Stop maligning security institutions

Nazia Nazar

Unfair criticism and biased allegations against own intelligence agencies result into creation of negative impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of these agencies, especially when the allegations/insinuations come from prominent persons like Asma Jahangir, ex-president of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and a proclaimed human rights activist with social standing of a significant celebrity.

Such negative assertions become more cynical and harsh when allegations are not supported with evidence and no chance is given to the agencies concerned to prove their innocence or otherwise. Assassination threats given to Asma Jahangir, as claimed by her, are unfortunate and deplorable. All segments of society including politicians, civil society and social groups have denounced such threats given to a citizen of Pakistan. She further alleges that as she represents the progressive forces of Pakistan who are working hard to resolve the issue of missing persons, therefore, the establishment wanted to silent her voice. She also linked her case with Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar – Malik Riaz conspiracy hatched to malign the Chief Justice, who was also hearing cases against intelligence agencies pertaining to the missing persons.Mst. Asma Jahangir in a press conference stated that she was informed by a reliable source about threat to her life from security agencies of Pakistan. Being a leading lawyer herself, she should use the proper forum to address such complaints rather than tossing around these sensitive matters in media to malign security agencies. If she does not trust NAB and security agencies then she should at least trust the Supreme Court of Pakistan and tell the court about the ‘reliable source’ to prove her claim. Anyhow, she has often been critical of the military and intelligence agencies whether it was Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing or missing persons’ case. Unfortunately, the ISI is blamed by the media as well as members of civil society for every murder of a Blaoch dissident or a journalist on the basis of conjectures, concocted stories and without any concrete evidence. Mst. Jahangir made the threats known to the bar association, and meanwhile asked the government to offer security steps advised to her by foreign experts, though earlier she had declined offer from the defence ministry for providing security. It will be pertinent to give an example of HR and media hype in the past. After journalist Shehzad Salim was killed, Asma Jahangir then President Pakistan Bar Council had filed a petition with the Supreme Court. She had told reporters outside the apex court after filing the petition that “there were charges that a powerful federal agency was involved in Shahzad’s death. And such powerful institutions needed to be controlled”. According to reports, Shahzad had sent an e-mail to Ali Hasan Dayan of Human Rights Watch in October 2010 referring to a meeting he had with two ISI officials, and asked Dayan that the e-mail be released if he or his family were harmed. In fact, Shehzad Salim was in touch with various agencies and various factions of militants at the same time on the plea of extracting news. It is therefore difficult to identify as to who was behind his murder, as he had revealed certain sensitive information about those organizations in his book and articles.In his article published on 10th December 2010 he referred to the differences between Al Qaeda leaders, he stated: “Egyptian Saif-al Adel, a military planner, abu Hafs al Mauritani, once the chief of religious committee and Suleman Abu al Gaith who was former Al Qaeda’s Chief spokesperson had opposed the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US”. In another article carried by Asia Times Online in December 2010 captioned ‘Al Qaeda backs massive push in Swat’, he wrote: “Al Qaeda leaders have allocated Rs. 2 billion and a new training programme for 400 militants in Khyber Agency to start a full-blown insurgency in the Swat area of Khayber-Pakhtunkhwa…Lashkar Jhangvi has also become more discriminating by making well-planned attacks that included high-profile attack on Sri Lankan Cricket team”. On 2nd December 2011, he wrote: “Commander Ilyas Kashmiri is the mastermind behind recruiting, training and their launching operation. North Waziristan is also the base of the powerful Haqqani network of Jalaluddin and his son Sirajuddin”. Some politicos, media men, anchorpersons, analysts and panelists have the penchant to criticize rather badmouth military and intelligence agencies, and some of the palmed off elements do it to advance agendas of their masters. Whether the occasion was when US Navy Seals attacked Abbottabad compound, terrorists attack on Mehran base or US attack on Salala check posts, they tried to denigrate the security forces and the ISI. They said that that it was due to security lapse and inability of the armed forces to retaliate when Pakistan’s sovereignty was violated, knowing full well that Pakistan cannot match the western technology, and moreover cannot go to war with 50 strong countries of the world. Coming back to missing persons’ case or killing of a Baloch nationalist or a journalist, they start accusing the Frontier Constabulary or agencies without any concrete evidence. It has to be mentioned that the case of missing persons has been over-projected using oblique angled political motivation and anti-state nefarious designs. Part of domestic media and dissidents openly hold Pakistan Army, Intelligence Agencies and FC responsible for illegally picking up the Baloch nationals, torturing them and killing them brutally. Their propagation against Pak Army and other associated outfits include psychological techniques of over-simplification, using powerful assertions/sweeping statements and emotional appeal to get sympathy and public attention. Hence, fake stories of missing persons with desperate plight of family members including ordeal of screaming children are published in domestic media. The issue is further projected through holding press club seminars using glittering generalities and strong phrases such as Supreme Court is the last hope for the recovery of missing persons. Similar gimmicks are used through media in leveling allegations against Armed Forces about missing persons. The problem is that some people interpret freedom as the “right to do wrong”, which means that they are free to act even if that means trampling upon the freedom and rights of others. But this is against the very concept of citizens’ rights in a civil society, as these rights are conditional in the sense that no harm should be caused in exercising these rights in the society and the state. Investigating reporting or probe is a serious business and if the media men start blackmailing or use such reporting to take sides and to extract money then of course it could land them into trouble either with the government or with other extremist organizations. But if facts are substantiated with concrete evidence, and the reporter is not swayed by the sentiments or driven by other motives, no harm