SKARDU, June 8: Various political and religious figures here have emphatically dismissed an Arab TV report a few days back claiming the presence of Osama bin Laden in the mountainous belt of K2.

Rejecting the news, Allama Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Jaffery said that the rumour about the presence of Osama in this region was a conspiracy to damage the peaceful image of this region and destroy its tourism.

Rejecting this claim as absurd, Shaikh Jaffery said Gilgit- Baltistan was a peaceful region and the people living there were a peace loving moderate lot who had nothing to do with characters like Osama.

“After this news, not only the traditional peace of this region would be affected but also tourism which is the source of income of this area would be destroyed,” he maintained.

Northern Areas information adviser Sikandar Ali said that the presence of Osama in K2 was baseless as survival of human life in the harsh weather conditions on the heights was impossible.

Secondly, police and paramilitary forces were deployed on the checkposts at all entrances of the Northern Areas. It was not possible for Osama to enter the region crossing all those checkposts.

“The report of Arab TV is irresponsible,” he remarked.

Meanwhile a meeting of Skardu District Council was held here which was presided over by District Council Chairman Raja Jalal Hussain. The participants of the meeting condemned the report of Osama’s presence in K2. Rejecting the claim of Arab TV they said it was aimed at destroying the tourism of Gilgit-Baltistan which was the backbone of the people of this region.—A Correspondent