Inter-Services Intelligence
Encyclopedia
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| Director : Ahmad Shuja Pasha
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!Department : Intelligence
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! style="text-align:left;" | Established : 1948
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! style="text-align:left;" | Major departments:
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| style="text-align:left;" |
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! style="text-align:left;" | Notable Directors:
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The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (more commonly known as Inter-Services Intelligence or simply by its initials ISI), is Pakistan
's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security
intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan
. The ISI is the largest of the three intelligence service agencies of Pakistan, the others being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence
(MI). Its work has included supporting the mujahideen
in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s (in conjunction with the CIA and its Allies) and supporting the Taliban against the Indian- and Iranian-backed Northern Alliance
in the Afghanistan Civil War in the 1990s.
It is the successor of the IB and MI formed after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
to coordinate and operate espionage
activities for the three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The ISI was established as an independent intelligence agency in 1948 in order to strengthen the sharing of military intelligence
between the three branches of Pakistan's armed forces in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing and coordination between the Army
, Air Force
and Navy
. From its inception, the agency is headed by an appointed 3-star general officer in the Pakistan Army, despite officers from all three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces being served and hired by the agency. However, after the intelligence gathering and coordination failure during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971
, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
was created with a mandate to coordinate and supervise all military exercises and operations of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
The Chief of Army Staff led the appointment of the director, but official confirmation is needed from the President
, with consultation from the Prime minister
. The headquarters of ISI are situated in Islamabad
, Islamabad Capital Territory. It is currently headed by Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha
, who took over as ISI's Director General in September 2008.
(MI). However, the weak performance of the MI in sharing intelligence between the Army, Naval
and Air Force
during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
led to the creation of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1948. The ISI was structured to be manned by officers from the three main military services, and to specialize in the collection, analysis and assessment of external intelligence, either military or non-military. The ISI was the brainchild
of Australia
n-born British Army
officer, Major General R. Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff
in the Pakistan Army. Initially, the ISI had no role in the collection of internal intelligence, with the exception of the North-West Frontier Province
and Azad Kashmir
. The recruitment and expansion of the ISI was managed and under taken by then-Navy
's Commander
Syed Mohammad Ahsan
who was tenuring as Deputy Director of the Naval Intelligence
. The Navy's Commander Syed Mohammad Ahsan played an integral and major role in formulating the policies of the ISI. At the end of December 1952, Major-General Robert Cawthome, Director-General of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), sent a priority report to the Commander Ahsan, and asked for a detailed reactions of Pakistan Armed Forces personnel for the Basic principles for the ISI.
In the late 1950s, when Ayub Khan became the President of Pakistan, he expanded the role of ISI and MI in monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan. The ISI was reorganised in 1966 after intelligence failures in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
, and expanded in 1969. Khan entrusted the ISI with the responsibility for the collection of internal political intelligence in East Pakistan. Later on, during the Baloch nationalist revolt in Balochistan
in the mid-1970s, the ISI was tasked with performing a similar intelligence gathering operation.
The ISI lost its importance during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was very critical of its role during the 1970 general elections, which triggered off the events leading to the partition of Pakistan
and emergence of Bangladesh
.
After Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq seized power
in July 1977 and became a Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country, the ISI was expanded by making it responsible for the collection of intelligence about the Pakistan Communist Party and various political parties such as the Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP).
The Soviet war in Afghanistan
of the 1980s saw the enhancement of the covert action
capabilities of the ISI by the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA). A special Afghan Section, the SS Directorate, was created under the command of Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf to oversee the coordination of the war. A number of officers from the ISI's Covert Action Division (Special Activities Division) received training in the United States and many covert action experts of the CIA were attached to the ISI to guide it in its operations against the Soviet troops by using the Afghan Mujahideen.
After independence in 1947, and to safe guard the real national interests the two new intelligence agencies were created in Pakistan: the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Military Intelligence (MI). The Inter-Services Intelligence was created as an independent unit in 1948 in order to strengthen the performance of Pakistan's Military Intelligence with the coordination with in the all three forces. ISI was formerly in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which handled intelligence sharing between the different branches of the military as well as external intelligence gathering. Its headquarters was initially located in Rawalpindi but later it was moved to Islamabad at Shahrah-e-Soharwardi.
On September 2001, Parvaiz Musharraf appointed a new Director General for ISI, Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq which was later on replaced by the Let. Gen. Shuja Pasha.
of the Military Intelligence
by Major-General (retired) Sikandar Mirza who was the Defense Secretary
that time. He was asked to set up the organization and did so with help from Major-General Robert "Bill" Cawthome- the then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army. As this was an Inter Services Organization, the staff consisted of officers of all three services and civilians recruited through Public Service Commission. Major-General Cawthorne was the brain behind the modern state of the ISI, who served its first Director-general from 1950 till 1959. Lieutenant Colonel Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan (Later 3 star general and Foreign Minister Pakistan) served in ISI as GSO-1.
The original ISI building was in Karachi on the Junction of Abdullah Haroon Road (Old Victoria Street) and Hidayatullah Road, diagonally opposite Zainab Market. Although he was requested to stay on, and was promised promotion to Major General Hamid in his job as DG ISI. Hamid he decided to leave as he wished to serve in the regular Army. He left 20 June-1950 to command 100 Brigade in Peshawar, looking after the Khayber Pass and Landi Kotal. Major-General Cawthorne was given the command of the agency, and played a vital role in ISI's modern form as of today.
ISI's headquarters are located in Islamabad and currently the head of the ISI is called the Director General who has to be a serving Lieutenant General in the Pakistan Army. Under the Director General, three Deputy Director Generals report directly to him and are in charge in three separate fields of the ISI which are Internal wing - dealing with counter-intelligence
and political issues inside Pakistan, External wing - handling external issues, and Analysis and Foreign Relations wing.
The general staff of the ISI mainly come from paramilitary forces and some specialized units from the Pakistan Army such as the some chosen people from SS Group (SSG), SSG(N)
, and the SS Wing
. According to some experts the ISI is the largest intelligence agency in the world in terms of number of staff. While the total number has never been made public, experts estimate about 10,000 officers and staff members, which does not include informants and assets.
. Declan Walsh of The Guardian
said that the entrance is "is suitably discreet: no sign, just a plainclothes officer packing a pistol who direct visitors through a chicane of barriers, soldiers and sniffer dogs" Walsh said that the complex "resembles a well-funded private university" and that the buildings are "neatly tended," the lawns are "smooth," and the fountains are "tinkling." He described the central building, which houses the director general's office on the top floor, as "a modern structure with a round, echoing lobby."
Those candidates who passed the interview then have to go through rigorous fitness, medical and psychological evaluations. Once the candidate clears these evaluations, the ISI performs a very thorough background check on the candidate before being offered to join the ISI. Security clearance is granted once the candidate accepts the offer. Recruited agents then go to the Inter-Services Intelligence School for basic training following which they are employed on an initial one year probationary period. However, civilian operatives are not allowed to rise above the equivalent of the rank of Major and are mostly assigned to JIX, JIB and JCIB departments and the rest of the departments are solely headed by the armed forces but there have been rare cases in which civilians have been assigned to those departments.
For the armed forces, officers have to apply for admission into the Inter-Services Intelligence School. After finishing the intelligence course, they can apply to be posted in Field Intelligence Units or in the directorate of Military/Air/Naval intelligence. Then they wait and hope that their performance is good enough to be invited to the ISI for a temporary posting. Based on their performance in the military and the temporary posting with ISI, they are then offered a more permanent position.
Senior ISI officers with ranks of Major and above are assigned to the ISI for no more than only two to three years to curtail the attempt to abuse their power. Almost all of the Director-Generals of the ISI have never served in the organization before being appointed by the military commanders to lead it. ISI also monitors former, current and retired military officers who at one point or another held sensitive positions and had access to classified data.However in some special circumstances officers with outstanding achievements are given an extended appointment and even a lifetime (till 60 years of age) job.
Classification of intelligence: Data is sifted through, classified as appropriate, and filed with the assistance of the computer network in ISI's headquarters in Islamabad.
Aggressive intelligence: The primary mission of ISI includes aggressive intelligence which comprises espionage
, psychological warfare
, subversion
, sabotage
.
Counterintelligence: ISI has a dedicated section which spies against enemy's intelligence collection.
s: Diplomatic missions provide an ideal cover and ISI centers in a target country are generally located on the embassy premises.
Multinationals
: ISI operatives find good covers in multinational organizations. Non-governmental organization
s and cultural programmes are also popular screens to shield ISI activities.
Media: International media centers can easily absorb ISI operatives and provide freedom of movement.
Collaboration with other agencies: ISI maintains active collaboration with other secret services in various countries. Its contacts with Saudi Arabian Intelligence Services, Chinese Intelligence, the American CIA
and British MI6
have been well known.
