What is the need for Pakistan to give in to the demands of a ‘friendly’ Arab country?
A day ago, the foreign office of Pakistan gave a very astounding statement that they have no idea of the Pakistani militants going to Syria to join the rebellion there. That is strange because the agencies working in Pakistan know exactly who is infiltrating the border and who is not. The suspicious statement makes no sense as everybody knows that a “friendly Arab country”, Saudi Arabia has given 1.5 billion dollars to Pakistan to help bring the exchange rate of dollar down to ease our economy. That friendly Arab country is very keen on overthrowing Bashar al Assad of Ba’ath party , the Shia president of the state of Syria and has thus bought Pakistan to help send its militants to the region while it itself is trying to bring back the Saudi militants back to Saudi Arabia. The notion that the friendly Arab country gave funds to Pakistan as a noble gesture is not an innocent one. There are many strings attached, and with the Nawaz Sharif government it was not a difficult decision to succumb to alleged Saudi demands who have been making rounds in Pakistan for some time.
Once again, Pakistan is bracing itself for an operation like it did to provide training to Bahrain recently and acted against Palestinians in Jordan during 1970s.
The Syrian government has the support of Russia and Iran, one neighbour and the other almost neighbour of Pakistan, whereas the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are in favour of the rebellion forces and have been supplying arms to them. The Palestinian terror network Hezbullah also joined the rebellion forces to oust the shia president, along with the help of North Nigeria and Middle East countries. If it is true that Pakistan is exporting rebels to Syria, then it will be in serious trouble once the war is over and the repatriated militants might get engaged in serious shia-sunni fighting here, much alike the militants, the Taliban, that were sent to fight against Russia to make Afghanistan a buffer zone against the dominant India and the super power Soviet Union. It must not be forgotten what happened in 1980s when militants were recruited to fight in Afghanistan, an idea that was born by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and materialised by General Ziaul Haq; the backlash of which was internal suffering once the insurgents were repatriated back into Pakistan and formed their group which we know as Pakistani Taliban, which has now splintered into many groups and are much bloodier and cruel that the present day Afghan Taliban.
On the other hand, Iran has threatened with hot pursuit into Pakistan if it does not close down its sanctuaries and stops the militants from infiltrating into their border. Pakistan is making a grave mistake if sending troops to Syria also becomes part of its strategic depth, as it will mean doom for Pakistan in the global world, which it has already isolated Pakistan due to its in-bred terror networks. Not only will it bring shame to the nation, but will make it less credible globally.
Suppose if the Ba’ath party wins the civil war, due action can be taken against Pakistan from Soviet Union and its allies which will make it very troublesome for the country which is already in the grip of plethora of problems that it cannot solve on its own. Nor is Pakistan a self sustainable country that can look after its own affairs. It is also true that Saudi Arabia may strain relation with Pakistan in case it does not send troops to Syria, but the point to be noted is why is Saudi Arabia calling back its militias from the Syria? Seeing the radicalisation of the Syrian rebels, the US too is shying away from further helping the rebels, then why in the world should Pakistan become a part of this drama at the cost of its own security? What is the guarantee that nothing will happen to Pakistan in case the rebels lose their war? Will the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with many other sunni Middle Eastern countries protect Pakistan? Their extension of help is not a sincere one, as history has noted, then what is the need for Pakistan to give in to their demands in return of economic packages which have little or negligible gain for Pakistan? Moreover, the funds that the Saudi Arabia provided has not helped Pakistan in any way as the inflation rate still remains up and the suffering of the poor is growing by the day. How much is the present government sincere to its subjects will only be revealed with time, which at the present moment does not seem to be bright given that the shia-sunni tussle will increase with Pakistan helping out Syrian rebels.
The situation in Middle East is taking the form of shia-sunni tussle; being a part of this tussle will bring home more damage than good and Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price to restore peace which it has not been able to do for a long time. The curse of militancy will not be over unless the government is sincere and serious about eliminating them instead of cowering down to nations like that ‘friendly’ Arab country for the sake of money.
Serious lack of information, "The Palestinian terror network Hezbullah also joined the rebellion forces to oust the shia president.". Dear writer Hezbollah is not a Palestinian group and nor in Syria is fighting alongside rebels. Secondly Zulfikar Ali Bhutto never gave the idea of creating jihad in Afghanistan. he was pro Russia. Americans were not comfortable and arranged for to send him to gallows. Apart from this article is commendable and I stand for it. Regards
“The Palestinian terror network Hezbullah also joined the rebellion forces to oust the shia president, along with the help of North Nigeria and Middle East countries.”
At least get your facts right. A simple google search is enough to tell Hizbollah is allied with Bashar al Assad not with the rebels.
Very few among the Pakistani elite, academia or intelligentsia follow or read Arab media or Arab newspapers. The primary source of information for our elite is through western media. Our elite knows very little about Mideastern politics and dynamic despite being a direct neighbor. This author, writing on an important subject, has no idea whether Hezbollah is Palestinian or Lebanese. And yet a national daily publishes her article. There's no one to check the facts because there is hardly any Pakistani journalist who speaks Arabic or understands Arab politics.
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