No respite from the external detractors

By Shireen M Mazari


These are certainly exciting times filled with highly inflated expectations. That is why premature dismay and disappointments also come rapidly. For a columnist there are simply too many issues to focus on. There is the attempt by the APDM to regain lost political space riding on the shoulders of the lawyers' movement-- needlessly pushing the latter into a premature and perhaps needless confrontation with the newly-elected voices of the people. There is also the almost-desperate sprint of US diplomats from one political leader to another-- especially in the aftermath of an almost unanimous national critique of a Pakistani political leader rushing to the US embassy.

There are the growing rumours of a presidential resignation, countered equally vigorously by the presidential spokesperson. Just to prove that in all that is new, some things never change, we have also seen the caretaker prime minister sneak in life and after-life privileges for Senate Chairmen and their families! And this is just a tip of the iceberg in terms of issues and events that confront us; but while Pakistanis are enjoying a much-deserved political respite before a new government is sworn in, there is no breather on two major fronts which link us to our external detractors: terrorism and the continuing foreign intrusions into our internal matters as well as a continuing bombast against Pakistan in one form or another.

On the issue of terrorism, while the country definitely has its own terrorist menace to fight, it is a mistake to assume that the US war on terror is also our war. Certainly, we are already paying a heavy price for going along with the US's military-centric strategy to fight terrorism. In fact, our own terrorist problem has become exacerbated directly as a result of the erroneous US policies in the war against terrorism. We have only to see the introduction and spread of suicide bombers; the increasing acts of terror spreading from the tribal belt to the settled areas; and the successful US shifting of the centre of gravity of the war on terror from Afghanistan to Pakistan; to understand the negatives of going along with the US anti-terror agenda. Instead, we need to evolve our own holistic strategies to fight the blight of terrorism which aim at long term space denial to the terrorists.

Worse still, the US continues to remain dissatisfied and we should realise that their long term interest is in undermining a nuclear Pakistan rather than strengthening it. Even in terms of paying their costs to Pakistan for support in their war on terror (there being no "free lunch" in US culture), the US is seeking to withhold these payments as a punitive measure against the Pakistani state. Not that these payments are "huge" as the yanks claim! According to news reports, the US pays Pakistan $ 650 per solider per month, while it spends $ 80,000 per soldier per month in Afghanistan--and the amount is even higher in Iraq. Also, the US continues to deny Pakistan access to high tech weapon and intelligence gathering systems.

Of course, at the end of the day it is not these factors that should be the deciding element in our decision to go along with the US strategy in the war on terror, since the Pakistani nation does not see its military might as a mercenary force--but these factors do reflect the US mind set and approach vis a vis Pakistan. It is an approach that is derisive and condescending towards our sovereignty, hostile towards our nuclear capability and objectionably intrusive towards our domestic polity. That is why it is naïve for any political leader to equate our war against terrorism with the US's increasingly suspect war on terror.

It was heartening to see the PML-N leader going to the heart of the issue and asking the US to define clearly what it means by the war on terror. He also seemed to understand that a war against terrorism is an asymmetric war that cannot be won solely or even primarily by military means alone. It is also heartening to know that he showed no haste in meeting with the US ambassador, and chose to meet other elected political leaders before interacting with her.

It is time for the new Pakistani leadership to stand its ground in terms of asserting a nationalist posture that stops external powers from feeling they can intrude as they wish into our internal matters. Already the CIA has claimed that it conducted a successful unilateral attack against an Al-Qaeda commander in Mir Ali on January 29 without the knowledge/approval of Pakistan (Washington Post, 18 February). Moreover, the CIA has declared that this will be the model for the future in terms of attacks by US forces on Pakistani soil since Pakistan is considered unreliable by the US military. Also, US democratic presidential candidate Obama continues to threaten unilateral military action inside Pakistan by US ground forces. Frankly, if this continues, for Pakistan there is going to be a dual threat of terror -- from our own extremist militants and from the US as well. Can any Pakistani leader call for greater cooperation with the US under these circumstances?

But the feeling that Pakistan is fair game for intrusion in its domestic affairs is not limited simply to the US-- although action in this regard so far seems to have been the sole preserve of the US. In fact, as one observer quipped, "since many Pakistanis cannot go to the US to experience the American way of life", the US is bringing America to Pakistan!" One just has to see the one way student exchanges, the buying of air time on radio and TV and the wide range of NGOs funded by the US trying to teach Pakistanis "democracy", "enlightenment" and so on and one can understand the new White Man's burden the US has thrust on itself!

At the declaratory level, of course, we have seen the army chief of our large neighbour to the east, and now a strategic ally of the US, make a blatantly political statement relating to Pakistan. Given how the Indian military leadership never comments even on Indian politics, it was totally unacceptable to have the Indian army chief commenting on our elections, regardless of the nature of his comment. But what has been more distressing has been the lack of reaction from the Pakistani side.

Incidentally, despite the positive electoral process and results, it is not just the US political elite that continues to target Pakistan. The British government, through its Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is sponsoring a conference in Wilton Park specifically on "Pakistan: Sources of Stability and Instability". The first issue is why specifically on Pakistan given that many other developing states are in far greater straits. Amongst other things, the Brits are seeking to tell us how our state can engage with FATA-- as if that was not part of the Pakistani state! The bias in the conference, in terms of invited speakers, is what is striking with the usual critical foreign scholar suspects. Some of the topics themselves are value-laden such as the one on "the risks of nuclear terrorism". Of course, there are some Pakistani ministers/officials who apparently will be invited plus some Pakistani scholars, but the whole agenda in its formulation is a negative one portraying a picture of a problematic state and civil society. This is the image the US and its allies continue to seek to promote and they are simply not prepared to accept that the Pakistani nation is self-confident in its diversity and resilient as reflected in its assertiveness since March 2007. But such positives are best ignored by our US and British detractors.

The writer is director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad. Email: smnews80@hotmail.com

http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=98441

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Marwatone.