Osama dead: Wikileaks says Laden received tip off from ISI

NEW DELHI: The latest document dump from Wiki-Leaks has pointed to the role of Pakistan’s ISI in sheltering Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda’s terror merchants in Pakistan. The Daily Telegraph, which accessed a US diplomatic dispatch, said General Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov, a senior Tajik counter-terrorism official, had told the Americans that many inside Pakistan knew where bin Laden was.

“In Pakistan, Osama bin Laden wasn’t an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Waziristan, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts , the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the security forces.” This could possibly be the reason why Pakistan was not kept on the loop over its operation against Osama in Abbottabad.

The Telegraph said intelligence gathered from detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have also refrained the Americans from sharing their plans with the Pakistani establishment. It said one detainee, Saber Lal Melma, an Afghan whom the US described as a probable facilitator for al-Qaeda , allegedly worked with the ISI to help members flee Afghanistan after the American bombing began in October 2001.

The Guantanamo military file accessed by WikiLeaks said he passed the al-Qaeda Arabs to Pak security forces who then smuggled them across the border into Pakistan . He was overheard “bragging about atime when the ISI sent a military unit into Afghanistan, posing as civilians to fight along side the Taliban against US forces.” Saber Lal Melma also allegedly detailed ISI's protection of al-Qaeda members at Pakistan airports.

“ISI members diverted al-Qaeda members through unofficial channels to avoid detection from officials in search of terrorists,” the file claims. US diplomats were told that one of the key reasons why they had failed to find Osama was that Pak’s security services tipped him off whenever US troops approached . ISI also smuggled al-Qaeda terrorists through airport security to help them avoid capture and sent a unit into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban.