Pakistan's top army spokesman vehemently denied a US media report quoting him saying Osama bin Laden would not be taken into custody if he agreed to live peacefully in the country.
"This is absolutely fabricated, absurd. I never said this," Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said today.
Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan
He was responding to an ABC News report aired hours earlier which quoted Maj Gen Sultan as saying that al Qaida chief bin Laden "would not be taken into custody" in Pakistan "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen".
"Pakistan is committed to its policy on the war on terror and Osama, caught anywhere in Pakistan, would be brought to justice," Maj Gen Sutan said.
The ABC report quoted former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, now a news consultant with ABC, as saying that a peace accord signed yesterday by Pakistan's government and pro-Taliban militants in the country meant that "the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan".
Mr Clarke shot to prominence when he warned of an imminent al Qaeda attack on mainland US months before September 11. His claims were not listened to by his superiors amid claims that the newly-elected Bush administration were focused on invading Iraq.
AP