The claim was made by US intelligence analysis firm Stratfor in emails published by WikiLeaks. The website has so far published 200 emails of the firm and will publish around five million emails on Monday.
The firm provides an analysis of world affairs to major corporations, military officials and government agencies and was once likened by an American business magazine to a ‘shadow CIA’.
Straftfor was shown the information papers collected from Bin Laden’s compound after the US special forces raid on May 2, 2011, which resulted in the al Qaeda chief’s death, said one of the emails.
The email, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 ISI officials knew of Bin Laden’s high-walled three-storey compound in Abbottabad.
The email did not name the officials involved, but added that the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post-raid negotiations with Islamabad, which had rebuked Washington after being embarrassed by the unilateral covert operation.
One email from a senior Stratfor employee to colleagues stated: “Mid to senior level ISI and Pak Mil with one retired Pak Mil general that had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safe house.”
The email went on to say that the names and specific ranks of these generals were unknown to the writer, but added that the US intelligence may have that information.
According to the BBC, the information was allegedly obtained from material taken from the compound last May, according to the email exchange, which took place in the weeks after the al Qaeda chief’s death.
It is unclear if the information was passed on to the Pakistani government but the employee is quoted as saying “I would not pass the info to the GOP [government of Pakistan], because we can’t trust them,” according to the BBC.
Rebuttal
The army, however, was quick to rebut the claim, terming it “rubbish”. In the past, the Pakistani government and military have avoided making public comments on WikiLeaks. However, the severity of the latest allegations appears to have compelled the military to react.
“Its rubbish and tantamount to kite flying; much farther from the truth,” Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
CEO of Stratfor George Friedman also questioned the authenticity of the ‘stolen’ emails.“Today WikiLeaks is publishing the emails that were stolen in December. This is a deplorable, unfortunate − and illegal − breach of privacy,” Friedman said in a statement.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS (44)
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@TrueMuslim:
You have said, "There was no Bin Laden, no Al Qaeda. Pakistanis had never heard of these before being blamed by others for nothing!!" Yes?
What you say MUST be correct, because you are a TRUE MUSLIM. Yes?
Then you say, "Afridi will be punished by Allah". Yes?
Afridi MUST have committed a crime. Yes?
Tell me, and all others, what was the crime Afridi committed?
Not hard to believe, given that the ISI is a rogue state.....does whatever it wants, doesn't care about right or wrong. Much like any other intelligence agency really. What else is new?
Maryam, instead of making fun of our armed forces, can you prove there was a Bin Laden?! Did you meet him? You just believing Pakistan's enemies blindly??? There was no Bin Laden, no Al Qaeda. Pakistanis had never heard of these before being blamed by others for nothing!! Have some respect for truth, madam! Don't be a traitor like that Afridi who will be punished by Allah for betraying Muslims.
hahah we don't know who is OBL. Amry should accept their mistake and please don't try to be so innocent the whole world knows about us. Terrorist are eating up our country, economy,doing bomb blasts,kidnapping innocent girls,forcing young boys to be terrorist by tell them jihad stories and washed their young brains all these things are doing by terrorists.we should kick out those terrorists from our country.one thing one we should accept that we have terrorist on our soil and don't try to hide them out like OBL they are destroying our country..Pak Zindabad
If army rubbishes the report then it should be true.
@Truth Seeker: That was literally a "bold" statement there mate. When false pride and ego rides high all sensible steps become irrelevant and unnecessary. Clearly I am speaking of Pakistani Army and Intelligence. If they were intelligent enough they would not have this arrogance of hiding OBL in their country and that too from USA who most of the world knows are pretty stubborn in finding their man no matter how long it takes. Pakistan Army's and ISI's adventure here had quite rubbed away whatever bits of credibility Pakistan had in world's eye. Only bunch of people who trust Pakistani are Pakistani themselves.
What did we expect them to say?
Q. why Indian are posting here more? A. we are six time larger then you in population and internet users i think 24 times larger.second we have lot of free time. third scene here in India is not as interesting as in Pakistan. you people are so funny and interesting
@well-wisher:
World most wanted terrrorist is killed in Pakistan by US TOP MILITARY. OBL was unarmed and still they put a bullet in his head and buried him in sea...
and our PEOPLE believe tht...
