Washington: Pakistan would face dire consequences if the US finds out that it was harbouring al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was was shot dead by special American forces at his hideout near Islamabad, a key Republican lawmaker has said.
"If we do find out that they were harbouring bin Laden, that's going to be a bad deal for Pakistan," Congressman Tom Rooney, who is on the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, told CNN.
Rooney, who visited Pakistani and US troops just two weeks ago in the region, said "it's very unclear whether or not the government of Pakistan ... was aware and what they were willing to do for bin Laden. I'm just not confused at this point that they did know (about bin Laden)."
"I'm not also convinced that elements within the ISI or some Pakistanis did, but, you know, those facts are no out yet," he said.
Noting that ISI in Pakistan operates independently, Rooney said: "Before we sort of label Pakistan as one unit, we have to get all the facts because having Pakistan go south on us and become less than what they are now is not what we would want in our national interest."
"We use them for resources, logistics, assets, but they've helped us in the war in Afghanistan. And so we got to be very careful before we go down that road."
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security Committee, said she was asking the question about the money US is giving Pakistan to fight terrorists.
"It was really going to beef up the border with India, and to their nuclear capability, because their focus in terms of their defence of their country is all India," she said.
"But only in the last few years have they begun to turn the corner because so many of their own citizens have been killed by terrorists. So I think we've got to be very careful about being too absolute about condemning Pakistan at this point.
"We need the routes to our troops to Pakistan," she told MSNBC. "We need their airspace for our predator programme that's been very effective in wiping out terrorists."
"So I think we've got to use this as a leverage point in our relationship with Pakistan, and not begin spouting off that we need to cut off Pakistan, because if we cut off Pakistan, we may have problems getting supplies to our troops that are in Afghanistan and in harm's way," she argued.
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