Author: PTI
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 2, 2008
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
was handed a "chargesheet" by CIA chief Michael V Hayden on Pakistani
intelligence agencies' links to militant activities and was told to "rein
in the ISI" during their meeting in Washington.
"Some information in the CIA chargesheet
was so damning that the Pakistanis could not deny them," a senior Pakistani
official familiar with the talks told the Dawn newspaper.
Diplomatic and US sources said the allegations
included in the "chargesheet" were almost identical to what The
New York Times had reported on Wednesday.
The US daily had reported about CIA deputy
director Stephen R Kappes' secret visit to Islamabad last month to confront
Pakistan with information about the ISI's links with militants in the north-western
tribal areas.
CIA chief Hayden, who met Gilani on Monday,
is believed to have told the Prime Minister that Pakistan will have to soon
crack down on the involvement of ISI officials with militants.
Hayden also told Gilani that even a change
of government in Washington would not help Pakistan as whoever occupied the
White House in January would want Islamabad to "rein in the ISI",
said the senior official.
US President George Bush too expressed "concern
and some annoyance" over the leaking of information to terrorists by
the ISI during his meeting with Gilani on Monday. Bush told Gilani that Washington
is reluctant to share intelligence with Islamabad because people in the ISI
are passing on such information to militants.
