Opinion | 10 'outrageously unthinkable' yet pragmatic solutions to Pakistan's major problems.

[Dr. Strangelove]

@Aeronaut u r planning to throw me out of my country

and why do u think we kashmiris will decide to go for independence
@Armstrong where are u

 

[ghilzai]

I agree with most of the things but support for afghan is crucial, its got nothing to do with Islam or strategic depth, its for historical and cultural reasons.

Pakistan's support for afghan was mainly for the pukhtoons and at most times anti other tribes, this is one of the reasons that we are unpopular. Sad thing is that Pakistanis don't even know that pukhtoons are not one race but people of different races who were like minded people that created a federation.

We should not at any cost support Arabs, we should however fully support Iranians as we have historical and cultural links with them and some Pakistani pukhtoons are Iranic people and should get out out of this shia sunni mentality.


Kashmir is the choice of Kashmir people but we must very compensated for our struggle and hardship liberating azad Kashmir and defending it, in the process we lost money and blood and unfortunately nothing is free.

A strong Pakistani identity but which is inclusive of all and not just slogans of jinnahs Pakistan, we would have been free on this side of the indus with or without jinnah emerging on the scene.

 

[ghilzai]

Not recognising israel is pointless as most Arabs are in bed with Israel and are both cousins, we should happily recognise Israel and not interfere, let them kill each other and watch the show.

Afghanistan will be important to Pakistan but Pakistanis need to stop supporting factions, their support for the pukhtoons is what has turned the tables on Pakistan. Stupidity of Pakistani is they don't understand that pukhtoons are not one race but a federation of like minded tribes.

Transit route for India in to central Asia through Afghanistan is fine as ling as it does not pass through our lands of balochistan and kp, no love for Indians or indic people from start to finish.

Jihad and fighting wars for others is foolish and doesn't get you anything as there are many Muslims around the world and we are not the sole guardians.

Arab/Iran Pakistan should work for its own interests and not be part of the shia Sunni gang, and if It must then it should offer secret support to Iran as there is cultural and historic link and if course some of our people are Iranic people. No difference between a Jew and an Arab both are two branches of the same tree who only use religion for their gain.

Strong Pakistani identity but not the one that flouts jinnahs Pakistan and is inclusive of all, we would have been free on this side of the indus with or without the emergence of jinnah, am confident to say as the British were leaving we would have taken land up to lahore as historically its always been our frontier post,
Apology to Bangladesh is unacceptable as they are traitors and carried out all these acts themselves, Dravidian blood in them showed itself in 71.

 

[Amaa'n]

@Aeronaut - a very nice write up bro, and if you send me a copy of full write up too.

- Getting out of the Strategic depth will not be an easy task , not until the other two parties or shall I say 3 parties are willing to do so (Afghan Govt, India, & the Taliban). Even one of them not agreeing to the terms can put us off the balance and the whole Region, as it has been predicted & noticed in the past 3 decades.

Acting as a Facilitator in Afghan Peace process should be our last course of action, once it is done, we need to cut our strings from Taliban. Let Afghans deal with their problems, we need to put our fear of Anti Pakistan and Pro India Govt in Kabul and move on.

- As you said Pakistan should pull itself out of Arab conflicts, my dear if that happens that would be the best things out of all.
We should not limit this to Military only but the offsprings of the Military dictators too - The Civilian leadership. Let Arabs deal with their Wahabi,sunni, deobandi, shia,salafi conflicts.
Civilian Leadership needs to cut its support for LeJ ( and we all know who that could be).
- Rest of the points i agree with.

Regards

 

[Slav Defence]

If the 'ummah' can't fight for us, we shouldn't even allow them to use a Pakistani chicken for sacrifice!

@Aeronaut.

The ummah term is also not suitable for current situation,we cannot afford this concept,however we can introduce the 'Lobby system' with muslim countries and non-muslims as well:

In order to establish a lobby system,we must attempt following strategies:

-Mutual interest:

With such countries who can geographically support,eg Iran,we have already worked with China.Now if we concern about Saudi Arab then I can say that if Saudis can have healthy deals with India,then we can also carefully sustain our relationships with both Iran and Saudia.

Example:
-If you analyse the gas pipeline project you will find out that why I persisted,seeing USA's reaction over it.

-Apply neutral policy:

Create relationships on the basis of interest,if one country A has bad relationship with country B,then do not support it,country A or country B,apply neutral policy,this will produce a pressure on both countries and they will try to pull country c,(your country) by offering better policies and interests.


