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| India-Pakistan |
| General Beg on "Islamic concept of Deterrence and Defiance" |
| 2006-10-08 |
| by GENERAL (RETD) MIRZA ASLAM BEG Last month while visiting China on the invitation of the Chinese Peop1es Association for Peace and Disarmament, it was our privilege to participate in a seminar in Beijing to discuss: "Chinese Concept of Peace. Cooperation and Engagement - A Practical Manifestation of Regional and Global Peace and Stability." It was a very rewarding experience indeed to engage in discussion with Chinese scholars and intellectuals, to identify the peace paradigm in the region as the basis for lasting relationship between China and Pakistan. I thought it proper, to first dwell on contemporary global concepts which are shaping global peace and security environments: The Chinese concept of Peace, Cooperation and Engagement, was expounded by the Chinese reformist leader Deng Xiaoping during the 1970s and the practical implementation of the concept began with the demilitarisation of borders with India and Russia during the I980s - a step which allowed China to demobilise over two million troops and to turn these borders into borders of peace. Subsequently China signed Shanghai-5 Accord, which developed into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 1996, with six members, and soon it may have Pakistan, India, Iran and Mongolia as the new members. In fact this concept is in total harmony with the contemporary trend of globalisation, which promotes cooperation as the common denominator of economic interests of nations, thus providing the peaceful environment to China to 'Rise Peacefully' towards peace and prosperity. In fact it is a win-win concept, to be emulated. The American concept of 'Global Primacy and Pre-eminence', expounded by Brzezinski during the 1970s and supported by scholars like Bernard Lewis and Henry Kissinger, which after the break-up of the Soviet Union became the gospel in the hands of the neocons to implement it, in order to maintain global primacy and pre-eminence by use of military and economic power. As a result the United States launched the first Gulf War in 1991, occupied Afghanistan in 2001 and invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003. European Union joined the US to achieve the objectives of the concept while India entered into a 'strategic partnership' with the US, with the declared objective to 'Contain and Curb the rising economic and military power of China' and to 'Contain and Curb the Islamic resurgence'. However they have failed to achieve these objectives because of the Islamic Resistance growing from the 'Islamic concept of Deterrence and Defiance,' and has contained and curbed the forces of aggression of the US and its allies. The Islamic concept of Deterrence and Defiance against foreign occupation, tyranny and injustice, developed into a full-fledged resistant force of the Islamic Jihadis, against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1980s and gradually gained a global reach, confronting and containing the forces of aggression in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya, Palestine and Kashmir. Islamic Resistance belongs to no one country. It is an idea which grows out of the faith and belief of the Muslims to resist against injustice and tyranny. In a short period of two decades, it has put a limit to the power of the most powerful; ie the Soviets in 1980s, and now the Americans in Iraq and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Recently it inflected a shameful defeat on Israel in Lebanon. In fact it is a phenomenon by itself, which has been wrongly dubbed as terrorism, and to wage war on it has become a fashion - a war which has been lost. Hence the need to understand this phenomenon and find ways to deal with it peacefully than to unleash a war against it and lose it. No point in chasing shadows. May be, the example which has been set by Pakistan, in Waziristan recently, could be followed, to find peace in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine and Chechnya. Similarly Brig Butler of the British Army is reported to have struck a deal with the Taliban in the Musa Qila district of Helmend province enabling him to extricate his troops. Truce still holds in Musa Qila and may become contagious. In fact Islamic resistance having contained and curbed the forces of aggression, has provided a 'protective shield to China and Russia to rise peacefully. However this protective shield may not last for long because of the likely withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore a new situation will emerge, with US and its Allies to advance a new doctrine such as the Atlantic Alliance, to promote their interests and follow an aggressive posture which will impact directly China, Russia and the Muslim world. It is also likely that the Atlantic Alliance may try to replay the Great Game of keeping mid-west China, Central Asia and Russia land-locked. However the ground realities suggest that Chinese neighbours such as Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have already done enough to break this lock. For example during the 1970s, Pakistan and China built Karakoram Highway, making the first breach across the Karakoram Mountains. During the 1990s Iran built the rail and road network to Turkmenistan region, thus opening up the way to the warm waters. Afghanistan, which though remains disturbed because of the on-going resistance movement, is always willing to open the rail and road communication from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. China itself is capable of taking the rail and road communication net work from Lhasa to Katmandu and Calcutta. These are the opportunities which are open to China and to Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, to develop a natural strategic partnership for peace and security in the region. China's strategic relationship with India is the logical outcome of the emerging realities in the region. And it should not be a matter of concern for Pakistan. Rather it should be considered as a development of significance, while the strategic partnership between China-Pak-Iran and Afghanistan materialises. Afghanistan is a war-ravaged country, which must be given special attention by its neighbours to reconstruct and re-build itself when the occupation forces leave. A weak, under-developed and unstable Afghanistan will jeopardise regional security. The three contemporary concepts, ie the US concept of Global Primacy and Pre-eminence, Chinese concept of Peace Cooperation and Engagement and the Islamic concept of Deterrence and Defiance, together, are determining the contours of the emerging global order, while the new contenders of power, are joining the world order, making it more democratic in character, and the possibilities of global and regional conflicts, considerably reduced. Certainly, the emerging world order would not be as brutal as the unipolar world order of today. The environment thus created, would be more suited for peace, cooperation and engagement, as is the policy of China. Pakistan also adopted this policy in dealing with India in particular to resolve the Kashmir issue, showing great deal of flexibility hoping that India would realise the need for peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem before the Jihadis get released after the withdrawal of occupation forces from Afghanistan and Iraq and add a new dimension to the Kashmir conflict. The cliché, we generally use to define the existing friendship between China and Pakistan, is "Our friendship is taller than the Himalayas and deeper than the deep seas" should now be replaced by a cool and calculated thinking- neither too high nor too deep - to address the fast emerging ground realities and the challenges of the concept of Peace, Cooperation and Engagement. |
| Posted by:john |
| #3 So, when do we whack this shithead? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-08 23:27 |
| #2 It was General Beg who authorized AQ Khan to supply nuke technology (including the missile deliverable CHICOM4 design) to North Korea in exchange for missile technology |
| Posted by: john 2006-10-08 14:53 |
| #1 GENERAL (RETD) MIRZA ASLAM BEG. Rx: Take 3 doses of whoop-ass 4 times a day until you stop hitting the rosy crack pipe. |
| Posted by: Dr Ferdie Pacheco 2006-10-08 14:47 |