HRW again interferes blatantly in Pak judicial matters

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US-funded body ignores personal attacks on judges, due criticism on media; analysts say HRW Pakistan chapter highly politicised; serving interests of a particular class of rulers; rights body fails to mention reasons behind court’s action; restraining orders were issued after some highly abusive and derogatory programmes; Brad Adams either ignorant or misled about facts in Pakistan; Justice Wajih says HR bodies should focus on executive, not judiciary

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Watch (HRW), an American-funded international NGO, has blatantly interfered in the Pakistan’s judicial system and has acted in a highly politicised manner to serve the interests of a particular class of the rulers, directly attacking Pakistan’s independent judiciary, analysts say.

No doubt, HRW is considered as one of the leading human rights organisations in the world but unfortunately its Pakistan’s chapter is highly politicised and has close links and affiliations in Islamabad with the ruling PPP.

Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad, former chief justice of Sindh High Court and judge of the Supreme Court who refused to take oath under Musharraf’s first martial law, said any order categorically ordering media not to criticise the judiciary will not only be a violation of human rights but will also be against the constitution.

But Wajih said that this principle does not mean that media should start abusing judges in its programmes and no democratic system in the modern world can allow such defamatory and malicious programmes in the name of freedom of expression.

Wajih said human rights organisations working in Pakistan are respectable institutions and they should not indulge into politics.

The senior ex-judge said most of the human rights abuses are done by executive and this branch of government is responsible to control human rights violations. So the focus of criticism, if any, of these HR bodies should be on executive, not judiciary. He said these human rights bodies are rarely seen criticising the government which is mysterious.

To support the ruling party, the management of HRW in Pakistan has previously as well ridiculed and attacked the country’s judiciary publicly on issues like Memogate.

Ali Dayan Hasan, who heads the Pakistan’s chapter of HRW, has never raised any voice within Pakistan regarding any human rights violations in Balochistan but had taken issue to a US house committee hearing under subject of Balkanisation of Pakistan.

Dayan had appeared as a witness and had misstated and twisted facts before the committee hearing. Dayan went to the extent of alleging that killing of Shia community in Balochistan was being carried out at the behest of Pakistan Army. He had opted to keep quiet on the question of “break up of Pakistan” instead of opposing it during this US hearing which was a clear US intervention in the internal affairs of Pakistan.

The News has documented many instances where Ali Dayan Hasan was found attempting to create disorder and to destabilise the ranks of Pakistan’s civil society using the platform of HRW. Dayan had directly attacked Pakistan’s constitution and its Islamic provisions and different Pakistani laws by using HRW platform and he was speechless when was confronted by The News to elaborate how these laws were against basic human rights and what were his or his organisation’s efforts within Pakistan to get these laws amended.

Even in Tuesday’s press release issued in the name of Brad Adams, the Asia Director of HRW, simply misstated and twisted the facts while launching an unceremonious attack against Pakistan’s judiciary.

This international organisation and champion of human rights did not mention as to what exactly was being said in the media over which high courts had to intervene and stop the airing of “defamatory material” towards the judiciary.

It is quite clear from the wording of Tuesday’s press release that Brad Adams was either absolutely unaware of what was going on in Pakistani media or he was simply misled by members of HRW’s Pakistan team or kept in the dark.

Adams was certainly unaware that almost all the programmes on all the news channels (with no exception) were openly discussing and criticising Pakistan’s judiciary on different issues, but in a decent and civilised manner. If Brad Adams is really an honest professional, he can arrange to get a monitoring report of Pakistan’s electronic media programmes and print media articles of only last six months through some independent organisation and he will come to know that more than half of these programmes were on judiciary and most of it was criticism.

Adams could also investigate that high courts in Pakistan have issued restraining orders after some highly abusive and derogatory programmes that were personal attacks on judges and the judiciary. If Brad Adams is really interested to know facts he will be surprised to find that Pakistan’s independent judiciary has never even issued a single order against any criticism of its judgements or observations made by the top judges.

