LONDON: The British government has confirmed that
the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain wrote to the
then Prime Minister Tony Blair in September 2001, calling for the
abolition of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s premier
spy agency. According to information released under the Freedom of
Information Act, the letter was dated 23 September 2001, signed by Altaf
Hussain and delivered to 10 Downing Street by Nirj Deva, who is
currently a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Southeast of
England. The British government was assured of MQM’s support in
countering terrorism in Pakistan in return for help in achieving
“equitable participation in governing the province of Sindh and in
disbanding the ISI”. The letter appealed that the “ISI secret agency
must be disbanded otherwise the ISI will continue to produce many
Osama-bin-Ladens and Talibans in future”. The MQM letter offered to
provide “many demonstrations in Karachi in favour of the international
community combating terrorism within five days notice after this
agreement is signed, putting hundreds of thousands of people on the
streets of Karachi” and “unlimited resources throughout the towns and
villages in the province of Sindh and the province of Punjab to some
extent, to monitor the activities of fundamentalists and Taliban-led
organisations, and also to monitor the activities of Madrasas (religious
schools)”.It also promised the UK “to ensure select groups to penetrate
Afghanistan in the form of aid workers so as to enhance the Western
agencies intelligence information capabilities”. In return for these
services, the alleged letter asked for “equitable participation in the
governance of the province of Sindh and the Federation as partners;
genuine, equitable participation in all spheres of life including
education, employment, army and administration; local policing
consisting of Muhajirs and Sindhis”. Britain’s Foreign Office has
confirmed “the Prime Minister’s Office received a letter from Mr Altaf
Hussain which was passed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
for a response,” said the Cabinet Office, adding: “No information is
held indicating that a response was sent to Mr Hussain”. The FCO has
confirmed further: “On 27 September 2001, the FCO received
correspondence, via No.10, from Mr Nirj Deva MEP enclosing a copy of the
letter from Mr Hussain. Mr Ben Bradshaw MP, the then Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State at the FCO, replied to Mr Deva’s letter.” The
News has obtained a copy of this reply to Mr Nirj Deva MEP, which
states, “Thank you for your letter of 23 September to the Prime
Minister, enclosing correspondence from Mr Altaf Hussain, leader of the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)”. Ben Bradshaw MP, UK’s then Foriegn
Office Minister, stated that he was replying as he was the minister
responsible for “our relations with Pakistan”. Couched in diplomacy,
the letter goes on to “welcome Mr Hussain’s condemnation of all forms of
terrorism, his desire to assist the international community and support
for democracy. Terrorists operate without regard for borders, so the
fight against terrorism needs to be a global and concerted one”. It
is clear that the UK did not take up the offer of help from the MQM
leader and preferred to deal with the-then head of the state. Added the
minister: “I applaud President Musharraf’s courageous decision to
support the international coalition and welcome his proposals to restore
democratic government in Pakistan. I hope that he and the people of
Pakistan can count on the MQM and other political parties to play a
constructive role in securing Pakistan’s future.” Nirj Deva MEP
(whose real name is Niranjan Joseph De Silva Deva-Aditya and was born in
Sri Lanka) agreed that he passed on the letter from the MQM to 10
Downing Street but said he was not aware of the contents of the letter
and did not agree with the demands made within it. “I was asked by the
MQM to pass on this letter to Tony Blair. I don’t take sides but if my
constituents ask me to pass their letters to government departments then
I will not say no. It is a standard practice for me and I have to
listen to my constituents.” Nirj Deva told The News that he knew
Muhammad Anwar since 1992, and Dr Imran Farooq from 2000 onwards. “I was
introduced to Dr Farooq by Muhammad Anwar. On the face of it the
letter, though unsubtle, is offering help to the Coalition. Other than
the idiotic clause about the ISI, the other ‘conditions’ appear to be
pro-West and pro-democracy at a time when I suppose Pakistan was under
military rule. Whether Hussain could have delivered cannot be measured
other than by the experts in the FCO. No doubt they thought this was a
lot of hot air, hence their bland reply to me.” In September 2011, a
war of words broke out between the former Sindh home minister Zulfikar
Mirza and the MQM. Mirza alleged that the letter was written by the MQM
but the MQM strongly denied having anything to do with it. On
September 4, 2011, Ansar Abbasi quoted “one of the country’s leading
spymasters” as confirming that the alleged letter was written by the MQM
leader. This assertion was robustly denied on September 6, 2011 by
Mustafa Kamal, MQM’s leading figure, who held a press conference in
Karachi and termed the letter “baseless”, akin to a “media trial” of the
party. |
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