ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s military Monday took the unprecedented step ofpreventing a former spy chief from leaving the country, after he ignited astorm by co-authoring a book that touches on Pakistan’s alleged roles inAfghanistan and Kashmir.
Retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani, who headed Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)from 1990 to 1992, was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) stopping himfrom leaving the country, according to the military spokesman.
Durrani has been mired in controversy since last week’s release of “The SpyChronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”. He wrote the book withA.S. Dulat, who headed India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligenceagency – arch-rivals of the ISI.
It is based on a series of discussion between the two on various subjectsincluding tense relations with India and Pakistan’s alleged interferencethrough proxies in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
The US has long accused the ISI in particular of backing militants inAfghanistan, including the Taliban. Islamabad denies the claims.
Criticism of the military, especially its use of proxies in regionalconflicts, is seen as taboo in the country. The military is the mostpowerful institution in Pakistan, ruling the country for roughly half itshistory and operating largely with impunity.
The book also suggests that the Pakistani authorities may have known aboutthe whereabouts of Osama bin Laden — an extraordinarily sensitive topicfor the military — and may have later handed over information to the USresulting in the 2011 raid that killed the Al Qaeda supremo.
Earlier Monday Durrani was summoned to the Pakistani military headquartersfor allegedly violating the institution’s code of conduct over comments hemade in the book. The military did not specify which comments had promptedthe meeting.
It then announced a court of inquiry into Durrani’s alleged misconduct andsaid he had been placed on the ECL, marking the first instance suchcontrols have been placed on a former spy chief.
The controversy comes weeks after former prime minister Nawaz Sharifsparked a similar firestorm at home and in India by suggesting Pakistanimilitants were behind the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.
The comments made during a newspaper interview resulted in an officialcondemnation from the country’s National Security Council.
Sharif has called on the council to discuss Durrani’s book also.
Since being ousted by the Supreme Court last July, he and his supportershave repeatedly suggested they are the victims of a conspiracy driven bythe military and the courts to damage their party. – APP/AFP