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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Real Reasons Why the US and India Demonize Pakistan's ISI

By Shahid R. Siddiqi


Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency, or ISI as it is popularly known, is seen as their nemesis by those who have tried to undermine the security interests of the country one way or the other. It is no wonder then that in past few years the Americans unleashed a strong ISI-bashing campaign, with India following suit.

The Americans made no bones about their dislike for this agency, blaming it for working against their interests in Afghanistan. The Indians also see an ISI agent behind every rock in Kashmir and in Afghanistan where they are trying to dig their heels. They do not hesitate to pin on ISI the blame for the freedom struggle in Kashmir or for acts of terrorism by Indian extremists. Until recently the Karzai government dominated by the anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance also remained hostile to ISI.  

Not too long ago, under intense American pressure the weak Zardari government made an unsuccessful attempt at neutralizing and subduing this agency in disregard to the existing sensitive regional security environment, by moving it out of the army control and placing it under the controversial and embattled Zardari loyalist interior minister - Rehman Malik. This did not succeed for a simple reason. The role of ISI as the eyes and ears of the Pakistan’s military - the bedrock of country’s security, is critical particularly at a time when the country faces multiple threats to its security. 

Washington's darling in the Afghan-Soviet war


Ironically, this is the same ISI that was Washington’s darling during the 1980s when it was master minding the jihad against invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The role that ISI then played was congruent with American interests. The defeat of the Soviet Union would have meant realization of an American dream - avenging the humiliation of Vietnam. They held ISI in high esteem for its competence and professionalism and gladly funneled arms and funds to the Afghan mujahedeen through it. The ISI strategized the resistance and organized and trained the mujahedeen fighters, working in close collaboration with the CIA and the mujahedeen leaders, forcing the Soviets to retreat.

But as soon as the Americans had negotiated a quid pro quo - Russian withdrawal from South America in exchange for safe Soviet exit from Afghanistan, they disappeared in the middle of the night leaving Afghanistan in a quandary. The political turmoil that followed created chaos and instability owing to the failure of mujahedeen leadership, presenting as a result a security nightmare for Pakistan.

Taliban-US-Pakistan relations and the Indian Threat

In this chaos a group of young Afghan religious students, many of them former fighters from the resistance, calling themselves Taliban (in Pushto language Taliban means students), swept through the country with popular support to establish their rule. Interested to keep their presence alive, the Americans maintained contacts and supported them, ignoring their orthodox beliefs, their harsh rule and even the presence of Al Qaeda in their midst. This continued until it was time for the Americans to overthrow their government in order to serve the changing American interests.    

While the Taliban government was in control, Pakistan too maintained friendly relations with them in the interest of keeping its western border secure, extending whatever support it could. The ISI played a role through the contacts it had developed during war against the Soviets. 
 
In the wake of 9/11 things began to change. Having invaded Afghanistan in the name of war on terror, branding Taliban as brutes and their resistance as terrorism, the Americans wanted the Pakistan army and the ISI to join the war.

This posed a serious security concern for Pakistan. It could destabilize the Pak-Afghan border and strain relations with the Pashtun tribes on both sides of the Durand Line, the British drawn boundary that cut through the Pashtun region to divide British India and Afghanistan and which Pakistan had inherited. The fact that Pakistan’s border region, called Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is autonomous where the writ of the Pakistan Government does not prevail made matters more complex.

Pakistan’s military doctrine is based primarily on meeting the main threat from India on its eastern border while maintaining a peaceful border with Afghanistan in the west. A direct conflict with the Taliban would have forced Pakistan to divert its military assets from eastern to the western front, thus thinning out its defenses against India. This was the last thing Pakistan wanted to do because of its unfavorable ratio of 1:4 against India in terms of conventional forces. Understandably, President Musharraf was unwilling to do the American bidding.

U.S. projection of its military failures onto Pakistan

There always is a problem with powers that begin to act in imperialistic fashion. Their vision of the world becomes colored. They tend to believe that pursuit of their imperialist designs takes precedence over the national interests of those who cannot stand up to them, even if that means compromising their own national and security interests. America had also been behaving as one such imperial power and treated its smaller allies more like colonies. President Musharraf was threatened that in case of noncompliance with America’s wishes, “Pakistan would be bombed into the stone-age”. Musharraf was coerced into conceding to American demands.

