Any attempt by the United States to go after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on Pakistani territory would be "irresponsible," former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said Thursday, DPA reported.
Musharraf told broadcaster CNN that an attack on al-Zawahiri in Pakistan would violate the country's sovereignty and only fuel anti-US sentiment.
Musharraf, who was president from 2001-08, denied having any knowledge that Osama bin Laden had been hiding in Pakistan for five years, before the al-Qaeda founder was killed in May by US commandos inside a compound in Abbottabad, a city that is home to Pakistan's top military academy.
"I had no idea that he was living in Abbottabad," Musharraf said.
Al-Zawahiri, hunted by the US for years, was named by al-Qaeda as bin Laden's successor.
Musharraf said he was weighing whether to re-enter politics when Pakistan holds elections in 2013.
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