Inter-Services Intelligence agency chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha visited the United States to discuss intelligence coordination and not the resumption of military aid that was recently suspended by the American administration, the Pakistani military spokesman said on Saturday.
Two top United States security officials are traveling to Pakistan on Tuesday to meet the country's civil and military leadership and press for more aggressive action against Al Qaeda-allied groups. Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta and the National Security Advisor General James Jones, who are embarking on a visit to Islamabad, will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani.
A long-suspected nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and insurgent groups active in India's northeast have come to light with detained former Bangladesh intelligence chief confirming Islamabad's spy agency's link to the sensational supply of arms to the United Liberation Front of Asom in 2004.
Despite persisting questions among peer officers in the army about his professional competence and ethics, after his recent 'triumphal' Kabul sojourn, Faiz Hameed remains the hot favourite of both General Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
The Pakistan government has turned down United States' request to hand over the Taliban's second-in command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was recently captured in Karachi.Pakistan has already made it clear that it would only hand over Baradar to Afghanistan if Kabul requests it to do so.Mullah Baradar is regarded as second only to Mullah Mohammad Omar, Taliban's supreme commander in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency has categorically denied any links with the Taliban.The Daily Times quoted ISI Director General Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha as saying that the ISI is a professional agency and does not have links with any militant outfit, including the Taliban. Pasha's remarks came during a meeting with Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta, National Security Adviser Lieutenant General James Jones and other officials.
Accused of conspiring against President Zardari, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is now in a fix. If he refutes the allegation by naming whistleblower Mansoor Ijaz, it would put a huge question mark over the credibility of his own statement in the scam. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
Manifesting the mindset of the Pakistan military and its intelligence arm, the Inter Services Intelligence, Retired General Ehsan Ul Haq, erstwhile chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee of Pakistan and former ISI director, has said that the Indo-Pakistan composite dialogue, now in limbo was 'a charade'.
There were reports of lobbying within the Pakistan army for the ISI DG's post, which falls vacant in June, reveals Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from hit-and-run attacks to carrying out sophisticated operations with tactical precision. The group's tactics and targets have become increasingly audacious, targeting security forces, Chinese nationals, and innocent civilians. Experts attribute the BLA's evolution to various factors, including the leadership of Bashir Zeb, the group's growing intelligence network, and its exploitation of the grievances of the Baloch people. The BLA's actions are a cause for concern, as the group's sophisticated attacks pose a major challenge to security forces.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday dismissed reports that his government was planning to remove the chiefs of the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying he had personally ensured that both generals were given an extension in service.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, chapter 12 of Fulcrum of evil: ISI, CIA and Al Quaeda nexus by former joint director of IB Moloy Krishna Dhar claiming his links with ISI, is not true.
Muhammad Asad Durrani, former director general of Inter-Services intelligence and Pakistan's Military Intelligence, says India's move to resume peace talks is a wise decision.
Former Central Investigative Agency deputy director John McLaughlin, a 32-year veteran of the agency who has studied the Lashkar-e-Tayiba extensively, believes that while the "Pakistani intelligence was instrumental in helping to create the LeT in the outset, these days it's not at all clear that the Pakistani intelligence has any direct control over this group."He said he was skeptical that even rogue elements in the Inter Services Intelligence today held any sway.
The last word may not have been said on the churnings within the Pakistan army or the extent to which army chief General Asim Munir is in control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RAW, India's external intelligence agency.
After the Shakil Afridi episode, both sides are back to where they were, with ties strained and reconciliatory efforts coming to a standstill, says Amir Mir
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday described as "worrisome" reports that Indian Consulate General in Jalalabad was the target of a terror plot in Afghanistan.
The ISI's overwhelming involvement in national politics has weakened the mainstream political parties, given a boost to horse-trading and arrested the growth of the political culture in the country. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence is providing safe haven to the Taliban leadership and the West need not mount a military operation to capture Mullah Omar as the elusive insurgent chief "is with them," according to Afghanistan's former spy chief.
United States Republican Party member Dan Burton, who is reportedly the largest individual recipient of money from two alleged Pakistani spies, has said that he is "deeply shocked" by the arrest of Kashmiri American Council executive director Ghulam-Nabi Fai.
General Taj has been closely associated with Musharraf, having been his military secretary at the time of the 1999 coup.
United States authorities have described Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency as a terrorist organisation and considered it as much of a threat as the Al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to a secret document which also names Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
The new chiefs of the Inter Services Intelligence and Pakistan Air Force on Monday assumed office, a day ahead of a crucial parliamentary session that will determine the contours of future relations with the United States. Lieutenant General Zahir-ul-Islam went to the ISI headquarters at Aabpara Islamabad to take charge as the new director general of the powerful spy agency.
Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has moved the Lahore high court seeking direction for the Pakistan government to defend him, Inter Services Intelligence officians and others before a United States court, which has issued summons to them in connection with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
"The role of external forces in the insurgency is obvious given that top ULFA leaders are sitting in Bangladesh, thanks to the ISI and DGFI."
Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence sponsors terrorism in Kashmir and it oversees terrorist groups there, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said in the first-ever open acknowledgment by a United States agency that Islamabad is a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'.
Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives, Clinton said in a press conference on Wednesday
Abdul Jabbar alias Sikandar, a resident of Pakistani port city of Karachi, was arrested on Tuesday night by the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad, Additional Director, General (Law and Order) Brijlal told media-persons in Lucknow. "Maps of restricted cantonment areas in Lucknow and secret information regarding Central command were recovered from Sikandar," he said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved an extension to lieutenant general ahmad shuja Pasha as director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence for a period of one year.The decision to retain general Pasha in uniform and as ISI DG was taken because of his commendable role in the ongoing war against terrorism, The News quoted a well-placed defence source, as saying.
Octopus Commandos, the anti-terror wing in Andhra Pradesh, arrested four suspected Inter-Services-Intelligence agents in Tirupati on Thursday from a private hotel located on the Mangalam road on the outskirts of the temple town.
Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by Bajwa and three senior lieutenant generals at a meeting which took place after the army chief and Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum -- director-general, Inter Services Intelligence, the ISI -- met Imran Khan.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency is making all-out efforts to revive terrorism in Punjab by providing funds to radical groups, state Director General of Police Paramdeep Singh said in Jalandhar on Saturday.
The newly-appointed Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum has instructed Pakistani authorities not to release his images or video footage to the media, according to a media report on Wednesday.
The ISI operative was in Patna to collect information about the Ordnance factory at Rajgir in Nalanda district.
Insiders say that General Kayani's decision to extend Pasha's service has been made to ensure the continuity of the army's offensive against extremists in the troubled tribal regions of the country.
Security analsyst abd rediff columnist B Raman on why a new ISI chief was anointed in Pakistan.
The press briefing seemed a deliberate decision to let the army convey its angst to Imran directly, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RAW, India's external intelligence agency.
Amid India's suspicions of the involvement of the Inter Services Intelligence in the planning of Mumbai terror strikes, the chief of the Pakistani spy agency on Friday called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad.The Director General of the ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, met Gilani and briefed him on the prevailing security situation, an official statement said.No further details about the meeting were available.
General Ehsan Ul Haq, former director of the Inter Services Intelligence, has urged the United States to stop demonising the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and pressuring Pakistan to go after it, saying it's not a priority for the Pakistan army.