Despite the state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and military hardware, the US and NATO forces failed to stop the Taliban fighters from moving back and forth into the unmarked Pak-Afghan border that passes through a treacherous mountainous region to regroup and strike on the invading foreign troops. The American commanders reacted by demanding that the Pakistan army engage these fighters and seal the border. Those with even the slightest knowledge of the area would know that the Americans were asking for the moon. This was physically impossible. 

Pakistan army’s operations failed. In the process it earned a severe backlash from the local tribes who resented army’s action against their kinsmen from across the border who sought refuge in their area, as it violated the old tribal custom of providing sanctuary to any one who asked for it, even it was an enemy. The Pakistan army paid a heavy price. More soldiers died in this action than the combined number of casualties that the US and NATO troops have suffered in Afghanistan so far.

President Musharraf under advice of his army commanders and the intelligence community called off the action and resorted to persuasion instead. Through jirgas (assembly of tribal elders) effort was made for the tribesmen to voluntarily stop the influx of Taliban fighters. It didn’t succeed either. This was not to the liking of the American commanders. They blamed the ISI for working against their interests.

Washington accuses the ISI of complicity with insurgents

Washington and the American media frequently alleged that elements within ISI were maintaining contacts with the Taliban and attributed the failure of American troops in combating the Taliban to these contacts. Such allegations were also found to be part of the raw, unverified and even fabricated field reports ‘leaked’ in Afghanistan recently and splashed in the western media. The Americans have in the past also described the ISI to be out of control and demanded of the Pakistan government to purge the agency of Taliban sympathizers.

This is ridiculous. Firstly, ISI is a military organization operating under strict organizational control and discipline where officers are rotated in the normal course. It functions according to a defined mandate, unlike armed forces in some other countries and unlike the CIA which is known to be an invisible government on its own. Above all, Pakistan and its military are committed to weeding out religious extremism as a matter of state policy. 
Secondly, if the American troops are so incapable of overcoming a rag tag army of Taliban and if the complicity of ISI with the Taliban can be instrumental in changing the course of the American war, then it is a sad day for America as a super power and the strength of NATO forces becomes questionable.

Thirdly, in the world of intelligence, contacts are kept even with the enemy and at all times. CIA keeps contacts within Russia and other hostile countries. Israel, the great American ally, spies on America itself. It is common for all intelligence agencies to do this in the security interests of their countries. Why then should America expect an exception to be made in case of ISI? Why should contacts that ISI developed with the mujahedeen and the Taliban earlier, and which if it does still maintain, become a source of such great concern for the American administration?

Demanding that the ISI subordinate Pakistan security to U.S. interests.

It is strange that America expects ISI to serve the American agenda instead of Pakistan’s interests first. One cannot forget that the Americans have a long history of abandonment of friends and allies and when they repeat this in Afghanistan citing their own national interest, despite their promises to the contrary, why should Pakistan be expected to be caught with pants down? Why Pakistan’s military and the intelligence agency should be expected to abdicate their duty and not do what is necessary to ensure Pakistan’s security in the long term?  

It has often been argued that America expects Pakistan to be actively engaged in the Afghan war in return for the military assistance it provides. The answer is quite simple. The American establishment is doing all that needs to be done in support of its own war and not for the love of Pakistan. The war is theirs, not Pakistan’s. Pakistan should do and is doing what is necessary and feasible, without jeopardizing its own security.

As for the assistance, bulk of the $10 billion that America gave in the past and was branded as “aid” was in fact the reimbursement of expenses that Pakistan had already incurred in supporting the war effort. The rest was to meet Pakistan’s needs for operations in the border areas and for fighting terrorism that arose out of the war. The Americans still owe $35 billion to reimburse the losses Pakistan has incurred due to this war. As for the F16s that Pakistan is getting from the US, it pays for them, despite strict restrictions over their usage.