Almost in every talk show, issues under consideration of the judiciary are discussed and on many occasions, participants criticise the Supreme Court orders. However, HRW Pakistan chapter has acted as a spokesman for the government involved in corruption of billions of rupees on a daily basis and these facts are now being confirmed by the institutions and parliamentary committees.

HRW has however remained a silent spectator when present corrupt PPP government released criminals involved in heinous crimes like murder and terrorism from different jails including jails in Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi without any court orders. HRW’s Pakistan chapter also remained quiet on merciless killings of innocent civilians in Karachi by militant wings of ruling coalition parties. HRW only speaks against judiciary which has become the only institution of state to address these issues and to provide justice to the deprived people of Karachi, Balochistan and rest of the country.

After issuance of a press release against the judiciary by HRW some months back, former Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui had said that no foreign organisation working in Pakistan under the cover of human rights could be allowed to attack the sanctity of the state institutions or scandalise them.

Justice Siddiqui had said that the words used in the press release were a direct intervention in the internal affairs of Pakistan and no such organisation could be allowed to extend its comments to this level.

He had stated that the Supreme Court should take immediate notice of these dirty attacks and that too by a foreign American-funded organisation.

Senior politician Khawaja Asif of PML-N, Wasim Sajjad of PML-Q and Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar of PPP had also condemned the role of HRW in becoming part of the US house committee hearing on Balkanisation of Pakistan with the focus on Balochistan and had demanded action against it. However, the PPP government has never acted for obvious reasons.

When The News wrote about Dayan’s views against Qanoon-Tauheen-e-Risalat (Blasphemy law), there was a campaign on social media against this scribe and the newspaper and some learned people misquoted and twisted facts. Basically Dayan’s views were never criticised as he has all the right to have any views on any law.

Dayan was asked if he was against Tauheen-e-Risalat law or Islamic provisions of the constitution, had he submitted any proposal before the parliamentary committee which worked on the 18th amendment and had he publicly requested the people for suggestions to amendment in the constitution. Dayan had admitted that he had not done so and had even admitted thathe had never taken up this issue within Pakistan with any parliamentary forum.

With regard to US house committee hearing issue, Dayan had never raised the issue before any Pakistani forum and even never knocked the door of the apex court on this count. Unlike other US funded NGOs like PILDAT, Transparency International (TI) and many others, which highlight issues in Pakistani institutions, Dayan opted to fly to US and become part of an Anti-Pakistan move.

Dayan’s entire work on Balochistan simply gives one message that people of Balochistan are fighting for the cause of independence of Balochistan. This obviously was a wrong impression and people can well judge why this was being done.

Dayan and Brad Adams could not be approached on their contact numbers despite hectic efforts of The News. When Dayan was contacted after a previous HRW attack on the judiciary, he had replied as follows: “I am a Pakistani and love my country like anyone else. We, as the organisation have no stance on the memo issue of its maintainability. I have little contacts with Husain Haqqani and close to Asma Jahangir because of my professional background in human rights.

However, this press release is view of my organisation and has nothing to do, in any way, with my contacts.”Dayan, who always promptly acts after any story about him or the HRW in the media, went missing after The News stories on US house committee hearing on Balkanisation of Pakistan. However, an anonymous forum from Islamabad had issued a letter to the editor of The News and had defended Dayan’s position.

By Ahmad Noorani
The News

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Under the Cover of Malala Yousufzai?

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Debate on the tragic incident of a 14-year-old girl Malala Yousafzai, a female child educator, who was brutally shot in Swat on October 9, reduced in Pakistan. But, under the cover of attack on Malala by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which claimed responsibility for this heinous crime, US-led foreign countries have continuously been manipulating the event in one or the other way to distort the image of Pakistan.

While, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, all the political and religious parties, governmental and non-government institutes and civil society members strongly condemned cowardly assault on Malala Yousufzai, while holding protest rallies against Taliban. And on October 10 (Friday) was observed as a “day of prayer” for her recovery. Despite it, Malala’s incident has become a tool of external entities to tarnish the image of Pakistan clandestinely. In this context, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, declared November 10 as international day for Malala “to show that we all are Malala…the day can boost the status of female education worldwide.”

