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Re: Rs25000 Commission Per Haji Taken In Pakistan !!!
All roads of Haj scam lead to Multan
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: In the mega Haj corruption scandal, all roads lead to Multan as all the suspects so far identified are close to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The prime minister was formally informed about the massive corruption and mismanagement in the 2009 Haj operation by an official team, led by the parliamentary secretary for religious affairs, but the premier did not proceed against any one of the three who are today accused of massive corruption and mismanagement in Haj 2010.
Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Secretary Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazilbash and ex-DG Haj Rao Shakil, presently under probe by the FIA, are known close associates of the prime minister. All these three were responsible for the 2009 Haj operation, which according to the government’s own report, involved corruption of billions of rupees.
The press secretary to the prime minister, when contacted, denied that Prime Minister Gilani had any personal interest in the affair. He said that being the chief executive of the country, he had to make all key appointments and while making such appointments, the press secretary said, the premier did not give such appointees the license to do corruption.
Regarding Gilani’s inaction over the last year’s Haj corruption/mismanagement report, the spokesman said that the reports submitted to the prime minister required double checking and were processed through a proper channel, which consumed time. He said as soon as the prime minister received the report, he took action. “There is no involvement of the prime minister in the Haj corruption scandal,” the spokesman reassured.
According to sources, the hard facts of the case, however, show a strange aloofness on the part of the prime minister to continue with his now publicly condemned team of top Haj managers after the last Haj operation, finalised by the same set of persons, was a complete flop according to the government’s own report.
The sources said that all the three suspects so far identified by the statements of the government’s own ministers and officials had been very close to the prime minister. The Minister for Religious Affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, is a known Gilani’s man in the cabinet following their long association in Multan. Both hail from Multan and it was the Multan-connection that led to the induction of Kazmi into the cabinet.
Secretary Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazilbash is also from Multan and known to the prime minister for years. Qazilbash, before his appointment as Secretary Religious Affairs, was serving as additional secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and was dealing with political affairs.
The ex-DG Haj, Rao Shakil’s, association with the prime minister is also as old as their school days and Multan-specific. Rao Shakil had his corruption inquiries pending with the NAB relating to his period as DC Multan, when he was appointed DG Haj by Gilani. Interestingly, his name was on the ECL when he took charge in Jeddah in September 2009.
He was granted One Time Permission (OTP) when sent there and this happened every time he would come to Pakistan until April 2010, when his name was struck from the ECL. When secretary interior was then asked to give reason for removing him from the ECL, he said the ECL was being dealt by the minister, not him. Later, additional secretary responsible for the ECL affairs, Nasir Hayat, was contacted by a senior staffer of The News, who neither denied nor confirmed this.
Rao Shakil, a nephew of former IG Rao Farman, is a school-day friend of Yousuf Raza Gilani, a fact confirmed by him. Rao’s predecessor in Jeddah Shahid Khan was recalled following his refusal to oblige Islamabad. In the 2009 Haj operation, hiring of the accommodation was partly done by Shahid Khan and partly by Rao Shakil. Shakil, a DMG officer with controversial reputation, has served Multan as additional deputy commissioner and later as deputy commissioner.
Although, today all sorts of inquiries have been ordered by the president, prime minister and others on the alleged corruption and mismanagement of the 2010 Haj operation, no attention was paid to the official report of the 2009 on last year’s Haj operation.
The official report talked of corruption of billions of rupees in the 2009 Haj operation and sought a through probe but it was not done. The report had also revealed tales of mismanagement, incompetence and apathy but neither any explanation was sought nor the matter was referred to the FIA or the NAB for criminal proceedings and investigation.
The said report was submitted by a five-member official delegation led by Parliamentary Secretary for Religious Affairs Mahboob Ullah Jan and comprising all provincial Haj and Auqaf ministers. The report found the accommodation issue the most crucial. “The delegation members found obvious signs of corruption in procurement of accommodations, which ran into billions of rupees.”
The official report on the 2009 Haj operation charged the government by concluding, “There have always been complaints of lack of transparency in this huge procurement. This year, the complaints were manifold and the Haj delegation had documented the poor conditions of the procured accommodations.”
