Islamabad: Reports that President Asif Ali Zardari had told Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that the US operation against Osama bin Laden was carried out with his approval are "absolutely untrue and unfounded", presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said on Saturday.
"A section of the media has carried reports implying that
President Asif Ali Zardari had through a phone call, on the
night of the May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden, informed the army
chief that the operation had been conducted with his
approval," Babar said in a brief statement.
These reports are "absolutely untrue and unfounded", he
said.
The media had quoted American businessman Mansoor Ijaz,
the main accuser in the memo scandal that rocked Pakistan`s
political and diplomatic circles, as saying that Zardari had
advance information of the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden
in Abbottabad in May last year.
Ijaz further claimed Zardari had telephoned the army chief
on the day of the US raid and asked him not to use F-16 combat
jets to target the helicopters carrying the American troops.
Ijaz had offered no credible evidence to back up his
claims.
PTI
