Gen Pasha (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Pakistan privilege doesn’t necessarily come from the ownership of capital, industry, and large holdings of cultivatable land but through control of the state apparatus. It is, therefore, not suprising that Pakistan’s leading newspaper Dawn refers to Army Chief Kayani as the most powerful man in the country. In a story headlined “Kayani Calls for talks with India,” we were reminded twice that military’s top boss is also Pakistan’s top dog.

In my latest column in Viewpoint I suggested that whether Husain Haqqani gets justice or not, the Memogate debacle is a watershed moment for Pakistan’s Civil-Military balance and a historic opportunity for the proponents of democracy to seize control of the ‘real’ state.

Vali Nasr, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in his latest Bloomberg column agrees:

“Impassioned appeals to the Supreme Court to find President Asif Ali Zardari a traitor backfired on the army and intelligence chiefs when the credibility of their witness, who had claimed that Zardari was colluding with the U.S. against the military, dissolved amid the man’s ever-changing story and his cameo in a mud-wrestling video.”

No one can doubt that the “Memogate” hysteria, created by a section of the Pakistani media and subsequently by the Supreme Court, places this entire circus in the realm of a fishing exercise rather than a legally authorized investigation.

I was surprised by the statement of former Director General of ISI, Ahmad Shuja Pasha to the Memogate Commission, in which he unashamedly conceded that his agency conducted no investigation and simply took Mansoor Ijaz at his words.

I am uploading the entire document for you review but here are some key, noteworthy points:

Q: In your meeting with Mr. Musawer Mansoor Ijaz in London did he disclose the identity of the person under whose instructions the Memorandum was prepared?

A (Pasha): No

Q: After meeting with Mr. Ijaz in London did you meet with Mr. Husain Haqqani to inquire about the said memorandum?

A (Pasha):  No

Q: After meeting with Mr. Ijaz in London did you prepare a report?

A (Pasha): No

Q: Is it correct that you did not meet with Mr. Husain Haqqani to verify the memorandum because of the strained relations between the Political and Military leadership of Pakistan?

A(Pasha): It is not correct that the leadership was strained.

Q: I put it to you that before proceeding to London to meet Mr Ijaz you did not obtain permission from either the President of Pakistan or the Prime Minister of Pakistan?

A (Pasha): It is correct.

Q: I put it to you that you did not obtain any written permission from Army Chief before meeting with Mr. Ijaz in London?

A (Pasha): Correct.

Q: Did Mr. Ijaz produce any witness to corroborate his assertion except the Blackberry handset and his computer?

A(Pasha): No.

Q: I put it to you that the contents of the Blackberry handset of Mr. Ijaz and what his computer contained were fabrication?

A (Pasha): What I saw did not look to be fabricated but the matter can be better determined by forensics.

Q: Did you make any attempt to examine the Blackberry handset of Mr. Husain Haqqani?

A (Pasha): No. I had reported the matter to the Political leadership and the Military leadership.

Q: Do you know where the Blackberry handsets of Mr. Husain Haqqani are?

A (Pasha): No

Q: Does ISI have the capacity to ascertain the exchange of Blackberry messages between two Blackberry users?

A (Pasha): No

If you scroll to the last page you will find that Pasha concedes he was instructed to go to London by the Army Chief. Memogate will go down in Pakistan’s history as a misstep that broke the camels back with GHQ finally conceding that they conduct fishing expeditions against civilian leadership, sitting heads of government, elected representatives of the Pakistani people and ambassadors of the civilian government.

But it is not only GHQ that has defaced itself, the judiciary is also doing all they can to maintain the status quo, instead of helping Pakistan transition to a democratic society guaranteeing human rights and freedoms.  Because of the quintessential position the judiciary holds as one of the three main pillars of the political system, the judiciary must assist Pakistan’s transition to a truly democratic country.

I don’t ask for much- simply the judiciary in Pakistan should solve disputes between the individuals and the state, guarantee individual rights and freedoms, and protect the rule of law by scrutinizing the power of special interest groups (GHQ). Unlike other democratic countries, the Pakistani judiciary seems obsessed with rendering the executive and legislative branch dysfunctional by making purely political decisions.

