Pakistan on Thursday dismissed reports that Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar was being treated in a Karachi hospital, with the help of officials of the Inter Services Intelligence, after he suffered a heart attack.
"This is hackneyed speculation with no substance whatsoever," said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit.
He said such reports were aimed at maligning Pakistan and creating misgivings.
"All such machinations are bound to fail because Pakistan is fully committed to the Afghanistan-led peace process. No amount of mendacity can create a wedge between Afghanistan and Pakistan and they are partners in peace and stability," Basit said.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani denied the report issued by the private intelligence network 'The Eclipse Group', which was subsequently published by several newspapers, saying it "had no basis whatsoever".
He said, "Sometimes intelligence tips received by professionals turn out to be wrong. The story about Mullah Omar falls under that category."
The Afghan Taliban leadership has also denied the report that Mullah Omar had suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised in Karachi.
Media reports quoted an unnamed senior Taliban commander as saying, "Mullah Omar is quite healthy and safe and sound. Even if he falls ill, there is no question of the media and the people coming to know about it."
"Within our movement, we have experts for every field and in their presence there is no need to shift our leader to a hospital in Karachi for treatment," the commander said.
The Eclipse Group, which is run by former officials of the Central Intelligence Agency, the US State Department and the military, has conducted intelligence-gathering operations for US forces in Afghanistan.
