Former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf ‘possibly’ knew about slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his place of hiding, an eminent British journalist who reported for years from Afghanistan and Pakistan for the New York Times has claimed.
In her latest book “The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan 2001-2004”, journalist Carlotta Gall has sourced her startling revelation to a retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.
“If allowed to proceed, the court cases may unravel some of the remaining mysteries of the Musharraf era,” Gall writes in her book.
Musharraf, on Monday, was indicted in the treason case on allegations of abrogating the Constitution in the Special Court, besides being involved other cases. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the book is scheduled to go on sale in April 8.
“One day as he sat at home in Islamabad, the retired general Talat Masood was watching an interview with Musharraf on television. Masood was struck by something the general said, Musharraf was talking about (Osama) bin Laden and as was often the case, he was talking too much,” she writes. “It dawned on Masood that the former army chief had known about bin Laden and where he was hiding. It was a statement he made in the interview,” he told me.
“I got a feeling that he knew,” Gall said in her book that makes startling revelations and runs into over 300 pages.
Bin Laden was eventually killed in a US commando raid on his hideout in Abbottabad in May 2011.
Masood is the same general who after 9/11 urged Musharraf, the then president of Pakistan, to abandon his policy of supporting terrorism.
But Musharraf, according to the book, argued that he would “compartmentalise” the support between al Qaeda and Kashmiri terrorists.