Pakistan: Befriending Oppressors,Alienating Masses
By Mir Adnan Aziz
04 April, 2008
Countercurrents.org
Countercurrents.org
Augustus Germanicus, known as Caligula, was the third emperor of the Roman Empire. During his reign, known for its cruelty, he annexed Mauretania but failed to conquer Britain. It is said of Caligula that he generally prolonged the suffering of his victims by having inflicted on them slight and frequently repeated strokes. His well-known and constant order was: "Strike so that he may feel himself die." Having punished one person for another, by mistaking his name, he said, "He deserved it quite as much." Through the entire ordeal he had on his lips and mind the words of the Roman tragedian, Lucius Accius: "Oderint dum metuant", meaning "I scorn their hatred, if they do but fear me".
The only super power on earth, macho bravado aside, is one living in perpetual fear of its phantasmal demons. An aggression borne out of this fear has resulted in occupations, invasions, prison tortures and rendition flights to destinations unknown. It has also forced them to make "oderint dum metuant" their mantra. This phrase reflects the American mindset and its "War on Terror" (WoT), seemingly 'scorning' how it is viewed by the world at large.
Hardly had the new Prime Minister taken oath when we had the eerily familiar visitors blessing us with their presence for the umpteenth time. They met all those who mattered under the Pakistani sun. They were though, a couple of seemingly lost souls. The smiles were forced, body language tense, unused to facing so many, hooked as they have been to a no questions asked, immediately complied one window dispensation.
Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, termed the timing of the recent US official's visit as a mere "coincidence" and "a good thing to engage the government early". She also went on to say that the people of Pakistan "would take it as a sign of respect" for a close ally. The day we were visited the Prime Minister was taking oath, a first step towards formation of a new government. As for assuming that the visit "would" be seen in accordance with the State Department release, leaves much to be desired, above all a sign of respect for an "ally".
In times like these perceptions tend to be stronger than realities. Respect means not doing things, which leads people to draw parallels between a sovereign state and an island prison. The recent appointment of a former Guantanamo Bay commander, Maj Gen Jay W Hood, as Chief, Office of US defense representative in Pakistan has been seen and taken as an insensitive one. He is best known in this part of the world for his non-military exploits like prisoner abuses and the desecration of the Holy Quran under his command at Guantanamo, which Amnesty International has called 'the gulag of our times'.
America is averse to accept that its seriously flawed, heavy-handed strategy has isolated it globally. Even its most ardent fan base has shriveled, that of its detractors swelled. Miles Kinton summed it up aptly way back on October 23, 2001 when he wrote in The Independent: "Over the years, we have always been enthralled by the idea, gleaned from too many Westerns, that if you rub out the chief baddy, peace is restored. If Wyatt Earp can kill the Clancy brothers, if Jesse James can be wiped out, then everything will be lovely in the garden again. If the Garden of Eden had been an American scenario, then Adam would have tried to shoot it out with the serpent. Trouble is, knowing our luck, he would have shot Eve by mistake..." (Hence no mankind). This is what the US did, treating the ' War on Terror' as a mega buster. In the process they shot not just the ' film' but the 'audience' as well.
Seemingly cocooned in a time warp America still lives in the Truman years. It was in 1947 that President Harry Truman enunciated what later became known as the 'Truman Doctrine'. In it he proclaimed the willingness of the United States to assist 'friendly' governments resist not only external aggression but also 'armed minorities' in their own midst.
The passage of the Truman Doctrine was an ominous one, as the United States was arrogating the right to intervene in the internal affairs of other nations to help preserve regimes deemed 'friendly' to American interests. It also raised the specter of America's meddlesome paternalism applied on a global basis. This doctrine soon made the United States a patron of repressive, reactionary regimes around the world.
At the time of inception, it was aimed at helping Turkey and Greece to resist Soviet intervention and expansionism. With the end of the Cold war era and a unipolar world this Doctrine was conveniently rephrased as the 'war on terror'. In this new guise it is now being ruthlessly used for occupations and to further American agendas globally.
What the Americans fail to understand is that by befriending oppressors or brutally repressive dictators, it has historically ended up with alienated masses and hostile democracies in those countries. It also fails to comprehend that these are not times when it can micro-manage political outcomes and prop up tin pots to have a telephone call compliant one window channel.
We, in our nascent history, have done for the United States what no other country has or could have done. During Ayub Khan's tenure from 1958 to 1969, Pakistan played a key role in the United States sponsored Central Treaty Organization and the South East Asia Treaty Organization. Pakistani troops helped bolster pro-American regimes in the Middle East that included Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Yahya Khan had his own 'crowning achievement' that of facilitating Sino-American rapprochement through a vigorous back channel diplomacy. This led to Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Beijing (an otherwise forbidden city) in 1972. During Zia's regime, Pakistan became a base for the United States led efforts to undermine the Soviets. As a result we had the 1990 Soviet disengagement from Afghanistan, which eventually led to the break-up of the Soviet empire and a finale of the Cold War era.
During all these years, more so during the last eight, false realism and moral insensitivity characterized American policy toward Pakistan. They glorified individuals as valuable friends and invested billions so they could have a compliant one-window channel to the destiny of a nation. President Musharraf's repressive excesses were ignored and excused with a pat on the back, while the Pakistani people were treated as a horde of errant animals and a mortal threat to America's national interest. This has led even the otherwise moderate educated class to the realm of extreme alienation.
