The writer is a columnist, a former major of the Pakistan Army and served as press secretary to Benazir Bhutto
kamran.shafi@tribune.com.pk
Perfectly in keeping with our especial penchant of always attempting to cover up the truth; to mitti pao Sirji, mitti pao; to shove every distasteful thing under that humongous and most filthy carpet that we maintain with a diligence that would astound the world itself, the witnesses who appeared before the Abbottabad Commission have proved themselves.
Whilst the first 79 pages of the Report suggest it to be a thorough, intelligent and a brave effort at trying to get to the truth of the US raid on a house in Abbottabad Cantonment on the night of May 1st and 2nd, 2011 in which the terrorist Osama bin Laden (OBL), his son, his two minders and the wife of one of them were killed, I will this week only comment on what I have read thoroughly so far.
It is, indeed, important that the Report be taken apart surgically and loudmouths (no need to name them for we know who they are!) who have so far gotten away with — metaphorically speaking, of course — murders are punished so that our country never has to go through such an embarrassment ever again.
It is also extremely disingenuous, nay foolishly dishonest, to shovel all the blame on to the Commando now that he is safely in jug: blaming the Abbottabad disgrace on him for acquiescing to American demands to join the fight in the first place. Another, a former Brigadier castigated the Commando on TV just the other day for causing the Abbottabad debacle by commandeering most of the “150 to 200” ISI operatives to keep an eye on his political opponents! 150 to 200?
Why are we so surprised at the American action when we were told in no uncertain manner by none other than (as the Report says too) President Obama himself that the US would take “unilateral action to take out high value targets” if they had to.
So, the Americans came, got their man — though why the Commission terms his killing as “reported” in Chapter 1, page 16, while at every other mention of him or his body it accepts that he was killed that night, escapes me — and got clean away, losing a Black Hawk and blowing it up; blasting several doors in the house and generally making a lot of noise for a whole 35 minutes, maybe more, a mere kilometre away from the main gate of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA).
The Quick Reactionary Forces (QRFs) of both the famed Frontier Force Regiment and of the PMA, where future brass hats are manufactured, weren’t that quick were they, arriving on the scene much after the Americans were well away and almost approaching their refuelling stop at Kala Dhaka. Of course, when the coast was clear, everyone and Charlie’s aunt “rushed” (my word here, which the late Ardeshir Cowasjee forever used about DCs and SPs “rushing” hither and yon after the event!) to OBL’s, oh well all right, “compound”.
Here and now let me say that the Report quite clearly and unabashedly concludes that the police, when they did arrive, were not let anywhere near the house but kept well away to form an outer cordon, which I can only think would be no less than several hundred feet away from the scene of occurrence.
It is all a case of many Inspector Jacque Clouseau’s — yes him of the Pink Panther series played so brilliantly by Peter Sellers — every sleuth with two left feet and three thumbs. How in heaven’s name did they not pick up on the whale-sized holes in the stories spun by Maryam and Bushra, the wives of OBL’s minders, and Umar Patek, the Indonesian terrorist, tied to the Bali bombings?
There were other Clouseau’s (with apologies to Peter Sellers): how in God’s name did a structure as humongous as OBL’s come up in Cantonment limits where designs and architectural drawings of proposed buildings are gone through with a fine-toothed comb? And quite suddenly, a third storey appears, and high walls with razor wire? And, er, no one from the Cantonment authorities noticed?
Really! The army’s own inquiry had the effrontery to remark: “The board of inquiry maintained that the police ignored or failed to take note of even the visible violation of cantonment regulations in the shape of construction of a third storey at the compound.” Last heard, the police do not have building inspectors in their ranks! Ludicrous.
And then there is the curious case of OBL’s neighbour, Major Amir Aziz, who first refused to turn up, was forced to and then spun a most curious tale. Due to paucity of space, let me just take his evidence about one Lt Col Saeed Iqbal and his bulletproof “noise-controlled vehicle”, which the Major estimates cost the Colonel Rs30 million. What pray, is a “noise-controlled” vehicle?
Apparently, the Colonel came to the Major’s house, climbed onto his roof and photographed his “pets”? What “pets” does the Major own that could only be photographed from the roof? The Major also reports that he is not sure if the Colonel took pictures of OBL’s house.
