Bravo, Husain Haqqani. From PTI, with thanks to Nicolei:
Washington, June. 30 (PTI): The US should not condone the Pakistani military's continued support of militants and "state sponsorship" of Islamic fundamentalists as also the use of intelligence apparatus to control local politics, an adviser to the country's former Prime Ministers today told a powerful American agency that assesses global religious freedom."Over the years, Pakistan has become a bastion of Islamic extremism," said Husain Haqqani, a former Adviser to three Pakistani non-military Prime Minsters, testifying before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
He urged Washington not to "condone the Pakistani military's support for Islamic militants, its use of the intelligence apparatus for controlling domestic politics, and its refusal to cede power to a constitutional, democratic government."
In a 32-page presentation, the visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment also said religious minorities like Hindus and Christians complain of discrimination and have periodically been subjected to violent attacks by extremists.
Bravo, but will Bush's puppetmaster neocons listen?
Canegie Institute is one of the biggest Islamist apologist foundations around -- this is a typical way to couch the argument -- the implication is that Pakistani fascism is somehow proportionate to American support or lack of support. This is a canard. The same multi-cultural post modern there-is-no-objective-truth arguments got us 40 years of Saudi and Iranian students flooding our universities supposedly to take civilization and culture back to their respective shit holes -- look what that's gotten us -- better equipped more competent enemies, not moderation... Yes, America shouldn't be supporting Pakistani totalitarianism any more than it should be supporting Saudi or any other Islamic fascist totalitarianism. But if the Muslim world only shovels up despots, corruption, and violent fascism, we only a few horrible choices. Engage the monsters and attempt to deal in real politics with them, attempt to "fix" their horribly broken useless systems (as in Iraq and Afghanistan) or view them (more accurately) as true enemies and fight to destroy them. All are ugly choices with great costs attached. As we're learning in Iraq and Afghanistan, the costs of attempting to 'fix' their fascist cultures and religion may prove too high for us to sustain without causing irreparable harm to our future well being ... The choice may ultimately really be one of practical engagement, or annihilation of this dangerous menace of Islam. Fixing them may not be a realistic option... In the end, few in the west are prepared at this point to contemplate or discuss the only real option we may have if the Muslims fail to bring their fascism under control... We probably have to see nukes go off in the west before a large enough portion of our polity is prepared to think about annihilating this ugly menace from the face of the earth...
This is from the Indian Army:
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NARCO TERRORISM IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND PAKISTAN'S ROLE
The Golden Crescent has emerged as the leading producer of heroin in the world. About 80% of heroin in Europe and 20% in US comes from this region. Pakistan alone has the second largest share of heroin produce from amongst the three drug producing countries of the region.
According to the Pakistan Narcotics Control Board, Pakistan produced 200 tonnes of opium in 1991-92. It has also been estimated by the International Narcotics Control Board that the annual income of Pakistan from the sale of drugs is $ 2.7 billion approximately. Drug trafficking is closely connected with the Pak economy and Pak politicians.
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This is from www.armyinkasmir.org
Besides the land route to central Europe via the Balkans, the Indo- Pak border is also being used extensively for transporting narcotics first to India and then to other countries. Militancy in Jammu&Kashmir state of India and smuggling of narcotics have mutually complimented each others requirement i.e., the need for easy money. This nexus has produced the deadly spectre of Narco-terrorism.
Both the Pakistan Army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency are known to be extensively involved in narcotics trade . The primary reason for indulging in narcotics trade by these two premier institutions of Pakistan is the need for money to finance covert foreign operations, which the otherwise cash strapped economy of Pak could ill afford to pay for.
The nexus between Pak ISI and Pak Army with the drug mafia is a well documented and established fact. Pak trucks are used by the drug mafia for narcotics smuggling. Even during the Afghan crisis Pak trucks and National Logistic Cell (NLC) vehicles transporting arms to Afghan Mujahideen were used for shipping large consignments of drugs from the drug producing areas to Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other such city centres, where the drugs were processed, packaged and despatched towards their destination. This brought in a lot of easy money to the Pak ISI. With time this money has been increasingly diverted towards fomenting, sustaining and escalating militancy in the peaceful paradise state of J&K in India.
In the context of the proxy war in J&K, Pak ISI is using the narcotics trade to :-
Generate funds to sustain militancy.
Erode the vitality of the populace in the border belt.
Win over the local youth as informers/supporters of their cause.
Increase the level of criminal activity.
To give an idea of the kind of drug smuggling being carried out by the Pakistan trained militants in the Kashmir valley, details of recoveries from January 1997 to July 1998 are attached. The enormity can be gauged from the fact that the 19.450Kgs of heroin alone recovered in one and a half years, would have fetched nearly Rs 20 Crores (US $ 5 Millions equivalent) as per the New York street price. The figures quoted do not account for the drugs that would have gone undetected. The money so earned is not only used to finance militancy, but also to create a parallel black economy and subvert the populace which has come to shun militancy.
Drug trade by Pak ISI and Pak sponsored terrorists to sponsor the Proxy War in an integral part of India as well as other terrorist related activities at international level, poses a threat not only to India, but to the entire world as well and the complete world community has to stand together to fight this menace.
