Ex-Spymaster Claims Pakistani Gov't Handed Bin Laden Over to US, Gets Travel Ban

Bin Laden, one of the world's most wanted terrorists, was killed during an elaborate operation in 2011 that provoked widespread resentment in Pakistan. Islamabad has claimed it didn't know about the operation due to an intelligence failure, while the Pakistani army has called the operation a "misadventure."

Pakistani authorities have started an investigation into an ex-chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. General Asad Durrani and prohibited him from leaving the country for co-authoring a book with an Indian counterpart, in which he suggested Pakistan's government knew about the Bin Laden raid.

"A formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving Lt. Gen. has been ordered to probe the matter in detail," the Pakistani army said in a statement.

According to Durrani's recently published book, "Spy chronicles," the ISI probably knew about Osama bin Laden, who the author suggests was "handed over to the United States according to a mutually agreed process." This statement conflicts with the official stance of Islamabad. Pakistani authorities regard the operation by the US forces to be "an unauthorized unilateral action," a sign of hostility and a violation of the country's sovereignty.

"The denial of any (Pakistani) role was because cooperating with the United States to eliminate a person regarded by many in Pakistan as a "hero" could have embarrassed the government," Durrani said in the book.

READ MORE: German Minister Demands Deportation of Bin Laden's Ex-Bodyguard

Osama bin Laden, the infamous terrorist mastermind, and leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda was assassinated by a US special forces team on May 2, 2011, in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.