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The pawns who pay as powers
play
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - In the complex undercurrents
that dictate the ebb and flow of Pakistani
politics and policy, yesterday's hero can very
quickly become today's scoundrel. Just ask Sheikh
Rashid Ahmed.
Sheikh Rashid is leader of
the Pakistan Muslim League and minister for
information in the administration of President
General Pervez Musharraf, with whom he enjoys a
very cozy relationship.
Sheikh Rashid's world was
rocked recently when Kashmiri militant leader
Yasin Malik, on a visit to Pakistan, praised
Sheikh 
Rashid's services for the
mujahideen fighting in Kashmir and recalled that
he used to provide military training to militants.
Sheikh Rashid strongly denied running any
such training camp and maintained that he was only
running a humanitarian camp for refugees from
Jammu & Kashmir.
In an effort to throw
some light on these startling revelations, and
equally strong denials, Asia Times Online spoke to
Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) official who was dismissed from
the service by the late dictator General Zia
ul-Haq because of his outspoken nature.
Khalid subsequently became a close
associate of Osama bin Laden, and played an
important behind-the-scenes role in both regional
and national politics. Before the US attack on
Afghanistan in late 2001, he was a part of the
back-room diplomacy between the US and the
Taliban, which failed miserably.
Asia Times Online: The
heroes of the past are the terrorists of the
present. Everything changes dramatically, so that
someone like Sheikh Rashid, who was once proud to
take part in Kashmir's struggle, is now afraid he
will be labeled a terrorist if he admits that he
ever supported armed struggle in Kashmir. Why?
[Sheikh Rashid and Khalid were interviewed
together on television and Rashid not only denied
that he had ever run a training camp, but also
refused to identify Khalid as an old friend.]
Khalid Khawaja: In fact, the
issue is terrorism. It is states and governments
which sponsor terrorism to begin with, and
subjects become the ultimate victims, and then a
vicious cycle of terror rotates. In this
state-sponsored crime there is no exception, and
Pakistan, India, the US and Israel all have the
same role.
Many of us call it
a battle between East and West, between the
Islamic and Judeo-Christian world, but it is neither
of these. It is in fact the ruling regimes that want
to dictate their will, and then they exploit
[people] in various ways. Sometimes in the garb of
monarchy, sometimes for democracy, and sometimes
for dictatorship.
Ninety percent of people accept
to be ruled, but there always remain some elements
who refuse to succumb. They fight for freedom
and resist till their last. However, in this
conflict of two minorities - those who impose their
will and those who resist it - the majority remains
the sole victim. Yet people talk about Islam
versus Christianity or Judaism. The basic theme
remains the same. There is a group of people who
want to impose their will, whether they happen to
be Christian or Muslim, and there is a group of people
who want to resist, and there is a silent majority
which is trampled in between.
This is exactly the interpretation when we talk
about Pakistan and India in the perspective of
Kashmir. In fact, Pakistan was never sincere
with Kashmiris. It was a selfish military
strategic maneuver to bleed India. Whatever was done, it
was for "Pakistanism". Meaning to impose Pakistan's
strategic agenda in the region. We just used
religion and jihad. It was just a ploy to engage
Indian forces in Kashmir and keep their financial
resources squeezed.
ATol:
Did not Pakistan morally support the
Kashmiri struggle so that the Muslim population
would get its rights?
KK:
What are you talking about? Indian Muslims
enjoy more rights than Muslims enjoy in Pakistan.
There are hundreds of Pakistani people, including
army-men, clerics, scholars and common people, who
have been missing from their homes for over two
years. It is a known fact that they were picked up
by intelligence agencies. They were never tried in
any court of law. Several of them were killed
without any trail. Even the British system of
justice during British India days was better, when
nobody was kept in detention without trial. We
ask, okay, don't give us the rights that free
nations have, but at least give us those rights
people had during the time of the British Raj.
A few years ago, a Muslim was picked by an
Indian intelligence agency. Prominent Muslim
leader and scholar Maulana Asad Madani met the
governor of the province and protested. The
governor said that this kind of interrogation was
common in Pakistan, "So why do you protest in
India?" Asad Madani reminded the governor in very
strong words that this was not Pakistan, but
India, and one had to produce a person in court,
so eventually the Muslim was produced.
