Author: Tauseef Zahid
Background
Pakistan in many senses is an example of how absence of sincere leadership and solid vision results in loss of identity and direction for the nation. Once the direction is lost, outcome is the very purpose for that nation’s existence being lost. Quick glance at the history of Indo-Pak shows how Muslims of South-East-Asia are reduced to Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh etc from a position they collectively once enjoyed as rulers.
Whether Muslims acted at times as conquerors or governors when they made entry to the region from Sindh or from Khyber, with time the loss of direction open the way for the colonialism by Britain and other European powers, who divided the world into their sphere of influence, the continuation of their legacy meant creation of new nation-states out of Ottoman Caliphate, using vicious divide and rule.
The intensified movement for Pakistan by ‘Muslim’ League post-Khilafat movement was another attempt by the Muslims to make sense of their politics in the region and find that direction. The mixture of nationalism with Islam, demand of Kashmir as integral part of Pakistan but forsaking Delhi who until middle of eighteenth century was their capital and the division of India around artificial borders drawn in Whitehall in the form of Durand Line or Red-Cliff award made sure that the region will remain unstable strategically and politically artificial.
Hence Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam, struggling to identify as a nation, a country which had Muslims in Pakistan but also in India-Afghanistan-Iran-China, Baluchis in Baluchistan but also in Iran, Pushtuns in NWFP but also in Afghanistan, Punjabis in Punjab but in India too, and a powerful Army emerged as the sole guarantor for the unity of Pakistan using force as a only mean to unite the country. Instead of uniting the country over ideas and shared values the sheer use of force by the military junta to keep the country intact and use of un-Islamic concepts such as nationalism i.e. Pakistan first, resulted in Baluchis, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Bengalis and other ethnicities demanding separation on the backdrop of their race first too.
Reality
Today Pakistan faces a national security threat, which is bigger than any of the debates occupying our policy makers in Pakistan at the moment. The presence of NATO in Afghanistan along with increasing presence of India is going to choke Pakistan when US will leave the region.
In April Afghanistan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak made a one-day visit to Indian-occupied Kashmir to see counter-freedom operations.
Wardak also visited the 15th Corps of the Indian army headquartered in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and the Indian air force’s training command and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore in southern India. These visits are coming amid reports that Afghanistan might be considering sending its air force pilots for training to India. Moreover, Wardak said his country would seek New Delhi’s help in maintaining Soviet-era helicopter gun ships and medium helicopters to provide logistical support to its armed forces. India also plans to help Afghanistan set up local government institutions through a system called the India-Afghanistan Joint Working Group on Local Governance. A memorandum of understanding was signed May 17 during a four-day visit to Afghanistan by government official Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Panchayati Raj minister. Under the collaboration, Indian experts and local Indian governance bodies will be attached to local Afghan representatives.
India and Afghanistan are pushing the idea that the faster India trains the Afghan army, the quicker NATO can withdraw troops from Afghanistan. India’s goal is to gain a toehold in the Afghan military establishment, creating goodwill that it can cash in when the time comes. Antony assured Wardak that India would remain “actively engaged” in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of war-wrecked Afghanistan.
Past
To understand these developments, one must understand Pakistan’s recent history of backing Islamic groups and how Pakistan has tried to use Afghanistan to gain strategic advantage against India. Long before the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Islamabad viewed Kabul as aligned with New Delhi. Pakistan felt sandwiched between its archrival to the east and a hostile regime to the west. Another issue was secular left-leaning Pakistani Pashtun forces were pushing for a separate homeland for their ethnic group — a demand backed by Afghanistan in those days.
In 1996, the Pakistani military realized its objective of installing a pro-Islamabad regime in Kabul when it supported the Taliban, that controlled Afghanistan until the U.S.-backed coalition drove them from power after Sept. 11, 2001. Pakistan had hoped that with its rear flank secure it could then deal with India, especially in the context of Kashmir, which it unsuccessfully tried to do in the Kargil mini-war in 1999.
During the five-year-long Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Pakistan had gained several advantages with a friendly neighbor at Kabul. It shifted large elements of its XI and XII Corps close to the Indian border in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Punjab and Rajasthan. The 9 Infantry Division of XI Corps had been deployed opposite Dras with Headquarters at Gulteri, under X Corps. For six years until November 2001, Pakistan kept the forces next to Indian borders.
