Saleem Shahzad Commission wants oversight of secret agencies | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Saleem Shahzad Commission wants oversight of secret agencies

ISLAMABAD: The Saleem Shahzad Commission report is yet another call for action to the government, strongly recommending legislation for bringing the intelligence agencies—ISI and IB—under a legal framework as Pakistan is among a few democracies without any parliamentary oversight of such agencies.

“No less important, of course, is the task of making the agencies accountable. This is necessary to ensure that the agencies remain law-abiding,” the Commission said after majority of the journalists had registered complaints before the Commission pointing fingers towards the ISI. “From the overwhelming material available on the record, the Commission is convinced that there are sufficient reasons to believe that the agencies, including ISI, have been using coercive and intimidating tactics in dealing with those journalists who antagonize the Agency’s interest.” The practice is not limited to journalists, politicians, human right activists and other dissenting voices are also not stranger to such harassment.

“Currently, the legal and organizational foundations of the two major Agencies (ISI, IB)”, Commission noted, “All rest on mere executive orders; there is, therefore, an urgent need for laying down a comprehensive statutory framework—perhaps a Pakistan Secret Services Act.” In various countries of the world, the Commission report states, intelligence agencies were first created under executive orders, but subsequently brought on a statutory footing to improve their level of accountability; it is high time we brought the same change in Pakistan. The News has previously reported on how a draft law for bringing the IB under Parliament was thrown into the dustbin. The draft law was made under the watch of Dr Shoaib Suddle, and as he was removed from the position of DG IB, no follow-up was seen and acknowledged by Suddle’s successor, Javed Noor, who said: “It was just a thought”.

Indonesia and Chile that experienced repressive military regimes for decades have come out with intelligence reforms through codifying the laws of agencies thus subjecting them to parliamentary oversight. Turkey where military has been traditionally a dominant player has also done this legislation.

Even newborn states of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Slovenia that spent decades under authoritarian regime of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have made statutory laws for governing the working of intelligence agencies.

A couple of states formerly under the occupation of Soviet Union, Estonia and Lithuania did legislation in this respect after gaining independence in 1991. Lithuania framed statutory laws in 1996, just five years after independence. Slovenia that won independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia did this legislation in 1994, three years after becoming a sovereign state, the study indicates.

South Africa that came out of the clutches of apartheid regime in 1991 also has laws for intelligence oversight. Former socialist republics in Eastern Europe like Hungary and Poland, has framed laws for holding the intelligence agencies accountable.

Several countries of Latin America like Argentina and Brazil have this mechanism in place for the intelligence agencies accountability.

Well-functioning democracies are not without parliamentary oversight either. Prominent among them are USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Norway, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands and others. Netherlands even has subjected its military intelligence to parliamentary oversight.

There are different institutional arrangements adopted by the states for intelligence requirements. Countries like Turkey, Spain, Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina have single agency for security and intelligence both domestic and external. Other states like UK, Poland, Hungary and Germany etc have separate agencies for domestic and external intelligence and security. Canada is a country that has no foreign intelligence agency.