Whizzing past his 80th milestone, men like Naseerullah Babar are a vanishing breed: a compost of truth mixed with seasoned intelligence gathering that connects the dots. When General (retd) Naseerullah Babar leaves the world as we all mortals must, unrevealed intelligence will perish with him. As one whose loyalties are locked in with the Bhutto family, this old PPP guard has watched his revered leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto hanged and his two sons murdered spawning 30 years of chilling intrigue and international espionage. He knows who killed them and the motive behind, but his lips are sealed. Now he worries for the daughter. Trying to pre-empt a violent end for Benazir Bhutto, he’s seen giving broad hints to whosoever asks: go look for the telltale signs that lead to her would-be assassins, he says. Given to television appearances, he speaks loud and clear unlike most mumblers whose words sound like ciphers. “She is a very brave girl who has lost her father and two brothers.” Babar is trying to reach her but she is unavailable for him, or was until the last time I spoke with the retired major general who now lives in Peshawar. “I tried contacting the Mohtarma but couldn’t get her, so I’ve sent a message through Farhatullah Babar,” says the man who served BB during her two terms as a special adviser and later her interior minister. If I were BB, I’d listen to the grand old man. He seeks no baksheesh or a job to jockey for. Unlike her tribe of corrupt pelf-seekers mining a fortune during her two terms, Naseerullah Babar is solid as a rock and unbending as the army baton that he always carries tucked under his arm.
Why did he leave Benazir Bhutto? “It’s a personal issue,” pat comes the general’s response. But we all know that Benazir’s deal with Musharraf was the breaking point. Babar could not bear the thought of his leader sitting with men like Aftab Khan Sherpao and Farooq Leghari after the way they stabbed her in the back. Whizzing past his 80th milestone, men like Babar are a vanishing breed. A compost of truth mixed with seasoned intelligence gathering that connects the dots. He takes a principled stand where the lily livered would capitulate. Such men need to be lionised. Sadly, Benazir has opted for Rehman Malik, the former FIA chief who reported to General Babar when the latter was the interior minister. Malik rose to dizzying heights from a lowly grade 13 or 14 officer. Stories of Malik trying to worm his way through by bribing his seniors are still fresh in our minds. Come promotion time, he’d turn up at their homes with trays laden with designer suits. By golly, it worked! Today, he’s Benazir’s confidant-in-chief and sticks close to her. The first face we saw after Benazir descended the airplane sporting baby pink tie and kerchief and waving to the crowds with a cheesy smile was Rehman Malik. Nor is Naseerullah Babar anything like Mustafa Khar, the unctuous fast-talking opportunist. “On July 5, 1977, Khar changed camps and went over to General Chisti for his reprieve while Mr Bhutto was arrested and taken to Murree,” remembers Babar.
“At my age it’s not appropriate to compromise with the military and seek a PPP ticket for the 2008 elections. But my loyalty to the PPP will remain grounded. It’s my national duty,” he tells me when I ask him whether he would like to serve BB again. Benazir showed respect when addressing her interior minister. She and the ‘General Sahib’ liked to engage in intellectual dialogue. Unlike other cabinet ministers, I never saw Babar cringe before his young prime minister. He was in the centre of investigations when Benazir’s two brothers were killed. “I went to South of France when Shahnawaz died in July 1985. I know exactly what happened and who killed him.” Why, then, has he not revealed the identity of Shahnawaz’s killers? “Because I was advised not to go beyond the drawn line,” he says. “The substance that killed Shahnawaz was used by very few countries.” The FBI and the French authorities investigated independently but kept their findings secret because of certain international sensitivities.” Was dictator Zia behind the act? Perhaps he wanted the Bhuttos wiped out altogether?
How ironical that 22 years down the road, ZAB’s daughter Benazir should wag a finger at ‘Zia’s remnants’ who tried killing her in the early hours of October 19! When Ejazul Haq was asked whether he was a suspect in the eyes of Benazir, he merely grinned (just the way his dad used to) and dismissed the allegation as a farce. Street lights once again are at the heart of murder and darkness. Remember the street lights in front of 70 Clifton were switched off when Murtaza Bhutto was ruthlessly gunned down? Who was the prime minster then? None other than his sister. Irony of ironies that today she should be talking of the street lights being turned off as the sun set on Drigh Road, now called Shahra-e-Faisal. Naseerullah Babar was the interior minister. “I know the people who had him bumped off. They dismissed the sister two weeks later because they wanted to seize power and heap all the blame on her for his death.” Was it the civil and military clique -- the ‘Zia remnants’ that Benazir Bhutto keeps drumming up? The current provincial home secretary is a retired brigadier. “He’s a tradesman, not a terrorism expert,” says Gen (retd) Babar. The MQM backed security adviser Wasim Akhtar also does not get Babar’s vote of confidence. “Every time there’s an attack, the government stonewalls it as a suicide attack and presents the nation with the head of the bomber,” says Babar. “The head is like massaging the story to throw everyone off the scent.” His patience with gauche intellectual weightlessness and conspiracy theories of our rulers is wearing thin. When General Asif Nawaz died, Nawaz Sharif got blamed for poisoning him to death. General Babar, who was in the government then, sent the hair samples of the deceased army chief to France and Russia. The final verdict: it was not poison but a heart attack that killed the handsome general. “I had the moral courage to tell the nation and absolve Nawaz Sharif of the crime,” says Babar. Today the blatherskites muddy the picture. “Unless our people get wiser and braver God will continue to give them cowardly leaders like the present lot.” Babar’s harshest barbs are reserved for General Musharraf which he has freely shared on national television.
“I have seen General Musharraf in ‘action’ during the 1965 and 1971 wars. I watched him from close quarters. To me he came across as a coward; corrupt; and a man of mediocre intelligence,” says Babar, the soldier who won the highest award in courage. During the 1965 war, Babar singlehandedly captured an entire Indian company of soldiers (over 70 POWs) and was awarded the Sitara-i-Jurat. In the 1971 war, he commanded an artillery brigade and fought like a tiger on the battlefield getting badly wounded. He was decorated with the Hilal-i-Jurat. The decorated war hero famously threw his awards at the military tribunal that sent ZAB to the gallows. Who can then blame Babar for voicing disappointment with Benazir kowtowing with Musharraf and his army today? “I’d rather go and play a game of golf, meet with my friends, attend family functions and go grocery shopping than walk in the corridors of power,” says the man who has not allowed age to interfere with his elan for life. His secret for a long healthy life? “I go to bed early and am an eternal optimist. We will come out of our current political crisis with flying colours!” Bravo! Encore
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