It must be remembered that the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan in the first place because they were militarily funded by Pakistan. The Pakistani government, worried about excessive Russian or Iranian/Indian influence in Pakistan and interested in a relatively stable Afghanistan, supported the Taliban. That support proved decisive. Various tribal and factional leaders calculated that given Pakistani support, the Taliban would be the most capable military force — and that therefore resisting the Taliban made no sense.
Present
Today like before Pakistan see Taliban as a strategic tool, so even though Pakistan opened a process of normalization with India and established a cooperation of sorts with Washington against al Qaeda, Islamabad continued to maintain an ambiguous stance toward the Taliban. That was because the Pashtun Taliban movement was the only available card Islamabad could play as it pursued its interests in Afghanistan and keep India out.
The United States is approaching a paradigm shift regarding its policies toward Afghanistan and Pakistan because Washington has reached the conclusion that Pakistan is unable and/or unwilling to control the situation with the Taliban. The Bush administration is thus pressing ahead with a new policy of denying the Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan. This new policy is not constrained by concerns regarding Pakistani stability.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said May 5 that Pakistan urgently needs to live up to its commitment to the “war on terror” by establishing its writ in the country’s northwestern Pashtun areas. Speaking at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, Negroponte stressed that the United States “will not be satisfied until all the violent extremism emanating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is brought under control.” Regarding the new Pakistani government’s approach of negotiating with the militants, Negroponte warned that the United States would have to examine any such agreement or understanding in the light of the U.S. policies he just stated.
Three weeks prior to Pakistan’s Feb. 18 general election, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen on Jan. 25 openly spoke of the possibility of U.S. forces operating on Pakistani soil. Negroponte’s May 5 comments are the most direct to this effect. Washington not only has altered its rhetoric, it has matched statements with action given the recent increase in strikes in the tribal region.
Last week, US in a bid to sabotage Waziristan Peace accord made a naked aggression by resorting to strike missiles on the Pakistani village of Damadola. As per the media reports more than 14 Muslims died while many were injured. America had committed such blatant aggressions more than three dozens times earlier within Pakistani territory killing hundreds of Muslims. In the last American attack on Damadola 80 students of the madressa died that also severely damaged the earlier Peace Accord. And at a time when again a Peace Accord is on card after the exchange of prisoners, America want to sabotage this agreement. However, after the martyrdom of our citizens, the masses strongly demand that the government immediately respond to this unprovoked American missile attacks in a blow for blow.
Now
The only way to stabilise the region in Pakistan favor is to expel NATO from Afghanistan. Islamabad then should work to help create a Pakistan friendly government in Afghanistan but unlike in the past, leaving Taliban government to its own devices, this time Pakistan should work to stabilise the government by taking part in infrastructure rebuilding, schools, training of civilians, bureaucracy and military. This would allow a long term partnership between the two countries. Eventually Pakistan should work to create a union between the two countries as fundamentally people of both lands share a common belief.
Islamabad must work to take leadership in the region moving towards Eurasia. A survey supported by the US Department of Homeland Security and conducted by the University of Maryland between December 2006 and February 2007, revealed that the majority of Muslims in Pakistan held a goal “to unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate”.
Countries bordering Afghanistan i.e. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are ruled over by the brutal dictators. Any sincere move by Pakistan which put forward the case for Islam is going to give Pakistan a leading role in the region. This would mean not only gaining leadership from Indian, Bangladeshi, and Chinese Muslims located in the Xingjian province and liberating the Afghan Muslims from occupation but also long term stability in the region.
Pakistan must move away from protecting her interests half heartedly. The policy of training militants in the region, ’slow bleeding’ of India and supporting US and Talibans side by side is an outdated and dangerous strategy with no use in the present reality. With Khilafah system in place, the systems of Islam, will allow the Muslims of the region to unite politically, gain representative government which is only accountable to its citizens with independent judiciary and the ownership of energy and food resources to its people rather than to few capitalist.
Tauseef Zahid is a freelance columnist.
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May 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
@admain: this is a 2nd featured article by a “Khilaafah” supporter. Is Mr. Tauseef Zahid a Hizb-ut-Tahreer member or sympathizer?
I think we need this cleared so everyone knows where the writer is coming from.
