Pakistan disbands political wing of spy agency

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government has disbanded the political wing of the military intelligence agency ISI to concentrate its focus on counter-terrorism, the foreign minister said Sunday.

The support and cooperation of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate is regarded as vital to the West in fighting the threat of al Qaeda globally, and defeating the Taliban insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan.

But critics call it a "state within a state," and Pakistan's civilian leaders have regularly accused its political wing of involvement in the overthrow of their governments. Neighboring Afghanistan and India view the ISI with great distrust.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the ISI's political wing had been disbanded, and described it as a "positive development."

"ISI is a precious national institution and it wants to focus fully on counter-terrorism activities," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.

The report did not say when the decision was taken.

The army has ruled Pakistan for more than half its history since 1947. Consequently, issues related to the military are closely watched in the region as well as by nuclear-armed Pakistan's Western allies.

MILITARY PUSHED BACK

The latest chapter of military rule ended with the defeat of parties loyal to former army chief Pervez Musharraf in polls in February, and Musharraf's resignation as president in August.

His successor as president, Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani signaled their intention to exert more control over the ISI in July, but backtracked from an attempt to bring it under the ambit of the Interior Ministry.

Senior officials say army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who himself served as ISI head, has been supportive of Pakistan's return to civilian-led democracy while insisting that the army must look after its own affairs.

Since becoming army chief in November last year, Kayani has taken several steps to take the army out of politics, including ordering all officers out of civilian posts and barring them from meeting politicians.

He appointed a new ISI chief in September and replaced several senior officers.

The political wing was established by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, in the 1970s. Bhutto was toppled and hanged by the military in the late 1970s.

His daughter Benazir Bhutto had also accused ISI officials of conspiring to destabilize her two governments in the 1990s.