A note for America’s apologists

[Leader]

A note for America’s apologists

The definition of insanity according to Einstein is to keep on doing the same things and expecting a different result. As the political literature fad goes, writers relish pen lashing a topic that blows apart any school of thought not conforming to the narrative developing in the media. In Pakistani journalism today, the best way to assure print space is to write an anti-Imran Khan article based on the theme that he is a Taliban apologist and then proving how life without the US is going to be a mad hatter’s party. The conclusion of all this debate is that drones and Nato supplies are a desperate populist cover-up for the PTI’s desire to get out of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

As far as providing alternative solutions to this problem are concerned, they suggest military operations, continuing with IMF/US funding as Pakistan has to abide by MoUs to save the economy, and continued pressure on the US to stop drone attacks. Each of these solutions has been tried, tested and has failed. Military operations have been going on in Fata for almost a decade. If military operations were the answer, then the problem would have been solved a long time ago. Fata has 100,000 troops on ground, with almost 11,000 bomb sorties being thrown at the suspects to date and yet, militancy has increased multifold.

Both the US and the Taliban have used drones for their own self-interest. For the US, it is the control of this region and a sales market for their 94 billion dollar drone industry. For the terrorists, it is the jihadi narrative being used by them to convince innocent people to lay down their lives against US designs. Thus, drones, either way, are being used to take thousands of innocent lives, besides now being declared war crimes by all international reports. All the political parties and analysts agree they are a violation of our sovereignty, so what is their solution? None. All over the world, injustice is tackled progressively through talks, protests and pressure tactics that make the other party feel the pinch as well. Nato supplies are the only pinching point we have on ground. It may not stop the US from droning Pakistan but it will certainly send a stronger message than merely conveying a condemnation to the US envoy. Recently, when India violated our territory and shot down our people on the border, we condemned it and put pressure by holding back the MFN status that we were about to award them and later, we shot down their soldiers. So, if these steps are fine for India, why not for the US?

The rationale given by the US apologists will be that India does not give us aid while the US does; and as the political parties very shamelessly say on talk shows, beggars cannot be choosers. Let me clarify the picture on whether the US is providing us aid or we are providing aid to the US. According to government estimates, the war on terror has cost Pakistan $90 billion since 9/11. According to reports published between 2002 and 2010, the US Congress approved $18 billion in military and economic aid from the US. However, the Pakistan treasury only received $8.647 in direct financial payments. Add the $1.5 billion from the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill and we have received barely $10 billion while we have spent $90 billion for the US war on terror. It is the US that actually owes $80 billion to Pakistan. According to the latest study of Congressional Research Services published July 1, 2013,“International, particularly US, military and civilian aid has failed to improve Pakistan’s performance against jihadi groups operating on its soil or to help stabilise its nascent democracy. Lopsided focus on security aid after the 9/11 attacks has not delivered counterterrorism dividends, but disturbed control over state institutions and policy, delaying reforms and aggravating Pakistani public perceptions that the US is only interested in investing in a security client.”

As far as the IMF is concerned, the alternative is there. Only 0.8 million people pay their taxesand if we broaden our tax net to include the data of 3.2 million taxpayers provided by the Federal Board of Revenue, the indigenous tax potential is about $3 billion. But the government either believes in doing nothing or doing exactly as they have always done, leading to exactly the same results. Like Hamlet, the choice for us is, to be or not to be a status quo worshipper.


A note for America’s apologists – The Express TribuneA note for America’s apologists – The Express Tribune

Brilliant Andleeb, you nail it in amrike apologists and libidos !

 

[niaz]

JI has always been an anti-Pakistan State party with profound and openly declared love for the Taliban killers. Currently PTI is allied with JI in all things relating to Taliban. In fact Imran Khan has gone a step further than JI in his admiration for the Taliban murderers evidenced by his declaration that Talban should be allowed to open an office in Pakistan. Indirectly legitimizing Taliban and their criminal allies. Therefore I don’t think Imran Khan is a Taliban apologist, he is a Taliban lover.

Regarding whether I or other moderate liberals are US apologists or not? Is a matter of opinion? If you call someone who is concerned that State Bank has only about a months’ worth of FE Reserves left with the US dollar is now worth 110 Pk Rs; and I think that myopic belief that once drones stop everything will be ‘hunky dory’ is an indication of immaturity coupled with extreme naivety; a US ‘apologist’, than I am indeed one.

But does any of it makes a difference to the man on the street? People with no jobs and no prospect of one on the horizon are worried more about where the next day’s bread is coming from rather than who is Taliban apologist or who is US apologist.

However if Imran Khan in cohorts with his anti Pakistani JI attempts to give even inch of Pakistan to Taliban scums; accepting any one TTP demands mean exactly that; I will and all moderate US apologists will resist it thru all means available with us.

 

[Leader]

JI has always been an anti-Pakistan State party with profound and openly declared love for the Taliban killers. Currently PTI is allied with JI in all things relating to Taliban. In fact Imran Khan has gone a step further than JI in his admiration for the Taliban murderers evidenced by his declaration that Talban should be allowed to open an office in Pakistan. Indirectly legitimizing Taliban and their criminal allies. Therefore I don’t think Imran Khan is a Taliban apologist, he is a Taliban lover.

Regarding whether I or other moderate liberals are US apologists or not? Is a matter of opinion? If you call someone who is concerned that State Bank has only about a months’ worth of FE Reserves left with the US dollar is now worth 110 Pk Rs; and I think that myopic belief that once drones stop everything will be ‘hunky dory’ is an indication of immaturity coupled with extreme naivety; a US ‘apologist’, than I am indeed one.

But does any of it makes a difference to the man on the street? People with no jobs and no prospect of one on the horizon are worried more about where the next day’s bread is coming from rather than who is Taliban apologist or who is US apologist.

However if Imran Khan in cohorts with his anti Pakistani JI attempts to give even inch of Pakistan to Taliban scums; accepting any one TTP demands mean exactly that; I will and all moderate US apologists will resist it thru all means available with us.

you are actually a confused person. you always seem to use vulgar generations based on your fraction's stereotyping, although alot of your segment's people who are liberal and moderate think otherwise, like this sensible lady Andleeb, but you like to take on things religiously. hardly any difference between your kind and taliban.

and lastly Imran Khan is nothing but Pakistani and Pro-Peace.

 

[VCheng]

The $90 billion dollar "cost" claimed in the article is well-known to be misleading. The rest of the article falls apart spontaneously after that quite easily.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[niaz]

you are actually a confused person. you always seem to use vulgar generations based on your fraction's stereotyping, although alot of your segment's people who are liberal and moderate think otherwise, like this sensible lady Andleeb, but you like to take on things religiously. hardly any difference between your kind and taliban.

and lastly Imran Khan is nothing but Pakistani and Pro-Peace.

I would not lower myself to name calling and I respect Hon Leader too much to get into a pointless slinging match.

7.6-million Pakistanis voted for PTI, this included some of my friends and even family members. Therefore I don’t deny that Imran Khan has charisma and has managed to seduce some very intelligent persons such as Assad Omer into alliance with the anti - Pakistan Jamaat Islami.

My disappointment with PTI leader has turned bitter when it appears that even murder of 3 of his MPA’s would not detract him from his pro-Taliban stance. It is ironic that when older generation such as I try to argue in favour of Quaid’s Pakistan, we are shouted down as 'Confused' and bigots of Jamaat Islami are embraced with enthusiasm instead.

Suppose no one can stop people mindlessly following Taliban Khan as children of Hamlin followed the ‘Pied Piper’ of the myth. I am however not very eloquent. Following article by a professional columnist better describes my view point.


A darker shade of green
IRFAN HUSAIN

Published 2013-11-30 07:37:16

FINALLY, Imran Khan has become a true politician: he has learned the art of deflecting expectations by shouting slogans about a non-issue.

This is not to suggest that drone attacks don’t matter. However, when set against the magnitude and number of the problems Pakistan faces, the damage inflicted by American unmanned aircraft pales into insignificance.

Considering the long list of promises Imran Khan made before the elections, his hysterical anti-drone campaign would make it seem his party was elected for the sole purpose of stopping drone attacks.

Yet, for all the sound and fury produced by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ruling party, the province’s problems of terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, overpopulation and disease have not disappeared.

But the PTI is not alone in ducking the tough problems, and raising the Islamic/ nationalist banner. Virtually every party promises voters the moon, and as soon as it is elected, leaders divert attention towards irrelevant matters.

And a gullible public, their passions whipped up by a conniving media and ignorant clerics, quickly hits the streets, repeating slogans like: “Drone hamlay bund karo!” (“Stop drone strikes!”) As an outlet for pent-up hysteria, I suppose this works, but it isn’t any substitute for meaningful policies and actions to address our vast range of problems.

However, if a relatively pragmatic politician like Nawaz Sharif is frozen into inaction, I suppose we can excuse Imran Khan and his reactionary allies for preferring street protests to the hard slog involved in providing decent governance.

Given the depressing track record politicians can boast of, what do they compete over in their quest for public support? As we are seeing, the fight is increasingly about capturing the conservative vote in a country that has turned intensely fundamentalist over the last three decades.

In this competition over who’s the holiest, the mad scramble for the extreme right pushes common sense out of the window. So if Imran Khan orders his immature followers to block Nato supplies, how does Munawar Hasan of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Khan’s coalition ally, top this, apart from joining the anti-drone protests?

