Letter did not authorise visa issuance for US forces involved in Abbottabad raid: Gilani

MULTAN: Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday said his government followed rules and procedures in visa issuance.

Addressing a press conference in Multan, he said that the letter directs the ambassador to ensure timely visas not bypass visa conditions. “This was to speed up the process.”

He clarified that visas were supposed to be given to those recommended by the State Department of the US, which had to explain the reason for visa issuance. “The letter absolutely does not authorise visa issuance to US special forces which took part in the Abbottabad raid,” he said.

“I gave the letter to Hussain Haqqani through proper procedure and not by hand. The letter went the relevant ministries through rules of business,” Gilani said.

He said that if the matter must be probed, it should start from 2002.

Gilani said that the country wouldn’t be asking these questions if the judicial commission on the Osama raid had been made public.

A 2010 letter from former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's office has raised further questions for the Pakistan People's Party over then-ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani's controversial powers in granting visas to US officials.

"The Ambassador in Washington is empowered to issue visas valid up to one year without the Embassy having to refer each such aforementioned visa application to the concerned authorities in Pakistan," states the letter.

The document, dated July 14, 2010, has surfaced days after Haqqani claimed that, with the authorisation of the-then elected civilian leaders, he had facilitated the presence of a large number of CIA operatives in Pakistan to track down Osama bin Laden.

"The ambassador in Washington is empowered to issue entry visas for restricted periods to US officials who have been recommended in writing by the concerned US authorities, i.e. the Department of State and whose duly completed application forms, it is clearly indicated for what purposes they intend to travel to Pakistan," stated the letter, signed by Gilani's Principal Secretary Nargis Sethi.

"The Pakistani embassy in US would issue these visas under intimation to the Prime Minister`s office in Islamabad," it adds.

In an article published in The Washington Post earlier month, Haqqani wrote: "Among the security establishment’s grievances against me was the charge that I had facilitated the presence of large numbers of CIA operatives who helped track down bin Laden without the knowledge of Pakistan’s army — even though I had acted under the authorisation of Pakistan’s elected civilian leaders."

The former ambassador had referred to the then president Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani as his "civilian leaders".

Responding over the latest development, PPP`s Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the visas to the American nationals were issued after following the due procedure, he added that all the answers related to this issue are in Abbottabad Commission Report.

Haqqani`s article raised political temperature of the country, members of parliament from treasury and opposition benches questioned his credibility.

The strongest statement came from Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, who labelled Husain Haqqani a 'traitor', adding that the former Pakistan ambassador was trying to gain the attention of the Trump administration.

"This man [Haqqani] is not worthy of being debated on in Parliament. He is seeking to gain the attention of the US administration by issuing such statements," said Shah, who represents the same party that Haqqani was formerly affiliated with.

Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad by US commandos in a night raid on May 2, 2011. The Pakistani government claimed it had not been consulted over the raid, and called it called a violation of the country's sovereignty.