Despite warning, Pakistan says no organised presence of Islamic State
Islamabad : Different officials in Pakistan's government have taken seemingly contradictory stands on Islamic State's influence in the country, after a rare warning by an intelligence chief that the Middle East-based militant group posed a domestic threat. Reports of stepped-up recruitment by Islamic State and a bloody attack linked to the group last year have stoked fears the movement is gaining momentum in Pakistan, despite the government rejecting its formal presence. The government reasserted its view on Thursday, a day after Intelligence Bureau director general Aftab Sultan told a parliamentary panel that Islamic State was coordinating with militant groups and that hundreds of people had left Pakistan to join its fight in Syria, media reports say. "Let me reiterate that there is no organised presence of Daesh in Pakistan," foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria told reporters in Islamabad, using the Arabic acronym for the group. He declined any further