Pakistan is Not a True Ally
AUTAR KAW
Opinion Editorial
Tampa Tribune
November 8, 2007
Sam Rashid needs to be glad that he has been able to go to his native Pakistan every year up until a couple of years ago. I have not been able to go home to my native Kashmir, India since 1989.
My wish to visit home may be nostalgic but the rest of my family who lived in Kashmir for centuries were forced out of their own land to live like refugees in their own country. Such has been the situation in Kashmir for two decades now where Kashmiri Muslim militants trained in Pakistan by Taliban and al-Qaeda forced their own Hindu neighbors to either leave or be killed. My father was shot to death by his own Muslim friends on August 24, 1990.
Ever since September 11, 2001, and even before people struggled with maligning the pronunciation of al-Qaeda, I have voiced my frustration with US considering Pakistan as an ally. You cannot have allies who do not share your core values – democracy, freedom of religion and women’s rights.
However, US has cornered herself between the rock and a hard place. Do nothing, and the democratic powers in January 08 may make it an Islamic state like Iran. Intervene and you get the Pakistanis to hate us even more for interfering in their affairs and further strengthen the public support for the radicals. Either way, with 30 nuclear weapons and al-Qaeda’s strong foothold, the mushroom cloud is closer to a reality.
Pakistan’s neighbor, India has to be on the edge. If India takes any preventive action to protect its own rights, the US should not intervene. If the US has the right to fight the war on terrorism in far-flung areas of Iraq and Pakistan, India has every right to defend its own backyard. India has turned the other cheek so many times that even Mahatma Gandhi would be disappointed.
The war on terrorism cannot be fought without eradicating the training grounds and Madrasas of Pakistan and stopping the continuing funding of terrorism by Saudi Arabia. No matter how you look at it or spin it, we have accepted this as business as usual. Any attempt of US now to evade the crisis is like throwing pebbles at a giant. Actually, we have been throwing pebbles on giants like Iraq and Iran, and we should have left these giants alone.
It was heartening to see liberal and moderate Pakistanis protesting in the streets, but to see them getting hurled and dragged into police vans reminded me of the autocratic British rule in India.
But this may be the beginning of the end of oscillating democratic and military rule in Pakistan. It is time for Pakistanis to fight for their freedom. With an unemployment rate that is low at 6.5%, it is clear that they have mechanisms in place to follow India’s lead in making economic reform.
The same blood flows through the veins of these two neighbors. Although the people of both the nations have been labeled as having fatalistic views of life, I know first hand that neither nation’s people shirk from hard work. Whenever they have been given fair, uncorrupted, and competitive rewards, they have aspired like the rest of us – make a good living and prepare a better life for the children.
CITATION: Autar Kaw, “Pakistan is Not a True Ally”, Opinion Editorial, The Tampa Tribune, November 8, 2007, last accessed at http://autarkaw.com/pakistan-is-not-a-true-ally/