ISLAMABAD, March 22: The Pakistan People’s Party has called upon members of civil society to raise their voice against the growing highhandedness and interference of intelligence agencies in civil and political matters.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar in a statement demanded that appropriate legislation be made to punish those in the agencies who transgressed the bounds of law.

He referred to a United States Senate briefing on Thursday, where a former US ambassador to the country, Nancy Chamberlin, claimed that over the last six years the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had a “substantial” involvement in drug trade. She was replying to questions by Rep Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California.

The spokesman said: “The people know too well the dirty works the intelligence agencies have been doing. These have ranged from distributing slush funds and public money stolen from banks to make and unmake political alliances in 1988 and kidnapping the torture of political opponents and shaving off their hair and moustache, as was done to the deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly last week.

“The allegations of the ISI’s involvement in drug business however are by far the most serious one. As a former US ambassador to Pakistan in a formal testimony in congressional hearings has claimed so, the allegation cannot and must not be dismissed lightly or contemptuously.

“The PPP recalls that a case of distribution of slush funds among politicians by the ISI to manipulate people’s mandate is also before the Supreme Court for the past several years. The PPP urges the apex court to take up that case urgently. “The PPP believes that it was imperative that the judiciary took a judicial view of the case pending before it pertaining to distribution of slush funds while the elected representatives took up a discussion of the alleged involvement of the ISI in drug business,” he said.