Pakistan Recalls Osama bin Laden Amid Push for Terrorism Tag

‘The Zardari Presidency’ by Farhatullah Babar Brings Back Spotlight on Pakistan Army’s Ties with Terrorists

By MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI, May 27, 2025 – With the release of the book ‘The Zardari Presidency’ by Farhatullah Babar, Pakistan is revisiting the episode surrounding the US taking out Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden from Abbottabad’s cantonment areas. The book has hit the stands at a time when India has launched an unprecedented international outreach to pin down Pakistan as a terrorism sanctuary.

Babar was a key aide of Zardari, who is the only civilian to hold the post of President for full term (2008-13). Geopolitical experts have maintained that Zardari and Pakistan’s former Army Chief General Pervez Musharaff had mostly been at loggerheads. Zardari hailed from Pakistani People’s Party (PPP).

Babar unveiled the book at the Karachi Press Club yesterday. Pakistani commentators shared images of the book unveiling event on X. The book excerpts are not immediately available, but commentators focused their attention on Babar’s defence of Zardari in the Laden episode.

Babar has been quoted in the media in the past raising questions on almost 2000 visas issued to the US “intelligence sleuths”, who eventually found out Laden staying in a cantonment area in Abbottabad for almost a decade. He almost had shifted blames on the Pakistani Army for Laden’s stay in Pakistan even while the US had been hunting him down in the aftermath of the 9/11 Twin Tower terror attacks.

Tariq Ali in his book ‘The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power’ had cited e-mail exchanges among the American officials to claim that Zardari had been planted by Washington in Pakistan. Ali had claimed that the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had sought to replicate Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai experiment in Pakistan to punish “Musharaff”. Zardari had succeeded Musharaff as Pakistani President.

Now, spotlight is back with the unveiling of the book on Babur’s reiteration for past one decade on how was it that “Osama bin Laden had been staying in an army cantonment area to direct global terrorism for a decade”. The book’s tagline is ‘Now It Must be Told’. Pakistani commentators claimed that the book would mostly delve in the Laden affairs and his hunting down by the US in a late-night operation.

With Pakistani media outlets digital footprints blocked in India, the coverages of the book are not immediately accessible. But the spotlight on Pakistani Army sheltering Laden for a decade in a cantonment area has come amid Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif marshalling his key associates to defend Islamabad from India’s diplomatic offensives on terrorism.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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