A senior American lawmaker on October 24 distributed a letter in the US Congress, urging her colleagues to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Malala Yousufzai. Separately, thousands of people have signed an online petition to nominate Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize which has also been proposed by a famous American actress Angelina Jolie and the UNHCR’s special envoy. While speaking at a tribute for the schoolgirl, on October 19, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova praised the bravery of Malala Yousafzai. Besides, France, Australia, Germany, UK etc., and especially US President Barack Obama including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have condemned the assassination attempt by protesting against the Taliban.

However, apparently, almost all the US-western countries, their human rights groups, India and their media have appreciated the courage of Malala Yousufzai who stood against the Taliban’s oppressive policies, and has taken her as a ‘symbol of hope’ for moderate elements, and inspiration of education. But under the pretext, these external elements have intensified their campaign against our country because it is the only nuclear state in the Islamic world. Particularly, US, India and Israel are in connivance to destabilise Pakistan. Based in Afghanistan, their secret agencies, CIA, RAW and Mossad have perennially been conducting suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings, beheadings, assaults on military troops, police stations, sectarian violence at various cities of the country including Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where these subversive acts have accelerated. Because of its ideal strategic location, Balochistan has become their special target where these agencies are supporting separatist elements to dismember Pakistan.

Meanwhile, barbarous attack on Malala coincided with a number of other anti-Pakistan developments. In this respect, Afghan President Hamid Karzai allegedly stated on October 18 that the shooting of Malala Yousufzai would convince Islamabad that using extremism as a tool against others was not in its interest.

Besides, during the final debate for the US presidential elections, Republican candidate Mitt Romney favoured President Obama about the safe havens of Haqqani network on Pakistani soil holding it responsible for deadly attacks against the US/NATO forces. He also supported Obama’s drone policy. In fact, US-led NATO high officials have made Pakistan a scapegoat of their defeat in Afghanistan by ignoring the reality that Afghans are fighting for their homeland’s freedom. While in the last two years, heavily-armed militants entered Pakistan from Afghanistan’s side and targeted security forces’ checkposts, killing more than 100 personnel of the army besides destroying infrastructure of various areas.

TTP militants led by Maulvi Fazlullah who had left Swat after military operation have fully established their stronghold in Afghan provinces of Nooristan and Kunar. With the tactical assistance of US, their subversive activities against Pakistan are funded by Indian secret agency, RAW, and Afghan intelligence-National Directorate of Security (NDS). These secret entities have hired the services of many Muslims who have joined the ranks and files of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other extremist outfits. Pakistan’s civil and military leadership has repeatedly protested against cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan including TTP location there, but US-led NATO and Afghan officials have taken no action.

Recently, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has disclosed that the attack on Malala was planned in Afghanistan by the TTP. These anti-Pakistan conspiracies have given a great incentive to the political and religious parties like PML-N, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), JUI-F and PTI which are supporter of Taliban, but condemn shooting of Malala and favoure education of women. Their leaders have remarked that the assault on Malala Yosafzai has no connection with the Taliban, but it was conducted to create justification for military operation in North Waziristan, while US drone attacks killed many innocent girls and children which go unnoticed in the West.

Recently, while dispelling speculations of foreign and domestic media, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani reiterated, “We might, if necessary, undertake operations in NWA as determined only by our political and military requirements including public support. It will never be a result of any outside pressure.” Rehman Malik has also ruled out any such operation. Despite a division between various parties including media commentators about Taliban after the Malala episode, a majority of people including Pashtuns wants that a handful of terrorist elements must not be allowed to impose their self-created ideology in the country. In fact, through their inhuman acts and subversive events, Taliban are defaming Islam which is the religion of peace, moderation and human rights.

