Islamabad:

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has mentioned that ex-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had shared her apprehensions together with his authorities that Osama Bin Laden was hiding within the nation a lot earlier than American commandos killed the dreaded al Qaeda chief in Abbottabad in 2011.

Mr Gilani served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2008 until 2012.

Ms Rice visited Pakistan 4 occasions whereas she was in workplace. She met Mr Gilani within the first week of December 2008 when she made a shock go to to Islamabad after holding talks in New Delhi quickly after the Mumbai terror assaults in 2008.

“Condoleezza Rice had visited Pakistan and her apprehensions have been that he (bin Laden) was in Pakistan,” Mr Gilani informed Geo Information in an interview on Thursday, forward of the overall elections in Pakistan on February 8.

When requested how he responded to Ms Rice’s data, Mr Gilani mentioned: “When she shared that, I mentioned it was disinformation.” Osama bin Laden, one of many world’s most infamous terrorist leaders, was killed by US Navy Seals in a stealth operation on Could 2, 2011. The 54-year-old Saudi-born militant chief was hiding within the Pakistani garrison metropolis of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Ms Rice, 69, is an American educator and politician, who served because the nationwide safety adviser (2001–05) and secretary of state (2005–09) to US President George W. Bush. She is the present director of the Hoover Establishment at Stanford College.

Mr Gilani, 71, served because the 18th prime minister of Pakistan. He’s a veteran chief of the Pakistan Peoples Get together and was elected as a Senator in 2021.

On whether or not it was a shock when bin Laden was discovered within the Pakistani garrison metropolis of Abbottabad, Mr Gilani mentioned that it was an intelligence failure of the world.

Responding to a query whether or not he thought it was American intelligence that was conveyed to him through Ms Rice, Mr Gilani mentioned: “If they’d any proof they need to have given it to us. We might have helped them as a result of we have been in opposition to terrorism and we have been combating a battle in opposition to terrorism and misplaced many treasured lives of army males and civilians who have been martyred and we additionally misplaced billions of {dollars}.”

Mr Gilani was requested about his speech in Pakistan’s Nationwide Meeting, questioning Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan. He answered that Pakistan’s motive was to cease the worldwide media as a result of Bin Laden was not a Pakistani citizen and got here from overseas.

Responding to a query if he was given an entire image by the ISI (spy company) concerning Bin Laden or if your complete story was not shared with him, Ms Gilani responded that he “used to get briefings they usually have been very clear.”

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)