Inter-Services Intelligence

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan, operationally responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing information relevant for national security from around the world. As one of the principal members of the Pakistani intelligence community, the ISI reports to its Director-General and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the government of Pakistan.
The ISI primarily consists of serving military officers drawn on secondment from the three service branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force), hence the name "Inter-Services". However, the agency also recruits many civilians. Since 1971, the ISI has been formally headed by a serving three-star general of the Pakistan Army, who is appointed by the Prime Minister on recommendation of the Chief of Army Staff, who recommends three officers for the position. , the ISI is currently headed by Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed, who was appointed as its Director-General on 17 June 2019. The ISI Director-General reports directly to both the Prime Minister and the Army Chief.
The agency gained global recognition and fame in the 1980s, when it supported the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War in the erstwhile Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. During the war, the ISI worked in close coordination with the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service to run Operation Cyclone—a program to train and fund the mujahideen with support from China, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ISI provided strategic support and intelligence to the Afghan Taliban against the Northern Alliance during the Afghan Civil War in the 1990s.
History.
The Inter-Services Intelligence was created in 1948 following 1947–48 Pakistan-India war which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing, and coordination between the Army, Air Force, Navy, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI). The ISI was structured to be operated by officers from the three main military services, and to specialize in the collection, analysis, and assessment of external military and non-military intelligence. The ISI was the brainchild of the former British Indian Army Major General Sir Robert Cawthome, then Deputy Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army and selected Colonel Shahid Hamid to set up the agency. Initially, the ISI had no role in the collection of internal intelligence, with the exception of the NWFP and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. The recruitment and expansion of the ISI was managed and undertaken by Naval Commander Syed Mohammad Ahsan, who was tenuring as Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence and played a pivotal role in formulating the procedures of the ISI. Following the 1958 coup d'état, all national intelligence agencies came under the direct control of the President and Chief Martial Law Administrator. The maintenance of national security, which was the principal function of these agencies, came to mean the consolidation of the Ayub regime. Any criticism of the regime was seen as a threat to national security. After Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq seized power on 5 July 1977 and became the Chief Martial Law Administrator, the ISI was expanded on collecting intelligence on the Pakistan Communist Party and Pakistan Peoples Party. The Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s saw the enhancement of covert operations of the ISI. A special Afghanistan section (called the "SS Directorate") was created under the command of Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf to oversee day-to-day operations in Afghanistan. A number of officers from the ISI's Covert Action Division received training in the United States and many covert action experts of the CIA were attached to the ISI to guide it in its operations against Soviet troops by using the Afghan Mujahideen. In September 2001, Pervez Musharraf appointed a new Director General for ISI, Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq who was later replaced by the Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha. Some analysts (mainly Indian) believe that the ISI provides support to militant groups, though according to other analysts, these allegations remain unsubstantiated with evidence. General Javed Nasir confessed to assisting the besieged Bosnian Muslims despite a UN arms embargo, supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia. National Intelligence Directorate (NID) was formed in 2014 in order to pool and share intelligence gathered by over 30 of Pakistan's intelligence agencies to combat terrorism in Pakistan effectively.
Organization.
The ISI is headed by a Director-General, who is traditionally a serving Lieutenant-General (Three-star general) in the Pakistan Army. Three Deputy Director-Generals, who are serving 2-star military officers, report directly to the Director-General with each deputy heading three wings respectively:
The wing is particularly significant because the port at Gwadar is slated to be a linchpin for the major trade corridor linking northwestern China to the Persian Gulf.
The general staff of the ISI is composed of military officers of the armed forces as well as civilian officers from the FIA, FBR, Pakistan Customs, police and judiciary. They are recruited on deputations for 3 to 4 years and enhance the ISI's professional competence. Experienced army officers who perform well are given repeated extensions in their service. According to some experts, the ISI is the largest intelligence agency in the world in terms of total staff. While the total number has never been made public, experts estimate around 10,000 officers and staff, which does not include informants or assets.
Headquarters.
The ISI is headquartered in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. The complex consists of various low-rise buildings separated by lawns and fountains. The entrance to the complex is next to a private hospital. Declan Walsh of "The Guardian" said that the entrance is "suitably discreet: no sign, just a plainclothes officer packing a pistol who direct visitors through a chicane of barriers, soldiers and sniffer dogs". Walsh said that the complex "resembles a well-funded private university" and that the buildings are "neatly tended," the lawns are "smooth," and the fountains are "tinkling." He described the central building, which houses the director general's office on the top floor, as "a modern structure with a round, echoing lobby."
Recruitment and training.
