NYT calls on US to get ISI chief removed
From the Newspaper
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha during a meeting in Islamabad.—File photo
NEW YORK: In what is seen here as an unprecedented attack on the chief of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, a leading American newspaper called upon the US government on Friday to use its influence to hasten departure of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
“It should tell Pakistan’s security leadership that if Washington identifies anyone in ISI or the army as abetting terrorists, those individuals will face sanctions like travel bans or other measures.”
The New York Times came up with an editorial which lashed out at ISI and said it had “become inimical to Pakistani and American interests” and asked President Asif Ali Zardari “to speak out firmly against abuses, insist on adherence to the rule of law and join his political rival, Nawaz Sharif, in pressing the security services to change”.
“That can start by insisting on the retirement of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI chief, and the appointment of a more credible successor,” the newspaper said in a second editorial on the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad.
The editorial said: “Now the Obama administration has evidence implicating the ISI in this brutal killing.” According to The Times’s Jane Perlez and Eric Schmitt, American officials say new intelligence indicates that senior ISI officials ordered the attack on Mr Shahzad to silence him.
Adm Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed on Thursday that Pakistan’s government “sanctioned” the killing, but he did not tie it directly to ISI.—Masood Haider
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/09/nyt-calls-on-us-to-get-isi-chief-removed.html
ISPR rejects NYT reports against Army, ISI
Updated at: 2005 PST, Saturday, July 09, 2011
RAWALPINDI: DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas Saturday rejected the allegations leveled against the Army and ISI in series of 'unsubstantiated' news reports published by the American newspaper New York Times.
According to ISPR, DG ISPR during an interview with a foreign news agency said that in recent weeks the New York Times has continued to publish wild claims presented as news stories on the basis on information supposedly provided by unnamed US officials.
He added that in most cases such news reports have quoted anonymous US sources, bringing the veracity of their reporting into question.
Recalling NYT's apology of March 2004 about some of its coverage of the Iraq war, General Abbas said at that time the newspaper had this to say: "In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in reexamining the claims as new evidence emerged-or failed to emerge".
The Military Spokesman further said: "if the newspaper continues with its vilifying campaign without any concrete evidence, I am afraid at some point it may end up expressing its deep regret the way it did in the case of its Iraq coverage.
From the Newspaper
“It should tell Pakistan’s security leadership that if Washington identifies anyone in ISI or the army as abetting terrorists, those individuals will face sanctions like travel bans or other measures.”
The New York Times came up with an editorial which lashed out at ISI and said it had “become inimical to Pakistani and American interests” and asked President Asif Ali Zardari “to speak out firmly against abuses, insist on adherence to the rule of law and join his political rival, Nawaz Sharif, in pressing the security services to change”.
“That can start by insisting on the retirement of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI chief, and the appointment of a more credible successor,” the newspaper said in a second editorial on the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad.
The editorial said: “Now the Obama administration has evidence implicating the ISI in this brutal killing.” According to The Times’s Jane Perlez and Eric Schmitt, American officials say new intelligence indicates that senior ISI officials ordered the attack on Mr Shahzad to silence him.
Adm Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed on Thursday that Pakistan’s government “sanctioned” the killing, but he did not tie it directly to ISI.—Masood Haider
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/09/nyt-calls-on-us-to-get-isi-chief-removed.html
ISPR rejects NYT reports against Army, ISI
Updated at: 2005 PST, Saturday, July 09, 2011
According to ISPR, DG ISPR during an interview with a foreign news agency said that in recent weeks the New York Times has continued to publish wild claims presented as news stories on the basis on information supposedly provided by unnamed US officials.
He added that in most cases such news reports have quoted anonymous US sources, bringing the veracity of their reporting into question.
Recalling NYT's apology of March 2004 about some of its coverage of the Iraq war, General Abbas said at that time the newspaper had this to say: "In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in reexamining the claims as new evidence emerged-or failed to emerge".
The Military Spokesman further said: "if the newspaper continues with its vilifying campaign without any concrete evidence, I am afraid at some point it may end up expressing its deep regret the way it did in the case of its Iraq coverage.
