Pak army denies support to foreign insurgents

Islamabad, Jun 11 (UNI) The Pakistani army has categorically denied allegations in the Rand Corp report -- 'Counter Insurgency in Afghanistan' -- that the Frontier Corps and the ISI are providing assistance to insurgent groups coming from across the border.

A military spokesman said here today in a statement that the report was yet another smear campaign to malign the Pakistani armed forces and create differences as well as misunderstanding among the coalition partners.

''The report is misleading, factually incorrect and based on propaganda to create doubts and suspicion in the minds of target audience about Pakistan's role in supporting the coalition forces in Afghanistan,'' he added.

Such reports, he said, were not without a design and had a definite agenda to follow.

He clarified that no government official from the Frontier Corps or any intelligence agency was providing any material or financial support to the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan.

On the contrary, US civil and military officials in their interactions at various levels, had always appreciated and acknowledged the role and sacrifices of Pakistani armed forces in the fight against terrorism, the spokesman said.

He stressed that none of the allegations levelled in the report had ever been raised by coalition officials in their formal or informal interactions with Pakistani officials.

Commenting on the allegation that Pakistani officials tipped off Taliban forces about location and movement of the Afghan and coalition forces which undermined US and NATO operations, the spokesman said this was a poorly-fabricated story to create distrust between the two armed forces.

He said, ''Pakistani armed forces have suffered heavy casualties to normalise the situation and bring peace and stability in the area. Any attempt to destabilise the situation will not be in the overall interest of the coalition.'' ''We, therefore, reject and condemn all the allegations made in the report and caution all concerned not to be misled and misguided by the contents of the report,'' he added.

UNI XC SKB DB1034