Underdog millionaires unite!

And all lived happily hereafter: The king, his army of princes and the citizens of Pakistan. Democracy won and the National Reconciliation Ordinance aka NRO lost.

Before you dismiss this as a fable, wait, maybe the fairy tale can come true. It depends on the NRO folks who hold the key to making democracy a reality. This is their moment. All the millionaire underdogs hunted and hounded by various Ehtesab Rottweiler’s unite. The truth shall set them free. Threatened by the dharna; stalked by the shadow of Iftikhar Chaudhry; compromised by the cacophony of daily accusations, the NRO beneficiaries must stand up and halt the assault on their good name before the black coats drag them to hell.

Put your hand on the Holy Book and swear you have not committed a political or financial crime against the state. By this one act alone, you would automatically have cancelled out the NRO. Fireworks will light up your sky; rose petals will shower your waking hours; prayers for your wellbeing will reverberate in the air. Zardari will become our president for life and Altaf Bhai’s tribe of MQM will double a hundredfold.

The charter of democracy will be scrubbed-clean once again, destroying the NRO spores that have wreaked havoc on the 170 million Pakistanis. America and Musharraf who sired the NRO must face trial for this crime against humanity; a crime against an impoverished, terrorized and tattered country currently lashed by the revenge of democracy; not its benevolence. Can democracy succeed when people facing criminal cases are made its minders; can democracy succeed when the citizens mock the rulers for their past misdeeds?

You must know the real reason behind the sit-in on March 16? If you say it’s about Iftikhar Chaudhry being restored as our chief justice; you’re wrong. It’s the national outrage against the NRO. Justice Chaudhry is the only man who can challenge it. And hence for the people of Pakistan it’s critical that he returns to the Supreme Court as our chief. Justice must be done and those accused of corruption forced to disgorge the money they swiped to swell their bank balances abroad. If the NRO didn’t exist, and if our government didn’t destroy the NAB records, today we’d have a list of notables who hold accounts in Swiss banks. “You would be shocked at the huge sums stashed away by individuals from Pakistan,” someone in the know told me recently. When pressed for details, the person refused to speak.

If the above is bunkum, as some PPP stalwarts will say, please correct the record. It’s vital. Not only will you render the NRO irrelevant, you’ll stop fearing Iftikhar Chaudhry who at the moment is your bogeyman. The first rule of democracy is to elect people who don’t have a tainted record or bring extra baggage when they come to parliament. Why is the world in awe of President Obama? Because he swears on transparency. When he discovered his nominees had cheated on taxes, he scheduled interviews with five television networks and repeated again and again “I screwed up. I take responsibility for these mistakes.” James Joyner, a political analyst says “Obama has quickly cut his losses and moved on. And he’s apparently learned something from his predecessor’s mistakes as well: When everyone knows you’ve screwed up, go ahead and fess up — and then change course.”

Guess what? On February 16 which is the President’s Day, Americans plan on their dharna at Wall Street to demand an end to corporate dominance.

At the sit-in they will chant, “We Want Change.”

‘Change’ for Pakistanis means the repeal of the NRO unless our leaders swear before Allah that they are innocent. A mass swearing-in ceremony before the nation will render the NRO irrelevant. To follow will be a second swearing-in ceremony for all the brave judges whom Zardari spurned and left out to die. The third will be a farewell for the Dogar court where the master of ceremonies will be Attorney General Latif Khosa.

The ball is in Asif Ali Zardari’s court who is a gifted politician but, a mere mortal. He can immortalize his name by three strokes of the pen: swear he’s innocent; cancel the NRO and restore the judges. If that’s not possible he should quit.

The pursuit of Wealth

In nearly all cultures and religions, and for most of history, greed, avarice and pursuit of wealth have been considered harmful and evil. Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu writes:

“Do not race after riches, or you will let slip the Heaven within you.” Similar sentiments can be found in nearly all scriptures. Children are reprimanded for selfishness, and taught to be generous and kind in nearly all cultures.

Modern Europe replaced the Biblical sentiment that “Love of money is the root of all evil,” by the wisdom of Bernard Shaw that “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” Many historians and philosophers have described the process by which wealth gradually came to be prioritized over other social considerations. In this essay, we will discuss some aspects of this historical change, and the incalculable damage it has done. Pursuit of wealth, luxury, and hedonistic lifestyles is being promoted by powerful media and this message is eagerly being absorbed by our youth, which bodes ill for the future. Creating an awareness of this broad historical perspective provides an essential basis for resistance to the onslaught of modernity, which threatens many of our precious traditions.

Interminable and bloody religious warfare in Europe led to the emergence of a secular system of thought which repudiates religion as a basis for social organization. In a secular society, it is necessary to find some alternative to religion as a basis for collective action. Starting from the assumption that society is composed of individuals with different religions and irreconcilable conflicts, European political thought emphasized the diversity of human goals and the primacy of freedom to choose. Wealth was seen as an essential component of freedom, as it allows individuals to do whatever they desire. Thus the pursuit of wealth became a social goal and a means of obtaining maximum freedom in a secular society. The attempt to turn a vice into a virtue was initiated by Mandeville, whose famous “Fable of the Bees” described how production stops when bees decide to give up greed and become honest and virtuous. Adam Smith similarly argued that it was the selfish motives of the baker that delivered bread on the tables. Arguments that pursuit of wealth was socially acceptable and produced public benefits led to a gradual but radical alteration in the fabric of European society.

Early thinkers saw clearly that wealth was merely a means to an end, but considered it a necessary intermediate step to advance towards desirable social goals. Sociologist Max Weber writes that the “spirit of capitalism” is the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself, to the point of being “absolutely irrational”. Keynes wrote that the “accumulation of wealth” is a distasteful human quality, and even a disgusting morbidity; nonetheless, we must pretend that “foul is fair” so as to get out of the tunnel of economic necessity. Leading European philosophers (Capitalist, Communist and Socialist) were persuaded that the solution to all problems of mankind lies in the accumulation of wealth, and sufficient wealth would bring about heaven on earth. Later thinkers lost sight of the larger goals, and began to think of pursuit of wealth as a desirable goal in and of itself. Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman and followers very explicitly argue that businesses should only pursue profits and should not pursue socially beneficial goals. This reversal of priorities and placement of money over social concerns has had tragic consequences in all domains of human existence. We will only be able to sketch of few of these in this brief essay.