Enhance relationship with other countries


-Never rely on one country,since 1947 Pakistan has adopted strategy to rely on USA only,later on,they realized the collapse of interest,and developed their relationship with China,after Askai Chin event,but again repeated same mistake,by relying on China completely.


Best Regards,
Slav Defence

 

[Sher Malang]

Very well written; I agree to most of it but how long can you guess it may take to implement all that, keeping in mind other stake holders as well?

 

[Kompromat]

Hence the need for a Pakistani identity........ he is right about that..........

Food for thought: All our lives we have seen this mentality "Sindhi hum, Baluchi Hum, Punjabi Hum, Pathan Hum, Hum sub Pakistani"...... now the thing is, we forgot to emphasize who are Pakistanis????? The only recourse we gave those empty minds was "Hum Mussalman"....... and that's where the problem lies........ The Salafists, The Persians hijacked that "Mussalman" and sold their versions as our identity.....

Instead of us wiping our "Sindhi/Baluchi/Punjabi/Pashtun" heritages, we should have fostered and integrated those into the mainstream and given it cumulative identity of being a Pakistani (that these sub cultures define Pakistan)...... we made a huge mistake there!!!!

When Musharraf talked about 'Sab say pehlay Pakistan' - everyone just gave him a funny look, remember?

This is the most important point. Stay out of their mess it won't be solved in next 5 decades.

Why should we care if it doesn't get solved for another 10 decades?

Quitting Kashmir is death for Pakistan by every possible means

How? - please elaborate.

recognizing Israel is again certain death

I disagree - Israel is 'irrelevant' to national interests, if we can get some big international benefits in return for recognizing them as a state i-e NSG membership, preferential trade, i think we should have diplomatic relations with them - how do you plead?

as long as Palestine issue exists no peace in the world can come Mr clash of civilizations would continue

Palestine is irrelevant to our national interests. What can Palestine offer in return for our support?

if you want to end Jihads support than do Jihad through Army

Pakistan no longer requires non state actors for national defense. They have become irrelevant on 28th may 1998. Right now they are a baggage we need to get rid off.

you are not a superpower

We don't want to become one either.

you would have to take help of Mujahideen

We don't need anyone's help to defend our country. Those who think, we do are delusional.

Our role in OIC is more important than any other role we have to make it more active

OIC is a dead organization. Let Saudis run it the way they want to run it.

yes we have to build military muscle and for that relation with Muslim world is must

No, its not a must . We build our military gear ourselves, we have one of the best training facilities and one of the best trained armed forces in the world. We need to focus on our economy, so we can buy the gear we can't produce.

quitting Afghanistan you gotta be kidding quitting it means handing over to India our beloved enemy

Let India handle Afghans. I am perfectly fine with that. Afghanistan is not important to us the way it used to be, therefore we don't need to bleed our resources on them as much as we used to.

doing nothing in Muslim world would increase hatred and chaos in Pakistan

No, it will bring peace and stability, once we start taking care our 'our own problems'.

finally try to mend problems between Iran and Arabs you can't run away from it

Why not allow them to mend relations themselves? - Its a racist conflict they have, let THEM sort it out, if they want to go and prove who's DNA is superior - let them prove it in the battlefield as they did in Iran Iraq war- we should stay OUT OF THEIR BUSINESS.

Mr you have to support Ummah no matter what happens other wise it would be chaos in your country and you would pay the price of betraying the Ummah Sir we can't afford it any more Sir and please allow my first post on this forum too

Where was Ummah in 1948 , 65 and 71?
Do you think, Ummah is going to help us with any future war with India ? - I feel pity if you feel that they will !

First of all you can't quit Afghanistan until you want to hand it over to India

Afghans love India, whats wrong with handing it over to India? -Let India deal with Afghanistan, instead of us having to deal with them.

until whole Kashmir is liberated their is no question of referendum in Kashmir

Bhai, Kashmiris want an independent state - they don't want to join Pakistan. Why do we need to liberate them? - Why cant they liberate themselves? - Why do Pakistanis have to be killed for Kashmiris when the Kashmiris don't want much to do with Pakistan?

