The Americans are spending millions of dollars in trying to net Osama bin Laden. They are looking for him all over Afghanistan and near the border with Pakistan. There was speculation that he would be nabbed just in time before the US elections thus giving a morale boost to President Bush's campaign.
As has been the experience, the American sleuths with all high falutin gadgetry have remained clueless. They are searching for the needle in the wrong haystack.
Osama is in SITE Karachi, an industrial estate of about 4500 acres having over 2500 industries, where over 550,000 people work to provide nearly 30% of Pakistan's revenue.
The reason he is in SITE is that this industrial area resembles Tora Bora and Wana. The roads are in a dilapidated condition due to years of misuse, neglect, and corruption. There is not enough water to keep the wheels of industry moving.
Electricity is on - off as a matter of routine. Burglaries and theft are an everyday occurrence. Every small petty officer of the government makes it a point to send threatening official letters to the industries demanding his pound of flesh.
Every nook and corner is encroached by people who palm the grease of concerned authorities to let them carry on business without having to pay rent, taxes, and other dues.
Debris, garbage, and industrial waste are scattered all over the estate, making SITE a perpetual pigsty.
It is precisely for these reasons that Osama and his associates have made SITE their abode. The Americans will never find him in this place unless they level and raze the whole industrial estate with their bombs and missiles. There is, however, only one sure method to capture Osama.
Washington should immediately award a contract to Haliburton to mobilise men, material, and machines on a fast track and dispatch these to SITE. The terms of the contract would be to immediately construct long-life roads all over SITE, remove the encroachments, the debris, the garbage, and the waste, make sure that no government officer enters the enclave, set up a water desalination/power plant in Hawkes Bay to provide water and electricity to SITE, remove graffiti and paint all the industrial establishments, and provide intensive training to SITE Ltd employees to effectively manage and maintain an industrial estate.
The net result would be that once again SITE would be hustling-bustling with industrial activity, water tanks would be full, people would be working 24-7, street lights would lit up the area, there would be a clean, orderly, and open environment, and prosperity would reign supreme.
Haliburton would give a massive dividend to its shareholders, the President and Prime Minister would hail this grand achievement, and America would earn brownie points from the citizens of Karachi.
Then, Osama and his team would feel insecure and uncomfortable, would have no place to hide, and would then develop their exit strategy and go back to wherever, singing "Catch me if you can".