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Military’s spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor announced on Friday that the General Headquarters (GHQ) has summoned former ISI chief retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani on May 28, where he "will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’.”
According to the statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations chief, the attribution of statements in the book to the former ISI chief is being “taken as a violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel”.
Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired being called in GHQ on 28th May 18. Will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’. Attribution taken as violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel.
— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) May 25, 2018
The recently released book titled The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace has been co-authored by former RAW chief A S Dulat and former ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani.
The book is said to be mainly a series of discussions conducted between the two former adversaries on a range of topics by journalist Aditya Sinha.
Released on Wednesday, the paperback has served as an ice-breaker of sorts between the two warring neighbours while also spurring criticism of Indian state repression in held Kashmir.
Earlier in the day, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared to draw a parallel between his own recent statement on the Mumbai attack case and the contents of the said book jointly penned by Durrani and Dulat, and called for the National Security Council (NSC) to re-convene on the matter as it had in his (Sharif's) case.
Nawaz believes that the former DG ISI, through this book, has made public some "serious information" and that it is now necessary to call an emergency NSC meeting to discuss the matter.
It is pertinent to mention here that Nawaz, in an interview to Dawn early this month, had said: "should we allow them [non-state actors] to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai?" — remarks that were perceived across the border as an open admission that the state of Pakistan was involved in the infamous 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Indian media's inflammatory reportage was soon picked up in Pakistan, leading to criticism and condemnation of Nawaz Sharif's stance.
To address the 'situation' arising from the media furore, an NSC meeting was called over the matter during which Nawaz's comments were deemed "incorrect and misleading".
Earlier this week, the former India spymaster had asked the Indian government to invite Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to kick-start the stalled talks between the two countries.