Because of its tendency to step outside of its boundaries to support special interest groups (GHQ), the judiciary has become the focal point of disputes in Pakistan.

But enough is enough- the Pakistani people appear ready to break away from the shackles of Internal Colonialism – they are not willing to live the second-class life of a “bloody civilian.” In the words of Malcom X, let’s put the GHQ leadership on the notice because Pakistani people want “complete freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.”

From left, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen and Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, speak with Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army Gen. Ashfaq Kayani and Pakistani Maj. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, director general of military operations, on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) while under way in the North Arabian Sea Aug. 27, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whether Husain Haqqani gets justice or not, the Memogate debacle is a watershed moment for Pakistan’s Civil-Military balance and a historic opportunity for the proponents of democracy to seize control of the ‘real’ state.

But of course it is easier said than done! A minister of Tipu Sultan was quoted in Parliamentary Papers (1852-53) as saying: “we are not afraid of what we do see of the British power, but of what we do not see.”  Replace ‘British’ with ‘GHQ’ and you have access to the mind of the PPP leadership. Ignoring the colonial traits of GHQ, proponents of a Praetorian model will argue that because the PPP government is ineffective, “the executive is unable to control the military.”

With foam coming from both sides of their mouths, many Pakistani analysts repeatedly declare that democracy has proved inadequate to handle the problems of corruption, the economy, and terrorism. Some explicitly call for the censure of elected government in the ‘national interest.’

Pro-GHQ analysts on TV and in mainstream print media argue that the military has simply done us a favor by stepping up to fill the institutional vacuum created by the inefficiencies of the civilian government. In reality these so-called analysts simply justify and legitimize the use of coercive authority over the social, economic, and political institutions of Pakistan.

If you analyze these commentators you will find patterns and repetitive messages that are not challenged by the anchors or editors of leading publications. It is a known fact that GHQ had colluded with or coopted the judiciary, resulting in Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s execution to name only one troubling example of undermining democracy. The Military-Judiciary incestuous relationship is no secret but pro-establishment analysts invoke the power of the lordship of the all mighty Supreme Court to seek justice that weakens civilian institutions; case in point the Memogate scandal.

The media and judiciary both aid GHQ as they systematically and ruthlessly eliminate political opponents. Of course they still exploit the populist power of religion to solidify their hegemonic discourse.

Look closely and you will find that these proponents of GHQ inhabit a dark, conspiratorial world devoid of all social and natural realities. Peddling their pseudo-fascist theory of “national security” they argue that the Judeo-Christian-Hindu forces of the West –Israel-India have joined hands in a war against Islam. The enemy is anyone who thinks differently from them; so to save Pakistan, the military must wipe out all signs of dissent. To many of us their theory sounds paranoid, but it makes perfect sense to GHQ pushers who have bought into (or sold out to) this fascist narrative, and a conservative jihadi form of Islam. They also reflect Pakistan’s pervasive sense of isolation, which results in a grandiose view of Islamabad as occupying the world’s center stage.

Going back to the quote of Tipu Sultan’s minister: We know that GHQ has coopted the judiciary, media, mullahs and many political celebrities. These are what Slajov Zizek, contemporary political philosopher would call the ‘known-known’. We also know that there are unknowns (known-unknown) and we don’t know what we don’t know (unknown-unknown). But I would submit that what we ‘know’ but do not acknowledge or forget (known-unknown), is the key to rebalancing the civil-military relationship in Pakistan.

For example we know that there are nearly 190 million people in Pakistan. We know that there are nearly 58 million adult men and 54 million adult women –compare that to merely 1.4 million strong in the army and you begin to understand the potential power of the people. We know that 20^th century social revolutions, for example in China (1949, and in Cuba in 1959, were caused by endemic military interventions in civil society. We also know for example that several countries in South and Latin America have successfully leashed their oppressive armies within the past twenty years.

But most importantly we know that GHQ realizes that direct rule of the Pakistani people, a la marshal law, is no longer possible, therefore, they are building human avatars to serve as their proxy.

Amos Perlmutter in his well publicized paper, “Toward a Taxonomy of Civil-Military Relations in Developing Polities,” writes “the army can take over the government with or without the consent of civilian politicians, on their behalf or against them, in order to eliminate one civilian group and establish another.”

