The presidential camp plans a serious effort to tame the country’s premier intelligence agency — Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — by bringing its operations under the parliamentary scrutiny.

A 19-page draft of a Bill has been submitted in the Senate by President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar which may be taken up during the session that commenced on Monday.

The proposed Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (Functions, Powers and Regulation) Act 2012 suggests that the ISI should be answerable to Parliament and the Prime Minister. It recommends internal accountability and a better discipline within the agency to put an end to enforced disappearances and victimisation of political parties.

It is for the first time that a serious effort is being made to streamline the affairs of the agency which has always remained under criticism for its covert political role.

In its preamble, the Bill says: “The absence of appropriate legislation regulating the functioning, duties, powers and responsibilities of the agency is not consistent with the principles of natural justice and accountability of authority and power and has given rise to resentment against the premier national agency.”

The Bill provides for a director-general of the agency who shall be a serving or retired civil servant in Grade 22 or of an equivalent rank in the armed forces to be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the PM and shall hold the office for four years.

The Bill envisages an Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament comprising nine members drawn from both Houses of Parliament to examine matters relating to expenditure, administration and policy of the agency. The committee will not be allowed to go into the intelligence sources of the agency.

The PM shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of the annual report of the committee together with a statement as to whether any matter has been excluded from it and why.

In the case of missing persons, the government formally stated before the Supreme Court on April 27, 2007, that the operations of the intelligence agencies were beyond the control of the federal government, the draft says.

It suggests that the director-general may issue written orders for taking into preventive custody of any person who in his opinion is acting or has acted in furtherance of a terrorist act or in a manner prejudicial to the security of Pakistan, or has aided or abetted any such act.

The director-general shall fix the period of custody, not exceeding 30 days, in the order of preventive detention of any such person and this period can be extended up to 90 days on special grounds.

If a person is required to be detained for more than 90 days, the director-general shall place the matter before a review board set up for the purpose.

The Bill recommends the appointment of an ombudsman by the President from amongst persons having special knowledge in the field of intelligence, law and administration on such terms and conditions as the President may determine, to independently and impartially address service complaints of the employees of the ISI and any complaints of the misuse of authority by the agency.

Pamplona, July 9
A bull gored two Britons and an American in the running of the bulls through the streets of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona today, the regional government said Thousands of daredevil runners charged for the third day ahead of six fighting bulls of the annual San Fermin festival today, when the three were gored by the animal that broke free from the pack just before entering the city's bullring, a Navarra government statement said.

The bull charged the runners as they huddled on the ground beside a wooden fence, trying to protect themselves from the beast. After several moments of tension, the animal was lured away by stick-wielding cowherds. None of the three was seriously injured.

The morning runs are the highlight of the annual San Fermin festival, which became world famous with the publication of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises." The regional government said one Briton, aged 20, was gored in the right leg while the other, aged 29, was gored in the left leg. The American, aged 39, was gored in the right calf muscle.

The bulls from the Cebado Gago breeding ranch were herded from a holding pen in the city centre to the bullring, where they are normally killed by matadors in afternoon bullfights.

Fifteen people have been killed by bulls in the runs since record began to be kept in 1924. The runs take place daily until July 14 and are broadcast on state television. — AP

Naypyidaw, July 9
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her historic parliamentary debut today, marking a new phase in her near quarter century struggle to bring democracy to her army-dominated homeland.

Suu Kyi, whose unswerving campaigning saw her locked up for years by the former junta and earned her a Nobel Peace Prize, appeared calm as she arrived to take her seat as an elected politician for the first time in the capital Naypyidaw. "I will try my best for the country," she told AFP.

The democracy champion's first taste of public office comes at an uncertain time for Myanmar after recent communal violence and a series of student arrests cast a shadow over promising changes in the former pariah state.

But it also comes amid expectations that several senior hardliners are to be replaced by reformists in an imminent cabinet reshuffle that would mark the first major change of personnel in the top echelons of government since it replaced junta rule last year.

Suu Kyi will join fellow members of her National League for Democracy (NLD), as both the party and its charismatic leader transform from dissident outsiders to mainstream political players in the wake of landmark April by-elections.

The 67-year-old, one of the NLD's 37 lower house members of parliament, postponed her debut in the fledgling legislature last week to recover from a gruelling European tour and visit her constituency. — AFP