Pakistani PM: 'Bin Laden Not in Pakistan'

After suggesting 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden was hiding in the northern mountains of Pakistan, Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was firmly rebuffed by Pakistan PM, Yousuf Raza Gilani.

''The Pakistan Government has started to take on the Taliban and to take on al Qaida in South Waziristan, but we have got to ask ourselves why, eight years after September 11, nobody has been able to spot or detain or get close to Osama bin Laden, nobody has been able to get close to Zawahiri, the number two of al Qaida ", Mr. Brown told the BBC on Sunday. Suspicion has been rising among the international community that Pakistani sympathizers within the Pakistani government are hiding and protecting Bin Laden from capture. Pakistani premier Gilani however ruled out any possibility of Bin Laden hiding within Pakistan saying, "I doubt the information which you are giving is correct because I don’t think Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan." Mr. Giliani also stated he had received no credible intelligence on the whereabouts of Bin Laden. Pakistan in recent months joined the war on terrorism with attacks against the Taliban in its own country. Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised Pakistan for the decision, "I think it's important that the Prime Minister has signalled, as he has done in recent months, the real importance that Pakistan attaches to dealing with these problems and I can assure him of the UK's full support in this matter," Mr Brown said. "This is your fight, but it's also Britain's fight." Given President Obama's decision to send an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan is worrying to the Pakistani government who fear increased escalation in Afghanistan will drive militants into Pakistan resulting in further destabilization of Pakistan. "President Obama’s speech seems to be more about the politics in Washington’s beltway than credibly addressing a dire situation in the region,” said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington.