Ahsan Nisar – My Bit for Change

A million dollars a day, keep all the worries away

Recently, a news item caught my attention that by opening NATO supply routes, Pakistan will earn $365 million annually. By the time you will be reading these lines, re-opening of supply routes might have been finalized. The issue was a bone of contention in Pak-US relationship since the Salala check post incident on 26th November 2011. The present democratic regime may take the credit for bringing the US administration on table talks which was not the case in Musharraf’s regime, but the decision to re-open the supply routes is an unpopular one and will attract criticism from opposition, religious parties and public alike.

Since 2001, Pakistan has been serving as a front line ally of the US in its War on Terror (read error). In terms of cost-benefit analysis, Pakistan has lost more than it has gained. In monetary terms, we have incurred losses amounting Rs. 68 billion whereas if we talk about human losses it translates to roughly 40,000 precious lives. In this case, the math is simple; earning $365 million per annum at the cost of 24 soldiers. Would this be named as “blood money”?

Talking of blood money reminds me of the famous Lockerbie bombing case, a precedent set by the US itself. If we take into account the money paid by Libya for the loss of life of one US citizen on the hijacked plane then the same value should have been assigned to the human loss that we have incurred in the form of drone strikes and bombings. The US claims that drone strikes are inevitable. Not surprisingly, in order to support their ailing economy, Pentagon has ordered General Atomic to increase their production that makes $4 million on every drone produced.

The ‘war on terror‘ and ‘promoting democracy‘ are the 21st century equivalents of the 19th century British gobbledygook. American Neo-colonialism purveys them as moral justification and uses as political cover for intervening and, where necessary, invading resource-rich and strategic countries to overthrow nationalist leaders, install puppet regimes and ravage the countries’ wealth. And of course, the US is by far the most powerful terrorist force. But the American War in Afghanistan has turned out to be an amazing circus of military ineptitude. NATO’s problem in Afghanistan is how to get out without losing too much face. In this scenario, US needed a scapegoat and who else could be a better one than Pakistan.

Oil lies at the center of the War on (T)error. Failure to recognize this and its full implications has distracted and muddled our thinking and debates into “smoke screen” issues. The real objective of the US is to achieve complete military domination over oil resources and routes. The latest estimate of the US spending on “oil wars” is around $2-2.5 trillion. One has to be completely blind to believe that the US is spending this amount just to fight terrorism or bring democracy in Iraq & Afghanistan. In its pursuit of achieving military primacy, the US has devastated Iraq & Afghanistan. Now, Pakistan is in danger of becoming a “collateral damage” of the US pursuit of global energy control and military domination if Pakistan Army continues to fight its so-called “war on (t)error”. This war has brought Pakistan to the greatest crisis since 1971, a crisis that can result in the disintegration or Balkanization of Pakistan.

The people of Pakistan will not tolerate foreign hegemony under any circumstances. On the basis of the self-same logic, they would never agree to an internal hegemony by any institution of the state. The two hegemonies compliment each other. If our people meekly submit to internal hegemony, they will have to submit to external hegemony. This is so because the strength and power of external hegemony is far greater than that of internal one. If the people are too terrified to resist the weaker force, it is not possible for them to resist the stronger force. Thus the acceptance of internal hegemony means surrender to external hegemony. Fear is no policy, surrender is not an option.

William Francis Butler once said,

“The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.”

The saying above aptly describes the situation in Pakistan post NATO killings. I think that the major cause of instability in Pakistan is the American led War on (T) error. Our government should revisit its foreign policy and rely more on regional strategic partners like China and Iran. I think that the US should leave the treachery of aiding us on the face and stabbing us at our backs. It’s time to let them know that we will not tolerate any foreign interventions, in any form whatsoever at all. If a country like Iran could flout sanctions, why couldn’t we? Boycotting the Chicago Summit could have been our first step in tactfully wiggling out of this alliance by clearly shifting our stance from “Do more” to “No more”.

Its Written on the Wall..

Do we really need an explanation as to why did thousands of people haven taken to the streets of New York City since 17th September, 2011. Initially, these protests were assumed to be “brushed under the carpet” by the US Administration, but the way they have gained momentum world wide, analysts are of the view that the cat is finally out of the bag. However, it remains to be seen how much dirty laundry does the US have in its closet?

Adam Smith, the father of modern day capitalism, must have turned in his grave as protestors took to streets the world over again on May 1, 2012. What started off as an anti-consumerism movement organized by a Canada based magazine, Adbusters, soon turned out into America’s very own “Arab Spring”. The movement has quickly achieved popular support world wide, much quicker than anti-war movement or civil rights movement. The protests have exposed “fundamental problems” within US economic and political system and have shown a clear need that America should bring its own house in order before attempting to do so with other countries.

The protesters have not come up with a big list of demands either. It is more like a “revolution for the sake of it” by a wide variety of fed-ups from a broad spectrum; people have come out in the streets and are saying “We are not going to accept society the way it is”. Presently, the OWS is “leaderless” and protestors say that decentralization is deliberate as it has some advantages like allowing people from various backgrounds to rally behind the same broad message-Down with corporate greed…!!!

In the words of an old Japanese adage “When the army engages in protracted campaigns, the resources of the state will not suffice, for there has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.” What started off as a “war against terror” by the then President Bush, after ten long years, has not brought the desired results for the US; instead it has resulted in deteriorating economic conditions. By making it a “Yes we can War”, Obama loses his own popularity while his troops continue losing ground to the Taliban.

The civil rights movement and the escalating war in Vietnam were the two great catalysts for social protests in the sixties. The situation is no different after five decades down the lane, only that Vietnam has been replaced by Afghanistan. The US is having a taste of its own medicine as, in pursuit of its objective to achieve complete military domination over oil reserves and routes, the US started occupying one weak country after another; totally oblivious of the fact that one day “Occupy Wall Street” will hit the streets of New York! The only wall that has withstood the test of times for 28 years was the Berlin Wall. Let’s keep our fingers crossed as to how the Wall Street survives OWS because when money stops flowing to the man in the street, blood starts flowing in the streets.

OWS-What’s in it for us…???

In Pakistan, the problem is that our politicians enter politics and elections not on ideological grounds but to grab power and make money. But the issue is, it is we, the people, who choose them, knowing very well about their past records. When the army is in power, we are in amnesia and desperate to bring the same corrupt politicians back, when they are in power we aspire for the army to make a come back. The real PROBLEM is that we are hunting for solutions in either of the two camps.

But the REALITY is that we don’t recognize that the real power lies with us THE PEOPLE–the power of the masses. We have had only one such experience of this “power of the masses” recently at the time of restoration of CJ. Time has come that people should start raising their voices through street marches, through media or through protests in any form.

Secondly, the military-bureaucracy-feudal nexus is so strong in Pakistan that talk of true democracy is far fetched. I feel that the major problem is that of illiteracy. If people are knowledgeable then they will have the understanding to vote and will think before they vote, whereas the literate population doesn’t vote because they think that it is useless.

Our leaders have taken safe refuge in their bunkers and have not shown any concern about its citizens. It is time that we demand from them a voice of action or they should be dispatched to their respective homes where they can face the reality of daily life being confronted by the people of Pakistan. The so called “leaders” are busy jockeying for political positioning and shown no leadership that they were elected to provide.

There is no governance, no accountability and not even semblance of leadership. This mayhem would have brought about a political change in any civilized democratic society. Perhaps it is time for the people to raise their voices against this deafening silence and demand action. I think we as a nation need to get together and realize that this is something we need to do ourselves. We need to be brave, we need to do whatever we can, write, voice our opinions, concerns and make ourselves heard.