Adil Najam
The headline is actually a tweet that has been floating around since the attack on Mehran Naval Aviation Base in Karachi two days ago. As far as I can tell it originated from @thekarachikid. Short. Pithy. Poignant. Depicting a truth that Pakistanis can feel in their bones.
The power of the statement is that the sentiment requires no elaboration. However, it does invite introspection. And, maybe, one question: Everyday in Pakistan does now feel like 9/11. 26/11 and 7/7; but what about the day after everyday? Do Pakistanis react to the day after everyday, the way others reacted to 9/11. 26/11 and 7/7? If not, then why not?
Did anyone notice PM has recommended Lt. Yasir to be awarded Nishan-e-Haider? It would be a great shame to give this highest award to him when he did not perform any great act of bravery. Some even say that he did not even fire a single bullet and was one of the first ones to be put down during the early stage of infiltration. What about the brave navy commandos and rangers who put their lives for the cause?
Also what about those who freed the hostages in the GHQ crisis? And especially those who are laying their lives at the tribal front?
Also did anyone notice the presser of naval chief? He came across as an uncouth, unprepared, and ill-mannered person. No wonder the defense of our country is in “capable” hands.
yes, Pakistan has to react after after every day of bloodshed!!! after every day when a mother loses her son, when a daughter loses her father and when a sister loses her only brother!!!
we have to take actions….and why not??
we have had a maximum loss of lives over these years, 35000 humans lost
it must not be just another day for us!!
its our responsibility, and its only us who can bring the change.
we talk about accountability of generals, politicians, ministers and who not!! but have we ever looked into our own selves!!!
have we changed ourselves?? wats our contribution to the development of this nation?? what have we done??
we xan talk aat length but our practical approach is nil!!
yes we have to bring the change in our attiude first! we shud not forget that we are Pakistani, we are the future of this world!!
N.B, whenever ANYONE WHO TALKS ABOUT ISLAM, MOSQUES, MUSLIMS, PLZZZZ DO CONFORM IT WITH ”PERSONAL” EVIDENCE!!! JUST PRESENTIONG THE VIEWS OF SOMEONE ELSE WONT EVER HELP UR ARGUMENT!! PLZZZ STOP MALIGNING ISLAM!!!
I always thought that Pakistani people let the emotions take better of them in every field specially politics. I was wrong.
Our Nation has braced, in fact, embraced the ‘ground realities’ and they do not wish and expect any change any time soon. It goes to the credit of the President and Prime Minister, who understood the public mind and adapted very skillfully to the needs of times. No wonder there are no or muted protests, be it load shedding, petrol or gas. Terrorism is not a factor here. Opposition is game too.
So what is the reason behind this? Charismatic Leadership???
Well it is people’s loathings for rule of law. Gone are the days when people looked up to The Military.
Our people have found affection for ‘Jamhooriat’ in the last three years for different reasons. They are enjoying the fruits of free speech, this media, independent Judiciary, very incompetent governance and of course corruption. We have taken the last two like fish to water. It has now travelled down to what is popularly called grassroots level.
Life is good. No one is prepared to annoy US barring in TV Shows. Everyone looks forward to ‘Soap Operas’ at 8 pm. And crafty Minister for Information ensures Sharmila’s presence in most shows. She may replace Hussain Haqani on US Administrations’ demand.
This change in our behavior is in fact backlash of the movement to restore the Chief Justice. People did not get justice but Mr.Chaudhery became Chief Justice again. What is the point in getting baton charged for nothing in return? Latif Khosa was not badly off though.
To conclude, our people do not want governance which has anything moral or lawful to offer. So prepare yourself for another five years.
I like your list for the most part TT. Some constructive comments on it:
Wikileaks cables that Dawn has disclosed has shown that the army is working with the US in coordinating drone attacks (and in some cases requesting more) then feigning anger to placate the people. Given this scenario, we can not expect the army to shoot down any drones. The army must take control of the entire country, in this modern day and age, we cannot say that we don’t have control over FATA because of historical reasons etc. Every country is responsible for what happens within its borders. If Pakistan secures this area, then the US will have no need to do any drone attacks. This is a grey area though, we don’t know what politicians or the army are up to behind closed doors or what agreements they are making with Americans so we should have full disclosure in these matters first (not holding my breath on this).
I agree 100% that the Afghan border should be fenced (not mined though) and that Afghans should respectfully be repatriated to Afghanistan. Take some of the defense budget and put it towards border control on the western front.
Stop receiving US aid: Let’s be very realistic. Pakistan must fix their economy in a way that loans and aid from the US (or IMF or WB) are not necessary. This is a long term goal. At this point, there is no way Pakistan can just “stop receiving aid”, the country would not have enough money to function and this is a sad reality. If we do stop receiving this aid, we have to identify realistic ways that the difference can be made up. The sloganeering about taking money from corrupt politicians is nice but is not a long term solution. What is the long term solution (I don’t know)? If Pakistan was sincere about tackling this issue, I would say work with China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and see if they can purchase Pakistan’s debt to the IMF and WB and restructure it so that it can be paid back and maybe cut defense spending to do so(?). Once the debt is taken care of, then the aid question can be addressed,
The Sharif brothers decided to symbolically stop their agreement to allow US aid to build some schools and a water sewage plant in Punjab. Besides political posturing, I’m not sure what this is supposed to accomplish. If you don’t want other countries to build these things, at least build them youselves.
I think the main thing Pakistan needs to do is really assess the defense budget/spending. The army says that if there is war with India, they will have to use nuclear arms because conventional weapons won’t work. Because of this, Pakistan is building more short and medium range nuclear missiles. If that is the case, we need to look at why so much is being spent on conventional weapons too. No matter how many weapons you have, if a war does come around, you need to be able to finance it, and Pakistan can’t. They had this same issue in 1965 and 1971. The US conducted a raid in Abbottabad and the army had no idea of it until it was concluded. Keeping all these things in mind, I think that Pakistan should focus on more on its people (healthcare, schools, macro economy etc). Sorry for the long post.
Let all of us stop lip servicing and start compiling a list of ACTION’s that need to be taken immediately. Below are few that i can think of but please free to add more..
1- Fence and mine pak afghan border.
2- Send all Afghan immigrants back to afghanistan immediately.
3- Shot down drones and ask USA not to send any more or else get ready to face consequences.
4- Stop receiving US aid.
5- Cut down ties with haqqannis, lashkers and siphas..forget the “strategic
depth and leverage” fallacies..
6- Forget about KASHMIR..let kashmirees decide what they want..its better to forget about a piece of land that was never ours instead of disintergrating the whole pakistan. Because of Kasmir we have lost east pakistan and now the remaining Pakistan is at risk.
This is not a final list and can be debated but once finalised, we should all force our political and army leader to execute these action immediatly.