We are fed another nugget here: that the Colonel’s son was the Commando’s ADC (he does not tell us his Service: army, navy or air force) and is now serving as a private secretary to him. Moreover, the Colonel runs a security business, which employs a lot of ISI ex-servicemen. We are also told that the Colonel soon after disappeared abroad after trying to, or selling his properties in this country.
In the end, kudos to the Commission for “insisting” that the Report be published without delay, both in English and Urdu, so this country could avoid such a situation again. And shame on the PPP government for not doing so for well on seven months.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (43)
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It is quite simple, Shafisahab.....! Musharraf allowed him to come to Pakistan and did everything to keep his presence under the wraps. A very accomplished and bare-faced liar who could lie with a straight face, he kept lying even after OBL was taken out by SEALS team. Every watchman at PMA must have seen the "fort" coming up near their campus and wondered who allowed its construction! But Musharraf chose the site very wisely because it helped to keep a watch on OBL as well as his pursuers. That the PMA guys became lazy and negligent is another story.
It is quite simple, Shafisahab.....! Musharraf allowed him to come to Pakistan and did everything to keep his presence under the blanket. A very accomplished, straight-face liar, he kept lying even after OBL was taken out by SEALS team. Every watchman at PMA must have seen the "fort" coming up near their campus and wondered who allowed its construction! But Musharraf chose the site very wisely because it helped to keep a watch on OBL as well as his pursuers. That they became lazy and negligent is another story.
I think it is quite amusing to read the comments from people who take the OBL incident at Abbottabad seriously, and how they denigrate Pakistan security. I have noticed that many of the same contributors in the past, have taken an entirely opposite tack when it comes to the US. They use terms such as sophisticated US systems, and then go on to explain that it was all the fault of dreaded terrorist blackguards, and the US could be excused for not not getting it right. However, if they used half a brain to determine what happened in incidents such as 9/11 they may realize that Pakistan is not so backwards after all when compared to the US. For example, 19 Saudis supposedly hijacked several US airliners, flew around US skies in broad daylight for several hours, crashed into a few buildings, and the largest air force in the world could not scramble a few fighter aircraft to control them. Also, the Pentagon, which has more CCTVs than other building in the world has not yet released any footage of a plane crashing into it. The Americans did write a non-believable report about 9/11, and maybe a few low functioning people have believed it, but US stupidity really does make Pakistan appear to be at the top of the heap. The whole scenario of Abbottabad is hard to believe, but to finish it off by dropping OBL's body in the ocean stretches credibility to the limit. I prefer to stick with Alice in Wonderland .
@Baig Ji: . Moreover, if Laden lived in the heart of the cantonment, Mush would have been the first person to arrest him and present him on a platter to the US. For Mush, who boasted of selling other Pakistanis to the US, Laden was a trophy not to miss . Mush was far more cunning and devious then you can think. . Consider : Mush handed over Osama Bin Laden to the USA in - say 2002. He might have received say US$ 100 Million. . By holding on to Osama Bin Laden Pakistan has received over US$ 25 Billion or so + writing off of sizable amounts of US Loans + further Loans from I M F, W B, A D B as also various European Countries, Japan and Saudi Arabia, U A E etc. etc. & etc . Thus by providing a safe, well defended Sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden Mush performed the Greatest Service to Pakistan than any other Pakistani Leader. . Cheers
The Abbottabad commission findings are total hogwash. Laden was never in Abbottabad in the first place. The whole operation was meant to boost Obama’s image in his election time. Had Laden been there, the US, assisted by the local forces, would have got him alive to parade him on the TV to prove to its citizens that their tax money was being used rightly. Moreover, if Laden lived in the heart of the cantonment, Mush would have been the first person to arrest him and present him on a platter to the US. For Mush, who boasted of selling other Pakistanis to the US, Laden was a trophy not to miss. Laden, a kidney patient on dialysis had died long ago. The whole affair simply stinks.
Sir, You should have penned a satire congratulating your elite intelligence agency for hiding OBL for nine long years in Pakistan avoiding 24 hrs surveillance from highly sophisticated American satellites and hundreds of CIA personnel deployed in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Had OBL not been located he would have died a natural death or shifted to Afghanistan along with his family after 2014. But that did not happen and not take away credit of a highly successful modus operand of saving OBL for almost a decade and shifting him along with his family in the entire breadth of the country. The Commission needs to be congratulated for doing an excellent job even though it fell short of blaming or naming state agencies of their complicity of protecting OBL despite collecting irrefutable evidence which is quite understandable. The report presents an insight of working of various intelligence agencies and poor plight of the civilian govt which as such was known but the same has now been authenticated by the Commission due to leakage of this report. RAW and Indian army too would be quite delighted to take note of working and loopholes of military, air-force and intelligence agencies in Pakistan.
