“A middle-aged nonentity, a political failure outstripped by history – by the millions of Arabs demanding freedom and democracy in the Middle East – died in Pakistan yesterday. And then the world went mad.”
– Robert Fisk
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Bin Laden was dead. And then an attack in Abbotabad gave him life.
The last time they announced he had died there was nothing thrilling about his death. And nothing mysterious, nothing bizarre either. It was, as it were, a rather anti-climactic end to the man’s life. It was a death that no one was going to remember.
This death, however, is something different. It has all the hallmarks of a Hollywood movie – or, indeed, a grand conspiracy. In fact it is likely both shall be made out of it. Rather – both versions are already in the pipeline.
‘Justice has been done,’ Obama said.
‘Justice was not done,’ we must bravely stand up and remind him.
The world’s biggest superpower has a beautiful way of doing away with due process and we must not let it flaunt its power. But – with what force shall we be able to resist?
But what if Osama was amongst us:
And what are we to think if Osama was indeed in our midst? What if Osama was indeed housed up in a compound a 10-minute walk away from the PMA Kakul?
And what of the inability of the much-vaunted Pakistani military being unable to trace four unknown helicopters entering such high security territory and able to pull off a 45 minute operation?
It is not absolutely inconceivable that Osama was lodged at the compound in question. The compound features as an anomaly on the landscape of Bilal Town and its residents were said to be rather quiet and distant in their ways.
Let us be more frank about the role of our intelligence agencies: that they did not know is not excusable.
Moreover, it is clear that the CIA did not share information with the ISI fearing a tip off and therefore did not inform them of the operation.
Only lately did reports surface that there were suggestions in the American officialdom that the ISI be categorized as a terrorist organization. One thing is certain, throughout Pakistan’s much maligned history the role of the ISI has been ambivalent. Under the guise of a convoluted ‘doctrine of national security,’ intelligence agencies through political interventions have blocked progressive, democratic movements amongst the Pakistani people.
What we do know is that the military and the intelligence agencies crackdown on their own people more soundly and effectively that it does on external elements. This must come to a STOP. But that said, what is not understandable is why Pakistani leaders and army officials have not asked for public proof of Osama’s death. This is not a conspiracy theorists question, for sure. It is the valid response of an accused: I shall agree I was hiding a wanted man if you show me proof.
The relevant proof of Osama’s death, at this moment, is missing. A ghost has been constructed and found in our living room. No one ever saw him there and, as far as we understand, he shall never be seen again.
But he was there. And our leaders have quietly surrendered to this position.
This is again not to suggest Osama was not the one nabbed in the compound. The statements being attributed to his wife and daughter, now in the custody of the agencies, do appear sound enough and appear to confirm Bin Laden was indeed present in the compound.
And why are they picking up locals now:
And while we do speak of those in military custody it is, again, damning and deeply unacceptable that after Osama was purportedly killed and it was revealed that the Pakistani intelligence agencies were unaware of his being at the compound, locals of Bilal Town have begun to be picked up.
The neighbour, the milkman, the lady health workers, the house contractor are amongst those brought in for questioning. Amongst these the neighbour went missing on Monday night and till the filling of this article remains missing.
This is rather strange that for the intelligence failures of the country’s ‘esteemed’ agencies, locals are being made to suffer.
The matter of Osama’s existence or non-existence in Abbotabad has come to a close. His house was in an area that fell within the Cantonment. Post the event if anyone must be taken to task it is the local SHO and the intelligence officials supposed to maintain intelligence over the region.
Question the military, question the police, question the government. And after you are done, question locals. Locals knew as much, if not less, that what the rest did. Some knew the men in the compound, some did not. It was like any other community. From conversations there, they shared suspicions, but who would have thought, in the middle of Abbotabad, would be hiding the world’s most wanted fugitive.
In any case, this should neither have been the priority of either the neighbour or the milkman when those whose priority it was were sound asleep only a couple of blocks away.
And terrorism is not just confined to Osama:
America was arguably the biggest killer in the 20th century. However, America is definitely the biggest killer in the 21st century. It is a fact that it must be brought to bear the burden for.
And the Pakistani army has its own questions to answer.
Enough is enough, should be our message to both.
We, the people, shall again begin to bear the burden for the double games and failures of the brass. No explanation is enough to explain how, when each of us is inconvenienced every day through ID card checks while entering a cantonment, Osama could be hiding only a 15- minute walk away. And remember: there have been no official denials. No one half-credible has come up to say, ‘no, it was not Osama who died.’
So let us take it as that: Osama was killed, residing comfortably in Abbotabad, and our brass either knew nothing or was protecting him.
The truth of the event is confined to the set of options we have available in those present in the above short sentence. And none of them is acceptable.
The Pakistani response however again steeps in conspiracy theories. Without questioning the military’s role, Imran Khan has splattered onto the scene, asking for an American withdrawal and appears to have found resonance. These are not objective assessments. Criticism today needs to be much more widespread. Right now is the time to end these tamashas.
Let us be brave enough to condemn all three: the Pakistan military, its intelligence agencies and the American government.
And yes let’s speak of ‘real’ things now. The struggles of everyday Pakistanis which are caught up and intermeshed into matters unrelated to their everyday.
And let us be sure this is not the end of terrorism. That requires the end of our agencies’ relationship with militant outfits. As citizens, we are ready. The question is: whether the military is finally ready?
- The article was printed with the Review in Pakistan Today on 7 May 2011.
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