Osama case: CIA consultant in Pakistan is a hardline Kashmir pundit hater

More proof of how the ISI in Pakistan uses the services of retired officers to carry out terror related activities has come to the fore front.

The Osama Bin Laden episode is a classic case of this and the man who sold the information to the United States of America has been identified as a man called Khalid Usman, a former Brigadier in Pakistan.

Khalid is alleged to have sold Osama's hideout for a whopping 25 million US dollars which could have led to the US tracking him and killing him.

While the US and Pakistan would love to deny that aspect of Operation Osama, the fact remains that Khalid was in the know of a lot of information and could have possibly been sent by the ISI to give out the information as the spy agency would never let any of its serving officers directly deal with anyone especially on such sensitive issues.

Who is Khalid Usman?

Usman Khalid is a former brigadier in Pakistan. He was a mid level ISI official and post retirement was put in charge of fanning anti Kashmir sentiments. His services were well recognized by the ISI.

In fact he became a think tank who spoke a lot about Kashmir and how the movement needs to be strengthened. He had also served in the ISI's Kashmir desk for sometime before his retirement.

His most prominent talks were always on television channels where he spoke about the Kashmir movement and recalled the glory days of Islam. He also narrated how the glory days of Islam would return once Kashmir was won over.

He has also authored several write ups and books and has been a prominent think tank. He is currently living in Pakistan and has travelled to various parts of the world where his talks have most of the time on the Kashmir issue. He has even touched upon the very sensitive Kashmiri Pundit topic several times during his talks.

The CIA consultant

Now comes the more interesting part of the story. Khalid who shot to fame for his Kashmir stand was roped in by the ISI to do their dirty work post his retirement. He was also roped by the CIA as a consultant and it is alleged that the same was done at the behest of General Asfaq Kayani.

This was a similar modus operandi that even General Pervez Musharraf had followed when he brought Bin Laden into Pakistan for the first time. He had entrusted the job of looking after the safety of Laden at Abottabad to one Brigadier Ejaz Shah.

After Musharaff stepped down the job was entrusted with Khalid and this took place at a time when Kayani was the Chief of the Army in Paksitan.

The job of CIA consultant was just an eye wash. While Khalid kept himself up to date with Osama Bin Laden, he also began sharing information with the CIA about the same.

According to the Intelligence officials in India, this could have happened only with the blessings of the ISI and they are known to delegate such CIA consultants from their army of former officials.

The Osama Bin Laden desk

Seymor Hersh's account of how the ISI and the CIA had a deal about Osama was first criticized by the American media. However today there is a shift from that and the story bears similarity to the one done by Carlotta Gall who too had spoken about something similar.

The fact that the ISI had a dedicated desk for Bin Laden is a well known fact. The rest of the world is not stupid to believe that Laden was in Pakistan since the past ten years and the ISI or the Americans did not know about it.

The CIA it appears took the services of Khalid and paid him 25 million dollars for specific information on Bin Laden. Khalid is said to have passed on information regularly to the CIA which finally gathered all the data which eventually led up to the killing of Osama.

The ISI is known to have such desks for every important terrorist on its soil. While the outer cover for such terrorists is managed by the serving officers, the direct day to day affairs are taken care of by the former officers. Former officers are roped as they are lesser under the radar of international spy agencies.