Posted on 09/28/2006 2:24:16 PM PDT by blam
Pakistan denies helping terrorists
(Filed: 28/09/2006)
Seeking to defuse a row, Tony Blair has reassured Pakistan's leader that the leaked document accusing Pakistan's secret service of backing Islamist extremism did not reflect the view of the British government.
Mr Blair's conciliatory words followed the leak of a report prepared for the Ministry of Defence that said Pakistan's powerful secret service was aiding terrorist groups through its support for religious organisations.
Pakistan has been accused of helping Taliban fighters
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said before talks with Blair today that he planned to protest over the British think-tank report alleging that Pakistan's ISI intelligence service indirectly supports Islamist extremism, saying that he rejected it "200 per cent".
Following two hours of talks between the two leaders today, however, a No 10 spokesman said Mr Musharraf had accepted that the leaked document did not represent British government policy.
Gen Musharraf was said in turn to have assured Mr Blair that he was determined to to deal with the Taliban and reduce the level of activity across the border into Afghanistan.
The report, prepared by MoD think-tank the Defence Academy and obtained by the BBC's Newsnight programme, states that the country's intelligence service, known as the ISI, is supporting terrorism by secretly backing a coalition of religious parties.
The British policy of supporting general Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, because he provides stability is flawed because Pakistan is "on the edge of chaos", the document claimed.
Global terrorists, from the perpetrators of the London bombings to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have indirectly benefited from Pakistani support, according to the report.
But General Musharraf reacted angrily to the suggestion that the ISI was involved in supporting al-Qa'eda and the Taliban.
The president told the BBC: "These aspersions against ISI are by vested interests and by those who don't understand ground realities.
"I don't accept them at all and I reject them fully."
The report's author, who has a military background and links to MI6, is understood to have travelled to Pakistan in June with a delegation on a factfinding visit.
He held interviews with the Pakistan army and academics to prepare a report about the Islamic country and the global war on terror. The BBC did not name him for security reasons.
General Musharraf, already embroiled in a war of words with President Hamid Karzai of neighbouring Afghanistan over his alleged failure to root out Taliban fighters, accused Britain of trying to shift responsibility for terrorism.
"There's no doubt that the London (bombers) ... have some way or other come to Pakistan," he said. "But let us not absolve the United Kingdom from their responsibilities. Youngsters who are 25, 30 years old and who happen to come to Pakistan for a month or two months and you put the entire blame on these two months of visit to Pakistan and don't talk about the 27 years or whatever they are suffering in your country."
He said the ISI was a loyal organisation who had "won the Cold War for the world."
An MoD spokesman denied that the Defence Academy report reflected official thinking.
He said: "The academic research notes quoted in no way represent the views of either the MoD or the Government.
"To represent it as such is deeply irresponsible and the author is furious that his notes have been wilfully misrepresented in this manner.
"Indeed, he suspects that they have been released to the BBC precisely in the hope that they would cause damage to our relations with Pakistan."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.