scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeOpinionEspionage case shatters Pakistan army’s myths – and the belief its nuke...

Espionage case shatters Pakistan army’s myths – and the belief its nuke secrets are secure

The recipient of secrets shared by convicted Pakistani officials was not ‘permanent enemy’ India – but the country that gives it billions of dollars.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

The court-martial of three individuals, including a recently retired three-star general, on charges of espionage and revealing classified information to foreign intelligence agencies seriously dents the charisma that helps keep Pakistan’s army in charge of the country.

The fact that senior military officers spied for a foreign country suggests that Pakistan is not as safe in the hands of the men in uniform as is suggested.

If, as has been learnt, the secrets shared by the convicted officers are related to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, the case would increase Pakistan’s paranoia about the security of its nuclear arsenal. Considering that the foreign intelligence service that paid for the secrets shared by the convicted officers belonged to the United States, there is a greater adversarial relationship between Pakistan and the US than is often revealed.

Involvement at the top

On Thursday, Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa approved life imprisonment for retired Lt General Javed Iqbal, and death sentences for retired Brigadier Raja Rizwan Haider and Dr Wasim Akram, a civilian who ostensibly worked in ‘a sensitive organisation.’

The espionage ring reached the highest levels of the Pakistani national security establishment. Lt Gen Iqbal served as Director of Military Operations, Corps Commander, and Adjutant General before retiring in 2015; the ‘sensitive organisation’ that employed Akram was one of the Pakistan’s many covert nuclear facilities.


Also read: Pakistani generals want to restore their golden era & that’s why Musharraf’s team is back


To my knowledge, there are several other individuals currently under investigation and there might be more courts-martial and more convictions down the line.

The investigation into the possibility of military officers sharing intelligence and information with US intelligence services started soon after the raid in May 2011 that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

The Pakistani establishment’s propaganda machine created a distraction in the form of the so-called ‘Memogate’ case against me, forcing my resignation as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US and a long-drawn case in the Supreme Court, which never resulted in a trial.

Fake news stories appeared in the Pakistani media about how Pakistan’s elected civilian government had granted visas to the CIA personnel to enter the country and how the US mercenary security corporation, Blackwater, had been covertly allowed in.

In the Pakistani public’s eye, the Abbottabad raid was framed, not as a question of why the world’s most wanted terrorist lived in Pakistan, but as the matter of how the Americans were able to discover him. A major fear was that if the Americans could penetrate Pakistan’s air defences without detention to get Bin Laden, what prevents them from coming in to decapitate Pakistan’s nuclear programme.


Also read: US cut and run will do to Afghanistan what Soviet withdrawal did in 1989


All this time, behind the smoke and mirrors of propaganda against civilians, the Pakistan army was quietly discovering spies and information-sellers within its own ranks. The members of ISI, and not the civilians, were the CIA’s go-to contacts in Pakistan, and individuals like Lt Gen Iqbal had more useful information than any civilian could have access to.

But, as is often the case, the army wanted to preserve its image and kept its inquiries secret. Stories about the case started to percolate when the family members of one of the accused went to court to find out where and why he was being held. Once it was not possible to keep the matter secret, the army decided to present it as proof of accountability within its ranks.

Threat to Pakistan’s ‘nuclear threat’

Pakistan’s nuclear programme has been pieced together with designs and components acquired from multiple sources over many years. Revelation of sources from where Pakistan acquires the necessary inputs for its nukes, or the location of its covert nuclear facilities, diminish the quality of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence.

The army is already trying to spin the case as proof of its internal checks and balances. An Inter-Services Public Relations press release only said that the three men had been convicted by a Field Court Martial on charges of espionage and divulging “sensitive information to foreign agencies prejudice to the national security.”

But what was not said is far more revealing. For several decades, Pakistanis have been assured that their army is the only and ultimate guarantor of Pakistan’s security. Several civilians who disagree with the army-backed national narrative – including Fatima Jinnah, sister of the country’s founder – have been described as ‘traitors’ for their contrarian opinions over the years.


Also read: For Pakistan, 2018 was just another year of the generals


None of the critical civilians tagged with the ‘traitor’ label were ever accused of specific crimes and no one has ever been charged with espionage for a foreign intelligence service. Now, it turns out that in a country controlled by the army, the individuals with access to secrets that might interest a foreign intelligence service come from within the army.

