Oversight of intelligence agencies

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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In most countries there is an oversight over intelligence agencies. Should we in Pakistan allow them to dictate their world view on the rest of us? Considering that their policies have only damaged the country. The failed Kashmir and Afghan policies couldn’t give us Kashmir or foothold in Afghanistan (latest news suggest Abdullah Abdullah winning the polls in the country) but has resulted in more than 50000 lives lost in our country. The way they have dealt with Balochistan and Sindh has also exacerbated the situation instead of calming it. Should the government allow the intelligence agencies run wild or should they establish their control and force them to operate under the constitution?

Oversight of agencies: Pakistan in exclusive club - thenews.com.pk

**ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is one of the few democracies in the world with no mechanism of parliamentary oversight of intelligence agencies. Even the countries, which were previously governed by military rule under authoritarian regimes, had carried out intelligence reforms, a study of legislation indicates.

There were many countries without codified law for the agencies but necessary exercises had been carried out in different Parliaments in just two decades. As reforms have been completed elsewhere, Pakistan still lacks the will to venture into this practice. Indonesia and Chile that experienced repressive military regimes for decades have come out with intelligence reforms through codifying the laws of agencies thus subjecting them to the parliamentary oversight. Turkey where military has been traditionally a dominant player has also done this legislation.
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**Likewise, newborn states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Slovenia that spent decades under authoritarian regime of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have made statutory laws for governing the working of intelligence agencies.
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A couple of states formerly under the occupation of Soviet Union, Estonia and Lithuania did legislation in this respect after gaining independence in 1991. Lithuania framed statutory laws in 1996, just five years after independence. Slovenia that won independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia did this legislation in 1994, three years after becoming a sovereign state, the study indicates.

South Africa that came out of the clutches of apartheid regime in 1991 also has laws for intelligence oversight. Former socialist republics in Eastern Europe like Hungary and Poland, has framed laws for holding the intelligence agencies accountable.

As the security and intelligence agencies used to carry out repressive functions under the former authoritarian heads of states particularly in Eastern Europe and dictatorial regimes elsewhere, the past experience was considered to be a motivating force behind the urgent legislation for reining in the unbridled agencies there. This legislation was aimed to reform the intelligence services in order to change them from a tool of repression into a modern tool of security outfits working under the close watch of the executive and the Parliament.

Several countries of Latin America like Argentina and Brazil have this mechanism in place for the intelligence agencies accountability.

Well-functioning democracies are not without parliamentary oversight either. Prominent among them are USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Norway, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands and others. Netherlands even has subjected its military intelligence to parliamentary oversight.

Most of the legislation in this respect has been done in last two decades and UK stands prominent among those countries that started this in 1989. It codified laws for MI5 in 1989 namely the Security Service Act and for MI6 in 1994 called the Intelligence Services Act.

Legality requires that security forces act only within their powers in domestic law. Contrary to prevailing practices in other countries, the UK has framed legal basis for its foreign intelligence operation conducted by MI6.

There are different institutional arrangements adopted by the states for intelligence requirements. Countries like Turkey, Spain, Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina have single agency for security and intelligence both domestic and external. Other states like UK, Poland, Hungary and Germany etc have separate agencies for domestic and external intelligence and security. Canada is a country that has no foreign intelligence agency.

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Re: Oversight of intelligence agencies

Reality is that ISI is not intelligence agency, but arm of army generals that use it and abuse it. It was never under civilian control and is responsible for most of Pakistan problems. Kill and dump polices all over the country & eliminating perceived threats like journalists is nothing new for them. Btw, part of the reason why there is huge resentment against Punjab is b/c most of the ISI people are from Punjab & that does not augur well for country in long run.

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^^^ ISI was created as intelligence agency to work for armed forces. All the mess started when ISI was given job of intelligence within country that caused a lot of harm and disability within country. So the main culprit and traitor who caused harm to country and destroyed country's stability was the one who delegated political job to ISI and used ISI to victimize political opponent. I think same traitor used army extensively to crush civilians and harm his opponents.

The traitor I am talking about, played his role in getting Pakistan divided. Later, he used Pakistan armed forces, judiciary, bureaucracy, police, media, all national institutions, as well as innocent 'Kamis and Harris' of Pakistan as his personal servants. He used emotion, religion, sectarian division, provincialism, and bradari system that exists in Pakistan to his full advantage. He destroyed Pakistan educational system, destroyed Pakistan industry and distributed Pakistan to elites of his kind who he liked.

