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Pakistan's Drift into the Hands of Extremists
The intention of the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team was to send a clear message to Washington: Pakistan is ungovernable
The appalling terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan had one aim: to demonstrate to Washington that the country is ungovernable. This is the first time that cricketers have been targeted in a land where the sport is akin to religion. It marks the death of international cricket in Pakistan for the indefinite future, but not just that, which is bad enough. The country's future is looking more and more precarious. We do not know which particular group carried out this attack, but its identity is hardly relevant. The fact is that it took place at a time when three interrelated events had angered a large bulk of the country and provided succour to extremist groups and their patrons.
The first is undoubtedly the foolish decision by Washington (backed by Britain) to send more troops to Afghanistan, which has now united all those resisting them in that country and the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan. Instead of searching for a viable exit strategy, Obama has gone for a surge. On several occasions, I have warned that escalating the war in Afghanistan could seriously destabilise Pakistan and its army.
Second, Senator Dianne Feinstein's revelation that the US drones being used to target "militants" and "terrorist havens" inside Pakistan were, in fact, being despatched by the US from military and air-force bases inside Pakistan (obviously, with the approval of the Pakistani military and civilian leaders) created mayhem in the country. The shock and dismay should not be underestimated. Half-hearted government denials further fanned the flames. Since many in the country regard Zardari and his cronies running the country as US drones, the anger was multiplied.
Domestically, the country is a mess. The People's party has learnt and forgotten nothing. Corruption is rife and stories circulate linking the money being paid by bankers directly to the president's house. Add to this Zardari's refusal to honour an election pledge restoring an independent judiciary, and his decision to manipulate tame judges to disqualify his opponents has not gone down well. The controversy was aggravated by Zardari's move to dismiss the elected government in the country's most populous and strategically important province, the Punjab (capital: Lahore), and impose direct rule, after its chief minister apparently refused to accept a bribe in the shape of a lucrative business deal in return for abandoning the fight to restore the chief justice fired by the military leader over a year ago.
The failures of this government and its inability to defend the country's interests or its population from drones or terrorist attacks are paving the way for the return of the army to power as a way of avoiding a serious split within its own ranks. All that is awaited is a green light from the US embassy in Islamabad. Not that this would solve anything, but it might create the illusion of stability for a few months. It's no good Pakistani politicians mumbling that this is "our Mumbai". The fact is that, over the last year, the Zardari government has done a great deal for itself and its clients, but nothing for the people or the country. The more Pakistan drifts, the more opportunities offer themselves to the extremists.
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16 Comments so far
Show AllObama it is the fulcrum moment to strengthen, not destabilize Pakistani democracy. Yes We Can blah, blah blah etc.
'The failures of this government and its inability to defend the country's interests or its population from drones or terrorist attacks are paving the way for the return of the army to power as a way of avoiding a serious split within its own ranks. All that is awaited is a green light from the US embassy in Islamabad.'
Sounds like the US is running the country and bombing it at one and the same time!
And people thought that Bhutto/Zardari was the democratic saviors of that country. Zardari (mister 10 percent) is nothing but a thieving crook that is raping the country's treasury. And they are US plants. The irony is that under Muharraf, the country had a better handle on the security of the country. the only reason Musharraf was ousted was that he told Washington to go fuck themselves with their plans to continue attacks in Pakistan.
If you guys have not seen 'body of lies' i suggest you rent it and see the type of false flag operations that the CIA can do and then ask yourselves about all the recent attacks around the world that makes no logical sense.
Perhaps this de-stabilization is the intent . More "failed States" means more profits to the MICS and more Military bases worldwide.
Lets face it Zardari won't be backed to last very long in power. Looks like the military again for a spell. They are the major players in Pakistan. But its very dangerous for people there now. The last thing these borderland people need is foreign military interference. Really these populations are country folk whose life is centered on Allah!
Families, women children and rural clansmen who are strong and healthy too survive as they do. The Pashtun's are the biggest of the tribal groups hovering between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They number around 40m.
Pakistan has strong democratic tendencies too. It's population is well able to make good choices when given the opportunity. But that potential will not be reached by working with the Pakistani military or some chosen dictator like Musharef but by supporting the democratic process and human rights in Pakistan.
