Pakistan has not been alienated by the international community since Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's discovery and killing in Abbotabad by US troops, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said.
The Saudi-born terrorist, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed on May 2 in a top secret operation involving a small team of US Special Forces in Abbottabad, located 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres east of Peshawar.
American and European intelligence officials increasingly believe that active or retired Pakistani military or intelligence officials provided some measure of aid to bin Laden, allowing him to stay hidden in a large compound just a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy, according to a report.
Speaking in the Senate about the Abbottabad operation, Gilani said that Pakistan has not been isolated after the US raid on bin Laden's hideout, and that the international community continues to support the nation, the Dawn reports.
Gilani said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was the first one to inform him about the operation, calling him at 2 am that night.
However, he added, it was not known at that time whom the helicopters belonged to.
US lawmakers have said it defies logic that Bin Laden was able to hide in plain sight without some level of official Pakistani knowledge or complicity.
Gilani said that bin Laden had not been invited to Pakistan, adding that the country had sacrificed a lot in the war against extremism, and that the international community supported these efforts of the nation.
He also said that if there were any shortfalls in the government's policies, then the Parliament could help in correcting them. ANI
