Dr. Moeed Pirzada in this segment critically discussed the situation after Lahore Suicide Bomb Blast in Iqbal Park and the controversy attached with ongoing combined Civil-Military operation in Punjab after this heinous act of terrorism. Dr Pirzada raised important questions in front of Famous Investigative journalist Ansar Abbasi, as why he thinks that their is no coordination between Punjab Government and Military? He also explained how enemies of Pakistan are working against Pakistan’s nuclear program in the wake of this recent attack and their intentions to alarm the international community about the safety of Pakistan’s Small Nuclear Weapons which will eventually put pressure on Pakistan’s Nuclear Program to decrease the number of these weapons.
KulBushan Yadav, RAW Agent’s Video Confession !!!
Kulbhushan Yadav, a serving Indian naval officer and a suspected RAW agent was arrested by security forces while he was trying to cross over in Pakistan at the border from Iran. In the video, Yadav exposed his country’s top intelligence agency’s role in destabilizing Pakistan, particularly Baluchistan through supporting its separatist insurgency. He revealed that they planned to target key ports in the region including Gwadar to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He explicitly revealed his intentions of creating instability in Pakistan. His confession has revealed disturbing facts, confirming some longstanding fears. Despite concerns over authenticity of claims, the confession can have profound implications.
Questions Indian Media Should ask but it probably won’t!
Indian media is robust. It is energetic and is not shy of asking difficult or even speculative questions – especially when it comes to Indo-Pakistan issues. Last September, when Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif was all set to raise ‘Kashmir issue’ at the UN General assembly session, several Indian channels came up with the news that rebellion and violent insurgency has broken across parts of Azad Kashmir – Pakistani administered part of the split state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Indian media’s assertions were so strong, so strident that even someone like me – in media and from Kashmir – had to call reporters in several parts of the state to find out if there is any such thing happening. After all how could more than one India tv channel report as ‘news’ if nothing was happening. None was happening. We realized that Indian channels were merely dancing to the tune set by ‘Indian Govt’ – at the eve of UN General assembly session. Two months down the line, I was with several media persons from India at Chaophraya Dialogue in Bangkok. Thanks to Jinnah Institute and British Foreign Office. When the discussion turned to media, I raised this point. One very intelligent suave gentleman was an Editor with one of those channels. He candidly laughed and apologized and told us that when it comes to ratings, TRP’s, Indo-Pakistani masala sells.
But if ‘Indo-Pakistani masala’ is important to ratings then the erie silence with which Indian media – both print and electronic – greeted the news of the arrest of Commander Kulbhashan Yadav, in Pakistani Balochistan, is surprising to say the least. Though Pakistani allegations of his being a ‘Research & Analysis Wing’ (RAW) Organizer of political violence and terrorism’ across Balochistan and Karachi were circulating from 24th March onwards, little was discussed in India’s enormously large media. Little except what was officially said by the government in Delhi.
But now since the Pakistani government has formally released his ‘confessional video’ and given details about him, will Indian media still remain shy of asking some basic questions from its government? And those questions are pretty simple.
After the Pakistani press briefing the official Indian position is that the person shown in the video is an ex-Naval officer. Video is doctored and under duress. Kulbubshan Yadav, had left Navy long time ago. And he was doing a private business in Iran. Indian government has nothing to do with whatever activities he was doing in Balochistan. Pakistanis have probably abducted him from Iran, and India must get immediate consular access to its citizen to find out what really happened.
Pakistani side provides graphic details of what really happened. Kulbashan Yadav joined Indian Navy in 1991, was seconded to Naval Intelligence from 2002 onwards; in his video he himself points out that after the attack on Indian parliament in 2001, his interest grew in intelligence work. He was stationed in Iran, at the port of Chahbahar, under cover since 2003, as a businessman trading in gold- with the given name of ‘Patel Hussain Mubarak’ In this ‘disguised role’ he booked several shipping consignments. But his real job was to support insurgency by coordinating subversion, violent activities against general population, targeted attacks against strategic assets and against Chinese workers.
Kulbashan therefore, according to Pakistani accounts – and Pakistani authorities have more than a few dozen hours of video recordings with him – coordinated assets inside Baloch Student Organization (BSO) and Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) – secondary links also existed in Karachi. He also visited Karachi a few times, in the beginning of his positioning in Iran. Sectarian terrorism was part of the remit. He provided finances, weapon supplies and strategic advice. He was reporting directly to Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta, a Joint Secretary of RAW. Pakistani sources also claimed – not during the press conference – that he had access to the head of RAW.
At a later stage, in near past, Commander Kulbashan’s assignments included sabotage plans focused on Gawadar port and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Areas of special focus were: Gawadar, Pasni and Jeewani. His speciality lay in naval sabotage; more facts may emerge. One may not forget that when Mehran base was attacked in 2011, terrorists exhibited an unusual interest in destroying P-3C Orion planes; Pakistan’s naval surveillance capacity only directed towards India. Kulbashan revealed that he travelled frequently into Pakistani territory , literally once every three months, to meet Baloch groups and assets and was caught on 3rd March 2016 in the area of ‘Sarawan’ when he had crossed border to meet assets inside BSO. His blonder was to make extensive use of telephone. (not mentioned in the press conference).
Pakistanis could be lying. Indian government has a valid point that Kulbhashan is under Pakistani control, he is under duress and anything could be put into his mouth. Some in the Indian media have pointed out that Pakistanis are desperate to divert attention from their ‘purported sins’ in Pathankot and terrorism at home. So anything is possible.
But there are things Pakistanis could not have done. Will Indian media not like to ask that when had Commander Kulbashan resigned from the navy or Naval Intelligence to be more precise and under what name? But why suddenly would he then become a Muslim by the name of ‘Patel Hussain Mubarak’? Doing a business in Iran, a friendly country, did not need ‘conversion to Islam’. Hundreds and thousands of Indians work in GCC countries without becoming Muslims. And he – the ex-Naval Officer – worked around port of Chahbahar, an epitome of Indo-Iranian joint strategic vision.
Indian media – if it wants – can surely check from his family and friends, if Kulbashan Yadav had become Muslim and adopted a new name? How come he obtained a passport under the name of ‘Patel Hussain Mubarak’? Why would he take extra-ordinary risks of obtaining Iranian visas under this name? When officers are seconded for intelligence work in foreign countries, advanced resignations are secured to meet contingencies, like the one which India faces now. But media inquiries will quickly reveal if in his immediate family and local community he was perceived as the businessman or a Naval Officer posted in Iran?
Indian media can easily find out the details of Kulbashan or Patel Hussain’s business; financial flows, banking details, profits earned, goods imported or exported, LC’s opened, business associates and so on; and most importantly change in life style of his family from that of a naval officer in 2003 to a successful businessman in 2016; and within these details they will find all answers.
Indian government will not admit; no Government affords to admit. Government job is not to admit in situations like these; government’s job is to spin, to plant stories; but Indian media can find the truth for itself – if it so desires.
Suicidal madness on Easter: “re-enacting” the “old narrative”!
Moeed Pirzada |
Last summer, in a small gathering, a senior civil servant was complaining of massive traffic congestion on access roads to Murree and Swat. And then he paused, reflected and amused with himself said: “but it also shows veil of fear is lifting; public is not afraid of coming out; families with friends and loved ones are venturing out to areas considered ‘dangerous’ not too long ago. Almost everyone in the gathering agreed.
That calm was shattered yesterday, ‘Pakistan’s Bloody Sunday’ when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Iqbal Park, Lahore killing more than 70, mostly children and their mothers, and injuring more than 300 – many of whom may die or become incapacitated for the rest of their lives. Lahore scarred once again! But that was not the end of it; a furious crowd of several thousands, armed with slogans, sticks and batons invaded Islamabad. Marching through Rawalpindi, they collided with Police and Rangers, faced baton charge and massive tear gas shelling at several points but succeeded in removing all road blocks pushing their way into Pakistan’s serene capital. Till late evening they were busy creating scenes of uncontrolled mayhem – that included ransacking and burning metro stations. Dozens of police, rangers and hundreds of protestors injured. Since the arrest of RAW officer, Commander Kulbhashan Yadav, from Balochistan, Pakistan’s security institutions were trying to hold a joint Interior/Foreign Office media briefing to turn that into a global news. But with the sudden twist of events, Pakistan became the “story”.
‘Suicide bombers’ before Zarb-e-Azb were being produced like market products; these were standardized like McDonald burgers. Apparently an exchange market also existed; bizarre accounts of one group borrowing or selling ‘suicide bombers’ or potential boys do exist.
Over the last 18 months, an incredulous world had willy nilly started to admit that Pakistan is changing. Country started to emit signals of increasing stability: sanctuaries of Waziristan mostly cleared, many sectarian gangs eliminated, tourists returning to Swat, Baloch insurgents surrendering and guns in Karachi falling silent. It started to look good, with plans of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gawadar looking like a reality and ideas like ‘Pakistan Super League’ (PSL) started to add color to this new belief. Terms like ‘epicenter of terror’ became rare. Narrative had started to transform.
Much of that has suddenly changed. ‘Bloody Sunday’ repeatedly flashed on international media with its graphic details and painful images suddenly reminded the world that Pakistan is still a dangerous, chaotic place. A society riven with internal conflict, multiple fault-lines, murderous gangs and militant groups prepared to tear apart the political order – at the drop of a hat. And all that just four days before the ‘Nuclear Security Summit’ in Washington set to begin on 31st March.
Read more: 60 killed in twin suicide attacks as Militants storm police training college in Quetta, Pakistan.
President Obama had set that summit in motion through a visionary speech in Prague in 2009; so far three summits have taken place, Washington (2010), Seoul (2012) and Hague (2014); ostensible purpose is to reduce the the availability of all vulnerable nuclear material to any irresponsible group. This is supposed to be the fourth and final summit and Obama has promised to end strong with some consensus. For him this is a matter of legacy. While all key global institutions that monitor the safety of nuclear material have repeatedly affirmed that Pakistan’s security protocols and procedures are amongst the world’s best often rated above India and even Israel, it is also said that ‘radical groups’ with aspirations to acquire nuclear material swarm in Pakistan. And that Pakistan’s switch to the use of ‘small tactical devices’ to counter India’s ‘Cold Start Doctrine’ adds to the risks.
If PM Nawaz will be in Washington, on 31st March, meeting global leadership, most will be thinking of the implications of ‘Pakistan’s Bloody Sunday’. Images of hate filled suicide bomber hitting a public park on Easter – the iconic day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus – and uncontrolled crowds of zealots battling their way to Parliament protesting on the hanging of a zealot – Mumtaz Qadri – who had killed the Governor of Punjab, will be on their mind. Can we blame them? Do we have valid explanations to address their fears? Are we convinced ourselves?
Let me raise a few questions for you? Do you honestly think that hundreds of acts of targeted terrorism, extremely high profile and daring acts that send jitters across the world, that shape the global narrative about Pakistan just happen? are these just random acts of violence, of madness, reflecting the hatred that exists between different classes and categories of citizenry? Or these ‘apparent acts of hatred and madness’ have a ‘grand strategic design’ behind these? Whose ‘grand strategic design’ it could be? who has the cultural ability, financial liquidity, regional experience, to penetrate the various ‘militant gangs’ to finance them, to influence them? gangs spread from Khyber to Karachi?
With all my understanding of international relations, with all information at my disposal, with all my honesty I can at least tell you: this ‘grand strategic design’ is not of United States or Israel. Our weapons – strategic or tactical – our regional posture, our geographical location, our friendship with China, the opportunities we offer and threats we create and all our various theories of resurgence of Islam are no threat to the west or Israel. Anyone who tells you such ‘nonsense’ is either an idiot or has an agenda.
Read more: Terrorist Activities in Damascus: a Hindrance to the Peace Process
When I was a medical student, my father, a doctor, a good diagnostician, always used to say: When you look out of the window; expect to see a goat, a dog, a cat, a cow but don’t expect a lion, a tiger or an elephant. Same applies to international relations. Who benefits by weaving a ‘narrative of instability and chaos’ around Pakistan? Who benefits by a weaker, confused, isolated and non-assertive Pakistan? I leave this to your imagination.
But once you answer this question, rest becomes easy. All groups, religious fanatics or secular fascists, irrespective of their ideologies and agendas, can be penetrated. Once a financial link and dependence is established then they become pawns. Most of the time, the foot-soldiers, the mini pawns, the epsilons of these groups – like Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the poor vegetable vendor- don’t even know who is directing them and to what end.
Our weapons – strategic or tactical – our regional posture, our geographical location, our friendship with China, the opportunities we offer and threats we create and all our various theories of resurgence of Islam are no threat to the west or Israel. Anyone who tells you such ‘nonsense’ is either an idiot or has an agenda.
Did soldiers who marched with Alexander or Julius Caesar, the Indian sepoys who who died on the shores of France and Italy in the two world wars defending an Empire that had brutally colonized them, the devout Muslim soldiers of Pakistan who sacrifice their lives, their families and the future of their toddlers battling Taliban in the labrynthine valleys of Waziristan fully understand what they are fighting for? Soldiers and officers die making safe the the lives and properties of the ‘liberals’, the same liberals who pour endless contempt upon them. And soldiers who die before even getting the opportunity to hold in their arms, their 6 month old daughters, born back in a village. Do they really know what they are dying for? Hundreds and thousands of American GI’s that died in remote lands of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan never knew what they really died for? Yes! a Professor at Harvard, a Kissinger – still living at 85 plus- writing his memoirs can spin around theories of ‘defense of western liberalism’ but the soldiers died because they are in a discipline, in a hierarchy, that directs them. But if the soldiers of world’s best and the finest armies are not fully cognizant of what they are dying for then what do you make of the ‘foot soldiers’ of the ‘militant gangs’?
Given that hundreds of zealots in Pakistan have – since 2002 -blown themselves to kill their own countrymen, and thousands with similar suicidal cum homicidal mindset have languished in our jails, we should have produced the best psychological research, the finest forensic works to make sense of what is happening. It could have helped the whole world – and certainly empowered us to roll back the phenomenon. But we are more or less still standing where we were in 2002. The sum total of our expertise is reflected in our tv programs, and now on social media -and that is either hilarious or tragic.
Since everything ‘cerebral’ has to be done by the west, so we owe a debt to those countless researchers, scholars and government agencies that have invested into understanding this phenomenon. One such work is: “Dying to Win” by University of Chicago Professor, Robert Pape. His work focused on the ‘strategic logic of suicide terrorism’ helps understand the pressures created by the asymmetrical nature of modern conflict. And how the weaker, dispossessed side resorts to self-destruction to create an impact. One lesson we can take home is to avoid creating ‘unnecessary polarization’. PM Nawaz Sharif and his kitchen cabinet should read that. May be Maryam Nawaz should read and explain to her father. This may help prevent some of the looming disasters their ‘policy of overnight liberalism’ may end up creating.
Robert Pape’s work is however now dated; his initial impressions also come from the study of Isreali-Palestine conflict, Tamil vs Sinhalese and broadly speaking Muslim vs the west. However things have moved ahead. When before 9/11, Palestinians – Hammas, Islamic Jihad etc – resorted to massive use of suicide bombing most Muslims world wide were very sympathetic. Not only we, but many in UK and Europe, could see a logic, a rationale behind such desperate acts; we thought that given Israeli control and tyranny upon Palestinian lives these ‘suicide bombers’ have no real option. We heard and we read stories of children and siblings of parents and brothers killed by Israeli security forces becoming ‘suicide bombers’ and in many instances it was true.
But Israeli police and intelligence violently disagreed. They pointed to cells that recruit and brain wash, cells being financed by money openly flowing in from Iran and clandestinely from other Arab Sheikdoms. Israelis were at least partially right. When ‘suicide bombers’ appeared in Pakistan it should have puzzled us. I at least used to wonder that Palestinian vs Israeli, Muslim vs Jew, Arab vs the west makes some sense; we can sense the sharp polarization, historical hatred, generations of hardened attitudes but how are these suicide bombers who initially attacked Pakistani Army are convincing themselves of the righteousness of their cause?
But we still had an explanation. Pakistani Army, to begin with, was fighting a war created by the west, forced by the Americans on the region, the infidels, the outsiders. So the argument was, in military circles, that ‘these bastards, the militant leaders, the neo-taliban, have convinced their foot soldiers that Army is working for Americans, has become infidel and thus a fair target’. PMLN and PTI both had their rhetoric: Musharraf collapsed on one phone call – Ahsen Iqbal’s famous line; it used to be part of tv promos. We had never faced a situation like this before. The border areas from where this storm first erupted were our safest backyard – our historical depth. We always feared an attack from the east. Few years ago, a very senior officer told me that the initial fatwas – around 2003/4 – by the irresponsible zealots from Lal Masjid that army soldiers dying fighting Taliban do not deserve a ‘Namaz-e-Jinaza’ a religious burial created one of the most difficult of challenges for Pakistan Army.
If you realize that only 5-7% of Pakistan Army is the Officer corps, that starts its career as second Lieutenant; rest are soldiers. Soldiers that bring the world view from villages of Punjab, KPK, Sindh and now increasingly Balochistan as well. Soldiers who willingly lay down their lives in the name of Allah and his Prophet. Soldiers who were suddenly confused thinking: Who is on the side of God? we or they? Any one who grapples this arithmetic – 5% vs 95% – can see the potential for mischief and the challenge military was confronted with. How naive it will be to think that others – intelligent minds in the region beyond our borders – were not keenly watching this situation, gloating and thinking of exploiting it. The fact that Pakistan army was able to overcome this internal challenge, this battle of hearts and minds, for its very soul, testifies to the enormous strength of this national institution.
Since the arrest of RAW officer, Commander Kulbhashan Yadav, from Balochistan, Pakistan’s security institutions were trying to hold a joint Interior/Foreign Office media briefing to turn that into a global news.
But when the ‘suicide bomber’ started appearing at mosques, schools, colleges, offices, bus stops literally everywhere, killing indiscriminately, without distinction of faith, sect, sex and age then it was the ‘Ah moment’ of asking: ‘where the justification is now coming from?’And that understanding is buried deep in the files, and minds of dozens of Pakistani Police Officers, Intelligence wallas and Army officers but that unfortunately has not been documented or turned into research accessible to wider sections of the government, police organizations, parliamentarians, academia and media. We did not have a single ‘Robert Pape’ in our midst.
That explanation lies unfortunately in the nature of human mind, its capacities and limitations. Most of us can be mesmerized, hypnotized, and are being controlled by the endless neurolinguistic programming that is flowing from text books, novels and media. Not only the boys hijacked and recruited from madrassas but a sizable percentage of skirt & jean crowds of twitter warriors from India and Pakistan if abducted by these ‘criminal zealots’ can be turned into ‘suicide bombers’ of one or the other side. Such is the fantastic nature of human mind.
Police accounts reveal that these ‘criminal zealots’ have found it easy to recruit boys from ‘madrassas’ than mosques, easy to recruit men than women, easy to recruit young than old, easy to recruit unmarried and those who had suffered an emotional shock; loss of a parent, a sibling or sense of failure in a platonic love affair; sense of rejection. Police accounts reveal that it is far more easier to lure madrassa boys that lived away from their core families and once recruited they indoctrinate them to break their contacts with family and old friends. New contacts are introduced that indoctrinate about the purpose of life and the story of injustice. Some boys can be indoctrinated to become ‘human bombs’ in few weeks, others may take months; some cannot be turned into that ‘zombie status’. Initial reports about ‘Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the poor vegetable vendor only confirm that pattern. He did not have much of a contact with his family for months. His severed head was being shown on some tv screens. But hating him or his potential successors in crime hardly serves any purpose. He was a ‘zombie’ in control of his handlers; as Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the vegetable vendor, he had died long time ago.
Read more: Pakistan: Terrorism at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine; What does it mean?
‘Suicide bombers’ before Zarb-e-Azb were being produced like market products; these were standardized like McDonald burgers. Apparently an exchange market also existed; bizarre accounts of one group borrowing or selling ‘suicide bombers’ or potential boys do exist. But most discussion in Pakistan has remained focused on issues of ideologies, rhetoric of mainstream mullahs and religious parties. This ‘ideology centered’ approach has been misdirected, but so prevalent, that prominent citizens, politicians and western funded NGO’s have been demanding media – especially in the post Lal Masjid phase when a wave of violence was unleashed across Pakistan – to help reduce communal or religion based hatred. TV channels in many instances have been running campaigns of love and advising sanity.
This would have any relevance if communities as groups were attacking each other with sticks and stones as it used to happen in the old undivided India and kept on happening in India more frequently till sixties or happened in Pakistan against Ahmediya community in 1950s and again in 1970s; or the pattern of angry violent protests Barelvi sect is doing on the execution of Mumtaz Qadri. But Pakistani challenge of terrorism that gradually built up after 9/11 and ballooned after the Lal Masjid tragedy was never really a communal challenge.
The terrorism Pakistan faced was in the nature of planned, premeditated, ‘targeted killing’. It was always a ‘cold blooded calculated crime’. Killers and planners were often anonymous, claims made subsequently by ever new groups and factions often lacked authenticity; attackers deliberately created smokescreens to divert attention, multiply effect and boost narratives. Many groups discussed on media might have been ‘Single Member Entities’ like SME’s. What was really important to Pakistan were: issues of militant capacity, inter-group linkages, strategic direction and signalling from abroad and financial flows. Unfortunately these issues were often ignored. And whenever these issues were raised, powerful voices emerged calling these ‘conspiracy theories’ or ‘denials’ bringing the narrative back on ‘issues of hateful ideology, need for love and harmony’. If hate by itself would have lead to violence then Muslims would have had a bloodbath in United States after 9/11 – but reality of terrorism is far more complex than this.
Over the last 18 months, an incredulous world had willy nilly started to admit that Pakistan is changing. Country started to emit signals of increasing stability: sanctuaries of Waziristan mostly cleared, many sectarian gangs eliminated, tourists returning to Swat, Baloch insurgents surrendering and guns in Karachi falling silent.
Pakistani successes came only through the principles of ‘deny operational space’ and ‘reduce capacity’. We literally fought a major war – one of the largest airborne operations in South Asia – against Taliban in Swat; and we have been fighting mini-wars in FATA ever since. We have fought to destroy ‘militant capacities’ in Karachi and we have forced Baloch insurgents to seek peace. Reconstruction of civil society with district administrations, policing, education, judicature and health infra-structures all are important but the mumbo-jumbo of ‘fixing ideology’ and conquering through media or lecturing of any kind has not worked at all – not so far. Reason: media narratives can work on minds to which they have physical and psychological access.
