The decision of Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Hameed Dogar, regarding the disqualification of ‘Sharif brothers’ once again threw Pakistan back into the worst politics of 90s.

Such a verdict of the Supreme Court was not unexpected and many political analysts and pundits from the very outset had feared that the coalition of Pakistan People Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab and centre is shaky and fragile which soon will collapse. The prophecy of the pundits proved verbatim and the coalition fissured in the midway, hardly going for one year. For all the setbacks the coalition received, and its backlashes that have erupted after the court decision, PPP have lost its fame and weight it had received with the blood of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. Irrespective of legal aspects, the decision of the court was politically as vitriolic for the colt-democracy in Pakistan as poison. After a great deal of efforts, sever opposition, and hues and cries against Musharraf’s dictatorship, at length he was bowed down and he had to resign, because of the mounting pressure from different flanks.

For restoration of democracy in Pakistan, only PPP is not praiseworthy, which lost its elegant leader—Benazir Bhutto, far greater in every respect than Zardari, rather it also is indebted to the lawyer moment, yes the same lawyer moment, which paved way for the entrance of self-exiled political leaders to come Pakistan. Now it is the same lawyer fraternity, which has been thrown away by Asif Ali Zardari, the president of Pakistan and widow of assassinated Benazir Bhutto, as discarded and used as stale food.

Is not the derogation of the wishes of Benazir Bhutto when she claimed, “Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudry is my Chief Justice”. Contrary to the wishes of his late wife, Asif Ali Zardari took a sharp u-turn and walked on branched road instead the main highway of democracy. Sensing the political heat in the political environment in Pakistan, PPP according to some news reports has prepared a list of political leaders to be arrested or kept confine to their residences during ‘long march’ so that the essence of the long march can be constrained. Such acts are the remnants of military dictators. In this regard Rehman Malik, Adviser to PM on Interior, has issued directives and the security in-and-around Islamabad has been tightened. Rangers would back police so that more and more arrests could be made possible. The country in such a scenario when inflation, stagflation, joblessness and the suicide bombings are at its peak, is not in the position to tolerate another challenge which is real in nature and disastrous that all is the new ones—the tug of war among PPP, civil societies and PML-N.

The government could have handled the issue of Sharif brothers’ disqualification some time else and in a better way than now. Nonetheless, sit-ins, demos and strikes are all colors of democracy and an elected government which has been boasting for its strength and fame will have to face it with open hands instead a fist. And why should then an elected government worry about it if it had and had the support of public? When the lawyer fraternity has given spleen and fierce opposition to the unconstitutional step of the former president Musharraf, then it must no be suppressed now from carrying its long march. For his brave and bold step, defying a military dictator, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudry was awarded with Harvard’s Medal of Freedom previously awarded only to Nelson Mandela and Thorogood Marshall. While at home he was humiliated by Asif Ali Zardari imitating Musharraf. This step earned the wrath of public and made the lawyer moment ever popular.

By doing so, there is a torrent of doubts and questions for instance; is it a crime to demand for the restoration of unconstitutionally deposed Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudry? If the answer is no then why Asif Ali Zardari preferred Hameed Dogar to Chaudry Iftikhar? Is it because of nepotism or he wanted to use Dogar as a sword and shield?

Though PPP has been denying the allegations of PML-N and most of the masses that the decision had a political touch but still one cannot ignore the close links of Asif Ali Zardari and Dogar. The entire government machinery in Islamabad shook with the case of Farah Dogar’s numbers.

Why Asif Ali Zardari placed his own party’s fame in ‘salt mine’ by supporting Dogar? There is and was some thing black at the bottom.

Is it a sin to demand for the abolition of 17th Amendment, which has been introduced by Musharraf, a military dictator, only to embank his regime? The answer to this query is also that it is fair in democracy to demand for the abolition of such unconstitutional weapon. Why Asif Ali Zardari has adopted toxic silence over the issue and what is the difference between Musharraf and Zardari for he also had the power of 58 (2b) and Zardari has also. There is no difference between the two except the former was a military dictator and desecrated democracy and the latter is a civil dictator defiling democracy.

Does, the president feel fear of his own prime minister; Yousuf Raza Gillani that Zardari is obscuring the path of democracy by prolonging the issue of 17th Amendment?

Did Zardari come to power through unfair means? If the answer is no, then why he wants to keep this weapon at his hands?

It shows that he is not diligent and sincere in bringing healthy democracy to the country and because of this game; Pakistan went back to the stagnant politics of 90s.

Let me say it with out any hesitation that it is the tug-of-war among politicians that has always paved path for military interventions in past and in near future it can invite for this monster. After them comes the name of judiciary that has always bolstered up dictatorship by providing the ‘cloak of legitimacy’ to unconstitutional regimes of the past military dictators. The person who was a strong believer of ‘doctrine of necessity’ and allied the self-proclaimed Field Martial of Pakistan, Ayub Khan in his snapping of constitution, was then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Munir.

And now following the path of Munir, the Supreme Court of Pakistan-led by Chief Justice Hameed Dogar, passed the verdict of ‘Sharif brothers’ ineligibility.

According to the court decision, senior Sharif is ineligible to contest poles while junior Sharif is disqualified for holding any public office. The decision related with the disqualification of the junior Sharif itself has brought a big question mark on the face of Election Commission of Pakistan. If he was ineligible, why then Shehbaz Sharif was permitted by the Election Commission to contest in general elections from his constituency PP-48 Bhakkar-II.

Another question which badly is poisonous for the credibility of the government is that why Asif Ali Zardari ordered for governor rule in Punjab for the situation there was not so uncertain and out of control? Is not an intrigue against an elected provincial government? Then why to blame others that journalists are terrorists, civil societies are traitors, and PML-N has been engaged in conspiracies against PPP? By imposing the governor rule in Punjab flew out at us that it is PPP itself that wants to undermine its government.

For this service PPP has already extended the tenure of Chief Justice Hameed Dogar for two years so that it can block the way of deposed Chief Justice Chaudry Iftikhar. In case Hameed Dogar leaves the office, there was a chance and probability of Chaudry Iftikhar to come into office once again on his seniority bases. But Zardari is Zardari. He played well on all the fronts. He sidelined Ameen Fahim who was the senior most person of PPP and a reliable hand of Benazir Bhutto. With the tragic murder of Benazir Bhutto, the fame and importance of Ameen Faheem was also murdered. Mr. Yousuf Raza Gillani was placed in the office of prime ministership so that to devaluate Ameen Faheem, who could have made many problems for Asif Ali Zardari. He would have demanded for the parliamentary system of government unlike Yousuf Raza Gillani, who has surrendered to presidential form of government and now he merely is a puppet in the hands of Asif Ali Zardari. What Zia did with Muhammad Khan Junijo, his own introduced Prime Minister, and what Musharraf did with Mir Zafarullah Jamali, is before Yousuf Raza Gillani and he will never commit the blunder to stride for parliamentary form of government. Since the very day of his appearance on the political pulpit as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gillani has been going through the agony of inferiority complex for he has been a pawn in the hands of Asif Ali Zardari. Once, Sir Winston Churchill was asked that whether England will win the war against Germany? Upon this question he asked the questioner that whether the courts in England are working impartially and honestly? The questioner replied in ‘yes’. Then he said this historic sentence “if our courts are working transparently and honestly nothing can defeat this nation”.

Unlike England and other free and independent nations and countries, here judiciary has been a tool to play with, and used against political opponents in almost all governments. It is the same judiciary which passed death sentence against PPP founder and elegant leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and allied then dictator Zia-ul-Haq. And now it is the same judiciary which has allied PPP against PML-N.

And once again the court decision and political dispersion has unhinged the political atmosphere in Pakistan that has prepared the grounds for another likely military coup. It seems that Pakistan is not familiar with democracy and it always has been very dear and heavy for the public.

After Munir, the judiciary has been used as a stilt for the military regimes. Ayub Khan, the first dictator, Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, and Musharraf, all the four military dictators came to power with abet of judiciary. Chaudry Iftikhar has been an accomplice for taking oath under Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) for two times but for third time he as an expiation of his past two sins stood as adamant rock in the path of stern Musharraf, and became champion of freedom.

PML-N, by demanding for the restoration of deposed judges, the abolition of 17th amendment, went in heights with flying colour whilst PPP came to the ground and smashed for its deceptive role.

PML-N had the support of private media in this fair game of restoration of free and transparent judiciary and it is the only reason that Asif Ali Zardari’s attitude has been becoming intolerant against the journalists.

The political atmosphere still is not that much worse if Zardari tries for rapprochement with PML-N lest the genie will come out of bottle with irreparable damage to the nation as it has endured four military coups partially because of political blunders and partially because of military quest for power politics.

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

Once an indolent cobbler got a tear in his shoe. He observed that there was only a single split in his shoe and went on ignoring it that some time else he would mend. For nine days, he could not stitched it, because he was too busy in mending the shoes of others. After nine days, when he sit to mend it he found that the single split has reached to nine rips. As repentance, he felt that, had he repaired it in time, the matter would not have reached this point. The moment he accepted his sloth, this valuable saying came out of his mouth that a stitch in time saves nine. Similarly the NWFP government after receiving a huge loss, at length, inked a truce with Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM). The provincial government in this peace deal has full support of the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.

When, he visited Peshawar February 06, 2009, Asif Ali Zardari, who is Karachi-based Balochi, threatened the militants in this language, “the militants must know that I am also a tribal and we (the government) will never be lily-livered before them.” Most of the people, who have no political education, whistled that the government this time, is serious enough in coping with the issue of terror, in FATA and Swat. With that he also announced different developmental projects, (but I am sure none of them will come true as I have been hearing such announcements since my childhood but on the ground there is no development either concrete or abstract), will be carried out. For instance, the establishment of factories, the construction of Bara dam, and educational institutions, were the main points of his address to tribal elders. Nonetheless, contrary to past and present announcements, you will see only bleak and barren land, bleak and barren mind and bleak and barren future. These are elusive promises, and announcements, made by the rulers of Pakistan, since the creation of Pakistan. Because of such hollow slogans and keeping the masses of eastern Pakistan deprived of their basic rights and sidelining them from the mainstream of politics, we lost it forever. Now the same has been in repetition here.

