Dubai: President Asif Ali Zardari, who is in Dubai for treatment, is reportedly under the radar of military establishment even at the local hospital, as the civil and military relation have dipped to its lowest ebb following the memogate scandal.
President Zardari, whose abrupt departure to Dubai on December 6 for ‘medical checkup’ has led to widespread speculations back in Pakistan. Speculations and rumours were rife that the president was on his way out under the severe pressure of the powerful military establishment over the memogate scandal. However, the President himself and his aides are rubbishing the speculations and rumours as baseless and concocted.
But, well-placed sources while talking to The News Tribe claimed that the president’s Dubai visit was not just meant for just medical checkup, rather it was under a political strategy to deal with the memogate scandal.
They said that following the memo scandal, the distrust between the civilian and military establishment has widened and the military was reluctant to trust the president, who is also co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The president is under tremendous pressure from the military to take those involved in the memo scandal to the task and the military is said to be using the scandal to force out the embattled president .
When in the midst of the scandal, the president decided to go to Dubai, the sources claimed, the establishment was not ready to allow him to leave for Dubai. However, they added, the president was allowed to go to Dubai only after the establishment made arrangements to monitor the president even there.
According to them, renowned American cardiologist Dr Arjumand Hashmi, who enjoy greater influence both in Pakistan’s military circle and US administration, was selected for the purpose and was summoned immediately to Dubai.
Dr Hashmi is also the mayor of Paris, a small city of Texas. Salma Hashmi, wife of his brother Hassan Farid Hashmi, has also remained mayor of a city of California. Hashmi family has access in top US administration and during Republican’s n regime Dr Hashmi was frequently spotted around President Bush.
The sources said that Dr Hashmi was currently in Dubai for treatment of Zardari, though he has never been a physician of President Zardari. But, he has been a personal physician of former president General Pervez Musharraf and has given one of his houses in Dallas to General Musharraf, where the former military dictator is currently residing along with his personal security staff provided by Pakistan military.
The sources claimed that in the Dallas house, Chief of Army Staff General Pervaz Kayani, former Ambassador Hussain Haqqani and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan had stayed in the past.
US-based commentators describing Dr Hashmi as a ‘proxy’ of military establishment, who will monitor President Zardari’s activities under the garb of treatment.
