From Panama to Noshki
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Westfield, IN

Had courage been defined as the ability of some politicians and self-proclaimed defense analysts to raise their voice against corruption, they would have been declared as the contemporary Salhuddin Ayubis.

Had it been defined as their ability to deride the Parliament or mock the democratic institutions, the group would have been nominated for the Noble prize of gallantry.

Had it been defined as the ability to impress the audience with their acting skills on television, they would all have won the Academy Awards for their performances leaving behind Robert Deniro and Alpacino.

Had it been defined as their ability to portray an honest self-image, they would have hoisted themselves up next to angels even when they realized their hands were dirty, their past tainted, their sources of income murky.

However, if courage was defined by asking the real questions to the real authorities - questions like what Mullah Mansur was doing in Quetta and how prepared are we to protect our borders from a foreign attack - the same politicians and defense analysts would run into hiding the same way the Taliban ran after the US invasion of Afghanistan, tails tucked behind, their turbans flying off their heads on motorcycles.

From an international perspective, the killing of Mullah Mansur - the supreme leader of Afghan Taliban - in Pakistan puts us in a far worse position than the Panama leaks. Why? Because Panama leaks represent the action of private citizens who allegedly stole the state’s assets to enrich themselves causing people to suffer. Everyone understands the institutional weaknesses of countries like ours and sympathize with us against such elements.

The killing of Mullah Mansur, on the other hand, indicates that the state itself is hiding international terrorists in its territory and providing them the security and support to carry out their inhuman activities outside. In other words, the State is sponsoring terrorism. The sympathy in this situation is transformed into anger and disappointment compelling them to ignore our complaints and care less about our protests - no matter how genuine they may be.

Furthermore, Panama leaks is a complex legal problem involving numerous companies belonging to hundreds of people stretching across the world, their sources of wealth unclear, their purpose to stash the money dizzying. Even with the best of intentions, each case could take up several years to solve, requiring a panel of experts and perhaps some amendments in the international law.

On the contrary, the Taliban issue consists of precise goals, its targets identified, locations well marked. There exist no grey areas. Every country, including Pakistan, is therefore evaluated through the same lens, its policies against the global war on terrorism gauged, its role in finding (or hiding) the top leadership examined. Based on that, what the world sees in us is not a friend but a foe. Why? Because of our not-so-hidden support for Afghan Talbian.

To Afghans, the Afghan Taliban is what Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is to Pakistanis - not any different. Both target their fellow countrymen - innocent people looking for jobs to make the two ends meet - and both paint their nefarious acts with an Islamic brush. But to us Afghan Taliban are freedom fighters, the undefeated warriors who are determined to fight the foreign invasion and take back Kabul, the only legitimate rulers of the country. By supporting them, whether we realize it or not, we condone the killings of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians by the Jihadi group. Do not agree? Imagine for a moment how would you feel if you saw Mullah Fazlullah having a casual dinner with the Afghan Army. That is how Afghans feel when they find Mullah Mansur traveling freely within Pakistan, a Pakistani Identity Card in his pocket. And that is exactly how Americans felt when they found Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Coming back to Panama leaks, in a country where you cannot get a single application approved without bribing the authorities, can the news of corruption be considered news? There was nothing in the papers that could be regarded as a revelation, a game changer, something that we did not know before. Everyone has watched the documentaries run by an international channel on PPP, PML-N and MQM. Even so, we demanded investigations, resignations, interrogations, committees, judicial inquiries, international overlooks and so forth as if the sky had fallen. True, we cannot give a free pass to plunder, the wealth of the nation needs to preserved. But, look at the response, in comparison of our hyper patriotic politicians and analysts when the sky had actually fallen in Noshki: pin drop silence, twitter accounts dead, social media updates absent, television shows quiet.

Do you see the irony? It is the finding of Mullah Mansur (not the drone attack) that demands true leadership to speak up and speak with clarity. It is an issue on which we should have asked for the resignations of the highest authorities who failed to perform their duties, an opportunity to investigate and get to the bottom of the problem, reassuring the world that we will do everything to eradicate terrorism not only in Pakistan but also across the globe. Instead, how did we respond? Days later, when our senses returned to normal we raised hue and cry about our sovereignty being trampled upon.

To put it another way, when the world asks us for an explanation about the presence of Mullah Mansur in Pakistan, we accuse the world of discovering his location, his new identity, his car and his itinerary!