Dangerous Liaisons -by Sana Bucha

Jon Stewart is funny. He made me laugh when he asked Musharraf where Osama was. Musharraf’s response of “lead the way, I will follow” comment made me smile. The late Af-Pak Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in answer to my question related to bin Laden’s whereabouts, cracked a joke about lunching with him. I appreciated his humor. However, this time round, Stewart’s best jokes regarding Osama don’t seem funny. “OBL was “not hiding, but ‘chilling’ in Pakistan” said Stewart, followed by his comedic outrage at the fact that bin laden was found only a few hundred kilometers away from Pakistan’s equivalent of America’s West Point. “If the Pakistani Military Academy were Domino’s Pizza, they would deliver to Bin Laden on foot!” said Jon. One of his best shows to date, say critics, but I couldn’t even manage a smile.

Perhaps I have lost my sense of humor. It really isn’t funny when the most wanted terrorist is discovered in your military’s backyard. A military that dictates our politics, makes sure they always remain more supreme than the parliament, a military which takes a huge cut of our budget, leaving peanuts for the health and education sector, a military that determines what needs to be done with this country and its neighbors; a military that decides how to deal with a super power it’s allying with, calling the shots on the kind of action that it wants (read needs) to dispel on a terrorist organization that is warring with that super power.

But whose side are we on anyway? No one. And who is on our side? No one. Iran thinks we protected Jandullah who successfully carried out attacks in their country. Afghanistan believes their real problem is Pakistan’s continuing support of the Afghan Taliban. China, our most trusted friend, doesn’t want to interfere in world affairs for the next 20 years. Saudia Arabia may intervene when a Prime Minister is put in jail, however, they will look the other way when we lay exposed. And India. Our most ‘dangerous’ neighbor believes we protect and harbor the LeT. We remind the western world of our existence only when a terror plot is unveiled in their country and Pakistan is the usual suspect.

Some of us have often criticized our military for their hypocrisy, however, we have always known that they, in fact, do have a plan. They are the 5th largest army in the world, they know how to keep the enemies at bay and an intelligence system that will put others to shame. They have back-up plans for ‘our’ security, for ‘our’ national interest and for ‘our’ future gain.

But in the case of ‘Operation Neptune Spear,’ it just doesn’t add up. According to the CIA Director Leon Panetta, the U.S. did not inform Pakistan about the operation to assassinate bin Laden because it thought the Pakistanis could “jeopardize their mission.” Pakistan’s military officials responded with: “they didn’t tell us because they are possessive about the man who killed their people.” They’re possessive and we aren’t? Apparently. Remember what our President wrote in his “explanation” in The Washington Post: ‘your 9/11 turned out to be our 24/7/365!’

The US version of the operation: three CIA helicopters took off from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, flew almost 200 miles to Abbottabad, spent 40 minutes on ground, killed Osama bin Laden, four other men – one said to be bin Laden’s son – shot one of his wives in her calf and managed to take away five computers, 10 hard drives and 100 storage devices in what is now being termed as a ‘gold mine of information’.

Our version. FO or ISPR? Same difference. Three helicopters? No! Two. Check. Took off from Jalalabad? Vague. We are told they didn’t take off from Tarbela Ghazi. Pakistan was alerted after “sounds” of the copters were heard. A series of phone calls and Pakistan “scrambled” its jets but “our radars were evaded.” Is it possible that U.S. helicopters really did ‘evade’ Pakistani radar? Choppers are slow, but these ones were of ‘stealth varieties’ and managed to remain fairly quiet. Could this operation have been conducted in 40 minutes? No sir. Not even the Blackhawks could have managed this at top speed. Truth be told: two choppers entered Pakistan without “prior information,” fired mortar shells once, blew up one chopper and only the neighbors heard. This is a city that houses three regiments of the Pakistan Army and the Kakul military academy, yet the operation remained undetected. Strange.

If that is true, how safe are we? Ask the military, and they will admit there are ‘inadequacies,’ but ‘our nukes are safe’ – they are well guarded – and an elaborate defensive mechanism is in place. So now we can breathe easy. No one will fly into our territory and take away our nukes. Hallelujah! They will only fly in to take away most wanted ‘terrorists.’ And mind you, this misadventure is exclusive to the U.S. Any other country will be dealt with severely.

Countries will be dealt with severely. Not terrorists. Osama was living in this house along with his three wives and 13 children – 11 sons and two daughters – for five years at least. We didn’t know. CIA operatives were housing nearby for months (!) keeping a mindful eye at this house which we – the Pakistani Intelligence – provided them information of, but didn’t investigate ourselves. Why? ‘The CIA never came back with progressive information,’ said a senior Pakistani military official. This is their reason for not acting promptly now.

How about all the times cars loaded with explosives manage to drive in through Waziristan, Peshawar, other FATA areas and ram themselves into mosques, hotels, intelligence agencies’ offices? Did they also ‘evade radar’ to remain undetected? Or when bombs blow up in markets and on bustling roads, or when police stations are attacked? How about when weapons are brought in through Afghan borders or smuggled in through Quetta? Sadly, our intelligence has failed us too often. A resignation from the ‘fall guy’ will not suffice for the insecurity we, as Pakistanis, feel today.

Perhaps the truth will help. Please tell me we knew. Tell me that this was our ‘golden egg’ laid at just the right time. Tell me that as always, we were playing a double game. That we got something out of it? We got the drones to stop, more choppers, military aid, a nuclear deal with the US? More understanding for our strategic depth? Something? Anything?

Tell me lies. Sweet little lies. Ones you told me in ‘65. And ’71. At the time the Ojhri Camp incident happened. Or Kargil. I want to be lied to. Again. Because the lies only infuriated me. This ‘truth’ – half-baked or completely raw – is scary. I don’t know about Osama but I can think of many other countries whose most wanted men are living here. In Karachi. In Lahore. And elsewhere. If – as former ISI chiefs are telling foreign media – that they knew where Osama was since 2006 – then all I can say to ‘the most wanted’ is this: you could be viewed as the ‘golden egg’ too, but all eggs have a shelf life. Osama’s was May 2011. Do you know yours?

Source: Lakin

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