Indian PM’s Daring Move: Pakistan’s ISI Chief Invited

With the elections to the Indian states and the federal parliament looming in the horizon, the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh has taken a major gamble by inviting the chief of the Pakistan’s controversial spy agency ISI to assist in solving the mystery behind Mumbai terror attacks.

(AP file photo above shows: From left, US Adm. Mike Mullen, Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha.)

The Guardian newspaper reports: “The high-level agreement, a significant political gesture at a time of escalating political suspicions, came amid a barrage of accusations and denials.

“As further evidence emerged suggesting the terrorist onslaught in Mumbai originated in Karachi, Pakistan confirmed it would cooperate with Indian requests for Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, the chief of its controversial Inter-Services Intelligence, to fly to New Delhi.

“An Indian state minister has confirmed that one of the arrested gunmen is a Pakistani national. India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh is believed to have told his Pakistani counterpart that ‘preliminary reports on the attacks ‘point to Karachi’.

“Karachi is Pakistan’s main port and financial hub, where a host of Islamic militant groups have a presence. Pakistan’s premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, swiftly agreed to Singh’s request for the head of ISI to travel to India to share information.” More here…

In August, ISI chief General Pasha accompanied army chief General Kayani to a secret, highly unusual meeting between top Pakistani military leaders and American commanders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. (Photo above) Read here…

Here is Ed Morrissey’s take on the ISI chief’s visit in Hot Air…

And Larry Johnson’s views in No Quarter…

The Telegraph has updated an old report about how Britons are trained in Pakistan…