The little peace ambassador
Noor Fatima did what diplomats and politicians of India and Pakistan could not do
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
Throughout my road journey from Lahore to Gujranwala, the plight of a little girl — now recovering after a complex heart surgery — had me perturbed. I kept wondering as to what would coming back to life mean to her and those who love her dearly. I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found a healthy and bouncing Noor Fatima playing with her elder sister Mahrukh and brother Tehseen.
Noor Fatima was just 30-mpnth old when she underwent this breakthrough surgery. She had been diagnosed as having holes in her heart. Besides, two of her arteries were choked. It was a tough fight for survival — for the little kid as well as her doctors in Pakistan who advised that she should be taken to the US or Bangalore, India, because the complications involved in the surgery couldn’t possibly be dealt with here.
Noor’s parents opted for India and flew her to Bangalore where a team of three doctors operated on her at Karnatika Hospital in a surgery that lasted over six hours.
It was the longest day for the worried parents who did, however, have the moral support of their relatives as well as an entire lot of people from around India, Pakistan and elsewhere, who called in to show their deep concern.
Dr Shetty and Dr Sharma, the surgeons at the private hospital in Bangalore, had made the horrific declaration that the surgery was not going to be easy. But they were game for it and put in their best energies and resources before they succeeded in sending a healthy and smiling Noor back to Pakistan.
The little Noor did what the diplomats and politicians of the two countries could not do. She brought the peoples of the two neighbours close to each other and defused a volatile situation where armies of both the countries were facing each others with fingers on triggers after a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Noor Fatima turned out to be an ambassador of peace and love, plugging the leaks in the hearts of two great Asian neighbours.
As we sat for a cup of tea at Noor Fatima’s house, Noor ran out of the house along with her brother and sister to play ‑ pushing each other and bickering over one thing or the other. Flashback of her ordeal and the time spent in India made Noor’s mother emotional when I asked her about how she felt after having her child back. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she said, “I fail to find words for the feelings that gush forth from the heart of a mother when she is handed back a dying child healthy and smiling. We will never forget the love and hospitality we got in India. We got our life back in India.” She said Noor is leading a normal life – she is doing great at school and home.
Nadeem Sajjad, Noor’s father, recalled, “Relations between Pakistan and India were tense when we boarded Dosti Bus and we were fearing something bad will happen ‑ an attack on bus or a crowd attacking Pakistani passengers with knives and sticks. But once in India, our fears changed into comfort when we got a warm reception there. We found a lot of encouragement and love in India for Noor Fatima’s treatment. For that we are grateful to Indians. The love we found in India outmatched our expectations. Children carrying placards wishing Noor Fatima well lined up the Bangalore streets during the surgery and strangers visited the hospital to present bouquets to us. We were impressed by the love and care we got there and felt at home thousands of kilometres away from home.”
“We used to get phone calls from people all the time. There was a pile of well-wishing cards and flowers for Noor in the hospital that housed a mosque, a church and a temple and Muslims. Hindus, Sikhs and Christians all were praying for Noor, and we became part of a larger community with love as the joining spirit,” he said.
Tehseen, 14, and Mahrukh, 12, said they used to weep when they saw their little sister on TV channels. “We did not know what was happening. We were very upset because our Mamma and Papa were away and Noor was in hospital. All we did was weep and weep and pray for our little sister. Now we are very happy to have her back,” they described their experience smilingly.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mumbai attacks
Still haunted
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
Even after one year, the world is still struggling to wriggle out of the mess the Mumbai attacks had created in the South Asia, bringing the nuclear rivals -- Pakistan and India -- to the brink of disaster. The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai negated all the confidence building measures between Pakistan and India who had been, for years, inching towards peace and a future offering both the countries opportunity to grow by exploring further trade avenues.
India refuses to abandon its pressure tactics and Tuesday has handed over another dossier of charges against elements allegedly operating from the Pakistani soil to the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. Fresh diplomatic tensions may surface as Islamabad will likely fall back on its repeated policy of calling for talks and promising to look into the charges, that India alleges is nothing but whiling away the time. Global powers are also finding it hard to convince India for talks with Pakistan, providing the already squeezed Islamabad a breathing space to tackle insurgency along its western borders.
