Tiny Haripur village under media spotlight
By: Musharraf Hazarvi
HARIPUR – Hundreds of media persons, most of them from various TV channels, converged on a tiny village near here on Saturday following a claim reportedly made by one of Osama Bin Laden’s three widows that her slain husband had spent more than two years there alongwith the family before moving to Abbottabad, where he was killed by US commandos on May 2.
However, despite visiting the entire village, they found no place where Osama could have lived. Osama’s widow, Amal, a Yemeni national, had reportedly told investigators that before moving to Abbottabad, towards the end of 2005, her husband had lived with his family in Chak Shah Muhammad Khan for nearly two and a half years.
Chak Shah Muhammad, situated on the highway to Abbottabad, is two kilometres from here. The locals were surprised by seeing so many visitors on the same day.
Former Nazims Haji Abdus Salam Khan and Khurshid Khan told reporters that the place did not suit a man like Osama and, thus, there was just no possibility of his ever having lived there. They said in a small village like this Chak, everyone knows about their neighbours. But nobody had ever seen or even suspected that a man like Osama was living there.
‘This is not a safe place from security point of view’, the two Nazims said.
This Chak has only about 200/250 houses, most of them are made by mud.
There are also some caves there, which are part of the local culture.
ANP MPA from PF-51 Gohar Nawaz Khan also said he did not know if Osama had ever lived there. Amal, who according to officials, spent the last night with her husband and gave an account of what had transpired, told investigators that she had just moved with her husband to their bedroom and switched off the lights when they heard gunshots.
Before Osama could reach out for his Kalashnikov, the Navy SEALS team burst in and shot at her husband, confirming again that he was unarmed.
She too got a bullet in her leg and was wounded while trying to resist the intruding Americans, she added.
Amal also told investigators that her husband was hale and hearty and had recovered from his kidney ailment.
‘He was not on dialysis’, a newspaper quoted her telling an official.
Source: The Nation
Date:5/8/2011
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