| February 15, 2002 | Friday | Zilhaj 2, 1422 |
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Indo-Pakistan relations
Police reforms
Cotton committee’s problems
PMDC and medical colleges
Zebra crossings and traffic signals
Compressed natural gas
NAB’s role
Mobile phones
Misleading ad
Pakistan consulate meeting
Karzai’s visit
Evening study programmes
Death of Princess Margaret
THE Americans never cease to amaze the world. After the unfortunate events of Sept 11 (about which no one is sure about the perpetrators), the US government has persistently been over-reacting and creating more problems for itself around the globe then it is solving.
Its categorization of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the “evil axis” has alienated the US not only from its NATO allies but has also earned a mild rebuke from a steadfast ally like South Korea besides, of course, the usual murmurings from docile Muslim governments. Recommendations of Messrs Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney (reported by a senior Israeli official) about their not minding “one bit” should Ariel Sharon hang Mr Yasser Arafat have added a dastardly dimension to this self-damaging rhetoric.
The US President has repeatedly criticized Mr Yasser Arafat about not doing enough to control Palestinian extremists, and threatened to withdraw US recognition of the Palestinian authority. The question is what good has the US recognition of the Palestinian authority done, anyway? It didn’t deter Ariel Sharon from a year-and-a-half long rampage of the Palestinian territories destroying every institution of the Palestinian state, crippling it to a point where it virtually exists no more. It has now reached a point where Israelis have banished Mr Yasser Arafat to the confines of a house, making him practically powerless.
Controlling or influencing extremists to desist from violence is now a far cry for the Palestinian authority. In this scenario, admonishments being doled out to Mr Yasser Arafat for behaving irresponsibly and not doing enough, by the US President — the most powerful man on earth, at least for now — seem no more than a bad joke.
It is amazing that the Israelis can’t see what everyone else can, that violence begets violence, that what Ariel Sharon is doing to unarmed Palestinians using the enormous might of the Israeli defence forces is defaming the Israelis around the world, that the current cycle of Israeli violence and counter-violence by Palestinian extremists is inflicting deep wounds on the peace prospects that may become impossible to heal.
Half a century ago, Israelis were the targets of hate; they are turning themselves into one yet again. Whatever has happened to the saner elements in Israel? Even Shimon Peres doesn’t go beyond doling out empty threats of withdrawing Labour’s support to Sharon’s fragile coalition government.
The most baffling part, though, is to see the US President supporting naked state-terrorism by Israel while he makes US forces scan virtually every inch of the globe for locating and bashing anyone and everyone even remotely resembling an Al-Qaeda terrorist.
Whatever has happened to the saner Americans? Or, like the US government, has insanity taken the better of their senses too? Does the US still symbolize a government of the people, by the people, for the people? Or it is a government of the President, by the President, for the President? One certainly hopes not.
A.B. SHAHID
Karachi
I have read with interest Shahid Javed Burki’s article entitled ‘Moving towards West Asia’ (Feb 12). The article focuses on the future strategy for Pakistan and suggests that it should reorient itself towards West Asia away from India and South Asia.
There are several arguments against Mr Burki’s point of view:
Mr Burki has suggested that Pakistan could train its large population to service the requirements (labour? technical? managerial?) of West Asia. In fact this is being done already, certainly in the Middle East. However, here again Pakistan has to contend with Indian competition. The quality of Indian management and technical education is manifestly superior and has led to the senior positions going largely to the Indians.
While unpalatable from the Pakistani point of view, this will only intensify as India develops and it will become increasingly difficult for Pakistanis to compete in West Asia. I would also respectfully submit that employers there are relatively unconcerned about the fact that Pakistanis are Muslims. In the ultimate analysis this matters less than being competent and qualified for the job.
I would like to submit that if Pakistan acknowledges that India is developing rapidly, it would be folly for Pakistan not to take advantage of its geographical and cultural proximity to India. Allying itself to a tenuous ‘West Asian’ strategy would be to deny reality.
In a more civilized world, we would have Pakistani students in our universities (as indeed we