Recent research on the classical question “Can money buy happiness?” has led to conclusions familiar to the ancients but startling to the moderns. It has been conclusively established that social relations play a decisive role in determining happiness. In contrast, after basic needs are provided for, money is of very little importance in creating a sense of well being and satisfaction with life. Many books like “Loss of Happiness in Market Economies” document the fact that tremendous increases in wealth have not led to corresponding increases in happiness in the west. Studies of terminal patients in hospices show that nearly all regret paying too much attention to careers and wealth, and wish they had given more time to family, friends and social relations. The idea that sufficient wealth would lead to improvements in all dimensions of human existence, and a Heaven on Earth has turned out to be wrong.

The idea that poverty leads to crime is being replaced by the understanding that the crime of neglecting the poor and the oppressed, and legitimizing pursuit of wealth without regard to social concerns is what leads to widespread poverty. According to recent surveys, 38 million households experienced hunger and food insecurity in the USA in 2006. This was not due to lack of wealth in the USA. Several trillion dollars have been spent on bombing Iraq back to the stone ages, when just one trillion dollars would provide health care for the 47 million Americans and make college feasible for every American student. Just the interest on a trillion dollars would, according to the World Bank, eliminate starvation and malnutrition or provide primary education for every child on earth.

The sentiments of Shylock, who was ready to take a pound of flesh in search of profits, were once abhorrent to all. Now however, the spirit prevailing on Wall Street is that all is fair in pursuit of profits. Books like “Liar’s Poker: rising through the wreckage of Wall Street,” describe how deceiving friends and faithful clients for profits is not only commonplace but praised behaviour. The current global financial crisis has been correctly attributed to greed by many who have studied the causes carefully. The spirit of the Islamic law, that one must describe any known defects in merchandise to be sold, has been forgotten by Muslims and is unknown to those who promulgate the reverse ideology in the form of “let the buyer beware.”

The worship of wealth has also transformed education into a means of acquisition of wealth, instead of the reverse. We have lost sight of the idea that education is a means of enlightenment, intellectual and spiritual transformation, and a path to wisdom. The sentiment of earning a profit from the misery and illness of mankind would have been considered despicable by our ancestors, but is now widespread among medical students. Instead of asking what kind of knowledge will of most value to society, students ask about which degree will bring the highest salary. Both human beings and knowledge are degraded when they are viewed merely as tools to make money (as in the economic concept of ‘human capital’).

At this time, we have the cultural resources to be able to battle these modern ideas which threaten to destroy valuable social institutions. It is essential to protect the family from the destruction caused by loose sexual mores. It is essential to teach our children to take more pleasure from serving and helping others than from the pursuit of luxury. The message of fidelity, virtue, nobility, heroism, and self-sacrifice is present in our tradition and literature, but is under severe attack from the western media which glamorize and promote hedonistic lifestyle. We need to take an active part in this battle for the hearts and minds of our youth. I hope that this essay will serve as a part of the effort that is needed.

The pursuit of wealth

In nearly all cultures and religions, and for most of history, greed, avarice and pursuit of wealth have been considered harmful and evil. Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu writes:

“Do not race after riches, or you will let slip the Heaven within you.” Similar sentiments can be found in nearly all scriptures. Children are reprimanded for selfishness, and taught to be generous and kind in nearly all cultures.

Modern Europe replaced the Biblical sentiment that “Love of money is the root of all evil,” by the wisdom of Bernard Shaw that “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” Many historians and philosophers have described the process by which wealth gradually came to be prioritized over other social considerations. In this essay, we will discuss some aspects of this historical change, and the incalculable damage it has done. Pursuit of wealth, luxury, and hedonistic lifestyles is being promoted by powerful media and this message is eagerly being absorbed by our youth, which bodes ill for the future. Creating an awareness of this broad historical perspective provides an essential basis for resistance to the onslaught of modernity, which threatens many of our precious traditions.

Interminable and bloody religious warfare in Europe led to the emergence of a secular system of thought which repudiates religion as a basis for social organization. In a secular society, it is necessary to find some alternative to religion as a basis for collective action. Starting from the assumption that society is composed of individuals with different religions and irreconcilable conflicts, European political thought emphasized the diversity of human goals and the primacy of freedom to choose. Wealth was seen as an essential component of freedom, as it allows individuals to do whatever they desire. Thus the pursuit of wealth became a social goal and a means of obtaining maximum freedom in a secular society. The attempt to turn a vice into a virtue was initiated by Mandeville, whose famous “Fable of the Bees” described how production stops when bees decide to give up greed and become honest and virtuous. Adam Smith similarly argued that it was the selfish motives of the baker that delivered bread on the tables. Arguments that pursuit of wealth was socially acceptable and produced public benefits led to a gradual but radical alteration in the fabric of European society.

Early thinkers saw clearly that wealth was merely a means to an end, but considered it a necessary intermediate step to advance towards desirable social goals. Sociologist Max Weber writes that the “spirit of capitalism” is the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself, to the point of being “absolutely irrational”. Keynes wrote that the “accumulation of wealth” is a distasteful human quality, and even a disgusting morbidity; nonetheless, we must pretend that “foul is fair” so as to get out of the tunnel of economic necessity. Leading European philosophers (Capitalist, Communist and Socialist) were persuaded that the solution to all problems of mankind lies in the accumulation of wealth, and sufficient wealth would bring about heaven on earth. Later thinkers lost sight of the larger goals, and began to think of pursuit of wealth as a desirable goal in and of itself. Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman and followers very explicitly argue that businesses should only pursue profits and should not pursue socially beneficial goals. This reversal of priorities and placement of money over social concerns has had tragic consequences in all domains of human existence. We will only be able to sketch of few of these in this brief essay.

