ISLAMABAD: The government and the military on Saturday used Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters for a briefing on security matters, especially those related to concerns about suspected subversive role of India’s spy outfit — the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — and the controversial “fighting terror with terror” comment made by the Indian defence minister last week.

But something surprising was that Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), with which Pakistan signed a cooperation agreement earlier this month, was back on the ISI’s radar, according to one account from the meeting.

Both the Prime Minister’s Office and the military spokesman in statements on Mr Sharif’s visit to the ISI offices said he expressed his concerns “over actions of foreign intelligence agencies in destabilising the country”.

PM visits ISI offices

Neither statement named the suspected foreign agencies, but officials confirmed in private conversations that the prime minister was referring to RAW and NDS.

The prime minister was received by Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif at the ISI headquarters.

Mr Sharif had virtually echoed what the army chief said last month about the unrest in Balochistan during his visit to Quetta after the killing of labourers at the site of a development project.

The prime minister’s comment incidentally came a day after terrorists kidnapped and killed 22 bus passengers in Mastung. Balochistan’s Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti claimed at a press conference in Quetta that RAW masterminded the Mastung attack to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agreement.

The timing of the attack — a day after politicians reached a deal on the route of the economic corridor after squabbling over it for months, gave credence to suspicions that the attack was orchestrated by forces opposed to the project.

Furthermore, a suicide bomb attack took place on Friday near the Gaddafi Stadium where Pakistan and Zimbabwe were playing the second match of the one-day series that marked the return of international cricket to the country. The authorities had initially described the incident as a cylinder explosion, but later admitted that it was a suicide attack.

“We will collectively defeat all designs of our enemies and make Pakistan a secure and affluent country no matter what the cost,” the prime minister remarked during the meeting at ISI headquarters.

An official who was present at the meeting said there were clear indications that India was trying to stoke unrest.

Improvement in coordination between the intelligence agencies was emphasised to pre-empt the RAW plots, the official added.

Mr Sharif said the situation warranted “more proactive and coordinated role of all intelligence agencies to bring optimum effects to defeat all threats”.

The prime minister used the visit to express concerns over the statement by Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar last week that “terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists”.

“We would take all possible measures to counter any anti-Pakistan acts,” the prime minister said.

A source said NDS role in terrorism and its ties with RAW were also discussed at the meeting.

The renewed concerns within weeks of signing of an agreement with the Afghan agency reinforced the impression that all was not well with the agreement, which had come under severe criticism in Afghanistan.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, and Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi accompanied the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2015

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