PRESIDENT'S PEACE INITIATIVE

THE INDIAN
REACTION


by Nayyar Hashmey

The recent video conference by the President was a well thought out approach—stitch in time and a piece of statesmanship. In a world marred by terrorism and a history wrapped in mistrust on both sides of the sub continent; it has been like cool breeze in a blistering desert.

While taking down this preamble, I do give in, when AAZ took oath as a civilian President, I had a good number of reservations about his having come into power, especially in view of his past record which apparently is smeared with certain scams involving our President as the key player in the wheeling dealing he reportedly had during two stints of power in the premiership of her late wife. As a matter of fact I still have a lot - yet the latest footage of his video conference shows the man does have a vision at least on country’s foreign policy.

      In the past, both counties have been in a state of perpetual aggrandizement. The havoc caused upon people and economy during successive wars was colossal, though India – to a large extent did come out of their effect on its economy, it wasn’t so with Pakistan. Interjections of military Raj, the war in Afghanistan and post 9/11 terrorism seriously hit the economy.

     There are stark differences between the two over Kashmir, on bilateral trade, on SAARC and on a south Asian approach over international issues, but that doesn’t mean they should continue fighting on these issues. A new millennium has already dawned. Lot of changes have taken place. The world has entered an era where many things, events and happenings (which in yesteryears were engulfed in thick smoke screens) have started getting transparent, because of revolution in information science and allied disciplines; last but not the least, the compulsions of economy are such that many warring nations now take a very different course to what otherwise their history would demand. Traditional foes in Europe; France and Germany who fought one war after another sometime in the Saarland, another time in Alsace and Lorraine, Italian versus Austrians, the British and the French rivalries, all have been done away with. And all this, to reap economic benefits through collaborations instead of fighting wars, because wars eat up resources, men and many a time the countries’ geographical borders too. Economy defines their road map now. Therefore, these countries are gradually turning towards a United States of Europe. A similar road map can equally benefit the south Asian nations as well. But to achieve this objective, both need to come out of their historical rigmarole, the biases, the prejudices. Once this is done, President Zardari’s initiative especially the core theme of his address (quoting her late wife Benazir Bhutto) on ‘little bit of India in every Pakistani and a little bit of Pakistan’ in every Indian should beckon the subcontinent to enter a new era of collaboration, an ambition that can guarantee this subcontinent a permanent peace and prosperity.

And now the Mumbai Bombings:

     No sooner had I finished this note than suddenly the news started flashing before me of the Mumbai Taj Hotel blasts and firing by some militants supposedly belonging to an Islamic religious outfit called Deccan Mujahideen. It’s so tragic that whenever Pakistan and India think of coming closer to each other, a hidden hand starts sabotaging the whole process.

     Whereas it’s yet to be seen who the culprits are, regrettably the Indian Govt. have started blaming Pakistan. Best would be a joint investigation by officials of Pakistan and India to find the culprits, and whoever they are, they must be brought to book because killing innocent civilians whether in Pakistan, India or anywhere else is a heinous act which no sane person even with a bit of morality would be able to condone – whatsoever reason, whosoever the perpetrator!


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Attacking Pakistan? Don’t Do It.

Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, Pakistan Army Chief

ATTACKING PAKISTAN?

DON’T DO IT.

by Aijaz Zaka Syed

Back home in the sub-continent, they say you should always stay away from the cops; their friendship as well as adversity is bad for your health. I am reminded of the advice as the world’s chief cop, the United States, bombs its allies and friends in Pakistan. With friends like these, do you really need enemies?

When former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promptly and so enthusiastically recruited Pakistan in America’s war after that call from Colin Powell, he had assured his people that this was the only option available to Pakistan. Else, the reasonable General reasoned later, the U.S. would have bombed Pakistan back to the Stone Age. Fortunately or unfortunately for Pakistan, Musharraf is not around. Otherwise we could have asked the good general why the Coalition of the Willing has turned on its own ally.

Or is Pakistan no longer part of Bush’s divine mission to promote Democracy and Freedom in the Muslim world now that Musharraf is not in power? Or have the new, democratic leaders of Pakistan happily relinquished the total control of the Islamic republic to Uncle Sam?

Last week as new President Asif Zardari joined ‘brother Hamid Karzai’ in a duet celebrating democracy and the glorious War on Terror after his inauguration, the U.S. special forces were going about taking out ‘the terrorists’ in the Northwest — terrorists who looked like women and children.

