Pakistanon the Boil

25XT10A.qxd 12/24/2011 7:39 PM Page 1 Page-11 c m y b The Tribune THE YEAR OF UPRISINGS WORLD 2011 SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 2011 DRONE GROAN: Pakistan-US relations plunged to a General new low after NATO helicopters and combat aircraft trouble attacked two Pakistani Loss of face for Pak army, military border posts in the and NATO drone attacks restive Mohmand kept Af-Pak simmering tribal region, killing 24 soldiers ARM TWISTING: General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani By Syed Nooruzzaman HE Pakistan army’s role found frequent mention in the midst of speculation over the fate of President Asif Ali Zardari after he flew to Dubai recently all of a sudden, T ostensibly for medical reasons. Most reports indicated that the army was about to take over the administration. Some other reports had it that Zardari was under pressure to relinquish power because of his unhappy relationship with his army chief. Whatever the truth, one thing is clear: under the pre- vailing circumstances, the army cannot afford to stage another coup to dislodge the elected government in Islamabad. The Pakistan army has suffered consid- erable loss of face during the past few years. Its action to end the siege of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid made it unpopular because of the manner in which it was used for the purpose by the then military ruler of Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf. This led to frequent sui- cide bomb attacks. Those involved were tribal youngsters from Waziristan and the surrounding areas. They took the extrem- ist path as most of the madarsa students who perished in the Lal Masjid army operation were tribals. PAKISTAN ON THE BOIL In the process, however, the Taliban Crippling floods for the second year running, a sputtering economy, high inflation and rising unemployment movement got strengthened. The extremists began to demonstrate that they were and a devastating breakdown in relations with the United States defined the year for Pakistan law unto themselves by issuing their own do’s and don’ts to the public. They posed a serious threat to peace and security not only in Pakistan but also in the rest of By Hasan Zaidi South Asia and beyond. This led to tremendous international (read AYING that 2011 was a difficult year for ly in the tribal areas, the killing of 11 US) pressure on Pakistan to get tough with Pakistan might actually win some sort of journalists, the periodic turning up of the Taliban and other terrorist groups. Ini- prize for understatement. This was a year bodies of summarily executed Balochis tially, the Pakistan army was reluctant, but that began with the cold-blooded assassi- who had earlier disappeared, the convic- a stage came when it had to launch a drive, nation by a religious fanatic (and member tion by a London court of three of its though half-heartedly, to tame the extrem- of the security detail) of the governor of the cricketers in a spot-fixing scam and a ists. However, this caused more harm to the country’s most populous province and controversy over a secret memo sent to masses than to the Taliban and its associates. S ended with speculation rife that the powerful the American government that has already The Pakistan army was accused of killing military was once again plotting to send an led to Pakistan’s ambassador to the US its own people. elected civilian government packing. being forced to resign. The primary reason for the situation that The murder of liberal and outspoken The warming of ties between Pakistan came to prevail was Pakistan’s unwise pol- Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer – who and India – Pakistan tentatively promised icy. It wanted to allow pro-Islamabad Tal- was killed by his police security guard its neighbour the long sought for Most iban groups to prosper and punish those not because he spoke in favour of a Christ- Favoured Nation (MFN) status and India listening to the government’s dictates. The ian woman on the death row under the acknowledged a drawdown in militant friendly Taliban factions were considered country’s notorious blasphemy laws – incursions into Kashmir – were overshad- “strategic assets” to be used for achieving probably produced less shockwaves than owed by other developments in the region. Pakistan’s geopolitical objectives in the subsequent lionisation of his killer The friction between the US (increasingly Afghanistan. The world community could by some segments of society. desperate to find a way out of the Afghan not tolerate all this. Hence the US drone Evidence of this rise of unabashed big- quagmire) and Pakistan (increasingly upset attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas with the otry in society was further solidified when at being taken for granted) probably has undeclared cooperation of the Pakistan it claimed the life of the federal minori- the most far-reaching geopolitical conse- NIGHT RAIDERS: US President Barack