Recent research on the classical question “Can money buy happiness?” has led to conclusions familiar to the ancients but startling to the moderns. It has been conclusively established that social relations play a decisive role in determining happiness. In contrast, after basic needs are provided for, money is of very little importance in creating a sense of well being and satisfaction with life. Many books like “Loss of Happiness in Market Economies” document the fact that tremendous increases in wealth have not led to corresponding increases in happiness in the west. Studies of terminal patients in hospices show that nearly all regret paying too much attention to careers and wealth, and wish they had given more time to family, friends and social relations. The idea that sufficient wealth would lead to improvements in all dimensions of human existence, and a Heaven on Earth has turned out to be wrong.

The idea that poverty leads to crime is being replaced by the understanding that the crime of neglecting the poor and the oppressed, and legitimizing pursuit of wealth without regard to social concerns is what leads to widespread poverty. According to recent surveys, 38 million households experienced hunger and food insecurity in the USA in 2006. This was not due to lack of wealth in the USA. Several trillion dollars have been spent on bombing Iraq back to the stone ages, when just one trillion dollars would provide health care for the 47 million Americans and make college feasible for every American student. Just the interest on a trillion dollars would, according to the World Bank, eliminate starvation and malnutrition or provide primary education for every child on earth.

The sentiments of Shylock, who was ready to take a pound of flesh in search of profits, were once abhorrent to all. Now however, the spirit prevailing on Wall Street is that all is fair in pursuit of profits. Books like “Liar’s Poker: rising through the wreckage of Wall Street,” describe how deceiving friends and faithful clients for profits is not only commonplace but praised behaviour. The current global financial crisis has been correctly attributed to greed by many who have studied the causes carefully. The spirit of the Islamic law, that one must describe any known defects in merchandise to be sold, has been forgotten by Muslims and is unknown to those who promulgate the reverse ideology in the form of “let the buyer beware.”

The worship of wealth has also transformed education into a means of acquisition of wealth, instead of the reverse. We have lost sight of the idea that education is a means of enlightenment, intellectual and spiritual transformation, and a path to wisdom. The sentiment of earning a profit from the misery and illness of mankind would have been considered despicable by our ancestors, but is now widespread among medical students. Instead of asking what kind of knowledge will of most value to society, students ask about which degree will bring the highest salary. Both human beings and knowledge are degraded when they are viewed merely as tools to make money (as in the economic concept of ‘human capital’).

At this time, we have the cultural resources to be able to battle these modern ideas which threaten to destroy valuable social institutions. It is essential to protect the family from the destruction caused by loose sexual mores. It is essential to teach our children to take more pleasure from serving and helping others than from the pursuit of luxury. The message of fidelity, virtue, nobility, heroism, and self-sacrifice is present in our tradition and literature, but is under severe attack from the western media which glamorize and promote hedonistic lifestyle. We need to take an active part in this battle for the hearts and minds of our youth. I hope that this essay will serve as a part of the effort that is needed.

Still without a trace

Almost a year after the PPP government took charge in Islamabad, hundreds of people who have been missing in the country for years have still to be located.

Asif Ali Zardari, in the days before he moved into the Presidency, and into the world of delusional bliss that the gilt-decorated chaises longues, sofas and chandeliers of that building seem to induce, had promised these people would be released. The consequences of the failure to keep that pledge are now being felt. A previously unknown group, the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) has claimed responsibility for the audacious kidnapping in Quetta of the UNHCR chief in Pakistan, John Solecki. The style of the abduction, during which the UN official’s driver was tragically killed, and the fact that Solecki, moving without an escort at the time, was a US national, led to suspicion turning the way of militants. Several previous instances in Quetta had suggested the Taliban were moving rapidly into the city, expanding their hold well beyond tribal areas. On this basis, the Chaman border was sealed in anticipation of an attempt to whisk the victim away into Afghanistan. It now seems he was taken in quite the opposite direction, into the heartland of Balochistan and the stronghold of nationalists. The BLUF has said it waited to speak until such a place of safety had been reached.

The BLUF has said Solecki is safe – for now – and that his abduction is intended to highlight the plight of the Baloch people and demand the release of 600 persons from the province that the BLUF says are still missing. We have no way of determining the authenticity of all this. In the past, Baloch groups have been created in agency offices and used to fulfil various purposes. Attempts to whip up ethnic hatred have been made. In some quarters, Zardari’s initial pledge of a new deal with Balochistan had sparked unease. It is known that warnings were issued about doing business with “traitors”; attempts may also have been made to paint Baloch nationalists as militants allied with the Taliban. Nothing could be further from the truth. As their websites indicate, and as their leaders openly state, most Baloch nationalist groups have no sympathy with religious extremists. Many adhere to a liberal, secular creed that runs diametrically opposite to the rigid orthodoxy of the Taliban.

But this does not prevent them from following the lead set by the extremists in some spheres. Indeed, the dangerous examples set by the Taliban are being used by others, for their own purposes. We already have one horrifying incident in which a killer in Bhakkar “hired” the services of a suicide bomber to murder a business partner with whom he had fallen out. Twenty others died alongside the intended victim, many others were injured, some scarred for life. The thought that others could resort to the same methods to settle petty scores is terrifying. The BLUF, if it is indeed a real entity, has also taken its lead from the extremists, emulating their mode of operation and their strategy. The net result, of course, is an expansion in violence in our society and an increase in the dangers that exist everywhere within it.

Though the BLUF’s statement has received, like the Baloch cause itself, only limited publicity in the mainstream media, it has been flashed across newspapers in Balochistan province. The comments highlight the grievances of the people and their deep sense of injustice. It is this sense of discrimination that needs to be tackled as a means to cut down on the many layers of violence we see everywhere. The fact that hundreds from Balochistan remain missing is obviously a matter that needs to be taken up. The recent account by Munir Mengal, the journalist taken away from Karachi airport in early 2006 and held for over 16 months, of a cell where a Baloch woman was repeatedly raped and subjected to the most inhumane treatment, has only deepened anger in the province. Other accounts provided by Baloch people who have been held in custody also speak of the same contempt and of terrible torture inflicted on them. The refusal to permit a Baloch language television channel to be established and the attempts made to blank out the vibrant websites run by Baloch groups is yet another example of why there is so deep a feeling of lack of fair play in the province. The issue of Balochistan’s natural resources and a say in their use underpins much of this.

