[Dawn] The Pakistain army condemned on Friday a report in the New York Times...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
that a cell phone found in the raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden
... who is currently taking a long nap in the dirt... urm... water...
contained contacts to a cut-thoat group with ties to Pakistain's intelligence agency.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The newspaper, citing senior US officials briefed on the findings, reported on Thursday that the discovery indicated that bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistain.
Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen is headed by Fazlur Rahman Khalil, who signed Binny's declaration of war against the West...
The cell phone belonged to bin Laden's courier, who was killed along with the al Qaeda leader in the May 2 raid by US special forces on bin Laden's compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, the Times said.
Since HuM is an element of AQ it's not surprising there was a speed dial setup...
Pakistain army front man Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
said in a statement sent by text message that the military "rejects the insinuations made in the NYT story".
"Tut tut. And tut!"
"It is part of a well orchestrated smear campaign against our security organizations," he said.
"All part of an international conspiracy by western powers, I can assure you..."
The army has been angered by media reports that elements in the Pak security establishment may have helped bin Laden hide in Pakistain.
"Simply unthinkable, regardless of what they might admit in court..."
"Pakistain, its security forces have suffered the most at the hands of al Qaeda and have delivered the most against al Qaeda; our actions on the ground speak louder than the words of the Times," Abbas said.
"Nobody suffers like we do!"
In tracing calls on the cell phone, US analysts determined that Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen commanders had called Pak intelligence officials, the Times reported, citing the senior American officials.
They're called "handlers" in the biz...
The officials added the contacts were not necessarily about bin Laden and his protection and that there was no "smoking gun" showing that Pakistain's spy agency had protected bin Laden.
Unless there are transcripts, of course...