The facts are this, truth is a big vicitim in that post..if this was true Pakistan would not be a PART BUT target today and Mehmood would not live scott free in Islalambad..
Deposed ISI Chief Lt Gen Mahmood Ahmed became a victim of his "over-ambition" in the glory of powers he was enjoying as Pakistan's super spymaster.
He tried to outmanoeuvre his seniors in hasty moves to grab the coveted office of Vice Chief of Army Staff, and at the end himself fell flat. Three key incidents were reported to have terminated his career, though many saw in the person of 'retired' Lt Gen Mahmood as an emerging dark horse for the office of the Vice Chief of Army Staff.
Firstly he prevented President Gen Pervez Musharraf from visiting Kandahar for a one-to-one meeting with Taliban spiritual leader Mulla Mohammad Omar.
Secondly he misbehaved with almost all the key military and civil aides to the President and one of the service chiefs in a meeting held after his return from the United States in the second week of last month.
Finally he refused to accept President Gen Pervez Musharraf's offer to become Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and tried to influence the President to change his mind through common friends.
Top sources in the power circles told The News that Lt Gen Mahmood as ISI Chief turned down President Musharraf's desire to visit Kandahar some months back. He argued that the President should travel to Kandahar only when he (Mahmood) had prepared the ground for him.
By pursuing the President not to visit Kandahar, he managed to influence the mind of the President to approve the visit of Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider to meet Mulla Omar. That exercise, as reported by military circles, was in vain.
Mahmood also blocked an opportunity for the President to talk to Mulla Omar for resolution of the problems, bringing Taliban in the mainstream and tackling the issue of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The President, said an insider, started watching Mahmood more carefully, although he was one of those who helped him come to power in October 1999. General Musharraf gave him the benefit of doubt.
But things started moving in the reverse direction when on his return from the United States, Lt Gen Mahmood snubbed or misbehaved with some military and civilian officials in a closed-door meeting held to analyse the situation emerging out of September 11 developments. He was probably over-confident after his visit to the US where he met important Bush Administration people.
One of the participants of that meeting told The News that Mahmood even shouted at some participants and snubbed one of the service chiefs who tried to give his opinion on a matter under discussion. It all happened in front of President Musharraf, who gave Mahmood a hard dose the following day.
When President Gen Musharraf decided to announce new appointments as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and creating new office of VCOAS, he offered CJCSC post to Lt Gen Mahmood.
"Instead of taking the offer in good faith, Mahmood thought that the President was trying to throw him outside his team of inner-circle," confided a top source. "Mahmood used a common friend and conveyed his non-acceptance of the offer with a request to allow him carrying on as DG ISI. He even indirectly conveyed to the President that he wanted to be adjusted as VCOAS, which displeased the President.
It is not sure whether before taking decision to appoint Lt Gen Yousaf as VCOAS on his promotion as General and General Aziz Khan as CJCSC, President Musharraf consulted any body. It appears to be his own decision based on various facts he himself witnessed and scrutinized," said a senior official. The President, said the source, took these decisions with a heavy heart as both Mahmood and Usmani were his closest friends and comrades and whose opinions he heard seriously.
Iqbal Latif
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