The policy with Afghanistan appears to be as stupid and ill conceived as most other Empire enterprises. It also seems as if the Pentagon decides with a 'We can do this Mr. President!' mentality to justify its overgrown coffers. Nothing good will come of this approach. It will only escalate fire and breed hate.
With the economic black hole underway Obama could use its spiral to revisit policy and get out fast from Afghanistan. It's possible!
The problem is that the 'democratic process' gave them Zardari, who in my mind, is worse than Musharraf and is an American puppet. He is also a crook, just like his slayed wife. the guy coul;d not care a whit about the people of Pakistan. all he cares about is how to rape the treasury once again.
Right, when the voters elect someone you don't like it is the "democratic process".
Note, I'm not defending "Mister ten percent", Zardari the crook.
I don't often agree with Tariq Ali (too mainstream Marxist for my liking), but his analysis of the CAUSES of this outrage is spot on.
I'm not so convinced of his statement that the killers had "one aim: to demonstrate to Washington that the country is ungovernable". I doubt very much if Tariq has special insight into the inner workings of their minds and their consequent motives. Possible motives include: racial and/or religious prejudice; the puritan's constant terror that someone somewhere will be enjoying life (e.g. by attending a sporting event); a desire to humiliate the political powers that be in Pakistan.
Should we, indeed, expect the perpetrators to think rationally, or logically, like ourselves?
According to Tariq Ali, "many in the country regard Zardari and his cronies running the country as US drones....." Later he writes that the failures of the Zardari government "and its inability to defend the country or its population from drones or terrorist attacks are paving the way for the return of the army to power" in Pakistan.
I am really intrigued by Ali's dual usage of the term "drones."
Tariq Ali is a respected veteran journalist of world renown, and a regular contributor to the Guardian/UK and editor of the New Left Review. At a grassroots level, do people in Pakistan actually refer to politicians seen as co-opted by US interests as "drones", interchangably with the more traditional term "puppets"?
If so, this is irony on an epic scale: the hi tech Pentagon quick fix weapon of choice for waging antiterrorist counterinsurgency warfare in urban areas in the 21st Century has already somehow morphed into a slang term for collaborating with the foreign infidel invaders.
Wow!
On Tariq Ali's major point - that the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team "was to send a clear message to Washington..... one aim: to demonstrate to Washington that the country [Pakistan] is ungovernable" - I venture some cautious reservations.
If it were a leftist US journalist advancing such categorical instant analysis of a crime pretty much still in progress, there would be knee jerk skeptical reaction that American ethnocentrism was at work. Tariq Ali knows the political, demographic and sectarian landscape of this part of the world uniquely well. But if the immediate targets were visiting Sri Lankans, and Pakistani politicians are muttering about this brazen attack being "our Mumbai", might not there be a message here that was intended primarily (or at least partially) for India?
Regardless, Tariq Ali's observation that this latest act of terrorism may induce the Pakistani Army and ISI to make a power grab inside Pakistan "as a way of avoiding a serious split within its own ranks" is very, very ominous all around.
Bill from Saginaw
Bill,
i think by "drones" Ali is referring to US military strikes inside Pakistan by Predator drone aircraft.
Bill,
"If it were a leftist US journalist advancing such categorical instant analysis of a crime pretty much still in progress, there would be knee jerk skeptical reaction that American ethnocentrism was at work. Tariq Ali knows the political, demographic and sectarian landscape of this part of the world uniquely well. But if the immediate targets were visiting Sri Lankans, and Pakistani politicians are muttering about this brazen attack being "our Mumbai", might not there be a message here that was intended primarily (or at least partially) for India?"
Why would the message be intended for India?
To clarify an issue, cricket in the subcontinent, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, is treated akin to a religion. Cricketers are idolised, they are treated as demigods. It is one of the few things that cuts across class, caste, religion, ethnicity.
Many Pakistanis have long insisted that the fundamentalist terrorists would not dare attack (foreign visiting) cricket teams / players, since doing would destroy whatever support the fundamentalists have among the Pakistani population. This is why the reaction, by people like Ali, by many many Pakistanis, is so...strong, so...despairing.