As I write these lines, Pakistan army is again on the move; this time in Southern Punjab. This will once again be the elimination of militant groups basically ‘reduction of capacities’ for total eradication is not achievable in short term. Hopefully we succeed. But for long term sustainable success and if we don’t want to do this ‘grass cutting’ again and again, we must remember its not just about ‘ideology’. This whole endless social media debate, this continuous self-flagellation of twitter warriors: ‘we have become this kind of people and that kind of people and why these thousands of idiots are protesting on this Qadri’s hanging etc..and this mad mullah and that mad mullah ” is only a side show. PM Nawaz and his kitchen cabinet’s rebirth as ‘neo-liberal’ after being ‘ultra-orthodox conservative’ for greater part of their existence is further troubling. This liberal rebirth, this most dishonest attempt to impress upon Washington, London and Brussels will create new polarizations, multiply fault-lines- dangerous at this stage of our as yet fragile struggle against terrorism.
Read more: Defeating Terrorism: Pakistan needs new “Road Maps” & a “Visionary Leadership”…?
All these side shows have in the end no real bearing on our success against terrorism. Unless people of Pakistan, a substantial percentage of educated chattering classes, start to understand these ‘militant groups’ despite all their beards and religious denominations, as extensions of ‘external agenda’ pawns in a regional chess board and unless we take firm position to delink these linkages, stop their strategic direction and financial flows – from whichever direction these are emanating – till then there is no viable solution. The performance of Nawaz Govt after the arrest of Commander KulBhashan Yadav – with all his disclosure of 14 years of links with BSO, BLA and indirect linkages with sectarian groups – does not inspire much confidence.
May be PMLN becomes a ‘political party’ and has an internal debate; may be they can tell the PM that his personal lens, very private personal lens, his ‘mango and sari diplomacy’ and his attempts to use his ‘Indian connection’ as leverage, as strength, in Pakistan’s power chequerboard is dangerous and defective. There is no harm in dreaming!
Moeed Pirzada is prominent TV Anchor & commentator; he studied international relations at Columbia Univ, New York and law at London School of Economics. Twitter: MoeedNj. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy. This piece was first published in Moeed Pirzada’s official page. It has been reproduced with permission.
Suicidal Madness on Easter: “Re-Enacting” the “Old Narrative”!
Last summer, in a small gathering, a senior civil servant was complaining of massive traffic congestion on access roads to Murree and Swat. And then he paused, reflected and amused with himself said: “but it also shows veil of fear is lifting; public is not afraid of coming out; families with friends and loved ones are venturing out to areas considered ‘dangerous’ not too long ago. Almost everyone in the gathering agreed.
That calm was shattered yesterday, ‘Pakistan’s Bloody Sunday’ when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Iqbal Park, Lahore killing more than 70, mostly children and their mothers, and injuring more than 300 – many of whom may die or become incapacitated for the rest of their lives. Lahore scarred once again! But that was not the end of it; a furious crowd of several thousands, armed with slogans, sticks and batons invaded Islamabad. Marching through Rawalpindi, they collided with Police and Rangers, faced baton charge and massive tear gas shelling at several points but succeeded in removing all road blocks pushing their way into Pakistan’s serene capital. Till late evening they were busy creating scenes of uncontrolled mayhem – that included ransacking and burning metro stations. Dozens of police, rangers and hundreds of protestors injured. Since the arrest of RAW officer, Commander Kulbhashan Yadav, from Balochistan, Pakistan’s security institutions were trying to hold a joint Interior/Foreign Office media briefing to turn that into a global news. But with the sudden twist of events, Pakistan became the “story”.
Over the last 18 months, an incredulous world had willy nilly started to admit that Pakistan is changing. Country started to emit signals of increasing stability: sanctuaries of Waziristan mostly cleared, many sectarian gangs eliminated, tourists returning to Swat, Baloch insurgents surrendering and guns in Karachi falling silent. It started to look good, with plans of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gawadar looking like a reality and ideas like ‘Pakistan Super League’ (PSL) started to add color to this new belief. Terms like ‘epicenter of terror’ became rare. Narrative had started to transform.
Much of that has suddenly changed. ‘Bloody Sunday’ repeatedly flashed on international media with its graphic details and painful images suddenly reminded the world that Pakistan is still a dangerous, chaotic place. A society riven with internal conflict, multiple fault-lines, murderous gangs and militant groups prepared to tear apart the political order – at the drop of a hat. And all that just four days before the ‘Nuclear Security Summit’ in Washington set to begin on 31st March.
President Obama had set that summit in motion through a visionary speech in Prague in 2009; so far three summits have taken place, Washington (2010), Seoul (2012) and Hague (2014); ostensible purpose is to reduce the the availability of all vulnerable nuclear material to any irresponsible group. This is supposed to be the fourth and final summit and Obama has promised to end strong with some consensus. For him this is a matter of legacy. While all key global institutions that monitor the safety of nuclear material have repeatedly affirmed that Pakistan’s security protocols and procedures are amongst the world’s best often rated above India and even Israel, it is also said that ‘radical groups’ with aspirations to acquire nuclear material swarm in Pakistan. And that Pakistan’s switch to the use of ‘small tactical devices’ to counter India’s ‘Cold Start Doctrine’ adds to the risks.
If PM Nawaz will be in Washington, on 31st March, meeting global leadership, most will be thinking of the implications of ‘Pakistan’s Bloody Sunday’. Images of hate filled suicide bomber hitting a public park on Easter – the iconic day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus – and uncontrolled crowds of zealots battling their way to Parliament protesting on the hanging of a zealot – Mumtaz Qadri – who had killed the Governor of Punjab, will be on their mind. Can we blame them? Do we have valid explanations to address their fears? Are we convinced ourselves?
Let me raise a few questions for you? Do you honestly think that hundreds of acts of targeted terrorism, extremely high profile and daring acts that send jitters across the world, that shape the global narrative about Pakistan just happen? are these just random acts of violence, of madness, reflecting the hatred that exists between different classes and categories of citizenry? Or these ‘apparent acts of hatred and madness’ have a ‘grand strategic design’ behind these? Whose ‘grand strategic design’ it could be? who has the cultural ability, financial liquidity, regional experience, to penetrate the various ‘militant gangs’ to finance them, to influence them? gangs spread from Khyber to Karachi?
With all my understanding of international relations, with all information at my disposal, with all my honesty I can at least tell you: this ‘grand strategic design’ is not of United States or Israel. Our weapons – strategic or tactical – our regional posture, our geographical location, our friendship with China, the opportunities we offer and threats we create and all our various theories of resurgence of Islam are no threat to the west or Israel. Anyone who tells you such ‘nonsense’ is either an idiot or has an agenda.
When I was a medical student, my father, a doctor, a good diagnostician, always used to say: When you look out of the window; expect to see a goat, a dog, a cat, a cow but don’t expect a lion, a tiger or an elephant. Same applies to international relations. Who benefits by weaving a ‘narrative of instability and chaos’ around Pakistan? Who benefits by a weaker, confused, isolated and non-assertive Pakistan? I leave this to your imagination.
But once you answer this question, rest becomes easy. All groups, religious fanatics or secular fascists, irrespective of their ideologies and agendas, can be penetrated. Once a financial link and dependence is established then they become pawns. Most of the time, the foot-soldiers, the mini pawns, the epsilons of these groups – like Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the poor vegetable vendor- don’t even know who is directing them and to what end.
Did soldiers who marched with Alexander or Julius Caesar, the Indian sepoys who who died on the shores of France and Italy in the two world wars defending an Empire that had brutally colonized them, the devout Muslim soldiers of Pakistan who sacrifice their lives, their families and the future of their toddlers battling Taliban in the labrynthine valleys of Waziristan fully understand what they are fighting for? Soldiers and officers die making safe the the lives and properties of the ‘liberals’, the same liberals who pour endless contempt upon them. And soldiers who die before even getting the opportunity to hold in their arms, their 6 month old daughters, born back in a village. Do they really know what they are dying for? Hundreds and thousands of American GI’s that died in remote lands of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan never knew what they really died for? Yes! a Professor at Harvard, a Kissinger – still living at 85 plus- writing his memoirs can spin around theories of ‘defense of western liberalism’ but the soldiers died because they are in a discipline, in a hierarchy, that directs them. But if the soldiers of world’s best and the finest armies are not fully cognizant of what they are dying for then what do you make of the ‘foot soldiers’ of the ‘militant gangs’?
