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Musharraf admits ISI-terror link, Zardari scares for help
Tue, Jun 9 05:33 AM
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has conceded that the ISI maintains link with militant commanders like Sirajuddin Haqqani, suspected of having masterminded the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul. In an interview to German Der Spiegel, Musharraf said the ISI "used Haqqani's influence" to secure the release of Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan who was kidnapped by Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
More ominously, President Asif Ali Zardari, in an interview to the same magazine, said there is a possibility that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the Taliban if democracy "fails" in his country and the world does not help.
"If democracy in this country fails, if the world doesn't help democracy  then any eventuality is a possibility," he said when he was whether he, like his late wife Benazir Bhutto, feared that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Zardari then added: "Nuclear weapons are not Kalashnikovs  the technology is complicated, so it is not as if one little Taliban could come down and press a button... I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of Pakistan is in safe hands."
Musharraf, while admitting to ISI-militant links, said Sirajuddin Haqqani  he is the son of Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, now one of the chief commanders of the Afghan Taliban, and the Haqqanis have been accused of masterminding the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008  "is the man who has influence over Baitullah Mehsud, a dangerous terrorist, the fiercest commander in South Waziristan and the murderer of Benazir Bhutto, as we know today."
"Mehsud kidnapped our Ambassador in Kabul and our intelligence used Haqqani's influence to get him released. Now that does not mean that Haqqani is supported by us. The intelligence service is using certain enemies against other enemies. And it is better to tackle them one by one than making them all enemies," he said.
On US reports that ISI had systematically supported Taliban, Musharraf said: "Intelligence always has access to other network  that is what Americans did with KGB, that is what ISI also does."
During the course of the interview, he accused Indian intelligence agency RAW of interfering in Swat Valley and of arming and financing Baloch rebels. There were "many Indian extremists who have extremists in Pakistan". He said if the world was serious about combating terrorism then "don't leave India out" since there is "an Indian element" behind the current situation in Pakistan.
Claiming that US President Barack Obama does not understand the reality in Pakistan, Musharraf said that India should not be left out of the mandate of Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. "I am totally against the term AfPak... Afghanistan has no government and the country is completely destabilised. Pakistan is not... there is an Indian element in the whole game. We have the Kashmir struggle without which extremist elements like Lashkar-e-Toiba would not exist," he said.
The former President saw a conspiracy to weaken the Army and ISI in Pakistan, saying talk of Balkanization of his country was wrong. He refused to name who were behind this conspiracy, merely pointing to India saying it had "16 insurgencies going on and nobody was making a big thing out of it". (With PTI)
Express news service
Tue, Jun 9 05:33 AM
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has conceded that the ISI maintains link with militant commanders like Sirajuddin Haqqani, suspected of having masterminded the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul. In an interview to German Der Spiegel, Musharraf said the ISI "used Haqqani's influence" to secure the release of Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan who was kidnapped by Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
More ominously, President Asif Ali Zardari, in an interview to the same magazine, said there is a possibility that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the Taliban if democracy "fails" in his country and the world does not help.
"If democracy in this country fails, if the world doesn't help democracy  then any eventuality is a possibility," he said when he was whether he, like his late wife Benazir Bhutto, feared that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Zardari then added: "Nuclear weapons are not Kalashnikovs  the technology is complicated, so it is not as if one little Taliban could come down and press a button... I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of Pakistan is in safe hands."
Musharraf, while admitting to ISI-militant links, said Sirajuddin Haqqani  he is the son of Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, now one of the chief commanders of the Afghan Taliban, and the Haqqanis have been accused of masterminding the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008  "is the man who has influence over Baitullah Mehsud, a dangerous terrorist, the fiercest commander in South Waziristan and the murderer of Benazir Bhutto, as we know today."
"Mehsud kidnapped our Ambassador in Kabul and our intelligence used Haqqani's influence to get him released. Now that does not mean that Haqqani is supported by us. The intelligence service is using certain enemies against other enemies. And it is better to tackle them one by one than making them all enemies," he said.
On US reports that ISI had systematically supported Taliban, Musharraf said: "Intelligence always has access to other network  that is what Americans did with KGB, that is what ISI also does."
During the course of the interview, he accused Indian intelligence agency RAW of interfering in Swat Valley and of arming and financing Baloch rebels. There were "many Indian extremists who have extremists in Pakistan". He said if the world was serious about combating terrorism then "don't leave India out" since there is "an Indian element" behind the current situation in Pakistan.
Claiming that US President Barack Obama does not understand the reality in Pakistan, Musharraf said that India should not be left out of the mandate of Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. "I am totally against the term AfPak... Afghanistan has no government and the country is completely destabilised. Pakistan is not... there is an Indian element in the whole game. We have the Kashmir struggle without which extremist elements like Lashkar-e-Toiba would not exist," he said.
The former President saw a conspiracy to weaken the Army and ISI in Pakistan, saying talk of Balkanization of his country was wrong. He refused to name who were behind this conspiracy, merely pointing to India saying it had "16 insurgencies going on and nobody was making a big thing out of it". (With PTI)
Express news service
