ISI Exposed: Here's how Pakistan's intelligence agency is involved in illegal activities

Inter Services Intelligence or the ISI hit the headlines again for the wrong reason on April 22 when 26 unarmed civilians were gunned down point-blank in Pahalgam. The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed the responsibility, though it denied any involvement later. The TRF is considered to be the proxy of a Pakistan-based terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba. Analysts also believe the TRF was raised by the ISI, taking recruits from the LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad in 2019 in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370. 

Why and when was ISI established?

However, neither was it the only nor the last terrorist outfit to be aided, abetted, funded and armed by the ISI. Pakistan's premier spy agency was established on January 1, 1948, by Major General Walter Cawthorn, then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army. After the First Kashmir War of 1947 had exposed weaknesses of the Pakistan Army in gathering and sharing of intelligence and coordination between the army, navy and air force, the ISI was set up, taking top officials of the three wings of the armed forces. 

(Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Muhammad)

ISI: Structure

With its headquarters in Islamabad, the ISI has three wings. Internal Wing is responsible for domestic intelligence, domestic counter-intelligence, counter-espionage, and counter-terrorism. 
External Wing is in the domain of external intelligence, external counter-intelligence, and espionage. Similarly, Foreign Relations Wing take care of diplomatic intelligence and foreign relations intelligence. Each wing is divided further into directorate. There are 12 directorates, each is headed by a director general with the rank of the Major General.

These directorates have multiple departments like Covert Action Division, Joint Intelligence X, Joint Intelligence Bureau, Joint Counterintelligence Bureau, Joint Intelligence Technical, SS Directorate and Political Internal Division. The ISI takes its cadre from the armed forces as well as civilians. The Federal Public Services Commission (FPSC) recruits civilians for the top spy agency. 

(Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba is in safe custody of Pakistan)

How does ISI work?

The ISI is one of the most heinous, brutal and successful intelligence agencies of the world and its head carries immense clout. Despite being a structured agency with well-defined roles, the ISI is known for its relations with terrorist organisations. The analysts believe that as terrorism is a part of Pakistan's foreign policy, terrorist organisations are its valued assets and they are considered to be as important as the army, navy and air force of the country. So, the ISI not only funds and arms these organisations, but many of them have been established by the ISI. 

ISI: How is it related to terrorist organisations?

The terrorist outfits related to the ISI are: Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, The Resistance Front, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Ansar-ul-lslam. It is a long list.