London, Sept. 28: Pakistan’s powerful secret service is aiding terrorist groups through its support for shadowy religious organisations, according to a report prepared for the British ministry of defence.

The report, prepared by the Defence Academy and obtained by the BBC’s Newsnight programme, states that the ISI is supporting terrorism by secretly backing a coalition of religious parties.

The British policy of supporting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf because he provides stability is flawed because Pakistan is “on the edge of chaos”, it claimed.

Global terrorists, from the perpetrators of the London bombings to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have indirectly benefited from Pakistani support, the report said.

But Musharraf reacted angrily to the suggestion that the ISI was involved in supporting al Qaida and the Taliban.

“These aspersions against ISI are by vested interests and by those who don’t understand ground realities,” he said.

“I don’t accept them at all and I reject them fully.”

The report’s author, who has a military background and links to MI6, is understood to have travelled to Pakistan in June with a delegation on a fact-finding visit.

He held interviews with the Pakistan Army and academics to prepare a report about the Islamic country and the global war on terror.

Musharraf accused Britain of trying to shift responsibility for terrorism. “There’s no doubt that the London (bombers)... have some way or other come to Pakistan,” he said.

“But let us not absolve the United Kingdom from their responsibilities. Youngsters who are 25, 30 years old and who happen to come to Pakistan for a month or two months and you put the entire blame on these two months of visit to Pakistan and don’t talk about the 27 years or whatever they are suffering in your country.”

He said the ISI was a loyal organisation who had “won the Cold War for the world”.