The writer is Executive Editor of The Express Tribune
It is always a good policy to take a quick look back at the immediate political history before embarking on a new democratic journey. The immediate five or 10 years do matter in any such consideration but to get a fair idea about what went wrong and what did not, it is always advisable to study the history spanning, at least, the last 25 years. There have been many events during this period that have played a significant role in determining the myriad and multifarious crises that we are now facing. But the one thing that decisively determined our current predicament was the decision of a resource-poor, dole-dependent Pakistan to wage two 10-year-long, low intensity wars, until forced in 2001, to abandon them by the events that followed the Twin Tower tragedy. Of these two wars, one we fought in Afghanistan on the side of Mullah Omar’s Taliban against Ahmed Shah Massoud’s Northern Alliance and the other, inside the Indian-held Kashmir against the Indian Army. Both these wars were being waged on our behalf by state-sponsored non-state actors.
What were we up to? Well, the US had just left the scene after the collapse of the Soviet Union and we saw in the emerging leadership vacuum in the region, an opportunity to translate into reality our long-cherished but misplaced desire of becoming a dominant player in our part of the world. And why not? To start with, only recently we had “defeated” a superpower. And the newly-independent Central Asian Muslim countries offered us a fair ground to expand our strategic influence. Meanwhile, India made our task easier by forcing us to bring out our basement bomb and put it on display to claim membership in the exclusive nuclear club. To test the waters, we had also provoked the Indians into exposing their offensive capabilities by challenging them in Kargil. The Indians did not retaliate because of our bomb but we seem to have lost forever our Kashmir case and the status of the most allied ally of the US as well, in the process.
Next, we removed the elected prime minister and then helped form the MMA — an impossible alliance of the religious parties, most of whom were not even on talking terms with one another. The idea was to install a Jamaat-e-Islami-led MMA government at the centre after the 2002 elections to make Pakistan’s hegemonic ambitions attractive enough, and therefore, acceptable to the elements leading a resurgent Muslim awakening in the Central Asian countries. Those who doubted the MMA’s ability to win enough seats to form government in Islamabad were persuaded to go along when they saw a Jamaat man winning the mayorship in the MQM-dominated Karachi.
One recalls vividly, the red carpet reception accorded to President Pervez Musharraf by the Jamaat workers on his return from the Agra talks as if he was coming back with Kashmir in his pocket. All that the Indians were asking in Agra was for us to talk about terrorism in Indian-held Kashmir in return for initiating talks on Kashmir. But we said no. Let us settle the Kashmir issue first and then alone, we said, we can consider talks on terrorism. But after 9/11, we found terrorism knocking on our own doors.
If only we had not wasted our resources on those two 10-year-long, low intensity wars; if only we had renounced terrorism when it was in our interest to do so and; if only we had not disbanded the commando company that the then prime minister had ordered raised under General (retd) Ziauddin Butt for mounting a clandestine operation to capture Osama bin Laden hiding in Afghanistan and hand him over to the US. Instead, the first thing Musharraf did after the takeover was to dissolve the commando company.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (19)
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@G. Din
If my memory serves me correctly then I think the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and Dr. Najibullah ruled until 1992.
@gp65
It would be pretentious for any other party but the Afghans to take credit for defeating the red army. Millions of Afghans perished in this war and the Afghan Mujahideen are the only party deserving of any glory. I am just stating the obvious and debunking myths propagated by quixotic fools that suffer from delusions of grandeur.
@Zalmai: Brilliant comment.
@Zalmai: "... financially the Russians could not afford to support Dr. Najibullah’s regime in Kabul once the U.S.S.R disintegrated." Disintegration of USSR took place after the fall of Dr. Najibullah because Soviet Union did not have the wherewithal for being an adversarial superpower and as you have said, financially could not sustain the mirage of being a superpower. @Author "If only we had not wasted our resources on those two 10-year-long, low intensity wars; if only we had renounced terrorism when it was in our interest to do so and; if only we had not disbanded the commando company that the then prime minister had ordered raised under General (retd) Ziauddin Butt for mounting a clandestine operation to capture Osama bin Laden hiding in Afghanistan and hand him over to the US. Instead, the first thing Musharraf did after the takeover was to dissolve the commando company." If only..., indeed!
Nation building as such has never been a simple exercise moreover in the context of South Asia wherein the very concept of the nation state has been adopted from the West. The concept of nationhood linked with the virtue of patriotism has undergone a unique modification because of which the nation state formation in South Asia has been different from the West. The creations of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a result of the growing Muslim sub-nationalism was an entirely different phenomena in the history of modern times. Pakistan since 1958 with the first army take over under Field Marshal Ayub Khan followed by the second coup by General Zia-ul-Haq and finally by General Parvez Musharraf on 12 October 1999 has not had a steady spell of democracy which has been their major political and constitutional misfortune and religious fundamentalism has further damaged their society to an extent that democracy has not been able to get the desired environment to develop. Although there cannot be overnight wonders and democracy will need time to take roots in The Islamic Republic of Pakistan in a rather challenging environment where religious fundamentalist groups and terrorist organisations still hold a sway in the corridors of power. The nation has to fight a rather challenging war against religious fundamentalism to make democracy take strong roots in the Islamic Republic and this certainly cannot be an easy going. This does not in any way mean that Pakistan does not have the potential to become a democracy but for the fact that they as a nations shall have to face the strongest challenges and at times their can be certain setbacks too which all have to be taken in the stride. The time has come wherein a nation must take quick lessons from the recent political developments and work towards a long term strategy in this regard. The going will be not an easy task nevertheless the sincerity of effort must continue.
