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

Why is it that Muslims from Qatar or Oman: Muslims from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia or Indonesia not under scrutiny? Why is it that a Pakistani has to go through “enhanced” security measures at American airports while Muslims of many other countries walk with their heads high? If we are judged by the company we keep ask yourself why you are in the company of Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Libya and Syria? Ask yourself what is common between these nations?

In my opinion these countries are defined by the absence of mature governance model and corrupt, uneducated, greedy leadership.
Why is that we don’t have highly educated Pakistanis in parliament and cabinets? Where are our PhDs hiding? Why isn’t Proferssor Manzoor Ahmad, Pervez Hoodbhoy or Ayesha Siddiqui running the management of country?

I believe in past six decades we have nourished a culture that protects and respects illiterate thieves- not only in politics but also business. A handful of privileged and filthy rich Pakistanis collude to artificially raise prices of important commodities like sugar and cotton.

I always wonder how a nation in the throes of one war and a half on two fronts, an undernourished, calamity stricken nation like Pakistan condones such behavior on the part of a few rich, self-interested people. These people are the real terrorists of the land; they deserve to be caught, imprisoned and punished for the way in which they are corroding the economy of Pakistan, and by their ill devised foreign policy diluting our brand in the world.

Look closer at these robbers and you will find them in military uniforms, parliament, senate and cabinets. These corrupt elite of Pakistan are responsible for not only destroying economy but their adventurism has put us in harms way.

Why is it that Pakistanis are under microscope in the US and Europe? It is because our military leaders with modest IQ and strong muscles can twist arms (or abduct or kill or both) anyone who does not agree with them.

Pakistani entrepreneurs have learned that they can make crazy profit by playing by the rules of army bosses. And, Pakistani journalists realize that their job security comes from perpetrating the propaganda of men in uniforms.

Last September, a largely unknown raid at the premises of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association revealed that a number of sugar mill owners had formed a cartel like structure and were engaged in “extensive institutionalization of collusive behavior.”

The agency, which has been struggling to make a foothold for its antitrust laws in Pakistan’s largely feudal economic climate, established how the affluent owners of the 82 sugar mills planned to raise the price of sugar by unfair pricing practices.

Guess who owns these sugar mills? 35% are owned by retired Pakistan army officials and another 40% are owned by the leaders of two major political parties.

Why Pakistani nation is not outraged?

While Pakistan was still struggling through the sugar crisis, unscrupulous parties and untoward economic conditions seem to have come together to create another commodity crisis in Pakistan, this time, of cotton.

Cotton prices rose to Rs 7000 per maund in April. The new crop is yet to arrive, and various international bans and embargos have produced a big deficit in the available amount of cotton. People with old stocks of cotton are taking advantage of the situation to make a killing, knowing that they are killing the economy itself. In just a short week last month, there was a Rs 1000 appreciation in the price of prime stock cotton while the textile industry pitted against peers to buy as much of the previous year’s stock as they could.

And, guess who owned majority of the old stocks? Three retired Major Generals in Punjab- had hoarded a large lot. Several well wishers of Mian family and a very close ally of Mr. Gillani.

The country has been most hit by a ban on import from India, Pakistan’s principal supplier of cotton. Pakistan has had to buy cotton at high rates from expensive sellers of other countries.

Pakistan’s textile industry has to supply pending orders from foreign buyers in the developed world, and cotton bought at very high prices kills their margin. And, this calamity has also raised the price of cotton domestically, and that does not bode well for the ordinary Pakistani, who now has to shell out more than twice as much as the old price of cotton. Prices of garment in Pakistani markets have become unbearable for a middle class family to even purchase uniforms for their school going children.

Why are Pakistani people not outraged? Why are Pakistani journalists not talking about this?

Overall Pakistan need to import at least 1.5 million bales of cotton to contain the crisis. The deficit is a shock, because India, with very similar climactic and soil conditions, has a record surplus this year.

The Karachi Cotton Association has fixed the official spot rate, or base price of Grade 3 cotton, at Rs 7180 per maund. At such prices, ordinary citizens of Pakistan will find it very hard to buy and wear cotton this year.

With severe economic crisis at hand, Pakistani leaders go around the world to beg and borrow, while they continue to steal from their own people.

And, guess what is your favorite TV anchor doing right now? Preparing a show that will ask the same question: why does America hate Muslims? Please remind them it is not religion – it is their policies.

