In public domain: An indictment of spymasters
The Report of the Abbottabad Commission of Inquiry which was being kept under wraps is finally out courtesy, as usual, a foreign media network. While it took 26 years for the Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report to be accessible to the general public, the present one got publicised within a few months. The murder will out, as the saying goes. In fact most of the revelations it makes and the disturbing questions it raises had already found place in the media. The report only puts the seal of authenticity on them.
The conclusions drawn in the report constitute a damning indictment of the civilian government and intelligence agencies. The report maintains that the Abbottabad episode was the outcome of “government implosion syndrome” resulting in culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of administration. The entire system had for all intents and purposes been rendered dysfunctional. The report underlines the decline of professionalism in security agencies with inner rivalries impacting negatively on their effectiveness. The best resourced ISI, it has been observed, acted unprofessionally, lacked commitment to fight extremism and terror and obstructed the performance of other spy outfits. The report raises the question whether there could have been rogue elements in intelligence agencies or retired military personnel who could have acted as OBL’s support network. “Osama bin Laden was able to stay within the limits of Abbottabad Cantonment due to a collective failure of the military authorities, the intelligence authorities, the police and the civilian administration… How the entire neighbourhood, local officials, police and security and intelligence officials all missed the size, the strange shape, the barbed wire, the lack of cars and visitors etc over a period of nearly six years beggars belief.” It concludes that there was also extensive complacency, inefficiency and negligence in the local civil administration, the police and the civil and military intelligence agencies and security authorities of the cantonment area.
The decision to classify the report against the recommendation of the chairman of the commission to publish it indicates that the policy of pushing the dirt under the rug continues to be in place. It is widely understood that if instead of suppressing the Hamoodur Rehman Commission’s report, its recommendations had been implemented, the country might have been saved from the Kargil misadventure and the subsequent military coup led by Musharraf. That the establishment tried to hide the facts indicates its resistance to improvement and reform. The attitude explains why the pernicious shortcomings of the security agencies highlighted in the report continue to persist. They act as rivals, do not share information, remain a step behind the terrorists and try to cover up their blunders in the name of national interest as before. The country cannot face the grave challenge posed by extremism and militancy unless the newly elected government brings all the agencies under one command and ensures parliamentary oversight over their working by enacting the necessary legislation. Meanwhile the government should publish the report for public discussion and debate.
