Why is there any question of who is our friend or foe? Our enemy is foreign invasion; let it be US military, or terrorists from AQ and Taliban. No matter whom it is, Pakistan is in a dire situation, all basic questions remain same, and how do we take action against both simultaneously? Or more precisely, do we have the will and skill to do that? Do we have enough resources to face consequences in the aftermath? What will happen if Pakistan went to war against NATO forces? Will our arch rival, India try to take advantage of the situation and attack from behind? Is there any deterrent to stop India from taking that course of action? How will China or Russia, which are the other power of the region, respond?
On the other hand, there are more dilemmas, if Pakistani government denies going against NATO forces, what could be the result? Will US increase its attack frequency in Pakistan? If yes, what are going to be the consequences of increased attacks? More casualties! That will further increase unrest within the country, raising more retaliators in process.
Few further very important questions to ask are; what are goals of war on terror? Where will it be decided that war on terror has been successful? When will it finish? Each attack where civilians die increases retaliators, for sake of revenge, so how is this chain reaction going to finish?
Another thing which needs to be kept in mind is the most used slogan of USA do more, so what is Pakistan suppose to do? Keep killing its people to create new retaliators and then kill them to produce more? Is Pakistani Government willing to do that? Should Pakistani people allow that?
Lets assume for a moment that Pakistan obliges with requirements put forward by USA, what guarantee is there that International community will not base its further dictations on the unrest produced by this chain and require Pakistan to disarm itself, and roll back any military capability? Including nuclear capability also?
Lets also assume that Pakistan government, under the pressure, abides by the requirements, then what? Do you think that is what Pakistanis want? Do you think those, who have not accepted us as a sovereign country since independence, will let that chance slip? Do you think that Pakistan as a country will have any say for its future, or in world politics ever again? Is that what this country was meant to be? Is that how we were supposed to end up?
For Pakistan it is a lose-lose situation, until we decide for ourselves, for our betterment and our priorities instead of thinking about outsiders, I feel appalled to read articles and columns in newspapers, along with talk shows and chat shows on different channels. It seems that we, as a nation are confused, or let me be more precise; our think tank, if you wish to call them that, is confused. There are extreme forgivers and extreme retaliators; it seems that everyone has lost the sense of moderation. Choices which are being provided to the nation are to either accept whatever International community or in reality, US want, or go totally against it. Both in my opinion are wrong approaches.
Pakistan, in its roots is a sovereign country of approx. 180 people with a democratic government. Democracy states that it should be the choice of citizen of a country to decide what is good and what is bad for them? The foreign policy of a country should be directly proportional to what people want. Why is Government not taking consent of the nation? Why is it not doing what is best for Pakistan?
Within all this mess, the ruling elite, it seems intentionally (hopefully not), has forgotten about people of Pakistan, their natural needs, their living requirements, along with internal departments and infrastructure, education, in fact everything. Our country is in a mess right now, there is no electricity 14 to15 hours on average in a day, resulting in industries shutting down, reducing percentage of earning for normal people, and also reducing reserves of state bank, Inflation has hit all times high, prices of day-to-day products are going beyond the buying capacity of normal people. Corruption has sunk to the deepest level, people are being charged for facilities which are not even provided.
If history has taught us anything, it is that survival instinct of humans is very strong, it seems that this is rapidly becoming survival issue for people of Pakistan, and if I might say, it seems that the time for democratic revolution, which everyone is talking about is running out quite fast, it seems that end result for Pakistanis is going to be a bloody revolution, and that revolution will take out all the ruling elite, drag it on the roads and
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People are quickly coming to the conclusion that our country is in danger, from external terrorists or from internal traitors, one thing I know for sure about my nation is, when it comes to Pakistan, there is no second opinion or thought.
I think it is time for Politicians to decide whether they want to maintain their mental and financial slavery or are they going to change their priorities to honour, respect and sovereignty of Pakistan and its people before it is too late for them.
I wish we can go through this time with as little problem as possible, for that we need to involve more global players, ones which are not part of invading alliance, we also need to register our concerns in Global International forums, let it be UN, OIC or any other available, we also need to make it very clear that any invasion in territories of Pakistan from anyone, let it be a country or individual will be retaliated to the best of our powers, and whole world will be responsible for consequences. In a civilized world, sovereignty of a country is protected under UN charter, thats the basis of United Nations, can cannot be over ruled by any individual resolution.
