Pakistan’s perspective
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009
IF ever there was a time that the US has appeared to ‘get’ Pakistan’s approach to regional security, this may be it. Adm Mike Mullen has made two telling statements at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services this week. First, Adm Mullen has accurately summarised Pakistan’s approach by stating that our strategy for dealing with militancy is affected by the “principal” and “existential” threat from India, though the army is seriously concerned about the threat of militancy and is addressing the problem to an extent. Setting aside the issue of apportioning blame for the mess of militancy for a minute and taking a hard look at the overall security environment of this region, Adm Mullen’s frank call for ‘realism’ is the right one. Pakistan has serious and legitimate interests to defend vis-à-vis India.
First and foremost, with or without Pakistani-sponsored or -encouraged jihad in Kashmir, the Kashmir issue is very much alive and it needs to be resolved. Denying or downplaying the dissatisfaction in Indian-administered Kashmir will not change that fact. Other serious issues include the fair use of the two countries’ dwindling water supplies, Indian ‘interference’ inside Pakistan, its expanding interests in Afghanistan and the lingering suspicion that the Indian political class remains in thrall to hawkish elements who are opposed to the normalisation of ties with Pakistan. Until and unless these issues are resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both countries, India will loom large in Pakistan’s ‘threat perception’. It is not a threat on the part of Pakistan to demand to be released from those concerns before it can fully turn its attention to defeating militancy inside Pakistan and in the region generally. Nor does it mean that Pakistan can demand, or is demanding, that the Pak-India and militancy issues be addressed sequentially. It just means that long-term peace in the region will only be possible if Pakistan and India can resolve their differences.
Second, Adm Mullen has correctly pointed out that there is real uncertainty in Afghanistan and Pakistan over whether the Americans remain committed to the region. Part of that uncertainty, which breeds fear and perhaps causes the Pakistani and Afghan governments to baulk at full cooperation with the US, is created by the way the US has defined its goal in the region i.e. eliminating safe havens for Al Qaeda. Suppose the Americans do achieve that goal, will that mean cutting and running like they did two decades ago? Notwithstanding long-term aid commitments, the US needs to do more to reassure Pakistan and Afghanistan of its commitment to the region.
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The real issues
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009
PEOPLE are dying queuing for grain in Pakistan. This is a country where food inflation is forcing parents to pull their children out of school — they can eat sparsely or be educated, not both. Lives are being lost to ailments that are easily curable. Street crime is rampant across a country where human life is worth less than a cellphone. Yet our political leaders appear oblivious to the misery that is everywhere. They seem to have no perspective, no grip on reality. Does a man who can’t feed his children really care whether or not Pervez Musharraf is tried for treason? Is a mother whose child has died of gastroenteritis likely to give much thought to America’s military presence in the region? Will a jobless person be impressed by the president’s much-touted ‘achievements’ during his first year in office? Our leaders have clearly lost sight of the core issues.
This is a country where religious minorities are targeted by Muslim mobs while the law-enforcers look on. Deadly attacks against Christians, in particular, are on the rise in Punjab. As is usually the case in such incidents, the violence has been triggered by unproven allegations of blasphemy. Robert Fanish Masih, who had been arrested last Saturday on blasphemy charges after Muslims went on the rampage in village Jaithikey near Sialkot, was found dead in his cell on Tuesday. The next day his family and community members, who had all been forced to flee Jaithikey, were prevented from burying him in their native village. And this heartless, inhumane act wasn’t the work of Muslim vigilantes alone. The local police also told the mourners to turn back, on the grounds that their presence could fan violence. In short the victims were punished, not the aggressors.
The Punjab government needs to take urgent steps to protect minorities in the province for the situation there is deteriorating. Its stance on minority rights will be gauged by its response. The centre, meanwhile, should start working towards the repeal of the blasphemy laws. For too long they have been used to settle personal scores, grab land — and to kill. These draconian laws must be struck off the books.
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Assault on minors
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009
THE abduction and rape on Thursday of an eight-year-old girl in Karachi is a crime of sickening proportions, all the more disturbing since it occurred on the heels of a similar case: that of three-year-old Sana, who was raped and killed by two policemen. These, together with another rape case — that of a four-year-old girl in Balochistan — are not isolated incidents. Reports appear with distressing frequency with regard to sexual assaults on minors. There is therefore a great need for the state and society to step up their efforts to protect children, both boys and girls, from crimes, especially those of an extreme nature.
It is also incumbent on the state to formulate stricter legislation that deals specifically with various levels of assault on minors, and for the purposes of the law delineates the rape of a child from the crime of rape in general. After a recent amendment to the relevant section of the country’s Code of Criminal Procedure, there already exists the provision for courts to hand down the death sentence in case the rape victim is a minor. Indeed, Sana’s murderers were sentenced to this maximum penalty. The trial of Sana’s murderers was unusually prompt, due to the brutal nature of the crime and the immense public outcry it provoked. Usually, however, rape and assault trials are torturously slow. Provisions for a time-frame for handing down judgments, and stricter punishments for differing levels of assaults against minors may prove of immense value in deterring potential offenders. They would also go some way towards assuaging the misery of the victims’ families. Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, and legislation such as the Domestic Violence Bill is encouraging. It is now time to formulate laws that deal specifically with the assault and murder of minors.
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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press Don’t forget the Mujahideen!
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009
IN the eighth decade of the 20th century, Allah honoured the Afghan nation by [allowing it] to raise the standard of jihad … and attract Mujahideen from across the world. The West … came to life once again on account of the Afghan jihad which spurred an exemplary movement that saw the toppling of Lenin’s statues and the fall of the Berlin Wall….
… [T]he Afghan jihad … buried not only the Soviet empire but also its communism in Afghanistan…. Now look at the ‘shameless’ US and the ‘shameful’ Europe: now that their avowed enemy has been defeated by the proud Mujahideen, they have unleashed a propaganda against the freedom fighters. When the whole region was about to enjoy the fruits of the Afghan jihad, … the US created war hysteria and attacked Afghanistan. Europe also jumped on the American bandwagon to impose a crusade on the war-battered country.
The same Mujahideen who until yesterday were the torchbearers of a freedom struggle are now called terrorists who are up in arms in the mountains and ravines of Afghanistan against the US and the West. These are the Mujahideen who willingly offer their heads for their religion, their country … knowing full well that their children and wives will suffer when they are no more around. … If these Mujahideen had not stood by us, how would the Americans have played with our honour? Let us do some soul-searching so that we know what we have done for the kith and kin of those who have embraced martyrdom while fighting the US…. [T]he Mujahideen are still chasing the enemies of Islam in every corner of Afghanistan.
… Have we ever thought how tough is the going for the families of the Mujahideen when the US and its western allies rain bombs on their homes? Let us … help the families of the Mujahideen. … [I]f you have performed Haj once, there is no need to go again and again; if you have not yet paid zakat pay it now in the way of jihad and become a part of it…. It will help chase out the western forces…. — (Sept 16)