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Pak intelligence agency's political wing disbanded
Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government has disbanded the political wing of the military intelligence agency ISI to concentrate its focus on counter-terrorism, the foreign minister said.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:35 November 24, 2008
Islamabad: Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government has disbanded the political wing of the military intelligence agency ISI to concentrate its focus on counter-terrorism, the foreign minister said.
The support and cooperation of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate is regarded as vital to the West in fighting the threat of Al Qaida globally, and defeating the Taliban insurgency.
But critics call it a "state within a state", and Pakistan's civilian leaders have regularly accused its political wing of involvement in the overthrow of their governments. Neighbouring Afghanistan and India view the ISI with great distrust.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Qureshi said the ISI's political wing had been disbanded, and described it as a "positive development".
"ISI is a precious national institution and it wants to focus fully on counter-terrorism activities," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.
Military pushed back
The latest chapter of military rule ended with the defeat of parties loyal to former army chief Pervez Musharraf in polls in February, and Musharraf's resignation as president in August.
His successor as president, Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani signalled their intention to exert more control over the ISI in July, but backtracked from an attempt to bring it under the ambit of the Interior Ministry.
Senior officials say army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who himself served as ISI head, has been supportive of Pakistan's return to civilian-led democracy while insisting that the army must look after its own affairs.
Since becoming army chief in November last year, Kayani has taken several steps to take the army out of politics, including ordering all officers out of civilian posts and barring them from meeting politicians.
He appointed a new ISI chief in September and replaced several senior officers.
The ISI is known to have played a key role in distributing arms and money - supplied by the United States and other countries - to Islamist militant groups to wage war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
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