All political parties on Monday demanded the prime minister take parliament into confidence on whether the US breached the country’s sovereignty by killing Osama Bin Laden or if Pakistani authorities were in contact with US forces while conducting the secret mission.
Parliamentarians expressed their apprehensions over what they said were “sharp contradiction” between the statements of the prime minister statement and the Foreign Office on the matter. “If the government was on board to launch the attack on Osama’s hideout, it is all right, otherwise, it is a major failure of our intelligence apparatus and the government,” ANP spokesman Senator Zahid Khan told Pakistan Today.
He said it was the US that itself brought Osama in the region to fight Soviet forces. “Now they have killed their own man,” he added. Reacting to the development, PML-N stalwart Raja Zafarul Haq said the issue would remain a mystery until the prime minister and the government brief parliament about the issue. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the killing of Osama bin Laden was a great victory of Pakistan. Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, she said Pakistani intelligence agencies had fully cooperated with the US military to act against Al Qaeda chief hideout.
Prof Khurshid said the US had launched a search for Osama’s after the 9/11 attacks and now that the “US war on terror has ended, Pakistan should revisit is foreign policy and the US forces should go back home as they have managed to achieve their target”. MQM leader Tahir Mashadi said since US President Obama’s rating was going down by the day, he had glorified the news of Osama’s killing to give credit to his forces.
JUI-F Senator Abul Rasheed said the US started the war on terror to get to Osama Bin Laden and after his assassination, they had no right to continue the so-called war on terror. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan said the operation for killing Osama was shrouded in mystery. He said a number of critical questions remained unanswered to separate facts from fiction. “Under whose authority and under what law were the US Special Forces allowed to conduct a major operation deep inside the Pakistani territory as claimed by the US president?
He urged the government to share details of the helicopter that reportedly crashed during the operation, including information about the nationalities of those on board and their fate. Former president Pervez Musharraf called Osama’s death a victory for Pakistan. He said the operation of the US army on Pakistani soil was objectionable as it was against the sovereignty and independence of the country. He said it was a solely American operation and that should not be permitted.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif demanded the government publicise the details of the operation conducted by the US forces against Osama.