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Pakistan to let bin Laden widow return to Yemen

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:43:17 +0000

Officials in Pakistan say the country has agreed to let Osama bin Laden's youngest widow return to her native Yemen. But they would not reveal when she'll leave.

Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, two other widows and eight of bin Laden's children were detained following the May 2 U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaida chief in the northwestern Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

A Pakistani security official said Friday that Pakistan has granted Abdullfattah permission to go home. An official at the Yemeni embassy in Islamabad confirmed an agreement had been reached on her deportation.

Both officials requested anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity.

The security official says Abdullfattah has fully recovered from a bullet that struck her leg during the raid.

Pakistan denies army major’s arrest for CIA links

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:21:09 +0000

The Pakistani army denied Wednesday that one of its majors was among a group of Pakistanis who Western officials say were arrested for feeding the CIA information before the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The New York Times, which first reported the arrests of five Pakistani informants Tuesday, said an army major was detained who copied license plates of cars visiting the al-Qaida chief's compound in Pakistan in the weeks before the raid.

A Western official in Pakistan confirmed that five Pakistanis who fed information to the CIA before the May 2 operation were arrested by Pakistan's top intelligence service.

But Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied an army major was arrested, saying the report was "false and totally baseless." Neither the army nor Pakistan's spy agency would confirm or deny the overall report about the detentions.

The group of detained Pakistanis included the owner of a safe house rented to the CIA to observe bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, an army town not far from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, a U.S. official said. The owner was detained along with a "handful" of other Pakistanis, said the official.

Pakistan TV channel names alleged CIA station chief

Mon, 09 May 2011 13:55:00 +0000

Pakistani media have reported what they say is the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad -- the second such potential outing of a sensitive covert operative in six months, and one that comes with tensions running high over the U.S. raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

The Associated Press has learned that the name being reported is incorrect. Still, the publication of any alleged identity of the U.S. spy agency's top official in this country could be pushback from Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment, which was humiliated over the surprise raid on its soil, and could further sour relations between Washington and Islamabad.

On Friday, the private TV channel ARY broadcast what it said was the current station chief's name. The Nation, a right-wing newspaper, picked up the story Saturday.

ARY's news director, Mazhar Abbas, said the television station's reporter gleaned the name from a source. He defended the broadcast, saying it was "based on fact," and denounced allegations that the name was leaked to the television channel by an official with a motive.

"The prime responsibility of the reporter is to give a story which is based on facts," he said. "Interpretation of the story is something else."

Sen. Kerry upbeat after talks on Pakistan detention

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:39:00 +0000

U.S. Sen. John Kerry said he is hopeful that Washington and Islamabad can make progress "in the next few days" toward resolving the bitter dispute over an American embassy worker detained in Pakistan.

Kerry, who rushed to Pakistan to try to prevent a diplomatic meltdown over the continued detention of American Raymond Davis, sounded upbeat Wednesday at the end of two days of meetings with senior Pakistani government officials and opposition powerbrokers.

The U.S. says Davis shot two Pakistanis in self-defense as they tried to rob him Jan. 27, and that his detention is illegal under international agreements covering diplomats. Pakistani leaders, fearful of stoking more outrage in a public already rife with anti-U.S. sentiment, have said the matter is up to the courts to decide.

Davis' next court hearing is set for Thursday.

"I look forward in the next few days, hopefully, to finding the ways that we all agreed on -- that we can find -- in order to resolve this issue," Kerry told reporters before boarding a plane in the Pakistani capital.

The dispute has become a bitter point of contention between the United States and Pakistan -- a key ally in the war in Afghanistan. The U.S. senator said his meetings were encouraging, and stressed that all involved said they wanted and expected to end the standoff amicably.

Pakistan says no to bin Laden comedy from India

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:19:00 +0000

Pakistan has banned an Indian-made comedy film about Osama bin Laden for fear it could spark terrorist attacks, officials said Wednesday.

The film, "Tere Bin Laden," is about a Pakistani journalist desperate to get a visa to the U.S. who pretends to score an interview with the elusive al-Qaida chief after finding a look-alike. Though a Bollywood film, it is unusual because it stars a Pakistani actor, Ali Zafar.

The film was set for release in Pakistan and elsewhere on Friday. There were reports that producers would release it here by just the name "Tere Bin" to downplay the focus on the Sept. 11 mastermind believed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas.

"Tere Bin Laden" means "Without You Laden," so the shortened version would mean "Without You."

Pakistan's film censor board decided that, because of the bin Laden connection, the movie could trigger terrorist attacks in a nation already suffering from them, said a senior board member.

The board member and a board staffer who also confirmed the decision agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the subject. They noted that the decision can be appealed.

Pakistan to probe Bhutto killing after U.N. report

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:48:00 +0000

Pakistan said Friday it would step up its probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto after a U.N. report blamed security forces for failing to protect her -- accusations dismissed as a "pack of lies" by an aide to ex-President Pervez Musharraf.

Bhutto, a former prime minister, was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi city, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in elections after returning from nearly nine years in self-imposed exile.

The slaying was the latest in a long line of high-profile political assassinations in Pakistan and convulsed the country, which was then ruled by unpopular military-backed ruler Musharraf and battered -- as now -- by al-Qaida and Taliban violence. Supporters of Bhutto immediately hinted that Musharraf or his allies in the powerful and largely unaccountable security forces may have played a role.

The three-member U.N. panel, which was not tasked with unmasking the killers, said Bhutto's death could have been avoided if Musharraf's government and security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies.