MOHAMMAD
JAMIL
As
if there was nothing left in his arsenal to lambast Pakistan military, Ahmed
Rashid resorted to reviewing the books written by authors of his clan. He wrote
a lengthy ‘treatise’ comprising more than 3,800 words punctuated with brief
excerpts from books written by Aqil Shah, Ayesha Jalal, Mohsin Hamid and Nissid
Hajari. They are on the same page so far as matter of putting military on the
mat is concerned. In the very first Para, Ahmed Rashid comes out with the
sweeping statement: “No one should be surprised to read that in Pakistan the
army has taken charge, established military courts, derailed democracy, brought
television and other media under military control. Nor should one be surprised
to learn that foreign policy and national security were being directly run by
the army.”
No
one would agree with his assessment, especially with regard to ‘derailed
democracy’, as at the present an elected government is in place; and the
parliament is functioning. A few months ago, when an impression was conveyed
that establishment was behind PTI and PAT sit-ins at Constitutional Avenue, a
joint session of the Parliament was convened and all parties vowed to protect
democracy. This instance is enough to rebut his charges. Referring to terror
attack on Army Public School in which 140 students were killed, he wrote that
military took the charge, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was still inclined to
hold negotiations with the terrorists. But why not to accept the eidetic
reality that both civil and military leaderships are on the same page in this
regard?
The
author tries to accuse the great leaders of creating false alarm, as over time
founders of the nation have been proven right after break up of Pakistan in
1971 with India’s backing and training of Mukti Bahini guerillas. Many books
have been written, and even those Indian characters that were involved in
training Mukti Bahini guerillas and invading former East Pakistan have proudly
acknowledged their involvement.
To
blame Pakistan and its army for creating and supporting various militant groups
is not entirely true, as the US and the West are to blame in equal measure. The
fact remains that the US and the West have been creating Frankenstein monsters
of imperialism that later posed a serious threat to them as well as to the
world at large. After Soviet forces landed in Afghanistan, the US and the West
supported the jihadi groups and warlords to resist and to oust the Soviet
forces from Afghanistan. When 9/11 events took place, Afghanistan was being
dominated by the people who were earlier lauded as freedom fighters. The US and
the West had supported the terrorist activities of Osama bin Laden who was
their find and was projected as a legend that left luxurious life to fight the
infidels.
Since
the publishing of Aqil Shah’s book, there have been many developments. America
has appreciated Pakistan’s sacrifices in war on terror, and believes that
Pakistan is conducting military operation without any distinction between good
Taliban and bad Taliban. George Santayana had said: “History is a pack of lies
about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there”. However,
there is no dearth of oblique angle-vision writers who distort the history by
giving a spin to the facts. Ahmed Rashid and other authors have often been
creating doubts about the safety of Pakistani nukes, but the US and the West
admit that Pakistani nukes are safe. In May 2011, then NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen had said he was confident Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were
safe.