It wasn't just Sri Lankans that were attacked. It was CRICKETERS from Sri Lanka, a nation that has gone out of it's way to reach out to Pakistan. Whereas other Test cricket playing nations such as Australia have refused to play in Pakistan, Sri Lanka has deliberately played matches in Pakistan to help Pakistan not be isolated from the (cricketing) world.
edit: forgot to say, it was just a probably a lucky coincidence that the PAKISTAN cricket team wasn't also attacked. They were supposed to travel along the same route with the Sri Lankans. They got delayed by a couple minutes.
Its blowback time for Pakistan unfortunately. Decades of CIA assisted living and nurturing these very same jihadists for proxy-terror campaigns against India and Afghanistan has come back to haunt them and tear their country apart. Attempting to blame their partner-in-crime (U.S.) is not going to find many sympathizers.
There are no easy answers. Democracy, once again will be the casualty and the Pakistani people will end up facing the consequences as always. Its probably better to splinter the country at this point.
Swat Valley already has 'severe' autonomy thanks to the recent agreement, which basically gave them (islamists) full control. The secular parties in Swat have been brow-beaten into accepting the agreement.
Balochistan and Sindh will be only too happy to break away from the republic and Punjab and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir im guessing will probably be amenable to rejoin India. The Islamists already control Waziristan, NWFP and Swat. Of course Pakistani nationalists will have a cow reading this but reality has a nasty habit of biting you in the ass.
If Zardari had any sense, he'd get out before someone offs him. He's probably stolen so much he couldn't count it all over ten life times. But, like the scum of the George Wanker Bush regime, there's always one more dollar to steal, one more political enemy to screw over, one more military parade that will give him a hard-on. Mission Accomplished.
This might sound far-fetched and even ridiculous at first glance - but here's another possibility:
What if the Pakistani military, or, more accurately, it's intelligence agency, the ISI, was behind this 'attack'? The motives are clear: in the eyes of the military, the present government is at best a temporary dispensation. The military had to play along, because Musharraf was thoroughly discredited. But, with the Americans threatening to escalate in Afghanistan and Obama always talking of Afghanistan-Pakistan, the military may be feeling that it's about time to bring things 'under control'. Zardari is obviously making it easy through his corruption, high-handedness with the judiciary and his opponents, but feeble-mindedness in his dealings with the military/intellegence (as seen by his quick backtracking on his stance following the Mumbai massacre).
Circumstantial evidence:
(1) The Sri Lankan cricket team must have traveled to Pakistan OBVIOUSLY after they had been assured of complete security - so you wouldn't let this security to be handled by poor constables (one of whom says on TV that he was so scared that he actually started praying!).
(2) The TV footage is amazingly clear. I heard in passing that some TV station was nearby - or possibly TV cameras positioned to cover the cricket match. However, if the Pakistani military really wanted to get maximum mileage out of this incident (not sure if they will), then the minimum requirement would be dramatic TV footage such as what is shown - and they have it.
(3) The attackers have managed to escape so easily - but their weapons were there to be shown on TV.
(4) Quick comparisons to the Mumbai attack - thereby achieving (or hoping to achieve) the twin goals of painting the current government as ineffective AND disproving official (or establishment) Pakistani links to the Mumbai attacks and other such attacks in India - Pakistan too is a victim, you see?
Would the Pakistani military be so callous as to have their own policemen and civilians killed in order to gain some advantage? Worse things have happened by way of false-flag attacks. All I'm saying is that nobody is clean - not the government, nor their military. And of course, nor the creations of the Pakistani military/intelligence (past creations include the Taliban) - so it would be difficult to know who did it and why.
Maybe.
But, according to reports, the provincial / city police had warnings that an attack would occur. Nothing was done, apparently because the middle to upper ranks of the provincial / city police had been entirely replaced by Zardari after he had just sacked the provincial / city government that was comprised of the opposition PML.
Extremeism is alive and well in Pakistan - and has been for decades. In the early '80's the then dictator, General Zia, imported one of the most destructive things possible to Pakistan, Wahabism from Saudi Arabia. Wahabism is a virulent sect of Sunni Islam, it is the faith of choice for Saudi Arabia, the Taliban and Al Qeada. It infects the very heart of Pakistan, it has spread its tentacles throughout all levels of Pakistani society. The future for Pakistan, the region and the world is quite grim. Wahabist practioners are hardliners, fanatics even - there is no compromise.