Army rubbishing reports would have got more weightage if they had punished the guilty for intelligence failure of more than six years.
I doubt about wiki-leaks. It published some reports of US Embassy leaked cables for a certain period of time, isn't it? Now what is the source of wiki-leaks for this recent story? Even CIA could not found any thing about it. Then how can Wiki-leaks?? Cheap Publicity Stunts
From Where wikileaks got this???? is it a spy agency? a complete propaganda
Maybe if fools weren't so willing to believe pretty much everything coming from US then ISPR wouldn't have to give rebuttals.
@Zeta: Only India posting here while pretending themselves as Pakistani. Pathetic. Cheap stunts of Indians to degrade our Army.
@Zeta: You should be surprised !
The Agency is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
@AK47 ! Precisely !
In front 'Obama', at back 'Osama', what a fabulous game they have played !
How come if the ISI and Army were accomplice in hiding OBL then they had left him unguarded and without employing any defensive measures like night vision monitoring cameras, laser motion detectors, escape tunnels and self destructive devices. These gadgets/mechanism don't cost even a fraction of his head money - US$ 25 million. If your national security and credibility are at stake, and the world’s most wanted criminal, the whole world with utmost vigilance looking for him, has to be really protected by the country's two most resourceful agencies, these would have been the minimal measures. But no such measures ever existed.
why i am not surprised seeing only indians posting here and "liking" each other's comments.
After the arrest of Julian Assange, Wikileaks isn't credible source of information.
This Abbas fellow should be given a job in Bollywood!!
yes Mr ISPR - We believe your innocent denials.. About time that the world wakes up to your sheneanigans, duplicity, double games and pulling the wool over the eyes of the world in general and your own public in particular..
This is the only army in the world which has a fully equipped and staffed Department of Rebuttals!
How can we trust statements like this when we were told Osama uncle was never in Pakistan - then we found him next to a army base!
If for instance we assume that army is telling truth, how ignorant of them to be unaware of OBL's presence in Pakistan.Do they consume 60% of country budget for sleeping?
permanant deniel mode! If one does not accept the mistake..correction is not possible.
so its confirm now :P
It is not like the Pakistani army has much credibility either internally or internationally. They can't even protect their own citizens from militants roaming freely throughout the country. Is the international community remiss in suspecting the PAK Army of arming, training and funding these militants? While normal Pakistani citizens have to abide by the law, and even the Prime Minister is hauled before the Supreme Court, the likes of Hafiz Saeed and his Difa-e-Pakistan can freely threaten jihad against members of the international community!!!
hahahaaaa Funny people living in fools paradise
Even we claim that there was no person born with the name of Osama Bin Laden. No mother in the world every give birth to a person with the name OBL.
Oh right... everyone is a liar instead of our Army isn't that so General? OBL wasn't in Pakistan as well right?
Deep state would have felt like rubbing salt on wounds after losing a golden goose !
The denial is correct, how can they say the officials were in contact with OBL, while the truth is that they were actually receiving order from him and comforting him.
@Pragmatist: "Better to just play a recorded video of these denials. Waste of time to say the same things each time."
No copyright or intellectual property laws in Pakistan, you can't get paid every month for recording and don't forget cheap Taliban bootleg copies!
Why go that far, even our "esteemed" PM said the very same thing on the floor of the house.
So then, what have you learned in the meantime about the how and why? Or has there really never been any investigation because it's unnecessary?
World is lying! Who was OBL? Never heard of him!
Better to just play a recorded video of these denials. Waste of time to say the same things each time.
Apparently the Pakistani had also 'rubbished' OBL's existence in Pakistan!!
Yeah , We believe you !
hahahahah. world is fool.
Oh. Such an innocent organisation. People un-necessarily doubt their actions and motives. They are not aware of anything like kidnapping, torture, killings, spying on their own boss, funding people's tax money to over-throw an elected government, etc. These are all just plain accusations to slander them. They are so innocent that they even do not know that the world's top most terrorist is living in their backyard. So the world: Stop blaming them. Its simply un-fair !!!!!!!!!!