The state that wouldn't fail

[GentlemanObserver]

I always enjoy reading Cyril's analysis he is an excellent analyst.

Also one of the most pertinent responses i read regarding this was from Sir Muse...

One has to figure out what needs to be done and then create the will do what has been chosen as the correct action - but getting to that second part is not so easy for Pakistan, sometimes. But that realization is itself a big deal, and InshaAllah, the the days are not far when Pakistan are not going from crisis to crisis (though we may miss that)

Some think that when it comes to Pakistan that we are too critical, but no, Pakistan, with all it's warts, with all it's failures, is also a success story, a wildly enthusiastic success (we got lucky this time? sure, who does not need luck) -- all which means that we should not cease using our critical faculties to examine events and ideas we experience - it makes Pakistan stronger, better.

Thank you for this excellent and heart warming post sir. Pakistan Zindabad!!!

 

[RabzonKhan]

Smokers’ Corner: Manly cowards

Dawn
By Nadeem F. Paracha
November 21, 2010

Pakistanis have an almost instinctive tendency to deflect and escape an ugly truth with an equally ugly fantasy. Most of us jump into fantastic, muddy rabbit holes when confronted by the reality in which groups of unhinged men go about inflicting some of the most atrocious acts of terror and carnage in our bazaars, places of worship and shrines.

We allow ourselves to fall further down the hole when indigenous extremist organisations proudly own up to their atrocities, as we freefall our way down the fissure in stunned silence. But as we hit the ground of the imaginary world that lies beneath this hole, the great fall triggers in us an incoherent series of babblings about ‘foreign hands’ and assorted conspiracies against the Islamic republic.

Decades of engineered ‘education’ and propaganda that the state of Pakistan, the media and schools have dished out has conditioned us to at once become vocal and animated when words like India, Israel and United Sates are spoken, but we simply have no clue or indication about exactly how to respond to the terrible deeds of people and organisations who are doing so in the name of religion and a so-called ‘jihad’.

Many Pakistanis can be seen jumping and shouting and going hoarse in the throat discussing India and the United State’s nefarious designs in the region, but the same people then go all quiet (if not downright sheepish), when some psycho flag wavers of faith and jihad take responsibility of an appalling act of terror. As most of us then go about like zombies spouting meaningless pearls of delusion, such as ‘it can’t be us’ or ‘these can’t be Muslims’, the many monsters that clearly lurk among us and are Muslims, go about their business thriving and planning their gruesome acts in our mountains, hills and cities.

Though we are ready to keep a constant eye on lofty drawing room topics like ‘geopolitics’ and ‘corruption’, and exercise our minds through all sorts of mental gymnastics while talking about such issues, a thick murky glaze suddenly descends upon the same constant eyes when it comes to talking about terrorism and faith-based extremism. Then all we can see are certain delusions that lurk like shadows in our own conditioned heads.

Busy bouncing about in our own heads (the rabbit hole), and constructing diabolical conspiratorial fantasies, we thus fail to recognise and accept a stark external reality pregnant with evidence that yes, these merciless monsters who blow up our markets and places of worship are very much the consequence of our own follies and arrogance. Created to first safeguard the pious, innocent Islamic republic from the godless ways of communist invaders, and then to look after our so-called ‘geopolitical interests’ in Afghanistan and Kashmir, these men-turned-monsters now run amok in our own streets and mountains, treating every other Pakistani as an infidel deserving the most gruesome destruction and death.

How can a people who so proudly boast of being so brave and manly, react like a whimpering wind in the face of a local extremist and sectarian organisation claiming responsibility of a terrorist attack? Are we simply cowards who are ready to go all ballistic about the corruption, misdeeds and ‘blasphemous’ ways of people who we know cannot retaliate, but look the other way when the time comes to confront the truth about demons posing as our faith’s true manifestations?

Like cowards who when bothered by pangs of shame and double standards, we then start with all our lofty, empty boastings and muscle flexing, bowing at the altar of our proud nuclear arsenal, and how we are ready to go to war with anti-Islam forces.

It is amazing how we seem to know exactly what is happening in Gaza, Kashmir and Iraq, and exactly why convicted felons like Aafia Siddiqui are ‘innocent,’ but begin sounding like a confused lot when it comes to the violence and destruction taking place in the name of religion in our own country.