It sounds a bit strange, though encouraging, that the US has finally accepted the idea of getting China aboard and offering it a vital role to normalise relations between Pakistan and India. This is what emerges from a remark made by President Barack Obama and the joint statement issued by the US and Chinese governments in Beijing on November 17. “They (US and China) support the efforts for the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan,” the joint statement said. This is a rare occasion when a US president has acknowledged that Beijing has a role to play in the India-Pakistan relations. India was swift to say no to the third-party mediation. Indian External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday a third country’s role, alluding to China, cannot be envisaged nor is it necessary. The Indian government, which has always opposed a third-party intervention in the Indo-Pak dialogue, may find the idea hard to accept as it vindicates the Pakistani position which keeps calling for the resumption of talks to settle their issues.
The 2008 Mumbai attacks had ringed alarm bells across the world, specially after Pakistani jet fighters roared over the skies in Lahore and Islamabad and those believing in a doomsday scenario came out on roads chanting Allah-o-Akbar. The move was inevitable as India had gone into an aggressive posture, threatening to carry out strikes inside Pakistan. Indian warplanes had twice violated the Pakistan airspace accros Wahga, triggering a swift and legitimate protest and condemnation from Islamabad. The attacks in Mumbai had pushed the two nuclear rivals to a point that could have spelt a disaster not only for the region, but for the whole world. Realising the fact that any armed, or may be a nuclear, conflict in the region would fling the whole globe into chaos, specially when the war on terror is being sped up along Pak-Afghan border, The United Staes, Russia, China and the United Nations stepped forward to cool the tempers down.
On 7 January 2009, after more than a month of denying the nationality of the attackers, the then Information Minister Sherry Rahman accepted Ajmal Kasab’s nationality as Pakistani. On 12 February 2009, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, in a televised news briefing, confirmed that parts of the attack had been planned in Pakistan and said that six people, including the alleged mastermind, were being held in connection with the attacks.
Following Indian dictates and threats under immense pressure, the Pakitsani government kept tracking down people allegedly involved in the attacks, but unfortunately could not assuage the fire-belching Indian leaders who wanted to cash in on the situation no matter how unrealistic and undiplomatic their approach was. Pakistani government was caught between two hostile fronts – one at the western borders fighting al Qaeda and Taliban militants and the second at the eastern border with India where both the armies were eye balls to eye balls.
The then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had declared that India may indulge in military strikes against terror camps in Pakistan to protect its territorial integrity. There were also after-effects on the United States’ relationships with both countries, the US-led NATO war in Afghanistan, and on the global war on terror. According to Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who visited New Delhi and Islamabad to help probe the attacks, Indian intelligence agencies did not share any information with them. However, FBI chief praised the ‘unprecedented cooperation’ between American and Indian intelligence agencies over Mumbai terror attack probe.
The Indian External Affairs Minister Mr Krishna sounded positive when he said Tuesday he was looking forward to a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmmod Qureshi on the sidelines of CHOGM meeting in Trinidad. Hopefully they will come up with some kind of a breakthrough to get the composit dialogue between the two countries going.
During his visit to Srinagar on October 26, the recalcitrant Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh repeated that talks would not make headway unless Pakistan took effective action against terrorism. It is again that typical Indian intransigence that spoils every Pakitani effort to normalize ties. India is continuously ignoring the fact that Pakistan security forces are locked in a deadly fight with terrorists along its western borders. The cost Pakistan is paying for this fight outweighs the losses that the alliance of so many countries is incurring in Afghasnistan.
The question now is whether the US-led international community can encourage India to abandon its no-talks posture and get it to the negotiating table. US President Barack Obama may convince or even push Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when the latter visit the White House on November 24, to resume dialogue with Pakistan as there seems to be no second option to resolve their differences. When Hillary Clinton visited Islamabad last month, she heard a clear message from her Pakistani people about the need for the US to engage with issues that are at the heart of Pakistan-India tensions: Kashmir, India's escalating arms build-up, Delhi's provocative military doctrine and its involvement in terror activities inside Pakistan.
