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| The '''Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence''' (also '''Inter-Services Intelligence''' or '''I.S.I.''') is the principal ] body of the nation of ]. The ISI provided most of the operational and organizational leadership during the ]-funded insurgency in ] against the ]. The ISI is accused of supporting rebels in the separatist ] region, but ] maintains that the ethnic instability in India is playing out in Kashmir by indigenous freedom fighters. | The '''Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence''' (also '''Inter-Services Intelligence''' or '''I.S.I.''') is the principal ] body of the nation of ]. The ISI provided most of the operational and organizational leadership during the ]-funded insurgency in ] against the ]. The ISI is accused of supporting rebels in the separatist ] region, but ] maintains that the ethnic instability in India is playing out in Kashmir by indigenous freedom fighters. | ||
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| Apart from gathering information, the ISI is also responsible for training spies, security of the Pakistan nuclear program and maintaining good relations with People's Republic of China and a good image of Pakistan throughout the world. The ISI is also responsible for the security of top Pakistan army generals. | Apart from gathering information, the ISI is also responsible for training spies, security of the Pakistan nuclear program and maintaining good relations with People's Republic of China and a good image of Pakistan throughout the world. The ISI is also responsible for the security of top Pakistan army generals. | ||
| The insignia of ISI is a green 'P' (This is a nod to the initial director and his habit of signing all official documents with '''''green ink''''') | |||
| == Also Read == | == Also Read == | ||
| *General ] | *General ] | ||
| *General ] | *General ] | ||
| == Introduction== | |||
| ] is one of the world's most well-known ] agencies, and is often viewed in the same regard as the ] and ]. It is known for its efficiency, and many believe it has made a large contribution to the stability and security of ]. | |||
| The organization have world's best ] networks within and out side Pakistan. | |||
| Its many successes in serving Pakistan's ] interests has earned ISI a reputation for being extremely effective as an intelligence agency. However, controversy exists over cases where it has employed the tactics of ] and ]. ISI has also been at the forefront of several publicly embarrassing failures. | |||
| The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence ] was founded in 1948 by a British army officer, ], then Deputy Chief of Staff in Pakistan Army. ], the president of Pakistan in the 1950s, expanded the role of ISI in safeguarding Pakistan's interests, monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan. | |||
| The ISI is tasked with collection of foreign and domestic intelligence; co-ordination of intelligence functions of the three military services; ]e over its ], foreigners, the media, politically active segments of Pakistani society, diplomats of other countries accredited to Pakistan and Pakistani diplomats serving outside the country; the interception and monitoring of communications; and the conduct of covert offensive operations. | |||
| ==Critics== | |||
| Critics of the ISI say that it has become a state within a state, answerable neither to the leadership of the army, nor to the ] or the ]. The result is there has been no real supervision of the ISI, and ], ], and big money have all come into play, further complicating the political scenario. ] was used by ISI to finance not only the Afghanistan war, but also the ongoing proxy war against India in Kashmir and Northeast India. | |||
| The ] Committee deals with all problems bearing on the military aspects of state security and is charged with integrating and coordinating the three services. Affiliated with the committee are the offices of the engineer in chief, the director general of ], the Director of Inter-Services Public Relations, and the Director of ]. | |||
| Staffed by hundreds of civilian and military officers, and thousands of other workers, the agency's headquarters is located in ]. The ISI reportedly has a total of about 50000+ officers and staff members, a number which does not include informants and assets. It is reportedly organized into between six and eight higly trained divisions. | |||
| ==Departments== | |||
| '''Joint Intelligence X (JIX)''' | |||
| serves as the secretariat which co-ordinates and provides administrative support to the other ISI wings and field organisations. It also prepares intelligence estimates and threat assessments. | |||
| '''The Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB)''' | |||
| responsible for political intelligence, was the most powerful component of the organisation during the late 1980s. The JIB consists of three subsections, with one subsection devoted to operations against India. | |||
| '''The Joint Counter Intelligence Bureau (JCIB)''' | |||
| is responsible for field surveillance of Pakistani diplomats stationed abroad, as well as for conducting intelligence operations in the ] and the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union. | |||
| '''Joint Intelligence / North (JIN)''' | |||
| is responsible for ] operations, including infiltration, exfilteration, propaganda and other clandestine operations. | |||
