The Pakistan government has not only pitched the Muslim army against their own brothers, she simultaneously started a malicious, carefully orchestrated campaign in which she is presented a distorted picture to gain public opinion to her favour. Learning from the Lal Masjid experience, the government has taken carefully planned steps. Through an organized media campaign, the government tried to sway Pakistani public opinion in favour of the military operations. The attack on Minawan police training centre and the video of the flogging of a girl were used for the same purpose, to prepare the ground for military operations which were planned weeks in advance. To justify these military operations, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said that these people were challenging the writ of government and in such a case the government was left with no other option but to use force. We ask: wasn’t this writ challenged when America openly and flagrantly killed children, women and the elderly in Wazaristan and Banu through its drone attacks? Why did the Prime Minister not appear on the media then to announce military operations against these drone attacks? Were these drone attacks not challenging the “writ of government,” coming one after the other, despite continuous government protests? And is the American plan to grant India opportunities in the region not a challenge to the government’s “writ”? Though it is a grave threat, why is the Pakistani government helping the execution of this plan? Indeed, the government has signed the Pak-Afghan transit trade agreement, under the guardianship of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in Washington, although the political and economical fruits of this transit trade are only for the benefit of India. As for Prime Minister Gilani’s claim of guarding the honour of Swat’s women as a justification for his military operations, was the Prime Minister not worried about the honour of the Muslim daughter, Dr. Afia Siddique, who is imprisoned in America and whose children remain missing? So, why has his government taken care not to raise a word about Afia Siddique during its numerous meetings with the Americans?
Posted 3 years ago on 14 May 2009 14:35
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