Archive for ISI

In Defence of the ISI

December 20, 2009 at 1:14 pm · Filed under ISI ·Tagged , , , ,

by Eric Margolis

Soon after the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban government in 2001, I predicted that Taliban resistance would resume in four years.

My fellow pundits, who were cock-a-hoop over the US military victory over a bunch of lightly-armed medieval tribesmen, became drunk on old-fashioned imperial triumphalism, and denounced me as “crazy,” or worse. But most of them had never been to Afghanistan and knew nothing about the Pashtun tribal people. I had covered the struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980’s and was well aware of the leisurely pace of warfare favored by Pashtun warriors.

“Do not stay in Afghanistan,” I warned in a 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times. The longer foreign forces remained in Afghanistan, the more the tribes would fight against their continued presence.

Taliban resumed fighting in 2005. Now, as resistance to the US-led occupation of Afghanistan has intensified, the increasingly frustrated Bush administration is venting its anger against Pakistan and its military intelligence agency, ISI.

The White House just leaked claims ISI is in cahoots with pro-Taliban groups in Pakistan’s tribal agency along the Afghan border and warns them of impending US attacks.

The New York Times, which allowed the Bush administration to use it as a mouthpiece for Iraq War propaganda, dutifully featured the leaks about ISI on front page.

Other administration officials have been claiming that ISI may even be hiding Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaida leaders.

The Bush administration claims that CIA had electronic intercepts proving ISI was behind the bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul.

India and Afghanistan echoed this charge. No hard evidence though was ever produced, but the US media has been lustily condemning Pakistan for pretending to be an ally of the US while acting like an enemy.

During a visit to the US by Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister, President Bush angrily asked, Yousuf Gilani, “who’s in charge of ISI?” An interesting question, since all recent ISI director generals have been vetted and pre-approved by Washington.

I was one of the first western journalists invited into ISI HQ in 1986.

ISI’s then director general, the fierce Lt. General Akhtar Abdul Rahman, personally briefed me on Pakistan’s secret role in fighting Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

ISI’s “boys” provided communications, logistics, training, heavy weapons, and direction in the Afghan War. I kept ISI’s role in Afghanistan a secret until the war ended in 1989.

ISI was primarily responsible for the victory over the Soviets, which hastened the collapse of the USSR. At war’s end, Gen. Akhtar and Pakistan’s leader, Zia ul Haq, both died in a sabotaged C-130 transport aircraft.

Unfortunately, most Pakistanis blame the United States for this assassination, though the real malefactors have never been identified and the investigation long ago shelved. On my subsequent trips to Pakistan I was routinely briefed by succeeding ISI chiefs, and joined ISI officers in the field, sometimes under fire.

ISI, which reports to Pakistan’s military and the prime minister, is accused of meddling in Pakistani politics. The late Benazir Bhutto, who often was thwarted and vexed by Pakistan’s spooks, always playfully scolded me, “you and your beloved generals at ISI.”

But before Gen. Musharraf took over as military dictator, ISI was the third world’s most efficient, professional intelligence agency. It still defends Pakistan against internal and external subversion by India’s powerful spy agency, RAW, and by Iran.

ISI works closely with CIA and the Pentagon and was primarily responsible for the rapid ouster of Taliban from power in 2001. But ISI also must serve Pakistan’s interests which are often not identical to Washington’s, and sometimes in conflict.

ISI was long and deeply involved in supporting the uprising by Kashmiri Muslims against Indian rule, and has been accused by India of abetting groups that have committed bombings and aircraft hijackings inside India, including a wave of terrorist bombings against civilians in Bangalore and Gujarat over recently weeks.

For its part, India’s powerful intelligence service, RAW, has mounted bombing and shooting attacks inside Pakistan.

The reason it is often difficult to tell whether Pakistan is friend or foe is because Washington has been forcing Pakistan’s government, military and intelligence services into supporting the US-led war in Afghanistan and in the past, in rounding up and torturing opponents of Pakistan’s military dictatorship.

Pakistan was forced to bend to Washington’s will through a combination of over $11 billion in payments and threats of war if Pakistan did not comply. The ongoing prosecution of the US-led war in Afghanistan depends entirely on Pakistan’s provision of bases and troops.

While Pakistan’s government, military and intelligence services were forced to follow Washington’s strategic plans, 90% of Pakistan’s people bitterly oppose these policies. President-dictator Musharraf was caught between the anger of Washington and his own angry people who branded him an American stooge. Small wonder Pakistan’s leadership is so often accused of playing a double game.

The last ISI Director General I knew was the tough, highly capable Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmad. He was purged by Musharraf because Washington felt Mahmood was insufficiently responsive to US interests. Ever since 2001, ensuing ISI directors were all pre-approved by Washington. All senior ISI veterans deemed “Islamist” or too nationalistic by Washington were purged at Washington’s demand, leaving ISI’s upper ranks top-heavy with too many yes-men and paper-passers. Even so, there is strong opposition inside ISI and the military to Washington’s bribing and arm-twisting the subservient Musharraf dictatorship into waging war against fellow Pakistanis and gravely damaging Pakistan’s national interests.

After coming of the new civilian set up under Mr. Zardari as the new President, and Mr. Gilani, the prime minister, for most of the Pakistanis Pakistani people, there seems to be hardly any change in this policy. ISI’s primary duty is defending Pakistan, not promote US interests.

Pashtun tribesmen on the border sympathizing with their fellow Taliban Pashtun in Afghanistan are Pakistanis. Many, like the legendary Jalaluddin Haqqani, are old US allies and “freedom fighters” from the 1980’s. When the US and its western allies finally abandon Afghanistan, as they will inevitably do one day, Pakistan must go on living with its rambunctious tribals. Violence and uprisings in these tribal areas are not caused by “terrorism,” as Washington and Musharraf falsely claimed. They directly result from the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and Washington’s forcing the regimes to attack theirown people. ISI is trying to restrain pro-Taliban Pashtun tribesmen while dealing with growing US attacks into Pakistan that threaten a wider war. India, Pakistan’s bitter foe, has an army of agents in Afghanistan and is arming, backing and financing the Karzai puppet regime in Kabul in hopes of turning Afghanistan into a protectorate. Pakistan’s historic strategic interests in Afghanistan have been undermined by the US occupation.

Now, the US and India are trying to eliminate Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. ISI, many of whose officers are Pashtun, has every right to warn Pakistani citizens of impending US air attacks that kill large numbers of civilians. But ISI also has another vital mission. Preventing Pakistan’s Pashtun, 15-20% of the population of 165 million, from rekindling the old “Greater Pashtunistan” movement calling for union of the Pashtun tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan into a new Pashtun nation.

The Pashtun have never recognized the Durand Line (today’s Pakistan-Afghan border) drawn by British imperialists to sunder the world’s largest tribal people. Greater Pashtunistan would tear apart Pakistan and invite Indian military intervention. Washington’s bull-in-a-china shop behavior pays no heeds to these realities. Instead, Washington demonizes faithful old allies ISI and Pakistan while supporting Afghanistan’s Communists and drug dealers, and allowing India to stir the Afghan pot – all for the sake of new energy pipelines. As Henry Kissinger cynically noted, being America’s ally is more dangerous than being its enemy.

Eric Margolis, contributing foreign editor for Sun National Media Canada, is the author of War at the Top of the World..

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ISI Lt Colonel Arrests 4 in Kashmir to Settle a Personal Dispute

December 12, 2009 at 9:14 am · Filed under Human Rights, ISI ·Tagged ,

It is common in Pakistan for the ISI personnel to settle their personal scores using their official clout.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) based in HK has reported that four young men have been illegally arrested, detained and tortured by ISI officials because of a minor
personal dispute.

