Pakistan:  New Postcard from Hell 

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

The warriors with lost wisdom are using the compulsion of evil and temptation of vengeful obsession to victimize their own people in North Waziristan adjacent to Afghanistan. This action supersedes the American continuous paranoid acts of vengeance by drone attacks against the unknown Taliban fighters taking sanctuaries in the mountainous region of Waziristan tribal belt.  America is there to create more “terrorism” and to destabilize Pakistan. The ignorant Pakistani Generals are fighting a veiled enemy they created a decade earlier and now trying to contain it. The monsters of history are active again without realizing the ripple effects of their own egoistic adventures. Insanity seems to have overwhelmed the dictates of rationality. The facts are not stated to public minds but war is dramatized every moment of Pakistanis life. For long, American leaders were pressing Pakistani paid agents to launch large scale military operations in Waziristan subject to consideration of financial Aid to the Pakistan’s military establishment. In early June, President Obama proposed a package of 1.3 billion to the Congress but it was scrutinized and cut by $65 millions in view of the lack of desired performance by the Pakistani rulers. Few weeks earlier, John Kerry was in Islamabad to demand the stringent action in Waziristan. A nation already at its knee due to the bogus war on “terrorism”, now, the Pakistani leaders woke up to respond to the call of the Master and launched a full fledge war against its own people under the guise of Talibans attacks at the Karachi International Airport. How strange even in conventional wisdom to find the alleged attackers hiding in North Waziristan?  There is something terrible wrong with the professional and moral composition of the Pakistan Generals. They claim to have killed 210 or so Talibans by air force bombings. But they failed to rationalize as to why more than three million civilians have been displaced and made refugees in their homeland. For long, Pakistani military officials have co-existed with the Taliban political activism in Afghanistan. They knew where Talibans breathe oxygen and get training. So, why bother to displace large segments of the civilian population just to get hold of handful of Talibans apprentice of their own?  Insanity and cruelty work together to show a big picture of the crime scene to get attention and to have the Pakistan AID package passed by the Obama administration. It has become a hallow laughter at American after dinner table joke - how easily Pakistani leaders could be bought and sold at the global market.

Under the George W Bush presidency, America bribed and bought Pakistani Generals for collaboration to invade Afghanistan and install a puppet regime ousting the Talibans rule. General Parvez Musharaf is currently on trial in Pakistan for treason and so many other charges of corruption and killings of the innocents. The current belligerency in North Waziristan signals a complete failure of the military intelligence apparatus.  Pakistani Generals are shooting the fireballs from glass rooms and common people are the net victims of this monstrous tragedy. That is how, we lost the East Pakistan. That is how militancy is widespread in Baluchastan and the tribal belt regions. The Taliban insurgency involves intelligence network and effective strategic thinking to deal with tribal sensitivities and life of the civilian population in Waziristan. These problems warrant a morally and intellectually capable political leadership to address the challenges and certainly not military actions. The military action demonstrates ruthlessness against the civilians and lack of moral and intellectual imagination to deal with a critical issue. It is one-track thinking and hurriedly staged action, not a workable solution to the increasing TTP- Taliban‘s attacks.  Do Pakistanis have any morally, intellectually and politically enriched leadership?  If so, it does not exit in reality except in the absurdity of the few sadistic minds. The nation has lost almost fifty years under the compulsion of the crime-riddled military dominated politics. Today, it is succumbed to worry about increased load shedding, daily killings, political corruption, loss of trust in human dignity, and fractures public infrastructures all over the country. Are there any responsible people to listen to voices of REASON for Change and Political Accountability?  The radars were down for than 90 minutes so explained the Pakistani Air Force spokesman when the US marine attacked Abbotabad compound to kill Osama Bin Laden. Next day, Mr. Penalta, the then CIA Chief thanked General Ashfaq Kiyani and president Asif Ali Zardari for their cooperation in the raid.  CIA contractor Raymond Davis knows no introduction who killed two Pakistani civilians at Lahore and was set free by the official intervention of Zardari and General Kiyani. Later on in a Washington Court of Law, Raymond Davis was asked by the US prosecutor why did he kill two Pakistanis at Lahore. Davis claimed that he acted in self- defense in a “war zone.”  We asked the Pakistani rulers many times if Lahore is located in a ‘war zone?’

In its May 18, 2007, the New York Times published front page article that “Pakistani Generals are paid to do the job.”  That was General Musharaf and comrades, exposing the insanity of the “war on terrorism” that Pakistan embraced and all the Generals made millions. The terms of reference clearly shows that the US intelligence network and the political leadership have full control over all the major affairs of governance in Pakistan.  The American led War on Terror has undermined the capacity and dismantled infrastructures of social, economic, civic and moral and political governance of Pakistan. America wanted Pakistan to fight its proxy war in Afghanistan. So often few single-minded American experts would blame Pakistanis for being dubious in their dealings. American AID cannot rebuild Pakistan except by Pakistanis on their own. But American can stop its aggressive drone attacks and backdoor intrigues to undermine the interests of the people of Pakistan. Pakistani politicians and military Generals were readily available whenever America needed to use them for its own policy aims and military goals. History spells out that aggressions and hegemonic control and exploitation of others do not bring triumph and success but degeneration and viciousness for the succeeding generations to cope with.

