The Bush administration is playing a dangerous game by encouraging the elected government in Pakistan to pick an unnecessary confrontation with the country’s powerful military. And by being willing to play along, the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is failing the first test of any government: to passionately defend Pakistan’s interest at all costs.
Even more disturbing is that no Pakistani official – including our esteemed prime minister - dared tell the Americans, even at the level of Richard Boucher if not to Bush’s face, to stop turning the elected government against the military and desist from trying to open a new front of instability in Pakistan. The military will have to remain vigilant because there is every indication that attempts are underway to provoke it into a rash action, like removing the government, to give Washington an excuse to go for overkill, which could include military-specific sanctions, especially targeting ISI.
To become a willing fourth pillar in the triangular anti-ISI campaign by Karzai, India and the Bush administration, the Gilani government is not only committing an unimaginable blunder but is also becoming complicit in what is now a clear American objective to downsize Pakistan geographically and militarily in favor of strengthening India, containing China and Russia, and securing the Central Asian theater.
Wafting through Islamabad these days is the unmistakable stench of conspiracy. After all, it’s not possible that the three major heads in the PPP government – Mr. Zardari, Mr. Gilani, and Mr. Rehman Malik – didn’t know that their covert July 26 decision on ISI would not pass. They knew it won’t. That explains the decision’s timing: late weekend night when the three were out of the country. The move was unquestionably linked to the Bush meeting in Washington where ISI topped the agenda. A coincidence? Not really.
The PPP government achieved three things: One, show the U.S. it tried and is willing to take risky moves if Washington’s support is assured and, Two, force the Pakistani military to resist the decision and emerge as the bad guy who fits the current defamation campaign in the U.S. media, and, Three, open a public debate in Pakistan on ISI and malign the agency within the country. The move succeeded in sparking a domestic Pakistani debate on ISI to match the one launched by the CIA propaganda machine in the U.S.
But apart from pleasing Washington and appeasing New Delhi, PPP’s decision exposed its inability to appreciate the difference between running a family-run political party and managing a nuclear power. This blunder strengthens the hand of those who believe the military cannot afford to completely withdraw from politics and transfer critical tasks to politicians such as oversight over intelligence and strategic assets.
The last thing that Pakistanis needed now is a debate over who should supervise ISI. People need to understand the role of the spy agency for the solidarity and security of the country. ISI is the first line of defense of Pakistan. The basic principle of handling sensitive information is that it should be known to as few people as possible. Presently, outside the agency, sensitive information is known only to the prime minister. Those playing with ISI are clueless and do not understand the stakes. Weakening the agency means weakening the government of the day, then weakening the army and thus weakening the country. Normally, it is the enemies who wish for this. The ISI informs the P.M. when there is any indication of danger to the country within 100 kilometers of Pakistani borders. You cannot afford to channelize this information through bureaucracy and wait until it reaches the prime minister’s desk. To defend the homeland, the prime minister needs to work closely and directly with the chiefs of the army, navy and the air force. The ISI chief should be directly responsible to the chief executive of the nation because there are many confidential matters of the state that cannot go through many hands. Moreover, people in any government department do not have the security clearance at a sufficient level to handle the information coming from ISI.
This is how the business of an important country like Pakistan is conducted. In comparison, the July 26 decision seems like a crude joke with the homeland.