'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
The top Central Intelligence Agency official in Pakistan has been called back home from Islamabad after his cover was blown allegedly by the Inter Services Intelligence, resulting in a serious threat to his life. The 'purposeful' leaking of identity of the CIA station chief in Islamabad -- named in Pakistani media as Jonathan Banks -- allegedly by the Inter Services Intelligence is in retaliation of a lawsuit filed against the Pakistani spy agency's chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
Even after Lashkar-e-Tayiba's David Coleman Headley identified his Inter-Services Intelligence handler Major Iqbal as Chaudhery Khan, mystery continues to shroud his presence. Hoping to get another access to Headley, the National Investigation Agency on the 26/11 money trail, is positive of hunting down the major. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
'Had Haji Pir and/or Skardu been taken, the message would have gone out not just to General Asim Munir and his cohort in the Pakistan army but to the Pakistani people that every terrorist incident in India would lead to substantial loss of territory in PoK.'
In a severe indictment of Pakistan's links with terror groups, top United States military commander on Thursday said the Inter-Services Intelligence provided support to the Haqqani terror network in carrying out the recent attack on the country's embassy in Kabul.
'There is no harm in our giving a try to the idea of an informal, clandestine one-to-one liaison relationship between the ISI and R&AW. We should not have any illusions that it would result in a sharing of actionable intelligence. Intelligence agencies share actionable intelligence only when they have common State and non-State enemies. India and Pakistan do not have common enemies.'
Vicky Nanjappa traces the origins of the bond between the Babbar Khalsa and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
In an ominous development, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has roped in separatist leaders and their sympathisers to make inroads in Naxal ranks in its anti-India strategies after making a failed attempt to enlist the support of the Maoist rebels.
A dangerous mix of humiliation and desperation is the prevailing mood in the Pakistani armed forces and it's Inter-Services Intelligence. This is in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine chopper-borne raid conducted by United States naval commandos at Abbottabad, writes security expert B Raman.
Shedding its India-centric phobia, Pakistan's main spy agency ISI has in its new threat assessment determined that Islamist militants, and not India pose the main threat to Pakistan.
The 26-page lawsuit accusing the ISI of aiding and abetting the LeT in the slaughter of 166 people was filed before a New York Court on November 19, following which the Brooklyn court issued summons to Major Samir Ali, Azam Cheema, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Nadeem Taj and Major Iqbal of the Inter-Services Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and and Hafiz Saeed of the Jammat ud Dawaa.
Following the 9/11 terror strikes, when the US had made up its mind to bombard Afghanistan, Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence and then President Pervez Musharraf made full efforts to save the Taliban and tried to persuade a red-faced Bush administration to hold a dialogue with the Taliban, as the Inter-Services-Intelligence always regarded it as one of its strategic assets.
"The kind of terrorism, which is going on in Pakistan, is due to Kashmir issue," Hamid Gul, the former head of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) who is also believed to have created Kashmiri militants groups claimed in the CNN's Connect the World programme.
A confidential Spanish defence ministry report has alleged Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped arm the Taliban in 2005 for assassination plots against the Afghan government, media reports said. The confidential report, obtained by Cadena Ser radio and posted on the station's Web site, also alleges the Inter Services Intelligence helped the Taliban procure roadside bombs.
'It could take the form of sporadic LoC violation through heavy artillery and mortar fire, focusing on border villages where the Hindu Dogra population is predominant.'
Four suspected Inter Services Intelligence agents were arrested by the Task Force police in Secunderabad on Thursday.
Was Lieutenant General Ayman Bilal Safdar removed because he criticised army chief, General Asim Munir, asks Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Terrorism across India will continue as long as Pakistan does not end "its mischief" through the Inter Services Intelligence in places like the north-east, National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes said on Thursday.
General Musharraf had claimed that some ISI leaders have helped the Taliban.
A senior official said that the state had sought several companies of paramilitary forces and these have been provided to maintain law and order situation.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
About informing Haq three weeks prior to the Bahawalpur incident, Hamid Gul said that a report from ISI was submitted to him that Haq should restrict his movements.
Whenever tenures of army chiefs were extended in the recent past, prime ministers were subsequently eased out of office by the same army chief, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
'Unlike the surgical strikes and the Balakot air strikes across the LoC, we have gone further inside Pakistan and raised the bar of escalation.'
"In the coming days if we see a political or constitutional upheaval in Pakistan, or an increase in instability, then we cannot rule out the possibility of another coup in the country," said defence expert Sanjeev Srivastava.
Former ISI DG Faiz Hameed's arrest sends a strong message to PTI supporters that Imran Khan's culpability for the May 9, 2023 violence could well be drawn within the purview of military courts, especially if General Hameed turns approver to save his skin, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
China supplied more than $20 billion worth of arms to Pakistan. These include 20 J-10CE and JF-17 Block III fighter aircraft, Wing Loong drones, frigates, submarines, Hongqi HQ-9P surface-to-air missiles, 240 PL-15E air-to-air missiles, LY-80 air defence systems, ZDK early warning aircraft and other weapons.
A suspected spy from Rajasthan who was allegedly sharing photographs and details of vital installations in Bengaluru with his handlers in Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, has been arrested, police said.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir visited Balochistan on Saturday amid clashes in the restive province in which 18 security personnel and 23 terrorists have been killed in the last 24 hours. The army chief was given a comprehensive brief on the prevailing security situation in the province and offered prayers at the funeral of the slain soldiers. He also visited the injured soldiers in the Combined Military Hospital Quetta. The military said the terrorists were killed in different areas of troubled Balochistan in the last 24 hours. Terror attacks have increased since the banned militant Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government.
General Syed Asim Munir is now firmly ensconced as army chief after the May 9, 2023 upheavals, which were planned by Imran Khan's supporters to destabilise him, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
In a secret deal, Pakistan allowed American drone strikes on its soil on the condition that the unmanned aircraft would stay away from its nuclear facilities and the mountain camps where Kashmiri militants were trained for attacks in India, according to a media report.
The Pakistani military on Saturday dismissed as "absurd and baseless" a British newspaper's report that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was behind a defamation campaign against Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Pakistan People's Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
India has declared 2025 as the year of defence reforms, aiming to establish integrated theatre commands to enhance synergy among the three armed forces and transform the military into a technologically-advanced combat-ready force. The reforms will also focus on streamlining acquisition procedures, promoting collaboration, and leveraging emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics.
A Pakistani court has disposed off a contempt of court petition filed against the Inter-Services Services chief and other senior officials by four civilian employees after the spy agency informed the judge that it had taken action to regularise their contractual employment.
Khan, in the same breath, praised the Army, saying "Pakistan needs the Armed forces more than Imran Khan."
Officials said Papalpreet Singh is considered one of Amritpal Singh's mentors who had been advising him on various issues.
A staffer associated with the military intelligence unit has been caught in a joint operation by the army and directorate of revenue intelligence officials for allegedly stealing and trying to pass on classified information to Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
This is Navlakha's second round of appeal in the high court seeking regular bail.
