1)WHAT IS THE ISI?
2)HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT?
3)HOW DOES THE ISI INTERFACE WITH THE ISLAMIC MILITIA OF PAKISTAN?
1)The ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) is Pakistan's largest intelligence group. It was created to strengthen their current military in 1947 during the first Indo-Pak War.
2) I found the relationship between the ISI and the Pakistani government very interesting. There are instances when the ISI has gone against governmental policy. There are also instances when the ISI can and does influence policies and politicians. So the relationship sounds very strong, if it can go against the government but still have a very strong influence. Some of the examples I found was that: it is believed that the elections of 1990 were rigged by the ISI. (in favor of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad [IJI party]) Lt. Gul, head of the ISI at the time, denied this fact. The ISI also interfered with the politics of Karachi. (financial capital of Pakistan) The ISI was also accused of assassinating Shahnawaz Bhutto. (PPP [Pakistan People's Party]) However no proof has been found against the ISI. The ISI was also involved in a massive corruption scandal dubbed the Mehran bank scandal or Mehrangate. In which large sums of money were given to the ISI, this was against government policy as such banking which involves government institutions can only be done through state-owned financial institutions. The ISI's director at the time, Habib, was arrested and the scandal was made public.
3)I could not find how the ISI interfaced with the Islamic militia of Pakistan, only that they did interface with them.
~Emilie
Really interesting post. I think the analogy of the big dog in the small apt. fits here. It is also interesting to me how the official line of the time is often just spin. The new order of the world seems to be that the state actors, official governments, are less and less the story of what is really happening. The ISI is a good example of this new paradigm.
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