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Taliban: 60 Miles from Islamabad
US Foreign Policy: in Outer Space
The distress within the American camp is understandable. As the NYT puts it, "like Pakistan, Washington cannot afford to waste any more time figuring out the way forward - not with the Taliban 60 miles from Islamabad." Under the Taliban, as confirmed by the new wave of fundamentalist reform sweeping the Swat Valley which was conceded to them, terror reigns supreme and much of it is against women and the twin pursuits of learning and the expression of joy. America's concerns are that the Taliban is gaining not merely in strength but in the land mass available to it from which its forces can and will "launch attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan."
All this is true. What is less true is the assertion that Pakistani brass and civilian government officials do not know what they are doing or are a few peas short of a full pod. The arrogant assumption that it is only Washingtonians who know how the world should turn, apparently caught the flight from the Bush Administration to the Obama administration during that glittering inauguration. For starters, how many pundits within the State Department speak Urdu? Next, how many understand the culture within Pakistan? How many believe that the only "fix" necessary is an infusion of cash - being debated right now in Congress - and poorly thought out press releases from the rank and file of Senate committees and sub-committees? Does South Asia or any other region, or indeed, our intimately intertwined world, have any issue that can be treated in isolation, or is it not true that there should be not merely "an integrated strategy for dealing with both Afghanistan and Pakistan" but one that deals with the whole of South Asia?
I say all this because right around the corner from Pakistan, another battle is raging between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the mother of modern terrorism. Under the LTTE, thousands of Tamil people in whose name they ostensibly took up arms, have been forced to give up their children and women to be trained as child soldiers and suicide bombers respectively. They have lived in deprivation, cut off from the rest of the country where a multi-ethnic, multi-religious ecumenical society has and continues to thrive in peace. The Sri Lankan military spent a year picking its careful way through the Eastern Province, once LTTE territory, now liberated, cleared of mines, its refugees resettled and engaging in traditional industry and full participants in the political process. It is now doing the same in the North. As of today, a single stretch, 4 square kilometers in size, remains under LTTE control. A unilateral ceasefire by the Sri Lankan government two weeks ago yielded but a trickle of civilians who were, instead of being allowed to leave, forced at LTTE gunpoint to reinforce its bunkers. At the end of the ceasefire and with the breach of LTTE positions, satellite imagery shows the civilians streaming in columns toward the government run safety zone. In a few days, Sri Lanka, which has been crippled by the terrorism of the LTTE and Sri Lankans of all ethnicities who have lost innumerable lives at their hands, could be free at last of that menace. The world could be a better place.
So, why does the United States continue to speak with a forked tongue? On the one hand, it is concerned about the "fragile democracy" in Pakistan, and urges the Pakistani government to engage in an all-out assault on the Taliban. On the other, it demands that the robust democracy within Sri Lanka should submit itself to further assault by its own and, by the FBI's own definition, equally ruthless and as proscribed, terrorist organization by declaring another ceasefire and amnesty for the LTTE?
Does this not seem both misguided and supremely stupid? And as if that in itself were not sufficient, in a NYT article yesterday by Thomas Fuller (‘From Sandy Strip in Sri Lanka, Tales of Suffering,' 4/25/09) the first relatively responsible piece of reporting on Sri Lanka to come from the mainstream media in recent times, there is no mention of the United States or the United Nations offering assistance to first, aid the local medical personnel to care for the influx of refugees, or second, assist the government in its tactical strikes against the terrorists who have, thus far, refused to surrender.
What we get, instead, is the ongoing cry that the Sri Lankan government grant more visas to foreign doctors. Even the physicians interviewed for the piece are foreign. This, even though Sri Lanka has a thriving free public health care system with highly trained medical professionals, a large number of whom are now involved in providing care to the stricken in the North and almost all of whom speak English and have access to telephones! It is a cry echoed by the Clinton State Department even though its parent organization, the Obama Administration, has since of late, clamped down on visas to foreign nationals seeking employment here, including those foreign nationals who are students in American universities at the present time!
