Author: Rezaul H Laskar
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 9, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/302244/ISI-is-a-rogue-agency-AQ-Khan.html
Branding Pakistani intelligence agencies mainly
the ISI as a "rogue agency", country's top nuclear scientist AQ
Khan has said that it takes orders from the Army chief and not the civilian
Government.
Charging that ISI operated outside the law
and totally ignored court orders, Khan in a scathing attack on the military
intelligence agency said it was being used against politicians and as a "extended
arm of the dictators." Writing in a column in the daily The News, said,
"this had led to all the coups staged in the country," since the
military takeover by late dictator Ayub Khan.
"Unfortunately, in our country the performance
of the intelligence agencies is anything but commendable and is not something
to be proud of.
They have been the extended arm of dictators
and been widely branded as rogue organisations," he wrote.
The intelligence agencies "operate outside
the law, are least bothered about the judiciary and totally ignore court orders",
wrote Khan, who was placed under house arrest after he admitted running a
clandestine nuclear proliferation ring in early 2004.
In recent months, Pakistani authorities have
removed or relaxed some of the restrictions imposed on him.
Referring to a case in the Supreme Court about
11 "missing" terror suspects who are believed to be in the custody
of intelligence agencies, Khan wrote the episode "more or less confirms
the universal belief that our intelligence agencies are rogue agencies and
are above the law and the Constitution."
Khan wrote that during the regime of former
military ruler Pervez Musharraf, "a general, an ISI colonel and eight
subordinates forcibly sent us to Bannigala (near Islamabad) and kept us there
for 10 hours."
He added: "During that time our house
was totally ransacked, bedrooms, clothes, books, files, etc, searched and
many things taken away - all this without any official warrant or court order
to do so."
He claimed his house was bugged with cameras
and listening devices.
"In any civilised society such despicable
acts are totally unacceptable and are dealt with severely by the courts,"
he wrote.