@Iab:
"@Lala Gee: Following the great tradition of escaping in a burkha. Quite different ...."
(The Mod, who is none other than the author himself, didn't publish my following rebuttal, which was nothing but facts and truth. He also does not have any problem in publishing Indians comments based purely on personal attacks while remove my already published answers. Trying my luck 2nd time).
So, escaping of OBL along with his contingent of comrades from Tora Bora from the very watchful eyes of US+NATO+Afghan forces, and then walking up to Af-Pak border unnoticed should also be their complicity? Similarly, the perpetrators of 9/11 also lived in US for a long time, got their flying training there, by-passed all the security measures of one of the most important US airports. and hijacked 4 different planes without being stopped at any stage. Should also be the complicity of US Army, CIA, NSA, and FBI with the hijackers? What about the Bombay incident. Wasn't that also the collusion of Indian Navy, Marine Border Security Force, RAW, and a host of other Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies, without whom support the perpetrators wouldn't have succeeded in reaching Bombay in the first place, and then to carry out their plans for as long as 3 whole days.
@Iab:
"@Lala Gee: Following the great tradition of escaping in a burkha. Quite different ...."
(The Mod, who is none other than the author himself, didn't publish my following rebuttal, which was nothing but facts and truth. He also does not have any problem in publishing Indians comments based purely on personal attacks while remove my already published answers. Trying my luck 2nd time).
So, escaping of OBL along with his contingent of comrades from Tora Bora from the very watchful eyes of US+NATO+Afghan forces, and then walking up to Af-Pak border unnoticed should also be their complicity? Similarly, the perpetrators of 9/11 also lived in US for a long time, got their flying training there, by-passed all the security measures of one of the most important US airports. and hijacked 4 different planes without being stopped at any stage. Should also be the complicity of US Army, CIA, NSA, and FBI with the hijackers? What about the Bombay incident. Wasn't that also the collusion of Indian Navy, Marine Border Security Force, RAW, and a host of other Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies, without whom support the perpetrators wouldn't have succeeded in reaching Bombay in the first place, and then to carry out their plans for as long as 3 whole days.
@hamza khan: You got it backwards. The number was supplied by the CIA. (The Abbotabad Commission report faults the DG - Intelligence for monitoring the lines 24X7) . Ooops! There goes your entire theory. The assumptions you raised as to why the ISI was motivated to hide OBL are true to everyone but the biased eye.
Same beat... same bashing.... same bla bla bla.......
Bala Gee vs Lala Gee: And the winner is...................... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BalaGee for making far more relevant comments.
I'm not who you think I am. But does it matter?
@3rdRockFromTheSun:
why would ISI be hiding him in such a horribly unprotected structure? and for what reason? to what end? to keep the american funds flowing? so that eventually when the americans, who by all accounts are not dumb, eventually found him, pakistan and its army would be declared terorrist supporters? lets think this through before we make allegations. the FBI missed tsarnaev brothers even though they talked to them and had them on radar! the ISI is good, but its not all knowing. things go through the combs. lets not forget that the ISI found the number for the kuwaiti courier, which was passed along to the CIA. had it not been for that number, the CIA would have never been led to the compound where he lived. not a single ISI officer thought, oh wait, maybe we shouldnt give this random number out to the americans lest our secret is blown that we are hiding OBL? please. give me a break.
@Bewildered:
When one has spent over forty years of their lives in a nation and is citizen and pays their taxes, common-sense prevails that its their land or home turf ! However my parents were from your region, rather the larger bit too ! Hope this clarifies your ridiculous question !
This report is merely eyewash, nothing will change in our country . This is not first or last time we sheltered terrorist in pakistan . There are number of them still alive and operating in Pakistan with full knowledge of authorities. It's better to throw them out of country or put in jail or there will be another raid by some other superpower . Height of shamelessness is that some people claims it success of Pakistan as he managed to hide in Pakistan for 7 years and there is little hope for Pakistan with such attitude.