The prime minister, the cabinet and the president need to explain why the process of change they had promised in Balochistan has not moved forward. The progress that has been made is too limited to satisfy nationalists and the growing numbers who sympathise with them. Which are the forces that hamper efforts to bring change–or is the main issue simply the indifference and incompetence that we see everywhere in government? Not only in Balochistan, but in Islamabad itself, the issue of missing people continues to crop up. Ahead of Eid and the New Year, families had once more protested to demand the release of husbands, sons, brothers or fathers who have in some cases been missing for almost a decade. The horrifying story of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who was among those who “disappeared” from within Pakistan, is a reminder of what can happen to these people. We still know almost nothing about how she landed up at Bagram or why she was present, before then, in Afghanistan. Since the dismissal in November 2007 of the Supreme Court headed by deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, we have heard nothing of the missing people. The petitions seeking their release seem to have been buried and forgotten.

It is understood that as it first walked into the offices of government, the PPP had sensibly identified key areas on which it intended to move swiftly. The release of missing persons and action to draw Baloch nationalists into the mainstream had been a part of this. There has been only the most limited success in all this. As it approaches the end of its first year in office, the reasons for these failures need to be reviewed by the government. There have been several events that suggest just how volatile the situation remains in Balochistan. The banishing of women from some Quetta cafes following Taliban demands, the murder of a Hazara leader and the kidnapping of John Solecki are among these. They all point to the urgent need to tackle the issues of Balochistan before they become even more complicated and even harder to find adequate solutions to.

Countering terrorism at ground zero

While Pakistan has rendered enormous sacrifices and suffered extensive collateral damage, its “war against terrorism” has been subject to major shortcomings. Most damaging is the perception that we are not fully committed and are dragging our feet about eliminating Al Qaeda safe havens. Deficiencies in the political and military fields have only been surpassed by gross dereliction in failing to pursue practical economic initiatives. Poverty and injustice, particularly manifest in the border areas of Pakistan adjoining Afghanistan, has led to enduring frustration, meticulously exploited by religious extremists to foment violence in furtherance of their own vicious agenda.

By undermining the tribal system we weakened the fabric that gave tribals the strength to deal with the militants. Before venturing into FATA militarily Pakistan should have war-gamed the consequences and trained our troops in counter-insurgency. Since Musharraf had never seen combat in either 1965 or 1971, nor during his entire career, he favoured armchair generals over merit to sustain his rule, only a handful slipped through. Frontier warfare, or guerrilla warfare as taught in the Command and Staff College is outdated. This belated recognition has been at grievous human cost to the Pakistani Army. Air mobility and electronic capability that the Coalition in Afghanistan possesses is a critical necessity for us. We have this only partially. In this type of terrain it is virtually impossible to counter an insurgency without fully exploiting the heliborne potential. We must separate counter-insurgency from countering terrorism, even though there are strong linkages. We must also separate militancy from terrorism. What we need is a fully equipped force mandated to fight terrorism within the country. This Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF) must have its own personnel, equipment, mobility and intelligence potential thereof. CTF personnel must be drawn from the Armed Forces, LEAs, the customs, paramilitary forces, etc. The US could help us train and equip the proposed CTF. Our intelligence agencies should have coordinated their initiatives to ensure they are not at cross-purposes in intention or commitment about pursuing national objectives. Professionals should not be detracted by from their primary mission for personal and/or political objectives. As much as we cannot accept one-sided and motivated information from India as evidence, we cannot allow our territory to be used as a platform for adventurism of the terrorist kind.

Only a major economic effort can ensure livelihood for the population of the border region. Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) are at least a start. With 100 able-bodied men with families to feed having five-six jobs on offer, why is it surprising that they are mostly guns for hire, doing service with tribal militias, with militants, with drug smugglers, etc! FATA must become a free trade area (FTA) from which Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries can source their requirements. Wars are only possible through funding. “Tax” revenues from poppy cultivation and heroin as well as smuggling of tobacco and cigarettes have exceeded charities re-routing part of their funding for financing terrorism. Only by replacing these as a source of income will we give FATA tribals not only permanent livelihood, but also good reason to protect their means of livelihood.

In an article in The New York Times in July 2008, Thomas A Schweich, who resigned out of sheer frustration as acting assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and coordinator for Counter Narcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan wrote: “Fighting is unlikely to end as long as the Taliban can finance themselves through drugs – and as long as the Karzai government is dependant upon opium to sustain its our hold on power.” Ambassador Schweich had recommended that the US increase DEA presence in Afghanistan to assist in prosecuting drug traffickers and key government officials. Why not Predator strikes against such heroin–making factories? In a recent conversation with Interpol’s Ronald Noble at the WEF Annual Meeting at Davos he reiterated that money-laundering hubs in the Gulf needed positive interdiction and elimination.

Governance must relate to the aspirations of the people. One perceived evil cannot be replaced by another, and/or be sustained indefinitely. This stands good for Pakistan as well as Afghanistan. How can the honesty and integrity that the Obama administration stands for tolerate corrupt elements to become arbiters of a country’s destiny under the garb of democracy? Public perception will never tolerate dual standards. The US is at a crossroads with respect to its image in the world. It must practice abroad what it preaches at home. With corruption rife in the upper echelons of the Afghan hierarchy, their version of democracy is counter-productive to the war effort against the perceived “purist” Taliban.

No unity of command in Afghanistan meant lack of coherence of all political and military operations in the theatre. NATO military forces are reluctant to respond to the ISAF Commander, there being ambiguity about responsibilities between the UN (and its many agencies), the Afghan government, NATO’s military presence, over two dozen allied nations in the Coalition and hundreds of NGOs and private contractors. This Wild West atmosphere made it easy for Karzai to pass the buck to the Pakistani Army (and the ISI) to cover his own failures. With the Obama administration’s opposition to corruption and chicanery, Karzai’s shelf life has expired. One can understand his newfound nationalist anti-American fervour. An expanded Afghan Army must support police presence in all the nation’s provinces to enforce the rule of law in a fair manner. With positive experience in Iraq, one does not doubt Petraeus will set the US military house in Afghanistan in order.