The biggest curse
in Pakistan is things done in the name of
patriotism. I do not buy this theory. Patriotism is
a vague term until it is allied with a proper
ideology. I remember Colonel [Syed] Farooq's words
[Farooq was a Bangladeshi officer who took
part in the killing of Sheikh Mujib Rehman -
Bangladesh's founding father - and his family in
1975] when he visited Pakistan in the late 1980s.
He said that before the partition of British India
[1947] he was a loyal citizen of the East India
Company, then Pakistan, and even joined the
Pakistan army. Then he became a loyal citizen of
Bangladesh, and he said he may become loyal to
something else in the future. Therefore,
patriotism for a piece of land is
nonsense.
ATol: What happened
in Afghanistan?
KK: In
Afghanistan's case, a similar game was carried out
on a massive scale when Muslim youths from all
over the world were brought in by Pakistan and the
US [to fight against the Soviets in the 1980s].
They were tools for the empires' proxy war. The
name of jihad was used. The state religion in
those days supported jihad against India [in
Kashmir] and the USSR [in Afghanistan]. However,
once jihad was established, the states did not
have any way to convince Muslims that jihad was
only against the USSR and India, and not against
the US.
Now, again, it is a question of a
state imposing its will. The message is clear: if
you are against us, we will kill you and your
sympathizers. In this state terrorism, there is no
exception, be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Pakistan, India, the US or Israel. All are the
same.
You talk about terrorism by
individuals, but you do not discuss what they were
in the past and why they became terrorists. In
fact, it is state terrorism which starts it all. A
state recruited Muslim fighters all across the
world and gathered them in Afghanistan. The US
tried to kill them with a cruise missile attack in
1998 [in retaliation for terror attacks on US
embassies in Africa]. That terrorism was
unaccounted for, yet several innocent women and
children were killed by a proven US attack. It had
yet to be proven that the 9-11 incident was
carried out by Osama, but the US attacked
Afghanistan and targeted all. When the reaction
came, and helpless people became suicide bombers,
they were called terrorists.
I
have the example
of Ahmed Saeed Khadr's family. The whole family
was Canadian, and they came to Afghanistan to
take part in the country's rehabilitation. First
his 14-year-old son Omar Khadr was arrested in
Afghanistan. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay. It is
narrated in the US media and all information is available
on the world-wide web how he was sexually
abused in prison by US soldiers. His second
son Abdul Karim was shot in the back by US soldiers,
and was paralyzed. Another son, Abdul Rahman,
agreed to become a US informer. The stories
were published by the US media that despite
his services, he was also shabbily treated.
Ahmed Saeed Khadr and his family, including
his wife, granddaughter and two daughters,
took refuge in South Waziristan [in Pakistan].
They were not spared by Pakistani authorities.
Ahmed Saeed was brutally killed. His wife
and daughters were brought to Islamabad and then
set free. They were homeless. Nobody was ready to
give them a house for rent.
The families of the worst kind of criminals are not
deprived of this basic right. Our government did
so. Ahmed Saeed's family demanded his body be handed
over. The government of Pakistan even refused
that demand. Now just get into the shoes of the
victim and think how many options you would have
if you faced such consequences.
Now
Minister of Information Sheikh Rashid comes on TV
every day and proudly announces that we have
killed so many foreign militants. This is the same
minister who privately ran a similar military
training camp in the past and prepared militants.
Had he been out of government, he would have been
labeled a terrorist, but since he is part of the
government agenda, he is okay. In this fight of
interests, only pawns are crushed. India and
Pakistan fought proxy wars, the victims were
innocent Kashmiris who were raped, detained and
killed, or those who sacrificed their lives in
armed struggle. Now the two countries are friends
and the victims are those who sacrificed their
lives for armed struggle. Now they are terrorists.
When two elephants fight, it is the grass
that gets crushed. When two elephants make love,
it is again the grass that gets crushed. Whether
states fight with each other or make friendships,
it is only the tools who became victims.
ATol: Explain how Sheikh
Rashid started the training camp.
KK: The story starts in
1986-87, when out of emotion I wrote a letter to
General Zia ul-Haq saying that he was a hypocrite
and he was only interested in ruling Pakistan,
rather than imposing Islamic law in the country.