He raises the stakes by calling Hakeemullah Mehsud, the psychopathic mass murderer, a martyr. And in the Jamaat chief’s book, Pakistani soldiers who have fallen in battle defending us cannot be shaheeds because that title is reserved for terrorists.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not to be outdone in the lunacy sweepstakes, promptly joins the fray by declaring that even dogs killed by American drones are martyrs.

Nawaz Sharif, although clearly uncomfortable at having a provincial government setting the foreign policy agenda by blocking supplies destined for our friends in Nato, is forced to act with restraint bordering on complicity. He cannot afford to alienate his own right-wing supporters by cracking down on the goons taking the law into their own hands in KP province.

Imran Khan’s latest stunt is his party’s release of the name of the CIA station chief in Pakistan. He is in the happy position of acting like a spoiled child nobody is going to punish for his tantrums.

By behaving so irresponsibly, he is poisoning Pakistan’s relations not just with the US, but with other Nato members who have nothing to do with the drone campaign.

The army, once the standard-bearer of the faith in Pakistan, now faces hostility from those it counted as its allies. For years, both the Taliban and the Jamaat were supported by the generals who regarded them as auxiliary forces for both military and political support. And there has been much speculation about Imran Khan’s late-blooming links with the army.

So with everybody claiming to be the purest believer, who can really lay claim to be the true champion of the faith? Logically, the most extreme group should win this contest; and that, without question, are the Taliban. Who else has such a voracious appetite for death and destruction in the name of Islam? Although others may match its rhetoric, nobody comes close in terms of sheer brutal violence committed in the name of the faith.

And by elevating the dead Taliban leader to the status of a martyr, the Jamaat and its ilk give the jihadis legitimacy and public acceptance. Fanning the dangerous flames of this mindless extremism is an irresponsible electronic media, forever locked in a 24/7 struggle for viewers and advertisement revenues. As the country moves in an increasingly fundamentalist direction, the few secular parties become more and more irrelevant.

From being the national party of the poor, the PPP has become the party of Sindhi feudals and urban dacoits. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement hangs on to its Mohajir base by hook or by crook. Mostly by crook, actually. The Awami National Party has marginalised itself by its corrupt and inept rule in KP these last five years.

And that, sadly, is the extent of secular parties in Pakistan. The left is virtually non-existent, largely by virtue of its own bickering and infighting.

With few liberal, rational role models, the young are easily seduced by well-organised, self-confident right-wing parties. Propelling them on their upward trajectory is a reactionary media that is increasingly setting the agenda.

It speaks volumes for the changes taking place in Pakistan that the army is now viewed as a secular force. For decades, people in my generation saw it as the biggest obstacle to political and economic progress.

Now, because it is finally convinced of the existential danger extremists pose, and is the only force capable of fighting them, it is attacked by the assembled forces of the right.

As this competition to prove their Islamist credentials escalates, the gap between the views of the Taliban and right-wing parties grows narrower. Short of sending out suicide bombers, the one-point agenda of ending drone attacks unites the various religious parties. Ironically, they are supported by the left in this campaign.

I suppose this is the logical outcome of creating a state in the name of religion.

irfan.husain@gmail.com

A darker shade of green - DAWN.COM

 

[Leader]

I would not lower myself to name calling and I respect Hon Leader too much to get into a pointless slinging match.

76-million Pakistanis voted for PTI, this included some of my friends and even family members. Therefore I don’t deny that Imran Khan has charisma and has managed to seduce some very intelligent persons such as Assad Omer into alliance with the anti - Pakistan Jamaat Islami.

My disappointment with PTI leader has turned bitter when it appears that even murder of 3 of his MPA’s would not detract him from his pro-Taliban stance. It is ironic that when older generation such as I try to argue in favour of Quaid’s Pakistan, we are shouted down as 'Confused' and bigots of Jamaat Islami are embraced with enthusiasm instead.

Suppose no one can stop people mindlessly following Taliban Khan as children of Hamlin followed the ‘Pied Piper’ of the myth. I am however not very eloquent. Following article by a professional columnist better describes my view point.

I am already looking down at you, you need to raise yourself up to talk to me, and you are right when you take me up as "honourable".

you are like I said confused person, and follow stereotyping of your religio segment.

It is evident from PTI's stance that its pro-peace but to war mongers like you, it is either with us or against us, well sorry to disappoint your kind, we are and we will always be Pro-Peace.

I know when your kind says Quaid's Pakistan it means Syria, bug off, it aint happening, this is Pakistan and it will be Quaid-e-Azam's Pakistan, not some bigot sectarian shittt taking over, be it yours or talibans !

and lastly Imran Khan is only Pakistani and Pro-Peace. eat your hearts out haters !