A multi-pronged, multi-dimensional strategy must include dialogue as well as continuing military operations and economic initiatives. The US could help us contain and eliminate terrorism within our borders by giving us the tools and training to do the job, foremost being troop-carrying helicopters, night–vision devices and electronic means to detect movement, whether human or vehicular. A brief interaction with the Holbrooke team in Islamabad conveyed not only their quality but their intention and commitment thereof. The finest was on display, the initial vibes were very positive.

Drone strikes against terrorists on Pakistani soil must be selective and coordinated with “actionable intelligence.” Putting Pakistan under pressure unnecessarily, the US risks alienating the will of a people already confused and apprehensive about our future. Above all, the Holbrooke team must consider the destabilisation in the region that will occur as a result if the Army is put at odds with its own people.

This is a war that has to be won. It can be won if the US realises that it will take time as well as compromise. While the primary military effort must be made within Afghanistan, putting its civilian governance in order and addressing the military inadequacies, one was reassured by the Holbrooke’s recognition that there is need for across-the-board economic bolstering of Pakistan, particularly in the tribal areas. For Pakistan there is no choice. We must be willing participants against the nemesis of terrorism that clouds our future, not only as a civilized society but as an independent and responsible state in the comity of nations.

For Ambassador Holbrooke

Dear ambassador: I am writing to you on behalf of the aggrieved people of Pakistan who have suffered tremendously in the last eight years. They have deep wounds and scars upon their hearts, incurred by their country’s participation in America’s war on terror which has caused many grave human rights violations within Pakistan.

Since 9/11, violation of domestic and international law has been legitimized under the aegis of the US-led war on terror. As a consequence of this, even within Pakistan many people have been picked up and detained in secret detention camps and torture cells run by the intelligence agencies. These illegal detention facilities were monitored, controlled and financed by elements that are part of the US government. It is my humble appeal to you to take interest in this matter so that the fate of our loved ones who are rotting in these cells for years without end may change for the better.

Sir, Muslims also believe in the teachings of Prophet Moses just like you. Moses (PBUH) was a messenger of God for all of humanity. The phrase “Thou shall not kill” is well-known throughout the world as one of the Ten Commandments, which all Jewish people are required to believe in. Originating in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, this phrase was originally given to Moses and the Israelite people by God as one of the great commandments and is found in the holy scriptures of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Seen as an admonition against murder, the sixth commandment is the foundation for the prohibition against suicide, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, war, and any other situation where one person might be inclined to take the life of another. Our religion, Islam is a peaceful non-violent religion, which builds on the teachings of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Noah, David, Solomon and others. The Holy Quran specifically states: “Whoever killed a human being should be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind. (5:32)”

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) avoided war at all costs and even helped create a 10-year peace treaty between the Muslims and non-Muslims, which was drafted and signed at Al Hudaibiya. While the treaty was being drafted, the people of Makkah indulged in a number of provocative acts. For instance, they set down a condition that if they could lay their hands on any Muslim they would make him a hostage, but if the Muslims succeeded in detaining any non-Muslim, they would have to set him free. The Prophet (PBUH) agreed to even this point. For the restoration of peace in the region, the Prophet accepted a number of such unjustifiable clauses as were added by the other side. In this way he set the example of peace and tolerance being linked with one another. If we desire peace, we must tolerate many unpleasant things from others. There is no other way to establish peace in society.

Ambassador Holbrooke, you are a seasoned diplomat and America’s special envoy for our region. Therefore it is necessary to convey to you the aspiration and expectations of the people of Pakistan. We love our country as much as Americans love their country. Respect for human rights and rule of law is as important for us as for Americans. We appreciate the three commendable orders that the new President Barack Obama has passed soon after taking oath of office. We urge you and your government to take the lead in also closing down these CIA/ISI detention camps within Pakistan. This will be extremely helpful in building a positive image of US in Pakistan as well as in gaining the trust and confidence of the citizens of both America and Pakistan.

The families, like myself, of the thousands of those who had disappeared will be intently looking towards the new US administration and towards your actions in this regard. I hope and pray that my husband will also be released from his incarceration of nearly four years – detention during which he has not been charged for any crime and his family has not been allowed any contact with him.

I will keep praying for the establishment of true brotherly relations between America and Pakistan. May God bless you and guide you.

Life in Orakzai

Orakzai is the only agency in FATA that has no border with Afghanistan. It touches Khyber agency in the north, Darra Adam Khel in the east, Hangu and Kohat in the south and Kurrum in the west. Orakzai is occupied by the Taliban from Waziristan, Darra Adam Khel and Khyber agencies. Some local tribesmen have also joined the Taliban from the other agencies. Many of the locals who joined the Taliban used to be petty thieves and drug pushers, I was informed by the Orakzai tribesmen. The Taliban have imposed an alien ideology and way of life on the people. ‘We are living in hell and the rest of Pakistan does not even know or doesn’t care’, said one of them.

The activities of the Taliban in Orakzai have two interesting aspects. One, tribal affiliations under the code of Pakhtunwali have by and large countered sectarian differences that the fiercely anti-Shia Taliban want to exploit. In an area called Dobari for example, there are about 100 Shia families surrounded by the Sunni majority. Under Pakhtunwali, the majority community had taken upon itself to protect the 100 families, whom the Taliban wanted to banish from the area. The Sunni tribesmen, however, rejected the Taliban’s banishment and decided instead to remove the Taliban from the area by raising a tribal lashkar. The Ali Khel is the largest tribe in Orakzai and the leaders of the tribe then held a grand jirga to work out the details of a strategy to take on the Taliban. The grand jirga was scheduled for Oct 10 of last year and as it was being held it was attacked by a suicide bomber. Forty tribesmen were killed on the spot and the death toll climbed to over 100 over the next few days since many of those who had initially been injured later died in hospital.

In effect, the tribe’s main leadership was decimated and this paved the way for the Taliban to take control of the agency. However, despite this the Taliban were not able to succeed in dividing the Ali Khels along Shia-Sunni lines. Instead, in the intense rivalry between the Ali Khels and the Taliban, a Taliban commander who belonged to the Ali Khel tribe defected and joined his tribe. This angered the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan which put head money on the man.