Where the enemy isn’t India

Moreover, the recipient of secrets shared by the convicted officials was not ‘permanent enemy’ India, which is the target of constant propaganda by Pakistan’s establishment. It was the United States, the donor of $43 billion in economic and military assistance and for years Pakistan’s patron and ally.

Clearly, US-Pakistan relations are no longer just a Cold War alliance gone sour but an increasingly adversarial relationship.

As the US now deems China a major threat in the Indo-Pacific, and Pakistan continues to draw China closer because of its obsession with India, Pakistanis are keeping more and more secrets from the Americans. The Americans, on the other hand, are trying harder to uncover Pakistani secrets, pitting the two sides against one another.


Also read: Money, honour, hope – Why Donald Trump’s US & Imran Khan’s Pakistan are having an open spat


The discovery of Pakistani military officers spying for the US on Pakistan’s nuclear programme also raises questions about the Pakistani establishment’s national security paradigm.

Instead of the nukes guaranteeing Pakistan’s security against India, Pakistan must now worry about the security of its nuclear weapons against adversaries other than the Indians.

What lessons

But Pakistan’s establishment is unlikely to learn the right lessons and recognise that the ‘soldiers good, civilians bad’ dichotomy hurts Pakistan. It will not diminish its India obsession or understand the totality of the real threats to Pakistan (including the likelihood of economic implosion.)

We will probably soon see new lines of attack on Pakistani civilians seeking implementation of the country’s constitution and new distractions from the espionage case. And there will be the usual clamour for a new round of talks with India under the second Modi government even though the Pakistani establishment reveals no intention whatsoever to change its ways.

Husain Haqqani, director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., was Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008-11. His latest book is ‘Reimagining Pakistan’. Views are personal

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

42 COMMENTS

  1. Espionage happens with every country check with USA UK France India China Russia. But when it happens with Pakistan Haqqani will make sure its doomsday. Go get some life yaar Haqqani burry the hatchet move on we are learning from our mistakes and will come out fine. Its not all gloom and doom as you paint it.

  2. The Dog returns to it’s vomit. In short, of the negative effects, on the Pakistan’s integrity and sovereignty can’t be achieved nothing by ‘pussyfooting.’ He was always for sale, since the beginning of his notorious wall chalking political career under the mentor Saint Zardari, the Bambino cinema tickets black marketeer. He has fallen from the Grace ethically and morally for money. Cheats never prosper; for if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.

  3. Snake in grass talking abject nonsense. The mere fact that the ring of spies was rounded up speaks volumes about the robustness of system of internal checks in the institution. By extention it also points towards safety and security of our Nukes. As far as this supposed intellectual is concerned his sole qualification is rabid anti Pakistan propaganda. He may be asked to comment on the security of Indian Nukes. There are a lot of incidents of o mission and commission when it comes to security of Indian Nukes. But he won’t because he can’t speak against his paymaters.

  4. Hussain Haqqani, being a Pakistani stationed in the cradles of his American patrons, pampered and groomed by the Zardaris and Shareef ‘s, needs to come back to Pakistan to face charges, pending against him.
    This fugitive is wanted and stays wanted till he appears in front of judiciary in Pakistan.
    While in US he can say what he wants to maje his sponsors happy but definitely he is not doing any good for his father, grand fathers and great grand fathers. Every sentence he writes smells of a traitors blood. Period

  5. Hussain Huqqani, is and will remain a traitor, what more can a Pakistani citizen expect from such traitor, who already sold his mother for the sake of US.Dollars.

  6. H. Haqqani is traitor of Pakistani nation. If he has courage he should go back to his country and face memo gate trial.
    He will never get respect as Americans also regard him as enemy of his own people and country

  7. I love this author, he truly understands Pakistan and its problem. For speaking the truth he has been labeled a ‘Traitor’. If more people had the courage to speak to power as this guy.

  8. Mr. Haqqani at least the army had the moral courage to identify and award exemplary punishment to the sell outs.
    Whereas do you have the same moral courage to return and face the charges in Pakistan. The answer is NO, because you stand on weak grounds moral or otherwise, selling yourself to the highest bidder.

    Such are your sordid credentials.

  9. The writer brings his personal grudge into the subject when he bemoans how he was removed from his position. This makes him a perfect target of ad-hominem attacks. The whole premise is based on “if” the secrets are about nukes, which makes the thesis doubtful. Furthermore, espionage is as old as human history is. It is quite understandable that US is getting frustrated with the only nuclear-armed Muslim country that is able to target India any time when required. If US wants an engagement with Pakistan, it should start by respecting it’s security needs, both in terms of an open enemy, or a covert one.

