The writer is senior sub-editor at The Express Tribune
Don’t be fooled by the faded A4 paper and plain typewriter font; this isn’t a US Navy Seal’s best-selling hardcover of the Osama bin Laden (OBL) raid. It’s painfully bare in terms of storytelling but there is lots of colour. Quotes from Bin Laden’s wives; his children and the families of those who protected him in his final years. There’s mention of a cowboy hat OBL wore; the six sets of shalwar kameez he had for the winter and summer. It even tells you that OBL’s remedy for lethargy is some chocolate and fruit. And that he was nicknamed miskeen baba by the naive child of the operative who guarded him. All this and more is available for your viewing pleasure in a ‘leaked’ 337-page report of the Abbottabad Commission’s findings, obtained and made public by Al Jazeera.
It is obvious that Pakistani authorities (the government and military) did not want to officially make the report public upon its conclusion, since it places the blame entirely on them for failing to develop any reliable intelligence that would have helped track down the world’s most-wanted terrorist or the raid that took him out. Making it public would mean the powers that be would once again feel pressure to explain their lapses.
Without holding back, the report describes the lazy approach of local security officials towards their duties (words used are “unhurried and laidback”) and also underscores that “the disconnect between the civilian and intelligence administration seems to have been complete”. While it does not establish Pakistan’s complicity in hiding OBL, it does highlight a complete communication breakdown between our security agencies, along with an almost sluggish attitude towards gathering intelligence that could have prevented this national embarrassment.
But while the commission’s observations do confirm one’s suspicions of the military’s handling (or lack thereof) of the incident, apart from a request to offer the nation an apology, no name has been spotlighted in being responsible for the “national tragedy”. How far can this unwillingness to bring those responsible to task continue?
The entire episode reeks of an absence of ministerial responsibility — a concept alien to our country. From the list of “national tragedies” that have befallen us, there is not one where a person at the helm of affairs has stepped down. The need for someone to take responsibility and step down to set a precedent is as great now as it was two years ago, when it came to light that OBL took refuge in Pakistan for nearly a decade and the US conducted a raid without our security agencies having a clue that it was being planned.
If May 2 is, as the report terms it, “the biggest failure [of national security] since 1971”, now is the time to act. Indeed, this report is not the “end of the world” for Pakistan. But it should be reason enough for there to be a review and restructuring of our military and civilian agencies? The current parliament needs to take this matter seriously, and be dynamically involved in drafting policies of national security. There has to be greater parliamentary oversight of the national security and intelligence apparatus, as should be the case in ever democracy.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 11th, 2013.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (47)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1672385156-0/Andrew-Tate-(1)1672385156-0-165x106.webp "article")
The times are most trying for The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and their exercise with regard to improving bilateral relations with The Republic of India is being retarded by hawks in the system.This is true in case of of both the nations but with changing times progressive and positives moves are needed on the political, diplomatic and economic front. India has suffered on account of terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab as well as faced the brunt of the religious fundamentalists as a Secular and Democratic nation. Pakistan that is now an apparently developing democracy has to face terrorism and religious fundamentalism which is not easy to tackle. There have to be the greatest diplomatic restraints to be exercised from either sides and hawkish provocations need to be ignored. Then alone is trust and amity possible.
@excalibur: yah OBL was found in UAE,brought to Abottabad for US.
@ manoj joshi
This would surely put your rabid vitriol to rest if you have any remorse or shame left and substantiates my position so comprehensively and timely for rectifying you who is in self denial. TIMES OF INDIA July 14,2013 Govt behind Parliament attack, 26/11: Ishrat probe officer The officer said that the terror attacks were set up "with the objective of strengthening the counter-terror legislation (sic)". RELATED Ishrat Jahan case: Senior Gujarat IPS officer declared absconder Supreme Court rejects Pandey's plea in Ishrat Jahan case Contempt petition filed against Jaitley in Ishrat Jahan case Guilty should be punished, facts are facts: Shinde on Ishrat Jahan ca... We are probing all angles in Ishrat Jahan case: CBI director NEW DELHI: In what is certain to escalate the already vicious fight between the CBI and theIB over the IshratJahan "fake encounter case", a former home ministry officer has alleged that a member of the CBI-SIT team had accused incumbent governments of "orchestrating" the terror attack on Parliament and the 26/11 carnage in Mumbai.
