NEW YORK-
United States newspaper The New York Times has alleged that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had established a special desk for handling the late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden during the tenure of President General (r) Pervez Musharraf.
NY Times alleged the ISI Chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha knew the whereabouts of OBL and had constituted an independent desk to handle the Al-Qaeda chief.
According to the news report, the desk ‘was operated independently, led by an officer who made his own decisions and did not report to a superior. He handled only one person: Bin Laden.
Citing a Pakistani official, the report claimed that the US had direct evidence about Pasha’s knowing to OBL’s presence in Abbottabad.
The official told NY Times that the ISI chief had been an opponent of the Taliban and ‘an open and cooperative counterpart for the Americans at the ISI’, while some cells in the ISI were working against Taliban and some cells were supporting them.
The report further claimed that OBL had regular correspondence with Jamat-ul-Dawa Leader Hafiz Saeed and Mullah Omar of the Taliban.
In the news report, former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf was alleged to be involved in the conspiracy to remove the slain Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto from power.
Pakistani intelligence sources have termed the allegations in the NY Times news report as baseless.