Sunday, May 15, 2011

Aftermath of OBL's killing;Shedding Light on Pakistani and the American Narratives

                                                          


While the world celebrates the death of the most wanted terror mastermind, in a US Navy Seal Operation in Abbotabad, the government and security establishment in Islamabad is worried about other things. Pakistan has slammed US for violating its sovereignty as a result of the  unilateral American Navy Seal operation on its territory. Many in Pakistan believe US could have at least carried out a joint operation, with the Pakistani forces, to take out OBL in his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbotabad. 
Here the mistrust between the two allies comes into play. Analysts and Law makers in US are demanding that Pakistan should explain that how was it possible for OBL to remain in a hideout which was in close proximity to Kakul Military Academy without letting any one in the Pakistani security establishment know about his presence, thus many fingers are being pointed at Pakistan right now. However as reflected in the speech of Prime Minister Gillani, ISI (Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency) has broken all relations with the CIA. Rumor is spreading amongst the Pakistani public that if the Americans can literally sneak into their territory and carry out this operation without any hindrance they might also be able to take on the Pakistani nukes. Since the Rymond Davis episode the relations between the ISI and CIA have gradually deteriorated to such a level of mistrust that in  a recent interview the CIA chief Leon E Panettaa  claimed that he feared that letting the Pakistani government know about the presence of OBL in Abbotabad would increase the chances of the news being leaked to OBL himself. 
As the stake holders of the region try to protect their interests in Afghanistan, Pakistani government, the opposition and the security establishment should come up with their own unanimous narrative so that the relationship with US can be  properly defined.
Meanwhile the US needs to consider that Pakistan as an ally has suffered 3000 military casualties in this war on terror (more than the coalition casualties in Afghanistan), it has suffered around 30,000 civilian deaths in the last decade ,has helped directly or indirectly in capturing around 600 most wanted terror suspects and most important of all Pakistan shared  intelligence ,with US, about Bin Laden's courier in early 2009 which ultimately led to this US Navy Seal operation . Without this support US would have never achieved what it achieved till now in War On Terror. 

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