Thursday, May 5, 2011

Pakistan dismisses US raid fears

4 May 2011 Last updated at 05:31 GMT The BBC's Orla Guerin looks around the perimeter of Bin Laden's compound

Pakistan has hit back at US statements suggesting it could not be trusted with details of the operation which killed Osama Bin Laden.

CIA chief Leon Panetta has said no intelligence was shared with Pakistan for fear the raid would be jeopardised.

But Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the BBC this view was "disquietening" and his country had a "pivotal role" in tackling terrorism.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad on Sunday.

On Tuesday the White House clarified the details of how the raid took place, saying Bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed after resisting capture.

US officials have said they are considering when to make public their photographs of his corpse.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Dawn News television channel has said a meeting of senior al-Qaeda figures is taking place to name Bin Laden's successor as head of the organisation.

Mr Bashir said Mr Panetta was entitled to his views but that his country had co-operated extensively with the US.

He said the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was shot dead had been identified as suspicious some time ago by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

But it took the greater resources of the CIA to determine that it was the al-Qaeda leader's hiding place.

"Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role," said Mr Bashir.

"So it's a little disquieting when we have comments like this."

'Incompetent'

On Tuesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry defended the ISI and issued a lengthy statement in which it expressed "deep concerns and reservations" about the US action.

It insisted unilateral action should not become the norm and stressed that Pakistani intelligence had been sharing information with the US in recent years.

"As far as the target compound is concerned, ISI had been sharing information with CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: Bin Laden not armed, but did resist

Bin Laden, aged 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda.

He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings and was American's most wanted man.

The compound in which he was killed is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Abbottabad says that if Bin Laden had been there for as long as five years, it raises questions about the Pakistani authorities.

Either they were incredibly incompetent or were harbouring the al-Qaeda leader, our correspondent says.

Two couriers and one woman died in the assault, while one of Bin Laden's wives was injured.

The US has not commented on anyone it captured or had planned to capture, other than saying it had taken Bin Laden's body, which was buried at sea.

However, the Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the rest of Bin Laden's family are now "in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with the law".

US officials are discussing how and when to release pictures of Bin Laden's body to counter conspiracy theories that he did not die.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the "gruesome" image could inflame sensitivities, but Mr Panetta said there was no question it would at some point be shown to the public.

Map Diagram of the compound

View the original article here


This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

No comments:

Post a Comment