Simply Outrageous!

Its worthwhile to read my friends Dr Hamid Hussain's commentary on my article published by another great friend Ravi Rikhye on www.orbat.com , I quote an interesting excerpt :---

Pakistan is a new state which has struggled to cobble a nation. It embarked on using the religion as an anchor but it didn’t work. On one end, it opened Pandora boxes by declaring some citizens as non-Muslim i.e. Ahmadis and on the other end sectarian fault line widened. Bengalis were as good or as bad Muslims as any other Pakistani but they finally rejected the Pakistani identity and were able to achieve independence. The ethnic fault lines have widened in the last twenty years and I don’t see any mechanism in place either at government or at civil society level to address this crucial issue. Baluchs are completely alienated to a point where Baluchistan university is now a no go area for armed forces personnel of the country’s army. This was frankly admitted none other than the Commandant of the Staff College at Quetta. Ethnic and sectarian forces will realign and if violence stays above a certain threshold then international players will have no choice but to work with local players rather than routing everything through Islamabad. That will be a bad day for Pakistan. )

#1 Posted by zeemax on April 3, 2008 12:14:29 am

yeah goatbrain....because we all know bush takes his marching order from the huffington post...

The Muslims should thank the knight in shining armour English East India Company for saving them from Hindu/Sikh domination in 1803 and 1849.I think history has forced Pakistan to compromise.

From what I saw of the Pakistan Army and from what my ancestors serving in the army and police saw of present Pakistan from 1849 I see little hope.Anyone who doubts it should read Punjab Chiefs published in 1908.



Great expectations were placed in Muslim troops of British Indian Army before 1914.German general Von Bernhardi writing in his book "Germany in the future war" hypothesised that Muslim troops of Indian Army would not fight against the Turks.The Muslim troops mostly Punjabi were loyal to British as a rock against the turks.Only the Tribal Pashtuns the Wazirs , Mahsuds and Afridis and the Ranghars of 129th Light Infantry rebelled.Even the Sikhs showed disaffection.As a result Afridi Mahsud Wazir Ranghar and Sikh recruitment was reduced after WW One and the Punjabi Muslims became the majority in fighting arms.Not for fighting well but for proven loyalty against Muslims.Such was the difference that when two Pathan squadrons of 15 Lancers refused to fight against Turks in Iraq it had to be replaced by the Hindu Jat squadrons while the Punjabi Muslim squadron of 15 Lancers stayed loyal.The same was proven again at Jallianwalla Bagh.The only instance of Indian troops refusing to fire against civilians was done by Garhwali Hindus of Garhwal Regiment at Peshawar IN 1930.This is the same pakistani army with the mercenary tradition.little good should be expected from it.mercenaries they were and mercenaries they will remain.

Pakistan is not the land of heroism.It is the land of opportunism and shameless pragmatism.Thats why Bakht Khan was killed by Muslim soldiers from the FF regiment according to its regimental history.Thats why Prince Feroz Shah in 1859 had to seek sanctuary in Bajaur.

Yesterday army chief General Kiani should have briefed secretary defence only . What business does he have of briefing the politicians directly.The question is that minister of Defence or secretary defence instead of controlling the army are controlled by the army.Most of the politicians have served in some military government in Pakistan.Independent spirit was stifled as a policy by all four military governments of Pakistan.Pakistani defence forces are heavily dependent on US/European suppliers for their hardware.The army is a standing regular army instead of an army based on universal military conscription.An attempt by ZAB to introduce a smaller regular army with a wider expandable civilian reserve in time of war like Israel and many European armies was sabotaged by ZAB.The army as an institution has a vast share in the country's economy.

Seein in this situation little dynamism or independence of spirit can be expected from the present political set up already swelled by opportunists joining the coalition.There seems little hope that a leader will emerge who has the statesmanship , the intellect and above all the resolution to say No to the USA.The Unipolar World Order established after 1990 has successfully and without any moral regret successfully attacked and occupied two independent countries Iraq and Afghanistan.It appears that soon Iran will be on the hit list.Big business , banks with huge profits and big interests have already penetrated Pakistan's economy and stock market.Unemployment is on the rise and extremist outfits small in number but force multiplied by ruthless efficiency and fanatical motivation seem to be terrorising the silent majority.Just like 12,000 Bolsheviks held Russia hostage after 1917.A confusion of principle has been introduced by the contradiction between what the state stands for and its linkage with Pakistan's ideology.On the other side is the dilemma of balancing the Indian threat with the US threat and to walk a tight rope in between.Who will perform this extremely difficult balancing act.The military led by its generals mafia seems to have withdrawn but this is only a tactical withdrawal.A suspension of action by the generals.In hunting terminology it is said that once a tiger or a lion tastes human blood it becomes lazy , no longer hunts and prefers human flesh which is far easier a pray.Similarly Pakistan's generals have tasted the blood of their own people.They have been blinded by real estate and mega deals.Its difficult that they would abandon man eating.

The Pakistani politicians main benefactor is the USA , thanks to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) manipulated by USA they were bailed out.Its outrageously illogical to assume that any Pakistani politician would have an independent outlook.Rhetoric and some cosmetic gestures apart , docility timidity and meekness in front of USA would be rule of the game.

Peace between India and Pakistan is also a mirage.A glance at India's increasing defence and intelligence budget proves that the conflict will continue at low intensity till Pakistan is denuclearised.Every sell out to USA would be rationalised by Pakistani politicians and generals by saying that it had to be done to prevent Indian hegemony.

The USA is a strange ally of Pakistan.On one side its an ally and on the other it is preparing to reduce Pakistan to size.No joke that Henry Kissinger said that to be an enemy of USA is one thing but to be its friend is deadly.The USA has occupied Afghanistan not as a final objective.Its long term strategic agenda includes reducing Pakistan to size on one hand and to use its army as a mercenary just like the British used it against the Turks and the tribal Pashtuns.

A long hard road lies ahead for Pakistan.While Musharraf thoroughly discredited the army by his major policy blunders after 2002 there are many Musharrafs in the waiting in the army.While present politicians have got yet another opportunity to prove that politicians have not failed Pakistan.The challenge is phenomenal.Already the many hopeless intelligence agencies of Pakistan master at killing its own people and failing miserably in war to find out where the Indian Armoured Division was have re-commenced the game of divide and rule and breaking or blackmailing politicians.

The future is not as bright as many hope and the man eater or man eaters has not been dealt with.Pakistan is sandwiched between a dangerous internal threat basically created by its army's misuse of religion and by a dangerous external threat compounded by a weak economy .One can only say that the remedy in this situation is not the job of a mediocre politician.Statesmanship appears to be sadly lacking and generalship extremely rare in Pakistan's army.May be we should expect a miracle ? But as Machiavelli well said more than 400 years ago " God was neither on their side nor ours".

pavo#4:

I agree with you in general but one must also realise the difference in the situation now and in the past. It is for the first time that the Pakistani public is so angry at the US and feels that it is forcing Pakistan to go against its own interests; political leaders who depend upon public support cannot go against their wishes beyond a certain point. Yes, the Pakistani army can be bought but it too is thoroughly discredited at the moment and will be unable to do anything. Of course, the situations may be quite different a year or two down the road if the politicians follow their traditional corrupt practices.

complete BS..par for the course on chowk..


It is partly because these trigger-happy Americans have become so predictable overtime


american are trigger happy? and the pakis who create the taliban and the whole jihadi infrastructure are just followers of the religion of peace?


God knows how many of the ‘terrorists’ were handed over to the US to be at the Guantanamo Bay in lieu of the dollars that our establishment earned.


