Posts from — October 2009

QUETTA, Oct 10: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has called for mid-term polls in Balochistan so that ‘genuine’ elected representatives could be elected to resolve problems facing the province.
Addressing a press conference at the Bugti House and a public meeting at Meezan Chowk on Saturday, the PTI leader said he was demanding elections because the existing provincial government was not a representative of the masses.
He claimed that a new government formed by fresh elected representatives would not allow military operation in the province.
He said the government had failed to resolve people’s problems because its representatives had been chosen in polls that were conducted by a military dictator and in the absence of an independent judiciary and election commission.
Mr Khan urged the armed forces in Balochistan to keep their guns silent because political issues could only be settled through negotiations. http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=11_10_2009_005_002

By Malik Siraj Akbar
QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Saturday relieved the provincial minister for parliamentary affairs, Rubina Irfan, of her duties, reportedly because of “objectionable activities” that were undermining the stability of the provincial coalition government.

The female minister belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and is the wife of Agha Irfan Karim, former minister for Zakat and Ushr, who earlier tendered his resignation to express solidarity with PPP minister Ali Madad Jattak. “Rubina’s portfolio has been given to Shama Perveen Magsi, the minister for Information Technology [and wife of Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi],” a senior official at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat confirmed. “Rubina will retain the status of a provincial minister, but without a portfolio,” he added. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\10\11\story_11-10-2009_pg7_15

Terrorism’s endless cycle: edit in The Nation
YET another suicide blast, in a busy commercial area, has devastated Peshawar, causing the deaths of precious innocent lives and destruction of property. This attack has come barely a fortnight after an earlier suicide blast, also in a busy commercial area. The attack reflects the growing concentration of terrorists in the areas around the urban capital of the NWFP. Military actions in Swat and Malakand have only moved the terrorists to other areas since no effort was made to prevent their escape during the course of the action. Even more reckless has been the absence of the civilian law and order and administrative structures to ensure that criminal elements and militants do not escape and merge into the population. That is precisely what has happened and what is required is a strong civil-law enforcement approach to dealing with the terrorists in and around the urban centres of the NWFP.
Unfortunately, the interior minister has jumped on the latest Peshawar tragedy to seek a pretext for a full-fledged military operation in South Waziristan. This is what the US has been demanding of the Pakistan military but the latter has sensibly sought to delay this while it adopts indirect strategies which combine targeted attacks along with covert destabilisation from within of the militant organisations. Military operations of themselves will never resolve the terrorism issue, but it is a “quick fix” – albeit a temporary one – the Americans are so fond of. But the costs of such a policy in isolation are tremendous. Already, new issues are arising relating to death and destruction in Swat. Bullet-ridden bodies are being found and corpses dumped on the roadside are being discovered, undermining claims of normalcy having returned to the area. Clashes between the military and militants also continue and the PAF continues to bomb hideouts in the peripheral areas of FATA. In all this, the central question also continues to persist: How will the state know when “all the Taliban” are finished?
The reality is that the military operation has not ended the terrorism, merely shifted its location. In the process, more and more innocent Pakistani lives are being lost all around. There is a need, as has continuously been reiterated in this space, for seeking to dialogue with the militants who are prepared to lay down their arms and accept the writ of the state – now that they are seeing the military’s resolve to strike against them decisively. Negotiations backed by force are still the only way to move if recent global examples are a guide – from Ireland to Indonesia. Meanwhile, the government should also realize that the increasing belligerency of the US towards Pakistan is a source of creating more space for militants. With US failure in Afghanistan writ large, the continuing terrorism in Pakistan and Iraq, it boggles the mind to discover President Obama being awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Where is the peace he has fashioned?