The lesson learned from the Memogate debacle is that Pakistan’s civil society has matured and can counter dominant narratives even when they don’t have control of the mainstream media. Digital activists from Pakistan have provided breathing room for the PPP government and have encouraged Prime Minister Gillani and co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to take bold stands.

But this is no time to slow down. As I have written elsewhere abuses of power should put intelligence reform at the top of the agenda for change for PPP government. Before Pakistan can continue its democratic transition, these changes must be addressed.

Ignoring the need to establish supremacy over the intelligence community would be a grave mistake on the part of Pakistan’s civilian government. Reducing the role of the military in the intelligence sector will allow the government to consolidate itself domestically, so it should be a top priority. In addition, government control over military and intelligence will cast a positive light on the state of Pakistan’s emerging democracy, and will improve international opinions of Pakistan.

Although reform to intelligence agencies will be difficult, the good news is that with patience, resolve, and international situation in its favour, Pakistan’s government can indeed reassert civilian control over the intelligence community. Luckily for Pakistan, there are predecessors to take notes from. Indonesia and Chile have both undergone transformations in the intelligence arena and have plenty to offer Pakistan by way of example.

Intelligence agencies reform in Indonesia and Chile became a reality after the media began exposing the atrocities and, people had the courage to reject authoritarianism. Reform of the murky Indonesian intelligence service, Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN), were spurred by revelations that emerged in the trial of the alleged killer of the country’s top human right activist.

Munir Said Thalib, died from arsenic poisoning while on a flight on Garuda, Indonesia’s national airline, from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore on Sept. 7, 2004. Indonesian media exposed the hands behind Munir’s murder.

Extensive exposure by the mass media of the massive human rights violations and power abuse by the Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), led to the abrupt breakdown in its public image. And, the abolition of “Dwifungsi ABRI” (the dual-function of the military) became a major demand of the pro-democracy movement.

In this same sense, the Pakistani media’s role is necessary to question the functioning of the ISI.  I do not expect mainstream Pakistani media to question GHQ promoted narratives. But I am hopeful that Pakistan’s growing pro-democracy digital activists will utilize all tools available to challenge the dominant discourse.

I wrote this article for Viewpoint. http://www.viewpointonline.net/pak-army-and-internal-colonialism.html

Photograph of Hussain Haqqani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A very well placed friend in Islamabad who is rarely wrong told me yesterday that Deputy Director General ISI Major General Asfandyar Pataudi personally went to tell the Supreme Court judge to deny Husain Haqqani’s application for video link. Before the proceedings began he told the judge in no uncertain terms that Husain Haqqani must be brought back to Pakistan. Pataudi even ordered service provider, the same company that provisioned video hook-up for Mansoor Ijaz’s testimony to lie to the court and say it was not technically possible to do it again.

By interfering and influencing the honorable judges (in a closed room meeting prior to the proceeding started), ISI continues to undermine democracy, civilian rule and dispensation of justice. No wonder ISI has lost all credibility within and outside Pakistan. A visible feature of the ISI’s history that has done great damage to its reputation is the continued exploitation of civilian institutions.

Blatant power abuses, like Patudi’s interference in the court proceeding, among others, should put intelligence reform at the top of the agenda for change in Pakistan.  Before country can continue its democratic transition, these changes must be addressed. Indonesia and Chile have both undergone transformations in the intelligence arena and have plenty to offer Pakistan by way of example.

PPP government has entered the final stretch of it’s tenure and if they want to be victors in next elections they will have to take some courageous steps. PPP government should reinforce the separation between civilian and military intelligence agencies. The integration of former ISI agents into other civilian bodies, particularly the IB, should be limited or stopped. Cross-recruitment prevents organizations from becoming independent.

Pakistan also needs to strengthen the police force. A better-trained and better-equipped police force can do a better job of counterterrorism, which work is currently exploited by the intelligence agencies to legitimize their control over politics in Pakistan.

The international community continues to blame Pakistan’s problems on the ISI, but still maintains working relations with the agency. Often, these relations undermine the democratic government and vindicate the very intelligence actors that need to be controlled. This double standard can be avoided by direct involvement with the Pakistani government, rather than going through intelligence services.