The first victim was allegedly taken hostage by an ISI colonel so that his uncle would pay a debt, and the other three were friends of the victim who inquired about him at the local police station. Three of the young men are still being held incommunicado and
according to the fourth, who was released after six days, they have
all been badly tortured by officials in a secluded place. The released victim is in ill health and has been warned against publicising the details of his friends’ capture by the perpetrators. Although civilians in Muzaffarabad have held protest rallies, no action has yet been taken by the authorities.

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CIA Ignored ISI Support for Lashkare Taiba

November 28, 2009 at 8:02 am · Filed under CIA, ISI, Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , , , ,

 In a new book about his years fighting terrorism, former French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere casts fresh light on those early years after 9/11. At the time, he says, the Bush administration was so keen to get Pakistan’s help in defeating al Qaeda that it was willing to turn a blind eye to Pakistani support for militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, nurtured by the ISI agency to fight India in Kashmir. 

Basing his information on testimony given by jailed Frenchman Willy Brigitte, who spent 2-1/2 months in a Lashkar training camp in 2001/2002, he writes that the Pakistan Army once ran those camps, with the apparent knowledge of the CIA.  

The instructors in the camp in Pakistan’s Punjab province were soldiers on detachment, he says, and the army dropped supplies by helicopter. Brigitte’s handler, he says, appeared to have been a senior army officer who was treated deferentially by other soldiers. 

CIA officers even inspected the camp four times, he writes, to make sure that Pakistan was keeping to a promise that only Pakistani fighters would be trained there. Foreigners like Brigitte were tipped off in advance and told to hide up in the hills to avoid being caught.

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Is the ISI Targeting the Salarzai Tribe?

October 8, 2009 at 2:46 pm · Filed under ISI, Talibanization ·Tagged , ,

by Farhat Taj

I was in Pakistan in August and had the opportunity to meet the leaders of the anti-Taliban lashkar (volunteer army) of Bajaur’s Salarzai tribe. I am honoured that upon my request they travelled from Bajaur to meet me in Nowshehra and shared with me information about their anti-Taliban struggle. I am not mentioning their names for reasons of their security.

The area of the Salarzai tribe is on the border with Afghanistan. The tribe have collectively decided that there won’t be any Taliban on their soil. The Taliban have been driven out of the Salarzai area. The Salarzai lashkar, mostly made up of labourers and peasants, has successfully kept the Salazai area free of the Taliban. Tens of Salarzail lashkar leaders have been target-killed. The Salarzai leaders informed me they hold the ISI responsible for the targeted killings.

“The Taliban are just a façade. The real force is the ISI punishing us for our anti-Taliban struggle,” said one of the leaders. The leaders said that Mamond Taliban headquarters used to be in Damadola, which is a few kilometres from the FC fort in Bajaur.

The Mamond Taliban used to bomb Salarzai villages. The Salarzai tribal elders requested the Political Agent, the authorities of the FC and the Pakistani army to stop the Mamond Taliban. None of these offered any help.

Finally the Salarzai lashkar took positions on the mountains and for two hours heavily bombarded the surrounding villages of the Mamond Taliban. At that point the political agent and a colonel of the army asked the Salarzai lashkar to stop the bombing. They gave the same old logic: who will fight the NATO forces from across the Afghan border if you eliminate the Taliban?

Following such encounters with the state authorities, the Salarzais decided to fire at any forces entering their area: be it the Taliban, Al Qaida, the army or the US or NATO. The Salarzais have taken up positions all over the area and are always on guard.

The leaders informed me that there is a set pattern of target-killing of anti-Taliban Salarzai leader. Before each targeted killing all telephone links with the far-flung Salarzai area are cut off. The targeted killing takes place in 24 to 48 hours later. The telephone links are restored a couple of days after the assassinated leader has been buried.

Our area is too far from the rest of Pakistan and our agony means nothing to fellow-Pakistanis. The Pakistani media never ever tries to probe into the targeted killings,” said one of the Salarzai leaders. All telephone lines to the Salarzia area were dead the day I was meeting with the leaders.  The same day they informed me on telephone that Malik Munasib Khan, the spokesman of the Salarzai lashkar, had been killed. They held the ISI responsible for his killing.

The Salarzai leaders also informed me that last year the army deliberately fired at those villages in Bajaur that were known to be staunchly anti-Taliban. They said one of their colleagues called Maj Gen Alam Khattak to ask him to stop the bombing of his village. “Major General Sahib! I will start a vendetta with you if you did not halt the bombing of my village immediately. I will make sure to kill you and your family at the first available opportunity,” they quoted one of their colleagues as saying.

The major general asked him to meet Col Sajjad who was bombing the anti-Taliban villages from his base in Timergara. That colleague saw a big Bajaur map affixed on the wall in the office of Col Sajjad. The map had several encircled villages. Col Sajjad informed him that the map had been handed over to him by his commanders with the order to bomb all the encircled villages. “Our colleague’s blood boiled with anger: none of the villages had Taliban in them,” said the Salarzai leaders. The villages included Butmali, Danqul, Attkay, Matasha, Baro, Raghjan and Nazkai. On the other hand, those Salarzai villages that had Taliban were not marked on the map or bombed by the army. Such villages are Pashat, Banda, Malasyed, Darra and Gundai.

The reason I write this piece is not to defame the institution of the Pakistani army, which I hold in high esteem. I just wish to request the President of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the DG of the ISI to pay attention to the complaints of the Salarzais and resolve their problems to the satisfaction of the tribe. The Salarzai leaders categorically told me they are loyal Pakistanis, but they are not ready to let the peace of their area be destroyed for the power games of the intelligence agencies.

The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy.

Email: bergen34@yahoo.com

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Maulana Masood Azhar

September 16, 2009 at 1:06 pm · Filed under ISI, Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , ,

maulana_masood_azhar_200909Born in 1968 to the owners of a dairy and poultry farm in Bahawalpur, he studied in Karachi’s Binoria seminary, where he became involved with the Harkat-ul-Ansar. He travelled to Srinagar in early 1994 and organised terrorist activities in Kashmir. Subsequently arrested, he was set free in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC-814). He then launched the Jaish-e-Mohammed and was accused of masterminding several attacks in India, including the one on Parliament in December 2001. India has repeatedly demanded Masood’s extradition, but Islamabad says his whereabouts are unknown. Following 26/11, he abandoned his Bahawalpur headquarters, though reports don’t rule out the possibility of his being in an ISI safehouse. Such stories testify to his proximity to the state.

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ISI Conspiracies

August 29, 2009 at 9:23 am · Filed under ISI, Politics of Pakistan ·Tagged , , ,

On Aug 23 09, Sawal Yeh Hai with Dr. Danish, a TV talk show unveiled the truth about some of the conspiracies in Pakistan’s history.

Featuring Brigadier (R) Imtiaz aka Billa (Ex DG IB ) Ghulam Mustafa Khar (Former Gov Punjab) and Lt. Gen (r) Naseer Akhtar who was Corp Commander Karachi in 1992, the conspiracies exposed included:

IJI Conspiracy: Political party IJI was created by ISI to promote Left Wing parties and to bring Nawaz Sharif as a leader to counter Benazir Bhutto and her Right wing party PPP and its allies.

Khar Conspiracy: Ghulam Mustafa Khar living in exile in London at Seth Abid’s apartment (alleged gold and drugs smuggler), where Mustafa Khar conspired with Indian RAW to eliminate top Pakistani Military leadership in a terror attack when Chief of Army Staff and all Core Commanders present at GHQ in a conference.  This conspiracy was busted later on and all involved were arrested. Mustafa Khar got immunity from Benazir Bhutto’s government!??

