TODAY'S PAPER | NOVEMBER 02, 2021

Zul kar commission suggested law to

legalise IB working
Nasir Iqbal | Published March 31, 2012

ISLAMABAD, March 31: As the Supreme Court is grappling with

the issue of widening the scope of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar
Khan’s case by focusing its attention on the Intelligence Bureau
(IB), the matter reminds one of recommendations made by the
Zulfikar commission on enhancing proficiency of the civilian
agency.

The two-decade-old report on the working of security and

intelligence agencies by the commission has still to see the light of
day. It had recommended that the IB should focus on covert anti-
state and subversive activities of political parties or individuals,
rather than on overt activities of such parties as these found ample
coverage in the press.

“The interest of the IB in political parties should be more by way of

analysis and assessment of the overall situation in the country,” said
the report, whose copy is with Dawn.

Finalised in 1989, the report was presented before a three-judge

Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhry, hearing a 1996 petition of Asghar Khan who had
requested the court to look into the allegations of ISI’s financing of
politicians in the 1990 election to limit the victory of Benazir Bhutto’s
Pakistan People’s Party.
The report was placed before the court in a sealed envelope by its
office and was later returned and sealed again.

The Supreme Court still has to make up its mind on declassifying the
report, along with other documents.

The commission was appointed by former prime minister Benazir

Bhutto under then Air Marshal Zulfikar Ali Khan to review the
working of security and intelligence agencies and recommend
measures to improve their performance. It was set up in view of
serious inadequacies and shortcomings in the structure of
intelligence network and their working systems.

It had suggested to the government to enact a law to legalise the

working of the IB. The charter of duties of the IB should be studied in
detail, updated and, if necessary, revised in the light of present day
requirements of the government. It called for appointing a JIC (joint
intelligence committee) which should work under the National
Security Council (NSC) to be headed by the prime minister.

The NSC would help provide a unified policy direction to and

coordination between different intelligence agencies. The council
should comprise ministers for foreign affairs, defence, interior and
finance and the JIC chairman. The chairman of the Joint Chief of
Staff Committee and chiefs of the three armed forces should attend
its meetings as advisers.

The report said the JIC should steer intelligence functions within the
framework of policy directives given by the NSC. The JIC should
comprise a permanent chairman and secretaries of foreign affairs,
defence, interior and finance and IB and ISI chiefs.

In view of the infiltration by agents of the Indian intelligence agency

(RAW) in rural Sindh and Afghan agents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and Balochistan, the report suggested that counter-intelligence
efforts in these areas should be stepped up.

“Surveillance, both technical and human, is a highly specialised field

of work and, therefore, the IB needs to attain a high measure of
proficiency in both.”

The report that monitoring of telephones should be undertaken only

where absolutely necessary and each case should be authorised by a
competent authority for a stated period. The IB should be divided
into two separate departments, internal and security and counter-
intelligence and external as the other. Alternatively, the external and
counter-intelligence department should be established as a distinct
directorate with sufficient strength of professional, whole time
personnel to be trained and deployed on a war-footing on the lines
of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW.

Working and utility of the links abroad should be reappraised and

their task revised and updated from time to time. Central control of
agents should be seriously considered, the report said.

Security of documents in sensitive ministries and the Prime

Minister’s Secretariat should be improved. “Top secret” and “eyes
only” documents should under no circumstances leave the premises
and each document should be issued to an officer cleared for that
classification and returned to the secret registry before the close of
the day.

Likewise vetting of personnel in sensitive ministries and the PM

Secretariat should be made very thorough and debugging and
sweeping of these ministries and the secretariat should be more
frequent. Telephones in the PM’s secretariat and residence should be
checked for debugging everyday. The report said that experience has
suggested that the IB and special branches suffered in proficiency on
account of being manned by deputationists.

“The IB and four special branches and possibly the existing defence
intelligence services put together can form a large cadre both for
officers and other ranks. Steps should be taken to create these
cadres. There are several training institutions which is wasteful. A
single combined facility to cater for officers and men of the ISI
Directorate, IB and special branches should be set up to ensure a
high quality of output,” the report said.
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