The commission to probe the Abbottabad operation was told on Monday that the United States operation at the alleged hideout of Osama bin Laden was not known to any tier of Pakistan Army and the US forces had acted in an environment of trust, thus the army was taken by surprise in a breach of trust.
The commission met here at the Cabinet Division under the chairmanship of Justice Javed Iqbal, the senior-most judge of the apex court. Major General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan Army, gave a detailed briefing to the commission explaining the perspective of the army leading to the Abbottabad operation. He told the commission about the contacts made by the chief of army staff with the chief of air staff, foreign secretary, prime minister and the president soon after learning about the incident.
The DGMO gave details regarding the army posts established along the Pak-Afghan border and said the army was involved in operations in various areas to fight militancy. The presence of the army was meant to eliminate militancy in order to establish the writ of the state, he said, adding that no threat whatsoever was envisaged from Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), both of whom are allies of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. Responding to a question, the DGMO explained that Abbottabad cantonment was an open cantonment that hosted only training institutions and as such no fighting troops were deployed at the garrison.
“Nevertheless, these institutions have their own security in place to deal with any security threat. Pakistan and the US/ISAF conduct anti-militant operations on their respective sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and plans of operations close to the border are fully shared. The operation in Abbottabad was not known to any tier in the Pakistan Army, US acted in an environment of trust and the army was, therefore, taken by surprise,” he said. The next meeting of the commission will be held on Monday, August 1 at 3pm, wherein the ISI DG will brief the commission.
