 |
|
| Politics Forum Index » Radical Politics Forum » Co-operation: A Key to Peace... |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| enayet... |
 Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 3:02 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Co-operation: A Key to Peace
By: Enayat Mehsud
We have reached such a stage that not a day passes without a suicide
bombing in one place or the other in Pakistan. Terrorists, both the
Taliban and its associated groups, have proved time and again that no
area in the country is beyond their reach. The Army Hqrs. in
Rawalpindi came to be targeted twice in a week, the latest being on
Monday. Several soldiers, waiting to pick up their salary, were
killed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit last week was greeted
with a suicide bombing in Peshawar in which more than 100 people
killed. Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and you name any place, all have
witnessed terrorist bombs, killing innocent people, children and
women.
The State has become helpless. What are our leaders doing? Interior
Minister Rehman Malik stated a few days ago that India is supporting
Taliban to create mayhem in Pakistan. The cue was taken and the
Information Minister as well as Military Spokesman are repeating the
line stating that they have found Indian arms, literature etc.
Wait a minute! Isn’t it that Taliban our creation? Aren’t we the ones,
along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, supported the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan till the last moment until the Americans decided to bomb
them out in revenge for 9/11 attack by the Al Qaida? Aren’t we the
ones who have been making deals with various Taliban groups in North
and South Waziristan to buy peace?
Why not we face the truth and take the bull by its horns? What are we
achieving by pointing fingers at India or USA or Israel when the
problem is home grown. The Govt. may get temporary respite by making
gullible people believe in external source of problem, but this will
not last long as the Taliban terrorism is not going to go by such
denials and blame game.
Our Army has been doing a good job by punishing these trigger happy
Taliban extremists in South Waziristan. This should be extended and
the whole of the frontier province needs to be cleansed up. This is
not to be seen as an act of submitting to the American diktats, but as
a matter of upholding the authority of Pakistan State in all the areas
under its control. Lest, there will be nothing left of what Pakistan
is.
This logically follows that the State should also wipe out growing
extremism and terrorism in the heart of the country, in the form of
`Punjabi Taliban’. It is a matter of serious concern when the
Interior Minister stated that various terrorist groups like the
Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Jhanvi etc. are
joining forces to take on the State apparatus. South Punjab is
seriously infected. Terrorists who were involved in attacks on the
Army Hqrs. in Rawalpindi and other State institutions in Islamabad and
Lahore are from South Punjab and have links to the Taliban. These
terrorist groups, whom we have used to bleed India in Kashmir and
other cities, appear to have gone out of control. They are coming to
attack us and kill our own children and women. Every terrorist act
and every terrorist caught in other parts of the world, Europe, US or
Africa, are traced back to their linkages to elements in Pakistan.
What is the end result? Pakistan is being branded as an epi- centre
of international terrorism. While we are successful in bleeding India,
the Kashmir militancy has come to haunt us. The Lashkar-e-Taiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammad and a score of others, who were created to launch
mayhem in India, have joined hands with Taliban and Al Qaida to do the
same to us. Our economy is on tenterhooks and it came to a stage that
we cannot survive without aid doled out by US, Saudi Arabia and other
international donors. And when the donors place conditions, our
national conscience is hurt.
The belief that the insurgency in Kashmir is bleeding India at a
relatively low cost to Pakistan has more to do with conviction than
facts. In the past ten years, India has sustained the economic burden
of its military operations in Kashmir, and its economy has steadily
grown, while the drain on Pakistan’s economy and social capital has
been considerable. In any case, given the asymmetry in resources,
Pakistan is not in a position to tilt the military balance in its
favour through its current Kashmir policy. Nor have the Kashmiris
gained from excessive reliance on militancy. On the contrary, that
reliance has become more of a liability than an asset in the present
international climate.
Beset with innumerable domestic problems, political and economic, let
us be realistic that we are not in a position to win over world
opinion. India’s preferences carry more weight, given its size,
economic resources and geo-strategic potential. In these
circumstances, Pakistan’s only promising recourse would seem to be to
discard any military option and concentrate on diplomacy, continuing
to highlight the Kashmir issue both bilaterally with India and in
multilateral forums, such as the United Nations and the OIC, while
ending all support to militants operating in Kashmir. If Pakistan
were to limit its role to providing moral and political support for
indigenous Kashmiri political forces attempting to control their own
destiny, and the Kashmiris were to develop their own strategies, they
would be in a better position to bargain with the Indian government as
well as to acquire greater credibility internationally.
More number of Kashmiris would opt for independent Kashmir if they are
given a choice, while rest of the people share opinion either in
favour of Pakistan or India. This is the fact of the matter whatever
we like to believe in. In these days of globalisation, holding of
territory is less relevant than ensuring our national strategic
interests. One of our main concerns in Kashmir is water resources,
roadways and communications with China and Central Asia etc.
What Pakistan needed to be concentrating is economic progress to give
high standard of life to its citizens. This can be best done through
good neighbourly relations with China, India, Afghanistan, Iran and
Central Asia. Through a clever display of diplomacy, it is not very
difficult to tie up internationally guaranteed schemes to ensure fair
share of river waters and other resources. Kashmir can be settled on
the basis of give and take which is already said to have gained some
momentum during Musharraf’s regime. This needs to be further carried
forward so that a mutually acceptable solution is found in the best
interests of Kashmiris, Pakistan and India. Using militancy as a
State policy to wrest Kashmir is not going to work and will only end
up bleeding Pakistan, as we are already witnessing.
Logic dictates that we both, India and Pakistan, join hands and work
together for mutual growth and economic development for welfare of our
people. We suspect each other and therefore give way to international
players like the US, UK, China and Saudi Arabia to play a mediatory
role or support us against India. Do not forget that we, the people
of Pakistan and India, are the closest to each other living together
for nearly 4000 years. Do we need these foreign countries to mediate
between us, and mind you they are not unbiased judges. They have
their own geo-strategic interests and they will never allow brotherly
relations between our two countries. Earlier we realise this, better
we are. Or else, Taliban, Al Qaida and their myriad associated groups
devour us sooner or later. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:47 pm
|
|