The California rampage

Ramifications for Pakistan

What was feared finally happened: a spectacular terrorist attack in the west killing many, perpetrated by Pakistanis or persons of Pakistani origin. Syed Rizwan Farooq and his wife Tashfeen Malik were both from here.

According to media reports, both allegedly visited Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and were radicalised in the past two years. Obviously it was a well-planned terrorist attack. The brazen manner in which the couple went on a shooting rampage at the facility in the Californian town of San Bernardino, where Farooq also worked, leaves little to doubt.

President Obama was cautious about the purpose of the mass shooting, terming “mixed motives” behind it. But most of the Republican presidential hopefuls, led by the maverick Donald Trump, have already declared the attack as radical Islamic terrorism.

This is not good news for Pakistan and for Pakistanis living in the west. We have always maintained that we are a victim of terrorism, not a perpetrator of it.

To a large extent it is true that many thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives at the hands of terrorism perpetrated in the name of religion. The Pakistani military is also engaged in war against these terrorists at a tremendous cost.

Despite this, the perception that Pakistan is not doing enough to rein in terrorists using our territory persists. The California incident will only reinforce the stereotype that Pakistan is still a training ground for jihadists from all over the world.

Our various spokesmen, military and civilian, are at pains to emphasise that the Pakistani state does not make any distinction between the good and the bad terrorist. The bad in this case is the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and affiliated groups. The good are the Afghan Taliban and the India-centric jihadist groups.

President Obama was cautious about the purpose of the mass shooting, terming “mixed motives” behind it

 

The COAS, General Raheel Sharif, has declared on numerous occasions that the Pakistani military has no favourites and is going after all terrorists. Probably this is what the military is doing. But the stark reality is that the fallout of policies being pursued since the Afghan jihad post former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan cannot be reversed in eighteen months.

The US wants Islamabad to broker peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Kabul regime. At the same time it wants Pakistan to go after the feared Haqqani group and India centric jihadi groups. In this context Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif the other day asked a rhetorical question: “How are we expected to eliminate them and also talk to them at the same time?”

This conundrum is an outcome of decades of flawed policies mostly pursued by former military strongmen. Now that the chickens have come home to roost the present leaders — civilian and military — and the nation as whole have to face the music.

Unless we are seen as willing to pursue a scorched earth policy against terrorists across the board and without making any distinctions, Islamabad will continue to be branded as an exporter of global jihad. But this is easier said than done. No matter how difficult to bite the bullet, obsolete security paradigms and notions will have to be ostracised.

Firstly, we need to improve our relations with our neighbours. Ties with both India and Afghanistan continue to remain strained. Iran is our Islamic brother, friend and neighbour. But even Iranian mullahs view us with suspicion.

Much is made about our deep rooted and time-tested friendship with China. Undoubtedly Beijing is a proven friend. But even here the jihadists have left no stone unturned to foment trouble in Xinjiang province bordering Pakistan.

This is not to say that the Pakistani state is entirely at fault dealing with this complex situation. Nonetheless a fresh look at policies is urgently required.

Take the case of India. Under Narendra Modi’s BJP government, relations between Islamabad and New Delhi remain on the skids.

We presented, with much fanfare, a dossier of alleged interference by RAW inside Pakistan to the US administration and the UN at the highest level. But no one even took notice of it, or perhaps even read it.

This is symptomatic of the abject failure of our approach towards neighbours. Somehow the world does not take our ‘victimhood’ lament seriously.

Prime Minister Sharif had a rather brief meeting with the Indian prime minister on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris. Barkha Dutt, the NDTV journalist, in her just published book has claimed that Sharif had a one-hour secret meeting with his Indian counterpart last year on the sidelines of the Kathmandu SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co operation) summit as well.

Whether true or not, why should the elected leader of Pakistan be required to look behind his back when meeting the Indian prime minister? The reason perhaps lies in the widely held perception that the military objects to civilian leaders cozying up to the Indians.

Unless Islamabad, Kabul and New Delhi reach a modicum of an entente, it will be virtually impossible to combat the common enemy of terrorism

It is another matter, however, if General Zia-ul-Haq turns up uninvited at a cricket match in India or Musharraf, the perpetrator of Kargil, goes and shakes hands with Vajpayee at a SAARC summit. It was none other than the Musharraf government that engaged in secret diplomacy with New Delhi to find an ‘out of the box’ solution to the Kashmir issue’.

No one accused these military dictators of being unpatriotic. But our punditocracy, with a little prodding from the ubiquitous establishment, has no qualms in doubting the credentials of civilian leaders. Hopefully the present military leadership fully realises that in order to uproot terrorism a semblance of cordial diplomatic relations with New Delhi is axiomatic.

War with India is not an option. A two-front situation needs to be neutralised sooner rather than later.

So far as Kabul is concerned, relations with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani started on an auspicious note. The freshly elected Afghan president last year even visited Pakistan, annoying New Delhi in the process. But soon Pak-Afghan relations became hostage to oft chartered territory of accusations and counter accusations of facilitating terrorists.

Unless Islamabad, Kabul and New Delhi reach a modicum of an entente, it will be virtually impossible to combat the common enemy of terrorism. Of course Islamabad singlehandedly cannot alter the situation. It will take concerted efforts of all to embark upon more focused and nuanced policies to uproot terrorism.

However post California massacre calls for Islamabad being seen to do more will gain more urgency. In the meanwhile Pakistani diaspora will have to face discrimination and in some cases persecution owing to no fault of theirs.