LOSING PAKISTAN

The recent attack on Srilanka’s cricket team while they were in Pakistan is further reminder of how much that country is in danger of sliding into complete anarchy….Of course there are some who might argue Pakistan is already there with the recent giving in on Sharia Law in the wild north and the roughing up and arresting of lawyers and other political opponents of the current regime who were involving themselves in peaceful protest not to mention the whole country being a springboard for terrorist activities in India.

Even a few years ago, it was very clear that if the USA was fishing around for a second country (after Afghanistan) to invade under the cover of “the War on Terrorism” then Pakistan was the most logical choice but don’t ever accuse the USA of logic especially when it comes to foreign policy.

The truth is the USA has created a monster in Pakistan and it has definitely escaped the laboratory and is now ransacking the countryside….

It all started when President Richard Nixon made the disastrous decision to tilt US policy towards Pakistan fearing Soviet influence through India….This eventually resulted in the coup that led to the execution of Prime Minister Bhutto and the installation of military dictator Zia Al Haq who ruled with an iron fist until his death in a mysterious plane accident.

During this time, the USA made another disastrous decision in arming and providing CIA training to Muhajedin fighters(many from Arab countries) who were fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan….No one seemed to grasp the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend is a temporary situation….What happens once the enemy who united you is gone?....One thing that happened was 09/11….Pakistan absorbed many of these fighters and also was allowed to create the Taliban to further complicate the situation.

The USA made yet another disastrous decision in allowing Pervez Musharaf to remain as the dictator of Pakistan so long….At the end, he was no longer scary merely hapless and bumbling with only the power to remove judges and rough up protesters but not to really combat Al Qaeda and terrorism.

I must admit that I lived in Pakistan from 1978 to 1979 and attended the American School in Karachi….My boyhood impressions were of a wild and woolly place where there wasn’t much law and order(albeit with great food)….I imagine it might be worse now.
One memory I have is the school being closed for a couple of days after Bhutto was hanged in case of unrest.

I have always found it rather amusing that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, barely spoke Urdu and spent a lot of his life in England….The truth is India and Pakistan should never have split….Pakistan should have stayed as part of India as all Pakistan has to show for 60 years of independence is a history of failed wars with India, coups, political assassinations, general unrest, Islamic fundamentalism and repression of women, and still poverty for much of its people.

So what’s going to happen?....Well, I don’t know but not stopping Pakistan from developing nuclear weapons could turn out to be an even greater mistake then all the ones I’ve already mentioned….There might come a day when the USA needs to act proactively to prevent a nuclear incident from unsecured Pakistani nukes. …If this is the case, this would be one time where America would be justified in acting quickly and without hesitation.