Given that hundreds of zealots in Pakistan have – since 2002 -blown themselves to kill their own countrymen, and thousands with similar suicidal cum homicidal mindset have languished in our jails, we should have produced the best psychological research, the finest forensic works to make sense of what is happening. It could have helped the whole world – and certainly empowered us to roll back the phenomenon. But we are more or less still standing where we were in 2002. The sum total of our expertise is reflected in our tv programs, and now on social media -and that is either hilarious or tragic.
Since everything ‘cerebral’ has to be done by the west, so we owe a debt to those countless researchers, scholars and government agencies that have invested into understanding this phenomenon. One such work is: “Dying to Win” by University of Chicago Professor, Robert Pape. His work focused on the ‘strategic logic of suicide terrorism’ helps understand the pressures created by the asymmetrical nature of modern conflict. And how the weaker, dispossessed side resorts to self-destruction to create an impact. One lesson we can take home is to avoid creating ‘unnecessary polarization’. PM Nawaz Sharif and his kitchen cabinet should read that. May be Maryam Nawaz should read and explain to her father. This may help prevent some of the looming disasters their ‘policy of overnight liberalism’ may end up creating.
Robert Pape’s work is however now dated; his initial impressions also come from the study of Isreali-Palestine conflict, Tamil vs Sinhalese and broadly speaking Muslim vs the west. However things have moved ahead. When before 9/11, Palestinians – Hammas, Islamic Jihad etc – resorted to massive use of suicide bombing most Muslims world wide were very sympathetic. Not only we, but many in UK and Europe, could see a logic, a rationale behind such desperate acts; we thought that given Israeli control and tyranny upon Palestinian lives these ‘suicide bombers’ have no real option. We heard and we read stories of children and siblings of parents and brothers killed by Israeli security forces becoming ‘suicide bombers’ and in many instances it was true.
But Israeli police and intelligence violently disagreed. They pointed to cells that recruit and brain wash, cells being financed by money openly flowing in from Iran and clandestinely from other Arab Sheikdoms. Israelis were at least partially right. When ‘suicide bombers’ appeared in Pakistan it should have puzzled us. I at least used to wonder that Palestinian vs Israeli, Muslim vs Jew, Arab vs the west makes some sense; we can sense the sharp polarization, historical hatred, generations of hardened attitudes but how are these suicide bombers who initially attacked Pakistani Army are convincing themselves of the righteousness of their cause?
But we still had an explanation. Pakistani Army, to begin with, was fighting a war created by the west, forced by the Americans on the region, the infidels, the outsiders. So the argument was, in military circles, that ‘these bastards, the militant leaders, the neo-taliban, have convinced their foot soldiers that Army is working for Americans, has become infidel and thus a fair target’. PMLN and PTI both had their rhetoric: Musharraf collapsed on one phone call – Ahsen Iqbal’s famous line; it used to be part of tv promos. We had never faced a situation like this before. The border areas from where this storm first erupted were our safest backyard – our historical depth. We always feared an attack from the east. Few years ago, a very senior officer told me that the initial fatwas – around 2003/4 – by the irresponsible zealots from Lal Masjid that army soldiers dying fighting Taliban do not deserve a ‘Namaz-e-Jinaza’ a religious burial created one of the most difficult of challenges for Pakistan Army.
If you realize that only 5-7% of Pakistan Army is the Officer corps, that starts its career as second Lieutenant; rest are soldiers. Soldiers that bring the world view from villages of Punjab, KPK, Sindh and now increasingly Balochistan as well. Soldiers who willingly lay down their lives in the name of Allah and his Prophet. Soldiers who were suddenly confused thinking: Who is on the side of God? we or they? Any one who grapples this arithmetic – 5% vs 95% – can see the potential for mischief and the challenge military was confronted with. How naive it will be to think that others – intelligent minds in the region beyond our borders – were not keenly watching this situation, gloating and thinking of exploiting it. The fact that Pakistan army was able to overcome this internal challenge, this battle of hearts and minds, for its very soul, testifies to the enormous strength of this national institution.
But when the ‘suicide bomber’ started appearing at mosques, schools, colleges, offices, bus stops literally everywhere, killing indiscriminately, without distinction of faith, sect, sex and age then it was the ‘Ah moment’ of asking: ‘where the justification is now coming from?’And that understanding is buried deep in the files, and minds of dozens of Pakistani Police Officers, Intelligence wallas and Army officers but that unfortunately has not been documented or turned into research accessible to wider sections of the government, police organizations, parliamentarians, academia and media. We did not have a single ‘Robert Pape’ in our midst.
That explanation lies unfortunately in the nature of human mind, its capacities and limitations. Most of us can be mesmerized, hypnotized, and are being controlled by the endless neurolinguistic programming that is flowing from text books, novels and media. Not only the boys hijacked and recruited from madrassas but a sizable percentage of skirt & jean crowds of twitter warriors from India and Pakistan if abducted by these ‘criminal zealots’ can be turned into ‘suicide bombers’ of one or the other side. Such is the fantastic nature of human mind.
Police accounts reveal that these ‘criminal zealots’ have found it easy to recruit boys from ‘madrassas’ than mosques, easy to recruit men than women, easy to recruit young than old, easy to recruit unmarried and those who had suffered an emotional shock; loss of a parent, a sibling or sense of failure in a platonic love affair; sense of rejection. Police accounts reveal that it is far more easier to lure madrassa boys that lived away from their core families and once recruited they indoctrinate them to break their contacts with family and old friends. New contacts are introduced that indoctrinate about the purpose of life and the story of injustice. Some boys can be indoctrinated to become ‘human bombs’ in few weeks, others may take months; some cannot be turned into that ‘zombie status’. Initial reports about ‘Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the poor vegetable vendor only confirm that pattern. He did not have much of a contact with his family for months. His severed head was being shown on some tv screens. But hating him or his potential successors in crime hardly serves any purpose. He was a ‘zombie’ in control of his handlers; as Mohd. Yousaf son of Ghulam Fareed, the vegetable vendor, he had died long time ago.
‘Suicide bombers’ before Zarb-e-Azb were being produced like market products; these were standardized like McDonald burgers. Apparently an exchange market also existed; bizarre accounts of one group borrowing or selling ‘suicide bombers’ or potential boys do exist. But most discussion in Pakistan has remained focused on issues of ideologies, rhetoric of mainstream mullahs and religious parties. This ‘ideology centered’ approach has been misdirected, but so prevalent, that prominent citizens, politicians and western funded NGO’s have been demanding media – especially in the post Lal Masjid phase when a wave of violence was unleashed across Pakistan – to help reduce communal or religion based hatred. TV channels in many instances have been running campaigns of love and advising sanity.
This would have any relevance if communities as groups were attacking each other with sticks and stones as it used to happen in the old undivided India and kept on happening in India more frequently till sixties or happened in Pakistan against Ahmediya community in 1950s and again in 1970s; or the pattern of angry violent protests Barelvi sect is doing on the execution of Mumtaz Qadri. But Pakistani challenge of terrorism that gradually built up after 9/11 and ballooned after the Lal Masjid tragedy was never really a communal challenge.
