On the so called ISI-CIA rift on the Raymond Davis issue
Related articles:
General Kayani allowed US special forces to secretly operate in Pakistan
WikiLeaks unmasks who are our real puppet-masters?
On Declan Walsh’s latest scoop: ‘Raymond Davis is a CIA spy’
LUBP Archive on Raymond Davis
The Raymond Davis saga has soured the relationship between the ISI and CIA. Or so the ISI and a select group of Pakistani and foreign journalists would like us to believe. Really?
Some specimens:
Declan Walsh in Guardian: Truth hard to find in US-Pakistan war of words over Raymond Davis. But fact is only one aspect of the issue, which has become enmeshed in a web of nationalist passions and spy agency rivalries.A troubled spy agency relationship lies under the media frenzy. Complaining of American arrogance, the ISI says its links to the CIA have been badly damaged by the affair, warning in an unusual press statement this week that it was “hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach [its prior] level”
@OmarWaraich: Pakistan’s ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA – by the awesome @kathygannon in Washington Post: Pakistan’s intelligence ready to split with CIA: The ISI fears there are hundreds of CIA contracted spies operating in Pakistan without the knowledge of either the Pakistan government or the intelligence agency, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the AP in an interview.
Geo TV: The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is ready to split with its US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert US operation involving hundreds of contract spies.
The aim of this post is to highlight the possible motives behind this current turn of news and analyses in the Raymond Davis saga.
A number of motives and reasons may be identified:
1. The image of the ISI, particularly in terms of its active cooperation with the CIA, in planning, coordinating and approving the drone attacks and the operation of regular US soldiers and under cover CIA agents on Pakistani soil, has been badly tarnished by the WikiLeak Cables.
2. The civilian government in Pakistan is on a pathway to complete its full constitutional term of five years, which is tantamount to an insult to the all powerful military establishment of Pakistan. The civilian government needs to be discredited and destabilized not only in the eyes of the US and other governments but also domestically in Pakistan.
3. The GHQ / ISI have not yet forgotten the (for them) humiliating terms which they had to bear through an independent agreement between the civilian government and the US government in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act which imposed certain pro-democracy and anti-terrorism requirements on Pakistan army in order to be eligible for the US financial and logistic assistance.
4. The military establishment has thus far lost on two key fronts which it so vehemently relied on in order to destabilize the civilian government, i.e., a forceful anti-Zardari, anti-PPP campaign through its right wing and pseudo-liberal proxies in Pakistani media, and a clearly lopsided and biased judicial activism against the PPP led federal government.
5. Recent publication of the WikiLeaks Cables on Pakistan once again made evident that the real power in Pakistan is still held by the most powerful institution, i.e., Pakistan Army (GHQ) which has almost total control not only on country’s security policy (read Deep State policy and the nuclear programme policy) but also on issues related to foreign policy (Afghanistan, India, USA etc) and economy (particularly issues related to the foreign financial assistance).
6. The Cables also confirmed the presence of regular US soldiers and agents on Pakistani soil as a part of an ongoing cooperation between the CIA and ISI in their joint operations against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Cables also confirmed that Pakistan’s ISI is in active cooperation with the CIA in planning and supporting the drone attacks on militant hideouts in the FATA.
7. It was also revealed through the Cables that Pakistani generals told their US counterparts that while they would keep supporting the US drone attacks and other operations on Pakistani soil, their stance in the media would be totally opposite for domestic consumption in Pakistan.
8. After the rude exposition of the duplicity of the GHQ’s / ISI’s role in their cooperation with the USA/CIA, it had become necessary to create an impression of an artificial rift between the ISI and the CIA.
9. The most recent Raymond Davis saga has provided the ISI / GHQ with a great opportunity in terms of the following:
(a) To destabilize the civilian government in the domestic arena and to discredit them internationally, particularly in the eyes of the US government. The aim is to convince the US government that we (the GHQ) are in charge, civilian government cannot give back your man to you, hence deal with us if you want to have some serious business with Pakistan.
(b) To rebuild and further strengthen the ISI’s relations with the right wing particularly with the Taliban, Jamaat-e-Islami, PMLN and Imran Khan’s PTI on a farce agenda of national honour (ghariat).
(c) To pave the way for a mid-term elections by creating an artificial hype in the media and a law and order situation in Pakistani streets.
(d) Last but not least, to give a false impression of the growing gulf between the ISI and the CIA in order to rebuild an impression of the ISI as reliable guardians and protectors of the national honour (ghairat) and security (salamti).
It is in the above context that any articles by Pakistani and foreign journalists on the so called ISI-CIA rift need to be examined. Of course such articles are being written by a select group of not only right wing journalists but also certain liberal journalist some of whom are known for their softness towards the military establishment.
Such articles are tantamount to crappy journalism at best and agencies’ propaganda at worst. We trust our readers’ judgement in this regard.
Laughing point:
In their carefully written and much publicized article, Kathy Ghannon and Adam Goldman write:
According to a statement drafted by the ISI, supported by interviews with officials, an already-fragile relationship between the two agencies collapsed following the shooting death of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a U.S. contracted spy who is in jail in Pakistan facing possible multiple murder charges. “Post-incident conduct of the CIA has virtually put the partnership into question,” said a media statement prepared by the ISI but never released. A copy was obtained this week by the AP
How convenient!
From Twitter:
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
@
This is a clear case of diplomatic immunity with informed consent of the ISI #ViennaConvention .
10 hours ago
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Will @najamsethi @mosharrafzaidi or @javedchoudhry discuss who cleared & approved Raymond’s visa? Collusion b/w rightwing & liberal proxies?
10 hours ago
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Articles on so called rift between ISI & CIA R bad journalism at best and ISI propaganda at worst for consumption of Pakistani right wing.
10 hours ago
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
@
that’s THE question RT @NadeemfParacha ISI ready to split with CIA. Hmmm I wonder when ISI will split with Taliban & assorted terrorists?
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
@kathygannon in #WashingtonPost also recycled by #Geo ignores that #ISI wants to rebuild relation with #CIA by discrediting civilian govt
10 hours ago
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
“awesome bad” piece by @kathygannon on Raymond Davis: http://wapo.st/hvcshM Relations b/w ISI & CIA WILL further improve not deteriorate!
10 hours ago
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Raymond Davis entered Pakistan in September 2009 on a 3-month visa. How did he stay until now without extensions granted by ISI?
10 hours ago
»
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Fauzia Wahab’s stance on Raymond issue was honest and candid, opposite to the “made in ISI” response by SMQ #ViennaConvention
10 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Nobody in Pakistani & international media is asking: Raymond’s visa was cleared and approved by the ISI as per usual practice in Pakistan
10 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
@
LOL We may believe this only if published in a UK/US newspaper RT @NadeemfParacha Raymond Davis is actually Elvis. He’s alive!
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Geo TV: Davis row rift b/w ISI & CIA geo.tv/2-24-2011/7868… WRONG ISI using Davis case 2 discredit civilian govt; rebuild direct contact wid US
Praveen Swami offers a relatively balanced perspective:
A trigger-happy CIA guard, Raymond Davis, is caught up in a power struggle between the army chief and President Zardari.
the stakes in Lahore are deadly serious. Ever since the restoration of democracy to Pakistan in 2008, the world has hoped that President Asif Ali Zardari’s government will prove a durable bulwark against chaos and terror in the country. But the case of the mysterious Mr Davis could rip apart the already fraught relationship between the United States and nuclear-armed Pakistan, and threaten President Zardari, with incalculable consequences for the region and the West.
Given that he holds a diplomatic passport, the next steps in Mr Davis’s story should have been predictable: a declaration that he was persona non grata, and a ticket on the first flight home. Instead, he was held by police and will remain in jail until the Lahore High Court hears his case next month, when the government is due to say whether it believes Mr Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity.
