Islamabad : Chief of the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is going to give the following message to his American counterpart in Washington: Yes to formalised anti-terror cooperation, No to private CIA network, as he is to meet acting CIA Director Michael Morell on Wednesday.
According to senior intelligence officials here, Pasha would tell the American spy chief that the ISI has no objection to anti-terror cooperation between the two agencies but would never tolerate a private ‘network’ the CIA is secretly maintaining in Pakistan.
“We are willing to cooperate with CIA in war on terror … but there is no room for a private network. That is our position and we are going to stick to that,” said an official, giving a hint of what would be discussed during Pasha’s interaction with the Americans.
The Pakistani military has been in the process of busting what is described as an underground human network the US established over the past decade.
These local individuals associated with the CIA are believed to have played a critical role in a secret manhunt that led up to the unilateral raid in which bin Laden was killed.
The US administration has been pushing Pakistani spy agencies to release at least several hundred people who were part of the CIA network and the issue is likely to feature during Pasha’s meetings as well.
But officials here said they believed the decision to dismantle these private clusters was final and there won’t be any second thoughts.
