Omar1984
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- Sep 12, 2008
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JUST when one thought the Pakistan government, and especially the Pakistan military, had decided to see sense and refrain from committing to an operation in NWA, Foreign Minister Qureshi reveals that all is ready for exactly such an operation with 34,000 troops already deployed. The only thing is when the operation would begin – and that is the only decision that seems to have been left to the Army. So, once again, our rulers have succumbed to US pressure and will embark on another series of killings in NWA – that is, against more Pakistani citizens – at a time when the US is itself begun to move towards talks with the Taliban. In fact, NATO itself has been ferrying the Taliban to locations in Afghanistan in preparation for such talks and US Envoy Holbrooke has formally stated that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won militarily and talks with the Taliban would take place.
While one can understand this particular government’s desperation to prostrate itself before US diktat, it is inexplicable why the Pakistan Army would agree to undertake operations that will neither bring stability to the country nor resolve its own terrorism problem. All that will happen is that there will be more civil-military antagonism, especially in sensitive areas of the country. Meanwhile, the US will also succeed in isolating Pakistan from all Afghan Pushtuns fighting the US occupation forces in Afghanistan. So the US will talk to the Taliban while weakening them politically and shift the centre of gravity of their unsuccessful war into Pakistan’s FATA region while they make their exit.
Surely the Pakistan Army cannot be so ready to compromise the security and stability of the country for a few weapon systems from the US – especially when even these will not be state of the art and will be subject to use restraints by the US. The Americans have already informed the Indians that the weapons they will sell to Pakistan will have their assurance that they will not be used against India.
While there are serious question marks over the outcome for Pakistan of the just-concluded Strategic Dialogue – with no movement forward on a possible debt write-off , ROZs and market access – it would appear that once again the US got exactly what it wanted from this Dialogue. And the worst of it is that simply to renew what are dubious bonds with the US, the Pakistan military has conceded to undertake the NWA operation simply to help the US in its dialogue with the Taliban just as it had earlier shown its complicity in the drones policy which has killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis. It is time Pakistan’s decision and policy makers reverted to looking after Pakistan and its people’s interests first.
