A tougher stance
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009
INTERIOR Minister Rehman Malik has come down hard on India. “We have solid evidence that not only in Balochistan but India is involved in almost every terrorist activity in Pakistan,” Mr Malik said on Wednesday. On Balochistan, it is understood that, despite denials by both sides, Pakistan handed over a dossier on Indian activities there at the meeting between the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers in Sharm el Sheikh in July, capping a long series of complaints on the issue by Pakistan. What is notable about the claims of Indian involvement in Balochistan is that the international powers have not downplayed them. On the issue of Indian involvement in “almost every terrorist” act in Pakistan, however, Mr Malik’s claim would appear to be an exaggeration, for it is well known that there are non-state actors inside Pakistan whose goal is to destabilise the state for ideological reasons that have nothing to do with India; indeed, many of those non-state actors regard ‘Hindu’ India as an even bigger enemy.
Be that as it may, we believe that the gist of Mr Malik’s blunt comments on India is correct. Whatever India may or may not be doing inside Pakistan, it is clear that the Indians are still unwilling to move out of the accusation mode. From the prime minister downwards, hardly a few days pass without some statement on ‘Pakistani’ involvement in yet-to-be-committed terrorist acts inside India. Puzzlingly, the Indians appear to be content with issuing public warnings and seem uninterested in sharing intelligence with Pakistan on the planning of such attacks. Surely, whatever doubts the Indian government has about Pakistan’s bona fides as a partner in the fight against terrorism, it has a bigger duty to try and thwart future attacks — and public warnings but no intelligence-sharing seems to run contrary to the fulfilment of that duty.
More generally, the Indian pressure is counterproductive for two reasons. One, Indian cage-rattling is liable to distract the security establishment here just as the Pakistan Army is locked in battle with militant groups. True, India’s concerns are about the Kashmir-centric, anti-Indian militants, whereas the Pakistan Army is focused on fighting the anti-state militants. But consider this: many of the groups the army is fighting today are the same ones it was willing to ‘shield’ only a few years ago. Clearly, then, the Pakistan Army’s security calculations are not inflexible. Second, the problems between India and Pakistan go beyond militancy and involve genuine disputes. Ignoring the latter will not help defeat the former; India must recognise this and re-engage a Pakistani government that has repeatedly expressed its willingness to talk.
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Not the right decision
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009
THE decision to close schools, colleges and universities in most parts of the country this week can only be termed a psychological victory for the militants. By announcing their temporary closure, the government has caused uncertainty if not panic among parents, teachers and students. The twin blasts at the International Islamic University campus in Islamabad on Tuesday were not the first and will probably not be the last acts of criminality on the precincts of an educational institution. War on education has been one of the Taliban’s major tactics against the state. They have blown up hundreds of schools in the north and have targeted buses carrying students.
All sides in a war rely on psychological propaganda as a major weapon to demoralise the enemy, sow confusion in its ranks and make it believe that further resistance would be useless. As far as the government is concerned the aim of a psywar should be to raise the morale of the civilian population, to assure them of final victory and to mobilise them for achieving that aim. From this point of view, the decision to close schools negates some of the basic principles of a psywar. The closure has brought the morale of the people to a new low and perhaps given ideas to the enemy. Hopefully, schools will open on Monday. Will the militants have disappeared by that day? And how would parents throughout the country feel about letting their children go to school which the government considers vulnerable to attacks? We have argued in this space for the need to strike a balance. Obviously, we cannot allow our children to be exposed to danger. But neither can we let fear and panic come to dominate their years of learning. What is needed is a joint effort by the education departments and the official security apparatus to draft and implement a safety plan that can be further fine-tuned to suit the needs of individual schools, colleges and universities. In the meantime, we hope that the closure of educational institutions in the country is not extended.
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Culture takes a hit
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009
THE theatre of war has expanded to South Waziristan. Meanwhile, it is far from business as usual in other parts of the country. In Lahore, amongst the prime victims of the deteriorating security situation, are the many cultural activities that were, in happier times, emblematic of the city. Since the recent spate of terror attacks in the city, cinema audiences have dropped by about 80 per cent. Commercial theatres have suffered similarly. The fear of a terror attack, particularly in view of the militants’ opposition to cultural activities, is a significant deterrent. The Ajoka theatre’s Panj Pani festival had to be shifted abroad, and there are reports that the annual Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop Performing Arts Festival, which has for years acted as Pakistan’s ambassador to the world’s theatrical circuit, may not be held this time. The Lahore Arts Council has for similar reasons been forced to cancel the International Urdu Conference. Concerts have become a thing of the past.
Private security has of course been beefed up at theatres and cinemas. But this has done little to assuage the fears of performing artists and their audiences. Such venues have, after all, been targeted in the recent past: explosive devices were detonated at the RPTW festival last year, while two theatres were targeted earlier this year. As Lahore’s once-vibrant cultural scene fades, great damage is being done to the country’s emerging presence on the world’s literary and performing arts stages. More importantly, the decline represents a serious loss of income for thousands employed in the entertainment sector. The livelihoods of persons in the film, theatre and music industries are insecure even during ordinary times. The uncertain security situation is likely to push into poverty those who were formerly financially stable. The loss to the city’s cultural heritage, meanwhile, is incalculable.
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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press A dangerous enemy and US agent
Friday, 23 Oct, 2009
HISTORY is witness to the fact that Iran has all along, right from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to the present ‘takeover’ by Nato, abetted the enemies of that war-ravaged country and its people…. The recent arrests of terrorists in Pakistan, which is the Afghan people’s second home, have revealed that Iran and its stooges (the terrorists of the Northern Alliance) had tasked them to carry out subversive activities here and unleash a vicious propaganda against Afghans living in refugee camps.
Readers may recall that the terrorists of this very Northern Alliance in cahoots with Shurai Nazar had hijacked a school bus … when Naseerullah Babar was the interior minister. They were killed by Pakistan Army commandoes and the children were rescued. Last year security forces in Peshawar arrested agents of Shurai Nazar loyal to Commander Hazrat Ali of Darrai Noor … along with arms and bombs.
… Recently, an American agent of Iranian origin, Muhammad Raza Musawi, in a website article mentioned a would-be bomber of the Shurai Nazar who had been arrested in Jalalabad during the Afghan general elections. Musawi alleges that the arrested miscreant confessed to be a resident of the Shamshatu refugee camp…. Musawi … pleads for Shurai Nazar and … tries to dub the Shamshatu camp as the bastion of the Taliban’s terrorist activities…. At a larger level Musawi defames Pakistan….
Musawi implies that the Shamshatu camp … is the base camp of the Taliban who go across the Durand Line and fight the US and Nato forces. Musawi says … that whoever opposes the interference of Russia and Iran in Afghanistan through the Shurai Nazar are enemies of the country and should be punished.
… We believe that Pakistan is … a citadel of Islam, and if Moscow, Panjsher, India and Israel gang up to destroy it, God will save it. Today the agents of Russia, India, Iran, America and the Northern Alliance stoke unrest in Balochistan, the NWFP and other parts of Pakistan by killing Muslims; tomorrow they will face their own destruction. Allah-o-Akbar. — (Oct 21)
Selected and translated by Faizullah Jan