On June 19-2010 a program was aired on a major network TVN in Chile and the program was called “Mano a Mano”. A prominent Chilean senator Alejendro Navarro spoke about Saif’s innocence and the war on terror and relations with Pakistan.
The video above is in Spanish. Following is the text of that talk..
English Translation
(0:58 the introduction is about a mining royalty)
**J: Senator welcome, but. Before starting talking about all these topics, there is one in particular that is in my head turning and turning but I can´t completely understand it; and many people asked to me about this, and also with a sense of duty, this youngster Saif ur Rehman, this Pakistani youngster that is now in our country and his case that became in a suspense and international intrigue novel that makes me remember a novel called “midnight express” that a movie was
also made. I almost have a feeling that we are experimenting the same. What are the backgrounds that you have? What is really happening beneath all? What explains this entirely unique situation that is happening in the justice courts!?
**
Senator Navarro: Alejandro, thank you for your invitation. Saif is calm with his family. His parents travelled from Islamabad to Santiago, they have spend here almost two weeks. He is free now, the interior ministry has appealed twice, but he is free. So there is insufficient evidence to convince the court that he is a hazard to the society. He came to Chile invited by the Chilean government if I can put this in these words. It was Catalina Alliende, the Chilean consul in Islamabad who adviced him to come to Chile, who gave him the visa, who looked for a place to study for him, who looked for a job for him, so she was a fundamental pillar. His family knows her since 16 years ago, knows him and his brother, so here happened something that it must be solved in the sake of the transparency with which the government departments must operate, but also for the decisive action, not incriminatory, of the state and the media, because he has been criminalized, and what I asked for is for him to be investigated, because I contacted him when the anti-terrorism law was applied to him, because I thought about: Elena Varela, 2 years in prison now she is free without any charge, Jaime Huenchullan, temucuycuy leader, 1 year and a half in prison now free without any charge, this two cases because of the anti-terrorism law. And with saif, this law was applied to him in the very beginning and I think that this law does not allow a proper defense of his rights.
J: and automatically he receives a different treatment in the court?
Senator Navarro: well, there are “no face” witnesses, lack of access to brief procedures, yet these two hearings have been secret, so myself and his family we set an agreement. They are calm, waiting for the prosecutor to present all the evidences that he has, there are 120 days, his family and his father that is also a medical doctor are going to stay until saif remains completely free, sacrifying his job in Islamabad, because this case has also brought a strong debate in Pakistani politics. I am the president of a Pakistani-Chilean friendship team, and the senators of Pakistan are very worried because they feel discrimination. Because if we accept that being a Muslim is being a terrorist than we are walking on a very complex path. We want him to be investigated, the prosecutor to investigate but we don’t want that they called him guilty in a rush.
J: But there are something else, I have a feeling, just a feeling that maybe a political intrigue beneath that escapes from this youngster in particular. He appears to be a piece in all this scenario that is trying to create a positive feeling about some kind of politics.
Senator Navarro: Alejandro, I am sure that this is a set up, because the company that caught him is a private security company, whose backgrounds are not known for us inside the USA Embassy. We asked them to present the evidence about him being caught, videos, anything, but they don’t have it because he was isolated, nothing of that happens. So I feel that the US politics about terrorism, that is spread worldwide, has some behavior patterns. And here, they “detect” one of this patterns, and they acted like they use to act with known terrorists, and Saif fulfill this “pattern” since all this issue started that led him to this. Once I saw footage from US tv of police officers coming out of a Pakistani terrorist house with white suits and everything, and then I saw the same footage in Chilean tv, so people think “there are bombs”. I feel that this state of alert has injured him! I want this to be investigated, and I think that all this started outside the Chilean borders. We asked to be investigated if the CIA or the FBI are here in Chile investigating terrorism issues, and if that is the
situation, I want to know as senator and as citizen. This is a question that is still not answered.
J: What is the role played by the Chilean Interior Ministry when they present some evidence that is not permissible in any place. They accused him of attending some mosque;; I never knew that it was a crime and it is not. He is accused of meeting some people, but not one of them has charges that are not even investigated before by the Chilean justice system. So how could that be a crime when the Chilean justice never accused one of them?
Senator Navarro: Alejandro, look, Pakistan is a country with 170 million population. 97% of this population are Muslims and this situation created a deep resentment because is well known that the evidence is extremely weak, so here we have a presumption that I think that is nothing but discrimination. We told Minister Hinzpeter, if you have evidence, present it and investigate him. This is because I also want to fight against terrorism, but the way the US fights against terrorism is a wrong way. They fooled the whole world, in Iraq, they fooled all humanity. They fooled the UN. At least they did not fool ex-president Lagos, because all talk about weapons of mass destruction is a lie. So in this prosecution politics, intelligence organizations, they overreact trying to create scenarios or trying to anticipate certain scenarios. I hope that the interior ministry acts with responsibility, to present all the evidence and to investigate deeply. Until now, I am sure that saif has nothing to do with all these.
**J: In the congress/Senate you don’t have a feeling that the interior ministry may be connected with international intelligence services because of something that we don’t know?
**
Senator Navarro: What we formally have is the ANI (National Intelligence Agency) and we hope them to perform “intelligence” because in the past they never did it. And if there is information, this must be channeled, so that it can determined that the information is confidential, that is possible, the ministry can act in a defensive way, but in one minute, this must be solved, because later we can have a kind of psychosis. I want to tell you that the Muslim community is also hurt and felt attacked because the main issue in saif´s detention is still his Muslim condition. There is no other fact most concrete than the fact that he is a Muslim. I want in the sake of diplomatic relationships, and in the sake of a good coexistence in Chile, political and religious, that this case must be investigates and if is necessary, that the case must be processed or they must ask forgiveness. But something must be made. This must be solved, investigated and we don’t want to prejudge.