AKUH refutes Washington Post's claim that it treated Mullah Omar

Hospital says it has no record of Mullah Omar being treated at its facility in Karachi

In a rare disclosure, the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) on Friday refuted claims made by US daily the Washington Post that deceased Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar had received treatment at its Karachi facility in early 2011.

Maintaining that its patients have a right to confidentiality and privacy and that it does not violate that right, the AKUH in a brief statement said on Friday that it would make an exception in the case of Mullah Omar.

"In this exceptional case we can state that we have no record of Mullah Omar being treated here. We will not comment any further on this."

AKUH patients have a right to confidentiality and privacy and details about its patients are not disclosed. #MullahOmar 1/2

— Aga Khan University (@AKUGlobal) July 31, 2015

In this exceptional case we can state that we have no record of #MullahOmar being treated here. We will not comment any further on this. 2/2

— Aga Khan University (@AKUGlobal) July 31, 2015

The Washington Post had on July 30 published a piece claiming that then-CIA Director Leon Panetta had confronted then-President Asif Ali Zardari about a “disturbing piece of intelligence” – that Mullah Omar was being treated at a hospital in Karachi.

Panetta identified AKUH as the hospital and added that the CIA had “some raw intelligence on this” that would soon be shared with Pakistani agencies.

News broke on July 29 when a former Afghan Taliban minister and member of the central leadership council revealed to The Express Tribune that Mullah Omar had died of Tuberculosis two years and four months ago and that he been buried on the Afghan side of the border.

Hours later the Afghan intelligence, the National Directorate of Security, and subsequently the Afghan government confirmed that he had died.

A day later, on July 30, the Taliban and Mullah Omar's family, too confirmed that the Taliban supremo had died.