Pakistan denies ISI links with Al Qaeda (Lead)
May 5th, 2011 - 6:06 pm ICT by IANSIslamabad, May 5 (IANS) An angry Pakistan Thursday denied accusations that a section of its intelligence agency was linked to Al Qaeda.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the media here that the allegation had surfaced repeatedly since US special forces gunned down Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city Monday.
“It’s easy to say that elements within the government were in cahoots with the Al Qaeda. This is a false charge,” Bashir said.
“It cannot be validated. It flies in the face of what ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) has been able to accomplish in the war on terror,” he said.
Bashir added that Pakistan was proud of the ISI’s work.
“It is an important arm of the government, which has contributed enormously to the anti-terror campaign.”
Bashir’s comments followed mounting Western allegations that Osama could not have lived so long deep inside Pakistan without some backing from at least sections of the ISI.
Bashir went on to detail the number of Al Qaeda leaders and operatives Pakistan had arrested and handed over to the US.
He said this included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a Pakistani and one of the key plotters of 9/11 who is now in US custody.
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