Ignoring the urgent need to establish supremacy over the intelligence community would be a grave mistake on the part of Pakistan’s civilian government. Reducing the role of the military in the intelligence sector will allow the government to consolidate itself domestically, and go back to voters with tangible results. In addition, government control over military and intelligence will cast a positive light on the state of Pakistan’s emerging democracy, and will improve international opinions of Pakistan.

I know Pataudi is one heck of a polo player with 3-goal handicap and understands concept of ‘line of the ball,’ – an imaginary line created by the ball as it travels down the field. The line of the ball defines rules for players to approach the ball safely. These rules are created and enforced to ensure the welfare of players and their horses. Patudi knows it well that Husain Haqqani should have right of way. And his safety should be of utmost importance. He should be extended the same playing field as Mansoor Ijaz- by that I mean Haqqani should have the video link as well.

I won’t speculate as to why Pataudi wants Husain Haqqani to come back so badly. But I don’t see a game of Polo in Haqqani’s future anytime soon.

When asked if he has identified assets that he plans to go after to recoup the $1.47 million, Mr. Kurshan said he wouldn’t want to tip him (Mansoor Ijaz) off. A story in The News Bank allegations Mansoor Ijaz false today said:

“Efforts to malign Mansoor Ijaz, the star witness in this week’s Memogate hearing here in London, moved into high gear over the weekend with revelations that Pakistani origin American business tycoon Mansoor Ijaz had been accused of fraud by a European bank in an effort to recover loans made to his corporations in 2007.”

Let’s first address “business tycoon” – I have attached a consolidated financial statement submitted by Mansoor Ijaz in 2007. Even if you were to take Mr. Mansoor Ijaz on his words MansoorIjaz Consolidated Financial Statement   his net-worth is $15 million. If that made someone a “business tycoon” you would find so many in the US that you would need several phone directories to publish every name. But if you take a closer look, that $15 million seems questionable. You will notice Mr. Ijaz claims his apartment in New York City is worth more that $5.9 million. A search of public record puts it at $4.4 million. Only a million and a half more than what Mr. Ijaz estimates. But that’s fine. The market did go down somewhat. It is, however, the only tangible asset.

Mr. Ijaz further values the stocks of Crescent (CHR) and Eco Drive (ECO) at $2.5 million and $9.3 million respectively. Neither of these are publicly traded companies. A records serach of “C” corporations in the state of Delaware comes up empty. It doesn’t mean these corporations are not active as privately held entities; I just can’t find any evidence of their operation. You can also try to Google Eco Drive and Crescent Investment + Mansoor Ijaz.

Mr. Ijaz also claims to posses jewelry/art/heirloom worth $477k, furniture/electronics worth $225k.

Compare that to his liability of $4.4 million and do the math yourself. What do you think is the net present value(NPV)?  No matter how fantastical your imagination, you would shy away from describing this gentleman as a “business tycoon.”

To substantiate my report, I have also attached the judgement issued by the New York Supreme Court. MansoorIjaz Default Judgement BSI case

Although many people exaggerate their socio-economic status, it becomes problematic when one uses that perception to exercise political influence. This is the reason why  I will continue to research this “ultra wealthy man” during coffee and lunch breaks today and tomorrow.

The attorney for Banca Sammarinese di Investimento (BSI) Mr. Peter Kurshan last week told me that his client has not received $1.47 million from Mr. Mansoor Ijaz and he is left with no option but to start collection enforcement. The challenge facing Mr. Kurshan and other creditors in New York apparently is that Mr. Ijaz has almost no assets to his name.

NEW YORK SUPREME COURT – CIVIL DIVISION issued a judgment against Mr. Ijaz in September of 2010.  In a conversation last week in New York Mr. Kurshan said; “given that he has not voluntarily satisfied the judgment in past two years we are forced to commence enforcement action.”

But Banca Sammarinese di Investmento is not the only creditor looking for Mr. Ijaz. Citibank also has a judgment against him for a relatively small amount of $16,021. Aurora Loan Services also filed a motion in New York Supreme court for an unidentified amount in 2007.

