Curtains on ISI's political wing

The government's decision to disband the notorious Gestapo-like political wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate has been widely hailed by all segments of democratic forces in Pakistan. The curse had prevailed for more than three decades birthing and breeding a class of politicians in what is satirically called "GHQ flower-pots".
It is an irony of the situation that the outfit was created by the founding father of the PPP, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and disbanded by his political progeny. But that, perhaps, does not complete the process of breaking the shackles of state-controlled politics: PML (N) wants similar action in the Intelligence Bureau and other intelligence agencies in line with its understanding recorded in the Charter of Democracy.
Whether the present government's attempt at taking over the control of the ISI Directorate last July by wresting it from the GHQ was motivated by the elected leaders' desire to move politics away from military oversight we would not know soon. Or, if the political wing of the ISI has been abolished at the insistence of Washington, we would not know either.
Though the task of 'monitoring and managing' the country's political landscape was performed by the ISI even during the military rules of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan it was popularly-elected Z.A. Bhutto who created the political wing within the agency's counter-intelligence department. He also created the Federal Security Force (FSF), an equally notorious outfit, to deal with a difficult Opposition in the Centre and provinces of Balochistan and NWFP where it was in power. This 'state within state' survived Bhutto's removal by General Zia-u-Haq and by the time the military dictator disappeared in thin air in 1988 in the C-130 crash the political wing had grown into a formidable monster.
An anti-democracy Frankenstein was created by an iconic democratic leader, that is the irony. Mindful of the possibility that the PPP would re-emerge as a potent political force under the slain Bhutto's daughter, Benazir Bhutto, the ISI jumped into the electoral arena by creating the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). That was the most serious blow ever delivered to democracy in Pakistan. From then onward we always have had a class of politicians planted by the ISI whose loyalty was committed to non-democratic power centres in a kind of institutional role. With General Musharraf in power the ISI's political wing became all the more active and won for him victory in the 2002 elections.
But, paradoxically, the 2002 electoral victory of king's party engineered by the agency's political wing, carried the seeds of its destruction also. The outfit came to be identified as symbol of dictatorship, attracting a fuller assault by the collective might of democratic forces, be they the political parties, or civil society or media. And when democracy was restored the new army chief, General Kiyani, decided to disconnect the armed forces from politics.
He immediately withdrew Military Intelligence (MI) from Balochistan. In fact, his realisation that emerging geopolitical realities demanded greater professionalism of the Pak Army and its undivided attention to military matters has brought about abolition of the ISI's political wing. Since the ISI is under the nominal control of the prime minister the disbandment of its political wing was announced by Yousuf Raza Gilani. It is hoped this move would help strengthen democratic ambience not only to generate healthy politics but also a strong media and vibrant civil society - away from the prying eyes of the Big Brother.