Two interesting stories surfaced today. In one, at a press conference, the Jamaat-e-Islami party’s chief in Karachi Professor Ghafoor Ahmed said that he wasn’t entirely sure that Osama bin Laden was dead. Our reporter Saher Baloch went to cover it. She came back with this:
Responding to a question, the JI leader said that the operation against Osama bin Laden may have come has a relief for the US but the JI has doubts over whether the outcome was successful. “The pictures that were released after his capture look doubtful,” said Ahmed. “It is unknown whether he has been killed or not.” However, he added that even if Bin Laden is dead, he deserved a burial in line with Islamic traditions.
In the second story, a lawyer has filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, as reported by our Zeeshan Mujahid, saying that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should prevent Pakistani and international television channels from airing footage of the US operation Abbotabad as it wasn’t credible and made Pakistan look bad. It was propaganda, he argued. I guess he wants al Jaz, CNN and the BBC to chuck it out. He said they should wait until credible footage is release. He used the word “confidence-inspriing” video.
He said that the burial at sea was problematic as all evidence has been destroyed.
The thing about these people is, I feel, personally, that they can make a pretty convincing argument if you don’t know any better. At this point, however, I’m not sure it really matters to the person on the street whether Bin Laden is dead. As for me, I’ve been reading as much as I can and watching as many analysts battle it out – sort of like who’s the bigger analyst – on television.
I thought I’d share some art work that came up in the newsroom. I’m not sure if it’s already on the internet.
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