Osama bin Laden dead: Pakistan warns US, India against covert operations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday warned the US and India against any further covert operation in Pakistani territory, saying this would lead to a "terrible catastrophe".

Admitting that the US assault that killed Osama bin Laden did achieve "important results", foreign secretary Salman Bashir told the media: "This cannot be taken as a rule."

"There should be no doubt that Pakistan has a capacity to ensure its own defence," he said.

In an apparent reference to India, Bashir said: "Any other country that would ever act (similarly) on the assumption that it has the might ... will find it has made a basic miscalculation."

He added: "We see a lot of bravado in our region... from the military, air force, which state that this can be repeated.

"We feel that sort of misadventure or miscalculation will result in a catastrophe."

US special forces launched the Monday morning raid without the knowledge of Pakistan officials, with helicopter-borne soldiers attacking a compound in Abbottabad, north of the capital, killing bin Laden and several others.

Pakistan has been under international pressure to explain why the al Qaeda chief was able to hide in a compound in a hill town near its capital.

The military has been criticised over the perceived violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. Bashir's comments, while apparently directed at India, also seemed aimed at reassuring the public the military was capable of defending the country.

While few in Pakistan supported bin Laden and his ideology, violations of sovereignty can provoke street protests and media outrage.

The fact that bin Laden was found hiding in a garrison town, near Pakistan's main military academy, has led to speculation the country's main Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) security agency was in cahoots with him.

Bashir reacted that. "The critique of the ISI is not only unwarranted, it can not be validated," he said.

He also echoed comments from Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who said on Wednesday the world shared in the failure to find bin Laden.

"If it was an intelligence failure ... then it was a global intelligence failure," Bashir said.

"That the ISI is incompetent is a value judgment," he added. "And we believe that this is not the time for anybody to indulge in the luxury of passing value judgments."