60 minutes interviewed a german-turk who was released from gitmo because he was deemed innocent and because angela merkel asked for his release..he had come to the land of the pure to learn about islam and get in touch with his islamic thing..the paki cops arrested him because he stood out(he was fair skinned among the dark skinned pakis...did I say dark skinned and hurt your feelings?) the paki government turned him over to the US for 3000$.

one allah's homie for 3000$..not a bad deal..for the US..

Re: # 6

look,

.... i agree, but afghanistan is a good place to start and right now it is the epicenter of this insidious idelogy ....... .

re #5 by hamidm2

Of course Nato will stay in Afghanistan as it should. But not just because of Afghans or Pashtuns but also because they think real danger comes from Pakistan. Unlike what you seem to think, the West knows that jihadi fever goes beyond just Pashtuns. Just read the interacts of the jihadis on this forum. How many are Pashtuns?

a generational solution

..... there is only one way to solve this problem - nato has to stay in afghanistan for at least two generations to civilize this nation of savages .... and i think nato realizes it - they are expanding to include countries like albania and croatia and i am sure that soon georgia and ukraine will also join ........ actually, i wouldn't be surprised if eventually russia also sends troops to afghanistan .......... everyone realizes that the beast of islamofascism must be controlled .......

ideally its all very very reasonable , but practically pakistan's army and politicians cannot say no to america.as an ex army my assessment is that pakistan's mercenary army would outlast pakistan as a state.some day it would be the united states or india's mercenary force.only one paki politician ZAB had the courage to say no to united states and he paid the price.the united states will continue to blackmail pakistan using the india factor and buy its leaders both civil and military as it has done since 1947.most of the paki politicians and generals have their price and they will be bought by the highest bidder at their price.this assumption would be tested in next few months.pragmatism and opportunism is the paki tradition.a simple glance at history of paki muslims proves this only balochistan , sindh and tribal parts of present pakistan resisted the british, sindh in 1942 hur rebellion and the tribal areas all along from 1849 to 1947.balochistan never provided any mercenaries for the brit indian army and baloch were removed as a policy for for being politically unreliable after 1885.

Re: # 1
zeemax,

A deeply indebted country, known world wide as the source of terror , has no chance of being anything independant. Pakistan never had a history of independant policies, from the cento to the sudis and now to the chinese, the choice is only in terns who the master will be.

Do not forget that if some chinese were not to be kidnapped, the lal majid story would have been very different. Now even the chinese knw that the hijackers came from pakistan, and you have no hope what so ever of any independant policy.

World it a tragedy no doubt that the world relations with pakistan is governed by WOT.

Ather bhai,

"President Musharraf’s yes-men, the PML-Q, have been wiped off from the scene."

You are very wrong there, in terms of votes polled, PML-Q is the second largest party in pakistan.

At the abdul paki level, the policies of mushy are very popular.

U.S. Must Quit Bush's Chicken Little Politics in Pakistan, Cold Turkey

Huffington Post: Lisa Gans, 3 April 2008

...The new government has wasted no time in letting Washington know that its heavy-handed diplomacy was a thing of the past. When the U.S. sent its Deputy secretary of state John Negroponte and assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher to meet with General Musharraf on the very day that the new Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, took office, high-level Pakistani lawyers and government officials immediately made it clear that this was a mistake, and that the new government, not Musharraf, would be making decisions in the country from now on. With unprecedented candor, high-level Pakistanis told Negraponte that his visit and its timing were unwelcome, as was the implication that the U.S. intends to micro-manage the political fall-out of the recent elections.

Washington should now listen to what they were told, take a lesson from Pakistan's democratically elected government and focus on the needs and the will of the people. Up until now, U.S. relations with Pakistan have been largely centralized and impersonal. Pakistanis have felt the presence of the U.S. through coercion exercised by and on their central government. Rather than take a prominent role in programs to assist with access to medical care, schooling, shelter, livelihoods and other staples of social welfare, the U.S. has poured most of its aid into Pakistan's military, and left non-governmental organizations to address the overwhelming needs of the people in what is still a relatively poor country.