Pakistanis were just as shocked as the rest of the world that Osama bin Laden was found in their country, and are hoping their nation can avoid a backlash because of the discovery.
Speculation remains intense on whether the Pakistani government, military or intelligence agencies helped keep bin Laden in hiding, but no solid confirmation has been made and the Pakistani government has made few statements on the matter.
“Pakistan is between a rock and [a] hard space,” said Adnan Khan, the president of the Council of Pakistan American affairs, an organization that works with public policy makers in the interest of Pakistani issues. “Pakistan does not want to openly admit assistance to the CIA or U.S. army due to its national interests.”
At first, the Pakistani government was silent, with high-ranking U.S. leaders being the ones to defend the country’s government and military, especially since bin Laden was found in the same town as the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad.
But that quickly changed.
President Barack Obama told 60 Minutes that he believed bin Laden had to have some form of support network there to stay in hiding. This led to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani to address bin Laden’s death and insist that the government did not know his whereabouts.
Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee is another organization that aims to strengthen the relationship through public policy. Executive Director Irfan Malik said that he too is weary of the suspicion that government and intelligence agencies were involved in keeping bin Laden in hiding, but it’s important for people to remember how different Pakistani’s live compared to people in the U.S. and how that affects coverage of the country.
Malik said there “needs to be an explanation or some sort of inquiry that needs to be done by the Pakistani government to figure out how did this happen and who was responsible.”
“If there are some people that were responsible and there still out there, then those people should have their day in the court,” Malik said.
Malik stressed the importance of realizing the inconsistencies of reporting on Pakistan, especially regarding the difference in culture and lifestyles between the two countries.
Pakistani’s also said that it’s important to recognize that more than 30,000 Pakistani’s have been killed since 9/11 as a result of the Afghanistan war.
“We are trying to clarify a lot of things that are incorrect,” Malik said, adding that a home with high walls and the burning of trash is commonplace in Pakistan. “Those are not the reasons that would have alerted anyone to peak into the house,” he said, also stressing that there couldn’t possibly be million-dollar homes in that town.
“We’re just so sad that people see it as the same standpoint and lifestyle that they have here,” Malik said. “I think it’s the responsibility to the Pakistani Americans that we clarify… that’s not what it is.”
Shamyle Ghatali, a Pakistani 20-year-old Northwestern University sophomore said that though he was shocked when he heard bin Laden was in Pakistan – despite the fact that it has been a widespread belief bin Laden has been hiding out there, “my first instinct was to celebrate because if you think about it, this guy was carrying out attacks not only in America but in Pakistan as well.”
But Pakistan still has difficult issues.
“If [Pakistan played] alongside America in the death of Osama then Al Qaida retaliates against them and the government of Pakistan and Pakistan Army becomes the number one target and number one enemy of Al Qaida,” Khan said.
The possibility of a backlash against Pakistani’s as a result of the news remains a concern, especially if it comes to light that the military, government or intelligence agency were involved.
“I haven’t felt a backlash such as yet but if in the future it turns out Pakistan was conclusively involved — I do have a fear,” Ghatali said.