But, of course, it is not only the confusion and the denying state of mind of the Pakistani people that continues to provide various openings for extremism to rudely penetrate our society and politics. Certain powerful state institutions are perhaps among the culprits. Shaken by the collapse of the ‘two nation theory’ after the disastrous 1971 civil war in the former East Pakistan, the state began a concerted campaign to erode and destroy everything that it blamed for Pakistan’s break-up: democracy, pluralism, secularism, liberalism, socialism, etc.; everything but the truth or the fact that it was not these but the state’s own incompetence, adventurism and myopic ideology that undid the ‘old’ Pakistan.

 

[muse]

It is amazing how we seem to know exactly what is happening in Gaza, Kashmir and Iraq, and exactly why convicted felons like Aafia Siddiqui are ‘innocent,’ but begin sounding like a confused lot when it comes to the violence and destruction taking place in the name of religion in our own country

Because overwhelming majorities in Pakistan are CONFUSED about what religion is, what role it OUGHT to play, Who and what these so called Mujahid are -- but where does this confusion come from?? How did they get to be such a confused lot?

First a small bit of business - for years and years Mujahid were heroes, they defeated a super power, they kept "hope alive" in a Muslim majority state in the overwhelmingly non-Muslim Indian Union - and Arabia's star was ascendant - a new identity was crafted under the "appropriation" of a history, patently false -- Also so we all know that -- now in this mess, the heroes turn not just on the state but the nation that nurtured them - - who wouldn't be confused??

For others interested in exploring these ideas, I recommend reading "Islamic Leviathan" by Syed Vali Nasr. Pakistan and Malaysia both saw in Islam-ism, a utility, to create a stronger state -- yet both diverged in approach and outcome - why? Yes, they are historically different and have different players, internal interests groups - but why did Malaysia succeed and Pakistan's attempt fail as miserably as it has? Don't want to give away the story, but can you say Jamaatis? Yes, but what about them? What about the quality of the ideas and their relationship to reality??

 

[Zulfiqar]

^^^^ The book:

http://www.bandung2.co.uk/Books/Files/Politics/Islamic%20Leviathan.pdf

Haven't read it yet.

 

[muse]

Dear Mr. Asad:

Thank you for finding that on the web - I wish I had known of the availability of the book for free -- anyway, thank you very much BTW, are there other works of Vali Nasr also available for free on the Web?

Pakistani readers especially, please, please do read this work, as a appetizer let me post from the Preface:

In 1980 Mahathir Muhammad, the new prime minister of Malaysia, introduced a similar broad-based plan to anchor state policy making in Islamic values, and to bring his country’s laws and economic practices in line with the teachings of Islam. Why did these rulers choose the path of “Islamization” for their countries? And how did one-time secular postcolonial states become the agents of Islamization and the harbinger of the “true” Islamic state?

Malaysia and Pakistan have since the late 1970s–early 1980s followed a unique path to development that diverges from the experiences of other Third World states. In these two countries religious identity was integrated into state ideology to inform the goal and process of development with Islamic values.

This undertaking has also presented a very different picture of the relation between Islam and politics in Muslim societies. In Malaysia and Pakistan, it has been state institutions rather than Islamist activists (those who advocate a political reading of Islam; also known as revivalists or fundamentalists) that have been the guardians of Islam and the defenders of its interests. This suggests a
very different dynamic in the ebbs and flow of Islamic politics—in the least pointing to the importance of the state in the vicissitudes of this phenomenon.

What to make of secular states that turn Islamic? What does such a transformation mean for the state as well as for Islamic politics?
This book grapples with these questions. This is not a comprehensive account of Malaysia’s or Pakistan’s politics, nor does it cover all aspects of Islam’s role in their societies and politics, although the analytical narrative dwells on these issues considerably. This book is rather a social scientific inquiry into the phenomenon of secular postcolonial states becoming agents of Islamization, and more broadly how culture and religion serve the needs of state power and development. The analysis here relies on theoretical discussions in the social sciences of state behavior and the role of culture and religion therein. More important, it draws inferences from the cases under examination to make broader conclusions of interest to the disciplines.

 

[Zulfiqar]

Thank you for finding that on the web - I wish I had known of the availability of the book for free -- anyway, thank you very much BTW, are there other works of Vali Nasr also available for free on the Web?

Pakistani readers especially, please, please do read this work, as a appetizer let me post from the Preface:

Well i just googled it plus used another site where you can find the links to download books.

I found two other books by the same author:

Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism (in PDF):

http://**************/files/293744757/0195096959.rar

The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution: The Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, Vol 19) in HTML format:

http://**************/files/2028472...olution__The_Jama_at-i_Islami_of_Pakistan.rar

I haven't download the books through these links but if there is an error then i can provide an alternative source to download these books.

