Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday rejected American claims that the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was hiding in Pakistan and mockingly said that if the CIA knew his whereabouts “please tell us''.
He also reiterated Pakistani denial that it had been “complicit'' in sheltering Osama bin Laden and blamed universal “intelligence failure'' for the fact he was able to live undetected in Pakistan for so long.
“There is no complicity. I think it's an intelligence failure from all over the world,” Mr. Gilani told The Guardian rejecting suggestions that elements within Pakistan's military may have been aware of Osama's hideout.
“Why should we do that? We have suffered the most,” he retorted.
Asked about U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's suggestion during her visit to India recently that Zawahiri was hiding “somewhere in Pakistan”, he said: “If there is any credible information please share it with us, so we can be quick and achieve our targets.”
Denying knowledge about the Taliban leader Mullah Omar's whereabouts, he said if the CIA had any information it should share it with Pakistan pointing out sarcastically that the CIA was far more “powerful” than Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, and would have a better idea.
Mr. Gilani, who is on a visit to Britain, was optimistic about relations with India and reportedly spoke “warmly'' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Pakistan, he said, was “serious” about resolving all disputes with India, including Kashmir.
On relations with America, he admitted that they were not “too normal'' but said the two countries were still working together to wipe out high-value terror targets. He said it was not possible to police the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border used by militants.
“We don't know if they are tourists or militants,” he said.
Portraying Pakistan as a victim of terrorism, Mr Gilani said Islamabad was “part of the solution, not part of the problem” in fighting global terrorism.
“Osama bin Laden wasn't a Pakistani,” he said.