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/10-Oct-2009/Terrorisms-endless-cycle

Peshawar bleeds: edit in The News
There was a depressing, appalling, familiarity about the news that a car bomb had exploded in the busy Khyber bazaar area of Peshawar around noon on Friday. Friday; a time of prayer and peaceful reflection and celebration of the Muslim faith across the country, but seems to be the favourite day for those whose deadly business is to terrorise us. At the time of writing there are at least 42 dead and 54 injured with an estimated twenty of those injured being in critical condition. The numbers of dead and injured will inevitably rise. Rescue services are calling it the ‘worst blast we have ever seen’. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was swift to condemn the atrocity and said that the long-promised operation in Waziristan was ‘imminent’. Local business men speaking on private TV channels spoke of their frustration and anger at the way in which their lives and livelihoods were being destroyed and of their desire to leave the city as attempting to carry on business was pointless – and carried with it an unacceptable level of risk. There is understandable confusion about the type of device that caused this carnage, but the opinion seems to be that it was a suicide bomb, probably carried in a car which may have been moving at the time of the blast and the Khyber bazaar may not have been the intended target.

There will be entirely predictable statements that there has been a security lapse or failure and this that or the other agency has failed in its duty to protect the public. The bombers should have been spotted at any one of the numerous checkpoints that ring the city. Intelligence should have been better. CCTV cameras should have recorded them…all will be cited as a failure of the systems set up to protect the citizenry. All will miss the point that NWFP is a war-zone, not merely the site of what may euphemistically be termed an ‘insurgency’ – but an area where a fully-fledged war is being fought. It is a war fought by combatants who in one case may have signed the Geneva Convention on the conduct of warfare but have little care for it; and in the other the Geneva Convention is something they have never heard of. Civilian casualties are as much a part of the war in NWFP as were the thousands of refugees who died when the Allies firebombed Dresden in the Second World War or the civilians who were fried to a crisp in Hiroshima.

This is a war being fought with a ferocity that is increasing by the day and short of putting the entire city on lock-down there is probably little the civil or military authorities can do to stop the carnage. Realistically, there will be intelligence successes that we may not hear about, and operations that net the bombers and terrorists, but there will always be one that gets through. Such is the nature of warfare. This is a war that we cannot afford to lose no matter the attrition. It is our war, no matter how it gets ‘dressed up’ for political purposes. Ours to win and ours to lose. Now is the time for us to stand against the bombers and the gunmen, to expose them, reveal their dark plots and evil designs. More of us will die doing so, but stand we must. http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=202514

Lahore: A suicide car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday, killing at least 49 people — an attack that the Government said could bring forward a planned army assault on the militant stronghold of South Waziristan.
The bomber detonated a car packed full of explosives and artillery shells around midday in the Khyber Bazaar commercial neighbourhood.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister, blamed the Pakistani Taleban, who have repeatedly threatened to take revenge for the killing of Baitullah Mehsud, their leader, in a US drone strike in August. “We will take a decision on the operation against terrorists over the next few days,” he said.
However, analysts say that the army is unlikely to bring forward the operation because of a single bombing: this was the sixth in Peshawar in four months. There are, though, fears that the timing and the scope of the operation could be affected by the Pakistani military’s objections to conditions attached to a new $7.5 billion (£4.7bn) US aid bill. The United States wants the army to attack not only the Pakistani Taleban but also other militants in the area who cross the Afghan border to attack Nato and US troops. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6867649.ece

By Malik Siraj Akbar in The Daily Times, Oct 10
QUETTA: Several civil society organisations have decided to launch a countrywide signature campaign to express solidarity with the people of Balochistan.
Sungi Development Foundation Director (programmes) Asad Rehman announced this at a seminar, Proposed Balochistan Package and the NFC award. Rehman said Pakistan would disintegrate if the federating units were not treated equally and respectfully. People had realised that Balochistan had been brought to the verge of disintegration due to the erroneous and repressive policies of successive governments, he said. “The government should make arrangements for the return of the internally displaced persons of Dera Bugti and Kohlu to their hometowns. The Hindus should be compensated for the damage caused to their houses during the military operation. Nawab Akbar Bugti’s body must be handed over to his family,” he added.
Balochistan National Party (BNP) President Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini said, “We reject all kinds of packages. We want ownership of our natural resources. It is impossible to run the country on the basis of ad hocism,” he commented.
National Party President Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch said the government had not consulted the Baloch parties on the proposed package. The ruling party, he said, was treading in the footsteps of former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf.
BNP Secretary General Habib Jalib said the military government had promoted around 6,000 seminaries in the province. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\10\10\story_10-10-2009_pg7_26

