December 10, 2010

By Miran Baloch

They said they are Socialists and want Socialism. They were accused of being unwise; their existence was unwanted. The Master turned blind to them but how fortunate that they came across Micaville and Chanakya's write-ups. They are appreciated now and Master has started liking them because they are Capitalist men in Socialist men's bodies.

Gandhi, if was sane then would have not argued with his the then English master. The Great Britain asked Gandhi to help them in their fight to protect the English land against Adolf Hitler, in exchange of considering Independent India after the end of 2nd world war. Gandhi eager for free India, misjudging the offer and situation, found that a good opening to revenge the British colonization of India, made his mind "Let the white men fight the white men war" made the biggest blunder of his political career, leaving no options to the Britain than to provoke the sleeping Muslim leaders to mobilize their Muslim followers to bring "The two nation theory" into practice in order to teach Gandhi a lesson.

Congress leaders were detained; Iqbal was asked to see the dream of "The land of pure". Jinnah working out the dream led the Muslim League, the resolution of Pakistan was passed in 1940 & the Islamic Republic of Pakistan came into being in 1947. My state became a province of Pakistan.

Gandhi died and English lives, leaving its botch behind and her decision has become a headache to Union Jack and Uncle Sam and advocates the biggest threat to the whole world's peace. Westerners thought that they would use this piece of land and its people as long as they safeguard their interests and will wipe it out whenever needed. This philosophy kept providing Pakistan some fine reasons to sustain & flourish; a watchdog of Muslim countries, proved to be a good servant of the Master, serving westerner's interests fought the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and delivered a high loyalty performance.

The English philosophy fired back when Pakistan in Raskoh Chagi, Balochistan, carried out the Atomic Bomb tests on 28th May, 2008 and became the 7th nuclear country. Following the experiment it had to face different trade sanctions by United States and European Union and was nearly economically deceased but Osama Bin Laden provided it another reason to sustain. 9/11 again impelled America to seek Pakistan's help declaring it a key ally in the war on terror that motivated the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban Government. Sanctions were detached and a large sum of Dollars flowed into Pakistan to combat Taliban and it took 5 years to U.S to literally realize and explicitly admit that the servant is double dealing, when Frederic Grare a leading expert and writer on South Asia in 2006 exposed the dual dealings by Pakistan and that the Taliban and the elite of Pakistan army and it's secret agency ISI, are the two sides of a coin.

"The people we are fighting today, we funded twenty years ago. We did that because we were locked in the struggle with the Soviet Union. They invaded Afghanistan and we did not want to see them control central Asia. So by dealing with the ISI we recruited these mujahids and imported the Wahabi brand of Islam from Saudi Arabia to fight Soviet Union. They retreated, which lead to the collapse of Soviet Union" says Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, America.

After ending Soviet Union's presence from Afghanistan, America without closing the chapter of its imported/sponsored Mujahids who later on became the Taliban, left Pakistan to deal with the situation and mujahids. The latter had a soft spot for its breed so it recruited all mujahids who today are its strategic weapon. Westerner policy makers are seriously reflecting on their Ancestor's decision of making Pakistan.

War on Terror = War on Energy:

"The basic confrontation which seemed to be colonialism versus anti-colonialism, indeed capitalism versus socialism, is already losing its importance. What matters today, the issue which blocks the horizon, is the need for a redistribution of wealth. Humanity will have to address this question, no matter how devastating the consequences may be". Frantz Fanon Pakistan kept proliferating Taliban and had Afghanistan in its control through its supported Taliban since the withdrawal of Soviet Union. That period saw Afghan ground being used as the base for the nourishment of all religious extremists/terrorists and a safe haven for Al-Qaida and its leadership Osama bin Laden.

The energy hungry U.S with its Unocal and other oil firms in Afghanistan, intrigued by the idea of building energy pipelines from the Caspian Sea across Afghanistan to Indian Ocean energy hubs like Gwadar, eventually found out, the Taliban were hardly an agent of stability and were barrier to their plans and notably the incident of 9/11 was planned there and the master was ditched further when the formula for nuclear bomb were sold to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

The two Commandments of United states, denying which is to invite U.S anger:

There should be no hurdles by anyone in the extraction of raw materials from mineral rich countries to meet the U.S energy needs and none should challenge the military superiority of U.S. whereas the servant with its associates seemed to be disobeying both of the commandments.

On the other hand Pakistan in 2000 asked the Chinese to fund a deepwater port at Gwadar. A few weeks before 9/11, the Chinese agreed, and their commitment to the project intensified after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. Robert D Kaplan interprets the Pakistan's plan as:

"A bustling deepwater port at the extreme southwestern tip of Pakistan, much more a part of the Middle East than of the Indian subcontinent, equipped with a highway, and oil and natural-gas pipelines, extending north all the way through some of the highest mountains in the world, the Karakorum, into China itself, where more roads and pipelines connect the flow of consumer goods and hydrocarbons to China's burgeoning middle-class markets farther east. Another branch of this road-and-pipeline network would go north from Gwadar through a stabilized Afghanistan, and on into Iran and Central Asia. Gwadar, in this way, becomes the hub of a new Silk Road, both land and maritime; a gateway to landlocked, hydrocarbon-rich Central Asia; an exotic 21st-century place-name".

Gwadar, Balochistan

This plan of Pakistan and China turned out to be a ruined scheme. It was Gwadar that motivated Russians imperial visions but the occupation of Afghanistan proved to be a graveyard to them, denied them of this treasure. From Gwader the Soviet Union could have exported the hydrocarbon wealth of Central Asia while Islamabad's aims to establish roads and pipelines to the new oil states of Central Asia were to consolidate a vast Muslim rear base for the containment of India and to counter its power into the Indian Ocean and to accommodate a Chinese naval outpost in Gwadar to protect Beijing's oil supply lines from the Middle East and to counter the growing U.S. presence in Central Asia.

However, United States, in competition with China, would like to control the oil supply lines from the Middle East and Central Asia and would also like to use its Greater Middle East initiative to dismantle the major Muslim states and redefine borders in the region and to counter the Chinese presence at large.U.S according to the strategic priorities of the moment, eagerly seeks for a stable Afghanistan to make its all plans possible.

Pakistan's intervention in Afghanistan:

Yet the story goes on. Since U.S invaded Afghanistan, overthrew Taliban government and installed a friendly government, headed by Hamid Karzai. The reconstruction process to stabilize Afghanistan was initiated by U.S in collaboration with its western allies.

Afghanistan was the only country to vote against Pakistan's accession to the United Nations after its independence because of Kabul's claim on the Pashtun territories located on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line and still refuses to recognize the Durand Line. India has always been supportive to Kabul promoting good relationships with every Afghan Government except that of the Taliban. The opening of Indian consulates in Afghanistan to participate in the reconstruction process, was seen as a threat by Islamabad, claiming that the Indian consulates have less to do with the humanitarian aids and are more in to increasing the presence of Indian intelligence agency RAW to use the Afghan ground to destabilize Pakistan. Both India and Afghanistan enjoy good relations with United States that further threatens Islamabad for internationally being marginalized. Islamabad fears a stable Afghanistan that it would renew the Pashtun issue and establish a reverse alliance with India and together they will support the Baloch Freedom fighters in their fight for Free Balochistan and make another regional alliance with the Baloch. India will utilize its presence to pressurize Islamabad to give up Kashmir once and forever. Islamabad feels increasingly being encircled by India and India's regional allies through an Indian presence on both its eastern and western borders but also the chance that Pakistan would become more attractive to the rest of the world would be lost and won't remain an ally in war on terror if Afghanistan is stabilized. This makes Afghanistan a very important component of Islamabad's larger game. Pakistan caught in a dilemma, is threatening the international reconstruction process by fueling insurgency in Afghanistan through its backed Taliban.

The insurgency is taking place in certain parts of Afghanistan where most attacks are carried out in southern Afghanistan by Taliban coming from Pakistan's Waziristan and Quetta district a safe haven for Taliban. According to Frederic Grare some witnesses also claim that militants are brought from the Quetta district to the Afghan border by Pakistani military trucks. Senior lieutenants to Taliban chief Mullah Omar are said to operate from Quetta, from where they run military operations in the south-central Afghan provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Oruzgan, and Zabol.

Colonel Chris Vernon, British chief of staff for southern Afghanistan, who declared that "the thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta". The torching of NATO trawlers by ISI in different parts of Pakistan is also a reason to disrupt the ongoing reconstruction process in Afghanistan. Islamabad aims to assert pressure on Karzai's government to sign an agreement on the Durand Line question and most importantly signaling to the international community that no settlement of the Afghan problem can be obtained without Islamabad's interests being taken into account. It keeps manipulating Taliban through its intelligence agencies to pressurize the Afghan government, US and NATO and on the other hand maintains a fiction that it is still committed to the war on terror. Providing Western forces, in particular NATO forces, with logistical support while it retains its activity to harass Western troops through its Taliban proxies. Following the practice of plausible deniability, Pakistan adjusts attacks according to the political necessities of the moment. This trick is doubly rewarded remaining in the alliance with the United States against Al Qaeda and benefiting in the form of weapons sales and financial aid.

What prevents America from attacking Pakistan?

United States aware of all maneuvers is still supporting Pakistan being very patient according to the need of the moment. Pakistan enjoys few important reasons for its sustainability among which the very important one is its Islamic Bomb.

U.S very cautious about direct confrontation is concerned about Pakistan's atomic plants which it does not want to be used to carry out any terrorist activities that will raise questions over the larger interests of the international community. Some analysts suggest that Islamabad has approximately 3,000 Nuclear Scientists/technicians working in its nuclear plants that will flee Pakistan and can be recruited by either Iran or North Korea and will become another threat to the west, in case if Pakistan is directly invaded.

A massive attack on Pakistan by U.S and its western allies will result into a high number of casualties and injuries and millions of people will be affected for which United Nations will be bound to look after the shelter, food and medicine that will cost UN a huge money and physical engagement, which it is not likely willing to spend.

It is important for United States to support Pakistan in order to stabilize Afghanistan. U.S would like to take out a solution to dismantle the Pakistani nuclear plants through a diplomatic approach and by increasing its presence in Pakistan, to teach it a lesson, it needs a stable Afghanistan.

Pakistan with an 8% of decrease in its economy, the revenue that it generates is less than half of its Annual requirements. The remaining amount is compensated by the financial aid that it gets from U.S and its western allies. With a collapsed economy it relies on foreign aid to meet its economic needs. Hence, U.S to carry out its plans of stabilizing Afghanistan has started training the Afghan army to take over the responsibilities of the security of the country. It is estimated to have trained approximately 150,000. Afghan army and by the end of 2011 it will equip the Afghan army with around 300,000 Army personnel with advanced weaponry, limiting itself to a symbolic presence. Afghanistan with its trained and well equipped army will be able to look after its security and counter/eliminate the Pakistani involvement that will reduce the importance of Pakistan among the international community and the financial aid that it enjoys in the wake of war on terror will stop. A country without economy will no more be a country.

Pakistan with its weak institutions except that of the army, sets a classic example of being a country that history has failed to evidence, even the Pakistani citizens believe in that claiming that "Pakistan ko Allah chala raha hai" God is running the country as scientifically the state exist no more. The country since its birth has seen more of military rule leaving no space for democracy to breath, ranks as the 10th failed state of the world.

