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Islamabad: The United States has accused members of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of tipping off Al Qaida-linked militants before US missile attacks on targets in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, the defence minister said.
Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar openly acknowledged American mistrust of the ISI in remarks aired on television yesterday.
"They think that there are some elements in the ISI at some level that, when the government of Pakistan is informed of targets, then leak it to them (militants) at some level," Mukhtar told Geo TV in Washington, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on his first official visit to the United States.
"This is an issue about which they were a bit annoyed."
Bush's query
Mukhtar's disclosure is an embarrassment of sorts for President Pervez Musharraf and the military. The News, a daily from the same media group as Geo, had even reported that US President George W. Bush had sought to know who was controlling the ISI.
The ISI is the main intelligence arm of the military but, under the law, must report to the prime minister.
The country's security apparatus consists of the ISI, and Military Intelligence and their civilian cousins - the Intelligence Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, and the police Special Branch.
Last Saturday the government issued a decree saying the ISI and the Intelligence Bureau would be placed under the Interior Ministry, but backtracked the next day with a clarification that raised doubts in sections of the media about its own competence.
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