Pakistan First by Shireen Mazari: The devastating affects of appeasing India and kowtowing to the USA

Posted on 13 March 2008. Tags: Pakistan, Shireen Mazari, Talibam, USA

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Shireen Mazari is Pakistani patriot. She used to work for a Pakistani Thinktank. She was removed after the current PPPP government came to power. This is possibly Ms. Mazari’s best article ever written. She correctly focuses on the five factors that been been repeatedly pointed out on Rupee News.

As a Pakistani I am outraged at the killing of an innocent Pakistani (given that his guilt was never proven) by the Indian state and then twenty days later the dumping of his body at Wagah border — what else can one call this concluding action on the part of the Indian state?

However, I am more angry at my own government for its lack of care regarding its citizens arrested by other countries, especially India, but also the US. Just a few days earlier, we had Mr Ansar Burney making a sickening drama about the release of an Indian prisoner, who later admitted he was a spy, when he did not have the basic decency to at least show up to receive Pakistani Khalid Mahmood’s body at Wagah.

For that matter, no official government representative was present to receive the body. Nor was there any demarche issued from the Foreign Office to the Indian High Commissioner. Is international publicity and kudos all that matters to our politicians and bureaucrats? Even more distressing is the state of our human rights champions who have yet to take up the cases like Khalid Mahmood’s even as they make much of Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails. And what of our High Commission in New Delhi? Why were they so inactive on this count? Now one is being told that PTV, the state’s propagandist network, refused to take up and project the issues raised by the killing of Khalid Mahmood. Utterly shameful, when you think of the publicity Ansar Burney garnered for himself in the case of the Indian spy’s release.

The idea of becoming subservient to India is abhorrent. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

So for those of our leaders who have already declared their intent to cosy up to India, regardless of issues like Kashmir, let the killing of cricket fan Khalid Mahmood be a warning about the chasm that exists between our over- enthusiastic passion for embracing India and India’s continuing suspicions and hostility towards Pakistan. A more realpolitik approach to dealing with India would stand us in much better stead. Let us learn our lesson from the price we are paying as a result of coming to the aid and assistance of the US with simply no preconditions or sober considerations — post-9/11.

As for India, apart from the killing of Mahmood, there are countless stories of Pakistani prisoners being tortured in Indian prisons without any charges being proven — but there is a seeming apathy on the part of our state and human rights activists. That is why I suppose “disappearances” and renditions are so easy here in Pakistan — it reflects a mindset that lays little store by the dignity and human rights of ordinary citizens. Coming back to the gap that prevails in how we perceive India and their perception of us, see the hurt many in Pakistan expressed when we discovered that India had invited over a hundred foreign dignitaries and defence attaches to witness their forthcoming exercises in the Rajasthan Desert commencing from March 19. But we forgot to read the word “from friendly countries” in the Indian statement. Looking out for Pakistan first, Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Shireen M Mazari

Asif Zardari webcast to India

1) Appeasing India by forgetting Kashmir will not get India to withdraw from her forward positions in Siachin or Sir Creek. When the pressure is off Occupied Kashmir, she will continue to creep into Pakistani territory.

2) Kowtowing to the USA will not help in eliminating terror in Pakistan. It has had the exact opposite affect. The imposition of an anti-Pakistan government in Kabul and fighting the war on terror without Pakistan in Afghanistan is ridiculous. Pakistan as a MNNA (Major Non-Nato Ally) has to be responsible for security in Afghanistan.

3) Pakistan has to take a huge stand on its citizens in Indian and other jails. All missing Pakistanis have to be accounted for. Ansar Burneys post-confession phone call to pressure Mr. Singh in India to refute his admission that he was a spy was absolutley shameful.

4)The Turkish rhetoric as part of NATO and the Neocon influence has to be toned down and arrested quickly.

5) The Pakistani perception in the US and the West has to be handled the way Mr. Zia ul Haq had handled it–with finesse and money.

Clearly, Pakistan is not seen as a friendly country by India despite our bending over backwards on all issues. So our new leaders may want to rethink their desire to forget about Kashmir in order to satisfy India! Of course, we should continue our dialogue, but let us not outpace India in concessions on the ground — as we have done with the US at a time when it needs us far more than we need them.

Which brings me to the whole issue of maintaining some sobriety and self-control in our external interactions, and resisting a proclivity towards effusiveness. Presently, we seem to be fair game for friends and foes.

The latest salvo is from a Turkish general in terms of our nuclear assets. We know that Turkey is a staunch US ally in NATO, but we have emotively bound ourselves to the Turkish people for decades — and have lent unquestioning support for the cause of the Turkish Cypriots when, apart from Bangladesh, almost all the world spurned them. If the Turks had any concerns regarding Pakistan, did they have to express them publicly at an international conference organised by the Turkish military?

Incidentally, at this conference the Turks also chose to invite a BJP-linked scholar to talk on Kashmir — so, obviously, there are new undercurrents in the Pakistan-Turkey relationship that should be a cause for concern in Islamabad. After all, it was not too long ago that the Turkish government was also found hosting a US-funded conference to discuss the whole issue of the “Durand Line.”

Finally, there is the US and its continuing absurdities vis-a-vis Pakistan. Apart from witnessing the most intrusive political behaviour on the part of the present US ambassador as she continues to rush from one political leader to another — and obviously she is not discussing their health or the weather — we have had US personnel arriving one after another to convince us on all manner of issues.