Third Country Technique: ISI has been active in obtaining information and operating through third countries like Afghanistan, Nepal
, the United Kingdom
, Bangladesh
, Sri Lanka
, Iran
, Turkey
and China
.
, with the disappearances of hundreds of nationalists and activists. In 2008 alone an estimated 1100 people were disappeared from the region. There have also been reports of torture. An increasing number of bodies are being found on roadsides having been shot in the head. In July 2011, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
issued a report on illegal disappearances in Balochistan and identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators. Through daily news reports it has been noted that ISI and Frontier Corps puts to death illegally abducted Balochs whenever there is attack on FC's personnel or bases in Balochistan.
The ISI has been deeply involved in domestic politics of Pakistan since the late 1950s. The 1990 elections for example were widely believed to have been rigged by the ISI in favor of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
(IJI) party, a conglomerate of nine mainly rightist
parties by the ISI under Lt. General Hameed Gul, to ensure the defeat of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) in the polls. Gul has denied that the vote was rigged.
ISI's Internal Political Division has been accused by various members of the Pakistan People's Party in assassinating Shahnawaz Bhutto
, one of the two brothers of Benazir Bhutto, through poisoning in the French Riviera
in the middle of 1985 in an attempt to intimidate her into not returning to Pakistan for directing the movement against Zia's Military government, but no proof has been found implicating the ISI.
The ISI was also involved in a massive corruption scandal the Mehran bank scandal
dubbed "Mehrangate", in which top ISI and Army brass were given large sums of money by Yunus Habib (the owner of Mehran Bank) to deposit ISI's foreign exchange reserves in Mehran Bank. This was against government policy, as such banking which involves government institutions can only be done through state-owned financial institutions and not private banks. When the new director of the ISI was appointed and then proceeded to withdraw the money from Mehran Bank and back into state-owned financial institutions, the money had been used up in financing Habib's "extracurricular" activities. On April 20, 1994, Habib was arrested and the scandal became public.
ISI has been actively involved in suppressing a Brutal Separatist Insurgencies in Balochistan
since 1948, which recently the Militants have been accused of targeting people non-Balochi ethnic groups.
Over two hundred bodies with signs of extreme torture and a shotgun wound to the head have been found in the region during the period of July 2010 to July 2011, and Human Rights Watch
says evidence points to complete ISI responsibility. Whilst the Provincial Government says it is doing its best to improve law and order and end target killing which it blames on rival factional fighting.
The Chief Minister of the Province Said "law enforcement agencies have busted 48 groups involved in robberies, 44 in target killings and 47 involved in car snatching and kidnapping for ransom across the country.
As many as 985 people have been sentenced so far while the cases of 875 accused in various crimes were in the courts."
Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a successful Kill or Capture Operation Launched by the Pakistan against his private militia.
Balach Marri
, former chief of Balochistan National Movement Mr.Ghulam Mohammed Baloch
(See Turbat killings
) where found dead, and the ISI is accused by the separatist of being behind the kiling .
Till September 2011 more than 190 dead bodies have been found. The Frontier Corps
and ISI have been accused of being behind the killing. The Special Operations Wing (SOW) of Frontier Corps has also been allegedly involved in it. . The methodology of ISI is to work with Frontier Corps to tackle the situation, usually not in uniform. ISI has installed various intelligence units all over Balochistan to gather information. Most of ISI's abductions come from the Makran and coastal regions of Balochistan. Baloch passengers of these areas have witnessed illegal abductions by ISI on the local bus routes of Balochistan.
In July 2011, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
issued a report on illegal disappearances in Balochistan and identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators.
Recent activity recorded was the bodies of two enforced disappeared Baloch youth found dumped in Murgaap area of Turbat, Balochistan on Thursday October 6, 2011. These latest victims of state security forces were identified as Kareem Jan Baloch son of Muhammad Hassan was abducted from Tump district Kech on 8 of August 2011 and Arfath Baloch son of Ibrahim Baloch abducted from Pasni cross on 23 September 2011. Their tortured and bullet-ridden bodies were found near Murgaap. Arafat Baloch was a student of Turbat Degree College he has been abducted along with two other friends, Zahoor Baloch and Musadiq Baloch, whose were released after few days. They are students of Balochistan Residential College
Turbat. Karim Jan Baloch was a political and social activist and he was also cousin of Banuk Karima Baloch, the Central Chairperson of Baloch Students Organization
Azad.
and not accountable enough. Some analyst say due to says due to the nature of intelligence work agencies around the world remain secretive .Critics argue the institution should be more accountable enough to the President or the Prime Minister. After much criticism, the Pakistani Government disbanded the ISI 'Political Wing' in 2008.
in total around 100 top level al-Qaeda leaders/operators were killed/arrested by ISI. The ISI has also lost many agents in the process and this sacrifice has been acknowledged . The Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton said "Pakistan was paying a “big price for supporting the U.S. war against terror groups. “... I think it is important to note that as they have made these adjustments in their own assessment of their national interests, they're paying a big price for it". However in 2011 The top U.S. military officer Adm. Mike Mullen publicly accused ISI, for giving aid to the terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. However such claims where later rejected by U.S. President Barack Obama
who said it was more complicated and a question of Pakistan could do more
the ISI had in had previously shared intelligence information regarding possible terrorist attacks against in late 2008 in India. ISI is also accused of supporting pro independence militias in Jammu and Kashmir while Pakistan denies all such claims.
| Director : Ahmad Shuja Pasha
Ahmad Shuja Pasha
Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha , HI is the current Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence , Pakistan's premier intelligence service since October 2008. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2010, but has received two extensions. His tenure was extended by a...
|-
!Department : Intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Established : 1948
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Major departments:
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |
- Joint Intelligence X (JIX)
- Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB)
- Joint Counter Intelligence Bureau (JCIB)
- Joint Intelligence North (JIN)
- Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM)
- Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB)
- Joint Intelligence Technical (JIT)
- SS Directorate (SSD)
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Notable Directors:
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |
- Akhtar Abdur RahmanAkhtar Abdur RahmanGeneral Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan , born in Rampur, was a 4-star general in the Pakistan Army. He served as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987–1988 and as Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence from 1980-1987...
- Hamid Gul
- Asad DurraniAsad DurraniLieutenant General Mohammad Asad Durrani , is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army and presently an intelligence commentator...
- Mahmud Ahmed
- Ehsan ul HaqEhsan ul HaqGeneral Ehsan ul Haq , is a retired four-star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Military until October 8, 2007...
- Ashfaq Parvez KayaniAshfaq Parvez KayaniGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI, HI is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007...
- Nadeem TajNadeem TajLieutenant General Nadeem Taj, HI is a senior and a three star general in the Pakistan Army who is currently serving as its Adjutant General in the GHQ...
|}
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (more commonly known as Inter-Services Intelligence or simply by its initials ISI), is Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...
. The ISI is the largest of the three intelligence service agencies of Pakistan, the others being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence
Military Intelligence of Pakistan
In Pakistan Defence Forces, the Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence , is a Pakistan Defence Forces intelligence agency and that is responsible for the military counter-intelligence. It also refers specifically to the intelligence components of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Unlike the...
(MI). Its work has included supporting the mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s (in conjunction with the CIA and its Allies) and supporting the Taliban against the Indian- and Iranian-backed Northern Alliance
Northern Alliance
The Afghan Northern Alliance is a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996.Northern Alliance may also refer to:*Northern Alliance , a Canadian white supremacist group...
in the Afghanistan Civil War in the 1990s.
It is the successor of the IB and MI formed after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
The India-Pakistan War of 1947-48, sometimes known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four wars fought between the two newly independent nations...
to coordinate and operate espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
activities for the three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The ISI was established as an independent intelligence agency in 1948 in order to strengthen the sharing of military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
between the three branches of Pakistan's armed forces in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing and coordination between the Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
, Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
and Navy
Pakistan Navy
The Pakistan Navy is the naval warfare/service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Pakistan's Navy is responsible for Pakistan's coastline along the Arabian Sea and the defense of important civilian harbors and military bases...
. From its inception, the agency is headed by an appointed 3-star general officer in the Pakistan Army, despite officers from all three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces being served and hired by the agency. However, after the intelligence gathering and coordination failure during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Pakistan
The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee , is a military administrative body of high-ranking and senior uniformed military leaders and officers in the Pakistan Defense Forces who advises the civilian Government of Pakistan, National Security Council, and Defence Minister on important military matters...
was created with a mandate to coordinate and supervise all military exercises and operations of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
The Chief of Army Staff led the appointment of the director, but official confirmation is needed from the President
President of Pakistan
The President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...
