Monday, December 29, 2008
The killing fields
The tragic scenes from the Gaza Strip say a great deal about the kind of world we live in. It is an unjust one, a brutal one, where the mighty can kill and maim at will and the so-called protectors of human rights in Washington sit back and twiddle their thumbs. Is it then any surprise that Muslim radicalism is rising across the Islamic world? Can it indeed be held back when we see images of wounded women and children crying in agony as they lie sprawled in blood-stained mud?
Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip was the most intense military action in the area since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. For many Palestinians it was the worst attack in living memory. Over 275 people are reported killed, nearly 1,000 injured in the aerial strikes on Saturday and Sunday. Tanks were reported to have also been brought into the area. Israel, which began the action as an uneasy truce reached in June 2008 with Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since the militant group swept to a 2006 election victory and defeated rival Fatah in a brief civil war, broke down, claims it was responding to sporadic missile attacks from Gaza. Washington has backed this line, blaming Hamas for violating the ceasefire. Israel’s Defence Minister says specific targets were picked for the attacks. This is obviously ludicrous. The narrow Gaza Strip, one of the territories to which Palestinians have been driven since 1948, when Israel was created and an ethnic cleansing of Arabs initiated, is among the most over crowded territories on Earth. It is impossible to drop bombs on police stations and Hamas buildings without killing innocent people. The Israelis and their allies obviously know this. It seems apparent that the ruthless attack is intended to bolster support for the government in Israel before the country goes to polls in February. There is speculation that Tel Aviv also hoped to take advantage of the friendly Bush administration, in its last days in the White House.
What is awaited now is a response from the world. The UN is said to be discussing a statement drafted by the Russians. Arab and European leaders have slammed the attack. The reaction must however not be confined to rhetoric. The Middle East has been a global flashpoint for over six decades. Through these years, the people of Palestine have suffered repeated massacres and constant oppression. These acts have given birth to angry extremism in a part of the world where Islam took its most liberal, moderate form for centuries. The bravery of young men, women, even children, shouting out their defiance from the beds of overwhelmed hospitals must be lauded. Their courage over the decades has been extraordinary. It must now, in the face of this latest atrocity played out before the world by TV cameras, be rewarded by initiating action against Israel and ending the injustice that has given rise to so many of the intense problems we face today.
Double-speak
There is more than a hint of Orwellian double-speak about the statement of Baitullah Mehsud when he claimed that his forces, which he says number in the thousands, would back the Pakistan army in the event of an attack by India. The head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said that hundreds of would-be suicide bombers had been given “suicide jackets and explosive laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of aggression by Indian forces.” One might be forgiven for having a sense of incredulity at Mehsud’s statement, for it comes from a man who heads a group whose avowed intent is the overthrow of the very state he now seeks to ‘back’ in the event of an Indian attack. We should not suppose that we are going to see a mass redeployment of Taliban forces from their strongholds in the west to our eastern borders, which is where an attack by India is most likely to happen. Indeed not, and it is those very same borderlands where they currently operate that are going to be protected by these newly-patriotic Taliban forces - and from where an attack by India is about as likely as Pakistan being invaded by the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mehsud said that he wanted to “assure the nation, the government and army that they should not worry about Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan” - and thus we should all sleep easily in our beds in the knowledge that a benevolent force of dedicated Taliban watches over a grateful populace.
Whilst Mehsud’s statements are risible they do demonstrate his capacity to dominate the propaganda front, specifically in the way that his statement has blurred public perception of the distinction that exists between the army and the jihadi militia. Moreover, Mehsud is not alone in his patriotic fervour as Maulana Fazlullah has offered his own forces to “help” the Pakistan army in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. Both of these powerful commanders have now created the impression that far from being enemies of the state - which they most certainly are - they are its friends and there to help in time of need and national emergency. Given the gullibility of the majority of the population it is not hard to see that large parts of it may be convinced of the truth of what is being said by the Taliban, and therefore more inclined to offer them their tacit or overt support.
That both commanders speak thusly may also reveal or confirm what many suspect - that there is an unholy alliance between the Taliban forces and the army, all in the name of creating ‘strategic depth’, and bolstering our western flank. The thinking runs that the jihadi groups will provide manpower and support in the event of an Indian attack in the east; and that the mountains of NWFP will serve as a rear fortress that is virtually impenetrable - a fortress manned by the jihadis. The army and the government of course hold up their hands in denial at such a nexus but the Indian threat may serve as a justification for the ‘resolution’ of the ‘misunderstandings’ that are the alleged cause of the fighting in Swat and elsewhere, enabling the army to disengage or downsize its operations against jihadi groups and deploy westwards. We have already seen Talibanisation gather pace in the west of the country and the south of Punjab, and their ability to operate at will suggests that somebody, somewhere, is looking the other way while they do. One thing of which we may be certain - double-speak is here to stay, and the Taliban are its masters.