Pakistan rejects 'guesswork' over bin Laden location

Bin Laden. His whereabouts are still unknown

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- On the heels of a new al Qaeda statement claiming that most of the terror network's leadership remains alive and well, Pakistan has dismissed as "guesswork" reports that Osama bin Laden and other chief lieutenants are in Pakistan.

Foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Khan said Monday that they would be arrested immediately if they have sought refuge secretly in Pakistan

"There is a lot of guesswork going on about the location of who is where," Khan said.

"Obviously, if there is any accurate intelligence reports of the whereabouts of these people, I'm sure they will be nabbed immediately."

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Khan made the comments a day after the Arabic-language TV network Al Jazeera aired audiotaped remarks reportedly from an al Qaeda spokesman that the group's leader Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri are alive and the group is "going to launch attacks against America." (Al Qaeda statement)

Also Sunday U.S. Senator Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that he believed bin Laden may be hiding in Pakistan's western tribal lands along the Afghan border.

Speaking at a press conference, Khan said that Pakistan has "been very vigilant" along its border with Afghanistan and was exchanging intelligence information on the matter with the United States.

"Pakistan has an excellent record of capturing the al Qaeda elements and I think we have captured a lot of them when they have tried to cross over the border and come into Pakistan,"

"We have apprehended a lot of people who have tried to cross over. The number is in the several hundreds and you have seen that those who have tried to hide elsewhere have been tracked down and apprehended. And we continue to give to extend our cooperation with the coalition forces in the fight against terrorists."

Overnight raids

There were a series of raids overnight Sunday in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore with police detaining 32 people for questioning regarding a series of terrorist attacks in recent weeks in Pakistan.

Officials told CNN that these people are members of several groups that have been banned by the Pakistan government, although they are not thought to have ties to al Qaeda.

In a separate development, U.S. General Tommy Franks, Commander-in-Chief US Central Command, met Monday with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf about security in the border region.

Details of the discussion were not immediately made available and a statement from the Pakistani government said only that the meeting did take place.

However, it is believed that the issue of bin Laden's whereabouts would feature on the agenda.

Pakistan officals say they have detained more than 300 people who had sneaked across from Afghanistan to Pakistan – the highest profile figure being Abu Zubaydah, bin Laden's chief lieutenant who was arrested in March.

Pakistan has deployed its army to the tribal areas of western Pakistan, are a rugged, mountainous area more under the control of local leaders rather than Islamabad.