Photo Gallery Looking for bin Laden's Cave
Chak Shah Mohammad: There are no phone lines, Internet connections nor cable television. It is a place where time stands still and many locals haven't heard of Osama bin Laden.
Only one small sign in Arabic points to the village. It is a sparsely populated region, approximately 1,500 people live here.
Many of the locals have never seen a foreigner before. Some residents use the opportunity to earn some money. Some young men tour foreign reporters around the village for a couple of rupees. Others sell bottles of water and lemonade. Some older men ask for money in exchange for their theories on bin Laden.
This tunnel-like room is part of the caves in Chak Shah Mohammad where where bin Laden is said to have hidden.
Some locals say that soldiers and intelligence services arrived at the village on Friday, combing the area and questioning locals. Security authorities declined to comment.
The caves are deserted and have tunnel-like rooms, dug into the stone. They remain cool, even in the summer when temperatures outside soar above 45 degrees Celcius. "They used to be our homes," a shepherd says. "But gradually people started building clay houses and today no one lives in these caves anymore."
But all in all Chak Shah Mohammad's bin Laden media fanfare has been more fruitful for local children than international journalists: at least the kids were given time off school.