By Christi Parsons and Paul Richter
Washington: President Obama and his top advisors are moving toward a strategy on Afghanistan that defines Al Qaeda as a greater threat to U.S. security than the Taliban, a view that could help them avoid the major troop increase sought by military commanders.

The evolving strategy represents a subtle shift for the administration, which has considered Osama bin Laden’s network its top enemy while viewing the Taliban as a close ally of Al Qaeda that supports its ambitions. White House officials now are taking pains to make distinctions between the two groups, branding Al Qaeda a global terrorist group and the Taliban a local movement.

Such a strategy could let U.S.-led forces concentrate on their successful strategy of using unmanned aircraft and missile strikes against Al Qaeda operatives and outposts in the remote region along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

A senior administration official indicated that in the fight against the Taliban, at a minimum the extremists would not be allowed to regain the strength to control Afghanistan or offer help to Al Qaeda, whose leadership is thought to be based in Pakistan.

“Are they violent adversaries? Yes,” the official wrote of the Taliban in an e-mail exchange. “And we would not tolerate their return to power as they were before 9/11.”

The new emphasis rekindled an 8-year-old debate about how closely Al Qaeda and the Taliban are aligned. Many experts agree they are distinct, but others see them as virtually interchangeable sets of militants.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration considered Al Qaeda a “global, transnational, jihadist movement” that has attacked the U.S. before and would again.

The Taliban, meanwhile, is an “indigenous” movement centered in Afghanistan and Pakistan that includes “homegrown political actors with localized ambitions and concerns,” the senior administration official said.

In comments this summer, Obama indicated that the administration saw a link between the two groups.

In an address Aug. 17 to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Obama said:

“We must never forget. This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans.”

Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran who led the Obama administration’s overhaul of its Afghanistan and Pakistan policies this year, said it was “a fundamental misreading of the nature of these organizations to think that they are anything other than partners.”

“Al Qaeda is embedded in the Taliban insurgency, and it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be able to separate them,” he said.

Obama meets today with national security advisors as part of his review of Afghanistan strategy, and officials said he is at least a week away from any decisions on a new U.S. policy or troop levels. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has recommended sending up to 40,000 American troops, in addition to the 68,000 already there.

Top administration officials are skeptical about sending so many troops without a close examination of U.S. aims. That view has been influenced by a series of dismal developments, including the extremist violence in Afghanistan, a fraud-tainted presidential election there, and plummeting support for the war among the U.S. public and lawmakers.

Influential Democrats on Capitol Hill have expressed unease about a strategy that requires a major increase in the number of troops. But it is far from clear that they would undercut Obama by refusing an administration request for funds to pay for the conflict.

“People are unsure what do to,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a critic of the war who gathered more than 50 signatures on a letter to Obama opposing a troop increase. “I think people want to give the president more space and wait for his decision. But I thought it was important to try to send something to him before a final decision is made to let him know there is a lot of concern.”

Daniel Markey, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the White House emphasis on Al Qaeda may be a sign that the administration is unlikely to send the full complement of troops sought by McChrystal. The views of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are “presumably an argument for why a heavy emphasis on Afghanistan and the Taliban is misplaced,” said Markey, a former State Department official.

The Taliban inserted itself into the debate this week by posting a statement in English on one of its websites asserting that the group poses no threat to the West.

“We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have such agenda today,” said the statement, according to a report in the British newspaper the Guardian. “Still, if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war.”

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in an appearance at George Washington University this week, said it was unclear whether Al Qaeda would move back into Afghanistan if given the opportunity.