When Richard Hollbroke, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, called to Asif Ali Zardari, he ensured the envoy that, it will be a temporary deal. It, indeed is, a hazardous path. If it is a temporary peace deal, then what would be done for those displaced people, who are making their return to Swat. In case once again the violence breaks out, it will let loose a more catastrophic series of violence and vitriolic abhorrence and consequently the returnees will join the ranks of militants. Why did the armistice and peace deal in 1994 could not last? The only reason that I could remember is that the government was not serious in overcoming the issue created by TNSM. The then Chief Minister of NWFP, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao played a ploy with TNSM by replacing the word ‘Magistrate’ with ‘Qazi’ and the when Maulana Sufi Muhammad felt that he, and his TNSM has been beguiled into signing the peace accord, it disappeared like a rainbow. One thing, which must be brought into focus, is that, at that time, insurgency was not that much vitriolic and organised, as currently is. Then, in 1999, the peace treaty with TNSM did not bear fruit, and the whole peace journey, dashed headlong.

And once again let me say, the governments since the creation of Pakistan deliberately have ignored this part of the world so that they can milk out aids from America and international philanthropist organisations.

Those, who have some know-how of political education, turned down the announcements of Asif Ali Zardari, mere announcements.

Shortly after his visit the news echoed that NWFP government with the support of Asif Ali Zardari inked truce with Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), a banned Taliban outfit led by Maulana Sufi Muhammad, instead meeting the militants with iron hands. I am not lamenting that why the government carried out truce with those who had challenged the writ of the government rather I complain that why the government let off them with such a long-margin. The militants did surge overnights rather they made their debut one by one. That was a pragmatic season for their blockade.

The chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti called it an historic event but it sparked a volcano of controversy. Since then there is an endless debate on media. It will encourage other factions across the country to impose their own brand of Sharia. It is too much controversial and convoluted. Sun can rise from east, lion and lamb can drink water from same spring but religious leaders belonging to different schools of thoughts cannot be yoked under a unanimous Sharia Law. Each group declares and considers the others to be ‘Kafirs’ or infidels. For instance, a high level judicial Committee of Inquiry (into sectarian riots in 1953), led by the country’s two most prominent judges, after summing up the evidences taken from all major religious groups wind up as follows: Going through the collected evidences it is concluded that neither Deobandis nor Ahl-e-Hadith nor Barelvis nor Shias nor Sunnis, are Muslims. And in an Islamic state, if the government is in the hands of the group, which considers the others to be Kafirs, then in such a case they (Kafirs) must be sentenced with death penalty. When we have seen their intolerances and now been witnessing then why to allow them for such an act, which does not go in favour of nation, and state also. Is not lunacy and madness? According to Einstein, it is lunacy when an experiment is repeated for so many times, chasing different outcomes when it is already gone barren. When there is no unanimity among the different religious outfits and Taliban factions then enforcing of Sharia is a kind of collective suicide. It will yield disastrous and irreparable chaos and cracks.

Indeed, there is no gainsay that before 1969, in Malakand, Sharia was functional, and going well, but now it does not go with the trends of the times. Imitating them, Tehreek-e-Taliban in Waziristan will announce its own brand of Islamic Sharia, and another faction elsewhere. Consequently the state will fall into the hands of intolerants.

The spokesman for Awami National Party (ANP), Zahid Khan extolled the peace deal to the extent that he called Maulana Sufi Muhammad a non-violent Taliban leader. It is as if to call a snake, non-poisonous, and sans fang. A militant cannot be non-violent and a non-violent cannot be a militant. Here we will have to accept that according to the ‘Zahid Khan Theorem’ A is equal to B; hence violence is equal to peace. Accepted, but still there is a “but”. And that “but” is, it can be his political kiting and political jugglery and he must be doing it for his party’s fame that it has succeeded in bringing Taliban to the table of dialogues but Maulana Sahab is not a non-violent leader.

It is vivid than sun that, he is the same Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who led a group of thousands of gullible Pathans to wage a holy war in Afghanistan against America and leaving them in the bleak and barren land he fled back to Pakistan. Hundreds of ‘holy warriors’ were arrested in Afghanistan and kept in cells where they have been languishing until the Afghan government handed over them to Pakistan.

Upon his return he was arrested and thrown behind the bars.

It is also worth mentioning that it is not the duty of a citizen to wage or declare jihad (a holy war). It is the duty of state and its strong organ–army. It is the dilemma in Pakistan that has created the havoc and hellhole in the country. The day until we change our mindset there would chaos in the country in one form or the other. And the day until the government does not introduce FATA and tribals into the mainstream politics, there would be no development in the country. As Sharia Law is parallel to the constitution so is Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Is not the duplicitous role? Beyond any doubt it is. Instead enforcing Sharia the government must have abrogated FCR, which is anti-constitutional and anti-humanity. Why the people of FATA want to have Sharia law? It is because; FCR allows collective punishment, where a political agent is omnipotent and more than a monarch. He is judiciary, he and he is executive. It means if he wills he can punish you and if wills he can absolve you. And a tribal has no right to defend himself. This is why tribals prefer Sharia to FCR. It is this black law, which has erupted a sense of hatred and abhorrence among tribal against the state and system. It is on the record that Quaid-e-Azam, the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan was not given permission by the then political agent of Khyber Agency to visit Torkhum then what is the value of an ordinary man in the eyes of a political agent. This is why there has been always revolt and insurgency in this land. Looking into the past peace deals and accords one can easily connote that this one is also a fragrance, which will disappear soon.

The first augury of its failure is that the second day of armistice, Musa Khan Khel, a Swat-based correspondent to Geo News, a private channel and an English daily The News, was killed when he was covering the TNSM-led peace-march in Swat. It is the fourth case of journalist’s murder in Swat. The killing of a journalist was that still there are some forces, which don’t want peace in the valley. Muslim Khan, the spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, denied that its outfit has involvement in this case. Since then different news organisations and civil societies have given vent to their fierce resentment to the murder of Musa Khan Khel. The third day (on February 19, 2009) of peace deal with TNSM, Dera Ismail Khan witnessed a violent scene of suicide bombing. A young man ran into the funeral prayer of a Shia leader and blown himself up. The suicide bombing resulted at the loss of 35 human lives and 150 other casualties. It is the second incident of suicide bombing in funeral prayer. It means the situation is not coming to normalcy.

Though these incidents reduced the importance of the armistice yet there has been a series of debates.

The delegation of TNSM met with the faction of Maulana Fazlullah, the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Muhammad. Now it is also worth mentioning that how much exertion TNSM and Maulana Sufi Muhammad has in Swat, which is a district of Malakand Division. Maulana Sufi Muhammad has a good circle of influence in Malakand while Swat comes under the noose of Maulana Fazlullah. If there is no consensus between father-in-law and son-in-law, the peace deal will be undermined.

In such a scenario it is not hard to say that the story of Swat and FATA has gone worse. And the truce will be nothing more than a rainbow-armistice, which will disappear soon.

Deliberately or ill fatedly this gharib nawaz shehr (a poor friendly city) is now under the grip of this devilish air of beheadings and women kidnappings.

This Shehr-e-Haft Zaban (a city of seven dialects/languages), in the near past, was a thatch and canopy of tranquility and peace for poor and elite alike and where the people from its surroundings used to come in search of their earnings but all that is over now.

Peshawar is also a city, which is quite resembled to Jalalabad where you will see outnumbering Afghan refugees having a flavour of rich Afghan culture. As it has given place right at it’s heart to the Afghan refugees, is a solid example of its openness and tolerance. With that it has also accommodated a huge number of tribal from different agencies.

Ask any elderly man about Qissa Khawani, and he will outburst his nostalgia for this loveliest city of the world. He, even with a choric tone, will say you that it was an akhkulay khar (lovely city) where they used to bring woods from tribal areas for selling it and enjoy its Chapli Kabab (grind meat cakes) and spicy curries available at very low prices—annas (the coin of that age). For the elder tribal Pukhtoons, Dabgari and Qissa Khawani had been favourite places in Peshawar. Now it can be called a golden past completely shrouded in past memories and buried under the dust of history. When the former President, Pervaiz Musharaf took a sharp U-turn on Pakistan’s foreign policy, the air of this intolerance was not unexpected in this city for it is home to different races. For that, the grounds were prepared since long but he was here just to win all the disgraces and blames for this intolerance and widespread anarchy in the region.

It is now a city where the business class feels itself very much insecure. It is the business class, which provides capital to the business wheels of an area. When such a class becomes the target of kidnappers and terrorists they prefer to take out its investments from the area. Such an act of capital-drain occurred a few days back when most of the investors felt themselves, their families and investments at risks. Most of the businessmen who were residents of Hayatabad, a posh township on the west of Peshawar and east of Khyber Agency, have transferred their businesses to Islamabad. According to the president of Anjuman-e-Tajeraan (the council of traders), Haji Muhammad Afzal, this fear of insecurity has badly affected the business of Peshawar. It has nearly brought the business on the brink of collapse. The factories for their owners have turned into no go areas. As it is said that belly teaches all the arts. This need of belly and stomach has dragged ‘he and she’ both in this black game of kidnappings.

Male kidnappers have carried out nearly 15-20 cases successfully with the accomplice of women kidnappers.

This has seriously affected the daily wages of factory workers and there must not be any doubt that the fresh glut of jobless in near future will join hands either with kidnappers or Taliban. For, Taliban also provide its supporters with 10-15 thousands rupees. And for a poor person usually unskilled and a good-for-nothing who barely earns such a handful wage else where surely will join the ranks of the Taliban, using the cloak of religion where he feels contented and his mind never makes him restless that he is doing a wrong. Rather contrary to it he feels that as if he is doing a good job. As the Taliban have killed many rogues elements in tribal areas so the kidnappers have turned their faces towards cities where they are fully absorbed in kidnappings.

