For five to six years, Osama bin
Laden continuously lived in a large, detached walled
house in the outskirts of the Bilal neighbourhood of
Abbottabad in Pakistan — an isolated building
surrounded by potato and cabbage fields on all
sides. The house was three-storied and much larger
than any in the area. The compound covered some
38,000 square feet. The boundary walls were 12 to 18
feet high. It had four electricity connections. It
could be hardly mistaken as a humble abode of a
Pakistani farmer. And it was a mere kilometre away
from the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul.
The world is expected to believe that no authority
in Pakistan knew anything about the whereabouts of
this man. I can believe that the civilian government
did not know. Since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, civilian
governments in Pakistan have been powerless,
dysfunctional and devoid of any real intelligence
gathering capabilities. President Asif Zardari and
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani could be
conceivably let off the hook. But the Army? The
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)? And General
Ashfaq Kayani, the chain smoking ex-ISI boss with
counter-intelligence running through his vein, a
Machiavellian India hater, and a man who has his
tentacles everywhere? Even he didn’t know of the
identity of the long standing worthy guest at
Abbottabad? Give us all a break!
On 9 May 2011, Gilani says to his National Assembly:
“It is disingenuous for anyone to blame Pakistan or
its State institutions including the ISI and the
armed forces for being in cahoots with the
Al-Qaeda... Allegations of complicity or
incompetence are absurd. We emphatically reject such
accusations.”
But there can be only two possibilities: complicity
or incompetence. The Pakistani armed forces and the
ISI aren’t incompetent. So why should the world not
believe in its complicity?
Let me end with an excerpt of an e-mail sent by a
friend called Shavak Srivastava — an intelligent,
highly educated Indian who lives abroad. He echoes
all our sentiments:
“Nothing will happen to Pakistan. Once again they
will get past this one, as they always have done. As
they have for the last 20 years harbouring and
nurturing terrorists, the Taliban and the Mumbai
attackers of 26/11. By constantly lying, as they
will this time too. At best their ISI was
incompetent; at worst completely complicit in hiding
and protecting Osama bin Laden less than a mile away
from their pride and joy, the Pakistan Military
Academy, in the military garrison town of Abbottabad!!.
They didn't know he was there?? A man who needed
dialysis and got it at a hospital in Abbottabad. For
six years? Or was it seven?
“Pakistan will continue to get away because of a
flawed US AfPak policy. The terrorists live in
Pakistan, the Taliban leadership is in Pakistan, and
yet the US and NATO fight on in Afghanistan. The
terrorists, the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are in a
loose alliance with the Pakistan army and the ISI
which covertly supports their activities in
Afghanistan and India. Pakistan is the head quarters
for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and
the Hizbul Mujahideen. The terrorists most wanted in
India for 26/11 and other attacks roam free in that
country. One of them, Hafiz Saeed even lead a prayer
in Lahore for the soul of Osama Bin Laden. But, rest
assured, we in India will be told that there is not
enough evidence against him. Dozen others terrorists
and radical Islamist leaders float around the
country, appearing on Pakistan TV every other day —
hobnobbing with the Pakistan army and the ISI,
trading notes, planning and plotting. For the next
26/11.
“Yet Pakistan will continue to receive billions of
dollars of US aid. Meant for fighting terrorism and
boosting their failing economy, much of the money
will be spent on training terrorists and buying
military hardware to be used against its enemies,
primarily India. Pakistan knows that it will
continue to get away.
“The US will look on. Still, proclaiming that
Pakistan is their ally in the ‘war against terror’.
When push comes to shove, they will act unilaterally
— as they have in their drone attacks and in
eliminating Osama. But will turn a blind eye to
everything else. While continuing the billions of
dollars of aid that is needed to keep the failed
state afloat. Good luck to India!”
Says everything that we want to say, doesn’t it?
So what can we do? It is silly to think of sending
our choppers over to get Dawood Ibrahim and his ilk.
We don’t have the capability. The best that we can
do is to dramatically strengthen our intelligence
gathering and counter-terrorism capabilities, with
the best people, facilities and equipment. To show
no mercy to infiltrators. And to persuade the US
that we are worthier friends than the failed state
to our west.
Published: Business World, May 2011
