The man who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was a Pakistani. Why is this unsurprising? Answer: because when you hold a burning match to a gasoline tank, the laws of chemistry demand combustion.
As anti-American lava spews from the fiery volcanoes of Pakistans private television channels and newspapers, collective psychosis grips the countrys youth. Murderous intent follows with the conviction that the US is responsible for all ills, both in Pakistan and the world of Islam.
Faisal Shahzad, with designer sunglasses and an MBA degree from the University of Bridgeport, acquired that murderous intent. Living his formative years in Karachi, he typifies the young Pakistani who grew up in the shadow of Zia-ul-Haqs hate-based education curriculum.
The son of a retired Air Vice-Marshal, life was easy as was getting US citizenship subsequently. But at some point the toxic schooling and media tutoring must have kicked in. Guilt may have overpowered him as he saw pictures of Gaza’s dead children and held US support for Israel responsible. Then a little internet browsing, or perhaps the local mosque, steered him towards the idea of an Islamic caliphate. The solution to the worlds problems would require, of course, the US to be damaged and destroyed. Hence Shahzad’s self-confessed trip to Waziristan.
Ideas considered extreme a decade ago are now mainstream. A private survey carried out by a European embassy based in Islamabad found that only 4% of Pakistanis polled speak well of America, 96% against. Although Pakistan and the US are formal allies, in the public perception the US has ousted India as Pakistans number one enemy.
Remarkably, anti-US sentiment rises in proportion to aid received. Say one good word about the US, and you are automatically labeled as its agent. From what popular TV anchors had to say about it, Kerry-Lugars $7.5 billion may well have been money that the US wants to steal from Pakistan rather than give to it.
Pakistan is certainly not the worlds only country where America is unpopular. In pursuit of its self-interest, wealth and security, the US has waged illegal wars, bribed, bullied and overthrown governments, supported tyrants and military governments, and undermined movements for progressive change.
But paradoxically the US is disliked far more in Pakistan than in countries which have born the direct brunt of American attacks – Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Why?
Drone strikes are a common but false explanation. Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi implicitly justified the Times Square bombing as retaliation. But this simply does not bear up. Drone attacks have killed some innocents, but they have devastated militant operations in Waziristan while causing far less collateral damage than Pakistan Army operations. On the other hand, the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong were carpet-bombed by B-52 bombers and Vietnam’s jungles were defoliated with Agent Orange, the ffects of which persist even today. Yet, Vietnam never developed deep visceral feelings like those in Pakistan.
Finding truer reasons requires deeper digging. In part, Pakistan displays the resentment and self-loathing of a client state for its paymaster. US-Pakistan relations are frankly transactional today, but the master-client relationship is older. Indeed, Pakistan chose this path because confronting India over Kashmir demanded heavy militarization and big defense budgets. So, in the 1960s, Pakistan willingly entered into the SEATO and CENTO military pacts, and was proud to be called ‘Americas most allied ally’. The Pakistan Army became the most powerful, well-equipped and well-organized institution in the country. This also put Pakistan on the external dole, a price that Pakistan has paid for its Indo-centrism.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, even as it brought in windfall profits, deepened the dependence. Paid by the US to create the anti-Soviet jihadist apparatus, Pakistan is now being paid again to fight that war’s blow-back. Pakistan then entered George W. Bush’s war on terror to enhance America’s security – a fact that further hurt self-esteem. It is a separate matter that Pakistan fights that very war for its own survival, and must call upon its army to protect the population from throat-slitting, hand-chopping, girl-whipping fanatics.
Passing the buck is equally fundamental to Pakistan’s anti-Americanism. It is in human nature to blame others for one’s own failures. Pakistan has long teetered between being a failed state and a failing state. The rich won’t pay taxes? Little electricity? Sewage-contaminated drinking water? Population out of control? Kashmir unsolved? Just blame it on the Americans. This phenomenon exists elsewhere too. For example, one recently saw the amazing spectacle of Hamid Karzai threatening to join the Taliban and lashing out against Americans because they (probably correctly) suggested he committed electoral fraud.
Tragically for Pakistan, anti-Americanism plays squarely into the hands of Islamic militants. They vigorously promote the notion of an Islam-West war when, in fact, they actually wage armed struggle to remake society. They will keep fighting this war even if America were to miraculously evaporate into space. Created by poverty, a war-culture, and the macabre manipulations of Pakistan’s intelligence services, they seek a total transformation of society. This means eliminating music, art, entertainment, and all manifestations of modernity. Side goals include chasing away the few surviving native Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus.
