Pakistan puts move to rein in spies on ice

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's 4-month-old civilian government has suspended a decree issued last month to put the military's powerful and controversial spy agency under Interior Ministry control, according to an official statement.

Feared by neighbouring Afghanistan and India, and reportedly mistrusted by the United States despite its help fighting al Qaeda, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency also has a reputation for destabilising past civilian governments.

Late last month the government issued a decree putting the ISI and its civilian cousin, the Intelligence Bureau, under the purview of the Interior Ministry.

The government rolled back a day later by saying the move had been "misinterpreted". Without withdrawing the decree, it said a new, more detailed one would follow.

Late on Tuesday, it issued a statement saying the July 26 decree was now held in "abeyance", pending consultations with various branches of Pakistan's intelligence network.

"The Prime Minister is pleased to direct that the federal government will carry out further deliberation on coordinating the intelligence efforts," the statement said.

The flip-flop has caused further disillusion with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's government, at a time when there are mounting doubts about its ability to handle multiple crises.

Those include raging inflation, plunging markets, food and fuel shortages, and rising militancy in the country's rugged and restive northwest.