Blair seeks to smooth over Pakistan relations after MoD leak

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair last night sought to allay the anger of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after an MoD report claimed his intelligence service (ISI) supports al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The leaked report by the Defence Academy — an MoD think-tank — says the ISI indirectly backs terrorism by backing religious groups in Pakistan.

But the president has insisted that the allegations were being made by people who did not understand “ground realities”.

He told the BBC’s Newsnight programme, which obtained the document: “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.”

The MoD responded to the leak by saying: “The academic research notes quoted in no way represent the views of either the MoD or the government.

“To represent it as such is deeply irresponsible, and the author is furious that his notes have been willfully misrepresented in this manner.”

And Mr Blair was planning to smooth over the row at talks in Chequers yesterday evening.

The paper is believed to have been written by a British intelligence official with a military background, who interviewed figures in the Pakistan army and academics to prepare a briefing about the Islamic country and the global war on terror.

It raises doubts over the progress of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, echoing concerns set out in a leaked report by US intelligence agencies.

The MoD briefing states that Iraq “has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and al-Qaida has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act”.