Just like many former prime ministers in the post-Zia period, Prime Minister Imran Khan seems to come under the sway of his political desire to see his favourite man as the Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
And just like previous examples, Prime Minister Imran Khan will be frustrated, if not immediately, then in due course of time.
Till the filing of this article, the notification for the appointment of Lt General Nadeem Anjum as new DG ISI has not been issued, which gives strength to the rumours that Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to approve the appointment as announced by the the Pakistan Army's media wing.
Military experts and analysts (mostly on the condition of anonymity) told BBC that Pakistan Army leadership has in the past demonstrated the capacity to keep the ISI under its control and not to allow the prime ministers too much space to independently deal with the ISI.
They cite two cases from the recent past:
a) when in 1988 Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appointed a retired Army general, Shams-ur-Rehman Kullue as DG ISI.
b) when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed his loyalist and army general from non-combat forces, Lt General Zia-uddin Butt as the army chief.
“In both the cases, the prime minister's men were sidelined and GHQ boycotted them,” said a senior retired military official on the condition of anonymity.
In the former’s case, General Aslam Beg attempted to make Military Intelligence (MI) as the intelligence arm of the GHQ and in the latter’s case, General Pervez Muaharraf shifted important files and projects away from ISI.
ISPR announced the appointment of Lt General Nadeem Anjum as new DG ISI as part of routine postings and transfers in the army. Within 24 hours social media however went into an overdrive hinting that Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to sign the summary of DG ISI’s appointment. Some of the analysts even predicted that there was a feeling of confrontation building up between COAS and Prime Minister.
Now that leading political analysts have confirmed such reports, there is every chance that the media will play up this controversy. However, leading media personality Talat Hussein has indicated in one of his tweets that there will be no change in the planned postings and transfers in the army as announced by ISPR. He said that he has been told this by a high ranking source.
It is commonly known in the political circles of Islamabad that Prime Minister Khan was more comfortable with the outgoing DG ISI Lt General Faiz Hameed and wanted him to continue in the office.
Reports suggest that it will be Lt General Nadeem Anjum who will take charge of DG ISI in the coming days — despite the fact that Prime Minister Imran Khan is said to have told COAS that he has not consented to the appointment.
It is commonly known in the political circles of Islamabad that Prime Minister Khan was more comfortable with the outgoing DG ISI Lt General Faiz Hameed and wanted him to continue in the office.
The fact that DG ISI'S appointment has been announced as part of routine postings and transfers within the military also indicates that there has been a slight change in the procedure.
The ISPR’s press release doesn't mention the name of appointing authority of DG ISI. In other words the press release doesn’t mention who appointed DG ISI. No official word is available from either side of the controversy.
Practice and procedure has been that the prime minister picks and finalises the name of DG ISI out of a panel of three sent by the army chief. The notification of appointment is issued by the Prime Minister Secretariat.
However, past record shows that it has always been the ISPR that announces the appointment of DG ISI as part of postings and transfers in the military.
Part of the problem stems from the absence of any law governing the internal functioning and posting and transfers within the ISI.
I remember doing a detailed report on the laws that exist on the statute books of the country to manage the functioning of intelligence agencies in Pakistan. Shockingly, there has been no legislation since independence to govern the functioning of intelligence agencies in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s leading constitutional expert Salman Akram Raja concurred with this revelation. “There is no law governing the functioning of ISI in the country. They are running the organisation according to some internal charter,” Salman Akram Raja told BBC.
He said that ISI was formed as a federal organization on prime minister's order in the Post-Independence period in 1949, “And since then the practice is that the prime minister will appoint DG ISI”. He said there is no law that gives one or the other the authority to appoint DG ISI.
“In other countries like the United States there are laws governing the functioning of CIA” he said “law is a necessity for any government level organization. It not only governs its internal mechanisms and structures, it provides an opportunity for the political elite to carry out public oversight.”
Pakistan’s leading constitutional expert Salman Akram Raja concurred with this revelation. “There is no law governing the functioning of ISI in the country. They are running the organisation according to some internal charter,” Salman Akram Raja told BBC.
How the Army leadership in the past have sidelined or boycotted the Prime Minister’s man in ISI headquarters was revealed by a historian of ISI—Dr Hein G. Kiessling, a political analyst and historian from Germany.
Dr Kiessling lived in Pakistan from 1989 to 2002 and during this period he developed close linkages with the country's political, military and intelligence elite. His book, “The ISI of Pakistan: Faith Unity and Discipline” was published in 2016.
His research into the matter revealed that civilian attempt to bring their man in ISI headquarters have always been frustrated, if not immediately, then in due course of time, “Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto telephoned the then COAS, General Aslam Beg and told him that she wanted to appoint a retired Army General Shamsur Rehman Kullue as DG ISI. Beg tried to convince the Prime Minister not to do so as this would not go well with the Army top brass.” Reads the Dr Kiessling’s book
“Army leadership reacted in its own way to this new ISI regime. There was a feeling that Kallue was more loyal to politics than to the military: some even saw him as a turncoat. Kullue was not invited to meetings of the corps commanders and nor war informed about important decisions. The boycotted DG
ISI was not even in charge of his own house.
Under his leadership, the ISI was no longer a source of information and inspiration for the government. In the Prime Minister Secretariat he was seen as naïve was mockingly referred to as ‘no-clue Kullue’. Benazir Bhutto later called his appointment the biggest mistake of her first period in office. Afghan bureau with ISI easily bypassed Kullue and carried on with his missions in Afghanistan”.
On the appointment of Lt General from engineering corps, Lt General Zia-ud-din Butt as DG ISI by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his second tenure he writes, “The ISI comes directly under the Prime Minister’s office and the DG ISI reports directly to the prime minister. Therefore, the army chief has no authority over the ISI. In reality there is a close contact and cooperation between GHQ and the ISI.
A COAS without an ally in the secret service would be severely handicapped. Musharraf reacted to Zia-u-din’s appointment by shifting the ISI files for Afghanistan and Kashmir,” reads the book.
“With this move the control of further operations was retained by GHQ. This responsibility was entrusted to Lt General Aziz Khan, CGS within GHQ since 1998. Aziz was considered to be Musharraf’s man. As a Major General he was DDG in the ISI, responsible for Afghanistan and India”.
In the post-Zia period the power and authority of the Prime Minister’s office has gradually eroded with the office of COAS gaining executive powers in the process.