The terrorism Pakistan faced was in the nature of planned, premeditated, ‘targeted killing’. It was always a ‘cold blooded calculated crime’. Killers and planners were often anonymous, claims made subsequently by ever new groups and factions often lacked authenticity; attackers deliberately created smokescreens to divert attention, multiply effect and boost narratives. Many groups discussed on media might have been ‘Single Member Entities’ like SME’s. What was really important to Pakistan were: issues of militant capacity, inter-group linkages, strategic direction and signalling from abroad and financial flows. Unfortunately these issues were often ignored. And whenever these issues were raised, powerful voices emerged calling these ‘conspiracy theories’ or ‘denials’ bringing the narrative back on ‘issues of hateful ideology, need for love and harmony’. If hate by itself would have lead to violence then Muslims would have had a bloodbath in United States after 9/11 – but reality of terrorism is far more complex than this.
Pakistani successes came only through the principles of ‘deny operational space’ and ‘reduce capacity’. We literally fought a major war – one of the largest airborne operations in South Asia – against Taliban in Swat; and we have been fighting mini-wars in FATA ever since. We have fought to destroy ‘militant capacities’ in Karachi and we have forced Baloch insurgents to seek peace. Reconstruction of civil society with district administrations, policing, education, judicature and health infra-structures all are important but the mumbo-jumbo of ‘fixing ideology’ and conquering through media or lecturing of any kind has not worked at all – not so far. Reason: media narratives can work on minds to which they have physical and psychological access.
As I write these lines, Pakistan army is again on the move; this time in Southern Punjab. This will once again be the elimination of militant groups basically ‘reduction of capacities’ for total eradication is not achievable in short term. Hopefully we succeed. But for long term sustainable success and if we don’t want to do this ‘grass cutting’ again and again, we must remember its not just about ‘ideology’. This whole endless social media debate, this continuous self-flagellation of twitter warriors: ‘we have become this kind of people and that kind of people and why these thousands of idiots are protesting on this Qadri’s hanging etc..and this mad mullah and that mad mullah ” is only a side show. PM Nawaz and his kitchen cabinet’s rebirth as ‘neo-liberal’ after being ‘ultra-orthodox conservative’ for greater part of their existence is further troubling. This liberal rebirth, this most dishonest attempt to impress upon Washington, London and Brussels will create new polarizations, multiply fault-lines- dangerous at this stage of our as yet fragile struggle against terrorism.
All these side shows have in the end no real bearing on our success against terrorism. Unless people of Pakistan, a substantial percentage of educated chattering classes, start to understand these ‘militant groups’ despite all their beards and religious denominations, as extensions of ‘external agenda’ pawns in a regional chess board and unless we take firm position to delink these linkages, stop their strategic direction and financial flows – from whichever direction these are emanating – till then there is no viable solution. The performance of Nawaz Govt after the arrest of Commander KulBhashan Yadav – with all his disclosure of 14 years of links with BSO, BLA and indirect linkages with sectarian groups – does not inspire much confidence.
May be PMLN becomes a ‘political party’ and has an internal debate; may be they can tell the PM that his personal lens, very private personal lens, his ‘mango and sari diplomacy’ and his attempts to use his ‘Indian connection’ as leverage, as strength, in Pakistan’s power chequerboard is dangerous and defective. There is no harm in dreaming!
Tonight with Moeed Pirzada Show with Sheikh Rasheed
An Exclusive Interview with Sheikh Rasheed in Tonight with Moeed Pirzada !!! Why Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed thinks PML-N government and Federal Minister Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan are not brave enough to categorically condemn the arrest of RAW agent who is a serving Indian officer. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed criticized current leadership as incompetent having no vision for future challenges and now this arrest confirms his fears as many super powers including USA are not in the favor of China Pakistan Economic Corridor which will ultimately lift the economics of the whole region in terms of development and progress.
India’s Grand Design on Pakistan & PM Nawaz Sharif’s Problem?
Originally published on Facebook Page, on Fri, 25th March, 2016
Arrest of Raw Agent Kal Boshan Jhadev from Baluchistan! Many of you wonder why our government is shying away from making full disclosure, why not release his video interview, his full details officially? Details of his activities in Baluchistan? the actions he organized, the groups he funded across Karachi and different parts of Pakistan? This is a very valid question that bothers many many minds…
Reason is that powerful interests in Islamabad are pressing hard to suppress this information. They are advising to ‘stay cool’, they are warning of ‘Indian reaction’, lack of cooperation with Pakistani SIT on Pathankot AFS attack (which is another big mystery) the forthcoming dialogue with Modi, the possible visits of Foreign Secretaries etc etc and so son..and they are worried that ‘disclosure of parties and sectarian groups receiving Indian funding’ will be a political bombshell…
But the fact remains that Indian establishment, and not only the Modi Sarkar, but the whole Indian establishment, has been caught with its pants down. The fact that India had been helping, orchestrating sectarian and political violence across Pakistan – from the fringes of FATA, through the insurgency belt of Baluchistan to the killing streets of Karachi is hardly a news. This should not surprise anyone. But ‘Comander Kal Boshan Yadev’ provides the proof, the connect, a rare discovery of its kind, one in a life time that happens in this kind of ‘proxy conflict’.
Countries,Nation states and their agencies have always done that. Insurgencies, political conflicts, urban violence were often – if not always – sponsored from outside. That makes perfect sense from a ‘national interest perspective’. Once we created bleeding wounds in FATA as a result of our U-Turn against Taliban, or sent shock waves of anger and hurt in a large perimeter around Islamabad after our stupid, ill-advised rash action against ‘Lal Masjid’ or when we failed to pacify the Baluch nationalists through a political process or the city of Karachi through a genuine ‘City Government’ (free from the control of rural Sindh) then a fertile ground existed for outside agencies to exploit, to accentuate and increase the violence.
And Indian agencies naturally had a field day to exploit the situation. This pattern started to become obvious several years ago. But Indians mostly did it in a very sophisticated fashion. Their influence inside Aghanistan in a post-Taliban Afghanistan on Tajik & Uzbek establishments was a great help. They used their ‘proteges’ and ‘assets’ inside Afghanistan, inside NDS, inside Afghan government to advance their agendas of political violence inside Pakistan – from FATA to Karachi.
Presence of large number of Indian assets inside the construction companies and econonic entities was part of the design. Naive Pakistani media kept on crying foul, repeating adnauseum stories of 16 or 20 Indian Consulates across Afghanistan. But Indians never had more than 3-4 Consular stations. They are not that dump. They are smart.
This strategy of using overlapping contacts and assets is called ‘Wheels within Wheels’ in political science. Arresting foot soldiers of violence, or insurgency becomes meaningless. What even if a senior TTP leader gets arrested; he can only point to contacts inside Afghanistan or other Taliban groups. Its next to impossible to reach to the ‘roots’ or ‘master minds’ – even if in rare movement of generosity CIA hands over ‘Lateef Ullah Mehsud” to you. It still cannot take you very far.
All agencies know that. Lets ask ourselves: Who sponsored all the violent insurgent groups in Syria? who wanted to get rid of Bashar al Asad? And who may now be punishing ‘Erodogan’s Turkey’ for his uncalled ‘audaciousness’? Look at the increasing violence in Turkish cities; all the Turks can do is to thunder against the ‘Kurds’; they can’t even name their real enemies. They know it won’t help.
Bottom line is you understand the ‘proxy conflict’ and role of ‘external agencies’ by observing the patterns; by connecting the dots. And Indian role and strategy was written large on all what happened in Pakistan after 9/11. I have repeatedly hinted on this in my programs and I have written many times on this page.
The way regional dynamics are: it is not in India’s larger interest to accept a stable, prosperous Pakistan. A stable, confident, internationally connected Pakistan with international businesses investments, financial flows, international sporting events like bilateral Indo-Pakistan cricketing events, T-20s, World Cups and all that don’t suit Indian lager design in the region. Such a stable Pakistan will be a confident Pakistan that will assert itself, its rights and concerns on the negotiation table.