International law is clear: the Vienna Convention of 1961 says that diplomats “shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention”. Even spies, who serve under diplomatic cover at the embassies of all nations in all countries, and often with the assent of their host states, enjoy this privilege. Pakistani officials argue that Mr Davis had not been recognised as a diplomat by Pakistan. But several British diplomats have told The Daily Telegraph that the fact that Mr Davis held a diplomatic passport and a visa allowing him to conduct official business settles the debate.
Pakistan’s politicians have concerns other than legal niceties, though. Parts of the country’s press have long reported the presence of legions of US spies supposedly seeking to rob Pakistan of its nuclear weapons. Reporting of the Davis case has been peppered with claims that he was photographing military installations. In fact, the contents of Mr Davis’ camera have been disclosed: he was taking tourist snaps of buffalos blocking traffic, camel carts and other exotic aspects of street life – and the supposedly secret military installations he was said to be keen to photograph can be seen in three-dimensional glory on the internet.
Farcical as the claims might be, the polemic resonates in a country where the US is widely held to be responsible for precipitating a conflict that has led to the deaths of thousands in nationwide terrorist strikes. Public outrage has swelled because of lurid accounts of civilian casualties in US drone attacks within Pakistan’s borders – even though those operations are sanctioned by the military.
The ruling People’s Party is divided on how to deal with the Davis crisis. Just this week, it sacked Fauzia Wahab, its spokesperson, for asserting that the country’s disrespect for international law would make it an outcast. President Asif Ali Zardari fears that acting to free Mr Davis will undermine his already tattered reputation – and allow the opposition Muslim League, led by the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which rules the province of Punjab, to cast itself as a defender of national honour and pride.
The unfolding Davis case, some analysts argue, helps to create a climate that will allow Gen Kayani to push his case that Pakistan must extricate itself from the US war on terror – and to limit cooperation without losing desperately needed aid. If this is Gen Kayani’s objective, he is likely to find sympathetic ears among the judiciary. The eminent Pakistani commentator Ahmed Rashid recently pointed out that judges and generals seemed to be batting for the same team, noting “how rarely judges pursue cases of human-rights violations by soldiers, whereas cases that hurt the government fly into the courts”.
Next month, Pakistan’s Foreign Office will either have to tell a Lahore court that Mr Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity, and risk incensing its people – or keep him in jail, and thus infuriate the US and the world.
Either way, Mr Zardari loses: and so, sadly, does Pakistan.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/8344078/US-pawn-ensnared-in-Pakistans-power-politics.html
It is not just a case of wounded amour propre – analysts say the army is using the controversy to its advantage. “Are they hoping that settling this matter amicably will lead to some concessions or a change in American attitude on other issues? Possibly,” said Cyril Almeida.
The Pakistani government says it needs until 14 March to decide whether Davis has immunity from prosecution. Given the public uproar, Pakistani analysts say it is hard to see how the government can politically afford to set him free.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/24/pakistan-shooting-raymond-davis-cia-spy
Some more gems from the Kathy Ghannon and Adam Golsman’s article:
Pakistan intelligence had no idea who Davis was or what he was doing when he was arrested, the official said, adding that there are concerns about “how many more Raymond Davises are out there.”
The ISI official said Davis’ visa application contains bogus references and phone numbers. He said thousands of visas were issued to U.S. Embassy employees over the past five months following a government directive to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington to issue visas without the usual vetting by the interior ministry and the ISI.
Within two days of receiving that directive, the Pakistani Embassy issued 400 visas and since then thousands more have been issued, said the ISI official. A Western diplomat in Pakistan agreed that a “floodgate” opened for U.S. Embassy employees requesting Pakistani visas.
The ISI official said his agency knows and works with “the bona fide CIA people in Pakistan” but is upset that the CIA would send others over behind its back. For now, he said, his agency is not talking with the CIA at any level, including the most senior.
To regain support and assistance, he said, “they have to start showing respect, not belittling us, not being belligerent to us, not treating us like we are their lackeys.”
The ISI official said Pakistan is fed up with Washington’s complaints, and he accused the CIA of planting stories about ISI assistance to the Haqqani network.
Relations between the CIA and ISI have been on a downward slide since the name of the U.S. agency’s station chief in Pakistan was leaked in a lawsuit accusing him of killing civilians in a drone strike.
Fearing for his safety, the CIA eventually pulled the station chief out of the country. ISI leaders balked at allegations that they outed the CIA top spy in their country. Former and current U..S. officials believe the station chief fell out of favor, but the Pakistanis say this is not the case
Those accusations and the naming of ISI chief Shujah Pasha in a civil lawsuit in the United States – filed by family members of victims of a November 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, by insurgents – started the downslide in relations, the ISI official said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/24/AR2011022402139.html
Obviously the article must be retitled as the ISI’s press release.
This blog is a part of a dirty smear campaign against Pakistan’s most honourable institute, ISI. ISI is saving Pakistan and Islam from CIA, RAW, MOSSAD. Shame on LUBP
Given that at least 70% content in kathy gannon’s article was based on a carefully leaked ISI statement, the 70% of her salary should be deposited in Aabpara. 10% each may be allocated to Omar Waraich, Tammy Haq and Mosharraf Zaidi for promoting her article. In the end, Kathy will have all the best wishes and prayers from the leakers and promoters. Money is not everything in life, babe!
I was in the process to write but you have written this excellent piece nothing left for me to write on this. This Declan guy along with his other fellow foreign journalists friends is a big disappointment though he contributed some excellent pieces earlier.
My two cents here…
Our saviours in Uniforms have very conveniently denied their collaboration and intelligence sharing with the US everyone knows CIA/ISI are in collaboration with each other on various covert operations. As the arrest of Alqaeda operatives and Taliban leadership was a result of this collaboration. Also we have not forgotten the reporting by ISI Asset Kamran Khan, when he had an investigative piece on ISI Complaints about their intelligence sharing with CIA. As he alleged that American drones are not targeting Baitullah Mehsud though our intelligence agencies have shared informations several times with the Americans. But now Drones have killed Baitullah, Ibne Ameen i.e the butcher of Swat and many others including our valueable assets. Our saviours in North Waziristan and those covered in Shia human shield in Kurram are angry over the inability of their masters aka ISI and security aperatus to protect them from the drones. They have to deal with a tough task simultaneously
Ian Katz, deputy editor of The Guardian, told The Cutline that “similar representations were made to the Guardian to those received by U.S. media.” But unlike its U.S. counterparts, The Guardian went ahead with the story.
Katz noted that two senior Pakistan government sources officially confirmed that Davis was a CIA operative and explained in an email why it was relevant to report.
“We believe Davis’s role in Pakistan is unavoidably connected with both the legal case surrounding him and with the U.S. government’s attempts to seek his release,” Katz said. “And since Davis is already widely assumed in Pakistan to have links to U.S. intelligence, we did not accept that disclosing his CIA role would expose him to increased risk.”
Would outing Davis as an agent have increased potential risks to his life? Perhaps. But the shooting had already sparked a diplomatic crisis, with Pakistani protesters calling for violent retribution against Davis and burning American flags and an effigy of the CIA agent on the street.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110222/ts_yblog_thecutline/u-s-news-outlets-held-back-disclosing-davis-cia-ties
Democracy Now interviews Declan Walsh after his “scoop”.
We speak with Declan Walsh, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian, who first broke the story.
To discuss the details of the case, we’re joined by Declan Walsh via Skype from Lahore, Pakistan. Declan, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian who first revealed Raymond Davis’s link to the CIA.
Just lay out the significance of this story and how big it is in Pakistan, Declan.
DECLAN WALSH: Well, Amy, really, this is the story that has absolutely dominated the headlines here in Pakistan ever since this slightly mysterious shooting incident occurred on January 27th. Initially the focus was pretty much on the details of what actually happened when Raymond Davis opened fire on these two men. But there was always this strong feeling of suspicion about what exactly his role was and what type of diplomat he was, if he was someone who was not not only armed with an illegal weapon but also someone who was able to use it so effectively. Davis fired 10 shots, all of which hit the two people who were killed. And now, obviously, since the news has come out that Davis is indeed employed by the CIA, that has really just added fuel to the fire here, and there have been street protests as well as pretty much blanket media coverage.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the New York Times, AP, Washington Post, going along with the Obama administration, who told them not to reveal that he was CIA, that he was Blackwater, yet The Guardian in Britain decided to blow the cover.
DECLAN WALSH: Well, I mean, I can’t speak for those other media organizations other than what we reported in our own story, which was that we became aware, before we published, that other news organizations in the U.S. had the same information we had and had decided to withhold it. And what I can say is that we engaged in discussions with the American government, with U.S. government officials, before publication, and they made the same case to us that we shouldn’t publish.
And this case basically ran along two lines. Part of it was they said that this would greatly complicate their efforts to get Davis out. We felt that this was something that—this was an argument that didn’t particularly apply to us, that, whether it made it harder or easier, our job was—our priorities lay elsewhere. But the second and potentially more serious argument they made was that Davis’s life would be endangered if his employment status at the CIA was revealed, and specifically that his life would be endangered at the jail where he’s currently being held. It’s called Kot Lakhpat, in Lahore.
We looked at those arguments very seriously. We interviewed a number of people. We tried to find out as much as we could about conditions at the jail. But ultimately we decided that we didn’t necessarily—we didn’t buy that argument, effectively, because we felt that, for a start, most Pakistanis actually at that point were already working under the assumption that Raymond Davis was a CIA official. I mean, there were stories in all of the papers here referring to Davis as a CIA official. The day that we published our story, there was a front-page piece in one of the English papers saying Raymond Davis is linked to the CIA. And at that point, Pakistani intelligence officials, Pakistani officials with both the intelligence service and with the government, were telling us that he was CIA. So, really, this was, you know, a very thinly disguised secret, if you like, in Pakistan at that point.
AMY GOODMAN: And his relationship with Blackwater?
DECLAN WALSH: As we—we had also understood that Ray Davis was a Special Forces soldier. He served with an Army Special Forces unit until 2003. At that point he left—he retired from the Army, and he went into the very lucrative military contracting business. At some point between 2003 and 2010—the date’s not entirely clear—Davis was working either for Blackwater or for the company it subsequently renamed itself as, Xe Services. Davis appears to have worked for Blackwater in Pakistan as a security contractor for the CIA, initially. Then, as we understand it, the CIA effectively took that contract away from Blackwater but retained people like Davis as employees of the CIA, going forward. They basically changed the way that they ran their operation there.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain exactly what Raymond Davis did and what it meant for him now to have diplomatic immunity, and the wife of one of the two victims he killed committing suicide.
DECLAN WALSH: Well, there’s really not a lot of clarity about what Raymond Davis did. You know, the official U.S. government line from the beginning was that he was either an employee of the consulate in Lahore or that he was a diplomat. Now it’s really not clear whether—as an employee of the CIA, what exactly he did. Some reports are suggesting that he was merely part of a security team, and there are other reports suggesting that he was part of surveillance activities, espionage and surveillance. And certainly, when one sees the items that were seized on him at the time—not only the weapon, he was also carrying a GPS, he was carrying a telescope, and he was carrying an air ticket, things like that—those items have certainly aroused suspicion among Pakistanis that he was more than just a simple security officer.
AMY GOODMAN: Declan Walsh, we’re going to continue this conversation and put it up as a web exclusive. Declan Walsh is The Guardian’s foreign correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan, author of the forthcoming book on Pakistan, Insh’Allah Nation, first revealed Raymond Davis’s link to the CIA in The Guardian newspaper.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/23/arrest_of_cia_agent_sheds_light
Though I should have written “Shia sub human shield” as they were dealt in Sunni republic of Pakistan..
Thank you, Shaista, for appreciation. I suggest you should not hold off your piece and continue to write it as a sequel to the current article.
Inside the secret U.S.-Pakistan meeting in Oman
Posted By Josh Rogin Thursday, February 24, 2011 – 5:59 PM
A host of top U.S. military officials held a secret day-long meeting with Pakistan’s top military officers on Tuesday in Oman to plot a course out of the diplomatic crisis that threatens the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.
The United States was represented by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Adm. Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, Stars and Stripes reported. The Pakistani delegation included Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, and Maj. Gen. Javed Iqbal, director general of military operations.
The meeting was planned long ago and covered various aspects of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, but a large portion was dedicated to the diplomatic crisis surrounding Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor who was arrested in Lahore, Pakistan, last month after fatally shooting two armed Pakistani men.
“Where do you go to think seriously and bring sanity to a maddening situation? Far from the madding crowd to a peaceful Omani luxury resort of course. So that’s what the military leadership of the US and Pakistan did,” wrote Gen. Jehangir Karamat in a read out of the meeting obtained by The Cable and confirmed by a senior Pakistani official. Karamat is a former chief of Pakistan’s army, and also served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2004.
“The US had to point out that once beyond a tipping point the situation would be taken over by political forces that could not be controlled,” Karamat wrote about the meeting, referring to the reported split between the CIA and the Pakistani Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) that erupted following the Davis shooting.
In Oman U.S. officials implored the Pakistani military to step up its involvement in the Davis case, following the Pakistani government’s decision to pass the buck to the judicial system on adjudicating Davis’ claim of diplomatic immunity. However, their concerns also went beyond this most recent diplomatic spat.
“[T]he US did not want the US-Pakistan relationship to go into a free fall under media and domestic pressures,” Karamat wrote. “These considerations drove it to ask the [Pakistani] Generals to step in and do what the governments were failing to do-especially because the US military was at a critical stage in Afghanistan and Pakistan was the key to control and resolution.”
“The militaries will now brief and guide their civilian masters and hopefully bring about a qualitative change in the US-Pakistan Relationship by arresting the downhill descent and moving it in the right direction.”
A senior Pakistani official confirmed the accuracy of Karamat’s analysis to The Cable. The official said that the Davis incident would hopefully now be put on a path toward resolution following a feeding frenzy in the Pakistani media, which has reported on rumors of an extensive network of CIA contract spies operating outside of the Pakistani government’s or the ISI’s knowledge.
“The idea is to find a solution whereby the Davis incident does not hijack the U.S.-Pakistan relationship,” the official said. The most probable outcome, the official explained, is that Davis would be turned over to the United States, following a promise from the U.S. government to investigate the incident.
The United States would also compensate the families of the two Pakistani men killed by Davis, and a third man who died after two other U.S. embassy personnel ran him over while racing to the scene of the shooting. Negotiations between U.S. officials and the family members are already underway, the official said.
Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, said that it was the responsibility of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, led until recently by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, to resolve the Davis case. Qureshi was removed as Foreign Minister after reportedly refusing to go along with the government’s plan to grant Davis immunity.
“It’s really the Foreign Ministry’s responsibility,” said Nawaz, “But in the absence of action by the civilian government, if the military can help persuade them to resolve this matter and find the way, that’s all for the better.”
But once the Davis case is resolved, there’s still much work to be done in repairing the relationship between the CIA and the ISI. The ISI is widely suspected of airing its anger with the CIA in both the Pakistani and U.S. media. The latest example was Wednesday’s Associated Press story that featured a never-before released ISI “statement” that said the Davis case was putting the entire ISI-CIA relationship in jeopardy.
The CIA and the ISI are talking, the Pakistani official said, but the path toward reconciliation will be a long one.