@hedgefunder:
"as this is our land...."
Well, well, well. I thought your claim on land was limited to only whole of the sub-continent. Now I see it is being stretched to continent Europe as well.
How about incompetence in the army ? We seem to be seeing a lot of that lately, contrary to the ISPR propaganda.
@Usman: You will never see KS utter a single word against MQM
Give the man a credit as at least he does deal certain elements of cockroaches that exist in your power structure and society too ! You guys need couple of million people of his calibre, then perhaps you may manage to turn this country around from its present course ! In regards to that despot sitting in London, well his time is going to come, rest assure ! For someone who initially was a political asylum seeker in our pastures, has obviously not been very straight forward and will be dealt with our laws and procedure too, as this is our land and here even the Queen's daughter gets a driving ban, if she breaks the speed limits ! Unlike the Land of Pure .
Sir, I have only managed to get thru about 113 pages of this farcical report so far and you are quite correct to bring up a name of certain gentleman "Clouseau" as that was what has been missing in this script ! Yours is truly a Land of Clouseaus and non state actors ! But I don't think that late peter sellers would have classed being associated with anything Pakistani as compliment.
@Lala Gee - Your IQ is same as those in the PMA (which led to this fiasco)... which probably doesn't help you in equating and assessing situations. My advise - Quit your madrassah and get some real education in a real university...
I really wish an NGO is set up in pakistan to investigate these matters - because clearly the government is showing a marked unwillingness to do so.
@Lala Gee: You haven't read this article as you admit, Perhaps you didn't read the Abbotabad Commission report as well? . The report has been commissioned by the GoP to primarily identify the reasons behind the breach of security on May 2. It was not tasked to find out what happened in Tora Bora. In any case, do you seriously expect the Americans will be willing to talk about their surveillance techniques? . If you really want to know about Tora Bora, please google. Everyone knows how OBL escaped.
@Lala Gee: Following the great tradition of escaping in a burkha. Quite different from actually living for 6 years barely a kilometer from the military academy.
@KS: Frankly Sir, whats is this report to publish?
Report is written in such a way as to give the impression of impartiality and thoroughness. By admitting to "incompetence", it tries to fool the people. The military and ISI are absolved. Instead, the police are blamed! Remember: - AQ Khan was smuggling nuclear materials on PAF planes on his own! - The Hamdour Commision report was suppressed - the generals escaped any and all blame. - Strategic assets of the military are operating in India and Afghanistan on their own. - The drones are flying in and out of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan - same area from which US commandos flew in. If sovereignty was (and is) so sacred, Pakistan could have installed radars.
@Author:
"How in God’s name did a structure as humongous as OBL’s come up in Cantonment limits, and no one noticed? "
How in God’s name OBL slipped from Tora Bora mountains encircled by US+NATO forces, and possibly being monitored through satellite and air born systems? And then walked from there to Af-Pak border without being noticed. Did you ever give a thought on that as well?
P.S. I haven't read your OpEd. yet. Rest later.
The first ones to inspect the scene after the SEALS left, were the local residents. I don't know if the commission has taken into account their statements.
First article that I see on ET which attempts to separate the wheat from the chaff. Yes, the report is definitely biased towards the intelligence service and I am surprised that no one picked on the fact yet that the lion's share of the blame has been apportioned to the police when the DIG was not even allowed inside the compound and was tasked with the menial job of securing the parameter from visitors. . As gp65 points out, the other shocker was how the interior and defense ministers were cowed down by everyone including their chief secretaries. For me personally, the biggest shocker is the fact that the President of the country was the last person to be informed some 3 hours after the COAS came to know about it.
The commission chose 'incompetence' over 'complicity', but this report takes the cake for bufoonery!
You will never see KS utter a single word against MQM, because of fear of retribution. In Pakistan, only soft targets are subjected to scrutiny and criticism, real issues are never discussed. Feudalism, Nepotism, Corruption and Extortion, who has time for these.
The report must be titled "KEEP OUR SECRETS, SECRET."
Once again it is proved that powerful can easily break the law net in Pakistan and that's the biggest shame for us as a nation. We don't spare an ordinary person for just even violating the traffic signal but we are unable to even nominate the culprits for debacle of even this scale.
