Schadenfreude of some

The Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna has welcomed the stoppage of US aid to Pakistan, as has the Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Munawwar Hassan. Professor Sajid Mir of the Marakazi Jameeat Ahl-e-Hadith has also added that this is the best opportunity to be rid of US aid for good. Now I have a question for the army’s policy makers who left no stone unturned in strengthening the Jamaat-e-Islami: Did they not know, in the end analysis, the ultimate aim of the extremist and religious parties of the right-wing and India is one and the same? India was also against the creation of Pakistan and an overwhelming majority of religiously-inclined politicians was also against the Pakistan Movement; 63 years later, when the Pakistan army is being pressurised by the US, these same religious extremists are opposing the Pakistan army.

On the one hand, the US is razing the prestige and dignity of our generals and our defence institutions. On the other hand, the military leadership is being targeted internally and these very politicians, who are ostensibly proponents of peaceful electoral politics, are practically the aides and supporters of terrorists and try to placate the enflared emotions of the public against these terrorist, and these terrorists are engaged in direct war against the Pakistani army and have martyred more than 5000 of its officers and jawans. Why is the Pakistan Army the combined target of these three: India is also antagonistic towards the Pakistani army; the Jamaat-e-Islami has also expressed satisfaction at the stoppage of aid to the army and the terrorists are forever embattled against it attacking its checkposts and troops.

Have our defence policy makers ever considered the fact as to why these supposedly poles-apart forces are of one mind on this issue? Have they ever thought of the fact that the harm that the religious forces have caused in Pakistan internally has a curious consonance with Indian designs? Have they ever analysed why Pakistan has to face mortification in front of its traditional rival, India? Do they recall that former Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Maududi, declared the jihad in Kashmir haraam? This declaration diminished the morale of the soldiers and mujahids in Kashmir. And do our policy makers have any inkling of the damage that there leasing out of the ‘jihad’ in Kashmir to the Jamaat-e-Islami has caused to the freedom movement in Kashmir?

The Kashmir freedom movement was moving with much success towards its telos? Indian and international public opinion was gradually turning in the favour of Kashmiris and even Indian rulers were beginning to be inclined to give Kashmiris their rights. But the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan changed the entire situation. It particularly facilitated India in labelling the freedom movement itself as terrorism and that left it bereft of the sympathies of the international comity. Now, the support of the Kashmiri public has been cut off from everywhere. Their lifelines within the Indian community have died down.

Furthermore, have our defence policy makers ever contemplated who were the elements that coaxed Yahya Khan to invade East Pakistan? Who used the might of the Pakistani army to massacre unarmed Bengalis and to incite such hatred in the Bengalis that those very people who had given unmatched sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan were now unequivocally opposed to it. Have our policy makers forgotten that who were the ones to brand East Pakistani as infidels and agents of Hindus? And who put up the biggest obstacle in the transferring of power to the elected leadership of East Pakistan?

These very people, by relying on their influence on the media and support within the establishment, lay the blame for this on Bhutto, that he was the one to impede the transfer of power whereas he was looking for a political solution through dialogue. The decision to invade was taken in Islamabad and it is pertinent to ask which political forces were behind it. Can we forget who the ones to plan the Mumbai attacks were? Now it’s a fact in the public domain that it was a collusive effort of the religious extremist and terrorists and the plan was to instigate an Indo-Pak war and the terrorist would take advantage of that to capture the rule in Pakistan. The fact is that these people can never be pro-Pakistan. They can go to the extent of Pakistan being destroyed at the hands of India to achieve their ends. On the one hand, they want to enflame India by providing it an excuse to attack Pakistan by such terrorist acts. On the other hand, they laud such steps as the stoppage of military aid to Pakistan. On this question, India, religious extremists and terrorists have the same opinion.

Thus, do our defence policy makers realise that when there are sympathisers of religious extremism and terrorism within our institutions, they are doing nothing but facilitating the fulfilment of Indian aims? If we won’t turn the Pakistan army into Pakistan’s army, it will never be able to be the impregnable fortress that it aspires to be. Till the people who use the name of religion to achieve their ends can exercise their influence in the army, our defence capabilities will continue to be compromised.

If this difficult time of gloom for our army is a cause for celebration for our enemies, there is a silver lining for us as well. And that is that the public has shown its support for the army. The leader of the country’s largest party, President Asif Ali Zardari, has steadfastly defended the army. People-friendly and progressive circles have also raised their concerns and the people who tried to campaign against the army in the wake of OBL’s death have been defatigated. Before this incident, the approval ratings of the army were close to 83 percent in the public. Despite the vociferous anti-army propaganda, the ratings still remained at 79 percent.

This obviously means that the campaign of religious extremists and terrorists to malign the army in the name of religion was badly defeated and the graph of the army’s popularity remained almost the same with a slight dip. Since the pressurisation of the US, the graph has now risen once again and it shall continue to rise, if God wills so. Because the relationship between the public and the army is of the nationalist kind. It’s a bond of the land. And such bonds seldom have strings attached.

The writer is one of Pakistan’s most widely read columnists.