 

[RabzonKhan]

EDITORIAL: Cloaked in a veil of impunity

Daily Times
November 26, 2010


Pakistan’s intelligence agencies seem to think they are above the law. This could not have been more obvious in the case of the 11 missing prisoners who were allegedly picked up by our agencies from the Adiala Jail. On Wednesday, Attorney General (AG) Maulvi Anwarul Haq submitted a written reply to the Supreme Court (SC) on behalf of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) that says: “It is stated stance of answering respondents that the alleged detained prisoners are not in their custody.” In a separate reply, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has claimed the same. Now, when looked at from the turn of events, it is unlikely that these agencies are telling the truth. Clearly, the prison authorities did not set the prisoners free despite the orders of first the Anti-Terrorist Court and later the Lahore High Court (LHC). The prisoners could not have evaporated into thin air. There had to be some documentation of their ‘release’. Earlier this month, the SC rejected a report filed by the AG stating that the missing prisoners were not in the agencies’ custody because in an earlier hearing, the Special Branch’s report said otherwise and Punjab’s chief secretary also claimed that they had been abducted by the ‘angels’. The SC then ordered the ISI, MI and IB to submit a reply to these charges. Now the Punjab home secretary has confirmed to the SC that the prisoners were taken away by the ISI.

Despite the LHC’s acquittal, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Wassal and Punjab Home Secretary Shahid Khan prevented their release by issuing detention orders. The Rawalpindi bench of the LHC then directed the petitioners, who challenged these detention orders, to approach the SC’s judicial commission on missing persons. Instead of holding the DCO and Punjab Home Secretary in contempt for flouting the court’s orders, the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC let them off the hook and transferred the case to the SC. It is ironic that we have been celebrating the independence of the restored but the LHC could not do much when prisoners in judicial custody went missing. Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry, on the other hand, has taken a tough stance and took umbrage at the ISI and MI’s reply that “an office cannot be sued. The proper party is the Federation of Pakistan through the secretary of relevant ministries”. The CJ asked the AG under which law are these agencies functioning that they cannot be made party to a case.

Once again, our intelligence agencies have cleverly cloaked themselves in a veil of impunity. People have been abducted in broad daylight without let or hindrance all over the country, especially in Balochistan. Even the Senate Chairman took notice of the abductions, torture and murder of people in Balochistan. Chief Minister Balochistan Sardar Aslam Raisani admitted in a BBC interview that “some of the abductions and killings are definitely carried out by security agencies”. When extra-judicial killings are being carried out by these agencies, there is sufficient suspicion to believe that the Adiala Jail inmates are in their custody as well. It will be a real test for the judiciary to prove its mettle if it can take the security agencies to task. The last time the CJ threatened to bring the intelligence chiefs to court for questioning in the missing persons’ cases, he was removed unceremoniously by General (retd) Musharraf. But this should not deter CJ Chaudhry who is known for taking bold steps to establish the judiciary’s independence. It is time to put an end to this culture of impunity and the intelligence agencies made accountable for their alleged crimes against humanity.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Who controls them?

Dawn
Editorial
November 27 2010


THE country`s intelligence agencies have a reputation for being unwieldy. Thursday`s Supreme Court proceedings regarding the missing prisoners` case have added to this perception. The bench was hearing the case of the alleged abduction of 11 individuals from Adiyala Jail who had been acquitted of terrorism charges. The Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence declared through the attorney general that the `missing` prisoners were not in their custody. It did not appear to be the denial that irked the chief justice, but the fact that the respective heads of the agencies had failed to sign their written statement of denial. “Do they consider themselves above the constitution and the law?” the CJ asked. The judiciary deserves kudos for raising this question, as very few within the establishment are willing to publicly critique the intelligence agencies. But it is a question many right-thinking citizens have been asking for a long time. This is not the first time the agencies have been hauled up by the higher judiciary. Even before the lawyers` movement the judiciary had taken a proactive stance on the missing persons` issue.

