Pakistan denies complicity, incompetence in bin Laden case

Pakistan rejected allegations Monday that it was complicit in the hiding of Osama bin Laden in its country or incompetent at finding him.

"Allegations of complicity or incompetence are absurd," Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in a televised address to Parliament, as reported by Reuters.

He said it was disingenuous for anyone to accuse Pakistan or its spy agency of "being in cahoots" with the Al Qaeda leader. Rather, he said, it was the spy agency that gave the Americans "key leads" that led to finding bin Laden, Al Jazeera reports.

The capture of bin Laden on May 2 in a compound in Abbottabad, a garrison town about 30 miles from the capital, Islamabad, has led to allegations that Pakistani officials either knew America's most wanted terrorist was there, or were incompetent.

President Obama appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday saying that it appeared clear that "some sort of support network for bin Laden [existed] inside of Pakistan," and that Pakistan must investigate this.

Pakistan welcomed the death of bin Laden, but also complained that the American raid violated its sovereignty.

Gilani said Monday that the raid ran the risk of serious consequences, Al Jazeera reports.

Gilani announced that an inquiry into the bin Laden case has been ordered and will be lead by Pakistani Lieutenant-General Javed Iqbal.

"We will not allow our detractors to succeed in offloading their own shortcomings and errors of omission and commission in a blame game that stigmatizes Pakistan," he said.

Both Gilani and White House spokesman Jay Carney later stressed that the United States and Pakistan need a cooperative relationship.

"We believe it is very important to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan, precisely because it's in our national security interests to do so," Carney said.