Pakistani Senate moves to rein in the agency
Islamabad's efforts to make Pakistan's powerful spy agency more accountable to the civilian Government are welcome, though in an ideal situation too much political oversight can be problematic. Generally speaking, bringing intelligence agencies within the ambit of the legislature only exposes them to non-required inspection which in turn restricts their functioning and effectiveness. Much of the work that is done by these agencies is best kept under wraps; putting them out in the public domain in the name of transparency is often detrimental to strategic interests. However, this exemption from public scrutiny comes with certain caveats — not abusing the many powers at its disposal is one of them. Unfortunately, Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence has not cared to hold up its end of the deal, misusing its privileges not just to foment trouble in neighbouring countries but also to manipulate power equations at home. Not for nothing is the ISI called ‘the state within a state'. Over the years, it has been known to topple Governments, fuel insurgencies, issue death warrants and run extortion rackets. It has been accused of countless human right abuses and, most recently, found to be behind the disappearance of thousands of Pakistani civilians, particularly in restive areas such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. It is against this backdrop that the Pakistani Senate endorsed earlier this week a report by the Standing Committee on Human Rights to bring the spy agency under parliamentary oversight. The Senate's resolution comes on the heels of an observation which the Peshawar High Court made: That no Government, be it in Islamabad or at the federal level, was prepared to bring in legislation that would rein in the ISI. The court was hearing the case of 282 people gone missing from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.
The ISI will naturally push back efforts to clips its wings. The spy agency will use all the power at its disposal to scuttle such moves — and if past experience is anything to go by, it may succeed. Only last year, the Government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani introduced the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (Functions, Powers and Regulation) Act, 2012, that sought to make the spy agency answerable to Parliament and establish a system of internal checks and balances, primarily to stop enforced disappearances and the manipulation of political parties. But the Bill was withdrawn following pressure from Rawalpindi. A notification by the Gilani Government to bring the ISI under parliamentary control back in 2008 had also met a similar fate. While there is no denying that Pakistan's political class has been undercut by the ISI, it is equally true that the two often work together to promote mutual interests. If the ISI indeed comes under the control of the Pakistani Government, Islamabad will no longer be able to distance itself from the organisation when the latter is caught doing its dirty work.