SPOTLIGHT: The ghost of 12 May would not be exorcised!: What is the 'least worst': flood, dengue, corruption or American 'friendship'?

The week started with a rumble from high up in the skies where the lone superpower has its abode.
The rumble increased in intensity and on Thursday a thunderbolt was sent down in the direction of our ISI by US Admiral Mike Mullen, accusing it of exporting violent extremism to Afghanistan and claiming that "The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency" and, for good measure, also blamed Haqqani for, among other attacks in Afghanistan, the assault last week on the US embassy and Nato headquarters in the Afghan capital and the June 28 attack on the Inter-Continental hotel in Kabul.
This, the strongest possible assault yet on the largest and most vital of the three intelligence service agencies of Pakistan (the other two being Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI)), comes after a week full of statements by US politicians, armed forces' big wigs, government officials, congressmen and senators attacking Pakistan over things it is doing or not doing in relation to the war American forces are waging in Afghanistan. All this amounts to raising by several notches the pressure on Pakistan to mount an offensive in North Waziristan from whose "safe abode" as Americans see it, the Haqqani group has been making life difficult for them in Afghanistan.
Separating fact from fiction
In the opinion of those knowledgeable on who-is-who in Afghanistan, Americans appear to give more "credit" to the Haqqani Network than is its due in terms of what it is capable of doing, since the group's influence and field of action is limited to a relatively small part of eastern Afghanistan. The real challenge the American and Nato forces have been facing and continue to face is from the Taliban across a big part of the country, united in action under Mullah Umer against the invaders. Being in touch with the Haqqani group (and Pakistan is not the only country doing so) is quite different, rightly says our Army, from planning joint actions with it against American interests. So why the urgent and rising rhetoric with the added negative emphasis on the ISI?
Possible explanations
An obvious explanation is that faced with a costly stalemate in its aims to install a friendly yet effective government in Afghanistan, with Taliban showing no signs of weakening (on the contrary making more and more audacious attacks against a weak and corrupt government), with US and Nato forces continuing to suffer casualties and disabilities (those in turn increasing the cost of life-long rehabilitation of disabled soldiers returning home), with no visible progress in the war in terms of area under control, with America's own economy under severe pressure from rising indebtedness and with quick recovery proving elusive, and the next Presidential elections in the country round the corner, for those with stake in the present set-up (and that includes the Democratic Party, the Army the CIA and the Pentagon) there was urgent need to find a scapegoat. So a weak corruption-ridden Government in Pakistan whose leaders are mainly preoccupied with protecting and promoting the corrupt and obstructing the course of justice at every step, offers a great opportunity to the US to try to pass the buck to it.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
American double standards were exposed like never before after their new onslaught against Pakistan. They were reminded that Haqqani was their blue-eyed boy when he was fighting to rid Afghanistan of Russian occupiers. They were reminded also of their own efforts to get into a serious dialogue with the Taliban, their real enemies, now fighting to expel the latest invader. As against that, Pakistan's efforts to talk to the more reasonable groups among the Taliban have not only been actively opposed by America, but also sabotaged by brute force through aerial bombardment to eliminate those agreeing to talk to Pakistan to cease hostilities. The ISI's fault in American eyes is the former's desire to engage in such a way with various groups of Taliban that it should be possible to isolate the bad from the merely misled, thereby making it possible to deal a deathly blow to the former. It was the same ISI, remember, which was placed under Rahman Malik soon after President Zardari assumed office. Was that action (fortunately reversed within hours reportedly after growls were heard from the right quarters) already high on the wish-list of the Americans?
PAK REACTIONS
Pak reaction to this latest American onslaught, muted at first started packing "ginger" as the week drew to a close. "Unfortunate and not based on fact" said Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani of accusations against the ISI made by US Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, calling them "especially disturbing" in view of a "constructive meeting he had with Admiral Mullen in Spain the other day". It was left to Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to do some even sharper plain speaking, telling the US that it stood to lose an ally by public accusations against Pakistan and its institutions. She said that the US had been warned that it could not afford to alienate Pakistan and If it chose to do so, it would be at its own cost, possibly underlining dependence of American and Nato troops on, among other things, supplies that have to pass through a thousand miles of Pak territory to reach Afghanistan. Remember the Parliament's unanimous resolution, gathering dust since over a year now, urging the government to stop Nato supplies if the murderous drone attacks do not stop?
MORE "GINGER"!
As the week ended we heard again from Kayani in a tit-for-tat when he protested to General James Mattis, head of US Central Command, who called on him at our GHQ on Friday, over infiltration of militants from Afghanistan and warned that "Pakistan would not tolerate any such incursions in the future" and asked him to make sure that Afghan soil was not used against Pakistan. Hina Rabbani chimed in with the question in a NBC interview why American officials "want to create scapegoats because success as we (meaning they) perceived it may not be coming". Well said both! PM Gilani tuning in, declared Pakistan could not be held responsible for the security of Nato/ISAF forces in Afghanistan. He reminded America that there have been terrorist attacks not only in Kabul and Wardak, but also in several places in Pakistan which were launched from sanctuaries and safe havens in Nooristan and Kunar in Afghanistan.
