ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army has banned the former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani from leaving Pakistan and ordered a formal inquiry into his latest book 'Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' which he co-authored with India's former RAW chief Amarjit Singh Dulat, allegedly in violation of the military code of conduct.
Major General
Asif Ghafoor
, head of
Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR), army’s media arm, on Monday tweeted that interior ministry had been asked to place Durrani’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent him from leaving the country.
“Durrani was called at the GHQ today to explain his position on the recently launched book,” he tweeted adding that a formal court of inquiry, headed by a serving Lt Gen, has been ordered to probe the matter.
The army’s spokesperson had tweeted on Saturday that Gen Durrani was summoned to the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in the garrison city of
Rawalpindi
over “alleged” violation of the military code of conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel.
The ISPR however did not share any details about the statements attributed to Durrani in the book which are considered a violation of the code of conduct.
But the book, as per media reports, addresses contentious issues between India and Pakistan. One of Durrani’s observations in the book is that former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani was fully on board regarding the operation against
Osama bin Laden by the US Navy Seals in the northwestern
Abbottabad
town. He also revealed that
Washington
had struck a deal with Islamabad ahead of the action against the Al Qaeda founder.
Durrani has also suggested in the book that Pakistan mishandled the case of Kulbushan Jadhav, an Indian national convicted by Pakistan’s military court over charges of espionage and subversive activities. The former general claimed that Jadhav would eventually be handed over to India.
The Army’s decision against Durrani came after several politicians, including deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, questioned how a retired general could co-author a book with a former RAW chief.
While discussing the issue in the Senate, the upper house of parliament, Raza Rabbani, the former Senate chairman, last week said that if a politician or any civilian had agreed to co-author a book with his Indian counterpart, he would have been charged with treason. “It is astonishing that despite the deeply strained relations between India and Pakistan, this book has been launched,”
Rabbani
who is a staunch critic of military’s interference in politics, said.