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K J M Varma in Islamabad
Pakistan government has termed as 'concocted' and 'baseless' reports that President Pervez Musharraf has removed a top Inter-Services Intelligence official, who was in charge of the April 30 referendum.
A report in British daily The Guardian on Friday said Major General Ehtesham Zamir, head of the political wing of the agency, had been ordered back to regular army service.
"The Guardian story is concocted and baseless. Gen Zamir is not going to be transferred," defence spokesman Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi said.
"The report is totally fabricated as there is no political wing at ISI. Such reports appearing at a time when the general elections are just coming close might have some vested interest. Maybe the reporter wants to project as if ISI is planning to manipulate the elections, which is absolutely incorrect," the Daily Times quoted him as saying.
The Guardian reported that Gen Zamir played a key role in organising the referendum in April, the conduct of which deeply embarrassed Musharraf.
"He has now been ordered back to regular army duty after less than a year in the spy agency," it said.
Commenting on the story, a report in the Daily Times said a close group of officials which advised Musharraf to go for the referendum now attempted to shift the blame and effect transfers.
After their earlier attempts to implicate Tariq Aziz, a close aide of the military ruler, failed, the coterie made Gen Zamir the new scapegoat, the Daily Times said.
"The same group sought to make Gen Zamir a scapegoat for the group's own bad advice. This group has created a situation in which Gen Musharraf's government has no choice but to deny the charges as well as freeze any planned transfers of senior army or intelligence personnel which may affect not just Gen Zamir but people higher than him," it said.
"However, Musharraf was wise enough to know what was going on and he will take suitable action at the appropriate time," it quoted an official as saying.
It said the president had originally thought of effecting these transfers quietly as 'routine matters' but now he will have to wait for some time.
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