Why Pakistan Produces Jihadists

[deepak75]

Unfortunately you are not aware of the issue at hand, GoP did not have much to do with, it was strictly a military affair. A design of many countries to use Jihad and equally promote a violent version of Islam to defeat the Soviets.

Did you know that there were military instructors from USA, Pakistan, Republic of China and Egypt working to train the mujahideen in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

This was an equal and multi partnered creation that you seem to pindown on Pakistan alone. Now with the other countries not being used as a staging ground for training, Pakistan was left with a high number of militants who did not know anything or knew another trade.

And this terror talent were Freedom Fighters in the eyes of many except Soviets and its pals lke India.

Mere bhai, the Army was the government!!!! and however multi-cultural and multi-colored was the whole project and whatever justification Pakistan army gave for its participation but the fact is that Pakistan played the good and willful host. And the plans for utilizing these terrorists were not limited to the Afgan Jehad and as it became evident later this was Pakistan army's investment that they wanted to cash in with for their other political and terrotarial ambitions!!

Now tell me how easy would have it been for the army to sell the project to the citizens? But if they would bring Jehad as an excuse again today, do you think that the citizens now wiser in retrospect would allow the generals to get away with another Jehad?

That is why my comment that distortion of the Islamic identity of Pakistan has been the most telling factor in the progression of things i the region to this date.

 

[deepak75]

Cut out the pointless bickering

who was bickering?

I hope that was rhetorical!!

 

[notsuperstitious]

DAWN.COM | Editorial | Faisal Shahzad?s anti-Americanism

The man who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was a Pakistani. Why is this unsurprising? Because when you hold a burning match to a gasoline tank, the laws of chemistry demand combustion.

As anti-US lava spews from the fiery volcanoes of Pakistan’s private television channels and newspapers, a collective psychosis grips the country’s youth. Murderous intent follows with the conviction that the US is responsible for all ills, both in Pakistan and the world of Islam.

Faisal Shahzad, with designer sunglasses and an MBA degree from the University of Bridgeport, acquired that murderous intent. Living his formative years in Pakistan, he typifies the young Pakistani who grew up in the shadow of Ziaul Haq’s hate-based education curriculum. The son of a retired air vice-marshal, life was easy as was getting US citizenship subsequently. But at some point the toxic schooling and media tutoring must have kicked in.

There was guilt as he saw pictures of Gaza’s dead children and related them to US support for Israel. Internet browsing or, perhaps, the local mosque steered him towards the idea of an Islamic caliphate. This solution to the world’s problems would require, of course, the US to be destroyed. Hence Shahzad’s self-confessed trip to Waziristan.

Ideas considered extreme a decade ago are now mainstream. A private survey carried out by a European embassy based in Islamabad found that only four per cent of Pakistanis polled speak well of America; 96 per cent against.

Although Pakistan and the US are formal allies, in the public perception the US has ousted India as Pakistan’s number one enemy. Remarkably, anti-US sentiment rises in proportion to aid received. Say a good word about the US, and you are labelled as its agent. From what TV anchors had to say about it, Kerry-Lugar’s $7.5bn may well have been money that the US wants to steal from Pakistan rather than give to it.

Pakistan is not the only country where America is unpopular. In pursuit of its self-interest, the US has waged illegal wars, bribed, bullied and overthrown governments, supported tyrants and undermined movements for progressive change. Paradoxically America is disliked more in Pakistan than in countries which have born the direct brunt of its attacks — Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Why?

Drone strikes are a common but false explanation. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi implicitly justifies the Times Square bombing as retaliation but this does not bear up. Drone attacks have killed some innocents but they have devastated militant operations in Waziristan while causing far less collateral damage than Pakistan Army operations.

On the other hand, the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong were carpet-bombed by B-52 bombers and Vietnam’s jungles were defoliated with Agent Orange. Yet, Vietnam never developed visceral feelings like those in Pakistan.

Finding truer reasons requires deeper digging. In part, Pakistan displays the resentment of a client state for its paymaster. US-Pakistan relations are transactional today but the master-client relationship is older. Indeed, Pakistan chose this path because confronting India over Kashmir demanded big defence budgets. In the 1960s, Pakistan entered into the Seato and Cento military pacts, and was proud to be called ‘America’s most allied ally’. The Pakistan Army became the most powerful, well-equipped and well-organised institution in the country. This also put Pakistan on the external dole.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, even as it brought in profits, deepened the dependence. Paid by the US to create the anti-Soviet jihadist apparatus, Pakistan is now being paid again to fight that war’s blowback. Pakistan then entered George W. Bush’s war on terror to enhance America’s security — a fact that further hurt its self-esteem. It is a separate matter that Pakistan fights that very war for its own survival and must call upon its army to protect the population from throat-slitting fanatics.