At a time when the country needs clarity of thought to successfully fight extremism, simple bipolar explanations are inadequate. The moralistic question ‘Is America good or bad?’ is futile. There is little doubt that the US has committed acts of aggression as in Iraq, worsened the Palestine problem, and maintains the world’s largest military machine. We also know that it will make a deal with the Taliban if perceived to be in America’s self-interest, and it will do so even if that means abandoning Afghans to blood-thirsty fanatics.
Yet, it would be wrong to scorn the humanitarian impulse behind US assistance in times of desperation. Shall we simply write off massive US assistance to Pakistan at the time of the dreadful earthquake of 2005? Or to tsunami affected countries in 2004 and to Haiti in 2010? In truth, the US is no more selfish or altruistic than any other country of the world. And it treats its Muslim citizens infinitely better than we treat non-Muslims in Pakistan.
Instead of pronouncing moral judgments on everything and anything, we Pakistanis need to reaffirm what is truly important for our people: peace, economic justice, good governance, rule of law, accountability of rulers, women’s rights, and rationality in human affairs. Washington must be firmly resisted, but only when it seeks to drag Pakistan away from these goals.
More frenzied anti-Americanism will only produce more Faisal Shahzads.
The author teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. This article was also published in Dawn.
More comments from ATP’s Facebook Page:
– “We have to maintain a sense of balance while commenting upon Faisal Shahzad.In this day and age granting him US citizenship without having his credentials checked is unbelievable.You and me did not give him the US citizenship so we need not be defensive and get to the bottom of this tragic episode.This would require patience and tolerance for diversified views on the subject as of now.”
– “What is the reason for all this..IGNORRANCE. What cause Ignorance?..ILLITERACY..What causes Illiteracy?..Lack of EDUCATION..What causes Lack of Education?..SUB-STANDARD SCHOOLS..What causes Sub-Standard Schools..LACK OF RESOURCES..What causes Lack of Resources?..POOR MANAGEMENT..What causes Poor Management?..BAD POLICY FORMULATION..What causes Bad Policy Formulation?..LACK OF VISION..What causes Lack of Vision?..IGNORANT & ILLITERATE LEADERSHIP..What causes Ignorant & Illiterate Leadership..LACK OF POLITICAL SYSTEM..What causes Lack of Political System?..DICTATORSHIP..What causes Dictatorship..CORRUPTION..What causes Corruption?..LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY..What causes Lack of Accountability?..WEAK MEDIA..What causes Weak Media?..UNPROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS..What causes Unprofessional Journalists?..PERSONAL INTRERESTS..At this time if I look at Pakistan I can see this chain going on and on and on.We as CITIZENARY have not fulfilled our duties to condemn or protest against all the above mentioned evils.We have been taken for granted..Our media did not inform us of all the injustice this nation suffered at the hands of all the above mentioned elements. We have never looked at the situation rationally..We are more concerned with the Shoaib and Sania Wedding.When we do not ask the Imams at our mosques to stop preaching half baked theories of their own.When our teachers do not ask our students to abide by the traffic laws.When breaking the law is considered a THRILL..When we become selfish and preach what we do not practice..When our leaders make us wait in Blazing Sun on roads. When we do not have enough power to supply to a student studying at night.When We do not give way to an AMBULANCE even if its Siren is SCREAMING” PLEASE LET ME PASS..THERE IS A PERSON DYING IN HERE” When we do not value a life at stake. When we go out and murder someone over a dispute of a KITE.When rising fuel prices are raised in line with the International Rates but never brought down..When we never make aline at a Bank Counter, when we cant even follow Lanes on Roads(We do follow the rules when on MOTORWAY)…I can go on and on and on has anyone ever thought on these lines, we are like PARASITES, after screwing up PAKISTAN, we want to leave and want to settle in some other country. We can CHANGE, not only our fate but this COUNTRY. I have belief in this NATION.I am PROUD to be a PAKISTANI.We can and we will Succeed.We are down but we are not OUT yet..May ALLAH make us PROUD again..AMEEN”
– “oh, well, i can see someone talking about ground realities. Let me tell you ground realities, over 150000 innocent people of palestine have been killed by barbaric israeli army since its invasion, over 80000 iraqis and afghanis have been killed since american invasion, over 100000 kashmiris by indian army have been killed since its invasion. According to a report, 247 innocents have been killed by drone attacks while only 5 terrorists and this list does not end here. Tell me, in such a situation, can you stop extremeism and terrorism?”