Even, several Islamic scholars issued fatwas (verdicts), terming attack on Malala as un-Islamic by explaining that the assailants’ self-adopted interpretation of Islam was nothing but ignorance and digression from the actual Islamic teachings. They clarified that Islam made it obligatory on every man and woman to seek education—strictly forbids taking life of innocent persons, which is not jihad. Besides, Shia religious scholars also denounced attack on Malala.

Nonetheless, this assault on Malala must be viewed in the larger perspective of international plot against Pakistan. Under the cover of Malala Yousufzai, US and other powers are distorting the image of Islam and Pakistan in the outside world.

By Sajjad Shaukat
He writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International 

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Why Siachen can NOT be compromised?

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Most of the Pakistanis do not even know the strategic significance of Siachen Glacier and why India advanced into it towards Pakistan controlled territory in 1983. The region is a triangle between Pakistan, China and India. If India can advance further, it can come next to the Chinese regions and block Pakistan's access to China and also gain strategic control over regions of Gilgit and Baltistan and blocking the strategic Karakorum highway.

Note where Kargil is. Pakistan had advanced just a little more in Kargil in 1999 and that resulted in such a fierce war as India knew that if Kargil is taken, the entire Kashmir would be lost from the North. These regions are not defined borders but are called Line of Control and any nation which has more muscle and nerves can grab whatever it can. 


Nations defend their territories, even if they seem insignificant. These seemingly small regions, play a great strategic role in shaping the destiny of the nations. US President Richard Nixon had said this about nations not protecting their borders against such seemingly small regions: 

'The pages of history are littered with the ruins of countries that were indifferent to erosion of the balance of power. Losses on the periphery where a country's interests appear marginal never seem to merit a response or warrant a confrontation with the enemy. But small losses add up. Expansionist powers thrive on picking up loose geopolitical change. When it comes, it usually takes place under the worst possible circumstances for those on the defensive.' (Former US President Richard M Nixon.)

Indian army is now holding the Saltoro ridge inside Pakistan and if our forces withdraw, India would advance further and capture the K2 also!! Do we want to give K2 to India and also Karakorum highway, Gilgit Baltistan, Sakardu and land borders and road links with China??? No dignified Pakistani would even dream of doing this. 


That is why we are there for the last 22 years fighting and blocking the Indian advance. Instead of asking the Indians to withdraw to the line of control, our traitors in SAFMA and NS want us to withdraw further handing over entire north to India. Never ever doubt that fact that Siachen is critically important for us and we will never withdraw from here even if India withdraws. In fact, InshAllah, we will advance further till we reach Delhi to be part of this great army of Ghazwa e Hind. By Allah, We are Muslims and death of a shaheed is a reward for us! 


Arm yourself with knowledge and fight back. share this with your friends and spread it globally to counter the SAFMA and NS propaganda. These snakes must be defeated, InshAllah!

Courtesy: Syed Zaid Zaman hamid [Official]

Xharaf Vsm

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Gen. Shuja Pasha - A great Spy Chief

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General Ahmad Shuja Pasha would have made many mistakes and would have failed on many fronts but he did wonders in limiting the role of CIA and FBI agents in Pakistan, the contribution that makes him look different from many others.

Gen Pasha has been the most hated Pakistani in Washington and a real pain in the neck for the CIA. For the same reason, his retirement has brought a sigh of relief to the Intelligence circles in the US. He was a rare breed of Generals, who would not be impressed with the influence of Washington and its powerful intelligence chief.

He has been the most difficult man to tackle for the Panettas and Patreauses of this world hence there have been demands from Washington that Pasha should be removed. It was his candidness and bluntness with his US counterparts, which made him one of the most powerful spymasters in the world.

Coming from a humble but well educated family and after having cleanly served the army with distinction for almost 35 years, Pasha took over as ISI chief, the position that earned him a lot of embarrassments and controversies.

Failures connected to the ISI during his tenure as its DG should remain a burden for him but there is hardly anyone to appreciate how he managed to limit the role of the American agencies in Pakistan.

