Osama bin Laden’s death does not spell justice

May 04, 2011 Letters

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Dear Sir,
Americans certainly have all the reasons to celebrate the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and the USA rightly commends and appreciate the role of its commandos and intelligence agency in successfully and surgically carrying out this operation.
The peace-loving people of entire world are also right in joining and sharing the satisfaction of USA over the ‘silencing’  of bin Laden who has been rightly called by Pakistani President Zardari (in an Article in prominent US media on Tuesday) the greatest evil of the new millennium.
But Governments of USA and Pakistan are wrong in giving an impression that complete justice has been done to the USA and Pakistan (in whose titles  criminal cases are booked and tried in the courts of USA and Pakistan) and the victims of 9/11 and to the Allies of USA in ‘global war against terrorism’.
No doubt a very important and major element of justice has been done by killing bin Laden (the mastermind of 9/11) but complete and effective justice  will be done only when the Supreme Court of Pakistan will be moved to prosecute the protectors of bin Laden as given below in view of the following:-
(1)-   Zardari is wrong  in saying that – “[Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing]”.
Because it is not merely US media but many US Congressmen and even members of US Government (Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Security Advisor John Brennan etc.) have been watched on TV during their press briefings to have made this allegation. Their arguments are simple and convincing to the whole world that how could bin Laden live at Abbottabad so conspicuously (with his house eight times bigger than houses in neighbourhood) at merely 100 yards away from military establishment and in NCR (National Capital Region) at only 35 miles away from Pakistan’s national capital, Islamabad.
(2)- Normally with bin Laden (who was inactive due to living in a house in NCR and near to a military establishment for years at Abbotabad without, as reported in media, internet or telephones and having only carrier communication and was irrelevant to present day Islamic world as he was nowhere in ongoing democratic uprising in NAME, North Africa and Middle East,  countries) killed, the Governments of Pakistan and USA and even its Allies would have been justified in filing the ‘Final Report’ in the matter of 9/11. But unfortunately things are not so simple.
(3)-  Allies of USA  have been so repeatedly mentioned here,  not due the  mere reason that for a decade they have been US partners in Afghanistan and in capturing and killing of bin Laden under UN mandate, but also due to the fact that they  are Allies of USA in NAME countries  (where in one such country Libya,  USA is already involved militarily after firing about 112 cruise missiles and other attacks) and where they all are still in the thick of the battle where they are bound to face the issue of Islamic radicalism (though may not be of bin Laden variety but of Pakistan variety).
(4)-  Zardari is only partially right in saying that – “[Pakistan is a model to the entire Islamic world on what can be accomplished in giving hope to our people and opportunity to our children]”. Pakistan is certainly a model to the Islamic world where
after military rule in order to give hope to the people of Pakistan and to provide opportunity to their children, democracy is being again tried in Pakistan.
But at the same time Pakistan is also a model to the Islamic world that how fundamentalists infiltrate in State apparatus of Muslim country so that a situation arises (such as alleged by Americans) which led to the conspicuous residence of Laden within 100 yards of military establishment and within NCR.
(5)- Zardari should not be confused with the people of Pakistan. Though as political leader he is sensitive to the interests of Pakistanis but as the head of the State he also tries to defend the functionaries of State, though some times unethically and illegally as in this case of the mystery of bin Laden’s residence in Abbottabad.
(6)- Therefore people of USA (including  law supporting persons  from media, politicians, intellectuals, academicians, religious leaders etc) should mobilize US Government  and Congress to ensure that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is moved so that the protectors of bin Laden (people or State functionaries who helped by their acts of commission or omission the residence of Laden for years at Abbottabad) are  prosecuted and punished.
(7)-  This will go a long way  in the interest of providing complete justice to the victims of 9/11 who otherwise will feel (cheated and betrayed) like the victims of November 26, 2008 Mumbai attack where coward India (notwithstanding some paper tigers in Mumbai like Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) could not bring the accomplices named by David Headley (US citizen who allegedly scouted locations and provided advance support for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack and who agreed to plead guilty for his role in exchange for avoiding the death penalty) to justice either in the courts of India or Pakistan.
On the contrary, coward India took the refuge in legally untenable and absurd argument that Headley is protected by US Laws as he has turned approver.  Though everybody knows that as per US laws, only approver gets immunity from such punishment and not the other accused who are complicit in terrorist activities named by approver.
(8)-  Zardari has rightly said that – “[Pakistan has paid an enormous price for its stand against terrorism. More of our soldiers have died than all of NATO’s casualties combined. Two thousand police officers, as many as 30,000 innocent civilians and a generation of social progress for our people have been lost.
The war on terrorism is as much Pakistan’s war as it is America’s. And though it may have started with bin Laden, the forces of modernity and moderation remain under serious threat]”.
(9)- Moreover USA (involved in bringing democracy in NAME countries) owes it to the people of democratic Pakistan too that the people who were complicit in hiding the residence of bin Laden in Abbottabad are brought to justice through Pakistan judiciary. This will go a long way in developing an international mechanism to bring pressure on the people and State functionaries of all the countries of the world wherever such accomplices of terrorist will try to indulge in such dangerous activities in future.
(10)- Of course, it is expected that Government and the people of Pakistan should not wait for USA to do it and instead should move their Supreme Court for bringing the protectors of bin Laden to book who all have caused such immense injury to Pakistan too.
(11)- The Supreme Court of Pakistan  will also be able to remove one more doubt (as has been voiced in media) from the minds of the entire world that some officials from USA also knew about bin Laden’s residence at Abbottabad.
Therefore USA, Pakistan and the rest of the world  should not remain content with only martial remedy in this matter but should also invoke civil remedies through Supreme Court of Pakistan in order to secure complete and effective justice to not only victims of 9/11 but also in the interest of democracy and ‘global war against terrorism’.
Hem Raj Jain

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