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
Even after one year, the world is still struggling to wriggle out of the mess the Mumbai attacks had created in the South Asia, bringing the nuclear rivals -- Pakistan and India -- to the brink of disaster. The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai negated all the confidence building measures between Pakistan and India who had been, for years, inching towards peace and a future offering both the countries opportunity to grow by exploring further trade avenues.
India refuses to abandon its pressure tactics and Tuesday has handed over another dossier of charges against elements allegedly operating from the Pakistani soil to the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. Fresh diplomatic tensions may surface as Islamabad will likely fall back on its repeated policy of calling for talks and promising to look into the charges, that India alleges is nothing but whiling away the time. Global powers are also finding it hard to convince India for talks with Pakistan, providing the already squeezed Islamabad a breathing space to tackle insurgency along its western borders.
It sounds a bit strange, though encouraging, that the US has finally accepted the idea of getting China aboard and offering it a vital role to normalise relations between Pakistan and India. This is what emerges from a remark made by President Barack Obama and the joint statement issued by the US and Chinese governments in Beijing on November 17. “They (US and China) support the efforts for the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan,” the joint statement said. This is a rare occasion when a US president has acknowledged that Beijing has a role to play in the India-Pakistan relations. India was swift to say no to the third-party mediation. Indian External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday a third country’s role, alluding to China, cannot be envisaged nor is it necessary. The Indian government, which has always opposed a third-party intervention in the Indo-Pak dialogue, may find the idea hard to accept as it vindicates the Pakistani position which keeps calling for the resumption of talks to settle their issues.
The 2008 Mumbai attacks had ringed alarm bells across the world, specially after Pakistani jet fighters roared over the skies in Lahore and Islamabad and those believing in a doomsday scenario came out on roads chanting Allah-o-Akbar. The move was inevitable as India had gone into an aggressive posture, threatening to carry out strikes inside Pakistan. Indian warplanes had twice violated the Pakistan airspace accros Wahga, triggering a swift and legitimate protest and condemnation from Islamabad. The attacks in Mumbai had pushed the two nuclear rivals to a point that could have spelt a disaster not only for the region, but for the whole world. Realising the fact that any armed, or may be a nuclear, conflict in the region would fling the whole globe into chaos, specially when the war on terror is being sped up along Pak-Afghan border, The United Staes, Russia, China and the United Nations stepped forward to cool the tempers down.
On 7 January 2009, after more than a month of denying the nationality of the attackers, the then Information Minister Sherry Rahman accepted Ajmal Kasab’s nationality as Pakistani. On 12 February 2009, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, in a televised news briefing, confirmed that parts of the attack had been planned in Pakistan and said that six people, including the alleged mastermind, were being held in connection with the attacks.
Following Indian dictates and threats under immense pressure, the Pakitsani government kept tracking down people allegedly involved in the attacks, but unfortunately could not assuage the fire-belching Indian leaders who wanted to cash in on the situation no matter how unrealistic and undiplomatic their approach was. Pakistani government was caught between two hostile fronts – one at the western borders fighting al Qaeda and Taliban militants and the second at the eastern border with India where both the armies were eye balls to eye balls.
The then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had declared that India may indulge in military strikes against terror camps in Pakistan to protect its territorial integrity. There were also after-effects on the United States’ relationships with both countries, the US-led NATO war in Afghanistan, and on the global war on terror. According to Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who visited New Delhi and Islamabad to help probe the attacks, Indian intelligence agencies did not share any information with them. However, FBI chief praised the ‘unprecedented cooperation’ between American and Indian intelligence agencies over Mumbai terror attack probe.
The Indian External Affairs Minister Mr Krishna sounded positive when he said Tuesday he was looking forward to a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmmod Qureshi on the sidelines of CHOGM meeting in Trinidad. Hopefully they will come up with some kind of a breakthrough to get the composit dialogue between the two countries going.
During his visit to Srinagar on October 26, the recalcitrant Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh repeated that talks would not make headway unless Pakistan took effective action against terrorism. It is again that typical Indian intransigence that spoils every Pakitani effort to normalize ties. India is continuously ignoring the fact that Pakistan security forces are locked in a deadly fight with terrorists along its western borders. The cost Pakistan is paying for this fight outweighs the losses that the alliance of so many countries is incurring in Afghasnistan.
