May 5th, 2011
As I was browsing through news today, the headline above particularly caught my eye as it resonates with what has lately been on the mind of Pakistani people and mine. As I also mentioned in my last journal entry, the recent U.S. operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan in which Osama bin Laden was killed screams about the extent to which Pakistani sovereignty has been violated by the U.S. forces. How is it that U.S. forces travelled well into interior Pakistan, attacked a house, exchanged fire, killed a man and took off. Not only am I surprised at the audacity of the American forces, I am also unsettled by the silence of Pakistani intelligence and defensive forces while this operation was taking place.
In the most recent statement by the Pakistani top generals, Pakistani Army has warned U.S. not to carry out any such raids anymore threatening that any such future endeavors will force Pakistan to review their cooperation policies with Washington. This clearly reflects that this in response to the embarrassment that the whole operation caused for the Pakistani nation. Not only was Pakistani intelligence unaware of the offensive against Osama bin Laden, the defensive forces were also negligent in recognizing that American forces were carrying out an operation right in the middle of a suburban town which is practically half a military garrison. By the time the Pakistani troops were informed of this and they arrived at the scene, the U.S. forces had already left the scene after completing their operation and were well on their way to crossing the border over to Afghanistan.
Most of all, the mere fact that Osama bin Laden was found on Pakistani soil is the most embarrassing of all. While the army has recognized the ‘shortcoming on the part of Pakistani intelligence,’ it has clearly shown a sentiment of anger towards this U.S. offensive. Violating the sovereignty of Pakistan could very mean that in the future Indian forces could cross over, attack and return. This is a dangerous notion as it would result in nothing but full-fledged war!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110505/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_bin_laden