Consultations for consensus on terror: Kayani

Islamabad: With America's unilateral action creating unease in Pakistan, the powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday said that the civilian leadership should hold political consultations to evolve consensus on

important security issues like the war on terror.

A week after Osama bin Laden was killed in a secret US operation, Kayani said addressing army officers in the garrisons at Rawalpindi, Kharian and Sialkot that he had conveyed to the civilian government that the "strength of democracy must be put into effect to develop a consensus on important security issues including war on terror".

In an apparent answer to criticism from the US for Pakistan's failure to detect bin Laden's presence in the garrison city of Abbottabad, Kayani said, "Articulation of a national response through the parliament, under the circumstances, is the most effective way to let the world know the historic achievements of Pakistan against al Qaeda and it's terror affiliates".

Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence set-ups have been facing embarrassing questions about their failure to trace the world's most wanted man, who was reportedly living in Abbottabad for about five years.

Bin Laden was killed in an operation by helicopter - borne US special forces in a compound located just 800 metres from the Pakistan Military Academy.

Kayani acknowledged that the "Abbottabad incident has been in sharp public focus".

He contended that "incomplete information and lack of technical details have resulted in speculations and misreporting".

"Public dismay and despondency has also been aggravated due to insufficient formal response. It is believed that the people of Pakistan need to be taken into confidence through their honourable elected representatives," Kayani was

quoted as saying in a statement issued by the military.

Kayani said he had requested Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to consider convening of a joint session of parliament for a briefing on security issues related to the Abbottabad incident.

In a separate speech in parliament, Gilani announced that a joint session of the Senate and National Assembly will be held on May 13 so that military officials could make an in-camera briefing on the US raid that killed bin Laden.

He also said that the army's Adjutant General would conduct an investigation to ascertain how bin Laden had been able to hide in Abbottabad.