Following 9/11 General Musharraf had put the sovereignty of Pakistan at stake and on sale by giving the kind of free hand to US agents that was simply unimaginable. “We had no idea how many foreign as well as local agents of CIA and FBI were operating within the territorial limits of Pakistan,” an official source said, adding that the American agents were spread all over.

Not only had Musharraf allowed the CIA and FBI to hire local agents in Pakistan in the garb of so-called war on terror, the Americans were also free to move in and out without any check. “At times we did not know who is coming and who is going, and what is brought in and what it taken out,” the source said.

This unimaginable concession for the US officials was first brought under check by no one else but Pasha on whose orders in October 2009 the facility of unchecked arrivals and departures with no scrutiny of their luggage at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) in Islamabad was formally withdrawn.

Gammon Gate of the BBIA, which was basically meant for food catering services and had a direct outside airport link without passing through immigration and customs checks, was specified for the US officials and for the UN officials too. This special facility had allowed the Americans to have unchecked arrivals and departures to and from the Islamabad Airport. The facility was massively misused and there were reports of even unauthorised and undeclared import of sensitive material and equipment, including weapons.

A CAA order, issued on the subject in 2009, did concede that the customs and immigration authorities have no arrangements/staff to check the movement and crew and other foreigners, etc. “The equipment related to aeroplane, the crew and their personal luggage also passes through this gate. During checking, US vehicles and the luggage they carry to and from apron area are not properly searched/checked by the ASF staff deputed to control the entry/exit at the Gammon Gate,” a document said, adding in view of this, use of the Gammon Gate by foreigners should be stopped forthwith as it was a serious security hazard.

In the garb of training, the CIA spies had their presence in and around vital sites of Pakistan’s national security. Police College Sihala near Kahuta Nuclear Plant was one such sensitive site from where Gen Pasha managed to root them out and packed them back to Washington.

To check the activities of ruthless members of Blackwater and DynCorp, the ISI under Pasha started checking the US “officials” and “diplomats” on the roads of Pakistan and even started questioning them and in some cases even taking them to police stations.

It was also on the direction of Pasha that action was launched against DynCorp and its local partner Inter-Risk, which was issued the prohibited bore licences by the interior ministry on the request of the US embassy.

Besides pushing the already present CIA and FBI agents out of Pakistan, Pasha pursued the policy of strict monitoring of the US visitors. He wanted a tight scrutiny of every visitor coming from Washington - a move that made the US administration angry.

Washington put pressure on the rulers in Islamabad, who in a strange decision had allowed its embassy in Washington under Hussain Haqqani to issue visas to US officials without getting clearance from the security agencies of Pakistan.

The issue of Raymond Davis and May 2 Abbottabad shame brought CIA and the ISI face to face. Clashes between CIA and ISI had actually begun after the Army chief’s refusal to lauch operation in North Waziristan, with Gen Shuja Pasha refusing to cooperate with the CIA unless the relationship was on an equal footing.

According to one report, visas to 1545 US employees in the name of diplomats, trainers, NGO workers or NATO officials were issued controversially and without proper scrutiny. After the Raymond Davis case, the ISI had asked CIA to disclose the location of its agents/employees in Pakistan and the nature of their appointment in Pakistan. After repeated questioning CIA kept denying that they had so many operatives in Pakistan. The ISI managed to expel many of them following the release of Raymond Davis - the incident that was a great embarrassment for Pakistanis - however the complete cleansing was still not done.

The clashes between ISI and CIA worsened when Pasha reportedly insisted on the one-point agenda that ISI would not support any CIA activity in Afghanistan or Pakistan if they do not declare their operatives in Pakistan. To this effect the CIA officials said in plain words that no such clarification would be made to ISI as all visas have been issued duly and by the Pakistani authorities. However, after a lot of discussion the CIA, according to the report, agreed to declare 1079 officials, which were operating in Pakistan under various capacities, but denied to give any clue about others.