The Indian-Israeli attempt to destabilize Pakistan

While Americans had their issues with ISI, the Indians and Israelis began having their own. The agency exposed the growing Indian and Israeli confluence in Afghanistan to destabilize Pakistan. This happened right under the nose of the Americans and obviously not without their knowledge and consent. India having deployed its troops in the name of infra-structure development in league with Karzai government and with American funding and having established seven consulates along the sparsely populated Pak-Afghan border was engaged in heavily bribing the influential but ignorant and susceptible tribal leaders to spread disaffection among the local tribesmen against Pakistan.

Evidence was also unearthed by ISI about how the Indians bought the loyalties of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a grouping of Pakistani tribesmen from FATA and Uzbek fighters from previous wars who settled in the region. The TTP were influenced by the same orthodox religious beliefs as the Taliban in Afghanistan and were active in propagating them in their own areas. They were recruited to launch terror activities in the urban centers of Pakistan, including the capital Islamabad, and were funded, trained and equipped in Afghanistan jointly by the Indian, Israeli and Afghan intelligence agencies. A group from amongst them managed to gain control of Swat area adjoining FATA through coercion of the local population, which was later cleared by the Pakistan army after a major surgical intervention.

The ISI also laid bare strong physical evidence of Indian involvement in supporting insurgency in Balochistan by way of funding, training and equipping misguided and disgruntled Baloch elements grouped under various names including the Balochistan Liberation Army that was led by the fugitive grandson of the notable Bugti tribal chief – Akbar Bugti. His comings and goings in the Indian consulate at Kandahar and the Indian intelligence HQ in Delhi were photographed and his communications intercepted. Numerous training camps in the wilderness of Balochistan were detected where Indian trainers imparted training in guerilla warfare and the use of sophisticated weapons, which otherwise could not be available to the Baloch tribesmen. Flow of huge funds from Afghan border areas to the insurgents was detected that was traced back to the Indian consulates. 

Summary and conclusion
The objective of the TTP, and behind the scene that of the Indians and the Israelis, was to make the world believe that Pakistan was under threat of capitulating to terrorist and insurgent elements who were about to take control of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. Their goal: to denuclearize Pakistan through foreign intervention.
These efforts have not succeeded. Undoubtedly, the army and the ISI played a crucial role in foiling the plots of subversion in Balochistan and the Pashtun region and exposing the foreign hands involved, including those of CIA, RAW, Mossad, RAMA and MI6. Terrorism may not yet be eliminated but Pakistan faces no existential threat. 

It should be no surprise to the Americans, Indians and the Israelis if they find in ISI an adversary to reckon with. It is also not surprising that the ISI is in their perception, a rogue organization, for it has stood between them and Pakistan’s national security interests. Their frustration and ire, therefore, is understandable.



(Shahid Siddiqi was the Bureau Chief of Pakistan & Gulf Economist, an English weekly published from Karachi (Pakistan). Siddiqi now writes on political and geopolitical subjects and his articles are carried by the daily newspapers).


NOTE:This is a cross post.

16 comments:

  1. a few questions among other things.......

    y did ex-dictator Musharraf cower under American threat??? DID pakistan have no nuclear weapons?? no missiles that range from here to Israel??? Americans would not have done anything after such a response from us.


    it is said in the article that it was Akbar Bugti who was caught on camera by the authorities, whereas it was Barahmdakh Bugti whose video was shown to the Americans coming out of a R.A.W safe house.

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  2. We know foreign agencies are involved in Pakistan. and the proofs have been showed to the US.

    IS it not the responsibility of the government to present these proofs to the world??? especially when we are taking such a beating from our "allies"???

    if i were rehman malik (Thank God m not!), then i would have long shown these proofs not only to the local media, but the foreign media as well who just cant wait to jump to anything that remotely links us to any terrorist organization.

    always better to send the opponents at backfoot after an attack is launched on you.
    better still, release of such proofs BEFORE the others bash us. After all, the best defense is a GOOD OFFENSE.

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  3. sorry, my bad. yes you did mention the "grandson" which ofcourse is Barahmdakh.

