ISLAMABAD – Regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, formerChief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani broke the silence and shedlight on facts.
A journalist, Syed Haider Raza Mehdi, in a write uplink>claimedthat “Only Gen. Kayani knows and perhaps ex-army dude, called Col. Iqbal(Bailey)”.
Citing revelation made Lt Gen Asad Durrani, former chief of Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI), in his recent book, Medi said, “If the above arecorrect. Then Gen. Kayani is clearly the major player in 1 and 2 àbove”.
Urging the former army chief, he had written, “Only he [Kayani] has theanswers. And his silence will not help him”.
The issues pertaining to OSL’s killing and US invasion again revived WhenDurrani’s recent book, co-authored by India’s former spymaster AS Dulat,made headlines with shocking revelations. He claimed that a specialdeal had been struck between the US and Pakistani governments in thisregard.
Following the claims by the journalist, Kayani contacted himlink>andclear the misconception regarding the involvement of Pakistan army in theUS operation against bin Laden, Mehdi added.
“A few hours ago I received a call from Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, formerArmy Chief with reference to my earlier piece about him being perhaps theonly person who knew the mystery of the Osama Bin Ladin US operation”.
During the conversation, Kayani said:”……the truth is that we didn’t knowabout Osama Bin Ladin’s presence and there is absolutely no question of anycollusion or cooperation with the US. And I’m telling you this as theabsolute truth….”
The ex-army chief added, “…..in fact all they had to do was tell us, and wewould have mopped it up in a couple of hours without all these helicoptersetc”.
Kayani said, he has taken full responsibility for lapse during the USoperations, adding, “However, and I’ve never stated this earlier, becauseit was for me to take the blame, but Air Defence is not under the Army.Nevertheless, I told the Air Chief to keep quiet, not say anything and letme take the full blame…..”
Giving clarification about his alleged meeting with America’s Gen. DavidPetraeus before the operation, he said, “……My visit to the US AircraftCarrier took place in 2008, three years before the Osama affair. Its verysurprising how people completely misrepresent and distort obvious facts toprove their points…..”.
Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan’sgarrison city of Abbottabad on May 1, 2011, ending a nearly 10-yearworldwide hunt for the then chief of the Al Qaeda militant organization.
Contrary to reports, Pakistan officially denies that the ISI protectedOsama bin Laden or that it had played any role in the May 2011 raid inAbbottabad.