Interviews in Islamabad, Peshawar and Washington DC in last two days suggest that Maulavi Faqir Mohammad, chief of Pakistan’s Taliban in Bajaur, received protection from ISI army in exchange for foreign fighters.

Our sources claim that Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was ISI’s asset in the region facilitating cross border interaction of Taliban’s and al-Qaeda.

“He provided logistical support to foreign fighters,” said a Pakistani source on the condition of anonymity.

Pakistan army Tuesday took a group of journalists for a guided tour of the area which they have captured after killing nearly fifty foreign militants.

“There were Afghans, Chechens, Egyptians, and Uzbeks,” said Major General Tariq Khan who accompanied journalists to the Damadola complex.

Reports going back to 2006 had claimed that Damadola was a key militant headquarters for Talibans and al-Qeada. Pakistan army took over this area after an offensive launched in January 2010.

When asked where Maulavi Faqir Mohammad is, Major General Tariq Khan told journalists: “we will deal with him.”

He did not elaborate ‘how’ or ‘when’ he will be dealing with Maulavi Faqir Mohammad.

American analysts, however, still commend Pakistan army for capturing a key complex of 156 caves developed over seven years, within clear view of eastern Afghanistan.

Journalists who went on this guided tour saw pillows and mattresses, which suggested terrorists had camped out for significant periods.

Major General Tariq Khan was quoted saying this is “the first time Pakistan army uniformed soldiers have arrived in Damadola and the Pakistan flag has been raised for the first time since (independence in) 1947.”

Anayslysts in Islamabad agree with Major General Tariq Khan that no ‘uniformed soldier’ ever reach Damadola but claim that ISI agents frequented the area as if it was their backyard.

In 2006, a US drone struck in Damadola to kill Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri. But Zawahiri had managed to escape.

In 2008 this area was run by an Afghan warrior Qazi Ziaur Rehman, who was in charge of administration and collected tithes from local people. However, in 2008 Maulavi Faqir Mohammad, who headed Pakistan’s umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban faction in Bajaur was installed as the chief by ISI.

Pakistan army launched an operation in Bajaur in August 2008 and claimed victory in February 2009, only for violence to return when their focus switched to Pakistani Taliban fighters in Swat and South Waziristan.

Latest Pakistan army offensive killed 75 militants, 76 militants were arrested and 364 have surrendered.

Major General Tariq Khan told visiting journalists that Taliban “leadership does not exist. Twenty-five per cent of them have gone to Afghanistan, 15 per cent have gone back to Swat and other native areas.”

Pakistani analysts, however, are not optimistic because the key man- Maulavi Faqir Mohammad is either on a run on his own- or worst, was allowed to escape.

It is interesting that Journalists were taken on this guided tour because in December 2005 a Pakistani reporter – Hayatullah Khan who was 32 years old at that time and worked for The Nation was allegedly kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence agency and later found dead.

Reports confirm that a Pakistani intelligence officer had warned Hayatullah Khan, to leave Bajour, along the Afghan border. He stayed and reported on December 4, 2005 that a U.S. missile had killed Hamza Rabia, an al-Qaeda leader, in Miran Shah. He had photographs that showed missile parts with U.S. markings.

“The next day, Khan disappeared. His body was found June 2006, his hands still bound, the newspapers reported, with government-issued handcuffs. The government launched an investigation, but The Nation noted today that its findings have not been made public,” writes Jere Van Dyk for Carnegie Council.

In November 2008 the International Monetary Fund approved a 23-month Stand-By Arrangement for Pakistan in an amount equivalent to US$7.6 billion to support the country’s economic stabilization program. The total amount of the IMF resources made available under the arrangement equals 500 percent of the country’s quota. The arrangement was approved by the IMF Board under the Fund’s fast-track Emergency Financing Mechanism procedures.

The fiscal policies of General Musharaf’s rule (FY2007/08) had put the country at the brink of bankruptcy. The external current account deficit had widened to a record level; net capital inflows declined significantly, and currency depreciated substantially. A delay in the pass-through of higher international prices to domestic consumers led to a large increase in the fiscal deficit, and its monetization by the State Bank of Pakistan contributed to rising inflation and a sharp decline in international reserves. Pakistan was unable to secure funds from any other source so the IMF loan appeared to be a godsend.

