Pakistan's military has denied reports that one of its officers had been detained for helping the United States track down and kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, calling them “false and totally baseless.”
Pakistani Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas on Wednesday rejected the story that first appeared in The New York Times. But another official admitted there have been arrests in connection to the May 2 raid on bin Laden's hideout in the garrison city of Abbottabad.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Syed Azmat Ali told VOA no Pakistani military personnel have been detained in connection with the raid but that several other people were taken into custody. However, he refused to clarify the charges against them.
The New York Times Wednesday reported that a Pakistani army major was one of five people detained by Pakistan's spy agency. The newspaper said the major had recorded the license plate numbers of cars visiting bin Laden's house and gave that information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
The article said the other four detainees had also worked as U.S. informants. The fate of the detainees is not clear.
In Washington Wednesday, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke before a Senate hearing. When Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy asked Gates how long the U.S. should support governments “that lie to us,” Gates replied, “Most governments lie to each other.”
Gates said that based on his three decades at the CIA and as Pentagon chief, “that is the way business gets done.” He added, “Sometimes the governments arrest the people that help us and sometimes they send people to spy on us, and they are our close allies. That is the real world that we deal with.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney told a press briefing Wednesday he did not have any specific information about The New York Times report. He said the U.S.-Pakistani relationship is extremely important and sometimes complicated, but remains strong.
Ties between Washington and Islamabad have been tense since bin Laden's killing.
Some members of Congress have threatened to withdraw the close to $4 billion in annual U.S. aid to Pakistan.
