Term of DG ISI extended to preserve ‘continuity’ of policy at a time the country faces increasing militant attacks: Caretaker PM Kakar
ISLAMABAD, Nov 10 (SABAH): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said the term of the head of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, had been extended to preserve “continuity” of policy at a time the country faces increasing militant attacks.
“Try to understand the point on continuity [of policy]. Any system prefers and supports the idea of continuity,” Kakar told “Arab News” in an interview, when asked why Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was given an extension.
“You want to have a continuation of the process, and for you the continuation of that process is important so that idea or practice or brand gets entrenched,” the Caretaker PM added.
“So, in that context at times in many institutions, you do feel, or the political dispensation feels, that some individual has to continue for any security benefit or otherwise, and they [the state] have got the discretion to do that [grant extension]. There’s nothing unusual and abnormal about it.”
Kakar told “Arab News” he did not want to link the rise in militancy to a possible delay in the election. “They [militants] keep on changing their tactics, we have to respond accordingly,” the PM said. “So that’s why I’m saying that I’m not linking it [rise in attacks] or our government is not linking it with the electoral process.”
“As we will be approaching to the electoral day, this kind of rhetoric would further increase and for very obvious, understandable reasons and that [is that] every political party wants to create a perception in my opinion with its voters and its support base that they are the victim of the administration and to attract that sympathy and translate to into vote support,” Kakar said, rebuffing accusations of unfair competition.
“I don’t see that there is a government policy of the caretaker to encourage or discourage one or other political group.”
Responding to allegations by the PTI of a widespread crackdown against the party, and by Imran Khan that over 100 legal cases against him were politically motivated, the PM said all parties had the right to seek remedies through courts.
“They should exhaust all the legal options if they are being legally barred from the electoral process,” the PM said.
When asked if he was prepared, as head of the caretaker government, to create a “level playing field” by suspending Khan’s sentence so he could contest elections, as the Punjab administration had done for Sharif, Kakar said:
“We will deliberate in that situation if [it arises] … If it comes to that, we will deliberate that what are the options and what needs to be done and we will decide accordingly.”