R V S Mani, who as home ministry under-secretary signed the affidavits submitted in court in the alleged encounter case, has said thatSatish Verma, until recently a part of the CBI-SIT probe team, told him that both the terror attacks were set up "with the objective of strengthening the counter-terror legislation (sic)".
Mani has said that Verma "...narrated that the 13.12. 2001(attack on Parliament) was followed by Pota (Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act) and 26/11 2008 (terrorists' siege of Mumbai) was followed by amendment to the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act)."
The official has alleged Verma levelled the damaging charge while debunking IB's inputs labelling the three killed with Ishrat in the June 2004 encounter as Lashkar terrorists.ex
@excalibur: You seem to be a hardliner supporting the fundamentalists. You antipathy for India continues like that of a canine for the felines or that of the wild boars and domestic pigs towards cleanliness. All right carry on and see destiny yourself.
'@ manoj joshi /sharma/hedgefunder
The TRUTH of India's venomous designs against Pakistan has been Expose by your own Home Office's undersecretary Mani today after which the whole of India should drown into the Indian Ocean if they have any iota of shame at all
Dont show up in these columns anymore we hate snakes
@Hedgefunder
I do not wish to compound your misery and inferiority complex by citing my international education and Ivy League research credentials.
Glossing over the facts and trying to side step the categorical points mentioned by me will not get you the kind of shallow mutual admiration club you have with your fellow Indian Manoj Joshi.
It is indeed the internet age and the Indian deception lay exposed and in tatters/ Unlike Jinnah who took a bit of time to see through the Congress designs and the typical Indian character and move on to Pakistan.
Mukti Bahini and Indian nexus and Indira Gandhi's rabid comments are widely known and her mindless take on the Two Nation Theory gets a slap every day since the creation of Bangladesh which she grandly assumed will merge with West Bengal. Kashmir is yet another stigma and a festering indictment of the Indian disease
@Hedgefunder: Thank you for your prudence and unbiased statement.
@excalbur: Incorrect and a prejudiced analysis. RSS does not indulge in such criminal anti-human activities.
@excalbur: You need a serious reality check ! As to your educational background is unknown but definitely extremely flawed too ! Wake up Man , learn to face facts staring in your face and acknowledge the facts, as to some of your historical facts , well ! I know that with Pakistani education system and curriculums this has never been important, as whichever Rulers were in charge they decided as to their selective version of history, hence people have never really been educated with any reality nor facts ! However in this day and age, internet is there for info, if only one is willing to bother. No doubt that there are certain sites that even in your version of democracy they are still blocked too ! Ever wondered as to why Bangladesh was created and the reasons behind them? After all they too were your fellow Muslims , and yet they were treated as second class citizens and currently other ethnic communities in Pakistan are facing same problems ! Does ring any alarm bells as to where the Nation is heading ? Guess not !
@ manoj joshi
RSS cann ot be compared to the Muslim League , it an only be compared to the TTP. We may compare Congress with the Muslim League though
As for Kandahar / Mumbai it is a normal reaction of freedom fighters in Kashmir who have been brutally suppressed by India since 1947 in total defiance of UN Resolutions and \Nehru's commitment.to the world. The creation of Bangla desh and the role of India in it as also the ongoing activities of RAW in Afghanistan and Baluchistan are documented facts
Elimination of Karkare , Godhra , Babri masjid, Golden Temple , refusal of India to let Pakistan examine the Mumbai witnesses cannot be condoned.
Please dont be in self denial when you talk of friendship. Who can trust India ?