  10. Interestingly civilian bad and military right campaign always worked againt politicians of non punjab origin. It can only be reversed by someone from punjab, NS could have done better for civilian supremacy but he is still not in aggressive mode rather in compromising mode as he always was.

  11. Very serious issue is that most senior Pakistani generals including army chiefs & ISI chiefs live abroad. These persons have most clasified information and the foreign agencies can trap them. All former military officers must be called back in Pakistan abd their foreign assets must be confiscated.

  12. A very much expected biased view point from a sold out Hussain Haqqani. Sir this is 1st time in Pakistan that such punishment has been given within the ranks of an organization. Otherwise this country is filled with sold out traitors sitting inside the country and abroad, who are constantly hitting the image of our country for few pennies.
    I assure you, this country is on road of prosperity and the day is not far when such traitors will be Mr no one for any one.

  13. Husain Haqqani is no ordinary person. He was Pakistan Ambassador to US.
    Looking at the crossroads where Pakistan stand’s it better fools listen to him rather than question him.
    Just imagine the nuclear secrets fall into wrong hands, which is quite possible as Pak Army own the wepon and the terrorists, and world which til now only see this as a possibility, know you were hands in gloves in it … where will Pakistan stand as a nation?

    With the Balakot episode, the next logical step for Pakistani defense establishment is to give space to LeT and JeM within it’s cantonments …… that means
    officially no difference between terrorists and Pak army.

  14. Mr. Husain Haqqani, The number of people trying to do an ad hominem on you here, is a testament to your foolproof logic and reason. Please keep up the good work! Cheers!!!

  15. Hussain Haqqani views will always portrait Pakistan negatively. He is not sincere to the nation and thus not trustworthy. Lot of forces are trying hard to know the nuclear secrets of Pakistan top ones are Israel and America. Finding out black sheep and punishing them shows the vigilance of our defence system and not the weakness. Haqqani and others like him should keep their mouths shut.

  16. Spy game is going on for centuries. Allies, friends, enemies all spy each other to gain useful information. This is not the first incident of spying by top brass of a country. Such incidents have taken place universally in any country or any army of the world leading by US and Russia.
    Hussain Haqqani should stop worrying about Pakistan or else if he is too concerned then he should come back and face Memo-gate case trial to clarify his position.

  17. Mr Hussain Haqqani tried all tactics and techniques aquired during the training given to him by his owners but he miserably failed to damage Pakistan. Now he is living a life of a loner; drinking out dated milk, at times Indian origin and/or US origin. I really feel sorry for the guy ; living a life of a pet. He spit venom on Pakistan Army because the Army exposed him well in time, otherwise he may have harmed Pakistan’s interest. I am sure this abandoned pet turned stray can go to any extents to please enemies of Pakistan. I would finally say, “He is just a face in crowd,” who loves to dance expecting to get a piece of rotten loaf. Quality time wasted by commenting on his illusions.

    • Porkistan has always thrown out or insulted its intellectuals and independent thinkers. Hussain haqani is the latest victim. Keep it up, this is good news for India

  18. The question remains; why spared the
    Lt General Javed Iqbal? All three have been accused of espinoge then why a bias treatment? Infact Lt General being the senoir most of all three in rank should have been made an example of. Was he spared because those who passed the judgement against three did not want a precdent to be set by hanging a Lt General for treason? In any case this judgemt seem flawed and bias in its nature.

  19. Every society has a snake 🐍 like you . So don’t worry if you come to Pakistan you too will be hanged .last year an IAF Officer was caught passing information to ISI ,so its normal specially when people like you are present .

  20. Haqani himself is a non sense person . He always against pakistan . Stop talking non sense . It is the Army who take care our nuclear power asstets. Moreovet in Army strick discipline are enforced show me any civilian whovhas been given death sentace still nawaz zardari and you are alive unfortunately

  21. It’s reality about
    the most powerful establishment on the globe.
    Writing while sitting in USA is bit easy because of CIA but writers sitting at the soil who are able to show the true stories have no access to internationl media, because they don’t have any establishment masters .

  22. I wish if analysis by Hussain was on logic with sound back ups. Unfortunately his every writing focus more to venom against Pakistan than the merit of an issue. Maybe time to step back and think whether his this approach makes sense or not. Otherwise seems intelligent but talent not best used for logical analysis.

