BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani on Thursday said US did not inform Pakistan about its operation against Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad, as it did not trust the Pakistani authorities. Mr Advani, writing on the issue in his blog, said Bin Laden could not have been hiding in Pakistan without the knowledge of the country’s Army and intelligence chiefs.
“Osama bin Laden could not have been in this hideout without the knowledge and approval of both the Pak Army Chief (Gen. Asfaq) Kayani as well as ISI boss Shuja Pasha. And if Bin Laden had been in this mansion since 2005, then the decision must have been taken by Gen. (Pervez) Musharraf,” Mr Advani wrote in his blog.
Mr Advani said the US did not inform Pakistan about the operation till they had taken Bin Laden’s body out of Pakistan, which shows they did not trust the authorities.
“Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, has told Time magazine that the intelligence was not shared with Pakistan because they were scared lest the Pakistanis would tip off Osama bin Laden. In other words Americans did not trust Pakistan,” Mr Advani said.
He maintained that Bin Laden was kept near a military cantonment so that Army doctors could treat him as he was suffering from some kidney ailment. Only military doctors could be trusted to maintain confidentiality of Bin Laden’s presence, Mr Advani said.
The senior BJP leader insisted that more than intelligence failure on the part of Pakistan in not knowing Bin Laden’s presence, it was the neighbouring country’s present predicament where US and other nations do not trust it anymore.
He recounts that former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill does not believe Pakistan was not aware of Bin Laden’s whereabouts.
“Indeed, after May 1, 2011 (when Bin Laden was killed), Pakistan’s condition is absolutely unenviable. Americans cannot trust it. Nor can the other nations which are part of the global alliance fighting terrorism. Ironically, even Al Qaeda and its cohorts would be in a quandary to evaluate how much faith they can really place in Pakistan!” Mr Advani said.