Zardari, Gilani, ISI knew Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, reveals former Defence Minister of Pakistan

In a shocking revelation, former Defence Minister of Pakistan Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar has said that Pakistan knew that then al-Qaeda chief and most wanted man Osama bin Laden was residing in their country. [caption id=“attachment_2467492” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Osama bin Laden. AP[/caption] In an interview to CNN-IBN , Mukhtar said that the entire Pakistani establishment of that time, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, then Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) knew about the presence of Osama on their soil. “The people who were part and parcel of the whole action like the President of Pakistan, the Armed Forces Chief, the Joint Chief of Staff and the agency people, they were all activated and they were all waiting for orders for them to come out with their teams and provide all the information,” Mukhtar told CNN-IBN. “Some people knew, people in the Pakistan Army as well as people in the other forces they also knew it and they were on the lookout for somebody of the stature of Osama Bin Laden,” he further said. Mukhtar’s revelations are in complete contradiction with Pakistan’s official stand. Shortly after Osama bin Laden had been gunned down by US Navy Seals, then Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik had said, “I categorically deny any role, any assistance from any Pak official or establishment. The way he (Obama) hid himself, we could not identify him.” In fact, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Tuesday that Pakistan not only knew about Osama bin Laden’s hideout but also provided sanctuary to elusive one-eyed former Taliban chief Mullah Omar . When asked if the Pakistanis and the leadership of Pakistan knew that Osama bin Laden was there inside their country, Abdullah said: “Osama bin Laden, absolutely, yes.” “He was in the military containment, near their military containment in Abottabad…(if Pakistan) doesn’t know about him having a residence near a military containment, that poses even a bigger question,” he said. “From one side he (Gen Musharraf) was acting in the front line of the war against terror. From the other side, he was the one providing sanctuary to Mullah Omar,” he said. “They didn’t believe that Afghanistan would be able to stand on its own feet. Secondly, the cruel policy there has been, unfortunately, to use terrorism and extremism as a means of achieving foreign policy objectives. And in Taliban they consider that an asset rather than a liability. That was also an important factor,” Abdullah added.

(With inputs from PTI)