Document Alleges Pakistan Intelligence Aids Qaeda

[nam78_two]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Pakistan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A leaked document accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency of indirectly supporting terrorist groups including al-Qaida and calls on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to disband the agency.

Musharraf, who is scheduled to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair later Thursday, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he rejected the assessment and would raise the matter with his counterpart.

''ISI is a disciplined force, breaking the back of al-Qaida,'' Musharraf told the BBC, claiming his intelligence service had secured the arrests of 680 suspected terrorists.

The broadcaster said the documents were written by an unidentified senior researcher at the Defense Academy, which is a ministry think-tank. It said the document was part of a private British review of efforts across the world to combat terrorism.

The BBC quoted the document as saying that Pakistan was coming under ''closer and closer'' international scrutiny because of the intelligence agency's support for the country's hard-line opposition Islamic coalition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, also called MMA.

''Indirectly, Pakistan (through the ISI) has been supporting terrorism and extremism -- whether in London on (July 7, 2005) or in Afghanistan or Iraq,'' the BBC quotes the document as saying. ''Pakistan is not currently stable but on the edge of chaos.''

[Junkdrawer]

1. Hence the big Musharraf PR campaign for the last week or so...

"What a great leader." Bullocks.