New Delhi, Dec 22 (ANI): The attack by United States Navy Seals on a compound in which Osama Bin Laden was staying in the garrison town of Abbotabad on May 1, 2011, has to be seen as a watershed in the history of Pakistan.
The world became aware that the Pakistan establishment, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence, has been looking after Osama Bin Laden and his family, and had kept the world, including its major ally, the United States, in the dark.
It is significant that the United States kept the Pakistan Army and the ISI out of the loop as far as the operation against Osama's abode in the garrison town of Abbotabad. Pakistan has claimed that it knew of the operation conducted by the Navy Seals, but it continues to deny that it knew that Osama Bin Laden was staying there.
The terror groups in Pakistan, which have received nourishment from the establishment in the country, have been on a warpath since the incident.
In May 2011, terrorists raided Pakistan's premier naval base, PNS Mehran. They followed it by an attack on the Minhas Air Base at Kamra, about 64 kilometers from Islamabad, in August 2012. The attack on Minhas Air Base is believed to have been organized by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Not a day passes without violent incidents occurring in some part of Pakistan or the other. The Pakistan Army and the military intelligence agency, which were deeply involved in organizing terror attacks, firstly against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan and later against the Taliban, are now at the receiving end.
Pakistan learnt the art of proxy war from the United States in the eighties in the war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It saved a part of the resources it had received for training Mujahids in Afghanistan, to conduct a proxy war against India, firstly in Punjab and later in Jammu and Kashmir. It has now become a victim of the terrorist establishment itself.
What will be the impact of NATO troops from Afghanistan? We hear reports of the United States trying to negotiate with the Taliban, an ally of the Al Qaeda. Pakistan's military establishment is the exit of NATO forces from Afghanistan, which would give it a chance of regaining its 'strategic space'.
As a neighbour, India has to keep a watchful eye, and take steps to ensure that it will not be a victim of the terrorist forces. Colonel (retired) Anil Bhat's book 'After Abbottabad: Terror to Turmoil in Pakistan' is a timely publication.
Bhat has surveyed and analyzed the events in Pakistan prior to the attack on Abbottabad, the attack itself, and the emergence of terrorist organizations in Pakistan, in the tastefully brought out publication. By I. Ramamohan Rao (ANI)
(Book Review: After Abbotabad: Terror to Turmoil in Pakistan, by Anil Bhat. Pentagon Press. Price: Rs.795)
