Osama Bin Laden and Pakistan, Part 3

The fact that Late Benazir Bhutto’s party, Pakistan People’s Party, now runs the government in Pakistan and her Husband Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is the President of Pakistan, itself, rules out any possibility of Government of Pakistan’s involvement in hiding Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt that there is lot of corruption in Pakistan and there are Al-Qaeda sympathizers at every level, but, still, the direct involvement of Pakistani government is impossible.

In the midst of all this, on May 2, 2011, U.S. seals attacked a house in Abbott Abad, Pakistan and killed Bin Laden. There are confirmed reports in Pakistani and other, not so stupid media, that ISI, Pakistani intelligence agency, provided the lead about Bin Laden’s residence in 2009. Pakistan government was fully aware of the attack on his house and provided full support in the raid. But, Pakistan, already in so much trouble with terrorism, wants to avoid the backlash, as much as possible, and is not interested in taking credit for this. After all, Pakistan’s political and geographical landscape is very different from United States and other western countries. It is hard to believe even for me that two foreign military helicopters crossed the borders, traveled all the way to Abbott Abad, executed a military mission and Pakistan border security and other forces never got a hold of it. This is particularly weird when Pakistani forces are on very high alert due to ongoing war with terrorists and continuous tension on borders with India. It may be obvious for many westerners who are ready to believe anything bad or incompetent about third world countries, but, not for objective thinkers like me and many others. As per reliable resources, there is an understanding between Pakistan and U.S. governments that all the official accounts regarding this raid will not mention the involvement of Pakistan in it. In an article published in FDL

written by distinguished writer David Dayen on May 4, 2011 6:50 am, he writes, “Look, I’m sure there is some truth to what Panetta is saying. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that key leaders of the ISI and the Pakistani military walk on both sides of the street. But no matter how much US officials confirm that Pakistan didn’t know about the Navy SEAL raid, and no matter how much Pakistanis formally lodge complaints about the violations to their national sovereignty, you’re not going to get me to believe it.

Let’s look at the facts. Bin Laden is in a compound without any bodyguards, a place he had lived for six years in a somewhat posh suburb next to the Pakistan Military Academy. Two hours prior to the nighttime raid, electricity gets cut from Abbott Abad, only to get restored 15 minutes after the raid completed. Four US military helicopters fly in and out of the area undetected, even after a loud explosion destroying one of the vehicles. No security forces come to inquire about a 40-minute firefight, complete with gunshots and the aforementioned explosions.

There are two deceits here: one, from the Pakistanis, is that they never knew bin Laden was living under their noses. Heck, go back to this account from a Miami Herald reporter who saw bin Laden walking down the street in Islamabad in 2002. The second is that Pakistan had no knowledge of the raid. That’s just fanciful. And if you put these two deceits together, it’s not hard to paint a picture of some Pakistani leaders – military, intelligence, political, who knows – giving up bin Laden, for what we don’t know, and allowing the raid to take place.

Now, I think Congress has their own beliefs and their own agenda, and they do want answers to all of this. Who knows, maybe foreign aid to Pakistan is in peril (although most of the more established committee chairs have cooled their tempers on this point). But I’m just not feeling the crocodile tears and show of belligerence on either side. This seems like a shadow play for the benefit of local audiences. I would add that it serves the interests of the Administration to have the ability of letting Pakistan know that their aid is in danger of being revoked.” Blaming Pakistan for harboring Osama Bin Laden is the most unthankful behavior, I have ever observed in my life.

In the light of all the above mentioned data and facts and whole bunch of related facts, available everywhere, in real, quality media, the recent outcry against Pakistan by media and politicians, turns out to due to one or more of the following:

1) They are complete idiots. And / or

2) They are totally ignorant. And / or

3) They just want to score cheap shots.

Media is making money. Politicians are gaining cheap political points. Why we are getting blown away with this ridiculous propaganda? Probably, because we are raised to always believe authority and big media, and never challenge them.

The worst part of this outcry, against Pakistan, is that some of these idiots are asking us to repeat the same mistakes that we made after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the mistakes that got us in this mess, at the first place. I was raised in Pakistan. Trust me on this. If we abandon Pakistan, once again, in the midst of this serious crisis, which is caused by Pakistan’s support to us, then there will never ever be a point of return. There have always existed a very strong point of view that you can never trust United States and western allies, and doesn’t matter what you do, they will and can never be our sincere friends. If this happens one more time, no future government in Pakistan will have the guts and sufficient grounds to deny this point of view, while, Pakistan’s serious strategic importance remains a fact. In case of any such crisis in future, we will badly miss a former ally, whom we never truly appreciated.

The fact is that the whole world is not United States and cannot be. The circumstances are obviously different in every other part of the world. We cannot expect everyone else to think and act exactly like us. These differences have always existed and will always remain there. We just have to be more welcoming and accepting to the diversity around the world.

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