Going Too Far
I hate to sound histrionic,
but in the rush of living perhaps we
are forgetting that the American air
strike in Bajaur may well be a sentinel
event. Or did the one that killed nine
civilians the previous week, mark the
beginning of the end of the chimera
called a sovereign Pakistan?
On Friday the 13th of January, a Predator
drone fired a salvo of Hellfire missiles
(do note connotations of the names and
phrases) on three houses in Bajaur killing
18 people, including six children. The
guest who was to come to dinner, Aiman
al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s vocal
second in command, escaped Hellfire,
though Al-Qaeda’s bomb maker Abu-Khabab
Al-Masri, who had a $5million bounty
on his head seems to have died in the
attack. At least that is what the CIA
says, even though two graves of the
18 dug got no bodies (apparently the
villagers ‘removed’ two
bodies from the scene) and so no DNA
to confirm or deny. But then the CIA
says so and so it is.
On or about September 13th 2001, at
3 a.m. they say, American Secretary
of State Colin Powell made a fateful
call to Musharraf, demanding to know
whose side Pakistan was on. The Pakistani
military strategist bounded into American
arms, no questions asked. It is said
that the tone of a marriage is set on
Day 1, the victor in the power struggle
maintains the upper hand, till death
do them part. Perhaps that premise extrapolates
to the balance of power on the world
stage. And the winner in the America-Pakistan
affair clearly needs no introduction.
"We were asleep when the first
missile hit another house. We came out
but my three children were buried under
debris in a second explosion,"
said Mohammed Khan, 35. His children
all died. "The US cannot do this
without Pakistan's support. We are leaving
it to God to give us justice."
And as though the shock of the air strike
in a sovereign nation was not enough;
members of the US Congress are justifying
it and promising more. In unabashed
imperial hubris, Senators McCain, Bayh
and Lott actually said that there were
no guarantees that this would not occur
again, for America was engaged in a
war on terror.
Contrast that arrogant promise with
Musharraf’s statement: "We
have waged the war on terror on the
basis of established principles, but
we cannot jeopardize our own national
interests and will keep aloft national
solidarity." Condemning the Bajaur
tragedy, he said, "Such incidents
should not occur in the future."
How anemic can you get?
Musharraf, in the first statement after
the Bajaur killings in a speech broadcast
on state television, said: "If
we kept sheltering foreign terrorists
here... our future will not be good.”
Is Mohammed Khan right? Could America
have slaughtered Pakistani men, women
and children, without Musharraf’s
tacit support? If there is suspicion
of villagers harboring the Terrorist
Trio, will the Hellfire missiles come
and flatten out some more houses, to
nail some more dinner guests? Is the
Pakistani president going to blame the
villagers again for inviting American
ire and fire?
Pakistan is so beholden and door-matted
that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is
going ahead with his visit to the United
States, to improve relations (read get
more charity) after his benefactors
murdered 27 of his countrymen in cold
blood. Does he have no self-respect?
America is thumbing its nose at its
“partner in the war on terror”,
as well as basic international law that
safeguards the sovereignty of nations.
A chorus of Congressional representatives
is threatening more air strikes, and
Musharraf is consorting with George
Bush Sr. with nary a word of protest.
This is beyond comprehension. What is
Pakistan’s Achilles heel? What
is holding Pakistan so totally hostage
that it cannot stop this insanity and
the murder of the people it is entrusted
to protect.
Soon after 9/11 there was repetition
ad nauseam of the phrase “why
do they hate us?” America’s
help after the earthquake of October
2005 had started to soften hearts and
do what Karen Hughes, Bush’s Ambassador-to-make-Muslims-love-America,
could not have done in a few lifetimes.
Hellfire missiles did not just destroy
life and property in Bajaur, they effectively
erased appreciation of America’s
earthquake philanthropy. And deservedly
so. The man on the street questioned
Pakistan’s alliance with America
in the war on terror; now they will
protest it.
If educated, middle-path Muslims like
me are livid, the prospect of the reaction
of the guest who was to come to dinner
is terrifying. Actually the Bin Laden,
Mullah Omar, Zawahiri trio ought to
take a break from all things terrorizing.
America has so ably taken over the difficult
task of engendering hate in the hearts
of Muslims the world over, that the
Terrorist Trio is essentially redundant.
Talk about cruise control, baby!
That middle of the night phone call
to Musharraf has been dissected ad infinitum,
and I do grant that it was in Pakistan’s
national interest to side with America
in the war on terror. But there is a
method to every madness. They asked
for an inch, why did we give a mile?
Should not the Pakistani military strategist
have known basic geo-politics? Does
co-operation in anti-terrorism mean
selling the nation out completely? Allowing
the slaughter of its civilians?
If protests are any measure, posters
saying “Withdraw the US army from
Afghanistan and Kashmir” and “Stop
bombing innocent people” should
be some lead.
The BBC reports that “the US has
about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan,
but Pakistan does not allow them to
operate across the border”. How
interesting! The troops cannot operate
within sovereign Pakistani territory,
but a ship in the Indian Ocean can send
off a Predator drone to wreak havoc.
Reminds me of the Urdu saying of eating
sugar but avoiding dessert.
Pakistan’s commitment to the war
on terror is so great that there are
70,000 Pakistani troops in the tribal
area bordering Afghanistan, all to contain
foreign militancy.
It was the village of Saidgai on January
8th and Bajaur on January 13. Where
will the Predators hit next? To the
educated, urban elite the remote NWFP
may seem the back of beyond. They must
try earth.google.com to see how easy
it is for an average Joe to zoom in
on your house, even get driving directions.
A 22-year old American soldier could
be playing ready-aim-fire with his mouse
on a ship in the Arabian Sea, entirely
reminiscent of a video game. Mosques
harbor militants says America. Will
America have gone too far when the Predator
drone rains Hellfire on the Badshahi
mosque or that little white duplex in
Nazimabad?
What will Messrs. Musharraf and Aziz
say then? “This should not happen
again”.
Mahjabeen Islam is a physician and freelance
columnist practicing in Toledo, Ohio.
Her email is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com