The delegation members, which reported the matter and unearthed corruption in 2009 Haj operation, had unanimously recommended to the government a high level probe to determine the reasons for hiring of substandard accommodations in Makkah for Pakistani pilgrims by the Haj mission, which at times was not even certified by the Saudi authorities as suitable for such use. However, no probe was ordered due to which the same set of officials continued to run the 2010 Haj operations, who were found involved in corruption and mismanagement in the last year operation.
The report had recommended that the procurement of accommodations needed complete transparency to ensure provision of good value to the expenditure made by the pilgrims and noted, “Present arbitrary system lacks accountability and leaves a large room for misappropriation of billions of pilgrims’ funds.” This was ignored by the Gilani regime.
The report lamented that instead of serving the ordinary pilgrims, the main concern of the Haj mission officials had been to look after the VIP pilgrims, including dignitaries, senior officials, members of higher judiciary, media representatives, etc. “In order to perform their basic tasks, the Haj mission officials should devote themselves full-time to look after ordinary pilgrims. The dignitaries, senior officials, members of higher judiciary, media reps, etc. shall be looked after by a separate team of officials especially earmarked for protocol and facilitation duties.”
“There was a world of difference in market prices in various areas and for various categories of accommodations in each area, but the accommodation charges deducted from each Pakistani pilgrim never went below SAR2,900, even for the farthest and the most rundown accommodations, which should not have cost more than SAR2,000 a pilgrim,” the report had revealed.
The reports also gave detailed comparisons of facilities provided by other countries to their pilgrims and said that the Indian pilgrims paid SAR2,300 for Aziziya accommodation (including transportation) while Pakistani pilgrims were charged SAR2,900-3,200 for accommodation in that area. At a distance of more than 1,000 metres, the Indian pilgrims paid up to SAR2,800 while for Pakistani pilgrims it ranged between SAR2,900-3,200. No Indian pilgrim lived in such poor accommodations for which Pakistani pilgrims were paying SAR2,900-2,950 (which by sheer comparison did not value more than SAR2,000). No Pakistani pilgrim under government scheme was provided accommodation within 1,000 meters area whereas there were several buildings of Indian Hajj Committee within this range (some just 200-300 metres away from Haram) for which they did not charge more than SAR3,500 a pilgrim.(www.news.com.pk)
All roads of Haj scam lead to Multan
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: In the mega Haj corruption scandal, all roads lead to Multan as all the suspects so far identified are close to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The prime minister was formally informed about the massive corruption and mismanagement in the 2009 Haj operation by an official team, led by the parliamentary secretary for religious affairs, but the premier did not proceed against any one of the three who are today accused of massive corruption and mismanagement in Haj 2010.
Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Secretary Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazilbash and ex-DG Haj Rao Shakil, presently under probe by the FIA, are known close associates of the prime minister. All these three were responsible for the 2009 Haj operation, which according to the government’s own report, involved corruption of billions of rupees.
The press secretary to the prime minister, when contacted, denied that Prime Minister Gilani had any personal interest in the affair. He said that being the chief executive of the country, he had to make all key appointments and while making such appointments, the press secretary said, the premier did not give such appointees the license to do corruption.
Regarding Gilani’s inaction over the last year’s Haj corruption/mismanagement report, the spokesman said that the reports submitted to the prime minister required double checking and were processed through a proper channel, which consumed time. He said as soon as the prime minister received the report, he took action. “There is no involvement of the prime minister in the Haj corruption scandal,” the spokesman reassured.
According to sources, the hard facts of the case, however, show a strange aloofness on the part of the prime minister to continue with his now publicly condemned team of top Haj managers after the last Haj operation, finalised by the same set of persons, was a complete flop according to the government’s own report.
The sources said that all the three suspects so far identified by the statements of the government’s own ministers and officials had been very close to the prime minister. The Minister for Religious Affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, is a known Gilani’s man in the cabinet following their long association in Multan. Both hail from Multan and it was the Multan-connection that led to the induction of Kazmi into the cabinet.
Secretary Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazilbash is also from Multan and known to the prime minister for years. Qazilbash, before his appointment as Secretary Religious Affairs, was serving as additional secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and was dealing with political affairs.
The ex-DG Haj, Rao Shakil’s, association with the prime minister is also as old as their school days and Multan-specific. Rao Shakil had his corruption inquiries pending with the NAB relating to his period as DC Multan, when he was appointed DG Haj by Gilani. Interestingly, his name was on the ECL when he took charge in Jeddah in September 2009.