With the advent of 2009, more than 14 people have been kidnapped including a child. Among them only Alam Zeb Mujahid, who is a celebrity name in the world of Pushto comedy, was kidnapped by a religious group and was released on the condition of joining Tablighee Jamat (the preachers constellation). Rests of the people have been kidnapped for ransom. The owner of Arshad cinema in Khyber bazaar Peshawar was also kidnapped, and after a great deal of efforts, he was released. The past year Hayatabad and many other places like Kohat road, Mathra road and Pushtakhra road were no go areas for the ‘haves’ people. And this year also these areas are favourite hunting places for the kidnappers.

They not only kidnap but also kill very heinously if someone resists. The past year, the kidnappings which made headlines in news papers and news channels were the cases of Afghan designate-Ambassador, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Saeed Ahmad an American nationality holder and owner of a pharmaceutical, Iranian Consulate Commercial Attaché, Hashmatullah Athar Zada, and the Director of an NGO, Shakir Ishaq.

Nearly 160 people were released either by the ransom or police efforts. By now more than 145 kidnappers have been nabbed during the police crackdowns but anyhow it has not discouraged the trend of kidnappings, as it still is rampant in the capital city of the province. Overall the number of kidnapped the past year was 220 including women and children and this year also the rate is going with same pace. Within a span of just two months there have been no less than 21 cases of kidnappings. Yesterday, four people were kidnapped from this capital city in different cases on Feb. 3, 2009.

The natives of Peshawar have never seen such horrific scenes of humans’ rights violations since partition, as these days it has been witnessing. There must not be any doubts when the British Raj took Peshawar in its clasp, a reign of terror was unleashed and before them the Sikhs under the rule of Ranjeet Singh who had the support of France had opened the floodgates of persecutions against the natives of this land. The Sikhs used to scaffold every day two believers from the dazzling minarets of the historical Masjid-e-Muhabat Khan. That is past, and Peshawar once again is under the rule of tyranny and terror unleashed by the kidnappers, criminals and the Taliban. But this time Muslim is under the reign or horror by Muslim.

In such a scenario one bewilders and it is really very hard to decide where to seek shelters and where to go.

Peshawar has been bleeding profusely and such inhuman trends crept in at the capital city of NWFP, and also its adjacent areas, which were completely unknown in the Pukhtoons three thousand years recorded history. Among such devilish trends, the kidnappings of women and the beheadings of men are blemished examples. There have been many cases of kidnappings but it could not harass the inhabitants of this capital city as the recent two cases of kidnappings and beheadings.

Rafeeullah, a Pabbi-based Peer (a religious leader who belongs to Sufi school of thought and believe in witchcraft and amulets), was kidnapped from district Nowshehra on January 17, 2009. After a few days his beheaded body was found in Pushtakhara, Peshawar. The letter, which was found near his body has the inscriptions; “the people who run the businesses of amulets, blowing and witchcraft will hug the same fate.” It means that this one is a bleak example of sectarianism. The previous day —February 1, 2009, two Afghan women were found dead in Achini Khwar (the gully of Achini) Peshawar, completely disrobed and nude. A few days ago, they were kidnapped from Peshawar. The letter, which was found with the dead bodies of the two women, had the caption, “the consequence of moral perversion and lewdness is the same.” The kidnappers have very cunningly tried to avert the public fury by labeling them as immoral and showing it a case of honour killing.

To the expectations of the kidnappers, some of the people consider it a likely case of honour killing. But many skeptical people rejected it as a case of honour killing. If it were the case as many people think then why a relative should be a (father, brother and uncle) throw away the defaced dead body in a nude state for a nightlong duration instead burying them. It is not that simple to call it a case of honour killing, like the one in Balochistan where two women were buried alive the past year. Indeed that was purely an honour killing case and their relatives confessed where as in this case such a statement did not appear.

Beside it at least 38 women including some teenagers also were entrapped in elopement and later they were kidnapped or handed over to tugs. At least eight women have been released either by police raids or ransom and rests of the women still are entangled in the hands of the kidnappers.

As it is said that nothing is sure except death in future, this maxim comes very true to the atmosphere in Peshawar. If you steps out of home, no one can guarantee you that you will be back home and safe, such is life these days in Peshawar. Every day you will hear the howling sounds of emergency-horns as if some foreign power is to invade Peshawar. But in reality these are the sounds of mobile-police’s vehicles, the vehicles of provincial ministers and its’ security guards. Just 7-8 years back this capital city was totally unfamiliar with such airs.

This is not an exaggeration but a long-sustained reality.

In such a scenario, majority of the people believe that the current wave of Talibanisation is a by-product of allying the US in its war on terror so they believe that the appearance of kidnapers is the by-product of Talibanisation. It simply means, when Pakistan allied the US in its war on terror, Taliban surged on the land of tribal and when they made their debut so the kidnappers also but on the land of Peshawar. The Taliban have challenged the writ of government overtly while the kidnappers have also but covertly. Both the factions (the Taliban and the kidnappers) stand apart ideologically but they have one thing in common and that is the use of allegation. Like the allegation of terrorism, which the US has been using against its enemies as a lethal weapon, the kidnappers and the Taliban have also adopted the same weapon of allegations. It is an easy and effective tool to blame a murdered person by keeping a letter to mitigate the chances of public fury. In northern-Waziristan, the Taliban used it for the first time by labeling their enemies as involved in spying for the US. It traveled from there to Bajaur and now the kidnappers have been using it in Peshawar.

The day Pakistan allied the US in its war on terror, such anarchy, rule of terror and inhuman crimes were destined for the region. Before that one fails badly to grope out such acts of crimes and inhumanity in the history of Peshawar and its adjoining areas.

As Islam says that human is black by nature and many western philosophers also believe the same. When the Second World War brought devastation on a massive scale then western philosophers start thinking whether human is black by nature or lenient. And now we are observing that human is black by nature. It is education, society and the rule of law and the threat of punishment that keeps him or her abstained from doing inhuman and brutal acts. Simply it means where the rule of law and the writ of government ends, starts from there the rule of terror and inhumanity. And it is no denying the fact that anarchism fans the fire of intolerance and Peshawar these days has come in the grip of kidnappers and zero tolerance time.

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

Swat is that ill-fated region of the country, which witnessed world’s longest curfew, and FATA since long is under the rule of fear. Not only FATA but also Peshawar, which is the capital city of NWFP and once a valley of flowers and fragrance, is now the valley of horror. Like that Balochistan’s capital city Quetta is also bleeding with sectarianism and is jerking with separatist movements. Amid all the chaos we hear news- statements that all is normal. It does not come from the media or the masses but from those who are sitting in the echelons of power.

Two Balochi businessmen were killed by the police in Karachi a few weeks back, which unleashed a widespread condemnation from Baloch nationalists across the country and the other day two Punjabis were shot dead by some unknown people in Quetta. As it is obvious that the capital city of Balochistan has been bleeding with sectarianism but this act of terror is apparently an act of retaliation to the loss of two Balochis in Karachi. If the government either in center or province had tackled it properly the situation must not had taken such a rapturous turn. The nations who don’t learn lessons of the history lost their self-ego and respect in world community and also go into bondage of another nations. Because of this deadly denialism we lost our eastern wing of Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh. But it seems that our leadership did not take lessons of that great historic debacle.

And the same story and episode of denialism that culminated at the breakage of Pakistan in 1970s has been once again in repetition. That was because of our wrong domestic policy and it is today our wrong domestic policy that is responsible for all the chaos around us. Tariq Ali, a UK-based left wing journalist and editor of New Left Review, exiled in 1960s from Pakistan on account of his candor, says “it is a country where everything is on sale. And it is a country, which is on the flight path of American power.” Looking at his views, it is easy to deduce that every country chalks out its foreign policy in accordance with its national interests but here the story goes opposite.

Gallop Survey conducted the past year says that 2008 stood one of the worst years out of the past 25-year. As the government has been in addiction to denialism so denied the Gallop Survey also.

Like past year, 2009 came with a myriad of challenges and crises. But to hear the statements of government officials one feels that as if Pakistan is vying with Norway, a country, which did not, witnessed a single event of violence the past year.

But very much spiteful to the hopes and wishes of the nation are the statements of Yousuf Raza Gillani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the NWFP minister for information. According to them there is quite a normalcy in Swat and FATA. It means all the hues and cries of the masses against the government and the self-styled Taliban is nothing but gibberish. And the news broadcasted and telecasted is nothing but propaganda against the government.

And equally it means that every body is wrong except the elite class in Pakistan. When the elite class has gone intellectually bankrupt and has fissured a trust deficit between the rulers (themselves) and ruled (the masses) then there must be an end to this culture of elite class exceptionalism. And I think media in Pakistan is playing its role well against this culture of exceptionalism. Though it is rooted in human nature that it does not accept its lapses and wrongs but one at least must try to overcome this fatal trend, which is growing among the elite with leaps and bounds these days. The politicians must keep in their bleak desert of mind that it is not that simple that a reality well loss its weight just to deny it. We have a Pushto proverb that deems fit on the statements of the government officials; “Nmur pha gotha nha pategei,” which can be surmised in English as “a finger cannot conceal the sun rather it is the eye of the seer that feels so.” It is usually said in such times when some one tries to belie a glowing reality. Here it must not be construe that the new government must accept its weaknesses and abdicate the power center. It will bring more disastrous consequences to avoid a possible military overtake, as it has been in murmur that a possible military overtake is to come.

