Pakistan ISI amd Military In Coup Plot

Arab, treason and plot: Army finally rebuts claims of Pasha coup plot

ISLAMABAD (The Express Tribune) – The chorus of resignation calls, which were fuelled by some serious allegations against the country’s intelligence chief, has managed to elicit a response – finally.

The military denied that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief visited some Arab countries soon after the May 2 Abbottabad raid to discuss a military coup against the civilian government.

Earlier, on December 13, a blog in the UK daily The Independent, quoted Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-origin American businessman, and self-proclaimed whistleblower in the Memogate scandal, as saying: “Their [US intelligence] information was that Pasha had travelled to a few Arab countries to talk about what the necessary line of action would be in the event that they had to remove Zardari from power, and so forth.”

Calls for resignation

The revelation led to first audible calls for Director General (DG) ISI Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s resignation on the parliament floor.

PM Gilani: There cannot be a State within a State

Gilani’s comments signify new rift between military, civilian govt

ISLAMABAD (The Express Tribune) – In today’s episode we take a look at Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s comments in the National Assembly. Gilani’s comments point towards a new spat between the military and the government after the Memogate scandal.

Kamran Yousaf, Senior Reporter for The Express Tribune in Islamabad, says that Pakistan has a chequered history when it comes to power tussles between the two institutions. He says that no one can tell what will happen as a result of this latest spat.

Gilani, while addressing the National Assembly, had said that the establishment would always remain answerable to the parliament.

Commenting on the May 2 raid in Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the premier had said: “I formed a commission to investigate how OBL [Osama bin Laden] was residing in Pakistan for six years.”

He said that people had begun asking him about the issuance of visas, but he wants to ask who issued the visa to Bin Laden, making an obvious link to the lax security measures at the Pak-Afghan border.

The prime minister had said, “There can’t be a state within the state; they [establishment] would always be answerable to the parliament… All institutions of the country are answerable to the parliament.”