for adopting the federal act verbatim which in spite of its strengths carries some gross loopholes. For instance, it has a narrow scope with a mainly archaeological bent and is inherently restricted by rigid definitions. 

Technically speaking, 'ancient' in the act is described as anything older than 75 years. Many significant contemporary buildings are left out due to this limitation. A case in point is the British-era Falak Sair (Lansdowne) Cinema in Peshawar. It was a notified national monument under the Federal Act which was brazenly demolished last year. On being challenged in court the owners produced a document (courtesy ill-famed Cantt Board) stating it was 74 years old and not 75! The court case is ongoing. Other criticism of the federal act is that the penalties for violators are too light e.g. fines of Rs 5000. On the other hand, the Punjab and Sindh provinces enacted their own heritage legislation in 1985 and 1994 respectively. A lot of research, planning, brainpower and groundwork went in their formulation. Various laws in different countries were studied as models. Resultantly, their laws are much evolved and more refined compared to the Federal Act 1975, which is very basic in its existing form and incidentally needs revision too.

 Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act 1994 (revised 2002) is a broad ranging act not restricted to the field of archaeology alone. It gives proper legal cover to protect "ancient places and objects of architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, ethnological, anthropological and national interest of the province". It stipulates constitution of broad based advisory committees comprising conservators, architects, historians, scholars of traditional arts/crafts and civil society members. The Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979 has a chapter dealing specifically with urban heritage. It deals with declaring such places on basis of "association with significant persons or events in the history of the province... Those embodying distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction" and so on. The penalties are sterner with heavier fines and possible imprisonments for severe violators. Under these rules, private owners of notified structures are encouraged to preserve their property by grants, easy loans, tax rebates and so on. Respective owners are required to get mandatory NOCs from relevant authority such as culture or archaeology departments for approving any alteration or demolition plans. Moreover, it allows owners of heritage properties to sign preservation agreements with the government. If the owner fails to comply with the order of the government and advisory committee the government can intervene and any expenses incurred for the purpose are recoverable from the owner as arrears of land revenue. Through mere notifications the owner's right to alter or deface protected heritage may be restricted at the least. 

In exceptional cases, government may decide to acquire a private property (as was done in NWFP Sethi house, Peshawar -- another case in point) under respective Land Acquisition Act. In the proposed NWFP legislation, all above aspects need to be addressed by the new government. The draft must define a structure for a single heritage authority and lay down rules about ownership of sites to avoid bureaucratic red tape from a holistic preservation point of view. In NWFP, like elsewhere, some of the most important historic buildings are under military control (Ministry of Defence, Federal Govt) such as old forts, messes and piquets. Old institutes like Islamia College comes under education department. Cathedrals, Churches and English cemeteries are looked after by respective dominions (Ministry of Minority Affairs) and shrines and mosques e.g Masjid Mahabat Khan come under Auqaf Department. All these need to be brought under one heritage umbrella at provincial level. In addition, a 'Special Premises Act' is badly needed to apply to such places as certain zones in the walled city of Peshawar. A gradation system for notified structures may be devised. For instance in category A. Restrict the owner's right to alter or deface protected heritage B. Restoration with owner's (partial/full) involvement C. Acquiring a property by government (in exceptional cases) and so on. 

Thanks to the concerted efforts of various civil society organisations such as Sarhad Conservation Network and Frontier Heritage Trust etc, the NWFP government has in recent months recognised the importance of preserving our rich heritage. An ambitious plan of 'Documentation/Preservation and Rehabilitation of National Heritage Buildings in NWFP' is underway. For now, a sum of ten crore rupees have been sanctioned and five districts (Peshawar, Mardan, Bannu, DI Khan, Hazara) have been selected for implementation of this plan. One hopes that the government would plan this task on a sound foundation and grant legal protection to these buildings as well by way of the proposed new legislation as an essential step. Moreover, involvement of all stakeholders, local experts, civil society and media is necessary to build a wider base of support. Concerns of private owners must be addressed. Additionally, the structure of the proposed 'Heritage Board/Authority' needs to be institutionalised and broadened so that it does not become like any other solely government-run (futile) body. 

Only after streamlining the rules, long-term guidelines and adopting proper procedures could there be any real hope of priceless buildings like the Taj being preserved in the province.

QK archives: The Saifullahs

By Rahimullah Yusufzai
May 2016 NEWSLINE
The Saifullahs set a record of sorts recently when it was revealed in the leaked Panama Papers that the family owned as many as 34 offshore companies. It was, by far, the highest number of offshore companies run by any Pakistani family.
The revelation aroused curiosity about the Saifullahs — a family most Pakistanis are familiar with due to its traditionally active role in the country’s politics and business. In fact, now people want to know more about the Saifullahs and the way they made their money and gained prominence in the world of business and politics.
Following the Panama Papers leak, the focus of attention has been Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children, but there is also growing interest in the Saifullahs for having managed all this in total secrecy, without anyone getting to know about it.
As revealed by the Panama Papers, the offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles are owned by Senator Osman Saifullah Khan, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and his family members. The companies maintained bank accounts in Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland and owned property in the United Kingdom. Of particular interest was the fact that Senator Osman Saifullah is a member of the Tax Reforms Commission set up by the government to check leakage of revenue, broaden the base of revenue collection and improve tax administration.
The family’s patriarch, Barrister Saifullah Khan, died in 1964 at the age of 49 after having founded a business group. Hailing from the southern Lakki Marwat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the highly educated lawyer and entrepreneur married Kulsum Saifullah Khan, the sister of the late politicians, Aslam Khattak and Yousaf Khattak and soldier-turned-industrialist Lt. Gen. Habibullah Khan, belonging to Karak district. Widowed at the age of 40, Kulsum Saifullah raised her five sons and guided them in politics and business. Her death on January 26, 2015 at the age of 91 brought this era to an end.
The family’s business empire is known as the Saif Group of Companies. It expanded from food and flour mills to textile, power generation, oil and gas exploration, real estate development, healthcare, environmental technology, telecommunications and information technology. Its growth and diversification has been phenomenal.
TEN-Salim-Saifullah-NEWThe new generation of the family has followed in the footsteps of the five Saifullah brothers, who demarcated their responsibilities with two opting to do business and three to enter politics. Humayun Saifullah, Anwar Saifullah and Salim Saifullah are well known politicians. All of them have won elections and served as ministers. Humayun Saifullah remained a provincial minister in the 1970s, while Anwar Saifullah and Salim Saifullah also served as federal ministers. Anwar Saifullah and Salim Saifullah aspired to become either the governor or chief minister of their native province, but success eluded them due to a host of factors.
The two remaining brothers, Javed Saifullah and Dr. Iqbal Saifullah, stayed away from politics. Javed Saifullah managed the family’s business and
industrial activities, while Iqbal Saifullah, who is a cardiologist, established a hospital focusing primarily on cardiac care in Islamabad. However, Javed Saifullah’s son, Jehangir Saifullah, entered politics a few years ago by joining the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Jehangir Saifullah also manages some of the family’s business activities. His first foray into politics proved to be a setback when the PTI chapter in Lakki Marwat opposed the party’s decision to give him a ticket to contest the by-election for a National Assembly constituency, NA-27. The PTI ticket was eventually given to Colonel (retd.) Dr. Amirullah Marwat, who won the seat, but his victory was made possible due to the support of the influential Saifullah family.
The Saifullahs have gravitated from one political party to another. Originally Muslim Leaguers, its family members have, at times, been associated with the erstwhile National Awami Party (NAP), PPP, PML-Q, PML-N and PTI, at various points in time. Kulsum Saifullah had started her political career from the platform of NAP and was elected member of the provincial assembly on its ticket in the 1970 general elections. However, she switched sides and joined her elder brother Aslam Khattak’s independent group to form the provincial government at the expense of NAP. The leadership of NAP, which was later banned but re-emerged as the Awami National Party (ANP), never forgave Kulsum Saifullah and her family for the disloyalty.
The rift between the Saifullahs and the family of ANP head, Khan Abdul Wali Khan widened over the years when the Saifullah brothers opposed renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and supported the construction of the controversial Kalabagh Dam. The Walis and their party, ANP, took a divergent stand on the two issues and their differences with the Saifullahs became unbridgeable.
osman-saifullahIn keeping with its tradition, the Saifullah family is presently affiliated to three political parties — PPP, PML-N and PTI. Anwar Saifullah Khan, the bureaucrat-turned-politician, is a leader of the PPP. His son, Senator Osman Saifullah, is also with the PPP. Salim Saifullah is now associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), after having spent some time in the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q). The eldest brother, Humayun Saifullah, was also affiliated with the PML-Q earlier and was elected on its ticket to the National Assembly from Lakki Marwat. As mentioned earlier, the young Jehangir Saifullah is associated with the PTI.
The affiliation of assorted members of the family with the PPP, PML-N and PTI ensures that the Saifullahs are represented in the government if any of these three parties are in power (which they invariably are). This is unprincipled politics but the Saifullahs continue to practice it and manage to befriend even those who, at times, are their strongest critics. The closed doors of political parties are opened when the Saifullahs decide to join because they have the requisite wealth and vote bank to win elections.
Though they lost badly in the 2013 general elections from Lakki Marwat, the family bounced back by joining hands with the PTI to inflict defeat on their nemesis, the JUI-F of Maulana Fazlur Rahman.
The Saifullahs, who have denied any wrong-doing, are now facing a challenge to their power and prestige due to the Panama Papers leaks. However, they aren’t alone in this difficult situation. The Saifullahs and other Pakistanis, named as owners of offshore companies in the Panama Leaks, are most likely to get a respite due to the ongoing dispute over the formation of the judicial commission and its terms of reference, and the fact that investigations could take a long time. Finding them guilty and holding them and the others accountable will neither be easy nor quick.
This article was first published in Newsline’s May 2016 issue.