When the government has lost its credibility among the masses, then it is its duty to rebuild it instead defacing it further with denying the ground realities. And it would be no less than a miracle to rebuild its credibility. For that it will have to go a long and pragmatic way. And that is possible with devotion and good governance. For that the leadership will have to put the masses on a pragmatic track, for no supper natural being will come to ameliorate the worsening situations in Pakistan. We have been hearing the masses blaming their leadership, which seems acceptable but yester-night I heard a politician in his interview to a foreign media organisation blaming the masses for all the upheavals in the country. Strange enough it is when he exaggerated his views with a rubbish of arguments. For instance he embanked his frail notions with arguments that the masses rarely pay their taxes and also are responsible for electricity line losses. At that time he must have kept in mind his party’s leadership which has been famous for money-laundering case and which came here after a long exile because of a clandestine deal with the former unquestioned president of Pakistan (Musharraf).

It is very saddening that the federal government is crazy after enlarging its cabinet size and gave space to five new ministers in federal cabinet.

Imitating the federal the provincial government is running after increasing the salaries of its provincial ministers. In such a scenario what the masses should do and where it should go? Should they look forward for Taliban to come and snatch the power of these political jugglers? Surely no. For, they also are vandalists and deeply sexists.

Then the government must end the fiasco of terror. The rulers must keep in view that now the age is over when the politicians had the art of befooling the masses with hollow slogans.

Mian Iftikhar Sahab no parents will to put the lives their children at bet by sending them to schools in Swat. Then what meaning should be taken of your statement that all the government schools would be opened in time and the schools were not closed because of the threats from the Taliban but winter?

If it is so, then why the government has decided to deploy well equipped and quick response security teams on educational centres in Swat? The decision of government is welcomed but it is not an affective solution of the issue because it is equal to playing with the lives of the children of the nation. The issue is not that much easy to be addressed. It turned more convulsed when Maulana Fazlullah issued a list of 86 politicians keeping them in “wanted” category. The list includes the names of former ministers and incumbent ones and it became public when he named them during his speech on his illegal FM channel.

Now it is the real test of the government and the politicians that whether still they deny it or take it serious, for this time the monster has fallen on them. And the government officials will know whether the entire region is under the reign of abnormality and anarchy or not which they have been belying. A person is free until he or she is let free by the Taliban. If they want to kill their targets they can kill anytime—day or night. Some militants, near Bajri, an area which is an appendage to Sarband Peshawar or in simple words where the writ of the provincial government and its police ends and the writ of political administration starts, snatched away a van of lady teachers. When the teachers went to the near by police station to lodge an FIR, the police refused to register it, calling the area out of its duty-line and when they went to lodge FIR with Khyber Khasadar Force, it also refused to do so. It does not mean that the area does not come under the duty-circle of either party but because of fear and terror from Taliban, no party was ready to investigate into the case.

Then the question is what the government really wants by assuring the masses with hollow statements instead seeking ways and means for its solution?

Does it mean the candid journalists, who put their lives in risks for fair reporting, are constantly misleading the public, providing them with first hand and critical information as the president in Peshawar Chamber of Commerce during his visit called the journalists as terrorists. Its forerunner government under the dictatorship of Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf used to allege the journalists responsible for fanning Talibanisation by depicting the Taliban as heroes. Being a dictator, Musharraf did not attack journalists in Pakistan that much seriously as Asif Ali Zardari has been doing now. Looking at his attitude it is far easier to conclude that civil dictator is more detrimental than military ones. Here the comparison must not be taken as the appreciation of military regimes. Dictatorship in any form and any dress is condemnable and intolerable. But is it fair to call journalists as terrorists, and it is then, when they are reporting the stark facts.

By now the self-imposed and state agencies grown Taliban have torched more than 175 schools and other dozens of government buildings in Swat but the masses hear the statements emanated from the government officials that there is no chaos in the region and if there is a small scale disturbance, and soon it will be subdued. The masses are waiting since long for that “soon” to come and see the chaos at it wannig scene. The demolition and detonation of the educational intuitions have affected the future of nearly 75,000 students in valley Swat. Each single school requires Rs. 03 million to be rebuilt and collectively it will take 525 million. The construction of a school needs a span of two years. Now it is easy to feel the aggregate loss inflected by the Taliban on Swat. With that equally goes in the region the tourism and hotel industry in loss.

Looking to the bitterness of the situations in Swat the Eliot Police Force of 3,000 Jawans has refused to carry out its duty in this terror-stricken region. It is a region where Maulana Fazlullah-led Taliban have severed the ears of police constables and many have been hacked to death. Then where is the weight and reality in the statements of the government officials? And where is the writ of the government. And blaming neighbours is also futile and immature. I f there is a tinge of reality that RAW, Mosasad and Khad are hell-bent on creating violence in Pakistan then why like India it does not take the case into UN’s Security Council?

Surely there is no tinge of reality. That is all acts of naked hypocrisy against its own masses by its rulers and Islam says that the lowest place in hell is reserved for the hypocrites. And quite resembled to that says Danton, a great French revolutionist, “the lowest place in hell is reserved for those who opt to stay neutral in an hour of crisis.” But here the people who are there in the helms authority have not only stayed neutral in this hour of crises but also denied it. I don’t know which place in hell they will find but it is obvious that equally accomplice with the terrorists and vandalists, the denialism of the rulers is a deadly dilemma.

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

The Muslims and Hindus lived for at least 850-year together in India but without overt enmity, oppression and violence.

Indeed the Hindus looked towards the Muslims as aliens and invaders but preferred them to the British. Both the cow-eaters and the cow-worshippers fought combined against the British Raj. Consequently they succeeded in expelling the Britishers from this land of odd traditions. But the colonial power shattered the frayed unity of both the Muslims and Hindus by unjust distribution of assets, keeping Kashmir unsolved. And the issue still is a bone between the two dogs–here the word dog must not be taken for disgrace and contempt rather for instance. Both the countries chalked out their foreign policies on hostile lines. Since then the enmity has mounted many times. Today, Pakistan is more religiously intolerant than was achieved. Same is the case of India. The purported and self-styled religious clerics in both the countries have dripped the venom of hatred so much that the two–Muslims and Hindus stand poles apart. Here is the need to rewrite the foreign policies in the two countries. It is needed to expurgate the textbooks in both the countries that teach the language of hate and sentimentality.

Pick any book from Pakistani institutions and you will see what is wrong with. And pick any book from Indian state sponsored educational institutions and you will see how its nascent buds are taught and an anti-Pakistani secret message. As both the countries are developing where most of the people cannot go higher than graduation and they don’t know the hidden hands behind their curricula which try to mould their mind set in the way as the hidden hands want. What is that hidden hand? It is the elite class which has been using and exploiting the masses. It sends their children to Europe and American, who has the right to know, to mould and to rule. It is the same hidden hand, which has divided the Muslims and Hindus in South Asia.

There are more than 38 illegal FM channels in Pakistan wherefrom the religious clerics teaches its followers the language of abhorrence, hatred and sectarianism. And they don’t talk much about India but its own Muslims in Pakistan to be tortured and killed. Then who poses a serious threat to Pakistan. For me these stations, its runners and the self-styled Taliban have been posing a serious threat to the masses of Pakistan than India. In 1965 Pak-India war the death toll was nearly four thousand and causalities were less than unleashed in the current wave of terrorism. If we compare the loss of lives and causalities inflected on the masses from these terrorists is four times greater than that. Then why not to call them a threat?

If India attacks, let suppose, and most of the intellectuals believe it will never attack, but we would be united and will fight it with unity. And the enemy would be obvious and opposite. But in case of Taliban–or homegrown enemies, they are carrying out bomb explosions, killing the innocent and down to earth natured poor people, and persecuting but without declared war. It is an enemy in dark. Who carried out more than 17 suicide attacks only in Swat during the past year?

Who masterminded and carried out no less than 70 remote-control bomb explosions in Swat? Who razed 122 schools to earth and colleges including 84 girls’ institutions? More than 18 bridges have been damaged but who is behind it? More than 12 police stations have been assaulted and damaged but can any one explain who, by whom and why? Who kidnapped more than 68 security personal personnel during the past year? Who invoked to the military operation in Swat, which resulted at the destruction of hundreds of houses, and migration of more than 50,0000 people from the area? The terrorist or India? Only one masjid (Babri Masjid) was demolished in India and that shook not only Pakistanis but also the entire Islamic world but more than 40 masajid have been destroyed but went unsung. It is either because of the fear of the Taliban or because it is all done in the name of religion. But the fear of Taliban rules only in tribal belt and NWFP but why the rest of Pakistanis preferred for silence. As a journalist one cannot put life at stake for candid reporting from FATA and Swat. By now three journalists had to wash their hands of their lives in Swat. Who has banned the polio vaccination in the remote areas of NWFP and tribal agencies? And why to sharpen our teeth and show honed jaws to Indians. The word Indians must be taken in broader context contrary to BJP, VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal’s definition. Such Indianism comes under the definition of Hindutva-fascism. To all these questions the answer is not India. Then why to blame India? That is very easy to blame others for one’s own faults and lapses. Unfortunately the government officials and the politicians are already addicted to it instead seeking ways and means for solutions. And always they are at it to exonerate themselves, which indeed is not the solution. We have a proverb in Pushto, “che ghal de da kora we no mela ba de spora we”. It can be taken in English; “an in-home thief /enemy is sufficient for your destruction”. When we have an enemy in home there is no need to have from outside. And the statement of Tehreek-e-Taliban and other militant outfits is beyond understanding and is really ridiculous. According to these outfits they are as patriotic as the rest of Pakistanis and if India attacks they will fight them abreast with Pakistani forces. Is it not their insanity? If they are so patriotic then why they have set their home ablaze?

We must put our home aright than to blame others. India is not that much a threat as these miscreants who have unleashed a reign of terror specifically in FATA.

This all is carried out under the nose of the establishment. The government in NWFP has coined an attractive but lethal excuse that FATA is not a part of the province.

