Why is US State Department shielding ISI and its Jihadi ex-DGs in NY District Court?

“For three decades, consecutive US administrations, Republicans and Democrat, as well as the governments in Britain and other European countries, had allowed Pakistan to acquire highly restricted nuclear technology. In a disastrous epoch, ket state assets were then misdirected and countermanded in order to disguide how Pakistan had sold it on. Intelligence gathering in the US was blunted while federal agencies, including the Departments of State and Defense were corralled into backing the White House agenda and forced to sidestape COngres and break federal laws. Officials who tried to stop the charade were rought-housed, smeared or purged, inflicting terrible damage on America and Europe’s ability to see sharply. The US Congress played along too, by folding beneath WHite House pressure during a period in which political debate that dared level hard questions was portrayed as unpatriotic or even seditious.

The question all of this begged was why anyone would want to place the survival of a military regime in Pakistan above the long-term safety of the world.” (Introduction pg 2-3 “Deception: Pakistan, United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons”)

In the era of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, the entire world and specifically the American citizens were betrayed in the worst manner to save the fanatical Generals of Pakistan Army and the ISI, while they were building the Nuclear Technology and Weapons out of stolen technology and parts.

When you read the above referenced book, one realizes how State Department was working against the agencies of US Government itself. So many raids by Custom Authorities on Pakistani “front companies” – for exporting out parts for a Nuke plant and weapons – in cities like Houston were thwarted by communications from the State Department to the Pakistani Consulates, such that no one was found existing in those buildings in matter of hours by the time Custom officials would reach!

Same Old, Same Old??

When the US Citizen, who was part of Lashkar-e-Tayyaiba (LeT), had testified in US, he had clearly defined the role of ISI in the Mumbai Attacks. The ISI officers – serving and retired – had masterminded the whole thing along with LeT.

A 109-page report into the interrogation of key suspect David Headley, a Pakistani-American militant arrested last year and detained in the US, makes detailed claims of ISI support for the bombings. Under questioning, Headley described dozens of meetings between officers of the main Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI, and senior militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group responsible for the Mumbai attacks. (Pakistan intelligence services ‘aided Mumbai terror attacks’)

Also read – Terror Trial Witness Ties Pakistan to 2008 Attacks

It is clear from the many evidences with US and India that ISI and Pakistan Army was strongly involved in the Mumbai Attacks, where some US Citizens have been killed.

US State Department’s Immunity for ISI

Strangely, one finds an extraordinary piece of news on Indian Government’s External Affairs Ministry website (link), which says the following:

In response to a media query on the Statement of Interest filed by the U.S. State Department on immunity for the

ISI and two former DGs of ISI

in the Eastern District Court of New York, in the civil case of wrongful death filed by U.S. family members of victims of the Mumbai Terror Attacks, the Official Spokesperson stated:

“We have noted that the

US Department of State has taken the position in a US Court that the Pakistani ISI be accorded immunity from the civil suit on the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 26, 2008.

For India, it remains of vital importance that justice is done and that those who organized and perpetrated this horrible crime be brought to justice, irrespective of the jurisdiction under which they may reside or be operating. It cannot be that any organization, State or non-State, that sponsors terrorism enjoys immunity.

Our position has been made known to the United States consistently .

India is not a party to the civil suit filed in the Eastern District Court of New York. The details of what was conveyed to the Court by a sovereign Government are a matter for that Government to explain.

From our perspective, this decision is a matter of deep and abiding concern. The leadership of the U.S. has publicly stated its commitment to counter terrorism, to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and to bring those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks to justice. In this context the decision of the U.S. authorities in this case is a cause of serious disappointment.”

New Delhi

19 December 2012

(Emphasis has been added to highlight the key point)

Why?? Why is US State Department providing immunity to not just ISI but also former DGs of ISI? Although it is difficult to comprehend the motivation – specifically AFTER the Osama Bin Laden being harbored by ISI – but one could still come up with some oblique, although mischievous and dishonest argument for ISI’s immunity. But FORMER DGs of ISI?? They are ordinary citizens of Pakistan.

What interest does US State Department have in those two citizens that it wants to provide them immunity from any punishment here in the US?

There is something terribly wrong with both, the resolve as well honesty of US Government in fighting the terrorism threat. And, nothing underscores that better than this action of US State Department!