Pakistan in Balochistan:

Balochistan straddles three countries (Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan) and borders the Arabian Sea, is both economically and strategically important. Rich in Oil and Gas, with its soil that holds large quantities of gold, coal, copper, silver, platinum, aluminum, and above all, uranium, is a potential transit zone for a pipeline transporting natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to India. With its strategically important Gwadar, Balochistan is an un-ignorable segment of U.S's war on terror as quoted by different respective writers and journals that a large part of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan are launched from the Pasni and Dalbandin bases situated on Baloch territory and recent U.S plan of opening a Consulate/CIA centre in Quetta enhances the importance of Balochistan.

U.S and its allies would like to have a calm Balochistan to not to pose any threat to their ongoing war against terrorists and are more concerned about their interests. Whereas the possibility, that U.S can use Baloch to exert diplomatic pressure on Pakistan and Iran cannot be ignored.

On the other hand Pakistan to weaken the Baloch stance to earn that support or International intervention has always tried to conceal the real nature of the Baloch problem from the outside world. To discredit the Baloch nationalism and its struggle for national rights, Pakistan has put allegations of Indian involvement in Balochistan and to further weaken the Baloch claims, it with its intelligence agencies has always manipulated religion/Islamism to counter Baloch nationalism. The army has always adopted a military approach towards the political issues in Balochistan and with its foul tactics it carried out the target killing of Punjabi civilians, (the largest ethnic group in Pakistan that forms the country's establishment) in Balochistan and then charging the Baloch Freedom Fighters for those target killings at large, was to find a legitimate stand for army to intervene in Balochistan and to neutralize the international opposition.

So far working on this tactic it has established death squads like that of Al-shams and Al-badr that carried out the hit-squad style execution of Bengali professionals in Bangladesh, now in Balochistan they operate as Baloch Musalla Defai Tanzeem, Sipah-e-Islam and the Ansar-ul-Islam backed by Pakistan intelligence, are carrying out the target killing of Baloch at large and with its pick and dump policy in Balochistan, where the Baloch from every walk of life including intellectuals, poets, writers, lawyers, doctors and students who ask for their political rights are picked up by the intelligent agencies and are brutally tortured and after few days of their abduction the humiliated dead bodies of the person is dumped in different parts of Balochistan and these agencies are answerable to none. There is no rule of law in Pakistan and the international human rights champions are also silent on these tragic human losses.

If I am to be Gandhi:

U.S and its western allies, so much concerned about their fight are losing a friend and an ally in their war on terror. Baloch being secular in nature fiercely oppose the influence of the mullahs and also oppose the Taliban, can be a good ally of Westerners. Balochistan unlike Pakistan will be a nonnuclear state as we have tasted the Islamic Bomb and it tastes bitter. Balochistan will play its dual role in fighting against terrorists as well as be an important part of international peace and prosperity and with its geopolitical importance can serve a larger share of the western interests. U.S should intervene in Balochistan and should initiate talks with the Baloch stakeholders in abroad to form a good partnership and find a way out. On the other hand, realizing the seriousness and need of time to counter the anti Baloch strategies, the Baloch has to sustain its force and the Baloch nation at large and especially the leadership respecting every stakeholder's democratic right to adopt different forms of struggle have to join hands as division at such a complex situation will be suicidal. Baloch stakeholders according to the need of time coming out of their socialist aspirations should befriend U.S. The Baloch youth in particular putting aside the politics of slogans, should stress the leadership to unite for the bigger cause. As soon as the foreign aid for Pakistan will stop, its army will look towards Balochistan to meet its economical needs and will turn more violent. Unity among Baloch stakeholders will answer best that violence.

Finally, Uncle Sam will I be able to grab your Attention? As I am not that Gandhi and religion is no more an option to you. You want a peaceful Balochistan and I say;

"NO GUNS CAN SILENCE THE VOICE OF RIGHTS,

ONCE RAISED BY THE ORGANISED OPPRESSED NATION;

PEACE IS UNDO-ABLE,

UNTIL THE VOICE IS POSITIVELY ANSWERED"

- Miran Baloch

Miran Baloch is a student of Political, Behavioral and Social Sciences.