Sabir Shah
LAHORE: Quite understandably so, the Indian public, political leaders and the armed forces are having a ball since the day Osama bin Laden was hunted down on the Pakistani soil. Gleeful media across the border has visibly been obsessed with the “risk-taking nature” of the “courageous” US President Barack Obama.
Dubbing him “gutsy,” “truthful” and “daring,” even the best Indian newspapers have been showering generous praises for the American President – constantly rubbing salt on the wounds of the Pakistani civil and military authorities – who are otherwise quite busy “devising” a face-saving formula to neutralise the embarrassment that has greeted them after Osama’s demise at the hands of the US Navy SEALs in the city of Abbottabad.
This is what The Times of India had observed in its May 9 edition, “US President Barack Obama took a daring and risky call to order a raid inside Pakistan despite being told it was only a 55:45 chance that the quarry was Osama bin Laden.”
The Times of India, one of India’s most widely-subscribed newspapers, had further written: “In an extraordinary first-hand account of raid on the Abbottabad compound that resulted in killing the world’s most-wanted terrorist, Obama told CBS 60 Minutes that he took the chance despite having only ‘circumstantial evidence’ that it was bin Laden because he was driven by his campaign promise to nail Osama and his belief in the abilities of American commandos.”
This is how the top Indian newspaper had quoted President Obama “At the end of the day, this was still a 55/45 situation,” Obama explained with remarkable candour about the risk that most leaders may have abjured. “I mean, we could not say definitively that bin Laden was there. Had he not been there, then there would have been significant consequences.”
The evidently upbeat top Indian newspaper had further stated, “The US president didn’t seem to think much of Pakistan’s protests in the matter, and, in fact, seemed to believe bin Laden could not have survived for five years inside Pakistan without a ‘support network’. In explaining the sequence of events that led to the May 2 commando action inside Pakistan, Obama revealed an unusually high degree of involvement in the planning for a president, after he ordered the CIA to put in ‘more resources, more focus, more urgency’ into the hunt for bin Laden.”
ThenewKerala.com, a leading Trivandrum city-based news portal from the touristy state of Kerala, could not hide its jubilation either. It viewed, “Indians love sensation, and how! News of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s death drew 42.6 million viewers in India, against the 42.1 million who watched the fairytale British royal wedding.”
In one of its articles carrying a headline, “Osama’s death grabs more eyeballs in India than Royal wedding,” this website had further stated, “The direct telecast rights of the royal wedding was with BBC Entertainment channel, but the Indian news channels in Hindi and English gave wide coverage to the William-Kate wedding with limited access.
However, the unexpected news of Osama’s death in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan clearly excited the audiences more and the news was splashed across all Indian and international channels.
Amidst festivities and unending celebrations, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quoted by his country’s media outlets as saying, “I welcome it as a significant step forward and hope that it will deal a decisive blow to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The international community and Pakistan in particular must work comprehensively to end the activities of all such groups who threaten civilised behaviour and kill innocent men, women and children.”
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram opined that bin Laden hiding “deep inside” Pakistan was a matter of grave concern for India and proved that “many of the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, including the controllers and the handlers of the terrorists who actually carried out the attack, continue to be sheltered in Pakistan.”
Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna also lauded the killing of bin Laden terming it “historic” and a “victorious milestone” in the global war against terrorism. The Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi was also amongst those Indian leaders who had expressed their happiness over Osama’s death.
Similarly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj (also the leader of the opposition in the Indian parliament) was heard saying: “Osama was enemy number one of humanity.”
Meanwhile, the Indian army chief General VK Singh asserted that the Indian armed forces were “competent enough” to carry out a similar operation in Pakistan. He said, “I would like to say only this that if such a chance comes, then all the three arms of the Indian defence forces are competent to do this.” The Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik was not far behind maintaining strongly that India had the capability to carry out such surgical strikes against terrorists.
Source: The News
Date:5/11/2011