The ISI, on the other hand, had a list of 438 US officials who were in Pakistan but were not present in any consulate or embassy staff of any city. Their whereabouts were reportedly asked from CIA, to which they gave a funny reply that many of them have been lost? The CIA reportedly claimed that these operatives were used in the FATA area for the war on terror but in various incidents they have either been kidnapped or killed by Talibans so now they were no more in Pakistan. This was something Gen Pasha could not stomach.

Pasha in his meeting with former CIA chief Panetta in Washington had clearly stated that if CIA did not trust ISI then ISI too was not bound to keep the ties as they were. Panetta never expected such a curt reply. Exchange of harsh words took place between the two, prompting Gen Pasha to abruptly end his visit. He left USA just 5 hours after his arrival.
Ansar Abbasi
The news

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Is ISI essential for National Security?

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Every country has a superior intelligence agency to protect the national security of the state. It not only copes with foreign anti-state elements, but also fights the psychological warfare including internal enemies. No army can fight without the support of an efficient secret agency which collects and assesses information in a most reliable manner. American CIA, Russian KGB, British MI-6 etc. might be cited as an instance.

In these terms, especially since 9/11, the role of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) was further increased to protect the country from external and internal threat, while fighting war against terrorism. In this respect, Pakistan has been facing multiple subversive acts being conducted by secret agencies like American CIA Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which have been creating unrest in our country on massive scale. Penetration of foreign agents along with sophisticated weaponry, suicide attacks and targeted killings have become every day occurrence in the country.

When Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha became the Director General of the ISI in September, 2008, he took a number of steps to further improve the efficiency of the agency, responsible for collecting information and providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Pakistan government. First of all, Gen. Pasha closed the internal wing of the agency. At that time, intermittently, US high officials and media have been accusing Pakistan’s army and our superior spy agency of close contacts with the Afghan Taliban and cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan. Under the pretext of these false allegations, US top officials started insisting upon Pakistan that ISI should be restructured. In this connection, the then Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher had stated that ISI needed to be reformed. But when ISI DG, Shuja Pasha refused to restructure the agency on the pattern of US, blame game by America and India intensified against the agency and its chief.

It was due to the rejection of American undue demands by Gen. Pasha and his positive performance to protect the national interests of the country that with the tactical support of CIA, RAW and Mossad accelerated subversive acts in Pakistan, especially targeting ISI sub-headquarters, located in Lahore, Multan and Peshawar besides attacking the personnel of the agency at various places.

At the same time, Islamabad continued its counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing cooperation with America. In this regard, ISI captured a number of renowned Al Qaeda commanders in Pakistan, and foiled many terrorist attempts through pre-arrests of the militants. For example in February, 2010, with the help of ISI, nine Taliban insurgents including the Afghan Taliban’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested in Karachi. In that context, US high officials, while praising this key agency, admitted that Pakistan is cooperating with the US in relation to war on terror.


Despite all of this, under the supervision of Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, ISI prefered the external and internal security of Pakistan. Externally, through its invisible mechanism, it castigated the anti-Pakistan plot of the US India and Israel—also against China and became an obstacle in the secret strategic designs of these hostile elements.

Internally, ISI has thwarted the anti-Pakistan activities of the agents of Blackwater-US notorious private security firm in the country. Under the pretext of providing security to its embassies, US had deployed a network of espionage in Pakistan. In this respect, Blackwater and CIA started recruiting Pakistani nationals who were vulnerable and could work on their payroll. In this context, with the pre-information of ISI, Pakistan’s police and other security agencies arrested a number of agents. For instance, on September 19, 2009, police raided the Inter-Risk, a private security company in Islamabad, and arrested its two employees, namely Tauqeer and Muhammad Khan, possessing unlicensed shotguns, handguns and ammunition. On the other side, US embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire pretended, “The US contract with the Inter-Risk is to provide security at the embassy and consulates.”

Besides, on many occasions, ISI helped in stopping the secret activities of the CIA agents who were traveling in vehicles, covered with black mirrors—showing themselves as diplomats. Sometimes weapons were snatched from them, and sometimes they were sent back to Islamabad. However, differences started between Pakistan and America as ISI interrupted covet activities of these so-called diplomats. In this respect, on the information of this top spy agency, Pakistan’s establishment expelled several American spies operating in the country. On the other side, US withheld $800 million in military aid to punish its military and ISI.

