Pak Defence Ministry wants ex-ISI DG’s name retained in ECL

By Hamza Ameer Islamabad, Jan 28 : Pakistan’s Defence Ministry has taken a stand against a request, put in by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General General Retd. Asad Durrani, to remove his name from the countrys Exit Control List (ECL).
The Ministry contended that Durrani had been in direct and constant contact with the Indian Intelligence agency, the Research And Analysis Wing (RAW), since 2008, adding that he may be still in contact for future publications, which would be against the interest of Pakistan.
Durrani came under the radar after he co-authored a book titled “The Spy chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace” with Amarjit Singh, the former head of India’s RAW, in 2018.
After the book’s publication, Pakistan’s Military Intelligence (MI) wrote to the Interior Ministry to put Durrani’s name on the ECL, which was later done in May 2018.
Durrani challenged the decision at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2019.
The Defence Ministry, in its response to Durrani’s petition in the IHC, maintained that the “former ISI Chief’s name was put on the no-fly list for his involvement in anti-state activities”.