He was granted One Time Permission (OTP) when sent there and this happened every time he would come to Pakistan until April 2010, when his name was struck from the ECL. When secretary interior was then asked to give reason for removing him from the ECL, he said the ECL was being dealt by the minister, not him. Later, additional secretary responsible for the ECL affairs, Nasir Hayat, was contacted by a senior staffer of The News, who neither denied nor confirmed this.
Rao Shakil, a nephew of former IG Rao Farman, is a school-day friend of Yousuf Raza Gilani, a fact confirmed by him. Rao’s predecessor in Jeddah Shahid Khan was recalled following his refusal to oblige Islamabad. In the 2009 Haj operation, hiring of the accommodation was partly done by Shahid Khan and partly by Rao Shakil. Shakil, a DMG officer with controversial reputation, has served Multan as additional deputy commissioner and later as deputy commissioner.
Although, today all sorts of inquiries have been ordered by the president, prime minister and others on the alleged corruption and mismanagement of the 2010 Haj operation, no attention was paid to the official report of the 2009 on last year’s Haj operation.
The official report talked of corruption of billions of rupees in the 2009 Haj operation and sought a through probe but it was not done. The report had also revealed tales of mismanagement, incompetence and apathy but neither any explanation was sought nor the matter was referred to the FIA or the NAB for criminal proceedings and investigation.
The said report was submitted by a five-member official delegation led by Parliamentary Secretary for Religious Affairs Mahboob Ullah Jan and comprising all provincial Haj and Auqaf ministers. The report found the accommodation issue the most crucial. “The delegation members found obvious signs of corruption in procurement of accommodations, which ran into billions of rupees.”
The official report on the 2009 Haj operation charged the government by concluding, “There have always been complaints of lack of transparency in this huge procurement. This year, the complaints were manifold and the Haj delegation had documented the poor conditions of the procured accommodations.”
The delegation members, which reported the matter and unearthed corruption in 2009 Haj operation, had unanimously recommended to the government a high level probe to determine the reasons for hiring of substandard accommodations in Makkah for Pakistani pilgrims by the Haj mission, which at times was not even certified by the Saudi authorities as suitable for such use. However, no probe was ordered due to which the same set of officials continued to run the 2010 Haj operations, who were found involved in corruption and mismanagement in the last year operation.
The report had recommended that the procurement of accommodations needed complete transparency to ensure provision of good value to the expenditure made by the pilgrims and noted, “Present arbitrary system lacks accountability and leaves a large room for misappropriation of billions of pilgrims’ funds.” This was ignored by the Gilani regime.
The report lamented that instead of serving the ordinary pilgrims, the main concern of the Haj mission officials had been to look after the VIP pilgrims, including dignitaries, senior officials, members of higher judiciary, media representatives, etc. “In order to perform their basic tasks, the Haj mission officials should devote themselves full-time to look after ordinary pilgrims. The dignitaries, senior officials, members of higher judiciary, media reps, etc. shall be looked after by a separate team of officials especially earmarked for protocol and facilitation duties.”
“There was a world of difference in market prices in various areas and for various categories of accommodations in each area, but the accommodation charges deducted from each Pakistani pilgrim never went below SAR2,900, even for the farthest and the most rundown accommodations, which should not have cost more than SAR2,000 a pilgrim,” the report had revealed.
The reports also gave detailed comparisons of facilities provided by other countries to their pilgrims and said that the Indian pilgrims paid SAR2,300 for Aziziya accommodation (including transportation) while Pakistani pilgrims were charged SAR2,900-3,200 for accommodation in that area. At a distance of more than 1,000 metres, the Indian pilgrims paid up to SAR2,800 while for Pakistani pilgrims it ranged between SAR2,900-3,200. No Indian pilgrim lived in such poor accommodations for which Pakistani pilgrims were paying SAR2,900-2,950 (which by sheer comparison did not value more than SAR2,000). No Pakistani pilgrim under government scheme was provided accommodation within 1,000 meters area whereas there were several buildings of Indian Hajj Committee within this range (some just 200-300 metres away from Haram) for which they did not charge more than SAR3,500 a pilgrim.(www.news.com.pk)
