'Pakistanis Love Conspiracy Theories'

[Solomon2]

As an Intelligence Organization, we gather intelligence, we don't go around trying to talk sense into crackpots.

If the ISI was the CIA I'd buy that excuse. But the ISI - including its offshoots and "rogue" officers - isn't that kind of animal. Just look at the case before the SC this week, of the ISI buying influence in elections. And nobody gets in trouble for it.

 

[JayAtl]

As an Intelligence Organization, we gather intelligence, we don't go around trying to talk sense into crackpots.........



Yeah I bet we use our assets for pasting crazy statuses on Facebook........sounds legit......

Well the ISI has thrown out many irresponsible statements about conspiracies abound to deflect the public sentiments about their short comings.

I have no clue why you guys even respect your ISI anymore. Not the body but the administration within it. If the CIA or FBI in the US did such a horrible job of keeping us safe we would have called for changes. Imagine if we had terrorist attacks every other day on our soil? The mandate for the intelligence body and law enforcement body in our case and every country is to keep us safe first and foremost. the ISI has failed miserably in doing so. They are the biggest farce as an intelligence body for it's citizenry... can you dispute that?

 

[clmeta]

They are easily swayed by conspiracy theories.

 

[Icarus]

If the ISI was the CIA I'd buy that excuse. But the ISI - including its offshoots and "rogue" officers - isn't that kind of animal. Just look at the case before the SC this week, of the ISI buying influence in elections. And nobody gets in trouble for it.

You're using a case based in the 1990s for putting a point across, fresh after Zia's rule, the ISI was still very much into the Political and Islamist scene and was politically active as it had been during the Afghan Jihad, very much in collaboration with the CIA. And don't sell me the "CIA is so much professional than you" pile of horse excrement because trust me, I know too much to even begin describing what CIA has it's hands coloured with. This is not an easy business and definitely not a clean one.

 

[KingMamba]

'Pakistanis Love Conspiracy Theories'

In Malala Case i see it at the front of reality...

In the grand scheme of things people can have their conspiracy theories there is nothing wrong with that but the people who everyone should have a problem with are those who say Malala doesn't deserve any sympathy because more kids are killed by drones everyday. So since she was not hit by a drone she is not important? The fact that she was singled out for assassination because she wanted to be educated is enough reason for the country to feel sympathetic towards her, the people who say otherwise are just politicizing the issue.

 

[Icarus]

Well the ISI has thrown out many irresponsible statements about conspiracies abound to deflect the public sentiments about their short comings.

I was not aware the ISI gives statements, are you sure we are talking about the right organization here?

I have no clue why you guys even respect your ISI anymore. Not the body but the administration within it. If the CIA or FBI in the US did such a horrible job of keeping us safe we would have called for changes. Imagine if we had terrorist attacks every other day on our soil? The mandate for the intelligence body and law enforcement body in our case and every country is to keep us safe first and foremost. the ISI has failed miserably in doing so. They are the biggest farce as an intelligence body for it's citizenry... can you dispute that?

Terrorists were staying in the US for years, they learnt to fly there and then hijacked commercial air craft, crashing them into the WTC and the Pentagon. Changes in the CIA? Nil. That's just one case, the US doesn't have a 2250km long highly porous border with the badlands of Afghanistan. For every attack that succeeds, about 10 are thwarted, it's an acceptable failure rate in my opinion. Especially when considering that domestic security was never meant to be the objective of this organization, it has had to adapt with the changes and did so well enough.....

 

[Solomon2]

You're using a case based in the 1990s for putting a point across, fresh after Zia's rule, the ISI was still very much into the Political and Islamist scene and was politically active as it had been during the Afghan Jihad -

Why shouldn't we expect to see ISI officials tried for their crimes of today twenty years from now?

...don't sell me the "CIA is so much professional than you" pile of horse excrement because trust me, I know too much to even begin describing what CIA has it's hands coloured with. This is not an easy business and definitely not a clean one.

The CIA is supposed to dirty its hands outside the U.S., and not with the purpose of directing U.S. public opinion - though if you know otherwise I and many other Americans would like to know about it, too.

...For every attack that succeeds, about 10 are thwarted, it's an acceptable failure rate in my opinion. Especially when considering that domestic security was never meant to be the objective of this organization, it has had to adapt with the changes and did so well enough.....

Why don't Americans like me hear more about this?

 

[KingMamba]

I was not aware the ISI gives statements, are you sure we are talking about the right organization here?



Terrorists were staying in the US for years, they learnt to fly there and then hijacked commercial air craft, crashing them into the WTC and the Pentagon. Changes in the CIA? Nil. That's just one case, the US doesn't have a 2250km long highly porous border with the badlands of Afghanistan. For every attack that succeeds, about 10 are thwarted, it's an acceptable failure rate in my opinion. Especially when considering that domestic security was never meant to be the objective of this organization, it has had to adapt with the changes and did so well enough.....

