Demand for audit of expenses by intelligence agencies in Pak

Charging that the country's intelligence agencies were indulging in political manoeuvring, Pakistani lawmakers have demanded an audit of their secret discretionary funds including expenses on covert operations.

The use of secret funds by the Intelligence Bureau came up for sharp criticism during a meeting of the public accounts committee (PAC) of the national assembly held yesterday.

Members of the committee belonging to different political parties said each and every penny spent by the intelligence agencies, even on covert operations, should be accounted for.

The members used the occasion to criticise what was described by them as "shadowy operations" of all intelligence agencies under civilian or military control.

The PAC took "serious notice" of Rs400 million availed as a supplementary grant by the Intelligence Bureau in fiscal 2007-08 and asked its director general to present the agency’s financial records to audit officials.

Senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who heads the PAC, said people had seen the way agents of these agencies had been working, including "harassing and torturing journalists, interfering in politics and tapping telephones of politicians".

Over the years, especially under military governments, secret funds had increased manifold and it was time to put an effective check on such spending, he said.

Otherwise the misuse of funds will continue unchecked, he added.

Unfortunately, the working of the intelligence set-up of the army was not enviable, Khan said.