We must ask two questions. One concerns the nature of the intelligence agencies, the other the prosecution of cases of suspected militants. The agencies, especially the ISI, have often been accused of running a state within a state, of meddling in domestic politics and of playing the regional Great Game. Clearly, many of these activities are perceived to be way beyond their brief. Thus criticism is valid, although in some cases it may be debatable. The agencies must be more transparent in their conduct. Obviously, they are not expected to blow their cover, but they must work according to the agenda set by an elected government. Technically, the ISI is supposed to report to the prime minister, but it is no secret that GHQ calls the shots. There was a clumsy and embarrassing attempt in 2008 to place the ISI under the interior ministry`s control. The move backfired when the military bared its teeth. Secondly, if the prisoners are in the custody of the ISI or one of the other agencies, there appears to be no mechanism to confirm this.

If we want to be seen as a country that respects due process, we must fight the war on terror through legal methods. The investigation and trial process must be effective so that terrorists are punished legally and suspects are not detained through extra-legal means. For the agencies, it must be clear that ensuring the country`s security while respecting the people`s mandate is — more than anything else — in the national interest.

 

[RabzonKhan]

EDITORIAL: 26/11: still waiting for closure

Daily Times
November 28, 2010

On November 26, 2008, Mumbai saw a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in the city. India accused Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks, which led to a complete breakdown of the Indo-Pak peace process for a long period. Tensions were so high in both countries that there was an imminent threat of war. Our government denied Pakistan’s involvement at first but later admitted that ‘non-state actors’ were involved. It was only after Pakistan assured India of full support in nailing the 26/11 culprits that the peace process began again, albeit haltingly. India has sent Pakistan a number of dossiers on the Mumbai attacks but nothing substantial has come of it so far. Thus, on the second anniversary of these deadly attacks, Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram reminded Pakistan of its promises. He said, “Our neighbour Pakistan made many promises to us that they will bring to justice the masterminds, controllers and handlers of the 26/11 tragedy. They have not done so, so far.”

Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was the only terrorist who survived and is now in India’s custody. Kasab revealed that the Pakistan-based banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) was behind the attacks. However, LeT’s chief, Hafiz Saeed, was allowed to go scot-free by our courts after the prosecution was unable to present any solid evidence against him. Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, another LeT member, is also accused of masterminding 26/11 and is in custody. In recent months, more evidence has come out of the possible involvement of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, especially after the arrest of David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American. Pakistan has denied that our security establishment was involved in any manner but whether the intelligence agencies are coming clean on this or not cannot be said.

With the present structure and state of the judicial system and the inadequacies in our anti-terrorism laws, many terrorists are roaming free on our soil. Pakistan must understand that the LeT is not just a threat to India or the outside world but is potentially equally dangerous for us too. As US terrorism expert Bruce Riedel told Spiegel Online, a victory by the Afghan Taliban would have enormous reverberations in Pakistan as well. There is no doubt that the jihadist network would grow stronger if we continue to support the Afghan Taliban and these so-called ‘strategic assets’ could tomorrow turn on Pakistan as the Tehreek-i-Taliban has done. We must acknowledge that the policy of fighting proxy wars, supporting terror networks and exporting jihad has run its course. Our state itself is now under threat. It is time to dismantle the terror networks so that we can live in peace and harmony within and without.

 

[muse]

One can only be sad at reading so ill informed a editorial from a respected paper - While all persons of good will and some measure of reasonableness will agree that the LeT and other extremists groups are beyond the pale, the editorial writer apparently thinks Mr. Hafiz Saeed ought to arrested, tried , convicted and sentenced based on the statements of an individual facing a death penalty -- the requirement of building a legal case against Mr. Saeed, is a minor technicality, apparently -- and in all of this, some Indian politician playing to India's own extremist sentiment - just sad.

One has to wonder whether Indian officials and particularly politicians have internalized the need to for a general peace with Pakistan which in turn requires that it negotiate in good faith with regard to captive Kashmir - after all, while it may be emotionally satisfying for Indian politicians to make jingoistic statements, these statements will offer little comfort to Indian and Pakistani citizenry should non-state actors continue to hijack the nationalist discourse in both countries, and in particular the lack of hope the citizenry of India and Pakistan have given the absence of the Indian from the table of negotiations.

 

[RabzonKhan]

EDITORIAL: Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Daily Times
December 02, 2010

Ever since WikiLeaks started releasing US diplomatic cables on Sunday, we continue to discover one thing or another every day. Some new revelations about the power equation in Pakistan are not just interesting but quite revealing. In one of the cables, it is said that President Asif Zardari was fearful for his life and had made arrangements in case he met the same fate as that of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto. “Zardari revealed that, if he was assassinated, he had instructed his son Bilawal to name his sister, Faryal Talpur, as president” and he once told US Vice President Joe Biden that he feared the military “might take me out”. These may be the personal views of President Zardari and cannot be substantiated without proof if plans to assassinate him are indeed afoot but when the president of a country fears for his life, it is time to get worried. Another interesting revelation made in the cables is that during the lawyers’ movement, General Kayani hinted that he might have to “persuade President Zardari to resign if the situation sharply deteriorates....This would not be a formal coup but would leave in place the PPP government led by PM Gilani, thus avoiding elections that likely would bring Nawaz Sharif to power.”

