Musharraf Angry at British Report That Pakistan Supported Al-Qaeda & Taleban

Extracted from The Times, UK
By Jenny Booth and agencies, on 28.09.06

General Pervez Musharraf will hold talks with Tony Blair today amid controversy over a British government-commissioned report that claims Pakistan's spy network is too close to Muslim terrorists.

The report by the Defence Academy - a Ministry of Defence thinktank - which was leaked to the BBC's Newsnight programme, is said to claim that, indirectly, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had supported al-Qaeda and the Taleban and aided the Madrid and London bombers.

The policy paper is also reported to propose using military links between British and Pakistani armed forces to persuade Mr Musharraf to step down as leader of the country, accept free elections, withdraw the army from civilian life and dismantle ISI.

The Pakistan President reacted angrily to the findings, particularly the suggestion that his intelligence service had in any way colluded with terrorism.

He 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... Absolutely, 200 per cent, I reject it...

"We don’t like anybody advising us to dismantle ISI, least of all the [British] Ministry of Defence."

President Musharraf said that he would raise the issues with Mr Blair when he meets him at Chequers tonight. Mr Blair for his part is expected to try to allay the President's anger.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that the study in no way represented the views of the ministry or of 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, "the spokesman said. "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.

"Pakistan is a key ally in our efforts to combat international terrorism and her security forces have made considerable sacrifices in tackling al Qaeda and the Taleban. We are working closely with Pakistan to tackle the root causes of terrorism and extremism."

The leaked British report also "paints a stark picture of failure" on the War on Terror, according to Newsnight, suggesting that the West's fight against extremism was going nowhere with no end in sight.

Echoing a American intelligence report leaked to The New York Times this week, the British document says that the war in Iraq has radicalised Muslims and acted as a "recruiting sergeant" for extremists. President Bush was obliged partially to declassify the report, titled Global Trends in Terrorism, yesterday to quell gloomy rumours about its contents.

The British report’s author, who has a military background and links to MI6, travelled to Pakistan in June with a delegation on a factfinding visit, the BBC programme stated.
He is to have held interviews with the Pakistan army and academics to prepare a report about the Islamic country and the global war on terror. The BBC said it would not name him for security reasons.

The study said: "The wars in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq have not gone well and are progressing slowly towards an as yet specified and uncertain result. The war in Iraq ... has acted as a recruiting sergeant for extremists from across the Muslim world." It added: "Iraq has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and al-Qaeda has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act."

The document went on to state: "British armed forces are effectively held hostage in Iraq following the failure of the deal being attempted by the Chief of Staff to extricate UK armed forces from Iraq on the basis of doing Afghanistan, and are now fighting and are arguably losing, or potentially losing, on two fronts."

The report states that ISI is supporting terrorism by secretly backing the coalition of religious parties in Pakistan known as the MNA. It said: "The Army’s dual role in combating terrorism and at the same time promoting the MNA, and so indirectly supporting the Taleban through the ISI, is coming under closer and closer international scrutiny."

The British policy of supporting President Musharraf because he provides greater stability is flawed because Pakistan is "on the edge of chaos", the document claimed. It added: "Indirectly Pakistan, through the ISI, has been supporting terrorism and extremism whether in London on 7/7 or in Afghanistan or Iraq."

The report proposed using the military links between the British and Pakistan armies at a senior level to persuade President Musharraf to step down, accept free elections and persuade the army to dismantle the ISI.

General Musharraf was arriving in Britain today after a stay in America which has been marked by controversy. During interviews to publicise his memoirs, serialised by The Times, he claimed that America threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age" if it did not cooperate against the Taleban after the 9/11 attacks.

He has also criticised British intelligence for delays in informing the Pakistan authorities that two of the bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks in London had visited his country just months earlier.

The President said: "I reject it from anybody - MoD or anyone who tells me to dismantle ISI. ISI is a disciplined force, for 27 years they have been doing what the government has been telling them, they won the Cold War for the world.

"Breaking the back of al-Qaeda would not have been possible if ISI was not doing an excellent job."

The President rejected criticism that Pakistan was at the centre of a terrorist network. He told Newsnight that the terrorists’ base was "mainly" Afghanistan "but it has its fallout in Pakistan", he repeated his criticisms of the UK for not doing enough to stop its own homegrown extremists.
The President said: "There’s no doubt that the London [bombers] ... have some way or other come to Pakistan. 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 month 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."

The leaked document was due to form the basis of further meetings to discuss policy towards Pakistan, Newsnight claimed.