But he added, “There’s no question in my mind that if the Taliban . . . took control of significant portions of Afghanistan, that would be added space for Al Qaeda to strengthen itself and [begin] more recruitment, more fundraising.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton views the Taliban as a foe as well.

“They’re not just a threat to the people of Afghanistan,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday. “The Taliban hosted and encouraged Al Qaeda. And the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — the idea for them — was hatched in the Taliban-run Afghanistan. So I think that we do see the Taliban as a threat to U.S. security for that reason.”

A strategy centered on eliminating extremist enclaves in Pakistan carries additional risks. Though the U.S. and the Pakistani government have been successful in killing senior insurgents, U.S. officials acknowledge that they have limited influence in Pakistan. The U.S. strategy of using drone airstrikes there is deeply unpopular with Pakistanis.

This week, even U.S. aid sparked controversy. Pakistani political figures and military leaders were offended by the strings attached to a just- approved $1.5-billion-a-year aid package, and some have been pressing for revision of the U.S. legislation. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-afghan9-2009oct09,0,4418683,print.story

The Balochistan High Court’s order to book former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf, his PM Shaukat Aziz and others for killing Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti is the first substantial move to open up contentious issues which the present PPP government has hitherto avoided. The court’s order may force Musharraf, now in self-exile, to consider hard whether to return to Pakistan, but it also has the potential to pitch the newly assertive judiciary against the civil and military establishment. Parts of the political spectrum, including the opposition parties, will welcome the order, yet it may seem easy for a judge to order Musharraf’s trial for murder, but it would be harder for the government to comply.

If the judiciary persists with the pressure and forces the executive to act, an unfortunate situation of confrontation may develop. But to correct the massive distortions in our political and judicial systems, such bitter pills have to be swallowed. Somewhere, someday, somebody will have to start the process. Though it may appear impractical now, the FIR against Musharraf and others must be registered and action must be initiated, to the extent possible. If the PPP government drags its feet, governments to come later can pick up the thread. But the process must begin. Musharraf must be booked and tried. http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=202108

By Anna Husarska
( the author is senior policy advisor at the International Rescue Committee).
Writing From Mingora, Pakistan: The drawing shows three boys in traditional Pakistani long shirts, shalwar kameez, crying and holding banners that read “We want peace,” “Not the peaces [sic] of human bodies” and, in Arabic script, “Aman” — Pashto for “peace.” On the left of the group, two hooded men (members of the Taliban, one presumes) carry swords; on the right, two figures in uniform carry guns (Pakistani army, one guesses). In the foreground, a hooded figure holds down a person who is pleading, “Please let me go; I have small children.”

This was a drawing by a schoolgirl named Sheema for an end-of-Ramadan competition in Mingora, the main town of Pakistan’s Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province. The scene depicting her hometown this spring — civilians caught between the militants and the army — illustrates the huge human cost of the operation by the Pakistan army against the Taliban. And the suffering is far from over. After a week of talking to people living in the Swat Valley, displaced from Swat or working in Swat, I can attest that Sheema got it exactly right.

The tragedy of more than 2 million people being displaced in less than two months may have vanished from the headlines, but the civilian drama continues. If there is less attention to their needs, it’s partly because it’s still hard for anyone other than the armed forces or a native Swati to reach most of the district north of Mingora. The army can take foreign journalists on periodic tours of the “cleared” areas in the south but rarely in the north, where the situation remains uncertain. One thing is obvious: Beyond Mingora, the Swat Valley is still an insecure place.

The Pakistanis themselves have concerns for the collateral damage that the offensive has caused: A visit by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan resulted in a strongly worded report about mass graves and extrajudicial “revenge” killings. And last week, the Pakistani daily Dawn and others reported that a 10-minute video apparently showing Pakistani soldiers beating men detained in anti-militant operations had surfaced on the Internet. The army is investigating.

