Pak Tribune

ISLAMABAD, September 05 (Online): Pakistan Air Force expressing its deep shock over the allegations against Shaheed Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir for having contacts with Al-Qaeda has termed such assertions as baseless.

A statement issued by PAF Thursday said, "Pakistan Air Force is deeply pained by these baseless allegations against our Shaheed Air Chief, who had a proven track record of highest professionalism, extreme patriotism, balanced religious beliefs and above all a person who always put Pakistan first."

In recent days a story has been carried in print and electronic media alleging that Shaheed Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir had contacts with Al-Qaeeda. The story was based on the review, published by "TIME" Magazine, of the book titled "Why America Slept" written by Gerald Posner.

"His soul would be distressed even more since, even the hint of alleged links or activities went contrary to beliefs by which he lived his life. He was a human being of outstanding integrity, wisdom and judgment and would be affronted by even the slightest aspersion being cast on him as a person. Moreover, Pakistan Air Force is a state institution, which has an effective filtering process to block the rise of individuals having extremist tendencies", the statement said.

"While PAF reserves its comments to identify the institutions who must be behind the plot to discredit the professional fighting force of Pakistan, we request the Pakistani nation not to pay any heed to these news which are being circulated to maintain the hysteria related to terrorists and terrorism.

Individuals like Gerald Posner knit any number of scenarios to sell books and magazines by scaring American and Western public. Any sane person knows that non-state actors carried out the attacks on 9/11 and states or governments had nothing to do with the planning or execution of these attacks", the statement concluded.