ISI-History and Discussions

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arun
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

X Posted.

PBS interview of Amrullah Saleh, former head of Afghanistan‘s spy agency, NSD.

Lots of details on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan‘s support via the spy agency of the armed forces of that country, the notoriously Islamic Tterrorist supporting ISI:
shaardula wrote:amrullah saleh was on frontline. brief segment. gist: serious no to deal with the T's and get serious with TSP.


See & Read more here: “I do not consider Pakistan an asset. I consider Pakistan a global liability.”
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by wig »

an illuminating article on pakistan's "ISI- An instrument of terrorism" By Major General Keshav Padha (AVSM, VSM] ,the article is a brief resume on the organisation. for the interested it is worth reading in full. am posting an excerpt:
The ISI has a total strength of approximately 10,000 officers and staff members, a number which does not include informers and agents. It is organized in well defined eight divisions :
a) Joint Intelligence X (JIX) serves as the secretariat which co-ordinates and provides administrative support to the other ISI wings and field organizations. It also prepares intelligence estimates and threat assessments.
b) Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) is responsible for political intelligence. Was the most powerful component of the organization during the 1980s. The JIB consists of three sub-sections devoted to operations against India.
c) Joint Counter Intelligence Bureau (JCIB) is responsible for field surveillance of Pakistani diplomats stationed abroad, as well as for conducting intelligence operations in the Middle East, South Asia, China, Afghanistan and the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union.
d) Joint Intelligence North (JIN) is responsible for Jammu & Kashmir operations, including infiltration, exfiltration, propaganda and other covert operations.
e) Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM) conducts espionage in foreign countries including offensive intelligence operations.
f) Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB) includes Deputy Directors for Wireless, Monitoring & Photos. Operates a chain of signals intelligence collection stations along border with India and provides communication support to militants operating in Kashmir.
g) Joint Intelligence Technical (JIT). Collect intelligence regarding strategic targets.
h) Explosive and Chemical Warfare Section. This section is employed for specialized missions on as required basis.
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

wig, Can you flow chart is for the visual ones?
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

X Posted.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, including its ISI, accuses India of involvement in acts of the demonstrations of the IEDology of Pakistan there:
India 'playing dangerous game', says Pakistan officials

Pakistan accuses Delhi of funding wave of attacks in its cities as bilateral talks near

By Mohammed Almezel, Managing Editor
Published: 00:00 January 28, 2011


Islamabad: A few weeks before high-level talks between the two countries start in New Delhi, Pakistani intelligence and military officials have accused neighbouring India of "playing a dangerous game" by supporting, they claim, extremist groups believed to be behind recent bombings and target killing in major cities.

In interviews with Gulf News, senior officials from the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and the army said they "have evidence" of Indian involvement in the terrorist attacks in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi and even Lahore.

On Tuesday, a suicide attack on a police vehicle on Karachi's main highway left three dead, including two policemen. No one claimed responsibility but officials say they were certain that "foreign hands" were behind the attack.

Charges
A senior ISI official alleged that India attempts to "destabilise Pakistan" by supporting, by "funds and arms", militant groups in Karachi, the economic hub of the country. ……………………….

Arab News
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

Wapo Article X Posted with a hat tip to S. Sridhar.

Yet another case of Pakistani tactical brilliance blowing up in Pakistani faces?

The Washington Post reporting that “intelligence agents” of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan attempted to intimidate US “diplomat” “Raymond Davis” who was attached to the US Consulate in Karachi and got killed by the “diplomat” for their troubles:
U.S.-Pakistan relations strained further with case of jailed diplomat

By Karen DeYoung and Karin Brulliard Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 8, 2011; 11:17 AM …………………

Further complicating the situation, a Pakistani intelligence official said that the two men Davis killed were not, as he has said, armed robbers intent on stealing money, his telephone and perhaps his car, but intelligence agents assigned to tail him. This official said the two intended to frighten Davis because he crossed a "red line" that the official did not further define.

