Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 5, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/253714/A-Pakistani-again!.html
US just won't accept reality
The arrest of a Pakistan-born American man
over Saturday's failed car bomb plot in New York's Times Square should be
ample motivation for the US Government to rethink Pakistan's position in its
anti-terrorism policy. Yet, it is most likely that this will not happen. For,
Washington, DC has come to rely so heavily on Islamabad to rescue it in Afghanistan
that it is practically unthinkable for the Obama Administration to do something
that will make life uncomfortable for those in the Pakistani establishment.
Hence, the arrest of 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad - who was granted American
citizenship last year - will not get the Americans worked up about the fact
that Pakistan is exporting terrorism to countries around the world, including
the US. Shahzad was arrested while boarding a UAE-bound flight out of New
York's John F Kennedy Airport. Investigators have reasons to believe that
he was the one who parked the car laden with explosives in New York's popular
entertainment area. Preliminary reports suggest that Shahzad is another David
Coleman Headley. He is most probably part of a terrorist sleeper cell linked
to a Pakistan-based terror group, in all probability the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
It is noteworthy that following the bomb scare that gripped New Yorkers over
the weekend, a website used by Islamist groups proclaimed that the car bomb
plot was the work of the Pakistani Taliban. Yet, the Obama Administration
seems to be unable to connect the dots, or simply unwilling to do so.
It is fast becoming clear that the modus operandi
of terrorist organisation wanting to strike targets in the US involves smuggling
in jihadis to that country through the legal route - like in Shahzad's case
- or cultivating potential foot-soldiers domestically - like in Headley's
case. The aim here is to carry out terrorist activities from within the US.
American security measures that were put in place post-9/11 were aimed at
keeping jihadis out. However, if a terror strike were to be carried out from
within, security counter-measures might not always work. It is this loophole
that the jihadis seem to be exploiting.
Nonetheless, strengthening internal security
systems is only one half of the equation. There has to be some policy to stem
the flow of the jihadi virus from its very source in Pakistan. And for this
to happen, Washington simply cannot continue to mollycoddle Islamabad in the
hope that it will one day come through on its promise of cracking down on
terrorist organisations operating from Pakistani soil. The US must realise
that Pakistan has no benefit in giving up terrorism as an instrument of state
policy. For, as long as terrorism exists, Pakistan can continue to ask for
civilian and military aid from the US, which, in turn, it can divert towards
its anti-India endeavours. As long as Washington continues to be blackmailed
by Islamabad in this manner, the export of jihadis from Pakistan to the rest
of the world will continue. It is high time that the Americans wake up to
reality and call Pakistan's bluff. They must see Pakistan as the core of the
problem of global terrorism and not a solution to it. It is only when the
US recognises Pakistan's duplicity and stops pampering Islamabad that any
headway in combating global terrorism can be achieved.