Mumbai attacks 2008: Pakistan to defend ISI in US lawsuit

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to contest a lawsuit filed in a US court against the chief of the country’s top spy agency for its alleged involvement in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The New York court recently summoned ISI chief Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, his predecessor Lt-Gen (retd) Nadeem Taj and other officials in connection with the attacks.The court has also summoned Hafiz Saeed, the chief of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and his operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The 26-page lawsuit was filed in the court in November by some relatives of victims and survivors of the Mumbai attacks.

The lawsuit accused the ISI of aiding and abetting the LeT in the killing of 166 people. “The ISI has long nurtured and used international terrorist groups, including the LeT, to accomplish its goals and has provided material support to the LeT and other international terrorist groups.”

However, Pakistan denies the charges. Officials see this as propaganda to malign the country’s intelligence outfit. “The government of Pakistan and the Pakistan embassy in Washington shall defend the legal suit on behalf of the ISI and its directors general fully and properly,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

It added that Prime Minister Gilani has already said “We do not believe the ISI, as an agency of the Government of Pakistan, or its present and former officials could be subjected to civil litigation in the courts of the United States and we intend to take appropriate steps to obtain dismissal of this action.”

There is a concept of state immunity under which a state or any of its organs cannot be persecuted in the US, said Ahmer Bilal Sufi, a well-known international law expert. “The government can defend its case by referring to the State Immunity Act of the US,” he argued.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.