Re: Imran is a confused thing: Haroon Rasheed thrashes Imran Khan
sir g to aap bata dein kidher gaye 20 billion???? sir g lage hote to nazar aate. Don't we know that our elites are one the most corrupt elites of the world.
Only if I knew where that money went. It was a rhetorical question/observation. I was trying to make a point that $20B is no chump change and if we can make that disappear
with nothing to show for it then we are (in)capable of anything.
Lets not go into the details of root cause because everyone knows it. In the first 30 years of independance from colonial rule, a political struggle was going on for the Islamic identity of these countries in every Muslim country and it was a very positive sign and Muslims could have found the harmony between religion and modernity with the passage of time. Palestine and Kashmir were there but these were more or less localized problems and all of a sudden Soviets started again their colonial adventures by attacking Afghanistan and Capitalist world and secular elites of Muslim world decided to use Islam to fight this war for their own political interests. Wars create their own monsters and Taliban and other banned organizations are some of the examples. and Now these monsters are out of control from their secular gods.
This is the root cause.
Without getting into the root cause discussion you did give a good recap of what happened since our inception as a country. You don't want to talk about the root cause but in my opinion without knowing the issues or the problems we face and without finding out the root causes we will never be able to solve these problems. May be we can burry our heads in sand and wait for the sandstorm to pass over. Who knows what will be left over after that long storm.
The reasons you listed are good and valid on a larger level. Its all fine but things happen and then people and groups and countries adapt and change to meet the challenges they face. Bigger countries faced much harder challenges and went through more trials and tribulations than we could probably go in a thousand years. Wars do create monsters but what to do with these monsters? Nations face these monsters head on and correct their mistakes. From what you have described and if you really analyze it then Saudi Arabia should have been more afflicted with these issues more than us. And, for a short period of time they did but they however bad we think that they are they made a concerted effort, which may not have been the most pretty one, and basically got this menace under control within a short period of time. What was the last time you heard someone blowing themselves up in the kingdom? This is in no way an endorsement of the Saudis but you have to admire what they did. They basically did what the Americans or the Brits so well - they keep things nice and tidy at their homes and send all the garbage for others to deal with. We can learn a thing or two from them.
Btw, who were the secular elites of the muslim world you mentioned above? Zia or Shah Fahd?
How to eridicate it???? there are two ways either go to war and give them also incentives as u mentioned multi pronged policy. For this, you need money so I think we should ask our dear friend America who was the creator of this conflict besides USSR, Saudia and Pakistan (yaani Attar ke usi londey se dawa leejey), to provide us agian with some money and expertise but our own politicians and institutions say that Pakistani state suffered more loss in terms of money than it got from America. If this is the case then please enlighten us how will this time this war be successful?
Yes, they do point out that we have suffered a lot but that $20B that was supposed to be our payback just fizzled away. I don't think that we are going to see a dime any time soon. Who in their right mind would give us money now - especially when countries the world over are facing financial strain. Of course if we do the same thing over and over again and expect different result then that will be insanity. The thing is that people say that we have been at war but did we really fight a war against people who are fighting us or rather attacking us with sporadic attacks. I would in fact argue that we have not fought these elements the way they should have been fought. When was the last time that we heard that a major attack was thwarted or that we infiltrated a group and killed or captured these animals who are sending brainwashed teenage boys to
kill and maim without discrimination. The price tag to wage a war against these is not high financially. All we had to do was to develop true intelligence resources and not use those mostly brain dead military officers on deputations in ISI and who are responsible for creating this mess in the first place. I don't know what kind of war is this where we never learn of any offensive. Mostly its a holding pattern and these animalistic elements are using that holding pattern to dispatch their bombers with impunity.
I would argue that this is not a war that the military can win in a thousand years because they are not the smartest or the most efficient in dealing with this kind of menace even if they had a major role in creating this monster in the first place. This has to be fought with intelligence and efficient police resources. We have spent 10-12 years and it was enough time to create and train a force focused just on tackling this menace. For God's sake even Sri Lanka eventually tackled the insurgency successfully.
The 2nd solution is not agreements or Muzakaraat. It is a very simplistic formulation of what is needed. The 2nd solution is that our elite change its role and character which it has acquired since three centuries. Instead of continuing their role as a comprodor elite they at least become loyal to this country and their people. I don't say that they don't work for their interests because it would be unfair because every class search for its interests but what I suggest that they find and associate their interests with their own country. After that if they initiate talk they can be successful in defeating the militants either through dialogues or through military actions. magar 3 sadion ki aadat itni aasaani se chhoot
jaye gee yeh na mumkin hai so status quo he rahe ga......Drone strikes,,,, taliban attacks,,,,,,limited operations,,,,lack of initiative on the part of politicians....is mein ho sakta hai mulk he haath se nikl jaye to yeh bhi mumkin hai
I agree in principle about a click of elites acting as comprodors but I would argue that they have no hand in the menace of terrorism that we face at this time. They are indifferent and mostly interested in safeguarding their interests in the country in the long term. This menace was created by all of us in fact with the short sighted military bearing the major responsibility. Then there are these religious demogogues who play with people's emotions and lastly its the larger society which never wants to admit the flaws amongus and always ready to point fingers at others for what ails us. Then we play into the hands of people like Zaid Hamid. Nothing to us seems real and we are ready to take the easier route of blame game. This is not to say that foreign powers are not playing a dirty game on our soil but it is the vacuum only created by us that leaves wide swathes for
these foreign powers to take advantage of. If you talk to people in the know then you will find out that almost everyone from all sides is getting money or favors in some form and directions from these foreign powers. But people are the real power of these demagogues. Look at MQM or ANP or PPP or PMLn or any religious party and they all have some foreign handlers/benefactors.
To sum it up - I think the solution is that we realize that this is a problem of our own making. When I say our making then that includes all of us. Some are to be blamed more than others but all are responsible in some form. If we don't realize this fast enough then we are doomed. Once we realize that and do a little introspection then trust me viable solutions will present themselves.