Pakistani army dismisses WikiLeaks’ Osama allegations

Pakistani army Tuesday denied whistleblowing website WikiLeaks cable’s allegation, suggesting Pakistan military and the main intelligence officials were aware of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad city.

The US military killed bin Laden May 2, 2011, leaving the Pakistan government embarrassed over his presence in the country, Xinhua reported.

According to a WikiLeaks report, officials of the Pakistan army and spy agency Inter-State Services (ISI) knew about bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad.

Pakistani army’s spokesman Major General Athar Abbas denied the allegations about contacts between Pakistani intelligence officials and bin Laden.

Gen. Abbas rejected what he called the so called “leaks”, saying that they were nothing but a pile of a baseless fabrication.

“These charges are not new. These leaks are actually old wine in new bottle”, he said.

On Monday, WikiLeaks published over five million emails from US-based global security analysis firm Stratfor. The messages were reportedly stolen by hacker group Anonymous.

“Mid to senior level ISI and Pak military, with one retired Pak military General, had knowledge of the OBL (Osama bin laden) arrangements and safe house,” Online news agency quoted Fred Burton, Stratfor vice-president for intelligence, as writing in an email.

The email was reportedly written May 13 to one of the company’s regional directors for South Asia soon after the killing of the Al Qaeda chief.