Islamabad: Arguing that "ruthless criticism"
of ISI in Pakistan was far higher than made on RAW, Mosad or
the CIA in India, Israel or USA, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani said media should not undermine institutions.
Kayani also said he had taken a "conscious decision" four
and half years back to keep the army away from politics and
will continue to stick to it.
"If you want to fight with history in this context, it`s
your choice to do so. However, establishing institutions
require a lot of hard work and the media should be careful...
that their words do not undermine these (institutions),"
Kayani was quoted as saying in a media report while
underlining that the Mehran Bank scandal was a 20-year old
issue.
Mehran Bank scandal refers to an ongoing case in the
Supreme Court here in which ISI is alleged to have paid large
sums of money to political parties to keep the Pakistan
People`s Party out of power way back in early 90s.
Kayani made the comments speaking to senior journalists at
a farewell reception for Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman
at the Prime Minister House, The Express Tribune reported.
On the issue of alleged involvement of intelligence
agencies in missing persons cases, Kayani said that
institutions are not made easily adding, however, that they
are also not above criticism.
"Gen Kayani added that one should be careful that while
criticising one must not undermine national institutions or
organisations," it said.
Using the US as an example, Kayani was reported to have
said that the American army was not criticised by its people
as harshly as the Pakistan Army was criticised by Pakistanis.
"The US media is careful in reporting events of US
casualties in Afghanistan, for example. He said that the
ruthless criticism of ISI in Pakistan was far higher than any
criticism made on RAW, Mosad or the CIA in India, Israel or
USA," the daily said.
Meanwhile The News International daily quoted Kayani as
saying, "I took a conscious decision four-and-a-half years ago
not to take part in politics and since then the army has
stayed away from politics and I stand by my decision and will
stick to it.
"I assure you the army is not involved in politics and it
must be appreciated for this," he added.
PTI
