War on terror: Pakistan reminds Americans of its sacrifices, with an ad

The US govt appears to acknowledge Pakistan's support in the war on terrorism.


Agencies September 12, 2011

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: As newspapers in the United States mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government of Pakistan has tried to remind Americans of the sacrifices made by Pakistanis in the war against terrorism, by purchasing a half-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal, the largest newspaper in the US by circulation.

The advertisement, which includes a photograph of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari lists several statistics which highlight the impact of the 9/11 attacks – and the subsequent war in Afghanistan – on Pakistan. It was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

“Since 2001 a nation of 180 million has been fighting for the future of world's 7 billion,” said the advertisement. It then went on to ask: “Which country can do more for your peace?”

The ad lists several statistics and then asks “Can any other country do so? Only Pakistan ... The promise of our martyrs lives on.”

According to the ad, since September 11, 2001, 21,672 Pakistani civilians have lost their lives or have been seriously injured in an ongoing fight against terrorism. The Pakistan Army has lost 2,795 soldiers in the war and 8,671 have been injured.

There have been 3,486 bomb blasts in the country, including 283 major suicide attacks. More than 3.5 million have been displaced. The damage to the Pakistani economy is estimated at $68 billion over the last ten years.

Over 200,000 Pakistani troops were deployed at the frontline and 90,000 soldiers are fighting against militants on the Afghan border.

Foreign Office statement

The Foreign Office released a statement paying tribute to the victims of the attacks on their 10th anniversary Sunday, saying that Pakistan too was a target of terrorism.

“Pakistan joins the people of the United States and of the world in honouring the memory of all those who lost their lives on 11 September, as well as those who have been victims of terrorism around the world,” the foreign ministry said.

The cataclysmic events of September 11 dragged the nuclear power into a decade of fighting and violence that the government in Islamabad says has killed 35,000 people.

The foreign ministry statement said: “As a country that has been severely affected by terrorism, we reaffirm our national resolve to strengthening international cooperation for the elimination of terrorism. It is also appropriate that today the global community renew its commitment to uphold the noble ideals of tolerance, humanity, brotherhood and friendship amongst all peoples and its determination to work for creating a better world.”

The United States government appeared to acknowledge Pakistan’s support in the war on terrorism on Saturday, with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying that Pakistan’s action had helped keep Americans safe in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th,  2011.

COMMENTS (34)

Tony C. | 12 years ago | Reply

@Marc: Dear Marc, My apologies for picking on you. There are several more comments above with similar miss-guided statements.

`What you forgot to mention is the undisputed fact that America via the CIA, all on its own, created the so called terrorist problem which exists today, and in fact your leaders openly boasted about it when it was to their advantage.

``Now that it has gone the other way they never tire of castigating their creation, forget to mention that they created it, and pretend that they are being noble in defending their staunch citizens from some evil fate.

Further, the U.S. Government has used its terrorist creation as an excuse to send their military machine all around the world bombing, killing millions of people, and plundering resources.

Now, just to rub salt into the wound, America never tires of blaming Pakistan for the terrorist problem.

You may recall that the U.S. wanted to create Russia's Vietnam so they invented and supported the Mujahadine ( Taliban ). The Taliban turned out to be superb hit-and-run warriors with the result that Russia eventually went home with it tails between-its-legs. Now of course a few thousand Taliban are teaching a U.S. military machine of several hundred thousand how to fight a war.

Subsequently, The Taliban went over the border into Pakistan and taught other groups how to stand up to a Government that, for a few miserable dollars was allowing American crazies to bomb its citizens in huge numbers, most of whom have been women and children, on the pretext that they were terrorists. The crazies, are of course, continuing to kill women and children to this day with drone bombers. They fly at high altitudes to avoid being shot down with the result that their so-called pin-point accuracy is equivalent to a blind man driving a car.

The bottom line to this Marc is that you can continue being noble and allow your American Government to explore your private body parts every time you go through an airline checkout station, you can accept your loss of freedoms, you can go to prison whenever you disagree with American authorities. Just do not expect people from other countries to meekly bow down and accept U.S. draconian security measures such as torture and complete loss of freedoms.

Oh, and by the way, your country is going broke so you would be better off if you kept your printed, fiat, currency; do try and stop imposing your very questionable democracy on other countries, and most of all please accept my impassioned plea, in fact I beg you, do not ever rescue my country. The hundreds of thousands of deaths and total destruction of infrastructure just would not be worth it.

I feel sorry for the Pakistan Government, I think they thought that cooperating with the Americans would provide advantages for Pakistan. It obviously did not turn out the way they thought. I would not have followed the Pakistani Government's policy in this matter, but like them I could not have foreseen that American policy, and subsequent actions, could possible have turned out to be as bad as they did.

ayesha | 12 years ago | Reply

Before saving 7 billion people in the world, perhaps Pakistan should try to protect the 180 milion Pakistanis living in Pakistan who are getting cruelly blown up in school buses, sports grounds, markets and even mosques.

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