| '''Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM)''' | |||
| conducts ] in foreign countries, including offensive intelligence operations. | |||
| '''The Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB)''' | |||
| which includes Deputy Directors for ], operates a chain of signals intelligence collection stations along the ] with India, and provide communication support to militants operating in Kashmir. | |||
| '''Joint Intelligence Technical''' | |||
| In addition to these main elements, ISI also includes a separate explosives section and a ] section. Published reports provide contradictory indications as to the relative size of these organizational elements, suggesting that either JIX is the largest, or that the Joint Intelligence Bureau is the largest with some sixty percent of the total staff. | |||
| The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence is of particular importance at the joint services level. The directorate's importance derives from the fact that the agency is charged with managing covert operations outside of Pakistan. The ISI supplies weapons, training, advice and planning assistance to terrorists in Kashmir and the the Northeast frontier areas of ]. | |||
| ==1965 War (Kashmir)== | |||
| The ] in Kashmir provoked a major crisis in intelligence. When the war started there was a complete collapse of the operations of all the intelligence agencies, which had been largely devoted to domestic investigative work such as tapping telephone conversations and chasing political suspects. The ISI after the commencement of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war was apparently unable to locate an Indian armoured division due to its preoccupation with political affairs. ] set up a committee headed by ] to examine the working of the agencies. | |||
| ==Domestic Politics== | |||
| The ISI has been deeply involved in domestic ] and, has kept track of the incumbent regime's opponents. Prior to the imposition of ] in 1958, ISI reported to the ] (C-in-C). When martial Law was promulgated in 1958 all the intelligence agencies fell under the direct control of the ] and ], and the three intelligence agencies began competing to demonstrate their loyalty to ] and his government. | |||
| The ISI became even more deeply involved in domestic politics under ], notably in ], where operations were mounted to ensure that no political party should get an overall majority in the general election. An amount of Rs 29 Hundred Thousand was expended for this purpose, and attempts were made to infiltrate the inner circles of the ]. The operation was a complete disaster. | |||
| Mr.] promoted ] in part because the Director of ISI, ], was actively promoting him. General Zia, in return, retained General Jilani as head of ISI after his scheduled retirement. | |||
| ==The Effective Leadership== | |||
| The ISI became much more effective under the leadership of ]. The 1990 elections are widely believed to have been rigged. The Islami Jamhoori Ittehad party was a conglomerate formed of nine mainly rightist parties by the ISI under ] to ensure the defeat of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the polls. Gul denies this, claiming that the ISI's political cell created by Z.A. Bhutto only 'monitored' the ]. | |||
| ==Soviet Proxy War== | |||
| The ] invasion of ] made ] a country of paramount geostrategic importance. In a matter of days, the ] declared Pakistan a "frontline state" against Soviet aggression and offered to reopen aid and military assistance deliveries. Pakistan's top national security agency, the Army's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, monitored the activities of and provided advice and support to the mujahidin, and commandos from the Army's Special Services Group helped guide the operations inside Afghanistan. The ISI trained about 83,000 ] between 1983 to 1997 and dispatched them to Afghanistan. Pakistan paid a price for its activities, as they have to take care of over one million refugee alone without the help of ] as they cut off all the help after winning ]. | |||
| == Taliban== | |||
| The ISI and CIA continued to actively participate in ], supporting the ] in their fight against the ]. Backing of the Taliban would officially end after the terrorist attacks of ]. | |||
| ISI has been engaged in covertly supporting the Kashmiri Mujahideen in their fight against the Indian authorities in Kashmir. Reportedly ] was the designation of the three part action plan for the capture of Kashmir through proxy warfare, initiated by President Zia Ul Haq in 1988 . | |||
| ==Closing Units== | |||
| According to a report compiled by the ] (JIC) of India in 2005,ISI spent about Rs 2.8 crore per month to cut off activities in Jammu and Kashmir. As of May 2003, at least six major militant organizations are banned by Pakistan, and several smaller ones, operated in Kashmir. Their forces were variously estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 . | |||
| Pakistan's military leader, ], has attempted to rein in the ISI. Since September 11th, Islamic fundamentalists have been purged from leadership positions. This includes then-ISI head Lieutenant ], who was replaced in October 2001 by Lieutenant ]. | |||
