Bin Laden killed? All on a sudden Pakistan's Musharraf stops searching

Karachi's main street is full of a whisper today - "Bin Laden is dead". All on a sudden Pakistan announced today that search for Bin Laden in Waziristan, the tribal border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan is being halted permanently. The Government most likely received enough evidence that Bin Laden is really dead. Most people in Pakistan know that Bin Laden did escape to this area from Torabora in Afghanistan. There is also speculation that Pakistan's Musharraf Government is in secret pact with the opposition in not trying any more to disturb the tribal areas before a major US-Pakistani crack down on Bin Laden.

If Bin Laden is dead, Pakistan Government may be afraid to announce that in fear of civil unrest in Pakistan. They also may have reached an agreement with the local tribal leaders.

After more than two years of battling remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban, Pakistan's government has announced it will end its military operation in the tense tribal region of South Waziristan.

The province along the border with Afghanistan is among the potential hiding places for Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants.

The announcement late Friday came a day after a Pakistani army commander said repeated searches by the military have failed to turn up any trace of bin Laden in the tribal lands.

"(Bin Laden) requires his own protection, and the kind of security apparatus that he is supposed to have around him, that gives a very big signature," said Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, military chief of northwest Pakistan, according to a translation from Reuters News Agency.

"There is not an inch of South Waziristan or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again, and if he was here in the tribal areas, I can assure you that he wouldn't have escaped my eyes and ears."

A senior intelligence official said that the army has begun withdrawing its troops from South Waziristan. Pakistan forces will remain in other tribal areas to monitor the border region.

Intelligence sources said the government reached a deal with the region's five most-wanted militants, who agreed to stop their resistance and not harbor any foreign militants.


http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/11-28h-04.asp

parade his dead body through New York City:bounce:

as long as the banana republicans are in charge, i wouldn't put ANYTHING past them.

he was the first - now there are many created by the ego and stupidity of *.

election. Good enough for Bush. Sadly, I can't believe anything from this administration or their puppets in the ME.