The question now is whether the US-led international community can encourage India to abandon its no-talks posture and get it to the negotiating table. US President Barack Obama may convince or even push Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when the latter visit the White House on November 24, to resume dialogue with Pakistan as there seems to be no second option to resolve their differences. When Hillary Clinton visited Islamabad last month, she heard a clear message from her Pakistani people about the need for the US to engage with issues that are at the heart of Pakistan-India tensions: Kashmir, India's escalating arms build-up, Delhi's provocative military doctrine and its involvement in terror activities inside Pakistan.
Sunday spoiler
Sunday spoiler
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
It was a relaxing Sunday morning coupled with budding trees and mellow spring breeze that soothes one’s nerves enough to forget, though for some moments, the agitating urban business. Sipping from my large mug of tea with all the daily newspapers spread in front me, I was planning for the day ‑ after all it was a Sunday morning and the mere thought that I am not going to office made me feel great. Suddenly the door bell started shrieking, interrupting my thoughts and creating ripples in the cosy environ I was trying to create for myself.
“Hello you moron journalist,” said my friend as he entered my room pushing aside all the newspapers I was preparing myself to read. My visiting friend was one of the worst things I was expecting on that morning as I could not fit him anywhere in my scheme of things for the day. “You never miss a chance to spoil my Sunday,” I retorted ignoring his greetings.
“Bear with me for spoiling your Sunday just like I am bearing with you for spoiling the lives of millions of Pakistanis like me,” now was his turn to hit back.
“How the hell do you think I am spoiling your life,” I enquired.
Adjusting himself into the couch in front of me, he settled for a debate that he imposed on me, ignoring all my gestures that meant for him to buzz off. “The media, both print and electronic, has made our lives bitter. They are bombarding us with all the detesting information and torturing reports with harrowing visuals that we don’t need at all. We are exposed to too much information that has injected our lives with uncalled for depression and gloom,” my friend started with a charge-sheet against the media, bugging me for being a part of the media.
“It is right of the people to know. Knowledge gives you powers, and the human beings of this information-technology era are more informed and better placed. You must thank media and the latest technology for that,” I explained boastfully.
“That is why I call you moron because you think an over-informed being is more comfortable and happy. You see, the report of a bomb blast in a remote town of Iraq thousands of kilometres away from Lahore plunges me into despair. That report with visuals of bodies drenched in blood turn my life into hell. Why am I tortured with what is happening there? Why are you tormenting my family and kids with all kinds of horrible news and pictures on TV channels and newspapers? You have desensitized us to human feelings and sufferings,” an upset friend of mine kept charging.
As I picked up a newspaper to avoid his ire, he started looking out of the window silently. His silent proved a respite for me ‑ but for a while. Pointing to people working across the street, he broke his silence and peace in the room. “The poor labourer working outside your house fails to invoke any feeling of compassion in my heart. Only the pieces of his body will make me feel sad for him. We are no more humans. We are callous, desensitized beings just like other animals. We fall into boredom when we don’t hear of blasts, bodies and destructions for a few days. And everything bad makes a news for you to sell. It is your business to trap gullible public into the information web, telling them everything that makes them unhappy,” now he was in pensive depression.
He waited in silence for me to say something, but I pretended reading a newspaper to wind up the debate, ignoring his brainteasers.
“A blast in Iraq, civilians’ killings in Afghanistan, floods in China and India, earthquake in Haiti, protests and bloody clashes in Kashmir, people dying of hunger is Africa – all contribute to poisoning our lives. I carry the burden of all this information day and night – depression all day and nightmares all night.”
“What kind of knowledge and how much information do we need to live a happy life,” he questioned. “I don’t know,” I replied knowing the fact he always has answers for his questions.
“I tell you. We need the right and authentic knowledge to make this life happy and comfortable for us and those living around us by finding solutions. Stop blowing issues out of proportion, start finding solutions. Our Prophet (PBUH) had sought Allah’s refuge against knowledge that is not useful,” he informed me getting up to leave as he concluded his debate on yet another Sunday morning.
Now I am alone in my room with a pile of newspapers offering all kinds of reports. Though I could not agree with my friend’s narrative, I dumped all the newspapers in the store without reading as I did not want my Sunday to be spoiled.