Jinnahpur Conspiracy: The confessional statements by Brig (R) Imriaz and Gen (R) Naseer Akhtar finally unfolds (after 17 years) the truth in accusations on MQM regarding their attempt to carve out a separate homeland for Muhajirs called Jinnahpur. The statements by these two pivotal characters involved in the operation against MQM in 1992, proved that the operation was wrong and baseless which was launched by Nawaz Sharif Government against MQM and resulted in genocide of more than 15000 innocent Pakistanis.

Nuclear conspiracy:  A person named Rafiq Munshi, an engineer at KANOP, recruited by CIA to plant agents in Pakistan nuclear assets and collect information about Pakistan’s Nuclear program and to finally conduct technical sabotage. This conspiracy was busted and Rafiq Munshi was arrested. Later on Benazir Bhutto’s government released him and hired him as Political Advisor. DUA BEFORE OPENING OF DISCO IN TURKEY FOR BARAKA

The Recent, Revelation about Parliamentarian of Punjab Mustapha Khar from the mouth of Ex-ISI and IB officer Brigadier Imtiaz retired, and it is very interesting. A Controversy has been generated that who is telling the Truth and who is not . Brig Imtiaz Ex –ISI officer or the Parliamentarian of Punjab Mr. Mustapha Khar.

 

Brig Imtiaz mentions that Khar had Planned to Blow GHQ with all the top officers in conspiring with some officers of Pakistan Army, who were court Martialled and thrown out of the Army. 

 

Mustapha Khar who according to Brig Imtiaz had links with RAW, the Indian counterpart of ISI.  According to Brig Imtiaz had supplied the weapons and Bombs to these officers after his visits to India.

 

In My Opinion Brig Imtiaz is telling the Truth as a Mustapha Khar who does not care about his Kith and kin and is responsible for Kicking out a Serving chief like the Honest Pashtun, Gen Gul Hassan.  Who never could own a house, as he could not afford one, as he was such an honest person and he never had a personnel car in his possession.  He kicked him out of Service because he was Pashtuns and fed this into ear of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto by spewing hatred against Pashtuns.

 

He actually died Broke and without Money in an Armored Corps mess in Rawalpindi in 2004.  Just a Few Yards from Gen Aslam Begs ( Army Chief and Head ) Castle , the Army Chief who took after Gen Zia After Being involved Red handed in His C-130 Crash as you I may call it, the same man who ordered an Operation Midnight Jackal .

 

Midnight Jackal operation was done with the Help of Brig Imtiaz to topple , Benezir Bhutto the Legitimate Elected  Peoples Leader of Pakistan.  She was an elected and brilliant representative of the People of Pakistan.

 

Khar had also shown A Revolver Gun to Chief of Pakistan Army, Gen Gul Hassan and abducted him on Gun Point in his Car , to force him to resign as Gul Hassan Himself mentioned it in his own Book about his Life History.

 

Bhutto In Fact had made Himself, weak by himself uprooting democratically Elected Pashtun ANP Led governments In NWFP and Balauchistan. That Mistake cost him his Life and government. As Jammat Islami walked into the Power Vacuum created in NWFP and Balauchistan.

 

Latter a Potent Smear Campaign was launched against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto by these same pro-Establishment Jammat Islami, Religious political parties whom were on Pay role of the ISI as Brig Imtiaz claimed it to eliminate PPP for Ever.

 

So he was the one who the paved way for Gen Zia ul Haq. A man who destroyed Pakistan with Drugs, Weapons, and Religious Hate and Sectarianism. In Fact a CIA / Mossad Agent, who wanted to Destabilize Pakistan after going out of the way to serve American and Israeli Interests ?

 

When today one, Muslim is cutting another Muslims throat when they are both Muslims. Gen Zia promoted Religious hate Parties like Sipah Sahaba, who now have broken down to Lashker Taiba and Lashker Jhangvi, The banned terrorist parties  and are part of Tehrik Taliban Pakistan too nowadays and received the money from ISI and IB to Form the IJI.  

 

In fact in the list given by Gen Asad Durrani ISI Chief at that time with an Affidavit submitted in Supreme court of Pakistan, Rs 50 Lakhs were given to small Religious parties, who are Sipah Sahaba etc formed on Behest of CIA and Mossad and Raw.

 

These Small parties are same Sipah Sahaba and likes of such Hate Mongering by these same religious parties. The Same Religious Parties who formed IJI with Nawaz Shareef and even today one of  the Sipah Sahaba leader Allama Sajid Mir is a sitting senator with PML-N.

 

 Even Jammat Islami who Trumpets as Moral Religious Force of Pakistan took 50 lakhs for being part of IJI, all these, Anti PPP parties who were formed as an IJI Alliance to grab control of Punjab from PPP.  The Present Nawaz Shareef Alliance PML-N is out come of that IJI.

 

JUI has the same old story that, s Getting of Free Plots from GHQ, Shaheed officers Quota is very famous too for corruption.  These parties had formed the 17th Amendment that gave powers to make laws without the parliament input . Musharaff was in power because of these Same Religious Parties. 

 

All this to make PPP Government fail, but what nobody mentions is another Fact? . That is it because PPP is the true voice of People of Pakistan and it had great leaders Like Zulfiqar Bhutto and Benezir Bhutto who understood pulse of people of Pakistan.

 

All this was done to further the rule of Gen Zia, who had reportedly massacred the Poor Muslim Palestinians in Jordon in the Famous Black September 1968 operation. When he massacred thousands, of Palestinians, to please, the Zionists and Israelis and be Blue eyed Boy of CIA and Mossad and confirm himself as their Agent in Establishment

 

In Fact Zia was in partnership with Mossad Israeli Agency when he, Used the Israeli weapons to Fight the Afghan Jihad with Russia. As George Crile, mentions in His Book the Operation cyclone” of CIA.  The Star of David was conveniently erased on weapons Crates, so that Pakistani people would not know it.

 

It means Mustapha Khar had nod of these Mossad and Indian Raw and CIA too when he removed a Pretty honest general like Gul Hassan and Installed a CIA Mossad agent like Gen Zia. Ul Haq and Agent of CIA,  and Mossad.

 

IN Fact he is the one who spread hate against the Pashtuns and has been very active in Hate Mongering and promoting hate against Pashtuns who are loyal subjects of Pakistan and saved many time Pakistan from Disasters in n1948 , 1965 and Afghan Jihad etc. 

 

He was very vocal for Kalabagh Dam and did not care for even feelings of three provinces apart from Punjab.  He being Politicians did not care even for the Ordinances passed in three out of four Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan against Kalabagh Dam.

 

He was instrumental in Hampering Progress of Pakistan development. His Niece Hina Rabbani Khar is another person who wanted to destroy Inter-provincial harmony. She was wisely removed from NFC award recently.  

 

He was saved from conviction when ISI had proven him as a Traitor because of Being a Punjabi and friend of Gen Gul Hameed and the GHQ who failed to raise any case in Judiciary against him even he was Branded a Traitor.  As in Pakistan a Punjabi, either in Uniform or without uniform are rarely punished for Treason. Or Being a Traitor  This Tradition is set for Non Punjabis only Like Balauchs, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Mohajir,s  only.

 

If Pakistan had left the Affairs of Afghanistan like that Before as Wali Khan had proposed and Gen Zia had not occurred, we would not have been in trouble like we are now. When our so-called friends USA for whom we sacrificed 1.5 million people, in Afghan Jihad, and defeated Russian are calling us Al-Qaeda and terrorism supporters while we are not.

 

When our Peaceful and Innocent citizen s Like the Students belonging to NWFP languishing in Max –security jail in UK with Murders and terrorists when they are innocent and no Charges are brought against them. Same is the case with Dr. Afia Siddique a PHD Doctor Languishing is US jails without a Fair Trial.

 

These people have turned ordinary and Innocent Pakistanis into Terrorists and Pakistanis are suffering with Dishonorable Naked strip-searches when one reaches UK Airports and US as if we are criminals.  The same people who defeated the enemy of USA are treated like Dirt by it.  

