Pakistan Denies Bin Laden Treated In Pakistani Hospital
By IOL Pakistan correspondent, Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 30 (IslamOnline) - Pakistan "categorically" denied a report Tuesday that Osama bin Laden had undergone secret kidney dialysis in one of its hospitals a day before the September 11 attacks in the United States. Pakistan said "the report is aimed at serving New Delhi's interests."
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, called the report absurd and the top military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, said he checked with the two military hospitals with dialysis facilities in Rawalpindi and found there had been "no such thing."
The American CBS television quoted an unidentified nurse as claiming the hospital's urology department was cleared of its usual staff and replaced with another team for Bin Laden's treatment.
In December 2001, Bin Laden appeared on videotape sent to Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel, appearing gaunt, hollow-eyed and pale.
Suspicions on Bin Laden's death also arose in December 2001, when Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf, said Bin Laden may have died of a kidney ailment or may have been killed by U.S. bombing.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Afghanistan's interim government, visiting Washington with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, said he believed bin Laden was still in Afghanistan. "I think that he is alive. Most likely in Afghanistan," Abdullah Abdullah told CNN.
