Life in the twilight zone

Today, every inhabitant of this blighted republic has his/her own idea on how the military should defend itself.

Pakistan is passing through what is probably the worst period in its 64-year history. In fact, things have never been as bad as they are today. Though the brew has been simmering on the flame of discontent for quite some time, it was the Abbottabad assault, followed by the daring attacks on the PAF base and on the naval establishment, that was the last straw. While it triggered off deep resentment, the usual dreary predictable collage of cliches and the inevitable conspiracy theories, it also exposed the vulnerability of the Pakistan military — an institution that has always been sacrosanct and seen as the only organisation in the country that was truly professional, organised and functional. In fact, no Pakistani journalist or citizen ever officially criticised the defenders of the nation who were seen as upright citizens of sterling character.

Today, almost every inhabitant of this blighted republic has his or her own private idea on how the military should defend itself. There have been so many lies, half truths and allusions, so many conspiracy theories, so many conflicting hypotheses and assumptions,  ‘proofs’ and whispered innuendos that one no longer knows just what to believe. Was  the unarmed guy with the flowing beard who was executed in Abbottabad  really Osama bin Laden, or did the al Qaeda chief peg down from natural causes in Tora Bora seven years ago?

We will never know, and frankly most Pakistanis whose relatives have been blown up in suicide bomb blasts don’t really care. But what we do know is that Pakistan has acquired the unique distinction of becoming a pariah of the western democracies. The western press finds it inconceivable that Osama bin Laden could have lived in an eyesore mega-compound in the shadow of multiple military installations in a key garrison town without anyone in the Pakistani security establishment knowing who was living there. An American journalist went so far as to suggest that the compound was custom built for Bin Laden as a gilded cage. What is really interesting, however, is, that in spite of the tension that still exists between Washington and Islamabad, many Pakistanis would still prefer to live in America.

The impression the western media has of Pakistan could not be more uncomplimentary and unflattering than it is today. The stereotype is echoed in that caustic passage from Anatol Lieven’s book; Pakistan: A Hard Country, (Allen Lane 1011). After going through a roll call of infirmities he describes the land of the pure as “divided, disorganised, economically backward, corrupt, violent, often savagely oppressive to the poor and women and home to extremely dangerous forms of extremism and terrorism.”

However, before the ultranationalist Pakistani college lad who has been brought up on a diet of male chauvinism and Perfidious Albion breaks into an apoplectic fit he should read on, especially the part where India also comes in for a bit of a drubbing. Like the time when it’s fanatically ideological government conducted nuclear tests, threatened its neighbour with all-out war and presided over the massacre of 2,000 members of a religious minority. It has also embattled against secessionist insurgencies on its western and eastern borders and now struggles to contain a militant movement in its heartland. The difference is that while Pakistan seems to have lost all control over its international narrative, India, which was long feared to be near collapse, and was once described by Galbraith as practicing ‘functional anarchy’, has revamped its old western image through what an American writer referred to as the most “successful national re-branding” and  ‘clever PR campaign.’

The US is still anxious to maintain a working relationship with Pakistan. But this time Prime Minister Gilani appears considerably more buoyant and there appears to be a new spring in his step. Could it be because China has officially put the US on notice that any attack by Washington on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing? It is now blatantly obvious that China is Pakistan’s only real friend.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2011.