Obama watches real-time video of special forces killing army. People gradually came to know of ties minister Shahbaz Bhatti even as the quences. It first came to the fore with the Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad the duplicity in the behaviour of their army ruling Pakistan Peoples’Party (PPP) was arrest in Lahore of an American intelli- and the result was more distrust and anger roundly criticised for not showing enough gence contractor Raymond Davis who had ly drove relations to the breaking point. election next year previously aloof politi- against Pakistan’s armed forces. spine in the face of open threats from shot dead two men. The dust had barely set- Pakistan, having pulled out of a crucial cos rush to jump on Khan’s bandwagon. The army got further exposed when extremists. By the end of the year, how- tled on that affair – finally resolved through conference on Afghanistan and blocked Those threatened by the former cricket “memogate” came to light. “Memogate” ever, it was the PPP that was crying foul the payment of blood money – when the NATO supply routes, now demands a captain’s surging popularity accuse him resulted in the removal of Ambassador Hus- over the motives of an activist Supreme world’s most wanted man, Osama bin redefinition of its terms of engagement of having the secret backing of the intel- sain Haqqani, who was reported to have Court hearing cases of corruption that still Laden, was discovered and killed by Amer- with the US even as the US reconsiders ligence services. sent a note to a retired top American mili- threaten to destabilise the government. ican marines in a daring raid right next to its financial assistance. Whether he does or not, the stand-off tary official through a US-based Pakistani In between such markers of rising intol- a military academy in Abbottabad. As ques- Meanwhile, domestically, the plunging with the US, which has stoked patriotic lobbyist with an alleged request from Pres- erance and intrigue, Pakistan also wit- tions swirled about the complicity or incom- popularity of President Asif Zardari and sentiment, and a mismanaged economy ident Asif Zardari to prevent an imminent nessed crippling floods for the second petence of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, the continuing unpopularity of his main that has tainted the government have army coup. This was enough for the army year running, a sputtering economy, high nationalistic rhetoric reached fever-pitch rival Nawaz Sharif with the country’s ensured that military chief General Ash- to dislodge the government, but it had no inflation and rising unemployment and a on both sides. The US attack on a Pakistani military establishment, has spurred the faq Parvez Kayani once again holds the courage to do so because of what had been devastating breakdown in relations with border post in November that killed 24 sol- rising star of perennial outsider Imran cards to Pakistan’s future. happening in the past, disparaging its image the United States. There was also increas- diers, and which the Pakistan military Khan who held a political career-defin- That is a far cry from the public oppro- in the eyes of the public. ingly fractious provincial politics, con- believed was a testing of the waters for fur- ing massive rally in Lahore in October. brium heaped on him and his institution on In view of the raging anti-Americanism tinuing militancy and conflict particular- ther incursions into Pakistani territory, final- Even as the country gears up for an early May 2, the day after bin Laden was killed. in almost every segment of society, Islam- abad took a tough stand against the US fol- lowing the killing of 24 Pakistan army per- sonnel in an attack by NATO troops in Sealed with a Royal kiss Death of bin Laden November, yet it appeared confused. After NEWSPICK Prince William married his long-time girlfriend Kate Al-Qaida leader Osama bin a few days Islamabad declared that, as a Middleton in a historic fairytale ceremony at the Laden, the face of global ter- matter of defence policy, any aircraft, majestic Westminster Abbey marked by pomp and rorism, was killed in a US mili- including US drones, violating Pakistan’s The Philippines tragedies pageantry as huge crowds and a global TV audi- tary operation at a fortified airspace, would be shot down. The extrem- The Philippines was hit by a couple of typhoons in ence watched Britain’s biggest royal wedding in 30 compound, near Islamabad. ist forces had been waiting for such a quick succession in December. More than 400 per- years. William, the second in line to the throne, Laden’s death comes almost denouement. This will provide them an sons were killed, 800,000 affected, nearly 45,000 and Middleton were pronounced man and wife as 10 years after Al-Qaida’s excellent opportunity to regroup them- were left homeless or were missing after typhoons they exchanged wedding vows with two simple attacks on the World Trade selves.

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