Passing the buck is equally fundamental to Pakistan’s anti-Americanism. It is in human nature to blame others for one’s own failures. Pakistan has long teetered between being a failed state and a failing state. The rich won’t pay taxes? Little electricity? Contaminated drinking water? Kashmir unsolved? Blame it on the Americans. This phenomenon exists elsewhere too. For example, one saw Hamid Karzai threatening to join the Taliban and lashing out against Americans because they (probably correctly) suggested he committed electoral fraud.

Tragically for Pakistan, anti-Americanism plays squarely into the hands of Islamic militants. They vigorously promote the notion of an Islam-West war when, in fact, they actually wage armed struggle to remake society. They will keep fighting this war even if America were to miraculously evaporate. Created by poverty, a war culture and the macabre manipulations of Pakistan’s intelligence services, they seek a total transformation of society. This means eliminating music, art, entertainment and all manifestations of modernity. Side goals include chasing away the few surviving native Christians, Sikhs and Hindus.

At a time when the country needs clarity of thought to successfully fight extremism, simple bipolar explanations are inadequate. The moralistic question ‘Is America good or bad?’ is futile.

There is little doubt that the US has committed acts of aggression, as in Iraq, and maintains the world’s largest military machine. We know that it will make a deal with the Taliban if perceived to be in its self-interest — even if that means abandoning the Afghans to bloodthirsty fanatics. Yet, it would be wrong to scorn the humanitarian impulse behind US assistance in times of desperation. Shall we write off massive US assistance to Pakistan at the time of the earthquake of 2005? Or to tsunami-affected countries in 2004?

In truth, the US is no more selfish or altruistic than any other country. And it treats its Muslim citizens infinitely better than we treat non-Muslims in Pakistan.

Instead of pronouncing moral judgments on everything and anything, we Pakistanis need to reaffirm what is truly important for our people: peace, economic justice, good governance, rule of law, accountability of rulers, women’s rights and rationality in human affairs. Washington must be resisted, but only when it seeks to drag Pakistan away from these goals. More frenzied anti-Americanism will produce more Faisal Shahzads.

 

[Xeric]

Oh phulease, no more of this Quaid-e-Azam wanted a secular Pakistan, Qadianis should be given equal rights, military bureaucracy's desire to harness the politicians etc etc.

i am sure had india inherited the same fate as Pakistan did after independence, things must have been worse on our eastern side!

 

[Moorkh]

inherit fate??

i didnt quite get you.

care to elaborate please

do you mean the socio economic conditions present in pakistan at the time of independence?

 

[Solomon2]

Whats part of the problem? That people do not have enough faith in the government to follow its decisions on 'banned' groups, or atleast some of them?...in declaring these groups 'terrorist' through no visible fair legal process, makes its credibility go even lower. Then when the JuD goes to Pakistani courts, and is acquitted of charges for lack of enough evidence -

Need a witness protection program first, I suppose.

Even with investigations done by an independent (of the GoP) police force, the Indians will always argue that not enough evidence was collected/presented -

Not just Indians. It seems Pakistani police collect lawful evidence that they are ordered not to present in court, or deny exists. That's what happened, in the early stages, with Kasab. Somehow there has to be a way to pry open these records to secure a conviction. Even if a criminal's cooperation is required for intelligence purposes, it may be better to convict first and bargain afterward.

I think the hope was that this last ditch effort to use dialog, with Sufi Mohammed as guarantor -

I'm an American. We put no trust in princes, but in elected officials, law, due process, and to a lesser extent custom. Just because people want things to work like magic doesn't mean it can happen. It's the duty of a good democrat to urge citizens to think and participate, even if that means time taken away from other activities. Irksome, but far more humane that plotting to make people suffer.

 

[karan.1970]

One could argue that almost every individual exists in a state of 'self imposed ignorance' on various issues they deal with. As I pointed out before, most of the links and information about Hafiz Saeed some Indians have posted on this thread even I was not aware of. Pakistani is a developing country, even the middle class has little time for 'researching organizations and individuals'. The average Pakistani who supports the JuD or LeT is not going to spend hours online researching links of HS statements and agendas, and it is unrealistic to expect them to.