“It’s a spy game being played out in the media and the CIA has told the ISI to cut it out,” the official said. “The relationship remains testy. But after the meeting between Mullen and Kayani the likelihood of some resolution has increased.”
Inside the Pakistani government, the Davis case has exacerbated internal tensions between the civilian government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari, and the ISI. Pakistani news agencies have been reporting that the Pakistani embassy in Washington has approved hundreds of visas for American officials without proper vetting, increasing the ease with which covert CIA operatives could enter the country.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani has denied that any visas had been issued from his embassy without proper authorization. An analysis of Pakistani visas granted to U.S. government employees, conducted by the Pakistani government, shows there has been no significant increase in the number of visas issued since 2007.
Regardless, the gentlemen’s agreement between the ISI and the CIA that the two organizations would keep each other informed on each other’s actions in Pakistan has now broken down.
“It’s a vicious circle. Davis was in Pakistan because Pakistan can’t be trusted. But Davis getting caught has increased the mistrust,” the Pakistani official said. “Their interests are no longer congruent. Eventually the ISI and the CIA will have to work out new rules of engagement.”
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/blog/11505
Declan Walsh writes
The Davis case has sparked a crisis between Pakistan and the US, prompting meetings between top intelligence and military leaders in both countries in recent days.
On Tuesday Pakistan’s top brass, led by army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, met a delegation of American generals led by Admiral Mike Mullen at a luxury resort in Oman to discuss the matter.
The US side stressed that it “did not want the US-Pakistan relationship to go into a freefall under media and domestic pressures”, according to an account of the meeting obtained by Foreign Policy magazine.
Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has made judicious media leaks to help stir public anger towards Davis. They have included the release of documents this week that made unprecedented criticism of the CIA, suggesting the relationship is near breaking point.
US intelligence has also exerted pressure, claiming that Davis is in mortal danger at Kot Lakhpat jail and restarting the campaign of CIA drone strikes in the tribal belt that had stopped on 23 January.
There have been almost daily drone strikes since Monday – the CIA’s way of “showing who’s in charge”, admitted one senior Pakistani official. At the Oman meeting Mullen told Kayani he could apply “other levers” if a solution to the case was not found, the official said.
The backroom manoeuvring takes place against a backdrop of public outrage in Pakistan, where militant and religious groups have launched noisy street protests calling for the hanging of Davis, a 36-year-old former special forces soldier.
The anger is driven by outrage that an armed American could open fire in the country’s second-largest city, killing two people with 10 bullets. American claims that Davis has diplomatic immunity are legally contested and enjoy little public sympathy.
Religious groups and some political parties are putting pressure on the families of the two men Davis killed not to accept compensation from the US government – a solution that US officials quietly favour.
The papers have been filled with lurid accounts of Davis’s activities in Pakistan, with some alleging he was linked to the Taliban or served as the acting head of the CIA in Pakistan – unlikely tales apparently designed to step up pressure on the Americans.
There has been little focus, however, on the activities of the two men Davis killed, variously described as robbers or intelligence operatives. A senior ISI official has told the Guardian that the agency suspects Davis knew the men.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/raymond-davis-trial-starts-pakistan
from cafe piala
We are now hearing all sorts of stories about ‘Davis’ – from the silly story in The News by Marianna Babar about his addiction to niswar (as if chewing tobacco or snuff is a rarity among US servicemen particularly from areas like Virginia state), to claims in the Express Tribune that ‘Davis’ was orchestrating bombings by the Pakistani Taliban (sourced to anonymous intelligence personnel) to claims on Geo and in The Nation (sourced from some alleged Russian intelligence report) that he was involved in supplying nuclear material to Al Qaeda in order to frame Pakistan. We should be clear about one thing. Regardless of the authenticity (or likely not) of these stories, they are basically a smokescreen that obscure the real issues of this case. They matter not a whit in whether ‘Raymond Davis’ is tried in Pakistan or whether we are forced to expel him without a trial.
10. Should Pakistan reassess its ties with US intelligence and its covert operations programme?
By all means. But Pakistan’s establishment should do so in a cool, logical manner, having weighed the consequences of its actions. This should not be done by whipping public opinion into a frenzy through post-facto planting of stories and side-tracking issues. You want to kick out Xe (nee Blackwater) operatives from Pakistan? Absolutely do so. Why wait until they cause damage?
Footnote: You may want to read the piece from Foreign Policy that came in as I was writing. It deals with what may have allegedly been agreed between the Pakistani and American military’s top officials particularly regarding this case in a closed-door meeting in Oman yesterday. If this report is correct, you may actually very soon see a complete change of tone in the media as well.
NFP the best
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Zion Hamid to ISI: “Yeh sab tera karam hai aqah kay rozi ab tak lagi hoi hai.”
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
ISI going into overdrive feeding the usual ghairat nonsense and certain journos and ‘analysts’ ever-willing to oblige.
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Wah GHQ. Apney leeay banglay, te sadey leeay janglay?
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
ISI ready to split with the CIA. Hmmm … I wonder when ISI will split with Taliban and assorted terrorists as well?
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Raymond Davis is actually Elvis. He’s alive!
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Military-Mullah-Media Alliance (MMMA) namanzoor!
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
TV channels on & on about Davis, but never a squeak about under trial extremists who ‘escape’ or are let go? Ghairat ka karishma.
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
To civil society populists: There will be revolution in Pakistan only when your mom thinks it was safe for you to go outside.
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
I love the term ‘US secret war in Pakistan.’ Exactly when was the war against Taliban and Al-Qaeda a secret?
NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Raymond Davis to Pak TV channels is what Super Bowl is to US TV and what ‘Saas bhi Kabhi baho thi’ was for Indian TV.
You LUBP guys have gone soft. why can’t you say that the ISI has purchased these people like Declan, Gannon. It does not take too much to purchase these journalists when you consider the billions that the army takes. A couple of hundred thousand here and there is peanuts for them! Stop trying to be another fake civil society blog!
@declanwalsh
Declan Walsh
Pakistan arrests security contractor as CIA rift deepens: new twist on Davis row. http://bit.ly/eggLIv
Pakistan arrests US security contractor as rift with CIA deepens
ISI tells American agency to unmask all its covert operatives after arrest of Aaron DeHaven in Peshawar, over visa expiry
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 February 2011
Pakistani authorities have arrested a US government security contractor amid a worsening spy agency row between the countries, with Pakistani intelligence calling on the Americans to “come clean” about its network of covert operatives in the country.
The arrest came at the start of the murder trial of another American held in Pakistan, the CIA agent Raymond Davis.
Peshawar police arrested Aaron DeHaven, a contractor who recently worked for the US embassy in Islamabad, saying that his visa had expired.
Little was known about DeHaven except that his firm, which also has offices in Afghanistan and Dubai, is staffed by retired US military and defence personnel who boast of direct experience in the “global war on terror”.
It was unclear whether his arrest was linked to escalating tensions between the Inter-Services Intelligence and the CIA, triggered by the trial of Davis, who appeared in handcuffs at a brief court hearing in a Lahore jail.
The 36-year-old former special forces soldier, whose status as a spy was revealed by the Guardian, refused to sign a chargesheet presented to him by the prosecution, which says he murdered two men at a traffic junction on January 27.
Davis instead repeated his claim of diplomatic immunity – a claim supported by President Barack Obama, who called him “our diplomat”.
The press and public were excluded from the hearing in Kot Lakhpat jail, where Pakistani officials have taken unusual measures to ensure Davis’s security amid a public clamour for his execution.
The furore has also triggered the most serious crisis between the ISI and the CIA since the 9/11 attacks. A senior ISI official told the Guardian that the CIA must “ensure there are no more Raymond Davises or his ilk” if it is to repair the tattered relationship of trust.
“They need to come clean, tell us who they are and what they are doing. They need to stop doing things behind our back,” he said. There are “two or three score” covert US operatives roaming Pakistan, “if not more”, he said.
