Whatever the ISI has been doing has been for the sake of Pakistan’s national interest.
LAHORE: This is with reference to your editorial of April 27 titled “WikiLeaks and the ISI”.
The WikiLeaks revelation that the CIA obtained information, by using torture methods, from Guantanamo inmates that showed that the ISI had links to the Haqqani network, the Taliban and al Qaeda, exposes the Americans.
Also, one has to question the timing of the latest WikiLeaks release, given that it follows the spat between the ISI and the CIA over Raymond Davis and comes on the heels of remarks by US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen who said that the Pakistanis needed to go after the Haqqani network. Also, of late, the Americans and the Pakistanis have been having public disagreements on drone attacks.
Many Pakistanis will think that these cables are merely reflective of the fact that the Americans seem to have a predisposition to thinking that the ISI has rogue elements and that they are in close relationship with the Taliban. This conveniently ignores the fact that it was the Americans who involved the ISI in Afghanistan in the first place, when they sought its help to train the mujahideen to fight the Soviets.
Also, let’s not forget that the CIA has been accused of encouraging and supporting all kinds of organisations which have carried out violent acts on civilian populations. That is usually justified by America under the pretext of national interest, so it can be just as easily countered that whatever the ISI has been doing has been for the sake of Pakistan’s national interest.
It is unfortunate that at the same time that this is going on, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly is also criticising the ISI. What we need is for each and every Pakistani to support the intelligence and military establishments, which have rendered great sacrifices for the motherland.
ST Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2011.
