9/11 anniversary: As tears unite Americans, the spotlight shifts to Abbottabad

The last abode of Bin Laden competes with Ground Zero in terms of media interest .

ABOTTABAD:

While the world watches the US commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania, another destination, surprisingly one not in the United States, has become as symbolic as Ground Zero in the war on terror campaign that began a decade ago.

(Read: Pakistan says 'severely affected' by terror)

As the spotlight of Pakistani and international media shifts from New York to Abbottabad, turning the picturesque town in the north of Pakistan into one of the busiest places in the world of media, it serves as a chilling reminder of the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a covert operation by American SEALs on May 2 this year.

Immediately after the operation, reporters and anchorpersons from across the globe swarmed OBL’s compound in Bilal Town.

But much of the journalistic work proved ‘too revealing’ for the Pakistani authorities, especially the intelligence agencies who are still facing scathing attacks for their inability to apprehend the world’s most wanted man as well as failing to track the US helicopters that entered Pakistani airspace during ‘Operation Geronimo’.

Law enforcement agencies clamped restrictions on capturing any footage of the compound after taking over OBL’s abode, the morning after the operation. Incidents of snatching cameras from journalists and using harsh language were also reported.

The residents of Bilal Town and Thanda Choha, comprising about 8,000 houses, were the worst sufferers of the post-raid scenario. They had to undergo routine questioning and body searches while going about their daily lives.

Despite stringent restrictions on movement and a security lockdown, Bilal Town’s compound continues  to attract commoners as well as local and foreign diplomats and journalists.

The arrest and brief detention of the Danish Ambassador to Pakistan, his wife, their security personnel, two French, a Chinese and three local journalists near the compound speak volumes about the interest the media community still evinces in Osama’s hideout – seen as a portal that leads into the mind of the slain al Qaeda chief.

The saga of Osama’s killing also took a new turn when the wife of the slain al Qaeda chief reportedly told interrogators that the family was  holed up for two and a half years in a small village of Chak Shah Muhammad in the countryside of Haripur district before moving to the high-walled residence of Abbottabad in 2005.

National and international media then dashed to Chak Shah Muhammad on May 8, and filmed caves that the villagers traditionally use for storing grain or fodder for their cattle.

On the tenth anniversary of the attacks, as expected, most of Pakistani news channels had their reporters stationed in Bilal Town.

To a question, the former president of Hazara Union of Journalists and Abbottabad Press Club, Muhammad Zaman Khan insisted that the outer part of the compound should not be a restricted area.

He added, however, that since the Abbottabad Judicial Commission was about to visit the compound within a couple of days, easy access to the compound by media personnel could complicate the inquiry.

Al Qaeda on the path to defeat: Obama

Tears flowed and bells tolled at Ground Zero on Sunday as Americans marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in a rare moment of unity for a country still shaken by the horrific attacks.

President Barack Obama and his predecessor and political foe George W Bush stood together in New York for the main ceremony at the site of the destroyed Twin Towers.

At Ground Zero, the Stars and Stripes fluttered from cranes used in the massive project to rebuild the World Trade Center, while below relatives of 9/11’s 2,977 victims brushed fingertips across the names of their loved ones etched in bronze around a new memorial.

The president, who also declared “Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat,” then flew to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, site of the crash of Flight 93.

The 9/11 remembrances unite Americans like almost no other event. According to a poll last week, 97 percent of people remember where they were when they heard the news, on a par with John F Kennedy’s assassination.  (Additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th,  2011.