Indian intelligence operatives helping Musharraf fight terrorists: Report

Islamabad, Jan 6 : India has quietly geared up its intelligence operatives in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to help Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf fight terrorists, media reports have said.

According to the Daily Times, the decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on December 28, a day after former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi.

"The decision to activate Indian 'assets' in support of the Pakistan regime was taken in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)," the daily quoted sources, as saying.

After the meeting, the intelligence operatives were directed "not to take advantage" of Pakistan's current phase of instability following Benazir's assassination, and "try to help wherever possible without jeopardising themselves," the sources said.

The meeting concluded that a "strong and stable Pakistan" was need of the hour for peace within India, and decided that Musharraf was battling the same terrorist groups that have spread sleeper cells throughout Jammu and Kashmir and inside the Indian hinterland, the report said.

The meeting further said that the same groups are also behind the instability in Afghanistan.

"Subsequently, Indian 'assets' in and around Pakistan were ordered to lie low and not make things difficult for the Musharraf regime," the report said.

ANI