How to clear the mess: by Imran Khan

How to Clear the Mess
Thursday, April 23, 2009
 
By Imran Khan
 
The reason why there is so much despondency in Pakistan is because
there is no road map to get out of the so-called War on Terror - a
nomenclature that even the Obama Administration has discarded as being
a negative misnomer. To cure the patient the diagnosis has to be
accurate, otherwise the wrong medicine can sometimes kill the patient.
In order to find the cure, first six myths that have been spun around
the US-led “Global War on Terror” (GWOT) have to be debunked.
 
 
 
 Myth No. 1: This is Pakistan’s war
 
 
 
Since no Pakistani was involved in 9/11 and the CIA-trained Al Qaeda
was based in Afghanistan, how does it concern us? It is only when
General Musharraf buckled under US pressure and sent our troops into
Waziristan in late 2003-early 2004 that Pakistan became a war zone. It
took another three years of the Pakistan army following the same
senseless tactics as used by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan
(aerial bombardment) plus the slaughter at Lal Masjid, for the
creation of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). If our security
forces are being targeted today by the Taliban and their suicide
bombers, it is because they are perceived to be proxies of the US
army. Iran is ideologically opposed to both Al Qaeda and the Taliban
yet why are its security forces not attacked by terrorists? The answer
is because their President does not pretend to be a bulwark against
Islamic extremism in return for US dollars and support.
 
 
 
Michael Scheuer (ex-CIA officer and author of the book Imperial
Hubris), writing in The Washington Post in April 2007, cited
Musharraf’s loyalty to the US even when it went against Pakistan’s
national interests by giving two examples: the first was Musharraf
helping the US in removing a pro-Pakistan Afghan government and
replacing it with a pro-Indian one; and, the second, for sending
Pakistani troops into the tribal areas and turning the tribesmen
against the Pakistan army. To fully understand Musharraf’s treachery
against Pakistan, it is important to know that almost a 100,000 troops
were sent into the tribal areas to target around 1000 suspected
Al-Qaeda members - thus earning the enmity of at least 1.5 million
armed local tribals in the 7 tribal agencies of Pakistan.
 
 
 
The most shameful aspect of the lie that this is our war is that the
government keeps begging the US for more dollars stating that the war
is costing the country more than the money it is receiving from the
US. If it is our war, then fighting it should not be dependent on
funds and material flowing from the US. If it is our war, why do we
have no control over it? If it is our war, then why is the US
government asking us to do more?
 
 
 
 Myth No. 2: This is a war against Islamic extremists ó an ideological
war against radical Islam
 
 
 
Was the meteoric rise of Taliban due to their religious ideology?
Clearly not, because the Mujahideen were equally religious - Gulbadin
Hekmatyar (supported by the ISI) was considered an Islamic
fundamentalist. In fact, the reason the Taliban succeeded where the
Mujahideen warlords failed, was because they established the rule of
law - the Afghans had had enough of the power struggle between the
warlord factions that had destroyed what remained of the country’s
infrastructure and killed over 100,000 people.
 
 
 
If the Pushtuns of the tribal area wanted to adopt the Taliban
religious ideology then surely they would have when the latter was in
power in Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001. Yet there was no
Talibanisation in the tribal areas. Interestingly, the only part of
Pakistan where the Taliban had an impact was in Swat where Sufi
Mohammad started the Shariat Movement. The reason was that while there
was rule of law (based on the traditional jirga system) in the tribal
areas, the people of Swat had been deprived of easy access to justice
ever since the traditional legal system premised on Qazi courts was
replaced by Pakistani laws and judicial system, first introduced in
1974. The murder rate shot up from 10 per year in 1974 to almost 700
per year by 1977, when there was an uprising against the Pakistani
justice system. The Taliban cashed in on this void of justice to rally
the poorer sections of Swat society just as they had attracted the
Afghans in a situation of political anarchy and lawlessness in
Afghanistan. It is important to make this distinction because the
strategy to bring peace must depend on knowing your enemy. Michael
Bearden, CIA station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, wrote in
Foreign Affairs magazine that the US is facing the same Pushtun
insurgency that was faced by the Soviets in Afghanistan. According to
him, as long as NATO is in Afghanistan, the Taliban will get a
constant supply of men from the 15
 
 
 
million Pushtun population of Afghanistan and the 25 million Pushtuns
of Pakistan. In other words, this Talibanisation is not so much
religion-driven as politically-motivated. So the solution to the
problem in the tribal belt today does not lie in religion and
“moderate” Islam but in a political settlement.
 