could be caused to anybody. Unfair criticism and biased allegations against own intelligence agencies result into creation of negative impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of these agencies, especially when the allegations/insinuations come from prominent persons like Asma Jahangir, ex-president of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and a proclaimed human rights activist with social standing of a significant celebrity. Such negative assertions become more cynical and harsh when allegations are not supported with evidence and no chance is given to the agencies concerned to prove their innocence or otherwise. Assassination threats given to Asma Jahangir, as claimed by her, are unfortunate and deplorable. All segments of society including politicians, civil society and social groups have denounced such threats given to a citizen of Pakistan. She further alleges that as she represents the progressive forces of Pakistan who are working hard to resolve the issue of missing persons, therefore, the establishment wanted to silent her voice. She also linked her case with Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar – Malik Riaz conspiracy hatched to malign the Chief Justice, who was also hearing cases against intelligence agencies pertaining to the missing persons.Mst. Asma Jahangir in a press conference stated that she was informed by a reliable source about threat to her life from security agencies of Pakistan. Being a leading lawyer herself, she should use the proper forum to address such complaints rather than tossing around these sensitive matters in media to malign security agencies. If she does not trust NAB and security agencies then she should at least trust the Supreme Court of Pakistan and tell the court about the ‘reliable source’ to prove her claim. Anyhow, she has often been critical of the military and intelligence agencies whether it was Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing or missing persons’ case. Unfortunately, the ISI is blamed by the media as well as members of civil society for every murder of a Blaoch dissident or a journalist on the basis of conjectures, concocted stories and without any concrete evidence. Mst. Jahangir made the threats known to the bar association, and meanwhile asked the government to offer security steps advised to her by foreign experts, though earlier she had declined offer from the defence ministry for providing security. It will be pertinent to give an example of HR and media hype in the past. After journalist Shehzad Salim was killed, Asma Jahangir then President Pakistan Bar Council had filed a petition with the Supreme Court. She had told reporters outside the apex court after filing the petition that “there were charges that a powerful federal agency was involved in Shahzad’s death. And such powerful institutions needed to be controlled”. According to reports, Shahzad had sent an e-mail to Ali Hasan Dayan of Human Rights Watch in October 2010 referring to a meeting he had with two ISI officials, and asked Dayan that the e-mail be released if he or his family were harmed. In fact, Shehzad Salim was in touch with various agencies and various factions of militants at the same time on the plea of extracting news. It is therefore difficult to identify as to who was behind his murder, as he had revealed certain sensitive information about those organizations in his book and articles.In his article published on 10th December 2010 he referred to the differences between Al Qaeda leaders, he stated: “Egyptian Saif-al Adel, a military planner, abu Hafs al Mauritani, once the chief of religious committee and Suleman Abu al Gaith who was former Al Qaeda’s Chief spokesperson had opposed the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US”. In another article carried by Asia Times Online in December 2010 captioned ‘Al Qaeda backs massive push in Swat’, he wrote: “Al Qaeda leaders have allocated Rs. 2 billion and a new training programme for 400 militants in Khyber Agency to start a full-blown insurgency in the Swat area of Khayber-Pakhtunkhwa…Lashkar Jhangvi has also become more discriminating by making well-planned attacks that included high-profile attack on Sri Lankan Cricket team”. On 2nd December 2011, he wrote: “Commander Ilyas Kashmiri is the mastermind behind recruiting, training and their launching operation. North Waziristan is also the base of the powerful Haqqani network of Jalaluddin and his son Sirajuddin”. Some politicos, media men, anchorpersons, analysts and panelists have the penchant to criticize rather badmouth military and intelligence agencies, and some of the palmed off elements do it to advance agendas of their masters. Whether the occasion was when US Navy Seals attacked Abbottabad compound, terrorists attack on Mehran base or US attack on Salala check posts, they tried to denigrate the security forces and the ISI. They said that that it was due to security lapse and inability of the armed forces to retaliate when Pakistan’s sovereignty was violated, knowing full well that Pakistan cannot match the western technology, and moreover cannot go to war with 50 strong countries of the world. Coming back to missing persons’ case or killing of a Baloch nationalist or a journalist, they start accusing the Frontier Constabulary or agencies without any concrete evidence. It has to be mentioned that the case of missing persons has been over-projected using oblique angled political motivation and anti-state nefarious designs. Part of domestic media and dissidents openly hold Pakistan Army, Intelligence Agencies and FC responsible for illegally picking up the Baloch nationals, torturing them and killing them brutally. Their propagation against Pak Army and other associated outfits include psychological techniques of over-simplification, using powerful assertions/sweeping statements and emotional appeal to get sympathy and public attention. Hence, fake stories of missing persons with desperate plight of family members including ordeal of screaming children are published in domestic media. The issue is further projected through holding press club seminars using glittering generalities and strong phrases such as Supreme Court is the last hope for the recovery of missing persons. Similar gimmicks are used through media in leveling allegations against Armed Forces about missing persons. The problem is that some people interpret freedom as the “right to do wrong”, which means that they are free to act even if that means trampling upon the freedom and rights of others. But this is against the very concept of citizens’ rights in a civil society, as these rights are conditional in the sense that no harm should be caused in exercising these rights in the society and the state. Investigating reporting or probe is a serious business and if the media men start blackmailing or use such reporting to take sides and to extract money then of course it could land them into trouble either with the government or with other extremist organizations. But if facts are substantiated with concrete evidence, and the reporter is not swayed by the sentiments or driven by other motives, no harm could be caused to anybody.