Spearhead Analysis 09-08 US think tanks and media are orchestrating a carefully calibrated campaign to signal their firm perception that Pakistan has been playing a double game----taking US dollars and not going all out in the war on terror. There are insinuations (without an iota of evidence except interviews with people not wanting to be named) that Pakistan's intelligence agencies and military are secretly aiding the Taleban even as they profess to fight them.
Timed with the transition to democracy this campaign seeks to divide the military and the new civil dispensation and encourages the democratic government to change track and bring the military and intelligence agencies under control. The US is being advised to forge separate relationships with the civil and the military in pursuit of its interests. These interests have been made clear by President Bush in his remarks where he put Pakistan in the same category as Iraq and Afghanistan and while regretting civilian deaths vowed to continue US attacks in all three countries. This explains the surge in US attacks in FATA. Now when Pakistan is blamed for the problem in Afghanistan there is no mention of the thousands killed in Pakistan in combat and bomb attacks nor any reference to the terrorists killed and captured by Pakistan. There is also no mention of the drugs, warlords and the total absence of any sort of governance or control in Afghanistan. Military commanders in Afghanistan are shown on TV saying that the Taleban ` came from Pakistan or escaped into Pakistan'. Perhaps they do not know that Pakistan has been asking for a definition of the border, a hardening of the border, fencing where possible and technical monitoring of the border with movement confined to declared crossing points. None of this has happened. There is no reason why NATO cannot declare a border zone along the border inside Afghanistan a `neutral zone', ban all movement in it, bring it under surveillance and attack aliens and others who try and cross it in either direction. Pakistan's concerns of external involvement in its destabilization have also gone unheeded on the grounds that it has not shown proof but no proof seems to be required when Pakistan is to be blamed. For Pakistan the choice is clear. It has to stabilize internally against all attempts to keep it unstable. The civil and military must always remain on the same page regardless of the allegations being leveled. Intelligence and strategic assets should not be compromised under any sort of pressure and considered decisions based on shared civil-military perceptions should be the norm for all structural and organizational improvements. Regardless of the past the military has now clearly signaled its disassociation from politics----a civil- military relationship for the democratic environment can now be forged. The military can be a powerful and constructive factor in this relationship. US overtures of non-military economic support should be welcomed and a basis laid for a continuance of the US- Pakistan relationship beyond current concerns and fears. Pakistan can resolve its problems---it has to show this resolve to silence dissent and doubt. www.spearheadresearch.org. http://www.spearheadresearch.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=808