, with consultation from the Prime minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
. The headquarters of ISI are situated in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, Islamabad Capital Territory. It is currently headed by Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha
Ahmad Shuja Pasha
Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha , HI is the current Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence , Pakistan's premier intelligence service since October 2008. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2010, but has received two extensions. His tenure was extended by a...
, who took over as ISI's Director General in September 2008.
History
After independence in 1947, two new intelligence agencies were created in Pakistan: the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Military IntelligenceMilitary Intelligence of Pakistan
In Pakistan Defence Forces, the Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence , is a Pakistan Defence Forces intelligence agency and that is responsible for the military counter-intelligence. It also refers specifically to the intelligence components of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Unlike the...
(MI). However, the weak performance of the MI in sharing intelligence between the Army, Naval
Naval Intelligence of Pakistan
The Directorate for the Naval Intelligence of Pakistan, abbreviated as NI, is a staff naval corps and naval intelligence directorate of Pakistan Navy, headquartered in Rawalpindi, Punjab. The NI directly reports to Chief of Naval Staff, and is subordinated to the Ministry of Defence of Pakistan...
and Air Force
Air Intelligence of Pakistan
The Directorate for the Air Intelligence of Pakistan, codename AI, is an air force staff corps and chief intelligence directorate of the Pakistan Air Force . The AI is responsible for the formulation of the aerial intelligence picture, and participates in forging the overall intelligence view as...
during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
The India-Pakistan War of 1947-48, sometimes known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four wars fought between the two newly independent nations...
led to the creation of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1948. The ISI was structured to be manned by officers from the three main military services, and to specialize in the collection, analysis and assessment of external intelligence, either military or non-military. The ISI was the brainchild
Idea
In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-born British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, Major General R. Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
in the Pakistan Army. Initially, the ISI had no role in the collection of internal intelligence, with the exception of the North-West Frontier Province
North-West Frontier Province
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country...
and Azad Kashmir
Azad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir for short, is the southernmost political entity within the Pakistani-administered part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir...
. The recruitment and expansion of the ISI was managed and under taken by then-Navy
Pakistan Navy
The Pakistan Navy is the naval warfare/service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Pakistan's Navy is responsible for Pakistan's coastline along the Arabian Sea and the defense of important civilian harbors and military bases...
's Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Syed Mohammad Ahsan
Syed Mohammad Ahsan
Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan HQA, SPk, DSO, was a senior three-star admiral who was the 4th Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy from October 20, 1966 to August 31, 1969...
who was tenuring as Deputy Director of the Naval Intelligence
Naval Intelligence of Pakistan
The Directorate for the Naval Intelligence of Pakistan, abbreviated as NI, is a staff naval corps and naval intelligence directorate of Pakistan Navy, headquartered in Rawalpindi, Punjab. The NI directly reports to Chief of Naval Staff, and is subordinated to the Ministry of Defence of Pakistan...
. The Navy's Commander Syed Mohammad Ahsan played an integral and major role in formulating the policies of the ISI. At the end of December 1952, Major-General Robert Cawthome, Director-General of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), sent a priority report to the Commander Ahsan, and asked for a detailed reactions of Pakistan Armed Forces personnel for the Basic principles for the ISI.
In the late 1950s, when Ayub Khan became the President of Pakistan, he expanded the role of ISI and MI in monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan. The ISI was reorganised in 1966 after intelligence failures in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
, and expanded in 1969. Khan entrusted the ISI with the responsibility for the collection of internal political intelligence in East Pakistan. Later on, during the Baloch nationalist revolt in Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
in the mid-1970s, the ISI was tasked with performing a similar intelligence gathering operation.
The ISI lost its importance during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was very critical of its role during the 1970 general elections, which triggered off the events leading to the partition of Pakistan
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
and emergence of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
.
After Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq seized power
Operation Fair Play
Operation Fairplay was the code-name for the coup d'etat conducted at midnight on July 4, 1977 by the Pakistan Army's 111th Infantry Brigade led by Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq against the elected civilian government of then-Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.-1977 election:The coup was...
in July 1977 and became a Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country, the ISI was expanded by making it responsible for the collection of intelligence about the Pakistan Communist Party and various political parties such as the Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
(PPP).
The Soviet war in Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
of the 1980s saw the enhancement of the covert action
Covert operation
A covert operation is a military, intelligence or law enforcement operation that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation...
capabilities of the ISI by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA). A special Afghan Section, the SS Directorate, was created under the command of Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf to oversee the coordination of the war. A number of officers from the ISI's Covert Action Division (Special Activities Division) received training in the United States and many covert action experts of the CIA were attached to the ISI to guide it in its operations against the Soviet troops by using the Afghan Mujahideen.
After independence in 1947, and to safe guard the real national interests the two new intelligence agencies were created in Pakistan: the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Military Intelligence (MI). The Inter-Services Intelligence was created as an independent unit in 1948 in order to strengthen the performance of Pakistan's Military Intelligence with the coordination with in the all three forces. ISI was formerly in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which handled intelligence sharing between the different branches of the military as well as external intelligence gathering. Its headquarters was initially located in Rawalpindi but later it was moved to Islamabad at Shahrah-e-Soharwardi.
On September 2001, Parvaiz Musharraf appointed a new Director General for ISI, Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq which was later on replaced by the Let. Gen. Shuja Pasha.
Organization
The concept was idolized by then Lieutenant-Colonel Shahid Hamid in 14 July 1948. Later, he was promoted to 2-star rank of Major-General and was appointed as Director-GeneralDirector-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
of the Military Intelligence
Military Intelligence of Pakistan
In Pakistan Defence Forces, the Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence , is a Pakistan Defence Forces intelligence agency and that is responsible for the military counter-intelligence. It also refers specifically to the intelligence components of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Unlike the...
by Major-General (retired) Sikandar Mirza who was the Defense Secretary
Defence Secretary of Pakistan
Defence Secretary of Pakistan is the highest bureaucratic position within the Ministry of Defence of Pakistan. Following is the list of the defence secretaries to date....
that time. He was asked to set up the organization and did so with help from Major-General Robert "Bill" Cawthome- the then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army. As this was an Inter Services Organization, the staff consisted of officers of all three services and civilians recruited through Public Service Commission. Major-General Cawthorne was the brain behind the modern state of the ISI, who served its first Director-general from 1950 till 1959. Lieutenant Colonel Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan (Later 3 star general and Foreign Minister Pakistan) served in ISI as GSO-1.
The original ISI building was in Karachi on the Junction of Abdullah Haroon Road (Old Victoria Street) and Hidayatullah Road, diagonally opposite Zainab Market. Although he was requested to stay on, and was promised promotion to Major General Hamid in his job as DG ISI. Hamid he decided to leave as he wished to serve in the regular Army. He left 20 June-1950 to command 100 Brigade in Peshawar, looking after the Khayber Pass and Landi Kotal. Major-General Cawthorne was given the command of the agency, and played a vital role in ISI's modern form as of today.
ISI's headquarters are located in Islamabad and currently the head of the ISI is called the Director General who has to be a serving Lieutenant General in the Pakistan Army. Under the Director General, three Deputy Director Generals report directly to him and are in charge in three separate fields of the ISI which are Internal wing - dealing with counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
and political issues inside Pakistan, External wing - handling external issues, and Analysis and Foreign Relations wing.
The general staff of the ISI mainly come from paramilitary forces and some specialized units from the Pakistan Army such as the some chosen people from SS Group (SSG), SSG(N)
Special Service Group Navy
The Special Service Group Navy, codename SSG, are the Pakistan Navy's elite principal special operations naval force component. Together with the PAF 312th SS Wing, Special Service Group, Pakistan Marines, and Rangers, they form Pakistan Special Operations Command under the joint administrative...
, and the SS Wing
Special Service Wing
The Special Service Wing, codename the SS Wing, or previously known as 312th Special Service Wing or Maroon berets, is an special operations aerospace unit of the Pakistan Air Force . The SS Wing or Maroon Berets are an elite special operations force based upon United States Air Force's Special...
. According to some experts the ISI is the largest intelligence agency in the world in terms of number of staff. While the total number has never been made public, experts estimate about 10,000 officers and staff members, which does not include informants and assets.
Departments
- Joint Intelligence X, coordinates all the other departments in the ISI. Intelligence and information gathered from the other departments are sent to JIX which prepares and processes the information and from which prepares reports which are presented.
- Joint Intelligence Bureau, responsible for gathering political intelligence. It has three subsections, one devoted entirely to operations against IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
- Joint Counterintelligence Bureau, responsible for surveillance of Pakistan's diplomats and diplomatic agents abroad, along with intelligence operations in the Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, South AsiaSouth AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and the Muslim republics of the former Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
- Joint Intelligence North, exclusively responsible for the Jammu and KashmirJammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
region and Northern Areas.
- Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous, responsible for espionage, including offensive intelligence operations, in other countries (Men at their best).
- Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau, operates intelligence collections along the India-Pakistan border. The JSIB is the ELINT, COMINT, and SIGINTSIGINTSignals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people , whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication , or combinations of the two...
directorate that is charged to divert the attacks from the foreign non-communications electromagnetic radiationElectromagnetic radiationElectromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
s emanating from other than nuclear detonations or radioactive sources.
- Joint Intelligence Technical, deals with development of science and technology to advance the Pakistan intelligence gathering. The directorate is charged to take steps against the electronic warfareElectronic warfareElectronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...
attacks in Pakistan. Without any exception, officers from this divisions are reported to be engineer officers and military scientists who deal with the military promotion of scienceMilitary funding of scienceThe military funding of science has had a powerful transformative effect on the practice and products of scientific research since the early 20th century...
and technology. In addition, there are also separate explosives and a chemicalChemical warfareChemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
and biological warfareBiological warfareBiological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
sections.
- SS Directorate, which monitors the terrorist group activities that operates in Pakistan against the state of Pakistan. The SS Directorate is comparable to that of Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) Special Activities DivisionSpecial Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...
, and responsible for the covert political action and paramilitary special operations.
Director Generals of the ISI
- ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Syed Shahid HamidSyed Shahid HamidMajor General Syed Shahid Hamid MBE HJ MC was a 2 star general in the Pakistan Army and a close associate of President Field Marshal Ayub Khan who played an important and an instrumental role in bringing Field Marshal Ayub Khan to power in the 1958 coup d'état that overthrew the government of...
1948-1950 - MGenMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Robert Cawthome. 1950-1959 - BGen Riaz Hussain. 1959 - 1966
- MGen (then BGen) Mohammad Akbar Khan. 1966 - 1971
- LGenLieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
(then Maj GenMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
) Ghulam Jilani Khan. 1971 - 1978 - LGen Muhammad Riaz. 1978 - 1980
- LGen Akhtar Abdur RahmanAkhtar Abdur RahmanGeneral Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan , born in Rampur, was a 4-star general in the Pakistan Army. He served as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987–1988 and as Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence from 1980-1987...
. 1980 - March 1987 - LGen Hamid Gul. March 1987 - May 1989
- LGen (retd) Shamsur Rahman KalluShamsur Rahman KalluLieutenant General Shamsur Rahman Kallue was a vetern intelligence officer and a general in the Pakistan Army, and then was head of the Inter Services Intelligence . The CIA wanted Kallue to meet Masoud to put forward U.S...
. May 1989 - August 1990 - LGen Asad DurraniAsad DurraniLieutenant General Mohammad Asad Durrani , is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army and presently an intelligence commentator...
. August 1990 - March 1992 - LGen Javed NasirJaved NasirLieutenant General Javed Nasir, HI, was a three-star general of the Pakistan Army who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence from March 1992 till May 1993...
. March 1992 - May 1993 - LGen Javed Ashraf QaziJaved Ashraf QaziLieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi, HI, SBt, is a Pakistani general and politician who is currently a Senator in the Parliament of Pakistan. During his army career, Qazi headed the Inter-Services Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 and Military Intelligence from 1990 to 1991...
. May 1993 - 1995 - LGen (then Maj Gen) Naseem RanaNaseem RanaLieutenant-General Naseem Rana is a retired three-star general in the Pakistan Army, who in the course of Pakistan war in Afghanistan, played a pivotal role in leading the ISI in promoting Pakistani Interest during the Afghanistan Civil War to provide help to irregular hardline Taliban forces...
. 1995 - October 1998 - LGen Ziauddin ButtZiauddin ButtGeneral Ziauddin Khawaja, also known as Ziauddin Butt, is a four-star general of the Pakistan Army and a career operations and infantry formations commander, head of intelligence and engineering officer...
. October 1998 - October 1999 - LGen Mahmud Ahmed. October 1999 - October 2001
- LGen Ehsan ul HaqEhsan ul HaqGeneral Ehsan ul Haq , is a retired four-star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Military until October 8, 2007...
. October 2001 - October 2004 - LGen Ashfaq Parvez KayaniAshfaq Parvez KayaniGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI, HI is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007...
. October 2004 - October 2007 - LGen Nadeem TajNadeem TajLieutenant General Nadeem Taj, HI is a senior and a three star general in the Pakistan Army who is currently serving as its Adjutant General in the GHQ...
. October 2007 - October 2008 - LGen Ahmad Shuja PashaAhmad Shuja PashaLieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha , HI is the current Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence , Pakistan's premier intelligence service since October 2008. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2010, but has received two extensions. His tenure was extended by a...
. October 2008–Present
Headquarters
The ISI headquarters are in Islamabad. The complex consists of various adobe building separated by lawns and fountains. The entrance to the complex is next to a private hospitalPrivate hospital
A private hospital is a hospital owned by a profit company or a non-profit organisation and privately funded through payment for medical services by patients themselves, by insurers, or by foreign embassies. This practice is very common in the United States and Australia...
. Declan Walsh of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said that the entrance is "is suitably discreet: no sign, just a plainclothes officer packing a pistol who direct visitors through a chicane of barriers, soldiers and sniffer dogs" Walsh said that the complex "resembles a well-funded private university" and that the buildings are "neatly tended," the lawns are "smooth," and the fountains are "tinkling." He described the central building, which houses the director general's office on the top floor, as "a modern structure with a round, echoing lobby."
Recruitment and training
Both civilians and members of the armed forces can join the ISI. For civilians, recruitment is advertised and is jointly handled by the Federal Public Services Commission (FPSC) and civilian ISI agents are considered employees of the Ministry of Defense. The FPSC conducts various examinations testing the candidate's knowledge of current affairs, English and various analytical abilities. Based on the results, the FPSC shortlists the candidates and sends the list to the ISI who conduct the initial background checks. The selected candidates are then invited for an interview which is conducted by a joint committee comprising both ISI and FPSC officials.Those candidates who passed the interview then have to go through rigorous fitness, medical and psychological evaluations. Once the candidate clears these evaluations, the ISI performs a very thorough background check on the candidate before being offered to join the ISI. Security clearance is granted once the candidate accepts the offer. Recruited agents then go to the Inter-Services Intelligence School for basic training following which they are employed on an initial one year probationary period. However, civilian operatives are not allowed to rise above the equivalent of the rank of Major and are mostly assigned to JIX, JIB and JCIB departments and the rest of the departments are solely headed by the armed forces but there have been rare cases in which civilians have been assigned to those departments.
For the armed forces, officers have to apply for admission into the Inter-Services Intelligence School. After finishing the intelligence course, they can apply to be posted in Field Intelligence Units or in the directorate of Military/Air/Naval intelligence. Then they wait and hope that their performance is good enough to be invited to the ISI for a temporary posting. Based on their performance in the military and the temporary posting with ISI, they are then offered a more permanent position.
Senior ISI officers with ranks of Major and above are assigned to the ISI for no more than only two to three years to curtail the attempt to abuse their power. Almost all of the Director-Generals of the ISI have never served in the organization before being appointed by the military commanders to lead it. ISI also monitors former, current and retired military officers who at one point or another held sensitive positions and had access to classified data.However in some special circumstances officers with outstanding achievements are given an extended appointment and even a lifetime (till 60 years of age) job.
Functions
Collection of information and extraction of intelligence from information: ISI obtains information critical to Pakistan's strategic interests. Both overt and covert means are adopted.Classification of intelligence: Data is sifted through, classified as appropriate, and filed with the assistance of the computer network in ISI's headquarters in Islamabad.
Aggressive intelligence: The primary mission of ISI includes aggressive intelligence which comprises espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
, subversion
Subversion (politics)
Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order, its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the State. In this context, a "subversive" is sometimes called a "traitor" with respect to the government in-power. A subversive is...
, sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
.
Counterintelligence: ISI has a dedicated section which spies against enemy's intelligence collection.
Methods
Diplomatic missionDiplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
s: Diplomatic missions provide an ideal cover and ISI centers in a target country are generally located on the embassy premises.
Multinationals
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
: ISI operatives find good covers in multinational organizations. Non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s and cultural programmes are also popular screens to shield ISI activities.
Media: International media centers can easily absorb ISI operatives and provide freedom of movement.
Collaboration with other agencies: ISI maintains active collaboration with other secret services in various countries. Its contacts with Saudi Arabian Intelligence Services, Chinese Intelligence, the American CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and British MI6
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
have been well known.
