The much trumpeted Ben Ladin Video has just been released (13th Dec. mid-night, UK time) after a lot of psychological fanfare and a plethora of pre-meditated and engineered comments to lend credence to it. But after carefully seeing and listening to the video on the CNN for an hour one remains as confused, uninformed and unenlightened. It is like a road from nowhere to nowhere. There are various questions that must be probed before it can even be considered as a ‘candidate for evidence’.

First question relates to the quality of the video. It is amateurish, crude, hazy, and on critical points almost inaudible. Why was such a Video made at all and for whose benefit? The suggestion that it was made for recruitment purposes is not even worth considering. The quality and content both belie that suggestion. Dialogues, facial expressions and lip-movements did not synchronize on a number of occasions which suggest some kind of tampering and doctoring – total or partial. The tape has to be examined by experts to establish its worth and authenticity. On the face of it this does not seem to be a genuine piece and serious doubts are being expressed about its authenticity all the world over.

The second question relates to the timing of the video-tape. Internal evidence and reference to Ramadhan suggest that it was recorded in early Ramadhan, with alleged predictions of further events in the remaining part of Ramadhan. The total absence of any drinks , snacks, qahwa, tea, dates etc, throughout the first five-sixth part of the show is unexceptional in view of the Arab custom. This also suggests that the recording took place in the month of Ramadhan – no drinks throughout the meeting except at the end when iftar (breakfast) takes place in a rather clouded manner. If this is the case then the fact that Ramadhan began on 16th November while the video is reported to have been seen , according to one report in CNN programme on CROSS FIRE, by President Bush in early November is fatal of its being recorded this year, after 11th September. The other report in ‘The Independent’ (December 14) suggests the video recorded on 9th November. That too is a week before Ramadhan. In any case it could not but be an earlier video on which new conversation might have been super-imposed. This would have to be examined scientifically and objectively determined, as modern technology has no problem with such doctoring.

Thirdly, the possibility of recording of such a damning confession on 9th November after over a month of bombing (which began on 7th October) and no reference to that aggression on Afghanistan is impossible. Who would make that confession when the fall of Mazar-e-Zharif was imminent?

Fourthly, how could an interview/meeting taking place in Jalalabad on 9th November fail to capture the state of the war on that day? How could it be tapped in that grim situation? How could it be found out before the fall of Jalalabad and reach USA in mid-November? Is this not a fatal blunder by those who concocted the story.

Fifthly, the question is if the Video was available in November, then why is it being released on 13th December after destroying Afghanistan and inducting America’s nominated government on that country? It has been reported that it was found in some abandoned Ben Laden house. But till 8th November the Taliban had held the ground everywhere and even Mazare Sharif fell on10th November. How such a revealing/confessional video could have been found in November when only air-bombing was being made and no ground operation had taken place?

Sixthly, who is the other “Shaikh’ in the conversation? He is not from the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan as is clear from the conversation. If he came from Saudi Arabia and returned after the event, where he is now? His evidence is crucial and would be vital to establish the authenticity of the video. Can he be located in Saudi Arabia? Can he be called to substantiate the discussion? What effort has been made in this direction? From his looks, age, dress, manner of sitting and talking, he does not look like a ‘Shaikh’ at all. He gives the impression of being a ‘student’ or a ‘Ben Laden fan’, not a Shaikh, who is supposed to be a tribal leader or a scholar. His statements are more obnoxious and intriguing – why can’t he be located and called for evidence?

Seventhly, the transcript now published in ‘The Independent’ shows that the “Shaikh” is reported to have quoted a question from Shaikh Bahrani as follows: “How is Shaikh bin Laden?” Now any one familiar with Arab custom would know that an Arab would never address another he knows intimately by his sir name as is in practice in the West. Ben Laden is not Osama’s name – it is the family name. Every Arab would say “How is Shaikh Osama?” or even call him by his kunniyyah as father of so and so, but NEVER as Ben Laden? This is fatal to the authenticity of the whole conversation.

Eighthly, that some of the quotations from the Qur’an and Hadith have been mixed up. Then quotations are incomplete and even garbled. This is not expected of Ben Laden or any Shaikh. Such amateurism is totally unexpected from those knowledgeable about the Islamic sources.

Ninthly, there is a reference to Egytptian women’s jubilation on the WTC tragedy. There is no evidence that such a thing was even shown on Egyptian TV or any Arab TV channel. There was a clipping shown on CNN with reference to Palestinians in Ghaza but none on any Egyptian or Arab channel. Even the one about Palestinians has been challenged (John Snow, presenter, BBC Channel 4 News) and is alleged to be a repeat of what happened on the occasion of the Gulf War. But the reference to Egyptian family showing such jubilation exposes the miscarriage of the doctoring!

The tenth question is that the dialogue is spiced by reference to ‘dreams’ and ‘visions’ spread over a period of one year and coming from several persons, including a woman.. This may be common to the ‘Sufi way’ or the Hollywood episodes, but is totally out of tune with the Salafi tradition to which Osama belongs. It is totally at odds with the intellectual culture of the persons involved. Whatever material is available about Osama ben Laden and his people, this is incongruous with their mode of thought and expression. Prima facie this seems to be something transplanted to give it mystical religious credence.

And finally, the expression of appreciation or otherwise after an event – however reprehensible or even disgusting – is no proof of involvement in or engineering of an activity. The leaders of American Avengelical Right, like Pat Robertson and others are on record putting a particular gloss over the 11th September events. Such reactions, even if so expressed, do not constitute a conclusive proof of planning and participation.

These and other concerns make the alleged evidence from this video highly circumspect and doubtful. And it is a maxim of law that the benefit of doubt wherever it exists goes in favour of the accused and not the accuser.

As far as the mainstream of the Muslims is concerned, they have no reservation that if Osama ben Laden and his group are responsible for the 11th September events, they should be punished. But their guilt must be properly established first and this must be done through due process of law. You cannot be accuser, prosecutor, judge and executioner. Instead of adopting the just course of bringing Osama or whoever is responsible for this crime, to the judicial process, preferably under international arrangement, as is being done for the war criminal Yugoslavian President Milosovich, the USA has opted for an equally criminal path of revenge and counter-terrorism – and that too not merely against the alleged suspects but against a whole country, its government and people, which has led to the destruction of a country and massacre of thousands of innocent people..

All human beings are equal and the lives of poor brown Afghans are as precious as the lives of rich white Americans. Even a just cause does not entitle an Osama ben Laden or a George Bush to spill innocent blood. And that is the crime which is being committed with impunity. That is our real concern, for as the Qur’an says: killing of even one innocent person is like killing the entire human race.

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