It is an open secret that Pakistan’s military establishment wields great power even when a civilian government is in place. Jasmine Zerinini, the head of France’s interagency Afghanistan-Pakistan cell, was of the view that though General Kayani has “learned the lesson of Musharraf” and was not interested in a direct military coup, he was manipulating the government and parliament. Ms Zerinini alleged that General Kayani stirred up the “controversy regarding the Kerry-Lugar bill that ties continued US aid to increased civilian control of the military”. As per the cable, “Zerinini said that bilateral measures alone to strengthen civilian government were unlikely to be effective, and that more coordination was needed among donors” and the Friends of Democratic Pakistan “was designed to transform Pakistan’s political elite and give them more leverage over the military”. This shows that the west is now interested in strengthening our democratic dispensation. It may be due to the fact that our security establishment continues to support the Afghan Taliban and other terrorist networks despite Pakistan being a frontline ally of the US in the war on terror. Thus, the US has adopted a carrot and stick policy. In one of the cables, former US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, wrote that “there is no chance that Pakistan will view enhanced assistance...as sufficient compensation for abandoning support to these [terrorist and extremist] groups”. We have received more than $ 10 billion in aid from the Americans since 2001 but we follow a dual policy vis-à-vis the terror networks, hence the US wants Pakistan to ‘do more’. In another cable, Ms Patterson had praised President Zardari and called him the US’s “best ally in the government” because he is “pro-American and anti-extremist”.

The Musharraf regime kept mollycoddling the terror networks and turned a blind eye to their activities in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the PPP government has tried its best to reverse those policies. Military operations in Swat, South Waziristan and other areas took place only after this government came into power. It is imperative that the government is allowed to complete its tenure even if it is not performing well. Right now, General Kayani is the most powerful man in the country and has positioned himself as the sole person to negotiate with as far as our foreign interlocutors are concerned but it is time that democracy is allowed to take root in the country so that the civil-military relations are put in a proper perspective.

 

[Xestan]

On the issue of what should be the law in Pakistan, NO Doubt, Sharia'ah law should be implemented, as a ideological Muslim state, we haven't fulfilled our promise with ALLAH, Pakistan needs to become a proper Islamic state in order to face all the difficulties it has now.

If you're a Muslim, YOU ARE obliged by the Qur'an to follow rules of ALLAH, anyone who deny it is a hypocrite in my view.

 

[RabzonKhan]

COMMENT: Military dictation on foreign policy

Daily Times
Zafar Hilaly
December 03, 2010


Pakistan does not really have a foreign policy. It has a defence policy of which the foreign policy is an adjunct, an offshoot. Hence, as the military shapes defence policy, it also has a commanding role in foreign policy. But that has not been enough, so on occasions it has also sought a hand in its implementation. Generals, admirals and air marshals have held key ambassadorial appointments and a general has even been the foreign minister.

According to those in the know, the control exercised by the General Headquarters (GHQ) over foreign policy is greater today than in the past. So much so that the initiative for dispatching notes, verbal demarches and policy announcements originate from the GHQ. One informant wondered whether majors and colonels do the actual drafting.

It has been common fare to have soldiers sounding off on foreign affairs with the confidence and the abandon of seasoned diplomats. In the past when listening to their soliloquies the adage ‘one who knows nothing, doubts nothing’ often came to mind. And some of them were not especially well read. One high flier did not know who came first, the Greeks or the Romans. Following an impromptu lecture on the ‘vital importance’ of Central Asia to Pakistan, I recall Benazir Bhutto remarking, sotto voce, “It is remarkable what comfort ignorance brings.” To believe that anybody can be a foreign minister or an ambassador or that soldiers know best is harmless enough; it is when it gets reflected in policy that we need worry.

The judgements of the military and the Foreign Office (FO) have often clashed in our vexed history, sometimes with devastating consequences for the nation.

The belief that East Pakistan could be retrieved from Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and the autonomy sought by the Awami League by force, and that while this was underway the world and India would stand by idle, is one example.

