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| India-Pakistan |
| Real threat to Pakistan |
| 2008-07-07 |
| By M B Naqvi For 60 long years, Pakistan has flourished on a hollow and often dishonest rhetoric of Islam. Pakistan has more or less reversed in practice all that the new government was talking about the way of tackling Islamic militancy: at election time they were emphasising that a purely military approach to fighting Taliban and extremists, such as the Americans insist upon, is unwise. The problem must be addressed by political means, though use of force has to be kept in reserve for sparing use. The Army chief was entrusted with the task of fighting Islamic extremism as best as he can the other day. That apparently has gladdened the hearts of the Americans who, according to Samuel Hersh of the New Yorker, have three top US secret agencies, along with the US Special Forces and Pakistani intelligence agencies targeting the Taliban leadership inside Waziristan. Richard Boucher arrived once again in Pakistan for three days on June 30. He will go round meeting all the bigwigs of the state and party leaders. This is apparently the start of what the Americans have wanted: a coordinated military effort by Americans, NATO and Pakistanis. In NWFP’s tribal areas the US National Security Agency, the CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency along with Special Forces and Pakistani intelligence are said to be already active. The second was the demonstrative military action in Khyber Agency, just outside Peshawar by paramilitary forces. There was talk of possibly losing even Peshawar because the warlord Haji Mangal Bagh of Khyber Agency had started extorting money and throwing his weight about in Peshawar. There are now two categories of Pakistani observers: Those who think that Talibanisation of Pakistan is underway and is irreversible and the others say the state has to be firm and act as the Americans advise to contain the Taliban. The fact is that much of Frontier’s tribal areas are already slipping out of Pakistani control. Prime Minister Gilani frequently asserts that the government will re-establish the writ of the state. Please mark this will. Names of each warlord-cum-Taliban commanders of an agency are known; it is also known that they are the real governments that are realising taxes through extortion, administering rough justice and providing what security there is. Look at the typical Taliban commander or warlord. All he has to do is to find a rich patron, probably a narcotics producer with money to help raise a Lashkar even of 70-80 armed people. He proclaims himself a Taliban commander and, hay presto, he rules. All he has to do is to be ruthless in imposing taxes, administering simple, inexpensive and quick justice to follow the example of Arabian Peninsula’s Middle Ages’ customs. This elicits admiration from simple, gullible Frontier Muslims – indeed the Sunni Muslims of all the subcontinent. This is now a cottage industry. Once a commander raises a Lashkar, he can extort more money and he becomes the locality’s ruler. What is not prohibited by Taliban Islam is murdering opponents or kidnapping them for ransom. Recently, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan was abducted from near Torkhum. He was recovered after several months on payment of a (huge) ransom. Money otherwise is floating around in the Frontier largely because of the flourishing heroin and cannabis trade. The beneficiaries are probably no more than 500 or so rich individuals. The spread of such Islam is paradoxical for a place where civilisation goes back 6,000 years. Pakistan areas were the first where vedic culture flourished, followed by Buddhist era and later by Islam. The real vulnerability of Pakistan lies in the proneness of gullible Muslims to admire everything associated with medieval mores of Arabian Peninsula, particularly of Mecca and Medina. What Prophet Muhammad and his companions said and did in accordance with their local traditions elicits now unlimited admiration. The notion is that everyone received just treatment then. Taliban too impart supposedly honest and ruthless justice quickly and inexpensively. These qualities are greatly admired by the subcontinent’s Muslims who yearn for establishing such an Islamic state, though scholars differ what can it possibly be. There are local reasons in Pakistan too. For 60 long years Pakistan state has flourished on a hollow and often dishonest rhetoric of Islam. Pakistanis have to pay the wages of 60 years of shallow and deceptive Islamic rhetoric and manipulations by Pakistan’s intelligence outfits: for over 21 years Pakistan has organised a Jihad in which hundreds of thousands of Pushtoon and Frontier people have participated: first in Afghanistan, then in Indian-controlled Kashmir and later again in Afghanistan’s civil war that erupted 1993 onwards. Taliban conquered Afghanistan for Islam — maybe for Pakistan also. Taliban established an Islamic state that all Deobandi Muslims regarded as authentic Islamic State that must be supported by all. Today in Pakistan’s tribal areas any number of warlords or Taliban commanders are establishing just such Islamic statelets. These are the wages of the 60-year long bogus rhetoric. Pakistan’s real vulnerability is its people’s admiration for ruthless medieval mores adopted by charlatans today seeking power and pelf. Their game has to be exposed as a first real step to contain them. Otherwise Talibanisation will continue and the more the armies of Pakistan and others kill the ordinary Pushtoons the more militants and radicals will be produced. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #4 IIRC, here on RB long ago > "DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY - well, we can't have that [in Amerika]"??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-07 23:40 |
| #3 Uh, uh, okay-y-y, so ARTICLE > HONESTY + ETHICS + MORALS, ETC. ARE THREATENING PAKISTAN??? HMMMM, compare wid 1990's CLINTONISM > TRUST THE CROOK(S) IFF YOU WANT HONEST GOVERNMENT + HONOR + ETHICS, etc IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-07 23:37 |
| #2 One either stands in awe of what is described here. Or does not. That's pretty much the story... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-07-07 12:49 |
| #1 This word "flourished". I do not think it means what you think it means. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-07-07 11:45 |