Summer suits, UN and New York 'idiot'
By Anjum Niaz
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting
Come summer and the Sharif brothers are swathed in western suits, buttoned-down shirts and designer ties. Is the PPP shiny-suit syndrome rubbing off against them or is it to show solidarity with the Americans by dressing like them? Don't be at all surprised if you see ANP Asfandyar Wali and his Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa gang (all nicely well-padded gentlemen) packaged in western gear or Maulana Fazlur Rehman discarding his traditional garb, including the head, sallying forth in a suit looking like a stuffed teddy!
The 'pir' of London, Altaf bhai is bursting at the belly in his blue jeans seen meeting Rahman Malik. What kind of message is he trying to relay? Smart casual? Funky? Americanised? Your guess is as fuzzy as mine. Do in London as Londoner Altaf does -- Nawaz was seen in tight-fitting jeans/slacks meeting British minister Warsi who was in shalwar/kamiz/dupatta. Mushahid Hussain Sayyed and Agha Siraj Durrani don their suits as summer sizzles. In fact, most of our portly gents sport suits today. All that's left now is for Chaudhry Shujaat to strut around in a three-piece.
This modern wardrobe make-over by our male leaders is sending my antennas up. Is it the 'T' word they are running away from? Something sure is cooking. While the Sharifs publicly denounce terrorism, their links with banned outfits date back to a decade. They are the proverbial running with the hare and hunting with the hound types. Their law minister openly toured Jhang with a leader of a banned sectarian party to muster support for the PML- N candidate who won. In return he released their militants accused of heinous crimes. Another damning report has appeared in this newspaper recently of the Tehreek-e-Taliban expanding their network around Jhang. An FIR has been filed against head honcho Dr Imran.
Donning designer suits in this sweaty heat will not wash with Uncle Sam.
But Uncle Sam should be pleased as punch to have the PPP in the saddle. They may be corrupt, callous, and reprehensible but one thing they are not is 'Friends of Taliban.' Notice the liberal air we breathe in today, dress as we like, say what we want, write what we feel, go where we like. The freedom to choose the way we live was never a part of the Sharifs and their manifesto. One felt stifled, sidelined and silenced as a woman. Their own womenfolk were mostly absent from the scene as they are today giving one the impression that a woman's place is at home and not outside the chardiwari -- Zia's blighted legacy.
However, President Asif Zardari has directly put Pakistan in the firing range by going to the UN to investigate Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Shafqat Mahmood in his last column has rightly pointed to the sting in the report on Pakistan's establishment that includes intelligence agencies and the army. A G Noorani's article in the Frontline carried a similar story. "For whatever reason this was lost to most of our TV and other commentators," says the former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan. "But it has not escaped the notice of those who understand the workings of the UN," he tells me. "This is the first UN document of sorts that directly holds responsible the establishment in Pakistan for stoking fires of insurgency in Kashmir and for links with the Taliban and proscribed groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"I had opposed going to the Security Council which was being suggested (The FO was asked to approach the UN Security Council president and the UN secretary general). I had instead suggested that Pakistan should have its own independent commission and request the UN secretary general to depute a few UN-appointed experts/personalities so that the commission has a UN dimension, which I appreciated was a political requirement for the PPP. But I also felt that it was important to avoid a situation where an international report included extraneous observations/conclusions that may have nothing to do with the tragic assassination but may have the potential of becoming instrumental in the hands of others to indict Pakistan or to push a different agenda."
You may recall when the PPP came to power in spring of 2008 Asif Zardari demanded that we go to the UN straight. Riaz resisted and was sacked on the spot. "My dismissal had generated some discussion and it was decided not to involve the Security Council. Had that been done, a resolution by the SC would have become a source of considerable mischief for us. But still the government wanted the UN secretary general to appoint the commission. The report therefore has a certain quasi-legal authority but not the same if it were to flow from the mandate of a Security Council resolution."
Enter MNA Azeem Daultana, the PPP parliamentary secretary for information. In his rejoinder to Shafqat Mahmood, he wrote a full column in this newspaper defending Zardari's decision to go to the UN. My question to him: does he know how impotent the UN is when America wants to use incriminating information against a country as happened in Iraq that is stored at the UN? Does he know that this same 65-paged UN report on Benazir's assassination pointing the finger towards our establishment/military is a permanent testimony against us which can be pulled out, dusted and used by the US and others? Daultana is not qualified to comment on such matters profound. Better for him to get briefed by the Foreign Office before penning a paean on his benefactor, the president.
The PPP wiseacres must know the propaganda against Pakistan being drummed right at this moment in America. Switch on the Fox News or read the New York Times and you'll get the picture. The "Pakistani" Faisal Shahzad's email sent to his friends four years back is being parsed and analysed in the hope of convincing the west that Islam advocates militancy. Verses from the Quran allegedly sent by Shahzad are being misinterpreted and misused for defiling the religion.
Listen, there are thousands of emails we send to friends venting everything under the sun, including our faith. We all have our bad days and good days. Instead of America branding this 'idiot' wannabe terrorist a "Pakistani," it should look deep into its own system of justice, racial equality, compassion and freedoms that it holds so dear. The west is responsible for terrorists mushrooming in Pakistan after 9/11. When our innocent citizens are dying daily in suicide attacks, not a word of sympathy or support is heard from loudmouths on Fox News. They treat it as just news and move on. We have not just one but thousands of Faisal Shahzads in Pakistan today who are plotting attacks on men, women and children around the country. We are fighting our battles on our own.
What stunning success the Pakistan Army has achieved is hardly being highlighted by our politicians, intellectuals, anchors, journalists at home and abroad. So caught up are we with Zardari and cronies that Kayani is going unsung. Here's a quote from someone who worked in the army. He calls the cleanup of Swat and South Waziristan "Incredible, unachievable and virtually unknown to this day in contemporary counter-insurgency history. The full might of the US army aided by the west is still engaged in Iraq after years of death and mayhem. They want to get out of Afghanistan but they can't. And here is Kayani fighting his battles alone and winning."
Let's raise our glasses to our army and its chief and say 'Thank You.'
Email:
anjumniaz@rocketmail.com
