International influence needed to reform Pakistan's military

The Geo News channel presenter's brother, Amir Mir, has accused the powerful military intelligence service, the ISI of being responsible for the attack.

Former member of parliament and former presidential media advisor, Farahnaz Ispahani, knows the Mir brothers well.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Farahnaz Ispahani, former Pakistani member of parliament and former presidential media advisor, and current public policy scholar, Woodrow Wilson Research Centre, Washington DC

ISPAHANI: I know Hamid and his brother very well. And his brother in particular, is known to be a very sensible and scrupulous journalist. He is not the kind of person to have made an allegation like this, unless there was substantial evidence. I cannot say for a fact, because I have not seen the details myself, but the source that is making these statements about the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), I can say that Amir Mir and Hamid Mir himself, had talked about this before. There was a bomb placed under his car, just last year, and he was lucky to have survived. This was not an attempt to scare him, this was an attempt to kill him.

LAM: Pakistan's government has a special commission to investigate the attack. Who exactly is under investigation here - might the army and indeed, the ISI be part of the brief?

ISPAHANI: I think that's highly unlikely. You'll probably remember the Abbottabad Commission that was set up to look into Osama bin Laden, and why Osama bin Laden had been found by the Americans living inside Pakistan, with many wives and children, for so many years and who had protected him, and who had given him cover, et cetera. That report, like many other reports that have tried to look into what the Pakistani military or what the Pakistani military intelligence had done in the past - those reports never see the light of day in any complete form. I have a feeling that whoever they put on the Commission, even if there is a Commission, we still don't know really who killed the prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

LAM: So the fact that prime minister Nawaz Sharif, just last month pledged to offer greater protection to journalists, that's a hollow promise?

ISPAHANI: Well, I think when the prime minister said it to the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) I'm sure he believed it, but the point is, that since he said it, our friend and well-known journalist Raza Rumi, he nearly lost his life. His driver had close to 20 bullets pumped into him, 25 year old driver, dead. Raza Rumi has had to leave the country. So where are the protections? You know, so I do believe that perhaps Mr Nawaz Sharif would like to have done something, but the state seems to be falling apart.

And Karachi in particular, has become almost a war zone in some ways. Political party workers are dying, people are dying because they're from the Shia sect. People are dying because they're journalists.

LAM: These cities are lawless, partly because the military and the ISI either won't or can't do anything. So who will be in a position to rein in these rogue elements within the military and also the ISI?

ISPAHANI: The Pakistan army has become so powerful, they now need to step in and support the civilian government. They have the guns, our police do not have that. They have the latest technology, our police do not have that. But they have to stop playing their own games. It's time for the world to get a little serious. Like in any civilised country, the military and the military intelligence services have to report to the prime minister, and all countries like Australia, like the United Kingdom, like the United States of America and Canada, and all of these countries have got to tell the people that they deal with in Pakistan, whether it's the military, or the civilian side, or the journalistic community, enough is enough! There'll be no more aid, there'll be no more relationship. This has to end.

LAM: So you think the pressure has to come from outside? That within Pakistan there's no one strong enough to rein in the military and the ISI?

ISPAHANI: Many people have stood up. Our people are very brave in Pakistan. Our reporters are very brave, activists are very brave, our politicians are very brave, but we have lost too many people. We are bleeding.

So if you are interested enough to call me, to to ask me about this, I will say to you, this is time for the world to acknowledge that it is time to help Pakistan. If you look for example, at countries like Chile and Argentina, and others in latin America, which were military juntas and repressive and totalitarian, and today they've become stronger economically, they've become democracies, et cetera, because of external pressure, some because of internal pressure and some because of a combination of both.

So the people of Pakistan are now reaching out - we are fighting at every level, but we need the world to hear us. And I hope that your show and others like it, will help shed light on this issue.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/asia-pacific/international-influence-needed-to-reform-pakistans-military/1298628