WikiLeaks: Pakistan spy chief shared intelligence with Israel post 26/11

WASHINGTON - Pakistan and Israel have no diplomatic ties but a year after 26/11 Islamabad shared intelligence information with Israel regarding possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli sites in India, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Ahmad Shuja Pasha, told the then US ambassador Anne Patterson that he had conveyed intelligence on potential terror attacks in India to Israel, according to the Oct 7, 2009 document leaked by WikiLeaks.

He told the diplomat that he had travelled to Oman and Iran to investigate information he received from the US about possible pending attacks in India.

“Pasha asked Ambassador to convey to Washington that he had followed up on threat information that an attack would be launched against India between September-November. He had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India,” the cable read.

A few weeks before the cable was written, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau had issued a travel advisory warning of possible attacks against Israeli sites in India.

A total of 166 people were killed in the Nov 26, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, including an attack against the local Chabad house, blamed on Pakistan based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Israeli officials, such as Mossad chief Meir Dagan, were quoted in other documents published by Wikileaks expressing grave concern about the stability of the Pakistani government and the security surrounding Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)