A healing touch needed
By Shireen M Mazari
The writer is director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Following from the state's action against the Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid law-breakers, the country has been witnessing an upsurge in terrorist attacks against security personnel. Meanwhile, civil society is being ill-served by vested interests seeking to play upon its frayed emotions for their own political ends so the state is in a no-win situation and confronted with an increasingly polarised society. The religious right has closed ranks in a new assertiveness, with all those coming out of the Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid vociferously continuing to support their doctrine of violence and hatred. As for the moderate elements, or those normally seen as thus, they are, for one reason or another, in a state of disarray -- sometimes almost sounding like the extremists or their sympathisers within the religious right; at other times exposing their own contradictions and uncertainties simply in an effort to ensure a distancing from the state at all costs.
In the face of an increasingly besieged and divided nation and state, a healing touch is desperately needed. But it appears no one is interested in taking the first step towards this. In fact, trends point in the opposite direction with truth having become a major victim of this polarisation process. This is unfortunate and tragic, as presently the Pakistani state and nation are also besieged from external sources. While we have all been focused on internal developments, Pakistan's perennial detractors have increased their bellicosity against the country. Over the last month and still continuing, a US think tank has been organising conferences all over Europe and the US on how to deal with Pakistan with the usual coterie of Pakistani intellectuals (the same coterie is being transported to different EU capitals and US cities) there to provide the native touch, although some are now based in the US itself! Why is it not a surprise to find that the initiators of this project are Ashley Tellis, George Perkovich and Frederic Grare -- all known Indophiles who have been churning out anti-Pakistan propaganda for a while now.
More important, the official voices within the US and its European allies have increased their bellicosity in terms of accusations that Pakistan is not doing enough in terms of the global war on terror. While our whole state and society has been rent asunder as a result of the global war on terror, we can never satisfy the US and the EU. Nor should that be our prime concern; but coming back to these external pressures, let us ask ourselves where extremists like the Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid combine managed to get weapons like the bullet-proof and explosion-proof blankets which, according to official government sources, even the Pakistan military does not possess?
We are all asking the question as to why the state allowed the large arsenal to collect in the heart of the capital. Perhaps we also need to ask who facilitated the extremists' acquisition of such weaponry that increased their capability to challenge the writ and power of the state? Was it a mere coincidence that US journalists and analysts had tremendous access to the leaders of the Lal Masjid and seemed to show a fair bit of sympathy for them till the commencement of the Operation? Again, was the kidnapping of the Chinese simply a coincidence, given that the US has always been uncomfortable with the strategic nature of the Pakistan-China relationship? Has it been merely a series of coincidences that Chinese have been targeted at critical times in Pakistan ever since the operationalisation of the Gwadar project? It cannot escape anyone's notice that given enough attacks on Chinese in Pakistan, the relationship between the two countries would intrinsically be impacted upon, to Pakistan's detriment. The interview given by the Chinese ambassador to The News (14 July) was as clear a message to this effect as any we will get from the circumspect Chinese.
Nor should one lose sight of the rabidly sectarian outlook of the Lal Masjid leadership which would have provided a sympathetic ear for the anti-Iran rhetoric of the US. After all, if the US can use Jundullah in its efforts to destabilise the Iranian state, who knows how far its reach is in this regard? Let us recall that till the Soviet Union folded up, there was a US-Mullah alliance that ran through the anti-communist goals of the former.
Was it also a mere coincidence that the CNN, through lies and deceit, chose to air a documentary targeting the Pakistan military around the time of the Jamia Hafsa stand- off? Apparently, they went through an elaborate charade to get support for their filming, including supposed interviews with concerned officials and politicians! We should learn a lesson from this and contain our eagerness to provide more access to the foreign media than to the local one.
What, one may ask, would be the long term intent of these external pressures and designs? To get the Pakistani state to act more rigorously against extremists; to end what some call the "Mullah-Military alliance" -- a misnomer if ever there was one since all political forces in Pakistan since the end of the Zia period have allied with the "Mullahs" at one time or another? Perhaps all of these goals, but more important is a longer term goal of weakening the Pakistani state and eventually taking out its nuclear assets.
Within this parameter, one should also not rule out the direct and sustained intervention of NATO-US forces across the international border with Afghanistan. If anyone has any doubts, they should have heard US analyst Bill Kristol, a conservative, reflecting the Bush mindset, stating in a Fox News programme on July 12, that the US should carry out attacks in Waziristan over the next few weeks, without informing Pakistan. As we know, NATO has already been attacking Pakistani citizens and territory. Link all this up with the alarmist statements emanating from the British military declaring that the present Pakistani government would be overthrown and "Islamists" would takeover (The News July 16), resulting in a strategic catastrophe in Afghanistan, and one should not rule out an attempt by the US and NATO to intervene more directly into Pakistan -- the eventual target being our nuclear assets.
The pretext would be the increasing violence and terrorism, which is why the new upping of the ante against the security forces by the extremists serves only foreign
interests -- especially the US. In the face of this bizarre internal-external threat, never has the need for national reconciliation been greater than it is presently. Here, the onus is on the state to take the first step by reaching out to all peace loving and moderate Pakistanis who have only one country they can call home and one nation that they identify themselves with. Admitting to bad advice, especially in the context of the judicial crisis, and backtracking on that advice will show the inner strength and national commitment of the leadership and will be a critical first step in a process of national healing that should be the primary aim of the state today. The people want a sensitised and responsive leadership and proactive moves in this regard will find a ready response within the silent majority that today finds itself isolated, emotionally drained and wondering what has happened to Jinnah's Pakistan that held the promise of tolerance and respect for the diversity that was to be our unifying force.
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