New delhi: Does the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s premier spy, agency have links with militant groups?

What intelligence agency in the world doesn’t have “links” to militants – that was how Major General Asif Ghafoor, the spokesperson of all things Pakistani defence, responded when asked the same question.
Ghafoor, the head of Pakistani armed forces’ media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, was speaking at a press conference in Rawalpindi when he was asked about the senior-most United States general’s recent observation that the ISI has connections to militant groups.

Ghafoor sought to differentiate between having ‘links’ to militants and ‘supporting’ them. According to a report in Dawn, Ghafoor said that having “links” can be positive and that the US general’s about the ISI “did not say there was support”. The US general in question is Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking US armed forces member. “It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups,” Dunford recently said in the US.

Major General Ghafoor, in his press conference, also said that Pakistan shares an “unsafe” border with India due to New Delhi’s “inappropriate actions”. ?”In the east, we have a border with India which is unsafe because of India’s inappropriate actions,” Dawn quoted the Pakistani military spokesperson as saying while speaking about Pakistan’s borders.

“Threats from India are perpetual. We are a peaceful country and we do not want war with them, but we will defend ourselves and have the capability to do so,” Ghafoor went on to say. The military spokesperson also accused India of violating the ceasefire along the Line of Control and claimed that Pakistani troops had responding in a befitting manner.

“The ceasefire violations in 2017 are considerably more in number than any other year before this, with 222 civilian casualties along the Line of Control. However, India has also paid a price due to our response [to attacks] and we will continue to do so [respond] if it does not act with restraint,” Ghafoor claimed.