Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has claimed that the government of Pakistan and its armed forces played a vital role in the killing of former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. He gave this statement on the first anniversary of the raid on bin Laden’s Abbotabad compound during an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Urdu Service. The defence minister claimed Pakistan’s armed forces were responsible for weakening al Qaeda’s terrorist network.
Providing details regarding the search for the former al Qaeda chief, Mukhtar revealed he was tracked down through a mobile phone chip or SIM, found ‘by chance’ by the Pakistani forces.
During the interview, Mukhtar also revealed other details regarding US-Pakistani cooperation in efforts to ascertain the former al Qaeda leader’s whereabouts. He said Pakistani authorities were bound contractually to the US to hand over all Arabic and English data recovered during the hunt for bin Laden. Similarly, US authorities were required to hand over all Urdu and English data they recovered during their search efforts to Pakistan.
When asked why Dr Shakil Afridi was being tried for treason if Pakistani authorities were already cooperating with the US, Mukhtar said Afridi should have handed over the information he recovered to Pakistan rather than the US. While talking to Geo News later, however, the defence minister said that while Pakistan and US cooperated during search efforts, Washington did not notify Pakistani authorities about the raid on the Abbottabad compound.
Talking about evidence from the Abbottabad compound, Mukhtar said the armed forces were investigating all material recovered. He added, however, that certain items, such as the CDs recovered from the compound, will take some time to decode.
During the BBC interview, the defence minister diverted a question regarding why Pakistan faced accusations of harbouring bin Laden if it was involved in the search, by offering a vague statement. He responded by saying “I do not know how big a leader Osama bin Laden was. Time will tell how positive his contributions to the Muslim countries proved to be.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2012.
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Does this mean that the Pak Govt is also guilty of treason, like the good doctor? The mental gymnastics one must play to keep up with it all is astounding.
@Concerned: I've got news for you: nobody in the world believes your government version of events. Just like 9/11 itself, it stinks to high heavens.
Salma @Anis, even President Obama mentioned this in his speech. See below: Finding Bin Laden: The Truth Behind the Official Story Gareth Porter, Truthout: "It is now clear that CIA officials were blatantly misrepresenting both bin Laden's role in al-Qaeda when he was killed and how the agency came to focus on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In fact, during his six years in Abbottabad, bin Laden was not the functioning head of al-Qaeda at all, but an isolated figurehead who had become irrelevant to the actual operations of the organization. The real story, told here for the first time, is that bin Laden was in the compound in Abbottabad because he had been forced into exile by the al-Qaeda leadership."
I'm still astounded by all of this. Do I believe it? No. Do I think ISI knew about OBL and kept it a secret? No, I think they're very incompetent though. Maybe some retired army generals knew and supported him and helped to keep him hidden. Given the evidence shown, we know the U.S intentionally kept it hidden from the Pakistan and only a few hundred people knew about OBL and they were in the POTUS's team and the team that carried out the operation (check out the documentary "Bin Laden: Shoot To Kill") , the helicopters flew under the radar/undetected and it seems the Pakistanis were only told about it after OBL was killed and the operation was finished. The official story from both the U.S and Pak has been that it was a joint mission, even if it was it's been a PR nightmare for Pakistan. He had been there for 5 years (and had gone out for dinner complete with several 4x4s according to a recent BBC news article!) and no one knew about it, In an ideal world it would have been Pakistan that carried out the operation and a Pakistan army team would have been classed as world heroes. President Obama and Zardari seem to be all civil about it and portraying it as a joint mission, but that doesn't explain all the well...evidence or maybe it was, and Pakistan chose to hand it over to the Americans in fear of terrorist attacks on Pakistan, still doesn't explain why he was shacked up for 5 years though,
Cheers, what a fantastic liars we are! Nobody can beat our lies thanks to our treasonous minds.
Pakistan should have necessarily switched over to the silence mode after OBL was killed in heart of Pakistan but by making series of controversial statements, it is making a laughing stock of itself. No country in the whole world would buy Pakistan's version of either not knowing his whereabouts or helping US in finding him which has never been acknowledged by the Americans.