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4:23 AM
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President Obama announced on 2nd May that Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been confirmed killed in northeast Pakistan during an operation on Sunday 1 May 2011. Local reports to the BBC say a firefight was in progress at about 01.00 local time. So what now for the war, and for the region?An armed skirmish was reported to have started around an elaborate compound in an urban area half a mile from the Pakistani Military Academy, Pakistan's West Point. Bin Laden's presence there has provoked suspicion as well as the accusation that some within Pakistan's armed forces must have known about his presence. Such speculation may or may not be groundless - but hiding near the hunter's den is hardly an unknown tactic for an intelligent quarry.
Pakistan: A History of Strife
Explosive situations are not new to Pakistan. A BBC news timeline* reveals a century of conflict, controversy and tragedy. Pakistan was the original home of the Muslim League, formed in 1906 to support Muslims in their struggle for political separation from India. While Pakistan has the institutions of a modern, secular democratic state, these sit beside a history of conflict - control by strongmen like the Bhutto family, General Zia (1977-1988) or former president Musharraf (2001-2008); assassinations and corruption in high places; and tragic economic pressures exacerbated by terrible, widespread floods and devastating earthquakes.
In the face of such upheaval, Sharia law - formally adopted into Pakistan's legal code in 1991 - increases its appeal; living decently demands certainty and peace. The West advocates democratic answers to regional challenges, but the benefits of democratic thinking and institutions may seem remote to people when their problems are immediate. In contrast, Sharia law - known and understood throughout the Islamic world - brings clarity to areas like upland Pakistan, where order is a priority. This may seem an incomprehensible choice to us in the West, where education is more diverse and justice associated more with processes of dialogue than obedience to divine authority.
Whose "Democracy"?Osama Bin Laden is dead, but his value as a symbol of such appealing, single-minded clarity will not end with his death. To those who admired him, he will continue to stand for a resurgence of strict Islamic values - and for action against invasive foreign interests that ally themselves with oppressive domestic regimes. History has made this aspect of his appeal pan-national, and puts to flight any hopes for an immediate, peaceful resolution to our various involvements across Islamic territories.
Pakistan walks a troubled line between Western and regional interests. It has elections, yet lies in a region where family, ethnic and religious interests describe alliances better than political parties, where widespread common grievances fuel political unrest. Under such conditions, political boundaries are unlikely to function very effectively. The situation is far too volatile and fluid.
To accuse Pakistan of complicity over Bin Laden's presence is pointless. Religious and political institutions may be converging across the region, but who or what really represents "the will of the people" is very difficult to determine. Political negotiations are, for the foreseeable future, doomed to be piecemeal.
Martyr, Outlaw, Other?Obama's speech upon Bin Laden's death set out American policy clearly: Bin Laden was a criminal, not a hero, and a man clearly responsible for the death of many Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Whether those who found a leader in Bin Laden will now make him a martyr remains to be seen. Sadly, what might be in the interest of greater immediate peace may not be tolerable to those looking to a far more transcendent political future.
For a timeline from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1156716.stm
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