The only thing that does not change in the Pakistani policies and thinking is their subservience to the US.
KARACHI: This is with reference to your report of May 20 titled “WikiLeaks: Kayani wanted more drone strikes”. After so many experiences and so many leaks, Wiki or otherwise, it should have been clear by now that the only thing that does not change in the Pakistani governments’ policies and the Pakistani elite’s thinking is their subservience to the US, euphemistically called ‘cooperation’.
When the Soviet military came to Afghanistan, the then military ruler in Pakistan served as a tool in the hands of the US government and a jihad or holy war was initiated against the Soviets. When the same elements started their struggle against the US, the Pakistani elite establishment took a U-turn and joined the American side. So, in both cases, they teamed up with America. Their cooperation will continue though their public posturing may change from time to time. Gilani was foolhardy enough to put it in so many words. Others, more subtle than him, continue as US stooges but try to pose otherwise.
Even Musharraf, the man who handed over military bases to the US after 9/11, tried to hide this in the term ‘logistic support’. After the in-camera session of last week, something even more ludicrous came to light: That Pakistan has no control over the Shamsie airbase which is ‘under the control’ of the UAE (though that country, according to a later AP report, has denied this). Long live the Pakistani elite ruling classes, composed of the military, the civilian politicians (almost all of them), the mullahs and the top bureaucracy.
The talk of stopping supplies to Nato forces is just an eyewash. There is little likelihood of its ever taking place without the tacit approval of the powers that be.
SH Zaidi
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2011.
