The United States engineered – with President Musharraf’s consent – the ‘Benazir-Musharraf’ deal that turned Pakistani politics upside down. Now the Americans are planning another disaster that could add to the instability. To Pakistani politicians and military: Let’s push for redefining the game instead of repeating mistakes.
The signs are not good. Peter Lyall Grant, a senior British diplomat, was seen in Washington a coupe of weeks ago. He laned quietly in the American capital, coming to see Hillary Clinton and Richard Holbrooke.
Grant, or Sir Grant in Britain, is one of the godfathers of the Benazir-Musharraf deal in 2007 that produced the current political setup in Pakistan. While in Washington he must have also quietly met Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and one of the ‘handlers’ entrusted by Washington to ensure that Mr. Zardari is keeping his end of the deal that brought him to power.
The Saudis have also been approached for help. To move things faster, the U.S. media has already leaked the ‘information’ that the Zardari government may not survive for long. The objective behind this manufactured scare is probably what has been leaked in another story, by another U.S. newspaper, that Washington wants Mr. Nawaz Sharif to join Mr. Zardari’s government as a coalition partner, in order to use Mr. Sharif’s supposed ties to religious parties to help ease Afghan Taliban attacks in Afghanistan.
I haven’t seen anyone in the American newspapers that publish these leaks question the wisdom of their government’s meddling in domestic Pakistani issues. Strange how the free U.S. media is always ready to be manipulated by the government in Washington for such leaks, but that’s another story.
Our American friends are getting ready for another bout of disastrous political engineering in Pakistan. Their last ‘deal’, the Benazir-Musharraf arrangement, where the former Pakistani president blundered by giving the Americans unprecedented rights to form governments in Islamabad, was disastrous because it forced a hasty and unnatural change on domestic stability for which the country was not ready. This is the shortest recipe for destabilizing a nation. It worked in Pakistan. It also worked in Russia in the 1990s until Vladimir Putin came along and ended the Anglo-American political meddling.
Every single day that passes is increasing the price that Pakistan pays for a whole list of American mistakes – both accidental and deliberate. There is no question of stabilizing Pakistan, including the militant-infested areas bordering Afghanistan, without negotiating a new arrangement with Washington based on a new Pakistani doctrine of zero tolerance toward anti-Pakistan threats in the region. Both the Pakistani military and the parliament should adopt this doctrine. This also means confronting our American friends on the following issues without delay:
1. Afghanistan First:
The Americans must demonstrate through actions that they are stabilizing Afghanistan. Islamabad must not let Washington get away with knocking its Afghan failure off the news headlines and replace it with Pakistan. Our problems stem from the American mismanagement next door. Pakistan should refuse helping U.S. without a timeframe for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, demonstrable peace with the Afghan Taliban, and the return of the Pashtuns to the Afghan power structure.
2. American Anti-Pakistanism:
The U.S. media is behind the most spectacular anti-Pakistan media campaign ever against our country. It continues unabated, with the purpose of softening the international opinion for a possible military intervention in Pakistan. There is no question this campaign is backed by official U.S. quarters. This has to stop.
3. U.S. Must Stop Grooming Separatists Inside Pakistan:
With prodding from CIA, academic programs are being launched in the U.S. that advocate redrawing Pakistani borders. There is a sudden rise in activity on the American think-tank circuit sponsoring ethno-separatist Pakistani seminars and activists. This is in addition to the revival of BLA and its support infrastructure inside Afghanistan under American watch. The fate of this and the undercover Indian intelligence outposts in that country must be settled once and for all.
4. Don’t Lecture Us On India:
Apologetic Pakistani officials should tell the U.S. that India in 1971 unilaterally invaded Pakistan exploiting a domestic political crisis. Pakistan had never done anything similar to India before that year. India is portrayed as a responsible country despite having committed aggression against a smaller neighbor without provocation. Can the Americans guarantee India will not repeat this? Three-fourths of Indian military is deployed against Pakistan. We will be fools to trust the Indian ruling establishment. Why should we listen to American lectures on moving our soldiers from the Indian border?
5. Eliminating Afghan Taliban Is Not Pakistan’s Responsibility:
Pacify the Afghan opposition and end this festering regional wound.
6. Stop Backing Insurgencies:
Militants in Buner and Dir have been found with anti-aircraft machine guns and other high caliber weapons. These weapons are coming from Afghanistan. Question is: Who on the Afghan soil is arming Pakistani troublemakers?
Instead of letting Washington engineer a new political disaster inside Pakistan, our people in government and the military need to push for redefining the game. Why is Pakistan continuing with the same rules of the game as if 9/11 happened yesterday and not eight years ago?
By Ahmed Quraishi
