Pakistan: failed nation or terrorist state

The common opinion emerging on Pakistan’s role in aiding and abetting terrorists clearly suggests that the country should be officially declared as a terrorist state. The US operation in Abbottabad leading to the elimination of Osama Bin Laden, the world’s most wanted criminal has proved beyond any doubt that the head of al Qaeda could not have lived in Pakistan without the knowledge and help of the authorities. Noted author Salman Rushdie has already asked for Pakistan’s expulsion from the comity of Nations and western powers are not prepared to go by the official explanation that the government or its agencies were oblivious of Osama’s presence on their soil.

It needs little common sense to infer that the safe House or the Mansion where Osama lived did not come out of thin air but was built in the Garrison town with full knowledge of the military authorities that are in actual control of the government there. The civilian administration is just a mere front since sham democracy prevails in Pakistan.

Therefore the onus of trying to come clean lies with the Army and its intelligence wing, the Inter State Intelligence but the evidence and circumstances are not going to make matters any better for the whole Nation. We in India know that Pakistan has been the epicenter of terrorism for long beginning from the attack of the tribals on Kashmir in the late forties. The country’s complicity was established beyond any doubt going by the assistance received by Sikh ultras and now Kashmiri militants from across the border. Repeated attacks by Lashkar militants on India have exposed the demonic side of the government which has not been able to reconcile itself from its second partition during the Bangla Desh war and 1971 operations conducted under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi.

We have all been very familiar with the ways and style of the Pakistanis but it is the Americans who never believed in New Delhi’s view about Islamabad. But since they have tasted it directly now, the US perception could undergo a change subsequently.

While Pakistan has a lot of answering to do about Osama’s presence in Abbottabad, the United States too should lay to rest speculation about Osama’s death by releasing photographs of his body. There are more than a number of people who believe that Osama is not dead but was captured alive and taken to the United States. At least they will stop talking in this manner if the photographic evidence is presented. There are other conspiracy theories also doing the rounds and they should not be allowed to gain credence if the Americans share some more details about the operation.

There are some who doubt that Osama was buried at sea with Islamic rites and wonder how could a Muslim holy man be produced aboard a US naval ship in such a short time frame. There are others who doubt that the capturing or killing of Osama took place much earlier and the final day shooting was just to create deception. Some wonder how the Pakistani military did not get wind of Helicopters intruding into their air space and why Air Force Planes did not hover in the sky while the operation was reportedly in progress.
There is no doubt in my mind that Osama and people like him should be tracked down and eliminated but the security forces must share evidence of their death with the world.

The second question that needs to be addressed is that some sections are attempting to make Osama a cult figure and are planning to have prayers for him in several mosques. Prayers should be for the Holy and not the Diabolic. Indian leaders should also refrain from trying to draw political capital from what happened in Abbottabad. Pakistan must realize that it is going in the wrong direction and if it has to survive as part of the world, which goes by the rule of law, it has to give up its undesirable activities. It is a failed Nation, which needs to pass the test to be regarded as part of the global fight against terrorism. To me it seems that the days of both Asif Zardari as the President and Ashfaq Kiyani as the Army chief are numbered.

An interesting sidelight to the entire incident is that my friend, noted astrologer Bharat Upmanyu in an email dated September 21, 2010 to President Obama had stated that Osama Bin Laden was in Muzaffarbad or in the vicinity of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Abbottabad is merely 30 kilometres as the crow flies from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir territory. I think it was remarkable accuracy and speaks volumes about Bharat’s ability to predict.

His foretelling could make him amongst many claimants of the prize money on Osama’s head.