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Rahimullah Yusufzai is a Peshawar-based senior journalist who covers events in the NWFP, FATA, Balochistan and Afghanistan. His work appears in the Pakistani and international media. He has also contributed chapters to books on the region.

Description:German Activities in the North-West Frontier Province War Years 1914-1945

By Syed Wiqar Shah


German Activities in the North-West Frontier Province War Years 1914-1945 The region designated by the British Colonial rulers as the North-West Frontier Province of India has always played a significant role in the making of Indian history owing to its crucial geopolitical location. Once a passage of invaders, this land of the Pashtoons remained a subject of special interest and importance for historians, travelers, politicians, military-men and administrators in the past. It is still a rich field for research to anthropologists, sociologists, historians and political scientists. During my research on the socio-political history of the NWFP I found serious gaps in the earlier writings on the area, particularly on the tribal territories which remained the Frontier of British Empire during the first half of the Twentieth century. In August 1914, World War 1, broke out. Three months later, in November, Turkey declared its support for -Germany against the British and also joined it. Long before the outbreak of the War, the military thinkers in Germany realized that in the event of war, India would be the largest reservoir of manpower in the British Empire. Would it not somehow be possible to prevent the departure of British and Indian troops from India to the actual theatre of war. The influential military writer General Friedrich von Bernhardi spoke in his book
Germany and the Next War
(1911) of the necessity for close co-operation between Germany and the Indian revolutionaries against Britain and expressed the hope that Hindus and Muslims a] alike might collaborate to unseat the Raj. While not able to gain Persia as an ally, owing to the strong British and Russian presence, the German General Staff nevertheless quickly appreciated the strategic

importance of Afghanistan as a buffer state dividing the British and Russian sphere of influence in Central Asia. Two expeditions to Kabul were simultaneously organised in 1915 (which later on was joined together as bothwere serving the same cause) with the support of the Turkish ally and by the German High Command and the Foreign Office's Special Information Bureau for Oriental Affairs (Nachrichtenstelle fur den orient). intensifying its pan-Islamic propaganda, Germany and Turkey jointly sent this Turko-German Mission to Afghanistan, which reached Kabul, the Afghan capital, in mid-October 1915. The Mission was headed by Dr. Werner Otto von Hentig, a young diplomat, who entered German diplomatic service in 191 1. When War broke out in 1914, he was on the staff of the German Legation at Teheran. He was sent to join his regiment and fought on the Russian front. In March he was recalled to Berlin from military service and instructed to take charge of the diplomatic mission which was to proceed to Kabul and bring about the conclusion of a German-Afghan Alliance. It had allegedly brought messages from the Turkish Sultan and the Kaiser of Germany. The mission had two obvious objectives: military and the political. The military objective was to induce the Afghan ruler Amir Habibullah Khan to join the Central Powers in the War or at least to mobilize the Pashtoon tribesmen, the largest potential of guerrilla fighters in the world, in order to tie up the substantial numbers of British and Russian forces in the area. The political aim in support of this strategic objective was to direct from Afghanistan disruptive anti-British and pan-Islamic propaganda into India and to help foment local disorder and sedition among Indian troops. The situation at Kabul was in their favour. The pro-Turkish 'War Party', led by Sardar Nasrullah Khan, the younger brother of the Amir, had lent their full-fledge support to the Mission members. They were also joined by an influential section of the Afghan intellectuals led by Mahmud Tarzi and his son-in-law, Amanullah Khan, the young and energetic anti-British prince. Moreover, a large number of Pashtoon tribes and a considerable number of religious elements in the country also promised their support to the Turkish cause. The Amir, however, assured the British government time and again that he would remain neutral. The Amir, largely depending on British subsidies, was in no way prepared to annoy the British at any cost. On 6 July 1915 he was informed by the Viceroy of India of a number of hostile groups who had escaped from the Russian territory and were moving in small armed positions eastwards obviously trying their way to enter Afghanistan. The total strength of these parties, according to the same source were 26 Germans and Austrians, 43 Turks and Armenians, 23 Indians and 87 Persians; altogether 179 men armed with rifles and with two machine guns. He suggested to the Amir that these parties 'should at once be arrested, disarmed and interned, pending the

conclusion of war'. The Amir promptly replied that' Your Excellency need have no anxiety about the movements of those parties, ..., they will be disarmed at once. I assure your Excellency and the Great British Government of the neutrality of Afghanistan during the present war'. He also informed the Viceroy that he always preferred British friendship and they must trust him. On the other hand, the Amir professed his devotion to the -Turkish cause, with the understanding, that the call for holy war was not yet vaild for him because the world war had not been waged in Afghanistan. The members of Turko-German Mission, however, sensed the Amir's duplicity. Realising about the failure of their Mission they left Kabul on 22 May 1961 without accomplishing their assigned task. Von Hentig returned to Europe via the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, Turkestan, Kashghar, China and the USA. The Amir was praised by the Viceroy for his part which he played during the stay of the Mission members at Kabul. In lieu of his services he was sent a signed letter by the King-Emperor and his annual subsidy was raised by two lakhs rupees a year. However, the Mission members succeeded in establishing a centre for the anti
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British activities in Bagh (Tirah), in the tribal belt. In June 1916 two Turkish emissaries arrived Tirah; one was Khired Bey, a staff colonel of the Turkish army and the other Mohammad Abid (alias Abidin), an Arab, a former employee of the Turks as a drill' instructor at Kabul. Mir Mast, a local Afridi Pashtoon, an ex

