Islamabad: Pakistan rejected claim by a known n American journalist that the Pakistan top military leaders knew about the U.S. military operation that had killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011 today. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Seymour Hersh, in a controversial article in the London Review of Books said this week that the US raid in Abbotabad was a joint operation between the US and Pakistani military intelligence. He also claimed that then Pakistan army chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and head of the intelligence agency ISI, Lt Gen Ahmad Shujaa Pasha, had agreed to allow the US to conduct its "raid" on the compound. He has also alleged that Bin Laden was under Pakistani control, kept in Abbottabad with the financial assistance of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan dismissed Hersh’s claim as unfounded and said it has no information about the al-Qaeda chief’s presence and the U.S. unilateral operation.
The State Department has also disputed the UN journalist’s findings are "inaccuracies and baseless assertions." “The accusations made by the US journalist about Pakistan are totally baseless,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qazi Khalilullah said. “Pakistan's commitment towards eliminating terrorism remains firm. It has rendered enormous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism,” the spokesman said at his weekly briefing in Islamabad. He said the ongoing military operation against terrorism is a clear manifestation of our determination to root out terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
About presence of Daish in Pakistan, the spokesperson said the terror outfit has no footprints in Pakistan but our security forces are alert to meet any threat. When asked about Indian intelligence agency RAW using Afghan soil against Pakistan, the spokesperson said Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations stipulates in clear terms that we will not allow our territory used against each other. He said Pakistan has conveyed concerns to the Afghan side that RAW should not use their territory to create instability in Pakistan. On the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the spokesperson said Pakistan supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process for peace and stability in the entire region. When asked to comment on reports that the Indian prime minister wants to use cricket diplomacy to improve relations with Pakistan, Qazi Khalil Ullah said Pakistan welcomes the positive statements coming from India. He noted the cricket matches between the two countries have always brought the peoples of two countries close to each other. It is our desire to play the cricket series against India. To a question Saudi-Yemeni conflict, the spokesperson said Pakistan has welcomed the Saudi decision of ceasefire and announced humanitarian assistance for the brotherly people of Yemen.