DG ISI’s
Crucial Visit to the US
By Sajjad Shaukat
With the full backing of the civil and military leadership in melting
further ice between Pak-US ties, the Director General of the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam will visit America and will meet
Director CIA General David Petraeus on August 2.
Notably, the scheduled visit of the DG ISI to the US was postponed in May
due to some reasons. In this regard, US high officials had openly been
pressuring Pakistan for Dr. Shakeel Afridi’s release, who was sentenced to 33
years imprisonment by the order of Assistant Political Agent, Bara. The
punishment is based on his close association with the banned terrorist group
Lashkar-e-Islam. The evidence produced by the Joint Investigation Team before
the court proved Dr. Afridi’s clandestine collaboration with the CIA in
connection with the May 2 US raid in Abbottabad. Besides, another reason of
cancellation the trip was intermittent drone attacks on Pakistan’s tribal
areas. In May, when Pakistan government was likely to send ISI Chief Lt-Gen
Zaheerul Islam to the US, a CIA-operated predator’s strike killed 10 people in
North Waziristan on May 24. On May 28, another similar strike killed four
people.
Even at that sensitive moment, when Pak-US diplomats were negotiating a
complex issue of restoring the NATO supply routes, US accelerated CIA-operated
predator’s strikes. After a two-month pause in the aftermath of the Salala
incident, these strikes by the unmanned aircraft have continued, killing more
than 70 people in North Waziristan.
While, Islamabad reopened the NATO supply into Afghanistan on July 4,
2012 by accepting the US apology regarding the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers
in November 2011 on Slalala check posts. A few days after the reconciliation, a
US drone attack killed 21 people in North Waziristan. Earlier, in violation of
the Pakistan’s sovereignty and without informing ISI by setting aside
intelligence cooperation, US Special Forces killed Osama Bin Laden in
Abbottabad on May 2.
In this backdrop, it is the first time in a year that any Pakistani
high-ranking officer like the ISI chief will visit America. However, the much
awaited meeting between the spy masters of Pakistan and the US will be of
greater importance at this critical juncture, while both the countries are
trying to further repair their damaged ties.
In this respect, the DG of Pakistan’s superior intelligence agency will
ask the CIA director to evolve some framework to end drones attacks on Pak
tribal areas—the thorniest aspect of Pak-US relations. He will raise the
question that unmanned aerial attacks are violation of the international law,
challenging a relationship that can actually accomplish a lot more on the
ground than we are doing today in eliminating terrorism.
He will especially indicate that these predator’s strikes are proving
counterproductive. In this connection, DG ISI will reveal that if these air
attacks continued, the US policy of liberalism and democracy could badly fail,
giving a greater incentive to the fundamentalist and extremist elements in
Pakistan. Such a faulty policy is likely to result in more recruitment of
militants in FATA, and will bring more subversive acts in Pakistan, ultimately
damaging US interests in the region at this hour when US needs Islamabad’s help
for stability in Afghanistan, while NATO troops are going to start withdrawal
of their troops from that war-torn country in 2013.
While indicating public backlash inside the country against the
unmanned drone attacks, ISI chief will make it clear that American raids are a
violation of country’s sovereignty and are increasing anti-US sentiment among
the people. In this context, recently, Pakistan’s political and religious
parties conducted rallies, processions and long march in relation to resumption
of NATO transport routes, especially drone attacks.
Besides other irritants between both the countries, predator’s strikes
on FATA could create a greater impediment in settling other issues between
Pakistan and the US.
During the meeting with his American counterpart, besides talking on
the other related issues, DG of ISI Lt-Gen. Zaheerul Islam would discuss new
mechanism for intelligence sharing and counterterrorism cooperation between the
two countries.
According to AFP, DG ISI will point out, “We need this precision strike
capability to avoid collateral damage and its political fallout. The idea is
that the US develops the target and tells us, and we destroy it ourselves.”
Reliable sources suggest that during his negotiations with CIA Director
General David Petraeus ISI Chief Lt-Gen. Zaheerul Islam is expected to take up
the issue of repeated cross-border incursions of militants in Pakistan from the
Afghanistan side.
Some sources disclosed that violations of the protocol of diplomatic
conduct are being spun into an excuse to support the CIA’s unilateral espionage
operations in Pakistan. These sources also revealed that no proof of the
unregistered officials being from the CIA has been offered by the US.
Official sources have argued that there is nothing derogatory in
Pakistan demanding identification of US diplomats, administrative and technical
staff. They also advised that diplomats are to acquire permission from the
Pakistan government for carrying lethal weapons, all of which should be
licensed.
With the Raymond Davis bogey still fresh in everyone’s mind,
unaccredited persons, who are not held on diplomatic roster of the Foreign
Office, are feared to run the risk of getting embroiled in a situation, bearing
potentially calamitous consequences for the already fragile Pak-US relations.
It is also expected that during his meeting with the CIA Chief, ISI DG
will also raise this question of CIA agents which are again entering Pakistan
under the guise of diplomats.
In this recent past, as part of US espionage network, hundreds of the
American CIA spies entered Pakistan under the guise of diplomats. They started
supervising and guiding the anti-Pakistan activities through their affiliated
militants. These spies were also trying to gather information about Pakistan’s
nuclear assets.
Meanwhile, some days before the trip of ISI DG to the US, a US drone
attack on July 23 killed 12 people North Waziristan.
In these adverse circumstances, during talks with his counterpart, DG
ISI Lt-Gen. Zaheerul Islam will take a firm stand particularly on the drones’
issue.
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