World’s most wanted man was living just yards from ‘Pakistani Sandhurst’

The Pakistani authorities were quick to insist they had no prior knowledge that the world’s most wanted man was living in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner in London, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, maintained his nation’s security services could be trusted.

But the fortified mansion where bin Laden was found is only a few hundred yards from the military academy known as Pakistan’s Sandhurst.

An MP with strong links to Pakistan said he was “flabbergasted and shocked” that the leader of al-Qaida could have found a safe haven in a city where thousands of troops are based.

Khalid Mahmood, chairman of the parliamentary all-party group on tackling terrorism, said: “I am absolutely flabbergasted that the authorities either allowed that to continue or weren’t aware of it.

“If they weren’t aware, it was huge incompetence. There are certainly huge issues to be considered.”

Abbottabad has been be compared to British towns such as Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire for its dominance by the armed forces.

Elements within Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency have long been accused of sympathy for militant Islamism and of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan and insurgents in Kashmir as part of their regional rivalry with India.

British confidence in Pakistan’s commitment to tackling terrorism was bolstered by President Asif Ali Zardari’s efforts to establish control over tribal areas, such as the Swat Valley.

Prime Minister David Cameron and the UK’s military and intelligence chiefs visited Islamabad last month to offer counter-terrorism assistance.

But Nigel Inkster, a former assistant chief of MI6, claimed the discovery of bin Laden in Abbottabad suggested he may have received protection from elements of the Pakistani intelligence services.

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