Gilani: Pakistan was not Osama’s only hideout
Islamabad's prime minister continues to rebuff claims his country knowingly harbored al-Qaeda chief
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday reiterated his claim that Pakistan was not Osama bin Laden's only hideout.
In an interview with Time Magazine, Gilani Stated that Pakistan was not the only place where bin Laden had travelled after fleeing Afghanistan, adding that the al-Qaeda leader might have visited his ancestral homeland, Yemen, in search of a new bride.
According to the diplomatic cable, the sister-in-law claimed that bin Laden had married Aml Ahmed, currently 29, in Yemen in 2002. “That was after 9/11 and they say that they’ve got the proof,” Gilani told Time.
If the cable's information proves true, he continued, that would put bin Laden in Yemen – not in Pakistan – in 2002.
Aml Ahmed had been in a bedroom with bin Laden when US Navy SEALs had stormed the three-storey compound in Abbottabad, and was shot in the leg after allegedly attempting to protect her husband. She is currently being treated at a Pakistani hospital.
The Pakistani prime minister voiced further doubts that bin Laden had been hiding in the Abbottabad compound for as near as the past six years. The claim, Gilani said, “is not authentic,” adding that “terrorists don’t normally stay in one place for more than 15 days.”
Gilani accepted that there was an “intelligence failure,” on Islamabad's part, but insisted that others share the blame: “Bin Laden was not confined to Pakistan alone. He was everywhere," and ultimately… bin Laden is not my citizen. When my citizens are being martyred, I’m responsible for that."
Gilani further called on Washington to "take drastic steps to restore trust" between the Us and Pakistan.
He spoke of the “trust deficit” between the two allies, adding that cooperation between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), had broken down, and that Washington and Islamabad differed on how to fight terror and forge an exit strategy in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister said that he was first alerted to the raid the brought about bin Laden's demise around 2 am that morning, through a call from Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Gilani then ordered his foreign secretary to demand an explanation from US Ambassador Cameron Munter.
“I have not met or spoken to (US officials) since,” he said. “Whatever information we are receiving is from the media."
Yitzhak Benhorin in Washington contributed to this report
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