03 May,2011 07:48 AM IST | | Mid Day Correspondent
An IT consultant in Abbottabad was livetweeting the raid in which Laden was killed by the US military
Sohaib Athar, an IT consultant, was unwittingly liveblogging the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed by the US military. And, for nine hours, he did not even realise he was doing so. Athar, who lives near the Jalal Baba Auditorium - about 250m from bin Laden's compound - put out his first tweet relating to the attack at about 1am local time, when he noticed a helicopter hovering overhead: "a rare event", he commented.
What's on? Pakistani citizens watching the story unfold. Pic/AFP
That was followed by "A huge window-shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope it's not the start of something nasty."But he mused that something odd must be going on: "Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation," he pondered.
The downed helicopter also puzzled him: "People are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it CIRCLE 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful." He added "it was too noisy to be a spy craft, or, a very poor spy craft."
Soon Athar's tweets earned him 14,000 new followers as he unwittingly described the U.S. operation to kill one of the world's most wanted militants. Throughout the battle, he related the rumours swirling through town: it was a training accident. Somebody was killed.
The aircraft might be a drone. The army was conducting door-to-door searches in the surrounding area. The sound of an airplane could be heard overhead. The realisation hit him at about 10am Pakistan time: "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."
What they said
Shekhar Kapur: Osama became the mythical dark force that the US rallied against. It no longer matters that he is/was dead or alive.
Ram Gopal Varma: Whatever the future of terrorism is after the death of Osama I am right now so very very very happy for America..3000 CHEERS!!!
Anupam Kher: Kudos to America's intelligence and security forces for operation Bin Laden. It is important to pursue goals and then achieve them.
Gul Panag: So finally after a decade, 9/11 has been avenged. The process having killed and maimed countless civilians. All to get one man.
Rahul Bose: Am hoping a sense of balance is maintained in the US at the Osama news. Closure is good, revenge isn't.
Celina Jaitly: Terror leader Osama bin laden is killed...if only Bin Laden used his mind for peace and love that Islam actually teaches.