By hosting the mayor of Kabul — oops, the Afghan president — as the chief guest at his inauguration, Musharraf’s successor left no one in doubt where his priorities lay. But what was rather too much to take even for Zardari’s minders was his endless mollycoddling of ‘brother Karzai.’

Don’t take me wrong. I have nothing against the elegantly dressed Karzai and his ever-ready pearls of wisdom that he proffers from time to time for the benefit of his Western audiences. But he is not exactly the poster boy of democracy in the Muslim world, regardless of what his American friends might think of him. Most Pakistanis love to hate him. General Musharraf might have made a thousand policy blunders but the guy certainly knew how to deal with the likes of Karzai.

But how do Pakistan’s new leaders propose to deal with the increasingly demanding friends and allies like the Americans? Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani won the instant gratitude and admiration of his worried people and surprised the world by standing up to the Coalition of the Willing. The reticent General was lustily cheered by the Americans as ‘our man’ when he took over from Musharraf as the army chief. There was much talk of his ‘Enlightened Moderation’ and his positive outlook on the West.

 

Which was why the Pakistanis were elated to see the general lash out at the Americans promising ‘retaliation’ if they continued to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Whether the Pak Army will really take on America, the leading member of the fabled trinity — the other two being Allah and Army of course — is still a hypothetical question.

However, by asserting himself General Kayani articulated the sentiments and aspirations of the nation of 170 million people that has been at the receiving end for some time. More importantly, Kayani has offered the much-needed leadership and sense of direction to his people at one of the most difficult points in the nation’s history.

But where are those who are supposed to lead the nation at all times? Where are the champions of democracy and freedom when they are under threat by the friends who are not so friendly?

While the rejuvenated Pakistani media is constantly debating the growing U.S. attacks inside Pakistani territory protesting against the mounting civilian casualties, the silence of the country’s leaders on the issue is deafening.

Zardari clumsily evaded all questions about the U.S. incursions at his first press conference that appeared more like the unveiling of Hamid Karzai. It’s been more than a half month since he took over as the president. But he has offered no clue as to how the government proposed to deal with the issue. When the same question was raised in London after his meeting with British PM Gordon Brown, he quipped ‘there will be no more (attacks).’

It’s understandable if Benazir Bhutto’s widower finds himself inexorably indebted to Uncle Sam. After all, the U.S. did not play an insignificant role in the turnaround of his fortune. It was the U.S. pressure that persuaded Musharraf to bring in the National Reconciliation Ordinance paving the way for the return of Benazir and Zardari. It was the Bush administration again that pushed Musharraf to shed his uniform and hold elections.

So even though it was the pro-democracy movement pioneered by the lawyers and the media that eventually brought Musharraf down, the man who spent 11 years in the prison on his way to the presidency, views Washington as his real benefactor.

Which is why it’s doubtful when and if the neocons in their last desperate bid to make the most out of the Bush presidency hit Pakistan, they’ll face much resistance from the political leadership.

Having totally wrecked Iraq and Afghanistan over the past seven years, the neocons are looking for fresh targets, new enemies and new territory to sustain the interest of the bored American voters. After the disastrous eight years of the Bush presidency, you would think the Republican would be too embarrassed to ask the voters for another shot at power.

But if you can get Bush re-elected after what he unleashed on the Americans and the world in his first term, you can surely get another disaster elected all over again. Even if he is too old to run and doesn’t know how to check his e-mail. Even if he is threatening to persist with the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan and open new fronts in Pakistan and Iran.

Right now, the Republicans and neocons are dangerously desperate. They could do anything to keep Barack Hussein Obama out of the White House. And for them, attacking Pakistan is the surest and only way to laugh all the way to the vote bank. Besides, that’s where Bin Laden is supposed to be holed up, right?

But who will tell the Bushies that if they hit Pakistan, the proverbial stuff will really hit the fan. The world’s first Muslim nuclear state might have been much abused by the men in khaki and the civvies over the past half a century.

However, it’s not the defanged and neutered Iraq of Saddam Hussein. This is a country that has fought three major wars with the giant called India. The U.S. may be the world’s greatest military power. But if it attacks Pakistan, all hell will break loose. It will end up turning the whole of Muslim world, from Morocco to Malaysia, into a large battlefield. So much so Saddam’s Iraq would look like a long picnic.

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Aijaz Zaka Syed is a senior editor of the daily Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE.


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President Asif Ali Zardari, A 10% Scammer or a 100 % Pakistani?

