Islamabad: Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has stressed that the family of slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is not being handed over to the United States.
Bin Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed on May 2 in a top-secret US unilateral military operation involving a small team of American Special Forces in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city.
The US is seeking access to the three widows of bin Laden, who are in Pakistani custody since the American raid on the most wanted terrorist’s hideout, as it believes that they can provide valuable information that would contribute to the ongoing counterterrorism efforts.
Last week, US intelligence officers reportedly interrogated the three women under the supervision of Pakistan’s intelligence service.
Talking to journalists on his visit to the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, Malik said that bin Laden’s family is not being handed over to the US.
He also said that Al-Qaeda is undoubtedly involved in the killing of a Saudi Consulate worker in Pakistan.
On Monday morning, four terrorists had shot dead a Saudi Consulate worker- Hassan Al-Qahtani- in Karachi while he was on his way to office in his car.
Malik said that anti-state elements and terrorists wanted to create panic and unrest to destabilise Pakistan by carrying out terrorist activities in the country.
“These people are not well-wishers of Islam, Pakistan or humanities, and want to dent Pak-Saudi relations,” the Online - International News Network quoted Malik, as saying.
ANI
