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Bin Laden is alive in Pakistan, says Fernandes

Bin Laden is alive in Pakistan, says Fernandes

Author: Reuters
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 30, 2002
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=17553330

Defence Minister George Fernandes said that Osama bin Laden  was in hiding in Pakistan, drawing an immediate denial from Islamabad.

"We have information the man is around and he is somewhere in  Pakistan. We had it from unimpeachable sources," George Fernandes  told Britain's Channel Four News.

A spokesman for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf told the  programme it was "Indian propaganda" and said Fernandes was "talking  through his hat".

The United States blames Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network for the  September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Fernandes said the last sightings of Bin Laden in Pakistan had been  three months ago but there was "no reason to believe that the  situation has changed".

Asked whether Musharraf knew of the situation, Fernandes said: "The  Pakistani intelligence -- the ISI -- know where he is. General  Musharraf is the commander in chief of the armed forces and the ISI  reports to him."

But Fernandes added: "The ISI is capable of doing its own thing. I  can't say therefore for certain whether Musharraf knows about the  man."

Earlier this month, Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arab  newspaper al-Quds, who has close ties to Bin Laden's associates, said  they had told him the Saudi-born militant was alive and planning  another attack on the United States.

Bin Laden made a series of defiant videotaped broadcasts on  television as U.S. warplanes pounded Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda  and the Taliban. But recently, he has stayed out of sight, raising  questions over whether he survived the bombing.

Last week, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United  States still did not know if bin Laden was dead or alive.

Musharraf's spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told the  programme: "Frankly, it's typical of Mr George Fernandes to talk  through his hat."

"This is a typical example of Indian propaganda which is meant just  to discredit Pakistan. If there had been any evidence of the  whereabouts of Osama bin Laden I'm quite confident...the United  States would have been the first to know," he added.
 


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