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A story that won’t be carried by any western media (too hot too handle?) and only in the Pakistani and India news outlets. The United States and ambiguity with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Conflict with our own drone policy with clandestine ISI support?
ISI, Pasha enjoy immunity in 26/11 New York court case: US government
NEW YORK (AP) – The US Government has informed a New York court that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its former director generals “enjoy immunity ” in the case related to 26/11 filed by the relatives of victims of the Mumbai terror attack and asked Pakistan to dismantle Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and support India’s efforts to counter terrorist threat.
“In the view of the United States, the ISI is entitled to immunity because it is part of a foreign state within the meaning of the FSIA (Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act),” Stuart Delery, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General told a federal court in New York on December 17 in a submission on a case filed by relatives and family members of the American victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
“Furthermore, the Department of State has determined that former Director Generals Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj are immune because plaintiffs’ allegations relate to acts that these defendants allegedly took in their official capacities as directors of an entity that is undeniably a fundamental part of the Government of Pakistan,” Delery said in his 12-page affidavit.
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The inside story of the CIA-ISI immunity deal
ISLAMABAD (The News Pakistan) – The US State Department’s decision to extend immunity to two former ISI chiefs in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case is in accordance with a clandestine understanding reached between Admiral Mike Mullen and General Ashfaq Kayani during a day-long meeting held at a secluded resort in Oman on February 22, 2011.
The State Department informed a New York federal court on December 19 that the ISI and two of its former director generals enjoyed immunity and cannot be tried in the Mumbai terror attacks case.
But well-informed diplomatic circles in Islamabad say a commitment to this effect had been given to Pakistan’s military top brass almost a year ago by their American counterparts during the Oman meeting.
Those who attended the Oman meeting [besides Kayani and Mullen] included General David Petraeus, the then commander of International Security Assistance Force, Admiral Eric Olson, commander of US Special Operations Command, General James Mattis, commander of US Central Command and Major General Javed Iqbal, the then director general Military Operations. Interestingly, the ISI and CIA chiefs were absent from the conference room during the high-powered meeting.
The meeting was meant to overcome the diplomatic crisis threatening the Pak-US ties in the wake of the arrest of Raymond Davis, an undercover CIA agent, who had killed two youngsters in Lahore on January 27, 2011. The shooting had led to a major diplomatic row between Washington and Islamabad as the Americans insisted that Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity while Pakistanis argued that he was a CIA contractor and not an embassy employee to be given immunity.
In fact, the Davis episode took place hardly a few weeks after a US court summoned the then DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha and several other senior army officers [in November 2010] for their alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks.