President Zardari was unaware of US operation in Abbottabad

On Friday, the ongoing saga of memogate scandal took a new turn after the memogate architect Mansoor Ijaz alleged President Zardari to order Chief of Army Staff not to retaliate the US helicopters entering Pakistan. Mansoor Ijaz was speaking to media outside Pakistan High Commission in London after appearing before the memo commission to record his statement. He also said that COAS General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and President Zardari also spoke over telephone on night of May 1 and May 2 to discuss the security planning.

However, on Saturday both President Zardari and the army chief denied any such contacts on the mentioned day by Mansoor Ijaz. And they also denied of having any prior knowledge of on US plans to launch an operation in the country to kill Osama Bin Laden. Media reports had suggested that President Zardari informed the chief of army staff through a phone call on the night of May 1 and May 2 that the operation was conducted with his approval.

Public media arm of Pakistan Army – Inter Services Public Relations – also rebutted the claim of Mansoor Ijaz that they army did not retaliate to US intrusion following an instruction from the president. Many in Pakistan, however, believe that army was in know of the operation but could not retaliate owing to severe repercussions of the step.

Earlier, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday that the world’s most notorious terrorist Osama Bin Laden was in contact with top military brass and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) when he was hiding in the country. The terrorist who claimed lives of many innocent people across the world in the name of Jihad was finally shot dead in Pakistan by a US Navy Seal special group on May 2 last year.

The fresh revelations came to light Monday when the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks published around five million emails and confidential intelligence files from a US security think tank Stratfor. The think tank has claimed to have access to the documents collected from the hideout of Osama Bin Laden and according to these documents around 12 top Pakistan military and ISI officials know of the safe haven in the city.

The Stratfor report suggests the United States officials can use the report as a bargaining chip with Islamabad to settle different contentious issues. NATO supply to US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan remains suspended after an attack by NATO gunship helicopters on one of Pakistan army check post in Salala wherein 24 soldiers were killed. The US officials can ask Islamabad to open the NATO supply routes in exchange of the secret information obtained by Stratfor and released by Wikileaks.

The very next day of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the president wrote an article in The Washington Post congratulating the US over the successful operation. However, there was no talk of violation of sovereignty or airspace of the country.