The Abbottabad compound where the al Qaeda chief and his family lived for many years has been demolished. The doctor who confirmed Osama's presence in Abbottabad is under arrest. Osama's family has been deported to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis will ensure Osama's family's silence on their ears in Pakistan.
Pakistan has indicated that an inquiry into Osama's presence in the country will not be made public nor are any answers likely to the US's claims that key allies of Osama remained in hiding in Pakistan, such as Ayman Zawahiri who heads al Qaeda, Taliban chief Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani network.
Recent opinion polls suggest that Pakistanis are turning away from terrorism. Fifty-five per cent of the Pakistanis don't like al Qaeda and its ideology. But what is not fading is opposition to the US.
Hamid Mir said, "The majority of the people in this region consider the US troops as the occupational forces and then there are the incidents like desecration of the holy Quran, the killing of innocent women and children in Afghanistan. A majority of them, more than 95 per cent, just want the ouster of the foreign forces from Afghanistan. That's it. They don't want to go to the US and organise an attack on the US because they are not capable of doing that."
It's interesting to note that Pakistan's refusal to act against anti-US militant groups mirrors its position on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, ranging from outright denial to obfuscation and silence.
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