Jamadar of the British Indian army, who had deserted in France accompanied the Turko-German Mission. He was already busy in propaganda against the British in Tirah. The 'uneasy feelings' in the tribal areas as a result of the intrigues' of the Turko-German Mission were further intensified by Mir Mast's activities in the Khyber. On their arrival in Tirah, the emissaries were welcomed by Mast. They delivered anti-British speeches and unfurled a flag, allegedly blessed and sent by the Turkish Sultan. By the middle of 1916 a large number of the Pashtoon soldiers, mainly deserters from the British Indian army had swelled the ranks of the Turkish emissaries. They started recruitment of the locals as well. By July 1916 the total number of Afridi recruits enlisted in the Turkish an-army was reported to have reached about four hundred. In August, Mahendra Pratap came to Tirah, bringing money from Nasrullah for distribution among the local
mullahs.
As a result of the growing popularity of the Sultan's army in Tirah, Sir George Roos-Keppel, then Chief Commissioner NVVFP, found the tribes being virtually divided into two camps: anti British and pro-British. The former

consisted of deserters and discharged soldiers from the Indian army and other pro-Afghan elements, while the latter was composed mainly of Maliks and elders who were in favour of maintaining friendly relations with the British in lieu of their allowances and other emoluments from the British Indian government. Roos Keppel believed that the Turkish agents were responsible for creating the troubles in the tribal belt, but he could not ask the Government to take any stern action against them lest he feared aggravation in the already tense situation. The pro-British elements came to government's rescue. They told the Turks that unless they saw the combined armies of Afghanistan, Gen-Germany and Turkey with their own eyes on the Indian frontiers the Afridis would never create any trouble against the British in the tribal territories. The Turks were further asked not to expect any help from the tribesmen unless the Amir of Afghanistan declared
Jihad
and himself led the Afghan an-army against the British. Moreover, they demanded very large quantities of arms, ammunition and ii-money to be provided to the Afridis. In addition, the British government following its traditional policy of winning a section of influential mullahs to their side, succeeded in checking the pi-o-British propaganda in the tribal area. Eventually, in September 1916, the pro-British faction succeeded in driving away the Turkish emissaries from Tirah to Raj gal near the Afghan border. They remained there for about six months. In March 1917, one Malik Zaman Khan, an influential pro-British Afridi elder led a four hundred strong lashkar (a tribal force), attacked the Turkish emissaries, killed their contacts in the tribal belt and succeeded in ousting them from the tribal area. In June 1917 the Turkish agents crossed over to Afghanistan, Thus failing in their mission to stir a tribal rising against the British during the war period. In order to check influence of British
imperialism in
Afghanistan, during the third and, fourth decades of the twentieth century, German government continued its efforts to establish close ties with the Afghan government. Amanullah Khan, the revolutionary Young Amir of Afghanistan found in Gen-Germany a close and trusted ally of Afghanistan who was ready to invest in Afghanistan without even thinking for a while on commercial basis. In November 1937, Lufthansa German Airlines established a route between Berlin and Kabul via Tirana, Athens, Rhodes, Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran. It was more apolitical than an economic step on the part of the German authorities. This was taken as Nazi Germany's conceited drive to penetrate the Middle East politically, culturally and economically. It was followed by a flow of technical advisers and financial assistance. According to Ernest Fox, an Al-American geologist who then worked in Afghanistan, 'One met German salesmen in Kabul, and German high-way engineers in fl-the field. Gen-man steel was going into the new bridges on the high-ways. The Deutsche Lufthansa Co. was the only commercial airline [that] landed on the Kabul airport' By 1939, V. Gregorian pointed out, there were between 100 and 300 German

Experts and technicians in Afghanistan, majority of them engineers working at road-building projects, hydroelectric plants and factories. At various other departments and institutions, including Post, telegraph, telephone, Police department,
army and commercial Projects, the presence of Germans was felt. Eventually in August 1939 Germany signed an extensive financial and commercial agreement with Afghanistan She was given long-term credits for the purchase Of German machinery and in return agreed to repay all advances over a ten years period by furnishing cotton to Germany. The Afghan ruling elite and intelligentsia, always apprehensive of colonialism, considered in it as a means of industrialization and modernization of the Afghan economy. Both Britain and the Soviet Union, two powerful neighbours of Afghanistan were highly apprehensive of the German interest/advances in Afghanistan and were waiting for a favorable opportunity to stop the penetration of Germany into Afghanistan furthermore. Germany, however, on the contrary by supplying economic and technical assistance and helping the Afghans in their modest industrial undertakings, had hoped to secure the pro
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German base there and forging a strong pro-Gen-man alliance against the British imperialism. On the outbreak of World War 11 there was a general fear in Afghanistan that its independence might be j jeopardized or the country might become a battleground of European diplomacy, even a theatre of war. The Afghan government, in order to safeguard the country's independence proclaimed its neutrality in September 1939- However, the p Afghan nationalists were not happy with the go government policy. They were advocating strong Support to the Axis Powers who had contributed in the present modernization of Afghanistan. During the war years (1939-1945) the Axis Powers tried their best to stir a tribal rising in the NWFP against the British. Their main purpose was to engage the British Indian army in the tribal belt to prevent Indian an-armed forces from being sent to the Mediterranean. After the war, as was revealed at the Nueremberg Trials, the Italians had planned, with the approval and full support of the Germans, to induce Mirza Ali Khan (Faqir of lpi), the legendary anti-British Pashtoon religious warrior, to carry pro-Axis propaganda and to create troubles in the NWFP. Indian Intelligence, suspecting that links between the Axis and the Faqir had existed for some time, first received concrete evidence in June 1941 after the arrest. of Mohammad Aslam, the interpreter at the Italian Legation in Kabul, when he visited his relatives near Quetta. Aslam claimed in his statement that several members of the Italian Legation had visited the Faqir between 1939 and 1941 and supplied him with money and weapons, including machine-guns and a wireless transmitting and receiving set. He also supplied the British with the