In 2002 Mr. Ijaz had similar financial difficulties: American Express Travel Services had sued him for $166,880. After New York Supreme Court decided in the favor of the creditor, Mr. Ijaz subsequently paid off his debt and a Civil Judgment Release was filed as an acknowledgment by American Express Travel Services that it had been paid. But this lien still shows up in public records.

Bank of New York had also moved New York Supreme Court in 2002 to recover a paltry sum of $58,698 and a judgment was issued but no release was filed.

Mr. Ijaz seems to again have faced serious financial hardships in 2008 when he requested to restructure his debt obligations. In a memo to Banca Semmarinese di Investimento on March 10, 2008 Mr. Ijaz made several outlandish claims, which appear more like fantasies than business plans.

In the March 2008 memo to the bank he wrote: “Aquarius Towers Las Vegas has reached  a definitive contract to fund Phase 1 of the project (US $50,000,000).” In his typical name dropping and success-by-association fashion, Mr. Ijaz said “the investor is a large Indian family that has real estate investments around the world, including over 40 apartment buildings.” He claimed that he was  friends with a friend of the owners and that he was traveling to Zurich and Geneva with them to do “due diligence”. He then claimed that once the fund was established he would get a regular “income for my role” and  would be in a position to pay off his debt to BSI.

In this memo Mr. Ijaz also claimed that the same un-named “investor” who was providing him access to the rich and powerful Indian family has also introduced him to another investment opportunity in yet another venture, Eco Drive Technologies. Mr. Ijaz claimed that his ‘friend’ had close ties with Tata Motors which had chosen to invest $10,000,000 in Eco Drive Technologies. Mr. Ijaz had suggested “these funds are investment funds only and therefore no income” could be expected for payment to BSI. “But the deals materiality arises from additional collateral becoming a part of the overall portfolio,” because Mr. Ijaz claimed to own a “significant share of the new company.”

He made similar claims about a company Hydropolis and Agios Shipping Limited.

Although Mr. Ijaz intimated that contracts had been signed on these various projects, oddly none of them materialized.

A search of the public record in the US suggests that Mr. Ijaz has a total of eight lien records against him and he only owns an apartment (flat) in New York. It could not be established if Mr. Ijaz has secured all of his assets in off-shore estates but the attorney for BSI plans to commence enforcement action shortly.

According to the court documents Mr. Ijaz not only defaulted on his debt obligation but is also accused of defrauding the bank by using funds loaned to his business for personal use.

Three questions arise out of Mr.Ijaz’s memo to BSI and non-payment of his debts for which he took ‘personal responsibility.’ Does Mr. Ijaz have the habit of making fantastical claims? Is it possible that his recent tirade against the democratically elected government of Pakistan was due to the financial burdens he faces? Has Mr. Ijaz moved out of the US with his assets to mitigate financial risks he faces by creditors and investors in his investment firm?

We don’t have answers to any one of these questions but we can say with mathematical certitude that a memo to BSI was written to restructure debt obligations in 2008 and  subsequently the New York Supreme Court ordered judgment against Mr. Ijaz in 2010.

On November 26, 2009 I saw a documentary on HBO narrated by Fareed Zakaria, a Mumbai born American journalist. ‘Terror in Mumbai.’ an extremely informative documentary compresses three days of mayhem – three days when ten Pakistani young men who had mobile phones and machine guns killed 170 people and wounded 300 more, sending shockwaves of fear around the world. I was horrified watching this 360-degree view of the terrorist act, recounted in harrowing detail – especially because these young men came from a country, I call my own.

And, I wrote an article Pakistan’s Star Role on HBO Documentary which was commented over 300 times. Mostly, accusing me of being an Indian agent, of course  I am reposting my thoughts of the documentary because I saw it again last night with a note to all those who had suggested that my article had assigned direct responsibility for Mumbai to the Government of Pakistan.  One can apologize for acts done in the name of one’s nation, or in this case one’s religion, by their governments, or by their citizens, without assuming direct and absolute responsibility; just as many anti-war Americans have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan and apologized to the people for the war waged upon them by the U.S.  government.  I think here of the group September 11th Families for a Peaceful Tommorrow who have actively protested the war in Afghanistan and have even travelled  there to apologize directly to the people of Afghanistan.  It takes a big heart and courage to take such a position.  Pakistanis should muster up the courage and do the same.