 

Our whole country is now been Surrendered to Zionists, the CIA and the American Establishment by likes of these people are enjoying Service Like 5 Air Bases in Pakistan for Drones and Deaths of Our Soldiers For free .  While we are killing, our own Pashtun citizens to protect the American and its Economic interests of Great Game wars , which it cannot sustain without our help. While we are not even given money to salvage, our economy as America dishes to Egypt and Israel.

 

Where America and NATO has miserably failed in front of Taliban, Pakistan is successful here. America Should Leave us or behave like a friend.  As this America with intervention in our politics has proved American is Pro Dictator Country Rather then Freedom loving Pro-Democratic Country. It feed lies to its own US people when it says that it Favors Democracy.

 

 

 

Thanking you in Anticipation from ,   Dr. Khurrum Shaukat Yusafzai.
Khurrumuk@gmail.com

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32 Brigadiers Retired in the ISI

August 20, 2009 at 12:40 pm · Filed under ISI ·Tagged

According to Muhammad Saleh Zaafir, the ISI is being restructured.

owl_20090316The effort that is already underway would bring energetic and more dedicated personnel into the fold of the agency who could live up to the challenges of the modern age.

As part of the endeavour 32 officers of brigadier and colonel ranks have been retired from the ISI and it is expected that other officers who have not proved their utility would be shown the door further down the line in the months to come. The outfit is also being trimmed in the manner the Army was restructured three years ago without compromising its skill to defend the motherland.

According to Saleh Zafar, the ISI was expanded in recent years out of proportion, especially the officers who on the verge of superannuation joined the agency and subsequently secured agreement to continue with it. The practice expanded the agency in terms of number without enhancing its tangible capacity. Keeping in view the situation, various departments of the agency were asked to offer their comments about the working of the officers who had attained the superannuation and were still working with it but without putting in anything useful with regard to the assignments given to them. Such officers were a burden on the organisation and ultimately it was decided that such officers should be asked to relinquish their duties forthwith, the sources added.

The retrenchment process in the ISI would continue for at least two more years but it would be carried out in an extremely careful manner so that the working of the agency did not suffer in any way.

The incumbent leadership of the armed forces and the agency are fully cognizant of the quality of the force and particularly the requirements of the men on sensitive jobs.

To a question the sources brushed aside any impression about the involvement of any pressure from any side while dealing with the process of streamlining the working of the agency. “No-one could think in terms of exerting pressure with the incumbent command of the armed forces,” the sources said.

How ISI Works?

Founded in 1948 by a British army officer, Major General William Cawthorne, the ISI ballooned in the 1980s when the CIA entrusted it with billions of dollars of assistance for mujahideen rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

It is thought to have 10,000 employees, three-quarters of whom are serving army officers on secondments from other units. The remainder is a mix of civilians and retired officers.

Internally the ISI is divided into lettered sections, the most notorious of which is the S wing, which manages the relationship with Islamist militant groups.

The C wing liaises with foreign intelligence services, and includes a CIA-funded counter-terrorism centre. Quite often, western spies complain, the C wing says one thing while the S does another.

Theoretically the ISI reports to the Pakistani PM. In reality it answers to the army chief. It is much more powerful than Pakistan’s other spy outfits, Military Intelligence (MI) and the civilian Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Headquarters

Its entrance is suitably discreet: a single barrier near a small hospital off a busy Islamabad highway. Bougainvillea spills over long walls with barbed wire; a plain-clothes man packing a pistol questions visitors. Further along, soldiers emerge to check for bombs.

Then a giant electric gate slides back to reveal a sleek grey building. With one difference: nothing is signposted.

Welcome to the headquarters of the ISI Directorate, Pakistan’s premier spy agency. Powerful and notorious in equal measure, for decades the ISI has operated behind a dense veil of secrecy, impervious to allegations of election rigging, terrorist training, abduction and assassination. Many Pakistanis call it the “state within a state”.

Coming out of the Cold

Now, though, the ISI is coming in from the cold. Over the past year the agency has invited a stream of western journalists into its swish, modern nerve centre.

Over tea and PowerPoint briefings, spies give details of some of Pakistan’s most sensitive issues – the Taliban insurgency, the hunt for al-Qaida, the troubled relationship with India.

“We’ve started to open up a little,” said an ISI official authorised to speak to the press. “In the past, irrespective of whether we did something, we were getting blamed for it. Now we want to reach out and get our point of view across.”

Yet rehabilitating the ISI’s image would tax the most inventive spin doctor. For 30 years its covert operations have been at the sharp end of Pakistani policy, supporting Islamist extremists fighting Indian soldiers in Kashmir, and boosting the Taliban to power in Afghanistan.

At home the agency is viewed with awe and dread. It is the eyes and ears of military power, with huge phone and email monitoring capability and a wide network of informers.

Some Pakistanis refer to its agents – who often wear white shalwar kameez – as “the angels”. Under President Musharraf they abducted hundreds of people, some of whom were allegedly tortured. Recently, though, it has been the agency’s turn to be on the receiving end.

In May 2009, suicide bombers hit an ISI office in Lahore, killing a colonel; in the tribal areas militants have killed 57 agents and wounded 86. Security is tight at the Islamabad headquarters, where the ISI has asked its next-door neighbour – the city authority – to move to another neighbourhood.

Influencing the local press has always been part of ISI operations, usually through bribes, blandishments or intimidation. But it rarely reached out to the foreign press, until now.

“This is totally unprecedented,” said Stephen Cohen, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution policy research organisation in Washington. “It seems to be part of a new openness in the military. They’re worried about caricatures of Pakistan, especially in the foreign press, such as people saying the country is going to break up in three months.”

The briefings, which take place about once a week, belie the agency’s gritty image. Reporters are shepherded into a wood-panelled conference room with soft armchairs, a long table and a wall-mounted screen.

Officials in business suits, who could pass for middle management in any company, introduce themselves without full name or job title.

During the interview liveried servants ferry in trays of tea and fried snacks, served on ISI crockery. Smoking is allowed.

Officials speak openly, but journalists expecting them to gush state secrets may be disappointed. Every talk is carefully vetted in advance. “We’re opening up but it’s not a total glasnost,” said the unofficial spokesman.

The ajar-door policy got off to a rocky start last year when the newly appointed ISI chief, Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha, told Der Spiegel that the Taliban had a right to “freedom of opinion”. The agency later said he misspoke. Now, though, it is paying dividends. Two weeks ago a front page lead in the New York Times, highlighting Pakistani concerns with the US military surge in Afghanistan, was sourced from an ISI briefing.

The agency was pleased. “That was the first time [the journalist] carried both sides of the argument,” said the ISI official. “I think we are getting there.”

The bolder media policy is part of a wider global trend. The CIA and MI6 have always maintained relationships with selected journalists, an engagement whose importance has increased amid the furore over torture and abduction allegations.

Mumbai Attacks

For journalists, the challenge is to sift fact from propaganda. In a recent briefing to the Guardian, ISI officials suggested Indian officials had orchestrated last November’s Mumbai attacks. The Indians wanted to cover up an investigation into Hindu extremism, they said.

Days later Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman from the massacre, told an Indian court how he had been trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani jihadi outfit with links to the ISI.

In the briefing the ISI also accused New Delhi of supplying arms and explosives to the Pakistan Taliban, even though the Taliban has killed Indians inside Afghanistan.

“Circles within circles,” said an ISI official when asked to explain the apparent contradictions. “It makes an excellent plot for a Le Carré novel.”

Western officials quietly support some ISI contentions, such as covert Indian support for nationalist rebels in Baluchistan. But more than anything the briefings reveal how the ISI’s world view is framed by its decades-old enmity with India.

