Is Osama still alive

There are a very few people in Pakistan, who believe Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was present in Abbotabad compound and America killed him there. Below are a few questions that still trouble the minds of my naive, confused countrymen, who still believe that Osama is alive.

Why ex-intelligence officials keep saying Osama is alive?
They say it because they want audience and media limelight. Such interviews are not broadcast or published anywhere in the world except in Pakistan where there is a large audience willing to believe in Osama-is-alive.

Why Osama was living in poverty when he was so rich.

Osama was living in hiding. He was on the run. All top world security agencies were after him. When a person is living in hiding, he can’t afford to bargain with shopkeepers. He buys things with only one condition that his anonymity is protected at all costs.

Osama was on the run for more than ten years. The Saudi government had seized his assets. His family was not supporting him anymore. He could not avail the online monetary transfer as it would have blown his cover. He was living on donations provided by his friends, who were getting fewer day by day because of vigilant American spy agencies.

Osama was also keeping a large family with him. This multiplied the expenses which reached beyond his resources.

Why Osama didn’t have so many body guards.

This was asked none other than Pakistan’s star anchor Hamid Mir, who has never been tired of boasting his interview with Osama Bin Laden. Mir asked that why Osama was living without his security detail when he had been living with a massive security detail in Kandahar.

Could Osama afford to live with a security detail consisting of 50 double cabin vehicles, loaded with gun totting Talibans in Pakistan? No.

Osama in Abbotabad was Osama’s body double.

This argument is also raised frequently. People in Pakistan think that Osama had placed his body double in Abbotabad. Who places his body double to live in a house with one’s three wives? No one.

The world's top secret keepers not lured by $25m

Osama’s wife has told Pakistani army officials that her family was living in the Abbotabad compound since 2005. The only credit Pakistan can take in the most shameful incident in its history is that: we did keep a secret really well. All those who knew about Osama’s presence in Pakistan deserve appreciation as they kept mum despite the huge amount of prize money ($25million) on the head of the Al Qaeda chief. Osama rightly opted pashtuns host. Had he opted any other province, his host would have handed him to the US with his hands tied.

Why it was necessary to capture Osama dead

The US has avoided a lot of extremist attacks by capturing Osama dead. Had America captured the Al Qaeda chief alive, there would have been a series of very violent attacks on the US interest in the world. These attacks would be more focussed on plane hijackings, hostage taking and massive bombings near the US embassies in the world. The current anger over the death of Osama would have multiplied manifolds in case of his arrest.

How badly is Pakistani military exposed

Only two justifications can be drawn from the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden in a house at Abbotabad, a few hundred meters from the Pakistan's premier military academy. One justification is that Pakistani intelligence agencies were honest with the US but were incompetent and therefore could not find Osama Bin Laden. The second justification is: all Pakistani intelligence agencies were competent but they cheated with the US. Now the army must be sweating and thinking which justification it should offer to the people. 

Did Pakistan know about Osama's hideout

Had Pakistan known about Osama Bin Laden's Abbotabad hideout, Americans would have found no one in that compound. When the operation against Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in Pakistani territory started, the US gave reliable intelligence about their presence to Pakistani law enforcement agencies.
What forced the US to start doing these operations itself was tendency in certain elements in Pakistani law enforcement agencies who would one way or other forewarn the terrorists , allowing them to escape. American had to deploy drones to carry out these operations. Had Pakistan complied with the US, drone would not have been used in strikes.
Pakistanis were not aware about Osama's presence in that compound and they were also not informed about the operation  before hand and that is why the US is now celebrating a successful operation.