Expert slams US plans to hunt Osama in Pak

United States' reported move to send its forces into Pakistan to strike at Osama Bin Laden seems to be part of Americans' efforts to bail out President Bush, a Peshawar-based expert on Taliban and close observer of Al Qaeda and its growth in the tribal region of Afghanistan and Pakistan has said.

Rahimullah Yusufzai, also a senior journalist, told rediff.com that it cannot be said that recent violence in Pakistan was orchestrated by the Al Qaeda -- led by Osama bin Laden and his right hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

A New York Times report, which had, quoting sources in the US administration, said that US was contemplating many options, including air strikes or covert action in tribal areas of Pakistan, has been met with strong opposition within Pakistan.

A US weekly had also given an extensive report suggesting that Al Qaeda was behind the brutal killings of innocents in response to the government's storming of Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

While talking from Peshawar, Yusufzai said, "Zawahiri is issuing warning and threats to President Musharraf and United States. He is asking Islamic radicals to kill Musharraf to avenge Lal Masjid, but this is not the first time he has done it. He is doing it to send the message that he is relevant, too."

Even though the US government and the media raised the pitch by stating that, 'Osama was alive and hiding in safe heavens of Pakistan,' Islamabad has objected to any US plans to put military operatives in the country. Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has asserted that Osama bin Laden is not in Pakistan.

"He may be in Pakistan or may not be. How is it fair when the huge US army or intelligence services men could not capture Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq, but they want Pakistan to capture Al Qaeda in the tribal districts," Yusufzai asked.

When asked about reports that Osama may be alive, Yusufzai said, "I have a gut feeling that he is still alive. That's because when sometime back Zawahiri's family members died, there was fatiyas (mourning session) arranged in his native in Egypt. When Osama's original right hand man Mohmmad Atef was killed in 2001 in US military attack near Kabul, again there was fatiyas in Egypt."

Atef was a police officer before turning military chief of Al Qaeda. His daughter was married to Osama's son.

"Osama bin Laden is not caught yet because he is not using technology. He is resisting any efforts to use technology like telephone or vehicles with electronic fittings. He is not meeting many people. He is very clever. He has been successfully hiding by avoiding contacts with the outside world. He is living only in those areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan where he is supported by people faithful to him," he pointed out.

Yusufzai argues, "We have not got any hard evidence that Osama is alive nor anyone has sighted him. In 2001, we heard about him at time of US attack in Tora Bora in Afghanistan. But, we know no Muslim community would prefer to stay away from fatiyas for so long or can hide the death of a prominent man for so long. Since the news of Osama's death is difficult to hide, it can be safely presumed that he is alive.

"Even at the time of Tora Bora attack, Osama's voice was heard in the background but he was not seen. During that period Osama may have entered Pakistan with other military operatives of Al Qaeda. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar may have helped him then," he said.

US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell had recently said he believed Bin Laden was in northern Pakistan, near the Afghan border.

US's Homeland security adviser Frances Townsend said that in the pursuit of Bin Laden, no options were off the table.

However, Yusufzai questions US understanding of the Osama phenomenon.

He said, "Osama is not running Al Qaeda. He is only of symbolic importance. Al Qaeda is formed of like-minded groups. US has failed miserably in the entire region. Only, Afghanistan gave them little success and that too is waning. Now Osama, Zawahiri and even Mullah Omar of Taliban are at large. World knows that Bush has failed to control terrorism or militancy."

Talking about US plans to hit at Osama or his base, Yusufzai says: "Even if Osama is killed, it does not mean much. Osama's legacy will survive. He will be known as the person who challenged the might of America. He was a young man when he threw away comforts of life and sacrificed his life for the cause he believed in. He spent his own million of rupees for his goal."

Yusufzai argues, "For US, there are no strategic gains in killing Osama because today, Osama or Al Qaeda is not as popular as before. There are Muslims who think that he has harmed them and their security deeply. There are extreme emotions of hate and love for Osama amongst Muslims. Al Qaeda has survived not because of Osama but because the countries in the West and US are not ready to look at their own shortcomings and wrongdoings."

A senior journalist living in the Pashtun-dominated area of Pakistan asked, "How will you locate Al Qaeda in the tribal areas? It is not a monolithic group. Al Qaeda does not have an address, which you can target and attack."