The people of Orakzai say that the government and the military should have done more to help the tribe, especially when it had decided to take on the Taliban by raising its own lashkar. They say that had that help been forthcoming the situation perhaps would be different to what it is today – where the government’s writ is confined only to the agency’s headquarters and the Taliban control most of the rest of Orakzai. Every day, people are kidnapped, killed, beheaded or publicly insulted by the Taliban, who like in other parts of FATA, have also set up their own so-called ’sharia’ courts. In recent weeks, a mentally ill man was even beheaded by the Taliban – he was a Shia and had mistakenly entered an area which the Taliban had banned for all Shia tribesmen.

So what is the way forward? Well, for starters, the Taliban are not a unified group. It is an umbrella of sectarian terrorists, global jihadis and even criminals, and their differences can be exploited by the intelligence agencies. And there are many proofs of such differences. In the Ferozkhel area recently, two groups of the Taliban fought each other and there were several casualties. The dispute was over whether or not to return a Shia boy who had been kidnapped by them to his family in exchange for one of their (the Taliban’s) colleagues.

The people feel that they have been left to fend for themselves. And they have taken matters into their own hands. Some weeks ago, three such volunteers intercepted a suicide bomber but could not stop him from triggering his explosives and as a result all three died. Also, of late, a Taliban court in the agency summoned 60 businessmen from the majority community – their alleged crime being that they were involved in business with tribesmen from the minority sect!

Fixing Afghanistan

In an interview before leaving for the region, America’s special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, conceded that US goals in Afghanistan may have to be reviewed. Holbrooke’s challenge is to take all the regional countries, including Russia, along in the effort to initiate a viable process of peace and security in Afghanistan. But with these new challenges there are old ways that are likely to hinder Holbrooke’s progress. A strong illustration of the Obama administration pursuing old and failed ways is the financing of militias by the US government. The objective is to create armed militias to fight the Taliban.

On Jan 31 the Afghan interior minister announced the formal launch of this militia plan called the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF). He announced that the United States is the financier of the APPF, which would include training and purchase of Kalashnikov automatic rifles for the militias. According to Col Greg Julian, the US military’s spokesman in Afghanistan, said the United States will mentor, train and give backup to the new village forces, but Afghanistan’s interior ministry is in charge of the programme.

In an analytical story on Feb 4, Associated Press International Correspondent Kathy Gannon detailed the inherent problems with the militia plan. Few journalists, non-Western and western, understand the dynamics of Afghan insurgency and politics like Gannon the author of I for Infidel does. In the story, titled “Village militias,” Gannon writes that the APPF is intended “to guard highways, schools, clinics and other government institutions.”

Gannon’s story draws on the local wisdom of Afghan officials, members of existing local Councils, former Taliban men including Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef and anti-Taliban individuals. The instructive insights of those interviewed by Gannon deserve to be reproduced.

On who would join the militias Gannon writes: “One sceptical Afghan official said only criminals would join because most citizens wouldn’t want to face the Taliban in combat.” Gannon emphasises the pursuit of contradictory objectives, demilitarisation on the one hand to end violence and active weaponisation through the establishment of this militia force. She writes “critics question the wisdom of handing out weapons to Afghans when the government and UN have been trying to reduce the number of arms in the country. They fear the plan could stoke rivalries between ethnic groups with a bloody past.” She quotes Mohammed Hussain Fahimi, the deputy of the provincial council in Wardak, where officials say the units will be first deployed, who says: “One of the causes of violence in Afghanistan is because most people do not give up their weapons. Now you want to again give weapons to the villages…We never learn our lessons.”

Another problem created by the militia which Gannon points out is deeper political and social polarisation among Afghans. The injection of more weapons in essentially an uncontrolled environment within the non-state sphere promises greater chaos and violence. Articulating the local wisdom Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan before the Sept 11, 2001, attacks told Gannon, “When you give everyone weapons, everyone will think they are king. It’s not just a mistake, it is stupid.”

Another existing problem that will be exacerbated by the militia is that of the ethnic divide. The government will arm the militias in areas where the Taliban influence is at its maximum. Those are the Pashtun areas. Hence the Pashtun tribes in Taliban-dominated eastern and southern Afghanistan will be mostly armed. Gannon writes that “Non-Pashtuns balk at arming ethnic Pashtuns while disarming the rest of the country.” According to Gannon, “Saleh Mohammed Registani, an ethnic Tajik member of parliament, warned that a newly armed Pashtun militia would create deeper fissures between Afghanistan’s Pashtun and non-Pashtun people, who are struggling to heal from decades of retaliatory attacks and discrimination.”

But these militias, as Registani tells Gannon, are also likely to strengthen the Taliban. According to Registani, “As a non-Pashtun, if I know someone has weapons, I won’t go there. These militias will eventually come together with the Taliban because they are all Pashtuns and they will not fight against each other.”

Beyond local wisdom, even those with a broader understanding of violence, insurgency and counterinsurgency, are skeptical of this latest US plan to arm militias. Gannon recalls at length the comments of Joanna Nathan, an Afghanistan analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, on what Nathan called a “quick fix” to an acute security crisis in Afghanistan.

Recalling Nathan’s critique, Gannon writes: “The United Nations has been struggling since the collapse of the Taliban to disarm Afghanistan’s myriad militias, many of the gunmen loyal to warlords. The UN has spent millions of dollars on its Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration programme, which was launched within months of the Taliban’s ouster–although some say it really got going two years late. A similar project in 2006 armed thousands of “auxiliary police.” It was soon disbanded, Nathan said, with a third joining the police and the rest disappearing–along with their weapons. “It’s a constant cycle of quick fixes,” Nathan said. According to her, money and training should be invested in Afghanistan’s police as the “absolute priority at the district level.”

Nathan strongly recommended the strengthening of the State’s own law enforcement mechanisms, including “really cleaning up the interior ministry.” In warning against “quick solutions” and advising that “we are going to have to grit our teeth and focus on the long term,” Nathan provided the punch-line to the message that Gannon’s cogently crafted piece conveys to all those interested in putting together a viable process for ending violence and militarisation in Afghanistan.

