Srinagar, May 2 (IANS) Security forces were Monday put on high alert in Jammu and Kashmir after Al Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. While life continued normally in the valley, many said he could not have been killed without Pakistan’s assistance.
As news of Osama’s killing by American forces in Abbotabad city in Pakistan was flashed on the small screen, many Kashmiris remained glued to their TV sets.
‘I was alerted by a friend… Initially, I did not believe the news till I saw Barack Obama’s address on TV,’ said Waseem, 24, a college student here.
While there was surprise and disbelief among Kashmiris, so far there has been no public outburst.
News of the American operation against Osama spread to the nook and corner of the valley, the hub of the dragging separatist campaign in Jammu and Kashmir.
Security forces and the army were put on high alert immediately. But markets, educational institutions, government offices operated normally in the summer capital Srinagar and all other major towns of the Valley.
Road traffic was also normal.
Kashmiri separatist leaders did not issue any statement about the event so far.
Although the Pakistan government maintains that Osama’s killing was an American operation, not many Kashmiris believe the US intelligence could have hunted down its most wanted target without Pakistan’s assistance.
‘Kindly don’t tell me he lived in Abbotabad and other places in Pakistan and the authorities there were absolutely clueless,’ said Sajad Ahmad, 35, a businessman.
Some even believe that US pressure could have forced Pakistan to give up Osama’s location.
‘All these years, we were told that he is hiding in some mountains of Afghanistan and suddenly now he has been killed just 50 km from the Pakistan capital. I don’t believe the Pakistan authorities did not know at all about where Osama had been hiding,’ said a college teacher.
‘But if that is the truth, then the situation is more worrisome in Pakistan than we believe it to be,’ said the teacher of political science in a college here who did not want to be named.
