Islamabad: Pakistani spy agency ISI’s ex-chief Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani has appealed to the high court here against Pakistan Army’s decision of forfeiting his pension and other benefits after he was found guilty of violating the military code of conduct for co-authoring a controversial book with India’s former intelligence head. Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from August 1990 till March 1992, is not entitled to pension and other benefits after the Pakistan Army in February found him guilty following a Court of Inquiry against him over the book ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace’ that he co-authored with former RAW chief A S Dulat.
He is also barred from leaving the country as his name figures in the no-fly list. The two former spy chiefs touched upon some thorny issues including terrorism, particularly the 2008 Mumbai attack, Kashmir and the influence of intelligence agencies in the book. The former ISI chief on Monday appealed to the Islamabad High Court, saying his book was not a violation of military code of conduct and that the verdict against him was illegal, The Express Tribune reported.
He requested the court to set aside the army’s decision and reinstate his pension and all other benefits. Durrani’s book had triggered a countrywide controversy in which he claimed that the then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was fully onboard regarding the US Navy Seals operation against Osama bin Laden in the Pakistan’s garrison city of Abbottabad and that a special deal was struck between the US and Pakistani governments on the elusive al-Qaeda chief.
He also went on to suggest that Pakistan mishandled the case of convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jhadav, claiming that he would eventually be handed over to India. He told The Express Tribune that the book was merely an exercise involving two people with extensive experience in Pakistan-India affairs coming together to record their perspectives.