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  4. I share with you mail by Brig Usman Khalid, Secretary General Qaumi Rafah Party:
    Dear Yasmeen,

    ASA. I wanted to post the following comments but failed because I could not use the open id or word press id. I was told in red letters that the URL contains illegal word. I have been similarly persuaded in the past from posting comments. The procedure does not allow me.

    Regards

    Usman

    "I have been suspicious of US intentions about Pakistan but I always thought that they would never allow their prejudices to take precedence over their interests. I am not sure any more.

    America became leader of the Western World after the Second World War but it assumed moral leadership of the world only after the 1956 French-British-Israeli invasion of Sinai and Suez Canal zone that was responded to by an ultimatum by President Eisenhower to the invaders to withdraw immediately. They withdrew in 48 hours.

    America lost moral leadership when it responded to universal outcry against Gaza blockade by sanctions against Iran. America does not care how the world sees it. America is embarked on a course of irreversible decline and fall. In their dying moments all empires cause great destruction. Pakistan and Iran are the two countries most likely to suffer. Pakistan needs leadership with alacrity and wisdom to survive without suffering excessive damage.

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  5. Yes I agree with faisal .I just want to add some bullet points based on common sense.That Why Pakistan did allow black waters to operate on pakistan soil who main task is to denuclearise Pakistan & are busy in target killings?Why didnt Pakistan show the American & Indian Taliban who were arrested in Waziistan & In Swat last, year to the world media & to the World community?Why did pakistan provide diplomatic passports to many Americans who are a great threat to Pakistan?Why did Pakistan did allow India to construct a great wall on its Kashmir boarder & why did Pakistan allow India to make big dames & power hoouses on Kashmir rivers?Didnt they know that Pakistan agricultural land will be in severe danger & the results of making dams on Kashmiri waters can be seen on the dry crop land in Punjab & other areas of Pakistan,?
    Indian army is engaged in genocide in kashmir,more than 40 kashmiri youth have been killed withen 7 weeks ,& more than 100 thousand kashmiris have been killed in 20 years time ,shops & all other offices & stores are closed,people are starving to death,the patients ,their attendants ,the injured are dying wihout food,medecines & proper treatment.The only Hope for kashmiris help was & is Pakistan who is now engaged in so called war on terrorism for for India ,USA & Israel & is damaging its own soul.The pakistani leaders conciously or un conciuosly have accepted the American writ on its soil ,other wise they shouldnt have welcomed all the mushes ,brooks & clintons & Davids to insult Pakistan & its people on their soil.David cameron a cowboy making insulting statements against Pakistan on the enemy soil has not recieved any strong resentment from Pakistan Government, Why not?

    The president Zardari is not powerful & respected on international level as the leader of PPP or Zardari family ,he is seen as a symbol of Pakistan as a president of Pakistan,there fore he must cancel his visit to Uk for the honour & diginity of great pakistani Nation .

    Pakistan is a nuclear power & its army & people are very brave & ,ghairatmand,

    If President did not bother to cancel his visit then this will be the ist step towards his down fall.

    Professor Shahid Iqbal

    Founder & chairman.

    JK Human Rights Movement

    Email..jkrazad@yahoo.co.uk

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  6. This subject recalls my own Master's Thesis at the University of Chicago in 1966 on U.S.-Pakistan relations, in which I traced the persistent pattern in U.S. policy of insisting that Pakistan would have to adjust its interests to coincide with the Cold War interests of the United States, despite all evidence to the contrary.

    I did not provide any explanation for that pattern in my thesis, except for Hans Morgenthau's term "pactomania", referring to the mania for collecting treaty allies and clients. But I now see that the incentive for the U.S. national security bureaucracy to maintain "alliances" and client state relationships is the bureaucratic interests of the state apparatus itself. They are ones who profit from both clients and wars, not the American people or economy.

    I see the same dynamic at work in regard to the attitude toward the ISI. They were the greatest thing since sliced bread when the security bureaucracy was carrying out its war against the Soviets. Now they are a problem but one that has to be swept under the rug to some extent because to do otherwise would threaten the little support for the war remaining in the U.S. political elite.

