After Osama

In the wake of American commando raid in Abbottabad, the Pak-US cooperative relationship has arrived at a make-or-break point, a scenario never confronted before during the decade-old anti-terrorism alliance. There have been in the past dicey situations and critical developments when the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan overplayed their hand by carrying out incursions inside Pakistan in the name of hot-pursuit and punitive expeditions.
But thanks to higher-level interventions and post-incident military exchanges the crises were always resolved, leaving not much in terms of lingering bad blood between the two sides. Even an issue as foul and repulsive as the killings of three innocent Pakistanis in Lahore by CIA contractor Raymond Davis was worked out to the satisfaction of US government by our authorities - no doubt at the dearly cost of immense public resentment. Somehow, for reasons not fully known the Pakistani leaderships, both civil and military, have always precariously bent backwards to appease the American side.
May be the Pakistani side has been going along the Americans in whatever way it pleased them to keep the Indian wolf away from its door, as tellingly claimed by Ambassador Hussain Haqqani. But the Abbottabad imbroglio doesn't come under that category of incursions, which can be explained away as collateral of the war against terrorism, and were papered over and forgotten over time.
The failure on the part of our intelligence and security outfits to interdict and thwart the American raid that perfectly fits the definition of foreign aggression and Osama's killing illegal action, is too grave a development to be treated as nonchalantly as the government and military seem to be doing now.
First, how come Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir is warning against "repetition" of such an act as the American raid to kill Osama bin Laden while not telling us how the government is going to react to the present one? We have no beef with his warning to "any other country", by which he meant India, that "it would be catastrophic" if it "even imagines it can follow the example of the United States".
Of course, it was very mischievous of the Indian army chief to express himself on this development in a way he did. But the question is what is going to be our government's response to the US unilateral action in complete violation of our national sovereignty. What about our government's and its various organisations' oath to defend and protect the sovereignty of the country.
In these dire environments the people expect of the government to be clear and open, instead of indulging in opaque diplomatic jargon. And, what one should make of Salman Bashir's assertion that "we are proud of our intelligence agencies" when the army high command decides that the ISI should be asked to explain its massive failure.
Yes, Pakistan did catch many terrorists and handed them over to Americans - according to General Pervez Musharraf, for dollars - but the people are concerned how the agencies missed getting hand on Osama for good five years as he lived undisturbed with family in Abbottabad, and apparently kept conducting his business as usual.
Also, who would not be apprehensive and concerned to know that our fighter jets did scramble only after the Americans had left our space. Plainly said, the enemy flew deep into Pakistan territory, stayed on the site for good 40 minutes and left without being challenged even by a single ground fire. If our radars were jammed the people like to know why.
Frankly, both civil and military leaderships appear to be covering up a monumental failure in rising to the occasion. Whatever is now being dished out for public consumption has the disturbing aspect of a cock-and-bull story. The people ask 'what's next'? Obama administration seeks to carry out more such raids as the White House has cleared the way for future surgical operations within Pakistan 'if terrorists are found hiding and the need to clean up is felt.'
Then there is the lingering public perception that ultimate design of the United States and its international allies would be to defang Pakistan of its nuclear capability. One would certainly draw comfort from the army high command's assertion about foolproof security and safety of our nuclear assets and would not like to see that in the context of security lapse at Abbottabad. But then, hopefully we haven't inducted American technology into our nuclear safety regime.
All in all, what appears to be urgent is drastic overhaul of our strategic relationship with the United States. There may be many convergences that bind us together, but as an independent country placed at a highly strategic location, Pakistan has its national interests that fall out of that convergence. The two sides should sit together and revisit their relationship in the light of new ground realities in the region including Afghanistan - before it takes another hit like the Osama saga and go for irretrievable collapse.