Time to hold Pakistan to account? Open Thread on Osama

From a BBC report

‎”..We had located Bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan”

How many of our channels will highlight this info?

Will America now declare Pakistan a terrorist state?  Will Pakistan finally own up to supporting global jihadi terrorism & aiding/ abetting attacks against India?

Is it not time to hold Pakistan to account? …or – as Sh Jay Bhattacharjee put it in an email to me – “will one of the world’s most criminal countries going to get away scot free, once again ?”

Also read: “All roads lead to Islamabad…“, All Roads lead to Pakistan..once again and Pearl Harbour, 26/11 and Another Day of Infamy

P.S. This is hardly encouraging: Pak authorities keep mum on Osama’s killing

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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17 Responses

  1. d2thdr says:

    Can you not see? America Britain wanted to disclose death of Bin Laden a day after the murder of Gaddafi and his family. So the global backlash was minimal.

    After living in the west( even currently) let me tell you this. When will Indians stop waiting for Americas or west’s approval for declaring pakistan a terrorist state. It wont happen. Pakistan is a terrorist state and India should declare that, ceasing discussions about everything with a terrorist state.

    Indians are weak, like our country generally is perceived to be here in the west.

  2. Prakash says:

    I think all channels will discuss the story, no doubt about that whatsoever. What do they gain by not discussing?

    But I am not sure what you mean by ‘holding Pakistan to account’. Will you be kind enough to explain the benefits of any such action by any nation? What is it that you want? Some kind of emotional response or some kind of strategic response?

  3. it would be extremely naive to assume that pakistan will ever take any credible steps against radical islam / terrorism. why should they give up a barganinig tool? not only is it a bargaining tool they can use it to extracts favours etc. from india and america. what the current prime minister needs to understand is that efforts for peace are hopeless, you seriously need to be extremely gullible to believe that pak. will take legitimate actions against perpetrators of 26/11 or 9/11 for that matter. What India needs to work is in building its own capabilites, peace will not happen by trying to change pakistan or giving away Kashmir, but terror strikes will go down if India has the ability to hunt down those who mastermind such attacks against India.

    All these peace initiatives should be seen in light of the hubris of PM, i guess he is feeling too low with 2G et al and is maing a desperate attempt at polisihing his image for history. Lets hope does not make that big of a blunder as made by his predecessor Mr. Gujral (giving away RAW’s assets in pakistans, I mean this was cold blooded murder and for what?)

  4. 2bornot2b says:

    Prakash – we dont want a emotional response. What is wrong in declaring that one country has harboured terrorists and provided them a safe haven??? Would some countries have the guts to say this? Let them take the first step by stating this. Dont ask me what is the benefit. Let them say it first and let us see what happens. do you have any problem in us asking people to state the facts?

  5. Xinhua Ram says:

    From NYT: It is no surprise that the administration chose not to tell Pakistani officials. American officials believed that the compound, built in 2005, was designed for the specific purpose of hiding Bin Laden.

  6. NO they will not declare and we will sing the same old song of “Yeh dosti ham nahi chodenge….todenge dam magar…” for pak, not with pak.

  7. Dirt Digger says:

    Accountable to whom? Their Government is a sham. Their military is filled with thieving jerks. Their intelligence is a cover for the most potent terror organization. Their people are angry, ignorant, uneducated (for the most part) and callous towards any sort of change.
    Accountable to America? US knows that its spent the money down the drain and will not recover anything.
    Accountable to India? haha keep dreaming.
    Accountable to the world? Not going to happen in my life time.

  8. cricfan says:

    It doesn’t matter.

    Like India, pakistan negotiates with a gun pointed at their own head, but while everybody laughs at India’s stupidity, Pakistan has managed to convince everybody that it is insane enough to pull the trigger, so it works for them. Pakistan’s ‘islamic’ nukes make all the difference to the public threat perception in the US. Thus their relentless efforts to stockpile and keep out of US reach. Find and take their nukes away and Pak is finito.

  9. B Shantanu says:

    All: Thanks for the comments…will respond later…
    For now, a quick comment in response to Prakash’s question (#3):
    This is what I wrote in post “All Roads lead to Islamabad”:
    The message that we must forcefully repeat is this:
    * Pakistan is a state-sponsor of terrorism.
    * It is responsible for nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.
    * The ISI has been the “god-father” of Al-Qaeda and continues to support and sponsor jihadi activities, including in Kashmir.
    * Pakistan’s madrassas harbour a growing number of jihadi terrorists and fanatics who will stop at nothing in their quest for total domination.

    It is high time that the regime is recognised for what it is – a supra-terrorist organization – and dealt with appropriately.

    Also read A strategic response to terror – “Balkanization” of Pakistan?
    ***
    Separately, my latest tweet:
    Who says Kasab is a terrorist? – or something to that effect: “Who says Osama was a terrorist?'” http://bit.ly/lF6gDq

  10. v.c.krishnan says:

    Now our candle night vigils will start led by our “Aan Ka Aisa” or some crappy group like that. They will now highlight the fact that Osama Has been eliminmated without a trial.
    Regards,
    vck

  11. kharapriya says:

    I for one find it difficult to believe that Pakistan did not know about this operation to eliminate Osama. It is with their cooperation this happened; however, both sides have to maintain the lie that pakistan did not know, so that there is no muslim backlash against Pakistan.

    My guess is that the US wants to pull out of afghanistan and this will provide the reason to do so. Once that happens, pakistan will move into afghanistan and prop up the taliban. We in India are in for more fighting over Kashmir and terrorist attacks.

