Pakistan Army Seems the Real Ruler of the Country

The all powerful Pakistan army seems to be the real ruler of the country. At least,  the recent granting of 3 year extension by the Yusuf Raza Gilani government to the army chief, Gen. Ashfaqu Parvez Kayani gives the impression that the country’s political leadership can be bullied by the army to carry out the latter’s dictats. Kayani got the extension despite being caught discussing the ouster of President Asif Ali Zardari. Syed Hussaini writes in his column in iNewp.com website, “in the aftermath of WikiLeaks exposure of the world’s governments, Gilani was handed enough material and reason to fire Kayani or even have him and his cohorts arrested and prosecuted; but Gilani did not act and instead stayed on his course of appeasement.”

But, this all powerful army is also scared of the Taliban who are growing from strength to strength every day. Only the other day in June this year, there was a terrorist attack on the Karachi Naval Base.  The attack on this joint establishment of the Pakistan Navy, Air Force and Army has sharply brought out how the Pakistani military establishment has failed to tackle threats from terrorist groups who can spring a surprise and attack even such a highly protected place.

Salmaan Taseer, the Punjab Governor who took a courageous stand by opposing the nation's antiquated blasphemy laws and supporting a Catholic woman, Aasia Bibi who was accused of blasphemy, had to sacrifice his life. Taseer was killed by his own security guard Malik Hussein Mumtaz Qadri. Sadly, his brutal assassination was never condemned by Pakistan’s Parliament. Even Gen Kayani did not have the guts to condemn the incident. The country’s only Roman catholic Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed by terrorists for his vocal opposition to blasphemy laws Needless to say that no body in Pakistan, not even the army chief uttered a word of condemnation.



Taseer was, however, killed not just for opposing the blasphemy laws. He was killed for blaming the "Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab" who are sometimes called the “Punjabi Taliban” of carrying out attacks on mosques, bazaars and police stations in Punjab and killing innocent citizens there. The Punjabi Taliban are a motley group of sectarian militant organizations such as  Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) Harkat-ul Mujahideen (HUM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), all inspired by an intolerant brand of Sunni Islam called Deobandism. In June last year, the leading English daily, Dawn reported under the headline “Punjabi Taliban are a reality : Taseer”, quoting the Governor that the militants of these groups, the natives of  towns such as Bahawalpur and Raheem Yar Khan had been attacking places of worship and spilling innocent blood. Since that point of time Taseer was on the hit list of terrorist’s.

Himalayan Affairs attempt ongoing analysis on indo pak partition , indo pakistani wars and the survey indicated in Pakistan news papers. If you want to know more about Terrorism and India, visit - Himalayanaffairs.org

The Tricky Business Politics In Kashmir

New Delhi - There are gentle winds of change in Kashmir amidst this year’s tourist boom to the satisfaction of peace-loving common men in the valley. Tourism, in fact, holds the key to the prosperity and happiness of average Kashmiris. In a given time and in a given situation, it shapes their attitudes and responses to political leaders as well as to separatists who have turned their trouble-making strategy into a fine art of money-oriented political business. Of all the persons, even Yasin Malik, has reportedly confessed that “Kashmir politics is no longer about ideology. It’s all a money game”.





I have known about this money business right from the time I first visited Srinagar during the highly explosive days of the ISI-sponsored militancy in the nineties. I had a first-hand glimpse of prosperity levels of some of the separatist leaders in contrast to the agony and sufferings of ordinary Kashmiris who have had no choice but to join the sponsored anti-India chorus. What then saddened me was New Delhi’s failure to properly grasp the ground realities and evolve an integrated strategy for intelligent political-cum-security-cum humane management of men, matters and issues.

No single one-track policy can work in Kashmir. It requires a wider multi-dimensional understanding of historical landmarks, rich tradition of Sufism, psychological aura of Kashmiriat, Kashmiri Muslims, invisible silken bonds with the Kashmiri pundits, PoK’s under-currents, Pak military-cum-political factors, sponsored Taliban creed of fundamentalism, American, Western and West Asian interests and the Islamabad-Beijing axis aimed at checkmating New Delhi’s moves on the Asian chessboard, especially vis-à-vis neighbouring countries.

What has been particularly regrettable is that the policy-makers in the South Block have neither learnt from history nor from past mistakes and blunders. The policies towards Pakistan generally move on a one-point slot with the result they hop from one position to another.

This is the problem with the present Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. This exactly was the problem with most PMs earlier, though I would look at Atal Behari Vajpayee somewhat differently. He had better understanding of Pakistan and Kashmir affairs. No wonder, many knowledgeable persons in Pakistan believe that the Kashmir issue could have been solved during his Prime-Ministership. Perhaps, he would have given result had he got a second stint in the 2004 elections.

Be that as it may, we don’t have to go by cables of whistle-blower website Wikileaks to know about the vested interests of “stakeholders” in keeping the Kashmir pot boiling. Nor have we to go by February 2006 diplomatic cables of David Mulford who was American Ambassador to India.

Himalayan Affairs attempt ongoing analysis on india pakistan, indo pak friendship and the survey indicated in Pakistan news papers. If you want to know more about Terrorism and India, visit - Himalayanaffairs.org