This traitor should get hanged ... I mean, if he is not already got hanged. Anyhow, can anyone tell me, who was that traitor?

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Re: Oversight of intelligence agencies

^ both valid points.

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Instead of bringing the intelligence agencies under the constitution, the government wants to give them indefinite powers under the PPO Law.

The solution to Pakistan’s problems lie in punishing the culprits through the judicial system. Improve the system if there are some flaws. Killing and dumping inflames sentiments towards the army/intelligence agencies but who can explain this to those at the helm of affairs? Do not provide the enemies the justification for trying the army/intelligence agencies in the Hague (for war crimes).

Controversial ordinance:

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Re: Oversight of intelligence agencies

This organization should be disbanded or reorganized to work directly under civilian government without delay. Their head should not be an army officer but a civil service bureaucrat answerable to parliament and PM of Pakistan. Money saved can be used to education and health care.

It is distorted, concocted, retarded and parody version of CIA full of idiots and retards blood suckers, they should go home and open paan bheerhi shop what they are capable of.

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Intelligence Reform? Beyond impossible under this government, and understandably so. Unfortunately, Pakistani democracy isn't strong enough to take on this well established, well armed, well funded state within state. What was meant to be a promising country (if not the promised land) has effectively turned into a garrison state. Thanks to imperial powers propping up or supporting tinpot dictators in the country. For an army and intelligence services that hasn't won any major war, secured any geopolitical gains, defeated any internal anti state movement or resisted any imperial pressure has a pretty strong PR image. That is impressive. I do mean it.

Coming back to the question of Intelligence Reform, the journalists are too scared to touch upon this topic, and because of this reasons there is serious media awareness, insight and in depth of knowledge surrounding the influence of intelligence organisations such as the ISI.

But all doom and gloom aside, I believe all the concerned citizens of Pakistan must appreciate the media and the civil society for finally mustering up the courage to simply start 'talking about' Army and the ISI. That's a good start, and perhaps the first step towards to the right direction.

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ISI's mission was distorted over time and heck, it and MI didn't know indian plans for 1965 until PAF plans on surveillance mission on the border saw indian troop movements. Bhutto did no favors by creating the political cell in ISI, but he was the same person who used to house arrest his opponents There are BBC videos out there like that suwar ka bacha bengali by bhutto for shameless jiyalas who don't believe and propagate lies about the saint status of bhutto.

I think that the bigger point is that why does army need ISI when it already has MI? I guess MI has uniformed personnel (so does ISI, right?!?) but I guess they can be out-of-uniform if they want to go spy in india or someplace. ISI needs and should be a separate agency which might get army people as directors initially (shin bet does that) but no army oversight over it. This half assed running of ISI has made it another levies or police force with disastrous consequences for Pakistan.

But who are we kidding? I have a better chance of becoming another hassan nisar than isi getting its act together in the next 100 years.

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Need to debate role of agencies, bring them under rule of law - thenews.com.pk

**ISLAMABAD: The political class continues to suffer and journalists are under attack from ‘invisible’ players as no civilian government has been daring enough to bell the cat by bringing the intelligence agencies under any legal discipline.

The attack on Hamid Mir and the allegations on the ISI by his family necessitate a debate on this issue as the agencies cannot be allowed to operate as they wish as per their whims, terrorising common citizens, journalists and politicians alike.

It may turn out to be a surprise for many but the fact remains that neither does any agency of Pakistan have laws to govern its functions nor are they willing to submit before the law. This is in contrast with other countries of the world that have carried out intelligence reforms bringing them under parliamentary oversight to hold them to account.

Pakistan lags far behind, however. Agencies have framed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for their own convenience but their actions don’t have any legal authority.

Their officials believe in the notion that the agencies’ work starts where the law fails to deliver. With this thought in mind, they act with full impunity playing havoc with the lives of the citizens without any burden of guilt. But they don’t forget to react if their wrongdoing is pointed out and any such aspersion is considered an attack on national security.

Neither do the agencies want accountability through any legal framework nor has any government made an effort in this respect. Dr Shoaib Suddle stands out as an exception, being a spy chief who had volunteered this submission before the law.

