Former ISI chief Durrani placed on ECL: Ex-RAW chief AS Dulat calls it 'unfortunate'

Former RAW chief AS Dulat on Tuesday dubbed the Pakistan Army's decision to place former ISI chief Asad Durrani's name in the exit-control list (ECL) for co-authoring a book with him as "unfortunate".

Lieutenant General (retd) Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from August 1990 till March 1992, along with Dulat has written a book "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace".

"His views are well-known. There are no new things in the book. This is very unfortunate that such things are being done to Asad Durrani," Dulat told news agency ANI.

"Things written in book are his (Asad Durrani) memories. Even former Pak's foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said that 26/11 Mumbai attacks destroyed Pakistan's credibility in Kashmir. If a former Foreign Secretary can get away with it, why not ISI chief," he added.

Pakistan army chief spokesman Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that a formal court of inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general has been ordered to launch a probe into the controversial book

Pakistan's army had last week summoned Durrani to seek his explaination over a book he co-authored with Dulat, accusing him of 'violating' the military code of conduct.

In a statement on Monday, DG ISPR said that the complement authority was also approached to place General Durrani's name on the exit-control list (ECL).

On May 25, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif sought an urgent meeting of the National Security Committee to discuss the content of Durrani's book while former chairman of Pakistan's Senate Raza Rabbani slammed the book authored by rival spy agency chiefs, PTI reported.

In the book, Durrani has made observations like former Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had complete knowledge about the US Navy Seals operation against Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad where he was gunned down in May 2011 and that a special deal was made between the US and Pakistani governments on this.