names of the Afghan officials and army officers co II collaborating with the Italians and with the Faqir, which were then used to bring more pressure to bear upon the Kabul government. This was also confirmed in an other way by Quaroni, the Italian Minister at Kabul. According to him the Faqir was visited during the war by the secretary of the Italian Legation, Enrico Anzilotti, who did so during June 1941. Anzi lotti, who set out on 12 June, was away unnoticed for 22 days, covering the distance partly by lorry but almost on foot. As he was wearing Pashtoon dress the Afghan police failed to apprehend him, which greatly upset them, for they offered, 150,000 Afghani for his capture. Anzilotti spent three days at Gorwekht and returned safely to Kabul. He reported that the Faqir was in principle ready to start action against the British on the Frontier, but required money, weapons and ammunition, (According to Quraoni, the holy man from Waziristan had a quite definite idea about his requirements which lie made known to the Axis Legations through his intermediaries in a form-n somewhat resembling a price list: 25,000 paid every other month to keep the pot boiling and to double the sum if tribal activities should be extended to other areas; in the event of general rising on the Frontier the price would have to be tripled, not counting supplies of weapons and ammunition which the Faqir also required urgently). He stipulated the terms of cash payments and wished to have a wireless transmitter with a trained operator. The Germans, too, wanted to establish a direct link with lpi. A few weeks after Anzilotti's return they sent to Gorwekht two of their agents with a small group of hired tribesmen. They never reached their destination, falling into a trap set tip by the Afghan government. On the night of 18/19th July 1941 , a party of two Germans Dr. Oberdoffer and Brandt, in disguise, accompanied by twelve Jajis were moving on Logar road carrying munitions, money and papers for the Faqir. Afghani troops chased them and fired near Pul Alam (Logar), while crossing to the tribal belt to meet the Faqir of lpi and hand him over arms including 7 machine guns, 70 bels of machine gun ammunition, 30 lakhs worth of Afghan notes, I 0 lakhs of Indian notes and gold coins, 4 pistols to each man, 12 different kinds of tribal dresses and some addresses of various anti

British agents in India. Dr. Oberdoffer died on the spot while Brandt was arrested in wounded condition. It was followed by a strong protest from German government. Hashim Khan, the Afghan Prime Minister conveyed his regrets to the German government, reiterating that they were acting on their traditional neutral policy in the present war. The Faqir of Ipi consented to the Axis proposal of establishing a radio transmitter station in the tribal belt to intensify the anti

British propaganda. However, the paucity of funds and the negative attitude of the Afghan authorities prevented @ii from-n doing the right soil' 'Of propaganda. In this regard, Quraoni, the Italian Minister at Kabul, had prepared a major plan for the popular rising in the tribal belt, later on to be extended to other parts of British India. The Italian

Government communicated this plan to the German high command. In the belief that Britain was about to succumb anyway, the Gel-mans shelved the project for the time being. In 1941 Dr. von Hentig, the newly appointed German Minister to Afghanistan, (who never occupied his new assignment because of the strong protest from British Indian Government) was instructed by Ribbentrop to contact the Frontier tribes and their nationalists leaders. The Nazis hoped from Afghan government for pen-mission to establish a shortwave radio transmitter in the Afghan-Indian border area, to allow inconspicuous German participation' in using the transmitter of Kabul radio and to tolerate a certain amount of smuggling of arms to the tribal territories to be used against the British Indian government but failed due to the negative attitude of the Afghan authorities. Both Britain and the Soviet Union were unhappy over the large presence of axis nationals in Kabul which also included about 80 German nationals (including women and children the total non
-
official Axis population in Afghanistan was over 200). On 9 October 194 1, the British Minister at Kabul met the Afghan authorities and demanded the expulsion of Axis nationals followed by a similar kind of demand presented by the Russian Ambassador at Kabul two days after. In less than a fortnight altogether 204 German and Italians nationals left Kabul for Peshawar in two batches, the first one on 29 October and the second on the following day, to proceed from there to Karachi and further via Iraq and Turkey to Axis controlled territory. There was a mixed reaction to the Allies demand: there was apprehension, bitterness and public outcry, resulting in reiterating the Afghan government's policy of observance of its strict neutrality. The Faqir of lpi, as reported by the Intelligence Diary dated 10 November 1941 is said to be very much displeased at the Afghan Government's decision in expelling the Germans and Italians, and is now spreading propaganda against the Yahya Khan regime among his followers in the Southern Province'. The next report of linkage between the German Legation at Kabul and the Faqir was given on 9 January 1943. The Deputy Director Intelligence, Peshawar reported that 'two Nazis recently visited Gorwekht bringing instructions and arms and ammunition for lpi from the Gen-man Legation in Kabul. Interestingly, on the British side of the Frontier, Sir George Cunningham, the NWFP Governor also tried to counter the German propaganda against the Allies. He won over the sympathies of some maulvis to British side who denounced Nazis and convinced the Pashtoons that British interests were identical with Islam. Initially, the attention of the pro govemment maulvis was

diverted towards the 'atheist Bolsheviks'. The Germans were denounced as the collaborators of the Russians. But with the Russian entry into the war on the Allied side, the situation changed. Cunningham was embarrassed when asked whether they really were helping their old enemies, the Russians. His reply was simple: that for the common purpose of the destruction of Nazism, they could co-operate with the Russians without accepting the ideas of communism or the Soviet system. The Frontier government succeeded in switching over the propaganda from the Bolsheviks to the Germans. For the remaining period during the war, however, the NWFP remained 'calm and peaceful'. The inhabitants of the province were not interested Perhaps in a distant theatre of war. The purpose of this research is to explore various policies of the Gen-man authorities towards the Pashtoon area, hitherto neglected by the scholars. This research will be addressing the complex issues of fomenting unrest in the NWFP by the Germans against the British through various strategies. How did Germans succeed in establishing their contacts in the NWFP? What was the local response to the German war propaganda? The German High Command did send its representatives to urge the rulers of Afghanistan to support the Central/Axis Powers during the Wars. How far did the Germans succeed in keeping this part of the world under their influence? what were its repercussions on the global politics? Did the Axis Powers succeed in winning over the Pashtoon tribes to their side? An answer to these and other related questions would be available after the completion of the present project., I would like to publish the findings thereafter to share them with scholars and general public who might have an abiding interest in that particular period and area. By: Dr. Syed Wiqar Ali Shah Quaid-e-Azam University

The case of murder of Hayat Sherpao

Hayat Khan Sherpao: The Murder
17 March 2008
By NB

I‘ve been staring at the Peshawar High Court’s judgment in Asfandyar Wali v the State for about 8 months. This case, like several in Pakistan’s history, is deeply intertwined with both national and international politics. As part of the backdrop to Bhutto’s dismissal and ultimately his execution, I would assume that it has been addressed at some length in print literature. However, having looked a fair bit, I’ve yet to find anything and there is certainly nothing on the Internet about the case.

I will therefore, attempt to ‘blog’ the entire case as I read it. I am however mindful that the post is likely to be quite long, and so to ensure that it doesn’t go completely unread by all of Five Rupees’ ADD suffering readership, I will break up the post into several segments and post on consecutive days.
Note: This is therefore the first of a four part series of posts about the murder of Hayat Khan Sherpao.

Click here for the 2nd part.
Click here for the 3rd part.
Click here for the 4th part.

