The New America Foundation released its latest report on January 13, 2014, revealing that 370 US drone attacks were carried out during 2004 to 2013 in Pakistan and 2,787 terrorists were killed in these strikes. The report claims that 307 innocent people were also killed in these strikes.
These drone strikes are considered as an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan and even the United Nations says that these attacks were against international norms – but who cares? Pakistan again and again demanded that US drone strikes must be stopped immediately, and after every such statement from Pakistan, there is another drone strike on another area of Pakistan. There is no doubt foreign terrorists are killed in these attacks, so it is confirmed that attacks are against terrorists, and there just so happens to be collateral damage in the form of innocent people being killed that live around terrorists hubs.
The Pakistan government on numerous occasions has stressed that the USA must respect its national sovereignty and its air space must be kept intact and respected, because the country has sovereignty. But what do such statements from the government of Pakistan mean if someone like Raymond Davis can kill three Pakistanis – he invaded and compromised the country’s sovereignty – and it was reported that he left Pakistan “untouched.” The memory of this Salala check post event is still fresh in the minds of many Pakistanis.
Day in and day out, drones are attacking Pakistanis and Pakistan, and the Pakistan leaders are doing nothing to protect its sovereignty, not even a proper lip service is being offered by them, yet they have guts to claim that “we have had protected democracy and completed one full term.”
Many Pakistanis feel that their leaders are living in such delusion that they can’t see their arm from their elbow, and that their political parties have become nothing but “beauty contest promoters” – each party has a model-like female representative to appear on TV talk shows and marches around like it is a fashion show or a designer’s clothing competition. These representatives should be comforting their constituents, rather than getting more depressed and feeling hopeless as it seems that the Pakistani parliament is only a private club where people with a lot of money can get into this elite club and show off their expensive clothes and Louis Vuitton handbag, becoming a fashion show where the Nawaz League has made Pakistan its personal ramp to show its desires.
On December 11 in New York City, an Indian council was arrested for the violation of under paying her servant. She was stopped, searched, and arrested (not a very good incident). So toprotect its sovereignty, India called its top diplomat back, removed all the barricades from the US Embassy in New Delhi, removed special diplomatic status from all the working staff of the USA Embassy, and removed their immunity status – that’s called having a backbone to protect their sovereignty, of which the Pakistani has none.
In my opinion
You can say my report and comments are harsh or emotive, but actually these are very realistic and candid. Pakistan has reached a level of “sovereignty bankruptcy.” We have not reached this level in one day.
We have gone through a process, but we never accept it and actually never care about it. There were stages to reach sovereignty bankruptcy. We faced a sovereignty deficit and sovereignty debt, but we did not care about it. We are taking more foreign loans to pay off existing foreign loans. Our economy is dependent upon foreign loans and aids. There are only two countries in the region that are solely dependent upon foreign loans – Pakistan and Afghanistan. This situation is really a sovereignty debt situation – the only difference is that we keep paying the debt and do not refuse to pay the loans.
Last week I was reading some old research papers about South Asia.
Most of them were written by Americans – our friends and our foes. Top American anthropologists and political scientists believe that Pakistanis are wrestling with a fundamental question to answer, and that question is: Is their sovereign state? I believe this is a real question to be answered by the Pakistani media, politicians, and civil and military bureaucracy.
Today, the state is in fiscal collapse. It is unable to pay its bills, create jobs at a pace needed to keep up with its rapidly-increasing population, or invest in its people. Its security arrangements are shambolic, with foreign terrorists ensconced in its military cantonment areas, sprawling metropolises, and tribal areas alike. US drones are killing people wherever the US wishes to strike. Pakistani terrorists have attacked major military installations, intelligence offices, and police officers like Ch Aslam who challenged the writ of terrorists. There is writ of terrorists in Karachi, South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Quetta, and other terrorist hubs, and they do not like that Ch Aslam (a symbol) threatens their writ. Where is the state? Where is the writ of the state?
Some 45,000 Pakistanis have been injured or killed by domestic terrorists, who have turned their guns on moderate Sunni Muslims and Sufi Muslims as well as long-established targets such as Shias, Ahmediyas, Christians, Hindus, and anyone who opposes their form of Islam. The police, who are outgunned and poorly protected, are unable to counter the terrorists’ threat. Pakistan’s court system is a disaster. Judges are afraid to find terrorists guilty, while prosecutors are often too scared to take up the cases.
The whole of the states looks to be in a shambles, and our politicians always try to pass the buck to “foreign hands” and the United States for all our ills. One writer working for a US-based research organization writes in her paper:
“Government’s (Pakistan) inability to provide security and prosperity to its own people has led to questions about its sovereignty, whether in terms of its monopoly of violence, fiscal solvency, or human security. But rather than asking questions of the Pakistani government, Pakistanis are content with blaming Washington for the country’s ills. Pakistan can certainly do better self-sufficient economic growth. Pakistanis should also question Chinese and Saudi intentions as vigorously as they do those of the United States. Both countries have used Pakistan for their own interests, without attempting to invest in the country’s people.”
Her comments are not hilarious and one should think about what she said. Whosoever says whatsoever – I believe that Pakistan can only escape the leash of donors and manipulative outsiders by raising revenue, securing its territory, eradicating corruption, enhancing tax net, and becoming a responsible international actor. And I believe that today’s India and its sovereignty is also ensured by NRIs who enjoy due respect from the Indian government, and they protect Indian interests while overseas Pakistanis have no social respect from the Pakistani government. Pakistani politicians and bureaucrats are ready to lick the boots of foreigners to get the loans, but they are not ready to give respect to overseas Pakistani and take them into confidence and involve them in building a nation although we overseas Pakistanis living abroad are always concerned about the wellbeing of our country and provide huge remittances to support our motherland. But who cares???
The writer can be contacted at: Twitter: @Burhanmk , Facebook: www.facebook.com/Burhankhan , Email: [email protected]
