Better wake up sirs, and fast

WHILST I think President Barack Obama’s policy speech on the Afghan–Pakistan–Taliban imbroglio (or as Madeleine Albright put it quite aptly, ‘migraine’) was just great, why did President Asif Ali Zardari do a jig when he was told about it?

What was there to ‘hail’ in a speech that said clearly that there were no free lunches anymore for Pakistan, especially for the security establishment?

'Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out Al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders … we will insist that action be taken — one way or another [are you listening, sirs?] — when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets,' said President Obama.

Chilling words, what! Sure enough, the very next day our FO came out with a mealy-mouthed response to the American president’s speech, to the effect that Pakistan would inform the US about its concerns “in due course”. These concerns should be many for an establishment used to getting blank cheques when the quite out-of-it Dubya and his 'tight buddy' the Commando, were calling the shots.

Indeed, the Americans are even now asking for a full accounting of the billions of dollars that they quite unthinkingly paid directly to the security establishment, much of the funds allegedly outside the purview of the Pakistani finance ministry!

Many months ago, I had warned the powers that were/are, that they should beware the election to office of a highly intelligent and aware US president. That he would bring sense to the war on terror. Whilst ‘sense’, as we well know, is not something of which there is a surplus in the Land of the Pure, the establishment must immediately stop playing its usual, silly little games. For, from every indication, the Americans will hit it (and poor old hapless us!) very, very hard if it doesn’t.

It must also take serious note of what very senior American officials — generals, diplomats and all — are saying about the nexus between the Pakistan Army and the ISI, and the terrorists/extremists/Al Qaeda. The Americans have all but alleged that the army and the ISI are complicit in the nefarious activities of the terrorists/extremists/Al Qaeda. That operatives of the army/ISI warn high-value targets of coming hits…!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the New People’s Party goes on making a complete hash of things, and therefore exposing itself to more ridicule and loss of face and popularity. As if the massive mishandling of the restoration of the judges and the shemozzle wrought in Punjab by Laat Sahib Bahadur Salmaan Taseer was not enough, the Punjab government goes on posting public servants, specially police officers, hither and yon as if there was no tomorrow. This, despite President Asif Zardari’s so-called conciliatory speech to the joint sitting of parliament.

Why is Salmaan Taseer displacing these public servants when another, more permanent government belonging to the party that has the majority in the provincial assembly will soon be in office? Who will pay for the move of the officials when the posting orders are cancelled by the new government? Will Taseer, hugely rich man that he is, pay for the moves of the officers out of his own coffers?

So what goes on in the New PPP please? How much longer will it be at the mercy of people who have repeatedly shown themselves to be the incompetents they are? How come not one head has rolled for all the damage done to the party and to the country by people such as Rehman Malik and Salmaan Taseer? As asked before, what is so special about either of the two?

I must add here that to my utter surprise, to his credit Salmaan looked positively embarrassed and completely at sea when he appeared at Asif Zardari’s side at the Governor’s House press meet this last Sunday afternoon after it was all over. Is it at all possible that a germ of honour has come alive within his bosom? Is it possible that an iota of self-respect has come bursting out of his heart, finally? Is it at all possible that he has finally understood that he was completely wrong in helping rob a political party of its right?

I have to end with a rejoinder to the alleged Quetta denizen, Abdul Mannan Qutabzai’s recent letter in Dawn that there are no no-go areas for women in Quetta and that there is no danger at all of the Taliban declaring Sharia there. I invite him to go to http://pkonweb.com/2009/03/19/ capital-talk-on-geo-news-mar-19/ and see what eminent people like the good Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo son of the good Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo; and Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch, former governor of Balochistan, have to say about the matter.

We Pakistanis must stop living in denial forthwith if this country is to survive. We must take head-on the terrorist/extremist/Al Qaeda menace if we are to leave our succeeding generations a country half worth living in. We must stand up collectively as the great nation we are and say to those that engineer situations to suit their own institutional needs and wants that enough is enough!

I mean, really! We seem to have learnt no lessons at all from history. We were in denial about East Pakistan and see what happened there. We foolishly became the front-line state for America’s war against the Soviet Union and see what a mess we made of Afghanistan, and of our own country as a spin-off. We went along with the ‘bleeding of India’ nonsense in Kashmir and see where that particular exercise landed us. In 1991, when we began to ‘bleed’ India, our foreign exchange reserves were $300m and India’s were $5.8bn. In February 2008, India’s reserves were $292bn and ours in November 2008, nine months later, were $6.5bn. So who bled who?

Wake up, sirs, have some shame and let this country off the hook!

By popular demand another Bushism: “I’m telling you there’s an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That’s the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best” — former (thank you Almighty God!) President George W. Bush — Washington, D.C., Jan 12, 2009

Stop Press: The attack on the Police Training School in Manawan, Lahore, is more proof that there is a serious assault on the state by above-mentioned terrorists/extremists. I wrote several weeks ago that Punjab was already under attack: well, there you have it, sirs. Will any heads roll now? Will someone resign? Isn’t it obvious that the present set-up in the Governor’s House is completely and hopelessly inept?