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  7. Dr. Gareth: "But I now see that the incentive for the U.S. national security bureaucracy to maintain "alliances" and client state relationships is the bureaucratic interests of the state apparatus itself. They are ones who profit from both clients and wars, not the American people or economy."


    how very true. if ONLY every American (atleast the ones that matter), thought about it the same way!

    u can understand ISI's dilemma (? if there is one) of how can one of THE BEST agencies in the world, can be used just like that?? a tissue,......used, thrown to the dust-bin. "sweeping ISI under the rug", well, its not "under" the rug if one looks at it from ISI's perspective. the western media (most of it) CAN NOT point their guns towards ISI without the backing of their governments.

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  8. Mr Siddiqi's article a bit farther from reality. Whether we are ready to accept it or not, ISI has been involved in devious businesses since long. When Qazi Javed Ashraf took over ISI as its DG, he showed the door to 900 officers who had been hand in glove with the then called Jehadis. Today they are called terrorists, a further deterioration of their status. Out of those 900 officers thrown out several joined hands with Hafiz Saeed of Jamatuddawa, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other militant organizations. Retired ISI officers used to accompany Hafiz Saeed during press conferences in the 1990s. That elements of ISI had remained involved is correct as the sun rising. Yes, that's true that once it had been the blued-eyed baby of the CIA and had remained involved in preparing Jihadists including Usama bin Laden for a holy war in Afghanistan during Soviet occupation. But that's an old story. Organizations changed and their operatives adapt to the needs of the times. But our dear ISI remained stuck in the quagmire, first in Afghanistan, then in Kashmir and other countries and finally, ah, in Pakistan.
    The fact of the matter is that whatever David Cameron has said is absolutely true. We know from very close quarters that former President Pervez Musharraf had been running with hare and hunting with hounds. A little of change came when Taliban attacked GHQ but the runaway elements have remained associated with Taliban. Not only that, their gurus like Lt Gen (r) Gul Hameed and Qazi Hussain Ahmad have been openly supporting Taliban, an illegitimate baby of ISI that has become a Frankenstein.
    We just don't have the moral courage to accept what British PM has said. The PPP government is more in awe of ISI and Army than the US. Extension given to our beloved Kayani is just an example. ISI has "demonized" the whole region. How is it possible for LeT elements to go by boats to India and launch attacks without covert support of ISI. Okay, call me Indian agent but what Hafiz Saeed has been saying in the media speaks volumes about the state of affairs of Pakistan.
    Our sweet motherland has become an eyesore, the unity of its people has been destroyed. If Army and its extended wings like ISI think they are keeping the nation together, they live in fool's paradise.
    If I have hurt anybody's feeling I am sorry for that. But we must have a lot of courage to call a spade a spade.
    MAK Lodhi

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  9. Javed Ashraf Qazi. yeah, the man who couldnt even remember if there were 30 parahs in the Holy Qur'an or 40. he tried to be Kamal Ataturk, but couldn't be. as pakistan army is not built on the secular thinking along the lines of the THEN turkey.

    the people/institutions who change their (demi-)gods with the rising sun, are the ones who are known as sell-outs, or more commonly "lotas" if u know of the term, sir. and CIA from US, and the US government is a clear example of this. hence the mujahideens or blue-eyed people from the past become terrorists with changing times. hypocrisy at its best.

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  10. as regards as your sayings about J.U.D, the said organization was the first one in the times of the disastrous earthquake, when not only the Pakistan government, but its ally the US were only thinking about helping the people.

    the UN's own people are witness to their help. search for it, you may still find something useful, that is not terming them as mere terrorists.

    mr. kayani's extension had nothing to do with the pppp willingness and their being in awe of the army. the first thing they tried to do was to take civilian control over ISI, as directed by the lords and masters, the West.

    his extension is granted solely because of US intervention, as the new incharge in afganistan is on good terms with kayani, and they dont want to deal with someone new when their you-know-what are being kicked from every direction there.

