ISLAMABAD, June 17: Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence gave military training to Kashmiri militants battling security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, a Kashmiri leader has revealed for the first time.

The revelation of help for the militants from the ISI comes in a new book by Amanullah Khan, chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

“We had a gentleman’s agreement, an oral sort of agreement. I was given the idea that the ISI was all for the independence of Kashmir,” Mr Khan told Reuters on Friday, referring to the beginning of ISI help for his group.

He said he was given the impression that Pakistan’s then military ruler, General Ziaul Haq, also supported the notion of independence for Kashmir.

Mr Khan said the JKLF began bringing young men into Azad Kashmir from the Indian side in 1988, where they received training from the ISI.

Mr Khan’s Urdu-language book “Jehed-i-Musalsal” or “Continuous Struggle” is the second volume of his autobiography. He said he expected to publish one more volume.

Mr Khan said ISI training for his group ended in late 1989 or early 1990 after the intelligence agency tried to interfere in his group’s affairs.

At the time, the ISI was nurturing other groups with a different ideology, he said, referring to the gradual rise to prominence of Islamist Kashmiri groups, compared with his secular, nationalist group.