Washington:
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari says the raid by US special forces to kill the world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden deep inside his country was "not a joint operation."
In an opinion column titled "Pakistan did its part" published in 'The Washington Post', Zardari also said the whereabouts of the Al Qaeda leader, who was killed in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, about 120 km from Islamabad yesterday, was not known to Pakistani authorities.
"Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world," he said.
At a White House briefing, John Brennan, Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, said Islamabad was not informed about the operation until the US forces had left Pakistani airspace and that no Pakistani individuals were engaged in the operation.
"We did not contact the Pakistanis until after all of our people, all of our aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace," he said at a White House briefing.
With Pakistan facing the heat over Bin Laden being found just a stone's throw from its military academy in Abbottabad, Zardari said, "He (Osama) was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone."
He added, "Pakistan, perhaps the world's greatest victim of terrorism, joins the other targets of Al Qaeda - the people of the United States, Britain, Spain, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - in our satisfaction that the source of the greatest evil of the new millennium has been silenced, and his victims given justice."
Zardari sought to take some credit for the killing of Bin Laden, saying Pakistan can take "some satisfaction" that "our early assistance" in identifying an Al Qaeda courier "ultimately led to this day."
He argued, "Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact."
In an opinion column titled "Pakistan did its part" published in 'The Washington Post', Zardari also said the whereabouts of the Al Qaeda leader, who was killed in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, about 120 km from Islamabad yesterday, was not known to Pakistani authorities.
"Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world," he said.
At a White House briefing, John Brennan, Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, said Islamabad was not informed about the operation until the US forces had left Pakistani airspace and that no Pakistani individuals were engaged in the operation.
"We did not contact the Pakistanis until after all of our people, all of our aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace," he said at a White House briefing.
With Pakistan facing the heat over Bin Laden being found just a stone's throw from its military academy in Abbottabad, Zardari said, "He (Osama) was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone."
He added, "Pakistan, perhaps the world's greatest victim of terrorism, joins the other targets of Al Qaeda - the people of the United States, Britain, Spain, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria - in our satisfaction that the source of the greatest evil of the new millennium has been silenced, and his victims given justice."
Zardari sought to take some credit for the killing of Bin Laden, saying Pakistan can take "some satisfaction" that "our early assistance" in identifying an Al Qaeda courier "ultimately led to this day."
He argued, "Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact."
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