Third Country Technique: ISI has been active in obtaining information and operating through third countries like Afghanistan, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Activities in Balochistan
The ISI has been accused of massive human rights abuses in Balochistan by Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, with the disappearances of hundreds of nationalists and activists. In 2008 alone an estimated 1100 people were disappeared from the region. There have also been reports of torture. An increasing number of bodies are being found on roadsides having been shot in the head. In July 2011, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan , or HRCP, is an independent, non-profit organization, founded in 1987, which is not associated or affiliated with the government or any political party. It is committed to act with impartiality and objectivity in all matters...
issued a report on illegal disappearances in Balochistan and identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators. Through daily news reports it has been noted that ISI and Frontier Corps puts to death illegally abducted Balochs whenever there is attack on FC's personnel or bases in Balochistan.
Afghanistan
- (1982) ISI, CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
carried out a covert transfer of Soviet-made weapons and Lebanese weapons captured by the Israelis during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 and their subsequent transfer to Pakistan and then into Afghanistan. All knowledge of this weapon transfer was kept secret and was only made public recently. - (1982–1997) ISI are believed to have access to Osama bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in the past. ISI played a central role in the U.S.-backed guerrilla war to oust the Soviet Army from Afghanistan in the 1980s. That Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed effort flooded Pakistan with weapons and with Afghan, Pakistani and Arab "mujahideen", who were motivated to fight as a united force protecting fellow Muslims in Soviet occupied Afghanistan. The CIA relied on the ISI to train fighters, distribute arms, and channel money. The ISI trained about 83,000 Afghan mujahideen between 1983 and 1997, and dispatched them to Afghanistan. B. Raman of the South Asia Analysis GroupSouth Asia Analysis GroupSouth Asia Analysis Group is a non-profit think tank based in India which conducts public interest and advocacy work. The group consists of Indian academics and former government officials...
, an Indian think-tank, claims that the Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
through the ISI promoted the smuggling of heroin into Afghanistan in order to turn the Soviet troops into heroin addicts and thus greatly reducing their fighting potential. - (1986) Worrying that among the large influx of Afghan refugees that had come into Pakistan due to the Soviet-Afghan war were members of KHADKHADKhadamat-e Etela'at-e Dawlati translates directly to English as: "Government Information Agency". However, this phrase is more correctly translated as Government Intelligence Service...
(Afghan Intelligence), the ISI successfully convinced Mansoor Ahmed who was the Charge-de-Affairs of the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad to turn his back on the Soviet backed Afghan government. He and his family were secretly escorted out of their residence and were given safe passage on a London bound British Airways flight in exchange for classified information in regard to Afghan agents in Pakistan. The Soviet and Afghan diplomats tried their best to find the family but were unsuccessful. - (1994) The Taliban regime that the ISI supported after 1994 to suppress warlord fighting and in hopes of bringing stability to Afghanistan proved too rigid in its Islamic interpretations and too fond of the Al-QaedaAl-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
based on its soil. Despite receiving large sums of aid from Pakistan, the Taliban leader Mullah OmarMohammed OmarMullah Mohammed Omar , often simply called Mullah Omar, is the leader of the Taliban movement that operates in Afghanistan. He was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to late 2001, under the official title "Head of the Supreme Council"...
is reported to have insulted a visiting delegation of Saudi Prince Sultan and an ISI general asking that the Taliban turn over bin Laden to Saudi Arabia. Following the 9/11 attack on the United States allegedly by Al-Qaeda, Pakistan felt it necessary to cooperate with the US and the Northern AllianceUnited Islamic Front for the Salvation of AfghanistanThe United Islamic Front , known in the West and Pakistan as the Northern Alliance, was a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996 under the leadership of Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud...
. - (2008) The Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked by terrorists in 2008. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security spokesperson Luftullah Mashal told mediapersons that Inter-Services Intelligence was behind the terror plot to target the Indian Consulate General in Jalalabad and had given Rs 1.2 lakh for the operation as confessed by two persons arrested by Afghan authorities.
- (2001 onwards) American officials believe members of the Pakistani intelligence service are alerting militants to imminent American missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. In October 2009, Davood Moradian, a senior policy adviser to foreign minister Spanta, said the British and American governments were fully aware of the ISI's role but lacked the courage to confront Islamabad. He claimed that the Afghan government had given British and American intelligence agents evidence that proved ISI involvement in bombings.
- (2010) A new report by the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(LSE) claimed to provide the most concrete evidence yet that the ISI is providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban insurgencyTaliban insurgencyThe Taliban insurgency took root shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 war in Afghanistan. The Taliban continue to attack Afghan, U.S., and other ISAF troops and many terrorist incidents attributable to them have been registered. The war has also spread over the southern and...
on a scale much larger than previously thought. The report's author Matt Waldman spoke to nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan and concluded that Pakistan's relationship with the insurgents ran far deeper than previously realised. Some of those interviewed suggested that the organization even attended meetings of the Taliban's supreme council, the Quetta ShuraQuetta ShuraThe Quetta Shura is a militant organization composed of top leadership of the Afghan Taliban, that is believed to be based since about 2001 in the city of Quetta in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The Shura was formed after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was toppled in late 2001 and the...
. A spokesman for the Pakistani military dismissed the report, describing it as "malicious". General David Petraeus, commander of the US Central Command, refused to endorse this report in US congressional hearing and suggested that any contacts between ISI and extremists are for legitimate intelligence purposes, in his words “you have to have contact with bad guys to get intelligence on bad guys”.
Bosnia
- (1993) The ISI was involved in supplying arms to the warring parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina to protect themselves from Serbian attacks.
India
- (1950s) The ISI's Covert Action Division was used in assisting the insurgents in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's North-East.
- (1960s) In the late 1960s assists the SikhSikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
Home Rule Movement of London-based Charan Singh Panchi, which was subsequently transformed into the KhalistanKhalistanKhalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
Movement, headed by Jagjit Singh ChauhanJagjit Singh ChauhanDr. Jagjit Singh Chauhan was the original founder of the Khalistan movement that sought to create an independent Sikh state.Chohan, a Sikh Rajput from the Chauhan clan, grew up in Tanda in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, about 180 km from Chandigarh. A medical practitioner, Dr...
in which many other members of the Sikh diasporaSikh diasporaThe Sikh diaspora is a relatively recent term used to describe the phenomenon of Punjabi Sikh migration from the traditional area of the Punjab region. Sikhism is an ethnic religion but welcomes converts, the Punjab region being the historic homeland of Sikhism...
in Europe, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
joined and then demanded the separate country of Khalistan.
- (1965) The 1965 warIndo-Pakistani War of 1965The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
in Kashmir provoked a major crisis in intelligence. When the war started, there was a complete collapse of the operations of all the intelligence agencies, after the commencement of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, was apparently unable to locate an Indian armored division due to its preoccupation with political affairs. Ayub Khan set up a committee headed by General Yahya KhanYahya KhanGeneral Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the third President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan...
to examine the working of the agencies.
- (1969–1974) The U.S. Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and ISI worked in tandem with the NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
Administration in assisting the KhalistanKhalistanKhalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
movement in PunjabPunjab (India)Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
.
- (1980) The PAF Field Intelligence Unit at their base in KarachiKarachiKarachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in July 1980 captured an Indian agent. He was interrogated and revealed that a large network of Indian spies were functioning in Karachi. The agent claimed that these spies, in addition to espionage, had also assassinated a few armed personnel. He also said the leader of the spy ring was being headed by the food and beverages manager at the Intercontinental Hotel in Karachi and a number of serving Air Force officers and ratings were on his payroll. The ISI decided to survey the manager to see who he was in contact with, but then President of PakistanPresident of PakistanThe President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...
Zia-ul Haq superseded and wanted the manager and anyone else involved in the case arrested immediately. It was later proven that the manager was completely innocent.
- (1983) Ilam Din also known as Ilmo was an infamous Indian spy working from Pakistan. He had eluded being captured many times but on March 23 at 3 a.m., Ilmo and two other Indian spies were apprehended by Pakistani Rangers as they were illegally crossing into Pakistan from India. Their mission was to spy and report back on the new military equipment that Pakistan will be showing in their annual March 23 Pakistan day parade. Ilmo after being thoroughly interrogated was then forced by the ISI to send false information to his R&AW handlers in India. This process continued and many more Indian spies in Pakistan were flushed out, such as Roop Lal.
- (1984) ISI uncovered a secret deal in which naval base facilities were granted by Indian Prime Minister Indira GandhiIndira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
to the USSR in Vizag and the Andaman & Nicobar Island and the alleged attachment of KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
advisers to the then Lieutenant General Sunderji who was the commander of Operation Bluestar in the Golden Temple in AmritsarAmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
in June 1984.
