Pakistani PM Denies Help for Bin Laden

CNN reports:

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani delivered on Monday his first address to parliament since the killing of Osama bin Laden, rejecting accusations that his government had failed to adequately pursue the world's most wanted terrorist.

While calling the killing as "justice done," Gilani repeatedly assailed U.S. violation of Pakistani "sovereignty" in conducting the operation without Pakistan's knowledge or involvement.

"Allegations of complicity or incompetence are absurd," Gilani said, referring to suggestions by some U.S. officials that there may be those within the Pakistani government or military who were helping shield bin Laden or failing to look for him. "We emphatically reject such accusations. Speculative narratives in the public domain are meant to create despondency. We will not allow our detractors to succeed in offloading their own shortcomings and errors of omission and commission in a blame game that stigmatizes Pakistan."

Bin Laden was found in a compound in Abbottabad, a city with a heavy military presence a few hours drive from Islamabad -- rather than in the remote mountains and caves that Pakistani and U.S. officials often said he was hiding in.

Gilani also insisted that Pakistan's response to the sudden arrival of U.S. forces in the nighttime operation deserves praise. "The Air Force was ordered to scramble. Ground units arrived at the scene quickly. Our response demonstrates that our armed forces reacted, as was expected of them." Still, he added, "there is no denying the U.S. technological ability to evade our radars."

"Any attack against Pakistan's strategic assets whether overt or covert will find a matching response," Gilani said. "Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full force. No one should underestimate the resolve and capability of our nation and armed forces to defend our sacred homeland."

"Unilateralism runs the inherent risk of serious consequences," Gilani said in a fiery speech frequently interrupted by applause from some lawmakers. "Suppose the operation had gone wrong." ...