Both civilians and members of the armed forces can join the ISI. For civilians, recruitment is advertised and is jointly handled by the Federal Public Services Commission (FPSC) and civilian ISI agents are considered employees of the Ministry of Defence. The FPSC conducts various examinations testing the candidate's knowledge of current affairs, English and various analytical abilities. Based on the results, the FPSC shortlists the candidates and sends the list to the ISI who conduct the initial background checks. The selected candidates are then invited for an interview which is conducted by a joint committee comprising both ISI and FPSC officials, then the selected persons are sent to Defence Services intelligence Academy (DSIA) for 6 months of training. Later these officers are transferred to different sections for open source information where they serve for five years. Officers after five years of basic service are entrusted with sensitive jobs and declared the core team of ISI.
Major operations.
By country.
India.
Indian intelligence agencies have claimed they have proof of ISI involvement with the Naxalites. A classified report accessed by the newspaper "Asian Age" said "the ISI in particular wants Naxals to cause largescale damage to infrastructure projects and industrial units operating in the interior parts of the country where ISI's own terror network is non-existent".
Pakistan.
The ISI was also accused to be involved in a scandal the Mehran bank scandal dubbed "Mehrangate", in which top ISI and Army brass were allegedly given large sums of money by Yunus Habib (the owner of Mehran Bank) to deposit ISI's foreign exchange reserves in Mehran Bank.
Reception.
Critics of the ISI say that it has become a state within a state and not accountable enough. Some analysts say that this is because of the fact that intelligence work agencies around the world remain secretive. Critics argue the institution should be more accountable to the President or the Prime Minister. After discovering it, the Pakistani Government disbanded the ISI 'Political Wing' in 2008.
U.S. government.
During the Cold War, the ISI and the CIA worked together to send spy planes into the Soviet Union. The ISI and CIA also worked closely during the Soviet–Afghan War supporting groups such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami and Jalaluddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network.
Some report the ISI and CIA stepped up cooperation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to kill and capture senior Al Qaeda leaders such as Sheikh Younis Al Mauritan and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the planner of the 9/11 attacks who was residing in Pakistan. Pakistan claims that in total around 100 top level al-Qaeda leaders/operators were killed/arrested by ISI. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pakistan is paying a "big price for supporting the U.S. war against terror groups. ... I think it is important to note that as they have made these adjustments in their own assessment of their national interests, they're paying a big price for it".
Other senior international officials, however, maintain that senior Al Qaeda leaders such as Osama Bin Laden have been hidden by the ISI in major settled areas of Pakistan with the full knowledge of the Pakistani military leadership. A December 2011 analysis report by the Jamestown Foundation came to the conclusion that "in spite of denials by the Pakistani military, evidence is emerging that elements within the Pakistani military harbored Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former army chief General Pervez Musharraf and possibly former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Former Pakistani General Ziauddin Butt (a.k.a. General Ziauddin Khawaja) revealed at a conference on Pakistani–U.S. relations in October 2011 that according to his knowledge the then former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan (2004–2008), Brigadier Ijaz Shah (retd.), had kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad." Pakistani General Ziauddin Butt said Bin Laden had been hidden in Abbottabad by the ISI "with the full knowledge" of Pervez Musharraf but later denied making any such statement, saying his words were altered by the media, he said: "It is the hobby of the Western media to distort the facts for their own purposes." U.S. military officials have increasingly said, they do not notify Pakistani officials before conducting operations against the Afghan Taliban or Al Qaeda, because they fear Pakistani officials may tip them off.
International officials have accused the ISI of continuing to support and even lead the Taliban today in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present). As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen stated:
The Associated Press reported that "the president said Mullen's statement 'expressed frustration' over the insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. But Obama said 'the intelligence is not as clear as we might like in terms of what exactly that relationship is.' Obama added that whether Pakistan's ties with the Haqqani network are active or passive, Pakistan has to deal with it."
The Guantanamo Bay files leak, however, showed that the US authorities unofficially consider the ISI as a terrorist organization equally dangerous as Al Qaeda and Taliban, and many allegations of its supporting terrorist activities have been made.
In 2017, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused ISI of having ties to terror groups. In a Senate hearing, Dunford told members of the U.S. Senate: "It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups."
Indian government.
India has accused ISI of plotting the Mumbai terror attack in March 1993 and November 2008. According to the United States diplomatic cables leak the ISI had previously shared intelligence information with Israel regarding possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli sites in India in late 2008. ISI is also accused of supporting pro independence militias in Jammu and Kashmir while Pakistan denies all such claims.
India accuses ISI of supporting separatist militants in Jammu and Kashmir while Pakistan claims to give them moral support only.
Controversies.
