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Sunday, May 08, 2011
Musharraf slams US over Osama bin Laden raid
* Ex-president says he did not believe govt or military had knowledge of Bin Laden’s presence or were harbouring him
DUBAI: Former president Pervez Musharraf has slammed the United States for violating Islamabad’s sovereignty in carrying out the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, a media report said on Saturday.
The former military strongman told the expatriate Pakistan community in Dubai that all “peace loving people” should be happy that Bin Laden was killed, but no Pakistani accepted the violation of their sovereignty.
“No country will accept such a violation by the US, which undermines Pakistan’s sovereignty, army and intelligence,” Musharraf was quoted as saying in The National daily. “This is not acceptable to any Pakistani individual.”
However, Musharraf insisted that Pakistan and the US must work together to eliminate terrorism and urged that there should not be a showdown between the two. “The relationship between Pakistan and the US has not been at its best for a while now, but to defeat al Qaeda and the Taliban, which is now our biggest threat, this relationship should not develop into confrontation,” he said.
Musharraf said he did not believe that Pakistani government or military officials had knowledge of Bin Laden’s presence or were harbouring him.
“It is not unusual for blunders to occur,” he said. “Look at 9/11 (September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States) – unfortunately those attacks did happen, so where was their [US] intelligence then?”
In an interview with the National Public Radio in the US, Musharraf had on Friday blamed incompetence by his country’s intelligence agencies for allowing al Qaeda leader to live undetected in Pakistan.
Reports have said the architect of the September 11, 2011 attacks on the United States may have been living for five years in the town of Abbottabad, close to the homes of many retired Pakistani generals.
Asked whether he was upset that he did not know that Bin Laden had been sheltering in Pakistan during his presidency, Musharraf said: “Frankly, yes.” afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk