Inter Services Intelligence

My case against the ISI has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1999 and since the take over by General Pervez Musharraf, no chief justice, including Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has thought it fit to hold a hearing in spite of my repeated requests. Now with the PPP government in control of its functions, it is inevitable that the ISI will be used by the government for civilian functions. Amongst these will be the strengthening of the political position of the party in power. The step taken by the Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975 will then be brought to its logical conclusion by his political successors.
The right thing to do would be to place the ISI under the Joint Chiefs of Staff and limit it strictly to its military functions. The civilian aspect of its responsibilities should be transferred to the Directorate of Intelligence Bureau or any other civilian agency and the armed forces should have nothing to do with these functions. To allow services officers to dabble in political matters, as has been done for over thirty years, amounts to inviting the armed forces to interfere in politics. In carrying out these functions, which they have been doing for all this time, the armed forces develop contacts with politicians and develop an unhealthy interest in political affairs.
This is fraught with dangers for the survival of democracy and has been shown by the repeated take over of the government by generals. The present chief of the army staff has been the head of the Inter Services Intelligence until recently.
He, therefore, must have a very good understanding of national politics and of our political leaders. It is our good fortune that he has so far confined himself strictly to his professional duties. Let us pray that he will continue to do so.
The writer is a political analyst