Pakistan: Wolf At The Door, Or Inside?

Pakistan was often warned during the past two decades that its double-speak on, and nurturing of, Islamic militants and jihadists on its soil could one day endanger its own survival. By ceding the administrative control of certain border areas to Taliban recently, Pakistan has perhaps finally come to terms that the wolf has arrived on its doorstep, and the world is now in panic.

On February 16, 2009, the Taliban militants and the government of Pakistan’s North WestFrontierProvince (NWFP) signed a Shari’a-for-peace deal. Under the deal, the Taliban militants led by Maulana Fazlullah have been allowed by Pakistan to establish Islamic Shari’a in the province’s Swat district and broader Malakand region, reports The New Republic quoting MEMRI.

“A few days before the deal was signed, noted Pakistani columnist, senior journalist, and commentator Nazeer Naji wrote an article in the mass-circulation, Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang, titled ‘Toward Bloodshed.’ In it, Nazeer Naji, who lives in Pakistan’s cultural city of Lahore, warned that the Taliban militants are gradually taking over parts of Pakistan, and that even Islamabad is under threat.

Excerpts from Nazeer Naji’s article: “It is useless to discuss whether Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam or as a separate homeland for Muslims; However, the process to break up Pakistan [once again] has started in the name of Islam.

“[In my previous columns I have hinted] at those armed groups who claim to be Islam’s Mujahideen and who have established their own states in different regions of Pakistan. In FATAs [Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border] several administrative units have come into being which are under the control of different warlords [Taliban commanders].

“A separate administration has been established in the Swat [district by the Taliban in the North West Frontier Province, or NWFP]. All big cities of NWFP are under the influence of terrorists to some extent. Hyatabad, a posh area of Peshawar, is being vacated rapidly, as the rich are moving toward Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi – whereas those who cannot afford living costs in these cities are shifting to Peshawar Cantonment or streets in the interior of the city that appear safer than Hyatabad.”

“The Distance Between Swat and Islamabad is Not Much… All Pakistan’s Cities are Within the Taliban’s Reach – Lahore, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad.”

Nazeer Naji believes that the growth of militancy and terrorism is also related to increasing poverty. “Most of the poor youth active in the Taliban movements have indeed been using religion to show their class hatred. When Islam’s name crops up in an issue, every cruelty is seen as legitimate; and from ransacking to slitting throats, they present a reason for every action aimed at spreading terror.

“Hate for people living a prosperous life already exists in these youth. To them, all those who have been living on more than two loaves of bread have accumulated their wealth illegally. And when they find a pretext to give their wishes free rein in the name of Islam, when they get the power to use arms and rule over people, then it is not easy to stop them. We have already been experiencing this in the FATAs and Swat.

“The Qaed-e-Azam [i.e. the Great Leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan] must have foreseen the present situation when he said that there will be no theocracy in Pakistan. Whenever religion is used to gain control of power and wealth, the champions of religion begin finding ways to justify their power and control by interpreting religion. If politics and state are subservient to the constitution, one can hope to get arguments accepted through logic and reason. But when religion is involved, reason, infidelity and logic are seen as means to discredit religion.”

The successive US administrations kept doling out huge amounts of money to Pakistani military dictators. It would appear that instead of spending the amount on the development of the country, and on the education of the people, the dictators quietly bribed their opponents to buy their loyalty and lined their own pockets.

Thus common people in Pakistan identify the USA with spreading corruption and supporting corrupt rulers.

India repeatedly brought this alarming situation to the notice of the US administration because it had suffered numerous terrorist attacks emanating from the soil of Pakistan. But the successive US administrations always decided to look the other way.

So, face the music now…