The golden rule for writers, "show, don't tell," applies to foreign policy as well. If President Obama wishes to have a coherent foreign policy, he should not make the mistakes of his predecessors of having good terrorists and bad terrorists. There should be no concessions made to terrorists and every concession made to civilians and to democratically elected representatives of those civilian populations. In other words, if he wants to be taken seriously in Pakistan, he needs to do more than pronounce its name correctly; he needs to invest in personnel who understand the country and its multi-layered tribal loyalties so that he can comprehend the thinking that goes into Pakistan's domestic policy viz-a-viz the Taliban. If he wants to engage Afghanistan, he needs to secure the faith and respect of his allies by reciprocating with faith and respect, and the strongest of those allies in the region, at present, is Sri Lanka.
It is too bad that the only statement of reason came from none other than The Washington Times in a Sunday editorial, (‘Tigers At Bay' 4/26/09), but it is perhaps just another wake-up call to our new President. If he treats his friends as foes, particularly in a climate when the might of Asia is rising - and Japan, China and India are strong supporters of the Sri Lankan government - then they may well decide that they should go ahead and deserve the label. The world may still love Obama, but there is a very thin line between love and hate.
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12 Comments so far
Show AllTamils have a nearby homeland to retreat too, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
When you strengthen the opposition by violent attacks, as often is the case, maybe it is time to stop your violent attacks.
60 miles is close but still a long way from defeating the Pakistan Army;except perhaps if the USA policy is one that causes the Army to choose the Taliban as allies against the USA.
"except perhaps if the USA policy is one that causes the Army to choose the Taliban as allies against the USA."
The Taliban was created by the Army ... they have always chosen to use the jihadis and Talibs as a tool to enhance their power. It so happens their own frankenstein is biting them in the ass right now. The Taliban needs to be stopped. The other alternative is not so much the 'nukes' as much as the devastation they will cause in Pakistani society.
http://www.counterpunch.org/fawzia04232009.html
Once again:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
commentisfree/
2009/
jan/
13/
wickrematunga-final-editorial-final-editorial
"In the course of the last few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print institutions have been burned, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories, and now especially the last."
"The LTTE is among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is for ever called into question by this savagery - much of it unknown to the public because of censorship."
"What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self-respect. Do not imagine you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the postwar era. The wounds of war will scar them for ever, and you will have an even more bitter and hateful diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity."
And,
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/
20090111/
REVIEW.HTM
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti:
" On the day MBC/MTV stations were attacked, he appeared on television making strong statements of condemnation. And he professed attacks would not cease fast. Perturbed that some assassin would wish to snuff his life out for such strong views, I sent a text message: "You were shown on TV too many times. Please be safe." The answer was a grinning Smiley and the words: "You worry too much. I am fine."
But 48 hours later, I had the misfortune of seeing a blood soaked Lasantha struggling for life on a hospital emergency bed. Seeing that I lost courage, but my heart refused to accept that Lasantha would give up so soon. Or that his injuries were so fatal."
By Mirak Raheem:
" The last time I came to Kalubowila Hospital, where Lasantha was taken to, was in August 2006 when Kethesh Loganathan was shot. Kethesh was my boss at the Centre for Policy Alternatives before he joined the Government Peace Secretariat. It is difficult not to compare the two even though they seemed to share little in common - their contrasting personalities and even perhaps in their motivations.
With their killing the similarity is thrown into sharp relief. They were in search of the truth - different truths perhaps but both fiercely determined to present to the public a counter narrative. They pursued the truth not for its own sake but in protection of critical values like democracy and justice.
In both cases they were killed in order to silence them forever. They were killed because they not only spoke out but also because they were symbols of dissent who gave strength to others yearning to challenge.
The only fitting way to honour their memory and so many others, activists, journalists, and politicians who sought to protect democracy and human rights is to not submit to the self censorship and the culture of silence."
By Frederica Jansz:
"
Lasantha was consistently subjected to legal harassment and acts of violence and intimidation since he co- founded The Sunday Leader in 1994, together with his brother Lal. In fact many such acts against him remained largely invisible to the general public, while casting a long, insidious shadow on free expression.
