Rogue spies: Open hearing could impact foreign relations: IB chief

In his reply, DG IB stated petitioner has been harassing the agency by filing cases in various courts

ISLAMABAD: A top official of the premier intelligence agency of the country has asked the Islamabad High Court not to hear a petition filed by an official of the agency in open court, warning that it could have a severe impact on Pakistan’s foreign policy.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was hearing a petition filed by Intelligence Bureau (IB) Assistant Sub-Inspector Malik Ahmad Shahzad, who accused his own department of colluding with terrorists, anti-state elements and foreign intelligence agencies for their vested interests, the bureau has issued a show-cause notice to him.

The IB director general, in his reply, stated that the petitioner “has been increasingly harassing the agency by filing numerous cases in various courts, and as per our record, has filed a total of 14 different cases up till now against the agency.”

Besides the contents of the petition, the DG said, the annexures of the petition were in violation of the terms and conditions, service rules, practices of IB since no functionary is permitted to retain any copies of secret information reports submitted by them.

“Mere filing of the petition by the official,” the IB spymaster said, “the international press – particularly those from a hostile country - have already started a malicious campaign against Pakistan’s agencies in print as well as the electronic media.”

Moreover, he said, the petition was, in fact, asking the agency to expose its operational areas and targets which were highly secret and would tantamount to demolishing the very basic structure of secrecy, which the agency had been able to develop so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2017.