``The Inter-Services-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan has not only chalked out a plan to cut off Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of the country by blowing up roads but also to create an independent Islamic state in the North-East comprising Assam and some other areas,'' Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said today.

Addressing a news conference at the state police headquarters, Mahanta said the ISI plan was revealed during the interrogation of the ISI officials and the Harkat-ul-Mujahidden militants arrested last night. ``The primary objective is to train the Muslim youths from Assam and wage a jihad to create an independent Islamic country comprising Assam and some other areas of the North-East,'' Mahanta said.

In the recorded interview of the Harkat-ul-Mujahiddenterrorists, which was played at the news conference, Moula Hafiz Md Akram Mallick confessed that one of the major tasks assigned to them by the ISI was to blow up various portions of Manali-Leh highway and cut off the supply line of the Army.``We have been asked to blow up the road which is used by the Indian Army and the idea is to cut off the supply line,'' Mallick said. He revealed that Harkat-ul-Mujahidden had put over 400 Mujahiddens, including some boys from Assam, at the disposal of the Pakistani Army to fight in Kargil.

State Director General of Police P V Sumant said the officers arrested were Md Fasih Ullah Hussaini and Md Javed Wokhtar with the former holding the rank of major. ``This is the biggest catch so far,'' he said. The other two terrotists were Hafiz Md Akram Mallick and Gari Salim Ahmed of Harkat-ul-Mujahidden.

Inspector General of Police (Special Branch) N Ramachandran said the ISI officials and the militants arrived Dhaka from Karachi by Pakistan International Airlines flight ondifferent dates in the third week of July. In Dhaka they met some ISI personnel to arrange supply of explosives to the militants of Assam.

Subsequently they sneaked into India through illegal channels somewhere near Karimganj. After reaching Guwahati they got in touch with their contacts in the Harkat-ul-Mujahidden and the ULFA. Ramachandran informed that out of the expected consignment of explosives, one part was to be handed over to a local contact person in Assam for use by the ULFA and the local unit of Harkat-ul-Mujahidden, while the other part would have been sent to Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Mahanta said the ISI had been providing active assistance to various Muslim militant outfits to carry out recruitment and training. The intelligence agency had also been providing arms, equipment and logistic support to these outfits.

Other objectives, according to Mahanta, were to make use of the ULFA and certain other local militant outfits for creating large-scale violence in Assam, including bombexplosions in public places.