Guest Column | Judges Rule

Radhavinod Raju

Recent developments in Pakistan are being watched keenly by security experts from around the globe. For the first time an authority, other than the serving army chief of Pakistan, has called the ISI to account for its deeds!

This happened when the Supreme Court of Pakistan, led by the intrepid Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhry, summoned the ISI to produce some persons allegedly held in their illegal custody. All pleas of the ISI’s counsel that some of them cannot be brought there due to health reasons fell on deaf ears. They were directed that no one was above the law, and all have to obey summons to appear before it, or face action! Eleven persons accused of attacking the General Headquarters of the army had been earlier acquitted, but had been picked up sometime in 2010 from Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail and allegedly kept in illegal detention by different agencies, including the ISI. It is not that this was the first time such illegal detentions have happened in Pakistan. But in this case, the Supreme Court took suo moto notice and summoned the Agencies to produce the detainees before the Court. Finally, seven of the 11 detainees were produced before the Court, 4 having died earlier, presumably under torture. The Apex court has called for all documents pertaining to their detention by the first week of March, and asked the ISI to explain the deaths of the four detainees.

These developments have taken place because of the way in which the Supreme Court has handled various issues, including those that pertain to corruption where President Asif Ali Zardari has claimed immunity under an executive order issued by former President Musharraf following an understanding with the late Benazir Bhutto, paving the way for her re-entry into Pakistan. The Apex Court has exhibited the highest standards of impartiality in dealing with these sensitive issues, and built a formidable reputation for itself. It will not be easy for any authority, civilian or the army, to ignore the Supreme Court’s directions anymore.

As against this, let us see how the present civilian government, elected through a democratic process, has handled the ISI and the Army, and how the Army has maintained its stranglehold over the civilian rulers, notwithstanding its poor record. The recent Memogate scandal readily gives enough examples of the manner in which the civilian government has handled the ISI-with kid gloves! The defence secretary of Pakistan, Lt Gen. Naeem Khalid Lodhi (retd), in response to the notice issued to h