| July 13, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 5, 1426 |
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A question of image
The shadow of anarchy
MORE than a decade after they were massacred in cold blood, the remains of 600 Muslims of Srebrenica were lowered into their last resting places on Monday. To a world still gasping at the effects of the July 7 London bombings, this was a non-event. But those who witnessed the final rites and had the misfortune of surviving the Bosnian holocaust are not going to forget the trauma all their lives. Bosnia was Europe’s last mass tragedy of the twentieth century. Throughout the last century, ‘civilized’ Europe saw some of mankind’s most terrible atrocities. They included the Nazi massacre of Jews, gypsies, German dissidents and PoWs, the murder by Stalin of 15 to 23 million people, and the aerial bombings of cities, including the British fire-bombing of Dresden. The exact number of civilians killed in the air war has not yet been established, so is the case with the number of Muslim civilians slaughtered in Bosnia.
Srebrenica epitomized both Nato’s unwillingness to protect Muslim civilians and the UN’s powerlessness to do so. The two organizations must continue to bear this guilt, because the tragedy in that small town had not come suddenly. Slobodan Melosovic, the Serb strongman, had attacked Bosnia in April 1992 starting a ruthless campaign that led to at least 200,000 civilians killed, thousands of women raped and at least two million rendered homeless. The world then saw an amazing phenomenon: when Serb forces laid siege to Sarajevo, the UN forces pulled out to avoid casualties. Srebrenica had been declared a Safe Area by the UN, and a small Dutch peacekeeping force was on duty there when Serb forces attacked. Gen. Bertrand Janvier, the UN commander in Bosnia, asked the Security Council to either authorize him to defend the safe area or let him withdraw the small Dutch force. The UN merely asked the general to carry on as usual, and the Dutch contingent was taken hostage by the Serbs. As the Serb forces shelled the fleeing civilians, the Dutch commander asked for air support, but that was denied. When two Dutch planes dropped two bombs, the Serbs threatened to execute the Dutch hostages. Further air action ceased. The Serbs then took Srebrenica, and a massacre followed. A decade after the tragedy, the Serb generals responsible for the war crime — Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic — are still at large.
What happened in Srebrenica was an act of state terror at the turn of the century. Yet, amazingly, while so much attention is paid to individual terrorists and groups, state terrorism seems to go ignored. Like the atrocities in Srebrenica and other Bosnian towns, Palestine and Kashmir too have seen countless civilians falling victim to state terror. But those leading the war on terror seem to look the other way. The entire Bosnian war and the massacre of a minimum of 200,000 civilians in the heart of Europe expose the double standards of those who now lecture mankind on human rights. America and Europe and their handmaiden, the UN, failed to act because those at the receiving end were Muslims. There is no doubt the holocaust in Bosnia turned out to be a catalyst, for it shocked the Muslim world into a realization of its military impotence. The massacres of Muslims in Bosnia were, thus, a major factor in unleashing a wave of extremism that later swept the Muslim world and produced terrorists that struck on 9/11. The causes that produce terrorists are still there.
THE issue of image is upon us again. Speaking to German businessmen in Frankfurt on Monday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that he was conscious of the fact that Pakistan had an image problem but that a lot was being done to set things right. As proof of this, he cited the country’s GDP growth rate of 8.4 per cent for 2004-05. While not questioning the prime minister’s intention of wanting to improve the country’s image, Mr Aziz would perhaps accept that building an image is not a matter as simple as recounting its high GDP growth, increased foreign investment or ample foreign exchange reserves. How any country is perceived by the outside world depends on a matrix of various intangibles. These include the level of personal and political freedom, the level of socio-economic development and whether it is evenly-distributed or benefits only a privileged few, whether all citizens are equal before the law and have easy access to justice, and how the state treats its citizens, especially women, minorities, children and those who form part of the political opposition.
Regrettably, on most of these counts, we fare poorly. While Pakistan might have achieved high GDP growth, the fact of the matter is that this positive factor is lost in a mire of generally negative things happening in the country. Not to flog a dead horse, but the gross mishandling of Mukhtaran Mai’s planned visit to the US, the cover-up of Dr Shazia Khalid’s rape case, failure to check repeated misuse of the blasphemy, Hudood and Qisas and Diyat laws, and frequent policy flip-flops on fighting religious extremism at home are not at all good for Pakistan’s image and reputation. And now there is the proposed Hasba law which promises to turn one of the country’s four provinces into a mirror image of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Instead of words, the government should concentrate on action that goes beyond the limited area of GDP growth. It should learn to stand up to fundamentalist threats, instead of trying to broker a deal with zealots, take decisions to remove some of the massive inequalities and archaic tribal customs in Pakistani society and check rising discrimination against women and the minorities.
THE news that six Afghan policemen were found beheaded on Sunday in Helmand, 690 kilometres from Kabul, is disturbing. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for their deaths and for the beheading of a US soldier who was earlier reported missing. US officials finally confirmed the soldier’s death on Monday. On June 28, 16 Americans died when their helicopter was shot down, making it the deadliest single attack on the US military since the war began in 2001. The area looks like a calamity zone prior to September’s parliamentary elections and the Taliban are gearing up their attacks, ostensibly to spread terror. On Tuesday, four “dangerous combatants” detained in a heavily guarded prison in Bagram escaped. This shows that even international security forces posted at the base are not able to handle the situation. While the presence of international security forces is needed to maintain a semblance of law and order, of equal importance is the need to recognize that no one wants his country to be occupied: Afghanistan is no exception. Resentment of foreign forces exists, especially because they have miserably failed to provide security beyond Kabul. Since July 2002, 78 civilians have died as a result of US air strikes.
Mr Hamid Karzai’s government has a monumental task of creating a degree of peace and stability ahead of the upcoming September elections. It will have to double efforts if it wants to see a decent turnout in the polls. Security forces have had little luck venturing into the mountainous area in search of the insurgents and will be more reluctant after the beheading of Afghan soldiers. People too are frightened by the volatile situation and may be reluctant to cast their votes. All efforts must be made to ensure that the electoral process is not thwarted as only a democratic Afghanistan can take its people forward.