Ex-defence minister denies comments on Indian tv

Claims Indian journalists played a game; comments were taken out of context

Former Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has denied statements attributed to him in an interview to an Indian television channel that top officials in Pakistan knew the whereabouts of former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mukhtar said that his answers were distorted and presented out of context. “I have no doubt that if the government Pakistan knew the whereabouts of bin Laden, they would have taken immediate action.”

Mukhtar had served as Pakistan’s defence minister in the Pakistan Peoples Party government from 2008 to 2012. American special forces had killed the al Qaeda chief at a complex in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. Pakistan has denied it had knowledge of bin Laden’s whereabouts. “I reiterate that my words were twisted and it is utter nonsense the way CNN-IBN has done it.”



The former defence minister, who said he had been ill for the past few days, alleged that Indian journalists “often present baseless allegations to degrade Pakistan internationally. I am sure of the fact that they will not succeed in their attempt to defame Pakistan”

“I consider it extremely important to deny this game played by the Indian journalists. [They ] have totally misrepresented and incorrectly portrayed my answers.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2015.