- (1984) ISI failed to perform a proper background check on the BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
company which supplied the Pakistan Army with its ArcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
-weather gear. When Pakistan attempted to secure the top of the Siachen GlacierSiachen GlacierThe Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya Mountains at about , just east of the Line of Control between India-Pakistan. India controls all of the Siachen Glacier itself, including all tributary glaciers. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and...
in 1984, it placed a large order for Arctic-weather gear with the same company that also supplied the Indian ArmyIndian ArmyThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
with its gear. Indians were easily alerted to the large Pakistani purchase and deduced that this large purchase could be used to equip troops to capture the glacierGlacierA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. India quickly mounted a military operation (Operation MeghdootOperation MeghdootOperation Meghdoot was the name given to the attack launched by the Indian Military to capture the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region, precipitating the Siachen Conflict. Launched on 13 April 1984, this military operation was unique as the first assault launched in the world's highest...
) and captured a large part of the glacier.
- (1985) A routine background check on various staff members working for the IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n embassy raised suspicions on an Indian woman who worked as a school teacher in an Indian School in Islamabad. Her enthusiastic and too friendly attitude gave her up. She was in reality an agent working for the Research and Analysis WingResearch and Analysis WingThe Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965 convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent...
(R&AW). ISI monitored her movements to a hotel in Islamabad where she rendezvoused with a local Pakistani man who worked as an nuclear engineer for Pakistan Atomic Energy CommissionPakistan Atomic Energy CommissionThe Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, , is an administrative governmental and autonomous science and technology governmental department of Pakistan, responsible for development of nuclear energy and development of nuclear power sector in Pakistan...
. ISI then confronted her and were then able to turn her into a double agentDouble agentA double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
spying on the Indian Embassy in Islamabad.
- (1988) ISI implemented Operation TupacOperation TupacOperation Tupac is the designation of the three part action plan for covertly supporting militants of Kashmir, initiated by President Zia Ul Haq in 1988 after the failure of "Operation Gibraltar". The designation is derived from Tupac Amaru II, the 18th century prince who led the war of liberation...
a three part action plan for covertly supporting the militants in their fight against the Indian authorities in KashmirKashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, initiated by President Zia Ul HaqMuhammad Zia-ul-HaqGeneral Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
in 1988 after the failure of "Operation GibraltarOperation GibraltarOperation Gibraltar was the codename given to the strategy of Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of India, and start a rebellion against Indian rule...
". After success of Operation Tupac, support to militants became Pakistan's state policy. ISI is widely believed to train and support militancy in KashmirKashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
region.
Israel
- (1980s) Israel had always perceived a nuclear armed Muslim state to be a threat to its existence, although, Israel is nuclear itself. This is the reason why it destroyed the Iraqi nuclear facility in Operation OperaOperation OperaOperation Babylon was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on June 7, 1981, that destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq....
, and the Syrian nuclear facility during Operation OrchardOperation OrchardOperation Orchard was an Israeli airstrike on a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria carried out just after midnight on September 6, 2007. The White House and Central Intelligence Agency later confirmed that American intelligence had also indicated the site was a nuclear facility...
. Israel had similar plans to destroy the Pakistani nuclear facilities in KahutaKahutaKahuta is a town and tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. According to Pakistan's 2008 census, Kahuta tehsil has a population of approximately 160,000....
during the 1980s with the assistance of India but failed to do so. - (2002) According to Time magazineTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, French intellectual Bernard-Henri LevyBernard-Henri LévyBernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
, has claimed that Daniel PearlDaniel PearlDaniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
, an American-Israeli, was assassinated by elements with backing from Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence, over his alleged role in gathering information linking ISI and Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan
- (1980) ISI became aware of a plot to assassinate the President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq and then launch a bloody coup to depose the current government and install an Islamic government in its place. The attempted assassination and coup was to occur on March 23, 1980 during the annual March 23 Pakistan day parade. The masterminds behind the coup were high ranking Military and Intelligence officers and were led by Major General Tajammal Hussain Malik, his son, Captain Naveed and his nephew Major Riaz, a former Military Intelligence officer. ISI decided against arresting these men outright because they did not know how deep this conspiracy went and kept these men under strict surveillance. As the date of the annual parade approached, ISI was satisfied that it had identified the major players in this conspiracy and then arrested these men along with quite a few high ranking military officers.
- (2000s) ISI is actively engaged with the Pakistan armed forces in the War in North-West PakistanWar in North-West PakistanThe War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistan Armed Forces and armed religious groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , Lashkar-e-Islam, TSNM, Arab and Central Asian militants including Al-Qaeda, regional armed movements and elements of organized crime.The armed...
against Tehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
, and so far is reported to have lost 78 ISI personnel, most notably Khalid KhawajaKhalid KhawajaSquadron Leader Khalid Khawaja was a former Air Force officer, and the former Air Force's intelligence officer of the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency....
and Colonel ImamColonel ImamColonel Sultan Amir Tarar , best known as Colonel Imam, was a Pakistan Army officer and special warfare operation specialist. He was a member of the Special Service Group of the army, an intelligence officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence and served as Pakistani Consul General at Herat,...
. - (2011) Five Pakistanis who worked as informant for CIA to pass information leading to the Death of Osama bin LadenDeath of Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden, then head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit....
had been arrested by the ISI. In particular the US is trying to seek the release of Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani who worked for the CIA, passing intelligence leading to the death of Bin Laden.
The ISI has been deeply involved in domestic politics of Pakistan since the late 1950s. The 1990 elections for example were widely believed to have been rigged by the ISI in favor of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad or Islamic Democratic Alliance was formed in September 1988 to oppose the Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year...
(IJI) party, a conglomerate of nine mainly rightist
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
parties by the ISI under Lt. General Hameed Gul, to ensure the defeat of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
(PPP) in the polls. Gul has denied that the vote was rigged.
ISI's Internal Political Division has been accused by various members of the Pakistan People's Party in assassinating Shahnawaz Bhutto
Shahnawaz Bhutto
Shahnawaz Bhutto Sindhi: شاھنواز ڀٽو was the son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto. Shahnawaz Bhutto was the youngest of Bhutto’s four children...
, one of the two brothers of Benazir Bhutto, through poisoning in the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
in the middle of 1985 in an attempt to intimidate her into not returning to Pakistan for directing the movement against Zia's Military government, but no proof has been found implicating the ISI.
The ISI was also involved in a massive corruption scandal the Mehran bank scandal
Mehran bank scandal
The Mehran bank scandal also known as Mehrangate, was a major political scandal in the history of Pakistan between 1990-1994 in which senior politicians and political parties were found to have been bribed by Pakistan Army and intelligence officers, from ISI, to prevent the re-election and to...
dubbed "Mehrangate", in which top ISI and Army brass were given large sums of money by Yunus Habib (the owner of Mehran Bank) to deposit ISI's foreign exchange reserves in Mehran Bank. This was against government policy, as such banking which involves government institutions can only be done through state-owned financial institutions and not private banks. When the new director of the ISI was appointed and then proceeded to withdraw the money from Mehran Bank and back into state-owned financial institutions, the money had been used up in financing Habib's "extracurricular" activities. On April 20, 1994, Habib was arrested and the scandal became public.
ISI has been actively involved in suppressing a Brutal Separatist Insurgencies in Balochistan
Balochistan
Balochistan or Baluchistan is a region which covers parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:...
since 1948, which recently the Militants have been accused of targeting people non-Balochi ethnic groups.
Over two hundred bodies with signs of extreme torture and a shotgun wound to the head have been found in the region during the period of July 2010 to July 2011, and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
says evidence points to complete ISI responsibility. Whilst the Provincial Government says it is doing its best to improve law and order and end target killing which it blames on rival factional fighting.
The Chief Minister of the Province Said "law enforcement agencies have busted 48 groups involved in robberies, 44 in target killings and 47 involved in car snatching and kidnapping for ransom across the country.
As many as 985 people have been sentenced so far while the cases of 875 accused in various crimes were in the courts."
Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a successful Kill or Capture Operation Launched by the Pakistan against his private militia.
Balach Marri
Balach Marri
Balach Marri Balaach Marri was born on January 17, 1966. He was the fourth among six sons of Nawab Khair Bux Marri. He was named after the great 15th century Baloch hero Balaach Gorgej of Chaker-e-Azam era. He started his primary education at Quetta Grammar School. He was only six in 1972 when the...
, former chief of Balochistan National Movement Mr.Ghulam Mohammed Baloch
Ghulam Mohammed Baloch
Ghulam Mohammed Baloch was a Baloch nationalist politician. At the time of his death, he was serving as the president of the Baloch National Movement, as well as the General Secretary of the newly formed Baloch National Front. He had earlier served as a chairman of the Baloch Students Organization...
(See Turbat killings
Turbat killings
The Turbat killings refers to the murder of three prominent Baloch nationalist political leaders in April 2009, allegedly at the hands of Pakistani spy agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence...
) where found dead, and the ISI is accused by the separatist of being behind the kiling .