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
It was a relaxing Sunday morning coupled with budding trees and mellow spring breeze that soothes one’s nerves enough to forget, though for some moments, the agitating urban business. Sipping from my large mug of tea with all the daily newspapers spread in front me, I was planning for the day ‑ after all it was a Sunday morning and the mere thought that I am not going to office made me feel great. Suddenly the door bell started shrieking, interrupting my thoughts and creating ripples in the cosy environ I was trying to create for myself.
“Hello you moron journalist,” said my friend as he entered my room pushing aside all the newspapers I was preparing myself to read. My visiting friend was one of the worst things I was expecting on that morning as I could not fit him anywhere in my scheme of things for the day. “You never miss a chance to spoil my Sunday,” I retorted ignoring his greetings.
“Bear with me for spoiling your Sunday just like I am bearing with you for spoiling the lives of millions of Pakistanis like me,” now was his turn to hit back.
“How the hell do you think I am spoiling your life,” I enquired.
Adjusting himself into the couch in front of me, he settled for a debate that he imposed on me, ignoring all my gestures that meant for him to buzz off. “The media, both print and electronic, has made our lives bitter. They are bombarding us with all the detesting information and torturing reports with harrowing visuals that we don’t need at all. We are exposed to too much information that has injected our lives with uncalled for depression and gloom,” my friend started with a charge-sheet against the media, bugging me for being a part of the media.
“It is right of the people to know. Knowledge gives you powers, and the human beings of this information-technology era are more informed and better placed. You must thank media and the latest technology for that,” I explained boastfully.
“That is why I call you moron because you think an over-informed being is more comfortable and happy. You see, the report of a bomb blast in a remote town of Iraq thousands of kilometres away from Lahore plunges me into despair. That report with visuals of bodies drenched in blood turn my life into hell. Why am I tortured with what is happening there? Why are you tormenting my family and kids with all kinds of horrible news and pictures on TV channels and newspapers? You have desensitized us to human feelings and sufferings,” an upset friend of mine kept charging.
As I picked up a newspaper to avoid his ire, he started looking out of the window silently. His silent proved a respite for me ‑ but for a while. Pointing to people working across the street, he broke his silence and peace in the room. “The poor labourer working outside your house fails to invoke any feeling of compassion in my heart. Only the pieces of his body will make me feel sad for him. We are no more humans. We are callous, desensitized beings just like other animals. We fall into boredom when we don’t hear of blasts, bodies and destructions for a few days. And everything bad makes a news for you to sell. It is your business to trap gullible public into the information web, telling them everything that makes them unhappy,” now he was in pensive depression.
He waited in silence for me to say something, but I pretended reading a newspaper to wind up the debate, ignoring his brainteasers.
“A blast in Iraq, civilians’ killings in Afghanistan, floods in China and India, earthquake in Haiti, protests and bloody clashes in Kashmir, people dying of hunger is Africa – all contribute to poisoning our lives. I carry the burden of all this information day and night – depression all day and nightmares all night.”
“What kind of knowledge and how much information do we need to live a happy life,” he questioned. “I don’t know,” I replied knowing the fact he always has answers for his questions.
“I tell you. We need the right and authentic knowledge to make this life happy and comfortable for us and those living around us by finding solutions. Stop blowing issues out of proportion, start finding solutions. Our Prophet (PBUH) had sought Allah’s refuge against knowledge that is not useful,” he informed me getting up to leave as he concluded his debate on yet another Sunday morning.
Now I am alone in my room with a pile of newspapers offering all kinds of reports. Though I could not agree with my friend’s narrative, I dumped all the newspapers in the store without reading as I did not want my Sunday to be spoiled.
Drones Drama
Droning on drones
Intro:
The government should stop fooling people and come up with a clear policy, either publically supporting or effectively stopping drone strikes
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
President Asif Ali Zardari, during a meeting with American pointman on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Halbrook on January 15, said drone attacks should be stopped.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, talking to a delegation of US senators headed by John McCain, said drone attacks should stop immediately.
Parliament’s Special Committee on National Security demanded on January 14 the United States should immediately stop drone attacks inside Pakistan.
Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said the ongoing drone attacks inside Pakistan should stop because these attacks are denting the war on terror.
