Today is the nineteenth anniversary of attacks on the US financial and defence centres by 19 militants belonging to Al Qaeda. Popularly known as 9/11, the fateful event permanently changed the world in many ways. But its impact on Pakistan has been profound and the country is still dealing with its aftershocks. This needs to be looked at more closely.
Before 9/11, Pakistan’s military ruler General Musharraf was a pariah, who was at best engaged only on the periphery by the international community and at worst shunned embarrassingly.
President Clinton, during his weeklong visit to India in March 2000, first declined to visit Pakistan. He did not want to be seen shaking hands with Musharraf dressed in military fatigue. The US president agreed to the visit ‘for a few hours’ only after Musharraf assured that Clinton may directly address the Pakistani nation on television as demanded by the latter.
9/11 changed the pariah status of General Musharraf. George Bush, who had become the US president in March 2001, hoped to engage Pakistan in the fight against terror. He embraced Musharraf and publicly declared him his ‘best friend.’ The military rule by a pariah general got a shot in the arm, dealing a huge blow to democracy in Pakistan.
But far more damage was caused by policies the state pursued in the name of fighting terror. Those policies have fundamentally altered Pakistan.
Soon after 9/11, General Musharraf readily agreed to join the US-led international coalition against terrorism, raising the battle cry of ‘enlightened moderation.’ The general declared to chase militants and drive them away. Who could disagree with the call to moderation and driving militants out, no matter who gave the call? The world hailed him.
Within a year he banned dozens of militant and sectarian organizations and received thunderous applause.
He then turned to the tribal areas and sent in the army there to drive the militants out from what had come to be known as ‘petri dish of terrorism.’ Once again, the international community hailed him and the dictatorship in Pakistan was further entrenched.
But all of this was no more than a smokescreen. Musharraf was playing a double game that sowed seeds of devastating consequences for Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was the first national leader to publicly warn in 2003 that Musharaf was “running with the hare and hunting with the hound.” She was not wrong
Though not known at the time, the world’s most wanted militant - Osama Bin Laden - was living in comfort in a military cantonment in Abbottabad, even as Musharraf claimed to have launched a manhunt. Shame and horror, next only to that witnessed in December 1971, was heaped on Pakistan when OBL was finally traced and taken out in May 2011 by US Marines from his hideout. Benazir was proven right after she was no longer alive.
A number of militants were taken out in the tribal areas and Pakistan’s security forces claimed credit for it. But these claims were proven wrong when an intrepid tribal journalist Hayatullah printed pictures that showed that the missiles that hit Nek Muhammad was not part of Pakistani arsenal. Hayatullah ‘disappeared’ and his dead body found dumped six months later. Nek Muhammad, Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, indeed all militant leaders were killed in US drone strikes. Hayat died, but not before exposing a huge lie that Musharraf was pedalling
Musharraf banned a number of militant outfits and was applauded for it too. But the state looked the other way when they reappeared under other names. Those engaged in exporting militancy across national borders were secretly nurtured and protected those whose operations extended beyond borders, like Jaish and LeT. That indeed was the policy of double game.
Vehemently denying the existence of Taliban Shura in Quetta, Muhsarraf boasted “Give me the address of anyone of them and I will take them out.” Years later, the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor Akhtar was killed in a US drone attack inside Pakistani territory in Balochistan in May 2016. A Pakistani passport and national identity cards were recovered from his person.
Musharraf sent the army into tribal areas. But in keeping with the decades old policy of ‘strategic land,’ the area was sealed for people from other parts of the country as militants used it as staging post for forays in Afghanistan.
The policy of keeping these areas off limits still continues even after their merger in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Guantanamo bay type prisons have been set up in tribal areas under the Action in Aid regulation. When it was challenged on the grounds that it was discriminatory - as nowhere else in the province it was applicable - the regulation was extended to the whole of province to keep the lid on tribal areas.
9/11 is a watershed event for Pakistan as it exposed the state to grave consequences of duality in policies. Benazir Bhutto’s historic remarks “running with hare and hunting with hound” were made when she was in exile. When she returned, she was assassinated. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif questioned the duality of policy in an official meeting in Islamabad and grounds were laid for his exile through the now infamous “Dawn Leaks.”
By believing in the false promises made by a military dictator, the world acquiesced in the ascendancy of military in Pakistan from the consequences of which Pakistan is still reeling.
On this anniversary of 9/11, there is a little serpent of doubt that bites the soul. Are will still pursuing the policy of double games? The question is relevant as Jaish continues to be protected from UN action through China veto and the court case against LeT operatives in the Mumbai attack case is in limbo for more than a decade. It is pertinent because tribal areas remain sealed and militants are regrouping there as the end game in Afghanistan nears.
