The study of the history of counter insurgency brings this enduring
lesson that foreign military interventions further stiffen the
resolve and widen the appeal of insurgents especially if the foreign
troops are labeled as infidels. Therefore, the first step I would
suggest is to ask USA to give the deadline of leaving the Afghan
territory; this will immediately lower the tempers of many Pushtons
and devoid the Taliban of getting new recruits from joining the
struggle to liberate their homeland from occupying force. If
Americans and its stooge regime led by Mr Hamid Karzai have started
giving indications that they are willing to indulge in peace talks
with the Taliban then why are we increasing the conflict in our
tribal area, after all tribal area has been with Pakistan since 1947
and has never caused a major security threat to Pakistan before US
led war on terror struck Afghanistan. Secondly, identifying the
states involved in sponsoring insurgency in our tribal area rather
than being maligned by them and try to mold the world opinion in our
favor. India - Afghanistan nexus is the case in point; they are very
successfully running a blame campaign against Pakistan for all the
wrong happenings in their countries. Yet, it is beyond understanding
that our foreign office is afraid of pointing a direct finger on
either of them. Thirdly, relocating the Army outside the tribal area
and restoration of decades old Frontier Constabulary (FC) for
maintaining peace. Army has been directly linked to be American
collaborator and its presence fuels the anger of the tribal. FC’s
organization of recruiting local tribal under regular Army command
structure perfectly blends with the requirements of an effective
tribal law enforcement force. It enjoys the status of bona fide
force amongst the tribal people as service in the Frontier Corps is
considered an honorable duty. Manchester, UK
Question for intellectuals
A J Khattak
Whenever Muslims in Palestine Iraq, Bosnia, Kashmir, Afghanistan,
etc have ever been attacked or atrocities were committed against
Muslims by (non-Muslim) States or powers, the people of Pakistan, in
particular Pashtoon have always shown solidarity with them by
arranging protests, demonstrations, strikes and public meetings
besides special prayers in mosques for the safety and blessing of
the Muslim of the oppressed Muslim country.
Now in Pakistan the Pashtoon Tribal Areas are being bombed by USA
drones almost on daily basis since the last so many months but it is
a sheer surprise that not a single Muslim country has dared to utter
just a word of condemnation against these indiscriminate drones
attacks nor the Muslim masses of any country have arranged any
protest demonstration in favor and support of the Muslim of this
part of the Muslim world called Pakistan. Why? Are we Pakistani more
committed Muslim or Muslims of other countries are less care about
Muslim Ummah? I wish the intellectuals of Pakistan may contemplate
and shed light upon it. Peshawar
Questions of integrity
R Chaudhry
I have a question to ask from the two leading popular political
parties of Pakistan , namely the PPP and PML(N), as to why they
tolerate individuals with questionable integrity, when there is no
dearth of men with virtue amongst their supporters. This question
must also be asked from leaders of institutions which form the
establishment , that has enjoyed power, irrespective of whether
there is a political representative government or a military
dictator at helm of affairs. Individuals who have been subject of
voluminous investigative reports that prove their involvement in
financial bungling in their official capacity, or their involvement
in criminal irregularities like land grabbing, smuggling etc in
their private life, continue to be patronized by both these parties.
Such patronization of criminals by military dictators can be
understandable, but not in the case of political parties which enjoy
widespread popular support.
The most glaring example is that of an individual found guilty by a
Committee headed by AVM Mushaf Ali Mir, and his involvement in the
controversial Kidney Hill land grab. Yet this individual has been
given a key appointment by the PPP. Similarly the PML(N) continues
to tolerate the controversial MPA appointed as a Provioncial
Minister, inspite of proven criminal charges against him, including
the recent episode at Lahore airport. Why this romanticizing with
known criminals?. Have we not had enough damage done to this
country?. Is it not the collective responsibility of all political
players and members of the establishment to realize that enough
damage has been done to this country and its institutions, because
of cronyism, nepotism and rampant corruption?. What worse can be the
state of affairs that which prevail presently?. It is time that both
the political and civil or armed bureaucracy submit themselves to
Rule of Law. Plundering of state lands, assets and major
corporations must cease forthwith, because time has already run out
and there is no space or capacity for this country to absorb any
further self inflicted pain, because of the greed of few. USA
Just words, no action
Hafsa Jahan
This year Government took some landmark decisions for tobacco
control. One of the much trumpeted decisions was an immediate
scrapping of free consumer incentives which were being dolled out by
the tobacco industry to attract new customers. No doubt offering
free stuff and discounts are standard practices to gain new
customers. But as always the ground reality is completely different.
Yesterday I was passing through Barkat market, and what do I find?
Free lighters and free packs of cigarettes were being distributed to
anyone who purchase one pack of a well known brand, Marlboro.
Lahore
Load-shedding schedule
Shahryar Khan Baseer
We all know that our country is facing acute electricity shortages
and therefore to cover the gap WAPDA has to conduct load-shedding in
all areas at different times. The people of Pakistan has accepted
that and have adjusted their lives to compensate for such black
outs. But it would be nice if WAPDA could issue monthly schedules
for these black outs for all the areas. And if WAPDA would then
follow the schedule during the month. Recent notification by the
electricity companies regarding the Mangla Dam reduction and the
problems faced by KEPCO are greatly appreciated by everyone in
Pakistan. The consumers (Pakistanis) felt that the suppliers were
treating them like customers for the first time. Now we hope the
electricity companies would continue this good gesture and also
inform the customers about the scheduled load-shedding in their
areas, instead of the customers trying to guess the timing
themselves. Peshawar