“Terror in Mumbai” shows phone calls intercepted and recorded between these men sent on ‘jihad’ and their commander in Pakistan.  This conversation was hear wrenching and, so was statement of Kasab, the only gunman who survived. As this documentary depicted, these young Pakistan men received instructions over the telephone, leaving a trail of evidence that led Indian investigators to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group fighting Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir. Pakistan’s military and ISI were also accused of backing the militants, a charge Islamabad has denied. New Delhi named 38 people in an 11,000-page charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court in February 2009.

At some level I feel sorry for these lost souls- poverty stricken, uneducated young men who were fooled by conniving leaders of LeT and other fundamentalist organizations,  However, I have no sympathies for their leaders- whomsoever they maybe. These characters have eroded the Pakistani society and have pushed us in a state of profound crisis.

I can’t forgive them because these morally corrupt LeT leaders have pushed us in a crisis that is complex, and multi-dimensional with facets that touch every aspect of our lives: our health and livelihood, the quality of our environment and our social relationships, our ideology, economy, and politics. It is a crisis of intellectual, moral, and spiritual dimensions; a crisis of a scale and urgency unprecedented in Pakistan’s 63 year history..

As a Pakistani-American, I stand today with my head down – embarrassed that my country has been hijacked by illiterate and irrational people – from self styled clergy to the army. These men will do anything they can to pursue their fantasy. Even if that means hoodwinking simple, young Pakistani men and murdering of innocent civilians on both sides of Indo-Pak border.

Undoubtedly, we must protect Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and dignity but these wayward leaders who exploit religion and patriotism have managed to drown the voices of reason and rationality. With Petro dollars supported tribal and Wahabi influence Pakistan’s social structures and behavior patterns have become so rigid that this country can no longer adapt to changing situations, it is unable to carry on the creative process of cultural evolution.

Read response to my earlier blogs and you will find an eerie uniformity of opinion. Even those who are tolerant, progressive, democratic are willing to condone terrorists in the name of Islam and nation. This uniformity and lack of self-reflection  are clear signs that our society is in the process of disintegration.

As I watched this documentary I was reminded of acts of terrorism Pakistanis witness everyday- every Pakistani is a victim. Unless Pakistan’s progressive and democratic forces are willing to take on the retrogressive elements we will concede our right to opinion, education and way of life.  Fundamentalists will prohibit freedom of expression and use all coercive apparatus to crush opposition. Education will be discouraged and whatever little is allowed, will be subverted by distortion of curricula. You can argue what is new- it has always been the case? It is the intensity that will change. We are not talking about FATA or NWFP or the tribal areas. This monster is already in cosmopolitan cities like Karachi and Lahore.

I was horrified to hear the Punjabi accent of those controlling these 10 terrorists. I was horrified when these young men were ordered to shoot hostages- I can’t express my anger and fear.

We, the Pakistani people should seek forgiveness from the families of those who lost loved ones in Mumbai. We should let the people of Mumbai know that we are just as much a victim. We should let them know that we don’t condone these acts of violence.

We, the Pakistani people should let our rulers know that they can’t indulge in adventurism like LeT anymore. We should let ISI and MI know that we will not pay their salary if they do not immediately cease all relations with all terrorist outfits.

Husain Haqqani, in an e-mail, said: “To me Pakistan and Pakistan’s democracy are far more important than any artificially created crisis over an insignificant memo written by a self-centred businessman.”

Well, if Husain Haqqani’s resignation was all that was needed to secure a ceasefire with Taliban’s I would be content. Losing a job for peace is no big deal. But Haqqani’s resignation is a metaphor – it symbolizes dressing down of democracy- I am afraid on both side of the equation. Obama administration allowed Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to manage relations with Pakistan and Mullen’s single threaded contact in Pakistan was army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Why wasn’t Secretary of State Hillary Clinton working with her counterpart? Mostly, I am told, because Pakistan’s Foreign Minister ‘lacks diplomatic depth’ and is widely viewed as incompetent.

