Shift on Pakistan spy unit
The Pakistani government announced Saturday that the country’s most powerful spy agency would be placed under civilian control, in a significant conciliatory move in advance of Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani’s visit to the United States.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency is known to have nurtured the Taliban movement in the 1990s, and critics allege that some elements within the agency retain links to Islamic militants.
Recently, the Afghan government accused the ISI of being behind an assassination attempt against Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Pakistan denied that it was involved.
The decision to place the ISI under the umbrella of the civilian Interior Ministry appears to be a major policy reversal. Until now, the 4-month-old Pakistani government had made no visible attempt to assert authority over Pakistan’s vast intelligence apparatus.
But it may be some time before it is clear whether the ISI rank and file considers itself accountable to civilian authority. Although the ISI has always had a civilian component, the chain of command is military.
The country’s current military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, took over that post late last year when Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, vacated it. Kayani, formerly the head of the ISI, has been taking steps to remove the military from the political arena.
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Special correspondent Zaidi reported from Islamabad and Times staff writer King from Istanbul, Turkey.
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