Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 3, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/173508/US-glosses-over-Pakistani-terror.html
The US State Department's annual Country Reports
on Terrorism 2008, which was released last Thursday, serves as both a compendium
of terrorist activities around the world as well as an indicator of the prevalent
thinking in Washington's foreign policy establishment. While those in India
who constantly look up to the US for succour, support and sympathy as a substitute
to fighting terrorism on our terms and in a meaningful manner will no doubt
seize upon this year's Country Reports to proclaim how America has accepted
that "in 2008, India ranked among the world's most terrorism-afflicted
countries" - as if we needed the Americans to tell us this simple fact,
a truth that would have been controverted had the State Department not made
a passing mention of it - a full reading of the document will reveal that
we need not be distracted by such hoopla to which the English-speaking middle
classes are given.
President Barack Hussein Obama's Administration
may have found it pertinent to record India's "pivotal moment that is
now called '26/11' (our very own scaled down version of '9/11')", but
it has shown no inclination towards placing on record how last November's
multiple fidayeen attacks on high profile targets in Mumbai conclusively exposed
Pakistan's role in promoting cross-border terrorism. This is what the Country
Reports has to say on India's 'pivotal moment': "Terrorists struck at
a variety of locations in Mumbai on November 26, killing at least 183 people,
including 22 foreigners, six of whom were Americans and 14 members of the
police and security forces. Over 300 more were injured. The attacks in Mumbai
targeted places frequented by foreigners and wealthy Indians. The attackers
entered Mumbai from the sea and attacked people in two hotels, a Jewish centre,
the main train station, and additional locations ... The terrorists appeared
to have been well-trained and took advantage of technology, such as Global
Positioning System trackers."
There's no mention of where the attackers
came from, no assertion of Pakistani complicity, not even the most casual
reference to the manner in which the Pakistani Government mocked at overwhelming
evidence about the nationality of the fidayeen, their 'handlers' and those
who trained them in guerrilla warfare. Ten men held an entire city to ransom
for 62 hours, killed 183 people and fiercely fought back crack commando units.
Yet, the Obama Administration is of the view that Mohammad Ajmal Mohammad
Amir Kasab and his fellow marauders "appeared to have been well-trained".
The implicit doubt is not without purpose.
Way down in the chapter titled 'South and
Central Asia Overview', the Country Reports says, "Despite an increased
number of infiltrations across the Line of Control, Pakistan-India relations
were improving, with trade opened for the first time in over 60 years, until
they were significantly set back by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November.
These attacks were attributed to the (Pakistan-based) Kashmir terrorist group
Laskhar-e-Tayyeba, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation, and to its
fundraising subsidiary, the Jamaat ud-Dawah, which the Government of Pakistan
banned after the UN Security Council listed the group and certain named individuals
in the 1267 Sanctions Committee." So, Pakistan gets a pat for taking
prompt action against Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, a "Kashmir terrorist group"
to which the Mumbai attack has been merely "attributed".
The report then points out how despite "allegations
of involvement by the LeT and JuD in the Mumbai attacks", Pakistani "officials
(have) pledged to prosecute all individuals in Pakistan found to be involved
in the Mumbai attacks and offered to share intelligence regarding the attacks
with the Government of India". No less a person than President Asif Ali
Zardari has said "non-state actors (terrorists) were operating on Pakistani
soil and noted his own wife (Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto assassinated on
December 27, 2007) had been a victim of terrorism". What, then, is India
complaining about? In a suggestive apportioning of blame, the Country Reports
adds: "The composite dialogue between Pakistan and India was frozen by
the Indian Government in December ... contributing to heightened tension between
the two Governments." Never mind the terrible waste of innocent lives,
New Delhi should have continued with devising 'confidence-building measures'
to bolster the dissolute Zardari regime in Islamabad.
Pakistan after all, as the Country Reports
makes out, is a 'victim' and not the perpetrator of terrorism, or, as Mr Gordon
Brown, the trans-Atlantic ally of Mr Obama, has recently described it, the
"crucible for global terrorism" and the "breeding ground for
international terrorists". To drive home this point, the chapter titled
'South and Central Asia Overview' begins with a quote of, hold your breath,
Mr Zardari: "We are fighting the menace and we will continue to fight...
This is the fight for the peace of the world..." Hopefully next year's
Country Reports will record the fact that among the means adopted by Mr Zardari
to "fight for the peace of the world" was to meekly capitulate to
the Taliban. For the moment, the Obama Administration is gratified that "Pakistani
security services (have) cooperated with the United States and other nations
to fight terrorism within Pakistan and abroad. Hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda
operatives have been killed or captured by Pakistani authorities since September
2001. Pakistan (has) continued to pursue Al Qaeda and its allies through nationwide
police action and military operations in the FATA and elsewhere." The
most expensive lobbying firm in Washington, DC, could not have done a better
job of whitewashing Pakistan's sins of omission and commission.
Ironically, the publication of this year's
Country Reports with its cockamamie tale of Pakistani valour in the face of
jihadi aggression coincided with a revealing Fox News report. America's top
military commander David Petraeus, according to this report, has told lawmakers
on Capitol Hill, currently debating billions of dollars in fresh American
aid to Pakistan, that he is "looking for concrete action by the Pakistani
Government to destroy the Taliban in the next two weeks before Washington
determines the next course of action ... The Pakistanis have run out of excuses".
In what appears to be a reference to the alleged 'crackdown' on the Taliban
in Buner, Gen Petraeus, who heads the US's Central Command, is believed to
have commented wearily that "we've heard it all before from the Pakistanis".
Given the tone and tenor, not to mention the
contents of this year's Country Reports, it could well be said, "We've
heard it all before from the Americans."
- Blog on this issue at: kanchangupta.blogspot.com,
Contact Writer at: kanchangupta@rocketmail.com