| Inter-Services Intelligence activities in the United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Part of Pakistan–United Kingdom relations | |
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| Location | |
| Objective | Operational |
This article lists activities or field operations reportedly undertaken by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the United Kingdom .
ISI's operations in the UK have been described as "among the most comprehensive outside Pakistan", drawing heavily upon the support of the 1.2-million-strong British Pakistani community. [1] ISI's interests in Britain may be projected through intelligence officials posted at the High Commission of Pakistan in London and at consulates elsewhere. [1] British intelligence agencies such as MI6 maintain counter-terrorism cooperation with the ISI. [1]
When the Pakistani cricket team toured England in 2006, the English Cricket Board (ECB) invited former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, living in exile in London at that time, to the VIP enclosure at a match in Lords as cricket diplomacy. Sharif was a political opponent of the Musharraf-led government back in Pakistan. Shahryar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman at that time, received a telephone call from an ISI official posted at the Pakistani High Commission enquiring "how Nawaz Sharif had received the invitation which he could exploit in his favour with the Pakistan media." [2] The official pressed Khan to request the ECB to cancel the invitation, thinking the latter had been involved. In his book, Khan remarks that "I brusquely informed the ISI Brigadier that I had no hand in the invitation and had no contact with Nawaz Sharif, my former boss... and that his invitation to the box had been made independently by the ECB." [2]
According to a report by The Telegraph , Pakistani ISI had been operating Kashmir-centric lobbying groups, The Justice Foundation and World Kashmir Freedom Movement in London. The objectives of these organisations were similar to that of the Kashmiri American Council, another non-governmental lobbying group based in Washington and led by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, which also received ISI support. These groups sought to influence the government's positions on the Kashmir conflict in their respective host countries. [3] Based in central London and founded by Kashmiri activist Ayub Thakur, The Justice Foundation, however, describes itself as a non-aligned organisation. It had arranged conferences and events in the House of Commons and House of Lords focusing on human rights issues in Jammu and Kashmir and conflict resolution on Kashmir. The group has hosted several Labour, Conservative and Liberal-Democrat MPs, as well as politicians from Pakistan, and received messages of support from then Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mayor of London Ken Livingstone amongst others. [4] Conferences such as these draw strongly upon the support of the British Kashmiri community. [1]
Indian intelligence alleged that the ISI supported pro-Khalistan movement activists based in the UK, convening a training course for them in 2014 in Mae Sot, Thailand. [5] However, in a 2019 report published by British government-funded Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) concluded there was no evidence of Pakistan supporting "pro Khalistan" movement. [6]
According to a report by The Guardian, MI5 and Metropolitan Police had uncovered a plan by ISI to assassinate Pakistan-origin Baloch and Pashtun activists living in UK. The report also stated that the conspiracy to murder of Ahmad Waqass Goraya, a Pakistani Human Rights activist living in exile in Netherlands, in June 2021, was also planned by ISI. [7] [8]
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pakistan, having served a total of more than 9 years across three tenures. Each term has ended in his ousting.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (Urdu: پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن), romanized: Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn)abbr.PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate. The party was founded in 1993, when a number of prominent conservative politicians in the country joined hands after the dissolution of Islamic Democratic Alliance, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The party's platform is generally conservative, which involves supporting free markets, deregulation, lower taxes and private ownership. Although the party historically supported social conservatism, in recent years, the party’s political ideology and platform has become more liberal on social and cultural issues. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), it is one of the three major political parties of the country.
Bhat is a surname in the Indian subcontinent. Bhat and Bhatt are shortened renditions of Bhatta.
The Intelligence Bureau is a civilian intelligence agency in Pakistan. Established in 1947, the IB is Pakistan's oldest intelligence agency. DG IB is a 4 star equivalent rank of the BPS apex scale in Pakistan. Appointments and supervision of its operations are authorized by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a formerly armed, political separatist organisation active in both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir. It was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat also credited as a co-founder. Originally a militant wing of the Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front, the organization officially changed its name to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Birmingham, England on 29 May 1977; from then until 1994 it was an active Kashmiri militant organization. The JKLF first established branches in several cities and towns of the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe, as well as in the United States and across the Middle East. In 1982, it established a branch in the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and by 1987, it had established a branch in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley.
The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.
Operation Tupac is the codename of an ongoing military-intelligence contingency program that has been active since the 1980s and run by Pakistan's main intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). It has a three-part action plan to provide covert support to anti-India separatists and militants in Indian-administered Kashmir. The program was authorized and initiated in 1988 by the order of the then-President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
Lieutenant General Hamid GulHI(M) SI(M) SBt was a three-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and defence analyst. Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to Afghan resistance groups against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.
