Rehman Malik
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Rehman Malik (Urdu: رحمان ملک ) is the current Adviser to the PM Yousaf Raza Gillani on Interior Affairs and Narcotics Control since 27 March 2008.[1] He was born in Sialkot, Pakistan.
In absence of Interior Minister in the Gillani cabinet, Rehman Malik is the effective Interior Minister of Pakistan. He is a former bureaucrat who was also the security officer of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
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[edit] FIA Chief
Benazir Bhutto appointed Rehman Malik as chief of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which then launched a secret war against the Taliban supporters in Pakistan, which amounted to a direct attack on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).[citation needed] The Pakistani military was equally dismayed by reports of FIA contacts with the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, which had been cooperating with Indian secret service RAW to investigate Taliban supporters.[2]
The FIA leadership under Bhutto also angered Taliban supporters because they allowed the extradition of Ramzi Yousef to the US for trial on the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. One of the first acts of President Farooq Leghari after dismissing Benazir Bhutto on 5 November 1996 was to imprison the Ghulam Asghar, head of FIA, on unspecified corruption charges, and Rehman Malik, the Additional Director General FIA.
[edit] Accusation against Nawaz Sharif
In November 1998, Rehman Malik termed the termination of his service by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an "act of retaliation" because of the 200-page report, which he had sent to then President Rafiq Tarar, disclosing large-scale corruption of Sharif family. Rehman Malik fled to London and made corruption accusation against the Sharif brothers.[3]
[edit] Benazir's trusted aide
Rehman emerged as the 'deal broker' in Benazir-Musharraf reconciliation talks in Abu Dhabi in July 2007, and replaced Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the most trusted political lieutenant of Benazir Bhutto. Fahim was Benazir's aide since 2002, when he formed the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and acted as the leader of PPP in the absence of Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. It was also reported in The News that after Rehman Malik took over the role of top "adviser and broker" of Benazir on important matters ranging from politics to business, Fahim seemed to have become an "obsolete political commodity."[4]
[edit] Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Rehman Malik was the person responsible for security of Benazir Bhutto. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto there were many accusation against Rehman Malik for lax security and his absence. However, he was brought into the limelight for his past service to Benazir and PPP, and made an adviser on interior affairs and norcotics control to the PPP Prime Minister Gillani, with the status of Federal Minister. Because of the nature of the job, all the would-be ministers declined to take up the Interior ministry, (Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, the previous Interior Minister, had been targeted twice by suicide bombers), and hence Rehman Malik was the actual Interior Minister.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Syed Irfan Raza, "Rehman and Haqqani join Gilani team" Dawn Newspaper, March 28, 2008
- ^ Tariq Saeedi, "Mossad And India Spy Agency Team Up, Target Pakistan" Globe-Intel
- ^ Rehman Malik refuses to accept his termination Dawn Newspaper, November 10, 1998
- ^ Rauf Klasra, "Rehman replaces Fahim as Benazir’s most trusted aide" The News, July 29, 2007
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lt. Gen. (retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan |
Interior Minister of Pakistan 27 March 2008 - present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
