Sacrificing Our TODAY for the World's TOMORROW
FATA is "Federally Administered Tribal Area" of Pakistan; consisting of 7 Agencies and 6 F.Rs; with a 27000 Sq Km area and 4.5 m population.
MYTH: FATA is the HUB of militancy, terrorism and unrest in Afghanistan.
REALITY: FATA is the worst "VICTIM of Militancy”. Thousands of Civilians dead & injured; Hundreds of Schools destroyed; Thousands of homes raised to ground; 40% population displaced from homes.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Hunt for Mulla Omar, Zawahiri - By Hamid Mir (The News, 5 May 2011)

Courtesy: Daily "The News", 5 May 2011
Hunt for Mulla Omar, Zawahiri
Hamid MiISLAMABAD: Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is dead but many people still think he is not a loser. His death has created more mistrust between his enemies. Osama bin Laden clearly said many times before his death that all US allies were equally his enemies. He openly declared Jihad against the Pakistani rulers and Pakistan Army many times but after his death it was proved that Pakistan is no longer a trusted ally of USA.
The CIA chief has clearly said the US did not inform Pakistan about the operation to hunt Osama bin Laden because it feared the Pakistani authorities would alert him. One top Pakistani government official commented that the statement of the CIA chief is a “slap in the face of the Pakistan Army which has lost more than 3500 soldiers in the last few years in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda”.

Some pro-al-Qaeda banned outfits in Pakistan are very happy over the humiliation of the Pakistani security agencies at the hands of the CIA. The leaders of these banned outfits were calling media offices on Wednesday to say the USA will now steal our nuclear weapons and our security forces will be able to do nothing. There is a general impression among common Pakistanis that the US killed Osama with the quiet support of Pakistan but the statement of the CIA chief has forced the Pakistani masses to ask questions about the competence of their security forces.
Both US and Pakistani sources have confirmed that American helicopters entered Pakistani airspace from Eastern Afghanistan and used sophisticated technology to jam Pakistan’s radar system; even then, top Pakistani military leaders came to know about the presence of unknown helicopters only at around 12:30 on Sunday night. One security official reached the spot in Hashmi colony at around 1 am in the night when the action was going on. He thought it was a Pakistani operation but locals told him that the commandos were not Pakistanis.
This semi-rural area of Hashmi colony is not more than one kilometre from the Pakistan Military Academy. It’s not a garrison area. No field unit of the Pakistan Army is deployed there. High compound walls are not something unusual in this conservative area and nobody suspected that Osama would be hiding there despite the fact that this area was raided by the ISI in 2004. Local security official had no idea that this operation was going on against Osama bin Laden.
The security official informed his high-ups that the Americans have landed in the area. Within a few minutes, the Pakistan Air Force was alerted but it was too late because by that time American commandos had completed their mission and left Abbottabad.
The Pakistani authorities came to know about the reality when a young 10-year old girl Safia informed them that the Americans had killed her father Osama bin Laden. She only saw Americans dragging the dead body of Osama from the stairs. These security officials were not aware that the death of Osama just one kilometre from the PMA would create a lot of problems for Pakistan. If Osama was really hiding in this area without the knowledge of anyone in the secret agencies then it was a very well calculated risk. Whoever though nobody would suspect bin Laden in an area which is very close to PMA and which was already raided in 2004 calculated wrong.
One federal minister told me “Osama bin Laden is smiling even after his death because his enemies even dreaded his dead body; they were afraid to bury him, they threw his dead body in the sea just to evade a mausoleum and the next day the CIA chief’s statement threw away the alliance between Pakistan and the USA into another sea; now we cannot say publicly that the US is a friend of Pakistan, because nobody will trust us”.
No doubt the Americans have provided a martyr to al-Qaeda on May 2. This martyr always opposed a dialogue and alliance with the US.
The chances of a dialogue between the Taliban and the US in Afghanistan have further minimised after the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Afghan Taliban sources are claiming they never started a direct and serious dialogue with the US in the recent past but now there is no chance of any dialogue with theUS at all.
Security officials in Islamabad think after the assassination of Osama bin Laden the al-Qaeda leadership will definitely try to organise a meeting to appoint a new chief and that they should not allow al-Qaeda to reorganise in Pakistan. Top government sources in Islamabad have said: “Now we must make sure that Taliban leader Mulla Omar is not present in Pakistan, and if he is here, we must hunt him down or the US can embarrass Pakistan yet again”
It is also learnt that the Pakistani security forces will launch a massive search operation not only in Quetta but also in the no-go areas of North Waziristan soon. The aim is to catch Mulla Omar or Egyptian born Doctor Ayman al Zawahri as soon as possible if they are hiding somewhere in Pakistan.
This operation could trigger a new wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan and more innocent civilians could be killed. America is claiming victory after killing Osama bin Laden but in the coming days Pakistan will pay the price of this victory. Some sources in the Pakistani establishment think we will try to secure Quetta or North Waziristan not in the US interest but actually in our own interest because we know that after Osama the real target of the US is not Mulla Omar or Zawahri but the Pakistan Army and we can secure the reputation of the Army only by hunting top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders if they are hiding in Pakistan.

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Note: The viewpoint expressed in this article is solely that of the writer / news outlet. "FATA Awareness Initiative" Team may not agree with the opinion presented.
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