Services Intelligence (ISI) has no links with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview. Asked if the premier spy agency had shared intelligence with the Lashkar on Kashmir, Zardari said it was “something [that happened] in the old days when dictators used to run the country. Maybe before 9/11, that may have been a position. [But] since then, things have changed to a great extent,” he told American weekly magazine, Newsweek. He said the group had now been banned in Pakistan, but such groups “keep re-emerging in different forms.” “Whenever there is actionable intelligence, we move in before anyone else does,” he said. The president said he had always believed intelligence agencies have nothing to do with politics. “Since I have been in government, we've had a stated position that ISI has no political role anymore.” He denied US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had asked Pakistan to arrest “some people,” particularly former ISI head Hamid Gul. “She is a friend and she knows Pakistan is a responsible state, and the Americans and the British know how much my government has done for this operation,” Zardari said. Gul was “definitely not in our good books”, he said, but added the retired general was not accused in the Mumbai terrorist attacks last month. He is more of a political ideologue of terror rather than a physical supporter,” the president said. He said Rice “did not go into specifics” anyway. The Indians “have given us very little information” on the probe into the Mumbai attacks, Zardari said, but added that if elements in Pakistan were found involved, Pakistan would take action against them. “Not for them, it's for myself . . . The Indians must understand that the government and the people of Pakistan are net losers of the situation. We had put in a lot of effort . . . to make good relations with India.” He said there were reports Russia had told the Indians about the attack, “but I wish the Russians had also shared it with us.” Asked if he thought his government could shut Lashkar-e-Taiba down, the president said: “Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan soil for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe.” Zardari said the army would support his government if they offered a no-first
