Dear Editor,
‘Pakistan’s Prime Minister rejected accusations over bin Laden’ was the title of a news item On May 10, but Americans see Pakistan as complicit in protecting the terror mastermind and there are calls, even among members of Congress, to cut the anti-terror alliance with that country. Instead of trying to convince the world Pakistan had nothing to do with Osama and terrorism, the Prime Minister should have addressed the enormity of the problems his government faces in fighting terror at home and controlling those who provide support to the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani squandered an excellent opportunity, when he addressed the parliament (and by extension the world) after the killing of the world’s number one terrorist Osama bin Laden, to reshape the image of his country as a haven for terrorists. Gilani should have praised the killing of Osama, announced a crackdown on those who promote terrorism, taken action to arrest terrorists, and sought the help of the global community to eliminate the scourge of terrorism on Pakistani soil. Instead, he took none of these noble actions to prove Pakistan wants nothing to do with terror. Worse, when he addressed the parliament, he said the US violated Pakistan’s sovereignty by launching the raid to get Osama. Had Pakistan diligently fought terrorism and not protected Osama, it would not have required the US to undertake the raid to get him. The US did the right thing to secretly plan (without telling its partners or Pakistan) and eliminate the terror mastermind.
However, the US must bear some responsibility for creating terrorists like Osama and the Taliban who ruined Afghanistan which then served as a sanctuary for Osama and the al Qaida terrorists.
As newspapers commented, Gilani’s address to the Pakistani parliament served as a useful history refresher on the Afghan fiasco in which the US found itself, especially the American role in the creation of an army of Islamic forces to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Gilani reminded the world not to forget that Osama was created from that war and when it was all over with the humiliating defeat of the USSR, Osama turned his guns on America, becoming the leader of al-Qaeda which launched the worst terrorist attack on any nation on 9/11.
Taking a pointed shot at the US, Gilani said that Pakistan alone could not be held accountable for American “flawed policies and blunders.” He noted that “high ranking US officials exhorted Afghans and the global Mujahideen from the Middle East to wage jihad, to go back to their homes, to go back to their mosques, in the name of Islam … It’s necessary for us to remind the international community of the decade of the nineties, which saw the Arab volunteers who had joined the Jihad mutate into the al-Qaeda. Who was responsible for the birth of the al-Qaeda? Who was responsible for making the myth of Osama bin Laden?”
But the US alone was not guilty of making Osama. As a newspaper editorial commented:
“Aside from the US support, Saudi Arabia generously poured money into Pakistan to create a culture of jihad. After the war, the same military and its intelligence agencies decided to deploy some of those jihadists to establish a pro-Pakistan regime in Afghanistan, while others were despatched for the task of ‘liberating’ Kashmir from India. No Pakistan army chief has ever made an attempt to institutionally repudiate the Zia legacy. No civilian government has dared to do it.
“By the time of 9/11, the poison of jihad had gone so deep into Pakistan that any effort to purge it was bound to take generations of cleansing.”
Gilani could have started his purge by so stating in his speech. Instead, he defended the Pakistan military and the dreaded ISI. It is now time for both to face up to some truths about their role in terror and for what is happening in Afghanistan and India and even threatening Pakistan’s very existence as a modern nation.
Yes the US is to be blamed for creating Osama and al Qaida. But it does not justify Pakistan being a safe haven for and offering support to them or even to send jihadists to fight in India and elsewhere. Gilani seems to forget that Osama was discovered living in relative comfort in the heart of Pakistan’s military establishment, giving the impression that Pakistan was providing sanctuary to him.
He should not forget that no one pushed Pakistan into fighting the Afghan war against the USSR. Pakistan was offered over a billion dollars to join the war effort and it accepted the conditions. Pakistan’s military made a calculated choice to participate in the war and was rewarded handsomely with tens of billions since the 1980 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It can’t now complain that the US created al Qaida and Osama and Pakistan had nothing to do with their rise. And Gilani seems to have forgotten that the Soviet-Afghan war was settled some 20 years ago and as such it was time for healing not to continue to wage global jihad. In retrospect, the US erred in creating the mujahideen to fight the Soviets. We would not be confronting terror today. It is not too late to turn the clock. The US is providing Pakistan with $3 billion annually. That money should be withheld until such time there is progress in the fight against terrorism. The US needs to rethink its policy relying on Pakistan to fight terror and seek a more reliable partner to combat al Qaida and the fanatic Taliban who want to practise a mediaeval form in which women must remain illiterate.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