I feel Obama administration is making a major mistake – you can’t make peace with Taliban. It will comeback to bite us all.

I can’t confirm this that’s why I am going to leave it at this – I have called my friends at Samaa, Geo and Express and no one has been able to connect with Husain Haqqani. Rumor- and I am going stress- Rumor has it that he is under “protective custody.” I really hope I am wrong. But I am concerned!

The army decides that the terrorist hijackers of the Indian plane enjoy sanctuary in Pakistan whereas Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif spend years in exile. The people have to know that it is the army which makes all the decisions.

Attacking Data Darbar, the Pakistan Army, through its hirelings, has sent the following messages to the people of Pakistan:

We, the military, are powerful enough to confront, challenge and offend the entire population of Pakistan.

You, the people, are not safe anywhere.

We, the military, can kill you people anywhere.

SURRENDER!

The minds of the people register the attacks on the other targets as localized incidents. A Shiite procession is attacked. An Ahmedi mosque is attacked. A shopping mall is attacked. Video and music shops are attacked. Girls schools are attacked. Political rallies are attacked. Hotels are attacked. All such attacks involve targets situated across one social chasm or, the other.

The shrines, on the other hand, are a symbol of the social and cultural unity of the people of Pakistan. Not just members of all the Muslim sects visit the shrines, but the people of other faiths– Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and others–go there. Strangely, even the atheists visit the shrines.

The shrines stay above the religious, sectarian, political and social divides; they are the symbols of the ultimate social and cultural consensus, representative of the absolute majority.

An attack on a shrine is an attack on the absolute majority intended to instill paralyzing fear in the people to make them surrender to the army through the terrorists.

The people of Pakistan would have to know that the Taliban and other terrorist groups are the hirelings of the Pakistani military operating strictly under its command since 1980.

As the U.S. military chased the Afghan Taliban out of Afghanistan in 2001, the Pakistani military took them in and gave them complete control over Swat and other northern areas. In a span of over eight years, Pakistani Taliban outfits, too, were created and groomed and the area attracted terrorists from all over the world.

The local population of these military-sponsored-terrorist-controlled areas groaned under tyranny as the army gleefully used this situation to extort the confused Americans of billions of dollars.

The people of the northern areas suffered more as the Pakistan Army staged it’s mock war with long-range howitzers and aircraft. The trained terrorists ducked and moved on whereas millions of inhabitants had to flee their homes to escape the Pakistan Army bombardment.

The terrorists destroyed girls schools and hand-picked people to be killed with assault rifles, hand guns or, knives.

The Pakistan Army destroyed the very homes of the people of the northern areas with its blanket bombardment, killing men, women and children indiscriminately and rendering the survivors homeless refugees.

As the refugees return to the ruins of their homes, the army-sponsored terrorists, too, are coming back to overlord them once again.

The army’s mock war against it’s own hirelings taught the people of the northern areas and the tribal areas a simple lesson; the tyranny of the terrorists is not as deadly and destructive as the bombardment of the army, at least, in the short run.

Now, it is Punjab’s turn.

Through the attack on Data Darbar, Lahore, the people of Punjab have been told to submit to the ruthless rule of the mindless terrorists. The people of Punjab are told not to ever ask the Pakistan Army to intervene and liberate them from tyranny. The army will gladly respond with artillery and aerial bombardment of the towns of Punjab just like it did in the northern and the tribal areas.

So far, the army appears to have achieved the following objectives:

Terrorizing the population to the point of total submission. Rising poverty, rampant unemployment, malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water, power outages and complete lawlessness have already rendered the masses utterly confused, unable to think clearly; they are ripe to be enslaved to an unprecedented degree.

The other objective the army has achieved is that of keeping the politicians on the leash. The politicians obey the army blindly. They allocate funds for the military budget as directed. They let the military decide the defense policy. Also, the politicians never bring the military-sponsored terrorists to justice.

It is an effective working formula for the military. Absolute lawlessness in the country further discredits the already discredited venal politicians and makes the thieving, scheming, manipulative military look better than the politicians. For the military, it is a win-win situation, except in the long run.

The illiterate terrorists ruling the population suits the military better than the government of the semi-educated politicians. With the schools and the hospitals closed in future, the education and the health allocations can be diverted to the military budget.

