As Rehman Malik heads for JIT, what is Zardari doing

A key surprise witness

ready to appear, needs
security
Shaheen Sehbai
ISLAMABAD: It appears that Asif Ali Zardari has finally decided
to go for the kill against the Sharif family.

In his considered view the appearance and testimony of Senator

Rehman Malik, due to be presented in the JIT on June 23, will be
the final nail in the Panama coffin.

But in his latest meeting with Mr Malik in London a few days

back, Zardari was a little apprehensive, as Malik had told a TV
channel that his report on Hudaibiya was not an FIA document
but his personal property. Could Malik bypass him for obtaining
immunity, a NRO for himself, Zardari wondered.

PPP circles say Zardari was thinking that if he could get Nawaz
disqualified now, Imran Khan would be easy to handle and he
could even become the next prime minister. He had earlier
indicated he may contest election for an MNA seat.

So in this setting when the JIT summoned Rehman Malik and set
the date of June 23, Zardari reluctantly agreed and ostensibly
Bilawal endorsed it too.

Lady luck, however, appears to be favouring Zardari and not very

happy with the Sharifs. An antidote of any tricks Mr Rehman
Malik may be considering is now available.
A surprise, apparently credible, witness in London has surfaced,
who says he is the real author and investigator of the FIA report,
which Rehman Malik claims to be his property.

The witness is ready to travel to Islamabad and testify before the

JIT, if he was provided full security.

This new star is the then Deputy Director of Economic Crimes and
Special Investigations in FIA, when Mr Rehman Malik was the
Administrator at the time the Hudaibiya Report was written.

Mr Inamur Rehman Sehri, who spoke to this correspondent from

his London home on Friday morning, says he personally dug out
all the material on the Sharifs, though working as deputy of
Rehman Malik, who never did anything himself but collected the
data and documents and put them in an official FIA report and
put his name to it.

Sehri says he still has suitcases full of these documents and many
more and he can bring everything to Islamabad just in case Mr
Rehman Malik disowns any document or tries to play games.

Sehri told this correspondent that because of his anti-Sharif

investigations, the Nawaz government fired him from service in
1997 and he had to shift to London for safety and to keep his
family kitchen running.

But he has kept all the documents for the ultimate day of
reckoning, which he says appears to have come now.

When I spoke to Sehri, he was confident and said: I am a

Pakistani and want to play my role for the country.

Rehman Malik was wrongly saying that the Hudaibiya report was
not an FIA document, he says. This is a mystery and I can solve
it, he adds but he is genuinely worried that if the Sharifs know
that he was coming with suitcases full of papers, he may face a
genuine security threat.

So it is now for the JIT and the Supreme Court to not only summon
him but also ensure that he gets proper blanket security - from
his aircraft on arrival in Islamabad to his flight back to London.

PPP sources say Asif Ali Zardari is also aware of Sehris presence
and potential and has quietly agreed that he should appear before
the JIT, either with Rehman Malik or later, as the JIT may decide.
He thinks his presence and corroboration will keep Rehman Malik
within his limits.

What has been going on between Mr Malik and Mr Zardari is a

different story and needs a detailed report but in short their
relationship involves business concerns managed by Rehman
Malik.

The London-based companies operated by Mr Malik with

Benazirs help, were doing oil business in Iraq, Africa and other
countries. Zardari was never a part of this business. Several reports
have appeared about a UN probe into Oil-for-Food scam in which
Rehman Maliks companies were also named.

What was the status of these companies and business holdings is

not known.

If Mr Zardari has already settled these issues, as it may seem, that

would be another matter.