And its limited options
Our military leadership consistently claims that it does not make any distinction between the so called good and bad terrorists. Despite these pronouncements New Delhi and Kabul in unison keep on accusing Islamabad of allowing its territory to be used as a launching pad by terrorists
Quite a few compatriots will heave a sigh of relief on the news that Washington’s policy of granting visas for Pakistan remains unchanged. However it will prove to be a temporary succour if Islamabad continues to procrastinate on clamping down on jhadists of all hues and colours allegedly operating from its territory.
Pakistan is clearly on notice on this count. The freshly inducted Islamophobic and xenophobic Trump team has very judiciously excluded Pakistanis and Afghans from the seven countries on the Muslim ban list.
Obviously there is a method in the ostensible madness of the new US administration. It is well aware of its nuclear-armed quasi ally’s (sometimes termed as frenemy) strategic importance.
The US policy makers perhaps still reckon Islamabad can be a useful partner in bringing a semblance of peace in its backyard by facilitating a dialogue with the Afghan Taliban. However its options even on this count are becoming increasingly limited.
Pakistan can no longer get away with a policy — increasingly viewed as duplicitous by the west – of hunting with the hounds and running with the hares. Merely putting the UN proscribed JuD’s (Jamaat ud Dawa) chief Hafiz Saeed under house arrest will not be seen as enough.
The Hafiz has been in and out of the slammer many times since the mother ship of JuD, Lashker – e- Taiaba, was banned in 2001. But thanks to smart lawyers and benign prosecution he was always set free owing to ‘lack of evidence’.
Hafiz Saeed is smart. His relations with the media, thanks to his media savvy lieutenant Yahiya Mujahid, are excellent. On the eve he was incarcerated he was busy engaging the media in Lahore.
But despite his excellent philanthropist work few buy that this is all that JuD is about. How strong is the noose of the state around Hafiz Saeed only time will tell. But the sole arbiter of national interest, the army’s clarification that the JuD chief’s arrest is in the national interest is rather reassuring.
Of course the government is well aware that the stakes under the Trump administration are high. That is why when the US assistant secretary of state summoned our ambassador in Washington Jalil Abbas Jilani, he referred to Asia Pacific Group on money laundering (APG) and read its latest report, regarding alleged money laundering by JuD.
Obviously after the riot act being read loud and clear, Islamabad was left with no option but to move against the jhadist outfit. It was made amply clear by the US State Department official that if Pakistan fails to move it will be blacklisted with each of its financial transactions coming under scrutiny.
Obviously this is not going to end here. In the coming days the government surely will have to clamp down on other jhadist outfits whose leadership has been getting away scot free for years now.
Perhaps the first one will be JeM (Jaish e Muhammad). Last year the organisation was accused of masterminding the attack on Indian air force base at Pathankot.
Thanks to China using its veto power the UN Security Council was unable to declare its leader Maulana Masood Azhar a terrorist. Based mostly in Azad Kashmir, he remains free to spread his message, giving hateful sermons whenever and wherever he feels like. The spurious plea that since AJK is not part of Pakistan, hence JeM despite being designated as a terrorist organisation has a free pass is no longer going to wash.
Going by his past tweets, Donald Trump despite his polite telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Sharif shortly after being elected president is not expected to be soft on Pakistan. As early as 2011 he tweeted: get it straight Pakistan is not our friend.
The US secretary for Defence James Mattis has already pledged that he will work with Islamabad to focus on Pakistan’s need to expel or neutralise externally focused militant groups (read the Haqqani network) that operate within its borders.
Another favourite Trump’s hobbyhorse is release of Dr Shakeel Afridi, the incarcerated doctor who ostensibly worked for the CIA. This is perhaps not the right time to harass his family by denying them CNIC.
There is no denying the fact that Islamabad will come under intense diplomatic pressure from Washington. Including Pakistan in the Muslim ban list for visas will keep on hanging as a sword of Damocles over its policy makers’ heads.
Nonetheless in Pakistan’s real rather than manufactured national interest certain long overdue measures need to be taken sooner than later. But perhaps owing to our misplaced sense of grandeur our policy makers have long ignored the changing realities. Misguided by our flawed and obsolete security paradigms we continue to wallow in the victim syndrome.
Thankfully now the military and civilian leadership seems to be on the same page on Pakistan’s security dilemma. They are quite aware that the growing nexus between Kabul and New Delhi is being indirectly stoked by a belligerent Trump administration.
Not that Islamabad had a free rein under the Obama administration. Pakistan was being consistently pressed to do more and move without making any distinctions against all jhadist groups ostensibly operating from its territory.
The policy to tolerate if not actually harbour certain groups seems highly unsustainable now. New Delhi is successfully using this bogey to isolate Pakistan and egg the new US administration to penalise Islamabad.
Hence concrete steps and proactive diplomacy are the need of the hour. Unfortunately Sharif, perhaps slightly preoccupied by Panamagate, is lacking on both the counts.
The Pakistani military has proved itself capable of effectively dealing with any external threat. It has also been successful in countering terrorism to a large extent within its borders. Admittedly a lot still needs to be done.
However Pakistan being a nuclear power and having a thoroughly professional army is quite capable of meeting external and internal threats. It does not need cat paw jhadists to shore up its strategic capabilities.
Our military leadership consistently claims that it does not make any distinction between the so called good and bad terrorists. Despite these pronouncements New Delhi and Kabul in unison keep on accusing Islamabad of allowing its territory to be used as a launching pad by terrorists.
The myth that terrorists if provoked will point their guns against the state has already been exploded by highly successful counter terrorism operations in the past three years. Hence high time that actions are made to speak louder than words.