Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD

Pakistan is at critical crossroads. Its moral, intellectual and socio-economic and political capacity and lifelines are undermined by its own wicked rulers. If there were any educated, honest and intelligent political leaders of vision and integrity, they would worry about its present and future and try to pursue a navigational Change. Could the THINKING PEOPLE of Pakistan reverse the course of junk history and make a new beginning based on the ideology and values of the concept of Pakistan? Could the new generations of educated, honest and intelligent Pakistanis initiate new political system and institutions, produce proactive visionary leadership to extend intellectual security and help to protect the integrity and security of the besieged nation?

Crises made Pakistan’s history. The first time political power was ever transferred to civilian rule was on the Independence Day - 14 August 1947 by the British colonial Viceroy to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the 1st Governor General of Pakistan.. What happened afterwards is a history full of intrigues, wickedness, in-house conspiracies and bloody tragedies to shame the Pakistani nation. Whenever an opportunity arose for peaceful transfer of power, it was foiled by the traitors - both military and their complacent civilians. Some might allege that Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman was a traitor but what about ZA Bhutto? In principle, Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman‘s Awami Party won the majority seats in the Pakistan National Assembly during the 1971 elections, why was the power not transferred to him. It was ZA Bhutto, the self-centered and power hungry man, not Sheikh Mujib. There are credible statements that he never wanted separation of the East Pakistan into Bangladesh. ZA Bhutto in collision with General Yahaya Khan conspired for a military action against those who had won a fair election in One Pakistan. ZA Bhutto was likewise a traitor too who took over the reign of power illegally after Pakistan was defeated by India in December 1971. This was his plan implemented to defeat and disgrace the Muslim nation. Bhutto and Yahya Khan were the people who stabbed the body and soul of Pakistan. There was evidence that ZA Bhutto wanted power grab lot earlier during the Ayoub Khan presidency. He wanted to see Pakistan defeated under Ayoub Khan when India attacked on West Pakistan in 1965 because of war in Kashmir. Those running the politics are nothing other than filthy creed of the dead past. The stunning contrasts and internal conflicts generate extreme uncertainty and massive insecurity to the common folks looking for law and order, individual safety and a secure future. It is all because there are wrong people operating the political governance.

How to Change the history - to disconnect with the junk past and to make a new beginning is an issue that is not addressed by the traditional political apparatus in this war-torn nation. They all appear eager to hold new elections and use intrigues and backdoor conspiracies to define the power-sharing and political governance. You won’t find a single frontline politicians having vision, honesty of purpose and integrity to be respected by the masses. Change would mean life, stability and a promising future if at all it is envisaged by the new educated generation of intelligent and creative people. Nation-building and individual change and development framework have lot in common. Those living in darkness could well appreciate the sight of light and power of seeing and those deaf by nature could well dream and adore when they hear the sound breaking self denied silence. Change is constant part of human life built-in as the full meaning and purpose of life. Nations likewise the individual go through the process of change, leaving past to history and embarking on anew future for change and adaptability to futuristic challenges. The Western industrialized nations have accomplished this aim effectively. Where would the Change come from if there is no systematic mechanism to facilitate political change? If change and new political imagination were ever part of Pakistan’s political systems (if there are any), how dare the Generals stole fifty years of the national lifelines? Global history tells us wherever absolute military rule overwhelms the country, it destroys all its natural thinking hubs, morals and intellectual powerhouses. This is what happened to the Europeans before and after the two WW and this is what America is experiencing and this is what caused the former USSR to collapse. Pakistani politics nurtures under the powerful shadow of the military Generals, not on its own as national institutions breeding freedom, human rights, vision, integrity and any glimpse of a different future. America and Britain both share vital strategic interests with Pakistani military establishments. The “War on Terror” is the net outcome of this strategic pursuit to keep the imperial domination over the former subjects- the subservient Pakistan. The US politicians and British comrades in arms used the 9/11 pretext to wage a bogus war on terror against the Muslim world.

Finian Cunningham (“9/11 Paved the Way for America's Permanent Wars of Aggression” – Global Research: 9/11/2011) explains some of the pertinent facts:

Whether 9/11 was an inside job or an amazing terrorist success, the fact is that either way the atrocity is intimately linked with US state terrorism…..that Al Qaeda/Mujahideen/Jihadis – whatever they are labeled – are the Frankenstein creation of US and British military intelligence to fight the proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s. The 9/11 tragedy – if we see it as such – is thus a form of blowback where the terrorist dogs of dirty war come back to bite the hand that feeds them. …..So even if we believe that the US/British/NATO “war on terror” is genuine – albeit crassly misguided – the fact is that it would not be occurring if it were not for the state terrorism that emanates from Washington and London in pursuit of imperialist intrigues…… Leaving aside that 9/11 may have been an inside job to facilitate strategic permanent war, even if the official narrative were true, it still gets down to the US and British playing with fire. These governments create terrorists, fund terrorists, train terrorists, use terrorists. Either way, the facts emerge: the US and its ally puppets have absolutely no regard for democratic freedom, international law or human rights.