Both the military's Inter-Services Intelligence service and the Interior Ministry's Intelligence Bureau regularly use motorcycle tails to track the movement of U.S. officials, another Pakistani official said.

The Pakistani media has also suggested that Davis is being held hostage to a wrongful-death case brought in New York by family members of four Americans killed in the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India. U.S. and Indian officials have blamed the attack on the Pakistani organization Lashkar-i-Taiba, which has long-standing ties to ISI. Four senior ISI officials, including the organization's director, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, have been called as witnesses in the case. …………..

Washington Post
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Johann »

Pakistani media fondness for blaming the Pakiban's attacks on RAW seems to have dipped in favour of Blackwater in 2009-10.

Perhaps because there were just so may Raymond Davis types running around Pakistan's cities with bulges under their clothes and a really patchy record when it comes to license plates on their cars.

But between the two the poor Mossad has been left out. You need three for a proper axis of evil....
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

ABC now reporting that no less than four Pakistani officials who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity say that the two men who Raymond Davis killed in Lahore last month were working for Pakistan's premiere intelligence service, and they were following Davis because he was spying. Presumably “premiere intelligence service” in the Pakistani lexicon means the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI):

Did Ray Davis Shoot Two Pakistani Agents?
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

SSridhar, We need people in India to do a study like this on ISI and its many arms like L-e-T etc. we need to draw up network diagrams of their various hydra heads. You have the material to do a similar tstudy and need some heavy encouragement!

Arab/Islamic concept of Intelligence: Fatah
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

“Jihad fi Sabilillah” or “Jihad in the way of allah” part of the motto of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in action.

Farhat Taj writing in the Daily Times opines that “ the Urdu media has lowered itself in perpetuating the military establishment’s inflicted terrorism in FATA”. Recounts an article in Urdu daily Mashriq about Caucasian women wanting to marry Islamic Terrorists. Farhat Taj indicates that the story was “planted by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan to romanticise the beastly Taliban in the eyes of young tribesmen”:

Urdu media: dirty and dangerous
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

Videotaped confirmation of the execution of a former uniformed Jihadi by Un-uniformed Jihadi’s.

TTP releases videotaped confirmation of the killing of former member of the ISI, Col. (Retd) Sultan Amir Tarar aka Col Imam.

Only fitting that an individual who fostered Islamic Terrorism met his end at the hands of Islamic Terrorists:

Taliban release video of killing of Col Imam
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Joseph »

Is there a less edited version of that video available on the Internet?
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

putnanja wrote:Pakistan's intelligence ready to split with CIA
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert U.S. operation involving hundreds of contract spies, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with U.S. and Pakistani officials.
...
...
"Post-incident conduct of the CIA has virtually put the partnership into question," said a media statement prepared by the ISI but never released. A copy was obtained this week by the AP.

The statement accused the CIA of using pressure tactics to free Davis.

"It is hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach the level at which it was prior to the Davis episode," the statement said. "The onus of not stalling this relationship between the two agencies now squarely lies on the CIA."

The ISI fears there are hundreds of CIA contracted spies operating in Pakistan without the knowledge of either the Pakistan government or the intelligence agency, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the AP in an interview. He spoke only on condition he not be identified on grounds that exposure would compromise his security.
...
...
The CIA repeatedly has tried to penetrate the ISI and learn more about Pakistan's nuclear program. The ISI has mounted its own operations to gather intelligence on the CIA's counterterrorism activities

The ISI is now scouring thousands of visas issued to U.S. employees in Pakistan. The ISI official said Davis' visa application contains bogus references and phone numbers. He said thousands of visas were issued to U.S. Embassy employees over the past five months following a government directive to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington to issue visas without the usual vetting by the interior ministry and the ISI. The same directive was issued to the Pakistan embassies in Britain and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Within two days of receiving that directive, the Pakistani Embassy issued 400 visas and since then thousands more have been issued, said the ISI official. A Western diplomat in Pakistan agreed that a "floodgate" opened for U.S. Embassy employees requesting Pakistani visas.
...
...
The ISI official said his agency knows and works with "the bona fide CIA people in Pakistan" but is upset that the CIA would send others over behind its back. For now, he said, his agency is not talking with the CIA at any level, including the most senior.