Preface
This case is about a political assassination committed in 1975. The links to the circumstances surrounding Benazir’s assassination and Pakistan’s current situation are numerous, and I shall do my best to identify them as I blog the case. But I will say at the outset that it is remarkable to see just how much of Pakistan’s politics ‘runs in the families’, and how structural and geopolitical issues play out on such personal levels within those families.

Succession and Autonomy

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto dismissed the NAP - JUI coalition government in Baluchistan in February of 1973. A declassified intelligence dispatch from the American Embassy in Islamabad explained that particular incident in the ‘great game’ and described how Iraq was involved.The NAP was obviously less than pleased and resigned its N.W.F.P ministry in protest.

By July of 1973 Wali Khan was becoming increasingly vitriolic. Regarding Bhutto’s sacking of the NAP-JUI government in Baluchistan, he announced publicly that the time for appeals had passed and his followers would now meet force with force.

How things have(nt) changed. To state the obvious, even if the current problems in N.W.F.P and Baluchistan are not simply continuations of the previous conflicts, they do follow a pattern wherein:

a) An ethnic or sub-ethnic group angrily aires a legitimate grievance,
b) which is unsatisfactorily addressed by the Federal Government,
c) and which is then expressed again but this time with violence and force,
d) and that violence is met with more force from the Government,
e) and the issue morphs into a debate about the use of force against the state’s own citizens and vice-versa,
f) and what began as a grievance evolves into a situation somewhere between outright succession and militant ethno- nationalism.
I digress. By 1974, the Baluchi insurgency was well and truly underway with an estimated 135’000 soldiers and militants thrashing it out in the province. The pro-Soviet Sardar Daoud regime in Kabul was backing the insurgents. The Shah of Iran, who also had his own ethnic Baluch to deal with, was equally wary of Kabul, and was backing Bhutto. Which brings us nicely to the date in question; the 8th of February 1975.
—————————————————————————————————
The Murder

It’s a Saturday, and the Assembly Hall at Peshawar University is crowded with students and professors. The office bearers of the History Department are due to take oath in the afternoon. The Chief Guest is to administer the oaths, and he’s running late. He eventually arrives and is received warmly by the President and Secretary of the History Society.
The Holy Quran is read aloud at 4:00 pm, and the assembly hall sits quietly.
One by one, the Chief Guest administers the oaths. The series of handshakes are punctuated by camera flashes from an attending photographer. During the oath taking, an employee of Radio Pakistan gets up and places a tape recorder on a table near the entrance to the hall. The Chief Guest finishes administering the oaths, and there are smiles and a few speeches, including one from the Chief Guest himself. The Chairman of the History Society then calls the Chief Guest away from the rostrum, to have some tea on the verandah.
The Chief Guest walks towards that direction, but is called back when Sardar Muhammad Khan, Joint Secretary of the society, demands a donation from the Chief Guest and starts asking why it wasn’t announced during his earlier speech.
Hayat Khan Sherpao is the Chief Guest. He returns to the rostrum to explain why the donation had not been announced. He speaks a few words, but his speech is ended by the force of the blast. From under his feet, a huge explosion tears through his legs, breaks his jaws and rips through his skull, causing his brain to protrude.
Hayat Khan Sherpao was a founding member of the PPP and one of Bhutto’s closest lieutenants. He was said to have been an orator on par with Bhutto himself, an outspoken nationalist and a decent man. He was tasked with developing grass roots support for the party in the frontier during the PPP’s formative years. After the PPP’s win in the 1970 election, he became known as Bhutto’s “lion of the Frontier”, synonymous with the “lion of the Punjab” Ghulam Mustafa Khar.
According to a tribute from the Daily Times:
“People who could not rival him in terms of performance and charisma turned against him and were baying for his blood. Sensing danger, his well-wishers advised him to avoid public meetings but he ignored them because he did not want to stay away from his people”

Hayat Khan Sherpao: The Turncoats
This is the second in a series of posts about the the murder of Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao, elder brother of Aftab Ahmed Sherpao.

Click here for the 1st part.
Click here for the 3rd part.
Click here for the 4th part.

Part 1 of the series outlined the event of the murder itself, and the mix of Cold War politics and ethnic turbulence that preceded it. Today's post attempts to examine what was happening within within Bhutto's PPP in the run up to the murder, and thereby identifies the second suspect.

Et Tu?

"A few months before his death he seriously considered leaving the Party altogether... Of all those around ZAB, Sherpao's personal devotion had been the greatest and his subsequent disillusionment was consequently the most profound."



Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is in New York when Hayat Sherpao is murdered. He cancels his plans, flies back on the 8th and weeps at Sherpao's grave on the 9th. The PPP leadership is in attendance at the soyem, but their ranks were already divided.

The day after the funeral, the NAP is dissolved by the Government of Pakistan for "operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan". Its leaders, including Wali Khan and Asfandyar Wali, are arrested.

The Turncoats

Prior to his death, Hayat Sherpao had considered leaving the party he had helped found. As is well known, he was not the only turncoat. Around the same time there had been a series of defections and resignations from the PPP. The most notable of which was that of Ahmad Raza Kasuri, whos father had been gunned down on the 9th of November 1974, less than three months before Hayat Khan Sherpao’s murder.
On the 20th of November, Kasuri famously turned up at the National Assembly carrying a bottle of blood and his fathers bloodstained shirts, vowing revenge. (On a slightly discordant note, Kasuri’s anger can be seen on video here, and is mercilessly but fairly made fun of here).

One of the PPP malcontents was Nisar Muhammad Khan, who was recently our caretaker Federal Minister for Housing and Works. After Sherpao's murder he was arrested along with Asfandyar Wali. Both were then imprisoned within Bala HIsaar Fortress in Peshawar, which is pictured below.



In his witness statement before the court, he stated:
"I have been falsely involved in this case, because of my difference with the Prime Minister of Pakistan."

The differences, he stated, started out over Bangladesh, and particularly whether that that key session of the Constituent Assembly in Dhaka should be boycotted. Following the disagreements, Nisar Khan was excluded from the party meetings. He began expressing his contrarian position directly to the press, and was consequentially expelled from the PPP. He states further:

"Several other founding members of the PPP were expelled from the party and not only expelled but they were jailed and insulted and shot at. Miraj Muhammad Khan and Mutkar Rana are examples of the same. Now Mr J.A Rahim has been expelled. He was fired upon and also beaten. Ahmad Raza Qasuri, M.N.A is another person to be quoted. The latest victim is Mr Khushid Hassan Meer. Mr Mahmood Ali Qasuri was also an active memmer of the PPP and so was his son and they have been expelled from the party."
It should also be clarified that when Nisar Khan talks about the elderly J.A Rahim being 'expelled', what he really means to say is that is that on the 3rd of July 1974, the night of his Rahim's 'expulsion', members of Bhutto's personal Federal Security Force climbed up the front balcony of the 71 year old man who had drafted the PPP's manifesto, entered his bedroom, beat him with rifle butts, threw him to the ground, beat up his son, dragged him out by his legs, threw him into a jeep and drove off with him. This occurred because Rahim had the audacity to complain earlier that evening, after Bhutto invited the cabinet for a dinner and then made them wait till midnight before dismissing them without having even met them. Specifically, Rahim had said the following.
"You bloody flunkies can wait as long as you like for the Maharaja of Larkana, I'm going home!"
Anyways, back to Nisar Khan. He continues:
"I told Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that there was no need to have the landlords and the tenants clash with each other, I mean land owners, and it would have been better if an Ordinance had been promulgated finishing altogether private ownership. It is for these reasons, as also because the next general elections are coming near, that I have been involved in this case falsely."

