Pakistan's Spy Agencies: Challenges of Civilian Control over Intelligence Agencies Bureaucratic and Military Stakeholderism, Dematerialization of Civilian Intelligence, and War of Strength

The imbalance of Pakistan’s civil-military relations has causedmisperceptions about the changing role of intelligence in politics.The country maintains 32 secret agencies working under differentdemocratic, political and military stakeholders who use them fortheir own interests.Established in 1948, The ISI was tasked with acquiringintelligence of strategic interests and assessing the intensity offoreign threats, but political and military stakeholders used theagency adversely and painted a consternating picture of its workingenvironment. The civilian intelligence agency-Intelligence Bureau(IB) has been gradually neglected due to the consecutive militaryrule and weak democratic governments. The ISI today seems the mostpowerful agency and controls the policy decisions.The working of various intelligence agencies, militarisation ofintelligence and ineffectiveness of the civilian intelligence aresome of the issues discussed in the book.