US strike violates Pak sovereignty: Musharraf

New Delhi: Former Pakistan president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf called the operation by US forces to kill al Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad near Islamabad a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.

"America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty. Handling and execution of the operation (by US forces) is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop," Musharraf told CNN-IBN in an exclusive interview.

"Foreign troops crossing the border into Pakistan will not be liked by the people of Pakistan. US forces should not have crossed over into Pakistan," he said.

Musharraf, who was the chief of Pakistani Army before he orchestrated a bloodless coup in 1999 and took over the government in Pakistan, said that Pakistan has also been incurring the wrath of terrorists and has been an ally in the 'war against terror'. He said that all the forces trying to neutralise terror group should trust each other.

"If there is a lack of trust, it is bad. We are fighting the same enemy. It is wrong strategically and the issue of lack of trust is very bad. There has to be trust between the two agencies fighting the same enemy," he replied when asked if US claims that Pakistan was not kept in the loop about the operation against bin Laden were true.

He rubbished speculations that some Pakistani authorities were helping bin Laden and they helped him during his stay in Abbottabad, which incidentally also has the Pakistan Military Academy.

"There is no possibility of any local administration collusion but there could be involvement of some locals. There is an intelligence failure on Pakistan's part. I don't know whether Osama was staying there or coming and going. However, a house so close to the military establishment is a failure of intelligence of both US and Pakistan. Pakistan intelligence doesn't have the resource that US intelligence has," he said.

While claiming that bin Laden's death was a victory for the peace-loving people of the world, he also cautioned that just the battle has been won but war against terror continues.

"It's a victory for the peace loving people in Pakistan and world. His killing is a big victory," he added.