Ex-ISI chief Gul dismisses charge of al-Qaeda link as ‘lies’

His remarks came after reports that the US plans to send names of four Pakistanis, including that of him and other former ISI officials, as also Pakistan-based groups to the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions against them for alleged links to terrorist activities.

“I have met the Foreign Minister (Shah Mahmood Qureshi) and asked him to protect innocent citizens like me. He said he would take it up,” Gul said.

Noting that the Government is currently pre-occupied with dealing with the fallout of the Mumbai attacks, Gul said he is hopeful the matter will be taken up with the UN soon.

“If they don’t take it up, I’ll write to the UN Secretary General and tell them that this is an embarrassment for me as I have no such links. The UN can set up a commission to probe the matter and I would be willing to appear before it,” he said, adding that such a commission should be independent and not controlled by the US.

The inclusion of Gul and others on the UN list would lead to freezing of their assets. The News recently reported it had accessed a secret US document that listed charges against Gul.

Gul, who served as ISI chief during 1987-89, said the charges that the US was bringing against him “are all lies”.

He said he had no contacts with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and his links to leaders in Afghanistan were “purely moral and academic”.

Many leaders of the ruling alliance in Kabul and former Mujahideen commanders are his friends and he had always worked to forge unity among them, Gul said.

Gul had yesterday dismissed as “nonsense” a Washington Post report that Pakistan has agreed to arrest and hand him over to India in connection with the probe into the Mumbai terror attacks.

Asked if he was aware of the charges the US planned to bring against him, Gul said he had been informed about the contents of the purported US document by a journalist. “They are all lies. There is not a word of truth in them. There is nothing mysterious about my activities,” he said.

“The US is bringing all these charges against me because they do not like hearing any voices of opposition. I will continue opposing their policies. The US is an aggressor nation and its presence is bad for the entire region,” he said.

He also said the Indian Government should be cautious about getting too close to the US and the growing relations between the two countries. “They want Indian troops in Afghanistan. The British caused problems between the people of the Indian subcontinent and left, and their place is being taken by another imperial power,” he said.

Gul, who has been accused of instigating the militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the late 1980s, was named by slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto as one of the persons who should be investigated is she was killed.

Bhutto had named Gul in a letter written to former President Pervez Musharraf shortly before she was assassinated in December last year.