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?
Salman and the People like Him,
So u all beleive it is a drama.When will u guys run away from the truth, u smell conspiracy in everything.Pakistan is a terrorist’s haven,u are GOD forbidden country,it is not PAK from any angle.People are never comfortable when ever there is a Pakistani around,how ever innocent he might be.U guys start thinking above religious lines.
@banjara,
absolutely true, banjara, that’s why I termed this operation a “DRAMA”
although @John of foxnews didn’t like me, but all Pakistanis strongly beleive whatever we were told by O#ama is a fake story
R.I.P
i miss you
personally, i find it hard to believe that he was there without the knowledge of the pak establishment. my guess is that the military/security establishment will just sit it out quietly and leave it to the political govt. to deal with the mess that, essentially, they have created. it isn’t going to be pretty and there will be plenty of egg on the face of everyone in pakistan.
Very glad this vermin is dead.
My biggest fear: that he will become even a bigger icon when dead than he was alive.