 
 
 Myth No. 3: If we keep fighting the US war, the super power will bail
us out financially through aid packages.
 
 
 
Recently, the Government’s Adviser on Finance stated that the war on
terror has cost Pakistan $35 billion while the country has received
only $11 billion assistance from the US. I would go a step further and
say that this aid is the biggest curse for the country. Not only is it
“blood money” for our army killing our own people (there is no
precedent for this) but also nothing has destroyed the self-esteem of
this country as this one factor. Moreover, there is no end in sight as
our cowardly and compromised leadership is ordered to “do more” for
the payments made for their services. Above all, this aid and loans
are like treating cancer with disprin. It enables the government to
delay the much needed surgery of reforms (cutting expenditures and
raising revenues); and meanwhile the cancer is spreading and might
become terminal.
 
 
 
 Myth No. 4: That the next terrorist attack on the US will come from
the tribal areas.
 
 
 
First, there is an assumption, based purely on conjecture, that the Al
Qaeda leadership is in the tribal areas. In fact, this leadership
could well be in the 70 % of Afghan territory that the Taliban
control. More importantly, given the growing radicalisation of the
educated Muslim youth - in major part because of the continuing US
partiality towards Israeli occupation of Palestinian land - why can it
not follow that the next terrorist attack on the US could come either
from the Middle East or from the marginalised and radicalised Muslims
of Europe, motivated by perceived injustices to Islam and the Muslim
World.
 
 
 
 Myth No. 5: That the ISI is playing a double game and if Pakistan did
more the war could be won.
 
 
 
If Talibanisation is growing in Pakistan because of the covert support
of ISI in the tribal areas, then surely the growing Taliban control
over Afghanistan (70 % of the territory) must be with NATO’s
complicity? Surely a more rational understanding would be to see that
the strategy being employed is creating hatred against the US and its
collaborators. Aerial bombardment and its devastating collateral
damage is the biggest gift the US has given to the Taliban. According
to official reports, out of the 60 drone attacks conducted between 14
January 2006-April 8 2009, only 10 were on target, killing 14 alleged
Al Qaeda. In the process almost 800 Pakistani civilians have been
killed, while many lost their homes and limbs.
 
 
 
Despite its military surge effort, the US will eventually pack up and
leave like the Soviets, but the “do more” mantra could end up
destroying the Pakistan army - especially the ISI which is being
targeted specifically for the mess created by the Bush Administration
in Afghanistan.
 
 
 
 Myth No. 6: That Pakistan could be Talibanised with their version of Islam.
 
 
 
Both Musharraf and Zardari have contributed to this myth in order to
get US backing and dollars. Firstly there is no such precedent in the
15-hundred years of Islamic history of a theocracy like that of the
Taliban, outside of the recent Taliban period of rule in Afghanistan.
However, as mentioned earlier, the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan
was not a result of their religious ideology but their ability to
establish order and security in a war-devastated and anarchic
Afghanistan.
 
 
 
In Swat, the present mess has arisen because of poor governance
issues. Also, it was the manner in which the government handled the
situation - simply sending in the army rather than providing better
governance - that created space for the Taliban. Just as in
Balochistan (under Musharraf) when the army was sent in rather than
the Baloch being given their economic and provincial rights, similarly
the army in Swat aggravated the situation and the present mess was
created.
 
 
 
What Pakistan has to worry about is the chaos and anarchy that are
going to stem from the radicalisation of our people because of the
failure of successive governments to govern effectively and justly.
Karen Armstrong, in her book The Battle for God, gives details of
fundamentalist movements that turned militant when they were
repressed. Ideas should be fought with counter ideas and dialogue, not
guns. Allama Iqbal was able to deal with fundamentalism through his
knowledge and intellect. The slaughter of the fundamentalists of Lal
Masjid did more to fan extremism and fanaticism than any other single
event.
 