“They tell you a lot about themselves even when they don’t know it,” said Bruce Riedel, a retired CIA official, Obama adviser and trenchant ISI critic. The contradiction at the heart of agency policy, he said, is its support for Islamist militants: “That can’t be removed by clever briefings.”

Still, the old cliches about the spy collective being a “state within a state” or a “rogue agency” are out of date. These days it is said to be firmly in the grip of the army chief, who previously ran the agency for three years.

But the new openness does underscore the country’s fragile balance of power. Two weeks ago The Hindu reported that the ISI’s Pasha had invited Indian diplomats to deal with him directly, bypassing President Asif Ali Zardari’s government.

Formally, Zardari has a lot of power. But on the ground he’s not too strong right now.

Despite its new openness, the ISI remains in the shadows. One question stands out: as well as improving its image, is it ready to really change its stripes? At headquarters, nobody can give a straight answer. Circles within circles, as they say.

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Crackdown on Baloch Students to Obtain Confessions

August 5, 2009 at 7:19 am · Filed under Human Rights, ISI ·Tagged , , , ,

After Pakistans accusation of Indian involvement in subversive
activities with the nationalist movement in Balochistan province, the
law enforcement agencies reacted heavily against the students of the
province who have sympathies with nationalist movement. The
Para-military forces, particularly, the frontier constabulary (FC)
started arresting people, keeping them in incommunicado in unknown places. There are reports of arrests of dozens of young persons, but due to poor communication problems, the AHRC was not able to collect all the details. Some cases are as follows:

ClipAn activist of the Baloch Student Organisation-BSO (Azaad), Mr Sami
Baloch, was abducted at midnight of July 19 and 20. He was returning
home from a tuition center near the Satellite Town of Quetta. He was
abducted by Frontier Constabulary, a Para- military force of the
Pakistani Army. Mr. Sami Baloch is a M.A. student in Geology in
Balochistan University and a member of the organizing body of BSO
(Azaad) Balochistan University unit. His whereabouts are still
unknown and it is feared that he is undergoing brutal torture in a
Pakistani army camp.

In another case, Pakistani intelligence agencies allegedly abducted
another Baloch resident. This occurred in front of the Huddah
district jail in Quetta, on July 16, 2009. According to information received from his family, Fazal Khan Marri, 25, went to visit one of his relatives in the Hudda jail. As he came out of the main gate of the prison, he was abducted by personnel from the Pakistani intelligence agencies in a jeep with no registration number. Fazal Khan Marri is a resident of New Kahan . He is a daily wage earner and the father
of two children.

Mr Fazal Baloch,19, son of Sher Muhammad, a student at Bolan
University in the Commerce Faculty was arrested on 3rd July 2009 by FC from Luc Pas, Quetta. Fazal Baloch, a 19 year old resident of
Proom village, Punjgur district, was traveling to Punjgur by bus. He
also was a member of B.S.O Azaad. According to his father, after his
son was arrested, he was tortured. His physical and mental condition
remains serious. After the torture he was admitted to the Civil
Hospital for two days after which he was handed over to the Crime
Branch of anti terrorist force (A.T.F.) from Quetta. In the hospital he told to his relatives that he was forced to confess that India is funding Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

Mr Iqbal Baloch, 21, a student of Khuzdar College, Khuzdar district,
was arrested by frontier constabulary (FC) on 18 July, 2009. His
whereabouts are unknown. The district police are denying his arrest.

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Pakistan, especially the Balochistan province, to stop the arrest of students and young people and the keeping of them in incommunicado.

The law enforcement agencies need to operate according to civilian laws which allow for proper methods of investigation before arrest and warrants for arrest.

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ISI Tells the Indians to Talk to ISI Directly

July 29, 2009 at 7:14 am · Filed under ISI, Indo Pak Relations ·Tagged , ,

by Nirupama Subramanian and Siddharth Varadarajan

Days before PM Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Gilani met in Egypt, the head of the ISI floated a suggestion that India deal not just with Pakistan’s civilian government but also directly with its Army and intelligence agency.

Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha made the out-of-the-box overture during a meeting earlier this month with the three Indian defence advisers representing the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force attached to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

The sit-in at Lt. Gen. Pasha’s office in Rawalpindi on July 3 took place entirely at his initiative, though it was ostensibly convened in response to a request made by the Indian High Commission “years before.” It is normal for defence advisors attached to various diplomatic missions in Islamabad to seek and be granted calls on the ISI director-general — a wing of the ISI is the co-ordinating agency for them — but Indians have rarely had an audience.

During their discussion, Lt. Gen. Pasha and the defence advisors did not refer to the Mumbai attacks or the investigations into it, either on the Indian or Pakistani side. Nevertheless, senior officials in Delhi saw the interaction as an attempt by the ISI to “reach out” to India in the run-up to the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting of the two Prime Ministers.

During the course of the extremely cordial meeting, Lt. Gen. Pasha came clean in stating that the ISI and the Pakistan Army were involved in framing Pakistan’s India policy, along with the Foreign Office. He made the oblique suggestion that India deal directly with these three institutions if it had a similar three-way mechanism.

In their effort to understand the genesis of this idea, Indian officials sought to establish whether the ISI chief — who has a reputation for speaking his mind freely — had merely made an off-the-cuff remark or was floating a trial balloon after consultations with all other “stakeholders” in the Pakistani establishment.

Ministry of External Affairs officials asked Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik about the ISI chief’s suggestion, but the envoy was unaware that the meeting had even taken place. This led the MEA to conclude that the Pakistani foreign office may not be in the loop.

Major-General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani military spokesman, said he had no knowledge of the meeting. Officials at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad also refused comment.

Highly placed South Block officials said that India is not averse to talking to the Pakistani military or the ISI even as it engages with the civilian government but there were two problems with the suggestion. First, any proposal to open new lines of communication must come from the Pakistani government. And second, the power structures in India and Pakistan cannot really compare with each other.

Although Prime Minister Singh and PM Gilani agreed the ISI chief could come to India in the immediate aftermath of last November’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Islamabad quickly backtracked. Since then, no formal proposal for interaction between the ISI and an Indian intelligence agency has been made. Indeed, Mr. Gilani told The Hindu at Sharm el-Sheikh that the question of an intelligence chiefs’ dialogue did not come up in his meeting with Dr. Singh, a fact confirmed by Indian officials.

But apart from form, it is the question of structure that poses an obstacle. “The Research & Analysis Wing operates within the law and is subordinate to the government,” a senior intelligence official told The Hindu. “There, the government is subordinate to the ISI, which is a law unto itself.”

South Block officials said the Indian High Commissioner and his officers could and should be in touch with the Pakistani army and intelligence chiefs. “But I wonder what would be the point of the Indian Army Chief talking to his Pakistani counterpart … their job definitions are so different.”

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Operation Blue Tulsi: Destroying Pakistan’s Nuclear Assets

July 13, 2009 at 9:41 am · Filed under Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, CIA, ISI, Indo Pak Relations, Lawyers' Agitation ·Tagged , , , , ,

PPP government was dismissed in 1996 because Rehman Malik, DG FIA and Asif Zardari had promised Indians and Israelis access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. 

In 1994-95 Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA, and under the auspices of Asif Zardari, collecting information about Pakistan’s nuclear installations. Malik offered the Indians direct access to Kashmiri and Afghan fighters he would capture.

 In July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad were cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats.

In the late eighties, two junior intelligence officers one Pakistani other Indian faced each other on opposite sides of the law. The Pakistani intelligence officer had caught the Indian agent on Pakistani soil with incriminating evidence. Indian agent knew his life had come to an end. However, everything has a price. And his freedom was worth a little less than half a million rupees. A few days later the Indian agent was sitting back at home, free as a bird. And life went on for several more years until the fateful year of 1994 when the two old “chaps” met again. This time officially. The Indian agent had climbed the ladder to an important post in the government. At this side of the border the junior Pakistani agent, against all odds had become one of the top bosses at Federal Investigation Agency. Of course, this was the infamous Rehman Malik.

