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| India-Pakistan | |
| Politicking for the Political Wing | |
| 2012-03-18 | |
| From Genesis to Scandal, here is a round up of the latest and the historic politicking revolving around the ISI's most (in)famous cell The Latest Claim As the Mehran Bank Scandal unfolds and evolves into the finer trappings of the Asghar Khan Case, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, out of all the joes in the federal cabinet, has come up with a curve ball. The ISI has always had a political wing, claims the man who has kept a very low profile throughout the PPP government's tenure, even during the tense moments of the 'state within the state' speech/debacle caused by Memogate's fluttering this last winter and even after the May 2, 2011's Operation Neptune Spear. Thus, when a discrete man like Mukhtar speaks, assume the orders are from high, high up, and the strategy is long, drawn out. The Latest Spin Does Mukhtar's posturing mean that Gilani and Zardari, comfortably uninvolved with the Mehran Bank hearings, want to clamp down on the ISI during its 'vulnerable' transition phase? Even though Mukhtar is the inheritor of a cabinet portfolio which has for long been jokingly referred to as the Ministry of Self-Defence, his timely reiteration has come with an interesting qualification: that the prime minister and the president will be informed about the agency's policies and requirements by newly-appointed ISI Director General Zahirul Islam ( Dawn March 12). This is critical. Does Mukhtar's posturing mean that the Gilani/Zardari, comfortably uninvolved with the Mehran Bank hearings, want to clamp down on the ISI during its 'vulnerable' transition phase (which it is already undergoing with full flow)? One ISI higher-up (who preferred to remain anonymous as the ISI does not allow attribution) I spoke to played Mukhtar's comments down with some confidence: "There is no political wing any more. That's the end of that. And as for the Defence Minister, well, with due respect, he has had to chew his own words in the past too."
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| Posted by:trailing wife |