<< During the fateful summer of 2003, however, irresponsible media coverage made heroes of criminals and Pakistan has paid a heavy price: for the first time in history, war has come home to us. That war today extends from Parachinar to Karachi.
The suffering it has caused is now seen and felt in mosques, bazaars, schools, religious processions, shrines, public transit, school buses, hospitals, funerals, congregations and people's homes. >>
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:35:19 +0000
Subject: HIGH COST OF WAR IN PAKISTAN
| PAKISTANIS SHOW ALARMING INDIFFERENCE TO THE HIGH COSTS OF WAR |
| -By Muhammad Ali Siddiqi – Dawn – December 4, 2011 |
| Even confirmed democracies recognize wars as phenomena that upset the normal schedule of events. There was no election in Britain, for example, between 1935 and 1945; the first general election of that decade was held on July 5, 1945 after the end of World War II . In America, where by tradition a president can have only two consecutive terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt ran the White House from 1933 to 1945. Thus it can never be business as usual while you are in the midst of a war. All wars make demands on the people, the state and politicians of any nation. Sadly there is no consciousness of these historic precedents in Pakistan, even though we are in the midst of a war that has become very costly in terms of human blood and economic devastation. That war began in July 2003 after the Lal Masjid rebellion was crushed in a half-finished job. Until then, Islamabad's role was a "safe" one – confined to providing logistical support to American and NATO troops across the Durand Line and to taking legal and administrative measures to control and monitor rebel groups. During the fateful summer of 2003, however, irresponsible media coverage made heroes of criminals and Pakistan has paid a heavy price: for the first time in history, war has come home to us. That war today extends from Parachinar to Karachi. The suffering it has caused is now seen and felt in mosques, bazaars, schools, religious processions, shrines, public transit, school buses, hospitals, funerals, congregations and people's homes. Previously the suffering of other nations and other countries was something we read about in newspapers or watched on TV; now others read and watch what is happening at our expense. Those others include know-it-all diplomats and journalists, whose prejudices get the better of their reason and who arrogantly advise Pakistan to "do more." The casualties and trauma Pakistan has suffered far exceed those of most countries – excluding Iraq and Afghanistan, where numerous civilians have fallen victim to foreign invasion as well as internal civil war. According to a government-sponsored advertisement on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 published in the Wall Street Journal 21, 672 Pakistani civilians have been killed or wounded in suicide bombings and other terror attacks during the past decade, while Pakistan's army has lost nearly 3,000. As well, there were 3,486 bomb blasts and 283 major suicide attacks, resulting in more than 3.5 million Pakistanis being displaced. The ad put Pakistan's economic losses due to terrorism at $68 billion. If the world doesn't know this, or ignores it and asks Pakistan to "do more," it can be excused, for it accepts the truth only when it is convenient and rewarding. But why are Pakistanis themselves so indifferent to a war in which they themselves are victims? Is it cynicism, fatalism or just one more manifestation of a collective abnormality in the Pakistani personality? Perhaps we should ask instead: are those who are supposed to guide our society in war and peace guilty of a criminal abdication of their duty? There are politicians who talk of "civil disobedience," union leaders who threaten to paralyze the railways and electrical grid workers who burn their own utility's transformers and vans. This is a crazy situation. Pakistan seems to have no social reformers or character builders. There are plenty of semi-literate politicians but not one person of vision who could depoliticize this over-politicized nation a little and break the people's sadistic habit of enjoying the sight of burning vehicles. Pakistanis believe in individual and family morality and give of their best to relatives and friends, but in the streets we behave little better than animals. And because parents and teachers themselves are steeped in medieval values, several generations of Pakistanis have grown up without the vaguest idea of what modern urban values are. Religious leaders could have helped but most of them have turned into radical reactionaries. Pakistan is not their priority; their priorities are doctrinal agendas and canonical positions that define their thinking and are the prism through which they see foreign policy issues. If this jeopardizes Pakistan's existence, they couldn't care less. With neither secular nor religious leaders available as guides, no wonder Pakistani government and society have gone adrift and failed to come up with an appropriate response to the debilitating conflict that is eating into the country's vital organs. (This article was edited and abridged for the CIC Friday Magazine.) |
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