Nobody in the West seems to believe that Osama Bin Laden was living in Abbottabad just 75 miles from the capital of Pakistan, without the knowledge of the government, top ministers and bureaucrats. Hillary Clinton’s exoneration of Pakistan’s higher ups has cut no ice with anyone except those who are determined to lie and need false testimony of some “credibility” to fortify a foolish falsehood. Pakistan’s national anguish was summed up by a perceptive observer who wrote, “If we did not know that he was in Abbottabad for years with his wives and kids we are a failed state: if we did know we are a rogue state.”
No sensible, properly-instructed jury would have believed the false defence, even if bolstered by the testimony of otherwise respectable witnesses. Pakistan has been receiving enormous sums of American money in consideration of the commitment that its armed forces and intelligence agencies have sincerely joined the war against Osama bin Laden and his criminal gangs. No one who has some understanding of circumstantial evidence can ignore the almost conclusive incriminating circumstance that the world’s most wanted terrorist lived for five years within less than a mile of the country’s most prestigious defence academy. Add to this the reputation of the ISI as an intelligence network so efficient and pervasive that no dinner guest at a foreign journalist’s house has ever gone unnoticed or unscrutinised.
I would convict Pakistan of lying on the basis of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s statement to his Parliament. He accused the United States of violating Pakistan’s sovereignty and threatened that any such incursion in future would invite Pakistan’s retaliation with full force. A heavily paid ally in the war against Bin Laden would have sought forgiveness for national incompetence, thanked the US and promised more sincere and effective cooperation in future. But I would refrain from labouring on this point anymore, because I want India and Pakistan to be friends, I want Pakistan’s democracy to strike strong roots, mastering its armed forces and enforcing a sincere resolve to banish the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Pakistan’s soil. I want it to be a respected member of the comity of nations, truly wedded to the last testament of Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah.
I would convict Pakistan of lying on the basis of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s statement to his Parliament. He accused the United States of violating Pakistan’s sovereignty and threatened that any such incursion in future would invite Pakistan’s retaliation with full force. A heavily paid ally in the war against Bin Laden would have sought forgiveness for national incompetenceThe entire civilised world, and particularly India, has to be concerned with the prospect of having as its neighbour a failed state unable to cope with its army, its murderous terrorists and a lethal nuclear arsenal. India must, therefore, be less critical and more sympathetic and affectionate.
President Barack Obama has carried out more drone attacks inside Pakistan even after the killing of Bin Laden. This is a clear statement to Pakistan that the US is not going to leave the Taliban and Al Qaeda take control of Afghanistan. His announcement of troops-withdrawal this year, and next, is not going to be abdication of American responsibility to sustain Afghanistan’s democracy. He has obviously planned an alternative strategy for ensuring access to the landlocked country. It contains a gentle hint that this will be done with Pak cooperation if possible, but without it if necessary.
Pakistan will do well to assess the price of confrontation with an erstwhile ally which has sunk billions of dollars to buy its cooperation. Speaker John Boehner has been brutally forthright: “I think this is a moment when we need to look each other in the eye and decide, ‘Are we really allies? Are we going to work together?'”
Pakistan establishing cordial relationship with India by eschewing terrorism and war by a formal treaty of perpetual peace will go a long way to allay American distrust, strengthen democracy in Asia and put fright into the hearts of the Laden gangs. It will also remove Pakistan’s excuse that its anti terrorist effort in the West is greatly curbed by its troops being tied up in the east for defence against Indian aggression. This has always been a false excuse. India has no territorial designs on Pakistan and is only too happy to have a fully democratic Jammu & Kashmir with as much autonomy as it can handle. It has joined its destiny with India by a freely enacted Constitution by its own sovereign Constituent Assembly.
Pakistan must understand that the US has its own western worries almost as serious as the Afghanistan involvement. Its people are weary of wars in which they do not see any serious threat to immediate and obvious American interests. They want US troops to return home from faraway lands where they are not even very welcome. Europe is proving to be a big headache. The union is falling apart; survival of its common currency is becoming doubtful; similar is the case with the free movement across national borders and transatlantic collective security. A fracturing of the euro could drag down the global economy. A weakened Nato would mean the US will have to bear a bigger security burden. The debt crisis seems to defy the wisdom of European leaders. They have under-invested in their military infrastructure and are turning to Washington for bombs and other necessities. President Obama must be wondering how much longer his voters will support financially expensive alliances and wars big and small. India and Pakistan, singly and jointly, must cater to US anxieties.