Poor Pakistan, again (Abbottabad)

Inyatullah and two daughters

Apparently, Bin Laden has been killed in the city of Abbottabad. It took some time until I realized that I’ve been there. On May 29, 2004, to be precise. Coming from the Aornus, we were returning to Islamabad and Taxila, where we still wanted to see the Jandial sanctuary. So we passed through Abbottabad, where our driver, Inyatullah, invited us to his home, in a small village, just 5 kilometers east of the city. We met his wife, his second son, his young daughters, his veiled daughter-in-law, and we enjoyed a very lovely meal.

Although I have on another occasion blogged about poor Pakistan, I would not have written about this if not for something that I haven’t seen in any of the news reports of the past hours. This is the area that was destroyed by the 2005 earthquake. The family that entertained us so courteously, is probably dead, because the epicenter was just 19 kilometers from Abbottabad, and 15 kilometers from their home. Bin Laden could hide over there, I guess, because the entire area had to be redeveloped.