Pakistan's army chief Qamar Bajwa.

NEW DELHI: A court in Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the all-powerful army and the country's influential spy agency ISI to not meddle in the affairs of other departments, reported The Express Tribune.

The Islamabad high court (HC) made this explicit declaration worried over the perception of a state within a state, something security analysts in India, the US and elsewhere have been well aware of as being the norm in a country has seen military coups three times.

In fact, Islamabad HC's Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui went so far as to say that these military and intelligence elements conspired to manipulate the government and the judiciary.

"Everyone knows how (court) proceedings are manipulated, from where strings are pulled, and when power (is) wielded and manoeuvred to achieve the desired results," he said, according to the Tribune.

More startling directives from Siddiqui followed. He directed the secretaries of the ministry of interior and defence to place the court's order before the chief of army staff and the director-general of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). He then emphasised that secret agencies need to realise that they have to confine themselves within the boundaries of the constitution.

"The (secret) agencies are of the state of Pakistan, therefore, (they) need to realise that they have to confine themselves within the limits of the organic law - the Constitution - and the parameters of the law of the land and must stop interfering in the affairs of other institutions (such as the) judiciary, executive, media, and other departments … (who) have nothing to do with the defence and or the security of Pakistan," he maintained.

He ordered the Pakistani army to take remedial steps.

"It is expected from the top echelon of Pakistan army that by appreciating the delicacy, sensitivity, and alarming situation, some remedial steps to stop their agencies from interfering in the affairs of other departments and to refrain from assuming roles not assigned by law shall be taken," Siddiqui's order said.

