Thaindian News

Islamabad, Oct 30 (IANS) Pakistan Sunday strongly rejected claims made in a BBC documentary that the country’s security services were supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“The BBC series ‘Secret Pakistan’ accuses Pakistan of playing a double game, acting as the US’ ally in public while secretly training and arming its enemy (Taliban) in Afghanistan. The series makes baseless and fabricated allegations,” Xinhua quoted a Pakistani foreign ministry statement as saying.

“Fiction such as those depicted in the series cannot belittle Pakistan’s sacrifices and contribution in countering terrorism,” the statement said.

The Pakistani army also strongly denied the claims made in the documentary. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas described the allegations as “baseless and malicious”.

He said the US and Afghanistan were trying to blame Pakistan for their own failures. He said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had itself suffered at the hands of Al Qaeda and its affiliates. About 300 ISI officials had died in terror attacks, he said.

Meanwhile, BBC spokeswoman Helen Deller said the documentary was made in line with BBC editorial guidelines and did “not attempt to take sides”.

“‘Secret Pakistan’ was made in accordance with the BBC’s editorial guidelines. Information we gained was checked with multiple sources and the programme strove to be fair and accurate,” she said.