I want AJK to become a country. Once its done, they can liberate their Kashmiri brothers themselves, they can cope the diplomatic,economic and military blowback from India. Why should we cop it when there is nothing valuable for us?

you can't run away from Arab Iran rivalry

We can.

you have try to solve it and mediate between them

Why can't they mediate themselves? - Why would they listen to a state with a 'begging bowl' in hand ?

until Palestine issue is solved

What is Palestine? - Never heard of it!

you can't afford to recognizes Israel it would bring trouble and chaos

If the Americans allow Pakistan the membership at NSG - free trade with North America and EU. Of Course we can have an embassy from Israel in Islamabad. Israel is a nuclear armed state, why do we need another nuclear armed nation to the list of our enemies just because of a bunch of Palest

Why do Arab states recognize Israel? - Why do they recognize India but we are not allowed to recognize Israel, is Palestine worth more than Kashmir?

yes join SCO but have to more active in OIC to can't afford to quit it

I'm not talking about quitting the OIC. We just have to adapt a 'low profile' at the OIC and a 'high profile' at SCO.

yes we need to be strongest military force

Yes we do.

apologized to Bangladesh on what ????????????

For whatever they want us to apologise them for. As long as they give us the business we need, as well as normal ties.

you have to intervene in Muslim world issues other wise you would become issue one day sooner or later Ummah concept can't be avoided Mr even Turkey has failed to do so some things are bigger than business and that is Islam and Muslim

Turkey's pivot towards the Muslim world is only because they want to display their 'diplomatic muscle' to the EU, so that the EU can induct Turkey into Europe. They need to prove themselves worthy of the EU membership by 'displaying regional influence', which is the leverage they hope to trade with the EU in return for a full membership.

yes review relation with USA and have relation with whole world

We need to END our alliance with the US. Join the non aligned movement and build equally vibrant relationships with all great powers of the world, with only one focus--- 'business'.

 

[Luftwaffe]

If the 'ummah' can't fight for us, we shouldn't even allow them to use a Pakistani chicken for sacrifice!

Problem is we commoners don't allow...it is the political and so called islamic organizations like sunni-shia-deobandi-baravali dieseli mullah and all sorts of tahreeks and all the BS name tags that deal with monarchs and western supports to destroy Pakistan.

We know who is behind it but Pakistani political regimes and certain military top bass doesn't want to question arab regimes it is simple you need to be bold to tell them to the Face if they won't at the most they'll threaten you with oil sanctions tell them we've a good friend Iran and see their faces I tell ya they'll never stop oil flow again with persians it has always been a dic.k measuring contest. Truth is certain armed forces top brass and almost entire political lot is afraid of arab monarchs that's funny.

 

[Kompromat]

Very well written; I agree to most of it but how long can you guess it may take to implement all that, keeping in mind other stake holders as well?

This is an idea which will come of age one day. Pakistanis need to know that everyone with a Muslim name is NOT our concern. What happens to him,his family, his lands, his property, his liberty is 'his problem' - 'not ours'. The day Pakistanis learned this lesson, they will realize that world's 6th largest nation with 20th largest emerging market, a 100 million young people , a 40 million strong middle class, 160 Universities and world's 6th largest nuclear armed standing army 'actually doesn't need help'.

We were totally stupid to help everyone who had a Muslim name in good faith. It has only resulted in deterioration of our national unity. I want to see a Pakistan that has a 'small govt' - 'Small but potent Army' - 'Doesn't care if cluster bombs go off in other Muslim nations' - 'minds its own business' - and focuses on building an egalitarian Pakistani state of the future. The choice for Pakistan is to become one of the most powerful nations in the world by 2050 - or perish by intervening in other nation's business.

@ghilzai

I agree with some of the points you have raised. If we start thinking about our interests, frankly speaking Afghanistan is not as important for us as it was in the 60's and 70's. I am not advocating to have hostile relations with Kabul, but i'm advocating 'watered down relations, with Afghanistan according to its current strategic value in our calculus'. We should be open for a transit to India as long as they do not create problems for us or try to 'pull Chanakya on us'.

About the Pukhtoon issue, frankly speaking its for them to decide. If you want an egalitarian Pakistan as jinnah wanted to have. We would have to let go the baggage and start from zero. Alter our school systems, curriculum , media according to that concept. We need to define 'what it means to be a Pakistani' which ultimately is going to look similar to other extremely multicultural states of the world like Australia. It will be a long shot but we cannot achieve it until we fix our 'own home'.

As for Arabs and Persians. To be honest i don't love or hate either side. What i definately don't want to see is 'us Pakistanis' fighting in a conflict that is purely racist and based in religious hatred which is both historic and chronic, i personally don't see this conflict coming to an end anytime soon. We shouldn't care as long as it doesn't affect Pakistan. As for recognizing Israel, it should be 'in return' for something rendered to us. I.e Our membership at the Nuclear Suppliers Group and open unrestricted trade with N.America and EU.