THIRD OPTION!
It was left to Prime Minister Gilani to provide some unintended comic relief, as on so many other occasions, when he quipped "The US cannot live with us or without us"! Poor Americans must be left desperately wondering what could be a third option! To be fair however the PM also said and rightly so:"180 million people would defend their country and its sovereignty".
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
I think Americans will take stock and scale down their rhetoric somewhat. It is the first time in years that "mice have roared" in unison and the public reaction is fully supportive of the back talk. There is also some talk of joint action with the US in North Waziristan which should ensure that we do not get into major strife with a much bigger and more determined group or groups of armed tribesmen than at present and into a war-like situation within the country. We hope good sense will prevail all round and Pakistan's interests will not continue to be made subservient to America's to the extent they have been made up till now. There is a move afoot at home to present a united front to the world.
THE PRUDENCE (CAUTION) BRIGADE The moment there is any word of taking a stand vis-à-vis America our own "Prudence Brigade" becomes vocal. "Let us be careful, let us not get carried away, let us not forget that much of our trade is with America, that our Army is dependent on supplies from the US, that in any case we cannot take on a superpower and so on". There is no end to the "take care" rhetoric. They should be asked how come if America is all that powerful, it has not been able to subdue a small and backward country like Afghanistan? Will it be ready to take on Pakistan with its 180 million people and half a million strong armed force? A country which is ever scared of shedding the blood of its soldiers, preferring to hire mercenaries to do it for money, cannot undertake an adventure like an attack on Pakistan or its vital interests. Had America known what it knows about Afghans today from bitter experience, we doubt if it would have ever dreamed of tangling with them! Let us now give it some credit for ability to learn from experience.
WIKILEAKS HAVE BECOME PART OF OUR POLITICAL SCENE WikiLeaks have come to be seen in Pakistan as more credible than what our own politicians say in public, which is a shame. What are WikiLeaks? In case there are any who do not know, let me explain that they are confidential communications sent to their respective governments by ambassadors and other officials of a country, which routinely report on development in relations between the two countries, to their respective countries. Their confidentiality is supposed to be of the middle order. Some people have found a way of hacking into those communication dossiers and supposedly in the interest of truth, begun to divulge them to the world at large. It is affecting relations between various countries and exposing political lies or at least offering alternative facts and opinions. Hardly surprising that they are causing ripples in the countries and politicians mentioned, exposed or corrected.
THE GHOST OF 12 MAY WOULD NOT BE EXORCIZED Of concern to us here is a recent WikiLeaks report making rounds which is centered on the events that took place on the streets of Karachi on 12 May 2007 when CJP Chaudhry visiting Karachi was prevented from leaving the Airport in Karachi to motor down to the Sindh High Court to address bar associations and to participate in the Sindh High Court anniversary celebrations. According to the WikiLeaks report, Charge d'Affaires of US Consulate Peter Boday wrote a letter on May 17, 2007 which said:
Farooq Sattar told the US Consul General in Karachi that along with some workers of the MQM, the then President Pervez Musharraf, some landlords, the ISI and other parties were involved in the May 12, 2007 incident in Karachi, that he (Farooq Sattar) agreed with the suggestion of deweaponizing the armed wing of the MQM and said his party would seriously consider this suggestion, that both Farooq Sattar (on 12 May) and Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan (on 16 May) informed the consulate that they had both tried to contact each other to defuse the situation but failed and that Farooq Sattar was opposed to the May 12 rally but was overruled. The WikiLeaks report speaks of two other foreign missions which discussed the May 12 plans with Farooq Sattar, opposing the rally.
If the WikiLeaks report is correct, it indicates that our politicians maintain a very close liaison with foreign powers especially the US and the UK.
FAROOQ SATTAR DENIES EVERYTHING Farooq Sattar has denied the report. However others were quick to recall who had responsibility in the Sindh Government then for internal affairs and security, who had caused containers to be placed on Karachi roads to block free movement on that fateful day and who was then the Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping which has control over containers. People also recalled that the police and rangers had been ordered off the streets that day and did not do anything to prevent violence or to provide safe passage to CJP Chaudhry as also whose responsibility was law and order that day. The proceedings of the suo motu action initiated by the Sindh High Court to look into the May 12 disturbances had to be abandoned when hundreds of political workers mobbed the High Court premises and forced it to abandon proceedings. There the matter lies and a strong demand by Lawyers and many others for a judicial inquiry on the day's events awaits fulfilment.
(owajid@yahoo.com)