It sounds funny but my Executive Producer was following this story so keenly that he woke me up in the middle of the night to say that the first installment had hit the country’s Central Bank.

Generally speaking there was no criticism – like a borrower with poor credit history who signs away their first born to a sub-prime mortgage, the Pakistani media blindly let it slide.

No one raised an eyebrow that the IMF required Pakistan to raise the power tariff by 24 percent during the current fiscal year in three phases – six percent in the October-December quarter, 12 percent in January-March and six percent in the April-June period. A 4.4 percent tariff increase was announced in October 2009, and now a notification is pending for an additional 13.6 percent increase.

IMF’s stated objective for this arrangement was two fold: “to restore macroeconomic stability and confidence through a tightening of macroeconomic policies; and to ensure social stability and adequate support for the poor and vulnerable in Pakistan.”

But this dual ‘objective’ is an oxymoron.

Like other developing countries, the government of Pakistan has been the leading source of employment and channel for capital. But market fundamentalists define governments as inefficient economic actors, and so prioritize reducing their economic role.

Austerity measures are imposed by raising prices of electricity and cutting other government provided subsidies so external debts (in our example IMF debt) can be paid back. Increasing electricity tariffs in Pakistan will eventually translate into layoffs and reduction of entrepreneur’s capacity to compete in global market.

Under the same IMF agreement, the State Bank of Pakistan has stopped selling foreign exchange to banks for financing crude oil imports and this results in a weakening of Pakistan rupees. Pakistan forex is also impacted by higher interest rates, another IMF condition that Pakistan had to swallow. Charging higher interest rates for credit is the classic way to control inflation and it fits well within the IMF framework.

But high interest rates are choking Pakistan’s economy: small and medium-sized businesses and farmers cannot afford credit, and so are often forced out of business. Pakistani farmers are forced to sell their land leading not only to less productive agriculture but environmental devastation.

Some would argue that higher interest rates attract foreign investment in government bonds. But at best these are short-term investments by profit-seeking investors. Pakistan’s experience under Musharaff/Quresihi tells us that short term investments have a destabilizing impact. The faster it comes, quicker it leaves.

The Kerry-Lugar Bill became an issue because it was aid to Pakistani people – directly to the civil society and it bypassed Pakistan’s army. It was made an issue by a handful of journalists and dropped like hot potatoes when GHQ told them to stop. It was aid- not a loan.

IMF’s sub-prime loan to Pakistan has conditions that impact life and livelihoods of ordinary citizens and no TV anchor, no mainstream journalist is willing to scrutinize this debt? I wonder why?

A Pakistani village that tried to resist Taliban infiltration was struck with grief in an apparent revenge suicide bombing at an outdoor volleyball game. The village lies in Lakki Marwat district near South Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal region where the army has battled the Pakistani Taliban since October.

“Government of Pakistan is under tremendous pressure. They have to take the war of terror to wherever insurgents are hiding,” said a source privy to Islamabad’s decision.

The American media has been reporting that Pakistan is not willing to take the fight to North Waziristan insinuating that there is a divergence of interests. Quoting American officials, LA Times and AP reported last week that the Obama administration is frustrated with Pakistan military’s strategy of going after Taliban in only selective areas.

Americans wanted the Pakistan army to expand operations into North Waziristan to dismantle the Haqqani network. The Pakistan military was gearing up to drive militants from the surrounding tribal regions of Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber – areas that Taliban are using to assemble and re-launch.

Pakistan has been reluctant to open multiple fronts because of the lack of manpower and equipment. Approximately 30,000 soldiers were engaged in South Waziristan and prior to that in the Swat Valley.

Military operations in the Swat valley and later in South Waziristan drove Taliban to surrounding tribal regions of Orakzai and Khurram. In the last weeks of 2009 the Pakistan airforce had increased the velocity of airstrikes in those areas to prevent militants from establishing new bases.

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani had also announced that the next deployment of ground troops will target Orakzai.

“Contrary to how it was portrayed in the American media, Pakistan army’s operation and tactical decisions are based on immediate threats, resource availability and possibility of success,” said a Pakistani official on condition of anonymity. “It is irresponsible to think that we are not going after any particular network of Taliban,” he said referring to reports that Pakistan does not want to go after the Haqqani network.

But due to the recent spate of violence Pakistan army has changed its plan and North Waziristan operation will began shortly.

