Pakistan on Monday confirmed the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad but stressed that US forces, not Pakistani troops, had carried out the mission to take out the al Qaeda chief. President Asif Ali Zardari learned of bin Laden’s killing in a phone call from US President Barack Obama, said the Foreign Office here. “The mission was carried out in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world,” it said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry did not mention any Pakistani involvement in the US special forces operation despite the fact that even President Obama, in an announcement from the White House, talked about Pakistani assistance in taking out bin Laden. In its statement, however, the Foreign Ministry hailed the killing as “a major setback to terrorist organisations around the world”. “Osama bin Ladin’s death illustrates the resolve of the international community, including Pakistan, to fight and eliminate terrorism,” it said.
It was an “intelligence-driven military operation” conducted by the US Army, in the early hours, in Abbottabad, said the statement. In his reaction, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dubbed bin Laden’s killing as a major achievement. “We will not allow our soil to be used against any other country for terrorism and therefore I think it’s a great victory, it’s a success and I congratulate the success of this operation,” Gilani told AFP in an interview. Asked about the extent to which Pakistan cooperated in the operation he said he didn’t know the details. “I don’t know minute details, but in short we have intelligence cooperation,” he said.
Asked if it was embarrassing for the government to discover that bin Laden had been living within easy reach of the capital, Gilani said: “It’s an embarrassment for the whole world because of the high tech and the intelligence and such information, they could not reach that gentleman for the last seven years,” revealing no further details of the operation. Talking to a visiting US delegation led by Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman, Gilani emphasised the need for constructive and a positive message from both sides on the Abbottabad operation and stressed that the sensitivities in this regard must be given due importance rather than giving it a spin.
He also expressed his appreciation of President Obama’s statement earlier in the day, in which he duly acknowledged Pakistan for its support and cooperation in getting to bin Laden’s hideout. “We have had extremely effective intelligence-sharing arrangements with several intelligence agencies including that of the US. We will continue to support international efforts against terrorism,” said the Foreign Office. The FO said al Qaeda had declared war on Pakistan and scores of Al Qaeda-sponsored terrorist attacks had resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Pakistani men, women and children.
