Abbottabad raid probe: Gen Nadeem exonerates military, intelligence
Commentators question the general’s impartiality after his comments.
ISLAMABAD:
A retired Pakistani general serving on the commission investigating Osama bin Laden’s presence in his country said he does not believe that Pakistan’s intelligence services or its military helped shelter the former al Qaeda leader, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
General Nadeem Ahmed’s statements have immediately drawn criticism from commentators who questioned his impartiality and suggested his comments threaten the integrity of the commission probing how bin Laden ended up in the garrison town of Abbottabad and the subsequent May 2 raid that eventually killed him.
“Irrespective of what the US says, I have absolutely not an iota of doubt on this, that no government in Pakistan, no military in Pakistan, no intelligence organisation in Pakistan would do such a stupid thing,” Nadeem Ahmed told an interviewer from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Pakistani leaders have highlighted the US raid citing it as a violation of their sovereignty all the while insisting that they had no idea whether America’s most wanted man was living in the northwestern town.
However, some members of Congress have questioned how Pakistan’s security establishment could have missed Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, home to Kakul, Pakistan’s leading military academy.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2011.
A retired Pakistani general serving on the commission investigating Osama bin Laden’s presence in his country said he does not believe that Pakistan’s intelligence services or its military helped shelter the former al Qaeda leader, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
General Nadeem Ahmed’s statements have immediately drawn criticism from commentators who questioned his impartiality and suggested his comments threaten the integrity of the commission probing how bin Laden ended up in the garrison town of Abbottabad and the subsequent May 2 raid that eventually killed him.
“Irrespective of what the US says, I have absolutely not an iota of doubt on this, that no government in Pakistan, no military in Pakistan, no intelligence organisation in Pakistan would do such a stupid thing,” Nadeem Ahmed told an interviewer from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Pakistani leaders have highlighted the US raid citing it as a violation of their sovereignty all the while insisting that they had no idea whether America’s most wanted man was living in the northwestern town.
However, some members of Congress have questioned how Pakistan’s security establishment could have missed Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, home to Kakul, Pakistan’s leading military academy.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2011.