The Foreign Office maintains that the raid which led to the killing of OBL was not authorised by Pakistan and has warned that it must not serve as a precedent for any country. The question which remains unanswered is how a number of helicopters from another country could reach Abbottabad, conduct a raid lasting for at least 40 minutes, kill OBL, collect his body along with other material of interest, take off and reach their destination safe and sound. The claim made by the FO that the helicopters made use of “blind spots” in the radar coverage caused by hilly terrain will not satisfy many. Over 100,000 Pakistani troops and thousands of tribal militia are stationed along the Durand Line. Hundreds of checkposts have been set up along the Pak-Afghan border. Did nobody notice the sound of the low flying helicopters and warn those who matter about the movement? A young blogger live-tweeted on Twitter, the arrival of the helicopters, the crash of one and the subsequent sounds that continued to disturb him for a long time. Were there no security personnel in the entire cantonment area to report the occurrence to the military?
While the people anxiously wait for the military’s version of the affair, an ISI official has reportedly told BBC, “We were totally caught by surprise. They were in and out before we could react.” While air defence is primarily the responsibility of the air force, the army aviation also maintains a variety of helicopters. If the two came to know about the American operation only after the foreign helicopters had left Pakistan’s air space, this would mean that the US or any other country could repeat the exercise, destroy or take away whatever they want from Pakistan, and safely return home after successfully completing the mission.
There is a need of a thorough enquiry into the affair. Pakistan has fought a number of wars in the past resulting in thousands of military casualties, dislocation of civilian population, and destruction of costly infrastructure. If independent enquiries had been held regarding the conduct of these wars, there would have been a qualitatively better state of alertness. What is required is a thorough and objective appraisal of the present intelligence-cum-defence failure.
