WASHINGTON: Pakistan must prove to the United States that it did not know al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in a compound in an affluent neighborhood near the capital of Islamabad, a top US lawmaker said on Monday.

“This is going to be a time of real pressure” on Pakistan “to basically prove to us that they didn't know that bin Laden was there,” Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman said at a news conference.