Pakistan’s ISI has influence over every terrorist group and it uses these contacts to its “own advantage”, the country’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said in a rare admission that corroborates India’s suspicions of Pak-hand in terror acts.

Debunking Pakistan’s oft-repeated position that its Inter-Services Intelligence had no role in terror activities across the border, Musharraf claimed that its intelligence agency’s effectiveness was through such “ingress”.

“Always, in every group, there is an ingress of the ISI. And that is the efficiency, the effectiveness of the ISI. You must have ingress, so that you can influence all organisations.

“And it is this ingress of theirs, which doesn’t mean that they are supporting them, but they have ingress. They have some contacts, which can be used to their own advantage,” Musharraf said in an interview to CNN. The former President was responding to a question on statements by US leaders that ISI still has contacts with the terrorists.

Musharraf, however, went on to claim that ISI was not supporting the terror groups. “They (ISI) will not support it (terrorists). That was not the government policy. That was not the military policy. However, there was ingress.”

Musharraf alleged that Afghan intelligence, government and President are under the influence of Indian intelligence agencies and he has documentary evidence on it. India has rubbished Pakistan’s allegations saying it was not involved in any way in the troubles in Afghanistan.

“The Afghan intelligence (is) entirely under the influence of Indian intelligence. We know that,” he said when asked whether Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar is in the Quetta city of Pakistan.

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