Tariq Akhtar

I'd also be keen to know how Musharraf afforded a place at 1.25M.

Assume he bought it for a fourth of that, that the usd for an average 65, and he saved up every rupee over a 40 year career.

That would mean he made a million rupees every year for 40 yrs and never spent a rupee.


Unless ofcourse he has some investment or business sidelines

TheRealDeal

The land was 'bought' long before his book came out

Wealthy children???? Let the excuse 's start!!

legbreakgoogly

Pakistan appears to be on the path of disunion. As for Musharraf's farm, Ayesha Siddiqqi, author of Military Inc estimates that the ave General is worth 5M USD in Pakistan.

Its obviously the army has huge economic stakes, estimated at 10 bn USD by her, and that Gm's holdings during his career, as is true of all PA General's, stem from this largesse. Its a crime against Pak, but NOT garnered during his tenure as President.

Can I serialize my research project on GS? Some of you will find it most interesting.

callofduty

pure bull Cr@p you are inhaling.. or is this becoming sort of a fashion? 10billion Dollars?? even indian army does not get that much share from their military budget but i am sure if i slap that <EDIT> siddiqqi she will then admit what kind of low life <EDIT> she is... i am sure indians admire her a lot! salman rusdi and A-siddiqi will make great ex-pakistani couples..

NOTE: Mind your language!

ehtasab

In case you didn't notice Indian admire(d) Musharraf too

SID_NY

WOW...................is there any moderator in this group? Or if anyone can say anything to anyone, can I say something similar to "callofduty"...???

legbreakgoogly

<EDIT> no one said 10 bn budget! that is the worth of mil-bus. thats all military businesses, fronts etc. cant you read? they own 10% of industry in pakistan.




NOTE: No name calling!

Xenophanez

MOST houses in Defence Karachi now worth 1 million POUNDS and over. In Lahore mall road, prices start from Rs 4000/sqr yard. Real estate prices went up to many folds during last 4-5 years. IF 70 Clifton AKA Bilawal House now worths several million pounds, it doesn't mean ZA Bhutto paid millions of pounds for that. same goes with the real estate and AGRICULTURAL land alloted to retired army personel, If I go and buy a plot in DHA, I will definitely end up paying several hundred thousands POUNDS, for a decent size plot, whereas an army personel can get the same plot by paying few million RUPEES.
So we must establish 1st WHEN the farmhouse was bought, and what was the "discounted" price rates for on duty & retired Army personels at THAT time. IF there is a huge difference then we can do the "lakeer peeting" thing here.


PS: it's strange that how we find comfert in comparing everything with previous governments, I say ok mushy was the WORST ruler in the history of mankind, does that gives a free reign to THIS government and "democratic" leaders to do whatever they want to do, coz they have this line to say "Mushy did this, mushy did that.."..

ehtasab

1million pounds ~ 13 crore Rupees, are you sure "MOST" houses in Defence are worth 13 crore Rupees?

I think one such aritcle has already been posted, may be you can search with "Farm house" keywords ;)

EDIT: There you go 499 high and mighty in for trouble - farmhouses in Islamabad - CJ's ruling (merged)

Xenophanez

bhai sahib kis dunya mai reh rhai ho! aik du caror mai ab Karachi Gulshan Iqbal mai 400 yards ka ghar bhi naheen milTa..

University road par Baitul mukaram masjid kai qareeb FLAT aik caroor ka hai ab..


1.25 million ko ru rhai hain log yahan
ye parheye

Karachiite gets $32 mn black money converted into white

Spock

Xen, So what do you think about the case the CJ was pursuing against the illegal purchase of subsidized farmhouses?

ehtasab

Depends on what are you looking at and who you are asking, my brother is in real estate and a 400 sq yards house (single story) in Gulshan Iqbal is available from around 1 crore to 1.2 crore. Anyway, the question is where did he get that money from? Did he really "earn" it from his job? Was the farm house he acquired "legal"?

aiklarkithe

mush had great personality and good at talking. overall he wasnt bad, did made some mistakes but better than all others

bob_chasm

The answer may well be yes. Generally speaking, every military officer gets a plot of land at cost when he completes about 17 years of service, usually as a major. He gets another when he becomes about a colonel/ Brigadier. Then gets two as a major general. Then gets another as a Lt. General. Another as a General. I am not sure of the entitlements of a President, but I am sure the job has it's perks too. These things are like stock options for senior management in US companies. They can be worth a lot of money, depending on how civilians view property values in garrison towns (cantt).