We do need to apologise to Bangladesh in order to get rid of that historic baggage that we are carrying. For Kashmiris, i am fine with the Idea of an independent Kashmiri state. In this day and age, it doesn't matter how big your geographic size is, it depends on how economically strong you are. Look at S.Korea,Singapore,UAE,Norway,Sweden,Finland etc.

Peace.

 

[Kompromat]

Problem is we commoners don't allow...it is the political and so called islamic organizations like sunni-shia-deobandi-baravali dieseli mullah and all sorts of tahreeks and all the BS name tags that deal with monarchs and western supports to destroy Pakistan.

We know who is behind it but Pakistani political regimes and certain military top bass doesn't want to question arab regimes it is simple you need to be bold to tell them to the Face if they won't at the most they'll threaten you with oil sanctions tell them we've a good friend Iran and see their faces I tell ya they'll never stop oil flow again with persians it has always been a dic.k measuring contest. Truth is certain armed forces top brass and almost entire political lot is afraid of arab monarchs that's funny.

We need to deal with these elements which are more patriotic to Arabs and Persians than to Pakistan. They need to be tracked and contained.

As for the oil card, we have our strategic shale reserves that will last for 70 years, our gas reserves will last a 100 years. We are a nuclear power, we should sign a formal Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with China to build up to, 15000 megawatt capacity from Nuclear energy on top of our hydro energy potential. We can face off - all threats to hegemonize us, only if we are serious about 'survival'.

 

[jayron]

Good points Aeronaut! Just a couple of days back you called Indian foreign policy as "scavenger like" for not taking sides in Iran-Israel conflict. Glad you have realized that we don't have to take sides to be respected.

I would like to reiterate the points raised by notsuperstetious and Hyperion. Pakistani leaders should go back to drawing board to create a pakistani identity which celebrates and is proud of its diversity than trying to create a homogeneous nation.

 

[Kompromat]

Good points Aeronaut! Just a couple of days back you called Indian foreign policy as "scavenger like" for not taking sides in Iran-Israel conflict. Glad you have realized that we don't have to take sides to be respected.

In the same post i also mentioned the difference between Pakistan and India in regards to their objectives and goals etc.

 

[Kompromat]

@Aeronaut u r planning to throw me out of my country

I'm not planning to throw anyone 'out' of Pakistan. I don't even want the Afghan refugees to be sent back, because it will be a huge human disaster all over again. What i do want Pakistan to do is to 'Stop being a Muslim cop' and picking fights on behalf of others.

and why do u think we kashmiris will decide to go for independence

I think not joining Pakistan is a very strong opinion amongst the Kashmiri youth both in IAK and PAK. That is why i want to have a referendum to see how strong that opinion is. If they want AJK to be a free country, bismillah we should not have a problem with it. We will help them create a state as long as it keeps us out of the broader Kashmir conundrum with India which the new AJK state would have to deal with itself, by itself.

 

[Developereo]

Other than the very valid point about staying out of the Iran-Arab conflict and focusing on the economy, I disagree with most other points.

Identity crisis: While this concept is fashionable amongst Indians and certain Pakistani circles, it is a manufactured crisis. It does not exist. Pakistan has a governance crisis, a law enforcement crisis, not an identity crisis. Solve governance -- curb criminal activity -- and the so-called identity crisis will evaporate.

Kashmir and Afghanistan: These two are related. If we let go of our interests in these territories, we might as well let go of KPK and Baluchistan. The terrorism and separatism will mushroom thousand fold, making the last decade look like a picnic. Any "assurances" to the contrary won't be worth the paper they are signed on. The details of this domino effect are left as an exercise for the reader (hint: use an atlas).

India: Regardless of what it claims, India wants to become the hegemon for the region and beyond. That means subjugation of Pakistan and other regional countries. If India can't even dominate its neighborhood, no one will take its claims to global status seriously.

Israel: While I don't deny that Israeli lobbies in the West have the power to deliver much, it is also certain that they won't deliver anything of substance. The fact is that Israel doesn't give a damn whether Pakistan recognizes it or not, so it has no reason to "pay out" for Pakistani recognition. Pakistan's troubles with the West have gone far beyond Israel; they have to do with global superpower politics.

 

[The Deterrent]

Brilliant piece of writing @Aeronaut !