 

 Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan

by Nayyar Hashmey

                       

          As I write these lines, words echo in my mind, words she uttered in her last  

speech.

So said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, “My dear brothers and my dear sisters, this is the time when our country is in turmoil. My country, your country” said B. Bhutto “is in serious travails and turpitudes; I have come to you to help me save this land. Help me my brothers, my sisters, to save our motherland”. Shortly after she had uttered these words, she was shot at by an unknown assailant. She could not even leave the public park she had chosen to address.

 After she was out of scene, situation moved at an electric speed. Erstwhile dictator, who had orchestrated all machinations, fair or foul and turned this country into a marionette, had to resign. In the aftermath, Mohtarma‘s hubby got catapulted to the seat of presidency.

But the irony continues to haunt this nation. The inheritor of Mohtarma’s   legacy, her vision and her struggle occupies the place where an erstwhile dictator, with the sheer use of force got himself seated for 8 years.

Now when I ponder over BB’s last words, the whole scene seems to me like an action replay. The words she uttered then were as true then as they are now. This country, this most beloved land of ours is still in turmoil, even though the man who was the life partner of that graceful lady, who ruled and still rules over the hearts of millions of have-nots in Pakistan, is sitting on the throne of Pakistan. Yet this country is back to square one. Things have gone from bad to worse. Terrorists whosoever, are bombing the nerve centre of the country. Just the day before yesterday at some minutes walk from the National Assembly; they bombed the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, 60 people, almost all civilians died in the blast.

In last 8 years the ex dictator was telling us, like a worn out recorded tape that he saved Pakistan from wrath of the US when the later threatened him to send Pakistan into stone age. [it later transpired that this threat did not come from the US President, as our the then President Gen.(R) Pervaiz Musharraf maintained but from an Assistant Secretary of State and the language too was not the same that the ex General told this nation].

Although many Pakistanis did not believe then and I myself had strong reservations on this so called Stone Age statement and the way it was played by ex dictator to dread his own people, yet we believed then and we believe it today that had there been a democratic polity, a truly democratic culture in Pakistan, the matter would never have been settled or decided the way, it was [when this country was unconditionally thrown to the mercy of the United States of America and mind it, it was not the US of Thomas Jefferson or of George Washington, it was the US of Neocons like George Walker Bush, Dick Cheney, Donny Rumsfield and Condy Rice who think they have a divine right, destined to annihilate the governments, the people, the armies in the name of democracy, free world and liberty, so on and so forth].

Whether it was the threats, the persuasions or fear of these Pentagon and White House guys, is immaterial. Fact remains that ex dictator succumbed to those threats and accepted whatever the neocons told him. What the then President did on their askance, he said, was to save Pakistan, a position which he later cleverly tried to camouflage under the slogan “Sab Se Pehle Pakistan (SSPP), but the price this country paid for this SSPP policy was the sale of innocent Pakistanis to unknown agents within and outside Pakistan and till today one does not know what was their sin, their doing and where they are now.

In Punjabi there is a story where under similar circumstances this country has been brought to by the ex dictator and the incumbent President, in which a man belonging to the rural singing clan in our villages (who are usually the butts of humour in our countryside) was asked by the village head to opt out of the two options only… Either eat 100 onions at a time, or get 100 shoe beatings (littars). The poor man using all his wits opts to take 100 onions. Thinks he, ‘100 shoe beatings are too hard to bear’, hence take onions. But after having eaten some dozens of onions, he cries “No Sir am going to accept 100 shoe beatings instead”. In this dilemma he eats 100 onions and gets 100 shoe beatings too. So dear readers, this is how the ex General made this country to have a punishment in either way. Eaten 100 onions and……

The ex General President allied this country to the US and Pakistan became a frontline state, however, with that status we, Pakistanis, the most allied ally of the US, are being bombed by US forces in Fata where poor, innocent civilians are dying after every chopper attack or through drone raids in our territory. So both ways, we are facing the punishment as it happened with the mirasi boy in a Punjabi village. Perhaps this is the first and the only instance in the history where a major power is attacking its own ally.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any change from the stance taken by the ex-General. We are still America’s ally and our poor innocent civilians are being bombed by the US and its coalition partners.

Gen de Gaulle, one time President of France once said, 70 million French can’t be wrong, so on an analogy 160 millions Pakistanis can’t be wrong either—to push Mr. Zardari to the coveted seat of the country’s presidency. It’s very much for Mr. Zardari to prove whether 160 million Pakistanis were indeed not wrong to elect him?

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