The Indian side wanted Pakistani Government’s help in reducing cross-border terrorism. But Rehman Malik offered a lot more than mere reduction in “cross-border”. He had been appointed as Additional Director FIA and yielded immense power through the country. Additionally he had become the right-hand-man of Asif  Zardari, stashing his looted money all over the world. He offered them direct access to the jihadists which he would capture. Somewhere along the line Israel also became a party to the deal and soon Mossad agents were carrying out investigations of the captured (ISI backed) jihadists on Pakistani soil. There were millions to be made from the deal and of course Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA and under the auspices of Asif Ali Zardari. ISI, Pakistan Military and top brass quietly kept a close watch. Although painful but capture of a few foot soldiers was bearable in the bigger national interest.

By 1995 in a little over a year the Benazir Bhutto government had expelled 2000 Arab mujahidin of the Afghan-Soviet War and imprisoned number of Pakistani mujahidin.

Secondly and more significantly, Benazir Bhutto on her official visit to US in April 1995 met in secret with an Israeli delegation. On her return she faced stiff resistance from a block of military and civilian bureaucracy which had generated great suspicions of her dealings with India and Israel. Just four months later she thwarted a coup attempt against her headed by Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi. Director General of Military Intelligence Major General Ali Kuli Khan tipped-off General Abdul Waheed Kakar who immediately ordered Chief of General Staff Lt. General Jehangir Karamat to suppress the coup. A total of 36 army officers and 20 civilians were arrested from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Then in November 1995 Egyptian Embassy blast occurred. Al-Qaeda was quick to claim it. Although the real reasons of the handlers of bombers remain hidden to this day, but in the next few days a silent but significant event happened. General Abdul Waheed Kakar who was given an extension in his tenure he refused it and Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was appointed as the Army Chief by the then President Farooq Leghari on December 18, 1995. Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was the senior most general at the time, therefore the least controversial within the military. The other three generals who were in the position to become COAS were Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, Lt Gen Naseer Akhtar, and Lt Gen Mohammad Tariq. Lt. Gen. Ghulam Muhammad Malik had already retired in October 1995.

Maj Gen Naseem Rana was heading the ISI at the time, taken his charge in October 1995. Lt Gen Shujat Ali Khan was heading the ISI’s Internal Wing.

In the backdrop of these events in Pakistan, in March 1995 Israel’s Air Force chief had visited India with an entourage that included key Mossad officials. It was at this point that in a meeting Pakistan’s nuclear program was discussed. A year later Indian nuclear and missile program head, Abdul Kalam had a “top secret” visit of Israel in June 1996. It was “top secret” because no one knew about it. As it turned out, everyone knew about it even before he left India. All the much publicized secrecy and visit of such a top level official achieved the aim and nearly nobody bothered with the entourage which included a manager from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – Alok Tiwari. The “top secret” meetings between Abdul Kalam and his Israeli counterparts were related to purchase of UAVs. However, in every single one of those “top secret” meetings Alok Tiwari was missing.

Just a few days later, after coming back to India Tiwari accompanied Air Chief Marshal S. K. Sareen to Israel in Israel in July 1996. In fact this was his third trip. He had also visited Israel in April 1996 along with India’s first Defence Attaché to Israel.

First Wave

In late July 1996 MQM organized a province wide strike. Simultaneously a large bomb exploded at Lahore airport and a second at Faisalabad railway station. On 14th August 1996 12 SSP activists were gunned down during an Independence Rally by unidentified gunmen. By end August Punjab had been engulfed in sectarian violence, Shias and Sunnis were being gunned down in broad daylight. The political and security situation worsened by the murder of Murtaza Bhutto and reinstatement of Manzoor Wattoo as Chief Minister of Punjab. The country seemed in a political and economic turmoil with violence erupting throughout the country. At the same time, out of blue Ataullah Mengal returned from his self-imposed exile.

While everyone was busy with the current crisis a team of agents working directly under Rehman Malik were gathering information on Kahuta and A.Q. Khan. Beginning November 1996 ISI saw an increase in Indian troops movement, which finally sent alarm bells ringing through the echelons of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Suddenly, all the pieces fell in place and Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik’s shenanigans seemed a lot deeper than mere money grabbing tactics. By fourth of November a thick load of evidence had been gathered on Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik working with the consent of Asif Zardari towards gathering information on the progress of Pakistan’s nuclear program.

On November 5, 1996, Farooq Leghari dissolved Benazir Bhutto’s government. At the other side of the border, this caused the immediate visit of Israeli naval chief Vice-Admiral Alex Tal to India. Back at home, Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik were imprisoned on undisclosed charges.

Second Wave

In February 1997, Indian Defence Secretary T. K. Banerji led a high level defence delegation to Israel to discuss the “exchange of technology” between two countries. Other than the official purpose the most important topic was Pakistan’s nuclear program. By the end of the visit the two countries had decided to do “whatever” it takes to neutralize the threat.

In March next year the BJP won Indian elections and one of the immediate policies adopted was to tackle Pakistan’s nuclear issue by any means possible. With such enthusiastic approach the government even decided to take the most extreme measures if needed. In the next two months the official and diplomatic delegations between India and Israel came to a halt, however, there was a sudden rise in non-diplomatic delegations between the two countries. The last official visit was of Gen. Prakash Malik to Israel in March 1998, who was also the first serving Indian Chief of Army Staff to visit Israel since normalization. In April 1998 two out-of-the ordinary incidents happened. Air India announced its discontinuation of Tel Aviv flight on 1 April 1998 and early April the Confederation of Indian Industry announced an unplanned “Study Mission” to Israel. This was the prelude to the second wave which officially started on 11th May 1998 when India exploded its nuclear bombs.

Night of 27-28 May

Pakistan resisted testing its nuclear bombs for nearly two weeks until 27th May 1998. On 27 May 1998 in a top level meeting Lt. Gen. Naseem Rana, (DG ISIP briefed the PM Nawaz Sharif and army chief of the increasing intelligence reports of possible Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear installations. However, the panic this created was nothing compared to the next two meetings.

The first report pertained to the sighting of an unidentified F-16 aircraft at the periphery of Pakistan’s airspace on 27th May. Knowing India did not have F-16, the obvious suggestion was presence of Israeli Air Force in the area (especially with the reports of Indian COAS visiting Israel just a month ago).

And the second report coming just before 1am on 28th May recorded unusual movements of Indian aircrafts just across the border which suggested India was preparing for preventive airstrikes against Pakistan. The obvious response of nuclear tests on 28th May.

The tests confirmed once and for all that Pakistan has nuclear capability.

Deduction

It seemed probable that BJP Government had decided to fire its nuclear bombs to force Pakistan into test firing its – if it has any. After a delay of two weeks, doubts had started rising in nearly every analytical discourse that Pakistan did not have the nuclear capability otherwise it would have responded. This was the golden opportunity to take out Pakistan/Pakistan’s nuclear installations before that Pakistan got the capability. The important visit of Indian COAS to Israel in March – in the light of proceeding events – could only be regarding Israel’s support for the planned attack. Whatever, the reasons and aims, the end result was establishment of Pakistan as a nuclear state, which completely changed the Great Nuclear Game.

Third Wave

Pakistan’s test firing of nuclear bombs was a shock for the rest of the world. No one expected, in the first place for Pakistan to have the capability and secondly to fire them if it had. For India and Israel, who were two top most interested parties in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets, this meant a complete overhaul of their strategy.

A year later Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra came to meet Barak in September 1999 and this time he was accompanied with a familiar face – Alok Tiwari. Within a year, Alok Tiwari and another security analyst finalized a document based on their discussion the preceding year.