Its just not these links. Indian media (which is viewed in Pakistan too) is full of talks about HS. I understand the skepticism a Pakistani would have towards a news item about HS in Indian media, but in normal state of affairs, that surely would make me think twice and do some digging before I contribute or get associated with such an organization.

The TTP has not been tried in courts, but they have publicly admitted that they are waging war against the State and they have publicly admitted that they are carrying out terrorist attacks (of course the TTP just call them 'attacks', but the casualties make clear what they are).

When an entity is so upfront about its goals and actions, and these have been validated by the government and military, then actions against them, and opinion against them, is validated and justified. The LeT/JuD has, in contrast, denied links to terrorist attacks, and the impression of it/them in the minds of most Pakistanis is the opposite of that in the minds of most Indians.

In the legal system of both India and Pakistan, the acceptance of guilt does not have any higher value than denial of guilt. Just like an accused can not be set free because he denies committing the crime, an accused can not be sentenced because he admits to it.

In the case of TTP as well as LeT, the Pakistanin govt has accepted their terrorist nature and declared them as terrorist organization. That should be enough for any average citizen to pause and explore more before deciding to donate to such organization. An average Pakistani takes that pause in case of TTP but not LeT. Hence in my view, the average Pakistani who donates to /associates with Let or JuD is not absolved from even the moral angle on this.

 

[karan.1970]

I am not sure if you were suggesting this as a defence of Dhume's argument, which it can't be since his Dhume's argument has nothing to do with policy prescriptions, and is instead an attempt to malign all of Pakistan, its identity and its 'DNA' as he puts it.

On the Kashmir insurgent issue, I offered my opinions earlier when discussing it with EyelessinGaza.

Not in defence of Dhume's arguement.. More as an option to address the resource and operational constraints you talked of..

 

[notsuperstitious]

DAWN.COM | Columnists | Paths of terrorism lead but to Pakistan

The adoption of terrorism tactics can no longer be merely attributed to ignorance, poverty, deprivation or hardship.

Many of our neo-terrorists are schooled and brainwashed beings, with a grudge, or several grudges, imbued with bravado, intent on disrupting what is left of civilised life, with nary a care as to how many complete strangers they either blow to smithereens or maim, or how much they destroy.

Pakistan of course has its daily dose of terrorism, in one form or another. Schools are blown up with regularity in the newly-named K-P province, bodies of men executed by the local Taliban are found, men have their hands chopped off, women are ‘dishonoured’ and our main cities are under siege, bunkered and concreted, awaiting the suicide bomber from up north or from down south in Punjab where they are said to be heavily congregated (for one, Ajmal Kasab).

Unless one of those strange and much despised creatures known as VIPs or often VVIPs are targeted, suicide and other bombings no longer earn headlines in the media. They are now taken as a matter of course.

But apart from terrorism connections within Pakistan, we have those outside Pakistan, the paths of which lead straight into our heartland. The latest New York Times Square failed car bomber is but one of a string of notable Pakistanis who have garnered academic degrees and are not materially down and out in any way. What is it about Pakistan that it manages to produce so many young men who are violence prone, caring neither for their own or other people’s lives? We seriously need to ask ourselves this question.

It was asked and partially answered in the Wall Street Journal of May 3 by Sadanand Dhume under the heading ‘Why Pakistan Produces Jihadists’. He firstly asks: “Why do Pakistan and the Pakistani diaspora churn out such a high proportion of the world’s terrorists?” He cites Mir Aimal Kasi, the CIA shooter, Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 World Trade Centre bomber, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of 9/11 fame, Omar Saeed Sheikh, the Daniel Pearl kidnapper, and three of the four July 2005 London train bombers as being ‘made in Pakistan’.

He goes on to list a few “whose passage to jihadism passes through” Pakistan — Osama bin Laden himself, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mohamed Atta, Richard Reid and his shoe, and John Walker Lindh of the so-called American Taliban. These are not lists to be proud of. Something is radically wrong and heaven alone knows how long it will take to even start to put it right. With the governments and leadership we have suffered and still suffer it is not likely that in the foreseeable future our production line will decrease, let alone cease.

Dhume puts much of it down to the distant past, to the formation of the country when he claims it “was touched by the messianic zeal of pan-Islamism”, with men such as Muhammad Asad (an early ambassador to the UN), Said Ramadan who collaborated with Abul Ala Maududi and with the 1949 establishment by Pakistan of the world’s first transnational Islamic organisation, the World Muslim Congress.

