Pakistani civil society is up in arms at the Taliban's shooting of a young girl, an education rights activist who ran afoul of their strict, hardline, view of Islam.
Are Pakistanis waking up to the menace they have created within their own country by supporting the Taliban? They've never been as hard-core as the Taliban, and have generally followed a milder form of Islam. However, since the early 80s, when Zia Ul-Haq took over and gradually "Islamized" several institutions, they have been drifting dangerously to the right. Will this be the wake up call? I certainly hope so. A theme in my book, "The Anza Deception" is about the frustration locals in Swat felt when the Taliban came over the mountains and took over the region. They imposed a strict form of Sharia, and the government in Islamabad turned a blind eye. Read about the controversy in the Times of India by clicking here. The Anza Deception is now available on Flipkart! While it is listed as "Out of Stock" for now, copies should be available in the next few weeks. Do sign up to be notified when copies are available, and also "Like" that page on Flipkart.
While you're at it, please also visit the book's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/theanzadeception, and "Like" it! Some great books if you're interested in the same things I'm interested in:
The Srinagar Conspiracy: A fast-paced thriller set in Kashmir, written by veteran NDTV journalist, Vikram Chandra. Not only is the plotline extremely gripping, but the story comes to life with Chandra's (obviously first-hand) descriptions of the scenes in Srinagar in the book. He also successfully gets you inside the mind of a terrorist - and makes the nuanced distinction between the home-grown kind (Kashmiri) and the hard-core (typically foreign) jihadi. You can buy it on Flipkart here. War and Peace in Modern India: This academic work of the foreign policy challenges during Nehru's time is a great read, if you're interested in how the roots of some of our current problems (Kashmir, for example) were sown. Srinath Raghavan is a highly well-read academic, but still makes the crises of the newly born Indian nation come to life. Click here to buy it on Flipkart. So Air India's first Dreamliner (Boeing 787) is being assembled in Seattle. The cabinet has just approved the final purchase, and today's newspapers carry full page ads from Air India announcing the eminent arrival of this modern aircraft.
To understand why this is such a ridiculous situation, read this, from Wikipedia: As of March 2011, Air India has accumulated a debt of Rs. 42,570 crore (approximately $10 billion) and an operating loss of Rs. 22,000 crore, and is seeking Rs. 42,920 crore from the government. For the past three months (June, July, August 2011), the carrier has been missing salary payments and interest payments and Moody’s Investor Service has warned that missing payments by Air India to creditors, such as the State Bank of India, will negatively affect the credit ratings of those banks. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) blamed the decision to buy 111 new planes as one of the major causes of the debt troubles in Air India. The Board of Directors of any corporation are responsible for prudently managing the affairs of the corporation in a way that serves the best interests of its stakeholders. The problem with Air India is that the key stakeholder who has quietly signed a blank check for all this fiscal irresponsibility is the Indian taxpayer - people like you and me who diligently pay our taxes and withstand the irrational scrutiny of the avaricious taxman. And the Air India board and civil aviation authorities are having a right royal party at our expense. I wasn't surprised to read this in today's Times of India: "Chennai turning into safe haven for drug smugglers". I have long maintained that our police forces, customs and border security agencies such as the BSF and Coast Guard have been so focused on preventing the next terrorist attach that they've taken their eye off the ball as far as smuggling and organized crime is concerned.
The article goes on to validate my view: "Customs officials arrest the couriers and hand them over to the narcotic wing of the crime branch or the state police for further action. After that, the drug trail goes cold. " Why? I believe that state police agencies have allocated scant resources to the pursuit of drug smugglers and other organized crime syndicates. They're all focused on VIP security (Chennai residents will notice the large contingent of police deployed by the side of the road when the Chief Minister is on the move), and preventing terrorist attacks. I guess the mafia don't have a problem with that. An Israeli Diplomat's wife's car was bombed in Delhi recently, allegedly by a limpet bomb attached by a motorcycle rider on the streets of Delhi. Hawks on all sides are pointing fingers at Iran, but the Indian police claim they haven't found conclusive evidence supporting that view yet. I spent some time thinking beyond the standard narratives about the attack. Here are some ideas to chew on:
India has been a reasonably staunch ally of Iran on the international stage, but is increasingly under pressure by the West to toe their line instead, and abandon Iran. India's growing proximity to the West and to Israel, especially in matters related to defense equipment purchases, is a compelling reason for India to throw Iran under the bus. But the dilemma is, how can they change tune without being viewed by the other developing countries (and their BRIC buddies) as spineless turncoats? Solution: a fake attack that can be pinned on Iran. Find a convenient thug to plant the bomb (which, for all the deadly images of the Toyota Innova in flames, actually resulted in no deaths), do a quick "investigation", without actually blaming Iran, allow people to speculate to that effect, and use that as an excuse for the chilling of relations with a decades-old ally. Convenient!! Israel is looking for reasons to strike against Iran, and the Hawks in the US (especially in the US Media - look at this article on Slate) are quietly standing by allowing the rhetoric to heat up. What stops the Mossad from picking a soft target like India, Georgia and Thailand to "attack" one of their own diplomats / embassies and blame Iran? They've been known to do stranger things! Point is, there's always more to these things than meets the eye. Will we ever find out? Perhaps not. But that shouldn't stop us from keeping a sharp eye out for a rat. President Obama has authorized several small, focused commando strikes during the past few years. His doctrine has focused on changing the orientation of the US military from large, conventional battles to small special-forces action against non-state actors. National Public Radio has an excellent analysis here.
