Operation a violation of sovereignty: Musharraf

Updated on: 03 May,2011 07:05 AM IST |
Agencies |

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that the American operation against Osama bin Laden in Pakistani soil was a "violation of our sovereignty" and felt the Gilani government should have been kept in the loop. Musharraf, who has repeatedly denied US intelligence that the world's most wanted terrorist was inside Pakistan, said he was surprised how bin Laden was found in a mansion in Abbottabad.

The former Pakistan Army Chief, however, said the killing of the al Qaeda boss was a "victory" for the people of Pakistan and all peace-loving people of the world. "American troops coming across the border and taking action in one of our towns,u00a0 Abbottabad, is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan and is a violation of our sovereignty, our sensitivity," he told TV channels. "The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop."

"We are fighting al-Qaeda, we have to fight the Taliban and we have to be together strategically. I know that Pakistan is totally on board in fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban," he said. Expressing surprise at how bin Laden was present in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, he said, "I don't know whether he was staying there, I don't know whether he was coming and going there or only his family was living there," he said. Musharraf said, however, that he did not think that there was any local official collusion with the Al Qaeda chief.