A senior Pakistani official told us today that the ISI and CIA have conducted over fifty joint operations recently. “These are very complex engagements. CIA and ISI depend on each other for not only success of these operations but to watch each other’s back,” official said stressing under the apparent tension – there is solid cooperation between two intelligence agencies.

Other Pakistani government officials complain that their army is overstretched and under- appreciated for handling vicious terrorists in Swat, South Waziristan and Orakzai.

The Obama administration has sent several senior officials to Islamabad in the past two weeks urging Pakistan to tackle North Waziristan and allow drone strikes into the western province of Balochistan.

“We feel joint targeted operations are more successful in Balochistan. Drone attacks will be counterproductive,” said the Pakistani official. He acknowledges that the Obama administration is becoming more ‘demanding’ and has warned General Kayani that “you do it, or we will”.

A senior civilian adviser to America’s special forces commander in Afghanistan, Seth Jones in his New York Times article, Take the war to Pakistan, has argued that the Afghan war is “run and organized out of Balochistan” by the Quetta shura, a 15-man war council led by the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. “Virtually all significant meetings of the Taliban take place in that province, and many of the group’s senior leaders and military commanders are based there,” he said.

Pakistan army’s ‘secretive’ relations with American counterpart are no surprise.

During Musharaf’s tenure, according to a report in Guardian today, American Special Forces had conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan’s tribal areas.  A former NATO officer told the Guardian that the incursions occurred between 2003 and 2008, and involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night.

“While public opinion has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the tribal areas, any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation,” the Guardian claims.

This dynamic  has changed. The Pakistan Army does not want to allow drone attacks in Baluchistan and would rather conduct joint operations.

The CIA-ISI relationship is extremely complex: on the one hand we learn about how these two agencies are working together but through consistent leaks we are often told a different story – that they are devoid of any semblance of trust. Below are recently declassified CIA documents that accuse ISI of playing ‘double game’ during Genereal Musharaf’s rule.

پاکستان کے حقیقی حکمرانوں یعنی شانوں پر ستارے اور سینوں پر سلور بیج سجائے خاکی وردی والوں نے ایک بار پھر قوم کی زبان بند کرنے کا فیصلہ کر لیا ہے۔ چونکہ اس بار انہیں براہ راست اُن کے امریکی آقاؤں سے یہ حکم ملا ہے، اس لئے وہ یہ اچانک تبدیلی نہایت چالاکی سے پیدا کر رہے ہیں۔ 

اس بار انہوں نے ملک کے منتخب صدر آصف علی زرداری کو رات کے اندھیرے میں عہدے سے ہٹانے کے بجائے دن کے اجالے میں ہی پر کاٹ کر اڑنے سے محروم کر دیا ہے۔ صدر پاکستان آصف علی زرداری کے پاس اب کوئی اختیارات نہیں ہیں۔ ایوان صدر محض علامت اور ان کے اختیارات برائے نام رہ گئے ہیں۔ 

کیری لوگر بل کے معاملے پر پیدا ہونے والے تنازع کے بعد واشنگٹن میں پاکستان کے سفیر حسین حقانی مذاق بن گئے تھے اور اُن کا اثر و رسوخ بھی ختم ہو کر رہ گیا ہے۔ 

میں یہ سوال اٹھانے میں حق بجانب ہوں کہ پاکستان میں حکومت کرنے والی حقیقی طاقت کس طرح حسین حقانی جیسے دانشور کے ساتھ مل کر کام کر سکتی ہے۔ حقانی صاحب نے ‘‘ملٹری سے مسجد تک’’ کتاب تحریر کی ہے جو پاکستان کی حالیہ تاریخ کے بارے میں مستند حیثیت کی حامل ہے۔ اس کتاب میں انہوں فوج مافیا کے ہاتھوں ملاؤں اور مسجد کے استعمال کو بے نقاب کیا ہے۔ حسین حقانی کو تو لازمی پاکستان کی جمہوری حکومت کی نمائندگی کرنا تھی، لیکن انہیں کام تو آخر اُسی آرمی کے ساتھ کرنا تھا جس کے بارے میں انہوں نے کتاب لکھی ہے۔ یہاں میرا یہ خدشہ درست ثابت ہوا ہے کہ آپ تاریکی اور اجالے، حق و باطل اور ظالم و مظلوم کے ساتھ بیک وقت مفاہمت نہیں کر سکتے۔ 

