| On May 21, 2010, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Commander General Stanley McChrystal visited Pakistan and provided an update on the alliance’s current operations in Afghanistan to Pakistani leaders. He also called on Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and discussed matters of mutual interest and defence cooperation. ISAF commander also briefed a group of Pakistani parliamentarians on current operations and strategy in Afghanistan. According to the US Embassy, ISAF Commander frequently visits Islamabad to consult with Gen Kayani and Pakistani leaders to collaborate with Islamabad to achieve their mutual goals of defeating terrorism and establishing regional peace and security. This was stated in the press release issued by US embassy in Pakistan. The question arises whether the visits of ISAF chief and other commanders as claimed by the embassy have helped in improving the security situation in Afghanistan or not. On ground the situation is simply quite pathetic and horrible. Seventy per cent area of Afghanistan is under control of Taliban despite the presence of more than 113,000 US-led NATO troops. ISAF troops probably have failed to control the Afghan situation. The troops are also under terrible amount of stress and losing their faith due to their long stay and that too thousands of miles away from their homeland. It is also painful to know that since 1979 over one million Afghans have been killed and more than five million had become refugees. Major bulk of the refugees entered in to Pakistan. Two million Afghans have been displaced within the country as a result of ceaseless fighting. The capital of Afghanistan is presenting horrible scene of tragedy where more than 30,000 people have been killed and an even number buried in common graves. Thousands of people have suffered death and injuries because of land mines, US bombing, suicide attacks and poverty. The tragic part of this war against terror is that the country having 652,000 square kilometres area and with a population of 25,838,797 is at the mercy of western forces, Indian and Israeli intelligence agencies. However, the fall out of Afghan crises has directly affected Pakistani security. The imposed war has also put Pakistan under worst kind of insurgency. She was forced to deploy more than 140,000 troops to tackle the foreign sponsored militancy in its tribal areas. Her security forces are busy in eliminating terrorism from the country. Thousands of civilians and security forces’ personnel have been killed because of suicide bombers and sabotage activities. Pakistani military had launched 209 major and 510 minor operations in 10 regions. According to reliable sources 2,573 Pakistani army officers and soldiers had been martyred in the fighting so far, which include one 3-star general, two 2-star generals and five brigadiers. But the western, Jewish and Indian media use to blame Pakistan and her intelligence agencies for playing double game. In this connection talking to senior journalists in Islamabad, Army Chief Gen Kayani rejected the allegations of double game leveled against Pakistan intelligence agencies, saying that 73 intelligence officers had embraced martyrdom in Pakistan. Coming back towards the discussion, it is worth mentioning here that US has increased the intensity of drone attacks during the democratic era. She has violated Pakistan territorial boundaries and carried out 131 drone strikes in FATA area. As a result more than 1,100 people have been killed and many wounded. The comparison of casualties and deployment of forces shows that Pakistan has sacrificed a lot in war against terror. According to ISPR, Pakistan has deployed 140,000 strong force with 821 posts on its side of the border whereas Coalition forces have a total of 113,000 force with just 112 posts along their side of border. The war against terrorism has affected 30,452 people since 9/11, out of which 21,652 are civilians whereas 8,765 are security forces men who embraced Shahadat. NATO-led ISAF forces have just lost 1,184 troops so far. After suffering so much losses one fails to understand the US logic to pressurise Pakistan to ‘do more’. US should provide all the assistance to Pakistan as promised in the recently held Pak-US strategic dialogue. The second round of strategic talks is being held on July 21, 2010, in Islamabad. The Indian lobby present in Obama administration is trying its best to sabotage the strategic talks and keep on planning and staging some activity to malign Pakistan. The unexploded bomb incident of Times Square is one of the episodes of cocktail serial of “Propaganda against Pakistan”. The producers and directors of the crafted serial are RAW, Mossad and anti-Obama elements of CIA. Reports are there that the remaining episodes of the said serial would be performed shortly, preferably around July 15, 2010. Therefore, it’s the need of hour that Foreign Office should hold negotiations with US counterpart and let them know about Pakistani future worries. Further Pakistan’s main worry is India’s deep involvement in Afghanistan in the name of development. Presently, her 12 consulates and 30 intelligence detachments are deployed along Pakistan’s western border which are busy in spreading terrorism in Pakistan. The key players of war on terror have realized that Afghan issue cannot be resolved without taking Islamabad into confidence. US should be mindful that intelligence failure of her agencies and using pressure tactics against Pakistan by launching attacks might not be acceptable to Islamabad in future. Thus foreign offices of both the countries should try to remove the ambiguities in bilateral relations. American administration and so-called civilized western powers should respect the emotions of Pakistani, Afghan and Iraqi masses before demanding and repeating the music of ‘do more.’ This ‘do more’ music becomes very painful once we come across the stories of our comrades who have laid down their lives, the civilian who have been victimized through suicidal missions, internally displaced persons who have to sacrifice their lives and suffer material losses during this war on terror. One of the leading Pakistani English newspaper on May 22, 2010, reported an occasion, when a retired army Captain Zafar Tajammal dismissed US demands for Pakistan to ‘do more’ to fight terrorists as he choked back his tears. His son, Captain Bilal Zafar, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while leading a forceagainst entrenched Taliban fighters. He said, “I loved him so much that once I told him, I will not get you married because I love you so much. I am afraid I will not be able to share my love with your wife.” The Shahadat of Captain Bilal also reminded me of Major Muhammmad Ehsan, a brave son of “Frontier Force Regiment’s unit ‘The Volunteers’. I had trained Major Ehsan. He had joined my team as Second Lieutenant in 2000. Later on, I put him as adjutant but could never imagine that just after eight years a day will come when I will identify his completely burnt out dead body as witness and dispatch him to his home town. The father of Captain Bilal very rightly said that if there was an American dignitary sitting in front of him then he would certainly try to ask him, what else a human being can do more than sacrificing his life. American and western think tanks must ask from their authorities, has any other army in the world suffered so many casualties while fighting terrorists. But unfortunately the Indian and Israeli funded think tanks ignore Pakistani sacrifices and start yelling against Pakistan to hide their own intelligence failures in the case of incidents like bombing in New York’s Times Square and Twin Tower incident of 9/11. Therefore, such type of propaganda does add to straining US-Pak relations and keep on widening the gap between Islamabad and Washington. In this connection US leadership, if serious in improving the relations, has to take steps to chain her domestic and external watchdogs. The solution to war against terror lies in unconditional withdrawal of NATO-led forces after holding elections under UN. An elected government should be provided assistance through United Nations Security Council for elimination of militancy and to develop Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghan borders should be sealed with concertina wire. India should be asked to roll back his intelligence setup from Afghanistan. The restructuring of Afghanistan should be the primary objective of UN and Afghan governments. Pakistan should be handed over dronetechnology to guard her area. The economic aid as promised to Pakistan be provided immediately to carry out development in the affected areas of FATA and Swat. The local political leadership and general masses should be provided protection against militants at all cost. The operation in any Pakistani area if required be planned with the consent of National Assembly and no foreign dictation should be accepted against our sovereignty. |
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