So Who's to Blame?

Bhutto’s tactics vis-à-vis his opponents, both within the PPP and amongst the smaller provinces, were continuing to harden. The question is, was Hayat Khan Sherpao’s murder Bhutto’s most high profile purge? Or as is alleged by PPP stalwarts, the work of the 'anti-State' NAP, and it's hired assassins? That question was put to Asfandyar Wali in Bala Hisar, subsequent of course to some ‘moderate physical pressure’. His answer and story will follow tomorrow.

Following his arrest on suspicion of the murder of Hayat Sherpao, Asfandyar Wali is transported for his detention and locked in a cell somewhere inside Bala Hissar Fortress. After his dinner, Inspector Aurangzeb enters his cell and confronts him with the Police's case theory.

The Supposed Plot...

Inspector Aurangzeb tells Asfandyar that he has just returned from a meeting with the Inspector General of N.W.F.P Police. The I.G was apparently of the view that the murder of Hayat Sherpao was committed in immediate retaliation for the murder of Ahmad Raza Kasuri's father a few months back. The I.G also beleives that the decision to kill Sherpao was taken at a meeting that took place at Chaudhry Zahur Illahi's house in Lahore, with the following participants:

1. Wali Khan
2. Ahmad Reza Kasuri
3. Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi
4. Malik Muhammad Qasim
5.Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan
6. Mian Tufail Muhammad

Inspector Aurangzeb confronts Asfandyar with an allegation to the effect that after the meeting in Lahore, Wali Khan traveled back to the N.W.F.P and tasked Asfandyar with carrying out the murder. Asfandyar Wali obviously denies the charges.

It is interesting to see where each of the aforementioned individuals are today.


1. The late Wali Khan, father of Asfandyar Wali, hopefully requires no introduction by this stage.










2. As I mentioned in my first post in this series, On the 20th of November 1974, Kasuri famously turned up at the National Assembly carrying a bottle his fathers blood and his bloodstained shirt, vowing revenge against Bhutto. He was the primary complainant in the trial that resulted in the hanging of Bhutto. He also represented the Government in the Chief Justice case.



3. Zahoor Elahi fathered Chaudhry Shujaat (shown here with Shades & Ladies) who served briefly as Prime Minister and head of the civilian wing of Musharraf's Government.





4. Confusingly, Malik Muhammad Qasim was tried for treason during Zia's tenure, but the case was dropped. Despite his standing affiliation with the PML, he served as Federal Minister in Benazir's government in 1989, and was the Federal Minister for Railways during Musharraf's pre-election post emergency caretaker Government.





5. Nasrullah continued to wheel and deal with his Fez and Hookah until he died in 2003, and by establishing the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) laid the foundations for the promising (yet nauseatingly incestuous and mutually fellating) coalition government of Zardari-Bhutto-Sharif.







6. Mian Tufail Ahmed was Ameer of the Jama'at Islaami after Maududi, and a founding member of the United Democratic Front. Somewhere between 9-20 Pathan UDF workers were gunned down by Bhutto's FSF at a rally in Liaquat Bagh on the 23rd of March 1973 (Yet another irony that Benazir was assassinated on the same spot).




When Stephen Cohen is talks about a 'Pakistani Establishment', what hes saying is that the players never really change. They occasionally have children, switch sides and pick up new cronies but they never really change. Henry Kissinger recently observed:
"...the relation between Pakistan's three feudal-type organizations - the military and the major political parties - has more of the character of those among Italian city states during the Renaissance described by Machiavelli than of the party politics of traditional democracies.

They have occasionally made temporary alliances - as they appear to be doing now - for tactical purposes, but these have always proved preludes to new confrontations with the military appearing as arbiters in the end. The difference between feudal leaders who wear uniforms and those in civilian clothes is in their constituencies, not in their commitment to a pluralistic process as we understand it."
Kissinger's observations aren't really news to most Pakistanis. But still, for this 80's born naive young Pakistani, it is still jarring to realize how little has changed amongst Pakistan's political families and cliques over the last 40 odd years.

Anyways, back to Hayat Sherpao and Asfandyar Wali's jail time experience.

The subsequent 'Confession'

Interestingly, within the court transcripts, the sordid events and conversations that follow Asfandyar's denial are transliterated from Pushto/Urdu not simply in to equivalent English, but in to the Queens English. I would assume that this is to preserve the sobriety of the transcript, but it ends up coming across as some twisted Victorian parody of a South Asian S&M show .






"...Inspector Aurangzeb Shah called Hassan Gul A.S.I and asked him "Saman Rawara". Hasan Gul A.S.I Brought a small box which was opened by Inspector Auranzeb Shah and he took out two wooden replicas of the male organ and put the same in a table and asked me to choose between the two whether I wanted Wali Khan or Sardar Daud. I told him that I was not a fit person for the same and that the fittest person for those organs would be his wife or sister.
Thereupon Aurangzeb Shah inspector started slapping me and hitting me."
Thereupon indeed. Just as a reminder, Sardar Daud was the King of Afghanistan. And before it is assumed that naming the phalluses (phalli?) after the King of Afghanistan was something deviously original, below is an excerpt from the statement of another co-accused in the case who is also incarcerated at Bala Hisaar. According to Ahmad Farooq:
"Aurangzeb Shah Inspector again came to see me and told me that it was a last warning and that i Should agree. He then asked me if I was married. He then asked Hassan Gul A.S.I to bring the "Saman". Then Hassan Gul A.S.I brought something covered in white piece of cloth which was opened and it contained wooden male organs. Aurangzeb Shah Inspector told me that one of the wooden replicas of male organ was Ajmal Khattak and the other was Sardar Daud and that I was to choose between the two. Aurangzeb Shah Inspector told me that as I was unmarried he was going to make me unfit for marriage. He also told me that they could bring my father of family members in whos presence they could use the said wooden organs on me. At this time, I gave way. Honour is dear to everybody."

Everybody except for Sardar-Daud's-wooden-manhood-wielding Inspector Aurangzeb. Turning back to Asfandyar Wali , over the next few days the police proceed to tie him to a pillar and make him stand naked for extended periods of time while they electrocute him.

"Tamash Khan S.P said that I should think over [signing the confession] and that he would come again. After he left, DSP Akram Khan made me naked and tied my hands behind my back and forced me to swallow the salted water which he was putting in my mouth by force. I was made to drink four bottles of such water and they made me lie on the table, facing upwards.

"D.S.P Akram Khan had a string of plastic with which he tied my male organ tightly. A foot constable then came and he stood on my belly and started applying pressure with his feet on my belly.