Re: the Article itself:
BTW, the suggestion of “installing a PK friendly regime” is out of the question. Because, you know taht identity crisis you talked about, has turned Pakistan into a psychotic Schizophrenic ready to cut out its own veins…
Good luck on Pakistani’s countering Indians in Afghanistan. They can’t counter Indians in Karachi! Our agencies have gotten fat on taping actresses phone calls to the politicians they might be banging at the moment.. Plz don’t ask them to do something for the strategic survival of the nation!!! This country is just a dead corpse that they can rip some carrion off of to deposit in their foreign properties.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
@TK,
Sorry actually I don’t read more than first few lines of articles and I am relatively dumb in politics unlike most of the visitors here.
Admin
May 20th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
@admin array dont say that….TK I am not using the A d m word to avoid moderation…
May 20th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
by the way there’s mention of your favourite terms Shaheedon ki party and Qurbani’s of PPP in bolta pakistan so be prepared ..
May 20th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
again my comment is awaiting moderation..silly me not having learnt my lesson and still using the Adm word..when will I ever learn…
May 20th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Hello moderator ..just want you to know that I know people in high places in this website PK politics ..aap ki shikayat lagey gi …aur mein to koi baat karti nahin hoon worth moderation..hee hee
May 20th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Excellent Article, we need guys like you Tauseef.
Keep the hard work on and keep posting.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
well i would tend to differ with TK here.
We should welcome opinions and if one disagrees wiht one’s opinion then we should encourage the dialouge. This is I think the constructive way of explaining the matters.
It is a strong and well written analysis i must say and requires stronger arguments to be refuted. A topic which can initiate a healthy discussion.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Justice Munir and Kiyani commission
Excerpts of the final observations of the two justices:
” The phantom of an Islamic state has haunted the Musalman throughout the ages and is a result of the memory of the glorious past when Islam rising like a storm from the least expected quarters of the world,the wild of Arabia, spread from the Indus to the Atlantic and Spain and from the borders of China to Egypt, and the sons of the desert installed themselves in all old centers of civilization,makes the Musalman of today live in the past and yearn for the return of the glory that was Islam.
He finds himself standing on the crossroads with the dead weight of centuries on his back,frustrated and bewildered and hesitant to turn one corner or the other.
He has neither the mean nor the ability to conquer,and there are no countries to conquer…..
He therefore find himself in a state of helplesness waiting for some one to come and help him out of this confusion.
And he will go on waiting like this without any thing happening……
May 20th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
What we need to ask ourselves is.. why do we need a bunch of goat f*kers to have a friendly regime but India manages to make ANY OTHER regime friendly to them….
Basically Pakistani agencies and intellectual organs are smart enough only to manipulate illiterate religious feinds… Anyone past a primary education is past their level of sophisticaton.
Indians on the other hand manages to trump most of our designs mainly because we have a culture of undemocratic nepotism in place which brings up complete RETARDS incapable of fighting the strategic fights that we need to fight.
So, don’t pine for bloody Taliban … work for an education system which makes your nation survives in ANY circumstance…
The problem I have with this article is that it portrays Taliban as a “Good Thing” while that was the WORST thing Pakistan could have done! And the reasoning that Pakistan will help out in reconstruction is ludicrous.. Indians are already there.!!!!
that’s the point! Pakistani’s can’t counter RAW in Karachi and Multan.. how the hell are they going to counter RAW in afghanistan? except of course more stupid pet tricks with the Taliban ?? which you seem to harken back to nostalgically!
The problem I have with Khilafa Turtles is that they hide their ulterior motives and do not disclose their cult affiliations. That’s all.
Don’t say you’re a Freelance Writer.. What is key in understanding your writing is that you are an HT agent passing on propaganda literature as “analysis”.. And to top it off you proscribe the same thing that has caused the degeneration to begin with!
May 21st, 2008 at 12:11 am
TK
I am fully with you on this. And I am surprised no one else has commented on the twisted logic to support the Taliban. You are exactly right, why do we need insane Taliban to have a friendly regime?
Probably most people did not read the article right through to the end (and neither would I have, had your comments not alerted me) or there would have been a stronger reaction.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:55 am
Author of this article seems to be a Fundo.. Perhaps a disciple of Gen Hameed Gul.????
Again Taliban governing Afghanistan???? and Pakistan backing them????
You have to be a nut case to think like this..
And this Muslim Umma …..Khalifa business??
Is this Revivalist ??? or Londonistan??? in disguise???/
May 21st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Excellent Article,
@FSM
What else then Are you gonna support Karzai then ???
If not taliban. Northern Alliance have always been Anti Pakistan u retArD.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
well obviously everyone has observed Taliban’s conduct in Afghanistan.
And due to their ’superb’ management and the legacy they left behind, no one would ever want them back as rulers.
But the important thing which must be highlighted is that it was Pakistan pulling the threads in Afghanistan. And by doing so, it gathered a strong regional base under its influence. Now if we look from Pakistan’s perspective, then for sure pakistan has lost its influence and strategic advantage.
India has establised strong relationships with afghanistan as the article rightly pointed towards.
Apart from afghanistan, Pakistan is on a backfoot in kashmir as well.
Separists movements are more vocal than ever in the troubled balochistan area.
We also know the atmosphere in swat and FATA regions.
Situation is quite complex from the Pakistani point of view right now, we should not be looking for merely temporary solutions rather it is the critical time to draw a long term stable future strategy.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Good Observation >> I personally think the writer has done a great deal of work overall in putting his arguments with reasons to show his views.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 am
Its my first post on this site … and here r my 2 cents on this topic
i ll take it issue by issue.
Was supporting taliban a good idea?
Not really … but our authorities didn’t have many options … as fas as i remember after the Soviets left our government tried to mediate many times between the fighting warlords … perhaps they wanted a stable and Pakistan-friendly government in Afghanistan … but each time these warlords made an agreement in Islamabad, they went back to Afghanistan and started fighting … Iran and India were backing their people … so whats wrong if we supported ours ?? Moreover, unlike Iran and India we had thousands of warriors who had been fighting against the Soviets for more than a decade … they didn’t know anything except fighting … they were “jobless” now… our authorities utilised that massive pool of human resource and transformed it into Taliban.
History shows that its relatively easy to start a movement but its hard to control it … we made Taliban but couldn’t control them properly … that resulted in al-qaeda and 9-11 and so on.
So the bottom line is … we were quite justified and successful in making and helping Taliban to take over Afghanistan… but we failed to educate them and help them govern Afghanistan in an efficient and modern manner … we left them alone or they just didn’t listen to us … whatever is the case … it was a failure for our policy makers.
Whats next ???
There are no permanent friends or enemies in international politics … its all about “national interest”. A successful foreign policy is the one that can associate other nations’ interest with ur nation. We can not nullify the Indian influence in Afghanistan … we can only minimise it.. its more like “damage control”. And the way to do it is to increase trade relations with Afghanistan and help them in the rebuilding process.
Same should be done with India. Confrontation with india is not the way to go. Increase mutual co-operation and bilateral trade … make steps that would create India’s stake in Pakistan… make them feel that a stable pakistan is in their own interest… things like Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline would serve this purpose.
Is Khilafat the solution???
I think khilafat is impossible to implement in today’s world.. it could be possible in an ideal world but we dont live in an ideal world.
Who would be the Khalifa? A sunni? A shia? A wahabi? or someone elso??
and moreover we have different identities that overlap sometimes… we have a religious identity… an ethnic identity … a lingual identity.. and so on. Only religion can not hold a nation together …. if religion could not hold together people of South Asia only then how can we expect religion to unify muslims of the whole world and treat them as one nation?
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
@Nouman11
Very well said and your description is very well analysed and researched. Unfortunately our country is full of Junooni people who blindly support extremist groups like Taliban and Lal Mosque. Even one of my relatives think that only Taliban can solve all the problems of this country. How pity it is. Moderation is the way to go not forceful imposition of religion on everyone.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
@Nouman 11 >> Welcome to PK politics>> I agree with you certain points and disagree with you on other points.
1. Was supporting taliban a good idea?
In post war era as you mentioned there were war lords fighting each other. I agree with you. And this happen due to power vacuum created when US left Pak alone to clean up the mess. After few years with the help of Pak taliban were sent to Afg. to control the power vacuum and also to stable the situation created by warlords. Pak wanted pro Pak govt. in Kabul. Before 9/11 Taliban have captured about 90 % of Afg.
After 9/11 two versions came out about Taliban:
One version supported by west that Taliban were some crazy people and they love to kill etc. I mean all the bad propaganda. Other version was Pak or locals or taliban supporters that Taliban were doing great.
TALIBAN, ALQAEDA ,9/11 AND USA . There are two versions of 9/11 also.
One is US govt version and one is common people version in USA and abroad.
What next??
I agree with you that international politics oneone has permanant friends or enemies. And each Nation look after its own interests. In Pak , we face problem when the time comes to take a decision >>that if this step is in Pak interest or not.
