Pak 'stage-managed' snub to top US officials: Report

Pakistan had "stage-managed" the unprecedented snub to two top Obama administration officials by the ISI as the means of telegraphing its resentment over a number of issues brewing between Washington and Islamabad, a report said on Wednesday.

By this, establishment in Islamabad is trying to limit one-to-one contact between Washington and the various key Pakistani institutions especially the ISI, the US think tank Stratfor said.

Such display, the Stratfor said, will complicate the Obama administrations strategy on the Taliban.

The observations by the influential American think-tank come in the wake of reports that ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha had refused to meet US special envoy Richard Holbrooke and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen on Tuesday.

An ISI spokesman in Islamabad had denied such a report. Stratfor, however, said it had learned that the top US military commander and Washington's pointman on Afghanistan and Pakistan had requested a separate meeting with ISI chief, which was not granted.

The think tank said that the Pakistan establishment is trying to limit contact between US officials and Pakistani institutions especially the ISI, which in this case meant having a group meeting with Army and intelligence chiefs instead of separate meetings.

Holbrooke and Mullen were in Islamabad on Tuesday during which they met president Asif Ali Zardari, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and Army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

Pakistan Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said Pasha was present in the meeting between US officials and Kayani.

The think-tank listed among the issues of resentment by ISI include criticism by Mullen and the US CENTCOM chief Gen David Petreaus, who had said that ISI is still dealing with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and the increasing US drones strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt.

The ISI and its support base in the Pakistan establishment is also upset with Obama administrations strategy of treating Afghanistan and Pakistan as one theater and the US move to involve India in Afghanistan, it said.

"The snub is also part of an emerging consensus between Pakistan's military and civilian government that Islamabad needs to increase its bargaining power with the US as an ally in the war against militants," Stratfor said.

Observing that the view in Islamabad is that US pressure and airstrikes by American drones are undermining Pakistan's ability to combat a raging jihadist insurgency, Stratfor said, Pakistan is also now saying that any national counter-terrorism strategy or cooperation with the US will have to receive Parliament's approval.

"The ISI chief's refusal to meet with top US officials visiting the country is also informed by the need to counter the view on the home front that Pakistan is subservient to US interests — a view that jihadists are exploiting to advance their agenda," Stratfor said.

"The increase in attacks in recent weeks has also led to a national realization of sorts that the country needs its own counter-terrorism policy. The first step in formulating such a strategy involves showing that Islamabad is not simply following the US lead," it said.