No spooking the spymasters

Despite international scrutiny and internal turf wars, the ISI’s dominance within Pakistan’s peculiar military ecosystem remains more secure than ever

- BY SANJIB KR BARUAH

On April 21, 2022, former Pakistani army major Adil Raja fled Pakistan, boarding a flight to London via Doha, Qatar. The reason: the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's spy agency with which he had once been closely associated, had turned against him.

“They raided my office. They sent about 16 officers to my business address,” said Raja in a witness statement submitted to a UK court. “On April 19, 2022, they raided my mother's house, where I was living at the time.... The very next day, they raided my mother's house again. They had no legal right to carry out these raids. No warrant at all.”

Being in exile in London offered no safety. The ISI tracked Raja down and filed a case against him in a UK court—the next hearing of which is on July 21. Meanwhile, back in Pakistan, his bank accounts were frozen, assets confiscated, and his military pension halted. His only crime: being perceived as close to the ousted and now-incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Now based in the UK, Raja has turned to journalism. He runs a YouTube channel, Twitter account and Facebook page with several lakh followers.

In his court deposition, Raja said: "The ISI operates in the UK. They have an office in the Pakistani embassy.... The two ISI commanding officers operating out of the London embassy are Colonel Asad Rasheed, who works with the active assistance of his staff and the army, and Air Attache Colonel Taimoor Khan.... I have been friends with Khan for about 17 years.

We served together in the army." Raja considers himself fortunate.

Arshad Sharif was not.