On May 8, 2011, six days after the May 2 US Abbottabad operation which got Osama bin Laden, I received an email message from a source never known to me before, but it contained a lot of sensitive data, part of which appears to be similar to what the main memogate witness Mansoor Ijaz has revealed on Thursday before the memo commission in London.
The subject of the email was “CODE-663” and the source claimed to be from an intelligence agency. The revelations in the message were startling like that one official on very senior position was making hectic efforts in the middle of the night of May 2 to ask the other person who also occupies very senior position if he had permitted Washington to launch the Abbottabad operation.
It is totally unclear whether Mansoor Ijaz has obtained his information and data from the same source and whether he confirmed or authenticated the data from any credible Pakistani authority before putting such sensitive issues before the memo commission.
The same e-mail gave a detailed account of the monitoring logs of the Air Traffic Control, which had timely captured the intrusion of US choppers and had informed all concerned about it immediately including even scrambling Pakistani F-16 aircraft to shoot down the choppers and force them to land inside Pakistan. Since the information was never confirmed to us when we cross checked it then, therefore, it was decided not to use it then and no story was published based on this information.
However, now after Mansoor Ijaz’s disclosures, some of which match what is contained in the Code 663 Email, it gets some credence but still remains unconfirmed by any competent Pakistani authority.
However, since the data is now partly in the memo commission, the responsible Pakistani authorities ought to take a clear position on whether the information contained is accurate or not and this could have serious and monumental repercussions.
For the interest of the readers, the email is reproduced here but some of its portions including names of the senior most persons mentioned in it are deleted because of no authentic confirmation. This is also not clear how many other people received this email from the same source and when.
The e-mail reads- “
CODE-663
Background
Clashes between CIA and ISI began after the denial of NWA operation by Pakistan and its refusal to sharing information till the time it’s not two way. It said Pakistan will not share information if the relationship remains one way.
After the Rymond D case ISI asked CIA to disclose the location of her agents/employees in Pakistan and tell us what was the nature of their emplacement in Pakistan? After repeated questioning CIA kept denying that they have so many operatives in Pakistan.
In the recent past when the clashes b/w ISI and CIA got worsened Pakistan took the stand that ISI will not support any CIA activity in Afghanistan or Pakistan if they do not declare their operatives in Pakistan. To this effect CIA officials denied in plain words that no such clarification will be made to ISI. However after lot of discussion CIA agreed to declare 1079 officials which were operating in Pakistan under various capacities. For remaining they denied to give any clue.
ISI had a list of 438 US officials which were in Pakistan but were not present in any consulate or embassy staff of any city. Their whereabouts were asked from CIA, to which they gave a funny reply that many of them have been lost.....? what lost......? Where...? How....? CIA claimed that these operatives were used in FATA area for the war on terror but in various incidents they have either been kidnapped or killed by Taliban so now they were no more in Pakistan. This stupid reply was totally non-digestible by ISI.
ISI clearly stated that if CIA will not cooperate with ISI on the table of trust basing upon justice and equality than ISI was also not bound to keep the ties as they were. This strict reply and warning was not expected by CIA. Exchange of harsh words occurred b/w ISI and CIA. At the end ISI gave 3 levels of warnings to CIA and deadline of 2 May 2011 was given to them after which ISI will not be bound to act as partner to Tri-Star Intelligence Sharing Pact.
As execution of its 1st level warning given to CIA and few secret pieces of information were shared with China, UK and Germany against CIA. Similarly involvement of CIA behind Egypt, Behrain and KSA was point of concern for their respective govts.
The frustrated US establishment contacted one of the very senior persons who as usual could not sustain the pressure and asked the other very senior person about it. However it was declared a routine matter between intelligence agencies.
Sequence of events on night of May 02-
The sequence of events on the D-night were as following- The below mentioned summary of conversations and timings are recorded at Air Traffic Controls (ATCs) of various cities and can be confirmed from the radar and ATC officers and operators.
Time
Activity
0039
2 x US choppers crossed the international border and entered Pakistan
0047
2 x more US choppers crossed international border and entered Pakistan
0040
Pilot exchanged his call sign with ATC
0041
ATC- give destination?
0041
Chopper- heading Chaklala AB
0043
ATC Exchanged call sign with all 4 choppers and came to know that one of them was remote vehicle and not being flown by any human.
0044
ATC swat, PMA, FF center, Frontier House and Chaklala heard this conversation b/w the pilot and chaklala ATC.
0045
ATC checked and got confirmation from base HQ that 3 of them were regular aircraft of US Embassy in Islamabad and these were the routine flights however time was not as per routine.
0058
The leading formation pilot changed his course and diverted towards Abbottabad
0058
ATC- Why the flight path has been changed to north east?
0058
Pilot- we are facing dense clouds and mountain peaks so we will divert from Abbotabbad
0059
ATC- okay the path as it’s a routine procedure for heli pilots that they can divert for clouds and peaks specially at night.
0105
3 x choppers started hovering over Abbotabbad
0105
ATC- Why you have stopped?
0106
Pilot- we are facing some technical difficulty and we will rectify it before coming to Chaklala
0107
ATC got suspicious and gave alert to AOC (Air Operations Center PAF HQ)
0107
SOTF (SSG Special Operations Task Force) got alert and informed GHQ. Within minutes at least four persons holding very senior positions in the country were in picture of the situation being developed in Abbotabbad.
0107
ATC PMA told the pilot to divert to PMA so that the fault could be rectified
0107
Pilot- gave no answer
0108
Pilot- we are being fired
0109
Pilot- one of our heli is down and we need to land
0109
SOTF (Special Operations Task Force) present near PMA were alert and reached the site where the chopper was preparing to land.
0110
After this all ATCs kept contacting choppers but none of them replied
0110
SOTF officials saw that one of the choppers fired on remotely flown aerial vehicle and hit that with its own fire. SOTF force tried to enter the compound where the US chopper was hovering on and the CIA operatives were sling down. The cordon was being maintained by the CIA and they didn’t allowed SOTF to enter. A major from SOTF was warned not to interfere as the operation was being conducted after the approval of one of the very senior persons. The major got hold of 2 CIA agents and forcefully entered the compound where he saw the operatives who were coming down from heli. Meanwhile PMA contacted one of the senior persons and asked if it was being done with his permission. He negated and said that he was already on it so wait for further orders. Meanwhile Pentagon was contacted by a very senior person and asked what is going on? Pentagon replied that there is an operation being conducted and its permission has been given by another senior person.
0113
One senior person contacts other five senior persons on hotline.
0119
One senior person was told to intercept the US Choppers.
0118
PAF Bases at Peshawar and Sargodha were sent red alerts on two minutes notice.
0121
Four F-16s took off from both bases.
0125
One senior person contacts the office of another senior person to say that he has permitted the operation, thus no intervention should be made.
0130
Another senior person, however, gave orders to force the choppers to land within Pakistan, failing which they may be shot down.
0136
F-16s got the choppers at zero line (border between Pakistan and Afghanistan).
0137
US Formation Commander was asked to divert the route and land in Pakistan to which he denied and repeated that permission was given by one senior person of Pakistan and he’d not therefore make a landing.
0139
Choppers crossed Pak territory and entered into Afghanistan. Pak F-16s however kept chasing them.
0140
US Formation Commander apparently contacted Pentagon to ask them to get Pak F-16s removed.
0140
Office of one senior person again received a call from the office of another senior person that no adventure should be undertaken as the operation was done with his approval. A senior person gives the message that “there are few things that I would personally brief you in the morning and nothing should be done now. F-16s should be called back”.
0144
Message was conveyed to Pak pilots to return.
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