An unholy mess

Not only Pakistan state is complicit in gunning down child, its politicians pander to terrorists to garner votes.

The mighty Pakistan Army, the government of the failing, flailing republic, the Taliban, drones, Imran Khan and Malala Yousufzai — they are all linked in more than one distressing way.

Imran Khan’s ‘peace march’ was ostensibly a protest against the drone strikes which the US can turn off and on at will, for instance off after Salala, then on again when things settled. That the ‘march’ came to an abrupt halt is the doing of the Pakistan Army, which halted the caravan of high-priced SUVs on the excuse that the militants, i.e., the Taliban, had planned attacks against it. This was despite the fact that days earlier, we had read press reports telling us that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fully supported Khan’s anti-drone protest. The helpless government naturally went the army’s way.

What has Khan’s ‘march’ or rather, drive through the countryside, done for him internally? Precious little apart from — we are told — attracting crowds along the way, providing some excitement in the lives of the inhabitants of the towns and villages through which it passed. It has also aroused the ire of many a commentator. He has been accused of being a dangerous demagogue and of pandering to the Taliban for whom, in the past, he has expressed what could be termed a soft corner. But then, in the early 1990s the PPP’s interior minister, Nasirullah Babar, referred to the Taliban as his government’s ‘children’.

As for being a demagogue, his credentials are not that brilliant. The tsunamis of Lahore last October and of Karachi in December seem to have come somewhat too soon and since then, have not been heard crashing against the shoreline. And this latest foray can barely have been a vote catcher.

If any remnants of sympathy for the main bane of Pakistan — the TTP — remain with Khan, they surely should have been washed away by the TTP’s latest claim to reprehensible fame: the horrifying shooting of the 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai in the said-to-be relatively safe, army-protected, Swat area.

That the army and the government don’t do much to take on the TTP is disgusting, so much so that one is lost for words. Not only is the state of Pakistan complicit in the gunning down of a child, but it is also complicit in allowing the arrest, detention and uncertain future of another teenager hauled up on a false charge of blasphemy. What an unholy mess all concerned have conspired to make of the entire country.

Back to drones. If Imran Khan imagines that his histrionics can make an iota of difference to the US drone policy, he should think again. His short drive-by may have made far more waves in the international media than it did at home, but that is about all there is to it. We must revert to WikiLeaks and the famous remark of the former prime minister about publicly denouncing the drone programme but in reality, turning a blind eye to it.

In a September 16 Wall Street Journal report: “About once a month, the Central Intelligence Agency sends a fax to a general at Pakistan’s intelligence service outlining broad areas where the US intends to conduct strikes with drone aircraft, according to US officials. The Pakistanis, who in public oppose the programme, don’t respond.

“On this basis, plus the fact that Pakistan continues to clear airspace in the targeted areas, the US government concludes it has tacit consent to conduct strikes within the borders of a sovereign nation, according to officials familiar with the programme.”

Pakistan is not against drones, per se. Interior Minister Rehman Malik of the natty neckwear on his return from a recent visit to Washington declared that he had asked that Pakistan be given its own armed drones, saying, “if we are given drones, we will use them responsibly ...” Hah-hah!

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2012.