Another achievement of the army is that of keeping the Americans happy to a level where the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the United States, Admiral Michael Mullen, recently had nice things to say about the Pakistani military. To quote from Government Security News: “When asked if he felt the military leaders of Pakistan were doing a good job of safeguarding that nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, Admiral Mullen was surprisingly upbeat. “I’m as comfortable as I can be that the weapons are safe,” he said.”

If Admiral Mullen was trying to appease the Pakistani top brass, he was certainly in league with Chamberlain.

With the above achievements, the military feels secure and confident with no one to match it’s might.

In a country already suffering from half-a-century-long acute brain drain, doctors, professors, scholars, scientists, teachers, thinkers, writers, social workers and intellectuals are being murdered at a rate reminiscent of the Pakistan Army’s campaign against the Bengali intelligentsia during the last days of East Pakistan.

The fear of suicide-bombers eliminates political rallies and all chances of a mass uprising. The people are afraid to go to their traditional religious processions, to the shrines of their saints, to the house of their god.

Now, the only power to look up to and to fear and to bow before, is the mighty military and it’s terrorist hirelings.

Syed F. Hussaini is a veteran journalist and social commentator. He blogs at www.chowk.com

“Faisalabad—An elderly man died of a heart attack in Faisalabad as police officials and an employee of a sensitive department tried to arrest him. According to sources, Dr. Faqeer arrived at Fayyaz Colony on Tuesday night where two police officials and an employee of a sensitive department tried to arrest him. Meanwhile, he fell on the ground due to a heart attack. Hearing the commotion, the neighborhood people arrived at the spot after which the police officials fled the scene and the people apprehended the employee of the sensitive department and his companion. The local police arrived at the scene and moved the body to the Civil Hospital for autopsy whereas the two persons were arrested. Dr. Faqeer was a P.H.D. and had founded an institution for chemical research work.”

The above is an almost exact translation of a news story as its appears in the on-line version of the Urdu language Pakistani newspaper, “Jang.” The newspaper uses the term ‘sensitive department’ to mean the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The story is dated Wednesday, June 30, 2010: Updated 0530 PST.

The sketchy and poorly written news item prompts the following questions:

What charges the officials had against Dr. Faqeer, Ph. D.?

Were the officials carrying any warrants against Dr. Faqeer? If so, who had issued the warrants?

Were the officials operating under the orders of the Federal Government or, the Punjab Government or, the ISI?

Was Dr. Faqeer visiting that neighborhood or, did he live there?

Without a doctor’s opinion, without the autopsy results, how did the newspaper determine that Dr. Faqeer died of a heart attack?

Was Dr. Faqeer beaten to death? Was he injected with some untraceable deadly chemical agent?

The police officials fled the scene; would they be charged with gross neglect of duty for abandoning their post and for failing to help a citizen in mortal distress? What are their names and positions?

What are the charges against the arrested ISI official and his companion? What are their names and positions?

Has an inquiry been ordered by any authorities to investigate the circumstances and the cause of Dr. Faqeer’s death?

What was Dr. Faqeer’s full name?

How old was he?

What is the name of the chemical research work institution he founded?

What kind of research was done at his institution?
Was the government objected to his institution or, his research?

Where did he get his doctorate from?

Was he ever associated with any Pakistani academic institution?

Did he ever work for the Government of Pakistan?

Was he ever approached to work for the Government of Pakistan?

Was he under surveillance or, investigation, by the Government of Pakistan or, the ISI? If so, for what?

Was he ever involved with any Pakistani weapons development program?

What are the names and ages of the family members he left behind? Where are they? How are they? What do they want to say?

The above questions can be answered by any or, all of the following:

The so-called independent Pakistani press, the international press, the Chief Minister of Punjab, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the President of Pakistan, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the chief of the ISI, the chief of the Pakistan Army, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Amnesty International, the United Nations.

In case, Dr. Faqeer had dual nationality, it would be the responsibility of the other country, as well, to investigate and determine the circumstances and the cause of his death.

Syed F. Hussaini is a veteran journalist and social commentator. He blogs at www.chowk.com