Shocking revelations surface about Musharraf's role in Pakistanis' disappearance

ISLAMABAD - In shocking revelations, the head of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED), Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, said that former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf handed over 4,000 Pakistanis to foreign countries mainly to the US in return of dollars.

Iqbal, who is also the chief of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), stated this while giving a briefing to a body of the National Assembly on Monday. He continued that then interior minister Aftab Sherpao was part of the secret handover in exchange of US dollars.

The meeting was headed by Zahra Wadood Fatemi while not a single male member of the committee was present.

Pakistan’s law does not give any provision for such kind of extraditions, Iqbal said, adding that the criminal role of the former president must have been probed.

He regretted that no one including the Parliament ever spoke about the role of Musharraf and Sherpao in this criminal act.

Talking about missing persons’ case, he highlighted that foreign secret agencies were behind the forceful disappearance in a bid to defame Pakistani agencies, including the Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The commission head claimed that the figures of missing persons in Balochistan were often exaggerated, adding that a large number of local people joined fugitive camps but they had been put on the list of missing persons.

He said that the people of the province jointed these outfits due to unemployment, adding that they were getting Rs40,000 as per month salary.

During the meeting, the NAB chief also defended the band on international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), adding that these groups were working on the agenda of foreign agencies in the guise of welfare work.

He added that if he had the power he never allowed the INGO's to operate in Pakistan.