Propaganda against ISI, Pak Army
Mohammad Jamil
For quite some time, western media is blaming the ISI and Pakistan Army
for the increased insurgency in Afghanistan not realizing that Pakistan
has suffered more in men and material fighting the war on terror. India
the archenemy of Pakistan has been instrumental in fuelling sentiments
against Pakistan through hostile propaganda. In this regard, All India
Radio, BBC, Sada-e-Kashmir and Radio Kabul have been broadcasting
offensive material against the Pak Army and the ISI. India continuously
blames Pak Army for violating ceasefire in Kashmir without any concrete
evidence. Indian RAW is also indirectly involved in fanning terrorism in
FATA yet India creates doubts about the credibility of Pakistan’s
operation against the terrorists by propagating that Pakistan is not
willing to reveal the names of foreign militants killed in the military
operations.
Secondly, whenever there is any terrorist act in India, fingers of
accusation are raised towards Pakistan. Whether it is a blast in Indian
embassy in Kabul, Samjhauta Express or any other place India starts
blaming Pakistan even before investigation. On the pressure and demands
from civil society, the Indian government went into action and the
Indian Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested more suspects in connection
the Malegaon blasts and other terrorist activities in which some Indian
Army officers were also nabbed. The arrested Army officers include
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit (a serving officer) with two other
army officers recently in connection with September 29 Malegaon bomb
blasts, five days after Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and two others were
held in the case. The two arrested were identified as Major (r) Ramesh
Upadhyay from Pune and Sameer Kulkarni from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
The question is that why Pakistan is the target of hostile propaganda?
The answer is that after the Soviet troops were forced to withdraw from
Afghanistan in 1980s, the US, India and other Pakistan’s detractors were
worried because it was beyond their imagination what Pakistan’s premier
agency had achieved. It would not be wrong to say the US won the Cold
War and became sole super power because of Pakistan and ISI’s help.
During former President General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to US and
Britain, the propaganda regarding ISI’s involvement in helping Taliban
had been considered to be a well thought-out plan, and the architects of
the plan wished to put Pakistan on the mat. Pervez Musharraf, however,
defended ISI stating that it was a disciplined force; thus dispelling
the impression that the ISI has some agenda different to that of the
government.
The BBC had cited a leaked paper written by a senior military official
linked to Britain’s foreign intelligence service M16 who had been to
Pakistan on a fact-finding mission, which interviewed army officers and
academics. The report proposed using the military links between the
British and Pakistan armies at a senior level to persuade Musharraf to
dismantle the ISI. The question, however, could be asked as to why the
leak occurred at a time when former president Musharraf was to hold
talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair. Earlier, before President
Musharraf’s meeting with President Bush, there was a report from US army
officials in Afghanistan that cross-border attacks had increased
manifold after signing of an agreement between Pakistan and tribal
elders in North Waziristan agency. There was also a suggestion in the
said report that ISI be dismantled.
The fact remains that almost all countries of the world have the armies
to protect their borders, and also to ensure stability of the country.
Invariably, all of them have intelligence agencies, however, CIA, KGB,
RAW, ISI, Mosad and few others are well known in the world. The primary
function of such agencies is to watch the country’s interest by keeping
an eye on the enemy agencies and subversive elements that are out to
harm the country. And Pakistan is no exception. It is unfortunate that
the opposition parties in Pakistan have also been blaming that ISI was
instrumental in destabilizing the elected governments and politifal
parties, but once in power the same party looked forward to benefiting
from the ‘services’ rendered by the ISI. Bhutto government in 1970s was
reportedly the trendsetter in using the agencies to settle score with
the opposition. During military dispensations, the ISI’s role is
understandable but elected governments had also not weaned away from the
habit of utilizing the agencies to its advantage.
The US and the West especially Britain should have known the history of
Afghanistan better because it had the bitter experience of having
setbacks due to the terrain and the brave people. After withdrawal of
Soviet forces from Afghanistan, most of the foreign volunteers who had
gone to Afghanistan must have realized that they are capable of doing
with the US what they have done to the Russians. Once the Taleban, took
power in Afghanistan in 1996, Al-Qaeda moved its bases there because of
the suitable terrain for their activities, and began planning the
attacks that ‘tricked’ the United States into invading the country. Some
American officials and Afghan officials then held the view that cross
border raids into eastern Afghanistan had increased manifold after a
peace accord was signed between Pakistan government and tribal elders in
Waziristan.
According to western analysts, the increase in insurgency was due to
widespread corruption of Afghan officials, cabinet members, warlords and
Northern Alliance elements, as people in general were getting a raw deal
from them. Furthermore there is widespread frustration due to
unemployment and abject poverty. There is yet another cogent reason for
worsening of the situation in Afghanistan, which is being totally
ignored vis-à-vis Pashtuns were not adequately represented in the
government. It is true that UN-forces backed by the Northern Alliance of
Tajiks, Uzbeks and mostly other non-Pushtuns had overthrown the Taliban
in 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the US, and by virtue of
being allies, they all were to share power. But those warlords were not
acceptable to the majority of the people in Afghanistan.
Anyhow, president-elect Barack Obama has vowed to withdraw forces from
Iraq and put more boots in Afghanistan. To justify this decision, the US
generals say that Al Qaeda has changed its strategy and it operatives
are shifting to Pakistan. On Wednesday, an American General has said
that attacks on the US and the western countries would be made from
Pakistan and Afghanistan. But nobody comments as to who will ‘transport’
Al Qaeda operatives to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and what will be the
route – by road, by sea or by air. Pakistani leadership has to ponder
over this critical situation and put their heads together to face these
challenges.
Pakistani politicians had also started criticizing the ISI on the
grounds that it has the political wing, and that it should be placed
under Intelligence Bureau. However, the COAS had already declared that
this premier agency will focus on national security, protection of
strategic assets of the country and help the government by providing
intelligence to enable it to formulate policies. |