In June 2000 L. K. Advani visited Israel in which new deals related to Mossad and Shabak espionage and cooperation with RAW are finalized and as a result Israel was allowed to establish its own network to operate from India.

By July 2000 a heavy deployment of Israeli agents in Indian Occupied Kashmir was reported. Near the end of 2000 Israel’s top intelligence officers were reported to have visited India and discussed amongst other issues, Kashmir and Pakistan’s nuclear assets. By the end of the visit the top spies of the two country had agreed to cooperate on the operation detailed inside the thick volume titled: “Operation Blue Tulsi”.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Preparation

Preparation for the mega Operation Blue Tulsi began fervently in early 2001. By mid 2001 eyebrows were being raised over RAW and Mossad’s cooperation and in July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad are cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats. In addition, bombs would be exploded in trains, railway stations, bridges, bus stations, cinemas, hotels and mosques of rival Islamic sects to incite sectarianism.

At the same time the Balouchistan Liberation Army rose out of dead like a second incarnation and Balach Marri a Moscow graduate declares himself as the leader of BLA. Within weeks in Balochistan numerous training camps sprouted with each camp reported to be training up to a 100 militants. Intelligence of RAW, Mossad and CIA agents operating in Balochistan started coming in.

In mid 2001 reports appeared that Special Operations Division of Mossad, also known as Metsada, specializing in assassinations and sabotage have been based in India since May 2001 to train RAW operatives and Mossad and Shin Bet or Shabak were operating a number of teams in Indian Held Kashmir and were also operating a delicate spy network from Indian soil. In July 2001 RAW increased its budget for Indian consulates in Afghanistan by nearly 10 times.

Within days after Sep 11, a story was leaked into press that Pakistan is dismantling and spreading its nuclear assets to safer places implying that it would be much more difficult to pinpoint them and much more easier for extremists to get hold of. These news stories were shortly followed by another piece on 28 October 2001 which stated that Pentagon was looking into plans to dispatch an elite unit into the Pakistan to disarm its nuclear arsenal. The special unit which was trained to slip into foreign countries to ferret out and disarm nuclear weapons and operated under Pentagon control with CIA assistance and would be getting special help from Israel’s Sayeret Matkal also known as Unit 262.

In December 2001 Indian PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while addressing the parliament said, “the question was not whether there should be or should not be a war, the question was under what circumstances there will be war … and whether there will be a war.”

In December 2001 Benazir Bhutto while visiting India said in her interviews, “President, Musharraf, as an army general, had planned the Kargil invasion in Jammu and Kashmir while I was the PM.” Later she also said, “Pakistan army as an institution had brought back Osama bin Laden”.

This rhetoric of Benazir Bhutto was perfectly in line with the agreement signed by US and India in 2002. Late in 2002 US and India signed an agreement on cooperation in disarming Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the two player offensive team of Operation Blue Tulsi found a third partner in the form of CIA. As a result of this deal Abdullah Mehsud was freed from Guantanamo Bay and returned to Pakistan with millions in cash.

Benazir Bhutto’s statements in India were the major reason Musharraf’s declaration of Benazir Bhutto as a “security risk” during a chat with Pakistan’s leading editors and correspondents in April 2002. Pakistani security agencies already had a great deal of intelligence regarding Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and Rehman Malik’s involvement with Mossad and India in 1995-96 and their collaboration against Pakistan’s nuclear assets.

In January 2002 under orders from L. K. Advani RAW and other intelligence agencies submited a detailed report on military options for solving Kashmir issue and in case of a full-fledged war, for neutralizing Pakistan’s nuclear assets. One major outcome of the report was creation of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in March 2002 with the authority to conduct external operations supported by a huge budget.

Also, a Lawyers’ Struggle surfaced in October 2003 under the leadership of Hamid Ali Khan (now drowned under the infamous Lawyers’ Movement). The first prominent protest of the “struggle” was held on 15 October 2003 in which the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Hamid Ali Khan said, “Musharraf’s very presence within the army and holding of other important offices and Shaikh Riaz Ahmad’s continuation as chief justice after his retirement are undoubtedly illegal and unconstitutional… Let’s think collectively, move forward collectively and act collectively to outs usurper generals and judges (who had collaborated with Musharraf including Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. However, like a B-grade movie twist, four years later Iftikhar Chaudry becomes the hero to these same lawyers who wanted to oust him. Like a script from past, this protest had followed a “Long March”. And the “struggle” then moved to other cities one by one asking Musharraf, Riaz Ahamad and among others Iftikhar Chaudhry’s removal from office. At this point along with Hamid Ali Khan, Kazim Khan was at the forefront. Lacking the charisma and cunning of their successors, assassination of a leader, and shortage of “unlimited” billions of rupees their names and their Lawyers’ Struggles has been confined to the dusty pages of history with their names ascribed against the words, “traitors”.

Also, there is no evidence to support that assassination attempts on Pervez Musharraf were somehow related to the timing of the Lawyers’ Struggle.

By mid 2004 the government had ample evidence that BLA and some Baloch leaders were conspiring against the government, aided by foreign countries.

On 13th August 2004 the Chief Minister of Baluchistan, Jam Muhammad Yousaf is quoted by The Herald (Sep 2004-Karachi): “Indian secret services (RAW) are maintaining 40 terrorist camps all over the Baluch territory”. While this was happening on ground, there was talk of “Peace Talks” everywhere in the air. And Jan Muhammad Jamali had become a laughing stock of the media for his suggestion of foreign agents operating in Balochistan, which despite the ground facts forcefully opposed such thoughts.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Start

1st January 2005 was the starting date. The local agents got the signal and the operation started with the ominous rape of a female doctor in Sui on 2nd January 2005. As expected the incident created headlines all round and culprits not being found created a much supported backlash. This was shortly followed by rocketing of gas installation at Sui on 7th January which put a hole in Pakistan’s gas supply for nearly a week.

2005 was a busy year with Baloch terrorists continuously creating havoc in Balochistan and adjacent areas and ended with assassination attempts on Musharraf in December. After President Musharraf escapes a rocket attack on his life in December 2005 and the Inspector General Frontier Corps survives an assassination attempt, Navtej Sarna, the Indian External Affairs Ministry’s spokesman said, “The Government of India has been watching with concern the spiralling violence in Balochistan and the heavy military action, including use of helicopter gun-ships and jet fighters by the Government of Pakistan to quell it… We hope the Government of Pakistan will exercise restraint and take recourse to peaceful discussions to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan”.
The Indian Government had realized that the two assassination attempts would surely result in backfire on the Indian assets in Balochistan, which it needed to safeguard for its final aim, especially Akbar Bugti. Just as suspected, the Government of Pakistan intensifies its operation against Baloch militants.

And in April 2006 Government of Balochistan is setup with its offices in Jerusalem under Azaad Khan Baloch. In a laughingly stupid mistake, Azaad Khan Baloch who is representing Balochis of Pakistan decided to spell his name according to Hindi transliteration with double “a” in Az”aa”d, rather than a single “a” as used in Pakistan, i.e. Azad. Or more probable, “Azad Khan Baloch” is not a Pakistani.

Meanwhile in Balochistan the government operation against Akbar Bugti intensified who took shelter in the rugged mountain range and coordinated the activities of his militants from there. Ultimately the military found him and during the process of capture Akbar Bugti died because of cave-roof collapse on 26 August 2006.

Starting March 2007, every incident occurring in the country was tied to the aim of ousting Musharraf, including the much profitable Lawyers’ Movement. Intelligence agencies were having a field-day bringing in pile after pile of reports proving involvement of CIA, RAW, Mossad and MI6 towards Musharraf’s ouster. True to some extent but unlike analyzed, ouster of Musharraf was just one milestone towards the main goal, which every agency completely missed. Thus, all their efforts went into controlling the situation to secure Musharraf, while in the backdrop, silently the wheels kept turning. While Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan were burning Swat was sitting quietly, unnoticed and out of radar. Within a period of few months, the numbers of “Pakistani Taliban” in Swat surged and just as well their ammunition, latest military equipment a country like Pakistan would dream of. A portion of this ended up in the ill-fated Lal Masjid. While intelligence and military were busy keeping Musharraf’s seat safe in Pakistan, a new political game started in UAE.