CIA spokesman George Little said that agency ties to the ISI “have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them. That’s the sign of a healthy partnership”.
Pakistani civilian officials warned that the ISI was amplifying fallout from the Davis crisis through selective media leaks to win concessions from the US.
“They’re playing the media; in private they’re much more deferential to the Americans,” said a senior government official, who added that the two agencies had weathered previous disagreements in private.
The crisis has sucked in the military top brass from both countries. On Tuesday, a Pakistani delegation led by General Ashfaq Kayani met US generals, led by Admiral Mike Mullen, at a luxury resort in Oman to hammer out the issues.
The US stressed that it “did not want the US-Pakistan relationship to go into a freefall under media and domestic pressures”, according to an account of the meeting obtained by Foreign Policy magazine.
The ISI official agreed that future co-operation was vital. “They need us; we need them,” he said. “But we need to move forward in the right direction, based on equality and respect.”
The media furore over Davis has fuelled scrutiny of other American security officials in Pakistan and their visa arrangements, and may have led police to Aaron DeHaven in Peshawar on Friday.
DeHaven runs a company named Catalyst Services which, according to its website, is staffed by retired military and defence department personnel who have “played some role in major world events” including the collapse of the Soviet Union, the military mission to Somalia and the “global war on terror”. Services offered include “full-service secure residences”, protective surveillance and armed security.
One prospective customer who met DeHaven last year described him as a small, slightly-built man, who wore glasses and had broad knowledge of Pakistani politics. DeHaven said he had lived in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for one year, had married a Pakistani woman along the border with Afghanistan, and spoke Pashto fluently.
He said he moved his base from Peshawar to Islamabad last year over suspicions that he worked for Blackwater, the controversial US military contracting firm.
His business partner is listed on company documents as Hunter Obrikat with an address in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Guardian was unable to contact either men at listed numbers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the US and Dubai.
US embassy spokeswoman Courtney Beale said DeHaven was “not a direct employee of the US government” but added that details could not be confirmed until a consular officer had met him. The arrest is another sign of brittle relations between the two countries.
US officials in Washington argue that Davis is a registered diplomat who should be immediately released under the provisions of the Vienna convention. But that plea has fallen on deaf ears in Pakistan, where the papers have been filled with lurid accounts of the spy’s alleged activities, including unlikely accounts of him working with the Taliban and al-Qaida.
The US has also struck some blows in the covert public relations war. After a lull of three weeks, the CIA restarted its drone campaign in the tribal belt last Monday, with near-daily attacks on militant targets since then. “It’s their way of showing who’s in charge,” said a senior Pakistani official.
And at the Oman meeting, Mullen warned Kayani he would apply “other levers” to the Pakistanis if a solution to the case was not found, the official added.
Since Davis’s CIA status was revealed, US officials have told Pakistani officials that their best hope is in offering compensation to the families of the two men Davis shot in Lahore. Religious parties, however, have pressured relatives not to accept money.
Meanwhile, the Zardari government says it will settle the issue of Davis’s diplomatic status at a court hearing scheduled for 14 March.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/pakistan-arrests-security-contractor-cia
George Little, a C.I.A. spokesman, said the American spy agency’s ties to the ISI “have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them.”
“That’s the sign of a healthy partnership,” Mr. Little said.
Even so, the Pakistani intelligence community was divided over how quickly to settle the Davis case and how much to extract from the C.I.A., said a Pakistani official with intimate knowledge of the situation, who declined to be named because of the delicacy of the issue.
Some senior Pakistani intelligence officers were unwilling to have Mr. Davis released under almost any circumstances, said the official with knowledge of the split in the intelligence community.
He said others wanted to use the Davis case as a bargaining chip to get the withdrawal of a civil lawsuit filed in Brooklyn last year that implicates the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India
The behavior of people like Mr. Davis is deeply embarrassing to the ISI because it makes the agency “look like fools” in the eyes of the anti-American Pakistani public, the ISI official said.
The Davis case made it hard to explain to Pakistanis why the ISI was cooperating with Washington, he said.
At Friday Prayer in mosques in Lahore and in Islamabad, the capital, anti-American sermons, in some cases laced with references to Mr. Davis, were common.
Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Mr. Davis is believed to have been conducting surveillance on, said the American was “a spy, committing terrorism, helping in drone attacks.”
Banners reading “Hang Davis” and “No immunity to Davis” were strung across the road adjacent to Mr. Saeed’s headquarters.
Pakistan Demands Data on C.I.A. Contractors
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: February 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/asia/26pakistan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
As expected, Jang recycles Declan Walsh’s report to further fan US phobia and the ISI CIA rift theory in Pakistan:
خفیہ سرگرمیوں میں ملوث افراد کو بے نقاب کیا جائے، آئی ایس آئی کا مطالبہ
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Updated at 0900 PST
لندن…برطانوی اخبارنے دعویٰ کیا ہے کہ پشاور میں امریکی شہری کی گرفتاری کے بعدآئی ایس آئی نے سی آئی اے سے پاکستان میں خفیہ سرگرمیوں میں ملوث تمام افردکوبے نقاب کرنے کامطالبہ کیاہے۔ برطانوی اخبارکی رپورٹ میں کہا گیاہے کہ پاکستانی حکام نے پشاورسے امریکی شہری آئرن مارک ڈی ہیون کوحراست میں لیا ہے جس کے ویزے کی مدت ختم ہوچکی تھی۔اور وہ وہاں غیرقانونی طورپر مقیم تھا۔اخبارکے مطابق آئی ایس آئی نے سی آئی اے سے مطالبہ کیا ہے کہ وہ پاکستان میں موجوداپنے سرگرم خفیہ نیٹ ورک کے بارے میں وضاحت کرے ۔آئی ایس آئی کے ایک سینئر اہلکارنے اخبارسے گفت گومیں کہا ہے کہ سی آئی اے واضح کرے کہ یہ کون لوگ ہیں اور کیا کررہے ہیں۔انھیں چاہیے کہ وہ آئی ایس آئی کی پیٹھ پیچھے کارروائیوں کوروکیں۔ آئرن مارک ڈی ہیون کیٹالسٹ سروس نامی ایک سیکیورٹی ایجنسی چلا رہا تھا جو غیر ملکیوں کو تحفظ فراہم کرتی ہے اور اس کا دفتر اسلام آباد میں ہے ۔ پاکستان میں ڈی ہیون کے خلاف غیر قانونی قیام پر مقدمہ درج کرلیا گیا ہے اور اسے آج پشاورکی عدالت میں پیش کیا جائے گا ،برطانوی اخبارکے مطابق امریکی سفارت خانے کی خاتون ترجمان کا کہنا ہے کہ ڈی ہیون براہ راست امریکی حکومت کاملازم نہیں ہے۔ تاہم قونصلر کی رسائی تک اس کی تصدیق نہیں کی جاسکتی۔
