Word: civilianizes
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Pakistan's new civilian leaders ought to have known better. One of the world's most powerful intelligence agencies, routinely dubbed a "state within a state," was hardly likely to submit meekly to the efforts of a newly installed government to bring it to heel. Less than 24 hours after it tried to put the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) organization firmly under government control last weekend, the struggling administration of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was forced to backpedal under pressure from the military, making clear the limits on the civilian government's power...
...Pakistan has been under growing U.S. pressure to rein in the ISI over its alleged links to Islamist militants, and as Gilani boarded his flight to Washington on Saturday, his government suddenly announced that the ISI - Pakistan's premier military intelligence agency - and its civilian counterpart, the Intelligence Bureau, would be placed under the "administrative, financial and operational control" of the Ministry of Interior. Although until now the ISI had been nominally under the administrative control of the Prime Minister, it has throughout its 60 years operated in notorious secrecy and with negligible civilian oversight. "The move would have opened...
...Pakistan, the visit is widely seen as important, and it has been heavily followed by the media. It will be the first time that the Bush Administration will welcome a civilian leader of the Pakistani government. "Until now, President Bush has only ever dealt with President [Pervez] Musharraf," says Masood. "Gilani will try and present himself as a democratic alternative and win support for the new dispensation. The United States has always preferred dictators over democrats, and a lot of that has to do with the geostrategic importance that Pakistan...
...contrast, the Musharraf years held obvious appeal for Washington. As a man in control of both the army and the government, the former army chief wielded greater power, and when necessary, he could be counted on to resist public opinion. Gilani's struggling civilian government is deeply susceptible to public opinion, with recent polls consistently recording majorities hostile to the use of military force. A survey published by the International Republican Institute last week revealed that 71% supported the negotiations with militants, 61% urged "development and education" as a means of countering the threat and a mere 9% were...
...military concluded its own closed investigation into the event two weeks ago but released its findings only late on Sunday, July 27. It read in part, "While [American soldiers were] working on the vehicle, a civilian vehicle approached the rear of the convoy at what appeared to the soldiers to be a high rate of speed despite several obstructions in the road. Soldiers located at the rear of the convoy perceived the rapidly approaching vehicle as a threat and executed established escalation of force measures. When the vehicle failed to respond to the soldiers' warning measures, it was engaged with...