To regain support and assistance, he said, "they have to start showing respect, not belittling us, not being belligerent to us, not treating us like we are their lackeys."
...

The ISI official said Pakistan is fed up with Washington's complaints, and he accused the CIA of planting stories about ISI assistance to the Haqqani network.

...
The spy agencies have overcome lows before. During President George W. Bush's first term, the ISI became enraged after it shared intelligence with the United States, only to learn that the then-CIA station chief passed that information to the British. The incident caused a serious row, one that threatened the CIA's relationship with the ISI and deepened the levels of distrust between the two sides. At the time Pakistan almost threw the CIA station chief out of the country.
...
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Maram »

Ramana Garu,

The whole Raymond Davis affair shows that there are significant differences emerging between Pakisatan and Amir Khan over Afghanistan exit strategy. My gut feeling is uncle wants some kind of balkanisation of condom. Interesting days ahead.........JMT
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by shyamd »

This split was bound to happen... Just not this soon. The US is expanding the northern distribution network. So, the US is basically reducing reliance on pak for the last few years. Is this the culmination?
It all works in India's favour. Allows us to have more cooperation with US on Afg and LeT.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by svinayak »

ramana wrote: For now, he said, his agency is not talking with the CIA at any level, including the most senior.

To regain support and assistance, he said, "they have to start showing respect, not belittling us, not being belligerent to us, not treating us like we are their lackeys."
...
They dont get it. That is the price for being a client state and a poodle of a major power.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

The UK’s Financial Times on the notorious spy agency of the military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI.

Excerpts follow.

The current tensions between the ISI and its long standing bosom buddy the American spy agency, the CIA:
This year, the arrest in Lahore of Raymond Davis, an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency and a former special forces soldier, has stoked up the old fears amid a welter of anti-American protests. It has also laid bare the divisions between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart: the Directorate General of Inter-Services Intelligence.

The two organisations, which found common cause in the Afghan-Soviet war of the 1980s and later in rounding up al-Qaeda suspects after the 2001 terror attacks on the US, appear increasingly at odds in the fight against Islamist extremism.

The ISI is the “deep state” in Pakistan that has resisted civilian control and has forged long-standing alliances with militant groups. It operates with menace and near-impunity. Yet its co-operation with western intelligence agencies is viewed as crucial to bringing greater stability to the region, an end to the Afghan war and a better understanding of global terror.
The repressive human rights record of the ISI:
Pakistani intelligence has also not hesitated to use repression on its own people, particularly in the restive south-western province of Baluchistan, where human rights groups say the force has been involved in years of torture and extra-judicial killings. In the past four months alone, at least 90 activists, teachers, journalists and lawyers have disappeared or been murdered in Baluchistan, according to Amnesty International. “Human rights abuses attributed to the security agencies have created a climate of fear for the families of the disappeared,” says Sam Zarifi, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific director. “They are terrified to speak out in fear that security agents will kill their loved ones or abduct other family members.”
The India obsession of the ISI and the influence of the humiliating defeat inflicted by India on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1971:
“After that humiliating military defeat, which also led to more than 90,000 Pakistanis prisoners of war being taken by India, Pakistan’s military establishment decided ‘never, never again’,” says one former Pakistani general. “To this day, the military’s thinking and that of the ISI is driven by 1971.”
The existence of apologists for the ISI club among diplomats of Western Nations:
To many, the ISI’s role has shifted from counter-intelligence or counter-espionage to troublemaking in the region and maintaining links to militant outfits, such as Lashkar e-Taiba and the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, which now operate with a degree of autonomy. Yet some western diplomats, impressed by the direct style of Gen Pasha, like to give the ISI the benefit of the doubt. They view the flurry of contacts that take place between the ISI and militant groups not so much as collaboration but an attempt at regaining tighter control. “People know well that the game in town is with the army and the ISI. That’s why, it’s important to get those people on board,” says one. “The ISI may be part of the problem but it could be part of the solution too.”
Read it all:

