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After blunt talk by PM, ISI chief to visit India
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad
In an unprecedented move, Pakistan today agreed to send the chief of its main spy agency to New Delhi for sharing intelligence with Indian counterparts amid persistent accusations that Mumbai attackers had come from Karachi.
The decision to send Lt Gen Shujaa Pasha, director general of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), was taken by country’s top leadership in a meeting after both President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani separately spoke to Indian premier Manmohan Singh to assure him full cooperation in the investigations for unveiling all facts behind the Mumbai bloodbath.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the “request for dispatching the ISI chief came from Manmohan Singh for the exchange of information”. A press release from the PMO recalled that the Indian Prime Minister was the first foreign leader to call Gilani soon after the deadly Marriott blast in Islamabad on September 20 last and offered all possible cooperation.
Gilani talked to Manmohan Singh early this morning after which President Zardari also rang up the Indian leader. Later, both Zardari and Gilani held an emergency meeting and decided to promptly respond to the request for sending the ISI chief. The modalities for Gen Pasha’s visit were set in motion immediately and officials said he may leave for New Delhi any time within next 48 hours. With tensions mounting between the two neighbours in the wake of Indian accusations, Pakistan’s friends also moved in to press the Pakistani leadership to take concrete action to allay Indian suspicions. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice called Zardari late Thursday night to urge him for taking early steps to avert the evolving dangerous escalation.
