Pakistan denied on Tuesday that it had any prior knowledge of the US operation, but said it had been sharing information with the American authorities since 2009 about the compound where the al Qaeda chief was living. The Foreign Office (FO) cautioned the US against any unilateral action in future, saying it should not serve as precedent for any other state either as it may threaten global peace and security.
“The reports about US helicopters taking off from Ghazi Airbase were absolutely false and incorrect. Neither any base or facility inside Pakistan was used by US forces nor the Pakistan Army provided any operational or logistic assistance to these operations conducted by US forces,” said FO Spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua. “The government of Pakistan expresses its deep concerns and reservations on the manner in which the government of the United States.
carried out this operation without prior information or authorisation from the government of Pakistan,” she said in a statement issued here. She said the US helicopters entered Pakistani airspace by making use of “blind spots” in the radar coverage caused by the hilly terrain surrounding Abbottabad. “Pakistani air force scrambled its jets within minutes of being informed of the US operation but there was no engagement with the US forces as they had already left Pakistani airspace,” she said.
According to Janjua, questions had also been asked about the whereabouts of the family members of bin Laden. “They are all in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with law. Some of them needing medical care are under treatment in the best possible facilities. As per policy, they will be handed over to their countries of origin,” she said.
“The government of Pakistan recognises that the death of Osama bin Laden is an important milestone in the fight against terrorism and that the government of Pakistan and its state institutions have been making serious efforts to bring him to justice,” Janjua said.
She said, however, that Pakistan categorically denied media reports suggesting that its civil or military leadership had any prior knowledge of the operation.
She said Abbottabad and surrounding areas had been under sharp focus of intelligence agencies since 2003, resulting in a highly technical operation by the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) which led to the arrest of a high-value al Qaeda target in 2004.
“As far as the target compound is concerned, the ISI had been sharing information with CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009.
The intelligence flow indicating some foreigners in the surroundings of Abbottabad, continued till mid April 2011,” she said. “It is important to highlight that taking advantage of much superior technological assets, CIA exploited the intelligence leads given by us to identify and reach Osama bin Ladin, a fact also acknowledged by the US president and secretary of state in their statements,” she said.