Tag: Lt Gen Asad Durrani

  • Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    The Ministry of Defence has opposed a request seeking removal of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), saying he had been “interacting with hostile elements” including Indian intelligence agency RAW since 2008 and was likely to be involved in future publications against the interest of Pakistan, Dawn reported.

    The spymaster had landed in trouble after co-authoring a book, “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”, with Amarjit Singh Dulat, the former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in 2018.

    After the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence (MI) had written to the interior ministry to put Durrani’s name on the ECL and the same was done in May 2018. The former spymaster challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2019.

    In its para-wise comments submitted in response to Durrani’s petition in the IHC on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said the ex-ISI chief’s name was placed on the no-fly list for “his involvement in anti-state activities”. It said a perusal of the book The Spy Chronicles revealed that it contained “certain contents concerning [the] national security of Pakistan, being in contravention of the provisions of the Official Secrets Acts, 1923”.

    “It is further highlighted that there are [a] number of such publications on the way, supported by hostile elements which contain content to create misperception, confusions, question marks against the top leadership circles at country level and to target the common people,” reads the ministry’s response.

    It added that Durrani had been “affiliated/interacting with hostile elements especially Indian RAW since 2008”, saying although he had submitted an affidavit “committing to refrain from such activities” to the government, the same had still not been seen “in tangible terms”.

    According to the ministry’s reply, Rule 2(c) of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, 2010, authorised the federal government to prohibit a person from exiting Pakistan for a foreign destination if the said person is involved in “‘acts of terrorism or its conspiracy’, ‘heinous crimes’ and ‘threatening national security’”.

    Moreover, it said Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution clearly stated that the “freedom of movement and freedom of speech are subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by [the] law in the public interest and integrity, security or defence of Pakistan”.

    It said Durrani’s name could not be removed from ECL “at this stage” because inquiries being conducted against him were being finalised. It said the former ISI chief wanted to travel abroad with the intention of participating in international conferences, forums and talks which will have “serious national security implications as evident from the recently published book ‘Honour Among Spies’” — which was also authored by Durrani and published “through Indian publishers/RAW supported elements”, according to the defence ministry.

    “Moreover, the petitioner also appeared on social media on October 12 and 13, 2020, and expressed his views which of course cannot be well received by any patriotic citizen,” the ministry stated, continuing to defend the placement of Durrani’s name on ECL.

    The ex-ISI chief’s petition is expected to be taken up again by the IHC next month.

  • Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani has said that the meddling of the military in the political affairs, though a reality, was “detrimental to the country”.

    In an interview with BBC Urdu, the former general said whether the army should intervene in politics or not is a debate that has led us nowhere. “Our experience tells us that whenever the military intervened, the political parties ostracised staged a comeback,” Durrani said.

    “Gen Ayub Khan was supposed to keep Zulfikar Ali Bhutto out, but he staged a comeback and got elected. After Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto came to power.”

    The same thing happened during the regime of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “The two parties which he thought should be kept out – PPP and PML-N –were elected to power. So, this political engineering is harmful,” he said.

    “Imran Khan’s biggest problem is the impression that he did not come to power by himself and that he came with a khaki burden. Some people don’t learn from history because they say we will create our own history,” Durrani added.

    The former general also talked about challenges faced by Pakistan on external and internal fronts.

    “If you ask me challenges from outside, I would say Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey pose new challenges,” he said. The former ISI chief went on to say that “India has not always been the biggest threat to us”.

    “The country is facing three types of challenges: economy, political instability, and social cohesion,” he said.

    “There are some areas like Balochistan where there is unrest among people who feel politically alienated and deprived. The economy is in bad shape…. The government’s credibility is bad because people believe it has been brought into power by the military,” he said.

    He also opposed the changing of status of Gilgit-Baltistan which, he said, will be a blow to the Kashmir cause.

    “When I was looking after the affairs of Kashmir, a close friend of mine, Yusuf, explained to me that the day we made the mistake of changing GilgitBaltistan status, it would be a big blow to our Kashmir cause,” he said but did not explain who Yusuf was.

    “You may give more rights to G-B, if you want to, but it should not be forcibly made a province of Pakistan,” said Durrani, while commenting on recent government promises of giving Kashmir the provincial status.