    If India had any sense, it would fund all the minority faction groups in Pakistan and get them involved in an endless internal war. That will engage them enough to leave us alone. We know this from past experience. When the Pakistan army was engaged in fighting on the western frontier, violence in Kashmir went down.

  12. B Shantanu says:

    MUST READ..PAK PERFIDY WILL HAVE NO ENDURING IMPACT ON ITS TIES WITH US by B Raman:
    13. India and Indians, who are now gloating over the discomfiture of Pakistan, will find that they have become a sucker once again. As we became in 1993 when Nasir’s collusion with the Mujahideen was discovered. As we became in 2001 when Ahmed’s collusion with the Afghan Taliban was discovered.

    14, Let us guard ourselves against unwarranted euphoria over Pakistan’s discomfiture. Let us think hard what we should do and how to do it.Let us not indulge in pathetic talk of what the US should do for us.

    15.The dramatic US success was made possible by a dramatic improvement in the US HUMINT capability and by its spectacular covert action capability.

    16. We have neither. Our HUMINT capability is average, but not extraordinary. Our covert action capability has been non-existent since 1997.Let us revamp both—urgently and visibly. Let a message radiate from Delhi that we want peace with Pakistan, but we are prepared to act on our own in our own way and through our own capabilities should covert action on the ground become necessary.

    17. Pakistan has been waging its terrorist campaign against India relentlessly because it knows we have neither the political will nor the covert action capability to retaliate. Let the political will be born again which will make Indira Gandhi proud of us in high heaven. Let our covert action capability be re-created. To hell with what the world thinks of our actions.

  13. shyam says:

    Osama was killed though he was not armed and did not fight back. Americans know that if they take him alive, they will have to face far more problems than what they have at hand. India on the other hand, caught the Jewels of Bharat “Kasab” and “Guru” and playing politics. We need steel balls to kill these guys and MMS an SG and RG and chichi uncle don’t have them. Mera bharat mahan

  14. Malavika says:

    Now, Osama Bin Laden’s daughter claims that he was captured and killed.

    White house clarified that Osama was not armed.

    Perhaps our NGO’s(fattened by oil and missionary money) will demand justice for Osama, since he was killed in ‘cold blood’ without any due process.

    Perhaps they will go to UN against Guantanamo and Torture.

  15. twistleton says:

    All this only proves that the US is a cold-blooded monster, a perverse Parvati who killed her own son Ganesha, when he threatened the great Lord Shiva…

    I don’t know how far ‘Indian’ it is to bay for the blood of our enemies. So macabre and lurid. Yes action is essential, but what will violence beget but violence. It is not for any humanitarian reason that the GoI will think a thousand times before launching any hasty measure of ‘retribution’ on Pakistan, but for the very simple and sufficient reason of saving my skin and yours.

    Its human nature to notice and state the obvious, however isn’t it just a little short-sighted to appreciate the US for exercising its hard power, while never fully appreciating the reach and depth of its soft power?

  16. Indian says:

    @twistleton
    It seems you are very desparate to malign Hindus and thier deities by using derogatory words which was not required in the above discussion. Many worships Ma parvati and his son Ganesha, you know it, and it seems intentional. I am not sensitive but opposing those who are very desperate to defame Hindus and Hinduism.

  17. B Shantanu says:

    Excerpts from an interview of Christine Fair, “For Pakistan, defeat is that moment when it can no longer resist India”, Jul 27, 2014 by Indrani Bagchi:

    Q: You speak about the idea of ‘jihad’ being central to Pakistan’s way of war.
    A: It’s surprising just how much jihad and Islam is actually in their publications. If the US army or India were to do this, it would be so controversial. What Pakistan is trying to do is use jihad to mobilize and to boost the morale of their troops so they are on perpetual war footing with India.
    It’s kind of demoralizing if you think you can’t actually win against India. So the use of jihad is a way to make it seem as if everything the Pakistan army does is Islamically justified. For example, they say India started every war. Therefore they describe their response to these wars as defence of jihad.

    Q: How do they refer to India?
    A: They always pitch India as a “Hindu”nation. This is critical to them because they are settling up this civilization battle. Every army chief says the two-nation theory is their ideology and the army protects their ideology and geography.

    Q: Is there an interest in getting another special envoy for Kashmir in the US administration?

    A:…Pakistan is actually an ideological state. The Kashmir issue is not causal, it’s symptomatic. Pakistan is not a security seeking state in which we can satisfy their insecurities. Instead it’s an ideological state. I lay out a structure for containing Pakistan, because there is nothing in our toolbox that will reshape it.

    Q: What is your assessment of Pakistan’s North Waziristan operation, Zarb-e-azb?
    A: It is Zarb-e-bakwas. We have seen it before. To me it is an awful lot like what happened in 2009 in South Waziristan. They gave months of warning; any terrorist worth his salt has already left either with the internal refugees or – as was the desired effect – into Afghanistan.
    What most people don’t know is Senator Levin put in a proviso in FY 2015 that says if the Pakistanis don’t do an operation in North Waziristan we’re not going to give them $300 or $900 million. Now that they are done with this operation, the Pakistanis are making an argument in Washington DC that they should be given continued coalition support.

    This is outrageous. They are creating and sustaining an insurgency , then they ask for compensation to protect the border. They’re actually asking for money to protect them from their own Frankenstein’s monster.

    Q: Will America give in?
    A: I think they will. The irony is this: the Americans will help them kill as many terrorists as they will let them. But the Americans won’t make them stop producing more terrorists. They (Pakistanis) have taken $30 billion from us, they still kill our troops and we still pay the cheques. Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad and still the cheques are coming.