Pakistan Foreign Office has repeatedly protested these attacks as “they are an infringement of its sovereignty and caused hundreds of civilian deaths, including women and children, which has further angered the Pakistani people”.
Pakistani politicians – both on treasury and opposition benches – are one that drones must stop killing innocent Pakistanis.
Even American anti-war activists, who rallied near CIA Headquarters in Virginia on January 17, protested against US drone attacks inside Pakistan.
Despite all this hulla balloo, these strikes have picked up momentum instead of coming to a halt. The US should take the Pakistani concerns and protests seriously, otherwise the snowballing anti-Americanism may win more recruits for al-Qaeda and its narrative. A fact reported by Western media and acknowledged by many Pakistani analysts is that US military and Pakistani authorities are in agreement over these strikes. Pakistani officials and politicians are just trying to appease the angry masses by publically condemning and secretly supporting these strikes.
Defence experts say it is hard to belive that drones keep killing people without the consent of Pakistani government keeping in view the fact that Pakistani forces have the capability to shoot down drones. Can the rulers allow Indian drones to hit targets inside Pakistan? a question arises. Definitely not because they have no such understanding with India. The government should stop fooling the people and come up with a clear policy, either publically supporting or effectively stopping these strikes.
British newspaper The Time stated on Febr uary 18, 2009 that the CIA was using Shamsi Airfield, 190 miles southwest of Quetta and 30 miles from the Afghan border, as its base for drone operations. The paper said “the planes can be seen flying from the base. The area around the base is a high-security zone and no one is allowed there”.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Pakistani authorities have agreed to secretly provide information to the United States on Mehsud's and his militants' whereabouts while publicly the Pakistani government will continue to condemn the attacks. According to Pakistani authorities, from January 14, 2006 to April 8, 2009, 60 US strikes had killed 701 people, of which 14 were Al-Qaeda militants and 687 innocent civilians.
Defense analysts think that Americans would try to provide some relief to Pakistan but they would not change their policy about the drone attacks. The US must stop the drone attacks, but it is not clear if the Pakistani government is really interested in pursuing an end to drone attacks, they added.
Once seated in White Hoiuse, Barack Obama authorised the continuation of these strikes. Top US officials consider these strikes very successful and believe that the senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership has been decimated by these strikes. A list of the high-ranking victims of the drones was provided to Pakistan in 2009. Obama was reported in March 2009 as considering expanding these strikes to include Balochistan.
US officials stated in March 2009 that the Predator strikes had killed nine of al-Qaeda's 20 top commanders. The officials added that many top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as a result of the strikes, had fled to Quetta or even further to Karachi.
Some US politicians have condemned the drone strikes. US Congressman Dennis Kucinichi asserted that the United States was violating international law by carrying out strikes against a country that never attacked the United States.
US military claims al-Qaeda is being slowly and systematically routed because of these drone attacks. The US thinks these drone attacks have frightened and confused the militants groups and have pitched them against each other.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad on January 7, 2010, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberaman stated, giving a damn to the frontline ally’s concern, the drone attacks were effective and would continue. The US senators admitted that though there existed no agreement between Pakistan and the US regarding drone attacks inside Pakistan’s territory, yet drones would continue to operate.
US is like an elephant on rampage to kill Hakimullah, specially after he appeared in a videotape with Jordanian suicide bomber Dr Humam Khalil al-Balawi, who killed seven CIA agents in a suicide attack in late December in a secret base in Afghanistan's Khost province. The drones, carrying CIA missiles to avenge the killing of its operatives, will keep hitting targets and causing collateral damage until Hakimullah is dead.
Washington is also pushing Islamabad to start military action against the Haqqani network and their tribal allies in North Waziristan – a demand unlikely to be met as the Pakistani forces have been stretched thin on Western borders fighting terrorists and on eastern border warding off Indian forces. It is high time that US stopped directing Pakistan and started listening to it if it really wanted to wriggle out of the mess it had created in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan.
Intro:
The government should stop fooling people and come up with a clear policy, either publically supporting or effectively stopping drone strikes
By Mazhar Khan Jadoon
President Asif Ali Zardari, during a meeting with American pointman on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Halbrook on January 15, said drone attacks should be stopped.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, talking to a delegation of US senators headed by John McCain, said drone attacks should stop immediately.
