Pakistan must come clean on Osama killing: Daily

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Pakistan must "come clean" over the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US commandos in Abbottabad, a daily said on Thursday, warning that the country would be "further isolated from the world" if this was not done.

Osama was shot dead by US commandos who stormed his hideout May 2. The Al Qaeda leader was later buried at sea. An editorial in the Daily Times said: "It would be in the interest of Pakistan to come clean and present facts of the matter for the public and the world.

Without doing this, we will be further isolated from the world and Pakistan's public will remain mired in conspiracies and false notions of victimisations at the hands of the US." It said that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta has "irritated" Pakistan by asserting that information about the operation was not shared with Islamabad for fear that it would compromise the operation.

Panetta's statement "reflects the deep mistrust the US has about Pakistan. This comes at a time when the world is questioning failure of Pakistan's intelligence apparatus in tracking down such a high value target close to its main military academy".

The editorial noted that Pakistan's intelligence agencies have "admitted failure and expressed embarrassment over this huge lapse". It pointed out that there is "so much suspicion about Pakistan's double dealing when it comes to Al Qaeda and Taliban that the world is not ready to believe that sections of Pakistan's security establishment did not know where Osama was hiding".

Contrary to Pakistan's claims, security experts believe that such an operation could not be carried out without informing Pakistan's security apparatus, "which means that information was exchanged only at the last moment to allow safe passage to US helicopters (but) Pakistan did not participate in the actual operation".