آئی ایس آئی نے دوسرا حملہ لندن میں پاکستان کے ہائی کمشنر واجد شمس الحسن پر کیا ہے۔

ٹیلی ویژن کے بہت سے صحافی اس بات سے اچھی طرح اگاہ تھے کہ جنیوا میں کوئی بڑا کام ہونے والا ہے۔ یورپ اور امریکا میں پاکستانی سفارت خانوں میں آرمی کے لوگوں کی جانب سے بتایا گیا کہ انہیں تمام اخراجات کے ساتھ جنیوا لے جایا جائے گا جہاں ایسی خبر جنم لینے والی ہے جو اُن کے کیریئر میں سنگ میل ثابت ہو گی۔

لندن، جنیوا، واشنگٹن ڈی سی اور برلن میں موجود آرمی اور آئی ایس آئی کے نمائندوں نے ٹیلی ویژن کے مشہور صحافیوں کو اس خبر کی تفصیلات بتائے بغیر دام میں لانے کی بہت کوشش کی، لیکن کوئی صحافی راضی نہ ہوا۔ اس ناکامی پر اٹلی کے شہر carpi میں روزنامہ جنگ کے غیر معروف نمائندے سے رابطہ کر کے تمام اخراجات کے ساتھ جنیوا لے جایا گیا۔ اس نمائندے نے کبھی کسی ٹی وی چینل کے لئے رپورٹ تیار نہیں کی اور اسی وجہ سے اُس کی بھیجی گئی ریکارڈنگ سے کراچی میں جیو کی ٹیم نے پورا سیگمنٹ تیار کر کے اُن ایئر کیا۔

یورپ میں فوج کی معاونت کرنے والا شخص نصیر ملک جنیوا میں آئی ایس آئی کے درمیانے درجے کے نمائندے کے طور پر بھی جانا جاتا ہے۔ وہ مسلم لیگ (ن) کا عہدیدار اور مشروب اسٹور کا مالک بھی ہے۔ وہ ٹی وی چینلز کے نمائندوں کو بار بار فون کر کے کیمرہ پرسن کے ساتھ آنے اور یہ خبر کور کرنے کیلئے قائل کرتا رہا۔ واجد شمس الحسن کی آمد کے وقت، اُن کے زیر استعمال کار اور اس کی لائسنس پلیٹ سمیت تمام اور بہت سی معلومات نصیر ملک کے پاس پہلے سے موجود تھیں۔

کچھ چینلز نے اس کو کور کیا اور یکم دسمبر 2009 کو یہ رپورٹ ہوا کہ برطانیہ میں پاکستانی ہائی کمشنر واجد شمس الحسن کی سربراہی میں جنیوا میں انتہائی خفیہ آپریشن ہوا ہے ۔

 صدارتی ترجمان فرحت اﷲ بابر نے جنیوا میں وکیل کے دفتر سے کسی ریکارڈ کی منتقلی کے معاملے سے مکمل لاعلمی کا اظہار کیا تھا۔ اخبار کے نمائندے جاوید کنول، جنہوں نے جامعہ لاہور سے فوٹو گرافی میں پی ایچ ڈی کرنے کا دعویٰ کر رکھا ہے (میں نے دوبار چیک کیا ہے، لیکن پاکستان میں کوئی جامعہ فوٹو گرافی میں پی ایچ ڈی کی ڈگری نہیں کراتی) مشہور اور دولت مند ہو گئے ہیں۔ انہیں آئی ایس آئی کے جوائنٹ کاؤنٹر انٹیلی جنس بیورو کی جانب سے رقم دی گئی۔ جاسوسوں کا یہ گروہ بیرون ملک پاکستانی سفارتکاروں کی نقل و حرکت کی نگرانی پر مامور ہے۔

