A sentence without the word “bomb blast� or more appropriately “suicide bomber� is incomplete these days in Pakistan. So much so that now there are jokes associated with the suicide bomber. Never a day goes by without the knowledge that there was a bomb blast, bomb found, bomb threats to schools and restaurants and the beat goes on. Isn’t the “War on Terror� ripping Pakistan off?
And it is not just the bomb blasts that are hurting Pakistan, the developments in the tribal areas of Pakistan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan have shown the fault lines in this pseudo war. And then there is the blame game which the world absolutely loves to play with Pakistan. India invented the game, America learnt well from the Indian coaches, consequently trained Europe and Afghanistan was bound to follow suit being the satellite of just about every country except Pakistan. That is not to say that incursions do not take place at all, maybe they do take place but Pakistan alone is not to be faulted for it. The President of Kabul (not Afghanistan), Hamid Karzai takes special interest in the said game.
One thing that has changed after 9/11 is that the World has become very unsafe compared to the US. Strange and controversial as it may sound, there haven’t been any significant attacks, none actually, after 9/11 in the US. Compared to that, Asian countries have suffered a lot after 9/11 not just due to terrorism but also due to the American adventures. In fact, America was safe before 9/11 it has become even safer now; the only thing that has happened after 9/11 is that the world in general has been unsafe. So why should the world pay and that too to the terrorists as well as the Americans?
This does not mean that the fight, not war, against terrorism should be abandoned but should rather be redirected. In case of Pakistan, raiding and bombing Madrassa’s (religious schools) in Bajaur and other tribal areas will not change anything; rather it will reciprocate into a suicide bomb somewhere in Peshawar or any other part of Pakistan. Children study in these Madrassas as there are children in other cities of Pakistan studying in different schools. Whatever they are being taught is another matter altogether and has its roots in a lot of places such as the Middle East, the Cold War and the like.
A paradigm shift is required to end the unnecessary sufferings, especially in Asia. At this point of time, we need to get a reality check before the reality checkmates us.
The US is like a sixth grader school bully. The bully wants to take everybody’s lunch money, toys and everyone’s everything which catches his eye; like the US. He is simply not content in whatever he has, like the US. Wants to have all the toys there are to have and consequently dislikes when anyone else has one those exclusive toys. The bully also has a humongous appetite, like the US. Above all, he is very hungry (again) now, again like the US. The bully in question is in one of his bullish moods these days. Iraq hasn’t satiated his hunger. Furthermore, he is planning to pounce upon Iran.
As if this wasn’t enough, the US is now blaming China for trying to destabilize the world. The man behind these outrageous remarks is none other than the little known American Vice President Dick Cheney. So what made the US VP blame China?
There may be many motives behind this blame game. The power politics of Washington maybe one of the reasons; Bush in particular and the Republicans in general are walking on a tight rope these days. Or maybe it was Dick Cheney himself trying to get some attention. Let’s face it, hardly anyone knows the guy in the US let alone half way across the globe. Fortunately or unfortunately, Cheney is serious this time and it seems that the Chinese anti-satellite missile test is to be blamed for Cheney’s Oscar acceptance speech in Australia.
China conducted an anti-satellite missile test last month, by which it destroyed a satellite (belonging to China) in space. It was the first test of its kind in about two decades. Before China, US (Bully!) and Soviet Union had conducted such tests. On this account, the US (read Cheney) is blaming China that this test is not in accordance with the country’s stated “peaceful aims�. The question that arises is that what is America’s peaceful aim in the first place?
The answer can be observed fairly easily if one looks at the adventures America has undertaken worldwide, especially in the Middle East. America does not have a peaceful aim with regards to World peace. The criticism of this test looks even more hypocritical considering the fact that George Bush’s new space policy which looks more like threat than a policy. One interesting clause in that policy was “preserve its (USA’s) rights, capabilities and freedom of action in space”; as if the US was not doing the same on earth.
To top this off, America is currently in the process of “finding suitable sites� to deploy its National Missile Defense system in Europe; UK, Poland and Czech Republic being the top candidates. An interesting thing about this hypocritical program is that it started off as a “space wars� program in the 80s by the then US President Ronal Reagan. At that time it was proposed that satellites would used to destroy missiles using lasers. But fret not innocent nations, this system is only for the “rogue nations�.
P.S. Contact Dick Cheney for a little 101 on “How not to become a Rogue Nation�, to avoid potential hazards.
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