| Additional reforms of the ISI have been made. Most notable was the decision to disband the Kashmir and Afghanistan units. Both these groups have promoted Islamic fundamentalist militancy throughout South Asia. Some officials have been forced to retire and others have been transferred back to the military. Intelligence experts have estimated that these moves would slash the size of the ISI by close to 40% but enhance the reasearch work and give them the path to rectify the problems within ISI . | |||
| ==Historic Operations== | |||
| * The ISI were first used sent in 1964, in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, codenamed ], their aim being a continued reconnaisance, sabotage of ] facilities and eventual liberation of Kashmir from Indian control. This Operation was a failure and led to a full scale war after India discovered the infiltrators and attacked Pakistan in retaliation. | |||
| * The ISI was again used; this time as a full fledged unit in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 with unimpressive results. Due to poor planning and lack of information about the targets (3 Indian Airbases) the commandos numbering approx. 180 were airdropped into Indian territory with the intention of ] these ] in Western India. However the Indian troops managed to detect and foil the attempt capturing most of the intruders (~160) and killing some SSG personnel in the process. Approx. 20 or so commandos managed to make it back to Pakistan. | |||
| * In the ] of 1971 they were once again used, this time in assistance to regular infantry units and for non-conventional and rescue operations. ISI conducted what would be considered to be "classic special forces missions" against Indian forces during this war. Eventually faced against massive political and military onslaught in ], the ISI could do little in turning the tide of war. Of note is that ] commanded a company of commandos during the war. | |||
| * The ISI was active in Afghanistan in the 1980s during Soviet invasion of ], conducting different type of covert and direct action missions. Again when the balance of power shifted, it led some covert operations against the very Afghanistan government ] that Pakistan (along with ] and ]) had once aided, this time as part of the allied forces in operation Enduring Freedom. The ISI has aided in the capture of many senior Al Qaeda leaders, most notably ] and ] and conducts regular operations as part of the Pakistani Special Operations Task Force in the Tribal Areas of North West Pakistan. | |||
| * The ISI has also conducted many operations in ] against the Indian positions. The most noted one took place in 1987 when Pervez Musharraf (then Brigadier) led a SSG unit assault on Indian posts before being beaten back. In addition, some covert Operations in ] Millitary missions in ], ] and ] have also been executed by ISI operators. In Somalia at 4 October 1993, they along with regular Army, rescued the ], during the ], the occasion popularly known as ]. | |||
| * The involvement in the ] involved early gains which were later lost due to political/military pressure and eventual withdrawl of Pakistani forces to the ]. | |||
| * The ISI has been the primary outfit for Counter-terrorism capability in Pakistan (However as of 1994, each province has established its own CT-Swift Response Team which were trained by joint ] and ] operators from the ] as part of US support to Pakistan). | |||
| * The ISI team of operators has been involved in various successful hostage rescue operations including ] incidents since its inception in 1981. | |||
| ==Special Services Group== | |||
| ] or ] is an Independent Commando Brigade of the ]. It is an elite ] force that similar to the ]. Official numbers are put at Undisclosed, in 8 Battalions however the actual strength is classified. It is estimated to have been increased to 4 Battalions with eventual formation of 5 Brigades of Special Forces (12 Battalions). | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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Revision as of 06:17, 30 October 2005
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (also Inter-Services Intelligence or I.S.I.) is the principal intelligence body of the nation of Pakistan. The ISI provided most of the operational and organizational leadership during the U.S.-funded insurgency in Afghanistan against the USSR. The ISI is accused of supporting rebels in the separatist Kashmir region, but Pakistan maintains that the ethnic instability in India is playing out in Kashmir by indigenous freedom fighters.
ISI has been responsible for gathering information in and around Pakistan. It is also reponsible for anti-terrorist operations, mainly difffusing situations arising from Afghanistan and India.
Apart from gathering information, the ISI is also responsible for training spies, security of the Pakistan nuclear program and maintaining good relations with People's Republic of China and a good image of Pakistan throughout the world. The ISI is also responsible for the security of top Pakistan army generals.
Also Read
- General Akhtar Abdur Rahman
- General Mitha
References
- ISBN 0850528607 - By ISI brigadier Mohammad Yousaf; Afghanistan the Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower.
- ISBN 1594200076 - By Steve Coll; Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001.
- ISBN 1574885502 - Brassey's International Intelligence Yearbook.
- ISBN 041530797X - By Jerrold E Schneider, P R Chari, Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, Stephen Phillip Cohen; Perception, Politics and Security in South Asia: The Compound Crisis in 1990
- ISBN 0802141242 - By George Crile; Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History