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Intelligence Bureau accused of ‘protecting’ terrorists by one of its own spies

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ISLAMABAD: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been accused by one of its own spies of “protecting” terrorists.

A serving assistant sub-inspector of IB, ASI Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Shahzad, has accused his senior officers of not taking action against terrorism suspects and filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) requesting it to refer the matter to the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for a thorough probe.

The IHC Registrar’s Office fixed the petition before Justice Aamer Farooq on Monday who referred the case to IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi, with a note that the matter may be transferred to Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui since an identical matter is pending in his court, an IHC official said.

In the petition filed through his counsel Masroor Shah, Mr Shahzad has said he joined the IB in 2007 and that he “reported against various terrorist groups having roots in Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and India”.

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ASI tells court he reported against terrorist groups from various countries but no action was taken

“However, to the petitioner’s utter dismay, no action was ever been taken by IB in this respect despite concrete evidence provided to it in the form of the intelligence reports”, the petition says.

“Upon thorough intelligence gathering process, it transpired that certain high officials of the IB themselves are directly involved with the terrorist organizations having linkages with hostile enemy intelligence agencies” the petition reads.

It goes on to say that the matter was even reported to the IB director general, who also did not take any steps.

It says some IB officials travelled to Israel and had direct links with Afghan intelligence which, it was found later, had links with another terrorist group from Kazakhstan.

“These terrorists used to disguise themselves as citrus dealers in Kot-Momin and Bhalwal, Sargodha. The business was a mere camouflage,” the petition says.

The petition goes on to say that the son of joint director IB (Punjab) was dealing with the said terrorist groups.

The petition claims that some officials of Afghan and Iranian intelligence used to take refuge in the places of the citrus dealers.

The petition names certain IB’s officials who are on the payroll of foreign intelligence agencies which include a joint director general, directors and deputy directors. The petitioner says that the senior IB officials also facilitate Afghan nationals in getting Pakistani nationality.

Mr Shahzad said he “has been running from pillar to post including approaching the prime minister of Pakistan to raise this issue of national security and protection of lives of the citizen of this country but in vain.”

The petitioner requested the court that the issue of connivance, complacency and involvement of official of IB and other senior bureaucrats raised in the petition may graciously be entrusted to ISI for investigation.

The petition further requested that the prime minister be directed to evolve a comprehensive strategy to keep a check on IB officials’ involvement in sectarian terrorism.

IB also recently came under attack by a joint investigation team consisting of officials from ISI, Military Intelligence and officials from other departments for ‘hampering the investigation’ into the assets of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017


https://www.dawn.com/news/1360119
 
The fact that an Indian shared this is clearly the most important thing here, not the fact that our intelligence agencies, supposedly our first line of defense, are in bed with the very people we need to be defended against. Those priorities. Terrorists have two weeks before every last one of them is eliminated from Pakistan now that we have our priorities straight.

The other day someone shared a news story about IS flags appearing in Islamabad and there were more people complaining about a Pakistani page sharing the news because Indian media would pick it up and embarrass Pakistan than there were people concerned about IS in ISB.
 
The fact that an Indian shared this is clearly the most important thing here, not the fact that our intelligence agencies, supposedly our first line of defense, are in bed with the very people we need to be defended against. Those priorities. Terrorists have two weeks before every last one of them is eliminated from Pakistan now that we have our priorities straight.

The other day someone shared a news story about IS flags appearing in Islamabad and there were more people complaining about a Pakistani page sharing the news because Indian media would pick it up and embarrass Pakistan than there were people concerned about IS in ISB.

Rather than spreading misinformation you might want to read up on it too. FIR had been registered for the flag being hoisted and the flag was promptly removed. There are people who spread lies and then there are people who spread half-truths to drive home their agenda, I see no difference in both.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1359934

from the article for your reading pleasure:

Law enforcement agencies swung into action on September 24 after the flag, spotted on a bridge near Iqbal Town in Khanna police precincts, triggered a debate on social and electronic media over whether it belonged to the IS or not.

Taking notice of the rumours, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, before leaving for a trip to China, had asked the Islamabad inspector general of police (IGP) to look into the matter and submit a report.

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Investigators were not able to determine who had hoisted the flag and when questioned, the citizen who gave police the initial information said that he saw the flag while passing through the area and assumed that it belonged to the terrorist organisation, as it was similar to IS flags he had seen in television reports.

After receiving information about the flag, we removed it immediately, but despite our best efforts, it could not be confirmed whether the flag belongs to a party or a group. It could be mischief or a prank,” the Khanna SHO had said. “The IGP has called a late night meeting to discuss the issue and a report will be submitted to the minister for interior.
 
Rather than spreading misinformation you might want to read up on it too. FIR had been registered for the flag being hoisted and the flag was promptly removed. There are people who spread lies and then there are people who spread half-truths to drive home their agenda, I see no difference in both.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1359934

from the article for your reading pleasure:

Aside from the statement about our Intel agencies being in bed with terrorists including many that target Pakistanis, there isn't a single statement of fact in my post, just general observations on our attitudes towards such news. The one statement of fact in the whole post is one that is irrefutable true (remember those photographs of that Brigadier wining and dining a regional head of Sipah Sahaba days after an attack in Quetta claimed by Lee?). Apart from that, it's social commentary so I don't see what fact checking you speak of considering my comments were clearly directed at the prevalent attitudes in Pakistan and not just this specific story. We are a nation of joshila bhais.
 
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In the petition filed through his counsel Masroor Shah, Mr Shahzad has said he joined the IB in 2007 and that he “reported against various terrorist groups having roots in Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and India”.

Some strange bedfellows Pakistan appears to be involved with. Proxy wars all over the place by the look of it.
 
If only Intel agencies in Pakistan chose their allegiances based on how easy it would be to compartmentalise their choices into a neatly curated "makes sense to Brits - doesn't make sense to Brits" list. I'm assuming it also doesn't make sense that a country's military has interests of its own, political and economic, that are in direct conflict with the country's interests.
 
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No doubt there are many tangled webs which as Brits we fail to understand looking through our British lens. If only we could pop on multiple and divergent lens to decipher all the different variables from multinational angles. We can but wait for someone to come along and give a dispassionate and unbiased commentary on the political machinations at play.
 
ASI is doing intelligence work way beyond his pay check. Let me explain you his rank starting from the lowest grade.

Constable
Head constable
ASI
SI
Inspector
Assistant Director
Deputy Director
Joint Director
Director
Additional DG
DG

I might be missing one or two positions from this chain.
 
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