New York Times, the ISI and Pakistan.
C. Raja Mohan
Posted: Mon Jul 11 2011, 13:01 hrs
Pakistan Armys savvy spokesman, Maj.Gen. Athar Abbas could no longer hold back. Over the weekend he lashed out at the New York Times for its recent reports on the Inter Services Intelligence directorate.
Gen. Abbas termed the 'Times' reports as a "direct attack on our security organisation and intelligence agencies". "We consider ISI as a strategic intelligence organisation, the first line of our defence", he declared.
He called the 'Times' reporting "quoting unnamed officials, anonymous sources, is part of a design to undermine the authority and the power of the organisation in order to weaken the state."
Among the series of its stories in the newspaper on Pakistan in the last few days was one which said that the US officials were convinced that the ISI was involved in the torture and killing of the Karachi-based journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad at the end of May.
Shahzad's reporting on the penetration of the Pak armed forces by the extremist groups, including the al Qaeda, embarrassed the military establishment in Rawalpindi.
Quoting former militant commanders, the 'Times' had also reported that the ISI trains and nurtures extremist groups to pursue the Army's strategic objectives in India and Afghanistan.
Last week, the Times had reported on the nuclear proliferation links between the Pak army and North Korea. Few in India have problems believing the newspapers reports on the ISI; many in Pakistan are acutely aware of the ISI
s brutalizing power at home and the agencys external adventurism.
For Washington, which actively worked with the ISI in Afghanistan, both during the 1980s and since 2001, the reported excesses of the ISI are certainly not news. The US, more than any other nation, has a deep sense of the ISIs historical evolution and its manipulation of domestic politics and its export of terror.
What is significant then is not what the 'Times' is reporting, but the fact that Washington has chosen to put out information incriminating the Pak army and the ISI. No wonder then the Pak Army has reacted sharply.
In India, we must see the stories in the US media as part of a US strategy to press Pakistan to act against terror groups operating in Afghanistan. The stories also reflect Washingtons frustration at the US inability to compel the Pakistan army to act.
Delhi might get a better sense of the contestation between Washington and Rawalpindi this month as it prepares to host US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the next round of the strategic dialogue and the Pakistan foreign secretary and foreign minister for a review of the current round of the peace process.
New York Times, the ISI and Pakistan - Indian Express