  23. India should take care of its nukes where Indian Army is shooting down it’s own choppers..what do u expect from that kind of incompetent Army..there is no comparison of Pakistan Army in the world ..the most powerful skilful and courageous..Indians should mend their own ways

    • Yes, very true. A country where DG ISPR doesn’t know basic arithmetic. Initially he said that 3 Indian pilot got captured and later that become one. Since he counted one of PAF 16 crew also. Pakistan armed forces lost
      1. Siachin Glacier
      2. Sir Creek
      3. Better half of the country aka Bangladesh
      4. In 1965 Indian army entered Lahore

      So keep dreaming…

      Humko malum hain Pakistan ki hakikat lekin…

      Dil khush rakh ne ko Galib ye Khayala acha hain…

      By the way China ko kitne donkey beche is saal

      Kitni Imdaad mili bheek mein…

      • India Asia ka sab se bara bhikari hai. India ne $345 Billion ki bheek mangi hui hai 9 countries se 1952 se le ker 2019 tak. Tujh ko yeh nahi pata ke Pakistan ka ghareeb Indian style abject ghareebi dekh ker behosh ho jai ga. Abey chal be ja ke rickshw khench, bazaar mei tattiii ker, 3 color ki watery tattiii daal ka bhojan ker aur gao soap se naha , 2 roti ke liya gurda baich. India number 1 hai gurda baichne mei aur larki ko paida hotai hee marne mei. India mei har roz kissan bhook se marta hai. India mei 3024 slums hain.

      • Your media lies to you. Go read what Newyork Times, Washington Post, CNN is saying about the failed Balakot strikes and India losing the dog fight to Pakistan by 0-2. Bangladesh was a civil war started in the 60’s. Pakistan had to cross all India in order to control the Bengalis rebel whose families were being raped and murdered by the Indian army in Pakistani uniforms. Pakistan surrendered to Bengalis on request of USA. They didn’t want a communist Mujeeb in Pakistani parliament. Indians clowns jumped to take pics with a non-fighting army. Remember, it was the beginning of the Cold War. Pak and USA broke Russia and saved India nation from abject poverty or else 98% of your population would not have shoes to wear just like you didn’t in 60’s 70s and 80’s. Pakistani media rating is far higher than Indian media which is full of lies and propaganda.
        What’s with India and their love to associate Pakistan with China? Are you ashamed or scared of associating the USA ( the true ally) with Pakistan? LOL. The kind of abject poverty Every Indian see around them is unknown to Pakistanis.

        • As reward for great service by Pakis, China has put 1.2 Million Uighurs in Concentration Camp..Enjoy all your lies like ISI sponsors lies

  24. Sir this is complete nonsense and crap. It is not a sign of US recognising Pakistan as a de facto enemy. Complete exaggeration. All intelligence agencies spy on each other.

    US surveillance of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone:

    1. Chancellor Merkel had complained to Barack Obama in person about the alleged tapping of her phone. That did not make Germany a de facto enemy.

    2. Germany in 2015 charged that a spy who allegedly acted as an agent for the US with treason, breach of official secrecy and taking bribes. The 32-year-old, identified only as Markus R due to privacy rules, was accused of offering his services to the CIA in early 2008 while working for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND. Documents he gave the US spy agency would have revealed details of the BND’s work and personnel abroad.

    The accused received sums amounting to at least €95,000 (£68,000) from the CIA.” The discovery that the CIA had allegedly been spying on its German counterpart caused anger in Berlin.

    I can site 100 cases where CIA has been spying on NATO allies.

  25. another astute observation by husain haqqani. But these ‘spies’ at the time – under musharraf regime – must have thought they were being cooperative with a benefactor of pak- and of course they may have got some benefits themselves, or may have done it out of concern that pak establishment itself had other rogue elements, so they were doing a good turn?
    What if today there are those who are cooperating with china in passing information – china today is considered a staunch pak friend – so they would not be targeted in the future?

  26. Hussain Haqqani is indeed a unique footnote of the weird U.S Pakistan love hate relationship . A proclaimed offender in Pakistan , living & enjoying in United States talking about other U.S spies in Pakistan as an impartial analyst…….how shameless !!!1

  27. This Pakistani knows that the army wants talks but has’t changed its ways. Now do India’s candle wallahs and Mani Shankar Ayers know this?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular