Behind the Chairman’s Door

Mir Jamil ur Rahman provides an interesting perspective into the political environment in Pakistan with the fast emerging Talibanisation movement.

The flurry of suicide bombings following the Jamia Hafsa operation strongly indicates that Taliban has declared war on Pakistan. The organized pattern of the bombings points to the fact that al-Qaeda is providing Taliban with logistic and financial support. On the morning of July 19, a suicide bomber struck the Police Training Center in Hangu, killing 8. At mid-morning, the Taliban struck in Hub, killing 30. Hub is an industrial town in Baluchistan, but due to its close proximity to Karachi is virtually a suburb of Karachi. At nightfall, a suicide bomber hit an army mosque in Kohat Cantonment, killing 19. The total death toll on Black Thursday (July 19) was 57 dead and over 100 injured.

The Taliban had chosen its targets carefully so as to make maximum impact. In Hangu, the target was police; in Hub, the Chinese nationals; and the army in Kohat. Taliban operating in Pakistan are not coming exclusively from across the border. They are a mixture of local and FATA Taliban. Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi had threatened that he will be avenged. The Taliban is making his threat good.

But why have Chinese nationals have been put in the line of fire? The Hub bombing was directed against the Chinese nationals who were going to their workplace in a heavily guarded convoy. The suicide bomber missed the coaster in which the Chinese were traveling and instead hit the Police vehicle which was escorting them.

The Taliban may have an excuse that they are avenging the Ghazi of Lal Masjid. The operation against him was triggered because his vigilantes had kidnapped Chinese nationals. However, Chinese nationals have been targeted and killed before. It was only a few days ago that three Chinese mechanics working on a rickshaw plant were killed in Peshawar.

This is a serious angle to the Taliban activity in Pakistan. Its goal is not confined to avenging its dead protagonists; its aim is to destabilize Pakistan and pave the way for its Talibanisation. They are also aiming at disrupting the age-old and very close ties between Pakistan and China. It appears that Taliban are working for a third party to imperil the Pak-China ties. It is on someone’s behest the Taliban want Chinese nationals out of Pakistan. There are countries in the West and in our neighborhood that do not approve of our amity and affinity with China. China has been cooperating with us in every field. It has helped us in the peaceful use of atomic energy. It has built the deep seaport of Gwadar in Baluchistan. It cooperates very closely in the defense field. It is engaged in various development projects spread all over Pakistan.

The cooperation and friendship existing between China and Pakistan is exemplary. No other two countries in the world are as close to each other as Pakistan and China. China has made tremendous progress economically. It holds one and a quarter trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves, an all time record. With money comes influence. That is one thing, the influence, which American, European and some Asian countries would not welcome. The western political strategists consider Pak-China closeness an impediment to their design of isolating China. The Taliban has undertaken the dirty task of making Pakistan inhospitable for Chinese nationals.

It is near to impossible to pre-empt a suicide bomber. The chances are million to one or even more, that the bomber would be arrested alive. If cornered, he would blow himself up burying any evidence of his identity that he might be carrying. His brainwashing and training is done very secretively. It would be correct to presume that classes are not held to train and motivate suicide bombers. It is done on one-to-one basis. The would-be suicide bombers do not mix socially among themselves. One suicide bomber would not know who the other suicide bomber could be. Even if a suicide bomber was ever arrested alive, he would not know at what location he was trained and by whom. Perhaps a big reward and a sovereign promise that he would be given a new identity may entice the would-be suicide bomber to hand himself over to the authorities. If handled and interrogated intelligently, very important information could be gleaned from him. However, his handler would know instantly that the boy or man he had trained as suicide bomber has betrayed. It will be death to him if he was ever caught by his handler.

The serial suicide bombings have stunned and traumatized the nation. People are agonized and frightened. At this juncture, they need solace and solidarity. They want political confrontation to be put on hold. Benazir Bhutto is the only top politician from the opposition who clearly and without double-speak has condemned terrorism and supported President Musharraf’s action in this regard. MMA Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed instead of condemning those who are the perpetrators of suicide bombing is holding President Musharraf responsible for the bombings. His anti-Musharraf statements at this moment are serving no political purpose except creating despondency among the people. The opposition leaders say that everything would be all right if Musharraf leaves. The truth is everything would turn topsy-turvy if he left.

Benazir Bhutto is demanding free and fair elections. It is an important issue and she rightly seeks assurances from President Musharraf that elections would be honest. All she wants is a level playing field and transparency in elections. The other opposition leaders publicly desire the exit of Musharraf. In their view, elections cannot be free and fair under Musharraf. They are wrong.

Suppose the opposition succeeds in unseating President Musharraf by engineering a mass movement. Who would replace him? A new person in uniform, of course. As is the practice, this new uniformed person would address the nation and launch an accountability drive. He will put the elections on hold until he has cleansed the country of bad elements. A whole new cycle will restart which will last as long as the new person could hold on to power.

It would not be a cynical observation that re-election of President Musharraf by the current assemblies would ensure honest general elections. To be certain, Musharraf elected for another five years would have no need to interfere in the general elections. He could even consider favourably the return of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif so they could lead their respective election campaigns.

Would it matter to President Musharraf who wins the elections? His only worry would be the extremists. However, with Benazir Bhutto in the field, the extremists would have little chance to make any substantial headway in the elections. The people directly cannot help in the fight against extremism and terrorism as the President desires. It will be the moderate political leaders who could galvanise the people against the twin curses of extremism and terrorism.

Share and Enjoy: