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Pakistan party defends civilian control on spy agency

The decision to put Pakistan's main spy agency under civilian control was aimed at keeping the army out of the diplomatic line of fire, the head of the ruling party said in remarks published on Sunday.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 11:33 July 27, 2008
  • Gulf News

Islamabad: The decision to put Pakistan's main spy agency under civilian control was aimed at keeping the army out of the diplomatic line of fire, the head of the ruling party said in remarks published on Sunday.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday put the Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) under control of the Interior Ministry.

Critics say the ISI played a major role in the creation of the Islamist Taliban movement.

Neighbouring India and Pakistan have often blamed the ISI for masterminding acts of terrorism in their countries.

Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and leader of her Pakistan People's Party, hoped the "historical" decision would yield positive results for the country as well as the army.

"In future, enemies of Pakistan will not be able to defame the ISI; nobody will say that this agency is not under the control of an elected government," the daily News quoted him as saying in a telephone interview from Dubai.

Zardari's opponents dubbed the decision an attempt to politicise the ISI and hoped it would be reversed soon.

"It's an absolutely wrong decision from every prospective," said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, secretary general of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League.

"Instead of taking ISI out of politics, the government has injected partisan politics in ISI," he said. "It will be detrimental to national security."

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