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  11. we dont have the "moral" courage to accept David Cameron's statement. yes. we don't. did he have the moral fiber in him when sitting in its "allies"'s very worst enemy's door, he blasted us on our double role, while in indian "occupied" kashmir, youth everyday are getting killed, and he turned a blind eye towards that??

    its this kind of hypocrisy and double standards, the looking "here and there", and both ways by the "allies" that makes us think they are not our friends, but friends to our worst enemy.

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  12. We shd continue to belive in our selves,Pakistan Army and ISI and let the world say whatever it wants to .We cannot control the media as it is under American and Jewish control.There is nexus of America ,Europe,Israel and India as they are all against Islam.Karzai and his government shd understand this.There have been lapses on part of Pakistan Government and our leaders like Musharraf and Zardari but nothing that we cannot handle.

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  13. In my opinion, the US believes that the ISI is not helping the US and its protege Hamid Karzai settle down in Afghanistan. It is costing the US one billion dollars per 1000 soldiers in Afghanistan. But it can't leave Afghanistan without ensuring continuity of its virtual presence in the country by the proxy power of Hamid Karzai government. That is'nt possible without a sustainable settlement with the Taliban. There is no doubt that it is ONLY the ISI that can bring rapproachment between the Taliban and the Kabul. But why should the ISI do it? ISI, like any other intelligence outfit, is committed to Pakistan's security concerns. And the US has'nt so far proved that it is concerned with Pakistan's security.

    What the US does'nt probably realize is the fact that Pakistan and its close allies have their geo-political interests in the region. Pakistan can't live in isolation by cold shouldering China, Iran, and Russia while the US's loyalty remains uncertain and doubtful. The ongoing US-British romance with India should be good enough reason for Pakistan and its armed forces to be on their guard.

    As far as India is concerned, ISI is a formidable enemy. Why should'nt it be? RAW is no match for ISI. That both India and the US know for sure. India has to come to terms with Pakistan if it wants to remain in peace and let Pakistan live in peace. It has to stop infiltration in Pakistan. It has to stop atrocities in Occupied Kashmir. It has to stop mudslinging on the ISI and the Pak Army.

    India has always been playing the role of a bully, trying to show off its perceived superiority over Pakistan. It has never been friendly with Pakistan during the past 60 years. It believes it can dictate to Pakistan and the Kashmiris.

    Being big in population, arms and land mass is not enough to make India invincible. It continues to build its conventional war capabilites. What for? It does'nt need conventional war arsenal to fight Pakistan or to protect itself against Pakistan. Nuclear capacity is good enough to keep Pakistan at bay and vice versa. India's war machine is aimed at expansionism in the region. There should be no doubt about it. It is bound to move its forces any where in the region to grab land and resources at first opportunity.

    Pakistan is left with no choice but to match its conventional war arsenal with India so as to maintain balance of power in the region.

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  14. Thank you Faisal,you have alraedy said what i was going to say.

    what Mr Mak Lodhi has said about himself, as Indian agent,at least he didnt hide his bage of Indian agaent LOL ,there is no about it,Mr Lodhi dont know what Indian Raw is doing in Balochistan ,karachi & in the entire tribal areas.Indian {so called} diplomatic offices in Afghanistan are monitoring & operating the sucide bombing squards in Pakistan.In Swat operation by Pakistan army last year ,the Indian comandoes with Indian currency & Indian wine were arrested, during the massive sucide blasting in Lahore & other parts of the country some Indian agents were arrested but I dont know why Govt of Pakistan is hiding them from the media.

    I think India,Israel & America have cooked the dirty plan to attack pakistan with the dummy excuse of Usama,Mulla Umar etc,many people think Usama is not alive ,but some like me think he can be the special guest or a prisoner in American Embassy in Islamabad or at the hide out of FBI.When ever America wants to bargain from Pakistan ,Afghanistan ,Iraq ,the fresh vedeo of usama comes out .They would make it as a lams excuse & invade Pakistan ,may be next year or before leaving from Afghanistan.May God help Pakistan.