The writer is a former senator
Before 9/11, Pakistan’s military ruler General Musharraf was a pariah, who was at best engaged only on the periphery by the international community and at worst shunned embarrassingly.
President Clinton, during his weeklong visit to India in March 2000, first declined to visit Pakistan. He did not want to be seen shaking hands with Musharraf dressed in military fatigue. The US president agreed to the visit ‘for a few hours’ only after Musharraf assured that Clinton may directly address the Pakistani nation on television as demanded by the latter.
9/11 changed the pariah status of General Musharraf. George Bush, who had become the US president in March 2001, hoped to engage Pakistan in the fight against terror. He embraced Musharraf and publicly declared him his ‘best friend.’ The military rule by a pariah general got a shot in the arm, dealing a huge blow to democracy in Pakistan.
But far more damage was caused by policies the state pursued in the name of fighting terror. Those policies have fundamentally altered Pakistan.
Soon after 9/11, General Musharraf readily agreed to join the US-led international coalition against terrorism, raising the battle cry of ‘enlightened moderation.’ The general declared to chase militants and drive them away. Who could disagree with the call to moderation and driving militants out, no matter who gave the call? The world hailed him.
Within a year he banned dozens of militant and sectarian organizations and received thunderous applause.
He then turned to the tribal areas and sent in the army there to drive the militants out from what had come to be known as ‘petri dish of terrorism.’ Once again, the international community hailed him and the dictatorship in Pakistan was further entrenched.
But all of this was no more than a smokescreen. Musharraf was playing a double game that sowed seeds of devastating consequences for Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was the first national leader to publicly warn in 2003 that Musharaf was “running with the hare and hunting with the hound.” She was not wrong
Though not known at the time, the world’s most wanted militant - Osama Bin Laden - was living in comfort in a military cantonment in Abbottabad, even as Musharraf claimed to have launched a manhunt. Shame and horror, next only to that witnessed in December 1971, was heaped on Pakistan when OBL was finally traced and taken out in May 2011 by US Marines from his hideout. Benazir was proven right after she was no longer alive.
A number of militants were taken out in the tribal areas and Pakistan’s security forces claimed credit for it. But these claims were proven wrong when an intrepid tribal journalist Hayatullah printed pictures that showed that the missiles that hit Nek Muhammad was not part of Pakistani arsenal. Hayatullah ‘disappeared’ and his dead body found dumped six months later. Nek Muhammad, Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, indeed all militant leaders were killed in US drone strikes. Hayat died, but not before exposing a huge lie that Musharraf was pedalling
Musharraf banned a number of militant outfits and was applauded for it too. But the state looked the other way when they reappeared under other names. Those engaged in exporting militancy across national borders were secretly nurtured and protected those whose operations extended beyond borders, like Jaish and LeT. That indeed was the policy of double game.
Vehemently denying the existence of Taliban Shura in Quetta, Muhsarraf boasted “Give me the address of anyone of them and I will take them out.” Years later, the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor Akhtar was killed in a US drone attack inside Pakistani territory in Balochistan in May 2016. A Pakistani passport and national identity cards were recovered from his person.
Musharraf sent the army into tribal areas. But in keeping with the decades old policy of ‘strategic land,’ the area was sealed for people from other parts of the country as militants used it as staging post for forays in Afghanistan.
The policy of keeping these areas off limits still continues even after their merger in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Guantanamo bay type prisons have been set up in tribal areas under the Action in Aid regulation. When it was challenged on the grounds that it was discriminatory - as nowhere else in the province it was applicable - the regulation was extended to the whole of province to keep the lid on tribal areas.
9/11 is a watershed event for Pakistan as it exposed the state to grave consequences of duality in policies. Benazir Bhutto’s historic remarks “running with hare and hunting with hound” were made when she was in exile. When she returned, she was assassinated. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif questioned the duality of policy in an official meeting in Islamabad and grounds were laid for his exile through the now infamous “Dawn Leaks.”
By believing in the false promises made by a military dictator, the world acquiesced in the ascendancy of military in Pakistan from the consequences of which Pakistan is still reeling.
On this anniversary of 9/11, there is a little serpent of doubt that bites the soul. Are will still pursuing the policy of double games? The question is relevant as Jaish continues to be protected from UN action through China veto and the court case against LeT operatives in the Mumbai attack case is in limbo for more than a decade. It is pertinent because tribal areas remain sealed and militants are regrouping there as the end game in Afghanistan nears.
The writer is a former senator