Till September 2011 more than 190 dead bodies have been found. The Frontier Corps
Frontier Corps
The Frontier Corps is a federally-controlled paramilitary force of Pakistan, recruited mostly from the tribal areas along the western borders and led by officers from the Pakistan Army...
and ISI have been accused of being behind the killing. The Special Operations Wing (SOW) of Frontier Corps has also been allegedly involved in it. . The methodology of ISI is to work with Frontier Corps to tackle the situation, usually not in uniform. ISI has installed various intelligence units all over Balochistan to gather information. Most of ISI's abductions come from the Makran and coastal regions of Balochistan. Baloch passengers of these areas have witnessed illegal abductions by ISI on the local bus routes of Balochistan.
In July 2011, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan , or HRCP, is an independent, non-profit organization, founded in 1987, which is not associated or affiliated with the government or any political party. It is committed to act with impartiality and objectivity in all matters...
issued a report on illegal disappearances in Balochistan and identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators.
Recent activity recorded was the bodies of two enforced disappeared Baloch youth found dumped in Murgaap area of Turbat, Balochistan on Thursday October 6, 2011. These latest victims of state security forces were identified as Kareem Jan Baloch son of Muhammad Hassan was abducted from Tump district Kech on 8 of August 2011 and Arfath Baloch son of Ibrahim Baloch abducted from Pasni cross on 23 September 2011. Their tortured and bullet-ridden bodies were found near Murgaap. Arafat Baloch was a student of Turbat Degree College he has been abducted along with two other friends, Zahoor Baloch and Musadiq Baloch, whose were released after few days. They are students of Balochistan Residential College
Balochistan Residential College
Balochistan Residential College is located in Turbat, Balochistan, Pakistan. It has a capacity of 300 to 400 students, offering educational and disciplinary training similar to a cadet college. There are two hostels - Sir Syed Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan Hostel is for first-year students...
Turbat. Karim Jan Baloch was a political and social activist and he was also cousin of Banuk Karima Baloch, the Central Chairperson of Baloch Students Organization
Baloch Students Organization
The Baloch Students Organization, or BSO was founded in 26 November 1967 as nationalist student organization in Pakistani part of occupied Balochistan. The main objectives of BSO were to organize and educate Baloch youth politically for the liberation of Balochistan.It this time BSO is divided into...
Azad.
Libya
- (1978) ISI decided to spy on the residence of Colonel Hussain Imam Mabruk who was a Military Attaché to the Embassy of LibyaLibyaLibya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in Islamabad as he had made some inflammatory statements towards the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq. The spying paid off as he was seen talking with two Pakistani gentlemen who entered and left the compound suspiciously. The ISI monitored the two men and were later identified as Pakistani exiles that hated the current military regime and were Bhutto loyalists. They had received terrorist training in Libya and were ready to embark on a terrorist campaign in Pakistan to force the Army to step down from power. All members of the conspiracy were apprehended before any damage could be done. - (1981) In 1981, a Libyan Security company called Al Murtaza Associates sent recruiters to Pakistan to entice former soldiers and servicemen for high paying security jobs in Libya. In reality, Libya was recruiting mercenaries to fight with ChadChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
and EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
as it had border disputes with both nations.ISI become aware of the plot and the whole scheme was stopped. [See also CIA drug trafficking#Soviet Afghanistan, CIA transnational anti-crime and anti-drug activities#Southwest Asia, Operation CycloneOperation CycloneOperation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm, train, and finance the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989...
, Badaber UprisingBadaber UprisingBadaber Uprising was an armed uprising by Soviet Union and Republic of Afghanistan captives held at the Badaber fortress-jail in Pakistan on April 26 and 27, 1985, against much larger units of Pakistan's regular army accompanied by Afghan mujahideen. The attempt of the captives to liberate...
].
Iran
- (1979) After the failure of Operation Eagle ClawOperation Eagle ClawOperation Eagle Claw was an American military operation ordered by President Jimmy Carter to attempt to put an end to the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 Americans held captive at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran on 24 April 1980...
, the U.S. media outlets such as Newsweek and Time reported that CIA agents stationed in Tehran had obtained information in regard to the location of the hostages, in-house information from a Pakistani cook who used to work for the U.S. Embassy. ISI successfully gathered evidence, and intercepted communication documents and showed it to the IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian Chief of J-2 which cleared the cook. The Iranian chief of intelligence said, "We know, the Big Satan is a big liar."
France
- (1979) ISI discovered a surveillance mission to Kahuta Research LaboratoriesKahuta Research LaboratoriesThe Khan Research Laboratories ,, formerly known as Engineering Research Laboratories , is a multi-program Pakistan's weapons science and engineering research and development institute and nuclear research facility...
nuclear complex on June 26, 1979 by the FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Ambassador to Pakistan, Le Gourrierce and his First Secretary, Jean Forlot. Both were arrested and their cameras and other sensitive equipment were confiscated. Intercepted documents later on showed that the two were recruited by the CIA.
Soviet Union and Post-Soviet states
- (1980) ISI had placed a mole in the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's embassy in Islamabad. The mole reported that the Third Secretary in the Soviet Embassy was after information in regard to the Karakurum Highway and was obtaining it from a middle level employee, Mr. Ejaz, of the Northern Motor Transport CompanyNorthern Areas Transport CorporationNorthern Areas Transport Corporation or NATCO is the largest transport company in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan that provides bus and jeep service on the Karakoram Highway, throughout the Northern Areas....
. ISI contacted Mr. Ejaz who then confessed that a few months ago the Soviet diplomat approached him and threatened his family unless he divulged sensitive information in regard to the highway such as alignment of the road, location of bridges, the number of Chinese personnel working on the Highway, etc. The ISI instead of confronting the Soviet diplomat chose to feed him with false information. This continued until the Soviet diplomat was satisfied that Mr. Ejaz had been bled white of all the information and then dropped him as a source.
- (1991–1993) Major General Sultan Habib who was an operative of the ISI's Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous department successfully procured nuclear material while being posted as the Defense Attaché in the Pakistani Embassy in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
from 1991 to 1993 and concurrently obtaining other materials from Central Asian Republics, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the former CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. After Moscow, Major General Habib then coordinated shipping of missiles from North KoreaNorth KoreaThe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and the training of Pakistani experts in the missile production. These two acts greatly enhanced Pakistan's Nuclear weapons program and their missile delivery systems.
United States
- (1980s) ISI successfully intercepted two American private weapons dealers during the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. One AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diplomat (his name has not been de-classified) who lived in the F-7/4 sector of Islamabad was spotted by an ISI agent in a seedy part of Rawalpindi by his automobile's diplomatic plates. He was bugged and trailed and was found to be in contact with various tribal groups supplying them with weapons for their fight with the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. Another was Eugene Clegg, a teacher in the American International School who also indulged in weapons trade. One American International School employee and under cover agent Mr. Naeem was arrested while waiting to clear shippment from Islamabad custom. All of them were put out of business.
- (2002) Some authors allege that ISI supported the 1999 release of Ahmed Omar Saeed SheikhAhmed Omar Saeed SheikhAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is a British-born militant of Pakistani descent with links to various Islamist militant organisations, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Taliban.He was arrested and served time in prison for...
who was subsequently convicted of the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel PearlDaniel PearlDaniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
.
- (2000s) ISI is suspicious about CIA attempted penetration of Pakistan nuclear asset, and CIA intelligence gathering in the Pakistani law-less tribal areas. Based on these suspicion, it is speculated that ISI is pursuing a counter-intelligence against CIA operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. ISI former DG Ashfaq Parvez KayaniAshfaq Parvez KayaniGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI, HI is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007...
is also reported to have said, "real aim of U.S. [war] strategy is to denuclearize Pakistan."
- (2011) In the aftermath of a shooting involving American CIA agent Raymond DavisRaymond Allen Davis incidentRaymond Allen Davis is a former United States Army soldier, private security firm employee, and contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency . On January 27, 2011, Davis killed two reportedly armed men in Lahore, Pakistan. Although the U.S. government contended that he was protected by...
, the ISI had become more alert and suspicious about CIA spy network in Pakistan, which had disrupted the ISI-CIA cooperation. At least 30 suspected covert American operatives have suspended their activities in Pakistan and 12 have already left the country.
- (2011) A Chinese woman believed to be an ISI agent, who headed the Chinese unit of a US manufacturer was charged with illegally exporting high-performance coatings for Pakistan’s nuclear power plants. Xun Wang, a former managing director of PPG Paints Trading in Shanghai, a Chinese subsidiary of United States-based PPG Industries, Inc, was indicted on a charge of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and related offences. Wang is accused of conspiring to export and re-export, and exporting and re-exporting specially designed, high-performance epoxy coatings to the Chashma 2 Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan. Wang and her co-conspirators agreed upon a scheme to export and re-export the high-performance epoxy coatings from the United States to Pakistan's Chashma II plant, via a third-party distributor in People’s Republic of China.