There is ample tangible evidence to prove that the US led war in Afghanistan has continuing strategies to undermine the integrity of Pakistan. Professor James Petras (“Legal Imperialism” and International Law: Legal Foundations for War Crimes, Debt Collection and Colonization: Global Research: 12/3/2012) helps us to understand the prevalent context of a modern infant Empire dreaming of global strategic domination and control:
By now we are familiar with imperial states using their military power to attack, destroy and occupy independent countries…….…Empire-building throughout history is the result of conquest – the use or threat of superior military force. The US global empire is no exception. Where compliant rulers ‘invite’ or ‘submit’ to imperial domination, such acts of treason on the part of ‘puppet’ or ‘client’ rulers usually precipitate popular rebellions, which are then suppressed by joint imperial and collaborator armies. They cite imperial legal doctrine to justify their intervention to repress a subject people in revolt.

The spill-over impacts of the war in Afghanistan and strategic developments in the region shaping Pakistan’s future appear to be the same blueprint as was used by the US and its allies in March 2003 of Iraq invasion. This week is the 10th anniversary of that terrible aggression and crimes against innocent people. In her critical insights unto Iraq’s bloody ordeal, Felicity Arbuthnot (“Iraq: Destroying a Country: War Crimes and Atrocities.” Part II Global Research: 11/8/2010), describes the scope of horrifying human tragedies inflicted on the Iraqi population which perhaps Pakistani nation is going through over several years:
The Independent's Robert Fisk ("The Shaming of America", 24th October 2010) commented: "As usual, the Arabs knew. They knew all about the mass torture, the promiscuous shooting of civilians, the outrageous use of air power against family homes, the vicious American and British mercenaries, the cemeteries of the innocent dead. All of Iraq knew. Because they were the victims."
"We found people wandering like ghosts through the ruins ... looking for the bodies of relatives .. trying to recover some of their possessions from destroyed homes ... We moved from house to house, discovering families dead in their beds, or cut down in living rooms or in the kitchen ... It became clear that we were witnessing the aftermath of a massacre, the cold-blooded butchery of helpless and defenceless civilians."

In wars, when an aggressor sees the defeat coming, it resorts to mass killings of the civilian population to avenge the fear of the unknown. To pursue its policy of global domination, now American strategists sponsor death squads in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The aim is to terrorize the masses by drone attacks and death squads and destroy their habitats thus creating more reactionary terrorism through its paid political agents - the ruling elite. Its ultimate goal is to make Pakistan a crippled nation totally incapacitated for any useful role in global affairs. The cruelty of the American led bogus war on terrorism has transformed Pakistan into a non-productive beggar nation, solely looking to military and economic aid for all of its operations. The army Generals and their by-products – the ruling Bhutto family-PPP Zardari, and in-waiting Nawaz Sharif (Muslim League-N), have infected the body politics of Pakistan with corruption and political tyranny, drained out all of the positive thinking and creative energies of the nation for change, development and a promising future. The traitors are inside, not elsewhere. If the law and justice system is still in tact, these political thugs and indicted criminals should not be allowed to hold offices of public responsibility but be held accountable in a court of law. The besieged nation MUST see itself in the mirror and learn from the dead past, to change the future course of history and to articulate a new beginning - a new political system under the new educated generation of honest, intelligent and visionary leadership to strive for a promising future.

The military Generals, Bhuttos, Zardari, Sharifs and Chaudris could never have come into political governance unless the whole nation had lost the sense of PURPOSE of the creation of Pakistan and MEANING of the Foundation of Pakistan. Are there any concerned and proactive young people to safeguard the national interests of the present and future generations of Muslim Pakistan?

To all concerned and educated Pakistanis, it is becoming crystal clear that the so called politicians are the wrong people, with wrong thinking and doing the wrong things. The so called American financed democracy has no relationship to the living masses of Pakistan. With almost half of a century of lost time and opportunities under the dictatorship of various army Generals, dismantled public institutions, devastated social and economic affairs, disjointed trades and commerce, political surge of terrorism and dead leadership, how could a nation be able to conduct business as usual?

The masses wish if Pakistan could be returned to its originality - foundation of Islamic ideology and practices for peace and unity of the divided nation. The corruption knows no bound. Under military dictators, Pakistan has lost precious time and opportunities to regain honor (“Ezat”) while the Generals were used to lead coercive politics devoid of reason and responsibility - the nation continues to live in tormenting uneasiness and being crippled by the cruel acts of death and destruction across Pakistan. Shamefully those wicked instigators who target and kill the minorities and make feuds with other sectors of the society are the criminals bent on destabilizing and destroying the essence of vision and integrity on which Pakistan was built in 1947. If the nation is fractured and feels insecure- the traitors are inside- the few political names- feudal lords, palaces erected with stolen wealth of the nation and hired killers organizing political campaigns who will make their way to foreign lands once their ambitions are met. A concerned school teacher in Islamabad asks the grade 10 students - what is the meaning of Pakistan? Who is the most popular leader of Pakistan to win the next election? The classroom sounds deafening silence.

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(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012).