This post is, admittedly, delayed. It is to be considered both an opinion of ISI, the Pakistani Intelligence Agency and as a reponse to NeYawn’s post about the ISI, filled with questions that deserve to be answered.
Recently, the ISI has yet again been under accusations and threats in context with the recent tragic Mumbai attacks. The Indian Government places the blame upon the shoulders of the ISI for both harboring the alleged terrorists and to a wider extent, being a part of the actual attack.
NeYawn, the talented blogger, states in his post the following;
After reading Desi Diva’s blog, I was convinced there still are nice & sensible people in Pakistan. But tell me you nice and simple people- Is not the ISI responsible for all the terrorist attacks in India? Is it not supported by your government and by half your population? Correct me if I am wrong
And this is where I start my post.
Stating that the ISI is responsible for all terrorist attacks within the borders of India is a widely accepted theory….in India. All you hear is “sources say” and “our sources explain”.
As a future journalist, I know that the first thing you have to be aware of is your and other people’s sources. Where are the sources from, who are the sources, what are the sources. I have yet to find a valid source.
Also, NeYawn asks why half of the Pakistani population is behind ISI. Let me tell you right now. It is most possibly true that the ISI are to a certain extent supported by the majority of Pakistanis in and out of Pakistan. In order to understand this, you need to understand who exactly the ISI are what their (supposedly) aims are.
To give you the most simple version of what the objectives of the ISI are;
- To safeguard Pakistani interests and national security bot inside AND outside the country.
- To monitor continuously the political and military developments in neighboring countries, those which have direct influence on Pakistan’s national security and in the formulation of its foreign policy, and to collect foreign and domestic intelligence in such cases.
- Co-ordination of intelligence functions of the three military services.
- Keep vigilant surveillance over foreigners, neighbors, the media, politically active segments of Pakistani society, diplomats of other countries accredited to Pakistan and Pakistani diplomats serving outside the country.
In short, ISI is CIA, and like any intelligence agency, it’s a double sided coin. The ISI is a part of the Pakistani package that the Pakistanis feel is necessary to have it in order to be protected from “foreign” threats, like spies (Roop Laal and Llam Din) and uncovering deals like the one made between the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the USSR in Vizag. With this, the Pakistani people, to a certain extent, know that they are “safe” from foreign, and especially Indian influences and threats. Putting it in a literal term, the Pakistani population see ISI as their shield, to a certain extent.
Secondly, you just can’t “hand over” people who may be of Pakistani decent or have a Pakistani passport to India. I assume that the Pakistani government wants to prosecute and deal with these people themselves since the people in question are Pakistanis. However, just today, I read that the alleged bombers are confirmed Pakistanis (sadly enough) yet non-citizens. This brings us to the question whether Pakistan is responsible for all the Pakistanis in the world.
It is another case if the terrorists are making calls to Islamabad and Karachi, and I agree with all who say that the ISI has failed to tighten the security and the surveillance in these areas. Changes need to be made, and to be made fast.
It is understandable that people have a negative view of the ISI. It has been criticized for being a “state within a state” by people and you could probably come up with a handful of incidents in Pakistan where the ISI havn’t been the best of all, even, rather especially, in Pakistan.
But the fact is that having ultimate power goes wrong in the way. It is bound to. Especially in a place like Pakistan where corruption seems to be the second currency.
But if we take the CIA who’s been blamed for countless of things, everything from hiding information to murder. This is the price of having an agency that has all the power in the world. If you were to suggest that the CIA should be “terminated” or “forbidden” despite everything, the US government would probably laugh at your face.
Or if we take India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. From what it seems, R&AW has been criticised for being an agency of the government and not the people (R&AW reports to Prime Minister only). I think I read it on a fact file report, where it was stated that fear arose that it could turn into the KGB of India. R&AW was also involved in a controversy as a result of the high profile CBI raid at the residence of V K Singh, a retired Joint Secretary of R&AW, who recently wrote a book on R&AW and stated that political interference and corruption in the intelligence agency made it vulnerable to defections.
Also the R&AW is known to be a secretive agency, with no tendency of declassifying documents. And then there is the accusation from Pakistan’s side that R&AW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Northern Alliance in attempt to “destabilise” the region, as some sort of comeback or retaliation for Pakistan’s involvement in Kashmir.
But let’s not get into that.
At the end of the day, it needs to accepted that the ISI comes with Pakistan, and many Pakistanis wishes for it to remain in its initial power, despite the growing dissatisfaction and even fear of the ISI. And yes, they DO know that the ISI definitely needs to tighten up and really step up to the task, yet it is ironic how the anti-ISI atmosphere makes Pakistani’s more supportive of the ISI. To them, getting rid of the ISI, or continually pointing fingers at it at every given occasion, is a sign that the US or India even wishes to step onto Pakistani soil. You might this its ridiculous, you might think its reasonable, it’s entirely up to you.
It is important to remember however, that many Pakistanis ALSO know that the ISI is starting (!) to get out of control (irony, irony, irony). Some may not want to admit, but I can assure you they aren’t happy with it and they DO want to change it, but they are faced with the dilemma of having that mistrust to USA and India. In Tariq Ali’s book “The Duel” he mentions that over 70 procent (!!) of Pakistanis expect/are afraid of an invasion of some sort in the near future. Thus the desperate clinging to ISI.
You see the dilemma now? What does a nation do when on one hand you have mistrust to your neighbors and the USA and in the other hand have a very, very controversial and allegedly corrupt intelligence agency that somehow can in some way help protect the nation?
The answer and solution may be up to you to come up with, but ultimately the Pakistanis to decide on.
Until next time,
Mamashaal (( desi diva ))
) is the fact that the public has always had some sort of mistrust to each other. Half of it being very natural, but the other half clearly influenced by the political atmosphere and those politicians who have nothing but their OWN agenda in mind, if you know what I mean. So why not take a new approach to introducing each other? You know, like when a marriage gets boring, you “spice” things up by going on a date and pretending that you don’t know each other, and start from scratch? (Little note: Im not married, but I read that in some woman’s magazine)