Most importantly, if the history of similar militia-making attempts has to be a guide the conclusion is failure to achieve one’s objectives. According to Gannon, “in the 1980s, the communist government of President Najibullah, besieged by US-backed mujahideen fighters, put the job of securing villages in the hands of village militias. That backfired because villagers, frustrated by the heavy-handedness of the militias, turned to the mujahideen for security.” That plan, writes Gannon, “included collecting weapons and integrating warlords’ private militias into army and police units. But while thousands of pieces of weaponry have been handed in, much of it is said to be antiquated. Many warlords, meanwhile, have retained their militias.”

As Holbrooke treads the soil of our region and acknowledges that his country has never faced a more complex problem than working for peace and security in Afghanistan, he must be humbled by the blunders Washington has committed. And perhaps continues to commit. Holbrooke ’s task is to make his team in Washington to abandon the failed ways of working policy in Afghanistan.

Uncle Sam’s threats and packs of jokers

You have to hand it to our rulers: In times of grave crises, they can only offer black comic relief with a heavy cost to the nation. From the bizarre declarations of “technical fault” to the Indian air intrusions into Pakistan and the overall clumsy handling of the Mumbai terrorist saga; to the droning chorus of how all will be well once Obama comes to power (thereby once again shifting the onus of fixing things to others) since he would stop the drone attacks and give millions in aid to Pakistan; to numerous other lofty declarations that are just so much hot air; to the farce of Dr A Q Khan’s release, our present rulers have reduced themselves to a bad joke. And through all these bizarre behavioural trends, the leaders stay locked up in their ivory castles, with the forays outside the capital merely reflecting moves from one secured palace to another. No visits to the troubled areas in the offing here. For all their absurdities the US and British leaders at least visited their people in lands they occupy – Iraq and Afghanistan and perhaps soon Pakistan! But a year has gone by since the last elections and the “elected” rulers have yet to reach out to their citizens in FATA and Swat – even though they have travelled across the globe in this time.

It is no wonder then that the US has managed to find a most loyal team of subservient Pakistani leaders through the NRO. Look at the track record. Drone attacks on the increase, especially since Obama took over; the joke of the Biden financial bill which has now died a natural death although vacuous promises have come forth again; the pressure for Pakistan to act against its own people without waiting for any substantive proof coming forth from India on the Mumbai blasts; the sending of Holbrooke as a special envoy to the area without Kashmir on his brief and with a record that reflects a hard stance towards Muslims (yes, we all know about the Dayton Accord but how many of us recall that the accord came after NATO took over from the UN in Bosnia and after the Bosnians were allowed to suffer the full force of Serbia’s murderous onslaught so that they would accept a truncated Bosnian state); and finally the brazen and unwarranted interference on the Dr Khan release issue.

All these strands of US aggression and pressure towards Pakistan have now come together in what was a clear threat of aggression against this country by Obama in his press conference on Monday (February 9) where he declared that the US knew that Al Qaeda safe havens existed in FATA (I suppose just as US intelligence knew WMD existed in Iraq which warranted the US invasion) and would not be tolerated! This statement was preceded by US gunship intrusions into Pakistan along with drone attacks and missiles fired from across Afghanistan into the tribal belt. So the Obama threat of sending in US troops into Pakistan has been given presidential expression. And in the face of all this, Holbrooke has the gall to declare that he is in Pakistan to renew US “commitment and friendship with the people of Pakistan”. Mr Holbrooke, the US has never had a commitment to the Pakistani nation – only to its own goals here and to its handpicked leaders, both in uniform and in civvies. As for friendship, only the US would define this in terms of killings, which is what they are doing to the Pakistani people.

If the US really wanted to show a positive commitment to the people of Pakistan, they would stop the drone attacks, allow our state to dialogue with all its stake holders, desist from strategic arrangements with India that have a direct fallout on Pakistan, stop destabilising Pakistan by using its territory to target the Iranian state, and accept our differing perspective on critical issues including proliferation and Dr Khan. In the case of the latter, given how the US and its European allies are proliferating with India and Israel in complete violation of their commitments to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is rather farcical to give us sermons on proliferation and try and undermine our already enfeebled judicial system by demanding the state incarcerate Dr Khan again.

However, it is our leadership, both military and civilian, that must take responsibility for its servility to the US – since they have covertly sanctioned US drone and probably other military attacks on Pakistan and its citizens. Look at the contradictions on the whole Mumbai investigations, which show why the government has no credibility at home and abroad. But then which other sovereign state would pay $1.5 million initially ($30 million in total) to the UN to investigate BB’s murder where no outside power was involved? Why can we investigate Mumbai but not BB’s murder?

Moving on, even if we were to forget the humiliating nonsense post-Mumbai that emanated from the presidency and the prime minister regarding the sending of the DG ISI to India and the “technical fault” that led to Indian air force intrusions into Pakistan, what about the premature “revelations” of where Mumbai was planned? And, now, the contradiction where, on the one hand, the government has demanded more substantive proof from India and, on the other hand, it has already begun arrests and so on! How can any investigation move substantively without Pakistan first getting access to Kasab and to the “evidence”? Or was the DCC under pressure to move, regardless of the paucity of evidence before Holbrooke landed?

Nor are the absurdities limited to the political leadership. How can those in sensitive positions give interviews where Pakistanis are labelled as “crazy”? Do we not realise the damage we do to this nation by such unwarranted exposure? Look at those in charge of our nuclear assets. They give all manner of access to foreigners who then churn out negative stories but locals are denied any substantive access. A colonial mindset sees only “goras” (as Ejaz Haider had put it) as credible commentators. Well, the latest result of the SPD’s hospitality is the David E Sanger article (New York Times) for all to see!