We have been hearing this excuse since long and the federal is also escapist on this issue. Escapism and allegationism are tools, which have been in use, but the terror and the military operation in Swat is enough to be an eye-opener fact. Ask any Swati about the Taliban and abruptly he will start cursing the government and abusing Taliban. Have you ever seen a human yoked for plowing fields instead ox or heard a story. If not, you can see and hear the story in FATA.you must have seen or heared about the stories about hurling acid at the faces of schoolgirls but must have not seen or heard about yoking and plowing by men.

This trangression against the mild and lenient laws of mild and true Islam. And such acts of bleak barbarism have defaced the true picture of religion.

It is also unripe and misleading to allege India for all the chaos in FATA. Even, if it is accepted then comes the question that who is behind the terror game in valley Swat. Because it has no direct frontiers with any neighbouring countries and it is not a part of FATA–an area that is being considered in Pakistan, as unruly but is an area, which comes under the control of provincial government. Then wherefrom Swat (once the Switzerland of Pakistan and one of the favourite tourists spot) is receiving aid in money and weapons? Why the state agencies have not traced out the hands behind it. Or they know it but deliberately look the other way. If that is so, then the masses have the right to know the expediency of the government in it. Since 2002 more than 700 terrorists have been handed over to foreigners and more than 3000 have been put behind the bars but none of them were dragged into the law courts. And none of them were proven guilty and punished. Had the governments in Pakistan done so, it would have discouraged the rest of terrorists and would have overcome the sagging confidence of the masses. No nabbed terrorist has been shown on media punished for his or her crimes but we hear news-statements just about figures. No journalist knows about the sequel of the detainees. In return the outcome is doubt from the masses.

A few days back I had a chance to hear Voice of America and heard the comments of different callers from across the Pakistan especially NWFP.

Ignorance, religious and anti-Hindu sentimentalities gushed out of their mouths. And same is the attitude of those Indians who can be kept under the catagory of haves not. They are the selfsame emblem of religious intolerance, ignorance, hatred and anti-Pakistan sentiments. Here ignorance does not mean the lack of education but the famine of well and timely thinking. Their sentimentalities don’t go with the trend of the times as of the Taliban in Pakistan. The political classes in both the countries know very well that there is no enmity between the two states at all and when they meet in foreign, they meet like friends. Even there is a rumour that some of the political elites from India and Pakistan have combined businesses in foreign countries. If the rumour is true then why this duplicity? Is it not a deadly and contemptuous game against the poor people of the two countries?

But this is all done under the cloak of jingoism, nationalism and patriotism. And it is all done from elite but for misleading the masses. The day when the masses will realise that it is all a game, will they allow their politicians and governments to allocate a huge portion of its fiscal budgets for defence. Will they allow a third world country like Pakistan, where the 40 percent people live under the poverty line to construct new general head quarter (GHQ) in Islamabad. It requires more than 70 billion rupees ( Pakistani currency). Is it fair and just to builed it at the cost of poverty, low literacy rate and militancy in a country where the poor are committing suicides because of searing poverty. A few years back 23 percent people in Pakistan were below poverty line while in India the ratio was 40 percent. Today the order is totally opposite.

The new GHQ in Islamabad would be constructed on the design of the five-sided building of Pentagon. For that purpose 1400 acres of land has been allotted which is phase-III of Defence Complex project. It is appreciable that General Ishfaq Pervaiz Kiani has ordered to stop its construction because of global recession. Here it must not be construe that we must not be strong in defence but at least those who chalked out the project must have taken the poor into consideration. India also has the same mentality and allocating huge defence budget for its military adventurism. It is doing it under the pretext of bolstering its defence but like Pakistan at the cost of poverty and religio-perversion of its masses.

It woul also be better to concentrate on the in-home enemy for it has demonised Pakistan among world communities as a plague spot. And it is necessary to change the militant psyche of general public into a moderate and tolerant one. It requires a long and steady efforts to mittigate it. India also has to do the same if it wants peace in the region. If the Muslims and Hindus could live in past as a nation for centuries with out violence and antagonism at least they can live as peaceful neighbours for millenia in future.

With that ther is growing need to re-write foreign policies in the two states with the ink of not only tolerance but sympathy on the paper of devotion, wherein there is no hint of hatred. And that is it.

The writer is FATA-based freelance journalist.

Since the Mumbai carnage the clouds of war have been hovering over the heads of the two nuclear states.

With each passing day the war-hysteria was mounting which invited to the foreign influence. From America to the Britain and from China to Saudi Arabia all the countries exerted their influence over the two countries. The issue was bedeviled by the obduracy of India. The media in India, Pakistan and the US fanned the war phobia equally. Especially the electronic media left no stone unturned in igniting the war hysteria. The three media in the countries behaved ridiculously and the US media had already done it in the case of Iraq invasion.

According to Atique Saddique who writes from New York for an Urdu daily being published from Peshawar, says an his column that in the US, the public opinion is fully moulded for the invasion on Pakistan. According to the American media, Pakistan is a plague spot for nursing and importing terrorism on this planet. His prognosis surely is convincing that public opinion in America is leveled for the attack on Pakistan whereas it is debatable that the US will attack. It will never until it hopes that the war on terror is winnable in Afghanistan. If it fails, then beyond any doubt, it will kick back at Pakistan. If it succeeds then also it will try to smother its non-Nato ally. But right in a few months it is premature that such an evil befall on Pakistan.

The US is not here really to combat terror rather it is here to fan it alive. In this regard possibly Russia and even Iran will burry the hatchet and will join hands with the US against Pakistan.

Since the Mumbai mayhem of 26th November 2008, wherever I went the words, which stroke my ears, were whether India will attack Pakistan or not? The answer they received from my side was surely not now. It was their discussion that dragged me towards writing this article. Why it will not? Is Pakistan is cousin to the US? Indeed the answer is no. Then why it is not attacking Pakistan or why it is exerting India not to attack? The reason is not that it is a nuclear state rather the environment is not fertile for the invasion. As a part of the great game the anti-Pakistan hands want to bleed it so profousedly that it will succumb without any invasion.

A few months back when the Tehreek-e-Taliban plundered the trucks of Nato forces in Khyber Pass, the Nato forces refused to attack Pakistan. And the US is also fully aware of the importance of Khyber Pass that it is as important for the Nato and American forces in Afghanistan as a windpipe. In case the US forces attacks Pakistan the Pass can go to the hands of Taliban and the war on terror in Afghanistan is lost. Moreover, destabilise Pakistan means a safe haven for Al-Qaida and other militants’ forces. And destabilise Pakistan means a constant threat for India, for it will be easy for the Al-Qaida and Taliban to expand its area of operations to the revered land of Baharat Matha. Initially India was searing with rage and the smell of possible war was clearly coming from New Delhi towards Islamabad. But the recent statement of its Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee that terrorism is not a bilateral enemy rather it is a global enemy and hence should be fought congregationally, shows the u-turn of Indian aggressive policy towards Islamabad, which was likely to erupt war. It was also alleging Islamabad that New Delhi has provided proofs of its involvement. However Islamabad went on denail and the issue wnet from bad to worse. India intruded its aircrafts into the Pakistani air-bordr but Mr. Asif Ali Zardari tried to avoid the possible clash by calling it an outcome of a technical mistake. Interpol which is a global police agency termed the stance of India unsatisfactory. The Interpol Chief Ronald K. Noble visited Islamabad also after his visit to New Delhi on December 20, 2008. After that the clouds or possible war saw its decline. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi demanded Indian government to relocate its troops to peace-times position.

Condollezza Rice has been harsh on Pakistan but in today’s visit to India she will exert its pressure on India to tone down its pungent language. What the US all is doing to assign Pakistan the security over the Nato supply. Hence in the US interruption the threat of war is gradually coming down.

The India External Affairs Minister, Parnab Mukargee also discussed the issue with the Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal durinh his visit to India on 26 December 2008.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to visit Saudi Arabia in coming few months where he would request Riyadh to scotch funding Jihadi outfits in Pakistan. By now India has plying well but it has concerns over the statement of Obama.

When Barack Obama exposed that he will take a keen interest in Kashmir issue the next day, daily “The Pioneer” published an article as a reaction to his statement carrying the headline “Mr. Obama, Kashmir is not an issue”. Here it shws that India is creating obstacles in the solution of Kashmr issue. It is the major hatchet between the two neighbouring countries since partion of india in 1947.

It is Indian obduracy that compels it to make it a part of its constitution.

Indeed in Indian constitution it has been declare “Uttoot Ung—unbreakable organ” but it is the public of Kashmir who has the authority over the fate its land, the UN and the world community to solve the issue. Among the world community the US is the only power, which has the propensity to solve the Kashmir issue, and no doubt a ray and air of hope went over the heads of Kashmiris and Pakistanis that as Barack Obama has shown his interest in Kashmir issue, so a possible solution will come in way. The Mumbai mayhem disillusioned the Kashmiris and Pakistanis that it will remain still a hatchet between the two rival countries. There would be war between India and Pakistan but one thing, which was witnessed that New Delhi drubbed Islamabad in ambassadorial efficiency across the world. The statements and steps taken by our leadership caused us ridiculous and the image of Pakistan received a sever setback. Like the masses of Pakistan, China also is stunned with the attitude of our leadership that how it gave way to Indian pressure and how India succeeded in trouncing it in the UN.

The US and India have been making efforts to lasso ISI since May-June. But they got the opportunity after the Mumbai mayhem.

We are the runner in the war on terror not the US, India and the Taliban or Al-Qaida. The whole fiasco of Mumbai carnage was carried out very deftly and India succeeded in demonising Pakistan and banning Jamat-e-Dawa—formerly Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, which has been operational in Kashmir against the eight lakhs Indian troops. The Mumbai incident also affected the Kashmir freedom movement seroiusly.

