Pak hits back; says it cooperated in war on terror

Lalit K Jha and Rezaul H Laskar
Washington/Islamabad, May 3 (PTI) The US Tuesday came
out with a sharp statement refusing to believe that slain
terrorist Osama bin Laden had no support system in Pakistan,
which hit back saying the success of the Abbottabad operation
was because of its longstanding cooperation.
Pakistan government went a step further to call the
commando operation an "unauthorised, unilateral action"
without its knowledge but remained silent on the point whether
its establishment and intelligence agencies knew the presence
of al-Qaeda chief in Abbottabad and whether he was enjoying
any support system.
With a top US official suggesting Washington may probe
if there was any official link to the support system bin Laden
had for living in Abbottabad, a Pakistan government statement
late in the night said its army and intelligence agencies have
played a vital role in breaking the back of al-Qaeda and other
terrorist groups in the country as well as in the world.
"I think it's inconceivable that bin Laden did not
have a support system in the country that allowed him to
remain there for an extended period of time," US Deputy
National Security Adviser for Counter-terrorism and Homeland
Security John Brennan told reporters at a crowded White House
news conference in Washington.
"I am not going to speculate about what type of
support he might have had on an official basis inside of
Pakistan," he said.
In its statement, the Pakistan government said it
recognised that bin Laden's death is an important milestone in
fight against terrorism and that its state institutions had
been making serious efforts to bring him to justice.
Apparently answering questions on whether the
establishment had harboured bin Laden in Abbottabad, living
close to a military academy, the statement said Abbottabad and
the surrounding areas have been under sharp focus of
intelligence agencies since 2003 resulting in highly technical
operation by Indian Journalists' Association (IJA)
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which led to the arrest of
"high value al-Qaeda target in 2004."
"As far as the target compound is concerned, ISI had
been sharing information with CIA and other friendly
intelligence agencies since 2009. The intelligence flow
indicating some foreigners in the surroundings of Abbottabad,
continued till mid-April 2011.
"It is important to highlight that taking advantage of
much superior technological assets, CIA exploited the
intelligence leads given by us to identify and reach Osama bin
Laden, a fact also acknowledged by the US President and
Secretary of State, in their statements," it said.
The statement said it was important to mention that
CIA and some other friendly intelligence agencies have
benefited a great deal from the intelligence provided by ISI.
"ISI's own achievements against al-Qaeda and in war on
terror are more than any other intelligence agency in the
World."
The Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement denied the
media reports that suggested that its leadership, civil as
well as military, had any prior knowledge of the US operation
against bin Laden carried out in the early hours of Monday.
"Reports about US helicopters taking off from Ghazi
Airbase are absolutely false and incorrect. Neither any base
or facility inside Pakistan was used by the US Forces, nor
Pakistan Army provided any operational or logistic assistance
to these operations conducted by the US Forces," it said.
US helicopters entered Pakistani airspace making use
of blind spots in the radar coverage due to hilly terrain, it
said. "US helicopters' undetected flight into Pakistan was
also facilitated by the mountainous terrain, efficacious use
of latest technology and 'nap of the earth' flying techniques.
"It may not be realistic to draw an analogy between
this undefended civilian area and some military/security
installations which have elaborate local defence
arrangements."
On receipt of information regarding the incident,
Pakistan Air Force scrambled its jets within minutes, the
statement said. "This has been corroborated by the White House
Adviser Mr John Brennan who while replying to a question said,
'We didn't contact the Pakistanis until after all of our
people, all of our aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace.'"
There has been a lot of discussion about the nature of
the targeted compound, particularly its high walls and its
vicinity to the areas housing Pakistan army elements, the
statement noted.
"It needs to be appreciated that many houses occupied
by the affectees of operations in FATA (Federally Administered
Tribal Areas)-KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province), have high
boundary walls, in line with their culture of privacy and
security. Houses with such layout and structural details are
not a rarity."
"Questions have also been asked about the whereabouts
of the family members of Osama bin Laden. They are all in safe
hands and being looked after in accordance with law. Some of
them needing medical care are under treatment in the best
possible facilities. As per policy, they will be handed over
to their countries of origin," it said.
The statement said the government expresses its deep
concerns and reservations on the manner in which the US
carried out this operation without prior information or
authorisation from Pakistan.
"This event of unauthorised unilateral action cannot
be taken as a rule. The government of Pakistan further affirms
that such an event shall not serve as a future precedent for
any state, including the US. Such actions undermine
cooperation and may also sometime constitute threat to
international peace and security," it said.