Another thing to keep in mind is that, since the days of the British, at the rank of major general, an officer is no longer responsible for paying for rent, servants, electiricity, transportation and food etc. These people live in high security, government properties guarded at the expense of the government. Most of their salaries go straight into savings. With these savings they can purchase other properties at cost in housing developments offered by the military.

So how much are these plots worth? In the case of Musharaf, he joined the army in the 60s. In 1970s it was possible for military officers to buy a half acre parcel of land for building a house in Islamabad for around Rs. 28,000. Thats about US $600 (GBP 300). Today that property sells for between US $ 1.5-3.0 million (Rs 10-20 crore). So assuming that Musharaf legally acquired a five such properties under the plan, he would legally, be worth 7.5-15 million dollars today. Infact, not just Musharaf, but any General of the Pakistan Army. This is ofcourse legally acquired wealth and the reason why people from wealthy families in Pakistan joined the army. This was also a reason, why I think, senior army officers in the past were not tempted to take rishfat (bribes), because they knew they could make decent money at the end of their careers, legally, under a system created by the British, without embezzling money from contracts.

ehtasab

Lets not fire shots in the air. Lets first find out WHEN Mush got this plot, at WHAT price, fair enough?

mAd_ScIeNtIsT

He bought the house 5 years ago, for 30 million rupees. As bob_chasm wrote, army officers would get plots at discounted prices as part of their compensation package. A long-term officer like Musharraf would be able to acquire a fair amount of good land. That land would be worth a lot today, and could be sold to buy the plot for his dream mansion.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

The report said that when Musharraf bought the empty plot in 2003 it was worth about Rs 30 million rupees (£ 230,000), based on land prices in the area at the time. Today the house and the garden are worth Rs 120-140 million, making it a good investment even if he has to sell it or rent it out, the paper concluded

Spock

^ And what about the fact that he obtained it illegally? Too bad he got rid of the very independent judiciary that was supposed to investigate this.

I hope the traitor/tyrant Mushararf and his pooch Shaukat Aziz never get to live or sip their whiskey in these farmhouses, which should be sold ASAP and the money donated to poor people that they sucked blood out of, or the families of the people they sold for some moolah.

ehtasab

I believe Bibi did that.

ehtasab

Did he buy it from someone who was allocated the plot?

Do you believe he had that much cash working in army for that long? Or did he sell other plots alloted to him and bought this one?

bob_chasm

I think, it was bought from the family of the late banker Jamil Nishtar son of ex-Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar. Like I said, anyone who bought a house in Islambad in the 70s would have a property worth more than 10 crores. The chief of the Army could have several. So dropping 3 on a farm hardly seems like a big deal. I think this is a witch hunt.

Spock

The only thing he apologized was for that sham referundum, and that was only after western media was coming out with ample proof of irregularities, so he had to, to save himself from utter humiliation. He needs to apologize for alot of things.

bob_chasm

Politicians should think of designing policies that attract foreign investment in the same way as Musharaf and Aziz. Mushy made money because real values went up. Thanks to him many of us made money. This is very different from embezzling money from government contracts in which everyone except the corrupt politicians make money.

mAd_ScIeNtIsT

There's not way he could have bought it with cash. However, it's easily believable that if he had plots purchased at army prices in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, they would have appreciated enough to sell and buy this large plot.

ehtasab

Thats what I was thinking but not enough information is available so all we can do is speculate.

bob_chasm

I agree.

TheRealDeal

The excuse's for Mush's corruption get ever more imaginative

TheRealDeal