India has been crying for it’s banning and found an opportunity now to eradicate this constant thorn out of its path. China has imposed a technical hold on this issue in the UN and had stridden to keep it postponed. But Pakistan heaped to the US and Indian pressure and beseeched Beijing to abrogate the technical hold. Beijing, which is also facing the trouble of Muslim separatist movement but still it tried to veto the UN sanction on Jamat-e-Dawa. The US pressurised Pakistan to soothe China over the issue. After that China accepted the bane on Jamat-e-Dawa. The US and India have been striving to keep such outfits and some of the retired ISI officials including Hameed Gul and three others to keep them in the UN terrorist-list. It was only China that has been trammeling their efforts. But now, Russia, Ukraine, India and even Iran have joined hands against Pakistan. The war on terror proved very dear to Pakistan but still it is in its deep slumber when it will awake to overcome the backlashes it will be too late. The war probably will not erupt but the clouds will remain hovering. Pakistan has a short possible leeway to rethink and re-chalk out its foreign policy before it is destabilised to the extent wherefrom there is no way to come back.

Taliban have intensified their raids on the Nato logistic terminals in Peshawar.

They have torched more than 300 containers and trucks including 500 Humvees–the American armoured vehicles, since December 1, 2008.
Each single Humvee costs US $ 10,0000 and the damage of Nato military assets is estimated at billions of dollars. Since the first attack, Nato has been floundering to seek an alternative route for the supply.

In this regard, General David McKiernan, head of Nato-led troops exposed that talks with the northern neighbouring countries of Afghanistan are under way. The role of foreign forces in Afghanistan has brought a rift between the US and German forces. To conceal the security lapses the US forces have been chiding the Germen soldiers for their sluggishness. Security analysts believe that war on terror for America is not winnable. As America is hell-bent on the war or terror it is intended to send more troops to Afghanistan to curb the rising threat of insecurity.

The additional troops would be deployed in Logar and Wardak provinces, located on the southern flank of Kabul. Currently there are more than 67,000 troops and more are likely to be deployed in the next few months. In case the additional troops are deployed then the Nato will have to receive 70,000 containers in Afghanistan annually.
It has been already receiving 80% supplies through the G.T road, which goes through Khyber Pass.

The rising threat of Taliban’s organised attacks can be gauged of McKiernan’s words when he said; “the aim of the additional troops is to check the rising threat of insurgency from the southern side of Kabul”.

Like Afghanistan, here also the Taliban are a constant threat for their interests and have organised attacks on the Nato supply terminals in Peshawar.
The attacks on the terminals on one hand has totally baffled the Nato forces in Afghanistan while on the other it is also a head reeling issue for the government of Pakistan.
For the Nato, the success or failure of its anti-Taliban adventure in Afghanistan is tied with the timely supply of food-ration, and other military assets. In case the Taliban succeed in complete blockade of the route, the foreign troops in Afghanistan will surrender to them. Lashkar-e-Islam, a pro-government Taliban faction, which is active only Bara Division of Khyber Agency, is also flapping its wings for gaining control over the route. The outfit does not like the presence of Al-Qaida or other foreign elements, which indeed is a mascot for the area. Will the government be agreed to assign the surveillance of the route to a Taliban outfit, is also a question. If the government agrees what would be the conditions from Lashkar-e-Islam and will the Nato be prepared for that?

A few days back the notion was rampant among the masses and the law and order enforcing agencies that Taliban, are making their way towards the capital city of NWFP and the way is not so far that they will overrun Peshawar.

And indeed the Taliban showed this notion true to some extent when they successfully carried out seven organised attacks on the Alfaisal terminals, world port logistics and Bilal terminals in Peshawar. To overcome the issue the provincial government is seeking to recruit more police constables.

The attacks compelled the ANP-led government in NWFP to discuss it in its provincial cabinet but the sense of insecurity among the masses goes deeper with each passing day.

Every now and then the government repeats the same rhetoric that the case is under investigation and the terrorists would be brought soon in the balustrade of courts. On the ground the writ of government in Peshawar and tribal area has tumbled headlong. Since the general election of February 2008, the government has been striving to make the masses believe that the situation will come towards normalcy but inversely it has left the masses totally frustrated.

Because of the fear and insecurity, some of the residents of Hayatabad, which is near to Khyber Agency, have already sifted their families from the township wherefrom the terrorists have already kidnapped Iranian attaché and other important foreign diplomats.

According to the Pakistani Taliban the attacks on the terminals will go on until the ISAF stops its drones’ attacks in FATA.

The recent drones’ attack at Miranshah challenged the determination of Taliban and disillusioned them that the foreign forces in Afghanistan will bring a halt to its aerial attacks in tribal belt.

Observing the whole scenario it is not hard to deduce that it will turn out to be a stiffhinged and thorny issue between the US and Pakistan.

In both the cases Pakistan will come under pressure.

If Nato succeeds in getting an alternative route, it will fearlessly carry out more drones’ attacks in FATA. And the increase in the drones’ attacks will add fuel to the already flaming fire of public rage against the government.

If it fails in finding out alternative path for the supply then also Islamabad will come under more severe lashes. The worsening situation can deprive Islamabad of its millions of dollars that it has been receiving in trade and aid from Washington. The Taliban have inflected a huge loss on America with these attacks, in case, any further damage is inflected on the Nato forces’ terminals in Peshawar, the US will surely be not hesitant to ask for the indemnity of its losses.

Thus the government is convulsed with the attacks on the Nato logistic terminals and the issue has turned a bone for Pakistan, stuck in its throat, which cannot be swallowed or spit out.

Russia has already offered an alternative route for the supply of goods and military assets to the Nato forces but there is also a barrier because it has no direct frontiers with Afghanistan and the route will go through the Central Asian States, which will add to the US economic burden in its war on terror.

Moreover during the snow falling season there would be secession in supply to foreign troops in Afghanistan. Like Taliban the Qazi-led Jamaat-e-Islami also demanded of the government to cancel the trade agreement with Washington and must shun the shipment of the Nato’s containers through Khyber Pass. It is another topic whether the demand of Qazi Hussain Ahmad was apt or inapt but he tried to pressurise the government anyway. The Taliban are fully aware that the Terminals and route is double-edged weapon and it is as important for the Nato forces in Afghanistan as a windpipe. On one hand they want to lasso the Nato, so that it can be pressurised in stopping the on-going series of drones’ attacks in tribal belt. On the other hand they want to destabilise the already frayed relations between Washington and Islamabad.

If the Taliban succeed in gaining control of the route it will worsen situation for both of the parties–Nato and Islamabad. The day when the Taliban will get control of the Khyber Pass it will be a jinx for the foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan. According to some reports the security lapses have brought a rift between the US and German forces in Afghanistan. The American troops have been constantly chiding German troops for all the lapses and rebuke them for their sluggishness. Their main aim is to conceal a likely defeat and security lapses.

And the defense analysts infer it with the sagging confidence of the foreign forces in Afghanistan.

No doubt the US has intended to send more troops to Afghanistan but the defence analysts believe that the war on terror for America is not winnable.

For the Taliban also it is hard to get control of the route and Khyber Pass because the whole it is already proliferated with Frontier Constabulary and Khyber Khasadar Force. It is also said that Nato and Islamabad are pondering over the use of aerial transportation system so that to bypass the use of G.T road, which goes through the sinews, and terrains of Khyber Pass.

But here comes also a hurdle because for that purpose the Taliban can target Peshawar airport or the Budhbair airbase. Looking to the complexity of the issue the governor of NWFP, Owais Ahmad Ghani has ordered for the deployment of 1000 security personnel to be backed by quick-response security squad and jet-aircrafts. The erection and construction of more security check-posts is also under discussion. This seems a bit realistic approach but require a tough vigilance on the part of the security personnel and any laps in security will invite to more disastrous attacks from Taliban.

When the number of security forces will be exceeded in Afghanistan as it was exposed by McKiernan in his press conference, it will require more supply and the demand for more supply will fourfold the importance of the Pak-Afghan international route. It means the issue is going from bad to worse and the ultimate pressure will come on Islamabad, which has been already mired in the bog of afflictions since the attacks on Mumbai hotels. The contractors and the drivers have also denied to keep continue the supply of goods and military assets to the Nato forces in Afghanistan. To mitigate the fear of contractors and for a quick vigilance the government has decided to back the containers with helicopters.

It shows the Nato needs supply through any means and Islamabad will have to deliver the supply by any situation. In case it fails for the surveillance of the route and terminals, America can demand to take the route in its own hands. But here a question mark arises, whether Islamabad will accept such a demand, which will tarnish the already defaced image of the government. And such a step will put at stack the already crippled sovereignty of Pakistan. Overall the new government in Pakistan seems the runner in the race and the US will use its traditional weapon; the allegation of terrorism and it will not be diffident to label Pakistan as a terror exporter country and supporter of Taliban.

India, a revered land for revered waters and mother for the three religions of the world–Hinduism, Buddhism (according to some notions it took birth in Nepal) and Sikhism, has been under the attack of religious intolerances since long. Islam came from out side and because of that difference even today it is alien in India. Though its followers in India comprise world’s largest Muslim population. But its followers in India are the most down trodden segment of the Indian society. As it is said that the ideas of ruling class become the ruling ideas so Hindus started learning Persian when Muslims were in their heydays. Contrary to their past, this class in India is compelled on leading a life of miseries and more dilapidation than Dalits–the Hindu untouchables.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy stands prominent whenever there is a talk about reformation in Hinduism. He was deeply inspired from the traits of Islam.

He was the first person to agitate against the worst kind of religious tradition of Satti (a tradition which compels a widow to burn herself alive in the pyre of her husband). He was the founder of Brahmoo Samaaj (the society of God), which was aimed at introducing reforms in Hinduism.

In his early puberty he wrote Tuhfattul Mu’ahhidin (The gift of monotheists) in Persian and wrote its preface in Arabic but he could not publish it at the cost of his father and relatives’ anger. It was then when his father perished away he got the chance to publish it.

