As the horrible news of so many people bieng killed in suicide bomb attack in a mosque in Frontier was bieng digested by us, the new strategy bombshell exploded above our reeling heads!What does one understand from the war against Al Qaeda bieng fought decisively or so Obama thinks on our soil? Many Pakistani ambassadors and analysts are giving varying explainations. I think they themselves do not know what this strategy really means! As for me I see hope and despair at the same time! If I take his words literally, then it means that the war ground will definitely shift from Afghanistan and Iraq to Pakistan. It is a matter of implementing war tactics that is the only thing we are not aware of. So far it has been consistently identifying enemy,finding them on ground and killing them one by one by drone attacks.No ground forces in reality. Then there is the frequent collateral damage of Pakistani citizens which has made the Americans very unpopular.So what exactly will the New strategy do to change this ? For one they can increase the targetting and attacking the enemy targets, they may increase their areas of operation for example to Baluchistan.What will really happen, in the short run, Pakistanis will become more vocal and perhaps violent in their opposition. But who will be more active? It seems the right wing political parties have no choice now but to come out in the open and express and side up with whom they have covertly bieng operating with! They are favoring Taliban, similar groups and indirectly Al Qaeda. They pretend they are sincere with the ideology of Pakistan but infact they are not!
They have not openly declared their allegiance to this Taliban or other pseudo philosophy but now they will be pushed finally in a corner.The ordinary people of Frontier did not vote for them, so now it is clear tha the Taliban who are now occupying many areas are opposing the writ of the government.There has been no clear cut policy debate in Frontier about choosing between Pakistan government or the occupying Taliban, although the ordinary folks have given clear mandate to progressive political parties.
The intellegensia and the academics to this date have not debated and clarified the difference between the ideology of Pakistan and that of Islamists and rightist political parties and the clear cut different ideology of Al Qaeda. Most people confuse Al Qaeda/Islamists ideas as that of Islam per se and tend to identify with them though wrongly!
The ideology of islamists and Al Qaeda is against the very foundations of that of the state of Pakistan, which we so love and cherish.We all love Pakistan, whether we are muslims or christians etc., We love pakistan as its citizens. It has got nothing to do with religion. These Islamists are mostly foriegnors and have the aim of occupying Pakistan and destroying its polity.
Where does America stand on this . They have made it clear that Al Qaeda is thier enemy no 1 and they will try to finish it. Easier said than done. They have managed to contain it's activities in Iraq but then what about taliban in Afghanistan. Troops surge there will not really help as Taliban are ruling there mostly and the puppet Karzai government has a writ hardly. The new government will again be without any writ. Eventually they will have to establish links and deal with the Taliban.
Now back to Pakistan. If Amereica fights in Pakistan and manages to achieve a reasonable cleaning out of foreinors and AlQaeda, we will be still left with the Pakistani Taliban. We do not want them killed as they are Pakistani ,so this war in Pakistan will be bloodier and deadlier than elsewhere in the world.
Bad times are ahead for Pakistan. It is not as rosy that the money will come and development will take place and democracy will flourish. Thanks to the short sighted ,tunnel vision of the previous government and the despotic ruler, we have now a dirty bag of worms all over our face!
So far the PPP government appears to make the right moves for America and whether we like it or not for Pakistan too, but mark my words, the road ahead is bloody and not easy at all!
We have to really pray for Pakistan!We have to though clearly pledge our allegiance to the ideology of Pakistan and not of the Islamists and Al Qaeda! I hope I survive after this post! Long Live Pakistan! Eternal Peace for Pakistanis ,be they be Muslims, Christians or Hindus.
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