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COMMENTARY
Will the real Musharraf please
stand up
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Pakistan reversed its policy on
Afghanistan by abandoning its support of the Taliban for
the sake of its own national interests, which saw it
side with the US in the war on terror. However, after
the Taliban were routed and al-Qaeda’s network was
scattered, it now appears that President General Pervez
Musharraf attempted to play the al-Qaeda card - that is,
he appeared to crack down on the organization in his
country only for personal recognition from the US to
ensure his military rule.
Pakistan’s newly
appointed Foreign Minster, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri,
delivered his first speech last week at the UN Security
Council in New York and surprised many with his
statement that most of the recent terror incidents that
had occurred in Pakistan were carried out by foreign
intelligence agencies (possibly implying the Research
and Analysis Wing - India's intelligence agency) and not
by al-Qaeda, as originally attested.
Kasuri’s
statement was contrary to all Pakistani statements in
the past and appears to be a bid to save Pakistan from
being declared by the US as a safe sanctuary for terror
organizations.
After the September 11, 2001
attacks in the US, it was largely with Pakistan’s help
that the US was able to play havoc with the Taliban
government. Pakistan provided three airbases to the US,
provided logistical support, intelligence aid and also
provided bases to rebel Afghan warlords to instigate
defections in the eastern Pashtun belt. This help
enabled the US to effectively subjugate the country and
oversee the installation of the pro-Western
administration of Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
Analysts agree that had Pakistan not supported
the US, the war could have dragged on for many more
months, instead of the two months that it took, and with
considerably heavier casualties on US and allied forces.
A year later, not all in Pakistan are happy with
the rewards that the country has received in return for
ditching its erstwhile allies, the Taliban. Pakistan's
naval chief, Admiral Shahid Karimullah, on January 14,
at a briefing on board the supply ship PNS Nasr, said
that despite Pakistan's policy in the post-September 11
period, the acquisition of technology and weapons
systems for the defense forces remained affected by
sanctions (imposed for Islamabad's earlier nuclear
tests) and the country would have to defend itself on
its own.
"As far as the military is concerned,
the squeeze on us continues, despite the perception to
the contrary with regard to sanctions," said Karimullah,
spelling out the various alternatives the Pakistan navy
was examining in terms of weapons acquisition and
strategy to counter Indian "forward posturing".
He said that the sanctions had compelled
Pakistan to look for its needs eastward. His comments,
and Musharraf's own admission of an impending danger
that Pakistan would be the next US target after Iraq,
clearly show that the only thing that was traded for
Pakistan in return for its cooperation with the US in
its war on terror was recognition for Musharraf’s
military rule in Pakistan.
After the Taliban and
al-Qaeda were booted out of Afghanistan, Pakistan became
the victim of terror incidents across the country,
whether it was churches, consulates or individual
foreign citizens. The Pakistani authorities immediately
pointed to the hand of al-Qaeda behind the attacks to
capture the maximum US attention. Under the same
pretext, there was a hue and cry that Pakistan was being
victimized for cooperating with the US. It was implied
that the entire al-Qaeda network was holed up in
Pakistan. To substantiate the claims, hundreds of Arabs
were handed over to the US, but, except for a few, none
was al-Qaeda, rather they were fresh volunteers who had
initially gone to Afghanistan to fight the US. When the
Taliban retreated, these Arab fighters ran helplessly to
Pakistan, where they were rounded up by the authorities.
This was designed to create fear in the US mind
that al-Qaeda was very much alive and ready to kick at
any time. At the same time, the impression was created
that Musharraf was indispensable in Pakistan in
cooperating with the US.
For instance, take two
high-profile cases in Karachi: A bomb blast near the US
consulate in which several Pakistanis were killed, and
the Sheraton blast in which several French workers were
killed. Both incidents occurred last year. And in both
cases law-enforcing agencies seized more than 70 persons
belonging to about 10 different local gangs with an
alleged affiliation to al-Qaeda.
These
investigations caused so much confusion for foreign
interrogators that they point blank refused to rely on
information supplied by Pakistani authorities. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation started to direct
interrogations and raids. After the killing of the
French workers, French counter-intelligence agents also
beefed up their presence in Pakistan. Last Thursday, a
French team arrived to interrogate suspects rounded up
in connection with the Sheraton blast as Pakistan's
efforts were not trusted.
Recently, US
authorities have insisted on launching big operations in
Southern and Northern Waziristan Agency to catch
al-Qaeda, Taliban and their Pakistani supporters.
Pakistan initially resisted the move, but the US has
pressed its case and Pakistan has agreed. Operations are
expected in the near future.
Pakistan's policy
statements have in the past mostly been generated by
Major General Rashid Qureshi, the press secretary to the
president and the chief of the Inter-Services Public
Relations of the Pakistan Army. Critics have said that
Rashid must be the only example in the world where a
public relations officer of the army acts as a
spokesperson of the country.
Now, though, the US
is publicly becoming exasperated with Pakistan and its
hollow promises. In the most recent example, the US
ambassador to Pakistan, Nancy Powell, said bluntly that
Pakistan must stop being a platform for terrorism and
honor its commitments to end infiltration by militants
across the Line of Control into Jammu and Kashmir.
And what Asif Ali Zardari, the detained spouse
of former premier Benazir Bhutto said last week is
echoing around the country. He cautioned Musharraf
against extending support to the United States, saying
that the president himself would be responsible if
Washington now pressured Pakistan into change its
policies, as ambassador Powell appears to be laying the
groundwork to do.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contactcontent@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
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