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UK keeps eyes shut as ISI uses turf to hit India
Ashis Ray, TNN | Mar 7, 2011, 06.05am IST
LONDON: Britain has been turning a blind eye to Pakistan's ISI's activities including a virulent targeting of India for the fear of losing its counter-terrorism cooperation on British soil, a source said.
"Please, could I ask you to re-direct your enquiry to the home office,'' a British foreign office spokesperson said, while the home office did not respond to TOI's queries on ISI's activities in the UK.
ISI's operations in Britain are among the most comprehensive outside Pakistan and draw heavily from the support of a million strong Pakistani community in the UK. There are at least three ISI agents posted at London's Pakistani High Commission as diplomats with the British government's knowledge . There are likely to be more at consulates in Birmingham and other places.
A Whitehall source said MI5 and MI6 — the UK's internal and external intelligence gathering agencies — are even aware of Lashkar-e-Taiba activities in the country. The British government has designated the LeT as a terrorist organisation and banned it. Britain's counter-terrorism officials are aware that the LeT receives assistance and protection from the ISI. Yet, the British authorities continue to soft-pedal on the ISI.
A recent interview of a Pakistani-descent taxi driver, Mohammed Adris, to the Derby Evening Telegraph was a typical example of ISI's tactics. Adris poured out his heart out about the alleged ill-treatment of Kashmiris. He said this was not first hand knowledge, but gathered from Pakistani newspapers and friends. "The Indian army has ruined people's lives in Kashmir. They kill young people,'' Adris told the newspaper. "It's not a Muslim country. There is no freedom for M u s l i m s there. My friends' families don't know whether, when they go to the mosque to pray, they will be killed because the army thinks they are terrorists.''
Adris was among a group of Pakistanis, who organised an ISI-encouraged conference in Derby for British MPs and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to highlight the alleged plight of Kashmir last month. It was also aimed at persuading Pakistani Kashmiris to get involved in British politics. Derby in central England has a large Pakistani population.
The Telegraph reported that an English-origin councillor came back from the meeting with the impression that they felt a "very oppressed people'' .
Ashis Ray, TNN | Mar 7, 2011, 06.05am IST
LONDON: Britain has been turning a blind eye to Pakistan's ISI's activities including a virulent targeting of India for the fear of losing its counter-terrorism cooperation on British soil, a source said.
"Please, could I ask you to re-direct your enquiry to the home office,'' a British foreign office spokesperson said, while the home office did not respond to TOI's queries on ISI's activities in the UK.
ISI's operations in Britain are among the most comprehensive outside Pakistan and draw heavily from the support of a million strong Pakistani community in the UK. There are at least three ISI agents posted at London's Pakistani High Commission as diplomats with the British government's knowledge . There are likely to be more at consulates in Birmingham and other places.
A Whitehall source said MI5 and MI6 — the UK's internal and external intelligence gathering agencies — are even aware of Lashkar-e-Taiba activities in the country. The British government has designated the LeT as a terrorist organisation and banned it. Britain's counter-terrorism officials are aware that the LeT receives assistance and protection from the ISI. Yet, the British authorities continue to soft-pedal on the ISI.
A recent interview of a Pakistani-descent taxi driver, Mohammed Adris, to the Derby Evening Telegraph was a typical example of ISI's tactics. Adris poured out his heart out about the alleged ill-treatment of Kashmiris. He said this was not first hand knowledge, but gathered from Pakistani newspapers and friends. "The Indian army has ruined people's lives in Kashmir. They kill young people,'' Adris told the newspaper. "It's not a Muslim country. There is no freedom for M u s l i m s there. My friends' families don't know whether, when they go to the mosque to pray, they will be killed because the army thinks they are terrorists.''
Adris was among a group of Pakistanis, who organised an ISI-encouraged conference in Derby for British MPs and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to highlight the alleged plight of Kashmir last month. It was also aimed at persuading Pakistani Kashmiris to get involved in British politics. Derby in central England has a large Pakistani population.
The Telegraph reported that an English-origin councillor came back from the meeting with the impression that they felt a "very oppressed people'' .