If the restrictions caused by emergency army administration — such as curfews and checkpoints — are a nuisance and add risks for civilians, anger against the militants is rising too. The displaced return to areas promised to be “cleared” of militants, only to find it may not be so. People fear that if they are seen during daytime (from the hills where the militants tend to hide) having contact with any army or government personnel, the Taliban will come down at night to exact a heavy price on them.

Close to Peshawar, in Mardan, I met with some of the displaced people who have found temporary shelter there — they number more than 1,000. Fourteen of the families are redisplaced — i.e. they tried to return home and found it impossible to live there. What 35-year-old Selma mentions is typical: Before the army’s action, her daughters could not go to school because of Taliban-imposed rules, and one brother’s shop was judged un-Islamic — for selling clothes catering to women — and destroyed. Now the daughters cannot go to school because of the army-imposed curfew, and the army told her brothers to dismantle the homes of suspected militants (which exposes them to revenge). So after one month spent back in Charbagh, a former Taliban stronghold, the family opted to flee yet again.

The situation in other parts of the North-West Frontier Province remains unstable. Reporting about a militant attack in a market last month in Kohat, a local Pakistani newspaper wrote that for several hours after the blast, “an enraged crowd did not allow the bomb-disposal squad to enter the market.” How huge must be the people’s grief, and animosity toward those responsible for the mayhem, for them to shoo away Samaritans coming to rescue their loved ones.

The message in Sheema’s drawing gets confirmed with every conversation I have with those who fled the Swat Valley. It resonates across the troubled province, where another major anti-Taliban assault by the army is brewing, this time on the militant stronghold of South Waziristan. Hundreds of thousands more civilians may be forced to flee, caught between the army and the Taliban.

However, in Mingora and the territory just south of it, ringed by army checkpoints and crawling with street patrols, many wish for a civilian administration — a sign that things could be genuinely stabilizing. The army is beginning to draw back in Mingora and hand over security to the police. There too I find a beaming principal of a private girls school, Ziauddin Yousafzai, whose enthusiasm over the “clearance” of Mingora is contagious. And his pupil, Sheema, has another, more hopeful drawing showing her high school reopened and boys and girls holding hands and smiling. Were it that the rest of the Swat Valley could hold hands and smile. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-husarska7-2009oct07,0,2648217,print.story

By Amanullah Kasi in The Dawn, Oct 8
QUETTA, Oct 7: The Balochistan High Court has ordered the SHO of Dera Bugti police station to register an FIR against former president Pervez Musharraf and others in the murder case of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
On a petition by Nawab Bugti’s son Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, a bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered on Wednesday registration of a case against the respondents, except NWFP Governor Owais Ghani.
The petitioner had nominated Gen (retd) Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former governor of Balochistan Owais Ghani, former chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and former home minister Shoaib Nausherwani.
The court accepted the submission of the petitioner, but excluded the name of Mr Ghani who being governor of the NWFP holds a constitutional position.
Mr Sherpao’s counsel Barrister Masoor Shah pleaded that he had no role in the killing. He said that forces which had killed the Baloch leader during a military operation were not under his command and he had not been consulted or informed about the action.
Mir Nausherwani said that three lawyers contacted by him had not yet responded to his request to represent him.
He denied having played any role in the killing of Nawab Bugti and said he had not been consulted on military actions in Dera Bugti.
He said the killing of the Baloch leader was a sad incident and morally he felt guilty for having failed to resign after the incident.
Deputy Attorney General Afzal Jami said the issue was a provincial matter and the federation had nothing to do with it.
Balochistan Prosecutor General Malik Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani said he had no objection to registration of the FIR.
The petitioner had challenged on Sept 8 the rejection by the Sibi sessions court of his application for registration of the report.
The chief justice had issued notices on Sept 11 to the respondents, except Mr Ghani, but neither the ex-president, the former prime minister and chief minister nor their counsel appeared before the court.
Nawab Bugti was killed on Aug 26, 2006.
APP adds: Interior Minister Rehman Malik told journalists in Islamabad that the federal government respected all judicial orders, including that of the BHC regarding Gen (retd) Musharraf. He expressed full support for the court order.
He said the former president did not have immunity from Interpol’s red warrants.
“We will extend maximum cooperation to the provincial government whenever required,” he added. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/registration-of-bugti-case-against-musharraf-ordered-809