One such visitor, Harlan Ullman, gave an intriguing analysis — as only an American can. Declaring that Pakistan’s case was not well understood in Washington (perhaps we should evaluate how our publicists are spending our money on the Hill), he then added that regardless of what we do, we can neither change the US mindset nor get any money since they do not have it now! Obviously only another American can understand what was being implied here!

The crux of the issue was that we have to help the US in Afghanistan, because if they fail there, it will be devastating for Pakistan!

Of course, it did not get through to him that fighting terrorism the US way was already devastating for Pakistan, and we need to have our own indigenous strategy which has to include publicly distancing ourselves from the US. Anyhow, what he wanted was to build support here for a joint Pakistan-US-NATO strategy. But the point that was being missed was that one can only have a joint strategy if our strategic goals are the same — and in many Pakistanis’ minds our goals for the long term are at variance with US designs for this region. So where is there the potential for a joint strategy? Also, there are some serious legal and political question marks relating to the NATO presence in this region.

Effectively, we are now at a crucial juncture in our cooperation with the US and the fallout that that is having not only on our polity but also on our own terrorist problem. Just as I was to conclude this column, news came of the two deadly terrorist attacks — again in Lahore. Clearly, the Lahore attacks were well-planned especially since the two sites chosen were at a fair distance from each other — thereby effectively dividing rescue services. In fact, it would appear that the Model Town target was chosen randomly, simply because it unfortunately happened to be across from Zardari House, but the FIA building was part of the targeting of the security structure of Pakistan.

http://rupeenews.com/2008/09/12/why-did-us-attack-pakistan-after-removing-musharraf/

It is only too apparent that our present strategy on the war on terror, devised by the US and focusing on the military, has not only failed, it has increased the violence and terrorism in Pakistan. Is it merely coincidental, that as the voices for a holistic policy to deal with the tribals have increased post the elections, the acts of terrorism have hit the urban centres with a vengeance? At the very least, as we mourn the loss of innocent Pakistanis, let us also pause and see where we are headed as we play the deadly US game in this region. Looking out for Pakistan first, Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Shireen M Mazari. The writer is director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad. smnews80@hotmail.com

GREATER BANGLADESH INEVITABLE:

Brohit Bangladesh is the destiny

Bangladesh Pakistan renunion

PAKISTAN HELPING BD IN NUKES:

Pakistani Bangladesh nuclear cooperation

BD GRANDSONS: http://rupeenews.com/2008/04/20/bangladesh-grandsons-can-joy-mujib-defeat-tarique-zia/

freakyindian says:

March 14, 2008 at 3:22 am

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=14_3_2008&ItemID=72&cat=1

ISLAMABAD, March 13: India has accused Khalid Mehmood, a Pakistani national who died in an Indian jail, of being a spy and has advised the Pakistan government and media against politicising his death.

“Sensitive documents were recovered from Mr Mehmood’s possession, which he was carrying to Delhi to deliver to some persons who were travelling to Pakistan by Samjhauta Express,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement issued here on Thursday. It dismissed as disinformation reports which appeared in the media following the repatriation of the prisoner’s body. The statement, however, did not provide a convincing explanation about the cause of Khalid Mehmood’s death.

The statement came in response to Pakistan’s call for an explanation about the circumstances in which Mr Mehmood had been arrested without intimating Islamabad and about his mysterious death in jail.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq had said on Wednesday that Pakistan was shocked and angered at the death of Mr Mehmood and had asked the Indian external affairs ministry to have the matter thoroughly investigated and share the outcome.

The Indian High Commission said the man had gone to India on a four-day cricket visa in April 2005. But he went missing there instead of returning to Pakistan. He was apprehended by Faridabad police on May 17, 2006, with sensitive documents, it said. He was booked under Foreigners Act, Passport Act, Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code as per ‘the standard practice’. Later, he was presented in a court and he had been an under-trial prisoner in Gurgaon jail since May 25, 2006, it said.

Rejecting Pakistan’s assertion that India had violated international diplomatic norms by not notifying the arrest to Islamabad during his detention, India said that, currently, neither country officially notified the other when its nationals were arrested.

Challenging Pakistan’s position that it was unaware of his presence in Indian jail, the statement said it was strange that Mr Mehmood’s family had not brought to the government’s attention the fact that he had been missing for almost three years.

“Someone must explain why he disappeared and what the real purpose of his travel was, since he did not return to Pakistan with hundreds of other fans,” it said.

Blaming Pakistan for the delay in the repatriation of the body, it said the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had been informed immediately about the death on Feb 12. The request for repatriation came on March 5 and the body was handed over to the family of the victim on March 10 at Wagah border.

Without mentioning any disease the prisoner suffered from, it gave the names of hospitals where he had been under treatment since December last year. The statement only mentioned the symptoms as abdominal distension.

that poor fellow was a spy who didnt go back to his country..

even his mother didnt contact pak high commission..she directly came to india to meet him in prison…

he was treated in AIIMS (indias)top hspital..if we would have killed him ,then we could have buried him and would have told that we dont knw where he is !!

ISI shouldnt send spy and these spy only carry out communal blasts as the one happened in hyderabad and ajmer sharif where hindu also visit………..
Analyst says:

August 5, 2010 at 2:41 pm

Please post articles in non-italic fonts. Italic fonts should be used for short quotes only, not for lengthy articles.

Just because you were reproducing Dr. Mazari’s article does not mean that it should be in italics.

BTW, a good website. In some articles, there are some inaccuracies of language which should be looked into.