http://search.jang.com.pk/
Haroon-ur-Rasheed, ISI’s most patent agent in Pakistan’s Urdu press makes good use of the ISI-CIA rift theory and also offers a rebuttal of the criticism on ISI:
تاجِ سرِ دارا…ناتمام…ہارون الرشید
غیرت ہے بڑی چیز جہان تگ و دو میں
پہناتی ہے درویش کو تاجِ سرِ دارا
جہان تگ و دو میں! جدوجہد میں
حکمت اور صبر کے ساتھ ریاضت میں
اس وقت عسکری قیادت اور آئی ایس آئی پر اتنی سخت تنقید کا جواز کیا ہے، جب انہوں نے ریمنڈ ڈیوس کے معاملے میں سی آئی اے کی مدد سے انکار کر دیا ہے؟ کہ جواب دہی نہ کی جائے لیکن اس وقت کیوں آئی ایس آئی ہے معلوم نہیں خاص طور پر وہ لوگ جو ”را“ اور دشمن ممالک کی دوسری ایجنسیوں کے خلاف کبھی بات نہیں کرتے؟
کچھ اور سوالات بھی ہیں۔ امریکہ پریشان ہے اور پاکستان کے مفاد میں بعض مطالبے اس سے منظور کرائے جاسکتے ہیں۔ ریمنڈ ڈیوس کو سفارتکار ثابت کرنے میں وہ ناکام رہے ہیں۔ کیا یہ مایوسی پھیلانے کا وقت ہے یا رائے عامہ میں امید پیدا کرنے اور پاکستان امریکہ تعلقات کو صحت مند خطوط پر استوار کرنے کے لئے، اس کی قوت بروئے کار لانے کا؟
یہ ناداں گر گئے سجدے میں جب وقت قیام آیا
کیا یہ لوگ واقعی نادان ہیں یا اندازوں سے زیادہ چالاک؟ تجاہل عارفانہ یا دانستہ اور نادانستہ طور پر امریکہ کے حق میں استعمال ہونے والے؟
لاہور میں امریکی قونصل جنرل جمعرات کے دن وزیراعلیٰ شہباز شریف سے ملنے آئیں تو ذہنی طور پر وہ الجھی ہوئی تھیں۔ ایک عینی شاہد نے کہا ”حواس باختہ“ کچھ دن سے ان کا رویہ نرم تھا مگر آج صوبائی حکومت کے سربراہ سے انہوں نے پھر سے شکایت کی کہ پنجاب پولیس نے معاملہ بگاڑ دیا۔ ”قطعاً نہیں“ انہوں نے شائستگی سے جواب دیا پنجاب پولیس کو ہدایت کی گئی تھی کہ وہ کسی تعصب کے بغیر تفتیش کرے اور اس نے ایسا ہی کیا“ پنجاب حکومت کے ذرائع اصرار کرتے ہیں کہ مرکزی حکومت نے صوبے کی مدد سے گریز کیا بلکہ رکاوٹیں کھڑی کرتی رہی۔ وزیر داخلہ رحمن ملک سے خاص طور پر انہیں شکایت ہے۔
۔ اگر جاپان اور چین سمیت ٹیکسٹائل کے لئے نئی منڈیاں تلاش کی جائیں تو چند برس میں نہ صرف پاکستان خود انحصاری کی منزل پا لے گا بلکہ اس کی یرغمال خارجہ پالیسی بھی رہا ہو جائے گی۔
ظاہر ہے کہ اس مقصد کے لئے موزوں سیاسی قیادت کی ضرورت ہو گی۔ مزید یہ کہ عسکری قیادت اور سیاستدانوں میں ایک شائستگی، ہم آہنگی قدم قدم فوج سیاست سے دور ہوتی جائے۔ سیاسی جماعتیں اپنی جمہوری تشکیل پر توجہ دیں اور ساری توجہ ملک کی اقتصادی تعمیر پر صرف کر دیں جذبات کے طوفان کو ٹھنڈا کرنا ہو گا اور سیاست کے چمن میں قاف لیگ ایسی خود رو جھاڑیوں کا خاتمہ۔ خوش قسمتی سے یہ عمل پہلے ہی شروع ہو چکا۔
کیا بالآخر پاکستان پر نجات کا دروازہ کھلنے والا ہے؟ اگلے چند مہینوں میں اس سوال کا جواب مل جائے گا۔ تگ و تاز اور جدوجہد کے بغیر لیکن ہرگز نہیں۔
غیرت ہے بڑی چیز جہانِ تگ و دو میں
پہناتی ہے درویش کو تاجِ سرِ دارا
جہان تگ و دو میں! جدوجہد میں! حکمت اور صبر کے ساتھ ریاضت میں
http://search.jang.com.pk/details.asp?nid=508381
There are some very efficient guys in this forum that reproduce copy-pasted material of foreign and national write-ups on the subject that enables an ordinary man like me to alter or cement their own point of view after reading them all. Period. Nonetheless, what I have been writing on these developments through my previous two-cents in this forum they are strongly confirmed.
1. Had it not been a unanimous shift in American policy in their House of Congress viz. not to vouch on one-man (uniform) rule for keeping in tact their interests in the regions, and instead support a popular elected government, perhaps PPP government would have been overthrown long before. (Should we thank USA).
2. ISI is irritated on two counts. First, the induction of more than 200 American Intelligence blokes in Pakistan(I do not know how many visas have been issued by Hussain Huqqani). This clearly shows American distrust on ISI’s sharing of information with CIA (double game). Secondly, segregating the flow of aid into military and civil heads (Kerry-Lugar bill) and keeping a survallience and check on both the expenditures. This has limited the undisclcosed and secret funds that ISI has been utilizing for their activities. You can well imagine the extent of money injected in these intelligence activities on the fact that out of seven billion dollars (2002-2007 – Condoleeza Rice) only US$: 48 crores are in the books.
3. Now it has been realized by ambitious ones that USA can not stop the dollar flow even if the present civil government is thrown out. Latest turn around of Nawaz Sharif to part their ways with PPP is just one feeler. In all probablity, Nawaz Sharif has regained romantic relations with Establisment, congrat!
One more thing I would like to add. If the present set up is derailed one more time, even the American money would not be able to stop the separatists activities (many interested foreign forces including Indians are breathing hot). Hold on, USA would be interested as well because then they could enter into North Wazirustan through weaker state of that region and they want a solid base in Baluchistan for survallience and counter activities against Iran. Judiciary would be once again kangaroo courts (leglalize the coup or resign). Media would have only one freedom. You can write anything against PPP (any amount of lies would be fair enough) but dare not write against us or our puppets.
Allah the Almighty, please keep our country safe and sound.
اس معاملے پر امریکی سی آئی اے کے ترجمان جارج لیٹل کا کہنا ہے کہ وقت گزرنے کے ساتھ سی آئی اے اور آئی ایس آئی کے درمیان تعلقات مضبوط ہوئے ہیں اور جب بھی مسائل آتے ہیں تو انہیں مل کر حل کر لیا جاتا ہے۔
پاکستان اور امریکہ کی اعلیٰ فوجی قیادت کے درمیان اس ہفتے عمان میں ہونے والی ملاقات میں ریمنڈ ڈیوس کا معاملہ بھی زیر غور آیا ہے۔ اس ملاقات میں امریکی جوائنٹ چیفس آف سٹاف ایڈمرل مائک مولن اور پاکستانی فوج کے سربراہ جنرل اشفاق کیانی بھی شریک تھے۔
پاکستانی فوج کے ایک سابق سربراہ جنرل جہانگیر کرامت کی ایک رپورٹ کے مطابق اس ملاقات میں فریقین نے اس بات پر اتفاق کیا کہ تعلقات میں خرابی کو کم کرنے کی کوشش کی جائے گی۔ جنرل جہانگیر کرامت لاہور میں ایک تحقیقاتی اور تجزیاتی ادارہ چلاتے ہیں۔
نیویارک ٹائمز نے پاکستانی اہلکار کے حوالے سے لکھا ہے کہ پاکستانی انٹیلیجنس میں دوسری رائے یہ ہے کہ ریمنڈ ڈیوس کیس کو امریکی شہر بروکلین میں جاری اس مقدمے کو ختم کرانے کے لیے استعمال کیا جاسکتا ہے جس میں نومبر دو ہزار آٹھ میں ممبئی میں ہونے والے حملوں کے سلسلے میں آئی ایس آئی کے سربراہ جنرل احمد شجاع پاشا کو ملوث کیا گیا ہے۔
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2011/02/110226_nytimes_cia_isi_ramond_ha.shtml
A Military Juggling Act
Anti-American sentiment is running high in Pakistan as the country negotiates the fate of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January. The military, which initially kept quiet over the affair, fanned nationalist flames on Feb. 19 when its spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), published a letter announcing that the “CIA has virtually put [our] partnership into question” and hinted that relations between the two agencies might be irreparably damaged.
