HVK Archives: ISI is more powerful than Pak govt
ISI is more powerful than Pak govt - The Times of India
Dinesh Kumar
()
12 October 1996
Title : `ISI is more powerful than Pak govt.'
Author : Dinesh Kumar
Publication : The Times of India
Date : October 12, 1996
"Agencies like the ISI (Inter Services intelligence) are
more powerful than the government in Pakistan. The
Pakistani ISI masterminded the March 1993 Mumbai serial
bomb blasts..."
These were among the candid observations of some Pakista-
ni participants at an eight-day workshop on South Asian
Security Technology and Arms Control, held recently at
Neemrana, located midway between New Delhi and Jaipur.
They also spoke about how the ISI was hoping to force the
Indian government into negotiations by wearing it down in
a low intensity conflict in Kashmir, how crime and cor-
ruption have increased unimaginably in Pakistan, how
fanaticism is on the rise and the country faces instabil-
ity.
The Pakistani participants comprised mostly journalists
and a few academicians. The workshop, the fourth so far,
formed part of the "Track-2" diplomacy effort and was
attended by delegations from India, Pakistan and China as
well as the U.S. and British experts on South Asian
affairs.
The 13-member Pakistani contingent was astonishingly
frank while discussing their internal political situa-
tion. Most of them voluntarily mentioned their distaste
for the ISI which they said was playing a pivotal role in
the governance of the country; on how the army enjoyed
considerable power and immunity from public criticism;
about the unabated rise in fundamentalism in that coun-
try; and about how the Pakistani nuclear bomb was in-
trinsically linked to Kashmir on the one hand and Islam
on the other.
Painting a gloomy political picture, some of the partic-
ipants also pointed out how domestic political compul-
sions would come in the way of any meaningful effort for
a peaceful resolution to bilateral problems.
The underlying desire for resolving bilateral disputes,
especially Kashmir, was evident. A war between the two
countries was seen as the least desirable "solution." One
Pakistani participant went so far as to observe that
vested interests in his country wanted to continue the
futile exercise of raising the Kashmir issue at both the
national and international levels.
"We don't have it. We can never have it. It's an end-
less and wasteful struggle. We can never win a war with
India," he remarked while seeking greater flexibility
from New Delhi.
Interestingly, most Pakistani participants openly ac-
knowledged that the ISI was aiding and abetting militancy
in Kashmir. Though the Pakistani participants differed
in their approach to resolving the Kashmir issue, they
repeatedly stressed the need for engaging in bilateral,
nonmilitary, confidence-building measures such as opening
up trade, promoting economic interdependence and cultural
exchanges. "This subcontinent is frozen in time while
the world around is moving at a fast pace. We will soon
be left behind in terms of global economy," observed
Khalid Ahmed, editor of the Lahore based Urdu weekly, Aaj
Kal.
Most Pakistani participants were appreciative of India's
stand on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). As
one participant remarked, "We appreciate India's position
in standing up to the hypocrisy of the United states and
the West," and then went on to ask why the U.S. could not
keep aloof from the South Asian region.
Observing that the ISI had become a law unto itself, Mr
Ahmed revealed how a brigadier in the ISI had been behind
in the Mumbai serial bomb blasts. "But he acted on his
own," he said adding that another brigadier had earlier
been involved in inciting trouble in the China's Muslim-
dominated Sinkiang province.
He revealed how the group controlling the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(an underground militant group active In Kashmir) was
currently in control of a small area which has been
cordoned off from the rest of Lahore. "About 1,000
people are being trained at any given time. They have
solar-powered rockets; can collect up to a million people
for a rally and have declared that democracy has to be
terminated in Pakistan. The leader of this group is a
government employee, an engineer by profession and on one
occasion made some supporters urinate on the photograph
of U.S. president Bill Clinton," Mr Ahmed said.
"Governance has become non-existent in (Pakistani) Pun-
jab. The common man is increasingly becoming religionised
and there is a new breed of warrior-priests, many of whom
own Mercedes and BMWs," he said. "There is a deep sec-
tarian divide between the Shias and the Sunnis which has
led to a rise in sectarian violence. Funds and support
for the Shias have been coming from Iran, and even Iraq,
which began during the Afghan war. If Iran had not
intervened, the Shias might even have been declared non-
Muslims," he says.
An example of the secrecy maintained by the military
establishment about its budget was revealed through an
incident narrated by Pakistani economist-cum-industrial-
ist Shahid Hafiz Kardar. "Once, when the cabinet sought
to see the details of the defence budget, the military
handed them copies of a brief synopsis of the budget. A
colonel was specially deputed to take back the copies of
the synopsis immediately after the meeting ended." It may
be mentioned here that the Pakistani government issues
only a one-line statement of its defence budget.
A Pakistani journalist revealed how he faced harassment
and even threats to his life from the ISI for weeks
together for publishing a letter critical of the army.
Most Pakistani journalists were unanimous in stating how
it was virtually impossible to publish anything critical
of the defence establishment, and how most of the Urdu
press was completely Islamicised.
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