On the high ground
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by shravan »

Joseph wrote:Is there a less edited version of that video available on the Internet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrguQNxfNHQ

English Translation
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by JE Menon »

This man was personally responsible for the death of a whole lot of Afghans. To be slaughtered as casually as one might kill a nagging mosquito by his own poisonous spawn is what Allah apparently willed for him. In that sense, no doubt, he got what he deserved. A lot of others of his ilk have it coming as well.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by svenkat »

Who is this Major Noman? And how was he related to Imam?

Thanks Shravanji for posting.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by shravan »

svenkat wrote:Who is this Major Noman? And how was he related to Imam?
Major Nauman - son of Colonel Imam.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Anujan »

svenkat wrote:Who is this Major Noman? And how was he related to Imam?
shravan wrote:Major Nauman - son of Colonel Imam.
400% sure his son will be called "Captain Paki". Family degrading over the years I see :rotfl:
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

There used to be DC comics in late 60s about an android called Noman who could transmute into different bodies which were kept in stock at critical places by his agency!
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by shyamd »

From what I have learned in todays convo's: FICN is the next major weapon for ISI. They make $$'s and hurt Indian economy.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

X Posted from the Mumbai Terrorist Attack - News Stories and Timeline thread.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the upcoming trial of Pakistani origin Islamic Terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana for links to the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack is going to “lend an aura of credence to the suspicions of ISI complicity“:
Accused in India massacre claims ties to Pakistani secret service

Mr. Rana’s trial threatens to lend an aura of credence to the suspicions of ISI complicity. According to court documents, the jury will hear the two Chicago conspirators say they believed themselves to be working for both LeT and the ISI.

Previously secret testimony heard only by a grand jury is referred to in a decision published earlier this month.

“I also told him [Mr. Rana] … how I had been asked to perform espionage work for ISI,” Mr. Headley, a Pakistani-American, testified to the grand jury.

Though cryptic, the statement is highly significant………………..

The Globe and Mail
Also check out the PDF file attached to the article which states “Defendant’s proposed defense is that his alleged illegal acts of providing material support to terrorists – at least those related to the Mumbai attacks – were done at the behest of the Pakistani government and the ISI, not the Lashkar terrorist organization.”

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Ramin »

DG ISI is in Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart.

any info on it?
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ManishH »

How to nab a Paki spy. Link to ToI story
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

Ramin wrote:DG ISI is in Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart.

any info on it?
No information. But, I suspect it is in connection with the Pakistan-Karzai-Taliban-US talks which Turkey has agreed to host. From the Pakistani side, Kayani & Pasha are the representatives.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by Gagan »

This could also be to coordinate Pakistan and Turkey's actions in the emerging Middle East scenario.

Pakistan is loathe to take any unilateral action unless it receives firm guarantees from GCC + Turkey.
Turkey is also modernizing pakistan's F-16 A/Bs with kits.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

X Posted from the Terrorist State of Pakistan thread.

Dawn’s version of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen’s comment linking the Intelligence Agency of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, and the Islamic Terrorist Haqqani network:
Mullen launches diatribe against ISI

By Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: The US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen, was in a mood to name and shame on Wednesday.

Without mincing his words, he made it clear that ISI’s continued links with the Haqqani network were at the core of Pakistan’s problematic relations with the United States.

He said ISI’s relationship with the network was unacceptable to the American leadership.“The ISI has a rich history of how they operated in this part of the world, to protect their own country; I understand that some of the aspects of that we strongly disagree with and that is something that we continue to address.” …………………

It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan Army and the ISI have repeatedly denied these allegations and have asked for evidence in support of such charges.

