The news of the death of Osama Bin Laden on 2/5/2011 (1/5/2011 in USA) in Abbottabad brought cheers to Americans and there were celebrations outside White House and Ground Zero. Barack Obama said it was a historic day for America and justice has been done. Osama Bin Laden was not hiding in some remote mountain but in a building next to military academy, or 500-800 metres away from military academy, in a city. America wanted Osama Bin Laden dead or alive for almost a decade. The building was a mansion without telephone or internet and with 12-16 feet walls built in 2005. For long Americans bombed Waziristan and some areas in Afghanistan hoping to kill Osama Bin Laden. Perhaps they were misled.
Osama Bin Laden could not have remained in Pakistan without Pakistani army’s support. Many terrorists are trained in Pakistan. Pakistan had denied that Osama Bin Laden was living in Pakistan. There were long periods when nothing was heard of Osama Bin Laden and sometimes it was thought that he was dead.
Did Pakistan know about the operation by Navy Seals and CIA against Osama Bin Laden? One view is that the operation could not have been carried out without some involvement of ISI or Pakistani armed forces. Pakistan has not claimed any credit to avoid repercussions from its people and terrorists. Another view is that if Pakistan knew about it Osama Bin Laden would have been tipped off. In the past USA had shared intelligence with Pakistan and Osama Bin Laden had escaped by the skin of teeth. When the helicopters took off USA jammed Pakistani radars. Osama Bin Laden was killed. His body was taken to Bagram. It is said that Saudi Arabia refused to accept his body. Osama Bin Laden was buried at sea to avoid his tomb becoming a shrine for his followers.
When USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 many Arabs went there to fight the Russians. USA trained them. Osama Bin Laden was in Afghanistan. He founded Al Qaeda. In 1989 USSR withdrew from Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden started to target USA. Blowing up of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 invited retaliation from USA. He survived missile attack. When 9/11 happened Osama Bin Laden had celebrated. Americans bombed Afghanistan and deposed Taliban. They bombed Tora Bora to kill Osama Bin Laden but he had escaped, presumably with the help of Pakistani military. Over the years Al Qaeda was weakened.
Pervez Musharraf claims USA violated Pakistani sovereignty. When he was president he allowed USA to have bases in Pakistan.
India wants Pakistan to hand over terrorists wanted for 26/11 and so far Pakistan has not obliged. The terrorists are freely moving in Pakistan. It is unlikely that India will do what USA did. India’s policy has been inconsistent. Sometimes it is said no talks with Pakistan till cross border terrorism is stopped and people wanted in India are handed over to India. Sometimes it is said talks will go on irrespective of terrorism and there is no alternative to talks. There was cricket diplomacy. India is unable to act tough even with Somali pirates.
Breaking News is when the news breaks out during a bulletin and till the next headlines and can not be for more than one hour in any case. It is ridiculous to show something as Breaking News after 12 hours or more. NDTV 24×7, BBC, CNN, CNN-IBN and some other channels should take note of that.