– “do you even consider yourself a Muslim? Why are you making excuses for terrorism? You don’t murder civilians according to Islamic rules of warfare, so stop making excuses you tool. I hope one day you get beaten up by your beloved Taliban so you can open your eyes more.
Do you support Sipah e Sahaba?”
– “the figures you cite need to be checked…and if true would be irrelevant because Faisal Shehzad is not a Palestinian, Iraqi or Kashmiri or someone who ever visited FATA. He is a selfish guy who gained everything from America, including citizenship and then became a traitor and terrorist because he was seduced by the deadly ideology of the Taliban. There is no service to Islam here, or a legitimate cause, just a fool who like the Taliban thinks bullying and violence will quickly give him a solution.”
– “please, dont tell me that the americans are still searching for their high values targets like usama bin ladin, and other so called al qadea leader in context of their presence in Afghanistan and which is also teh justification for the drone attacks on the soil of pakistan….. and by the way who are these killleeersss???????? these usama din laden, amen–uz- zwarihi, gulbaden hikmat yar, arent they the same people to be nominated for the title of bravery and consideres as spirituall holly warriorss by USA itself…. till the time, they were performing as per directed by teh USA against communist russians, they were good people, but once , they startd acting against them they turn to be terroristss. look sir jee, i am against the concept of talibanization in Pakistan as well Afghanistan, but teh man behind all teh game is one ,,,,,, the American Foreign policy and to safe guards the interest of new world order and to preserve the unipolar world…… As far as 9/11 is concerned, how many people believe that such a sophisticated assault could possibly be launched by a single person ( usama bin laden ) sitting in a country like Afghanistan ( destroyed by the after effects of afghan jihad in that time period) and supported by teh fanatic Taliban government ( which was subjected to teh economic sancations at that time, by majority of the world countries)……….. and Amir sahab , just tell me sumthing, if even assume all the allegations against usama, taliban and al-qaeda true, doest it provide a lisence to the Americans to attack afghanistan and kill millions of Afghaniss, just have a glance at the numbers of deads and casualities, taht resulted from afghan massacre and compare it to te resulatant of 9/11. and judge yrself neutrallyyy…. did the Iraqis deserve to be hit lik that on the basis of false, baseless accusations of WMD…. all this is just a drama and our leaders are playing into their hands for the sake oif that dollars that they receive as AID , and trasfering it to their personal accounts,, on the cost of sovernity of Pakistan, on teh cost of thousands of pakistani who hav lose thier lives and who have been missing in teh context of so called war against terror……. please, sir jee, open your eyes, boht afsos hota hai, jb hamare apne log is tarah sochte hen… cant you feel the pain of all those muslim brothers and sisters who have been combarted for no good reason, they might be counted as SHAR PASAND ( victims of drone attacks) or in some casely, to deal realitively politely on teh name of co- lateral damage…………”
– “we are not the supporters of taliban, the point dat we want to made is that its USA , who hav made taliban, for their interests, and they are spreading terrorism by their agressiive operations….., and its their policies dat is facilititaing teh educated, liberal, and moderate muslims to behave lik dis…… we do condemn teh civil deathas and casualities as a result of every terror attack, watever the root cause of trrorism and watever teh social forces may be , that drive a person to become a terrorist, but we also condemn the slaughter of thousands of muslims at teh hand of us military in afghanistan and iraq……. they are civilians, they are living on thier soil, and still bombarted for no reasons… and god forbid, taht any one among your near and dear ones become victim of any drone attack while sitting in their homess, then wat would be your reaction……….. i didnt mean any offence, dats y use the word of god forbid first, but one shud feel the pain of our nation fellows ( in FATA) and our religion fellows who are gettiung punishment for being pakistani and being muslims”
Thank you to Pervaiz Hoodbhoy for saying something that majority of Pakistanis now believe. It is only a few Taliban supporters now who keeping saying otherwise. Specially because the fact is that whatever number dies in drones is MUCH MUCH MUCH less than are dying every day in suicide attacks by these religious fundamentalists.
Who is my enemy no. 1, Taliban or USA.
I don’t trust either, but I think Taliban and Taliban supporters are far bigger enemy of Pakistan.
More comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Excellent synthesis.”
– “you are the sort of delusional fellow that terrorists seek to recruit to serve their freakish schemes. Wake up.”
– ” if afghan taliban r so good and if u think their services to their country r really great then what r u doing here go and join them and serve them, WE DEFINITELY WANT TO THROW OUT PEOPLE LIKE FROM OUR RANKS.”