Is Khilafat the solution?? In my opinion YES>
On this issue I almost totally disagree with your opinion. I think you totally misunderstood or you donot have REAL thorough knowledge about the subject.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hizb-ut-Tehrir preaching Jihad (I thought u guys wanted to achieve through peaceful means? — just checking)
http://express.com.pk/images/NP_LHE/20080522/Sub_Images/1100411315-1.jpg
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
@TK >> Yeah!!some people justify jihad by using force and killing. There are few terms misused all the time>>like JIHAD, EXTREMISTS, TERRORISTS, ENLIGHTMENT MODERATION, SHAHEED ETC. AND IN WESTREN MEDIA THEY EVEN USE ISLAM WITH THESE TERMS.
Some times it is sad to see people use jihad without even knowing basic requirements of jihad.
neem hakeem khatra e jaan
neem mulla khatra e imann
neem sadar khatra e Pakistan
neem leader khatra e awamm
neem speaker khatra e awann
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
A thorough analysis Nouman. But the question remains what to do next?
quite rightly u highlighted the need of controling the damage. And sounds like a good bargain in the provided atmosphere.
But in order to form foreign policy i think firstly we need to be certain what is room of felxibility in preparing policies.
How independent Pakistan is when it comes to plan and execute regional policies. At the moment the issue which needs to be highlighted is that Pakistan is not significently independent in creating foreign policies rather it is a subordinate to the broader regional policies of America. And their is not ambiguity in it.
Pakistan knows that it is not in her interest to perform military opearations in the tribal belf. All the mess from afghanistan was imported in Pakistan when it tried to ‘contain’ the situation in FATA and NWFP. Pakistan was even awarded the title of most dangerous place in the world in the early january this year.
And whenever Pakistan in its own capacity initiated peace talks with the militants, America was always there to sabotage such agreements.
We say it happening in 2006, and even a week ago drones attack took place in damadola.
Yesterday when Pakistan finally brokered a deal with militants of Malakand, American Congress hurriedly started to increase presure on Pakistan to abondon talks with militants and commanded to capture Baitullah Mehsud.
Apart from security issues Pakistan is also totally dependent economically on foreign aid. The trade deficit, inflation hike, poverty, shortage of wheat, uneasiness regarding electricity all of this adds to the awkward situation.
Beleive me, Pakistan needs more than just controling the damage. In order to trully progress, Pakistan needs to abondon its subordinate nature to the foreign policy and introduce a radical shift in its policies and allegeince . The options are very limited for Pakistan.
And i would disagree on your opinion regarding Khilafah. We need to study the history the role the Islamic State played in the progress of the world as a whole and its residents in particular. Apart from historical significance, It is a concept which emerges from the creed of the believers. One of the cores of the islamic creed.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 am
@TK
Good luck on Pakistani’s countering Indians in Afghanistan. They can’t counter Indians in Karachi! Our agencies have gotten fat on taping actresses phone calls to the politicians they might be banging at the moment.. Plz don’t ask them to do something for the strategic survival of the nation!!!
@TK on May 20th, 2008 10:50 pm
one find it hard to disagree with u on most of things.
May 24th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Mr. Scholar (TK)
Why don’t you do something, Write an article about the situation of Pakistan and come up with your own solutions rather then criticizing others. Mr. Tauseef is a Muslim and khilafah is the voice of every Muslim and is a basic principle of Islam, If you don’t know about it, it’s your fault not his.
The link which you have given to prove that HT is a militant organization is out of context. No doubt when khilafah will re-establish it will liberate all the Muslim lands including Spain, Palestine, India, Kashmir and all those lands which were under Islamic rule because it is obligatory upon Muslim to do so, But only when khilafah will re-establish. It is the responsibility of the state to liberate Muslims and there lands and to take the massage of Islam forward through Dawat and Jihad and not of an Organization. I hope you got it.
Besides HT has got no hidden agenda, it is very clear and has presented everything in the form of books and even presented a draft constitution, which is available on net. Ht is present amongst the Ummah in more then 40 countries and is actively working to mobilize the society for Islam…….
Regards
May 25th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Mr. Admin please dont listen to people who always come up with basless aruguments to ban this and that…..
Regards
May 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I agree with Rivivalist, no one needs to be blocked or banned on basis of their views and opinions.
Above artilce is beautifully articluated with facts and reality and I would encourage writers like Tauseef to come forward to guide this nation. Unlike TK who are here for misguiding only.
Well done Tauseef Zahid keep it up.
Khilafah Is the only solution.