“It is fairly well known that ISI had a relationship with the Haqqani network and addressing the Haqqani network from my perspective is critical to the solution set in Afghanistan. … that’s at the core — it’s not the only thing — but that’s at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship,” Admiral Mullen, who is quite often criticised for being soft on the Pakistan military, said in an interview with Dawn. …………………….

Dawn
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

More on the above story X Posted from the Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism thread.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen’s comment linking the Intelligence Agency of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, and the Islamic Terrorist Haqqani network:
US: Pakistan ISI Has Links with Militants

April 20, 2011 ……………………

"The Haqqani network very specifically facilitates and supports the Taliban who move into Afghanistan and are killing Americans. And I cannot accept that. And I will do everything I possibly can to prevent that, specifically. The ISI has a long standing relationship with the Haqqani network. That doesn't mean everybody in the ISI, but it's there,"

Voice of America
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

The Guantánamo Bay files leaked by Wikileaks shows that the Intelligence Agency of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, is considered by the US as a Islamic Terrorist organisation.

The leaked document shows the ISI listed as an “Associated Force” “linked to militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals”.

The UK’s Guardian:
Guantánamo Bay files: Pakistan's ISI spy service listed as terrorist group

Anyone linked to Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate should be treated like al-Qaida or Taliban, interrogators told

Jason Burke

Monday 25 April 2011 10.46 BST

US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.

Recommendations to interrogators at Guantánamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say.

"Through associations with these … organisations, a detainee may have provided support to al-Qaida or the Taliban, or engaged in hostilities against US or coalition forces [in Afghanistan]," says the document, dated September 2007 and called the Joint Task Force Guantánamo Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants. It adds that links to these groups is evidence that an individual poses a future threat.
The revelation that the ISI is considered as much of a threat as al-Qaida and the Taliban will cause fury in Pakistan. …………………

The Guardian
The document itself is available on the New York Times website. Click here and then scroll down till “Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants” appears. Check out Page 16 of that document.

The ISI is mentioned as the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) and is on a table that has been prepared by the US to show “Associated forces are those militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals.”

Alternatively Page 16 is linked below:

Image
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ManishH »

On page 12,13
The following provides the primary indicators for assessing a detainee's membership or affiliation with ACM elements other than Al Qaeda
...
* Association with Pakistan ISID, especially late 1990s upto 2003
So does that imply US is holding ISI agents in Guantanamo ?
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

ManishH,

Of the 620 suspects in US custody at the famous Guantanamo Bay prison for international terrorism related activities, 540 were arrested on Pakistani soil, of which 102 were Pakistanis. Similarly, the majority of detainees at the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan were also Pakistanis.

Any Pakistani arrested anywhere or any foreigner arrested within Pakistan on terror related charges must be assumed to be ISI agents unless proved otherwise. That is the SOP that the Americans have recognized.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Prasad wrote:
Dilbu wrote:
["Anujan"]The ISI is key to maintaining such power imbalance. The moment ISI starts snooping on the army and not the civvies, the power equation will change. The ISI will start snooping on the army if the civvies manage to get a constituency inside the ISI loyal to the civvies. Which they can do by bribing and promotions. Which can only happen if ISI is under civilian control. So you get the idea.

While I agree with your logic, it is difficult to imagine this actually happening because TSPA has a proven record of protecting their own while civvies have spectacularly failed to protect their own lives. On top of that ISI is basically under TSPA chain of command where the top dog TFTAs themselves get to choose the members of that organisation. If ISI were ever to change sides then the push will have to come from within. IMHO onlee.
I thought the ISI was a mini-branch of the TSPA. Weren't kiyanahi and few others before him, head of the isi too? How far removed are the two entities, if they're two separate disjoint entities in the first place? Would be interesting to hear from folks who have an idea.[/quote]


If some one can take the info in this thread and do a mind map it will clearly show the strength and weakness of the organization. One thing missing in our understnading is despite ISI being so anti-India we dont have a good org chart even of this monster.
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by ramana »

X-Post...
SSridhar wrote:
"Anujan"

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2011_pg7_3

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik held on Tuesday that attempts to defame the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) internationally have always failed. “The ISI is never been involved in politics."
------------
Just a sample, for those who might have forgotten like Mr. Rehman Malik.

