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International, News, Pakistan, Politics, Punjab

Zakaria: Pakistan – friends without benefits

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By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

You wouldn’t have thought anti-Americanism in Pakistan could get any worse, but last week NATO attacked a Pakistani army post, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. Even before this episode, for which NATO expressed deep regret, it would be difficult to find a country on the planet that was more anti-American than Pakistan. In a Pew survey this year, only 12% of Pakistanis expressed a favorable view of the United States. Populist rage and official duplicity have built up even though Washington has lavished Islamabad with aid totaling $20 billion over the last decade.

I think it’s time to recognize that the America’s Pakistan policy is just not working. I write this as someone who has consistently supported engaging with the Pakistani government as the best of bad options. But the evidence that this engagement is working is thin – and gets thinner with every passing month.

Supporting Islamabad has been premised on two arguments. The first is that if we don’t, the Pakistani government could collapse and the country’s nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands, perhaps even ending up with al Qaeda. This misunderstands the problem. Pakistan is not Somalia. It has been ruled by a professional military for most of its independent existence, even when there has been a nominally civilian government in charge – as there is today. There have been no Gaddafiesque colonels’ coups in Pakistan; instead, the entire military, with its command chain intact, has moved to replace the civilian government.

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International, Pakistan, Politics, Punjab, Religion

Pakistan after Osama

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By Omar

The taliban struck in Peshawar today [– Twin bomb blasts kill 32 in Peshawar –], but the massacre in Peshawar will not be blamed on the Jihadists. Instead, Pakistan’s security establishment will use its multiple websites and paid agents to spread vague rumors about Blackwater and the Hindu-Jewish taliban. They will NOT change their orientation until at least 5 or 6 three star generals are directly targeted. Probably not even then (after all, general Aslam lost his son but that did not lead GHQ to change its double game).

Its not that they are seriously jihadist at heart (most are just trying to get through another day without letting anyone find out how dumb they are), but there is such superbly effective negative selection in the army’s promotion process that by the time they become 3 star generals their combined IQ does not exceed 20. They will not learn because they cannot learn. When their choice is between giving up their most fundamental beliefs or giving up reality, they will give up on reality. Given their fragile and limited intellect, this choice may even be rational.

I just happened to meet a foreign office retiree at a lunch today and he said: “Iran could have an extremely disruptive Islamic revolution and still come out intact because it is a deeply rooted country. We are not a deeply rooted country. A hard shaking may cause a breakup. So we have to be very careful. Change must be very carefully managed..”. I asked him if ten years was not long enough to manage a change in direction. He just smiled. I guess that is why he has retired to the US and not to Islamabad. Many more like him are making sure their green cards remain current…..

Courtesy: Brown Pundits

Current Issues, India, Pakistan, Politics, Religion

Like army, like nation – by Nadeem F. Paracha

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Excerpt:

The basic socio-political mindset of the Pakistani society is the outcome of various faith-based experiments conducted by the state and the armed forces.

The party

In 1995, sometime in May, an uncle of mine (an ex-army man), was invited to a party of sorts.

The invitation came from a former top-ranking military officer who had also worked for the Pakistan intelligence agency, the ISI. He was in the army with my uncle (who now resides abroad) during the 1960s.

My uncle, who was visiting Pakistan, asked if I was interested in going with him. I agreed.

The event was at a military officer’s posh bungalow in Karachi’s Clifton area. Most of the guests (if not all) were former military men. All were articulate, spoke fluent English and wore modern, western clothes.

I was not surprised by this but what did surprise me was a rather schizophrenic aura about the surroundings. Though modern-looking and modern-sounding, the gathering turned out to be a segregated affair.

The men’s wives were placed in a separate room, while the men gathered in a wider sitting area.

By now it become clear to me that I wouldn’t be getting served anything stronger than Pepsi on the rocks!

I scratched my head, thinking that even though I was at a ‘party’ in a posh, stylish bungalow in the posh, stylish Clifton area with all these posh stylish military men and their wives and yet, somehow I felt there very little that was ‘modern’ about the situation.

By modern, I also mean the thinking that was reflected by the male guests on politics, society and religion. Most of the men were also clean-shaven and reeking of expensive cologne, but even while talking about cars, horses and their vacations in Europe, they kept using Arabic expressions such as mashallah, alhamdullila, inshallah, etc.

I tried to strike up some political conversations with a few gentlemen but they expected me to agree with them about how civilian politicians were corrupt, how democracy can be a threat to Pakistan, how civilian leaders do not understand India’s nefarious designs, et al. …

The experiment

The Pakistan Army was once a staunchly secular beast. All across the 1950s and 1960s it was steeped in secular (albeit conservative) traditions and so were its sociological aspects.

In fact, until the late 1960s, Pakistani military men were asked to keep religion a private matter and religious exhibitionism was scorned at as well as reprimanded – mostly during Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s dictatorship (1959-69).

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