It is a matter of great shock and disappointment for Pakistanis that their Prime Minister has not, even in his third term, managed to gain enough strength and confidence to enable him to put his case strongly and, during discussions with senior foreign officials, was seen fumbling with notes and putting across his case in an unconvincing tone, which only encouraged others to dictate their terms.
The following extracts from a press release issued after a special meeting of the cabinet held at the PM House recently, with Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in the chair clearly demonstrate the weak and apologetic tone of our top leader: “If the efforts that we have initiated for peace, instead of bloodshed, are not to be supported, at least, these should not be sabotaged — Pakistan has the right to make independent decisions in its own interest–we should be allowed to address this issue the way we want to –The cabinet decided to continue efforts to stop these attacks (in the traditional meek and half-hearted manner I suppose)”
A sovereign state is not supposed to beg others for permission to take steps in its national interest. And with this sort of performance, when the PM declares that gone are the days when Pakistan’s foreign policy used to be dictated on a telephone call from abroad, obviously referring to Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s time, people are not impressed because 9/11 attack had turned the US and nearly the whole of Western world against us whereas the situation has changed now, and many governments and international organisations support us on the issue of drone.
Moreover, the United States and its allies have announced withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan by the end of next year, with only US planning to keep a few thousand soldiers there. Also, the public in the Western countries as well as the US has turned against the military adventurism of their leaders; a clear proof of which was the public pressure on the British parliamentarians which forced them to vote against intervention in Syria, forcing US and France also to desist from launching even a limited attack against Syria and also for gong soft on Iran.
In addition to the above, US is in desperate need of land routes in Pakistan which provide it the most convenient and economical mode of taking out its military hardware.
All these factors gave Pakistan a strong hand which it could have played to get the US to agree to stoppage of drone strikes, more so because international opinion has also turned against drone strikes.
Unfortunately, Nawaz Sharif missed this golden chance. Still, the option of stoppage of drone strikes remains. Government could give a two-week deadline to the US and NATO, for issuing a firm undertaking to stop drone strikes forthwith, failing which it would shoot down drones and also stop supplies going through Pakistani land routes, until the time the undertaking is received. It is no good saying that this will also adversely affect other NATO countries with whom Pakistan deals, and they would not like this move. Obviously, Pakistan’s stand is just and it has been stating its position clearly on the matter of drones and it should have been possible for these countries to convince US leaders to agree to our request. However, if they choose not to do so, then they should be prepared to face the consequences which will not be very serious for them anyway, because, after all, they have only small number of their soldiers and limited quantity of military hardware in Afghanistan, which they could evacuate even by the more costly northern route, by air or even scrap it. This is about the best time to stop drone strikes, preferably through negotiation but if that does not work, by shooting these down, and I am sure the US would not spoil things for itself by reacting strongly to these. However, if these are allowed to go on, the US would continue to use them permanently and may even increase the area of operations, in its attempt to destabilize Pakistan and turn it into another Iraq. Just heard that during the last three weeks, US drones made two incursions in Balochistan which shows how bad things could get if we fail to stop the menace.
Coming back to reaction against drones, what is even more shameful is that it is not just our top leader but, with the exception of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, most of his lieutenants are speaking the language of their masters, both local and foreign. Perhaps they want to get into the good books of the foreign governments which could bring them monetary and other benefits and the situation could be the same with very many of the people in print and electronic media, NGOs, etc who are equating timidity with realism.
In normal countries, the top officials take a stand in the interest of the country and their assistants, the public and the print and electronic media support them. In Pakistan, it is just the reverse because of timidity and greed which have become deep-rooted in the society.
It is really surprising that despite seeing what happened to Iraq and Libya, and what is happening to Syria now, and the threats against Iran, Pakistanis can’t understand that their country, the strongest militarily and the only nuclear power in the Muslim world, will be next on the chopping board. It is therefore disgusting to see Pakistanis become a willing partner in breaking up their own country by not taking a firm stand against selfish leaders whose wealth is all invested abroad, and who are busy milking the country to further increase their wealth and are now planning to sell off the state assets to the nominees of their relatives and friends, perhaps at nominal prices.
Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries have been helping us in the past. We know Saudi Arabia and others recently arranged a $ 12 billion package for Egypt’s military government. They could also help us out but they know that nearly all the money will be siphoned off by our greedy leaders, and end up in their overseas bank accounts, without benefiting the masses.
Unfortunately for us, despite doing a wonderful work in Swat, and giving exemplary sacrifices, it is a significant failure on the part of our military not to develop and employ armed-drone technology extensively and let America and its gang establish a strong network of spies and saboteurs in North Waziristan and indeed in the rest of the country. After evacuation of the bulk from Afghanistan, this lethal force, plus the mercenaries enlisted by them in Afghanistan, which are already at work against us, will be unleashed on us with a greater ferocity in order to break up our country and to prepare a case for relieving us of our nuclear assets, the only deterrent we have against India, which they are supporting and trying to prop up as a leader in the region, to partner with them in their ultimate war against China.
I hope people stand up to save their country and the new army chief employs drones and other modern techniques and gadgets and takes control of North Waziristan and other trouble spots through persuasion and/or military means in order to prevent disintegration of Pakistan. I hope negotiations with militants also resume soon, even if not to secure overall peace, for which prospects do not seem to be all that bright, than at least to win over as many groups of militants as possible to our side, and to convince the wavering class among us that the use of force is the only option against the remaining incorrigible elements very many of whom may actually be paid agents of our enemies of whom there are quite a few.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Lahore Times.