Pakistan Army summons former ISI chief over book he co-authored with ex-RAW head

A former chief of Pakistan’s intelligence agency has been summoned by its army for allegedly violating the military code of conduct, in the wake of his comments appearing in a book co-authored with India’s ex-spy chief.

Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from August 1990 till March 1992, and former Research and Analysis Wing chief AS Dulat had written The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace. The book was released on Wednesday.

Durrani was being called to General Headquarters (GHQ) on May 28 and “will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’”, the army said in a statement.

It said the attribution of statements in the book to the former ISI chief is being “taken as a violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel”.

Durrani was summoned after ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday demanded an urgent meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC) to discuss the contents of the book.

Sharif said he believed Durrani, through this book, has made public some “serious information” and that it is now necessary to call an emergency NSC meeting to discuss the matter.