Musharraf, Pasha knew about Osama: US paper --- BANGKOK: The Pakistani security establishment has strongly rejected the New York Times report that Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding, but there may be some evidence to speculate that some key officials in the establishment indeed knew of his hideout, especially General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and whether the crucial information leading to the May 2 Abbottabad raid was provided to the Americans by none other than a senior ISI official. -- The New York Times has claimed in a report, quoting a Pakistani official, that the US had direct evidence about former ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha knowing about bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad at the time.The newspaper also quotes former ISI chief Lt Gen Ziauddin Butt saying that Musharraf had arranged to hide bin Laden in Abbottabad. -- While the military circles have strongly refuted the report as a pack of “white lies”, some in the international community would never believe that the world’s most wanted terrorist was living unnoticed for more than five years at the doorway of the Kakul Military Academy in a vast compound, and that too, without any support system. -- Therefore, the New York Times’ claim about a special desk for the Osama case at the ISI, which worked independently and was led by an officer who did not report to any higher authorities, would help these non-believers a lot to strengthen their argument. -- The Osama compound in Abbottabad was demolished by the Pakistani authorities on February 28, 2012 because it was an embarrassing reminder of their incompetence and their alleged complicity. It may be a coincidence, but the compound was razed the day a US-based global intelligence firm [Stratfor] had reported while citing WikiLeaks that middle to senior-level officials in the Pakistani establishment knew the arrangements made for Laden at his Abbottabad safe house. -- “Mid-to-senior level ISI and Pak military, with one retired Pak military general, had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safe house,” wrote Fred Burton, Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence, in an e-mail which was leaked by WikiLeaks to his company’s regional director for South Asia, soon after the May 2, 2011 Abbottabad raid. -- The email went on to say that the names and specific ranks of these generals were unknown to the writer, but added that the US intelligence may have that information. -- Burton, one of the world’s foremost experts on security, terrorists and terrorist groups, however, did not reveal his source, but did say that the source was based in Pakistan. Burton’s email added that the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post-raid negotiations with Islamabad, which had rebuked Washington after the raid. Stratfor, which provides analysis of world affairs to major global corporations, military officials and government agencies, was given access to classified information papers collected from Laden’s Abbottabad compound. The information leaked by WikiLeaks through Stratfor suggested that up to 12 officials in the ISI knew of the Osama’s safe house. -- In fact, General Ashfaq Kayani (October 2004-October 2007), Lt Gen. Nadeem Taj (October 2007-October 2008), and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha (October 2008-March 2012), in that order, headed the ISI during the period between 2005 and May 2, 2011, when Osama bin Laden had been living in Abbottabad. Interestingly, Lt Gen Nadeem Taj, who was a close relative of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, was the head of the Kakul Military Academy in Abbottabad before being elevated as director general of the ISI. Also, General Kayani had visited the Kakul Academy on April 23, 2011, nine days before Osama’s killing. -- Ahmed Shuja Pasha had conceded his failure in the aftermath of the May 2 episode and offered his resignation during a joint session of parliament as he failed to defend the role of the spy agency. Yet, he was allowed to continue as the ISI chief. -- Ten days before the Stratfor report was published, a February 18, 2012 Washington Postarticle by David Ignatius had claimed that an architect regularly employed by the ISI worked on the compound in which Osama sheltered for years in Abbottabad. Quoting intelligence sources, the writer claimed that the architect was told that a highly placed VIP was coming to the compound. According to David Ignatius, any probe on Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan should focus on several issues, including how the al-Qaeda chief came to Abbottabad in 2005 and what Pakistani officials knew about his whereabouts. -- The Washington Post article also added: “Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani was ISI chief at the time, but the dominant figure was President [General] Pervez Musharraf. The commander of the PMA (Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul) in Abbottabad from 2006 was Lt Gen Nadeem Taj, who succeeded Kayani as head of the ISI in 2007”. -- Ignatius referred to former ISI chief General Ziauddin Butt’s claim that the Abbottabad compound was used by Intelligence Bureau and noted that a report in the Pakistani press in December had quoted him as saying that Osama’s stay at Abbottabad was arranged by Brigadier (R) Ijaz Shah, head of the Intelligence Bureau during 2004-2008, on Musharraf’s orders. General Ziauddin Khawaja, also known as Ziauddin Butt, headed the ISI from 1997 to 1999. - More, Amir Mir, thenews.com.pk, at: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-29214-Musharraf-Pasha-knew-about-Osama-US-paper