Parliament’s Special Committee on National Security demanded on January 14 the United States should immediately stop drone attacks inside Pakistan.
Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said the ongoing drone attacks inside Pakistan should stop because these attacks are denting the war on terror.
Pakistan Foreign Office has repeatedly protested these attacks as “they are an infringement of its sovereignty and caused hundreds of civilian deaths, including women and children, which has further angered the Pakistani people”.
Pakistani politicians – both on treasury and opposition benches – are one that drones must stop killing innocent Pakistanis.
Even American anti-war activists, who rallied near CIA Headquarters in Virginia on January 17, protested against US drone attacks inside Pakistan.
Despite all this hulla balloo, these strikes have picked up momentum instead of coming to a halt. The US should take the Pakistani concerns and protests seriously, otherwise the snowballing anti-Americanism may win more recruits for al-Qaeda and its narrative. A fact reported by Western media and acknowledged by many Pakistani analysts is that US military and Pakistani authorities are in agreement over these strikes. Pakistani officials and politicians are just trying to appease the angry masses by publically condemning and secretly supporting these strikes.
Defence experts say it is hard to belive that drones keep killing people without the consent of Pakistani government keeping in view the fact that Pakistani forces have the capability to shoot down drones. Can the rulers allow Indian drones to hit targets inside Pakistan? a question arises. Definitely not because they have no such understanding with India. The government should stop fooling the people and come up with a clear policy, either publically supporting or effectively stopping these strikes.
British newspaper The Time stated on Febr uary 18, 2009 that the CIA was using Shamsi Airfield, 190 miles southwest of Quetta and 30 miles from the Afghan border, as its base for drone operations. The paper said “the planes can be seen flying from the base. The area around the base is a high-security zone and no one is allowed there”.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Pakistani authorities have agreed to secretly provide information to the United States on Mehsud's and his militants' whereabouts while publicly the Pakistani government will continue to condemn the attacks. According to Pakistani authorities, from January 14, 2006 to April 8, 2009, 60 US strikes had killed 701 people, of which 14 were Al-Qaeda militants and 687 innocent civilians.
Defense analysts think that Americans would try to provide some relief to Pakistan but they would not change their policy about the drone attacks. The US must stop the drone attacks, but it is not clear if the Pakistani government is really interested in pursuing an end to drone attacks, they added.
Once seated in White Hoiuse, Barack Obama authorised the continuation of these strikes. Top US officials consider these strikes very successful and believe that the senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership has been decimated by these strikes. A list of the high-ranking victims of the drones was provided to Pakistan in 2009. Obama was reported in March 2009 as considering expanding these strikes to include Balochistan.
US officials stated in March 2009 that the Predator strikes had killed nine of al-Qaeda's 20 top commanders. The officials added that many top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as a result of the strikes, had fled to Quetta or even further to Karachi.
Some US politicians have condemned the drone strikes. US Congressman Dennis Kucinichi asserted that the United States was violating international law by carrying out strikes against a country that never attacked the United States.
US military claims al-Qaeda is being slowly and systematically routed because of these drone attacks. The US thinks these drone attacks have frightened and confused the militants groups and have pitched them against each other.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad on January 7, 2010, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberaman stated, giving a damn to the frontline ally’s concern, the drone attacks were effective and would continue. The US senators admitted that though there existed no agreement between Pakistan and the US regarding drone attacks inside Pakistan’s territory, yet drones would continue to operate.
US is like an elephant on rampage to kill Hakimullah, specially after he appeared in a videotape with Jordanian suicide bomber Dr Humam Khalil al-Balawi, who killed seven CIA agents in a suicide attack in late December in a secret base in Afghanistan's Khost province. The drones, carrying CIA missiles to avenge the killing of its operatives, will keep hitting targets and causing collateral damage until Hakimullah is dead.
Washington is also pushing Islamabad to start military action against the Haqqani network and their tribal allies in North Waziristan – a demand unlikely to be met as the Pakistani forces have been stretched thin on Western borders fighting terrorists and on eastern border warding off Indian forces. It is high time that US stopped directing Pakistan and started listening to it if it really wanted to wriggle out of the mess it had created in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan.
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