On June 11, 1996 Benazir’s Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar announced on the floor of the National Assembly that the former COAS Aslam Beg had in 1990 during the run up to the elections withdrawn Rs 140 million from Mehran Bank, handed it over to ISI chief and asked him to suitably disburse the amount to a selection of anti-PPP politicians and thus rig the elections in favour of the ISI tailored IJI led by Nawaz Sharif. “The operation not only had the blessing of President Ghulam Ishaque Khan and the whole hearted participation of the caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi but was also in the knowledge of the army High Command,” said the former ISI chief.

The involvement of the powerful ISI in toppling the Benazir-led PPP by distributing Rs. 140 Million was dramatically portrayed in a writ petition in the Supreme Court by Air Marshal Asghar Khan. Air Marshal Asghar Khan brought this suit against the former Army Chief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg (retd), ex-ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani (retd) and ex-chief of Mehran Bank Younis Habib. The then Chief of the ISI, Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani, accepted on August 17, 2008 his role in disbursing money to prevent the PPP from coming back to power. Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durani admitted to Dawn News on August 17, 2008 of being personally involved in disbursing funds to political opponents of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 1990

It is also widely believed that the then President (Ghulam Ishaq Khan) and the COAS (Chief-of-Army-Staff) Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg also played a close role in that episode. Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, in turn, accused ex president Ghulam Ishaq Khan of ordering him to disburse the money. Gen. Aslam Beg, under oath, revealed in the court the existence of a political cell within the ISI, whilst strangely clarifying that though he was aware of the distribution of funds he was never personally involved.

The then head of the political wing of the ISI, Maj-Gen. Ehtesam Zamir, has openly acknowledged the directives he received directly from Musharraf on the 2002 poll manipulation and how he did that. Talking to The News, the head of the ISI’s political cell in 2002, admitted manipulating the last elections at the behest of President Musharraf. He said the country would not have faced such regression had the political management was not carried out by the ISI in 2002. Maj-Gen (retd) Ehtesham Zamir termed the 2008 elections ‘fairer than 2002’. He said the reason behind their fairness is that there was relatively less interference of intelligence agencies this time as compared to the last time. But he stopped short of saying that there was zero interference in the 2008 polls. He also said, "But I am of the view that the ISI’s political cell should be closed for good by revoking executive orders issued in 1975"
arun
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

arun wrote:The Guantánamo Bay files leaked by Wikileaks shows that the Intelligence Agency of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, is considered by the US as a Islamic Terrorist organisation.

The leaked document shows the ISI listed as an “Associated Force” “linked to militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals”.

The UK’s Guardian:
Guantánamo Bay files: Pakistan's ISI spy service listed as terrorist group

Anyone linked to Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate should be treated like al-Qaida or Taliban, interrogators told

Jason Burke

Monday 25 April 2011 10.46 BST

US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.

Recommendations to interrogators at Guantánamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say.

"Through associations with these … organisations, a detainee may have provided support to al-Qaida or the Taliban, or engaged in hostilities against US or coalition forces [in Afghanistan]," says the document, dated September 2007 and called the Joint Task Force Guantánamo Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants. It adds that links to these groups is evidence that an individual poses a future threat.
The revelation that the ISI is considered as much of a threat as al-Qaida and the Taliban will cause fury in Pakistan. …………………

The Guardian
The document itself is available on the New York Times website. Click here and then scroll down till “Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants” appears. Check out Page 16 of that document.

The ISI is mentioned as the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) and is on a table that has been prepared by the US to show “Associated forces are those militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals.”