After 5-6 minutes I lost consciousness and when I regained consciousness I found myself lying on the floor of the lockup with blood on the whole of the lower part of my body. When I went to ease myself, I urinated pure blood."
After sometime, D.S.P Akram Khan again came and said, "do you now agree?" I said "no." "
They police continue to torture Asfandyar Wali for some time. But he stubbornly refuses to sign the statement. In a scene which is almost comical, after torturing Asfandyar Wali and making him piss blood, the police end up begging him for a confession citing the fact their superiors 'have them by the balls':

"After 5/6 days Tamash Khan S.P again came to my cell and he said, which I quote; "Do you agree? We are helpless, above us is Abbas Khan D.I.G who is the cousin of the late Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao and he is not leaving our testicles, unless we make you agree to sign the statement."
Meanwhile, in another part of Bala Hissar, the police continue to turn the screws on Nisar Muhammad Khan. After some relativley light torture (mostly sleep deprivation and harassment), they cut to the chase.

"Niaz Gul S.P placed his hands on that Volume 1 of "Tafheem-ul-Quran" and swore that they, having exhausted all means to persuade me to agree to confess the guilt, were obliged to bring my wife and other females to me; and not only that but that they would disgrace them in my presence. He also warned me that even if that method did not bear fruit I would die in the cell.

I told Niaz Gul S.P that since he had taken oath on the Holy Book and our honour was involved, therefore with a view to save my honour and the honour of my family I told him that I was prepared to admit anything what they would ask me to do. "
Nisar Muhammad Khan is then taken to Asfandyar Wali's cell. He tells him of Niaz Gul's oath to sexually assault their women in front of them, and Asfandyar Wali finally agrees to sign the confession documents.

And there is another parralell. Above most torturers stands a person or a body convinced of a prisoners guilt. That party has the torturer by the "testicles". A confession must be elicited, so a confession is elicited. The confession is worth nothing, and leads the party who is relying upon it and everyone else, into a world of hell.



This is the fourth and final part in a series of posts about the murder of Hayat Khan Sherpao.


Click here for the 1st part.
Click here for the 2nd part.
Click here for the 3rd part.

The Relevance of the Verdict

The decision of the court in Asfandyar Wali v the State is an example of the manner in which Pakistan's superior courts often deal with our politically controlled (and patently incompetent) police forces.

The trial and verdict also shed some light on an issue that has been addressed by the authors of this blog on multiple occasions; namely the Pakistani fondness for conspiracy theories.

Also, just a quick note for those of you who are interested, the Judges in this case were Abdul Ghani Khan Khattak, and S. Usman Ali Shah, JJ.

The case was decided on the 13th of July 1977, 11 days after Bhutto was overthrown by Zia for the murder of Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father. The timing of the decision probably isn't a coincidence, and the judgment should be read accordingly.

'They did it. We saw them do it.'

Now obviously the police weren't charging Asfandyar Wali and Nisar Khan with actually having physically planted the bomb that killed Hayat Sherpao. Rather, the two were accused of having ordered the attack and supplied the bomb to the two young men who supposedly went on to plant it, namely Anwar Bacha and Amjad Ali.

Anwar Bacha was the nephew of Shahzad Gul Bacha, who was an NAP senator at the time, and who was also a senator during Musharrafs’ recent caretaker government.

There are no specific facts pertaining to the background of of Amjad Ali within the judgment.


One of the main difficulties faced by the prosecution was in establishing a connection between Amjad and Anwar on the one hand, and Asfandyar Wali and Nisar Khan on the other. Consequently, the testimony of the witnesses summoned to court primarily focused upon bridging that gap, and fell into three categories:

1) Cab drivers (who had transported Amjad and Anwar back and forth between Asfandyar Wali, Nisar Khan and the scene of the crime)

2) Police Officers (who encountered Amjad and Anwar at different locations around the city, most importantly at Asfandyar Walis house)

3) Relatives of the accused (who were said to have seen Amjad and Anwar with the alleged tape-recorder-bomb they obtained from Asfandyar)

'The Cab Drivers Saw Them...'

There were two main Cab Driver witnesses. Both were held at the police station for a considerable amount of time, casting serious doubt as to whether their factual account was actually their own. One of the cab drivers was said to have driven Amjad and Anwar to Asfandyar Walis address to enable them to pick up the tape recorder bomb.

That cab driver admitted:

A) that he had been arrested around the 20th of February.
B) that it took 12-13 days for his statement to be recorded.
C) that he had been in police custody since his arrest, up till the 16th of June, for nearly four months.

Unsurprisingly the court really wasn’t inspired with confidence, and his testimony didn't help matters:
"It appears that [Cab Driver No 1], a sworn witness, is trained in the art of manipulating things... Under the circumstances it would thus be highly imprudent to place any reliance on a person of this demeanor."
In relation to the other cab driver, I'll skip the prosecution's stupidities. By that stage an annoyed and exasperated High Court Bench had passed a number of snide remarks during the course of proceedings, and said:
"The Prosecution has indeed caused us all bewilderment in this case and thus at appropriate stages, we were driven to pass some remarks in order not only to refresh ourselves but to place our finder on its highly exaggerated account.

[Cab Driver No 2] has not satsifed the test of a truthful witness and thus, as a matter of sheer logic, it can be conveniently concluded that he had been arrayed as an impostor witness to depose in the case. "
'And So Did These Police Officers'

Tullas are generally pretty useless witnesses in Pakistan. Whats more, the prosecution's own stupidity in coercing the cab drivers hadn’t helped the credibility of their police witnesses. The court noted:
“It is a matter of record that in the present case a good many witness were forced by the investigating agency to appear in the witness box …"
The Judges didn't think that the police officers were any exception. Of particularly annoyance to the court was the fact that it took the investigating agency two months to record a key police officers statement, despite the fact that the officer in question had been on permanent duty snooping outside Asfandyar Walis house for two and a half years prior to the murder, and was consequently well known to the investigating agencies. The Judges wondered out loud as to why he wasn't called to give a statement the moment Asfandyar Wali was arrested.

It was held that all of this meant:
“[The witness] must be held to have spoken in the case what was suggested to him by his fellow men in the investigating agency.”

In other words, they took some time to make the case up, and then belatedly informed the police officer to give a statement to that effect.

'And We Also Have Some Insane Relatives of the Accused...'

Another central prosecution witness was one Mr.Mian Mohibbudin. He was the cousin of Ahmed Farooq (one of the co accused who Inspector Aurangzeb had threatened with Sardar Daud’s penis replica).

On Mohibbudin’s own bizarre account, he developed some mental health issue and was admitted to hospital on the 7th of February, the day prior to the murder. He said that Anwar and Amjad came to visit him in hospital on that same day whilst carrying the tape recorder bomb with them.

During his cross examination however, Mohibbudin admitted that his father was in the Peoples Party and that the PPP side of his family had been having an armed squabble with Ahmed Farooq’s NAP side of his family for some time.

The Court asked the obvious question as to why the Amjad and Anwar would:
A) carry a tape-recorder-bomb around everywhere openly like complete idiots;
B) visit a mental patient the day before the murder for absolutely no reason;
C) show the mental patient the tape-recorder bomb despite the fact that he was the familial arch nemesis of their co-conspirator Ahmad Farooq.
The Court took Mohibbudin to be a partisan witness, and seemed to be quite annoyed with him. When discussing the standard of scrutiny to be applied another police witness, they gratuitously referred back to him saying:
“Fortunately, [this other witness] is not a mental case like Police Witness Mian Mohibuddin, in order that he should be shown any indulgence.”
So to cut an extremely long and convoluted transcript short, the testimony of all the police witness was taken to be concocted, inconsistent ramble.

