Category Archives: South Asia

Abdul Aziz tried to escape yesterday disguised as a woman and covered from head to toe in a black ‘burqa’, but he was soon discovered and taken into custody. His brother Abdul Rashid refused to surrender and was reportedly preparing for martyrdom.

Earlier, General Musharraf had calmly informed the jihadis that they had two choices: surrender or ‘be killed’. Nearly a thousand men and women had surrendered over the last few days and today the killings began. We will not know the final outcome for a few days in terms of how many have died.
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Musharraf came to power in 1999 pledging a set of reforms that would transform the country. He failed to implement any of them, did deals with corrupt cliques of discredited politicians and was further weakened when he agreed to become a local point-man for the United States. The country at large continued to rot leaving a vacuum for jihadis to exploit.

While all this was happening inside the country the 36 opposition political parties, big and small, were meeting in London to map a common strategy to restore civilian rule. The conclave ended without reaching an agreement, symbolising its political impotence.
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9/11 made the Pakistan President a key player in the region. For the native elite this was a godsend. Money began to pour in, nuclear-related sanctions were lifted, and the EU granted trade concessions worth over a billion Euros and simultaneously relaxed tariffs on Pakistani textile exports. As the US became more closely involved the Pakistani military and political elite fell into line. Everyone—-venal politicians, grovelling high officials, and harebrained society hostesses—- applauded Pakistan’s return to its old status as a frontline state. Not the Islamists, of course, since the new war was against them and their friends in Afghanistan. For a while the only opposition to the regime came from the Islamists, moderates and extremists alike, though the methods were different in each case. Continue reading →

IN THE RAPIDLY UNFOLDING CRISIS IN Pakistan, no matter what happens to President Pervez Musharraf – whether he survives politically or not – he is a lame duck. Continue reading →

The fallout of the 1980s Afghan War on both Afghanistan and Pakistan was devastating. Pakistan teemed with drugs and arms, and a nasty ethnic war ensued between the indigenous people and the migrants who’d settled in Pakistan after the partition of India. General Zia introduced Sharia’a, Islamic law. Our history books were rewritten, scientific inquiry stifled, artistic expression censored, and the right to theological debate completely eradicated. An amended, draconian version of the Blasphemy Law, first introduced by the British in the nineteenth century, was now passed by ordinance, as were other laws that still exist today, such as the infamous Hudood Laws that target women.

And all of it was happening under the tutelage of American Democracy. Continue reading →

The military regime suffers from a crisis of credibility. Islamic militants of all hues remain powerful in many parts of the country. They frequently show their destructive prowess within Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan. Doubters like Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and think tanks like the International Crisis Group believe that the Musharraf government is, at best, ambiguous and ambivalent in its approach and a reluctant partner in the war on Islamic extremism. At worst, they accuse the military government of allowing the Taliban, al-Qaida, and other militant groups to “regroup, reorganize, and rearm” themselves. Continue reading →