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Backlash in Pakistan 

Tuesday, 10 May 2011 12:00 Ryan Mauro 

 
<http://www.rightsidenews.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,e26b6e98bcad1
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<http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011051013481/world/terrorism/backlash-in-paki
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The Bin Laden raid has caused a fierce backlash in Pakistan as the U.S. is
accused of violating the country's sovereignty. The Pakistani government now
faces enormous pressure, at home and from the U.S., and has chosen to tote
an anti-American line and deny any wrongdoing. This atmosphere is giving
momentum to the government's political opponents who are pushing it to
become even more hostile to the U.S.

As written here
<http://frontpagemag.com/2011/05/10/2011/05/06/americas-worst-ally/>  last
week, the Pakistani government had to know that the Abbottabad compound was
built to hide a person of extremely high value. After all, a senior army
officer lives
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8490367/Osama-bin-Laden-
dead-bin-Laden-lived-next-door-to-senior-Pakistan-Army-major.html>  right
next door only 80 yards away. If it did not, then the country's military,
government and intelligence services are extraordinarily incompetent. Prime
Minister Yousef Raza Gilani, however, denies that is the case and portrays
his government as being both competent and innocent.  

"Yes, there has been an intelligence failure. It is not only ours but of all
the intelligence agencies in the world," Gilani said.
<http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/09/general-as-pakistan-bin-laden_845
7619.html>  He added that it is "disingenuous for anyone to blame
Pakistan.for being in cahoots with al-Qaeda."

He said that Bin Laden deserved to die but harshly condemned the raid and
said
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/9/pakistan-leader-decries-unil
ateral-operations/>  "Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full
force" should a raid like the one that killed Bin Laden be repeated. "Any
attack against Pakistan's strategic assets, whether overt or covert, will
find a matching response," he declared.
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C05%5C10%5Cstory_10-5-2
011_pg1_1> 

 Earlier, the Pakistani army said
<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/05/pakistan-army-military-personnel-pa
kistan-cut-minimum-essential-levels/>  it would bring down the number of
American soldiers in the country to "minimum essential" levels and the Army
Chief of Staff said
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-obama-statement-idUSTRE7410792
0110505>  there would be a "review on the level of military/intelligence
cooperation with the United States" if another raid occurs.

Gilani said an investigation into how Bin Laden was able to hide in Pakistan
would take place, but it is doubtful whether it will result in any
meaningful action. The ambassador to the U.S. said
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110508/wl_sthasia_afp/usattacksbinladenpakist
anenvoy_20110508190921>  "heads will roll once the investigation has been
completed." This was contradicted
<http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article388945.ece>  by the Interior
Minister who said no resignations would be necessary.

Gilani and the Pakistani government are being criticized for failing to stop
the raid and are now trying to ride a wave of anti-American sentiment, with
some angry over the death of Bin Laden and others angry over the willingness
of the U.S. to act on Pakistani territory. About 1,000 people have protested
in Abbottabad and between 800 and 1,200 protested in Quetta and called for
retaliation against the U.S. for the death of Bin Laden. The Supreme Court
Bar Association is planning
<http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=5874&Cat=13&dt=5/9/2011
>  nationwide protests.

 A poll found that three-fourths of Pakistanis oppose the U.S. raid to kill
Bin Laden and only 11 percent approve. A little more than half say that the
county is at greater risk from Al-Qaeda as a result of it. The anger has
caused some members of the ruling coalition and the opposition to stage a
walkout and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the opposition
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has taken the lead in criticizing the
government. He called
<http://gulfnews.com/news/world/pakistan/raid-a-blow-to-national-sovereignty
-sharif-says-1.805647>  the raid a "big blow to national sovereignty,
independence and self-respect."

"The Abbottabad operation was a serious attack on the sovereignty of
Pakistan and the nation is looking at recent developments with concern and
wants to know who is responsible for the situation," Sharif said.
<http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/10/sovereignty-at-stake-says-nawaz.html> 

Another senior member of Sharif's party emphasized that Gilani gave his
speech in English and accused
<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0509/Pakistan-PM-Gil
ani-defends-military-intelligence-in-wake-of-bin-Laden-raid>  him of trying
to "appease his [U.S.] masters." Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi is asking
<http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/07/president-pm-should-resign-shah-mehmood-qure
shi.html>  for Gilani and President Zardari to resign along with military
officials responsible for failing to stop the raid. He also wants the
parliament to investigate the military.

Gilani runs the risk of losing support to his opponents like the Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz and former Prime Minister Sharif because of the outrage.
This is dangerous for the world because of Sharif's past.

A document released by Wikileaks shows that the Foreign Minister of
Afghanistan in 2007 described
<http://tribune.com.pk/story/85435/wikileaks-nawaz-responsible-for-islamic-r
adicalism/>  Sharif as "the author of Islamic radicalism in our region." The
president of Sharif's party is alleged
<http://tribune.com.pk/story/84443/wikileaks-nawaz-sharifs-broken-promise/>
in another document to have told the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group of
pending U.N. sanctions after it carried out attacks in Mumbai in 2008,
giving it time to withdraw funds from its bank accounts.

 In 1998, TIME Magazine wrote
<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989171,00.html>  that
Sharif "contends that only a strict adherence to Shari'a-which relies on the
Koran and on the Sunna, a record of the Prophet Muhammad's deeds and
sayings-can save Pakistan from 'corruption and maladministration'." The
article was describing Sharif's move towards Sharia-based governance, not
the application of a personal form of Sharia on an individual basis.

Former ISI officer and close friend of Osama Bin Laden, Khalid
Khawaja,claims <http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1779>  that
Sharif met with Bin Laden multiple times and that Bin Laden helped him
develop a relationship with the Saudi Royal Family. Ali Mohammed, who was
Al-Qaeda's special projects coordinator in the mid-1990s, says
<http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/musharraf-rival.html>  that Bin
Laden gave Sharif $1 million for his favorable stance towards the Taliban.
There have also been reports that Bin Laden contributed to Sharif's campaign
to become Prime Minister in 1990.

The Pakistani government now, out of political necessity if nothing else,
must take a more forcefully anti-American position. The U.S.-Pakistani
relationship has completely changed in the past two weeks and is likely to
become even worse.

 



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