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Pakistan Army seeks political backing for its anti-terror campaign
By Farhan Bokhari
10 October 2008
Pakistan's army, which is leading the country's 'war on terror', asked the country's main political parties on 8 October to back its anti-terror effort in the country's northern districts close to the Afghan border.
The appeal for support, issued by Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who was appointed head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) counter-espionage agency the week before, came in a closed joint session of the country's two houses of parliament.
The briefing was the first time since Pakistan joined the United States-led 'war on terror' in 2001 that the country's top intelligence chief had addressed parliamentarians in any detail.
Western defence officials based in Islamabad and senior Pakistani government officials said the in-camera briefing was aimed at forming a national political consensus in support of anti-terrorist operations.
The day after the briefing, a suicide car bomber attacked a compound used by anti-terror policemen in Islamabad, killing at least eight people.