By Maqbool Malik
ISLAMABAD – Iranian Baloch human smugglers played a key role in ferrying many hardcore Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters to various Gulf Arab countries in 2002 when they fled Afghanistan to evade US-led military offensive, TheNation has reliably learnt.
Background interviews and discussions with senior security officials, diplomats and Taliban in FATA suggest these fleeing fighters along with some of their family members had paid handsome money to the smugglers to ferry them.
“Sea-route was the most feasible option they had used while fleeing from Pakistan and Iran”, a knowledgeable source said while speaking on condition of anonymity.
They hired the services of human smugglers using high speed boats owned and operated by Iranian Baloch, sources said, adding that most of the fugitives were Arabs and Afghans and used Jiwani, a Pakistani fishing town on Pak-Iran border.
Sources said some of them were living with different names in different Gulf Arab countries as well as Iran, Somalia, Iraq and southeast countries including Indonesia.
They were of the view that the fleeing Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters from Afghanistan managed to enter Pakistan and Iran, where some of them were arrested or killed while many still managed to slip away and reached different Gulf Arab countries.
These people, who fled to evade the US-led terror war in Afghanistan, launched in the backdrop of 9/11 terrorist attacks, had carried with them passports of various countries, mostly the Gulf Arab states.
“Some of them, particularly the Arab fighters of Al-Qaeda, later went to Iraq to join hands with the forces which were resisting the US-led invasion in early 2003”, another knowledgeable source said, adding “who knows how many of them had managed to enter even the European countries”.
They were of the view that those who fled Afghanistan in the first instance managed to reach Quetta and from there they sneaked into coastal areas with the help of their Pakistani supporters and sympathisers. While some of them, including a son of Al-Qaeda Chief Osama bin Ladin, tried to flee through Iran but were arrested. Later, sources said, Iran handed a few of them to Saudi Arabia.
Sources said this starling clue came to light when Pakistani authorities launched concerted efforts to check and verify presence of Taliban chief Mullah Omer and his key associates in Quetta on the request of US and Afghan authorities.
The US authorities later placed Pakistan on the list of those countries with a dismal record in curbing human trafficking and human smuggling.
They said Pakistan, after thorough investigation, had told the US and Afghan governments that there were no signs of Mullah Omar and his key commanders in Quetta city as alleged by their respective intelligence sleuths.
The Chief spokesman of Pakistan military, Major General Athar Abbas, refused to give details of the intelligence exchanges shared by security forces of Pakistan, USA and Afghanistan through their Tripartite Commission.
“These are intelligence exchanges and not made public”, he told TheNation in response to a query whether US military commanders in Afghanistan had ever requested Pakistan to check and verify their intelligence reports about the alleged presence of Mullah Omar and his key commanders in Quetta.
Meanwhile, a US Embassy spokesman insisted that Mullah Omar and some of his key commanders were in Quetta and they keep on moving from one place to another. “I have nothing more to offer than the statements already issued by our ambassador and the deputy head of mission”, Embassy spokesman Rick Snelsire told TheNation.
Taliban sources from FATA regarded the US threat to launch drone attacks on Quetta as a mere trick to pressurise Pakistan to launch its offensive against hideouts of terror networks of late Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in Waziristan.
Some Taliban sources also claimed that Osama bin Ladin was killed during the US bombers’ B-52 strikes over Tora Bora with daisycutter bombs which destroyed Al-Qaeda’s famous mountain hideout.
They quoted some Al-Qaeda and Taliban who offered special prayer for the departed soul of Osama when they gathered for pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia the very next year.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online//Politics/06-Oct-2009/Hardcore-QaedaTaliban-fighters-smuggled-out