Time is up for the Abbottabad Commission
In this never-ending state of denial and paranoia, anything sold by the Commission would have been welcome.
It took the Abbottabad Commission almost a year and a half to put together a 120-page report on Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan. And yet, it has not been made public. How could this be? The pearls of wisdom shared by the likes of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and some of our leading journalists obviously deserve to be kept classified. If these names surprise you, then you should know that they were the ones with the true knowledge of the operation that took out OBL. And Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal is the most pertinent man to understand the dynamics of radar failure, stealth technology and the total surprise with which the US team flew into our territory.
But regardless of the suitability of any of these names, it is imperative that this document be made public. If it cannot tell us anything new, it can help us divine what is on the minds of our deep state operators. When OBL was caught and killed, the most inexcusable failure on the part of our deep state was to come up with an explanation, a narrative. This report indeed seeks to fix that failing. But until this report is made public, we will not know the true sentiments in Rawalpindi, Islamabad or Aabpara.
In recent years, we have lost many of our friends, both in Khaki and Mufti, to the world of conspiracy theories. Our think tanks that once offered us some food for thought are hell-bent on proving some of the most madcap conspiracy theories, such as the High Altitude Research Programme and fourth generation warfare, allegedly introduced by the US on our soil. One fears the day when SUPARCO might be asked to investigate the “Stargate” lore.
In this never-ending state of denial and paranoia, anything sold by the Commission would have been welcome. At the beginning of this investigation, some sources indicated to this scribe that the Commission might try to challenge the fact that the man killed in the operation was indeed OBL. Mercifully, this line of hypothesising was abandoned and now, through the leaks, the commission continues to humanise the slain al Qaeda chief. And that raises an important question. What does our deep state actually think of OBL and his cohorts? Is it possible that there is still some degree of sympathy for the butchers of al Qaeda?
Let me be honest. The people I come across from the army and the intelligence community vociferously condemn the activities of al Qaeda and its Taliban allies. Similar disgust was readily available over the Malala episode. But while these gents show their conviction to root out the menace of extremism, someone somewhere silently forwards more conspiracy theories to complicate the situation. When these theories are traced back to their original sources, one is baffled to note that our deep state continues to be the patron.
Is it possible then that our intelligence community has been affected by schizophrenia and that while there are Taliban apologists hiding in its ranks, there are also those who do not have any sympathy for them at all? Apparently, the answer is yes. But to the cynical mind of this scribe, it appears to be the age-old exercise of good cop, bad cop and nothing else. As a citizen of this country, I do not care much for US concerns. But I need answers to know what will happen to us when the American forces leave the region. And if Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal cannot provide these answers in time, then he needs to be replaced with someone who can.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2012.
But regardless of the suitability of any of these names, it is imperative that this document be made public. If it cannot tell us anything new, it can help us divine what is on the minds of our deep state operators. When OBL was caught and killed, the most inexcusable failure on the part of our deep state was to come up with an explanation, a narrative. This report indeed seeks to fix that failing. But until this report is made public, we will not know the true sentiments in Rawalpindi, Islamabad or Aabpara.
In recent years, we have lost many of our friends, both in Khaki and Mufti, to the world of conspiracy theories. Our think tanks that once offered us some food for thought are hell-bent on proving some of the most madcap conspiracy theories, such as the High Altitude Research Programme and fourth generation warfare, allegedly introduced by the US on our soil. One fears the day when SUPARCO might be asked to investigate the “Stargate” lore.
In this never-ending state of denial and paranoia, anything sold by the Commission would have been welcome. At the beginning of this investigation, some sources indicated to this scribe that the Commission might try to challenge the fact that the man killed in the operation was indeed OBL. Mercifully, this line of hypothesising was abandoned and now, through the leaks, the commission continues to humanise the slain al Qaeda chief. And that raises an important question. What does our deep state actually think of OBL and his cohorts? Is it possible that there is still some degree of sympathy for the butchers of al Qaeda?
Let me be honest. The people I come across from the army and the intelligence community vociferously condemn the activities of al Qaeda and its Taliban allies. Similar disgust was readily available over the Malala episode. But while these gents show their conviction to root out the menace of extremism, someone somewhere silently forwards more conspiracy theories to complicate the situation. When these theories are traced back to their original sources, one is baffled to note that our deep state continues to be the patron.
Is it possible then that our intelligence community has been affected by schizophrenia and that while there are Taliban apologists hiding in its ranks, there are also those who do not have any sympathy for them at all? Apparently, the answer is yes. But to the cynical mind of this scribe, it appears to be the age-old exercise of good cop, bad cop and nothing else. As a citizen of this country, I do not care much for US concerns. But I need answers to know what will happen to us when the American forces leave the region. And if Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal cannot provide these answers in time, then he needs to be replaced with someone who can.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2012.