INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS ASSISTING TALIBAN

PAKISTAN: CRACKDOWN FEARS AS MUSHARRAF ADMITS FORMER SPY CHIEFS' TALIBAN TIES

Karachi, 2 Oct. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The acknowledgment by Pakistan's President Musharraf, in a US media interview, that some retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI - Pakistan's spy agency) officials could be assisting Taliban insurgents, has sparked fears of a crackdown back home. "General Pervez Musharraf’s statement will open up a new Pandora’s box and the possibility cannot be dismissed that there will be a crackdown on retired military officials on US pressure," said the former ISI director-general, retired Lt. General Hamid Gul in an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

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"I have some reports that some dissidents, some retired people who were in the forefront in ISI during the period of 1979 to 1989 may be assisting the links somewhere here and there," said Musharraf in the interview recorded before he left the United States.

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Despite Musharraf's statement on American television, when contacted by AKI, the spokesperson for the Pakistani military dismissed any speculation of a possible crackdown on retired intelligence officials.

“Whatever is published in today’s newspaper is wrong," said the director-general of the Inter-Services-Public Relations of the Pakistan Army, Major General Shaukat Sultan. "I have recording of the president’s interview with me, in which he only discussed a few trends in the ISI between 1979 and 1989, and the whole discussion was of that period. There is just no chance of any crackdown on retired army officials," Sultan maintained.

However Gul, who is believed to be well-respected among Islamists and jihadi groups, disagreed with Sultan.

"This [Musharraf's] statement would obviously go a long way," he told AKI. "Any American pressure to round up former army officials and ISI officials to investigate their links with the Taliban is inevitable and why would they not be arrested?

"When a national hero like Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan can be detained, any body can be arrested and interrogated in Pakistan,” the retired general commented, referring to the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, AQ Khan, who has lived under virtual house arrest in Islamabad since he confessed in early 2004 to leaking sensitive nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.


Pertinent Links:

1) PAKISTAN: CRACKDOWN FEARS AS MUSHARRAF ADMITS FORMER SPY CHIEFS' TALIBAN TIES