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Pakistan Cannot Live in Peace nor in War with Afghanistan Strange bedfellows. The US and Pakistan are officially committed to siding
up against terrorists in the war on terror. Terrorists who ran out of safe
haven in Afghanistan have now found it in Pakistan thanks to that country’s
most powerful Inter-Service-Intelligence. Talk of Pakistani commitment to the
war on terror is, on the surface, for joint statements and press conferences.
In reality, Pakistani government, in the hands of its own ISI, follows a different
course; a course to ensure survival of the Pakistani military dictator turned
politician because power tastes good. Also because taking a firm stand against
a powerful opposition that is sympathetic to extremism will alienate him further
from the grass root parties in at least two of the troubled provinces in Pakistan.
This fact was reflected in a report published by the newspaper Dawn of Karachi
in Pakistan on March 9, 2006. According to Dawn, Ms. Bhutto in a statement
on the issue of Pak-Afghan relations said: The PPP was deeply concerned over
the deteriorating relations with Kabul, the handling of the tribal areas as
well as the security situation in Balochistan. She said these worrying developments
made it imperative for Gen Musharraf to review his own performance instead
of adding fuel to the fire by calling information of other countries "nonsense" without
first investigating the matter. The leader of the opposition in the Pakistani parliament, based on a report by Pazhwak News Agency, has also criticized Pakistani President’s remarks against Afghanistan and its leader. Pakistan's opposition leader has said President Pervez Musharraf's recent unkind remarks about his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai amount to an unconvincing effort at concealing his government's dismal failure in the semi-autonomous tribal belt. Speaking in the National Assembly on Saturday, Maulana Fazlur Rehman denounced Musharraf's diatribe against Karzai in the strongest of terms and asked the general to refrain from taking steps that alienated the neighbours. "The government is blaming Afghanistan for its adventurism in Balochistan and the tribal areas in a bid to downplay the resultant public outrage," observed the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leader, who ridiculed Islamabad's position on domestic disturbances. "If it really has evidence of what it says, the government should
directly present the proofs to the Afghan leadership instead of resorting
to the blame game."
Obviously, politicians when committing blunders look for escape goats
to place the blame on them. President Parvez Musharraf whose own writ
reportedly and in actuality does not cover the Pushtun lands in the tribal
belt, so much so that for the most part these areas are officially called
autonomous and independent, has failed time and again to contain the
training centers of Pakistani Taleban and Al-Qaeda and curtail infiltration
of the extremists from his country into Afghanistan. On that score,
Shamsul Islam Naz reported on March 14, 2006 from Faisalabad: “ President
Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that some Khateebs were creating disharmony
among the people for their vested interest. Government agencies alone
could not stop them, he said and urged people to come forward and stop
such elements. He was talking to a delegation of traders, politicians,
exporters and lawyers at the local circuit house.” The report
is indicative of the inability of the Pakistani government to enforce
its writ in the tribal area. But General Musharraf still badmouths Karzai
administration calling it weak and ineffective.
Further reports from both South and North Waziristan state that Taleban
not only have a hold in the area but have also started implementing their
own system of justice. Another report from Internews posted on the web
even named the Taleban agents that are actively engaged in fighting Pakistani
government in Northern Waziristan. The report said there were hundreds
of elements devoted to the Taleban movement. The report named Abdul Khaliq,
Sadiq Noor and Noor Mohammad all local fiery clerics in particular. The
report added:”They have declared ‘Jihad’ against the
government through their audio and video speeches being openly sold all
over the tribal belt and nearby cities of Bannu, Tank, D I Khan, Karak
and Kohat.”
The Afghan government officially and based on good will and in conformity
with the principles of diplomacy presented information and intelligence
available on Taleban and Al-Qaeda cells operating in Pakistan from where
terrorists are sent into Afghanistan for the main purpose of disturbing
the peace and committing of acts of violence. Instead of working with
the information, which by its nature obviously required also input by
Pakistani intelligence, Pakistan shouted out loud that the data were
inaccurate, outdated and useless.
On the other hand, Pakistani military dominated administration has
forever been fearful of the Pushtun cause inside Pakistan and has embarked
on a variety of schemes to see to it that the Afghans at least under
a weak pretense recognize the old colonial line of separation of Pushtun
tribes. Those schemes have been exposed time and again by world media
when it observed Pakistani efforts to install governments of its liking
in Afghanistan which would help do just that. But, even the Taleban regime,
which was a direct creation of the Pakistani ISI, could not accept Pakistani
dictates on that issue. Pakistan has throughout this time tried a variety
of tactics and excuses to find a way to somehow get Afghanistan to recognize
the so-called arbitrary Durand Line. Now its government through its minister
of the interior, has started on the scheme that talks of building of
a fence along the Afghan Pakistani border. Mr. Shairpao himself had rejected
the idea sometimes back but is now repeatedly asking for the implementation
of the scheme. It is to be mentioned that the Pushtuns on either side
of the border would not agree, under any circumstance, to the building
of a fence, nor would they let the fence be built. They can read the
fine print of the utterances of the Pakistani government.
The recent attempt on the life of Afghanistan’s speaker of the
Mishrano Jirga, the upper house of parliament, which allegedly was planned
by Pakistani ISI and the resulting injury to him, deteriorated the situation
further. Even if the allegation were to be proven wrong, the damage has
been done in the relations. Afghanistan and Pakistan, two fraternal and neighboring countries, can live in harmony, peace and cooperation if the intentions of their governments are honest and trustworthy. Pakistani authorities must realize and honor the urgency of the need of the brotherly Afghan nation for peace, for a period of non-intervention in their affairs by foreign interests and a period during which they could plan and implement rebuilding of their dilapidated infrastructure and social and economic life. Together, they can also rid the region from terror and provide grounds for tranquility and peace. 3/15/06 The views
expressed in the contributed papers are that of the writer (s) and are
not necessarily shared by the Institute for Afghan Studies (IAS).
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