‘US, UK against Pakistan’s nuclear programme’

The Ministry of Defense Secretary Asif Yasin Malik on Friday disclosed that there is no agreement present between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for conducting operations inside Pakistan. However, the United States (US) often utilizes intelligence agencies of other countries for conducting operations inside Pakistan, and the US have provided the details of the number of CIA officials in Pakistan to the government.
Holding informal discussions with reporters here at the Ministry of Defense, Asif disclosed that Pakistan had established a new phase of relations with the US on the basis of mutual interests, adding that US and the UK were against the nuclear programme of the country. He said that now there was a visible change in the tone of US towards Pakistan.
Responding a question, the defence secretary maintained that there was no agreement of any sort between the CIA and the ISI for conducting operations inside Pakistan.
Elaborating further, Asif said that the US had officially informed Pakistan about the number of CIA officials station in Pakistan. But the American intelligence agency had also been utilising the services of intelligence agencies from other countries to complete its operations in Pakistan.
Replying to a query in relation with the Asghar Khan case, the defence secretary said that no directive from the Ministry for Law, Justice and the Parliamentary Affairs had been received by the defence ministry regarding former Chief of Army Staff Aslam Baig and ex-ISI chief Asad Durrani.
However, Yasin further added that if they received any directions from the ministry concerned, the necessary measures would be adopted in line with the particular directives.
The secretary stated that there were no objections if any action was introduced against the mentioned former army generals under the civilian legislations and rules. ISI had never owned any political cell, he said while responding another query.
Asif said that Pakistan Army was capable of conducting any sort of military operation in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) irrespective of the time and geography of the area, but it would not prove fruitful unless the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan were not completely sealed.
Moreover, the defence secretary was of the view that in case of any such military expedition, the militants would escape to Afghanistan via the Pak-Afghan border and returned back at a later time.
Asif informed the journalists that the defense budget was not presented before the Parliament anywhere in the world as it was presented in the in-camera sessions of the standing committee, however, in Pakistan it was presented before the Parliament for approval.
To another query, he said that the issue of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) planes that were damaged during terrorists’ strikes in Kamra and Mehran Base was being discussed regarding repair and replacement issues. “No foreign influence is greeted while preparing the defense policy of the country, as 95 percent of defense policy is prepared in consultation with all three services chiefs and joint staff offices,” Asif added.
Meanwhile, while talking about the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), he said that the government had released a heavy amount to improve the situation of PIA which was in a deficit of more than Rs 192 billion. The official airline had raked in profits since September this year, he added. However during Hajj operations, the national carrier had faced losses worth Rs 410 million.
Discussing the liabilities being faced by PIA, the defence secretary said that the total financial liabilities of the PIA in 2008 were Rs 42 billion which had increased to Rs 152 billion.