But it’s hard to believe that the ISI had no knowledge of Davis’s covert activities in Pakistan. The ISI is thought to be deeply involved in visa clearances for agents like Davis. Last July, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained to a former Pakistani general that the military’s visa clampdown was jeopardizing relations. The former general told NEWSWEEK that, in response to U.S. pressure, the civilian government might have given a green light to the Pakistani Embassy in D.C. to clear the visa backlog—but Davis got his visa prior to that time.
And even if the military didn’t know about Davis, it’s hard to deny that its relationship with the CIA is closer than publicly acknowledged. The two agencies work together on the CIA’s drone-strike program and other antiterrorism operations. It’s a relationship born, in part, of necessity—the U.S. funnels $400 million annually to Pakistan’s military, which nevertheless remains mired in a budget crisis. The agency’s tacit support for the drone strikes is thought to be a result of its lack of funds: drones are far cheaper than full-scale military operations to eliminate terrorist suspects. Still, the military is painfully aware of the thin tightrope it walks between cooperating with the U.S. and appeasing the Pakistani people. “Drone strikes are bad,” said a senior military official on condition of anonymity. “I have said this privately to American officials as well…public opinion is against them, and public opinion is most important.”
As such, the ISI’s statements on Davis can be seen as the latest move to play tough cop to the U.S. in order to please the public: in December, for example, the ISI is believed to have blown the identity of a CIA station chief in retaliation over its own chief being summoned by a U.S. court to testify on the Mumbai attacks. The posturing apparently works: the military has an 84 percent approval rating among Pakistanis. How long the military can juggle the U.S. and the public, though, is a big unknown.
Fasih Ahmed is editor of NEWSWEEK Pakistan.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/27/a-military-juggling-act.html
Poor Reporting on Raymond Davis Confusing Issues
February 15th, 2011
The Raymond Davis case continues to dominate media headlines, though the people are probably more confused than ever about the facts due to poor reporting on the issue.
Ansar Abbasi has termed the issue in The News ‘the Lal Masjid of present govt’, a term he appears to have borrowed from Hamid Gul.
“A national consensus has developed on the issue of Davis. The people demand his trial here and are not ready to see him going in US hands without being punished,” former ISI chief Lt Gen (r) Hamid Gul said, warning that if the man is given back to Washington it would not only depress ordinary Pakistanis but would serve as another Lal Mosque disaster.
Hamid Mir’s report in The News is seasoned with such phrases as “imperial arrogance” and “shady secret agents”. He then quotes anonymous ‘diplomats’ that make sensationalist claims such as, “tomorrow Raymond Davis type secret agents may kill more people in other capitals of the world and then the US will claim diplomatic immunity”, or compare Raymond Davis to Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. It must be noted that Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists do not have any claim to diplomatic status.
Other reports in The News have quote Munawar Hassan terming MNA Fauzia Wahab’s statement that Raymond Davis is entitled to diplomatic immunity as “a disgrace to the ‘Shuhda’ of Pakistan”, once again invoking ghairat in place of actual facts on the law.
This is a similar position taken by The Nation which published an editorial today which says,
It would seem that asking for his release is morally wrong of the US, and, at the same time, handing him over to Washington would demonstrate Pakistan’s undue weakness, reflecting its unhesitating compliance with the US commands, right or wrong.
http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/02/15/poor-reporting-on-raymond-davis-confusing-issues/
Media Adds To Raymond Davis Confusion
February 18th, 2011
Can it be any surprise that confusion surrounds the curious case of Raymond Davis when the media continues to add to the confusion with contradictory headlines?
The News on Friday included several front page headlines that directly contradicted each other. On the issue of foreign aid, two article, ‘Top US lawmakers reject cut in Pak aid’ and ‘Refusal to free Davis might strip Pakistan of $3bn aid’, presented different conclusions for the same question: Will the US cut aid because of Raymond Davis.
In a similarly confusing manner, The News front page includes the headlines, ‘No proceedings until govt decides on Davis status: LHC’ which implies that Davis’s status has not been determined, and also the headline, ‘Davis was not a diplomat when he killed’. While the first is recognition by the LHC that the case is still being determined, the second is Ansar Abbasi inserting himself into the role of Foreign Minister.
Wednesday’s edition of Pakistan Today featured the bold front page headline ‘Stage set for Davis’ release’, and included the article, ‘Davis is a diplomat, enjoys immunity: FO’. Two days later the newspaper features the headline, ‘No immunity but there’s still a way out, US told’.
Those are the headlines that people see, even when they don’t read the newspaper. How can we be surprised when there is such rampant confusion about the facts when the newspapers themselves can’t even decide on the story line?
http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/02/18/media-adds-to-raymond-davis-confusion/
Media Conspiracy Theories Continue to Embarrass
February 25th, 2011
Pakistan media has already been termed ‘conspiracy-palooza‘ by one prominent magazine, and now Global Post has also taken notice of the conspiracy theories running riot in our media. Reporter Nicolas Brulliard says the Raymond Davis shooting began as a nightmare, but was quickly exploited and transformed into ‘a field day for Pakistan’s conspiracy theorists’.
One important observation by the reporter is how media conspiracy-theorists conveniently ignore the facts in order to twist events to shape accusations against a mysterious ‘foreign hand’.
The country’s calamities are frequently blamed on a “foreign hand” that in the past was virtually synonymous with India but increasingly refers to the United States. In conjunction with the war in Afghanistan, the C.I.A. has been conducting covert operations in Pakistan as well as running a drone program that has caused numerous civilian casualties and is deeply unpopular here.
The C.I.A. collaborates with the Pakistani intelligence services, and as evidenced by diplomatic cables released late last year by Wikileaks, the Pakistani government has condoned the American drone strikes on its territory. Still, these operations are seen as an unacceptable violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and have fueled deep resentment toward America among the general population.
More intriguing, however, are the numerous tales of conspiracy and conjecture woven from thin air – the same conspiracy theories that Wired magazine termed ‘transparently silly stories’.
Based on the reported presence of a bag of naswar — a local dipping tobacco — among Davis’ belongings, one local newspaper concluded that he had probably picked up the habit during long stays in Pakistan’s northwest, got addicted to it and was likely to be experiencing withdrawal symptoms in jail.
One theory has Davis plotting terrorist attacks in Pakistan with the help of insurgents, while another presumes a massive operation by U.S. forces to either rescue or eliminate the man dubbed “the American Rambo” by the Nation, a Pakistani newspaper. A man who sued former President George W. Bush for $165 trillion a few years ago also claims that Davis was in the country to terrorize him and force him to withdraw his suit.
One might think that for all the concern expressed over the national honour by the chattering class, one of these talking heads might actually take notice that their behaviour is embarrassing the nation in the eyes of the world. Following a tragic incident, these self-appointed guardians of ghairat have turned a nightmare into a field day and are competing for first prize of silliest story. Ansar Abbasi may take great pride that the international press has repeated his line about a ‘Hollywood-style Rambo sting operation’, but what he does not realize is that his colleagues in media are quoting this not because they are impressed with his reporting, but amused by his silliness.
http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/02/25/media-conspiracy-theories-continue-to-embarrass/
CIA operatives do not work alone – they have support from within Pakistan: by Alansaralhaq
The CIA has a long history of supporting thugs, funding, supporting lackeys and placing them in positions of responsibility. The thugs would pressure the politicians at a higher level to force the native nation’s foreign policy to tow the American line. CIA also bribes and promotes certain people as the elite and intelligentsia of the native nation and are raised on a pedestal and communicated as the common indigenous native nation’s popular sentiment.