General Zia immediately ordered my dismissal from
my basic services in the Pakistan air force, where
I was a squadron leader, and from the ISI, where I
was deputed at the Afghan desk. I went to
Afghanistan and fought side-by-side with the
Afghan mujahideen against Soviet troops. There I
developed a friendship with Dr Abdullah Azzam [a
mentor of bin Laden], Osama bin Laden and Sheikh
Abdul Majeed Zindani [another mentor of bin
Laden's]. At the same time, I was still in touch
with my former organization, the ISI, and its then
DG [director general], retired Lieutenant General
Hamid Gul.
After General Zia's death in a
plane crash [1988], elections were announced and
there was a possibility that the Pakistan People's
Party [PPP] led by Benazir Bhutto would win, which
would be a great setback for the cause of jihad.
We discussed this situation, and all the
mujahideen thought that they should play a role in
blocking the PPP from winning the elections. I
joined my former DG Hamid Gul and played a role in
forming the then Islamic Democratic Alliance
comprising the Pakistan Muslim League and the
Jamaat-i-Islami. The PPP won the elections by a
thin margin and faced a strong opposition. Osama
bin Laden provided me with funds, which I handed
over to Nawaz Sharif, then the chief minister of
Punjab [and later premier], to dislodge Benazir
Bhutto. Nawaz Sharif insisted that I arrange a
direct meeting with the "Sheikh", which I did in
Saudi Arabia. Nawaz met thrice with Osama in Saudi
Arabia.
The most historic was the meeting in
the Green Palace Hotel in Medina between Nawaz
Sharif, Osama and myself. Osama asked Nawaz to
devote himself to "jihad in Kashmir". Nawaz
immediately said, "I love jihad." Osama smiled,
and then stood up from his chair and went to a
nearby pillar and said. "Yes, you may love jihad,
but your love for jihad is this much." He then
pointed to a small portion of the pillar. "Your
love for children is this much," he said, pointing
to a larger portion of the pillar. "And your love
for your parents is this much," he continued,
pointing towards the largest portion. "I agree
that you love jihad, but this love is the smallest
in proportion to your other affections in life."
These sorts of arguments were beyond Nawaz
Sharif's comprehension and he kept asking me.
"Manya key nai manya?" [Agreed or not?] He was
looking for a Rs500 million [US$8.4 million at today's
rate] grant from Osama. Though Osama gave a
comparatively smaller amount, the landmark thing he
secured for Nawaz Sharif was a meeting with the [Saudi]
royal family, which gave Nawaz Sharif a lot of
political support, and it remained till he was
dislodged [as premier] by General Pervez Musharraf
[in a coup in 1999]. Saudi Arabia arranged for his
release and his safe exit to Saudi Arabia.
That was a typical situation, when Osama
was famed for his generosity, and even politicians
like Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who was president of
the National People's Party and president of the
Islamic Democratic Alliance, and then interim
prime minister, were also after me to arrange
meetings with the "Sheikh".
Then
Nawaz Sharif
introduced me to Sheikh Rashid, and he took me
to his Freedom House camp near Fateh Jang Road near
Rawalpindi. He asked me to get support from Arabs.
I took several of my Arab friends to his training
camp, and they provided him with some money,
though they were not satisfied with the
environment.
The youths were
mostly trained to fire AK-47 rifles, but there was
no arrangement for the ideological training
of youths. That was the point on which the
Arabs objected, that it is ideological training that
makes a difference between a mercenary and a
mujahid. Rashid was the least bothered about
ideological training, he was interested in money -
Rs50,000 per person. Some money was provided to
Rashid, and he claimed that he procured AK-47 guns
with that money. How many, I do not remember.
ATol: What you are saying
means that it was all a fraud in the name of
jihad?
KK: Jihad needs
strong justification, and when it is launched it
requires piety in character. We as Muslims believe
that if a person is wrongly killed it amounts to
the killing of entire humanity.
ATol: What do you say about
suicide bombers who carry out random attacks?
KK: They are reactionaries
whose reactions are illustrations of anger and
frustration, but we cannot call it Islam at all.
In their behavior, although they are Muslims, they
are the same as [Pentagon chief Donald] Rumsfeld,
[President George W] Bush and [Vice President
Dick] Cheney, who, in reaction to 3,500 killed
people in New York, made a full season of killing
people in Afghanistan and Iraq. The way the US
imposed war on Afghanistan, the real mujahids,
like [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar and Osama went
into the background, and the leadership is in the
hands of those who do not know what jihad is all
about. They are just venting their frustration
against the US.
Syed Saleem
Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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