– ” it will continue unless america stops its greater and worldwide terrorism”
– “this terrorism will not stop until we confront the real problem that is the radical,intolerant,misogynistic religous iideology that is prevalent and unchallenged in pakistan.No rational and sane person can present his argument in the mainstream media in pakistan because immediately over here he is branded a blasphemer who ofcourse has to be killed immediately.This violence will go on until ppl have the guts to speak out about the real problem.”
– “unless america stops killing innocents in iraq, afghanistan, in drone attacks, and india in kashmir and israel in palestine, this terrorism will continue because if you kill someone’s brother, sister, father or mother, he will surely avenge you.’
– “Pervaiz Hoodbhoy is a man who has perhaps never appealed the emotional masses, the same is happening here though this article is purely fact based and its essence is true to every inch and it leaves the people against him speechless yet we have to talk against him because he wrote in favor of america. When are we going to stop cursing america for every bad thing happening to us? why can’t we see our own enemies whom we have made our heroes? can’t we for once be a little logical then emotional and see the ground realities? We all know the fact that if America wants to destroy us it can and within minutes. No one will ask him why. the truth is that we give ourselves more importance than we deserve. The people who created these militants (basically to fight with india in kashmir and now these militants are getting heavy on us), are still at large roaming as great public figures in Pakistan. Lets just stop being too emotional.”
– “you are finding excuses for terror even in places where US is not involved. The fellow on whom this article based was a NATURALIZED US citizen…meaning a person who choose to take oath of allegiance to US…and then become a traitor and terrorist. No link to “Iraq or Afghanistan” here.”
– “well, their is a huge influence of teh zionistic Us foreign policy, taht serve as root cause for such incidents. Aamir Alii , even if that gentleman was an educated american citizen, but still he was a Muslim and have the insight of all that wat US is doing to his religion fellows. it have a link wid the the tales of brutalities by the Ameriacans in Afghanistan , Iraq, and Palestine ( indirectly they are supporting and encouraging jews). and i disagree with Dr. hooodbhoy that the religious hatred based fundamentalistic approach , like the one which was spread up by the Zia- ul-HAd is teh root cause of Anti americanism in PAksitan. Allow me to remind doctor sahab taht durinng the regim of Zia-ul-had, teh seeds of hatred was cultivatedd in minds of ordinary people of pakstan against the communist russians, not the americans. infact USA, was the sponsr and producer of teh whole scene….. and after making reliogious extremist on the name of so called Jihad, using them in their own interest agaisnt russians, to convert the bipolar world into unipolar, now the same holy warriors ( who have been trained by utilizing the us tax payers money) have been converted into terrorsits and pose great danger to the peace and stability of teh world……. wat a drama sir jee… and still, our leaders are playing in their hands… I am an educated pakistani citizen, who hav never ever received any sort oif religious education that aim to induce teh feelings of hatred againstthe america, but still i am a big fan of anti americanism, because of their policiess….. may god grant the wisdom to our leaders, our intellectualls to open their eyes and stop defending USA like that…….. i m sorry doctor sahab, but i disagree with most of the points of your given article… the USA is least bother about the peace, economic justice, good governance, ruel of law, accountibilty of rulers, rights of humans and rationality of human affairs in pakistan……. they are just playing the game of their own interest on teh cost of our oness…….”
– “.allow me to remind you that US is in the region because of …..9/11….not on the orders of some Zionists…. and the folks who caused 9/11 and their friends continue to ply their murderous trade in the region despite whatever “drama” you see or don’t see. So terrorists are a genuine problem, and have to be eliminated. This Shehzad gentleman happily took oath of US citizenship in 2009, making it unlikely that the feelings of “Muslim brethren” were on the top of his agenda. He was seduced by the same killer ideology that producer bombers and terrorists who kill Pakistanis every day….and who father is Zia ul Haq who created this culture of extremism, guns, “mujahideen” and their commanders.”
– “the thing is the more we hate americans, the more easy it is for extremists to get hands on our youth and create people who will not only try to harm americans but harm us as well. Before loving someone we start hating americans. speaking of tales of brutalities if you to bomb their home they are gonna get brutal against you because they have they the power, in spite of that in 2005 america aided us the most and We corrupted that aid, isn’t that brutal?”
– “”
But is their also not a similar “anti-Muslimism” in USA?
I think an important distinction needs to be made between disagreeing with US policies, inclduing in Afghanistan etc. and “hating” USA. I think the same is true in USA where increasingly their disagreement with Pakistan policy is being confused with an actual hatred of Pakistanis and Muslims.