ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)

Origins and mandate

In its judgment of February 2019 (Suo Motu Case No. 7 of 2017), the Supreme Court of Pakistan recorded that the ISI Directorate was created while Liaquat Ali Khan was prime minister and that its first head was Brig. S. Shahid Hamid (para. 47).¹

Asked by the court about its legal basis, the ISI stated that it is governed by the “laws of the country”, without naming any specific law; the Attorney General submitted the mandate in a sealed document and asked that it not be disclosed (paras 16 and 42). The court contrasted this with the laws on intelligence services in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Norway, which set out their mandates openly (para. 43).¹

Supreme Court rulings

In the case brought by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan (Human Rights Case No. 19 of 1996), the court found in an order of 19 October 2012 that before the 1990 election Rs 60 million of public money had been distributed among politicians, and that an election cell involving the then head of the ISI had operated in the Presidency. It held that the ISI and Military Intelligence may perform their functions in accordance with the law in defence of the borders, but have no role in politics, and ordered the political cells in the Presidency, the ISI and MI to be abolished immediately.²

In the 2019 judgment the court held that all intelligence agencies, including the ISI, IB and MI, must not exceed their mandates, and considered it appropriate to enact laws that clearly define them (para. 53).¹