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| Lal Masjid weapons cast doubts on role of agencies |
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Friday, July 13, 2007
Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: A large quantity of arms and ammunition was found in the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa Complex, as claimed by the military authorities, leaving the vital question unanswered as to how did these weapons get into the building, situated right in the heart of the federal capital.
The government’s declaration that the ammunition belongs to the Lal Masjid’s “militants”, even if blindly accepted, is a charge sheet against the whole network of intelligence agencies in the country. Now after the Lal Masjid operation is over leaving many dead, the government has also discovered that the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa Complex was being used as a terrorist spot.
The weapons, which were shown to have been found from the mosque premises, include rocker launchers, landmines, Kalashnikovs (AK-47 assault rifles), hand grenades, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), pistols, guns, loads of rounds, etc.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said that Jamia Hafsa was not a religious seminary but a place from where every kind of terrorist activities were taking place. He, however, did not bother to explain how it became possible in the heart of Islamabad. Lal Mosque is located just a few kilometers from the headquarters of the top intelligence agencies – the Inter Services Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau.
There is a general perception that the agencies had their role in the making of Lal Masjid force. Contrary to their primary role of doing espionage for the security of the country, the intelligence agencies here have been repeatedly caught napping as they have been more concerned with spying on judges, politicians, bureaucrats and even journalists. Now these agencies are even making political parties and fielding candidates for elections.
Of late, the Full Court of the Supreme Court that is hearing the constitutional petition of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, directed the DG IB to clean the official residences and chambers of the superior judiciary from bugging devices after it was revealed through government documents, submitted to the apex court that Justice Iftikhar was being spied upon.
During the initial years of his rule, President Musharraf did realise that the intelligence agencies had become extremely politicised. He had once even, in 2001, directed the revamping of the intelligence network but later his growing dependence on these agencies for sustainability of his rule further politicised them.
At that time, Musharraf, while expressing his concern over the continuing incidents of terrorism, had directed the intelligence agencies to “re-orientate their focus to criminal activities, sectarian violence and terrorism instead of political intelligence”.
It was admitted that the intelligence agencies had, so far, concentrated on political intelligence and had been used to attain the political objectives of the successive governments. Contrary to their condemned role of harassing, influencing or following politicians, it was said, there was an immediate need that these agencies should infiltrate into terrorist groups to find out their contacts, plans of action and modus operandi.
The president, at that time, had resolved that the intelligence agencies would be geared up for provision of tactical and strategic information with complete analysis so that pre-emptive action could be taken against terrorist organisations and individuals.
Even, on that occasion, the government had expressed its dissatisfaction over the overall performance of the agencies, particularly their role of checking crimes, mainly terrorism. The agencies, it was noted, were providing information and reports after an event had taken place, which was even otherwise available through the print media.
To make them effective, the president had directed re-organisation of the agencies in a manner that they could provide tactical and strategic information with complete analysis so that pre-emptive action could be taken before the planned event.
The authorities were also told to ensure that there should be a vertical as well as horizontal coordination for collection and supply of information so that not only coordination was there among various agencies, both federal and provincial, but also timely action could be taken by the law-enforcement agencies.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
