WikiLeaks has revealed the true image of those who have been entrusted the task to defend our national interests, state sovereignty and national exchequer. It has left no doubts in our mind about the lack of credibility of men like Musharraf , whose faith and commitment to Pakistan was so weak that he did not consider it secure enough for his family to live here, or for his illegally acquired assets to be located in this country. It also confirms the politics of opportunism of those politicians who were part of his illegitimate rule.
This country has been pillaged by none other than its paid civil or uniformed bureaucracy and few politicians like the present lot for very long. We should not forget that the British ruled the subcontinent for two centuries with collaboration of such men who traded their loyalty to the motherland in return of assets and power, and even today are proud of their role.
After independence, other than Quaid-e-Azam and to some extent Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, everybody at some stage has played the role of second fiddle to foreign powers and their global interests, even when they conflicted with our sovereignty and national interest. Our economic policies have been planned and executed directly by none other than the nominees of USA, IMF or World Bank.
Ayub Khan laid down the foundation for a policy where our rulers conspired to serve foreign powers in return for political support of their illegitimate regimes. Zia-ul-Haq took this policy of comprising our sovereignty to new heights and Musharraf then broke all barriers. It was his adventurism and greed that angered the Baloch nation, which has led to an insurgency, yet the establishment and his foreign godfathers would not allow him to be held accountable for the murders of Akbar Bugti and thousands of others.
How ironical that this very insurgency is being financed and supported by the US backed Afghan regime and our neighbour to the East. It is also sad that our politicians including Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had to some extent succumbed to these pressures, but it must be kept in mind that they were victims of internal intrigues by the establishment.
The sitting president is as worse as Musharraf because during their respective tenures every decision was taken and is being taken after consent of US envoy. It is for the people of Pakistan to understand that foreign powers prefer weak and corrupt rulers who have located their illegitimate assets abroad which can used as a leverage to influence their working to suit the strategic interests of these powers.
Despite all this, we must remember that it was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who stood his ground and went ahead to confront the US administration when he decided to go ahead with our nuclear defence capability and getting the Arabs to use oil as a weapon. Even the weak Nawaz Sharif refused to obey the US demands not to test our nuclear deterrence or demand restoration of independent judiciary led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
We have allowed ourselves to be exploited by religious parties whose sons and daughters have never participated in the so called jihad, financed either by America to avenge their Vietnam defeat in Afghanistan, or other exploits to destabilize Pakistan. Today, the lives and property of our citizens and our national insecurity is insecure because of the wrongdoings of our own opportunists.
ALI MALIK TARIQ
Lahore