Editor’s Note:  Lt. Gen. (retd.) Shahid Aziz has been making headlines after his revelations about anti-corruption efforts and the war on terror during President Pervez Musharraf’s tenure.  The general and I have corresponded over the last few days, discussing his motivations, and he agreed to publish one of his e-mails here:
Hello Shaan,
My appearance on the [...]

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For the last several months, we’ve witnessed Pakistan tread down the path of implosion. The country finds itself in a recession and is relying once again on the IMF for budgetary support. The military campaign in South Waziristan may have merely displaced militants who continue to carry out retaliatory bombings and assassinations [...]

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Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s Information Minister and senior PPP party member has reportedly resigned from the federal cabinet citing the government moves to censor the media. Reports today indicate that the government ordered local cable operators not to broadcast Geo TV.
We expect to see the further erosion of President Zardari’s government and his already tenuous [...]

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Summary
Today, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, chairmen of Pakistan’s two largest parties agreed in principle to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. The agreement, however, is contingent on all coalition partners supporting the move. Just as there has been little-to-no “progress” on the reinstatement of the justices Musharraf sacked, it is just as unlikely that [...]

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On July 26th, it was announced that Prime Minister Gilani’s cabinet had taken the decision to place the ISI under the complete control of the Interior Ministry. As our sources reported, uproar ensued in the military establishment and less than 24 hours later, the decision was reversed.
Zardari’s Miscalculation
It’s an open secret that Benazir Bhutto’s [...]

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The Intel
Insider Brief sources report that Pakistani intelligence officials have recently been engaged in a spate of closed-door meetings. The topic of discussion? The ouster of Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from power and the engineered return of Nawaz Sharif.
The Why
The news in and of itself should not be [...]

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Ejecting Ejaz’s Men
This past week saw a shakeup in Pakistan’s regional Military Intelligence (MI) organization with the naming of new MI chiefs for Punjab and Sindh. Brigadier Zaheer, Punjab’s commander, was replaced by Brig. Mumtaz Iqbal while Brig. Masood, Sindh’s commander, was replaced by Brig. Azam Tiwana.
The replaced brigadiers were removed from their posts [...]

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Pundits and Pakistan-watchers alike continue to swear that democracy is the long awaited panacea that will cure all of Pakistan’s ills — be it rampant jihadism, lagging social indicators, or the crisis in governance. Their memories have proven to be short, having forgotten the 1990’s, a period that was marked by corruption, extreme abuses [...]

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THE ARMY ADVANCES …
Hot off its relative success in sweeping Swat of militants led by Maulana Fazlullah, sources report that the Pakistan Army has set its sights on Baitullah Mehsud, the purported mastermind behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
In addition to military action, sources also report that a major facet of the newfound campaign involves [...]

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Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. Bilawal and Asif Zardari, Bhutto’s son and husband, now co-chair the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with Bilawal slated as heir to the Bhutto mantle. Asif Zardari, who has shown some maturity over the last few days, will be playing a behind-the-scenes role, similar to that of Altaf Hussain [...]

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