ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Shahzad Chaudhry’s article of January 2 titled “Why a ‘bloody civilian’ cannot be at the ISI”.
The writer gives the impression that the ISI is an isolated entity that has been politicised, as if the army leadership has no vested interest in keeping the ISI politicised. It may be true that initially the ISI was politicised by a civilian, but today the situation is known to all and sundry. As the events of the past two decades have shown, the agency is used by the military and is not used by any civilian prime minister or president.
The military is now the main power-broker in the country and it maintains its grip through the ISI, especially the agency’s political wing. And it is called the ‘Deep State’ because the military considers it its business to formulate key internal and external policies. But since the Constitution won’t let it do so, it gets what it wants through the ISI. In that sense, the agency is fully under the control of the military and this is what Kamran Shafi talked about in his article — hence, his suggestion that the agency should have a civilian as its head. Personally, I don’t think that merely appointing a civilian as its chief will change things because the issue goes well beyond that.
Nadeem Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2012.