When he reached his manhood he launched ‘Mira-tul-Akhabar’ a newspaper in Persian and started preaching his message of moderation and shunning superstitious beliefs. Today even in the modern and so-called secular and world’s largest democracy–India is mired in the web of centuries old superstitions, which have turned the lives of its minorities in a hell. Among such superstitions, the slogan of Indian extremists that India is mother only to Hindus and there is no room for minorities. “Either they should be expelled of the country or be proselytized back into Hinduism” is the slogan of Hindu extremist charlatans that is responsible for the all the chaos in India. Before the incidents in Mumbai there was propaganda against Indian minorities and daily “The Pioneer” published an article with the headline ” Minoritism is the problem” which blames Minorities for the instability in India. Its writers like K.P.S. Gill and Balbir K Punj have mastery in this regard. It is only one example but a hundred of examples from Indian media can be brought and this is the discriminatory attitude that has made minorities prone to violence.

When media starts blaming the downtrodden section of the society then Golden Temple issue, Gujarat carnage, Ahmad Abad decimation, Babri Masjid and Mumbai-like incidents take place.

For the Muslim rulers also it was a thorny issue to bring them under one yoke as a subject and Akbar the great who was totally illiterate yet he was cognizant of the fact that India is a patched work of different races and casts where religious intolerances would undermine the political roots of India. For bridging the gape between the Muslims and Hindus he married Hindu princess and tried to overcome the religious hatred and devised a new religion of his own, the “Deen-e-Elahi”. It was an attempt to unite the different and rift-apart races under the flag of one religion.
Saleem, who is known in history as Jahangir, always felt pride being a son of a Hindu princess. The then India was more lenient towards other religions. Islam and Hinduism glided for at least 850-year but without overt antagonism and clashes as it is the daily routine in present India. Contrary to them the Hindu extremism took roots in modern-day and secular India and demolished the centuries old Babri Masjid which was built in Ayodhya by Zaheeruddin Babar in 16th century?
Was it done in the beck and calls of ISI or it was its own political party BJP with the accomplice of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that spawned conspiracy against the Muslims in India? Indeed all that was done under the very nose-tip of the government by the Hindu extremists though the Iindian Supereme Court had given bids not to demolish the Masjid.
Since then many positive changes took birth across the Globe but India, which is clamant to be world’s largest democracy, is in the tight noose of religious bigotry and hatred. With the partition of India the long lasting rancorous feelings towards Indian Muslims and Pakistan morphed into eternal enmity. No doubt its secular class, which dreams for greater India, wants to check the surging wave of religious fanaticism but there is upsurging trend in Hindu and Muslim extremists outfits instead.
Today there are more than 175 extremists and militants groups in India and majority of them belongs to Hindus. South Asia Terrorism Portal reports that only in Manipur more than 40 gangs and such outfits have their havens, which are a stigma on the democratic face of India. Assam comes next to Manipur with 36 while Jammu and Kashmir is proliferated with 32 militants’ outfits. Tripura is a resident for 30 groups while Punjab is known to have given shelter to 12 terrorists groups. In such a scenario how a country can blame its neighbours for terror attacks when its police and Army has been backing such militants outfits.

It is not only the world community but its own intellectual class has been castigating New Delhi for the covert support of Shiv Seena, Bajran Dal and

Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which have virulent and anti-minorities sentiments for the followers of other than Hinduism. Sikh crisis in India is also a bleak example which shows that the real threat is within when Indian Army assaulted the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Indira Gandhi the then Premier of India, who was main character behind the attack on Golden Temple, was gunned down by her two Sikh body guards in June 1984.
As violence breeds violence so the present host of militants in reality is a reaction to the violent attitude of Hindus towards minorities. and since then India witnessed more severe surge of reaction from minorities.
India at that time did not denounce that the attack on Babri Masjid is attack on the secular face of India. It does not call the decimation of Christians and razing of Churches in India as infringement on its democratic and secular face, for there was Hindu conspiracy behind all the plots. It was the Indian government decision to demolish the Golden Temple which the Sikhs leader called it “state terrorism”.
India is also fully aware of the fact that religious abhorrence will undermine the political stability thus it will have to subdue the fast growing and spreading trend of terrorism tagged with the name of religions. For that reason it started traveling on the path of secularism in the recent decades and which indeed is the need of the hour. In India, Mumbai is a city, which is considered to be financial hub for India and its economic backbone, has seen many violent incidents in past but the one in past month shook it altogether. Pakistan, like past gave way to Indian pressure and India played well by using its old card of blame game and referring the case to the UN and Washington.
The UN Security Council banned 113 different organisations including monetary agencies, Internet companies and food production companies across the world. Among such organisations ten belongs to Pakistan and this is the reason that it brought a more severe crackdown against its self-sown extremists bodies of Jihadists. Jamat-e-Dawa is one of them, which has been banned by the UN labeling it as a terrorist organisation. Ridiculously when Security Council was declaring bane on these outfits Indian Bajrang Dal recruited more than ten thousand Hindu fanatics to encounter the terror attacks by the Indian minorities and to unleash more lethal series of violence in India. Right after the terror incident of Mumbai, India exploited it in demonizing Pakistan deftly. Unlike biased American media some of English intellectuals and papers castigated India for its dubious role in the whole show. Its own impartial intellectuals also showered New Delhi with criticism for blaming Islamabad instead confessing its own security lapses. One of English famous papers alleges the entire plot was hatched by RAW and Hindu terrorists to weed out Hemant Karkare, Assistant Commissioner In-Charge of Anti Terrorist Squad of Maharashtra, who had unearthed the hands behind Malegaon bomb blasts and Samjhota Express blasts. The persons behind all that conspiracy were a Lt. Col, Purohit Prasad and Dayanand Pandey.
RAW and Hindu terrorists outfits menaced Karkare with dire consequences for his candid steps and was pressurised to avoid further investigating into the Malegaon bomb blasts and Samjhota Express blasts. But their menace and threats could not budge him even an inch and he was seen more interested in exhuming all the black faces behind the terror attacks. Before that he could have traced out more hands they wiped out him from the scene.
The killing of foreigners and Karkare along with his other fellows and guards all was deliberate. All of the terrorists were Hindus having links with Shiv Seena and the Muslims were threatened not to offer their funeral prayers. Thus giving way to the pressure by state agencies the Indian Muslims refused to offer funeral prayers of the terrorists. According to the report of the paper, RAW trained the terrorists from the Hindu terrorists outfit Shiv Seena in its camps where they were given the maps of the Hotels, Nariman House and other important places. According to the plan the same evening of 26th November Karkare was informed through a fake call that some unknown terrorists has injured one of his friends. He rushed out along with his other friends and security guards where he was shot dead by two unknown terrorists with long-range automatic guns. As a result of the firing, he, his comrades and three police constables were killed on the spot while one of his security guard survived the incident. The person who survived the terror attack divulged the whole fiasco to the paper that they were entrapped with the hoax call.

The report also alleges that RAW had brought up the first suicide squad in South Asia, which has been successfully used.

Barbara Crossette who writes for The Nation alleges India for all the tumult and chaos in Mumbai. She says that more than 150 million Muslims have been leading a life of miseries and afflictions and the volcano of their deprivations one day will erupt with more severe consequences. Barbara has embanked her arguments with reports from the UN office and historical events in India. She says in her article, Gujarat, the native village of Mahatma Gandhi, who was flag-bearer of non-violence, witnessed in 2002 the carnage of two thousand Muslims. The death toll in the Gujarat holocaust is ten times greater than in Mumbai. In such a country the darkness and threat is within. After the attacks in Mumbai, Pakistan also started demonising India but it could not convince the masses for they took it mere counter blame game. Here the notion is so deep-rooted that even a layman understands it that all the terror, which is surging across the country, is homegrown and like India the threat in Pakistan is also within.

But how the world community reacted to the two issues in India is biased in nature to the core. When the dust and smoke of the attacks on Mumbai hotels was not off that CNN interviewed Dr. Deepak Chopra, who is impartial Indian based at New York, responded the TV host that labeling 1.8 billion Muslims around the world is no solution to the issue of terrorism. Good and bad goes abreast thus goes righteous and hypocrites. This very sentence is the solution for all the leper of terrorism across the globe. Be it in Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan or India, it is the outcome of exploitation, violence and the language of labeling. Indeed this comes true to South Asia. For the threat here is always within rather than outside. At least, when Pakistan alleges India for all the ongoing chaos in tribal belt and Peshawar with no exception of Karachi, the masses connoted it with the escapism of the government and counter attack on Indian propaganda. The case of the Indians is also not much different and especially the Indian Muslims reacted well to the Mumbai hotels attacks but its media fell in the old trap of the ‘language of labeling’, and broke out a fog of uncertainty, obliterating the difference of black and white.

Media in such hour of crisis and uncertainty must avoid the ‘us versus them approach’ which yields nothing but a cleavage of hearts and minds. And this is the cleavage, which is responsible for the threat within.

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

Mehmood Qurishi, Pakistan’s foreign minister was there to India to patch the already tattered rope of ties between the two rival states. Amid his four-day official visit to New Delhi, some alleged terrorists from the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba unleashed a wave of terror in Mumbai on 26th of November by attacking Taj and Obroi hotels and a Jewish community centre. The attacks resulted at the loss of nearly 200 people and left more than 300 injured. The Mumbai holocaust received an extraordinary coverage in American press and electronic media for among the 14 foreign nationals six were American citizens. Another factor that added to the importance of the issue was the attack on Jewish community. It is not the first instance that Pak-India peace process suffered a setback for there have been always a sporadic series of vicissitudes. And there have been many incidents, which have embittered the relations of the two neighbouring countries. For instance the attack on Indian parliament in 2001, the incidents in Jaipur, Ahmad Abad, Kerala, the attack on Indian embassy in Kabul, Malegaon bomb blasts and so on. Like Samjhota Express incident it was carried out by its own tow ex-officials of Indian army. India, in first phase of the incident alleged Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and LeT in Pakistan but later it worked on into tracing out the hands behind it honestly. And India succeed in its invisatigation and Dayanand Pandey who was behind the terror plot was given at the custody of Mumbai Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) for remand till December, 1. The MCOCA Court admitted the plea of ATS for the custody of Pandey, after they produced some evidences collected from his laptop.

