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Tag(s): Afghanistan; Afghanistan; General Musharif; Immunity; Military; Musharraf; Pakistan; Taliban
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March 13, 2008 at 09:46:20

Pakistan resists capitulating to new US demands

by Abdus Sattar Ghazali Page 3 of 3 page(s)

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Not surprisingly, the leaked report, published in The News, about the new 11 demands have shocked the nation. Here are few editorials in Pakistan’s leading newspapers:

It's Time to Resist

Much of the blame rests with our own government. It continued to blindly cooperate with the United States in its War on Terror, instead of refusing to accept the undue pressure brought to bear upon it from time to time.

Fresh offensives were launched in the tribal areas in violation of the peace agreement reached with local tribesmen some time ago. This resulted in the spill over of violence, earlier restricted to the troubled region, into the settled areas of the NWFP and the rest of the country.

The need for a paradigm shift is very important at this crucial time, when the ongoing spate of suicide attacks is posing a serious threat to our internal security. (The Nation)

Assault on Sovereignty

Quite obviously, Pakistan cannot even consider granting most of these demands. If it were to do so, it may as well raise the Stars and Stripes over the country, and accept a status as the 51st state of the United States.

The demands made are obviously absurd and the question arises why they have been put forward at this time. It has been reported that the list, seeking the kind of freedoms the US enjoys in 'conquered' countries such as Iraq, has created a considerable flurry in official corridors.

Certainly, the actions of US private mercenary outfits, such as Blackwater, given contracts in Iraq are enough to cause shivers to run down collective spines. Blackwater's obviously trigger-happy men were involved in the shooting of Iraqis including women and children. They were then whisked out of the country.

Crimes by US military personnel in Japan and South Korea, including rape, have also caused intense local hostility, since the personnel were exempted form local laws.

Any US presence, particularly under any agreement giving personnel a blanket cover to do what they please, would only heighten the strongly felt anti-US sentiments that have fuelled extremism in the first place. (The News)

Making a Wild West of Us

As if the US intrusion was already not enough of it, a set of new demands, which according to a contemporary Washington has come up with, portends making of Pakistan virtually a sprawling Wild West and its citizens another Indian aborigines of America.

The only difference is that instead of settlers, cattlemen and ranchers, here it will be the American diplomats, soldiers and private security militias, having a free run of the country, setting shop wherever they liked and the way they liked and poaching on whoever they want and wherever they want, and with a free ride to kill whoever they wish and maim whoever they desire, without any questions being asked and without being held to account at all.

A law unto themselves will they be, not subject to any law of Pakistan, practically treating this country as their protectorate and a vassal state.

Washington hoped to yield upon politically weak President Musharraf, whose only strong constituency now is Bush Administration, to accept these demands as he did in September 2001. At that time he was legitimacy for his military regime. However after more than six years, situation has changed in Pakistan. A pseudo democratic system is taking shape in Islamabad and it will not be easy to persuade to a political government which will be answerable to a parliament not very friendly to the United States. (Frontier Post)

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Author and journalist. Author of Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality; Islam in the Post-Cold War Era; Islam & Modernism; Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 American. Currently working as free lance journalist. Executive Editor of American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com

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1 comments

A 'senior' world citizen concerned about how badly our shared domicile is being ravaged by imperialists, dominionists, neo-cons and evangelists.
syed mahdiA 'senior' world citizen concerned about how badly our shared domicile is being ravaged by imperialists, dominionists, neo-cons and evangelists.

"Pakistan resists capitulating to new US demands" Ghazali

Way back in mid 18th Century my ancestor, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah became Nabob of Bengal or King of what is now Bangladesh, West Bengal(India), Assam and parts of Bihar and Orissa oweing 'allegiance' to the weak Mughal Emperor in Delhi. The British India Company at this time had set their eyes on Bengal because of Bengal's muslin, rice, spices etc. They had applied for and granted permission from the Emperor to establish a "trading post" in Kolkotta. Soon this 'trading post' was being upgraded by the Brits into an obvious'military stockade'. Upon his ascension, my ancestor, protested to the East India Company but with no avail. He then threatened to revoke their license and enforce this by force. The Brits responded initially by accusing Siraj of capturing the inmates of the "stockade", including WHITE women and throwing them into a BLACK HOLE and communicated this CANARD to the British Parliament with a request for 'regular' British troops to secure the release of these 'ghost' White women. This was immediately granted. Yeas later, Robert Clive who had'demonised' Siraj in this manner was to admit that his Black Hole was a figment of his colonial imagination, in the British Parliament. Thereafter, when the British troops from Madras and England had begun to arrive in Kolkotta, this evil genius, Clive, tempted Siraj's maternal Uncle, Mir (Prince) Jafar to betray his nephew by withdrawing Siraj's troops, of which this uncle was the commander-in-chief , from the impending battle being prepared by Clive. The battle which took place was the (in)famous Battle Of Plassey in which my ancestor and 19 of his (piadas) foot soldiers were butchered by the Brits. Mir Jafar left them to be butchered. The Uncle also met a dire fate at the hand of the Brits. The whole of Bengal became the Property of the East India Company which was later transferred to the British Crown after the Indian Mutiny (British version)or the First War of Independence (Indian version) of 1857 which was led in Bengal by Siraj's grandson, again my ancestor. Siraj and his grandson knew what the Brits were up to in India unlike the Emperor in Delhi or his other Nabobs, Maharajas & Peshwas who ruled India in his name. The latter ended up selling India, bit by bit, piece by piece, blindly and ignorantly against false promises and pittances from the Brits. My ancestors preferred honorable death or martyrdom to a sell out. 250 years plus Siraj ud Daulah is now titled as the First Hero of Independence in the whole of the Indian Sub-Continent; India, Pakistan and Bangladesh together and without hesitation. Compare these heroes to Pakistan's Gen.Zia ul Haque and Gen. Pervez Musharraf and their counterparts in today's Iraq. Compare Robert Clive to today's George Bush and Tony Blair. Compare the chopping off of the fingers of all muslin weavers in Bengal by the East India Company's thugs to today's humane treatments being meted out to locals at Abu Ghraib. Compare Mir (Prince) Jafar to those who sold Iraq to the US and UK. Compare the British East India Company to Exxon, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, Haliburton etc. Compare Clive to George Bush and Blair. Compare Black Hole to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Al Qaeda 'presence in Saddam's Iraq. Uncanny, isn't it? It's high time an end is put to all this. All it takes is TWO WORDS; "F... You" and F... Your DEMANDS. If this means another Battle of Plessey or the Indian Mutiny, SO BE IT!

by syed mahdi (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 126 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 2:14:09 PM