Reply to comment

Osama bin Laden’s killing and eventual burial in the Arabian Sea has brought a string of questions to the fore. The foremost being Washington’s neglect towards international law. While United Nations Security Council resolutions authorize military action in Afghanistan and hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives worldwide, questions of invading another country and carrying out assassination have become subjects of debate widely.

The incidents of 9/11 changed the world dramatically. Would OBL’s death undo those sweeping actions, all or some of them? Optimists and pessimists both hold their forts. Pessimists have good information but optimists are equipped with better judgment. One side believes that OBL’s removal would ease the exit of allied forces from Afghanistan in the wake of successful talks and political transition. The pessimists fear bloody gun battles in Afghanistan, revenge attacks in Pakistan and selective terrorist acts on the American soil.

Ground realities in Afghanistan are vitally significant. With the militia running out of financial and social base, NATO troops showing signs of fatigue, worsening economic conditions in Europe and fresh trouble spots in North Africa and Middle East diverting Washington’s attention, and last but not the least, demoralized Pakistani nation seeking review of its ruler’s policies and doublespeak, the optimists seem winning in the post-OBL world.

Washington’s hesitance to share evidence of OBL death, controversy over his killing and burial in sea alongside America’s insistence to attack anywhere it suspects terror hideouts help fuel revengeful extremists and ideologies. Hawks in Europe and across the Atlantic are actively stereotyping image of Muslims at large. On first Friday after US Navy SEALs operation in Pakistani garrison Abbotabad, a top BBC journalist was using clichéd image of bearded Muslims in capital Islamabad to exaggerate anger in Pakistan against OBL killing.

Reuters reported removal of two Muslim scholars from Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 5452 from Memphis to Charlotte after US Transportation Security Administration officials had cleared them in normal pre-flight security procedures. Masudur Rahman, a professor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, and Mohamed Zaghloul, Imam at the Islamic Association of Greater Memphis, were headed to conference to discuss Islamophobia or fears of Islam and discrimination in the United States.

BBC’s British-born news presenter Mishal Husain, whose parents are from Pakistan, was told by local market manager that her children should behave like proper English kids. Such renewed racist attacks are on the rise after OBL shooting. The post-Osama world offers little promise for future, according to pessimists.

Share this page