Re: Pakistani neocons?
How many madrassahs do you think are supporting osama bin laden or the takeover of the world, destroying the western civilization and outright slaughter of non muslims through out the world? I ask this because this is what I hear from Bush lovers. Do you have any statistic where you can show me how many madaris are involved in preparing their enrollees in this global jihadist mentality?
Now I believe that they are only a few of these rogue institutions. Of these I perhaps only 1 or 2 inspire for global aggressive militancy. But that's besides the point. Even one is one too many, any kind of fringe teaching or indoctrination must be kept in check and must be challenged by the civil society. Infact I say, we should revamp the entire obsolete education system of Pakistan including the centuries old institution of Islami Madaris. However, what we have in Pakistan is a very different and much unrelated scenario tot he one espoused by Bush and his supporters (and that would ofcourse include Bush's loyal poodle in Pakistan).
What we have in Pakistan is like I have stated earlier a local phenomena whose roots and problematic archaic views have regional antecedents. We had this problem during the middle ages, we had it in British times and we and sure enough many of the countries in the area suffer from the same malaise. I speak of sectarian strife, mingling dogmatic dominant school of thought's views with the establishment's politics, and so forth. The West especially the US was never bothered by it and indeed shouldn't have been.
But what we have right now in the region and indeed in neighboring region is the manifestation of a Super power's paranoid mania. It's roots are based in ideology, archaism, imperialism and bigotry.
Not one Pakistani has ever been accused of any terrorism in the West. Not ever. Especially from Pakistan's Tribal areas. That's saying something. We were accused of sponsoring terrorism by local geopolitical entities especially India. Now disregarding the merit of those accusations, it was still a very regional event. The only country accused of sponsoring, training and exporting terrorism vis a vis direct confrontation with the West and US in the region was the Iranian regime. Now that's a discussion perhaps for another time where the exaggerated paranoia of the US and the underlying reasons maybe explored regarding both genuine and inflated concerns.
My entire point being that what we are doing right now are sowing seeds of discontent among Pakistanis. What's happneneg in Pakistan's northern border region, all the violence and anger against the military and of course the dictator was not there before. It has becoime a people's war. A people (Mehsuds, Afridis, Waziris) who have not been involved in (or atleast didn't exemplify the local problems of sectarian violence, ethnic conflicts and even the Pakistan state sponsored adventurism in India's turbulent regions etc.
The danger is that this has become a people's war against what they quite rightly perceive as an arrgant, destructive, imperialist crusade of a Hegemon. We see that in play in Iraq, In Afghanistan. And of course in Pakistan. Which is even worse because here is a regime, ruled by a cowardly dictator who was very much part of the "problem" and the defensive militant mindset who now uses arbitrary powers to kill people, women and children. He does not represent the people, he has absolutely no mandate, and he has done much more than he has been asked only to encourage more demands, more bootlicking by the neocon Hegemon. And he keeps doing it, for Muaharraf knows that this is the only life line he has.
Look at Pakistan today. it's been a downward spiral. Most dictatorships usually are. Add tothe mix a tin pot chattel dictatorship. The military's morale is at its lowest. And indeed schisms have appeared within the military. Again I salute those poor 1500 rupees a month salaried army peasants who refused orders, the upstanding officers and the pilots who question. They are the Heroes. Examples like them are the glue which beckons Pakistanis regardles of their geographical or lingual origin to hope for the better. That their allegianc eis to the flag and constitution of Pakistan. A flag and constitution this foolish tinpot chattel has insulted and violated.