The US Special Forces conducted Abbottabad operation on May 2, 2011, and on May 5, I wrote in my column titled “After Osama” (Jang) that: “Al-Qaeda is a fact and its head Osama bin Laden is alive. For the last one decade I am writing in support of this fact and paid a heavy price for it. And again, I am ready to pay for this claim. Now in the coming days there will be rush of hearsay. Our government and journalists specialised in this field will be spreading rumours. Lies will be told and repeated with such confidence that those who try to utter the truth will be difficult to hear. But it’s a fact that our government shared intelligence with the US and that this whole operation was conducted with Pakistan’s full consent.”
In the next week I tried to get information from people in power or those in the know but failed. The government and establishment spread lies through their blue-eyed journalists. On May 8, about two dozen journalists were invited to a GHQ briefing and in response of which I wrote in my column titled, “Murder of Osama: a few questions” (Jang, May 10): “The very next day after Osama’s assassination I had a discussion with the spokesperson of the government Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. I called the government’s stance a lie and she tried to defend it. In the conclusion of the programme I requested that the government refrain from this stance as this would result in humiliation. She uttered a few words about official limitations and left the programme. After two days in an army briefing for journalists, I could not resist commenting that I was leaving with all my questions unanswered. I still advocate that the official stance on this matter could result in nothing but complete embarrassment for the country. The foreign office once again presented its statements full of contradictions because of which Pakistan’s image was further tainted.”
I registered my reservations in the Abbottabad Commission about the official policy and unanswered questions. The government claimed that this operation was conducted without its knowledge and permission. My question is if this is true then why did President Obama call Zardari; why did Hillary Clinton thank the Pakistani government in her first statement?
If the official stance had been that everything was conducted with the consent of Pakistan, it would be easy to defend the case. Those who accuse Pakistan of being a patron of terrorists could not stand against this vital question: how a state could be termed a patron of terrorists who helped to get the highest value target? The international media is accusing Pakistani officials of providing safe heavens to Osama and since Al Qaeda was aware of these facts, it became more hostile towards Pakistan.
It also raised serious questions about the military capability of Pakistan. People started asking that if India used the same stealth technology to launch an attack on Kahuta what would our position be.
Mansoor Ijaz’s claims have given birth to new questions about May 2. I protested that the likes of Mansoor Ijaz must not be portrayed as a hero as this would create serious complications for security and national institutions. But this was done to achieve a limited objective to banish Husain Haqqani. Ijaz started his destructive plot to create confusion and mistrust among national institutions, which could ultimately weaken Pakistan.
Apparently the ISPR and presidency contradict these claims and seem to be on the same page but in private, spokespersons of both claim the other is wrong. Now the responsibility of the Abbottabad Commission has increased. All we can do is to appeal to the commission to reveal the real facts to help reduce the confusion which could lead to a collision of the institutions, and to help improve the country’s global image.

The writer works for Geo TV. Email: saleem.safi@janggroup. com.pk
source: Abbottabad raid