By M Rama Rao
JULY 31, 2008
Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, is, obviously, not in synch with the unchanged reality of his country. That was why he had rushed into hailing the official notification that placed the ISI as also the country’s Intelligence Bureau under the interior ministry. He must have blushed a thousand times a day later when his optimism proved to be entirely misplaced as the ‘government’ in
Far from daring to misinterpret, the Pak media perhaps was genuinely puzzled by the late night notification after Prime Minister Gilani was airborne on his way to the
The army would have had no difficulty in making out a case against transferring the ISI to the civilians at this juncture when it seems to have made one notable achievement in the continued subterranean war of inflicting a thousands wounds on India - the spread of the jihadi poison outside Jammu and Kashmir with places far apart as Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad coming under a wave of terrorist attacks. These ‘missions’ were carried out by local sleeper cells, without perhaps no direct involvement of Pak nationals, as was the case earlier.
Likewise, the army would have also referred to accusations by the Afghans against the ISI activities in their country---a proof that the ISI has penetrated deeply into Afghanistan and is in a position to carry out Pakistan’s twin objectives of unsettling the Hamid Karzai government and hitting Indian-aided projects in that country as well as Indian citizens, including diplomats.
Now reality check on the whys and ifs of the ISI notification. What appears quite plausible is that the army was taken by surprise (after the notification was released to the press) and it lost no time in ‘warning’ the PPP-led government against interfering with its hold over the ISI. President Pervez Musharraf may not have spoken against the notification with anyone in the government, given his frosty relations with the civilian rulers. Also, Musharraf might have wanted to test the nerves of army chief Kiyani and see to what extent the General would be willing to go along with the American prescriptions and the compulsions of Zardari- Gilani combine.
Given the army’s stranglehold over Pakistan – it runs not only a parallel government but also parallel economy with a thriving private sector (with retired personnel) of its own, the GHQ could have scared the hell out of the Gilanis and Zardaris by telling them that if the ISI is civilianised, Pakistan’s very existence would be in imminent danger.
Some PPP seniors claim that ‘original’ ISI notification was cleared by top leadership - a euphemism for co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who ‘remote controls’ the party from his mansion in
First bringing the ISI under the civilian control would dilute the criticism against the ISI which has been accused of becoming a rogue organisation, a state within the state, as a result of which the army has also been getting a bad name. Second the
Naturally, this scheme could not have been acceptable to any one in the army or the ISI, which is at present headed by Lt Gen, Nadeem Taj, who is related to Musharraf. A country that is still for all practical purposes ruled by the men in uniform cannot see a change of ownership in such an organisation.
From
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The plain fact is ISI is an instrument of state policy. As long as Pakistan retains a policy of hostility towards its two neighbours, India and Afghanistan, the agency will remain Pakistan’s most powerful body, one that will brook no ‘interference’ from anyone and from any quarter. Put bluntly, whether the ISI reports to X, Y or Z matters little. Or, there can be nothing more than a cosmetic change undertaken to mislead the Americans.
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