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An editorial in a Pakistan daily has said the "Frankenstein monster" - Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) political cell, has grown too big for comfort. It said, the ISI's political cell has infiltrated into and manipulated Pakistan's politics and other influential areas of social life to such an extent that it seems an uphill task to revert it to its original mandate, to its basic role of just intelligence gathering. The former ISI chief Lt-General Asad Durrani had recently admitted that the political cell of the ISI still exists. There are reports claiming that the new ISI chief, Lt-General Zaheerul Islam has suspended the agency's political wing in March. If this is true, it deserves to be brought into the light of day and proved beyond doubt in the Supreme Court, it added. Asad Durrani's statements in his testimony contradicting those of former Chief of the Army Staff General (retd) Aslam Beg seem to have reinforced the truth. It has created a rift between the two, as was expected. Now it seems impossible for General (retd) Aslam Beg to come clean out of the Mehrangate mess, it said. The Mehrangate scandal has highlighted the surreptitious activities of the political cell of the ISI to such an extent that merely its suspension will not work. It has to be abolished once and for all to support democracy and turn the page on the dark past of muddying and distorting the process of ascertaining the will of the people through the ballot, the editorial concluded.

Frankenstein monster ISI's political cell has grown too big for comfort: Editorial