A very senior ambassador, reflecting at the time what was the general view of his colleagues, concluded his report on the military’s take of the situation thus: “I will not be worth the salt of my country, Mr President, if I do not report — that what you are doing in East Pakistan is wrong and — that there is no military solution to a political problem.” He was sacked and replaced by a general.

Another consummate professional of the foreign office, despite being warned against speaking his mind to Ayub Khan, told him in 1965 that initiating hostilities in Kashmir would almost inevitably lead to an Indian attack on Pakistan across the international border. Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and some non-FO advisers were of a contrary opinion. They ignored the advice and the rest is history.

The military and its chosen politicians made out that Benazir Bhutto was about to surrender Kashmir to India on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Islamabad in 1989. The FO on the other hand felt that it was a historic opportunity to mend relations with India. Rajiv came to Islamabad, Benazir did not sell out on Kashmir, and a much-needed agreement was signed for a mutual pullout from Siachen — on which India subsequently reneged.

Again it was the military that thwarted every attempt over the past two decades to arrive at an agreement with Iran over the construction of a gas and oil pipeline to Pakistan from Iran with the possibility that it would eventually extend to India. The very same project that it presently supports but which, alas, seems a non-starter today. We could have had the pipeline many years ago and benefited immeasurably had the FO view prevailed.

Contrary to repeated cautions in the mid-90s to tread cautiously and to carefully weigh the grave consequences and the huge damage to Pakistan’s security and image before identifying Pakistan with the cause of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the regime in power rushed in heedless, following bullying by the military. Our support ensured that a movement comprising of men of a medieval mindset and perhaps the worst advertisement for Islam in modern times gained control of Afghanistan. They, and the vicious ilk that they have spawned, now pose an existential threat to Pakistan arguably greater than that posed by India. In the process we earned the abiding hostility of our neighbour Iran, the scorn of progressive Muslim states, and raised the hackles of our ally China. The west excoriated us and our image suffered a reverse from which it has never recovered.

Kargil, of course, was yet another disaster over which the military consulted no one, not even its own, what to speak of the FO. And, instead of being court-martialled for his folly, Musharraf was given a long lease of life in office followed by an honourable send-off.

The military has also at times wanted the last word on postings and promotions in the FO. Many a good man was deprived of his just rights as a result. Thankfully, Kayani has done away with this practice but careers ruined by misreporting by overzealous and meddlesome sleuths cannot be restored.

Some of the most honourable and brave men in Pakistan wear the uniform of the armed forces. Their bravery, skill and their ceaseless sacrifices have kept Pakistan safe. However, what they cannot and must not do is to think that they have a monopoly of wisdom and therefore know best. Costly mistakes and blunders have been committed as a result. We cannot afford to repeat them and ignore, during the decision making process, the views of those who have dedicated their entire lives to mastering their profession.

Lest we forget, an enduring example of FO advice that has served us well over the years was the one heeded by Ayub Khan in the 60s to befriend China as a key ally. That relationship has become even more important for our future in the fast changing global scenario, especially in the economic field, and its full potential awaits a return to internal stability.

The writer is a former ambassador.

 

[RabzonKhan]

ANALYSIS: Adeyzai lashkar ends cooperation with govt

Daily Times
Farhat Taj
December 04, 2010


Leaders of the anti-Taliban lashkar in Adeyzai, a Peshawar village on the border with FATA, are preparing to hold a press conference in Peshawar to announce the termination of their cooperation with the provincial Awami National Party (ANP) government and the security forces of Pakistan in the war on terror. Following the press conference, the lashkar leaders will approach the Taliban for an agreement whereby they (the Taliban) will assure no attacks on the people of Adeyzai inside the village or outside, and the villagers would allow the Taliban to peacefully pass through Adeyzai for any attacks on civil, military or police targets in any part of Peshawar.

What has made the Adezai lashkar change its anti-Taliban stance? The lashkar courageously stood up to the Taliban for two years despite great human and material losses. The reason is that the government as well as the military have extended the lashkar almost no moral and material support since it was formed in 2008. Without the state’s support, their anti-Taliban stance has cost them heavily. The Taliban have punished the entire village through repeated bomb attacks. The lashkar people, their family members and supporters have been killed and their small businesses burnt down by the Taliban.