Dear Kamran Shafi., I am somewhat upset with you. I would even go far enough to say that I am miffed. I would not go far enough to say that you have plagiarized my writings, but I feel that you have taken up my idea in regard to the fictional Saturday afternoon matinee show in which President Obama stated that his brave lads had bagged OBL during a prolonged night time battle in full view of a Pakistan army base, after flying all the way across the country, and then back again. I am not sure that you are aware of it, but I have previously used the Alice-in Wonderland, and The Mad Hatters Tea Party scenario to describe the unbelievable fiction of Abbottabad. Now I knew this was going to on go for some time and my next missive was going to use the whole crazy gang from the Pink Panther to highlight the whole crazy characters involved in the so called OBL incident, ranging from Pakistan security to the Washington White-House. This was then going to be followed by The Wizard of Oz. However, you have now stolen my thunder, and I can only repeat the English expression miffed. In fact, I would go far enough to say extremely miffed. You really must contact me next time if you intend to use fictional characters to describe exciting fictional incidents, which occur on the Sub-Continent. As it is you should realize that "Je Suis Desolate monsieur" (I am really upset).
Incompetent man has many excuses
Major (Retd.) Kamran Shafi Ji : . how in God’s name did a structure as humongous as OBL’s come up in Cantonment limits where designs and architectural drawings of proposed buildings are gone through with a fine-toothed comb? And quite suddenly, a third storey appears, and high walls with razor wire? And, er, no one from the Cantonment authorities noticed?
Elementary Major Saheb, , The Plans, meeting with Building Regulations, Connection and Supply of Electricity, Gas, Water along with the Inspection and Approval of the respective Concerned Authorities-Departments etc. etc. were officially sanctioned by the concerned Authorities under the Hawk Eyed supervision of the Deep State. . How Else? . I am sure there is no other explanation. . Now to Inspector Jacque Clouseau’s : He would have of course most definitely "spitted the American Bim Special Firces and Bimber Crew!" . Cheers
Time to say the unsaid : It is difficult to believe that there was no complicity from the military / intelligence / govt at some level; the report is nothing but an eyewash. Just like the blame in the nuke tech scandal was all pinned on AQ Khan - he was made the scapegoat; and the govt / ISI et all given a clean bill! Also, the report seems to have been deliberatey leaked to show 'incompetency' as the cause. If the govt had kept the report buried, it would look suspicious on its part, hence the 'leak'.
There is no way, issues of such magnitude can 'escape' the attention by the military / intelligence / govt !! No amount of incompetence can achieve that; especially not when those involved are as skilled as the ISI / Pak Military.
The people of Pakistan may have bought 'incompetence' as a reason; but certainly not the rest of the world!
The local SHO should be blamed for the OBL fiasco. He should be awake to all threats. Nevermind that our defenders of the nations borders couldnt stop OBL from crossing over from Afghanistan into Pakistan, we must make sure that only the police is blamed, otherwise the Army will be demotivated. After all, who cares if the police is motivated or not?
Alas, the focus of media and public is shifting away from this important report due to the daily dramas of Altaf Hussain.
Dear Mr shafi, i am amazed you write untiringly with renewed spirit every time. You are talking about people who get a lot of money for fighting these terrorists so if they cath them efficientlyy, who will pay them money, eh? And how then, the military industroal complex o f pakostan plus US will work? If FC's posts are not crossed every now and then in questa's hazara town, who will want FC to stay there? Sorry to say but i am sure a huge number of people have known about this game and are actively playing it. Me, you and the common people of pakistan are insigificant blabbering lot. This country needs a revolution against its armed forces' top brass and their blood and brotherly relatives in all other major places of this country. Untill then, its a vicious circle. Untill then, we have to bear the rants of a certain other writer here from one of the above mentined pillars of this state, looking as arrogant as his half drawn glasses and writing as incompetently and lamely as his and his peers' work for (creating and )fighting this country's enemies. Untill then, we ll keep dying. Jay ho!.
Mr. Shafi, I think the tin-hats in your country's ISI were very relieved when they heard that the Americans had actually retrieved bin Laden dead rather than alive, otherwise he would have started singing about how 'specific people' were responsible for putting him there. . Sometimes, I wish they had caught him alive just to know exactly how he got there, how he stayed there and who all he knew.
Sir, you will have to come up with a Part 2 next week in order to make better sense of this Part 1................please note I am not blaming you, all I'm saying is that if you seem at a loss then people like me are left completely at sea.