Former president Pervez Musharraf in an interview admitted that rogue lower-level members of Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and military might have helped Osama bin Laden hide in plain sight near Islamabad.
Musharraf told ABC news that the presence of Osama in the garrison town of Abbottabad was a ‘big blunder’ on the part of Pakistani intelligence. He said as a policy, the army and the ISI were fighting terrorism and extremism, al Qaeda, Taliban. “But rogue element within is a possibility,” he remarked. “The possibility as I said, at the lower level, somebody following a policy of his own and violating the policy from above, is a possibility.”
But he warned if the US continued to alienate Pakistan as they did in the case of raid to eliminate bin Laden, it would be the ‘loser’. “This was a very serious fault, but let me also say that taking it to an extent that you want to alienate Pakistan, you will be a loser. And Pakistan will also be a loser, there’s no doubt. The world will lose.” He called the belief that Pakistan sides with al Qaeda simply ‘sad’. “That is very sad if your countrymen think that Pakistan is more sympathetic or more partial to the Taliban and Al Qaeda,” he replied to a question.
Musharraf said instead that there was a possibility that rogue lower-level members of Pakistan’s intelligence and military may have had knowledge of bin Laden’s location. He conceded that they might have known during the last year of his presidency six years ago, and there ought to be an investigation. “It’s really appalling that he was there and nobody knew. I’m certainly appalled that I didn’t know and that intelligence people from that time onward didn’t know for 6 years that he was inside. And there is no excuse for this great, massive slip-up. And an investigation is in order and people must be punished for this big lapse.”
Musharraf also agreed with Islamabad’s refusal to allow the US back into bin Laden’s compound.
