Saying no to drones
The use of drones, without the approval of our state, results in the continued loss of our national integrity.
The writer is a defence analyst who retired as a lieutenant-colonel in the Pakistan Army
Following President Barack Obama’s drone speech, delivered at the National Defence University Fort McNair, a US drone struck and eliminated the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Waliur Rehman in North Waziristan. The timing of the drone strike could not have been worse. Firstly, it came on the heels of a new democratic government taking over in Pakistan and second, along with the target, the drone eliminated the goodwill between the TTP and the new government, thus hijacking the prospects of a peace deal with the Taliban. If this was the “tighter scrutiny and oversight in the future US drone campaign” that President Obama referred to in his speech, then I am afraid the Pentagon has failed to spot the president’s guideline.
President Obama said in his speech that “we are safer because of our efforts”. I wish the “we” he had referred to was not just Americans but the whole world. Every drone strike that the US carries out in Pakistan leaves Pakistanis more insecure and vulnerable to the likely act of vengeance by the Taliban. It is the people in this country who bear the brunt of the Taliban’s reprisal. How can the US be so blind as not to consider this? The latest US drone strike proves only one point — US policy will continue to cater to American interests and in no way to Pakistani interests.
Elaborating the US anti-terrorism strategy, President Obama said in his speech, “we must make decisions based not on fear, but hard-earned wisdom and that begins with understanding the threat we face”. The hard-earned wisdom should have been used not only to understand the threat faced by the people of America but also that faced by the people of Pakistan. Drone strikes only suggest that the US was not interested in providing the opportunity to Nawaz Sharif’s incoming government to initiate and execute the planned peace process with the Taliban. With its persistence to use drones as a military instrument to attack and degrade our sovereignty, the US hardly acts as a partner. With democracy beginning to take firm root in Pakistan, it is only natural that the people’s representatives and the armed forces of the country implement and execute the will of the people, which calls for an end to drone strikes.
The US, with its actions, contributes and furthers the social and political instabilities that we face today. The older and more traditional threats to our national security, in the present day, are obscure and have been replaced by newer ones. The US must realise that its actions contribute to the causes and effects of these growing internal threats that Pakistan faces today. Considering the current security dilemma faced by Pakistan, to which the US actions directly contribute, one is puzzled to imagine by which definition should the US be called a friend and an ally?
The use of drones seems very much military in dimension. But the cause and effect they create for us as a country are mostly non-military in dimension. As a consequence of now almost over eight years of drone strikes, Pakistan is left to deal with a whole spectrum of challenges — social and political instability, growing hatred against America, proliferation of sub-nationalism, etc. Seen in this context, the US must question the usefulness of these instruments of military reach. Their use, without the approval and connivance of our state, results not only in diminishing control on the developing circumstances but in the continued loss of our national integrity as well.
In the global war on terror, the negative forces of change can only be stopped through mutually agreed policies and actions reached through consensus at the global scale. The political and public pressure on the government of Pakistan to preserve national integrity and sovereignty will only grow and build in the coming days. The US should understand that and rebuild a relationship of dependence and trust with the Pakistani government and security establishment. It’s not the utility of drones and the terrorists that they eliminate that is questionable; it is in how they are used and how that puts to doubt our national integrity and sovereignty that needs to be debated to seek the solution to the drones conundrum.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.
President Obama said in his speech that “we are safer because of our efforts”. I wish the “we” he had referred to was not just Americans but the whole world. Every drone strike that the US carries out in Pakistan leaves Pakistanis more insecure and vulnerable to the likely act of vengeance by the Taliban. It is the people in this country who bear the brunt of the Taliban’s reprisal. How can the US be so blind as not to consider this? The latest US drone strike proves only one point — US policy will continue to cater to American interests and in no way to Pakistani interests.
Elaborating the US anti-terrorism strategy, President Obama said in his speech, “we must make decisions based not on fear, but hard-earned wisdom and that begins with understanding the threat we face”. The hard-earned wisdom should have been used not only to understand the threat faced by the people of America but also that faced by the people of Pakistan. Drone strikes only suggest that the US was not interested in providing the opportunity to Nawaz Sharif’s incoming government to initiate and execute the planned peace process with the Taliban. With its persistence to use drones as a military instrument to attack and degrade our sovereignty, the US hardly acts as a partner. With democracy beginning to take firm root in Pakistan, it is only natural that the people’s representatives and the armed forces of the country implement and execute the will of the people, which calls for an end to drone strikes.
The US, with its actions, contributes and furthers the social and political instabilities that we face today. The older and more traditional threats to our national security, in the present day, are obscure and have been replaced by newer ones. The US must realise that its actions contribute to the causes and effects of these growing internal threats that Pakistan faces today. Considering the current security dilemma faced by Pakistan, to which the US actions directly contribute, one is puzzled to imagine by which definition should the US be called a friend and an ally?
The use of drones seems very much military in dimension. But the cause and effect they create for us as a country are mostly non-military in dimension. As a consequence of now almost over eight years of drone strikes, Pakistan is left to deal with a whole spectrum of challenges — social and political instability, growing hatred against America, proliferation of sub-nationalism, etc. Seen in this context, the US must question the usefulness of these instruments of military reach. Their use, without the approval and connivance of our state, results not only in diminishing control on the developing circumstances but in the continued loss of our national integrity as well.
In the global war on terror, the negative forces of change can only be stopped through mutually agreed policies and actions reached through consensus at the global scale. The political and public pressure on the government of Pakistan to preserve national integrity and sovereignty will only grow and build in the coming days. The US should understand that and rebuild a relationship of dependence and trust with the Pakistani government and security establishment. It’s not the utility of drones and the terrorists that they eliminate that is questionable; it is in how they are used and how that puts to doubt our national integrity and sovereignty that needs to be debated to seek the solution to the drones conundrum.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.