Bruce Riedel, One of Obama’s advisors on Pakistan and the War on Terrorism (“Battle for the Soul of Pakistan” 1/4/2013, Brookings Institute and Centre for Middle East Policy) calls it “2013 could be a transformative year for the country, indeed it will be the battle for the soul of Pakistan.” Bruce Riedel thinks that ‘Pakistan will be a failed state by 2030.’ He does not spell out the truth that selfish and incompetent Pakistani Generals in cooperation with the US policy planners have degenerated the thinking culture of the nation where  according to Riedel  “One measure of Pakistan's instability is that the country now has between 300 and 500 private security firms, employing 3,00,000 armed guards, most run by ex-generals.”  What makes the ex-Generals to create a culture of fear and insecurity across the nation? Should the ex-generals be not held accountable for their crimes against the people of Pakistan?  Do the Ex-Generals want more business corridors in North Waziristan? Is it that they draw their after service gratuities from such crime-riddled adventures?  He adds that

“So, it is no wonder that the generals prefer to have the civilians responsible for managing the unmanageable, while they guard their prerogatives and decide national security issues. As important as the coming elections will be, the far more important issue is who will be the next Chief of Army Staff.”

Bruce Riedel warns; “The changes in Pakistan are unlikely to come peacefully and will have major implications for India and America. The stakes are huge in the most dangerous country in the world.”

At a critical juncture of time and opportunities in global affairs, it is rational to think what mankind needs most - Peace, co-existence and not more cruel wars.  At a critical juncture of its global affairs and to exit from Afghanistan, America needs more Pakistan, than Pakistanis want American aid (dry milk, used clothes, obsolete weapons and delusional aid workers) or its security shield against the unknown.  If honored, American troops are due to be leaving Afghanistan in few weeks. There is no logical and safe route for the US to withdraw large segments of armed forces, equipment and logistical supporting material from Afghanistan except via Pakistan. Educated and responsible Pakistani people want America to Rethink of its policies and practices in that part of the world. They do not beg so called AID and its prolonged non-productive and dehumanization impacts on the society but do want mutually respectful friendship to flourish.

Would the American-led bogus War on terror ever end? Or is it a strategy to gain political pause and then to go for new and innovative long war against the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan?  Tom Hayden (“Our Government Is Planning to Stay at War for the Next 80 Years- Anyone Got a Problem with That? LA Times, March 30, 2010), asks the Obama administration:

It's time the Long War strategy was put under a microscope and made the focus of congressional hearings and media scrutiny. The American people deserve a voice in the strategizing that will affect their future and that of their grandchildren. There are at least three important questions to address in public forums:

* what is the role of the Long War idea in United States' policy now? Can the Pentagon or president impose such war-making decisions without debate and congressional ratification?

America is a big game player in Pakistan and its security apparatus.  The aid gimmick has kept Pakistan interdependent on the policy making of the US administration and a nation being viewed more liability than an asset to the American geo-political interests in Southwest Asia. The US leaders allege Pakistani rulers (civilians and military) as “double dealers” paid, bribed but act contrary to the American dictates. The imagery that floats across the globe that Pakistani Generals and politicians are in the paid US basket and survive on its active support to rule Pakistan.  The beggar nation that continues to be living at the mercy of the so called US aid money and foods, often defined as conspiracy to fighting proxy wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere. All that can go wrong have gone wrong with the system of Pakistani governance. Every one selling others, every one making cash dollars by trading-in the interests of the Muslim nation. It is business “as usual” and nobody seems to raise any eyebrows anymore in a culture of nuisance, institutionalized corruption and non-Islamic governance claiming to represent the interests of the people. 

Once in power, recent Pakistani politicians act like kings and queens with marked indifference to the public interest. By their sadistic thinking and vicious design, they have created a new Hell for the masses to be entrenched in warfare. Pakistan needs a Navigational Change for its FUTURE and a new political system of governance to be articulated by the new educated and proactive visionary generation of the people. Nawaz Sahrif and the Generals belong to the dead past, and cannot be a hope for the future. What is being lost cannot be rebuilt by Sharif, Bhuttos and the Generals. The rulers and the people live in conflicting time zones. Common Pakistanis breathe different air in a vicious encirclement of subjugation with a terrible sense of helplessness lacking political imagination and new ideas for the future making. The present rulers deserve a powerful lightning jolt or perhaps to face firing squad because the rational legal accountability process would not do justice to their perpetuated crimes against the nation. More and more the so called National Assembly appears to be a lukewarm of besieged political mindset. One cannot ignore the facts that some vital segments of the Pakistani nation must have been complacent in these schemes of things institutionalizing corruption and lack of political accountability and to support a class of the ruling Elite. Could the Generals, Bhuttos, Sahrifs and Zardari have stolen time and resources on their own without the large participation of the complacent segments of the society?  The common folks want sense of security, normalcy in daily social affairs, business and trades, not wars. The egoistic rulers show deafening silence towards public interest and priorities.  The major paradox of history spells out the strategic direction that Pakistan needs a navigational change to ensure its national freedom, human dignity and sustainable political future. Would the Generals and PM Sharif and all the sadistic collaborators see the mirror - who they were and where they are in public imagination?  Had there been no military coups, no Bhuttos, no  Zardari, no Sharif and no Musharaf making junk history, Pakistan  under educated and intelligent visionary leadership would have been in the forefront of progressive nations in South Asia. Imagine the time and opportunities available now if there was proactive intelligent leadership, Pakistan could have taken initiatives to organize Afghanistan, Central Asian States, Iran and Turkey into a viable group of nations to usher a new age of economic and political strength and stability. Undoubtedly, those who crippled the nation with fake ‘terrorism’ and stole its resources and time for change and development, Pakistan’s enemies are within not elsewhere.

(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012).