Views of West about pak
(1) The
Newsweek ( ) on its title page says, “
the most dangerous nation is not Iraq. It’s Pakistan”. This is in addition to a plethora of regular articles, news, assessments, and analyses of all other journals and papers.
(2)
The Time (January 14, 2008) on its title page says, “
why we need to save Pakistan?”
(3)
The Economist (January 5th -11th 2008) on its title page wraps
Pakistan flag around a hand grenade and describes Pakistan as “the world’s most dangerous place”.
(4) The Europol report in
‘EU Terrorism Situation And Trend, 2008’ says, “
Islamist terrorism in the EU is increasingly influenced by Pakistan-based al_Qaeda affiliated groups and networks’ (
http://www.europol.europa.eu). Academically, this is a very weak report and has received much criticism from many people.
(5) “
Today, few places on earth are as important to US national security as the tribal belt along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan …….. Should another 9/11-type attack take place in the United States, it will likely have its origin in this region”. (Council on Foreign Relations, Daniel Markey’s report on
Securing Pakistan Tribal Belt, July 2008, website, CFR.org). This statement has been repeated by many, including President Bush and carried by many other similar reports. Did they predict the 9/11 in the same manner? Where was their ‘Risk Assessment’ and ‘Early Warning’ wisdom to contain the damage of 7/7 London bombing? Institutes dealing with political issues may not be competent enough to produce good criminological knowledge and intelligence analysis. This is not the scope of this small article to evaluate all such reports and studies but to raise an awareness that we should not take all these academic reports on the face of it and without a second view from the other side.
(6) “Pakistan may be the single greatest challenge facing the next American President”. “If political fragmentation sparks divisions within the military, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal could fall into unfriendly hands”. (Pakistan Policy Working Group;
The Next Chapter, The United States and Pakistan, September 2008). This report contains much criticism of the US earlier policies, US aid and US statements, but despite that realization it describes “Pakistan as one of the United States’ foremost foreign policy and national security challenges”.
(7) “The next administration needs to go much further, using the tools of “soft power” to communicate effectively about American intentions and to build grassroots social and economic institutions that will discourage radicalism and undercut the terrorists in danger spots around the world ___ especially in Pakistan”. (Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism:
World At Risk, December 2008,
www.vintagebooks.com ,
www.preventwmd.gov). Despite describing Pakistan as ‘the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism’, we hope that the above quoted suggestion of the Commission will find a good place in the policies of the new administration, lest we should write another
‘The Next Chapter’ after a four or eight years of Barrak Obama and then putting every rotten egg in his basket! I hope and wish we should not see another pair of shoes thrown to Obama-this time in Afghanistan, or probably Pakistan, as evident from the tone of various reports!
(8) About Pakistan, the first line of defense and a staunch ally in the war (now the long) on terror, another interesting report says, “The future of Pakistan is a wildcard in considering the trajectory of neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province and tribal areas probably will continue to be poorly governed and the source of supporter of cross-border instability. If Pakistan is unable to hold together until 2025, a broader coalesencence of Pashtun tribes is likely to emerge and act together to erase the Durand Line, maximizing Pashtun space at the expense of Punjabis in Pakistan and Tajiks and others at Afghanistan. Alternatively, the Taliban and other Islamist activist might prove able to overawe at least some tribal places”. (National Intelligence Council:
Global Trends 2025,
A Transformed World,
www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html).So this will be the outcome of the Operation Enduring Freedom and the result of the activities and missions of thousands of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and their attacks on the tribal areas of Pakistan, again losing to Taliban! Who can justify the billions of dollars from the US tax payers on the war on terror if they lead to a further disability and anarchy in an area where they brag on their presence and professionalism? Basically, these reports and their framers are not doing any good to the cause of war on terror and due to their biased perceptions, they escalate a volatile situation; befog the mind of a seeker of the truth and uncompromised researcher. Unfortunately, the Pakistani-turned-American think-tanks (so-called) while sitting in the institutes and universities of the US after their scholarships are over, are also not doing any good to the nation or world community. They produce a literature which sounds music to the western ears and feel happy on pretending to be ‘scholars’ and ‘authority’ on an area and people where, despite being Pakistani, they never worked, studied, lived or visited for a considerable period this area or its people.