Meanwhile, Gen. Shuja Pasha became a special target of CIA and RAW. In this context, with the backing of Indo-Israeli lobbies, a case was filed against Pasha in New York, accusing him of facilitating the Mumbai bombings of November 26, 2008, which was, in fact, arranged by the non-stat actors in connivance with RAW. Question arises as to why a case was not registered against the US ex-President Bush and President Obama who were responsible for the illegal occupation of Iraq and massacre of thousands of people there including Afghanistan and other Islamic countries in the name of war on terror.

However, during his meeting with the CIA Director Michael Morell in July, 2011, Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha flatly told that we would continue anti-terror and intelligence sharing cooperation between the two agencies, but would never tolerate a private ‘network’ the CIA is secretly maintaining in Pakistan.

In the aftermath of the Osama’s death on May 2011, US and Indian rulers including their media intensified their campaign against Pak Army and ISI. In this regard, in the in-camera session of the parliament, Islamabad decided to review its relationship with the United States. BBC quoted DG ISI Shuja Pasha, saying that Osama’s compound in Abbottbad was registered under a fake name. Earlier, he said that after the Tora Bora operation, Osama Bin Laden became an enemy of Pakistan. Nevertheless, it was US intelligence failure as its CIA which is well-equipped with modern technology failed in detecting Osama in ten years. According to BBC, Pasha explained, “Nobody expressed their condolences over the 78 officials of the ISI who have been killed.”

It is of particular attention that it was due to the professional competence of ISI under the Shuja Pasha in foiling the anti-Pakistan conspiracy that US and India accelerated their propaganda against him and the agency. In this connection, in the recent past, US Admiral Mike Mullen (R) alleged that the Haqqani network is waging a ‘proxy war’ in Afghanistan with the assistance of ISI, and blamed for an assault on the US embassy in Kabul on September 20, 2011. But US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton admitted that there was no evidence about ISI about the bombing of US embassy, while US top officials are still alleging this agency for cross-border terrorism. It shows American double game not only with Pakistan, but also with is superior spy agency.

Meanwhile, while briefing the participants of the All Parties Conference, ISI Chief indicated that Haqqani network has no presence in Pakistan as it has its base in Afghanistan. Pak Army and civil government also rejected US pressure tactics to do more against the Haqqani network in the North Waziristan as suggested by ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha. Besides, when on November 26, 2011, unprovoked air firing by the US-led NATO on Pakistan Army outposts in Mohmand Agency killed 24 troops, Pakistan decided to review its engagement with the US and its other allies. For this purpose, the envoys’ conference deliberated on the country’s foreign policy on December 12, 2011, and ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Pasha briefed the participants about the intentional NATO strikes.

Notably, it is most regrettable that without knowing the ground realities and the services of ISI, just like the foreign enemy and their media, our rulers, some political leaders and media anchors are dis-reputing Pak Army—particularly ISI DG Shuja Pasha in connection with the memogate issue, while Gen. Pasha has left it to the Supreme Court to decide the case. In this context, what the difference one can note between our political leaders and media anchors who speak in tone of Pakistan’s external enemies in maligning ISI and its chief. It seems that some of our politicians and journalists are either on the payroll of US-led anti-Pakistan entities or they want to get good coverage in the western media by targeting ISI. No doubt their such acts are benefiting the US and India which want to create a division between Pakistan’s civil and security agencies so as to cause further unrest in the country. Instead of implicating ISI and its DG, Shuja Pasha, our internal elements must better know the services of this intelligence agency in thwarting various conspiracies against the integrity of the Pakistan, especially against its nuclear assets. Despite its limited resources as compared to CIA, RAW and Mossad, ISI has never failed in its goals. No doubt, ISI is essential for national security of Pakistan.

(KashmirWatch)

By Sajjad Shaukat who writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relation

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