Despite no state support, the lashkar volunteers continued to cooperate with the government and security forces in the war on terror. They have been providing actionable intelligence to the authorities about the Taliban. They established the writ of the state in Adeyzai that helped the ANP government rebuild girls’ schools bombed by the Taliban, and the police came back on normal duty. Prior to the formation of the lashkar, the people had stopped sending girls to schools due to Taliban threats and the police could not come out of the police station following the beheading of some policemen in the area. Upon the request of the military authorities, 50 volunteers from the lashkar participated in the military operation against the Taliban in Bora-Prastavana, the FATA area adjacent to Adeyzai in September 2010.

The lashkar leaders have a long list of complaints against the government and the military. The authorities have not been promptly responding to the actionable intelligence against the Taliban provided by the lashkar leaders. The lashkar volunteers who participated in the Bora-Prastavana operation for five days used their own weapons. The lashkar was never compensated in cash or kind by the military authorities for the weapons and ammunition they used in the operation. The lashkar men were even kept hungry and thirsty during the operation. Over 40 villagers have died in clashes with the Taliban and suicide and rocket attacks by the Taliban, including lashkar leaders, volunteers and their relatives, village elders and other villagers, including women and children. The Taliban have bombed shops and other small businesses belonging to the villagers. No compensation whatsoever has been provided by the government for the human and material losses suffered by the people of Adeyzai for their anti-Taliban stance. The villagers wonder why the government never compensates them whereas the victims of terrorism all over the country are compensated to some extent. Despite pledges made by the governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, no weapons or cash have been given to the lashkar to support its stance against the Taliban.

Amid attacks, the Taliban have also been sending messages to the lashkar leaders to give up their pro-government stance in return for compensation for the human and material losses suffered by everyone in the village, including the lashkar volunteers. The lashkar and people of Adeyzai have been turning down such offers for two years. They, however, argue that without state support, they cannot continue their armed struggle against the well financed and organised Taliban anymore.

Most people in Adeyzai, including the lashkar leaders, are farmers and drivers or run small businesses related with transport or grocery shops. It has become increasingly difficult for them to provide weapons, ammunition and rations for their 300 armed volunteers. Hence the lashkar’s decision to strike a deal with the Taliban out of sheer helplessness due to the absence of state support.

What is becoming of the Adeyzai lashkar is precisely the story of almost all anti-Taliban lashkars in FATA. Taliban gangs were unleashed on peaceful civilians and they were left to fend for themselves. Out of sheer desperation, they formed anti-Taliban lashkars. The lashkars were encouraged by the authorities with promises of help. The promises never materialised. The Taliban were given a free hand to slaughter the lashkars. Some anti-Taliban people were killed, others were made to run away and the remaining were forced to make deals with the Taliban or join them as fighters and commanders. This is how the ‘popular support’ of the fiercely autonomous tribesmen has been engineered in FATA. Through acute insecurity, the region has been rendered inaccessible for outsiders so that no free scholarly or journalistic investigation is able to question the authenticity of this popular support for the Taliban in FATA. All this is in pursuit of strategic depth in Afghanistan.

Adeyzai, however, is not a part of FATA – the unfortunate area under the absolute control of the intelligence agencies who use it as strategic space for strategic depth in Afghanistan. Adeyzai is part of Peshawar, under the Pakhtun nationalist ANP government. The Pakistani state in FATA has already lost its legitimacy to the tribesmen. The state there means nothing but death and destruction because of the state’s collusion with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Now the people of Peshawar may be drawing the same conclusion. It is no wonder that I keep hearing from the people of Adeyzai that the state has no will to eliminate the Taliban. What will become of the legitimacy of the state in this situation in Peshawar, an important garrison town? The most unfortunate aspect is that all this is happening under the ANP government.

There is an urgent need for the sake of legitimacy of the state that the lashkar and people in Adeyzai are provided some state support. The government may start by providing immediate compensation to all the people in Adeyzai for their human and material losses. This must be followed by targeted operations in the FATA areas around Adeyzai so that the village drivers and farmers have no need to make anti-Taliban lashkars. If that is not doable on an urgent basis, the lashkar must be provided with necessary support so that the Adeyzai villagers and other people in Peshawar can live in peace.

The writer is a PhD Research Fellow with the University of Oslo and currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban

 

[RabzonKhan]

Oh what fun, but who`s surprised?

Dawn
Kamran Shafi
December 07, 2010

SHOCK! Horror! WikiLeaks! Bombs rock Islamabad! Kayani mulled ousting Zardari and bringing in Asfandyar! Kayani distrusts Nawaz more than Zardari! ISI chief tells Americans Zardari is corrupt! Zardari says he might be assassinated! ISI extols virtues of some Taliban! US suspicious of Pakistan Army bills!