General Muhammad Aziz KhanNI(M) HI(M) SBt TBt, best known as Aziz Khan, is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who served as the 11th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, appointed in October 2001 until his retirement in 2005.
Yasin Malik is a Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant who advocates the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan. He is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which originally spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley. Malik renounced violence in 1994 and adopted peaceful methods to come to a settlement of the Kashmir conflict. In May 2022, Malik pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Lieutenant General Javed NasirHI(M) SBt PEC ), is a Pakistani retired engineering officer who served as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), appointed on 14 March 1992 until 13 May 1993.
General Khawaja Ziauddin Abbasi, also known as Ziauddin Butt, is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, who served as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), for few hours, until Chairman joint chiefs General Pervez Musharraf reasserted the command and control of the military despite his termination on 12 October 1999.
Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan, India, and Iran, as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond. Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense, while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de jure India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper, respectively. According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Pakistan was reportedly, "with the possible exception of Iran, perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups... aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community." Daniel Byman, a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy, also wrote that, "Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism". In 2018, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on an official visit to the United States, acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth, particularly from the United States, for the last 15 years during the War on Terror.
Muhammad Ayyub Thakur was a political activist and founder of London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). He also founded a charity organization called 'Mercy Universal'. In 2011, according to a report by The Telegraph, It was a front group for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). After investigatation by the British Charity Commission, Scotland Yard and the FBI, it was stated that his organization had direct contacts with Hizbul Mujahideen, an EU-Sanctioned insurgent organization.
There are or have been a number of separatist movements in Pakistan based on ethnic and regional nationalism, that have agitated for independence, and sometimes fighting the Pakistan state at various times during its history. As in many other countries, tension arises from the perception of minority/less powerful ethnic groups that other ethnicities dominate the politics and economics of the country to the detriment of those with less power and money. The government of Pakistan has attempted to subdue these separatist movements, which have included those in Bangladesh, the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) in Balochistan; the "Sindhudesh" movement in Sindh province; "Balawaristan" in Gilgit-Baltistan; Jinnahpur and Muhajir Sooba movement for muhajir immigrants from India.
Amanullah Khan was the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a Kashmiri militant activist group that advocates independence for the entire Kashmir region. Khan's JKLF initiated the ongoing armed insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir with backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which lasted until Pakistan dropped its support of nationalist Kashmiri separatists in favour of pro-Pakistan Islamist groups, such as the Hizbul Mujahideen. In 1994, the JKLF in the Kashmir Valley, under the leadership of Yasin Malik, renounced militancy in favour of a political struggle. Amanullah Khan disagreed with the strategy, causing a split in the JKLF.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, is an American citizen of Kashmiri origin, and a Jamaat-e-Islami activist. He founded the organisation Kashmiri American Council in the United States and carried out lobbying on behalf of Kashmiri separatist groups and the Government of Pakistan. In 2011, the US government stated that this was a front group for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Human rights abuses in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, have been a partial issue, ranging from forced disappearances, claimed torture to political repression and electoral fraud and suppression of freedom of speech. According to the human rights commission of Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) carries out extensive surveillance operations on the press and pro-independence groups, they have carried out arbitrary arrests in which people have been tortured and several have died. Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) is cited to indicate that dozens have disappeared after their arrests in Pakistan-held Kashmir. A significant number of cases point to the Inter-Services Intelligence’s involvement in these disappearances".
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), intelligence agency of Pakistan has been involved in running military intelligence programs in India, with one of the subsections of its Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) department devoted to perform various operations in India. The Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB) department has also been involved in providing communications support to Pakistani agents operating in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Joint Intelligence North section of the Joint Counter-Intelligence Bureau (JCIB) wing deals particularly with India. In the 1950s the ISI's Covert Action Division was alleged for supplied arms to insurgents in Northeast India.
Khurshid Anwar was an activist of All-India Muslim League, heading its private militia, the Muslim League National Guard. Described as a "shadowy figure" and "complete adventurer", he is generally addressed as a "Major" in Pakistani sources. He was a key figure in the rise of the Muslim League during 1946–47, organising its campaigns in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, prior to India's partition. After the independence of Pakistan, he was instrumental in organising the tribal invasion of Kashmir, leading to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
US prosecutors claim that three "Kashmir Centers" in Washington, London and Brussels, are run on behalf of "elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan's military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).
