Osama bin Laden shot dead: Osama leaves Pakistan in a state

ABBOTTABAD/WASHINGTON: Pakistan presented itself as a picture of confusion and embarrassment on Tuesday, fumbling to give coherent answers to its people and to the wider world, after Osama bin Laden was found and killed in a military garrison town less than an hour away from its capital. It was an odd sight for a country usually quick to protest accusations that it lacked commitment to fight terrorism and often accused of using terror groups as an instrument of state policy.

The Pakistani military and its powerful spy agency ISI were conspicuously taciturn and its political rulers silent, as western governments and the global media turned its focus from how the world’s most famous outlaw was killed to how he managed to live in comfort in Pakistan, possibly for years, next to a premier military facility. The al-Qaeda chief was killed in an airborne raid by US special forces in the early hours of Monday.

President Asif Ali Zardari offered the first and only substantive comment by anyone senior in Pakistan, but in the form of an opinion piece in The Washington Post. He acknowledged that his security forces were left out of the US operation, but his intervention did little to deflect questions over how the al-Qaeda leader was able to live in the country. Pakistan’s powerful military chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are yet to speak.
No Speech to Pakistanis

“He was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone,” Zardari said in his piece, but did not offer further defence against accusations his security services should have known where bin Laden was hiding. But there was no speech to the Pakistani people, prompting one Twitter user to tweet: “Most wanted man is killed on Pakistani soil and the Pres doesn’t address his people, instead writes an op-ed for USA.”

The revelation that bin Laden had holed up in a compound in Abbottabad prompted many in the US to demand a review of the billions of dollars in aid Washington gives to Pakistan. Irate lawmakers asked how it was possible for bin Laden to live in an area near a military training academy without anyone in authority knowing about it and said it was time to review aid to Pakistan . The US Congress has approved $20 billion for Pakistan in direct aid and military reimbursements partly to help Islamabad fight militancy since bin Laden masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks.

For a country that sees people take to the streets at the slightest provocation, there were no protests and there was no extra security in Islamabad , reflecting the sense of shock mixed with embarrassment that bin Laden had managed to lie low for so long on its soil. But the US administration took no chances, shutting down its consulates in Pakistan amid fears that al-Qaeda or groups affiliated to it would try and avenge bin Laden’s killing by attacking American facilities. The US has already issued security warnings to Americans worldwide.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said Pakistan was not informed of the raid until after all US helicopters were out of Pakistani airspace. Many Pakistanis were surprised at how this was possible , especially when initial reports said the choppers took off from a Pakistani air base. Some were angry that the country’s sovereignty had been violated — an especially sensitive issue given America’s unpopularity in Pakistan. Zardari said it “was not a joint operation” , but that Pakistani cooperation, in a general sense, had helped lead them to bin Laden.

But some Pakistani security officials, on condition of anonymity, have said they were aware of the US operation and had helped in planning. If true, it could reflect the country’s difficulty in officially owning up to a role in the operation for fear of inflaming passions among Pakistan’s radical elements. Radical groups based in Pakistan have vowed to avenge bin Laden’s killing. On Tuesday, the founder of one of Pakistan’s most violent Islamist militant groups — Lashkar-e-Taiba — told Muslims to be heartened by the death of bin Laden, saying his “martyrdom” would not be in vain, evidence the trouble that awaits the country if it is seen as having sided with the US operation.

A spokesman for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said the LeT founder had told followers in the eastern city of Lahore that the “great person” of Osama bin Laden would continue to be a source of strength and encouragement for Muslims around the world. “Martyrdoms are not losses , but are a matter of pride for Muslims,” Saeed said, amid shouts of “Down with America” and “Down with Obama” . “Osama bin Laden has rendered great sacrifices for Islam and Muslims, and these will always be remembered .”