Being the DG IB, Suddle had drafted a law for his agency in order to seek approval from parliament. He was removed by the PPP government before this could have be done. His predecessors have not shown any interest in this regard.

With Dr Suddle’s efforts backfiring, there is no sense of urgency exhibited by parliament for framing statutory laws for the intelligence agencies. This becomes more important given the PPPP and PML-N — both considering themselves victims of agencies — had resolved through the Charter of Democracy (CoD) of holding the agencies accountable.

Article 32 of the CoD is being reproduced below: “The ISI, MI and other security agencies shall be accountable to the elected government through the Prime Minister Secretariat, Ministry of Defense, and Cabinet Division respectively. Their budgets will be approved by the DCC (Defense Cabinet Committee) after recommendations are prepared by the respective ministry. The political wings of all intelligence agencies will be disbanded. A committee will be formed to cut waste and bloating the armed forces and security agencies in the interest of the defence and security of the country. All senior postings in these agencies shall be made with the approval of the government through the respective ministry.”

Pakistan is one of the few democracies in the world with no mechanism of parliamentary oversight of intelligence agencies. Even countries which were previously governed by military rule under authoritarian regimes have carried out intelligence reforms, a study of legislation indicates.

There were many countries without codified law for the agencies but necessary exercises had been carried out in different parliaments in just two decades. As reforms have been completed elsewhere, Pakistan still lacks the will to venture into this practice. Indonesia and Chile, that experienced repressive military regimes for decades, have come up with intelligence reforms through codifying the laws of agencies, thus subjecting them to parliamentary oversight. Turkey, where the military has been traditionally a dominant player, has also passed this legislation.
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Maligning ISI: Army to take legal action against Geo’s ‘baseless allegation’.

Now this is definitely not looking good. Both ISI and Geo have turned this into a personal feud. I blame Geo for escalating the issue in a typical hyper-active, sensationalist manner. I clearly remember DG ISPR Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa spoke to their channel, expressed deep regrets, and offered full co-operation with Hamid Mir. And really the stupid channel should’ve just stopped there! In fact, they should’ve have capitalised this opportunity by appealing ISI to help capture the perpetrator. There was absolutely no need to get carried away and hold live program after program explicitly discussing (dissing) the ISI. I mean for goodness sake, the victim is unconscious, he hasn’t given any statement, no FIR has been filed. So on what bloody basis charlatans like Amir Liaqat are covering the TV screens playing and the judge, jury, witness and victim all at the same time. It’s sickening.

Yes, the threats and intimidation journalists receive from higher powers is all real and concerning, but suddenly going all voracious and fanatical about it and waging a war against country’s most powerful and dangerous intelligence agency is neither wise, nor helpful. Why don’t Pakistani understand the power of diplomacy? Failure to speak the language of diplomacy says a lot about a nation’s (lack of) intellectual capacity.

As with ISI, not a constructive step from them either. They should’ve remained firm on their earlier pledge to offer assistance in any kind of investigation. And really, it’s about time they start feeling some guilt and responsibility for their actions. They need to stop treating the country like a beloved mistress, and acting like violently possessive lovers.

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I would be highly surprised if this feud is turned into a legal case and enters a court of law ever. Geo has already softened its stance and distancing itself from the statements and accusations of the Mir family. But there is no doubt that the channel got carried away and for hours it looked like Zee News inside Geo News.

If you know the workings of the Jang Group, you know the way they idolize and pamper their bigwigs. You will find on their payrolls dozens of journalists who are paid just for not working for anyone. In Hamid Mir’s case too, the group came challenging everyone on its way, only to found that it has over-expressed itself. Hamid Mir wanted to browbeat ISI but it does not look as easy as he might have thought. Their is a journalist college which wants to act a pressure group and, as Haroonur Rashid wrote in his column today, wants the foreign policy of the country run according to its wisdom. I am sure Hamid Mir and his college will have a few things against the ISI, but I am also sure ISI will also have enough material against Hamid Mir to keep him calm. I think it’s time for the ISI to show its cards.

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Most probably against owners of GEO group's nefarious and corrupt activities.

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There is an unexplainable silence on the part of the government and the military establishment over the foreign funding the media gets in Pakistan, especially the Jang Group.

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These are all games, not very long ago GEO and military establishment were hands in glove (May 11). At the moment the other foreign funded group (Express Tribune) is standing firmly behind the armed forces.