There are countless more absurdities that show how our rulers are fast being reduced to a joke. Just one recent example will highlight this. Dr Khan was released after, in my view, an unjust and illegal detention, when the state reached an agreement with Dr Khan, who had petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for legal redress to his incarceration. Part of the agreement was that he would not discuss his work, but suddenly the government, under pressure from external forces, once again put such conditionalities on him that effectively his old incarceration status has been revived, de facto. How can any citizen of this country trust the state when it does such flip flops? Although one should have anticipated this when our foreign minister declared, in Munich, that the government could file an appeal against the IHC decision. Is he really that ignorant and did not realise that the IHC decision was premised on a signed deal between his government and Dr Khan in the first place? Or was he suffering from the US appeasement syndrome that afflicts all his peers in power?

One could simply laugh off the foibles of our ruling elite if there was not a more dangerous fallout to them. There are some ordinary but informed people from Swat who feel that peace will be restored in Swat by April since the state has realised the errors of its policies! What policies? Are our suspicions correct when we ask how the military, which had brought the area under control in 2007, has again allowed the situation to deteriorate to levels where the most vulnerable are being targeted by forces comprising those largely from outside of Swat? But what about the cost that has had to be paid by the people of Swat? Why has the political government removed all signs of its presence from this troubled area, where it is not the US drones that are the issue?

Clearly with jokers for rulers and with a state that lacks the confidence to distance itself from lethal US designs, governance has finally been reduced to the ridiculous. And with no rule of law and independent judicial structures, we are fated to continue down the dark abyss that we were pushed into post-9/11.

Alarm bells or new strategy?

PAKISTAN’S interior adviser has announced a crisp new strategy for Swat, the details of which have not been divulged, although it was mentioned that Al Qaeda, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Tanzeem-i-Islami and the Tora Bora and Qari Mushtaq groups needed to be tackled. Fortunately, it has dawned on the authorities that the militants’ objective is not simply the imposition of Sharia but the destruction of Pakistan.

But the adviser was frugal with information when it came to details of civilians killed and injured and schools pulverised. It is only when the horrors of Swat abate that the enormity of the death and destruction wreaked on the peaceful Swatis will truly emerge.

The state’s being in perpetual denial has horrified both independent analysts and those living in the NWFP’s war-ravaged areas. The people here have been subjected to a sense of brutal insensitivity by the government and the latter’s obfuscation of the facts. Political parties stand motionless or speak with muffled voices.

At what price one may ask? Thousands of civilians in Swat district have left. About 200 schools have been bombed and health centres, tourist resorts and forests ravaged. Several children and girls have either been abducted or gone missing. The state cannot ignore this reality for long. So where is the public outrage against this massacre?

There has been a lot of double talk. Generally, the public has been led to believe by the security agencies that RAW, Mossad and CIA mercenaries were bent upon dismembering Pakistan. Meanwhile, in the event of being threatened by India, the Taliban representatives say they will be on the side of the state. All this has created confusion in the minds of Pakistanis about the Taliban phenomenon (especially when it is recalled that they were abetted and financed by state agencies for reasons of ‘strategic depth’) conveniently blamed on Nato forces inside Afghanistan, the Indians and others.

The outright lies, distortions, cover-ups and fumbling by the state’s spokesmen have reached absurd proportions not only leading to a credibility deficit but the suffering of hapless civilians in the name of ‘national interest’.

Having bartered their political mandate for certain ‘terms and conditions’, the PPP-ANP duo is being blackmailed into fire-fighting in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack and covering up the state’s ‘strategic position’ about Taliban sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

It is not merely the clamping down on the Muridke madressah or the few training camps already on the western list. In question are hundreds of madressahs and training camps in Pakistan including the notorious Peuchar camp in Swat that remains untouched by Operation Rah-i-Haq. These threaten our state structure more. The government should shut these terrorist outfits.

It is a question of standing up to the very dark forces that threaten to undo the fundamentals of religious rationality and a moderate worldview and of challenging the dungeon of bigotry staring us in the face — and that we stubbornly refuse to accept.

Was it not a matter of grave injustice to have killed thousands in East Pakistan in the name of national interest? We have carried out similar military operations on the same flimsy grounds in Balochistan, killing the provincial leadership or forcing it into exile. This has led to the destruction of local livelihoods, and vast tracts of land have been taken away in the name of development.

Meanwhile, the ruthless oligarchy that enriched itself on Afghan blood during the Afghan war abetted by western and Saudi petrodollars has turned on its own citizens.

Had the ANP-PPP leadership been wiser it would have worked towards constitutional reforms by first restoring an independent judiciary. In Pakistan’s blemished history, for once the judiciary stood up to ruthless praetorian forces, asking intelligence bosses to account for the hundreds missing; besides there was the demand for constitutional transparency while conducting a ‘war against terror’. If the US was to blame for forcing Pakistan’s dictator into such terms, the political leadership too is guilty of carrying on with a discredited strategy and not setting its own house in order.

Instead of demanding accountability from Musharraf and transparency from the GHQ on the policy framework, the PPP-ANP duo let them off the hook. Under an undefined power-sharing mechanism the ANP is now paying a price in terms of credibility deficit and governance issues. Death warrants for the entire leadership living in virtual seclusion from the electorate have also been issued. The parties will eventually fall victim to the vagaries of this strategy.

Under no circumstances, should Pakistanis feel relieved because of a “better coordinated military strategy for Swat” promised by the ISPR. The obfuscations have gone on for too long. Pakistanis should demand an explanation from GHQ as to why and how thousands of diehard, ruthless Arab, Chechen, Uzbek, Tajik and Pakistani jihadis travelled from faraway Tora Bora and Waziristan when Musharraf was in power along with the MMA. Why were they allowed to wreak havoc on Bajaur and then Swat?

Where are these deadly ‘strategic assets’ being shifted to in the NWFP to repeat another gory game of death and destruction on Pashtun lands? Latest news from Dir and Mohmand points towards another wave of civilian exodus as these mercenaries are ‘transported’ there for bloodletting yet again. Who controls the NWFP, the ANP or the GHQ?

Unless we demand a full-fledged investigation by impartial world bodies this ghastly ‘war against terror’ unleashed on innocent civilians will not cease. The heartless butchers of this deadly game need to be uncovered to secure our future and for peace in the region. It is time the world spoke out with one voice: “Stop the genocide!”