He's Pakistani; Pakistani (and Indian) English tends to have different phrasings -- probably tending toward stilted and archaic to western taste.
I think he was just trying to say "it's not like that NOW" without saying it was necessarily true in the past. Passive voice, indirection, implication, etc. all have a long tradition in bureaucracy.
Also, he's an ISI commander, so there is no chance he has soul-rot, as he has no soul.
I don't know Pakistani, but I don't think that's the cause of the awkward phrasing. It's more likely that he has picked up bureaucratic English too well.
I think he was just trying to say "it's not like that NOW" without saying it was necessarily true in the past. Passive voice, indirection, implication, etc. all have a long tradition in bureaucracy.
Also, he's an ISI commander, so there is no chance he has soul-rot, as he has no soul.