Rawalpindi: Pakistan Army strongly denied on Thursday a BBC report as highly biased that alleged the Pakistani military and it spy agencies supplied and protected the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda.
A number of middle-ranking Taliban commanders detailed what they said was extensive Pakistani support in interviews for a BBC Two documentary series, the first part of which was broadcast on Wednesday.
The Reuters news agency quoted Pakistan military’s Spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, as telling, “We consider that this report is highly biased, it is one-sided, it doesn’t have the version of the side which is badly hit or affected by this report. “So therefore, other than that, it’s factually incorrect,” Abbas said.
Relation between the tow front line allies in the war against terrorism dipped to it lowest ebbs recently, following the top US military and civilians allegations that Pakistan and its military establishment was helping Haqqanis to attack US forces in Afghanistan.
In the documentary, One Taliban commander, Mullah Qaseem, was shown saying that Pakistan had played a significant role in providing supplies and a hiding place for Afghan Taliban fighters.
Abbas denied the claim, questioning Qaseem’s credibility.
He said the head of Pakistan’s spy agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had already said “not a single bullet or financial support” had been given to groups named in the BBC report.
In September, Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, accused Pakistani intelligence of backing violence against US targets including the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
He said the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, blamed for the September, 13 embassy attack, was a “veritable arm” of the ISI.
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