Bin Laden may be dead, says Pakistan's leader
Residents wait with their luggage for a vehicle as they flee from a troubled area of Pakistan's Lower Dir district
Tuesday April 28 2009
PRESIDENT of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, raised the prospect yesterday that Osama bin Laden could be dead, saying that intelligence officials could find "no trace" of the al-Qa'ida chief.
He said neither his own advisers in Pakistan nor US intelligence agencies had detected any sign of bin Laden since Al Jazeera television broadcast an audio recording of his voice in March.
But even then, unlike on previous occasions, the authenticity of the voice was not confirmed by the CIA.
There have been regular reports of bin Laden's ill health, notably speculation about his kidneys failing. Mr Zardari said his own advisers believed there was substance to the rumours.
"The question is whether he is alive or dead. There is no trace of him," he said.
"There is no news. They obviously feel that he does not exist anymore but that's not confirmed."
Mr Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharaff, similarly suggested that the Saudi terrorism chief could be dead. However, US officials have repeatedly stated that bin Laden could yet be hiding in the mountainous region straddling the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Nuclear weapons
Mr Zardari's comments came as he sought to reassure the international community that it need not worry over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, had voiced her fears that they could fall into Taliban hands if the Pakistani government failed to halt the militants' advance throughout its North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Her remarks followed earlier claims to a US Congressional committee that Pakistan was "abdicating to the Taliban" by making peace deals in places like the Swat Valley, where ministers had agreed to introduce Sharia law in exchange for an end to a militant insurgency.
That latest deal unravelled last night as the Pakistan army killed 46 Taliban fighters including two senior commanders in Malakand's Lower Dir district in a series of helicopter gunship strikes.
They were called in after the NWFP government said the Taliban had broken the truce deal by pushing beyond the Swat Valley to neighbouring districts like Buner and Lower Dir. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
