Politics, Power and the Survival of the fittest, what becomes of the weak and feeble? It is 29th December 2009, another year coming to an end. People, the world over are preparing to rejoice or at-least the media depicts it in such a way that one is led to believe that there is joy and happiness around the world. But what the people of the world do is of no concern to us, for we are in a state of constant war, a war we did not start, a war we don’t want to be a part of, it’s just a war that has been forced onto us. Who are we, we are the people of Pakistan and it is the war on terror that I am talking about. During the cold war, the Americans aided Pakistan and created the Taliban, or so the story goes. Fact or fiction, it doesn’t matter because when the Americans decided to put the rest of the world in turmoil by starting its war on terror it gave Pakistan no chance to back out. The need for revenge that the Americans felt after the events of 9/11 is understandable. Anyone who aided al-Qaeda became an enemy of the USA, in other words the enemy of the whole world. It didn’t matter if the Taliban had been created with the aid of USA. The consequences for Pakistan didn’t matter at all. There was a time when the sun never set on the British Empire. There was a reason behind that. The British did not decide overnight to become an empire. They actually made an effort to learn about the cultures and languages of the people they wished to subdue. In the process they gained a lot. The atrocities committed by the British empire are countless, the treasures plundered in the name of the crown are still found in Britain amongst other problems such as Kashmir still remind us of the blunders of the British. But at-least they made an effort to understand the people they planned to subdue. The Americans, on the other hand, thought that by using overwhelming technology of arms and ammunition, they would completely annihilate the enemy, which proved to be wrong. Coming back to December 2009, a year full of despair coming to an end for the people of Pakistan. Over 80 terrorist attacks, that is almost 7 attacks a month. How did this come about? While the USA was going about its war on terror, the terrorist started targeting Pakistan and Pakistani public because the government of Pakistan was aiding USA. The government according to Pervez Musharraf had no choice but to aid USA Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age deputy-secretary of state Richard Arbitrage. Off-course there was money involved, Pakistani leadership doesn’t fear Stone Age, as long as the money is good, it will do anything. We have three major players, we have a super power (USA), a super villain (Taliban and al-Qaeda combined) and a super pawn (Pakistan) and super nobodies (rest of the world), the last part is not really true but for mathematic reasons, to equalize the equation we will assume that the rest of the world is a super nobody for the time being.
The mandate of the super power is justice, peace and harmony, or so we hear. How did they go about achieving these noble objectives, doesn’t matter, what matters is the result. Unfortunately the world is still reaping the ongoing effects of the results. If we don’t have the desired results, naturally we are inclined to question the means used. As already mentioned one of the means used by USA was threatening nations to Stone Age or bribing them. Another mean frequently used by the Americans is carpeting or carpet bombing i.e. using force and technology to wipe off any resistance to their will, the American will. The world came to know that the United Nations, head quartered in New York, had no say whatsoever in what America did. Thus the Americans bullied the whole world into a war which most didn’t want. The mandate of the super villain is to terrorize the free world, or so we hear. Although, I am sure most of the people know how to differentiate between the Taliban and al-Qaeda, a brief introduction wouldn’t do any harm. Taliban as mentioned above were formed with the aid of USA by Pakistan for a purpose. The purpose was to stop the undemocratic advance of the USSR challenging the free world, indirectly USA. According to President Carter the Soviet incursion was the most serious threat to peace since the second world war. Thus the free world aided in the creation of the popular freedom fighters now known as the Taliban. The Taliban were armed with FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, which contributed significantly to the victory of the freedom fighters of the 80s. On the other hand, al-Qaeda, meaning the base, was formed during the late 80s for the same purpose of defeating the Russians. One of its founding members, trained by the CIA, ironically the most sought out man by the CIA now, Osama bin Laden, recruited fundamentalists, eventually directing their fury at the free world. After the events of 9/11 the US demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, the Taliban refused hence they were blown back to Stone Age. Though one wonders how a country that is already in Stone Age can be blown back to Stone Age. The current mandate of the Afghan Taliban is to get rid of USA from Afghanistan, where as al-Qaeda is concerned, terrorize the free world, I assume. The mandate given to the super pawn by the super power was to do whatever the super power wanted it to do. That is exactly how democracies of the world work. The super pawn is a very complex country. During the unfortunate events of 9/11 the super pawn, Pakistan, was going through its own problems. It had partial martial law amongst other issues. When the Americans did what they do best, carpet bombing, the ones to run first were the members of al-Qaeda, they infiltrated the borders of Pakistan and took refuge there. In Pakistan, a movement of the Pakistani Taliban started. So while the super pawn was busy tending to the needs of the super power, its leadership turned a blind eye on what was brewing within, or so I assume, until fairly recently. Pakistan suddenly found itself to be in the most instable state since its foundation. Since the equation has been somewhat explained, let us now expand towards the super nobodies. The super nobodies in relation to Pakistan are India, maybe Israel (which incidentally according to Pakistan doesn’t exist) and the rest of the West. The problem in the equation is that being an Islamic Republic, Pakistan also holds the honor of being the only recognized Muslim country to have in its possession an atomic bomb. The West has never been comfortable with the idea of Pakistan having the bomb, especially Israel feels extremely threatened. Pakistan in their eyes could become a rogue state at any time. India and Pakistan have never enjoyed an easy relationship. After all how could they, Pakistan was carved out of India. If India has military troops numbering in the top five nations of the world, Pakistan is in the top 8. India declared its nuclear capability; Pakistan had no choice but to follow and so on. The reason not being healthy competition between two neighboring states but stability no superiority just stability. 2009 is about to end. Pakistan is going through a political turmoil along with the terrorist activities it is facing. According to some the democratically elected president is one of the most corrupt men in Pakistani politics. There is something magical about this wondrous seat of power; it corrupts every individual that touches it. US bidding at the cost of civilian life have warmed the pockets of both military and nonmilitary personnel involved in Pakistani politics. The military after nine years of Musharraf has lost all its standing in the eyes of the public. The newly empowered judiciary has declared war on corruption, the government, made of coalitions, is refusing to budge. The Pakistan Tehran-e-Taliban along with other groups, have had a field day the whole year. The body count is phenomenal. What exactly is going on? In words of a layman, Pakistan is being toyed around with. Many years ago a great wrong was done against the United States of America, in terrorist attacks the Americans lost about 3000 lives. Even though the wrong was not of our doing, Pakistan, we have and continue to pay a heavy price for it. In the past couple of years the loss of civilian life in Pakistan has surpassed 4000. We feel that we have paid blood money for no reason. The Americans with their shinny chests of Dollars lure our already corrupt politicians and push us further into this whirlpool of chaos. The Afghan Taliban has cut of their links with the terrorist activities of the Pakistani Taliban, a relief for Pakistani forces. But the Americans want us to fight the afghan Taliban. Why should we further indulge ourselves towards our own obliteration?