During President Musharraf's eight years the US had the staunchest of allies in their 'WoT'. So fatally lopsided was this equation that the people collectively rose to say a vehement no to him and his appeasing policies; which the more brutal they were the greater applause they evoked from his glorifiers. The United States faulted gravely in accepting President Musharraf as an immortal and granting him the license to ride roughshod over his own people. In spite of a clear and unanimous verdict President Musharraf still lives in his utopia of gilded crowns (on the shoulders) and bombproof chariots.
This one man, at the cost of our sovereignty and honor, proved to be a one-man demolition squad. Institutions like the judiciary and the media were pummeled while people even started eyeing their own 'Pak Fauj' with derision. No portrayal would be more telling than that of Sheikh Saadi when he says: "He who, when he hath the power, doeth not good, when he loses the means will suffer distress. There is not a more unfortunate wretch than the oppressor; for in the day of adversity nobody is his friend". This holds true today for an isolated and diminished President and should be the guiding light for those in power now.
Seeing his downfall as imminent, the US has increased Predator attacks within our territory resulting in many fatalities. To this Thomas H. Johnson, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, says: "People inside the Beltway are aware that Musharraf's days are numbered, and so they recognize they may only have a few months to do this. Musharraf has very few friends in the world — he probably has more inside the Beltway than in his own country." Prophetic words given the fact that the President's best friends today might be his Pekingese', Dot and Buddy.
Today there is a universal acknowledgement that the United States has alienated both its own and the world's citizens by waging a seriously flawed 'WoT'. It has also continuously failed to grasp how the rest of the globe sees the sole superpower and its global forays. A serious reviewal of this failed strategy by politically engaging those it deems to be mortal enemies globally would show the world that it has a serious interest in being part of a peaceful world order and the democratic system it champions.
Countries at war do talk to each other, and so do states and violent non-state actors. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) only agreed to disarm after the British and Irish paramilitary group talks concluded with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. We might have had peace in the Middle East had the US and Israel accepted and engaged the elected Hamas government positively. The same holds true for Algeria where the will of the people was throttled by rejecting their mandate. In ostracizing these elected parties, thousands died while claims of bringing democracy and freedom to the oppressed proved nothing but a charade. The U.S. can only establish the lost ethical high ground, still slipping away ever perilously, if it gives discourse a chance with the blazing guns silenced and locked away.
It is heartening to see the media gallantly at the vanguard again. This is one institution that has set the pace for a better tomorrow on all fronts by giving words to the emotions of all in Pakistan. Needless to say that what they write and air has a profound effect on a local and global level. In doing so they also hold true to their decreed mandate. Praise is also due for those elected who conveyed plainly to the uninvited guests in no uncertain terms how future policies would be made and executed. It is also time we did away with doling out 'tacit approvals' which in simple English means a carte blanche for letting Hellfire missiles be launched on our people in our own land.
What Pakistan needs at this critical juncture is a leader, who is widely perceived as honest and independent and not an American stooge. Words apart, we will have to wait and see if the present political dispensation proves itself worthy of the national trust reposed in them.
The Americans, on failing in Afghanistan and Iraq have 'shifted' the war and the ever wavering cross hairs to our tribal areas. The recent statement of CIA Director Michael Hayden 'reveals' that Al Qaeda is training 'western looking' individuals in Pakistani tribal areas. He also pointed out this region as a launching pad for an attack against the US. It sounds like a familiar dose of 'neck twisting' to try and effect the stated policy of discourse by the new government. In days to come we will see the pressure ratcheted up to a frenzy.
On Director Hayden's oracle, famous English poet and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney would have said: "Malice, in its false witness, promotes its tale with so cunning a confusion; so mingles truths with falsehoods, surmises with certainties, causes of no moment with matters capital, that the accused can absolutely neither grant nor deny, plead innocence nor confess guilt". Al Qaeda or no Al Qaeda, malice can always find a mark to shoot at and a pretence to fire.
The prompt condemnation by the NWFP assembly, a welcome move, must be a message duly registered at Langley, Virginia. The governments, both federal and provincial, must not succumb to any intimidatory or pressure tactics whatsoever. In this path to national reconciliation, be it the Pakhtuns or Baloch, they have behind them a nation, united as never before on one single issue.
It is a predominantly accepted fact that in being a US ally we have ended as serfs sans dignity. To be constantly told that we were but minions paid to deliver, painful but tragically true, jars already frayed nerves. A redeeming thought though is that had the nation been ready to sell its soul, the diminished King and his party would have been resplendent in all its glory today.
In being a compliant dispenser of given orders and diktats, thousands of innocents have perished, the ensuing mayhem shredding the very fabric of our society. These actions have resulted in reactive ones; some picking up a gun while the cries of a multitude reach out to the heavens for vengeance. Being allies and friends should be sans the feeling of being perpetually used, wronged and above all looked down upon. It is a sorry equation the nation has had its fill of and wants to end forthwith.
Nobody more than the people, as one, yearn for peace. A strong, stable and vibrant Pakistan is somethinfg the nation longs for, imperative as it is for peace and stability in this region. It is equally important we find our own remedies to achieve this objective. With a representative government in place a new day beckons. Let us all hope they succeed in mending a shattered national psyche and a tattered societal fabric.
President Bush has invited Prime Minister Gillani to visit his country. These are trying and testing times for the country with things more demanding and important to be done here. Joy rides to meet our Caudillo's 'friend', both but silhouettes in the twilight zone, can wait till a new sun dawns.
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. __._,_.___
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com
Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___