Daily Times

Sir: In 2011, American Seals stormed into Abbottabad, a garrison town up in the north, on a mission to kill Osama bin Laden. They not only succeeded in killing him but also took away the body and dumped it into the Arabian Sea. They outwitted the Pakistani radars and army during the entire operation.

A few days ago, a similar incident happened again on the territory of Pakistan. The Taliban leader Mullah Akhter Mansour was killed in a drone strike by the American forces. Despite conflicting statements from the interior minister, it was established that the person killed was indeed Taliban leader as the Taliban also confirmed the death. Government officials have lied to the nation over and over again during the past decade on the issue of drone strikes in Pakistan, and it is a grave concern that an unmanned plane enters Pakistani territory and kills anyone of their choice.

I see the incident as an action reply of the Abbottabad incident. This is not to blame the US government for killing terrorists, but it should not breach a country’s sovereignty whenever it wants. Furthermore, Pakistani authorities should realise that Pakistan cannot be a safe haven for hardened criminals and terrorists. It is a matter of utter shame that the persons killed in both these incidents were high-profile terrorists. Bin Laden was living in a garrison town, while Mansour had a Pakistani identity card and passport and was travelling in and out of Pakistan. Given the history of Pakistani authorities with the Afghan Taliban, one can only hope that such incidents are not repeated. Government of Pakistan needs to realise that there are people in Pakistani institutions that are involved with terrorist elements. Authorities should take action against such elements as they bring a bad name to the country. Misuse of religion has led to increasing problems for Muslims everywhere around the world. Authorities need to rectify problems in our institutions first before lecturing other governments on how to deal with ‘Islamophobia’.

ABID HABIB

Mirpurkhas