Islamabad: Pakistan has hit back at US statements suggesting it could not be trusted with details of the operation which killed Osama Bin Laden. CIA chief Leon Panetta has said no intelligence was shared with Pakistan for fear the raid would be jeopardised.
But Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the media this view was “disquietening” and his country had a “pivotal role” in tackling terrorism.
Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad on Sunday.
US officials have said they are considering when to make public their photographs of his corpse.
Bashir said Panetta was entitled to his views but that his country had co-operated extensively with the US.
He said the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was found and shot dead had been identified as suspicious some time ago by the Pakistani intelligence services (ISI).
But it took the greater resources of the CIA to determine that it was the al-Qaeda leader’s hiding place.
“Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role,” said Bashir.
“So it’s a little disquieting when we have comments like this.”
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry defended the ISI and issued a lengthy statement in which it expressed “deep concerns and reservations” about the US action.
It insisted unilateral action should not become the norm and stressed that Pakistani intelligence had been sharing information with the US in recent years.
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