COLLAPSE OF PASKISTAN A REAL DANGER

COLLAPSE OF PAKISTAN
A REAL DANGER


While some countries might benefit from a little more religion, too much religion could soon drive nuclear armed Pakistan into the hands of radical Islamists deeply antagonistic towards America.
The recent assassination of a governor for opposing strict blasphemy laws, which were used perversely against Christians and other non-Muslin believers, highlighted a deep religiosity within all section of Pakistani society. One of the governor’s bodyguards shot him 27 times while his other bodyguards watched. The assassin claimed he carried out the killing in the name of “The Prophet” and was applauded throughout the country, which is 98% Muslim. Tens of thousands demonstrated in support of the assassin, bringing together the most extreme and conservative elements, including groups of lawyers. For those who thought Pakistan was still a secular country there was a lesson to be learned and it is one that should resonate in Washington.
Pakistan is not, as many in Washington would like to believe, a moderate ally supportive of American foreign policy in the region. Instead, with the rise of Islamic extremism, there has been a growing anti-Americanism even as the country and its military benefits from yearly grants of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. The U.S. mainstream media has rarely shown any understanding of developing problems within Pakistan, especially the rising tide of extremism, much of it fueled by opposition from all sections of the society to the continued U.S. drone targeting of Taliban within the country’s borders. Little attention has also paid to Pakistan’s growing military links to China.
For the West, and for that region of the world, the real danger is Pakistan tearing itself apart because of the extreme religious fervor gripping its population. Opposition to the blasphemy laws brought together the Taliban and opposing militant Sunni sects, which make up more than 80% of the population, as well as Shiites, who often complain of persecution by Sunnis. Since the assassination of the governor, the voice of moderation has been silent further illustrating the fear secularists have of confronting such a wide ranging political bandwagon. Worrying for the judicial authorities is the fact the assassin was an officer from an elite police protection organization, which expressed praise for his actions. More than one thousand lawyers from a legal group until now considered liberal protested in his favor, further confirming the deep malaise within Pakistani society.
Since 9/11, America has poured tens of billions of dollars into Pakistan, all the time focused on how to persuade Pakistan’s military and intelligence agency, the ISI, to do Washington’s bidding in its war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Forgotten in Washington is how the ISI has always secretly controlled Afghanistan and that Pashtuns, who make up the Taliban, exist in very large numbers in Pakistan’s border regions and are naturalized Pakistanis. Therefore, by continuing to insist Pakistan fight its own people, Washington risks plunging Pakistan into a civil war. None of that has seemed to matter to members of Congress who protest privately, and often publicly, America is not getting bang for the buck in respect of Pakistan’s commitment to the so-called War on Terror. U.S. generals and others have complained the Pakistani military has not done enough to deal with extremists on its own soil.
Several years ago, that same Washington mentality led to a Bush policy, since expanded by Obama, of using the CIA to launch an unknown number of drone missile attacks within Pakistan. U.S. Special forces have also operated within Pakistan, seizing, detaining and assassinating targets. Pentagon estimates for the numbers of drone missile attacks are difficult to come by but media reports have sometimes put the figure at around 150, though in reality it could be well over 200. Those attacks, allied to efforts by Pakistan’s military operations against the Pakistani Taliban, have generated unheralded levels of anti-Americanism and have fed growing religious extremism throughout the country.
NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will leave behind a Pakistan riddled with deep antagonism towards America and a fast growing Islamic militancy. Over the years, Washington strategists have been too focused on what Pakistan can deliver militarily against the Taliban and have ignored the emergence of an educated class that favors a brand of Islam, closely resembling Wahabbism. During the 1980s, the religious education of the country’s middle class developed alongside Islam’s role in defeating the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Islamic fervor that war induced has been revived as America’s war in Afghanistan has expanded to include attacks within Pakistan. For too long, growing religiosity in Pakistan, linked to political radicalism, went unnoticed in Washington circles as did the fact more and more of the country’s young military officers were strict Muslims. Some of them were educated in Wahabbi Madrasahs. There is growing concern among English-speaking Pakistani military elites that over time the army, which has kept Pakistan secular since its creation by the British in August 1949, may not be able to hold the line against the rise of radical Islam, especially as its ranks, and those of police forces and the judiciary, become infected with extremists spreading a religious virus.