@excalibur: The RSS are no monsters for this will be like calling the Muslim League in Pakistan the same. They have their ideology which may not be acceptable to many including myself who too happens to be a Hindu. India has suffered on account of terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir which is now under control. Also religious fundamentalism has been the biggest menace.
@excalibur: Our aim is to promote Indo-Pak amity and acts like those of Osama Bin Laden have been detrimental to the same. The Kandhahar Hijacking and Attack on Mumbai are all reminders of the nefarious acts done by Osama and his cronies.
@ manoj joshi India
Thank you for your long winded Bhashan that we can do without. Suffice it to say that you need to do some introspection and take care of India with the RSS and BJP monsters
Dont believe in what your masters tell you about OBL He was neither in Pakistan or elsewhere as he died before 2002 and the Americans wanted a face saving exit from their nonsensical adventurism in Afghanistan and for the Obama re election stunt. Cant blame you Indians who are always quite gullible to the mildest of propaganda by the West.as it suits your own designs.BTW the entire SEALS team was eliminated subsequently in Kabul by a sheer helicopter 'accident ' Sure you do not need that to be explained to you
Dead men tell no tales whether OBL or the SEALS
Osama Bin Laden has been one of the greatest enemies of humanity and his liquidation was needed in the interest of humanity. The person no doubt has been a cause of embarrassment and diplomatic humiliation for Pakistan as he had enjoyed a patronage a long period within Pakistan wherein the US too had their connivance. He (Osama Bin Laden) was the Frank stein Monster that was the creation of The United States of America and his allies and the aim behind fanning the Jehadis and Taliban was to destroy the Communist regime in Afghanistan which they did but for a rather heavy price. The US attack no doubt was not known to the Pakistani authorities who perhaps may not have been all that cooperative with the US. But now when the evil is dead the next step ought to be towards developing an Islamic nation into a modern, progressive, democratic state. There has been a prevailing perception that an Islamic state cannot really become a democracy. Instead of trying to oppose any such argument or negate any such perception the appropriate solution lies in evolving into a democratic nation and proving all critics wrong. This is the exercise the Government as well as the people of Pakistan must work towards with an earnest will to excel and prove their mettle which although not an easy task is neither impossible. Criticism of the past or an analysis of history is fine to a certain extent but the future is what has to be made for which efforts have to be made in the present. There are changes in the offing in South Asia and The Islamic Republic of Pakistan too is changing for the better with a growing democracy and the people's increasing confidence in a democratic system. The completion of the last five years of the government of the Pakistan People's Party to be followed by the government of Pakistan Muslim League lead by Mohemmad Nawaz Sharif is a development that is encouraging and must be perceived with optimism. Democracy is taking a shape in Pakistan although different from other democracies of the world, but there is a change and a change towards betterment. For democracy is not just about change of governments but a system that although slow is but steady and bring in the desired progress and prosperity if implemented in the right direction. The responsibility of the present government in Pakistan is to move forward democracy as a system and nurture this plant to the next level. Reaching the level of maturity although is still miles to go in Pakistan but the journey has to continue without getting disturbed by roadblocks or any other digressions.
This report presents us quality of Commission, their members. How wise judges we has in judiciary, like wise police and military.
@ sharma
suit yourself as an Indian you cannot be blamed to live in your ' paradise; So be it
we all know your rabid hatred for Pakistan and any concocted falsehood against Pakistan always gladdens your hearts
The OBL report means nothing. The fact is OBL himself called in the Navy Seals. Did the man have a choice? Imagine a guy living with 3 wives inside a compound for nine years! That's a torture worst than waterboarding or being in solitary confinement in Gutanamo Bay. He had to do what he did
Your expectation that due to leakage of this report some one will be stepping forward to accept the responsibility just forget it. Its a wishful thinking which Can never be fulfilled in a society like Pakistan. A society where separation of half country did not spark sense of guilt how a small incident will ignite any guilt feeling. The attitude to ignore such blunders prop up in decades and centuries. From its birth we as nation lack such attitude and no one is ready to accept mistakes. The only lonely obvious example of getting aside is of Sahibzada Yaqoob Ali Khan who left his generalship in ex East Pakistan on matter of principles. Usual attitude of Pakistani leadership is nicely explained in Punjabi word" MITTI PAOU" What ever may occur just ignore and forget it. Never ever any body has explicitly been accounted for any crime or mistake nor any one ever got punishment for such national mistake. Given such scenario for last many decades how you expect any change in the mind set in current station. Existing parliament is the product of same mind set as such do not expect any thing special.
