10 Surprising Facts About Inter-Services Intelligence | Pakistan ISI

                                                              

   

The country of Pakistan has a growing population and to protect the best interest of this growing nation the best of the best when it comes to the military is needed. This post all about bringing you ten surprising interesting facts about the ISI, so let's just jump into the facts first.

10: Inter Services Intelligence

You got to know about the Inter-Service Intelligence Agency or the ISI as it's commonly known as was formed on January 1st, 1948 and it consists primarily of serving military officers drawn from the three service branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces, the army, the Air Force and the Navy and hence the name Inter-Service Intelligence Agency because they operate inter-service.

However, this agency also recruits many civilians.

                                                        

9:Number Of Agents

Now, did you know that it is the largest Intelligence Agency in the world? Apparently, they have over 10,000 agents in the field worldwide however, it is one of the least funded agencies in the world it is above all laws in its home country of Pakistan and it's often referred to as a state within a state because its policies are made outside of all other institutions with the exception of the army. 

Now its personnel has never been caught on camera which allows them to keep their identities secret and the agents can safely carry out their jobs.

                                                    

8: Best Intelligence Agency

It's also been listed as the best intelligence agency. The American crime News declared Pakistan's inter-services intelligence agency to be the world's best and strongest intelligence agency and this was back in the year 2011.

The ISI has its headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan and its main aim is to maintain and protect Pakistan's national interests, to look into matters of political and social interest to Pakistan, as well as to advise the military as to what are the best steps to take. Or the years they have stopped many attacks before they could even take place and have saved thousands of lives.

                                                        

      

7: Well Trained Agents

Also, a huge accomplishment is that no ISI agents to this date have ever been caught or have been turned. Although it has never been verified though, the Pakistani government has not yet taken responsibility for the alleged undercover agent that was caught on foreign soil. 

There are stories of officials like Squadron Leader Khalid Khawaja that were arrested on Pakistani soil for conspiracy against the state but it seems that the ISI has been particularly good at insulating themselves from any direct involvement in any of the covert operations that they have supposedly orchestrated. Now if this is true that's very impressive.

                                                        

6: Recruitment

Now, something more about their thousands of agents that they have. Now there doesn't seem to be any verified count of the number of agents that work in relation with the ISI, both directly or indirectly. Now what is known is that the ISI does recruit from Pakistani military force as well as civilians and they go through rigorous training. 

The training seems to be so secretive that there's very little information and details about it. What you can tell for certain is that the agents are trained in covert intelligence gathering and counterintelligence that they actually receive from all around the world including the United States.

                                                        

5: ISI Headquarters

For their headquarters, that's located in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad and now their complex consists of various low-rise buildings separated by lawns and fountains. 

Ducklin Walsh of The Guardian newspaper, he said that the entrance is subtly discreet no sign just a plainclothes officer holding a pistol as well as they have soldiers that have sniffer dogs and Walsh also said that the complex resembles a well-funded private university and that the buildings are neatly tended and the lawns are smooth and the fountains are tinkling and he described the central building which houses the Director General's office on the top floor, as a modern structure with a round echoing Lobby. Those were his exact words that I quoted here.

                                                            

4: Operation Tupac

Now let's talk about operation Tupac next and has nothing to do with the rapper by the way but operation Tupac was the name of a 3-part operation that was designed to secretly support the militants of Kashmir. Now it was partly started by president Zia-ul-Haq in the year 1988 and the name comes from Tupac a more the second eighteenth-century prince who led the liberation in Peru against Spanish rule. 

The ISI is currently engaged in covertly supporting the Kashmir militants in their fight against the Indian authorities in Kashmir and the militants in Kashmir are fighting to be independent of India and become part of Pakistan.

                                                        

3: Kargil War

Another notable event in ISI history is the Kargil war. The Kargil war of 1999 is nothing short of a Hollywood war film like seriously, the line of control between India and Pakistan is one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, not only because of the political tensions that sometimes comes up between these two countries but also because it gets unbearably cold in the wintertime, there is an unwritten agreement that during the winters neither forest will occupy the borders post. 

The ISI however broke this agreement in the winter of 1998 to 1999 which led to the Kargil war in the following summer. Although it's reported that Pakistan did lose the war, it is considered a victory for the ISI as it caught the research and analysis wing which is the Indian counterpart agency completely off-guard. 

India had no clue about the infiltration until a Shepherd informed them about unknown strangers occupying Indian posts. This is of course all reported from the perspective of Pakistan.

                                                             

2: Spies In India

Now let's talk about interest in Hindus as spies. India and Pakistan were divided based on religious grounds in the year 1947 where India had a Hindu majority and Pakistan had a Muslim majority so it only made sense that Pakistani ISI would use Indian Muslims as spies since they looked exactly alike and they spoke the language very well, that way they could blend in easily in India and they would be able to gather information but a recent year, however, the ISI has turned to high caste Hindus and those are the real attraction for them, since India has become wise with their tactics.

                                                       

1: Nuclear Tests

And finally, the last thing I wanna share is about their nuclear tests although, has never been proven for sure, there is a rumor that the Indian research and analysis wing, as well as Israeli Mossad, flew over Pakistan's nuclear test facilities in order to gather information but they were unable to do so because ISI plans to keep its nuclear facilities secret and even changed the location of its test sites multiple times just so that nobody would know exactly where it is.

Now they finally settled on the Pakistani city of Chaghi and ensure the security of their nuclear equipment by guarding the transport plane with six f-16 fire Jets.