Opposition demands a clear-cut stand on Iraq
Opposition demands a clear-cut stand on Iraq
A news item appearing in The News International under the caption “Opposition demands clear-cut stand on Iraq” makes for some humorous reading despite the seriousness of the issue.
There are a few observations I would like an answer for:
The religious parties mainly the JI and the JUI were able to motivate (incite is more appropriate under the circumstances) innocent Pakistanis to fight a Jihad against America in Afghanistan. When these valiant and innocent fighters were being massacred by high tech US bombing and when thousands of them were captured and made prisoners, the ‘motivators’ vanished from the scene and did nothing to get these prisoners and dead bodies back. It was left to the tribal elders and the much maligned government to get them back.
Pakistan, they say lost a golden opportunity to lead the Ummah. For one thing which Ummah are they talking about? And if the government was so callous, why couldn’t the ‘Islam Pasand’ go to Iraq to help the people. The non-muslims have shown them the way by going to Iraq and acting as human shields. Some have even lost their lives in doing so. Another moulana has said that ‘the courageous people of Pakistan would renew their opposition to the US aggression in a mammoth rally in Lahore’. The Moulana needs to learn his geography. The war is being fought in Iraq and not in Lahore. In the same breath he has dropped another pearl of wisdom. “Pakistan should declare without any fear that had there been a voting on the issue in the UN, Islamabad would have voted against the resolution”. Now this is like chasing a storm after it has by passed you. I’m sure he would have done more had he been made a Prime Minister. At this point it is pertinent to draw the attention of the Moulana to an analysis by ‘Stratfor’ which is an international military and intelligence ‘think-tank’. On the issue of forcing the members of the Security Council it writes, “The Bush administration has used the ever-present threat of Pakistan’s arch rival, India, to squeeze Musharraf’s support in its war on al-Qaeda, and officials had hoped to use the same tool to win Pakistan’s support regarding the Iraqi issue in the Security Council”.
A member of the PPP “urged the government to consult the two exiled leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif”.
You can safely guess what advice Benazir would offer considering her ‘achoot’ policy on anything against US. Her attitude towards the MMA was clearly spelled out in her interview with the Pakistani private news channel GEO. Benazir said the ‘numbers game’ was planned at the GHQ and the MMA was patronised to “send a certain message” to the United States.
She said General Musharraf was surrounded by 300 retired military officers who patronised Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. “These 300 men, who are supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish Muhammad, are running the military government.”
When the leader of the House was to be elected she was dishing out instructions on telephone to her PPP members not to support the MMA, to get in the good books of US. When the ‘million’ march was organized in support of Iraq she kept her party away from joining the marchers, to please the US. Everybody knows this. What many don’t know is her meeting with ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak in the US a few months back. She shared his views on military action against Iraq. This joint address was reported By Johnathon Williams in an American Daily:
http://www.nwaonline.net/276165797126978.bsp
‘Former Israeli prime minister says U.N. support of force against Iraq possible’
By Johnathon Williams
Now the most humorous part: Consult Nawaz Sharif ! Its too much of a strain for him to exercise his brain cells. The poor man doesn’t know where Kargil is. During the Kargil crises when he was the Prime Minister, he was flown in a military helicopter to the Kargil sector (seen by all on TV) yet claimed that he was not informed about Kargil by the Army. He probably thought that the Army was taking him on site seeing or he was suffering deliriums from overdose of ‘lassi’. It is reported that he was handed a field map by the local commander which he held up side down while trying to study it.
Kargil reminds me of one of our great ‘Mujahids’ which Pakistan has produced. When his boys (as claimed by him earlier) were fighting the Indian troops in Kargil, this ‘Mujahid’ was sitting in America for two months, the period of the Kargil fighting.
Most of our political parties have become experts in staging strikes and gathering mobs. This has become our political culture. Their leadership cannot think anything beyond. As a first step they could have appealed for boycott of American products. On the other hand we see them in get-togethers eating ‘samosas’ and guzzling Coca Cola. The KFC’s and the Mac Burgers are doing roaring business yet we love to burn effigies of US and Bush.
They agitate in the National Assembly against the LFO. This forum is for debate and not ‘street agitation’. Bad habits die hard. They don’t want the LFO because they want the KPO (khao Pio Order). It is obvious that they don’t want any checks. One can read their intentions.