@excalibur: Every one has aright to live in his/ her ( fool's ) paradise.
@excalibur: Every one has a right to live in his / her (fool's) paradise.
Well written Atika...
But as Pasha said...'Pakistan is a FAILING natio, if not failed!' ... Best of luck to you all. Hope the Almighty shows mercy on our nation this Ramadan and at least blesses our military-political elite and the 'hawks' are brain-and-a-half!
How gullible can we get ? The sole aim of this sordid drama in 4G warfare is to discredit the ISI and the Army, the last institution which can save Pakistan from being another Iraq/Afghanistan.
There was no OBL in Abbotabad. Even the Report concludes that it has serious doubts that OBL's persence was ever estalblished , no DNA was possible in the time claimed till burial at sea The entire SEAL team has been eliminated in a sham heli accident in Afghanistan
BB had publicly claimed that OBL was dead before 2002 We are playing into enemy hands Please stop this charade and save Pakistan from uncalled for embarrassment
If you want to blame anyone for hiding OBL - look in the mirror. Go back and read the articles and Editorials of your newspapers right after the raid - look at the behavior of your Parliament - read about the anti American protest and your Lawyers lamenting OBL death - read the ridiculous conspiracy theories and anti American blather. To this date there has never been a single protest demanding demanding that those helping OBL be held accountable. . Being caught hiding the most wanted terrorist on the planet is highly embarrassing - that's understandable. Blaming the people who caught the terrorist and ignoring those that helped him is unforgivable. You made the bed - now sleep in it.
Apart from being Pakistan's biggest failure of national security, there is another common strand that links 1971 war and Abottabad raid - Commission Reports scrutinising both failures were kept classified with no action taken and ultimately leaked by Foreign Media groups.
In Pakistan, Democracy means the politicians become the 'fall guy' for the establishment.
@Arifq: I agree 100%. this is another sad reminder of our country's helplessness in the face of unchallengeable authority
Nothing. It will be business as usual and the report will gather dust just like all other enquiry commission findings in India do.
In order to protect the actual culprits the report spreads the blame from the janitor to the ordinary cop and govt officials. The judge forgot to remember that PM Gillani did take ISI in civilian control. There was military outrage and withing hours he had to eat his own words. How could any policeman or civilian be responsible when they cannot even enter the well protected army base? This time they cannot hide the truth as Gen Mush was head of the state and Kayani was ISI chief when OBL moved to the base with his entire harem, servants and their families. The custom built fortress was built and then bulldozed for nothing but to hide the truth and the tunnel network underneath. .
This is a deliberately 'leaked' report. The whole purpose of this report drama has only one aim- to obfuscate the fact that the deep state was hand in glove with Osama in hiding him and protecting him for over nine years in Pakistan. Faced with the choices of 1) getting blamed for failure to prevent the American seal team raid deep in Pakistan and 2) Being blamed for complicity in protecting and providing sanctuary to Bin Laden, the deep state logically chose choice #1.
While no international observer believes that the Pakistani establishment did not hide Bin Laden, it is surprising to see most Pakistanis eat up the establishment story that all that they were guilty of only being incompetent. This brings back the dejavu of the A.Q. Khan drama, where all the blame for nuke proliferation was dumped on this poor chap while the complicity of the deep state was swept under the carpet, a drama that the Pakistani public just ate up.