The ISI has long been accused of using designated terrorist groups and militants to conduct proxy wars against its neighbors. According to Grant Holt and David H. Gray "The agency specializes in utilizing terrorist organizations as proxies for Pakistani foreign policy, covert action abroad, and controlling domestic politics." James Forest says there has been increasing proof from counter-terrorism organizations that militants and the Taliban continue to receive assistance from the ISI, as well as the establishment of camps to train terrorists on Pakistani territory. All external operations are carried out under the supervision of the S Wing of the ISI. The agency is divided into Eight divisions. Joint Intelligence/North(JIN) is responsible for conducting operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan. The Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB) provide support with communications to groups in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, both former members of the National Security Council, the ISI acted as a "kind of terrorist conveyor belt" radicalizing young men in the Madrassas in Pakistan and delivering them to training camps affiliated with or run by Al-Qaeda and from there moving them into Jammu and Kashmir to launch attacks.
Support for militants.
From the 1990s, the ISI began to court the Jihadists who had emerged from the conflict against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and by 2000 the majority of militant groups operating in Kashmir were either based in Pakistan or were pro Pakistan. These groups are used to conduct a low intensity conflict against India. According to Stephen P. Cohen and John Wilson, the ISI's aid to and creation of designated terrorist groups and religious extremist groups is well documented. The ISI have been accused of having close ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba who carried out the attacks in Mumbai in 2008. The ISI have also given aid to Hizbul Mujahideen. Terrorism expert Gus Martin has said the ISI has a long history of supporting designated terrorist groups and pro Independence groups operating in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir which fight against Indian interests. The ISI also helped with the founding of the group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Hizbul Mujahideen.
Hizbul Mujahideen were created as the Kashmiri branch of Jamaat-i-Islami. It has been reported that JI founded Hizbul Mujahideen at the request of the ISI to counter the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) who are advocates for the independence of Kashmir. Although the failure of 1987 elections in Kashmir and afterwards arrest of Muhammad Yusuf a.k.a. Syed Salahuddin led to the events that created armed struggle in the valley.
Al-Badr.
There have been three incarnations of the group Al-Badr. According to Peter Tomsen, the ISI in conjunction with Jamaat-e-Islami formed the first Al-Badr who resisted the Indian trained influx of Mukti Bahini in Bangladesh in the 1970s. The third Al-Badr (India)
Al-Qaeda.
The ISI supported Al-Qaeda during the war along with CIA against the Soviet government, through the Taliban, and it is believed by some that there are still contact between Al-Qaeda and the ISI. An assessment by British Intelligence in 2000 into Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan showed the ISI were playing an active role in some of them. In 2002, it was alleged that when the Egyptian investigators tracked down Al-Qaeda member Ahmed Said Khadr in Pakistan, the Egyptian authorities informed Pakistani authorities about the location of Khadir. However, the Afghan Taliban at night came in a car and took Khadir along with them to Afghanistan. The next day, Pakistani authorities claimed that they were unable to capture Khadir. The leak in 2012 of e-mails from Stratfor claimed that papers captured during all the compounds the raid in Abbotabad on Osama Bin Laden's compound showed up to 12 ISI officials knew where he was and that Bin Laden had been in regular contact with the ISI.
However, the Al-Qaeda has repeatedly labelled Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) an enemy of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda claimed that the Pakistani military and intelligence are their main targets in Pakistan. In 2019, Ayman al-Zawahari in video message labelled Inter-Service Intelligence and Pakistani military a 'puppet' of United States.
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were founded in the 1980s by the ISI to fight against Indian interests.
Jammu and Kashmir.
Under the orders of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, in 1984 the ISI prepared a plan which was to be set in motion in 1991.
Haqqani network.
The ISI have close links to the Haqqani network and contribute heavily to their funding. It is widely believed the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul was planned with the help of the ISI. A report in 2008 from the Director of National Intelligence stated that the ISI provides intelligence and funding to help with attacks against the International Security Assistance Force, the Afghan government and Indian targets. However, on 5 November 2014, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, a senior commander for US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, said in a Pentagon-hosted video briefing from Afghanistan that the Haqqani network is now "fractured" like the Taliban. "They are fractured. They are fractured like the Taliban is. That's based pretty much on the Pakistan's operations in North Waziristan this entire summer-fall," he said, acknowledging the effectiveness of Pakistan's military offensive in North Waziristan. "That has very much disrupted their efforts in Afghanistan and has caused them to be less effective in terms of their ability to pull off an attack in Kabul," Anderson added.
Attacks on journalists.
Amnesty International published document over the investigation of ISI over murder case of Saleem Shahzad.
Losses.
Since Pakistan's launch of war on Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other jihadist groups, the country's armed forces, intelligence services (particularly ISI), military industrial complexes, paramilitary forces and police forces have come under intense attacks. ISI has played major role in targeting these groups, therefore it has faced retaliatory strikes as well. , more than 300 ISI officials have been killed. Below are some major incidents when attempts were made to target ISI.