All this possibly may have set the trend — with massive help from Liaquat Ali Khan’s 1949 Objectives Resolution — but it was not until Ziaul Haq, army general and devout worshipper at the altar of his own dangerous brand of Islam, that bigotry and the inevitable violence that must accompany it truly set in. Even the mighty army was tainted, to a certain extent brainwashed by the joys of jihad.

The seal on the full conversion of the Pakistani mind towards militancy was stamped by the support given by Zia to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and then by the adoption of the Taliban by Benazir Bhutto’s second government.

No one, not even the most nationalistic Pakistani, can deny that the country is used as a training ground for terrorists or jihadists or whatever.

It is open knowledge that both the ignorant poor and deprived and the university-educated youth, and even adult men, can come to Pakistan and learn how to make bombs to blow up themselves, if they so wish, and as many others that they can either take with them or leave dead and maimed while they flee.

Can some bright psychologist work out why Faisal Shahzad, a college graduate, son of a Pakistani air force officer, married with two children, was prompted to do what he did on May Day?

Friend I.A. Rehman has written an excellent column, finely tuned and finely balanced, published in this newspaper on May 6 on the subject of anarchy in Pakistan. It sets out many of the acts of government in recent days which come under the heading of anarchy. It should be widely disseminated so that people realise just what their lives are all about under this present dispensation which is at as much a loss with itself as it is with the governance of this unruly country. It is a sad commentary on the seemingly deliberate acts of commission and omission which so relentlessly beset us.

Strangely, the sole anarchic activity he has missed out on is the terrorism and jihad factor. Perhaps he, like so many, is hardened to the fact that it exists, that it has become a way of life and that it seemingly cannot be dealt with by the civilian government we have lurking on the ground, or will not be dealt with, for reasons we can but guess at, by the army that is the de facto ruler of this country for which the world at large has no love lost.

 

[Javed3]

US warns Pakistan over terror: report
Dawn Sunday, 09 May, 2010. US military commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal met with the Pakistani military commander General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad on Friday.

Ambassador Husain Haqqani states that “We are both very important countries to one another. American security depends on Pakistan’s ability to root out terrorism and to (help) stabilise Afghanistan”.

NEW YORK: Pakistani merchants and job seekers in the United States, still reeling from economic hardship since the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001, are posing as Indians to avoid discrimination in the wake of the Times Square bomb attempt.

What makes us think that we are "Important" in a Master-Slave relationship? If the Americans really thought that Pakistan is vital to its security interests they would pay us a lot more and treat us better than the low wage chowkidars we are.

This is what happens when you volunteer to wage somebody Else's war on your own soil free of charge.

 

[niaz]

I am from a lower middle class background and used to borrow expensive books from British Council and US Consulate libraries in Lahore during my student days. We also demonstrated against the same buildings and occasionally even set fire to these. But then I was foolish and influenced by the JI propaganda even though times were far more peaceful. Now anti US rehtoric is the norm.

It is about time we Pakistanis realize that world doesn’t owe us anything. US is not root of all evil. In fact most of our ills are direct result of our own short sighted policies. For example it was Pakistan’s governing class that decided Pakistan to be part of SEATO and Cento. We were happy to receive US arms as a result. However when US stopped military aid because we used these arms to fight India and not communism, the whole nation went into anti US frenzy.

Later in 1971; our wrong polices resulted in Pakistan’s break up, still a lot of media blamed it on the US. We accepted US aid to fight Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when we wanted to turn Afghanistan into client state thru Hikmatyar against US wishes, we blamed it all on US again.

We have to accept the Pakistan to day is breeding ground of Islamic terrorism. Main responsibility for this lies squarely on the bigot Zia and his protégés, this includes PML-N and also on the Saudi funds received to fight rise of Shia Iran.

I remember NS during his tenure as PM used to go to Jabra Chowk each year and vow to continue Zia’ s dastardly mission. Lal Masjid Fitna is direct result of actions by Zia. What was Zia's mision except to create Klashinkov culture and breed sectarianism? Even today PMl-N is hobnobbing with Lashkar Jhangvi activists.

My dear compatriots, there are no free lunches in this world. Even Chinese help is not without cost. Have we forgotten that Lal Masjid operation was undertaken only after Chinese ambassador called Musharraf following the kidnapping of Chinese sex workers by the Jamia Hafsa students?

This doesn’t mean to say that US is innocent. But as a nation we have to accept that no nation is going to give us the goodies and expect nothing in return. In most cases, hidden the price of free lunches comes far too high.