Forget the past and concentrate on the present. It is a well known fact that Ayman Zawahri is still at large, probably put up in a safe house somewhere by his support network. What plan have the intelligence agencies put into motion to trace him, arrest him or eliminate him ? One thing is for sure, after seeing how the government conducts itself on receiving information, no one is going to inform the government about discovering him. Those interested will simply come in and eliminate him. My earnest request is to set the goal of getting him in a fixed time frame as Pakistan simply cannot afford another blow to its tattered image.
It confirms what I wrote after the raid that PAF had not made intelligent decisions regarding sensors that might provide its pilots situational awareness. The sad part is that you do not get a sense a realization by the PAF leadership even after all this.
http://imranhkhan.com/2011/05/05/remote-acoustic-detection-of-aircraft/
@Arifq: I agree. You have said it: this report is a hogwash for a country run by establishment, intelligence agencies and local police. It is something like in one of Wodehouse's short stories where the fourth dimension is blamed.
There has to be greater parliamentary oversight of the national security and intelligence apparatus, as should be the case in ever democracy?
Every? I think there should be greater editorial oversight of the editorials you publish with incorrect grammar, punctuation and spellings. And as is this case with every respectable newspaper the life and style editor should stick to life and style topics.
The report makes it clear that Governance in Pakistan ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ is an optical illusion.
Gist of the report, Pakistani security apparatus was incompetent, negligent but not complicit, that is the best they could do? Commission report authors are no different from those who failed to notice the world's most wanted terrorist residing, roaming, procreating in Pakistan for a good 9 years, undetected! I do not believe in conspiracy theories, but this report is a hogwash for a country run by establishment, intelligence agencies and local police.
Dont know if i should laugh or cry at this report
The problem here is rather simple, as Islamabad actually has very little say in the matters of this importance and always towed the line, as GHQ sees fit, otherwise why were the ISI and the Army not held responsible for serious breach of national security by the Americans ? That's the first part, and then follows the normal charade of not acknowledging the actual facts nor seriously wanting to assist in the process of this report. Why did it take so long for the 335 pages to actually see the light of the day, apart from certain pages removed by the very people whose responsibility it was to provide the Nation's security ! This Democracy is a sham and will always remain as such, until the people actually start asking questions and demand accountability of their Armed forces and the Government too !
Directly after the OBL event all the talking heads said it could only be one of two things, incompetence or being complicit ..................... in reality, classic Hobsons choice.
"While it does not establish Pakistan’s complicity in hiding OBL..."
I find it incredible that anyone would still believe that some part of the Pakistani establishment did not have a hand in sheltering Osama. This Pakistani trait of living in denial is quite unbelievable.
@mkz: What do you mean "make them look bad" ? They are incompetent and that is based on this case alone. Calling them "bad" makes them actually look quite good.
This is a deliberately 'leaked' report. The whole purpose of this report drama has only one aim- to obfuscate the fact that the deep state was hand in glove with Osama in hiding him and protecting him for over nine years in Pakistan. Faced with the choices of 1) getting blamed for failure to prevent the American seal team raid deep in Pakistan and 2) Being blamed for complicity in protecting and providing sanctuary to Bin Laden, the deep state logically chose choice #1.
While no international observer believes that the Pakistani establishment did not hide Bin Laden, it is surprising to see most Pakistanis eat up the establishment story that all that they were guilty of only being incompetent. This brings back the dejavu of the A.Q. Khan drama, where all the blame for nuke proliferation was dumped on this poor chap while the complicity of the deep state was swept under the carpet, a drama that the Pakistani public just ate up.
So good to see you write after such a long time Atiqa. Please write more on this topic
Al Jazeera website was inaccessible for some shortly after the report was released.
It will mean nothing to Pakistan. Experience matters only to those people who are willing to learn from them.
Page 197 of the report?
Page 197 of the report, which contains part of the testimony of Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, then director of the ISI, was missing from all copies of the report that Al Jazeera obtained from multiple sources, the news channel stated.
Its too easy to make Pakistani officials look bad these bad...