Lahore: A former ISI official has challenged in Pakistan's Supreme Court the selection of Air Force chief Rao Qamar Suleman, alleging that it was based on neither merit nor seniority and was in absolute contravention of the "sacred trust" placed on the president's shoulders.
Khalid Khwaja, an ex-Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officer who also served in ISI, claimed in his petition filed in the apex court yesterday that at the time of the appointment of Air Chief Marshal Suleman, there were three senior Air Marshals who had a better service record.
He also contended that the then PAF vice chief, Air Marshal Shahid Latif, was the senior-most Air Marshal and "stood tall" due to his overall credentials and professionalism as a fighter pilot.
Latif's credentials were so overwhelming that the entire PAF was looking forward to his appointment as the new chief as he was generally perceived as the best among all aspirants due to his brilliance, experience and disposition, Khwaja claimed.
"The air defence capabilities of Pakistan have always been accorded the first priority particularly in the background of a very hostile neighbour which also happens to be an atomic power," he said in a reference to India.
"The integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, therefore, demanded an effective airpower which should be fully capable of defence and retaliation," the petition said.
"This capability understandably hinges in total on the professionalism and capacity of the country's air force," it said, adding the induction of "limited numbers" of F-16 aircraft in PAF enhanced its potency and deterrence to a considerable extent.
Khwaja also noted that the concerted efforts of Air Marshal Latif and a few others like him with the "same missionary spirit and vision" were responsible for the success of the programme to develop the JF-17 Thunder jet by Pakistan and China.
By sidelining Latif, the authorities had dealt a blow to the JF-17 programme, under which Pakistan is allowed to sell the aircraft to third countries after meeting its own needs, Khwaja alleged.
"This capacity of manufacturing of these fighter aircraft would have made Pakistan free from those adverse and even humiliating conditions which were always attached to the sophisticated aircraft like F-16 and its spare parts," he said.
"By sidelining the most capable and honest leadership of PAF for personal greed by the present political dispensation ... they have betrayed the 'sacred trust'.”
"In their lust for money they have not only sold the defence of the country with malicious changes in the old agreements of co-productions but have shattered the dreams of the dynamic PAF by compromising on merit and professional capabilities in selecting their air chief," the petition alleged.
Khwaja claimed all details can be provided by important witnesses if the matter is heard in-camera "so that the magnitude and the importance of this proposition can be fully appreciated”.
He also said that though the outgoing PAF chief traditionally does not make any major decision in his last 90 days of service to avoid being the "victim of allurements”, Suleman's predecessor Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed had executed a deal worth USD 1.2 billion a week before his retirement "with undue haste, bypassing the Board of Governors”.
Khwaja also claimed an investigation into the allegedly "illegally acquired assets" of previous PAF chief Ahmed will reveal many aspects of these foreign deals.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 14:11