Killing of Osama bin Laden in the commando raid on his hideout is certainly a big success of the United States and its allies in the war on terror. Osama bin Laden and his Al- Qaeda played havoc with world peace during the last 10 years in his so called war against America, but the irony is that Muslim countries, Pakistan in particular, bore the brunt of his terrorism.

And yet when the time came to deal the final blow to Osama, the US did not take Pakistan into confidence and kept the operation shrouded in secrecy. Even after the claimed death of Osama, his body was disposed off without showing it to the world, not even to Pakistan whom the US once described as' the most allied non-Nato ally', and on whose soil the operation was carried out.

The news of the anti-Osama operation was, therefore, received in Pakistan not with the sense of satisfaction achievement and that it should have caused, but with anger and skepticism. First the US commandos violated the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan and mounted the helicopter raid on Osama's alleged residence without informing Pakistan, secondly, it did not even associate Pakistan after the operation in the process of identification of Osama's body and its final disposal.

On the contrary, the US government spokesmen added insult to injury by saying that they did not take Pakistan into confidence because of fear of leakage of the plans to Al-Qaeda. Sections of the US , western and Indian media went to the extent of expressing suspicions that some elements in the lower echelons of Pakistan's intelligence services had been harboring Osama and other terrorists, pleading that more unilateral raids should be mounted on suspected hideouts of terrorists in Pakistan.

All this when Pakistan has arrested and handed over the largest number of Al-Qaeda and other terrorists to the US and has suffered the highest casualties of its troops and citizens in the fight against terrorists.

All these suspicions and wild allegations against Pakistan have caused a sharp reaction in the country which has galvanized into the demand to end dependence on the US aid and even withdraw transit facilities to the US-led NATO forces. The parliament has passed a unanimous resolution calling for steps to stop the US drone attacks on Pakistani tribal areas.

People have also refused to buy the US story that Osama had been living in that compound in Abbottabad for seven years and that he was killed in that operation on the night of May 2. They argue that elimination of such a high value target as Osama bin Laden should have been widely publicized to establish the truth beyond any shadow of doubt. In fact people everywhere are intrigued why should the US which showed every moment of the execution of Saddam Hussein on the television, should become so secretive in the case of Osama's death and burial. Why the sea burial when he could be given a proper burial on the land according to the Islamic tenets? Sea burial is allowed in Islam only when someone dies in a boat or ship in the middle of the ocean and there is no possibility of reaching the coast in time.

These questions and unfounded suspicions raised in the US media about Pakistan's role in the fight against terrorism have turned Osama's death from a big success into a mystery.

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