Mullah Omar dead: Pakistan lied yet again

Islamabad, July 30: Pakistan has been caught lying once again. This time, it is regarding the death of Mullah Omar. The Afghanistan Government says that Mullah Omar had died in Karachi in the year 2013. He was suffering from a health condition and had died at a hospital.

Pakistan had repeatedly denied the presence of Mullah Omar on its soil just like it did in the case of Osama Bin Laden. Pakistan also denied the presence of Dawood Ibrahim on its soil.

The Afghanistan government has made it clear that the news of his death is credible and many are taking this claim more seriously than the previous ones.

Most credible claim:

Yesterday, after BBC broke the story that Mullah Omar had died, the Afghanistan government confirmed that the Taliban leader had in fact died. They said that he had died in a hospital in Karachi in the year 2013 itself. The Taliban has however not reacted to the claim. They have not denied it either.

While the Taliban has not issued any official statement there is already discussion in their two councils to find a replacement for Mullah Omar. This time around the Americans too believe that this claim is genuine. Mullah Omar had gone completely out of the radar after the US invaded Afghanistan post 9/11.

There has been a lot of talk regarding his death since the past several years. However the Taliban and also the Afghan government had kept mum on the issue. An officer with the Indian Intelligence Bureau also says that this time around the news is credible.

Pakistan's denial mode:

Pakistan has very often denied the existence of Mullah Omar on its soil. Several inputs had suggested that Pakistan had taken under its care both Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar when the US invasion of Afghanistan started.
Pakistan was often asked this question regarding Mullah Omar, but had always denied knowledge. They maintained that he was in Tora Bora while several other international intelligence agencies said that Omar was very much in Pakistan.

Several journalists from America who had visited Paksitan had written that Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar were being managed by a special ISI desk. They were assets to the Pakistanis and hence all measures were taken to protect them.

Why the denial of Mullah Omar's death?

Taliban has been facing a major leadership crisis. They saw the manner in which the al-Qaeda had disintegrated in Afghanistan following the death of Osama Bin Laden. Mullah Omar was the only leader who had a charismatic appeal and in the absence of them finding a replacement, the Taliban decided to keep the death a secret.

Pakistan on the other which was aware of Mullah Omar's death too decided to keep it a secret. Paksitan has been attempting to use as a proxy the Taliban in Afghanistan. They too were aware that the Taliban which is splitting up badly would completely disintegrate if the news of Mullah Omar's death became public.

OneIndia News