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  15. Well no one ever talks well of an intelligence agency if its doing its job well because its a thankless job. It needs the highest level of Patriotism, devotion to duty and a unique sense of sacrifice. Therefore if the ISI is being demonised by the US and the Indians you must be sure that the ISI is bursting the US Indian Israeli bubble everytime they try to create it at a very large expense. “I love Bush he gave the world the concept of hitting anyone anywhere he thought his national interest was being compromised or could be compromised in the future.” Instead of getting into a long debate on right and wrong lets get to the bottom line and remind The US India Uk and Israel, Maybe the politicians may not have learnt any lessons from the past but Army the ISI and a large cross section of people surely have. Pakistan is not Iraq, or Afghanistan or some odd banana repblic like pourto Rico that can be taken for a ride and we ready know how to hit back where it hurts. Let me remind the Americans that they lose their right tocomplain about ISI keeping its links with the Taliban because, what the ISI may or may not have done in the last two years the US hads been doing for 8 years...” Now the US Embassy in Islamabad is recruiting Pakistanis from the media and academia [as consultants to USAID, to DoD, to CIA-linked think tanks, etc.] to beautify Washington's real face in the eyes of ordinary Pakistanis. But Pakistanis are not stupid. They know how Washington has been treating Pakistan as a de facto enemy state and deceiving Pakistan for the past eight years.” The case of Brahamdad Bukti in Dehli is no secret now so India should not have any regrets too. As soon as the name Wall street journal appears the Pakistanis smile because they know what it means.

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  16. I am in receipt of a mail by Syed Imam:

    ISI has been defended by Shahid Siddiqi but there are certain contradictions in the statement itself.
    ISI does not have to be apologetic about its operations in the International World vis-a vis its actions during the Cold War and against the operations carried out to protect and safeguard the interests of Pakistan.They have carried out this work in the most efficient way possible.and they continue to do so.few agencies in the world have the capacities and capabilities that our agency has.
    yet there are some reservations;in its focus the force does not take peace and prosperity of the people of Pakistan into perspective.its engineering internally especially in the democratic process;the internal law and order are found wanting.if Pakistan is to be a vibrant and progressive economy the ISI and all the agencies have to protect the prerequisite environment to achieve that.Anybody or any foreign agency which is disturbing the positive growth of our people is the biggest enemy of Pakistan.we have to create an environment where people would like to invest their money and future in their homeland.where their families can move around freely with utmost ease in the beautiful natural surroundings of our country.we should preserve the gifts bestowed by the Almighty on us.it is our duty to protect fragile ecosystems like the hunza valley;the forests which have been there for centuries,the beauty in the ruggedness of Baluchistan;the mineral wealth which exists and exploit it with great care;it will never be replenished.
    we have to protect our children,give them a land where they can move around freely and feel totally protected.every pakistani adult treats them with care.build their confidence and their abilities to achieve the highest goals they possibly can.Schools and Colleges should attract the student and make him feel that the Campus is a mini heaven.All facilities should be so that the student feels the urge and will to get there.we steal;we put black marks in the hereafter against ourselves for our kids and yet the environment they grow up in is so rotten,so exploitative.Every youngster wants to run away.if he needs good education he has to look towards other countries;even central asia.if he needs a positive work environment he looks to the Middle East,the West,Europe,Malaysia and now Australasia and we are proud of that.To protect our futures we invest in other economies.buy real estate or tinker with some small business.Our people and our youth are producing and investing in other economies;why not Pakistan?!
    We have a great land;we do not think of making Pakistanis a great people.
    If the agencies decide to clear the rot it could be done in days;bring out all the dossiers of the exploiters;the thugs ;the auctioneers of Pakistan.u have all the documents;do not use them for blackmail and contol;convict them and put them where they belong.the ex sec of the election commission put an exact figure on the false degrees;he knew about it,so did everybody else.The ISI knows all the wrong doings of the legislators,do a service to the 180 million and expose them,like the exposure of degrees.To have the info and keep it away from the people is depriving them of their rights.
    The ISI is a formidable institution and should start moving into the building of the Pakistani nation and should get rid of all elements which are working to dislodge the growth and rights of the people.let us make Pakistan a haven for growth and prosperity where people come to enjoy and invest;not a piranha camp which everybody wants to stay away from.

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