How would the most dangerous nation look like?

Terrorism is defined as calculated use of violence for achieving goals that are political and ideological in nature

The pattern continues. Pakistan bends backwards to appease America and in return America insults and humiliates Pakistan. Pakistan allowed Raymond Davis to escape to safety and then the US violated Pakistan’s sovereignty in its hunt for Bin Laden. The very route where Pakistan allowed US and Nato convoys to enter Afghanistan for much needed supplies for the occupying army becomes the site of the Salala attack where young Pakistani soldiers were killed in the US firing.

The widespread enforced understanding of a dangerous nation is a country which has nuclear weapons that can fall into the hands of men and women that want to bring harm to the innocent people around the world and want to shape the global political landscape according to their ideology and interests. You could easily understand the above to be hinting at Al Qaeda or the Islamic State getting their hands on Pakistani nuclear arsenals but you’d be wrong. Because the above is actually the situation in the US.

The most dangerous nation would nurture and support a fanatical religious ideology in order to weaken another strong rival state. I am not talking about Modi supporting the saffron headscarves wearing lunatics hell bent on hating Muslims and Pakistan. I am rather talking about the US which, for the most part of Cold War, supported Islamic jihadist parties around the world in order to weaken the communist strongmen. In Afghanistan, the violent jihad by Bin Laden and others was financed, broadcasted and glamorised by the US. The University of Nebraska published books on jihad where the goal was to convince the young Muslims of hating and killing the infidels. Sounds dangerous yet?

Every time a US president opens his mouth, he issues a threat. Presidents Trump famously boasted of having s larger button in his office which would trigger a nuclear armed attack against North Korea. President Obama always talked about having all options on the table including an armed attack against Iran while dealing with ending that country’s centrifuges. President Bush used the most destructive weapons while invading and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. The justification for the invasion of Iraq was the fictional WMDs which, by the way, were actually found and even inhaled by the US soldiers there except they were not Saddam’s but rather the American chemical agents given to him many years ago for use against the Ayatollahs of Iran.

Terrorism is defined as the calculated use of violence for achieving goals that are political and ideological in nature. If you apply that definition then every post World War II American president qualifies to be a leading terrorist. And whether nuclear, conventional or economic, the most dangerous weapons are in the hands of these suit wearing, clean shaven terrorists and they have an impeccable resume of using these weapons against innocent people including half a million children in Iraq.

The most dangerous country would look for war where it should have no business such as in Ukraine. The most dangerous nation would believe that they’re invading distant lands because those people needed freedom and democracy. The most dangerous nation would monitor every move that its citizens make. The most dangerous nation would have embassies all around the world for the almost sole purpose of spying, creating chaos, and making regime change there.

Pakistan has not invaded a single country. It rather provides the most number of soldiers to peacekeeping missions. The very rift between Pakistan and America right now is that America wanted war partnership with Pakistan, and Pakistan said that it would only participate in peace.

Only mentally challenged people who can’t find their way out of a stage, who can’t even manage to wear their jacket, and can’t finish a sentence without making a mistake would call a country like Pakistan the most dangerous nation.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2022.

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