- (2011) ISI operative Mohammed Tasleem, an attache in the New York consulate, was found by the FBI in 2010 to be issuing threats against Pakistanis living in the United States, to prevent them from speaking openly about Pakistan's government. US officials and Pakistani journalists and scholars say the ISI has a systematic campaign to threaten those who speak critically of the Pakistan military.
Captures
- Ramzi YousefRamzi YousefRamzi Yousef was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a co-conspirator in the Bojinka plot. In 1995, he was arrested at a guest house in Islamabad, by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and United States Diplomatic Security Service, then extradited to the...
: Ramzi Yousef, one of the planners of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing1993 World Trade Center bombingThe 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
as well as the Bojinka plot. Pakistani intelligence, and the Department of State - U.S. Diplomatic Security ServiceDiplomatic Security ServiceThe U.S. Diplomatic Security Service is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Department of State. The majority of its Special Agents are members of the Foreign Service and federal law enforcement agents at the same time, making them unique...
(DSS) Special Agents, captured Yousef in Islamabad, Pakistan. On February 7, 1995, they raided room #16 in the Su-Casa Guest House in Islamabad, Pakistan, and captured Yousef before he could move to PeshawarPeshawarPeshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
.
- Ibn al-Shaykh al-LibiIbn al-Shaykh al-LibiIbn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-Qaeda. After being captured and interrogated by the American and Egyptian forces, the information he gave under torture by Egyptian authorities was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of...
: In November 2001, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-QaedaAl-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
attempted to flee Afghanistan following the collapse of the Taliban precipitating the 2001 U.S. invasion of AfghanistanWar in Afghanistan (2001–present)The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
but was captured by Pakistani Forces.
- Ahmed Omar Saeed SheikhAhmed Omar Saeed SheikhAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is a British-born militant of Pakistani descent with links to various Islamist militant organisations, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Taliban.He was arrested and served time in prison for...
: Sheikh Omar Saeed, a British-born terrorist of Pakistani descent was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in LahoreLahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping. Pearl had been kidnapped, had his throat slit, and then been beheaded and Sheikh Omar Saeed was named the chief suspect. Sheikh told the Pakistani court, however, that he had surrendered to the ISI a week earlier.
- Abu ZubaydahAbu ZubaydahAbu Zubaydah is a Saudi Arabian citizen, sentenced to death in Jordan and currently held in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Not neutral: Arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, he has been in US custody for more than eight years, four-and-a-half of them spent incommunicado in solitary confinement...
: Abu Zubaydah, an Al-Qaeda terrorist responsible for hatching multiple terrorist plots including sending Ahmed RessamAhmed RessamAhmed Ressam is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived in Montreal, Canada.He was convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999, as part of the foiled 2000 millennium attack plots...
to blow up the Los Angeles airport in 2000. He was captured on March 28, 2002, by ISI, CIA and FBI agents after they had raided several safe houses in FaisalabadFaisalabadFaisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...
, Pakistan.
- Ramzi bin al-Shibh: Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an Al-Qaeda terrorist responsible for planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks as well as the attack on 2000 USS Cole bombingUSS Cole bombingThe USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured...
, and the 2002 Ghriba synagogue bombingGhriba synagogue bombingThe Ghriba synagogue bombing was a deadly bombing carried out by Niser bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar in Tunisia on the El Ghriba synagogue.On April 11, 2002, a natural gas truck fitted with explosives drove past security barriers at the ancient Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba...
in TunisiaTunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
. On September 11, 2002, the ISI successfully captured Ramzi bin al-Shibh during a raid in KarachiKarachiKarachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
.
- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks as well as other significant terrorist plots over the last twenty years, including the World Trade Center 1993 bombings, the Operation Bojinka plot, an aborted 2002 attack on the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, the Bali nightclub bombings, the failed bombing of American Airlines Flight 63American Airlines Flight 63The 2001 shoe bomb plot was a failed bombing attempt that occurred on American Airlines Flight 63 flying from Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France, to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, on December 22, 2001.-Incident:...
, the Millennium Plot2000 millennium attack plotsThe Year 2000 attack plots were terrorist attacks planned to occur on or near January 1, 2000: the bombing of four sites in Jordan, the bombing of Los Angeles International Airport , and the bombing of the USS The Sullivans. The first two plots were foiled by law enforcement agencies; the third was...
, and the murder of Daniel PearlDaniel PearlDaniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
. On March 1, 2003, the ISI successfully captured KSM in a joint raid with the CIA's Special Activities DivisionSpecial Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...
paramilitary operatives in Rawalpindi, PakistanRawalpindiRawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
.
- Abu Faraj Farj al-Liby: Pakistani intelligence agencies and security forces arrested Abu Faraj Farj al-Liby, mastermind of two failed attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life, in May 2005.
- Maulvi Omar: Senior aid to Baitullah MehsudBaitullah MehsudBaitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
captured by ISI in August 2009.
- Abdul Ghani BaradarAbdul Ghani BaradarMullah Abdul Ghani Baradar , also called Mullah Baradar Akhund or Mullah Brother, is a co-founder of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and an Afghan Taliban leader. The deputy of Mullah Mohammed Omar and leader of the militant Quetta Shura in Pakistan, Baradar was largely seen as the de facto...
: Taliban's deputy commander, Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured by U.S. and Pakistani forces in Pakistan on February 8, 2010, in a morning raid.
Reception
Critics of the ISI say that it has become a state within a stateState within a state
State within a state is a political situation in a country when an internal organ, generally from the armed forces, intelligence agencies or police, does not respond to the civilian leadership....
and not accountable enough. Some analyst say due to says due to the nature of intelligence work agencies around the world remain secretive .Critics argue the institution should be more accountable enough to the President or the Prime Minister. After much criticism, the Pakistani Government disbanded the ISI 'Political Wing' in 2008.
U.S. government
During the Cold War ISI and CIA worked together to send spy planes into the Soviet Union. The ISI and CIA also worked closely during the Soviet-Afghan War. The Relationship was a positive and Strong one. More recently ISI and CIA stepped up cooperation in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks to kill and capture senior Al Qaeda leaders such as Sheikh Younis Al Mauritan and Khalid Shaikh MohammedKhalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....
in total around 100 top level al-Qaeda leaders/operators were killed/arrested by ISI. The ISI has also lost many agents in the process and this sacrifice has been acknowledged . The Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton said "Pakistan was paying a “big price for supporting the U.S. war against terror groups. “... I think it is important to note that as they have made these adjustments in their own assessment of their national interests, they're paying a big price for it". However in 2011 The top U.S. military officer Adm. Mike Mullen publicly accused ISI, for giving aid to the terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. However such claims where later rejected by U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
who said it was more complicated and a question of Pakistan could do more
Indian government
India has accused ISI of plotting the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008. Such allegations are where not shared by the Bush Administration and according United States diplomatic cables leakUnited States diplomatic cables leak
The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began in February 2010 when WikiLeaks—a non-profit organization that publishes submissions from anonymous whistleblowers—began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates,...
the ISI had in had previously shared intelligence information regarding possible terrorist attacks against in late 2008 in India. ISI is also accused of supporting pro independence militias in Jammu and Kashmir while Pakistan denies all such claims.
See also
- History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)
- Inter Services Public RelationsInter Services Public RelationsInter Services Public Relations is an administrative military organization within the Pakistan Defence Forces that coordinates military information with the media and the civil society...
- Intelligence cycle managementIntelligence cycle managementThe intelligence cycle is a investigation process used by end users , which allows that user to gather specific information, understand the possibilities of that information, and the limitations of the intelligence process.Within the context of government, military and business affairs,...
- Establishment (Pakistan)Establishment (Pakistan)The Establishment is a term used commonly by Pakistani political scientists and also by political scholars and analysts around the world for the powerful military-dominant oligarchy in Pakistan...
- Colonel ImamColonel ImamColonel Sultan Amir Tarar , best known as Colonel Imam, was a Pakistan Army officer and special warfare operation specialist. He was a member of the Special Service Group of the army, an intelligence officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence and served as Pakistani Consul General at Herat,...
- Brigadier ImtiazBrigadier ImtiazBrigadier Imtiaz Ahmed is a retired one-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as a former director-general of Intelligence Bureau between 1990–1993. As a one-star general, Brigadier Imatiaz Ahmad had served as a former senior intelligence operative in the Inter-Services Intelligence...
- Military Intelligence of PakistanMilitary Intelligence of PakistanIn Pakistan Defence Forces, the Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence , is a Pakistan Defence Forces intelligence agency and that is responsible for the military counter-intelligence. It also refers specifically to the intelligence components of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Unlike the...
- The War Logs (disambiguation)