The attempt is to penetrate the entire society at every level by bribing, political thugs, clergy, intelligentsia and even the army and intelligence – thus creating an artificial environment of change. For Pakistan it was give up her sovereignty to America and become removed from the destruction taking place in our brother nation which should essence be like second home to all of us – Afghanistan.
When the voice of reason within the native nation becomes so demonised and alienated – drowned in the manufactured noise created by American paid thugs. It is then their recruited militia begin to take to the streets. Their goal is to incite a bloody brutal war which ends in a blood bath. When any voices of discontent to the American plan are silenced, demonised and tossed aside – the Americans through the United Nations are able to enter a sovereign nation taking control of the entire nations through her already paid political groups, clergy and militia. In Pakistan we had the internal voices blaming Pakistan which was replicated by the Global media including Indian media, we had those who stepped forward as the passive elite and intelligentsia preying on the vulnerabilities of Pakistanis. We then saw the terror, Blackwater / Xe linked to the CIA bombings across Pakistan and the rise of the rag tag heavily armed non Pakthun Tereek-e-Taliban.
This is exactly what the Americans intended with the Iranian Revolution seeking to overthrow the Shah of Iran. Iran was rife with the likes of Najem Sethis, Hoodbhoys and Nisar’s attempting to disorientate Iranians from taking control of their destiny. Politicians selling off the sovereignty of Pakistan like Rehman Malik. This propped up marketed intelligentsia was promoting an anti Shah American scripted agenda. In the case of Pakistan it is to blame the very existence of Pakistan, remove the idea of Pakistani revolutionary instinct, the vision of our forefathers and tow a passive line which would water down our powerful military and intelligence service infrastructure. They are like a huge firewall not allowing outside nefarious campaigns to succeed. Unlike in Iran, Pakistani Intelligence and military are not for sale, these are true patriots, courageous men who have sworn to defend the nation of Iqbals and Quaids vision. America then resorted to plan B infiltrating Pakistani society and the different groups trying to divide what has “always” been a united society. The Indians and The Americans tried their best to sow the seed of discontent by segregating Pakistani society according to ethnicity and locality – i.e. Punjabis, Kashmiris, Pakthuns and Sindhis. Here Pakistan like Iran is a united society who has a united goal and shared aspirations. Both are not fragmented when it comes to sovereignty of their nation. Here the Indians failed to live up to the American expectations to recreate 1971 because West Pakistan – Modern Pakistan is not separated by an international border and there are no logistical and geographical barriers. Pakistanis unlike East Pakistanis are not easily infiltrated by Hindus. There are no 80,000 Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis, and Pakthuns at Indian or American disposal to infiltrate Pakistan and sow the seed of discontent and incite a bloody civil war.
This did not stop the Americans and Indians, the Americans beguiled by the Indians sought to recruit Tajik Afghans and Uzbeks Afghans (Northern Alliance) to infiltrate Pakistan Northern areas. While Pakthuns are the most hospitable proud people, they surely know the difference between Pakthun and Tajik – while Indian and American paid agents i.e. the Tereek-e-Taliban infiltrated Pakistan as refugees under the Umbrella of the American Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 – 2008, they were unable to incite and divide the Pakistani Pakthuns. While many poor disheartened weak Afghan Pakthuns were recruited they were unable to penetrate Pakistani Pakthuns.
This paid death squad as mentioned by Bob Woodward in his book however did create instability and the height of their attack and brutality on Pakistan came in 2008. At this time the PPP had replaced Musharraf and selling out Pakistani sovereignty to the Americans. Globally, Pakistan was promoted as a terror state and the enemy. It was clear the theatre of war had just been extended into Pakistan. Pakistan unlike Afghanistan and Iraq was different because here was a united society with a strong military and one of the best intelligence services in the world and is nuclear armed. The Americans and the Indians continued to humiliate the dignity of every Pakistani, our honour and our image across the world. They tried their hardest to divide this united society to create groups that would be sucked into the arguments that their paid assets like Hoodbhoy, Sethi and the dozen or so more were marketing. An assertive India to our east and a advancing manufactured terrorist group to the west – arguably the darkest hour in Pakistan’s history.
The Americans through their covert operatives and contractors had spread their tentacles right across Pakistan. They had dug deep into Pakistan, recruiting, arming, training and co-ordinating terror attacks across Pakistan. A 3000 armed death squad as described by Bob Woodward were trying to rip apart Pakistan from inside. Pakistani society was at one point loosing faith with the Army and ISI. Pakistan was vulnerable, Pakistanis felt vulnerable and frightened. The Media – hate towards Pakistan was notched up, internal paid thugs were terrorising ordinary Pakistanis, the Blackwater / Xe thugs were bombing vital, religious, commercial cultural and military sites across Pakistan. A poor completely oblivious government continued to compromise Pakistani society and sell Pakistani sovereignty while the Najem Sethis, Hoodbhoys and Asma Jehanghirs were blaming Pakistan for it’s manufactured artificial bloody brutal misfortune.
The CIA and RAW operations failed for the same reason the Iranian revolution failed. Pakistan is a nation, a united society, we can not be divided and representing us is a proud and honourable military and intelligence service. A person can be fooled once or sometimes but not all of the time. The CIA supported the Shah of Iran to power but then removed him – they still use the same tactics using covert operatives who bribe journalists, politicians, military and clergy create a street army. In Pakistan’s case it was a highly armed and bloody brutal Militia, a terrorist organisation TTP Tereek -e- Taliban aka Pakistani Taliban as coined famously by the Indian media. The Raymond Davises of this world, are the front men, the major tools to create Instabilities and hostilities, incite bloody civil wars thus allowing the Americans through the UN to take charge of a sovereign nation. The CIA keeps using the same trick over and over again, it is transparent and it can not work for all societies and regions. Iran was a fragmented society before World War 2 but by the 1970?s there was nothing the Americans could do to force Iran to remain their loyal subject. Pakistan is the same, we are not West or South Africa – you can not create a civil war and divide us. We have paid a bloody brutally high price for maintaining sovereign. The CIA covert missions in Pakistan were known for years but today they are exposed – there should be no voice in Pakistan remaining now their “blame Pakistan” rhetoric must be silenced.
A massive man hunt is under way to find all the Raymond Davis – Pakistanis must be vigilant and expose them wherever they are to the local police station. The ISI should advertise a number on Pakistani televisions and news papers asking any suspicious American to be reported. Pakistan needs its own homeland security laws and any one who looks suspicious and American would undoubtedly raise alarms given the extent of their damage in Pakistan.
Major questions remain – why were these terrorists allowed to roam freely in Pakistan, I myself have seen them at Islamabad and at the Airport. Who gave them immunity to terrorize and destabilize Pakistan – mistakenly or knowingly who ever within the PPP are responsible must be tried for treason. Who ever supported the American and Indian agenda in Pakistan must be dismissed and removed from positions of responsibility even if he or she is a lecturer at a Pakistani University, holds the highest judicial / political position in the government or a Journalist / TV Presenter.
Raymond Davis and his ilk were not alone they have support from within Pakistan, these are CIA bribed thugs, politicians, intelligentsia; they must all be recognised and brought to justice.
The views in the above post do not represent the views of Rupee News but are my own personal sentiments on the Raymond Davis affair. The voice on the street that seeks a strong, secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan removed from external threats and corrupt politicians
But CIA spokesman George Little said the resolution of the case showed that ties between the United States and Pakistan are strong. “That’s the sign of a healthy partnership — one that’s vital to both countries, especially as we face a common set of terrorist enemies.”
http://www.latimes.com/sns-rt-pakistan-usa-updatl3e7eg15t-20110316,0,7856263.story
On the so called ISI-CIA rift on the Raymond Davis issue
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