RAWALPINDI: Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been summoned to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) to explain his position on the views attributed to him in his book The Spy Chronicles, a spokesperson for the Pakistani military confirmed Friday.
“Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani [is] being called to the GHQ on 28th May, 2018,” Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, the director-general (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), wrote on Twitter.
“[Durrani] will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’.”
Maj Gen Ghafoor further said the “attribution [is] taken as [a] violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel”.
The development comes hours after former premier Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani voiced their reservations over the book.
Speaking to journalists in Islamabad on Friday, Sharif demanded that an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) be summoned over the book written by Durrani.
The former premier said a trustworthy national commission should be constituted to look over such matters.
Rabbani, who formerly served as the chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, also severely criticised the teaming up of former chiefs of Pakistan and India’s spy agencies to write the book.
“A book co-authored by former chief of India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) AS Dulat and ex-chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani has recently been published,” said Rabbani, while addressing a Senate session on Friday.
“It is shocking that on one hand Pakistan and India relations are at an all-time low and on the other hand, former spy chiefs of both the countries are teaming up to write a book.”
Rabbani further lashed out, saying there would have been a “hue and cry” had a civilian or a politician teamed up with a counterpart to write a book similar to Dulat and Durrani’s.
“Had a politician done the same thing he would have been labelled a traitor,” he asserted.
