| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| ISI out of control |
| 2006-07-12 |
| M B Naqvi writes from Karachi THESE were two or three incidents that were quite unrelated to each other. They were symptomatic. In the first, a posse of ISI officials picked up a retired brigadier, his daughter-in-law and his grandsons from their Islamabad home and took them to some place and beat them up. Another was far more serious and portentous. Headlines spoke of a big military operation in Dera Bugti in which the real target was Sardar Muhammad Akhar Khan Bugti. Twentyfive persons died. In yet another incident 23 Bugti tribesmen have been killed. The real target apparently remained the Bugti chief who happily has survived both attempts, though still somewhere in hiding. The question is: are there any similarities or common elements in these incidents? Insofar as the first one is concerned, it merely shows that how hollow and petty the senior officers of the ISI are. Apparently, a few boys came to blows on the playing field in Islamabad. The one who seems to have received more beating was the son of a senior officer in the secret service, who (the father) sent a squad of ISI personnel under a major who did what has been reported. It just shows the way ISI operates right in the heart of the capital, picking up a retired and decorated brigadier for a trivial reason and beating him and his progeny. The illegality and the high-handedness, not to mention the petty arrogance of the senior officers of the service, have been disclosed. If a secret service could do this to a retired army officer in Islamabad, how have they been behaving in other parts of the country where less privileged people live? It shows that the intelligence services are now becoming far too lawless. A lot of people complain that these secret agencies are becoming a state within the state. It would seem that they are justified. It underlines the feeling that the country lacks rule of law altogether where some people with authority think themselves to be above the law. This needs to be checked. There must be some accountability for secret services. This incident was indeed a small one, if also symbolic. Far more serious is a large number of "disappearances" of Pakistan citizens, not to speak of unexplained killing or harassment of journalists. In all these cases people were picked up by the intelligence services and have not been heard of since. No one knows how they are being treated or where they are being kept, with no contact with their families and relatives. It is commonly believed that intelligence agencies are doing this as a matter of policy. Which may be the reason why they think of themselves as being the real ruling authority with no check on them and thus they behaved the way they did in Islamabad or elsewhere. Who is responsible? Every country has intelligence agencies. Their secret services do not behave like this. What is so peculiar about Pakistani agencies? Peculiarities of Pakistan politics are responsible for it. How does this happen? There is nothing obscure about it. What the country has is a facade of democracy, not the real thing. Intelligence agencies behave arrogantly simply because they have unchecked power and unaudited money at their disposal for dubious purposes. They are not answerable to any elected authority. The regime is using them as the main political instrument. That is the reason. Since the government does not draw its strength from the people and the source of its power is the army, therefore, the ultimate responsibility is that of the Pakistan army as an institution. It can't be true that its intelligence services are manipulating the army or the country. Somebody has to be held responsible. The tail does not wag the dog. This consistent pattern of "disappearances" has reduced Pakistan to a Banana Republic. In the Banana Republics of Latin America, dictatorships were working in close cooperation with the US. Indeed the US was playing one against the other all the time and selling arms to combatants in various nationalistic wars. It does look as if Pakistan has also acquired some of the characteristics of the politics of those Banana Republics. As for the specific incident of the attack on the Bugtis, it was a shameful act, targeting an individual who has not been adjudged guilty of some heinous crime. It becomes a murder attempt. It could not have been done by any military unit on its own; here the responsibility will have to travel upward. A state cannot behave like a murderer. Nor does a responsible state mount military operations against its own people. We know what happened in East Pakistan in 1971. It is playing with fire. True, Balochistan may be geographically big but its population is only a 5 per cent. True also, Balochistan is not East Pakistan. But Balochistan has as developed a nationalism such as East Pakistanis did not have. Who is Bugti? He is not a mere individual. He is now a symbol of Baloch nationalism and represents its honour. This is a war between Islamabad and Balochistan Liberation Army. No matter which side kills how many, it will still be Pakistanis being killed. This is madness and the healing touch of statesmanship is needed. The Pakistan government cannot behave like Herr Olmert or Sharon have been toward the Palestinians. Military operations within the country simply show political bankruptcy and foolishness. As it happens, the military leadership has unwittingly started two or three insurgencies that are going on in the country. BLA's war on Islamabad's alleged exploitation of Balochistan resources is one. The Pakistan army, 80,000 of them, are supposed to be engaged in flushing out foreign militants, supposedly linked to al-Qaeda. Then Pakistan has been fighting and negotiating with the Taliban. In addition there are the political connections: those who created the Taliban and are its progenitors are governing the Frontier and Balochistan provinces. Insofar as the various Agencies of FATA are concerned, the country should be told as to who precisely is being punished. Who are the criminals targeting the Army and the various paramilitaries? Are there militants other than al-Qaeda and Taliban? The word "miscreants" have been used. Sometimes Taliban have executed robbers and criminals. What kind of criminals were they? There is another dimension that has grown and grown. It is the sectarian polarisation. The Shia-Sunni tension and clashes in the Frontier areas and in the rest of the country have grown into a serious political threat to Pakistan. Now a new one has been added: It is between the Barelvis and Deobandis. The question is: how long can the army alone handle NWFP's FATA and Balochistan? All said and done, the army is an instrument for defending a place or attacking others. Peacemaking is not done by the armies; it is done by politicians. Are there any politicians in this country who are trying to make peace? While we are on the subject, it is necessary to ask what is the precise nature of relationship today between Islamabad and the Taliban. Are they trying to make up or are they at war with each other? Have Taliban finally gone out of control and severed contact with the Islamabad? Or is a rapprochement being negotiated? MB Naqvi is a leading columist in Pakistan. |
| Posted by:john |