Dubai: Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said it was a ‘big slip’ for the country’s intelligence agencies to be unable to track al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden living in Abbottabad district.
"It wasa big slip up. It is extremely regrettable. We need to find who slipped and take action against those who did not deliver,” Musharraf said here.
Earlier, Musharraf said the killing of Osama is a ‘big victory’ for the world.
"It's a victory for the peace loving people in Pakistan and world. His killing is a big victory," Musharraf told CNN-IBN in an exclusive interview.
However, he said US should have informed the Pakistan government about its course of action.
"America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty. Handling and execution of the operation is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop," said Musharraf.
"Foreign troops crossing the border into Pakistan will not be liked by the people of Pakistan. US forces should not have crossed over into Pakistan," he said.
Musharraf said US still does not trust Pakistan fully when it comes to fight terrorism.
"If there is a lack of trust, it is bad. We are fighting the same enemy. It is wrong strategically and the issue of lack of trust is very bad. There has to be trust between the two agencies fighting the same enemy," he said.
Asked if Pakistani authorities were helping Osama, Musharraf said: "There is no possibility of any local administration collusion but there could be involvement of some locals. There is an intelligence failure on Pakistan's part.”
“I don't know whether Osama was staying there or coming and going. However, a house so close to the military establishment is a failure of intelligence of both US and Pakistan. Pakistan intelligence doesn't have the resource that US intelligence has,” he told CNN-IBN.
Osama was killed in Pakistan late on May 1, ending an almost decade long manhunt for the world's most sought after terrorist, announced US President Barack Obama.
Responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pengatagon, that killed about 3,000 people, bin Laden was hunted worldwide only to be found nearly ten years later in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night speech from the White House, briefing on what comes as major accomplishment for the Democrat President who faces the voters next year.
Details of the operation are sparse with the media being denied access from the site of the attack but reports have put together a series of events leading to bin Laden’s killing in a mansion in Abbottabad.
A targeted operation was launched based on specific intelligence by U.S. authorities, who reached the location on two choppers, infiltrating the 16-foot-high walled mansion by dropping down from the copters.
Reports said one of the choppers crashed due to mechanical failure but no American was killed. A heavy gunbattle followed as bin Laden’s men apparently put up a fight but finally the terror chief was shot in the head and killed.
The Guardian reported that bin Laden was even given a chance to surrender.
There were conflicting reports that whether the Pakistani authorities were involved in the operation. While it is largely confirmed that it was U.S. special forces that stormed bin Laden’s mansion, whether the Pakistani military provided ground support or not, is under speculation.
U.S authorities announced the terror chief’s death late Sunday night (Monday morning in India) saying they had bin Laden’s body in possession.
Later President Barack Obama confirmed the death making a special address. “I can report to the American people and to the world, that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,” he said.
“The United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation...No Americans were harmed...After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,” he said.
“Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad,” he said.
The announcement was met with jubilation across America and elsewhere in the World. People thronged to Ground Zero and Times Square in New York and in front of the White House in Washington D.C. celebrating the death of the country’s deadliest enemy.