Were unaware of Bin Laden's existence in Pakistan, Intelligence Sources reject NYTimes report
It is claimed in NYTimes piece that Pakistan safe-harboured Bin Laden and has ties with terrorists.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Sources from Pakistan’s premier intelligence have strongly rejected New York Times report -- alleging Pakistan of harbouring Osama Bin Laden – and said that no one in Pakistan was aware of Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, Dunya News reported.
The sources allege that the New York Times piece is fabricated and based on lies adding that the correspondent Carlotta Gall who wrote this piece was deported from Pakistan after being declared undesirable.
Lashing out at the reports, intelligence sources say that the purpose of NYTimes report is to malign agencies and Pakistan.
Gall in her report claimed that former president Pervez Musharraf had formed a special desk to provide protection to Bin Laden and the person responsible was not answerable to anyone else.
An excerpt from her report reads:
“…Finally, on a winter evening in 2012, I got the confirmation I was looking for. According to one inside source, the ISI actually ran a special desk assigned to handle Bin Laden. It was operated independently, led by an officer who made his own decisions and did not report to a superior. He handled only one person: Bin Laden.”
Gal’s piece also hints that former Director General (DG) Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was aware of whereabouts of Bin Laden.
“… a Pakistani official told me that the United States had direct evidence that the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, knew of Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad. The information came from a senior United States official, and I guessed that the Americans had intercepted a phone call of Pasha’s or one about him in the days after the raid. “He knew of Osama’s whereabouts, yes,” the Pakistani official told me.”
“…Pasha and the ISI press office strenuously denied that they had any knowledge of Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.”
Her report further claims that Hafiz Saeed of Jamaatud Dawah and Mullah Omar of Taliban are two of most loyal men of Pakistan suggesting both are harboured by Pakistan’s premier intelligence.
“… (Hafiz) Saeed and (Mullah) Omar are two of the ISI’s most important and loyal militant leaders. Both are protected by the agency. Both cooperate closely with it, restraining their followers from attacking the Pakistani state and coordinating with Pakistan’s greater strategic plans. Any correspondence the two men had with Bin Laden would probably have been known to their ISI handlers.”
Responding to the allegations, Hafiz Saeed told a local news channel:
“They don’t want peace in Pakistan and want to confuse people, if they have any evidence, present it, if not, stop the propaganda.”