And so on and so forth the leading newspapers of the world as well as our own regaled us last week with the WikiLeaks releases of US embassy cables to Foggy Bottom. These leaks were most cleverly first of all made to the Guardian and the New York Times which would definitely publish them come hell or high water, as they did.

The leaks are hilarious and I laughed until I cried. Serve `em right, I said, for talking down to the rest of us from on high; ignoring our appeals for some sanity, some civility in relations between institutions; for realising that no one was being fooled by the Deep State`s protestations of innocence that it was not tripping up the elected governments, especially the federal government.

So, what`s new, friends? Hasn`t this space been filled with alarm over the past years on all of the above great `revelations`? And on how the Deep State rules supreme? And on how the establishment runs the show from the shadows, making nonsense of democracy, elected governments and all? On how it simply will not allow the political process to flower and prosper because if democracy comes to stay its own power of life and death over the hapless citizens of our poor and hapless country will be diluted?

Whilst you may well ask what made the ISI chief tell the Americans that his commander-in-chief was corrupt, where`s the surprise? The Mother of All Agencies, as we have seen in the matter of the Supreme Court`s hearings in the petitions of the relatives of the disappeared, is a law unto itself, our morose and downcast attorney general himself admitting before the court that no law controlled it, and that other bane of our lives, Military Intelligence.

What indeed, is so new about the COAS actually thinking of “taking over” or of forcing the president, his own commander-in-chief, to resign, or of replacing him with another person? Haven`t army chiefs sent other elected government`s packing: jailing, exiling, even hanging elected prime ministers after dodgy trials and coerced confessions? What is so surprising about a COAS actually saying he does not abide a certain politician, in this case Nawaz Sharif? What have I been saying to the PML-N for over three years now?

Divided you politicians will (be made to) fall; united you may stand a chance to further the cause of democracy and civil governance according to the people`s will and through their mandate. How many times do I have to shout from the rooftops to both the major political parties to please, please relegate your respective hawks to the back benches? To at least ask them to pipe down. For their loud rhetoric only serves to give comfort to the enemies of democracy. If they continue with their rancorous and spiteful attacks upon one another they will only face grief, both the parties.

Recently, I had written about the shameful escape of a general from a court of law that had ordered his arrest. Thinking about this matter, and comparing it with the grace with which elected leaders accepted arrest and jail, even in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto`s case hanging (shame on you, Ziaul Haq), the case of another general, Fazle Haq, Zia`s martial law administrator, governor, and chief minister of the then Frontier province came to mind.

The man had lorded it over the province for close on 10 years known for his bullying and in-your-face behaviour towards his subordinates. When he was arrested on several alleged charges in 1989, he had the temerity to slap the uniformed deputy superintendent of police who was executing the orders of arrest outside the court which had rejected his pre-arrest bail.

Well, the DSP, bless him, slapped him right back. Imagine one`s disgust when the front pages of the newspapers carried photographs of a dishevelled Fazle Haq with his sunglasses askew on his face, naked fear writ large on his face. I must add that the DSP was reported as saying to the general after slapping him, “Sir, I served you faithfully and loyally when you were ruling the province; I am only doing my duty now and you should not have slapped me.”

Compare this with the grace with which ZAB took all the many slights thrown at him during his incarceration and trial leading to his judicial murder. There are many anecdotes that we know, the people of my generation, for we have lived those sad days.

One day, as he was being brought to court from Kot Lakhpat jail, Bhutto was not given the usual chair that he used to sit on for the long ride, being unable to sit on the wooden benches in the police van due to a game back. It had been removed by the order of Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain his mortal enemy and who was placed in the Lahore High Court to ensure the death penalty for the former president/prime minister.

Bhutto merely refused to sit in the van — he did not curse the police; he did not yell at them; he did not slap anyone — until a chair was brought for him. On another occasion, and very early on in the trial, Bhutto`s lawyers objected to Maulvi being on the bench because of his well-known enmity with the accused. Maulvi lost his temper and shouted, “Stand up Bhutto”. “Remove his chair,” he yelled at the court staff. “You keep standing during today`s hearing,” he screamed at ZAB. When Bhutto complained that he should not be treated in this manner, Maulvi retorted, “Shut up. You are accused of murder, one more word out of you and I`ll have you whipped in jail in accordance with the jail manual!”

Get the drift, gentlemen?