India will prefer a Pakistan that is harrased by internal conflict and insurgencies, political violence and a Pakistan continuously facing the charge sheet of ‘exporting terrorism’. Such a situation – that prevails at the moment – helps India to negotiate with Pakistan on its terms. On one hand it prevents any discussion on Kashmir, on the other hand it allows them to make a case for trade and energy routes to Central Asia via Afghanistan. And all without any necessary, politically difficult quid-pro quo.
Pakistan’s image helps India to extract all kinds of concessions from a weak Pakistani state that is continuously under pressure to engage India. Because the ‘narrative’ is that while India is eager to engage Pakistan, its Pakistan and its agencies that don’t let the regional peace move forward. Now look at the patten of Indo-Pakistani talks; Is not this what is happening again and again?
I don’t buy that Nawaz Sharif’s principal motivation to engage India and Modi, at all costs, is contingent upon his personal business interests. No, he appears to be under international compulsions. And these international compulsions, to a great extent, are created by the power of Indian narrative shaping around Pakistan. Pakistan is seen as the ‘trouble maker’ that is not letting a regional peace happen. This is what is India’s great regional design is. And this is where RAW and countless agents like ‘Commander Kal Boshan Yadev s/o of Sudhir Jadhev fit in. This is where India’s indirect support for TTP, Baluch insurgents, sectarian organizations and killer gangs of Karachi all neatly fit in.
It is because of this that people like me were very suspcious when Narendra Modi suddenly visited PM Nawaz in Lahore in end December 2015; I had predicted then in my program that we should not be overly excited about this; since it defies the overall Indian logic, India’s Grand Design. Understanding this ‘Indian Grand Design’ is important. No only the Indian, but many many Pakistani commentators will sweat hard to reject that such a design exists. Accepting this flies against their ‘superficial mantras’ of ‘peace and harmony’ which they have been repeating ad-nauseum again and again for past 20 plus years – without any real progress on ground. In the process they have become biggest advocates of ‘endless appeasement’. But real peace is possible only and only when Pakistan gets to expose this ‘Grand Design’ and wriggles out of the narrative that India has shaped around it.
Unfortunately PM Nawaz Sharif is not willing or is unable to understand this ‘Indian Grand Design’ he thinks that his ‘Sari Diplomacy, his smiles and good will messages’ basically his ‘endless appeasement of Modi and India’ will somehow lead to a change in Indian ‘Strategic Design & Thinking’. No. It won’t happen. Inter-state affairs are guided by solid well perceived interests. Success of PM Nawaz will depend upon if he can take bold stand; if he can capitalize upon the arrest of RAW Agents like ‘Commander Kal Boshan Yadev s/o Sudhir Jhadev’.
But more importantly it depends upon his government’s ability to fast track the development of CPEC trade route, earliest connectivity of Gawadar port with regional flows, his ability to keep Baluchistan and Karachi peaceful, his suppression of sectarian violence and his ability to continuoulsy engage religious parties – not letting them come on streets on unnecessary provocations and his ability to work with his opposition in assemblies. The more stronger and capable he looks, the more stable Pakistan appears, greater will be the Indian need to engage Pakistan meaningfully. The kind of ‘Endless Appeasement’ PM Nawaz and his government are doing will not help Indo-Pakistan relations. He has to show some ‘spine’ externally as well.
Sarfraz Bugti Explains RAW’s Involvement in Balochistan !!!
Sarfaraz Bugti, Provincial Interior Minister Balochistan explains RAW’s activities and involvement in Balochistan. While talking with Dr Moeed Pirzada, he also congratulated all Security agencies and officials for this major achievement who are working hard to attain peace in Balochistan. Kulbhushan Yadav, a serving Indian naval officer and a suspected RAW agent was arrested by security forces while he was trying to cross over in Pakistan at the border from Iran. In the video, Yadav exposed his country’s top intelligence agency’s role in destabilizing Pakistan, particularly Baluchistan through supporting its separatist insurgency. He revealed that they planned to target key ports in the region including Gwadar to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He explicitly revealed his intentions of creating instability in Pakistan. His confession has revealed disturbing facts, confirming some longstanding fears.
Unknow Party Now Became Pak Sar Zameen Party !!!
Raza Haroon, Member of new political party “Pak Sirr Zameen Party” and Ex-MNA of MQM discussed and addressed questions raised by Dr Moeed Pirzada. Raza Haroon explains as why we think our party would not just get support from Karachi and Hyderabad because of MQM’s ethnic divide created in the name of “Mahajirs” from last 35 years but as a party which will rise on national sphere and unite people throughout the country. He explains how “Pak Sirr Zameen Party” has declared Pakistan’s National Flag as party flag to unite all Pakistani’s under one theme.
Terrorism in Brussels: A Challenge We don’t deserve!
Moeed Pirzada | FB Blog |
The terrorists of the so called ‘Islamic State’ that struck in Brussels on 22nd March have created a crisis for almost everyone. Governments, institutions, political parties and civil societies all will be transformed one way or the others. But no one will be more adversely affected than the Muslims. And that is why it is important for us not only to condemn this barbarism, but also to make sense of what is happening to the ‘Muslim mind’.
First, let no explanation, whatsoever in your mind, interfere with a clarity that this act of attacking innocent, unrelated men, women and children of a country and a city – Belgium and Brussels – that has nothing to do with the contemporary or even historical conflicts of middle east, or the world at large, is simply an act of barbarity. Period. Narratives of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Israel Palestine and Kashmir etc etc are not attracted. Not relevant here. The supposition that ‘Muslims’ somehow are one; a monolith that feels like a wounded Goliath has no place here. This was perhaps never true but now more than ever before we need to open our eyes and realize that something totally different is happening which has nothing to do with Islam, its history and Muslims at large.
We can discuss, and dissect the issues of Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Syria etc etc, list is endless; to understand the mayhem and chaos of modernity but something far more different is happening here and it is important for all Muslims to understand this. These ‘Euro-Islamists’, these ‘Neo-Fascists’ – as beautifully summed up in Olivier Roy’s “Search for a new Ummah” have nothing to do with us, with our identity, our feelings, our grievances against west or America or Israel. No connection whatsoever. These are confused ‘products’ of Europe’s secularism, its fierce individualism and are searching for an identity that can define them, empower them; give them a ‘meaning for their lives’. Islam and traditional Muslim identity is their principal victim. Their parasitic reliance upon ‘an imagined Islam’ a ‘Khilafah’ that never existed, could not exist, provides them and the rest of the world a pretext to connect these ‘idiots’ to us. These ‘fascists’ are our biggest enemies, in all sense of the word; given their definitions of ‘Islam’ they will gladly bludgeon us to death and their rash actions are making our lives more and more difficult – more and more miserable – irrespective of whether we live in the west or the east.
What have these ‘neo-fascists’ achieved for us on 22nd March? They have suddenly reinforced, suddenly multiplied and in a massive fashion, the existing historical faultiness, fears, prejudices and paranoia against ‘normal muslims’ from all over the world. They have provided justification for European governments, right wing political forces and all kinds of neo-Nazis to turn Muslim communities into ‘surveillance ghettos’. They have made it enormously difficult – as if it was easy – for Muslims of the real world to travel, to study, to do business, to integrate and to be part of the wider world shaping around all of us. They have closed the doors of Europe on the hapless migrants from Syria. And worst of all: they have multiplied the pressures upon our governments, our politicians, our media and our civil society to accept ever more doses of non-sensical, nauseating dictations from the western governments and institutions.
