Two years after he died, Bin Laden’s neighbours just want to be left alone

Two years after US Navy SEALS killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, his neighbors in Abbottabad are getting fed up with all the questions from media and other people about the incident, saying that now they would just like to be left alone.

Bin Laden, who was for a long time hunted by the United States, was killed in a coordinated aerial and ground assault by members of the US Navy SEALS on May 2, 2011.

Samiaullah, 19, one of the neighbors of bin Laden in Abbottabad, told Xinhua news agency that he had been interviewed by hundreds of journalists and other interested people about the assault. “It made our life uneasy and we have lost our peace of mind,” he said.

“The media kept on asking us the same questions about bin Laden but we never saw him,” Samiaullah, who goes by one name, said, adding that this had affected his studies in college.

Zain Muhammad, 84, who was the closest neighbor of bin Laden, said that the killing of bin Laden left him with a bad experience. He said after the incident, him and his son along with three of their neighbors were detained for 17 days by security forces but they were never charged with any crime.

“It was the darkest moment in our lives,” Zain said.

Samiullah said that it was late at night when they heard sounds of exchange of fire and then a big fire erupted in the compound after a huge blast.

“Everything happened so fast. Nobody knew what was happening,” he recalled.

“It was only the next morning when we learned from television reports that bin Laden was killed,” Samiullah said.

Zain was more vivid in his description of the incident. He said that it was after midnight when he saw three helicopters hovering above the compound from where he saw soldiers jumping. Then the firing started which was followed by a loud blast. When the firing stopped, Zain said that he saw that the soldiers hurriedly left aboard their helicopters.

Like some Pakistanis, Zain, however, until now refused to believe that it was bin Laden that the US soldiers killed.

“We don’t know whether bin Laden was here or not. All we know was that only two Pakistani brothers lived inside the compound with their families,” Zain said.

Majority of people in the area said that they did not know much about bin Laden or they did not like to comment about him. “We only saw his picture on TV. We never saw him here in person,” they said.

Muhammad Latif, a retired schoolteacher, spoke cautiously. “I know that bin Laden was the owner of a big construction company. He was well loved by the Muslims but he had some differences with the western countries and America,” Latif said.

Some residents of the town of Bilal, where Abbottabad is located, said that the killing of bin Laden had intensified terror attacks in Pakistan where some 40,000 people were reported to have been killed after the start of the US-led coalition in the war against terrorism in 2011.

After two years, the spot in Abbottabad where Bin Laden’s compound used to stand and where he spent around five years before he was killed has also lost its fascination and attraction for local people.

After his death, the 3,365 square meter compound became the most favorite spot for local people across the country and foreigners to visit. Thousands of people used to throng to the site to view the hideout of world’s most wanted man.

The Pakistani authorities, particularly the Army, could not allow the continued arrival of thousands of people in the compound which was just a kilometer away from the country’s top military academy and other military installations and decided to raze it to the ground.

Following the destruction of the three-storey house, said to be worth 290,000 US dollars, the authorities brought the debris of the house to an unknown place.

What is left now is a simple plot with few cement blocks still standing, some portion covered with wild grass. There is a small spring of fresh water and two big trees under which old people of the neighborhood gather to engage in idle talks. They call the shade “Osama’s office”.

What the government intends to do with bin Laden’s compound is still not known. But early this year, tourism department of Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa proposed the building of an amusement park in the area but so far no development has taken place.

An official requesting anonymity told Xinhua that putting up such a project would be very dangerous because al Qaeda militants, which are still a potent force in Pakistan, certainly would not want the area where their idol lived would be used as an amusement or entertainment park.