Osama in Pak, India must be careful: Fahim

Osama bin Laden is alive and hiding somewhere in the Tira Valley in the frontier province of Pakistan, Marshal Mohammad Fahim, Afghanistan’s Defence Minister, said. The al Qaeda threat is far from over, Fahim told The Indian Express in an exclusive interview. ‘‘Though we don’t have specific intelligence or information about al Qaeda operatives escaping Afghanistan and slipping into India, New Delhi has to be very careful.’’

‘‘Both bin Laden and Mullah Omar, according to our information, are in hiding in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. The threat from al Qaeda remains alive,’’ Fahim, speaking in Dari, said through an interpreter.

Fahim should know: he survived an assassination attempt in the eastern city of Jalalabad a month ago by suspected al Qaeda activists. His assertion coincides with a report by American magazine Newsweek, which claimed that Osama had been spotted inside Pakistan along with one of his top lieutenants, Ayman al Zawahiri.

On a four-day-long official visit to India, Fahim has held a series of meetings with Defence Minister George Fernandes, Defence Secretary Yogendra Narain and the chiefs of army and air force General S. Padmanabhan and Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy.