06-25-2004, 07:16 AM
> While there might be foreign elements among them and they may be operating
> against American forces in Afghanistan, in my view that is what they are:
> opponents, of a governmental policy; not enemies, not insurgents, not
> terrorists.
Thank you Zulfikar for circulating the article.
Brigadier Shaukar Qadir is right.
General Musharraf claimed that he had a mandate from the people on the basis of a presidential election held when he was in uniform and was the only candidate. No one agreed with him; his legitimacy in power was suspect. He has since secured a vote of confidence from the parliament that does buttress his legitimacy but his insistence on staying in uniform puts a question mark on it once again.
That he has employed the Pakistan Army to hunt the opponents of American presence in Afghanistan - the very people we supported and helped when they were resisting Soviet occupation - makes General Musharraf extremely unpopular and the question mark over his legitimacy has reappeared. That he calls the Afghans who resist American occupation 'terrorists' and the Pakistanis who help them 'miscreants' is self-fulfilling.
His decision to use force against them has reinforced their legitimacy and increased their popularity and robbed him of both. <b>Wana operation is causing destabilisation of the country unprecedented in its scale. It is times General Musharraf reviewed the situation because the policy of uncritical obedience of America is dangerous for Pakistan.</b> His decision undermines the respect of the people the armed forces must enjoy if they are to perform their role properly; it puts his own life and that of hundreds of thousands of servicemen all over Pakistan in peril. Even the power of America has failed to secure the submission of Iraqis. The Afghans brought the Soviet power to its knees. The armed forces operating without the support of the people always prove to be powerless. So have they in Wana.
+ Brigadier Usman Khalid +
Director London Institute of South Asia
P.S. The situation in Karachi is quite different. The wise politicians of Sindh have always realised that they can frustrate the menace of MQM only with the help of the armed forces and the majority people of the Punjab. It is the Sindhi nationalists among them, who neither have patriotism nor wisdom, who undermine them.
> against American forces in Afghanistan, in my view that is what they are:
> opponents, of a governmental policy; not enemies, not insurgents, not
> terrorists.
Thank you Zulfikar for circulating the article.
Brigadier Shaukar Qadir is right.
General Musharraf claimed that he had a mandate from the people on the basis of a presidential election held when he was in uniform and was the only candidate. No one agreed with him; his legitimacy in power was suspect. He has since secured a vote of confidence from the parliament that does buttress his legitimacy but his insistence on staying in uniform puts a question mark on it once again.
That he has employed the Pakistan Army to hunt the opponents of American presence in Afghanistan - the very people we supported and helped when they were resisting Soviet occupation - makes General Musharraf extremely unpopular and the question mark over his legitimacy has reappeared. That he calls the Afghans who resist American occupation 'terrorists' and the Pakistanis who help them 'miscreants' is self-fulfilling.
His decision to use force against them has reinforced their legitimacy and increased their popularity and robbed him of both. <b>Wana operation is causing destabilisation of the country unprecedented in its scale. It is times General Musharraf reviewed the situation because the policy of uncritical obedience of America is dangerous for Pakistan.</b> His decision undermines the respect of the people the armed forces must enjoy if they are to perform their role properly; it puts his own life and that of hundreds of thousands of servicemen all over Pakistan in peril. Even the power of America has failed to secure the submission of Iraqis. The Afghans brought the Soviet power to its knees. The armed forces operating without the support of the people always prove to be powerless. So have they in Wana.
+ Brigadier Usman Khalid +
Director London Institute of South Asia
P.S. The situation in Karachi is quite different. The wise politicians of Sindh have always realised that they can frustrate the menace of MQM only with the help of the armed forces and the majority people of the Punjab. It is the Sindhi nationalists among them, who neither have patriotism nor wisdom, who undermine them.