PM Gilani Authorised Me To Speak on National Security: Durrani

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 10:37 am

PM Gilani Authorised Me To Speak on National Security: Durrani ISLAMABAD: Sacked national security adviser Maj-Gen (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani said he did not transgress the “official brief” while speaking on Ajmal Kasab’s nationality and believes that perhaps he was made a scapegoat.

He gave his side of the story in detail in an interview to media which took place at his Golf Road Rawalpindi residence on Monday. Probably, Durrani said, the prime minister felt “left out” in taking key decisions, and this might be a reason for his dismissal.

This implied that Gilani apparently feels irritated over the fact that it is the Presidency where all major decisions are being taken whereas it should be the prime minister’s office for such national business.

“The prime minister had every right and authority to send me home, but the way he did it was not nice although otherwise he is a fine gentleman. I wish him success,” Durrani said adding, “The way I was sacked. I was painted as if I have committed a grave crime.”

He said through an official letter issued on the directive of the prime minister in December, it was decided that only the national security adviser, the foreign minister and the information minister have the authorisation to speak on the “evolving situation” with India in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attack.

Giving the background of how relations between him and Benazir Bhutto developed, he said it was a few days after General Ziaul Haq’s plane crash in August 1988 and before the general elections that two PPP leaders Sardar Asseff Ahmed Ali and Khawaja Tariq Rahim (KTR) met him in Lahore when he stayed with a relative there. At the time he was General Officer Commanding Multan.

However, he said he staunchly believed that Pakistan must have excellent relations with the United States, being the sole superpower. “On my own, I worked hard to make my place for Pakistan in the influential American think-tanks and the US administration to bring about good ties between Islamabad and Washington.”

Answering questions about the fatal crash of Ziaul Haq’s plane on August 17, 1988, when Durrani was GOC Multan with the First Armoured Division, the former adviser said it has been totally wrong to claim that the C-130 crashed in the air. He said in fact the aircraft had hit the ground first and then exploded because of the fuel. He said that in his televised address to the nation after the crash, acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had also incorrectly stated that the plane exploded in the air.

PM Gilani Authorised Me To Speak on National Security: Durrani

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