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| India-Pakistan |
| 'Political wing of ISI not yet terminated' |
| 2008-11-25 |
| A senior security official has contradicted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's statement that the political wing of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been closed, BBC reported on Monday. Qureshi had told reporters in Multan on Sunday that the ISI political wing had been disbanded. "The ISI is a precious national institution and wants to focus on counterterrorism activities," APP quoted him as saying. Without identifying the senior official, BBC said the ISI political wing exists, but has been made 'inactive'. The official said the staff of the department had not been given new assignments. ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha had focused on counterterrorism during his previous assignment as the director general of Military Operations, the BBC said, and is expected to keep terrorism his top priority in his new office. The ISI has been accused of several questionable political activities in the past, including the creation of an anti-Pakistan People's Party alliance in the 1988 general elections and uniting several factions of the Pakistan Muslim League to form a pro-Pervez Musharraf party in 2002. BBC said ISI officials admit that interfering with the political process had cost the agency the trust of the people. Transformation: The security official said the ISI was going through a transformation. "The agency wants to stay away from political issues," he said. "It wants to quit its past activities such as keeping an eye on politicians." |
| Posted by:Fred |