The ‘Political Wing’ of the ISI was established by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but at present there is no ‘Political Wing’ in the ISI officially or formally.
In the history of Pakistan, there have been accusations of using the agency of heads of state for political purposes. For example, President General Ayub used this agency for political purposes while General Yahya used ISI to monitor opposition political parties in East Pakistan at that time.
But this political wing formally or officially became a part of ISI during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s tenure. It is alleged that he targeted his political opponents through this wing.
The responsibilities that were then the political wing are now under the internal wing of the ISI, which monitors and collects intelligence on internal security of the country, among other things.
It should be noted that former ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed made several changes in the secret agency and many new wings became part of it.
Regarding the structure of ISI, Dr. Hein H. Kessling in his book ‘The ISI of Pakistan. In Faith, Unity, Discipline, the organizational structure of the organization has been described in detail, the information of which, according to him, was provided to him by the ISI itself.
He writes that the institution has seven directorates and several wings attached to them.
The largest directorate in the agency is the Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) while the second largest directorate is the Joint Counter-Intelligence Bureau (JICB). The Joint Intelligence Bureau is headed by a Deputy DG under whom there are five directors who are responsible for departments like Political Parties, Counter-Terrorism, VIP Security, Students and Labour.
Similarly, Joint Counter Intelligence is headed by the Deputy DG (External) and the directorate’s responsibilities include surveillance of foreign nationals and diplomats, the ISI itself, while keeping track of political activities.
However, the so-called ‘political wing’ of the ISI has been controversial at various times and has been accused of ‘political engineering’. Although the primary function of this wing is to monitor political activities and leaders to ensure that they do not become part of any anti-national activities, various quarters have been alleging that this role is vague and dubious.
The military officer heading this wing wields wide powers and keeps a close eye on political parties and their activities. According to military experts, this position in ISI is so important that the officers appointed in this position in the recent past also became the head of this institution. Among them are Lt. Gen. Zaheer Islam, and Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed.
But this position is so sensitive that it is called a double-edged sword. Officers occupying this post sometimes do not get promoted.