Introducing Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan

Daily Times, June 2, 2006
EDITORIAL: IB harassment of newspapermen

Pakistan and India have been engaged in a peace process since January 2004; top officials on the two sides meet regularly and promise to enhance people-to-people contact; they are talking about trade and other exchanges and so on. But none of this activity seems to have reached the attention of the Intelligence Bureau, whose low level personnel continue to slither and slide in the old grooves and behave as if they are the last bastion of defence against the Indian “enemy”.

This was obvious when a few days ago some journalists emerged from a reception at the Indian press councillor’s residence in Islamabad. A man in civvies stopped the car of Rana Qaisar, this newspaper’s bureau chief, and asked him to identify himself and narrate the purpose of his visit to the Indian press councillor’s house. Upon this, Mr Qaisar correctly asked the man to first identify himself and explain why he was asking such questions. The unidentified man would not give his identity and pressed with his questions. Upon this, Mr Qaisar declared that he was not under any obligation to identify himself to someone he (Mr Qaisar) did not know and put the car in motion. The man then tried to grab Mr Qaisar’s collar, forcing the latter to stop the car and get out. A fracas ensued which was joined by other newspapermen returning from the reception. At that point it emerged that the man in civvies was an IB sleuth. A bizarre aspect of this incident is that later the IB-wallahs meted out the same treatment to a TV journalist.

Later, Mr Qaisar called the federal minister for information, Mohammad Ali Durrani, who said that he would call back in 30 minutes but never followed up on that promise. So much for Mr Durrani’s credentials with Mr Qaisar. The next day, Mr Qaisar had to call the minister himself, but to no avail. Mr Qaisar also informed the DG of Inter-Services Public Relations, Gen Shaukat Sultan, who merely said that Mr Qaisar should have identified himself. Of course, the official responses failed to take heed of the fact that an intelligence official, especially if he is not in uniform, must first identify himself before questioning someone. No one is going to identify himself if accosted by an unknown person. The natural response when asked such a question is to counter-question the person and ask him for his identity.

The second aspect of this episode is the obvious question of why IB personnel should be harassing people who openly attend functions at the Indian High Commission. Clearly, the IB should have known that the Indian press councillor was holding a reception; clearly, the IB should also have known that the city’s media community would attend the reception. What is the purpose of deputing intelligence officials to inquire about the identities of guests? What would the IB do with such a guest list, harass them?

It’s about time the government purged its ranks of these Cold War warriors. Or at least tell them that the rules of the game need to be changed and they have to change with them.

The IB owes Mr Qaiser an apology. Can Mr Durrani obtain one for Mr Qaiser? *