The News, August 6, 2006
Capital suggestion
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Henry Crumpton, America's chief counter terrorism official, says that "Pakistan is not doing enough to help root out Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders who have found safe haven in its lawless tribal lands along the Afghan border." According to Crumpton: "Most al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are in Pakistan, and while the United States did not know where Osama bin Laden was hiding, he was probably on the Pakistani side of the border."
One day after our Foreign Office asserted, "Pakistan has broken the back of terrorism" the 9/11 Public Discourse Project declared that Pakistan continues to be "a sanctuary and training ground for terrorists."
Leave the American storm aside, if only for a moment. On June 27, a seminar was held at Committee Room 16, The United Kingdom Parliament, The House of Commons. The seminar was told that the "Pakistani government has never made a serious move to develop Balochistan and to understand or rectify the sufferings and root problems of the Baloch nation. Instead, they have strengthened their military yoke to further suppress the Baloch people."
Leave the American and the British storms aside, if only for a moment. Here's the storm that our western neighbour is sending our way: Dr Zalmay Khalilzad, the highest-ranking Muslim in Bush's administration, has warned Pakistan that it must eliminate 'terrorist sanctuaries' near its border or US forces will have to step in.
Hamid Karzai, America's chief lackey in Afghanistan, has now called on our President Musharraf to "bring an end to the bloodshed".
Leave the American, the British and the Afghan storms aside, if only for a moment. Here's the storm that our eastern neighbour is sending our way: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared that the "bombers who targeted Bombay's rail system had support from inside Pakistan."
Leave the American, the British, the Afghan and the Indian storms aside, if only for a moment. Here's what the French Defence Minister, Alliot-Marie, said on July 30: "We need real cooperation of Pakistan but it seems very difficult for them."
Leave all the foreign storms aside, if only for a moment. Generals Moinuddin Haider, Tanwir Naqvi, Hameed Gul, Talat Masood, Abdul Qadir and Assad Durani claim that "due to a variety of factors, the state and society of Pakistan today face serious challenges to internal cohesion and stability. Despite the existence of elected legislatures and the prospects of the next elections, there is a deficit of trust and credibility that marks virtually all political relationships. Increasing polarisation reflects the dangerous forces of exclusion and dominance."
If all the foreign storms weren't enough, the rulers are bent on brewing another storm by manipulating the will of the people and the opposition parties are bent on concocting their own counter storm. I thought it was "Pakistan first?"
Are we -- internally polarised as we are -- in a position to bear storms both from our west and our east; from America as well as from Britain? The opposition as well as the government both need to put 'Pakistan first'.
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
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