War on Terror without taking out Pakistan is like trying to battle a balrog with a toothpick....
The genocide of the Hindu population of Pakistan is something that was conveniently ignored by most governments in the West. The genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Hindus from Kashmir was conveniently overlooked by the Clinton administration. Nixon and Kissenger fully supported Pakistan's anti-Indian actions.
Pakistan is not America's ally, it is a snake that will bite the hand that feeds it. Pakistanis tend to be very anti-American, before Iraq, before anything, even when American foreign policy was anti-Indian and pro-Pakistan. It doesn't matter to them. Pakistan is one of the hubs for terrorist training, that is why Osama went to hang out in Pakistan and Afghanistan (esp. Baluch region).
I only hope that websites like this one, and the American people bring more awareness to the general public and the government about this virus before this disease comes to the free world.
Pakistan can engage in all sorts of underhanded activities, because they think they are immune from any retaliation by anyone, including the U.S., b/c of their nukes. Any aid to Pakistan should be attached with restrictions on advancing their nuclear program. A country that is begging for aid should not have nukes as the top priority expense. Ultimately, we Americans are the dumb$&*# to allow these guys to develop nukes when we knew what they were doing. How could our leaders not figure out that these guys are NOT "true blue" allies. I guess the daily Anti-american protests in the country wasn't enough of a clue!
Husein Haqqani, who knows exactly how to operate in the American context, and is trying to convert his new job at B.U. into something more tangible and tenurable, is emphasizing now his credentials as "brave," "outspoken," etc. But if one listens closely to him -- as I did the other day on the radio -- one finds the same core, underneath, of defensiveness about Islam, and misleading statements about Islam. On that particular program he was enthusiastically agreeing that the mistreatment of the Pakistani woman who had been raped and had been kept by the Musharraf government from travelling abroad had "nothing to do" with Islam. He simply jumped in with the usual cliches. That will not do. It did not do for Shirin Ebadi, whose disgraceful performance at her Nobel Prize ceremony, with an acceptance speech that was hardly that of a "moderate" or at least was not that which met the minimum requirements, nowadays, for Infidels, for being considered a "moderate."
As for the Carnegie Endowment, Vartan Gregorian's childhood in Tabriz, his fond memories of many elements, his love of Sa'adi and Hafiz, his "soft appeasement" and miscomprehension of the real treatment meted out to most non-Muslims in Muslim lands (of which he, and his family, had only a taste), and his long career, based on his being a past master at pleasing the rich and the powerful, from Brooke Astor with her Literary Lions Dinners, to the trustees at Brown who hired him -- have all made him susceptible to the idea that Islam is essentially okay. He must drive his friend Dadrian mad.
Gregorian has just handed out a lot of money to a bunch of almost entirely phony Bright Young Muslim Things who are going to Single-handedly Show the Way to Reform Islam (you know, as Afghani and Abduh could not, or all sorts of people in the previou s 1350 years). Among the grant-getters was none other than the World's Greatest Authority on Islamic Law (do see his website, www.scholarofthehouse.com, for confirmation of this, or google "jihadwatch" and "Posted by Hugh" and "scholarofthehouse."
Too bad. He is a charmer. His memoir has its points. A little like that grotesquely best-selling Madame Nafisi, with her tales of the Saving Power of Literature In a Dark Time. Feelgood, ultimately, and a Message of Hope for Infidels, which is why they are gobbling it up, especialy women. And she has yet to offer to pay royalties, as she should, to the Nabokov estate, given the indispensable contribution made by the appearance of the word "Lolita" in her title where, juxtaposed to "Teheran," it creates quite a little mental stir in the minds of the book-buying public, and makes them want to at least buy the book and who knows? -- perhaps even read it.
It boils down to the need for a simplified, rational and informed book for Muslims to help them free themselves from the death-grip of a paralyzed Koran preached at them by their 'fundamentalist' 'leaders', called:
"ISLAM: REFORM OR DIE"
Subtitled:- "The only escape route for modern Muslims from their religion's present extremist path, -or- how to see that: no man is perfect, no written word is beyond being re-interpreted, and no faith is unable to grow its heart toward a greater compassion for the world by a humble re-envisioning of the meaning its root dogma"
Without a Reformation within Islam, the entire enterprise (of the West) addressing it is doomed to endless warfare with fanatics basing their belief on the hardcore literalism of the Koran's worst bigoted excesses and sanctimoniously murderous extremisms.
I may have to start it myself, because I'm getting tired of hearing the same dead slogans regurgitated daily, weekly, monthly and yearly from the pontificating (and ineffectual) class ...without the simplest recognition that people can change- if they will renew their understanding of their faith's rich scriptures.
Based on getting Muslims to admit that no man is "perfect". (Wouldn't that claim of "perfection" for any created being be an insult to Allah?)
If that can be accepted, the rest is a downhill run, intellectually.
Wish me luck.
And wish Muslims even more.
If they don't open their minds, we may have to close a lot of their eyes.
(Pennies on the lids, optional.)