On Pakistan’s 62nd Anniversary, is their anything to Celebrate?
Adnan Khan
On the 14th August 2009 many in Pakistan will be celebrating Pakistan Independence Day. The overseas Pakistani diaspora of nearly 4 million have for weeks been planning Pakistan’s 62nd birthday. Whilst many in Pakistan will be celebrating on the 14th August, for many this will be an a welcome distraction from the dire situation Pakistan is in. The dream of an Islamic state that many sacrificed their lives for has never been fulfilled and today the US is doing all it can to ensure it never materialises.
Pakistan today is mired in poverty, 52 million live in poverty, which is the equivalent of the whole of South Korea. According to the latest world development indicators report by the World Bank 72% of the Pakistani population live on just $2 a day.
The nation lives in almost constant darkness as load shedding has become part of life. Mukhtar Ahmed, energy adviser to the Pakistan government, mentioned in an event titled ‘Fuelling the Future: Meeting Pakistan's Energy Needs in the 21st Century,’ organised by the Woodrow Wilson international centre for scholars in 2006 that ‘40% of Pakistani households are not even connected to the electric grid. In the middle of the soaring summer heat many are without electricity
These are however the least of Pakistan’s worries. When General Pervez Musharraf placed Pakistan at America’s disposal in the war on terror on the basis that Pakistan would be bombed back to the stone age, the US spread its war to Pakistan and now the US army, secret service and military commanders have all been deployed in Pakistan. The Pakistani army who was originally assembled to defend the people of Pakistan, today they are actively engaged in fighting the people they have been defending.
The sad reality is that whilst many will be celebrating Pakistan’s independence in reality there is very little to celebrate. The undeniable truth is that since 1947 successive Pakistani rulers have failed the people, democracy and dictatorship have been two sides of the same corrupt coin. Both democrats and dictators looted the nation and sold the people to foreign nations with interests in Pakistan.
The truth is that such politicians have established a system in Pakistan that caters for them and protects their interests. Such corrupt politicians have passed one national ordinance after another and constitutional amendment after the other too. In this way they have ensured the system protects them and caters for them. It was this system that allowed Mr 10% to become Mr 100%.
It is this reality that allows countries such as Britain and America to use Pakistan for their own ends. Many analysts highlighted at the time of the US invasion of Afghanistan that the USSR poured nearly 320 000 troops to conquer Afghanistan and not only failed but departed in humiliation. The US initially sent 20 000 troops and after 7 years and 60000 troops the US is in fact bleeding to death. Experts on US foreign policy explained that the aim of the invasion must be wider than Afghanistan as with the number of personnel involved, US could never win. Over the last 7 years tensions with an aggressive Russia and a more assertive China have all but proven that the war in Afghanistan was never about Afghanistan it was always about central Asia.
Many have questioned South Asia has nothing to do with US aims in central Asia, however South Asia has everything to do with Central Asia. The US now views Central Asia and South Asia through the same lens. Condoleezza Rice confirmed in January 2006 that South Asia and Central Asia are high on her list of global priorities, and the State Department is adjusting its bureaus so that the same teams of experts and diplomats are focused on both regions. “One of the things that we did in the State Department was to move the Central Asian republics out of the European bureau, which really was an artifact of their having been states of the Soviet Union, and to move them into the bureau that is South Asia, which has Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.” “It represents what we’re trying to do, which is to think of this region as one that will need to be integrated, and that will be a very important goal for us.”
The US is in reality at war with China and Russia and the battle ground is Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our rulers rather than frustrating US plans and rather than protect their own people, they have pulled out all the stops for the US to ensure it can continue its war. It is Pakistan that is acting as a supply route for the US war, Both Musharraf and currently Zardari provide the US with 80% of their oil needs and allowed over 500 trucks to supply Americas daily war needs. This is nothing but treachery, both Zardari and Musharraf are not fit to be called Pakistanis, they have betrayed everything and everyone for which our elders sacrificed in creating Pakistan in 1947.
The only problem standing in America’s path to gaining a grip on Central Asia is Pakistan, the elements in Pakistan which America usually describes a rogue elements are frustrating US aims. America sees Pakistan as a threat because it fears Islam is in the hearts of its people. It fears Pakistan because it knows it has a powerful military, an atomic power and all it needs is a sincere leadership to harness these resources for the people. With the US bleeding to death in Iraq and Afghanistan the return of Islam is a lot closer as stated by many US think tanks.
To ensure such a prospect never materialises, the US has begun terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The regular suicide attacks inside Pakistan suits America as its creates chaos, weakens Pakistan and divides Pakistan as America continues to label Muslim groups as the perpetuators of such attacks. The US used a similar styles to build its case against Iraq.
Before 9/11 there were no suicide bombs in Pakistan, there was no war with the Taliban and there was no militant problem. 30 years ago America supported these same groups by calling them ‘mujahedeen’, ‘freedom fighters’ in order to fight the Soviet Union. America lit this fire in the first place.
Today America is lighting more fires inside Pakistan, both the FBI and CIA are active in Pakistan and from history we know wherever US intelligence services ago instability follows. There is much obscurity about Pakistan’s militant problem, who is actually supporting them but America’s presence since 9/11 has brought nothing but misery for Pakistan.
With America creating so many problems the solution is obvious; America needs to be expelled from the region
However our rulers have established a rotten system to preserve their treachery which allows such a situation to continue. It is our rulers who have brought Pakistan to its knees, economically today Pakistan stands bankrupt, this is why they can’t pay to have electricity produced. The Ummah has to endure the humiliation of our rulers running to the IMF just to survive; like a drug addict for his next fix.
Pakistan needs change and it needs it now.
A new system can only be tenable if it is based on the people’s common emotions and values, where legitimacy is from the people not Washington or London. Pakistan’s values and emotions are Islamic, even the West recognises this.
The people of Pakistan need to rise up and uproot the rotten system that brings the likes of Zardari to power. The people of Pakistan must on the 62nd anniversary of the nation look to change the situation rather then celebrate, they need to look to change the misery that all Pakistani’s face not preserve and celebrate it.
Source: http://adnan-globalissues.blogspot.com/2009/08/on-pakistans-62nd-birthday-is-their.html
