Mamu Posted May 6, 2011 Posted May 6, 2011 Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha may step down in the wake of widespread criticism of the Pakistani establishment over United States special forces killing Osama bin Laden [ Images ] near a key military facility in the garrison city of Abbottabad, according to a media report on Friday. Pasha may quit as the Pakistan government "looks for a fall guy for the bin Laden debacle," unnamed senior officials were quoted as saying by The Daily Beast, a news website affiliated to Newsweek magazine. The senior officials said "they recognise that an important head has to roll and soon" to allay domestic and international anger over bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, located close to the federal capital of Islamabad [ Images ]. The officials said the "most likely candidate to be the fall guy is Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha". They said it was "nearly a done deal". Pakistani analysts with close connections to the military agreed. "It would make a lot of sense...It's in his (Pasha's) personal and the national interest to take the heat off," said Lt Gen (retired) Talat Masood, one of Pakistan's leading defence analysts. An official statement issued on Thursday after a meeting of Corps Commanders chaired by army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani [ Images ] said the military admitted its "own shortcomings in developing intelligence on the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan." It added that "an investigation has been ordered into the circumstances that led to this situation". The Daily Beast reported that Pakistanis were furious that the ISI and the powerful military, which control national security policy, "could have been so incompetent not to know that the al Qaeda leader was comfortably holed up in Abbottabadd," only 80 km north of Islamabad. "Never before have the military and the ISI come under such criticism," said Masood. People are angry that the military, which gets the lion's share of the budget, could be totally unaware that US helicopters had violated Pakistani airspace during the raid that killed bin Laden on Monday. Pakistani officials, both from the civilian government and the military, have said the US did not inform them about the raid. "People are outraged...They see this as the fault of the military in which they have invested so much trust," Masood was quoted as saying. However, a senior ISI officer told The Daily Beast he could not confirm the report and he had no knowledge of Pasha being "pressured into resigning". The officer said, "It's far from routine for someone to resign over failures. But someone has to." A former ISI officer was more blunt, the website reported. "It was a great failure of, and an embarrassment to Pakistani intelligence. The pressure is mounting for Pasha to resign," he said. Pasha's resignation could be the first step in a process of rebuilding that badly damaged confidence, Masood and senior Pakistani officials said. "It could ease a lot of pressure," Masood said. It would also help rehabilitate the army's and the ISI's badly tarnished image. The senior Pakistani officials said Pasha was never keen on the ISI job in the first place as he had no background in intelligence and was an infantry and armour officer in previous commands. He was, however, very close to Kayani, who insisted he take the job when he was nominated as army chief in 2008. Pasha had served under Kayani's command as an infantry officer and had served as head of military operations just as Kayani had. Kayani also headed the ISI during 2004-07 until former military ruler Pervez Musharraf [ Images ] appointed him army chief. Pasha has been given two extensions as the ISI chief, the latest earlier this year. Mods: Pls edit the title -- sp. mistake for chief.
Stuge Posted May 6, 2011 Posted May 6, 2011 More drama to please people from the land of pure . They will do anything to divert the attention of Pak public .
ganeshran Posted May 6, 2011 Posted May 6, 2011 Asif Ali Zardari : Something Shytty happened and no one's blaming me. This is, without a doubt, the high point of my presidency.
Mamu Posted May 7, 2011 Author Posted May 7, 2011 I seriously hope the US Hangs this MoFo by his balls upside down and extract all answers. Come on USA -- stop Pussy Footing. Don't waste my Tax Dollars any more. ISLAMABAD: ISI Chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha left on Friday for Washington to explain Pakistan`s position on the presence of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the country before he was killed in a US raid on May 2. Gen Pasha set off on the critical mission for putting an end to misgivings about Pakistan in the US a day after army`s top brass conceded the failure of intelligence in detecting Osama`s presence in the vicinity of the elite military training institute and ordered an investigation. Uncorroborated reports suggest that before leaving for Washington Gen Pasha met CIA`s station chief in Islamabad and reminded him about ISI`s contributions in the war on terror and the lead about Osama`s courier that eventually led the US to the Al Qaeda chief`s hideout in Abbottabad. Although, Washington does not have any evidence to prove that Pakistani military and intelligence were aware of Osama`s presence in the country, it has put the onus on Pakistan to prove its innocence. Pakistan is now being asked to do something that could prove its sincerity and commitment to the fight against militancy. While defending ISI, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said: “It is easy to say that the ISI and elements in the government are in cahoots with the Al Qaeda. This is a false hypothesis. This is a false charge. It cannot be validated on any account. It flies in the face of what Pakistan, particularly the ISI, has been able to accomplish more than any other agency, including the CIA.” As Gen Pasha left for Washington on a trip aimed at restoring trust, The Daily Beast, an online sister publication of Newsweek, reported that “the head of Pakistan`s … intelligence service may step down, as the government looks for a fall guy for the Bin Laden debacle”. The Daily Beast said Gen Pasha`s resignation “was only a matter of time”. The report about possible resignation of Gen Pasha has struck a chord with the general public who feel to have been let down by the army and ISI, not just because they could not notice the presence of world`s top most fugitive, but also because of their failure to know about the raid by US Navy Seal strike team. If anything could indicate public anger about the military and ISI it was a text message widely circulated on different cellular networks. The message reads: “For sale! obsolete army radar, can`t detect copters, but can receive signals of Star Plus (an Indian entertainment channel). Only Rs999.” Even though the Corps Commanders` Conference held on Thursday tried to allay public doubts about military`s capabilities, reservations linger because of numerous unanswered questions regarding Osama`s presence and the US raid.
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