……. {Image Snipped}……..
Extract dealing with the links of the Intelligence arm of Armed Forces of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate aka ISI, with Islamic Terrorist grous from the interview of US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer by NDTV’s Prannoy Roy.

Note that Ambassador Roemer does not dispute Prannoy Roys assertion that “Major Iqbal” is “a serving major in the Pakistan Army”.
Prannoy Roy: You talked about Headley and remember we talked earlier about how eventually things are going to emerge from what you said. Now we've just heard recently about four Pakistanis being indicted for 26/11, coming out of Headley's statement. In fact, one is a serving Major in the Pakistan Army, Iqbal, what is America is going to do about this?

Timothy Roemer: I think this case, taken forward by the Justice Department, which is attached to the trial in Chicago that is going to begin on May 16, where we are trying Rana and Headley, who has plea bargained and will serve a life sentence in America for his role in 26/11 atrocities and the terror attacks on India which killed 6 Americans. This is an interesting case. The United States legal system has decided to go after four more individuals, in addition to Headley and Rana. You mentioned a Major Iqbal as well and there is an individual by the name Sajeed Mir. This shows, I think Prannoy, that the United States is not only working very closely with India to prevent a future 9/11 or 26/11, not only cooperating to bring people to justice who attack our respective countries, but also trying to do more and more sharing every day intelligence, sharing sensitive technologies, working shoulder to shoulder together to target people, in a future, that might be involved in things that threaten both our countries. I have to tell you too that we just completed, in the last couple of days, a major training programme in Los Angeles, California for forty Indian chiefs of states and district police personnel, to better understand our system of forensics and best practices in our government, a whole government approach to try to prevent terrorist attacks. So this latest series of indictments proves once again that the United States and India are not only working closely as global partners on counter terrorism, but also share a lot of the same goals and are targeting some of the same people.

Prannoy Roy: Now the Guantanamo files have shown that the ISI in Pakistan has been listed as a terrorist organisation just like the Al-Qaeda. So the frustration in India is that that America knows all this, but there is not enough being done to curb the ISI and Lashkar, because of America's own interest in Afghanistan, and you need the supply routes to Afghanistan. So when are we actually going to see action, based on what you already know, that the ISI is a terrorist organisation?

Timothy Roemer: First of all I think we need to acknowledge that with the United States strongly encouraging Pakistan to do more, that Pakistan has done more in the last eighteen months about the extremism that threatens their internal stability; that they are doing more to take on their problems, the extremism within the country. Secondly I would have to respectfully disagree with you, that the United States has been very direct, in saying to Pakistan, that we have concerns that the ISI has connections to some of these different groups. Secretary Clinton, General Jones, when he was NSA, have all been very direct to Pakistan that they have to do more about extremism within the country...

Prannoy Roy: But if they do, they do nothing, they kind of just look at America and kind of ignore you and then there is no response. So you know all this and nothing concrete happens?

Timothy Roemer: Well we know that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Qaida and other groups are not only a threat to Pakistan, and an unstable Pakistan is a threat to India and a threat to the region. The United States and India are working more and more closely as global partners, to try to build the capacity in India to prevent terrorist attacks, whether they emanate from Pakistan or someplace else. They are working closer and closer to share information to prevent attacks like 26/11, and they are respecting the reach that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Qaida have, not only in this region. I think the United States more and more recognises the group like Lashkar-e-Toiba as a regional or a global terrorist group, and one that we're doing more and more to address, not only in Pakistan, but also in the reach outside of Pakistan, and I think it is very important to recognise this and give credit to the United States for this. When I took this job two years ago, again it was unthinkable that you would see the United States talking about the Lashkar-e-Toiba in same kind of a way that we talked about Al Qaida and other terrorist groups. Now when you have different individuals come in to India and visit, whether it be our State Department people or be military people, they will often mention Lashkar as one of the most lethal threats with regional reach and global aspirations, along with Al Qaida.

Much more on the Islamic Terrorist supporting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan here:

Full transcript: Timothy Roemer speaks to NDTV
shiv
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by shiv »

Cross post
Folks - this is a real cracker of a paper and a keeper. It could even do with linking off the first post. Written with clarity and is a gold mine of information. Takes time to read - hence the late response.
SSridhar
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

shiv wrote:Cross post
Folks - this is a real cracker of a paper and a keeper. It could even do with linking off the first post. Written with clarity and is a gold mine of information. Takes time to read - hence the late response.
True, I am still reading it. Half way through. In any case, I will add it to the the first post.
arun
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by arun »

There is a lot of speculation in the Western Media that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, particularly its intelligence arm the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate aka ISI aka ISID, was protecting the Islamic Terrorist Osama Bin Laden who was executed today by the US in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan where he had taken refuge,

Simon Tisdall in the Guardian‘s Blog site. Do check out the comments:

Osama bin Laden's death will haunt Pakistan : Bin Laden's discovery in a compound 35 miles from Islamabad is a dangerous embarrassment for Pakistan and the ISI

George Eaton in the New Statesman:

All eyes on Pakistan : Almost no one believes that the ISI could not have known of the whereabouts of bin Laden

David Wallechinsky in AllGov:

Were Pakistani Forces Protecting Osama bin Laden?

Aryn Baker in Time Magazine‘s Blog:

Bin Laden's Death: What This Means for Pakistan's ISI

Jon Boone and Ian Black also in the Guardian:

Death of Osama bin Laden puts pressure on Pakistan :Allegations of complicity within Pakistani intelligence services after al-Qaida leader discovered to have been living near capital

The Yorkshire Post:

Was Pakistan intelligence protecting Bin Laden?
svinayak
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Re: ISI-History and Discussions

Post by svinayak »

This is connected

X post

http://www.issi.org.pk/publication-file ... 043643.pdf
Pakistan’s strategic interaction
Policy maximization


As such, the year 1958 set in a new crucial phase of policy-fixation in Pakistan's foreign affairs. To quote Arif Hussain, in 1956, Foreign Minister Firoz Khan Noon presented a novel perception of fixing priorities in this regard. He conceptualized foreign policy foci by distinguishing between the ideological and strategic interests of Pakistan. His unique proposal contained three conceptual parameters - Pak-Islamism, Two-Nation Theory, and Pan¬-Islamism - identified respectively on priority bases as explained below:


Priority: I Pak-Islamism: more strategic than ideological, as it portrayed Pakistan's Islamic self-image and laid a special emphasis on achieving its vital strategic interests by relying upon any potential power abroad (not necessarily the Western powers); a concept of making Pakistan a model progressive Islamic State, pursuing an independent foreign policy befitting its prestige and potential.

Priority: II Two-Nation Theory: both ideological and strategic, as it pertained to counter adequately hegemonic and aggressive designs of India against the vital national interests of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Priority: III Pan-Islamism: primarily ideological, as it was meant for nurturing Muslim brotherhood and cooperation in the world of Islam.

To illustrate these three fundamentals, we should recall that Martial Law was imposed in Pakistan in October 1958. General Ayub Khan initially held office as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, and then was installed as the President of Pakistan till 1969. A brief profile of President Ayub is in place here to identify him as an outstanding strategist possessing leadership qualities and administrative skills needed to introduce rationality in Pakistan's domestic and foreign policies.

First and foremost, Ayub Khan was a Sandhurst-trained soldier of pro-Western traits, who conveniently shared the Westernized outlook of many intellectuals of Pakistan. Secondly, he held the post of Commander-in-Chief for seven long years (1951-58). In this capacity, he worked in close liaison with the prime ministers of the past and also held the defence portfolio. Thirdly, his being in command of the armed forces, as well as a close associate of the civil and military bureaucracies, enabled him to assert his personal viewpoint in policy-making more effectively than anyone else in Pakistan. Fourthly, he was the chief architect of Pakistan's policy of alliance with the West, and had the authority to approve
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