 
 
Pakistan is staring down an abyss today and needs to come up with a
sovereign nationalist policy to deal with the situation. If we keep on
following dictation from Washington, we are doomed. There are many
groups operating in the country under the label of “Taliban”. Apart
from the small core of religious extremists, the bulk of the fighting
men are Pushtun nationalists. Then there are the fighters from the old
Jihadi groups. Moreover, the Taliban are also successfully exploiting
the class tensions by appealing to the have-nots. But the most
damaging for Pakistan are those groups who are being funded primarily
from two external sources: first, by those who want to see Pakistan
become a “failed state”; and, second, by those who wish to see the US
bogged down in the Afghan quagmire.
 
 
 
What needs to be done: A two-pronged strategy is required - focusing
on a revised relationship with the US and a cohesive national policy
based on domestic compulsions and ground realities.
 
 
 
President Obama, unlike President Bush, is intelligent and has
integrity. A select delegation of local experts on the tribal area and
Afghanistan should make him understand that the current strategy is a
disaster for both Pakistan and the US; that Pakistan can no longer
commit suicide by carrying on this endless war against its own people;
that we will hold dialogue and win over the Pushtuns of the tribal
area and make them deal with the real terrorists while the Pakistan
army is gradually pulled out.
 
 
 
At the same time, Pakistan has to move itself to ending drone attacks
if the US is not prepared to do so. Closure of the drone base within
Pakistan is a necessary beginning as is the need to create space
between ourselves and the US, which will alter the ground environment
in favour of the Pakistani state. It will immediately get rid of the
fanaticism that creates suicide bombers as no longer will they be seen
to be on the path to martyrdom by bombing US collaborators. Within
this environment a consensual national policy to combat extremism and
militancy needs to be evolved centring on dialogue, negotiation and
assertion of the writ of the state. Where force is required the state
must rely on the paramilitary forces, not the army. Concomitantly,
Pakistan needs serious reforms. First and foremost we have to give our
people access to justice at the grassroots level - that is, revive the
village jury/Panchayat system. Only then will we rid ourselves of the
oppressive “thana-kutchery” culture which compels the poor to seek
adjudication by the feudals, tribal leaders, tumandars and now by the
Taliban also - thereby perpetuating oppression of the dispossessed,
especially women.
 
 
 
Second, unless we end the system of parallel education in the country
where the rich access private schools and a different examination
system while the poor at best only have access to a deprived public
school system with its outmoded syllabus and no access to employment.
That is why the marginalised future generations are condemned to go to
madrassahs which provide them with food for survival and exploit their
pent up social anger. We need to bring all our educational
institutions into the mainstream with one form of education syllabus
and examination system for all - with madrassahs also coming under the
same system even while they retain their religious education
specialisation.
 
 
 
Third, the level of governance needs to be raised through making
appointments on merit in contrast to the worst type of cronyism that
is currently on show. Alongside this, a cutting of expenditures is
required with the leadership and the elite leading by example through
adoption of an austere lifestyle. Also, instead of seeking aid and
loans to finance the luxurious lifestyle of the elite, the leadership
should pay taxes, declare its assets and bring into the country all
money kept in foreign banks abroad. All “benami” transactions, assets
and bank accounts should be declared illegal. I believe we will
suddenly discover that we are actually quite a self-sufficient
country.
 
 
 
Fourth, the state has to widen its direct taxation net and cut down on
indirect taxation where the poor subsidise the rich. If corruption and
ineptitude are removed, it will be possible for the state to collect
income tax more effectively.
 
 
 
A crucial requirement for moving towards stability would be the
disarming of all militant groups - which will a real challenge for the
leadership but here again, the political elite can lead by example and
dismantle their show of guards and private forces.
 
 
 
Finally, fundamentalism should be fought intellectually with
sensitivity shown to the religious and heterogeneous roots of culture
amongst the Pakistani masses. Solutions have to be evolved from within
the nation through tolerance and understanding. Here, we must learn
from the Shah of Iran’s attempts to enforce a pseudo-Western identity
onto his people and its extreme backlash from Iranian society.
 
 
 
The threat of extremism is directly related to the performance of the
state and its ability to deliver justice and welfare to its people.
  
 To comment on this article please click here .
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTE: If you have any objection to the contents of above message,
please forward this message to PTI_emails@insaf.pk with your comments.
If you do not want to receive any future emails from www.insaf.pk,
please login to the website and change your profile settings for
EmailConsent.

Posted via email from DesiDiary.Com