Rehman Malik enthusiastically started pursuing the goal of National Reconciliation Ordinance. He became instrumental in the final deal between Benazir Bhutto, US and Pervez Musharraf and NRO. Since Benazir Bhutto did not have much to lose without NRO she was never  interested in it. That was the reason two options were thrown at Musharraf, i.e. either eliminating the two term condition or NRO. Rehman Malik on the other hand was vehemently pursuing NRO, as of the three (Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto and Rehman Malik) the Government of Pakistan only had clear evidence against Rehman Malik and it was enough to put him in jail for life (i.e. involvement in espionage and working with Mossad and RAW). However, at that point no one knew the real motivations of Rehman Malik other than that he was working to get the path clear for Benazir’s return. Amazingly, FBI also was putting its weight behind NRO rather than eliminating the two term condition. While, if US had really wanted Benazir Bhutto as PM, logic dictates that they would want the two term condition eliminated to assure her easy succession to the premiership. It needs to be noted here that Rehman Malik had also tried to do a similar deal in 2005, which never materialized. This time it did.

Near the end of 2007, intelligence and military were convinced that a conspiracy had been hatched in the country with the sole aim of removing Musharraf from power. Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, simultaneous rioting throughout the country, terrorist activities occurring in every province had considerable similarities to the Bush Administration backed Color Revolutions. In order to keep Musharraf in power the government kept giving into one demand after the other. As a result Rehman Malik becomes head of Interior Ministry, Yusuf Raza Gilani becomes the PM and sweeping changes are made in the security and intelligence community. Still, the government saw the war finally over when in one move Gilani puts ISI under Interior Minister on 27 July 2008. Until that time ISI and top brass had thought all Rehman Malik wanted was to get-rid of extremist elements from ISI and Pakistan’s establishment.

It was the end of July 2008 when the alarm bells started ringing again in the high echelons. Intelligence machinery went into extra high gear and millions later it came back with the name: Operation Blue Tulsi.

Operation Blue Tulsi: the Revelation

The Establishment, only now realized the full extent of the operation which they had been witnessing since the beginning of 2000. More worryingly, the current operation had eerily similar modus operandi to the 1995-96 debacle – which left the country tethering onto its nuclear assets – just that this time it was vastly more sophisticated and greater in size. In matter of hours the priorities changed. Keeping Musharraf in power suddenly paled in comparison to the real threat.

In 1995-96 India came up with a plan to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear facilities before that Pakistan developed a nuclear capability. The plan was prepared by a RAW agent Alok Tiwari (who has recently been compromised). At that time Mossad was already active in Pakistan and once it heard about the project for elimination of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities jumped in by first streamlining the project further and then using its assets in Pakistan. Somewhere in early 1996 the operation was given go-ahead. At that point FIA Director General Ghulam Asghar and his ADG Rehman Malik in a deal with India and Israel were hunting down Pakistan based Kashmiri and Arab militants. These two proved to be the front line in the operation and when contacted by Indian agents fully agreed to supply all the necessary information regarding Kahuta and A. Q. Khan’s operations. Towards mid 96 demonstrations and chaos erupted throughout the country. The aim was to destabilize the country enough that when the two confirmed Pakistan did not have any nuclear capabilities India would go-ahead with all out assault. General Jehangir Karamat who was already weary of the two chaps and Asif Zardari’s complicity took immediate action and Benazir Bhutto’s government was dissolved. The duo of Asghar and Malik and Zardari had already come into military’s radar the year before when they tried to lure General Abdul Wahed Kakar.

Then five years later, Alok Tiwari submited an updated version of his older report. Israel was again consulted and this time L. K. Advani vehemently pursued it. Towards the end of 2000 a delegation of top Mossad brass visited India and the combined operation titled: Operation Blue Tulsi was finalized and put into operation which had only one aim:

Destroy Pakistan’s nuclear assets followed by its Balkanization.

Approach

Resurrect Baloch insurgency. Pakistan was fine with it, as it had 30 years of experience with it, starting with the Afghan-Soviet War.

Buy officials in military, bureaucracy, politics and law. ISI was fine with it, as it had 60 years of experience in dealing with traitors.

Plant agents in top positions in Taliban, FATA and NWFP. A shocker for everyone.

Taliban were the foster child of ISI and the agency had no contingency for enemy agents in top positions. The best option they came up with was to buy back the agents with more money and as a result they were deceived time and again and again. Top on the list, Baitullah Mehsud. The twenty million dollars he got in suitcases was one of the stupidest moves in the world espionage history and ISI top brass to this day are vengefully pursuing him.

Milestones

Friendly political government. Asif Zardari in place, Aslam Raisani in Balochistan (though first choice Akbar Bugti unfortunately dead, MQM’s omnipresence in Sindh, Fazlur Rehman and ANP in NWFP)

Friendly judiciay. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Munir A. Malik, Atizaz Ahsan

Friendly Civil Society. Ansar Burney, Asma Jehangir

Unrest in NWFP and immediate threat of Taliban taking control of Islamabad. Back in 2002 US had agreed with India that if ever Pakistan seemed to destabilize or falling into the hands of extremists, it would help India in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities. The situation they agreed upon is well defined by the Pakistani media’s current theme song of “Taliban are coming to Islamabad”

Immediate Countermeasures

By August 2008 the operation was too deep rooted and it was clear if attention was diverted towards saving Musharraf there was more than a probability of loosing nuclear capability in near future. With Musharraf gone, ISI estimated a window of opportunity of 18 to 20 months before either Taliban or Asif Zardari with his shenanigans destabilized Pakistan. In the greater interest Musharraf decided to step down peacefully.

Operation Blue Tulsi: In Operation

Musharraf stepped down and Asif Ali Zardari took over, but by then the order had been sent and the agents in Swat Valley and FATA who had been preparing for the day for the last eight years launched an all out assault on the military with a single aim of destabilizing Pakistan.

In the eventful month of December 2007 Baitullah Mehsud had already announced officially the formation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Although right after the victory of PPP Baitullah Mehsud has negotiated peace with the government which led to the great debacle of US$ 20 million by August 2008 he was again involved with the military in a full on battle. ISI and military by this time had realized the foremost importance of ridding the Taliban off foreign agents and assets by any means and costs.

At one end Pakistan military still is trying to safeguard its own assets while tracing out and eliminating foreign agents, while at the other end US is trying its best to safeguard its prime asset of Baitullah Meshud who had taken over after the death of Abullah Mehsud. Until  recently, there had been not a single drone attack on Baitullah Mehsud, while ISI aligned Taliban had been bombed repeatedly, as a result of which many have turned their backs against Pakistan. Only in the recent months four drone attacks on Baitullah Mehsud’s territory have been reported.

Operation Blue Tulsi and Future

Currently the entire country is gripped by the ongoing operations of military against the Taliban. Media which once championed itself as the sympathizers of the Taliban and were chanting “Taliban are coming to Islamabad” have suddenly changed their tunes, especially after being declared by the Taliban as kafirs and thus “killable”.

The economy is in doldrums and corruption is rampantly high but the top brass knows Pakistan is first and for Pakistan nuclear assets come first. Thus, until the country is cleansed of all the foreign agents in FATA and Taliban, the military and intelligence has only one goal, to stop Operation Blue Tulsi at this stage, making sure it never goes into Phase TWO – attacking and destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets because extremist elements have destabilized Pakistan. 

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