Pakistan Army rejects claims of American journalists

Pakistan Army has ruled out the claim made by US journalist in his book that a colonel of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) tipped off the United States about the location of Osama bin Laden, the former al-Qaeda chief.

According to a report published in Foreign Policy, DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa rebuffed the reports saying completely false and incorrect.

However, the recently appointed director general of ISPR said, “This is a fabricated story. Any such story will not have basis and is an attempt to malign Pakistan and Pakistan Army”.

Foreign Policy magazine quoting Bajwa said that the tale implies that the ISI had some advance knowledge that bin Laden had been hiding in Abbottabad with several members of his family before the May 1, 2011, US raid.

He further stated, “You can find twists in [the Miniter story] to show as if Pakistan was helping terrorists, which is incorrect”.

Earlier, an American journalist Richard Miniter has claimed in his book that a senior ISI colonel walked into the US Embassy in Islamabad in December 2010, five months before the bin Laden raid, and told US officials about bin Laden’s location.

The book also reports that the bin Laden compound was “carved out” of Pakistan Military Academy Kakul and that senior Pakistani military officials may have been briefed on the raid in advance.

The book said, “In a never-before-reported account, Pakistan was more involved in the Bin Laden operation than Obama’s team admitted. When the CIA revealed that an ISI colonel had contacted the CIA in Islamabad and offered information about Bin Laden, a debate followed”.

It added, “Was this a secret sign that the head of the ISI himself was pointing out Bin Laden’s hiding place or was the colonel actually the patriot who hated extremism that he claimed to be? Whatever the motivation, the CIA found Bin Laden’s hiding place within a month of the colonel’s visit”.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=31328

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Aug 24 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.