Islamabad: Pakistan's High Commissioner in UK
has been summoned by the judicial commission probing Osama bin
Laden's presence in the country to explain his remarks that
the country's leaders had prior knowledge about the US raid
that killed the al Qaeda leader.
Officials said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, considered to be close
to President Asif Ali Zardari, had been asked to appear before
the commission led by former Supreme Court judge Javed Iqbal
in the last week of December.
Shortly after the American military raid that killed bin
Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad on May 2, Hasan had
told Western and Indian news channels that Pakistani leaders
had been aware of the US operation and that
intelligence-sharing between Islamabad and Washington had led
the Americans to the al Qaeda chief.
Hasan's remarks were recently reported again in the
Pakistani media after Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor
Ijaz made public an alleged secret memo that sought US help to
stave off a possible military coup in Pakistan after the
killing of bin Laden.
Following the fresh scrutiny of his remarks, Hasan stayed
away from a two-day meeting of Pakistani envoys in key world
capitals that has been convened to provide recommendations for
a proposed foreign policy revamp.
Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner to Britain is
attending the meeting that began this morning.
The government has asked the panel to probe how bin
Laden's presence in Pakistan went undetected, to investigate
circumstances surrounding the 40-minute US operation and the
nature and causes of lapses by concerned authorities.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 12, 2011, 21:04