Adil Najam
Late during the night between May 1 and May 2 in Pakistan there was news floating of a low-flying helicopter having blown up in the city of Abbottabad. There was much speculation, some wild rumors, but no confirmation of what had happened. Then, late night May 1 US East Coast Time (some six hours after the news about from Abbottabad had first started circulating in Pakistan), television screens in the US started flashing a notice that President Barack Obama would soon speak to the nation on a security issue. Rumors and speculation started flashing again.
(Unconfirmed – and, now, reportedly fake – photo of Osama Bin Laden’s dead body being shown on a private TV channel in Pakistan)
Soon it was confirmed that the news was that Osama Bin Laden had been killed: President Obama then confirmed that ke was killed in Pakistan, in Abbottabad, in an operation led by the US but conducted with support of Pakistani authorities (still not clear how much support, and whose). Reportedly, the US now has possession of Osama Bin Laden’s body.
This is a huge development in the War on Terror, even if Osama Bin Laden’s actual role had now become symbolic rather than operational. It is a development that also has huge implications for Pakistan, and for Pakistan-US relations.
More details are trickling by the minute. And partly for that reason it is not yet clear just what happened and which details are confirmed and which are speculation. What is now confirmed is: (a) Osama Bin Laden has been killed, (b) Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces, (c) Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, (d) Osama Bin Laden was killed in an operation that was eventually supported by Pakistani authorities, and (e) CNN has no idea about anything that has to do with Pakistan (according to them Abbottabad is an outskirt just outside Islamabad!
As details come in and as a narrative and reactions develop both in Washington and in Islamabad, the one big – the one biggest – question that every Pakistani is thinking about is: What will this mean for Pakistan-US relations? What will this mean for Pakistan and Pakistanis? What will this mean for terrorism within Pakistan as a backlash of this incident?
What do you think?
Have the Americans really killed OBL or have they taken the world for a ride? Why do people still show uncritical acceptance of whatever comes from the American government, which is notorious for its brazen lies, depth of hypocrisy and Hitlerite bloodthirst. You will find an alternative viewpoint here:
http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2011/05/death-of-os ama-bin-laden.html
I really hope they killed Osama. The world is better with him dead.
But this whole thing about immediate disposal at sea, no pictures, no witnesses and just a statement “believe us we matched the DNA” … well all of that stinks. Even I wonder if it is real. And I really wish it is.
ہوۓ مر کے ہم جو رسوا ، ہوۓ کیوں نہ غرق دریا
نہ کوئی جنازہ اٹھتا، نہ کہیں مزار ہوتا
غالب
An official statement on the same
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.la den.burial.at.sea/
‘No land alternative’ prompts bin Laden sea burial
From Chris Lawrence, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Osama bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier because there was “no land alternative,” a senior Department of Defense official said Monday.
“When there is no land alternative, Islamic law dictates that the body be buried within 24 hours, and that was the basis,” the official said.
Another defense official said says there was no country willing or able to accept the body for burial, and U.S. forces “took pains to observe Muslim law.”
The religious rites were conducted on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea, with the ceremony starting at 1:10 a.m. and finishing at 2:10 a.m. ET.
“The body was washed and placed in a white sheet. A military official read prepared remarks, which were then translated into Arabic by a native speaker. The body of Osama bin Laden was placed on a flat board, which was then tipped up, and allowed to slide into the sea,” the second official said.
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Wikipedia page on burial at sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_at_sea
Burial at sea is an old naval tradition – the operation was carried out by Navy Seals and they would likely have flown back to a ship out at sea. Why was he not buried on land? It hardly makes sense to bury him somewhere that can be converted into a shrine. Even more than the US Government, the Pakistan Government would not want him to be buried anywhere in Pakistan. This was probably for the best, and by all accounts, they gave him an Islamic burial. Even the worst enemies amongst the dead require some dignity in death, something that the Taliban and Al Qaeda certainly did not believe in (remember how they strung up Najibullah on a pole in the center of Kabul).
As to questions about how he managed to live in a relatively small place swarming with military personnel, I would leave it to Pakistanis themselves to ask and answer these questions.