One incident in particular which emphasises this point is when Lasantha last year was threatened by President Mahinda Rajapakse in abusive language on the telephone. On another occasion the current government ordered his arrest but did not carry it out.
Lasantha fought against a recurring pattern in this country in relation to the exploitation of government advertising and related services to secure favorable news coverage and discourage critical reporting.
Lasantha refused to be silenced or bow down to such strong armed tactics. Including, behind-the-scenes government interference with media freedom and editorial independence.
This "soft censorship" and its pervasive chilling effects had no effect on Lasantha's style of reporting. An ardent believer in journalistic freedoms and independence "
By Kshanika Argent:
" Everyone I interviewed would greet me with, "Ah The Sunday Leader! Which dirty politician is Lasantha exposing this week?'
I watched people move around like ghosts at Kalubowila Hospital, hearing snippets of conversation. "He's dead. He's dead. I said he's dead!' mutters one lady quietly on the phone to someone who either couldn't hear or refused to.
I was standing around like everyone else, in shock, amongst the Police and STF there safeguarding the politicians who dropped by.
Many walked passed me muttering "What good are they (the police) now? He's gone. Too little too late..."
" As I write this, my mind wanders back to the words a man said to me at the hospital. I never got his name.
Shaking his head he muttered, "He did so much no? For freedom, for our freedom." He looked at an STF guard standing a few feet away and the words said still ring in my ears. "Funny how things turn out. After all he did for us, we're still whispering in corners." I like to think those cops were laughing at the irony. "
By Qadri Ismail:
" Last year, J. S. Tissainayagam was merely imprisoned for expressing his opinion. Keith Noyahr and Namal Perera were brutally assaulted. This year, just a few days after capturing Killinochchi, Lasantha Wickrematunge is killed for the same crime."
"
And our powerful might well be reminded, today, of Ranasinghe Premadasa. Unburdened by a war in the north, his once popular government terrorised the south. It killed hundreds of Sinhalese, including my good friend the journalist Richard de Zoysa.
At Premadasa's death, the people celebrated with fireworks. "
Also,
By Nirmala Kannangara and Arthur Wamanan:
" A little over 48 hours after the MTV/MBC network was completely damaged by a well organised gang of about 20 people, Lasantha Wickrematunge who was on his way to office was shot in broad day light amidst many onlookers. Three hours later he succumbed to his injuries while undergoing surgery at the Colombo South Teaching Hospital."
By Jith Wijeyesekera Chairman Ranjan Wijeratne Foundation:
"
Whilst we do have a different opinion of the attitude towards the war and its operation to the views expressed by your newspaper, in the past he has allowed our critical comments to be published. We know that he encouraged freedom of speech and media rights. It is because of this stance that he paid a heavy price.
We hope that despite this setback that you will continue. We fully support media freedom but we will challenge you if it is necessary but we will do so with a pen, NOT with a gun. Those who sow the wind will always reap the whirlwind — ask Prabhakaran."
By the High Commission of India,
"This deplorable incident comes in the wake of the series of attacks on and intimidation of media organisations and personalities in Sri Lanka including the recent bombing of the studios of Maharaja TV. We hold media freedom as an essential element of any democracy and such attacks are detrimental to the idea of democratic freedom in Sri Lanka.
We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate these attacks fully and bring the perpetrators of these reprehensible attacks to justice."
And furthermore,
English speaking Sri Lankan doctors,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
world/
2009/
apr/
19/
tamil-tigers-sri-lanka
""Most of the people have shell blast injuries and gunshot injuries. Some people have lost their limbs, other people have lost other parts of the body, some people have wounds in the abdomen, some in the chest," said Gnana Gunalan, a doctor who treats the flood of casualties as they arrive by Red Cross ship."
""Most of the people have shell blast injuries and gunshot injuries. Some people have lost their limbs, other people have lost other parts of the body, some people have wounds in the abdomen, some in the chest," said Gnana Gunalan, a doctor who treats the flood of casualties as they arrive by Red Cross ship."
