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Pakistan fears US hammer
blow
By Muddassir Rizvi
ISLAMABAD - As angry Pakistanis curse President
George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for
the war on Iraq, worries are growing in the country
about the war's long-term implications for Pakistan, its
ties with the United States as well as with rival
neighbor India.
At worst, many fear that what
they call the policy of US expansionism - which they say
in Iraq's case was disguised as a move to ferret out
weapons of mass destruction - may soon be knocking at
Pakistan's doors.
"What does war in Iraq mean
for Pakistan? These are monumental developments. Its
outcome will shape the future of all nations," wrote
analyst Ghazi Salahuddin in his column in the
English-language daily The News on Sunday.
Looking ahead, he sees justification some day
for the US and Britain to turn their guns on Pakistan,
even though it has been trying hard to stress its
contributions to the US-led "war on terrorism" after the
September 11, 2001 terror attacks. "Pakistan may find
itself at the center of the stage. We are a nuclear
nation and also a nursery of religious fundamentalism.
We are suspected by the United States of being a
'platform for terrorism'. Will it be our turn after
Iraq?" he asked.
Just over a month ago, US
ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell alleged that
Pakistan has failed to honor its promise of curtailing
cross-border infiltration into Indian-occupied Kashmir
and continues to be a "platform for terrorism". Her
forthright remarks caused an uproar, fueling demands for
her to be declared persona non grata. The US State
Department had to clarify her comments as a crisis
management measure, saying that she was misquoted by the
press.
In recent months, Pakistan has also been
accused of having nuclear links with North Korea, which
in October admitted that it had a secret uranium
enrichment program, and also Iran. Much has been written
about Western fears that Pakistan's nuclear weapons may
fall into the wrong hands.
Pakistani officials,
however, publicly discard such reports as being planted
by the anti-Pakistan lobby active in Washington that
they say wants to hurt the "congenial" Pakistani-US
relations after September 11 that have put Islamabad
among Washington's newfound allies.
They say
that Islamabad has a "foolproof" nuclear command and
control system. But privately, these officials whisper
the fears that Pakistan might come into the US line of
action some day in the future. Pakistani President
General Pervez Musharraf told a gathering of army
officers earlier this year in Lahore that people would
have to act wisely in these testing times, as Pakistan
could face an Iraq-like fate.
Responding to
speculation that Pakistan may be the next target of US
wrath after Iraq, Musharraf said, "We have to walk on
our own to stave off the impending danger." The
country's naval chief, Admiral Shahid Karimullah, has
also said nobody would come to rescue Pakistan in times
of need. This was evident in last year's standoff with
India, he pointed out.
"Though Pakistan is part
of the international coalition, in the given
circumstances, Pakistan will have to fight its own war
and depend on its own resources for defending itself,"
he said. "During the standoff, no one talked about us.
Only support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates was shown in term of oil."
The
restiveness is such that newspapers like Jang, the
country's largest Urdu-language newspaper, said in its
Saturday editorial that India might want to exploit the
situation with regard to Pakistan, its rival neighbor.
Some Pakistanis are also saying that the country should
not think that its friendship with the US makes it
secure, and should reorient its foreign policy and
diversify its pool of friends.
"We will have to
redefine our foreign policy and create viable and
working relationships with Russia and the European
Union," commented a researcher in the government-run
Institute of Strategic Studies, requesting not to be
named. "At the same time, Islamabad must concentrate on
strengthening its relationship with China, which has
always stood by us in thick and thin, but lately feels
distant amid Pakistan's out-of-the-way warming-up with
Washington," he said a day before Pakistan Prime
Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali left for Beijing on
Monday to meet the new Chinese leadership.
Meantime, anger at the war on Iraq which is one
country away from Pakistan after Iran to its west,
continues, with some calling it "American barbarism".
Already, anger has caused the government to cancel the
usual festivities and military parades to mark Pakistan
Day on Sunday as well as postpone the South Asian
Federation Games. Also pushed back was Jamali's visit to
the US. He was to meet Bush on Friday.
But while
the Pakistani government has had to consider domestic
anger over the attack on Iraq in canceling Jamali's
trip, it still does not want to openly anger Washington.
Islamabad remains under severe criticism for only
"deploring" the attack, rather than condemning it
outright. Already, the government believes that open
opposition to the war will erode its ties with
Washington, which badly needed the support from an ally
like Pakistan at it looks to gain more legitimacy for
its campaign, especially from Muslim countries.
The government has been feeling the heat since
the war began, and the days to come will be harder as
news of Iraqi casualties pour in. Daily protests and
candlelight vigils have been held since the start of the
war, and special prayers are being held in mosques. On
Sunday, almost 300,000 workers of the right-wing
religious parties, joined by some moderate political
outfits, stormed the streets in the northern city of
Lahore.
"We have gathered here to show our
solidarity to the people in Iraq and at the same time
express public anger and hatred against US tyranny,"
Riaz Durrani, spokesman for the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal,
an alliance of six religious parties told IPS.
(Inter Press Service)
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