When Azaz Syed grilled Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil about the latter’s links with Osama bin Laden, Rehman started off by denying it, later choosing to dissuade Azaz from exploring the murky world of militancy. His warning was incisive. Holding Azaz by shoulder, he said: “Listen, if I share what I know, I will die, and if you ever get to know what I know, you will die too.”
Nevertheless, Azaz’s curiosity could not so easily be satiated. He travelled far and wide, poking his nose where perhaps it wasn’t wanted, all in a bid to trace the steps of the world’s most wanted terrorist, who was killed in a midnight raid by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
Azaz Syed
His recently published book, The Secrets of Pakistan’s War on Al-Qaeda, is a tell-all manuscript. Azaz is a reporter trained to tell a story as precisely as possible, but also comprehensively enough by focusing more on information and less on opinion.
The book is small in size and big on information. The most striking feature is the narrative form of writing that the author takes, immersing the reader fully into the story being told. This 163-page book gives us a glance into the universe of the fugitive Al-Qaeda leader and his associates. Whether the details have to do with anti-terrorism raids, OBL’s family life, the arrests of his affiliates, or the hunt for (at that time) the most wanted man on Earth by intelligence operatives, this book tells it all.
The first chapter takes off by revealing the untold story of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (commonly known as KSM), the mastermind of 9/11. From his facilitators in Pakistan, to his journey to different parts of the country, the author has documented details based on interviews of KSM’s facilitators and the ISI officials who arrested him in 2003.
ISI Major-General Ehtesham Zameer narrates how he received a tip-off from the CIA about the expected arrival of a Saudi financier of the 9/11 attacks at Islamabad airport: the financier was going to be received by KSM. The ISI diligently chased the men to a house in Westridge (Rawalpindi Cantonment) belonging to Dr. Abdul Qadoos, who had befriended KSM in Germany and Sudan.
Included in the book is also a story of how KSM, who had been dodging the agencies since 1995, narrowly escaped capture when his nephew Yousaf Ramzi was arrested from a guesthouse. Although the Saudi financier Mustafa Hawsawi was arrested together with KSM, it was never before reported in the media.
The next chapter brings to light the family life of OBL, particularly his relations with his three wives. When Amal, OBL’s third wife, was admitted to a hospital for the delivery of a baby, the nurses were told that she was deaf and dumb. This ensured that nobody tried to communicate with her, lest it led to her being identified and apprehended.
Khalid Sheikh's Saudi financier was arrested with KSM, but this has never before been reported
Al-Qaeda’s chief had changed his appearance, as he was now clean-shaven and had stopped wearing a turban. He coincidently grew a beard only a few days before the raid that would lead to his demise. Not only were the identities of OBL and his family hidden by his ‘Kuwaiti brothers’ from their own wives, KSM was also known to them as ‘Hafeez’ during periods when he stayed at their home.
The book also brings to light the tension between the ISI and the CIA, as the former was upset over the latter’s growing network in Pakistan. Included in it are details of two ISI officers at the Major-General rank, Nusrat Naeem and Asif Akhtar. The CIA was so annoyed with the two that it once sent pink papers against them to then ISI chief General Kayani. The pink paper is simply an indication of anger by the drafting agency. Incidentally, the officers were superseded when Kayani became army chief.
Although former ISI chief Lt. General (R) Shuja Pasha had once disclosed that the Americans had made a mistake in 2007, thinking that OBL was in Pakistan, this book discloses in detail how former US Vice President Dick Cheney came to Pakistan on an emergency visit to deliver a message to Musharraf. The former president was advised to read it after Cheney left. The note read, “We suspect that OBL is in Pakistan”. As the authorities acted on US intelligence, the hunt led to the discovery of an OBL lookalike: an Afghan national who had been involved in smuggling.
A chapter entitled “The Enemy Within” blew the lid off of the two retired Pakistan Army colonels who were strongly suspected of a role in hunting down OBL. One of them was employed by the CIA and the other was apparently running a private security company offering services to different embassies.
One revealing chapter is on Osama’s prior knowledge of the 2008 Mumbai attack, and that he wanted to establish an Al-Qaeda state in parts of Pakistan after the breakout of a possible war between the nuclear neighbours, Pakistan and India.
The book also carries a detailed conversation of the author with former ISI DG Pasha, which in itself makes for an interesting reading, as no interview with him has been conducted before. A number of pages have also been spared to explain the appointment of General Kayani as army chief after his meeting with late Benazir Bhutto in Dubai, as well as Kayani’s word to the US ambassador that he will hit back if Musharraf tried to remove him from his post. The beleaguered dictator had been upset with his army chief.
The Secrets of Pakistan’s War on Al-Qaeda is the first original work produced by any journalist in Pakistan after OBL’s death. It is refreshing to note that a reporter engaged in the electronic media, who works from dawn to dusk, managed to spare the time and resources to write such an informative and engaging book.
