Farahnaz Ispahani fled Pakistan out of ISI fear: Report

Farahnaz Ispahani, the media adviser to President Asif Ali Zardari and wife of former ambassador to United States, Hussain Haqqani, claimed that she ran away from Pakistan to save her life, saying she feared of being kidnapped by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

A report published in Sunday Times cited Farahnaz Ispahani as saying that she fled to the US for fears that ISI might kidnap her to force her husband to sign a admission and associate the president.

The report quoted her saying: “What we’re seeing is the systematic killing or silencing of anyone who stands up to the institutionalization of a militarized Islamist state, who advocates positive relations with the West or stands up for tolerance. I’m scared. The government can’t even protect itself.”

Her allegations will shock Pakistan’s security establishment and many in the government and the opposition circles.

Husain Haqqani, her husband, is currently residing at the Prime Minister’s House, and facing trial for allegedly dictating a controversial memo to a US national Mansoor Ijaz seeking US intervention to “save the civilian government from the military”.

US business tycoon, Mansoor Ijaz has shown his willingness to testify against Haqqani before the judicial commission and the trial could potentially lead to conviction of the envoy in treason charges.

The report also mentioned hat moderate voices in Pakistan are being silenced by the country’s security establishment and militant outfits. It observed that the latest murder of the broadcast journalist Mukarram Khan Atif and alleged his murder was “part of a deliberate campaign by the country’s military intelligence arm (ISI) and militant groups to silence moderate voices.”

It added that the slain journalist had been receiving death threats from militants who did not like his reporting and demanded space on his radio programmes to voice their own odious oratory.

The report also quoted the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad and mused that journalist Najam Sethi and his wife Jugnu Mohsin was “forced to move to Washington for a couple of months after several years of severe intimidation.”

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10108

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 23 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.