ISI exists primarily to fight India: Expert

London, Mar.24 (ANI): Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) appears primarily to exist to fight India and to maintain a constant link between its political and military wings.

It spends most of its time monitoring whom to recruit from within and outside Pakistan for intelligence-related activity.

According to Amir Rana of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, "Many of them (radical people and groups) are supported by the intelligence agencies, so they are very much tolerated here. They are not seen as a threat to Pakistan and they view themselves as legitimate."

Rana's comments assume importance in the wake of Pakistan saying that more than 20 Britons have spent time with radical militant groups and then returned to the UK.

A Sky News report claimed that most British Pakistanis are believed to come from Kashmir

It said the tracked men are said to have trained with extremist outfits linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban and are thought to pose a potential threat to British security.

The dossier of names is expected to be handed over to British anti-terrorist teams soon and is being seen as a big leap forward in the sharing of intelligence between the two countries.

But British authorities may wonder why the names were not handed over before the suspects re-entered the UK.

The details have been compiled by Pakistan's intelligence service he ISI - and follow the Prime Minister Gordon Brown's declaration that three-quarters of all serious terror plots in Britain have their roots in Pakistan.

The suspects are aged between 17 and 23 and have apparently created "sufficient suspicion" with their activities for the ISI to believe they pose a "potential danger" to Britain.

At least four are thought to have been fighting in Afghanistan - which means they may well have been attacking British troops there.

Intelligence officials say they have also heard "English accents" while listening to satellite and mobile phone chatter between the UK and Pakistan's tribal heartlands.

One anti-terror expert told Sky News: "The ISI have never been happy about sharing information. They are pretty much a law unto themselves, but we'd certainly like more intelligence sharing."

"The intelligence services here (in Pakistan) have much bigger things to worry about and these guys haven't committed any crime on Pakistani soil," said a Pakistani source. (ANI)