Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 13: There is no end to Pakistan telling lies to the world about not harbouring terrorists, and more it attempts to hide, more it is getting exposed before the world.
After the defence minister Khwaja Asif emphatically said a big “no,” to an UK podcaster when asked if terror groups were active in Pakistan, Islamabad was left red-faced when a British TV host commented as “ludicrous” a Pakistani podcaster’s claim that Pakistani intelligence department never knew that the world’s biggest terrorist Osama Bin Laden was living with his family for years in a house barely few hundred metres from Pakistani army’s major base.
In another incident of loss of face, a former Pakistani minister left a television show in a huff after she was cornered by an Indian journalist about the Pakistani government and its army giving all kinds of support to the terror groups active in Pakistan
Popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, who participated in a debate along with Pakistan’s Shehzad Ghias Shaikh, held up Laden’s photo and the viral image showing Pakistan’s military officers attending the funeral of terrorists killed during “Operation Sindoor.” The presence of Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a globally designated terrorist and the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, at the funeral had once again exposed the long-known military-terror nexus in Pakistan.
Holding up Laden’s photo, Mr Allahbadia pointed out to the host and the Pakistani panellist, “He was found 800 metres from a military base in Pakistan. That’s the face the world recognises.” Then he held up the second image and said, “This is the face that India recognises.” “This man is an UN-designated terrorist being celebrated by the Pakistani military in the background. That’s not the narrative the Pakistanis give, or the world knows. But if you check with the UN or US, they will tell you this is Abdul Rauf.”
“We export vaccines, philosophy, engineers, and leaders to the world. That’s why our economy is 11 times that of Pakistan,” he said. Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was killed during a covert operation by the US forces in Pakistan’s Abbottabad, not far from one of the country’s top military academies.
Defending the Pakistani leadership over the bin Laden safehouse, Shaikh claimed that the terrorist was hiding from the Pakistani intelligence in Abbottabad before he was eliminated by the US forces in 2011. Morgan shot back: “What you just said is utterly ludicrous.”
“Osama bin Laden was found literally living in a house for years, a few hundred yards from one of Pakistan’s main military bases. If your intelligence didn’t know he was there, it must be that they are the worst intelligence in the history of military intelligence. All they had to do was get a pair of binoculars, and they would have found one of the most wanted terrorists in the world who committed one of the worst terror attacks in history,” said Morgan.
When the Pakistani podcaster tried to bring in Mossad and the American intel agency CIA into the discourse, Morgan replied sternly, “You don’t dispute Osama bin Laden living literally down the road from one of your biggest bases…nobody knew he was living next door?”
A heated exchange unfolded on Piers Morgan Uncensored between broadcaster Piers Morgan and Pakistani analyst Shehzad Ghias Shaikh regarding the circumstances surrounding Osama Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan prior to his death. The debate centred on the release and interpretation of documents seized during the US raid on Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound.
During the discussion, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh stated, “The Bin Laden papers were not released by Pakistan. They were released by the American intelligence. 470,000 papers clearly state that Osama bin Laden was trying to hide from the Pakistani intelligence.”
Piers Morgan’s sharp rebuttal highlighted a long-standing point of contention regarding Pakistan’s knowledge of Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts before the 2011 US Navy SEAL operation. The proximity of Osama Bin Laden’s compound to a major Pakistani military installation has led many, including Western intelligence agencies, to question how he could have remained undetected for so long.
The 470,000 documents, seized during the raid, have been a subject of intense scrutiny and analysis since their release. While some excerpts might suggest Osama Bin Laden’s efforts to remain hidden, the fact that his compound was located in a seemingly secure area near Pakistani military infrastructure remains a significant point of debate and speculation.
In another incident on the same TV show, former minister Hina Rabbani Khar walked out of a live television news debate when she was asked to respond to questions on terrorism and the Army’s supremacy in so-called democratic Pakistan.
Indian journalist Barkha Dutt appeared on the talk show where Khar was also present to discuss India-Pakistan tensions in the wake of “Operation Sindoor.” Khar repeatedly dodged the questions on terrorists in Pakistan and even Morgan accused her of being involved in a “whataboutery.”
When Dutt pressed her to answer if Lashkar and Jaish were “terror groups,” the former minister refused to acknowledge them as terrorists and said, “This is the narrative you have been putting up for the last 20 years. I will not stop myself to answer this.” When Morgan asked her if these terror groups are operating with impunity in Pakistan, Khar said, “I would reject your last comment. Pakistan is the country which is trying to correct the wrongs.”
Khar’s screen on the live-streaming feed turned black later when Dutt was grilling her and Pakistan on terrorism and its Army’s interference in governments.
In a video shared on X, Dutt was heard saying: “Modi is an elected prime minister of India in his third term unlike Prime ministers of Pakistan who are appointed by the Army, jailed or exiled. Your country is in turmoil because Imran Khan has been jailed. Shehbaz Sharif an Army-appointed PM. Did you know what your defence minister Khwaja Asif said in an interview that Pakistan used terrorism? Pakistan is doing a dirty job of other countries by using terrorism…”
Khar was appointed as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in July 2011, the first woman to have held the position.
