PTI announces its support for Brigadier(r) Ijaz Shah in by elections of NA 137

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf has announced its support for the close fellow of former president Pervaiz Musharraf,Brigadier(r) Ijaz Shah in by elections of NA 137.It was announced by the PTI Punjab’s president Ijaz Chaudhary during his visit to Nankana Sahib.

Brigadier(r) Ijaz Shah is contesting by-elections of NA-137 as an independent candidate.The elections are being conducted in said constituency after the sudden death of PML-N MNA Rai Mansab Ali Khan.PML-N has awarded ticket to the daughter of late Rai Mansab Ali Khan.

Brigadier Ijaz Shah is a retired Pakistan Army Military officer and the former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau Pakistan and a long-term close associate of Pervaiz Musharraf, and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operator.He resigned as the IB chief on 17 March 2008. Appointed in 2004, the IB chief became a controversial where he was accused of using his department for political victimisation and for undermining the judiciary.

Ijaz Shah was the ISI handling officer of the British-born international terrorist Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and part of the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen as well as the handling officer for Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Muhammad Omar.

In 1999, while serving a prison sentence for terrorist offence, Sheikh Ahmad Omar Saeed had been released in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814.

In 2004, Musharraf’s attempt to appoint Ijaz Shah as High Commissioner to Australia was rejected in a highly unusual move by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs. Instead Musharraf appointed him to head Pakistani Intelligence Bureau on 25 February 2004, transferring his predecessor, Wali Muhammad to Australia.

Mr Shah agreed to go to Australia as Pakistan’s high commissioner in 2007, but President Musharraf accepted the current high commissioner’s plea for a year’s extension in tenure.

Days after the 2007 Karachi bombings, Benazir Bhutto in a letter to President Musharraf written on 16 October 2007 named Ijaz Shah as one of the four persons including the then chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the then chief minister of Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and the former ISI chief Hamid Gul she suspected were behind the attacks.

Ijaz Shah in recent times has been known to be Musharraf’s right hand man and has been rumoured to be involved in all his Covert operations that made him widely controversial.Ijaz Shah was previously residing in Australia – Sydney after initially having his residency rejected due to some reasons.Ijaz shah has returned to Pakistan and participated in the general elections of May 2013 as an independent candidate from constituency NA-137 Nankan III.