Without doubt, a significant part of Pakistan’s media and intellectuals harbor deep rooted sympathies for the jihadis. As mentioned in the Dawn editorial, Kerry Lugar bill, without which Pakistan could not meet her normal budget (per Shaukat Tareen, then Finance Minister) was dubbed as an insult Pakistan. Does part of the Pak media desire that Pakistan commits hara-kiri?

IMO Pakistani nation (this includes me) is behaving like an ostrich. We blame every thing on others without introspective analysis. Unless we grow up and realize that we need to amend our way of thinking, we are not going anywhere. Needles to say that actions of Faisal Shahzad would cause immeasurable hardship to Pakistani students going to US or Pakistanis applying for US residency. But who gives a damn for ordinary Pakistanis.

 

[hillman32]

Why India is producing Maoists?

 

[kallol]

Why India is producing Maoists?

India is and will be suffering for this. It will be a long haul.

But on the other side "Is India blaming anyone ? or The Indian naxals creating havoc else where in other countries ?"

Mere Bhai ek baar to andar zhak ke dekho rather than looking for solutions only outside.

 

[T-Faz]

India is and will be suffering for this. It will be a long haul.

But on the other side "Is India blaming anyone ? or The Indian naxals creating havoc else where in other countries ?"

Mere Bhai ek baar to andar zhak ke dekho rather than looking for solutions only outside.

Yes, Indians continue to blame chinese for arming the Maoists. Just read the comments on all maoists related news.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I am from a lower middle class background and used to borrow expensive books from British Council and US Consulate libraries in Lahore during my student days. We also demonstrated against the same buildings and occasionally even set fire to these. But then I was foolish and influenced by the JI propaganda even though times were far more peaceful. Now anti US rehtoric is the norm.

It is about time we Pakistanis realize that world doesn’t owe us anything. US is not root of all evil. In fact most of our ills are direct result of our own short sighted policies. For example it was Pakistan’s governing class that decided Pakistan to be part of SEATO and Cento. We were happy to receive US arms as a result. However when US stopped military aid because we used these arms to fight India and not communism, the whole nation went into anti US frenzy.

Later in 1971; our wrong polices resulted in Pakistan’s break up, still a lot of media blamed it on the US. We accepted US aid to fight Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when we wanted to turn Afghanistan into client state thru Hikmatyar against US wishes, we blamed it all on US again.

We have to accept the Pakistan to day is breeding ground of Islamic terrorism. Main responsibility for this lies squarely on the bigot Zia and his protégés, this includes PML-N and also on the Saudi funds received to fight rise of Shia Iran.

I remember NS during his tenure as PM used to go to Jabra Chowk each year and vow to continue Zia’ s dastardly mission. Lal Masjid Fitna is direct result of actions by Zia. What was Zia's mision except to create Klashinkov culture and breed sectarianism? Even today PMl-N is hobnobbing with Lashkar Jhangvi activists.

My dear compatriots, there are no free lunches in this world. Even Chinese help is not without cost. Have we forgotten that Lal Masjid operation was undertaken only after Chinese ambassador called Musharraf following the kidnapping of Chinese sex workers by the Jamia Hafsa students?

This doesn’t mean to say that US is innocent. But as a nation we have to accept that no nation is going to give us the goodies and expect nothing in return. In most cases, hidden the price of free lunches comes far too high.

Without doubt, a significant part of Pakistan’s media and intellectuals harbor deep rooted sympathies for the jihadis. As mentioned in the Dawn editorial, Kerry Lugar bill, without which Pakistan could not meet her normal budget (per Shaukat Tareen, then Finance Minister) was dubbed as an insult Pakistan. Does part of the Pak media desire that Pakistan commits hara-kiri?

IMO Pakistanis nation (this includes me) is behaving like an ostrich. We blame every thing on others without introspective analysis. Unless we grow up and realize that we need to amend our way of thinking, we are not going anywhere. Needles to say that actions of Faisal Shahzad would cause immeasurable hardship to Pakistani students going to US or Pakistanis applying for US residency. But who gives a damn for ordinary Pakistanis.

Thanks for the post,Niaz.
The thanks is not because it implies criticism of Pakistan or anything Pakistani; but because it is talking about introspection on events past and need to act in future. It is indeed time for people in Pakistan to recognise how far thing have worsened (at least in their minds, not on this forum) over the years.

Whatever your thought or activities vis-a-vis JI or any similar bodies may have been; it has not caused any harm to you or the rest of us on this planet! But now more serious issues confront us.

This is a real world that we have to live in not a creation of James Cameron.