Osama bin Laden was `poor uncle` for kids of his servant

Islamabad: Several interesting aspects of Osama bin Laden have been revealed in a leaked report prepared by Pakistani investigators, including one about being known as `Miskeen Kaka` or poor uncle.

The report reveals that nine-year-old daughter of his trusted servant, Rahma, once asked her father why "the uncle who lives upstairs [bin Laden]" in the Abbottabad compound never visited the bazaar. Her father said: "He [Bin Laden] was too poor to go out and buy anything." Since then, Rahma referred to bin Laden as `Miskeen Kaka` or (poor uncle), reported The Express Tribune. One day, Rahma saw bin Laden on television and immediately recognised him as her `Miskeen Kaka`. Her father Ibrahim - whose brother Ibrar and his wife Sharifa also served the bin Laden family - stopped his family members from interacting with the slain al Qaeda chief`s family. Maryam, the wife of Ibrahim, also made revelation about how the global terror network chief once narrowly escaped unnoticed by police in Swat district. She said that the tall Arab [bin Laden] and his family were once stopped by a policeman in a bazaar in Swat. "They [including bin Laden] were stopped for speeding by a policeman," the Abbottabad Commission report quoted Maryam as saying. But Ibrahim very quickly settled the matter and they drove away unnoticed, she added. Maryam, hailing from Shangla district, her four kids and husband served the al Qaeda chief in his Abbottabad compound. Then Maryam asked for the real identity of `Miskeen Kaka`, who was always referred to as the sheikh. But one day, Ibrahim admitted that Rehma was right and that `Miskeen Kaka` was in fact Osama bin Laden. Then she asked Ibrahim how had he taken upon himself such a huge responsibility to serve and protect such a globally wanted man, Ibrahim said it was the will of Allah. During their six-year stay in Abbottabad, Maryam never saw bin Laden once. Ibrahim, his brother Ibrar and their family had been serving bin Laden from the day he managed to sneak into Pakistan from neighbouring Afghanistan, according to the report. Then the bin Laden family left for Mansehra and later shifted to Abbottabad. PTI