"And why not? To start with, only recently we had “defeated” a superpower. And the newly-independent Central Asian Muslim countries offered us a fair ground to expand our strategic influence."
I was under the impression that Afghan Mujahideen with the help of US stinger missiles turned the tide on the Russians coupled with the fact that financially the Russians could not afford to support Dr. Najibullah's regime in Kabul once the U.S.S.R disintegrated.
Unless Pakistani troops fought in Afghanistan against the Russians, I don't see how Pakistanis can claim to have defeated a superpower. The Russians defeated themselves because they ran out of money and the will to keep on fighting a xenophobic and hostile foe.
Central Asian states were and are still under the Russian sphere of influence, which leaves little room for other players to penetrate into this region. We all know how the Tajik civil war ended and what Islam Karimov did to the IMU.
Pakistan was insufficiently imagined and that lack of imagination has produced leaders that are ambiguous and vague when dealing with the region because of an ambiguous and incoherent state ideology.
just compare the number of comments on this op-ed as against the one about the incident involving the Pakistani diplomat's vehicle in Delhi. Says a lot about Pakistan....
@Great Thinker: Excellent reply. Many thanx. Salams
@3rdRockFromTheSun: You have scored a bulls-eye with your comment. Looking back with hindsight is all we can do. How about writing about plans for the future and their implementation. Salams
The "political history" so truthfully outlined by the writer is very well known to all those who must look at it and learn from past follies to make a better future. The problem is that those people will not find anything wrong with the past, even if they accept its truthfulness. What is wrong with our political history, they will ask. Can we ever accept that Kashmir obsession is the root cause of all our ills?
@k. Salim Jahangir: The media in India never supports starting wars nor do any politicians feel that will get them votes. The politicians get votes by improving infrastructure, education, health, and more well administered fair price shops not by claiming to be agony taaqat. So India has the nuclear weapons to protect itself from China but no politician ever brags about that. This is why the Chinese aggression was handled so maturely without any bloodshed. The benefits of peace are well understood in India where clearly a lot needs to be done to uplift people.
What this author has suggested is for Pakistan's benefit ( though of course India too would benefit)) it is P akistan where50% of population is under 21 but not enough money to invest in schools. It is Pakistan who is one of the last 3 countries in the world that still has polio. It is in Pakistan that cities have a minimum of 10 hours of load shedding. To create fiscal space for health, education and infrastructure, it has to redirect.some budget away from defense to social sector needs. That cannot possibly happen without peace with India. Nt just words of peace but verifiable actions. This is not a zero sum game. Sadly there are many that would forsake progress for Pakistan if they could ensure that they are also hurting India in the process. This suits the establishment well and they can continue to drive Series 7 BMWs.
The penny has dropped long back ... but nobody has heard the dropping noise ... what a shame ...
WITHOUT PREJUDICE......... @Mr. M. Ziauddin.......Your pieces, always, have a tilt & one has pointed that out several times. Good! leave aside Afghanistan,you are asking some in Pakistan to mend ways vis-a-vis Bharat & who will give a piece of advice to those across the LOC? Bharat would always like to discuss what is in their favor,but, any sovereign state worth its name would also keep her interests foremost. Please take some time to write what we are facing in Blochistan & FATA,who are supporting & funding them.If you need incontrovertible recorded conversations,you may like to get in touch with the right quarters in Islamabad.It is because of one's candid comments that most of them are not posted just,perhaps, out of spite.One hopes that media of Bharat also gives similar advice to their establishment to turn things better.Hope ET will post these comments.
You can go back 10 years before the long wars, there is something there to regret, go back another 10 years even before that, some more regret. You can go all the way back to your country's formation, you will regret that too.
The root-cause is the hate mind-set. Correct that, and you can live peacefully. Nurture it, go deeper into the hole. Choice is yours.
Both these wars were being waged on our behalf by state-sponsored non-state actors.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Interesting concept" state-sponsored non-state actors.” like the 26/11 attackers. Does the state sponsorship not turn them into state actors?:) The cat has been out of the bag for quite some time.
One Line Summary of Paksitans History ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Having lost site of the objectives we redoubled the efforts.
Wow what a truthful, insightful and timely Op Ed by the editor of ET, thanks a lot for telling like it is. We are waging the unending wars in our brotherly country for almost four decades and not going to stop now. These blunders are at the cost of starving our own population and keeping them sick and illiterate. Hope NS has learned from his bitter experiences.
Sir, you are asking not just for a redefinition of priorities, but a redefinition of Pakistan's core ideology itself. And it might make sense to then ask if Pakistan had not invaded Kashmir in 1948, what might have been.
Sir, Thanks for speaking the truth.. " Of these two wars, one we fought in Afghanistan on the side of Mullah Omar’s Taliban against Ahmed Shah Massoud’s Northern Alliance and the other, inside the Indian-held Kashmir against the Indian Army. Both these wars were being waged on our behalf by state-sponsored non-state actors." However your establishment will never accept that its anti-India ideology is wrong and as such can never correct itself.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda...
Ah, the sweet overtones of regret!