Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha shied away from divulging any information on the “host network” of Osama bin Laden despite repeated inquiries from members of parliament (MPs) during the in-camera briefing to a joint session of parliament on Friday. A source told Pakistan Today that when a National Assembly member asked for details on the facilitators and hosts of bin Laden and his family during the al Qaeda chief’s five-year stay in Abbottabad and his long but quite journey from Afghanistan into Pakistan, Pasha said it would be premature to share that information.
“Yes, he stayed there for five years but he did not come out of his room during this long period. There must be some facilitators… But let the authorities complete the inquiry into the matter… Give us some time as any information sharing at this juncture may harm the probe,” the source quoted the ISI DG as saying. “Pasha also recounted his recent unpleasant meeting with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Leon Panetta in the US. He said that during the meeting, he had asked the CIA chief to share the details of the CIA agents working covertly in Pakistan. However, Panetta told him that the agency was working in the national interest of Pakistan and there was no need for the ISI to seek their details.
This infuriated Lt General Pasha and he said if the CIA agents were working in Pakistan’s interest, then Pakistan had the right to know who they were and what they had been tasked with… This resulted in an exchange of harsh words between the two spymasters,” the source said. The source said that contrary to media reports, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had stayed in parliament until the passage of the resolution. He said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators seemed to be divided during the briefing, with Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Tehmina Daultana launching a tirade against the military establishment, while Javed Hashmi’s group stood by the military.He also took to task Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, said the source, saying that the government should inform the House who had given Haqqani the authority to say that heads would roll on the Osama lapse.
“As soon as the ISI DG headed to the rostrum for briefing, Daultana made an attempt to spoil the candid and sombre environment by shouting at the general, calling the military officers ‘usurpers’ who, after failing at their duties, had turned to parliament to rescue them,” said the source, adding that this outburst angered General Pasha, who seemed agitated and replied harshly. Temperature in the House rose further when Senator Parvez Rashid asked him not to dictate the house but brief it, said the source. The Pakistan People’s Party’s Fauzia Wahab, said the source, had provoked some female legislators of the PML-Quaid against PML-N leaders, which resulted in a prompt answer by Senator Gulshan Saeed, who rose from her seat after Daultana’s tirade and said: “We will cut out the tongues that are used to insult our armed forces… No insult will be tolerated!”
Dr Babar Awan also kept pushing the PML- Q leaders against Chaudhry Nisar during his speech. However, the PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique went to the bench of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and asked him to calm down his party members. Shujaat instantly told his party members not to disturb Nisar.Attaur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl was another MP who used derogatory language against the armed forces, saying that ISI had funded and raised the Taliban. “Now when your father (alluding to the US) has dumped you, you have come to parliament for rescue,” he said. However, General Pasha responded in the same manner, saying that respect kept him from sharing with the nation who had been getting favours from Libya, UAE and the Saudis. This made Rehman stage a token walkout and return after a while on his own.
Hashmi, however, sought to console General Pasha, saying that parliament was like a mother to its fellow institutions and it would not allow anyone to insult the armed forces. “Yes there were lapses but we are ready to share your burden… Today we have forgiven all your lapses and we stand by you at this critical juncture,” he said. Saad Rafique was another PML-N leader who came forward to support the men in uniform, saying the entire nation stood behind the armed forces like a rock. The source termed the briefing as “candid” rather than informative, adding that it was an achievement for parliament as this dialogue had helped bridge gaps and misunderstandings between the politicians and the security establishment of the country.
