The former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) says former president Pervez Musharraf knew bin Laden was in Abbottabad.

In an article written by a former CIA official, Bruce Riedelfull for the American news website The Daily Beast, the former CIA agent quotes  Gen. Ziauddin Khawaja, also known as Ziauddin Butt, who was head of the ISI from 1997 to 1999.

A four-star general, he fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars with India. It should be noted that his has reasons to hold a grudge against the former Chief Musharraf because Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made him director-general of the ISI in 1997 and promoted him to chief of Army staff on Oct. 12, 1999, when he fired Musharraf from the job.

General Musharraf refused to go and launched a coup that overthrew Sharif and Ziauddin had to spend the next two years in solitary confinement. He was discharged from the Army, and his property was confiscated and his retirement benefits curtailed. So he has a motive to speak harshly about Musharraf.

Having said that, the ex ISI cheif Ziauddin says that the safe house in Abbottabad was "made to order" for bin Laden by another Pakistani intelligence officer, Brig. Gen. Ijaz Shah, who was the ISI bureau head in Lahore when Musharraf staged his coup. Musharraf later made him head of the intelligence bureau. Ziauddin says Ijaz Shah was responsible for setting up bin Laden in Abbottabad, making sure he is safe and keeping him hidden from the outside world. He says Musharraf knew all about it.

We don’t know who was helping hide bin Laden, but we need to track them down. If Musharraf knew, he should be questioned by the authorities the next time he sets foot in America. The explosive story about him, which was first reported in the must-read Militant Leadership Monitor, is more than an academic issue. If we can find who hid bin Laden, we will probably know who is hiding his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the rest of the al Qaeda gang.

Click here to read former CIA official Bruce Riedelfull's article he wrote for American news website The Daily Beast.