واشنگٹن ڈی سی اور لندن میں ڈپلومیٹک مشن بہترین کور فراہم کرتے ہیں اور آئی ایس آئی کے مراکز سفارتخانوں کے احاطے میں ہی واقع ہیں۔ ان میں سے کم از کم دو کو تو میں جانتا ہوں جن کا میں ذکر کر چکا ہوں، لیکن سفارتخانوں کی حدود سے باہر بھی آئی ایس آئی کے لوگوں کو پاکستانی کمیونٹی کے ساتھ قریبی تعلق رکھنے والی کوئی نہ کوئی کاروباری شخصیت مل ہی جاتی ہے جس کی ایک زندہ مثال  نصیر ملک ہے۔ اس کے علاوہ بھی کچھ مشکوک کردار صرف اس لیے خود کو صحافی ظاہر کرتے ہیں کہ انہیں آزادانہ گھومنے کی اجازت مل سکے۔ جنیوا میں کسی پریس کانفرنس کے دوران اُن کا پہلی قطار میں موجود ہونا حیرانی کی بات نہیں اور پاکستان آرمی کے کردار یا پاکستان میں انسانی حقوق کے حوالے سے سوال و جواب کے سیشن کا ماحول خراب کرنے کا موقع بھی ہاتھ سے جانے نہیں دیتے۔

جنیوا میں اقوام متحدہ کیلئے پاکستان کا مشن ضمیر اکرام کی قیادت میں کام کر رہا ہے اور اس مشن نے واجد شمس الحسن کے گرد گھیرا بنانے میں مرکزی کردار ادا کیا ہے۔ ضمیر اکرام اقوام متحدہ میں پاکستان کے سابق مندوب مشہور منیر اکرام کے بھائی ہیں جنہیں نیو یارک کے  اپنے اپارٹمنٹ میں خاتون پر حملے کے الزام  کا بھی سامنا ہے۔

انٹیلی جنس بیورو (پاکستان کی سول انٹیلی جنس سروس) کے ذرائع نے تسلیم کیا ہے کہ وہ آئی ایس آئی کے اس ‘‘جمہوریت کُش’’ آپریشن سے بالکل بے خبر تھے، لیکن اب اُن کے پاس اس بات کے کافی شواہد موجود ہیں کہ کس طرح پاکستان کے منتخب صدر اور بیرون ملک سفارتکار کو پریشان کرنے کے لئے میڈیا کو استعمال کیا گیا۔

سابق صدر پرویز مشرف امریکا میں اپنی تمام تقریروں کے دوران آرمی اور آئی ایس آئی کا دفاع کرتے ہوئے موقف اختیار کرتے رہے ہیں کہ یہ ادارے بھی وہی کچھ کر رہے ہیں جو کسی بھی ملک کی قومی سلامتی کے ادارے کرتے ہیں۔ اگر یہ بات درست ہے تو پھر پاکستانی ادارے اپنا یہ فرض جمہوری طور پر منتخب حکومت کے زیر انتظام رہتے ہوئے کیوں نہیں ادا کرتے۔ دراصل سابق صدر پرویز مشرف کے دور حکومت میں اداروں کو جمہوری انداز میں کام نہیں کرنے دیا گیا اور نہ ہی جمہوری اقدار کو پروان چڑھنے کا موقع ملا۔ دنیا پاکستان کو ناکام ملک سمجھنے لگی تھی اور پرویز مشرف کے پاس اس الزام کا کوئی جواب موجود نہیں ہے۔

 اگر پاکستان دنیا میں اپنی حیثیت منوانا چاہتا ہے اور طاقت کے اس میدان میں اپنی سالمیت و ساکھ کے دفاع کا خواہش مند ہے تو ایسا صرف جمہوری اداروں اور اُن کے استحکام سے ہی ممکن ہے۔ جمہوری اداروں کو اہمیت نہ دینے والے ہماری قومی سلامتی کے لئے خطرہ ہیں۔ پاکستان میں طویل آمریت کے بعد آنے والی جمہوریت ابھی کمزور ہے اور آرمی اس کو یرغمال بنانے کی کوشش کر رہی ہے۔ امید ہے کہ پاکستانی عوام اپنے حقوق کے لئے اُٹھ کھڑے ہوں گے اور بوٹوں والوں نے حقوق پر قبضے کی کوشش کی تو قوم اپنی طاقت سے انہیں بیرکوں میں واپس جانے پر مجبور کر دے گی

اب دنیا بدل چکی ہے اور ہم گورننس کے نئے عہد میں داخل ہو رہے ہیں۔ اگر ہم نے ملک میں جمہوریت کو مستحکم نہیں کیا تو عالمی برادری میں اہم مقام اور حیثیت حاصل نہیں کر سکیں گے اور پاکستان اس کا متحمل نہیں ہو سکتا۔