Pakistan takes U-turn, decides not to send ISI chief to India

By NNN-PTI,

Islamabad : Hours after agreeing to send ISI chief to India to “cooperate” in investigations into the Mumbai terror strikes, the Pakistan government Saturday did a U-turn apparently under pressure from the powerful army and decided to depute a senior official of the spy agency.


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The decision to backtrack was taken at a special meeting attended by President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that spilled well into the wee hours.

The Prime Minister later also chaired a special meeting of his cabinet to review India’s allegations of a Pakistani link to the terrorist strikes as well as the proposal to send an ISI representative to assist in the probe into the attacks.

Sources said the cabinet meeting also discussed bilateral relations and the impact of the Mumbai attacks on the regional and domestic security situation.

Gilani had on Saturday agreed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s demand to fly the ISI chief to Delhi after India suspected involvement of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai terror attacks that left nearly 200 dead.

The government’s decision to send a senior official of counter-terrorism directorate of the ISI instead of the spy agency’s chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha had been conveyed through diplomatic channels to India, Dawn News channel reported.

However, sources in the Indian High Commission told PTI that the mission had not been contacted by the Pakistan government in this regard.

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