The Confessions, and the Final Verdict

At this dire stage in the verdict, the prosecution must have been hoping beyond hope that their phallus induced confessions would rescue their case. It is worth reading what the Court's verdict on this point:

"In the circumstances of the case we feel convinced that the accused appellants were subjected to mental as well as physical tortures. Unfortunately, a Senior Minister of the Provincial Governments had suffered his death in the incident. Therefore the police cannot be expected to have submitted a report to the higher authorities that as a result of their investigation, the culprit's were not traced.
In view of this, it would therefore be obvious that once the police laid their hands on the accused appellants in this case they would not have left them excused until they were obliged to confess that they were responsible for the crime.

In a case of this nature it is a matter of common knowledge that the police must have employed all methods of physical violence against the accused appellants to agree to the making of the so called confessions. The practice f subjecting the accused to physical violence is yet to be a forgone myth in this Sub Continent.

"...[With] regard to Asfandryar Wali and Nisar Muhammad Khan accused appellants, it is also a matter of record that hey remained in the custody of the police for over one and a half months and were never produced before any magistrate. In the circumstances the assertion of the accused appellants that the confessions were extorted from them under duress must be taken of by the court."

"...We regret to observe that the treatment meted out to the accused appellants while they were in police custody was an act of wanton assault directed against the sanctity of human dignity which is impermissible in a civilized society."
The case pretty much ended there. The Court even held that the tape recorder couldnt have contained the bomb, as it was alleged to have been placed at some distance, whereas the explosion came from under Sherpao's feet. Asfandyar Wali, Nisar Khan, Ahmad Farooq, and the NAP were consequently acquitted.

I do not know what happened to Senator Bacha's son and the illustrious Amjad.

A Brief Note on The Hyderabad Tribunal

The Hyderabad Tribunal that ran concurrently with the trial was equally and widely regarded as a farce. Bhutto's government prepared a detailed reference to the Supreme Court, seeking to legally confirm the banning the NAP. The reference, alleged that the NAP was an anti-state political organization, and was bent upon destroying Pakistan in accordance with Sardar Daud's pro-soviet Afghan government.

Wali Khan, and 50 odd Bhutto opponents from the Frontier and Baluchistan were tried for high treason inside Hyderabad jail (hence the name). The Tribunal was headed by Chief Justice Hamood-ur Rehman. While all 50+ were acquitted of the charge of murdering Hayat Khan Sherpao, the decision to ban the NAP for their successionist activities was upheld by the Supreme Court.

As with Asfandyar Wali vs The State, the incompetence of the prosecution continued to be met with contempt from the Wali Khans. At one stage, the prosecution alleged that Wali Khan had been sent Rs 20 million by Indira Gandhi through a certain emissary, presumably to further his anti-state agenda.

Wali Khan (being Wali Khan) promptly sued the emissary, hoping either to recover the Rs 20 million allegedly sent, or at least to prove a point. He figured that if he was going to be charged with receiving the bribe, he he might as well receive it and enjoy it.

Much like in the May 12th inquest, the Government used a standard delay & overwhelm tactic, and bombarded the court with witnesses, specifically about 455 of them. It took over two years to go through the testimony of 22 of those witnesses. Annoyed and exasperated, Wali Khan went on another (justified) rant. Try and picture Hamood-ur Rehman's face when Wali Khan tells him:
“My Lord, please arrange “Aabe-Hayat” (the alexir of life) for us so that we could live till the completion of the proceedings of this trial.

Take it yourself also to enable your honor to write the judgment in this case. After completion of the proceedings, give it to Mr. Bhutto also so that he could live till the decision of the case.

Producing only 22 witnesses in two and a half years means that a half century will be required to hear the statements of witnesses of the prosecution and the same number of years will be required for their cross examination.”
Eventually Wali Khan got bored with trying to defend himself and resigned himself to his fate, declaring that the tribunal included biased judges and that a decision to convict had already been made.

Fortunately for him, Bhutto was eventually overthrown (and hung). General Zia-ul Haq wound up the Hyderabad tribunal, and by 1979 all the detainees were released back into politics.

The Theories

So despite the public outcry, the banning of the NAP, the nationwide arrests, the investigation, the convoluted accusations, the detentions, the torture and not least the whole High Court Trial, Supreme Court Trial and Hyderabad Tribunal, the central question as to who killed Hayat Khan Sherpao remains unanswered.

It seems the Pakistani way of resolving any issue (be it the question of a murder or our national identity) is to run around in circles until everyone is utterly fed up, and then drop the debate altogether because by then some other crises will have come up anyway. Every gaping hole in consensus is thereby allowed to persist and is instead ignored as much as it can be.

Anyway. To add to the conspiracy theories put forward by the prosecution and the state, here are some other tales that filled that particular void of information. Who knows, one might even be true.

Bhutto Murdered Sherpao:

(1) Because of his impending desertion/defection to the NAP, and/or
(2) Because Sherpao and Benazir had crushes on each other OR had an affair OR had been discussing marriage AND ZAB wanted Benazir to marry Amin Makhdoom Fahim, and/or
(3) Because Sherpao didn't want to desert or defect but rather wanted to lead a coup within the PPP and intended to supplant ZAB as leader and/or
(4) Because Bhutto needed someone senior enough to die who's death he could plausibly blame on the NAP and thereby have an excuse to ban the party and arrest the last of his opponents.

Some of these issues referred to here in (1) and (3) were alluded to in part 2 of the series. My problem with this set of theories is that Aftab Ahmed Sherpao (Hayats younger brother) was a PPP minister under Benazir for quite some time until he parted ways with his PPP(Sherpao Group). Why would he do so if genuinely thought that her father murdered his brother? I suppose you could answer that by saying that the daughters appreciation for Hayat Khan was well known and therefore she was not tainted by her fathers actions.

On (2), the supposed love triangle of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Benazir and Hayat Khan Sherpao is a little rich. It would add an interesting dimension to Zardari's treatment of Amin Fahim, but really thats probably just wishful speculation.

On (4), this is pretty flawed. The fact that the NAP was exonerated for the murder runs contrary to any conspiracy premised on an intention to blame them. The charge that they killed him may have been conveniently possible following Sherpao's death, but it makes no sense that it was the motivating cause of the murder.


(B) KHAD and/or the KGB assassinated Sherpao

Ostensibly I suppose their Sherpao's death could be seen as a cold war assassination. But I cannot see how the killing of Bhutto's lieutenant would assist their agenda in any meaningful respect. It simply provided Bhutto with a popular basis upon which to neuter the NAP, KHAD's supposed allies in Pakistan.

Conclusion:

There are plenty of questions that will remain unanswered. There is no conclusion. Until Pakistan's current model of dynastic party politics matures into something altogether more democratic and civilized, the country will continue to lose its leaders to violence for the foreseeable future. Hayat Khan Sherpao's death should serve as a reminder of that.