I was going to respond to him but held back because I knew your answer would hold more weight considering you know better about the inner workings of the PA.

Why shouldn't we expect to see ISI officials tried for their crimes of today twenty years from now?

The CIA is supposed to dirty its hands outside the U.S., and not with the purpose of directing U.S. public opinion - though if you know otherwise I and many other Americans would like to know about it, too.

Why don't Americans like me hear more about this?

That is because the ISI has nothing to prove to us sitting all the way over here but those who have family and friends who have connections to the PA or ISI know the ground situation better due to first hand experiences and accounts. Besides it is not like the CIA tells the American Public about all of its successes either, it is the failures which usually come out and are then highlighted.

 

[Icarus]

Why shouldn't we expect to see ISI officials tried for their crimes of today twenty years from now?

They were following state policy.

The CIA is supposed to dirty its hands outside the U.S., and not with the purpose of directing U.S. public opinion - though if you know otherwise I and many other Americans would like to know about it, too.

As I said before, the ISI has nothing to do with 'Moulding' public opinion, at least not in the last one and a half decade........

Why don't Americans like me hear more about this?

That's one of the very sad aspects of this job, as my friend said (Quoting some movie, I forget which): "No body hears a word about when we succeed but when we fail, it is ensured that every conscious soul knows about it"

 

[foxbat]

I was not aware the ISI gives statements, are you sure we are talking about the right organization here?



Terrorists were staying in the US for years, they learnt to fly there and then hijacked commercial air craft, crashing them into the WTC and the Pentagon. Changes in the CIA? Nil. That's just one case, the US doesn't have a 2250km long highly porous border with the badlands of Afghanistan. For every attack that succeeds, about 10 are thwarted, it's an acceptable failure rate in my opinion. Especially when considering that domestic security was never meant to be the objective of this organization, it has had to adapt with the changes and did so well enough.....

Valid points.. but when you blame Afghanistan and India for encouraging the likes of BLA and TTP, then does that not fall under the purview of ISI..Given that there is a terror attack 2-3 times a week, and if there is a 1:10 ratio of successful vs failed attempts, then does that mean there are 20-30 attacks planned in a week within Pakistan. Dont you think that itself is something of a huge failure for the intelligence agencies of Pakistan.

 

[JayAtl]

I was not aware the ISI gives statements, are you sure we are talking about the right organization here?



Terrorists were staying in the US for years, they learnt to fly there and then hijacked commercial air craft, crashing them into the WTC and the Pentagon. Changes in the CIA? Nil. That's just one case, the US doesn't have a 2250km long highly porous border with the badlands of Afghanistan. For every attack that succeeds, about 10 are thwarted, it's an acceptable failure rate in my opinion. Especially when considering that domestic security was never meant to be the objective of this organization, it has had to adapt with the changes and did so well enough.....

our failures at the intelligence level did lead to changes... where did you come up with nil. Hell we had a 911 report , homeland security being added, TSA taking over airports, patriot act, CIA having a new mandate, FBI involved in it - requirement to share intelligence among all bodies . We even have had 4 different CIA heads in the last decade. We have control over our CIA and FBI not the other way around.

And what 10:1 has the ISI blocked? you are blowing up every other day and that should be unacceptable - really where do you get that ratio from?

Missing persons: ISI, MI counsel says RAW and Mossad involved – The Express Tribune

 

[KingMamba]

Valid points.. but when you blame Afghanistan and India for encouraging the likes of BLA and TTP, then does that not fall under the purview of ISI..Given that there is a terror attack 2-3 times a week, and if there is a 1:10 ratio of successful vs failed attempts, then does that mean there are 20-30 attacks planned in a week within Pakistan. Dont you think that itself is something of a huge failure for the intelligence agencies of Pakistan.

That just means the enemies of Pakistan are hard at work, I am sure there are just as many planned attacks in other countries that are foiled where the intelligence agencies do not get any credit at all. The ISI has the disadvantage that they are shown in media agencies the world over so if they do screw up it becomes a huge storm.

 

[Kompromat]

Dont you get it ? ISI is the origin of these theories. Gullible Pakistanis fall for it.

Indeed, ISI is so powerful that it can start a mass migration through fake SMS.

 

[clmeta]

Conspiracy theories is the fastest growing industry in Pakistan.
Its growing faster than the property market in Delhi.

 

[foxbat]

That just means the enemies of Pakistan are hard at work, I am sure there are just as many planned attacks in other countries that are foiled where the intelligence agencies do not get any credit at all. The ISI has the disadvantage that they are shown in media agencies the world over so if they do screw up it becomes a huge storm.

so how come ISI is allowing such a high number of attacks to be planned against Pakistan. Why is it not able to attack the source and terminate the risk

And the fact that ISI is so hugely publicized, is itself a failure for an intelligence agency