You might be wondering: has he forgotten about an unncecessary brutal war in Afghanistan, those ‘daisy cutters’ raining from the skies, destruction of Iraq imposed in the name of WMD’s, pillage of Libya for oil but in the name of democracy; suppression of Egyptian democracy in the name of liberalism and above all ravaging of Syria, creation of ISIS and other rogue groups to rid region of Israel’s last surviving credible threat: Bashar al Asad..?
No, I have not. These wars have created zone of chaos and instability. Doctors and Engineers from India and Pakistan, from Egypt and Philippines used to seek highly paid jobs in Libya and Iraq. Now educated professionals from these once prosperous middle income societies are struggling for their lives in camps across Turkey and Jordan. Once proud men and women, along with their children, are begging for entry at the ports of Europe. Yes! these wars have exported and injected hatred all over the Muslim world. But the likes of Salah Abdesalam are not migrants, or children of these recent refugees. Those poor souls – countless Aylan Kurdi’s – are struggling to enter Europe. Salah Abdesalam and the fascists like him are not products of these wars; these are offsprings of a different crisis: Crisis of Identity.
First generation migrants into UK and Europe arrived for economic reasons. They were treated ‘second class’ – if lucky. But they were grateful for finding means of livelihood, of earning in Pound, in Frank and mighty German Mark. They derived empowerment by sending money back to their relatives in ancestral villages and towns. Their sense of importance lay in their ability to raise their families, educate their children, buy modern gadgets – Sony TV, Panasonic VCR, Rodo Watches – and driving black or silver Mercedes Benz. But their identity, their world and their place in it was still being defined by their points of origin. What I describe is the story of ‘economic migrants’ from South Asia. But it fits more or less for migrants from middle east and Turkey and other parts of Muslim world.
For first generation migrants, docile subservient loyal Mohammedans, SP and DC Sahab Bahadur remained their anchors and recipients of their expensive gifts. But no more. The generation of Salah Abdesalam and all others of his kind – from London to Brussels – piss on the images of Raj or Europe’s past. They are confused, rudderless children of Huxley’s ‘brave new world’. They seek identity – and above all equality – from within the political conventions of modern Europe. A Europe that lectures the world and wants to believe in ‘Liberte, egalite and fraternite’, but fails to practice it. Unable to fit in Europe’s neat racial definitions – English, German, Flemish, Swedish and so on – and rejecting the ‘second class economic migrant status’ of father’s generation, they turn first to their ‘roots’ and finding these ‘pathetic’ they turn to Islam for empowerment.
But their Islam is not the Islam of their fathers; their’s is an imaginative Islam, a classic Khilafah – pure and prescient that allows them to connect with a history that is mostly fantastic or overly exaggerated to say it mildly. But this imaginative Islam – a rejection of father’s faith and conventions – is laced with the concepts of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’. These ‘fascistic-Islamists’ are a classic physical manifestation of Benedict Anderson’s ‘imagined community’. A community in search of meaning, in search for a cause. Yes! Wars from Afghanistan to Syria provide them with a cause. But lets be clear: they are not products of these wars. They are products of a Europe that – unlike the egalitarian United States – fails to absorb them.
These ‘European fascist Islamists’ may venture into the father’s homeland – like the murderer Omar Sheikh – but they come here in search of ‘something’ an identity. They may even feel comfortable here, the way Omar Sheikh did initially, but they don’t belong here. Generation of Salah Abdesalam are a European monster. ISIS – briefly put – is an unintended ‘frankenstein creature’ a failure of imagination of all those intelligence agencies who helped create it to overthrow Bashar al Asad. These two monsters have joined together. Surveillance state -as being advocated even more forcefully after Brussels bombings – is only a symptomatic treatment. World needs to get together to reflect, to discuss and find solution. Blaming Muslims and Islam is only a game of semantics. It won’t help. Hillary Clinton was every inch presidential when she pointed this out in her response to Brussels bombings. If I had a vote in the US elections, I would give it to her. But as subject of her empire it hardly matters.
Moeed Pirzada. Director@media-policy.com & Twitter: MoeedNj
Will Modi join in the 19th SAARC Summit (Nov, 2016) in Pakistan?
Pakistan’s defacto Foreign Minister, Sartaj Aziz, met his Indian counter part, Sushma Swaraj, at the 37th Council of SAARC Ministers Meeting in Nepal and delivered formal invitation from PM Nawaz for Narendra Modi to attend the 19th SAARC Summit being held in Pakistan in month of November this year. Defense and foreign policy analyst General (R) Amjad Shoaib thinks that Narendra Modi will not attend coming SAARC summit in Pakistan and no one should fall to any illusion of Modi’s recent visit to Lahore where he attended a private marriage ceremony. While commenting on this visit he also mentioned how PM Modi double played Pakistan as soon after this visit, incident of Pathankot Airbase happened which ignited another episode of blame game towards Pakistan.
Altaf Hussain resurfaces in MQM Yom-e-Tasees; Will that restore the lost confidence?
Nabeel Gabol, Ex-Minister Ports & Shipping who had left MQM complaining of ‘strict control and discipline’ offers his analysis of current MQM Politics. After Mustafa Kamal & Anis Kaimkhani rebellion, MQM looked like facing its worst crisis since the ban on Altaf Hussain’s speeches and linkages shown with Indian Spy agency RAW. Nabeel Gabol mentioned deteriorating health and mental issues of Altaf Hussain which is the biggest challenge for MQM leaders sitting in karachi, while commenting on Altaf Hussain appearance in MQM Yom-e-Tasees. Does he thinks this Will restore the lost confidence of MQM? He said things are moving on a fast track so it would be early to comment on such subjects. Clear picture of Karachi politics would surface near General Elections 2018.
Bangladesh stages ‘Show Trial’ of Pakistani Officers! Why?
Sheikh Hasina’s govt in Bangladesh is encouraging a “Show Trial” of 195 Pakistani Officers on 26th March 2016. While this is not a court or tribunal and has no legal value but has serious implications for Pakistan. This political theater is being set to ignite hatred for Pakistan in Bangladesh as after the creation of Bangladesh both these countries Pakistan and Bangladesh have enjoyed good relations among its people. Dr Moeed Pirzada raised important questions in front of Ali Sultan, Vice President of Research Society Of International Law. According to Tripartite agreement these things were settled from both sides but now Bangladesh is using these facts for political purposes.
PPP criticism on Gen. Musharraf Exit !!!
Dr Moeed Pirzada anlayzed the Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf slipped out of the country after three-year travel ban was lifted and critically viewed PPP criticism while commenting on Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s statement, leader of the opposition Pakistan People’s party, in which he vowed to launch country-wide protests against the government for allowing Musharraf to travel. Dr Pirzada gave his analysis and discussed this issue with Moula Bakhsh Chandio who is a senator (PPP) and Adviser to the Sindh chief minister on information. PPP which was in power from year 2008-2013. During this tenure PPP government did not initiated any case against General (R) Musharaf but now they have started to criticize PML-N government. General (R) Pervaiz Musharaf had been prevented from leaving since April 2013, soon after he returned from self-imposed exile and became embroiled in a series of legal cases, including a historic government-initiated high treason trial. Decision to remove ban seen as sign government has conceded defeat to the will of the all-powerful military.
Mustafa Kamal emerging Hope For Karachi !!!
Mustafa Kamal, Ex-mayor of Karachi and former leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) who went on to form his own political party, the Pak Sarzameen Party, cancelled his press conference scheduled for Monday. Dr Pirzada raised important questions in front of Mustafa Kamal. Since Kamal’s return to the country on March 3, he and Anis Kaimkhani, another MQM dissident, have been holding press conferences every Monday and Thursday. While for the previous two Thursdays, press conferences have not been held, the party has been holding briefings regularly on Monday, in which former MQM leaders, senior members and sitting MPAs have made announcements to join Kamal’s party while lashing out at MQM chief Altaf Hussain.