The Pakistani Media On The Bin Laden Killing

Pakistan and its alleged role in the Osama bin Laden killing is at the heart of Seymour Hersh’s investigative piece that has divided opinion in the US media.

In a 10,000-word piece published in London Review of Books, Hersh – one of America’s most celebrated investigative journalists acclaimed for his reporting on torture in Abu Ghraib – details how the killing of bin Laden was not an “all-American affair” and an elaborate cover-up.

He uses several unnamed sources and one retired Pakistani intelligence officer to make the case that Pakistan knew about the Al-Qaeda chief’s whereabouts and cooperated in the Abbottabad operation. He also states that the US was informed about bin Laden’s location by a “walk-in” – a retired Pakistani intelligence officer — who wanted a reward of $25 million in return.

After the initial drubbing the piece got in the US media, some calling it bad fiction, reports, like in The New York Times, have now begun to surface stating that Hersh’s claims may not be all hogwash.

In all of this, however, the Pakistani government, unlike the White House, has not yet issued an official statement. The Pakistani media, too, has mostly stuck to bland reporting on Hersh’s piece that don’t really inform us what the Pakistani government or military and intelligence establishment have to say about Hersh’s revelations.

We sift through some reports and opinion pieces in the Pakistani media and find out that while most remain noncommittal on the veracity of Hersh’s report, some think that they do show Pakistan in good light for helping the US nail the world’s most wanted terrorist.

* Dawn carried an interview with Ashraf Jehangir Qazi — a member of the Abbottabad Commission that was set up by the Pakistani government in 2011 to investigate the raid at the bin Laden compound. On the question whether some facts in Hersh’s piece could be correct, Qazi says anything is possible but there’s no evidence to prove the revelations. He adds that “there is nothing new in this report”.

As for this story, it’s at the moment not that interesting because it is not supported by proof. Facts can’t be interesting unless proved. – Qazi

Dawn also carried a long piece on Hersh’s story along with his interview.

Asked did his [Hersh’s] investigation show Pakistan as a villain or an ally, he said: “Total ally.” Initially, he said, “here was anger (in Washington) that they had OBL for years, but did not tell us. But we understand people have their interests and act to protect them.”

* An edit in Business Recorder, Pakistani financial daily, broadly sees no truth to Hersh’s report and says “his version has all the makings of a cock-and-bull story”. But, at the same time, it sees some merit in his assertions, at least about the fact that Pakistan may have known about bin Laden’s whereabouts.

How come if American sources on ground or in air over Pakistan can spot Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud having body massage on roof in a village other than his known residence strike with deadly precision a man of Osama bin Laden’s bio remained elusive for five years? And above all, the Pakistanis like all concerned people in the world are by nature snoopers of their neighbourhood. That half a million residents of Abbottabad never bothered to find out who lived in that spacious double storey building is something that defies commonsense. 

* Daily Pakistan carried a report about claims of Hersh’s report being plagiarised or unoriginal. The report quotes from The Intercept that carried the story about Hillhouse making the same assertions in 2011 about the death of bin Laden.

Hillhouse believes that “Everything that [Hersh] has said has been spot on” but “You can’t help but notice that everything he is saying in the story, which is true, was first broken by me.”

* The Express Tribune lists out nine reasons why Hersh’s theory on Abbottabad raids is unbelievable. The first of which is the fact that his report furnishes no documentary evidence to support his claim. It also wonders why Pakistan would want a fake raid at the cost of humiliating its military and intelligence leaders.

Despite Hersh claiming that there was a secret deal between both sides to enable increased military aid and a “freer hand in Afghanistan”, the exact opposite took place with the US military aid cooperation in Afghanistan declining for years after the raid.

The points were culled out from an article in Vox by Max Fisher.

* The Nation carried a blog by author Greg Grandin that critiques Fisher’s Vox piece.

Fisher was too quick by half. For the rabbit hole indeed goes deep. Just after he posted his piece, NBC news—not just “mainstream” but solidly in the Obama White House camp—confirmed one key claim in Hersh’s report: “Two intelligence sources tell NBC News that the year before the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a ‘walk in’ asset from Pakistani intelligence told the CIA where the most wanted man in the world was hiding—and these two sources plus a third say that the Pakistani government knew where bin Laden was hiding all along.” 

Grandin states that accusing Hersh of falling under the thrall of “conspiracy theory” is akin to repudiating the whole enterprise of investigative journalism that Hersh helped pioneer.

* The Frontier Post edit headlined “Hersh’s self-contradictory report” again calls Hersh’s report “cock and bull” and an attempt to “attract world attention”.  It states if Pakistan was taken into confidence, there wouldn’t have been the need to pay the retired Pakistani intelligence officer $25 million. It also states that Hersh’s assertions show Pakistan in good light.

Although, there are serious allegations and negative propaganda in the report, some commentariat and chattering classes consider the report favourable to Pakistan. They take the plea that the report goes to prove that Pakistan has helped the US for taking out OSB; and try to convey an impression that this will improve Pakistan’s image.

* Dunya News aired a debate, ‘Siasat Hai Ya Saazish’, which discussed the problems with Hersh’s theory. Before beginning the debate, the anchor, Dr Moeed Pirzada, said the revelation has been ignored by most of the Pakistani media.

Meanwhile, Pakistani journalists on Twitter seem divided on Hersh’s reports.