Singapore: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Abottabad operation was “an intelligence failure” but he stopped short of placing blame on Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).
While giving an interview to MediaCorp on the sidelines of the Williamsburg Conference in Singapore, Aziz, who led Pakistan from 2004 to 2007, said his administration could not have done anything more to find the Al Qaeda leader, who had lived in the garrison city of Abbottabad – about two hours from the capital Islamabad – since 2006.
“I would say this is an intelligence failure. But at the same time I would add that the ISI, which is our main intelligence agency, is professional. It is committed to pursuing the policies of the government and ensuring the security of the country.”
Pakistan is under growing pressure from the US and the international community to explain its failure to find Bin Laden.
Mr Aziz said Islamabad will likely review and improve its anti-terrorism efforts.
“The government has to learn from this incident and correct (itself), in terms of how people come in and where such people are hiding and why it happened. The policies, I am sure, will be reviewed and altered… anti-terror efforts get a lot of attention from all governments, including the Pakistan government, and I think there is room for constant upgrading and changes in strategy.”
The former prime minister said the possibility of more reprisal attacks in Pakistan for the killing of Bin Laden cannot be tolerated. On Friday, a paramilitary training centre was attacked by suicide bombers that killed at least 85 security personnel. He said Pakistan has to be prepared for such attacks and take extra precautions to ensure security.
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