Pseudo experts have a knack for creating nonsense out of sense. These days they are dominating the media, paper as well electronic, and making a lot of noise over the alleged role of ISI in politics.
Z A Bhutto is said to have assigned some political work to ISI, though it was a specific case, not a policy decision. Anyway, what a Prime Minister did, any of his successors could undo it. It never happened. Why? Every Prime Minister found it convenient to use ISI in political affairs. So, the practice continued, despite a lot of noise over the years.
Why under PM? Why should ISI be under the Prime Minister in the first place? It is a joint intelligence service of army, air force and navy, staffed by per-sonnel from all three services. Its objective is to protect national security through intelligence and counterintelligence. Being a military agency, it should not be under a civilian. Prime Minister already has under him Intelligence Bureau, a civilian agency dealing with national security in non-military matters and staffed mostly by policemen. Is that not enough? (Incidentally, CIA is a civilian agency, like IB. That is why it is under civilian control.)
Who are the people in the media and politics that want ISI under political control, or even its abolishment? Well, ISI finds out about the persons working for our enemies, mainly India and US. Naturally, it keeps a watch on them and neutral-izes them. That makes them mad.
Zaid Hamid has filed a petition in the Supreme Court for trial of the following for treason: Imtiaz Alam, Executive Director, SAFMA, Sirmed Manzoor, Najam Sethi, Beena Sarwar, Nusrat Javeed, Khaled Ahmed, Marvi Sirmed, Ali Chishti, Hamid Mir, Hassan Nisar, Asma Jahangir.
Why does the US want ISI to go? Simple. Americans already able to manip-ulate civilian agencies for their purposes. However, ISI not only deflects all their attacks but also defeats their operations. It knows South Asia far better than the CIA can ever hope to. It also makes up for its deficiency in technical facilities by its far superior human intelligence. ISI played a major role in the defeat of Soviet Union in Afghanistan and also kept the US from victory. Obviously, the US cannot love it.
The way out What the Prime Minister should do is to place ISI under the control of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, who heads all three services. That will be the end of ISI interference in political affairs.
What will happen next? The Prime Minister will rely on the Intelligence Bu-reau for political operations, just as Chief Ministers do with their Special Branches of their police. Pseudo experts should save their throats for crying hoarse against that. For whatever it is worth. They should never expect any Prime Minister to lis-ten to them.
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