This is a luxury the US has, because in general, they have the ability to choose the time and place of battle. They do not need a large defensive force to defend their homeland, and most of their wars have been fought in foreign lands. (Sidenote: The US has an organization called "Veterans of Foreign Wars". Question: Which war did the US fight that wasn't a "foreign war"?). India and Pakistan, on the other hand, have large, conventional standing forces to fight conventional battles against each other. These units are typically ill prepared for civilian law-and-order duties, or for counter-insurgency operations. Their training, arms and equipment, manuals of warfare are all designed for an environment where the enemy is well known and the restrictions on engagement limited. Deploy these same units into a situation where they face a non-state actor (a terrorist group like the LTTE or the Maoist Guerillas) and they will take some time to adjust. Add restrictive rules of engagement because of the presence of a large local population of innocents, and the situation becomes double difficult. An then there's the personnel side to consider. The typical Indian army foot soldier has been drilled till he learns how to take orders and act immediately without questioning or thinking. Put him in a situation where things are ambiguous and he has to improvise, and you're asking for too much. A force capable of operating effectively against non-state actors such as Maoists or Kashmiri or Assamese terrorists needs to be developed from the ground up. The type of men it recruits, how it trains them, their mental attitude, doctrine of operation -- all these things need to be designed so that they are suited to the mission at hand. These things don't happen overnight. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan is in the midst of a face-off with his Army Generals. The spat began when a memo from the Pakistani Ambassador to Washington was leaked to the press, in which the Ambassador warned of the possibility of an Army coup. Army Generals, the memo alleges, plotted to overthrow the civilian government in the days following the embarrassing incident where American helicopters flew into Islamabad and killed Osama Bin Laden.
Pakistan's Army has ruled the country for more than half its post-independence history. Besides enjoying the rush that comes with wielding power, the military's top brass has enriched itself by getting involved in many businesses, directly or indirectly, through front companies. Retired Generals hold key positions in the country, often in fields far from their areas of expertise. There is no way they are going to give up power easily. Gilani is an unlikely Don Quixote, a Prime Minister without the strong grassroots political backing of a Benazir or Nawaz Sharif. The chance that he can make a dent in their hold on the country's institutions is bleak, to say the least. It could be that he's counting on the support of the middle class, hoping against hope that the wave of anger sweeping the Arab street will blow Eastwards into Pakistan. He could be hoping that the anger that ejected Gen. Parvez Musharaff from power is still lurking below the surface, and will stay Gen. Kayani's hand. We will have to wait and watch, and hope that his calculations are correct. The Times of India carried this article earlier this week: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/China-kills-terrorists-near-Pakistan-border/articleshow/11299701.cms
The Uighur problem in China, and the possibility that they are getting support from sympathetic hardline islamists in the Pakistan establishment (read: ISI), is a golden opportunity for India. The traditionally close relationship between Pakistan and China will be subject to tremendous strain if the Chinese suspect that the ISI is meddling in their backyard. The Chinese have been (rightfully) ill-opposed to any meddling in their internal affairs. Watch this space. Pakistan (or rogue elements within the Pakistan establishment) will not be able to restrain themselves from doing something in concrete support of their fellow Sunni Muslim Uighur brothers. |
About meExecutive, entrepreneur, investor and mentor to social entrepreneurs, golf and squash addict, author of thrillers... In short, an amateur dabbler in new experiences, and provoker of thoughts. Archives
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