"The doctor said the accounts of the evacuees appeared to support previous claims from doctors in the no-fire zone that the shelling had not come from Tamil Tiger positions in the zone."
"Gunalan - who is based in the town of Trincomalee, surrounded by heavy Sri Lankan army security - said that the field hospital at Pulmoddai had treated 1,468 casualties among the 5,456 people evacuated by sea from the no-fire zone in the last month. Doctors say most of those killed have been buried near where they died and there has been no attempt to bring out the bodies."
" Two regional health directors, defying government instructions, have described at length the extent of the unfolding humanitarian disaster.
One, Thangamutha Sathiyamorthy, told the Observer on Friday that civilians were still being killed and injured by shelling inside the zone. He also said there had been a number of attacks by helicopters. He said the previous day, five people had died in the hospital from their wounds and a child of 13 had perished from the effects of diarrhoea."
Many years of bad US policy towards Pakistan, starting with the unabashed support of General Zia (who opened the Pandora's Box of Islamic fundamentalism with the introduction of Sharia & whom pandered to the worst excesses of the ISI), and through the Musharref error, to the current mess of now, has come home to roost in a spectacular manner that any student of the law of unintended consequences would marvel at. Considering the Pakistani elite (a feuding group of medieval landlords) have long used those whom now comprise their Taliban, Pashtun tribesmen, as shock troops against India (they utilized as such in the first war over Kashmir); they are quite willing to grant them considerably autonomy. Now it would appear as if their shock troops have now figured out that their putative paymasters are so dysfunctional that they have now realized that the country is virtually theirs for the taking.
I find this article uninformative, sensationalist, and inappropriate for a "progressive" website. It presents a one-sided view, conflating different conflicts to achieve a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the reader. The author took a page from the neocon play book, 'we will not negotiate with the terrorists!' Sure, violence is difficult to justify, on any side. Yet, where is the context? The fighting in Sri Lanka is an old *political* conflict. There is an unspoken bias here that is offensive to my intelligence. It would be nice to see this article removed and replaced with something of substance. I would recommend yesterday's article by Mitu Sengupta at counterpunch.com
Why, that is so progressive! Let us bring in an Indian to comment on Sri Lanka since she must know so much more!
"Sri Lanka, which has been crippled by the terrorism of the LTTE and Sri Lankans of all ethnicities who have lost innumerable lives at their hands, could be free at last of that menace."
This puerile statement is enough reason to discard the article randomly. Even if the LTTE is crushed Tamil resistance will never die until the vicious Sri Lankan State ensures the rights of Tamils on an equal footing as others. Demonizing the LTTE (while apt) only serves to side-step the burning issues of the day.
rfloh's links to the intrepid Sri Lankan journalist's (Lasantha's) life and death are a must read to understand the insidious nature of the Sri Lankan government.
As for Pakistan, decades of U.S. and Pakistani Military/ISI co-operation have brought South Asia to the brink of disaster. The blame rests squarely on American shoulders. No amount of hand-wringing about the Taliban can allow Americans to shirk the blame. U.S. concerns (or lack of) of Pakistani democracy is an eyewash calibrated to serve its own interests.
More crusades. Conservatives are all set for permanent war.
Hillary Clinton's concern that Pakistan was "abdicating to the Taliban"
Okay, tough guy . . . then go in there and clean 'em out! Saddle up, you maggots! Ya wanna live forever? Show 'em who's boss! Tell 'em where to head in! This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and'll blow your head clean off. Go ahead, make my day! All you need is a flight suit and a pack of Luckies. Mission Accomplished. Bring back the draft. Conscript every swinging dick in this country between the ages of 18 and 25. FTA! Put 'em all in the Corps. Train 'em real good. Then go over to Pakistan and kick butt!
LOL ! Actually its much simpler than that. Cut off the billions of $$$ that we have sanctioned to the Pakistani Military. They will come crawling back and we can hopefully make them do it instead !!