Another skeleton in an already-rattled closet
The car bomb that rocked the streets of Karachi on May 8, 2002 and claimed the lives of eleven French engineers and three Pakistanis has led to former French minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres being charged with “embezzling public funds. He is also expected to face trial for his role in “the Karachi affair.” The French engineers were in Karachi to help build one of the submarines. French former defence minister Charles Millon subsequently confirmed the existence of kickbacks in the arms deals with Pakistan, whose cancellation allegedly resulted in the deadly Karachi bombing. It was alleged that kickbacks from the deal were used to fund the campaign of a French presidential candidate in 1995.
Gen Musharraf who ruled Pakistan at the time of the Karachi killings would have treated the incident as a god-sent opportunity to malign the PPP leadership if he had found even a shred of evidence against it. In fact, certain interested circles were implicating Benazir and Zardari also in the scandal. Musharraf hesitated because he presumably knew the true story being an insider.
A number of navy officers were already being accused of involvement in the scam. Last year, former DG Naval Intelligence Commodore (retd ) Shahid Ashraf named a few officers he wanted to proceed against but was disallowed by his superiors in the navy. Former naval chief Mansurul Haq who was at the time preparing to take over as CNS was sacked by the Sharif government in 1997 and finally stripped of his rank and privileges by the Musharraf regime after he negotiated a plea bargain on corruption charges. However, the admiral was not punished for crimes associated with the Agosta deal. As before, the killings continued to be ascribed to the some unknown militant organization.
The findings of the probe in France provide an opportunity to the government to hold an impartial enquiry into the affair to find who really received $40 million in kickbacks in Pakistan. This is also needed to clear any names that might have been unjustly mentioned. The probe would set a healthy tradition of making those in high quarters accountable. What is more, it would improve the image of the country abroad.