As India had never been hesitant to accuse Pakistan always responsible for all the violent incidents in India, partially true and partially contentious and this time too it turned the mouth of its furious media towards its western neighbourig country.

During Musharraf regime Samjhota Express terror incident took place in February 2008, which was designed by Hindus bigoted outfit with the connivance of Indian state agency Research Analysis Wing (RAW). It was their Indian Lt. Col Prasad Purohit, who had provided the Hindu extremists with explosive materials. after him comes the name of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who was his accomplice in this whole game which resulted at the loss of 68 people who were present in the ill-fated bogeis.

And it was indeed their own official team that unearthed his links with the Hindus extremists. Pakistan did not allege India for the massacre of Pakistanis in the incident and involvement of Indian military official but proffered for peace process instead.

But with the explosion of very first grenade and firing of the gun in Mumbai hotels the entire political class and Indian media was hell-bent on blaming Pakistan.

Like past stories it led to the US interruption in the matter and prodded Islamabad to cooperate with New Delhi in probing the case of Mumbai carnage. Right after the attacks Islamabad announced that it will send Director General of ISI, Ahmad Shuja Pasha to India.

For counter arguments the nerve of media in Pakistan also came in movement, which ignited public fury, and a rumour emanated from both the sides the two rivals nuclear states have now reached the brink of war. The war phobia invoked sense of unity among the masses and political parties. It also affected Northern Waziristan, which is a no go area for Pakistan army, also threatened India with dire consequences in case of attacking Pakistan. Supreme commander of Lashkar-e-Islam, Mangal Bagh and the spokesman for Amar-bel-Maroof Munsif Afridi also showed their spirit against India. Soon after the incident of November 26, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rushed to Pakistan and reeled Islamabad with undeniable proof of the involvement of officials of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistani militant groups in Mumbai incident. They demanded of the government to arrest Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the head of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, which is allegedly involved in November attacks on Mumbai. After the 9/11 attacks, Musharraf the then president of Pakistan had to ban this Jihadi outfit because of mounting pressure from the US. This outfit resurged with another nomenclature “Jamat-e-Dawa”. However it abandoned its Kashmir liberation policy and it went unhindered until the earthquake of 8th October 2008 in Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan.

During the relief campaign it went unmatched in humanitarian efforts and relief campaign and the US noticed its flying fame and tried to pressurise Pakistan for its abolishment.

Asia Times Online unearthed that how high-level meetings on November 19 between the US intelligence and the ISI chalked out different plans to cripple the support systems of the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan. During the course of planning the names of retired Lieutenant General Hameed Gul who had headed ISI and a retired Squadron Leader Khalid Khawaja came up for discussion as abettors for the support of Taliban. The government gave way to the US pressure and decided to bring ISI, which is the ear and eye of Pakistan army, under the thatch of interior ministry. Soon the decision was rolled back and the Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gillani announced the abolition of the political wing of ISI. In and out of the country the decision of the government was acclaimed but the Mumbai carnage on 26th November brought once again pressure on Islamabad.

This time, four names of ISI officials were given to the United Nations Security Council to put them on a list of international terrorists with no exemption of Gul. Khawaja, a middle-profiled former ISI official, has confirmed the news that his and Gul’s names had been put on the Pakistan’s Exit Control List–ECL. After the departure of Mullen and Rice, Republican presidential runner John McCain arrived at Pakistan. Over his arrival the lips of government officials are too tight to leak any information regarding his visit. But it shows he is also to pressurise Islamabad to cooperate New Delhi to investigate into the case. There have been hundred of terror incidents in Pakistan but how world community reacted to the Mumbai incident is not something unprecedented and unexpected. When John McCain was here in Pakistan, a car laden with explosive material exploded in the thickly populated area of Peshawar “Koucha Risaldar–Risaldar Lane” which left 35 dead and 72 other injured. Terrorism and violence cannot be justified and it will go always condemnable irrespective of creed, colour and nationality. But he did not utter a single word of condemnation and the public inferred his silence over the incident with the American biasness. He visited India to condemn the terrorists attack in Mumbai hotels while here in Pakistan he remained mute over the Peshawar blast.

Though he is the same Republican McCain who had chided president-elect Barack Obama during presidential election campaign for calling Pakistan as a battleground for the US.

(To be continued)

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

The US predator drones midnight attack on November 22, 2008 purportedly killed five people including Abu-al-Asr Misri and Rashid Rauf. It is the 46th incident of US reconnaissance and predator drones’ intrusion. The story of the US intrusion crept in into tribal regions during Musharraf regime but it went its zenith during PPP-led government. By now more than ten thousand Pukhtoons in tribal belt has been left dead and no less than 20 thousand physically disabled in the so-called war on terror. Yes the same war on terror, which has been detested by US intellectuals, who had the gumption of battering Mr. Bush for his sanguinary foreign policy and waging a war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the likely one in Pakistan. It has taken its initiation, which will surly touch its impetus in January 2009 after Obama inters White House. The Pakistan of Jinnah and Iqbal is under the intrigue of the belligerent and world’s only super power. But this is all possible for the US with the accomplice of Jinnah’s ostensible political heirs.

Iqbal wanted to endow his nation with essence of independence, self-ego and self-respect through his writings while Jinnah practically showed his nation how to live as an independent nation in world community. But their posteriors defaced their great names badly by American toadyism and roaming after begging with begging-bowls. They are moaning before England to exert the US to stop its ongoing series of drones’ attacks. Is it the way to live as a free and independent nation? Because our great Jinnah has given us a great legacy of self-respect but his descendants have adopted the other way—self-will-servility.

Once Sir Winston Churchill said Jinnah “if you were an English then I would have placed you in my cabinet”. What this tall and frail man of 52 Kg—Jinnah told him is ever remembering. Contrary to Churchill’s expectation he responded him; “no, if I (Jinnah) were an English then I would have kept you in my cabinet”. Though in those days he was not the Governor General of Pakistan but a representative of a subject (slave) nation—the Muslims of subcontinent. At that time Churchill was the Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is the same Churchill, who took England to a safe harbour against the Hitler’s Germany when it was crushing country after country. But in present day world Pakistan has went politically bankrupt because the public has confidence in no party and no leader. Even Syria, which is geographically not greater than our province of Balochistan but how boldly it detested the American aerial attack, is exemplary for Pakistan. When it is asked of our Prime Minister that why we cannot begrudge the US intrusion in FATA and now the settled area of Bannu, which is near to Waziristan, the answer the public receives is too frustrating that Pakistan is a small country and cannot challenge the US. Yes, Mr. Cower Prime Minister it is true that Pakistan cannot fight America and the journalists and intellectuals will not prod you to do so but at least a nation must have courage to detest foreign intrusion as an independent nation. And Pakistan in reality is not that much small which the political oligarchs are trying too show. England, which has ruled over half of the world, is comparable geographically with our two provinces—Punjab and NWFP. For greatness of a nation, area and geographical size of a country is not measured but it has its own principal but like dearth of edible commodities and jobs there is also a dearth of such principal and great.

It is because from this now-to-be-free-nation there is no political character that has the gumption to respond to the US in a manly but positive manner that the ongoing series of drones attacks must be stopped and the war on terror, which has unleashed a deadly loss in men and material, is not ours. Contrary to the hopes and wishes every now and then the docile political elite in Pakistan has always tried to delude its nation into elusive and evasive explanations and called it our war.

For instance whenever there is a US drone attack in tribal belt, it is denied by the inter services public relations (ISPR) and the government. In this regard the press conference of Munsif Afridi, the spokesman for Amar-bel-Maroof (one of the three local Taliban outfits) speaks volumes when he explained the US drones attack in valley Tirah, a far-flung area of Khyber Agency wherein at least 8 people were mowed down and injured no less than five. The next morning the ISPR’s denial proliferated the entire press. The same day when I went through the statement of its denial a curiosity popped up in my mind to check out the credibility of the news. My brain reeled with the words of my source when he told me that he is right now in the funeral prayer of a lady who succumbed to news of her only nephew, which was killed in the incident of valley Tirah. Second example is the news, which obliterated the matter about the killings of Rashid Rauf and Abu-al-Asr Misri when the local populace told the journalists that those who were targeted and killed were the local people and not foreigners. So the denials and the song of foreign inclusion have badly tarnished the image of elected government. Similarly the news went controversial in Britain where its public demanded explanation about.

Prior to the incident, a news for public and allegation for government emanated from ‘Washington Post’ that the present government in Pakistan has a clandestine deal with the US, which allows American drones for selected surgery in the tribal belt? Under the deal, the government in Pakistan has no right for calling explanation from the US but it can go merely on denouncing the drones intrusions.

The newspaper has named the deal, ‘don’t ask and don’t tell’, which enables the US to attack tribal belt in pursuit of Al-Qaida activists.

But the denial-addicted government, in its typical style, rebuffed the news of the paper a mere allegation against the democratic government.

If the news of the ‘Washington Post’ has no tinge of reality then why it does not come up with a neat and clear stance instead adopting the path of equivocal and hoax explanations.

The public has no concern with it, whether the news report of Washington Post is allegation or a reality but it wants an immediate halt to the on going series of US predator drones incursions. After getting votes with the slogan of peace the role of ANP has been under battering but Minister for Railways Bashir Ahmad Bilour exhumed the bitter realities that “the fire has been brought to this land by the government itself and not the masses. And it is not so easy to put a halt to it just with a magic wand and mere lip service. The government is fighting war on terror against the wishes of its public and it seems difficult that it will win over it.

The government must take the wishes and hopes of its public and it will have to scotch its dual policy”. Now it is necessary for the government to rethink and reshape its domestic and foreign policy instead keeping the current military operations and steering the old wagon of Musharraf’s reeking policy. At the same time it is a dream to hope for a seismic shift in our foreign policy until it rests with GHQ.