Pakistan is committed to probe how Osama bin Laden’s was able to hide in the country before the al-Qaeda chief was killed in an American action last month and has already rounded up over 30 people as part of the investigation, Islamabad’s ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani said on Sunday. Haqqani revealed that the Pakistani intelligence has detained or questioned several people to identify members of the eliminated al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s support network. “Even if some people were arrested for collaborating with a foreign intelligence service, that would not be different from the United States arresting Jonathan Pollard for spying on behalf of America’s friend Israel.
Allies share intelligence. They should not be found conducting espionage on one another,” he wrote in special article, put on the CNN website. The envoy argued that the bin Laden’s episode was a moment of introspection for both Pakistan and the United States. Pakistani has formed a high level commission which will determine how bin laden was able to live in Pakistan and was not detected. Furthermore, it will look at ways to improve surveillance to root out other terrorists in Pakistan. It will also investigate how a foreign force, albeit an ally, could penetrate and conduct a military operation without Pakistan’s knowledge. “On the US side, there needs to be an examination as to why the US did not feel the need to inform Pakistani leadership about the operation, being sensitive to the negative signals unilateral military action sent to the people of Pakistan about our alliance.”
In an appearance on a channel on Sunday morning, the ambassador pointed out that it was unfair to say that bin Laden was allowed to be in Pakistan and made it clear that the al-Qaeda chief “just happened to be there.” Haqqani told the channel that Pakistan and the United States had been working together in the fight against al-Qaeda militants and had shared all intelligence.
