Pakistan's bluff on Osama called yet again, this time by its ex-defence minister

How does one decode and understand the mind-boggling claim by former Pakistani defence minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar that the entire Pakistani establishment of that time, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, then Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) knew about the presence of Osama bin Laden on their soil? The revelation that Pakistan’s civilian and military establishments knew that the world’s most wanted fugitive Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan before the US Navy Seals got him, seems to come as a surprise to the world, given Pakistan’s penchant for lying on all matters, however trivial or significant. The revelation hardly comes as a surprise from a nation, which is perennially indifferent to the concerns of the world on the issue of terrorism. [caption id=“attachment_2256600” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] reuters[/caption] This strips naked the lies of General Pervez Musharraf, who went on to confirm that he was “five hundred percent sure” that he did not know and no one in the Pakistani army knew of Osama’s presence in Abbottabad. The former defence minister’s statements didn’t just reveal that the Pakistan army knew about Osama’s whereabouts. He is also on record mentioning that the Pakistan Army and “other forces” knew about it. The statement by former Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik has also proven to be a big lie on the Osama issue after Mukhtar’s statement came to light. What is truly surprising after all this is the trust that a country like Pakistan still commands from a country like the US and manages to attract huge funds and military assistance. Also surprising is the inaction on the part of the world organisations like the UN with regard to declaring Pakistan a failed State and a terror State. There was, in fact, no possibility of the Pakistan army not knowing that Osama Bin Laden was living just about 800 yards from the Army Cantonment in Abbottabad. Also unimaginable is the fact that Osama’s third wife gave birth to two of their three children in a hospital near Abbottabad with Pakistan army being in the dark. Leon Panetta, former CIA Director and Carlotta Gall, the New York Times Correspondent who is considered an authority on Pakistan, have spelt out their assessments on Pakistan Army being in the know about Osama’s location. This also clearly explains why Pakistan, which has successfully managed to scuttle talks with India thrice in the recent past, does not want to have a dialogue with the present Indian government, which has time and again been insisting on terror being the major subject of discussions, when it is custodian of such secrets, waiting to surface one-by-one. The world seems to be patiently waiting for more such revelations to emerge before pronouncing their verdict on Pakistan. The delay by the world community in acting against Pakistan is sure to cost the world dearly. The concerns get terribly amplified with a duplicitous country like Pakistan which has nuclear capabilities. Pakistan’s all weather friend China, which has recently pledged 46 billion dollars worth of investment in Pakistan, will also be bestowed with the opportunity to realise its folly of siding with a nation like Pakistan which seems to be in the preparatory stage of Links with the Uighurs. The US too will realise that Pakistan was never a strategic ally when something substantiating Pakistan’s direct involvement in a major activity against US interests emerges in future. But when that time comes, it may be too late to contain the multi-headed monster that Pakistan is taming. The sooner the world realises the urgency to check the direction the policy of Pakistan, under the supervision of the Army, is heading towards, the better it will be for world peace.